Michael Hickins

Voting systems activists in California have revealed a little-known feature of AVC Edge electronic voting machines that allows a single person to vote multiple times. The feature, a yellow button located on the back of the units, is supposed to be used as a back-up for use by poll workers in case their smart-card activators […]

IBM  said it is opening two service-oriented architecture (SOA) centers to develop, and manage business services. Company officials said that the centers, located in Pune, India and Beijing, China, will serve as the foundation for a new model for delivering SOA-based services for Big Blue. SOAs  are distributed computing frameworks that allow customers to reuse […]

CORRECTED: Sequoia Voting Systems, a major vendor of electronic voting machines in the United States, rejected allegations that Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez may have manipulated the vote tally in a Chicago election earlier this year. Also in response to the allegations, the Oakland, Calif.-based company has asked the Treasury department, which had been conducting an […]

Let’s say you happen to be staying at a hotel where your company’s biggest competitor is holding its user conference. The company’s vice president of business development drops its business plan at the hotel bar. There’s no law that says you can’t pick it up and read it. But whether you read it, and more […]

There used to be just one wiki known to all: Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that embraced user-generated content and its rejection of hierarchy. Chief among the principles of Wikipedia is that everyone can be an expert. In its simplest form, a wiki is a Web page that can be edited or created through a browser […]

NetSuite, which makes business management software offered as a service , has rolled out a set of tools to support a new vertical strategy. The San Mateo, Calif.-based company unveiled SuiteFlex, a new application development platform that allows programmers to write applications that connect to NetSuite’s flagship products. NetSuite is promoting SuiteFlex as a solution […]

Microsoft was founded with the idea of putting a PC in every home in America. Having achieved close to 75 percent penetration here and in other developed economies, Microsoft has now turned its eyes to other, less affluent regions. The company has launched a pair of initiatives in recent years that aim to develop a […]

IT consulting firm Capgemini said it will acquire Kanbay for approximately $1.25 billion. The deal represents a generous premium to Kanbay  shareholders, valuing the stock at almost 29 percent over its average price over the past thirty days. But the company said the acquisition is a good strategic fit that strengthens its position both in […]

Adobe Systems  said it will pump $100 million over the next three to five years in companies delivering applications via Apollo, a new platform for developing Internet applications that also function on the desktop. This approach is emerging as a key strategy for generating revenues from Apollo, which the company unveiled at its MAX developer […]

Oracle  put its own spin on global business at its OpenWorld customer show today. With version 12 of its E-Business applications suite, the software maker introduced new features that help enterprises manage global networks with supply chain optimization and compliance tools. The company also used its conference in San Francisco to preview new identity management […]

On-demand collaboration solutions vendor BlueTie came up with a new way to pay the bills. The company decided to stop charging customers for e-mail and calendar applications. It’s not using advertising as a revenue model, either. Instead, BlueTie is betting that customers will make enough use of the features provided by partners to make the […]

Adobe Systems  has introduced a new platform that lets programmers develop rich Internet applications that users can interact with on their desktops. The new client, code-named Apollo, is being previewed at Adobe’s MAX 2006 developer conference, along with a next-generation e-book reader, Adobe Digital Editions. Apollo is part of a broad new strategy that Adobe […]