The 10 biggest moments in IT history

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Despite its relatively short lifespan, IT has had some huge watershed moments. Jack Wallen followed the tech timeline to identify the most pivotal events. Read more>>

10 reasons why Windows XP will be around a while

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Windows XP continues to demonstrate formidable staying power. Here are some reasons why many organizations want to hang onto it. Read more

Photo gallery: MSI X340 Slim

 

The MSI X340 is as thin and flashy as the MacBook Air and the Dell Adamo, but costs less than half as much. See how it stacks up as a business laptop. View on site

Sonim XP3 Quest photos

Experience the Sonim XP 3™ Quest:

Built For Life in the big city, off-road, the back country, and the world’s waterways; the Sonim XP3 Quest was designed and engineered in response to our customers’ requests for a rugged phone that fuses first-class features with Sonim’s renowned premium rugged construction and durability.

The Sonim XP3 Quest boasts extended “Battery life” (up to 18 hours of talk and 1500 hours of standby) and includes, among other capabilities, an GPS, LED torch, 2MP camera, and a Sonim bundled application suite.

This newest member of Sonim’s best-selling line of super-rugged phones fully supports Sonim’s mission to provide rock-solid reliable lifelines for people who work and/or play in extreme environments. The Sonim XP3 Quest is water submersible (IP-67 rated) and MIL-810F certified for its resistance to extreme environmental conditions. And of course it’s backed by Sonim’s industry-leading 3-Year Unconditional Guarantee. Read More>>
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Google cracks down on slow gadgets

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Google has seen success in large part because of their attention to speed, reliability and quality of their services. Loading up the Google homepage is usually instantaneous, and searching through their gigantic web index takes a fraction of a second.

Unfortunately for Google, they don’t have as much control over their own speed and user experience as they once did. The problem is that Google lets third party developers create applications (called Gadgets), which are often poorly programmed. Read More>>

Is there a Mickey/Spidey mashup in the future?

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Comic book fans are already abuzz about the news that Disney is acquiring Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion in cash and stock. The AP story says that Disney will aquire ownership of Marvel characters. The transaction still requires an antitrust review and the approval of Marvel shareholders.

From the press release on Marvel’s site:

“Disney is the perfect home for Marvel’s fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses,” said Ike Perlmutter, Marvel’s Chief Executive Officer. “This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney’s tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world.”

We know that many Geekend readers are comics fans (Hi, I’m a Marvel… and I’m a DC! and My first comic book: What got you hooked?), so we’d like to know what you think of this announcement. Do you think this means that Marvel will be asked to start watering down its grittier comics, or do you think Disney understands the power of the geek crowd (IronMan 2 was one of the most popular stories at last month’s Comic-Con 2009) and will let Marvel operate as basically status quo? What bizarre character mashups come to mind, including interesting character names (maybe Midey or Spickey)? Let us know in the discussion.

eBay finds its Skype exit and it's probably for the best

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EBay is reportedly ready to sell Skype to a group that includes Andreessen Horowitz and private equity firms. The big question is whether a sale makes sense right now.

According to the New York Times, eBay will announce a sale of Skype as early as Tuesday (Techmeme). EBay is looking for $2 billion for the unit, but the New York Times couldn’t nail down a price. TechCrunch first reported eBay’s potential sale of Skype last week. EBay announced in April that it planned to spin off Skype in an IPO. Read More>>

Office 2010: What Microsoft will and won't say

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A new build of Office 2010 — more recent than the Community Technology Preview (CTP) Microsoft delivered in July to a select group of testers — allegedly has leaked. (But as of this posting, not yet leaked to the Web.)

The new build, which, according to Wzor, is labeled “Beta 1,” (Build 14.0.4417.1000) includes some updates to Office 2010’s built-in Backstage document-management platform and some of the new volume-licensing-activation tweaks that company officials recently acknowledged were coming. There is also a new “upload center” in the leaked build, which could be related to Office Web Apps, the Web-ified versions of key Office apps that Microsoft is planning to release to testers this fall.

Microsoft officials declined to comment on the leak. I asked whether the allegedly leaked bits would be what Microsoft is planning to release as part of the public Beta 1 of Office 2010 due out later ths fall. A spokeswoman provided this statement in response: Read More>>

Microsoft Bing cashback: 'splendid commercial bribery'

Microsoft Bing’s “decision engine” might aspire to higher things than a simple search, but if you buy a product using its search engine — such as a digital camera or a running shoe — the company says you’ll get some of that money back. Read More>>

The five best new browser features in Google Chrome

TechRepublic has started kicking the tires on Google Chrome, the search giant’s entrance into the Web browser market. See our gallery of screen shots and our list of the five best new features that Chrome offers. Read More>>>

First Look: 2Go Classmate PC laptop

TechRepublic has been examining ultraportable PCs throughout this year and the 2GoPC is the latest one. This Classmate PC laptopis an ultraportable with a twist -- it is designed for the children market. Read More>>>

Give yourself vast desktop real estate with the Matrox TripleHead2Go

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Cracking Open the Apple MacBook Air

The Apple MacBook Air is thin, light, and a testament to what good engineering and design can accomplish in a notebook personal computer. This latest TechRepublic Cracking Open Photo Gallery explores the technology of this ultra thin notebook.

Apple iPhone completely disassembled

The iPhone blends a revolutionary touch-screen interface, media player, and smartphone into a slick package.

After waiting in line, spending $600, signing a two-year AT&T contract, and activating the iPhone, we decided that the next sensible action was to take the thing apart -- in classic TechRepublic Cracking Open style. Get a look at the hardware inside the 8GB iPhone and see whether we got it back together in working condition.

TechRepublic Webcasts

The Software Quality Challenge

Join this live TechRepublic Webcast on June 19th to learn the results of a new industry survey on software development and quality. You'll find out how organizations like yours are meeting today's significant development challenges.

Overview: Development organizations today are faced with a number of significant challenges. They must coordinate disparate code sources, overcome code complexity, keep pace with rapid change, enforce compliance with mandatory processes, and work within budgetary constraints to name just a few. So, how are these organizations faring? Are developers successfully dealing with these issues or are they just getting worse?

Live video broadcast: Data Loss Prevention from the Inside Out

Suddenly, data loss prevention is becoming a huge priority for IT professionals, and no wonder. Privacy Rights Clearinghouse reports that 93.8 million personal records have been reported lost or stolen since 2005 alone. Further, Ponemon Institute estimates that each data breach now costs the average company $6.3 million. Most of these losses are caused by careless or naive employees, not hackers or data thieves. With Internet access now a constant from almost everywhere, how do you make sure that confidential or valuable data is not exposed or released by authorized users?

Details

TechWiseTV Data Loss Prevention from the Inside Out Thursday, June 26, 2008, 10–11 a.m. Pacific Time, 1-2 p.m. Eastern Time

Wild computer mods from Euskal Encounter 2006

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From July 22nd through July 25th, computer enthusiasts descend on the Bilbao Exhibition Centre for Spain's oldest, large scale computer/LAN party-Euskal Encounter 2006. According to the event's Web site, Euskal Encounter 2006 was prepared for more than 5,700 attendees with a network for over 3,500 computers, a 2 Gbps Internet connection, and over 35,000 square meters of floor space in the Bilbao Exhibition Centre.

While attending Euskal Encounter 2006, Webshots member katxikamo, snapped pictures from the show floor and captured dozens of serious computer case mods. From aliens to aluminum cases, these wild mods are definitely not your everyday computer cases.

Compiled and captions by Bill Detwiler

Cracking open the Apple iPod Touch

Apple iPod Touch" alt="By Mark Kaelin

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The Apple iPod Touch is the company's latest portable multimedia device. The iPod Touch includes the usual music playing features, but adds video playback and WiFi connectivity. In this Cracking Open Photo Gallery, we take a look inside the Touch to see how it is put together.

To see what this particular iPod Touch looked like before we cracked it open, check out our TechRepublic First Look at the iPod Touch Photo Gallery.

How to set up your own mobile office

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IT consultants, field engineers and other technology professionals need mobile computing capacity, complete with widespread Internet connectivity. Here's how to create just such a set up in your car and enjoy enhanced productivity.

Bryce 5.5: The Right Tool for the Job?

Bryce is a 3D illustration and rendering program intended to help you create breathtakingly realistic 3D landscapes and animations in a fairly intuitive way, using a drag-and-drop interface on a real-time canvas. Jay Major created this gallery of screenshots for his review of the software. Read More>