it

The future of IT: No big bangs, information everywhere

There's plenty of technological innovation headed to the enterprise in the coming years, but don't expect any new game changers on the order of Internet or ERP, according to a new report.

Instead, existing technologies like service-oriented architectures and mobile will combine with component business applications and social networking to form what Forrester Research analyst Bobby Cameron calls "IT everywhere."

Information technology is at the beginning of a "new 16-year cycle of innovation and growth that follows the previous cycle of networked computing for enterprise applications and the Internet," Cameron writes in the report, … Read more

Gadgettes 100: The 100th Episode!

One hundred action packed episodes of Gadgettes! We recap the history of our segments in this week's episode. And who's that special guest knocking at the door? Listen and find out! Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 100

PinkWatch Sanyo Xacti DMX-HD800 camcorder offers palm-size HD shooting for $468 http://dvice.com/archives/2008/07/sanyo_xacti_dmx.php

Samsung thinks patronizing women will get us into tech; Engadget agrees http://www.popgadget.net/2008/07/samsung_thinks.php

Hot Asian Gadget Audio slave: Gadget nut turns Pikachu into a ‘musical’ instrument http://dvice.com/archives/2008/07/audio_slave_gad.php … Read more

Superhero saves lost cell phones

It's a traveler's worst nightmare: a BlackBerry, filled with personal e-mails, bank account information, and family pictures, is suddenly missing from a pocket or carry-on bag. Not only is a pricey gadget lost, but so is valuable information and contacts.

Now, a cell phone superhero claims it can protect your confidential data and aid in safely returning your gadget.

No, it's not a dude wearing tights, but a service from YouGetItBack.com that launches today in the U.S. and Canada. The downloadable software lets subscribers go online and remotely lock their mobile phone once it goes … Read more

Carbon counter Carbonetworks grabs funds

Software company Carbonetworks on Monday is expected to announce it has secured $5 million in series A financing, led by clean-tech venture firm NGEN Partners.

The company's software could be described as a carbon accounting package. It allows corporations to do an inventory of their greenhouse gas emissions and provides them with an application to manage a program to cut down on those emissions.

A company could, for example, achieve reduction goals by making data centers operations more efficient or purchasing carbon offsets.

There are already regulations in Europe to restrict emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. But … Read more

CarbonFlow nets funding for carbon software

Will money start to flow to carbon software?

CarbonFlow has raised $2.9 million in its first round of venture funding from Clean Pacific Ventures, OVP Venture Partners, and Meridian Energy Limited, a New Zealand renewable energy supplier, which is a strategic partner.

The San Francisco-based company's founders are carbon emissions trading expert Karla Bell and Neal Dikeman, founder of merchant bank Jane Capital Partner and a contributor to CNET's Green Tech blog.

CarbonFlow's software, which is still under development, is being designed for managers of carbon emissions-reduction projects that want to monetize their carbon credits.

For … Read more

CoverItLive gets live video support, of a sort

My favorite liveblogging tool, CoverItLive (see Ultimate liveblogging tool: CoverItLive), is set to add support for live video Tuesday. But rather than launch its own video-streaming service, the system now lets authors insert video embeds from uStream, Qik, or Mogulus into a live blog.

This approach gives CoverItLive users flexibility, but at the cost of simplicity of use. The cool thing is that bloggers have a choice of video services. If you are live-blogging a speech, for example, and you have a good view of the stage, you can pop a Webcam onto your laptop and stream it to your … Read more

Get-It guards your fingers

We've all reached to pick something up, getting a handful of burned fingers for our trouble. The problem is that spoons, spatulas, and other food-handling devices just don't have the dexterity of the average human hand. We try to pick things up because it's just so much easier than fumbling around with whatever we're trying to move, and watching it wind up on the floor.

Broadway Panhandler has a great finger protector--the Get-It Finger Guard--that will allow you to skip the spoon and just pick up whatever it is you're after. Sure, it … Read more

Another day in IT paradise

It's amazing how, in the modern computing world, an average workday can go to hell with no apparent warning. Check this out.

I woke up this morning with the usual list of 30 things I needed to get done, knowing full well that I wouldn't get to most of them. Just another day in the working world, right? Not exactly.… Read more

Orbitz paves the way to enterprise open-source contributions

On Monday, Orbitz Worldwide plans to announce the creation and release of two open-source projects, Extremely Reusable Monitoring API (ERMA) and Graphite. Though there were hints of these projects at JavaOne earlier this year, Monday's announcement will add significant context to the work Orbitz has done to create two highly compelling open-source projects, whose applicability extends far beyond the travel industry.

On Friday, Orbitz gave me a preview of the announcement and the opportunity to talk with its sponsors, Winthrop Short, senior director of Orbitz Worldwide, and Matt O'Keefe, senior architect of Orbitz Worldwide. In talking with Winthrop and Matt, it's clear to me that Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst's vision for enterprise collaboration through open-source communities is going to be led by companies like Orbitz, companies for whom technology is not necessary drudgery but rather competitive advantage.

Consider the following: Orbitz employs 1,600 full-time employees and has another 500 contractors. So, 2,100 people total. Half of this total number is made up of technologists. As Brian Hoyt, Orbitz Worldwide's vice president of corporate communications and government affairs told me, "We have always been a technology company, one that just happens to be really good at selling travel."

But why open source? What benefits does Orbitz derive from open-sourcing these projects? Why not keep ERMA and Graphite to themselves?… Read more

Dell hits server efficiency targets a year early

Dell on Wednesday said its server power supplies have met an industry target of 92 percent efficiency.

Its servers comply with the 80 Plus benchmark of making power supplies 92 percent efficient when a server is at 50 percent load, explained Albert Esser, Dell's vice president of power and infrastructure solutions.

Esser said the server power supply Dell has developed is the first to comply with the 80 Plus Gold certification, making it 14 percent more efficient than existing equipment.

That standard also meets the 2009 target set by IT industry consortium Climate Savers.

What's perhaps most notable … Read more