Twitter was a buzz again last week due to another security breach.  In summary, a criminal claims to have obtained access to a Twitter administrator’s Twitter password by guessing the secret question to reset the administrator’s password on a Yahoo e-mail account. Twitter confirmed that the intruder gained access to information on ten accounts including […]

It pains me to write this. A widow and her 16 year old daughter, through circumstance and events beyond their control, will be homeless tomorrow. Tonight Elizabeth Hughes and her sixteen-year-old daughter Katy are packing. They have to be out of their Santa Clara, California apartment tomorrow. They have nowhere to go. They have nowhere […]

I few weeks ago I ‘met’ Sarah Stanley (@sarahstanley) on Twitter. She was talking about her upcoming 50 mile run. At first I thought it was a typo, but as it turned out she indeed planned to run 50 miles.  With her BlackBerry, and tweeting along the way.   I don’t think I could run […]

When it comes to children and the Internet, there is no substitute for parental supervision. It’s certainly not wrong to use parental control software, but parents must understand that software is intended to assist, not do their job for them. The problem is that many vendors don’t seem to appreciate the difference. Thanks to Norton, […]

As I watched the launch of VMware vSphere 4 on Tuesday I was torn.  Part of the event was more corporate group hug than product launch, and in many ways vSphere is a logical extension of the company’s existing products. But a little voice in my head told me, “This is something big.” Some technological […]

Last week Symantec released their 2008 Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR).  The report provides an analysis of worldwide Internet threat activity, vulnerabilities, malicious code, phishing, spam and activity on underground economy servers. The ISTR contains a lot of interesting information and I’d encourage you to read it — I’m certainly not going to repeat all […]

The explosive growth of social media is changing how companies interact with customers.  Those that understand social media know that what is being said about them online can have a huge impact on their bottom line. There are a number of ways to monitor a brand online. Some free services will monitor search engines for […]

Last week I ran into a project manager from Canonical, the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu — one of the most popular Linux distributions for desktop and notebook computers.  In conversation I mentioned that I’m a huge Ubuntu fan, but I run Windows Vista on my notebook because I can’t live without Microsoft Office and Adobe […]

[This article originally appeared in MONiTOR Magazine] Protecting sensitive information gets more difficult every day, and it shows. We hear about major security breaches on a weekly – sometimes even daily – basis. There are several reasons: Corporate perimeters are disappearing due to information sharing requirements and an increasingly mobile workforce; To remain competitive, applications […]

The TECHLife Post is closed today in observance of the statutory holiday.  We’ll resume our regular publishing schedule on Monday. Have a great long weekend!

I remember watching the web go mainstream back in the mid 90’s.  Web servers and the Internet had existed for a few years, but URLs began appearing on billboards and product packaging literally overnight as a critical mass was reached. Today we’re approaching another critical mass.  Blogs and social networking sites have been around for […]

[Zoe Brain is on assignment this week, but don’t worry, she’ll be back!] As a child, I remember watching Star Trek’s Lt. Uhura with her wireless earpiece.  Today I use a similar peice of “science fiction” in my car so that I can keep both hands on the wheel.  In a generation we’ve gone from […]