News

Four Reasons Why You Don’t Really Need a Tablet PC

Are tablet PCs the future of mobile computing? CIO.com's Al Sacco, says not to bet on it. Here are four reasons why the current popularity of tablets could prove to be a mere flash in the pan.

By Al Sacco

Jun 13, 2011 9 mins

Laptops Small and Medium Business Ultrabook

Smartphone Data Plans: 5 Ways to Keep Bandwidth Usage in Check

Unlimited data plans are a thing of the past with AT&T and are being phased out by Verizon. Yet new metered plans don't deliver great bang for your buck and you may get blindsided with a hefty bill if you're not careful. Here are five w

By Bill Snyder

Jun 13, 2011 5 mins

Carriers Small and Medium Business iPhone

How to Manage BlackBerry Application Permissions

The Web is jam packed with cool new BlackBerry applications. But some of those seemingly harmless apps could steal personal data, rack up charges on a wireless bill or damage your device. CIO.com's Al Sacco explains how to properly manage BlackB

By Al Sacco

Jun 13, 2011 6 mins

Privacy Small and Medium Business Smartphones

How to Argue with the CEO–And Win

Can't persuade the CEO to approve that infrastructure upgrade or software development project? The following 13 tips, culled from current and former CIOs and communication consultants, will get the CEO to see your perspective when arguments abou

By Meridith Levinson

Jun 13, 2011 11 mins

Budgeting CIO Careers

The Future Belongs to … Windows Phone 7?

IDC's March prediction that Windows Phone 7 will accelerate growth was no fluke. They've gone and done it again.

By Shane O'Neill

Jun 10, 2011 3 mins

Data Center

BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet to Hit 16 More Markets Within a Month

The new BlackBerry PlayBook tablet will soon become available in more of RIM's largest markets, including Indonesia.

By Al Sacco

Jun 10, 2011 2 mins

Mobile Small and Medium Business

Once in a While, Wear a ‘Black Hat’

Sometimes, you just have to be the bad guy. Businesses often need one person who is challenging the norms of the group, and forcing creative thinking. A common term for this person is "devil's advocate." But I've never really like

By Dallon Christensen

Jun 10, 2011 2 mins

IT Leadership

Should the CFO Take IT’s Reins?

As someone who is out in the field with corporate technology, talking with tech teams across a variety of industries, I've observed the deference that IT is starting to show to finance. With technology investments so tightly linked to a company&

By Sandra Gittlen

Jun 10, 2011 3 mins

IT Leadership

How to Manage IT Spend

StarBev CIO Marcus Johansson and StarBev IT Financial Controller Viera Hraskova share how they successfully implemented a cost control framework and are managing IT costs and some key lessons they learned from the process.

By Marcus Johansson, StarBev CIO; Viera Hraskova, StarBev IT Financial Controller

Jun 10, 2011 5 mins

IT Leadership IT Strategy

Security Shootout: PlayBook, iPad, Android

RIM PlayBook and Apple iPad are ready for primetime, says a mobile management vendor. What about Android tablets? Fuggetaboutit.

By Tom Kaneshige

Jun 10, 2011 4 mins

Mobile Security Smartphones Tablets

Forrester’s iPad Security Tips

When building a critical iPad app in-house, follow these four tips.

By Tom Kaneshige

Jun 10, 2011 2 mins

Consumer Electronics Mobile Security Tablets

Welcome to my new blog, “Deciphering Enterprise Apps”

Join me here regularly to discuss the complex, exciting, flabbergasting and challenging world of enterprise applications.

By Todd R. Weiss

Jun 10, 2011 5 mins

Enterprise Applications

CFOs’ Salary Rises Outpace CEOs’

Salaries increased at a slightly higher rate for CFOs than CEOs last year, but both members of the C-suite basically ran a dead heat in terms of incentive compensation, according to a report by New York-based consulting firm Compensation Advisory Par

By Ed Zwirn

Jun 9, 2011 3 mins

Careers IT Leadership Salaries

The Best 2011 Windows 7 Laptops for Work and Play

The iPad and other tablets are transforming personal computing, but most of the world still uses laptops for business and pleasure, and 90 percent of them run Windows. Here are the coolest high-end laptops released in 2011 that take advantage of Wind

By Shane O'Neill

Jun 9, 2011 4 mins

Laptops Small and Medium Business Windows

Live and Learn: 10 Unforgettable Facebook Follies

It's amazing what people do in the name of Facebook, and the first half of 2011 was no exception. Here are 10 of the most memorable failures, bad ideas and regrettable decisions that left us shaking our heads.

By Kristin Burnham

Jun 9, 2011 5 mins

Facebook Social Networking Apps

Facebook Privacy: How to Block Facial Recognition

Facebook now automatically recommends that your friends tag you in photos when it recognizes your face. Here's how to opt-out of this feature.

By Kristin Burnham

Jun 8, 2011 3 mins

Facebook Privacy Social Networking Apps

First, Fire the Executives: iGate Patni CEO on His Merger of Unequals

iGate Patni CEO Phaneesh Murthy addresses his controversial acquisition of a much larger IT outsourcing company, the debt the combined company has incurred and the way Patni executives were treated during and after the deal.

By Stephanie Overby

Jun 8, 2011 8 mins

Mergers and Acquisitions Outsourcing

Development team ethics, Part I – The Abyss

Before calling anyone unethical, make sure you understand the subject.

By Bob Lewis

Jun 7, 2011 5 mins

IT Leadership

Need a Break? Play Tetris With Your LinkedIn Connections

LinkedIn's take on Tetris, called DropIn, is a fun way to keep up with your network.

By Kristin Burnham

Jun 7, 2011 1 min

Enterprise Applications

Four Ways the Red Sox are Scoring with SharePoint

The Boston Red Sox IT group had been left stranded on base by manual processes that handled ticket requests, invoices and fan mail. But now that they've built an intranet portal using SharePoint 2010 they're speeding towards home.

By Shane O'Neill

Jun 7, 2011 4 mins

ERP Systems Social Networking Apps Supply Chain Management Software

Hot Job: Why Your IT Department Needs Data Scientists

What do you get when you combine the roles of software developer, statistician and data analyst? A data scientist, who can derive tangible insights from huge quantities of data.

By Meridith Levinson

Jun 7, 2011 8 mins

Business Intelligence IT Jobs IT Skills

How To Develop a Cloud Computing Error Logging Strategy

Error handling and trace logs are as old as the hills. Of course this is handled in the clouds, right?? Keep laughing…

By David Taber

Jun 7, 2011 5 mins

Cloud Computing Data Center IT Strategy

Apple Copies BlackBerry With BBM-Style iMessage App; One Key Difference

Apple has announced a brand new BlackBerry-Messenger-like IM application for iOS devices. While the two services appear at first glance to offer nearly identical functionality, CIO.com's Al Sacco highlights one key difference between the two app

By Al Sacco

Jun 7, 2011 4 mins

Small and Medium Business Smartphones iPhone

How Enterprise Architects Can Be a Business Person First

Enterprise architects can add tremendous value to their organization's selection of a packaged application solution by analyzing each candidate's Architectural Business Value (ABV). Forrester Research's Randy Heffner explains how.

By Randy Heffner, Forrester Research

Jun 6, 2011 6 mins

IT Strategy SaaS

Location Etiquette Tips: 6 Foursquare “Faux Pas” to Avoid

CIO.com's mobile maestro Al Sacco explains how you can avoid six very common–and even more annoying–foursquare no-nos and offers a handful of general location-based service (LBS) etiquette tips.

By Al Sacco

Jun 6, 2011 11 mins

Mobile Small and Medium Business Smartphones

Cell phones and Cancer: 8 Precautions Worth Taking

The WHO's recent report that cell phones are possibly carcinogenic is not definitive data and has its skeptics, but Bill Snyder of CIO.com writes that we all should still take precautions on the chance that cell phones could be damaging our heal

By Bill Snyder

Jun 6, 2011 5 mins

Carriers Small and Medium Business Smartphones

Project Management: 6 Best Practices for Ensuring Software Implementation Success

IT leaders and project managers can preempt project failure using the six principles of project assurance.

By Rob Prinzo

Jun 6, 2011 4 mins

Project Management Tools

Cloud CIO: Yes, Your Job Is At Risk

CIOs and senior IT managers are not immune from the employment risks that cloud computing poses to lower-level infrastructure and operations workers. Failing to rethink the delivery of IT services–and the new organizational structures that will be n

By Bernard Golden

Jun 6, 2011 8 mins

CIO IT Skills Virtualization

Sprint 4G BlackBerry PlayBook Coming “Later This Year;” Planned Summer Launch Bumped?

Sprint's planned summer 2011 4G PlayBook launch may not happen, according to comments from a spokesman for the wireless carrier.

By Al Sacco

Jun 3, 2011 3 mins

Mobile Small and Medium Business

What Happens When Centralized IT No Longer Exists?

We need a new architecture that deals with the new reality – business complexity & technology to handle it

By Brian Hopkins

Jun 3, 2011 3 mins

Enterprise Architecture

Can the iPad Cure What Ails Us?

At Texas hospitals, iPads and iPhones sever the desktop computing cord allowing doctors and nurses to spend more time with their patients.

By Tom Kaneshige

Jun 3, 2011 6 mins

Healthcare Industry Twitter iPhone

10 Essential Facebook Tips and Tricks for All Users

Make your account more secure, manipulate your personal settings and more, with these ten Facebook tips and tricks that every user should know.

By Kristin Burnham

Jun 3, 2011 5 mins

Facebook Privacy Social Networking Apps

How Windows 8 Will Challenge Enterprise IT

Windows 8 will work on more devices, which will create complications for enterprises as the consumerization of IT gathers steam. The major challenges: hardware and application incompatibility and Windows upgrade fatigue.

By Shane O'Neill

Jun 3, 2011 4 mins

Desktop Virtualization Small and Medium Business Smartphones

RIM’s Free BlackBerry Mobile Conferencing App Gets Official

Research In Motion's (RIM) cool new BlackBerry Mobile Conferencing app for BlackBerry smartphones, which eases the conferencing-calling process via one-click connections and more, has exited beta testing and is now publically available to most B

By Al Sacco

Jun 3, 2011 2 mins

Mobile Small and Medium Business Smartphones

Mobile Technology: Recognizing the Risks

As if finance executives didn't have enough internal control issues to keep them awake at night, Visa's recent investment in mobile credit card merchant Square could bring more headaches.

By Dallon Christensen

Jun 2, 2011 3 mins

IT Leadership Mobile Small and Medium Business

Caution CFOs: Breach Ahead

On Saturday, May 21, Lockheed Martin detected a significant and tenacious attack on its information systems network. The company's information security team … took aggressive actions to protect all systems and data. As a result of the swift an

By Sandra Gittlen

Jun 2, 2011 3 mins

Data Breach IT Leadership

10 Great Games for Your BlackBerry PlayBook

The Angry Birds are coming soon to a BlackBerry PlayBook near you, in the meantime there are plenty of excellent games already here that truly put the "play" in PlayBook. Here are 10 of the best, and most are free.

By Al Sacco

Jun 2, 2011 5 mins

Consumer Electronics Small and Medium Business Tablets

4 Ways CIOs Can Get Outsourcers to Focus on Business Value

A recent outsourcing survey shows that customers are achieving cost savings from their arrangements with their services providers, but they aren't getting much else in the way of business value. Here's how buyers can change that.

By Stephanie Overby

Jun 2, 2011 3 mins

Innovation Outsourcing ROI and Metrics

Facebook’s CIO Shares IT Innovation Successes and Failures

Facebook CIO Tim Campos shares five lessons he's learned about innovation, along with stories about his IT department's successes and failures.

By Kristin Burnham

Jun 2, 2011 7 mins

CIO Facebook Innovation

Windows 8 Revealed: New Features of Microsoft’s Next OS

The Windows 8 start screen merges the multi-touch, tile-based design of WP7 with desktop OS features for a completely new UI.

By Shane O'Neill

Jun 2, 2011 2 mins

Data Center

A Week in Provence

A week in Provence provided insights and parallels with running IT.

By Bob Lewis

Jun 1, 2011 4 mins

IT Leadership

The San Francisco Chronicle’s iPad App Blunder

The SF Chronicle half-heartedly made the leap to the paid iPad app model, and falls way short compared to the NY Times app.

By Tom Kaneshige

Jun 1, 2011 5 mins

Enterprise Applications

Should You Ever Tell Your Boss You’re Applying for a New Job?

Sharing your career plans with your boss has risks and benefits. CIO.com examines some of the pros and cons in this case study.

By Meridith Levinson

Jun 1, 2011 3 mins

Careers

2011 CIO 100 Winners

This year's winning companies and their IT organizations are being honored for technology innovations that advance business results

By Elana Varon

Jun 1, 2011 2 mins

IT Leadership

Mobile App Security: 5 Ways to Protect Your Smartphone

Smartphones and mobile apps, particularly in the Android family, are becoming more susceptible to hackers. Bill Snyder of CIO.com highlights five easy ways to fortify your mobile apps against the bad guys.

By Bill Snyder

Jun 1, 2011 5 mins

Carriers Malware Small and Medium Business

Project Management Training Improves Success Rates

Companies that invest in project management training reap a variety business benefits, but not just any training method will suffice, according to recent survey results.

By Meridith Levinson

Jun 1, 2011 4 mins

IT Skills Project Management Tools

First Look at RIM’s BlackBerry Bold 9790: Images, Tech Specs

Images and specs for what appear to be a successor to RIM's popular BlackBerry Bold 97xx smartphones have leaked.

By Al Sacco

May 31, 2011 3 mins

Mobile Small and Medium Business

Five Worst Cities for Teleworking

A surprising number of employees in major American cities report poor teleworking policies. Get out of the office, willya!

By Shane O'Neill

May 27, 2011 3 mins

Data Center

Why Your Network is Important

Sometimes, it takes a difficult event to realize how important those around you truly are.

By Dallon Christensen

May 27, 2011 2 mins

Careers

Want to Succeed? Quit School

It may seem counterintuitive, incentivizing our best students to drop out of school. But that's what the Thiel Foundation is doing: offering $100,000 this week to its first batch of teenagers in a "20 Under 20" program. All selectees m

By Roy Harris

May 27, 2011 3 mins

Careers