Archive for October, 2010
Will Motorola’s Droid Pro replace the BlackBerry for businesses?
Oct 29th
This week Motorola announced their new cell phone, the DROID PRO. It is being targeted as a business cell phone or the next productivity powerhouse. Motorola Mobility CEO said that business users will drop their BlackBerry phones for the new Droid Pro. Quite a bold statement for a phone that has not been released as yet. 
While we cannot predict how this phone will perform here in Canada, we can review its features and investigate whether the phone is indeed suited to be the Business Productivity powerhouse as suggested by Motorola.
What caused sudden drop in spam traffic?
Oct 28th
It has been widely reported that global spam volumes have decreased, especially on October 3 when spam levels dropped to their lowest for some time.
Dan Bleaken
At Symantec Hosted Services we have a wealth of data on spam traffic, and crucially what contribution to global spam each of the major botnets makes. This blog will take a close look at botnet spam, what factors influence botnet output, and will try to explain some of the changes that occurred around October 3. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve seen the channel from both sides now
Oct 27th
I’ve always been aware of the channel, but last week as the first time I’d really got an inside peek at the industry.
At ITBusiness.ca we cover technology from the point of view of the small business user. More often than not when writing stories about this space, I’ve heard about IT services delivered to SMBs through a channel partner – a managed service provider (MSP), a value added reseller (VAR), a solution provider, etc.
When an entrepreneur talks about working with a channel partner, it’s a means to an end – a way to solve a problem that was beyond the capabilities of the small business. So I had only a one-dimensional understanding of the industry. Until last week, when I played pinch-hitter for my colleagues at Computer Dealer News and went to cover the N-able Partner Summit in Arizona.
Microsoft loves PHP. Yes, seriously
Oct 26th
There has in the past been a wide chasm between perspectives regarding commercial software and Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). On the one side, FOSS is about the sharing of ideas and fostering communities of passionate software professionals and hobbyists to build great software that anyone can download and use. On the other side, commercial software places a financial value on the software a company develops and offers and the expectation is that their customers provide compensation for that software in some form (usually paying for a license or subscription).
Paul Laberge
Despite the well-documented history between these two camps, the gap is closing and both are starting to see that they need each other to not only survive but also to thrive in this brave new world of cloud computing and services-based software. By doing so, developer communities from open source and companies like Microsoft will grow together, for the benefit of customers. This is why open source is increasingly becoming part of Microsoft’s developer DNA.
For example, in Canada Microsoft has participated actively in WordCamp Toronto and Montreal, GovCamp and hosts an annual open source conference called Make Web Not War. Microsoft has also participated in significant open source and open data initiatives with the Cities of Edmonton and Vancouver. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s mostly tricks not treats with Halloween online ads
Oct 24th
Halloween is drawing near, so the spammers are busy laying out bait in the form of Halloween jackpots, sweepstakes, gift cards, e-cards, personalized gifts, online contests, and even print products and costumes. 
Perhaps this is one of those seasons during which people—both young and old—celebrate with full gusto.
Unfortunately, this type of popular event brings with it a whole host of malicious circumstances on the Internet that people are being enticed to fall for. For it is common knowledge that where people show some vulnerability, spammers are not far behind!
A challenge to health IT professionals – patient privacy is in your hands
Oct 22nd
Earlier this year, a health care professional did something seemingly well-intentioned: she placed a USB key into her purse as she left the office, planning to do some further work at home. As it happened, the files in question were the personal health information records of 763 patients.
Ann Cavoukian
Her purse was stolen. And regrettably, all of the records – unencrypted and easily read by anyone – were lost. Lost, too, was any sense of privacy for those 763 patients.
Scenarios such as this have been played out countless times all across Ontario and around the world. Indeed, a U.S. database has documented 121 incidents of mobile computing and storage devices being lost or stolen since September 2009, impacting over five million patients. It’s a privacy problem of epic proportions, compromising the most sensitive and personal types of information possible. And it must stop – now. Read the rest of this entry »
ITB blog readers dig Facebook security, phone OSs and discount plans
Oct 20th
A Facebook security and privacy setting guide, a video blog of a mobile operating system smackdown and a review of a new budget cell phone plan for Quebec users were top picks in the recently concluded ITBusiness.ca blogging contest.
Nestor Arellano
Headlines about Facebook’s continuing security and privacy faux pas, the social networking site’s most recent retooling and not to mention repeated hand slapping from Ontario’s privacy commissioner must have had something to do with Facebook security and privacy hardening guide being the top read at ITBusiness.ca Blogs.
In his winning blog, security expert Claudiu Popa, however took a different approach by not only talking about Facebook’s security and privacy settings, but also offering readers a easy to follow free downloadable tool. Popa is principal of Informatica Corp., an international IT security consultancy firm based in Toronto. Read the rest of this entry »
Canadians present one face to social media
Oct 14th
We all wear different masks at different times.
The persona you take on at work may be different from the one you have at home. The way you ingratiate yourself towards your boss is likely different from how you act around friends. One person has more than one personality – but do those habits extend to social media?
I’ve heard anecdotically from some friends that they operate two Facebook accounts. There’s a few good reasons to do this – some who work with children or young people might want to keep one account with limited information about their lives to communicate with youth, and another more personal account to relate to family and friends. Or perhaps some Facebook users just prefer to keep a separate account for the office and another (perhaps less politically correct) account for their personal life.
MingleStick aims to kill business cards
Oct 11th
When I first received a press release about the MingleStick earlier this month, I was incredulous about the technology’s appeal – “This is dumb,” my internal dialogue began. “Who would ever use this?”
Now that I’m waving around my own MingleStick at the IDG Global Product Meeting in Boston, I have to eat crow. This little keychain electronic device is a technological replacement to an essential tool in any business person’s arsenal – the trusty business card. Instead of exchanging rectangles of paper with contact details inscribed, MingleStick users merely point the devices at one another and hold down a button for three seconds. A blinking red light turns green, indicating you’ve exchanged contact information.
MingleStick users exchange contact information.
So is the MingleStick going to kill the business card? No.
A review of Videotron’s new cell phone plans
Oct 11th
Quebecor’s Videotron launched its Wireless network recently (Sept 9) and we took the opportunity to review its cell phone plans which they recently introduced. Unlike the new entrants, Wind Mobile, Mobilicity and Public Mobile – Videotron is an established cable operator with over 2.5 million customers already and with the necessary financial resources to do this (so they can’t be bought out). Read the rest of this entry »
