Magnificent 7 highlights from high tech today!
There is just WAY too much important stuff happening in high tech today, much of it with California ties, of course. CNET, my favorite source of an overview on tech matters, has it well covered, but to summarize:
- Apple updated its MacBook Pro line – the 15-inch and 17-inch models have Intel’s i5 and i7 processors. Faster Nvidia graphics are in there, too!
- Speaking of Intel, its first quarter profit increased more than 400 percent in its best first quarter EVER! Strong demand for laptop and server chips made for a RECORD $10.3 billion in revenue!
- Twitter has added search ads, “a simple service we’re calling Promoted Tweets.” Twitter posted a short FAQ on the Twitter blog about what’s coming.
- Google wants to be the next big enterprise software company. That should be fun, considering some of the competitors in the field. If brains alone can ensure success, my money is on Google – however, I have personally met some of the stodgier customers for enterprise software….
- In what CNET describes as “an uber Patch Tuesday,” Microsoft fixed 25 holes that included CRITICAL ones in Windows; Adobe fixed 15 holes in Reader and Acrobat and launched a new updater service, and Oracle released a CRITICAL patch update with 50 new vulnerability fixes that touched HUNDREDS of its products! “Holey” Guacamole! There were so many Microsoft fixes that they supplied a big, multicolored TABLE!
- Speaking of Microsoft… it has OUTSOURCED ITS INTERNAL IT SERVICES – help desk, desk-side services, INFRASTRUCTURE, AND APPLICATION SUPPORT
to the Indian outsourcing firm Infosys. I thought that American companies learned their lessons about outsourcing EARLY ON in the still-continuing recession – guess NOT! It SHOULD be a wake-up call to American companies to note what Microsoft now does to support its OWN infrastructure! Good luck, Infosys! - And, in what should be GREAT NEWS for SMALL BUSINESS: CNET posted results of a Robert Half survey in which CIOs were asked, “As social networking has become more of a business tool, how have you had to re-evaluate your IT policies surrounding its use by employees in your company?” True to control freak behavior pattersns, THE CIOs ARE RESTRICTING AND TIGHTENING ACCESS TO SOCIAL NETWORKS! Wooooo Hoooooo! Small Businesses of the world, rejoice! The fact that IT organizations of corporations still embrace last-century (that would be the 20th ) attitudes and practices, as well as a lot of virus-and-Trojan-prone infrastructure, means that small businesses that are both careful and progressive should have some real competitive advantages. As a small businessman, I could not be happier! Another thought – maybe the answers to the Robert Half survey merely reflect the social ineptitude and anti-social attitudes of many IT heads! After all, if they were REALLY concerned about security, many of them would have to change the platform running in their companies.
There is, of course, even additional important news today from the Land of Tech, but, “I can’t think about that right now. If I do, I’ll go crazy. I’ll think about that tomorrow.” Tonight I have an art-related gathering (as in only partly pleasure), and you can tell from this blog entry that I am already BEHIND!
-Bill at
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