by Nick Wingfield, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
On Monday, the WSJ published a story arguing that companies should give their employees more freedom to decide what technology to use in the workplace.
Predictably, it touched a nerve among people who work in corporate information-technology departments, some of whom said in the comments section that the writer (that would be me) was more or less advocating technology anarchy inside companies.
by William M. Bulkeley, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
A giant web of video-surveillance cameras has spread across Chicago, aiding police in the pursuit of criminals but raising fears that the City of Big Shoulders is becoming the City of Big Brother.
While many police forces are boosting video monitoring, video-surveillance experts believe Chicago has gone further than any other U.S. city in merging computer and video technology to police the streets.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
SunPower this afternoon said a review of its Philippine manufacturing operations found the company may have made “unsubstantiated accounting entries” in the first three quarters of 2009, some of them relating to 2008. The company said its Audit Committee is investigating the matter.
by Matthew Rivera, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
President Barack Obama has been spending considerable time on East-West trade agreements while in Asia, but for one chip maker, the negotiations between China and Taiwan are even more important.
by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
As the temperature drops, some cold-weather commuters are trying out an iPhone app that lets them climb in to an unlocked, pre-heated car.
Directed Electronics, the company that sells the Viper car-alarm system, has developed an accompanying app called SmartStart that lets customers use their phone to lock or unlock the car, or turn the alarm on and off.
by Nick Wingfield, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Does this sound familiar?
At the office, you’ve got a sluggish computer running aging software, and the email system routinely badgers you to delete messages after you blow through the storage limits set by your IT department.
by Dionne Searcey, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Benjamin Moody got hooked on calculators the moment his father bought him one to help with his math homework when he was 15. He squirreled away with it and devoured the 19-chapter owners’ manual.
On Monday, researchers will release a twice-yearly list of the 500 biggest computers in the world. The latest rankings should provide some new clues about high tech’s relentless speed race, and how it’s being funded.
by Lauren Goode, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Efforts to reform the U.S. health-care and bank lending systems are likely to lead to an increase in information-technology spending, said one potential beneficiary, Sudhakar Ram, chairman of IT firm Mastek.
Overhauling the country’s IT systems could cost as much as $250 billion to $300 billion over five to seven years, he said in an interview.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
Matching a recent move by Wal-Mart, Amazon.com has unveiled a new promotion on Research in Motion BlackBerry phones, giving buyers of certain models who sign up for new 2-year plans free $100 “e-gift cards.”
When Hewlett-Packard Co. announced the $2.7 billion purchase of 3Com Corp., it let the world know that H-P intends to compete fully with Cisco Systems Inc. in the corporate data center.
With its strength in Ethernet, 3Com gives HP a major piece of the pie, but it still needs a few more slices if it wants to be a one-stop-shop for data centers.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
Applied Materials yesterday afternoon posted stellar results for the fiscal fourth quarter ended October 25; revenue of $1.53 billion was well ahead of the Street at $1.32 billion, and non-GAAP EPS of 13 cents a share crushed the consensus number at three cents.
by Yukari Iwatani Kane, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Ben Schefers bought his first Microsoft Corp. Xbox 360 console four months ago to play games remotely with his friends. But the 33-year-old database manager now spends more time using it to play movies, television shows and documentaries.
“It’s something that my wife and I can both agree on,” he says, adding that he plays Xbox 360 games only a few times a week–and often only after his wife is asleep.
by Yukari Iwatani Kane, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
The biggest concentration of developers for Apple’s iPhone is in Northern California, as a story in The Wall Street Journal’s San Francisco Bay Area section points out. But the ubiquity of the Internet makes it possible for a software developer anywhere in the world to make apps.
This is a section of the All Things Digital Web site featuring posts from around the Web, from other Dow Jones properties and also original pieces we solicit. The section is now explicitly labeled that it comes "from other Web sites."
We are fully aware of the controversies around how linking and aggregating is done on the Web and we, in no way, are attempting to "scrape" original content created by others. Instead, regarding third-party posts, we are trying to point readers of this site to other posts from around the Web that we admire and are trying to do so in the quickest manner possible.
The Internet is full of terrific content that is not ours and we want to help our readers find it by making editorial suggestions--Look, Mom, no algorithm!--of posts we think are worth their time.
That is why we have made even more changes to Voices to ensure we do this in the most transparent and timely way. While we don't expect that everyone will agree with our policies, we have made changes that reflect our intent in pointing to content outside our site.
Because the site is wholly owned by Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, we aim to adhere to the journalistic standards of the best of the mainstream media. But, because it is run autonomously as a small online startup, we aim to exhibit the fresh thinking and nimbleness of the best of the new media. We want to be first, and sassy, but also well sourced and accurate. We will offer lots of opinion and analysis, but plenty of fact as well.