David Needle

MONTEREY, Calif. — With the rise in attacks, from malware  and phishing  to assorted viruses and identity theft, it’s no wonder the market for security software and services is booming. And with no one-size-fits-all security solution, there’s plenty of opportunity for new entrants and established players to drive new revenue streams. One example of the […]

While software as a service  (SaaS) offers great flexibility for accessing applications and files, there’s always the issue of what to do when the network goes down or is inaccessible. ShareMethods’ solution is ShareDrive OnDemand, an expansion of the company’s document-management system that lets users work on files offline and have them automatically synced or […]

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Google feted a group of reporters at its Googleplex campus here to show off its latest efforts in personalization. The new services extend the features of Google’s personalized homepage service. The Google personalized homepage will now be known as iGoogle and use the same Web address. Google officials said Apple can […]

During the dot-com run up in the late 1990s, Silicon Valley firms were famous for offering equity in startups in order to lure developers, executives and other staff. Since the bubble burst, cold hard cash and other benefits have proven to be more desirable than equity in many cases. One startup searching for a senior […]

SAN FRANCISCO — The media sometimes simplifies the battle between tech behemoths Google and Microsoft in ways that are misleading. That was one of many biting assertions by two high-level Gartner analysts in a presentation here Wednesday at the company’s Gartner Symposium/Itxpo. Gartner analyst David Smith said press coverage often gives the impression that Google […]

SAN FRANCISCO – Plunk your digital camera down on a specially-equipped table and all of the images stored within the camera are projected onto the surface in a nice fan fold, as if someone took the time to lay them out. Or how about getting help from a remote colleague who projects a virtual image […]

MENLO PARK, Calif. — Sun Microsystems  unveiled an ambitious effort at an event for reporters here this week to improve video-delivery services that might make the popular Netflix movie service sweat a little. The Sun Streaming System, geared toward cable and telco operators, is designed to address increased interactivity and personalization, as well as the […]

SAN FRANCISCO — Message to enterprise IT managers: Web 2.0 and so-called social networking services like blogs and wikis are going to be used by employees with or without your help, so you might as well be part of the solution and support them. That was the theme of a talk here at the Gartner […]

A thin client  that outperforms a typical desktop PC? It depends on load balancing and how the network is configured, but NEC said its new thin clients offer performance at least equal to that of a PC in a complete range of applications, including multimedia. NEC , well known for its displays and consumer electronics, […]

SAN FRANCISCO –- Ready or not, blogs, wikis and other Web 2.0  apps are finding their way onto corporate desktops, notebooks and smaller mobile computing devices. Users love these largely free applications so much that they’re bringing them into the enterprise — often without the knowledge or approval of management or IT staff. “It’s become […]

SAN FRANCISCO — Google CEO Eric Schmidt said antitrust concerns raised by Microsoft and AT&T over the search giant’s $3.1 billion bid for online advertising firm DoubleClick were groundless. “Microsoft? AT&T?” Schmidt asked rhetorically, noting both of those corporate giants waged lengthy antitrust battles in the courts. “Give me a break.” The search giant’s chief […]

SAN FRANCISCO — Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos pitched his company’s growing portfolio of infrastructure services as an alternative to traditional datacenter gear to attendees at the Web 2.0 Expo here. Bezos said a Web startup has to spend 70 percent of its energy on back-end considerations, such as buying servers and negotiating Internet service contracts. […]