![[AskAboutComputers.com]](logo_com_305x118.gif){kind=logo}
Tid-bits
12/20 - Ebay wants your unwanted gifts this holiday season. According to a survey, most people give their unwanted gifts, while at the same time most people also feel cash strapped following the holidays. If you sell your unwanted items, on the other hand, "you can avoid the potential re-gifting embarrassment while putting some extra cash in your pocket".
MSNBC.com shall feature home buying and selling through HomePages. The service benefits buyers, seller, and real estate pros. "HomePages is the first national home buying and selling service to combine high-resolution aerial maps with detailed home listings ...".
McAfee's AVERT (anti-virus and emergency response team) warns consumers and businesses alike what to beware of throughout a very interesting 2006. First up, mobile attacks. Laptops have always been more difficult to keep patched than desktops. However, we're not talking laptops here. We're talking cell phones. The increased connectivity of smartphones shall be both a blessing and a curse: a two-edged sword. For one, there's a lot of phones out there. Two, only a small percentage of these phones have mobile security protection. By comparison, the I Love You virus infected tens of millions of computers in just a couple of hours, "despite the fact that half of all PCs had Internet security software installed".
Phishing shall continue to increase also througout 2006. In fact, some unsuspecting individuals shall succumb to trojans on their computers that shall turn their PCs into phishing websites. McAfee predicts an increase in "Trojans that turn an infected computer into a phishing Web site".
Oracle has released pricing for multicore CPUs. Each core is regarded as a separate processor. However, different discounts are awarded, depending on whose hardware you use. Sun CPUs receive the most preferential treatment. IBM is penalized the most. Intel and AMD fall in between. The "processor licensing is dependent upon the specific multi-core chip".
Small businesses may want to download the guide "How to Start Email Marketing in 10 Easy Steps" from FileMaker. Almost half of small business have little or no time for sales and marketing, and almost half 'agree that their business would “grow significantly” if they could automate more of their marketing activities'.
Small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) and the mid-market should consider additions to NETGEAR's line of ProSafe Smart Switches. All three come with four gigabit ports and two GBIC slots for fiber. One has 24 10/100 ports and two of the devices have 48 10/100. One model, not due until January, accommodates up to 24 Power over Ethernet (PoE) devices. The switches "offer key management features at about the same price as an unmanaged solution".
Users of Hewlett Packard's OpenView suite of software services shall have more insight and control over their technology with the addition of "asset and service management components".
Contact Centers should look into Microsoft Speech Server 2004 R2, if they have not done so already. The software has won an award for innovation. Microsoft frequently talks about innovating. This time there appears to be truth to the rumor. The award "is based on the concept that Microsoft Speech Server 2004 R2 is innovative".
Financial advisors can use Microsoft Advisor Platform to help take a centralized view of customers, products, and services. The platform leverages various IT infrastructures and integrates existing in-house systems using the .NET Framework and service-oriented architecture (SOA). Companies can implement Advisor Platform as a collaborative portal. Servers such as SQL, BizTalk, and Live Communications communicate with backend systems. A company can build customer relationship management (CRM) functions via Microsoft tools such as Microsoft Dynamics, SharePoint Portal Server, Microsoft Office, and Windows Rights Management Services. "Behind the portal is a matrix of disparate data sources and applications connected through Web services".
Four heavyweights from the IT indusry, together with a larger number of educational institutions, weighed in to adopt a set of principles to speed research for open source software. One of the pillars is that the work or intellectual property arising from certain collaborations is to be free, even commercially. The principles are to enable "industry standards and greater interoperability". IBM was one of the names. No surprises there. But also Intel, Hewlett Packard, and Cisco. No mention of Microsoft.