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In the world of computer security break-ins, the focus has shifted from alleged hacker masterminds to enterprise shortfalls -- unpatched software, poorly secured firewalls and weak computer passwords. However, vulnerability assessment tools are educating IT admins about how to close holes in network...

I'm writing this article on my computer with a pen input tablet, forsaking the usual speed and ease of the keyboard to see how the other 14 percent lives. I'm referring to the 39.5 million Americans over age 5 with some kind of disability, acording to the 2000 U.S. census. When I broke a bone in my ...

This year has seen a lot of ink spilled over Apple's PowerBook line of computers, in particular the high-end 17-inch model. Critics drooled over the unprecedented size of the laptop's screen and the elegant and relatively lightweight case, to say nothing of the sex appeal of the polished aluminum fi...

Every once in a while you get a taste of what the Internet would be like if it were left to private enterprises. One glaring example is the deplorable state of instant messaging, which, in part because of balkanization, has failed to reach the level of popularity enjoyed by plain old e-mail. This la...

In the world of computer security break-ins, the focus has shifted from alleged hacker masterminds to enterprise shortfalls -- unpatched software, poorly secured firewalls and weak computer passwords. However, vulnerability assessment tools are educating IT admins about how to close holes in network...

2003 was supposed to be the year of the PC upgrade. More than halfway through the year, however, a jump in PC sales is nowhere in sight. Fortunately, IT departments are likely to buck the overall enterprise trend, because new PC purchases can more easily be justified for the people who manage and ma...

Gorging on enterprise infrastructure was de rigueur in the go-go 1990s, but a drop in capital spending has heralded the arrival of new methods of building out networks in small increments. In the storage networking arena, budget-conscious CIOs are focusing on such cost-cutting measures as utility co...

We have come to the end of an era. When EMC announced on July 8th that it would buy software firm Legato Systems for $1.3 billion, it was the most potent sign to date that hardware innovation and systems engineering no longer define the warp and woof of corporate computing. Software has taken over. ...

Once upon a time, every twist and turn in the Internet saga brought fresh speculation as to which promising young company Cisco Systems would sweep off its feet next in its relentless bid to conquer e-commerce. However, the steady flow of flashy young startups has dried up. Perhaps we've entered the...

Here's a day in the upside-down life of a CIO: She takes a phone call from a pollster and tells him she's not planning any new technology buys. Later, near the end of the day, she tells her staff to enter an order for a bunch of Gigabit Ethernet cards. We've entered an age of tech buying in the abse...

Peer-to-peer technology may have pulled off the greatest disappearing act of the post-dot-com era. Once heralded as the second coming of the Internet, lawsuits have obscured much of its promise. Nonetheless, the innovations unleashed by Napster are making modest headway in corporate networks. Sun Mi...

This week, Steve Jobs presented Apple's latest high-end computer systems, driven by the IBM PowerPC 970 processor and branded by Apple as the G5. The hardware adds up to what Apple claims is the fastest desktop computer, leading Jobs to quip, "Pretty cool, huh?" But there is a little bit missing -- ...

Fancy the situation of the computer OEM, stuck selling the same software from Microsoft for the next two years -- software that's already been around for more than a year and a half. We may be seeing a four-year cycle between Microsoft upgrades, certainly the longest I can remember. A wonder, indeed...

Fraud on the Web may be analogous to fraud in the real world, but it seems to be far easier to defraud individuals of their bank accounts, cell phone accounts and even entire identities online. In this new medium, the black hats are outpacing the white hats, at least so far. Analysts are hoping the ...

It would be a gross understatement to say the Mac faithful are eagerly awaiting a new office productivity suite from Apple. For rumor sites and Mac-focused blogs, the arrival of such software would be a touchstone. We may get a sneak peek during Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference next week in S...

Although the Internet burst into the mainstream several years ago, many enterprises are only just beginning to consider how world-class search capabilities could benefit their in-house infrastructure. One of the forerunners in this field is industry darling Google. In fact, Google product manager Jo...

A new report by Technology Futures of Austin, Texas, states that in 2003, the proportion of American households using broadband of some kind -- DSL, cable or wireless -- will surpass 20 percent. At this crucial juncture in the evolution of the Internet, it might be worth reminding lawmakers who are ...

An oft-repeated supposition when talking about a new software or hardware product is that in-house IT staff can compensate for what the technology lacks. It's often presumed that somebody on staff can patch, tweak, rejigger or jury-rig technology to make it do what it won't do "out of the box." "Any...

I won't say I don't receive pitches for the occasional mortgage discount or Vegas vacation, the latest performance-enhancing elixir or anatomical wonder pills. Somehow those untidy and still slightly amusing offenders still wriggle past my defenses. In general, though, I've had good results with a b...

By all indications, Windows Server 2003 is engineered to be more secure than its predecessors. Microsoft has adopted a two-pronged approach to achieving this goal: The company has added several new features intended to boost security, and it has altered the operating system's out-of-the-box settings...