Amazon
Amazon said to be planning retail stores
A central appeal of shopping at Amazon has always been that you get to transport yourself to their store using a Web browser instead of an automobile.
But no one ever said the two modes had to be mutually exclusive. Read more
Anticipating the RSA Conference 2012
It’s now February although you’d never know it from the balmy winter here in Boston. Aside from Valentine’s Day, February is significant because it is when security geeks from around the world get together in San Francisco for the RSA Conference.
The show doesn’t start until 2/27 but you can feel the anticipation in the air across the whole security community. That’s a good thing since 2011 was an especially difficult year – some have even labeled it, “the year of the breach.” Hmm, what happens if 2012 is even worse – which is not unlikely? Read more
I Want IPv6 for Christmas - Part II
Many years ago I wrote about the items that a person could buy for Christmas that include IPv6. The results were fairly sparse three years ago. Unfortunately, not much has changed. It is not easy to find IPv6-related gifts to give to your loved-ones this holiday season. Even if you have been extremely good this year, you may get a lump of coal in your IPv6 stocking. Read more
RIM PlayBook Stuck Between A Rock (Apple) And A Hard Place (Android)
Research In Motion (RIM) the company behind Blackberry smartphones and the fairly new PlayBook tablet computer has been getting hammered by Wall Street, most recently around an announcement that they have had to take a nearly half a billion dollar write down due to disappointing sales of their Playbook tablets Read more
Forrester Now Says It's Too Late for a Windows Tablet
Just last month a survey from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) found that 42 percent of U.S. consumers and 44 percent of Chinese users said they wanted a Windows tablet, far beyond that of any other tablet out there, including iPad.
I've seen criticism of the research in other places, ranging from challenging the methodology to just plain not believing the findings. Now it seems Forrester can add some veracity to that doubt. Read more
Cyber Monday snapshot: Sales up 20% as of midday ET
Looks like last year's Cyber Monday sales record might get broken. Online sales as of noon ET were up 20% compared to last year, says IBM, which has been tracking online holiday shopping. Read more
Shipping-related spam rises as holidays near
I just received this alert from my company's IT department, and, while I'm sure all of you regular readers are already on your toes regarding this stuff, it might be a good time to offer a reminder to your end users ... at work and at home: Read more
My Take on Scoble's Take on Microsoft's Tablet Strategy
Blogger and gadfly Robert Scoble has posted some interesting comments on why he thinks his former employer Microsoft will fail in the tablet space. While Scoble's opinions have become somewhat polarizing to some folks, he does make some valid points. Read more
Your e-reader has gone missing. Now what?
Mashable this morning has a post headlined, "What to do if your e-reader is lost or stolen," which I read in part because my daughter recently acquired our family's first Kindle. Read more
Kindle purchase offers 10-year-old a lesson
Yesterday my 10-year-old daughter Emma, a voracious reader, took delivery of the family's first Kindle. She's barely put it down since. Read more
Amazon may buy Palm from HP, report says
There are a couple of HP stories to chew on this morning.
First, VentureBeat is reporting that Amazon may purchase Palm from HP.
Who will save what's left of Palm from HP's bumbling? It could be Amazon, as the online retailing giant is in serious negotiations to snap up Palm from HP, VentureBeat has learned. Read more
Nordstrom eliminates online shipping fees
Shipping fees imposed by online retailers are like taxes: No one likes to pay them.
Nordstrom customers, who have been paying for shipping on orders under $200, now won't have to foot the fees at all, the company announced yesterday, although applicable sales taxes will continue to be collected. Read more
Wag.com barking up an old tree
Wag.com, which launches today, sells and ships pet supplies. Yes, it's déjà vu all over again.
But before we get too carried away with the Pets.com-inspired derision, let's remember that Amazon recently shelled out $540 million to buy Quidsi, the company behind this latest attempt to take pet care into the Internet age. Read more
FaceNiff Android App Allows the Clueless to Hack Facebook in Seconds Over Wi-Fi
Stealing cookies to potentially steal users' credentials just got so easy and portable that loony stalkers are probably jumping for joy. Picture this mobile-type scenario, as a person with a rooted Android smartphone casually strolls by a Starbucks, he or she taps once on a new app, and whammo, hops on and takes over Facebook profiles. Read more
Summarizing Symantec
The overall mood was quite cheery at Symantec's annual analyst event last week in New York City. This is quite understandable. Symantec just posted strong Q4 earnings and actually beat the Street's estimate on revenue. Symantec is also forecasting revenue growth of 10% or more for Q1 FY 2012. Read more
Does Amazon "owe" open source? Maybe a little
When most people look at Amazon, they probably see a retail giant that's constantly growing and reaching into new markets. But at the core of almost all of Amazon's success is open source — yet you rarely see Amazon participating and contributing. What's up with that? Read more
Cambridge tops Amazon list of 'most well-read' cities
Read 'em and weep, all you others: Amazon this morning has issued its list of the "Top 20 Most Well-Read Cities in America" and checking in at No. 1 is Cambridge, Mass., which I will note in behalf of my fellow Bay Staters, is pretty much representative of Massachusetts as a whole, at least in this case (ouch, I just hurt my back). Read more
The Microsoft Anti-Trust Case, in Retrospect
In April 2000, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ruled Microsoft violated federal and state antitrust laws. The company was ordered to split into two companies, decouple its operating system and browser technology, pay hefty fines, and undergo years of scrutiny to prevent future market monopolizing. Read more
Best Tidbit from Interop: Amazon is Hiring!
It's the last day of the Interop show, and I happened by the Amazon booth. They are hiring in IT groups all over Amazons business units. And when some of the folks working the booth flip their badges over, it says "we're hiring". And for what? Lots of things, but many look like good matches for anyone who's working towards their Cisco certs, at any level. Read more
Amazon apologizes ... finally
As the company promised it would do, Amazon this morning has posted an explanation of what it says went wrong during last week's interminable EC2 outage. My Network World colleague Jon Brodkin has a rundown of Amazon's accounting here. Read more
-
Network World, Inc
The Connected Enterprise