Business

There are no "must-have" features in Vista. It's a "high-risk strategy" to get it early. Installing the operating system within the next twelve months brings about a set of "technical, financial and organizational challenges." That harsh critique of ... Vista comes from an unlikely source: an agency of the UK government. The British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) "strongly recommends" schools to stay away from Vista for at least a full year. "There is not a case for schools to deploy it unless it is mission-critical stable," Becta technical consultant Tom McMullan stated ... (view more)

In the world of search engines, nothing beats Google. The competition, led by Yahoo, makes up a single digit fraction of the market attempting to challenge the Goliath. However, with that success comes a substantial amount of attention from hackers ... and the like. The most recent issue facing Google were reports that users were seeing their cookies exploited, giving the web's most malicious access to a pile of personal information. It's pretty simple. If a user is signed into their Google account, the pages they visit give the web host access to their cookies. This means the web host -- or the ... (view more)

According to VAR Business Magazine (VAR), Microsoft recently commissioned an independent research firm to determine the impact of their upcoming (January 30) general release of Vista on the computer industry. The answer? $72 Billion! That's the ... conservative US Dollar amount Microsoft Vista is going to cost the consumers when they upgrade their systems. However, the figure is likely to be much higher. VAR suggested that $18 in hardware, software, and services would be spent for every $1 Microsoft makes from Vista alone. Every PC component and system manufacturer wants their piece of the ' ... (view more)

An education service center in southeast Kansas -- Greenbush -- has been called "harmful" and a "risk" to visit. However, those labels aren't being applied to the brick-and-mortar facility. Rather, they're in reference to Greenbush's website. If you ... access Greenbush.org through Google, the site doesn't immediately come up. Instead, the following warning appears in its place: "Warning -- visiting this web site may harm your computer! You can learn more about harmful web content and how to protect your computer at StopBadware.org. Suggestions: - Return to the previous page and pick another ... (view more)

Are you sick of watching media clips and movies on your 17 inch monitor? If so, you're in luck: Steve Jobs has unveiled Apple's newest product: Apple TV. At Macworld Expo, Jobs explained the new product that allows users to watch content from iTunes ... on their television. The device, which was introduced in September under the code name "iTV," bridges a gap that computer companies have been itching to fill: a variance between the computer and home entertainment system. (Source: pcworld.com ) Specifically, Apple TV brings the company head to head against Microsoft for the living room battle. ... (view more)

Microsoft recently revealed details of the Vista Ultimate Extras add-on package. Although there has been talk about Ultimate Extras for months, Microsoft has remained relatively tight-lipped about the specifics. But on January 7th, at the Consumer ... Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Microsoft officials finally detailed the final lineup for the Ultimate Extras package. (Source: zdnet.com ) First up is a Vista enhanced version of the Texas Hold 'Em poker game. (Source: zdnet.com ) Also in the package are multi-user interface language (MUIL) packs. These packs allow users fluent in different ... (view more)

It probably won't be your 4.0 GPA that lands you a job at Google. But it might be the fact that you have pets. Or the fact that you started a club. In typical Google fashion, the company has created a new method for sifting through the 100,000+ job ... applicants itching to work at Google each month. The company has ditched the typical hiring methods in their quest to hire more well-rounded candidates. (Source: nytimes.com ) Job applicants will now be asked to fill out a survey which assesses intelligence and personality. The algorithm will then rate each candidate on a scale from 0 to 100. ( ... (view more)

Firefox developer Blake Ross weighed in on Google's Tips recently, and what he had to say wasn't exactly complementary. Ross, 21, has posted a blog accusing Google of using its tips to unfairly promote its own products during searches. The tips, ... which appear at the top of a search results page after specific queries such as "calendar," "blogging," and "photo sharing," are a result of Google abusing its power, says Ross. (Source: news.com ) In his blog, Ross points out that if Google's services are superior, they would appear at the top of a search, thereby eliminating the need to plug the ... (view more)

Swarms of online shoppers wanting to redeem their new iPod and iTunes gift cards apparently overwhelmed the Apple iTunes music store over the holidays, prompting error messages and massive slowdowns of up to 20 minutes or more for downloads of a ... single song. (Source: technology.canoe.ca ) Users began posting urgent help messages on the store website both Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The average problem that customers encountered was that the system could not process their request to download songs and videos. Some people were not allowed into the iTunes music store altogether. It still ... (view more)

"Search is part of the fundamental infrastructure of the Internet. And, it is currently broken." Those harsh words come from Wikipedia.org co-founder Jimmy Wales. (Source: wikia.com ) Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia, has quickly become a bona ... fide Internet sensation. Now Jimmy Wales wants to expand his horizons and challenge the big boys. And they don't come any bigger than Google! Wales has announced plans to create a search engine of his own. The project -- which is called Search Wikia -- is already being dubbed a "Google Killer." But don't hold your breath just yet. "We're not ... (view more)