Emerging Technology

As a Macintosh business consultant, I've built up IT infrastructure for dozens of companies over the past few years. Most of these companies have been under 200 desktops and at least half Macintosh. I've just completed my first medium sized business move to Google Apps, and I have to say I am extremely pleased.

In fact, I find myself in a position to recommend the switch anyone out there is a similar situation.

It's IT Blogwatch: in which Seagate protects its intellectual property portfolio against a flash drive maker. Not to mention how not to fix a leak of personal information...

It's IT Blogwatch: in which folks worry about lock-in at Google's new App Engine. Not to mention a slightly pointless game...

Andy Baio claims an "exclusive":

One of the biggest criticisms of Google's App Engine have been cries of lock-in, that the applications developed for the platform won't be portable to any other service. This morning, Chris Anderson, the Portland-based cofounder of the Grabb.it MP3 blog service, just released AppDrop — an elegant hack proving that's not true. AppDrop is a container for applications developed with the Google App Engine SDK, running entirely on Amazon's EC2 infrastructure. Just like Google's Appspot, anyone can use a modified SDK to deploy their App Engine apps directly to Amazon EC2 instead of Google, and they work without modification ...

Traditional virtual desktop infrastructures simply shift the administrative burden from endpoints into the datacenter. Citrix' XenDesktop separates applications, user profiles, and the operating system in a virtual desktop infrastructure to heighten the user experience while sharply reducing IT handling costs.

Monitor your virtual machine environment while keeping VM sprawl in check.

Another day, another clue of the 3G iPhone's guts. Today, Zibri, of the (in)famous Ziphone.org iPhone unlocking fame, discovered some interesting code in the SDK released yesterday. Along

It's IT Blogwatch: in which Google launches App Engine, predicting sleepless nights for Amazon and Microsoft. Not to mention bad gamer tattoos...

In Hartford, Hereford and Hampshire, Heather Havenstein hardly happens:

Google Inc. launched a preview release of its new Google App Engine yesterday, ...

I once asked if 2007 was going to be the year of NAC. It wasn't. Now as it becomes a feature in Windows, what happens to the specialty shops?

At the CTIA Wireless 2008 trade show last week in Las Vegas the hottest new phone was, as you might expect, Sprint's Instinct, apparently the closest thing yet to an iPhone. And still the farthest thing from an iPhone? That would beMicrosoft's changes to Windows Mobile 6.1.

Desktops as a service may be the answer to thorny PC management problems.

It's IT Blogwatch: in which Windows 7's might come next year -- or not -- and might have a new, modular architecture -- errr, or not. Not to mention the worst interview questions...

Eric Lai reports:

Microsoft Corp. has dropped two strong hints [last week] that the next version of its Windows operating system will arrive in 2009, shaving up to a year off previous expectations. It could also be a signal that Microsoft intends to cut its losses with Windows Vista, which has been poorly received or shunned by customers, especially large companies ... Responding to criticism that Windows has become unnecessarily bloated, the company has 200 engineers developing a slimmed-down kernel called MinWin that uses 100 files and 25MB, compared to Vista's 5,000 files and 4GB core and is so small it lacks a graphical subsystem ...

If Apple's iPhone application development strategy succeeds, the company may find itself in hot water with the government in the not-too-distant future

Census Bureau, Harris Corp. fail to resolve requirements dilemma

It's IT Blogwatch: in which Intel launches seven sorts of new stuff at Intel Developer Forum in China. Not to mention a new spin on Smash Bros...

Sharon Gaudin reports:

Intel Corp. officially unveiled its low-power, newly architected Atom processor line at the Intel Developer Forum in Shanghai today. The chips, aimed at the embedded and mobile Internet device markets, are designed for low power consumption and long battery life ...

Norway claims ISO vote on OOXML was held in Palm Beach County.