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By Paul McNamara

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Is Google News scapegoating technology?: 06/26/08; Well, the company did cite a technical problem as the reason that the Google News front page was an hour later than other online media outlets in reporting the recent death of NBC journalist Tim Russert.
Data leaks out . . . and lawyers rake it in: 06/19/08; What made the Ameritrade data breach particularly memorable was not that 6.3 million customers had their personal info compromised and inboxes stuff with spam as a result. No, what made it memorable was that the company had received multiple warnings from IT professionals over more than a year that its database had been compromised -- yet took no action before the bits hit the fan last fall.
AT&T manager on laptop loss: 'It is pathetic': 06/16/08; It's just another in a long line of stolen laptops . . . unless you work in management at AT&T and you're worried about your Social Security number falling into the hands of identity thieves. Or, you're worried that your co-workers might find out how much -- or how little -- you actually earn.
Tank on Empty: Tales from beyond E: 06/09/08; A year after launching Tank on Empty -- a site dedicated to collecting data and anecdotes about how far cars can drive once the warning light goes on -- the project has managed to land Justin Davis in hot water with worrywarts, motor-heads and statisticians . . . not to mention his own mother.
Can tornado warning nets sound too soon?: 06/02/08; Unbeknownst to you, an F5 tornado -- the kind that can obliterate a house in a heartbeat -- is barreling directly toward yours: Would you prefer 60 seconds warning or 20 minutes?
The real sticking point with Microsoft/Yahoo!: 05/26/08; Microsoft’s desperate struggle to acquire all or part of Yahoo! has gotten hung up not on disagreement over a fair price for the latter’s online advertising operations, sources say, but rather the value of Yahoo!’s iconic exclamation point.
Worst of the lot for two years running: 05/19/08; That's the uncomfortable verdict for PCMall and PCConnection rendered last week by the "ForeSee Results Top 100 Online Retail Satisfaction Index." Not only did those two outlets bring up the rear among computer and electronics sites, they brought up the rear, period.
'Bribe' or 'miswording'? You make the call: 05/12/08; The Consumerist last week posted an item about an outfit called TheCellShop.net and its apparent attempt to buy itself a top-notch reputation on resellerratings.com. The practice is not uncommon on ratings sites, but isn't usually this bald-faced in that TheCellShop wasn't just asking for good grades but 100% perfect ones.
Why is this called 'virtual kidnapping'?: 05/01/08; The crime itself is horrific -- beyond comprehension in its cruelty -- so there's some hesitancy to complain about semantics. But this is a technology column and the underlying issue -- society's tendency to blame modern-day bad deeds on technology instead of the bad-deed doers -- is an important one.
Is a fox guarding the schoolhouse IT subsidies?: 04/24/08; Is a fox guarding the schoolhouse IT subsidies? The critics who say yes have an obvious self-interest, as you’ll see: They didn’t get the contract. But they also appear to have a point.
Talking tech with Cleveland’s ball park drummer: 04/17/08; John Adams -- by day a senior IT analyst at AT&T -- has been beating his big ol’ bass drum at virtually every Cleveland Indians home game for 35 years. His devotion has been immortalized in the cinematic goofball classic "Major League" and through the issuance last year of his own bobblehead doll. Recently I asked Adams to view his twin passions of baseball and technology through the prism of his unique experiences. John Adams -- by day a senior IT analyst at AT&T -- has been beating his big ol’ bass drum at virtually every Cleveland Indians home game for 35 years. His devotion has been immortalized in the cinematic goofball classic "Major League" and through the issuance last year of his own bobblehead doll. Recently I asked Adams to view his twin passions of baseball and technology through the prism of his unique experiences. Here’s what he had to say.
Readers get their turn at the wheel: 04/10/08; It’s been too long since we’ve let Buzz readers have the soapbox, so here are a few items from my inbox.
This Year’s 25 Geekiest 25th Anniversaries: 04/07/08; From AT&T’s pseudo-birth to Woz’s "US Festival," with TCP-IP, 1-2-3, Word, "WarGames" and even the first real cell phone included: 1983 was a rich year in technology. A few of the notable moments have already received press attention, but below you’ll find all 25 neatly alphabetized.
Dissing my teenage daughters is so wrong: 03/27/08; A man wrote in response to an earlier column — "In defense of Caller-ID spoofing" — suggesting that a little spoofing might be justifiable if it’s needed to keep your kids from ignoring the parental digits when they’re flashing on their cell phones.
No PR purge here, says Hannaford's security vendor: 03/20/08; Now you see them, now you don't … now you do? Such was the fate last week of online press releases and testimonials touting Hannaford's use of Rapid7's flagship risk-management product. The relationship between the companies had become notable after news of the beleaguered grocer's data breach made major headlines.
Latest underwater cable cut less mysterious: 03/13/08; There's been another underwater cable cut — in Maine, not the Middle East — and it looks conspiracy theorists will be unable to blame terrorists or U.S. military preparations for invading Iran.
In defense of Caller-ID spoofing: 03/06/08; It's not me mounting the defense, mind you. However, I thought it worth noting that a pair of recent columns -- "Confessions of a Caller-ID spoofer" and "Caller-ID spoofing burns fire equipment company" -- generated significant reader reaction, not all of it in lockstep condemnation of the practice.
Stallman on handing over GNU Emacs . . . and its future: 02/28/08; The message posted Friday, Feb. 22 on emacs-devel by Richard Stallman was cryptic: "Stefan and Yidong offered to take over, so I am willing to hand over Emacs development to them."
Online customer satisfaction hits record high: 02/21/08; Does the quest for optimum e-commerce customer satisfaction have a date with the law of diminishing returns? It’s a question raised last week by some notably rosy survey data.
Confessions of a caller-ID spoofer: 02/14/08; He spoofed the HR director’s work phone number, then the number of that guy’s boss, before moving up to a vice president, and finally, the CEO. Says he had no choice. He also says "this thing that I did is bad and should be outlawed."
EFF's Patent Busting Project in danger: 02/11/08; The Electronic Frontier Foundation's successful Patent Busting Project may itself be busted by language in "reform" legislation pending before the U.S. Senate.
DEMO start-ups tap into ambitions, generosity: 01/31/08; Let’s meet two innovative online networks -- NotchUp, which is designed to help you improve your lot in life, and Good2gether, which is designed to help you help others. Both made their debut last week at Network World’s DEMO 08.
Caller ID spoofing burns fire equipment company: 01/24/08; Todd Smith, owner of Maine Fire Equipment Company, spent an entire day recently hosing off angry callers convinced that his small business was responsible for threatening them during the course of pushy credit-card solicitations.
Not buying Microsoft's MediaCart: 01/17/08; The MediaCart consoles coming to a grocery cart near you courtesy of Microsoft had better be sturdy and firmly attached or they are all but certain to suffer the same fate as that stomped-upon copier in "Office Space."
Is gaming Google a gateway to crime?: 01/14/08; Are businesses that hire "black hat" search-engine manipulators more likely to engage in outright criminal activity than those who play the traffic-generation game by Google's rules?

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