Offshoring
CIO, 7/15/04: Lost in Translation
The successful transfer of knowledge to an offshore vendor—everything from programming expertise to what users expect from a system—can make or break a project. Here's what you need to know to do it right.
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Utility Computing
Gartner, 7/12/04: IT Infrastructure Utility Needs New Pricing Models
Utility approaches to infrastructure service provision make traditional ways of pricing infrastructure services no longer adequate. The absence of an accepted pricing method is a significant issue for the whole industry.
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Security
ZDNet, 7/15/04: New sleeper worm may have al-Qaida link
By Munir Kotadia
A second variant of the Atak worm, which goes to sleep to avoid detection by antivirus software, has been linked to an al-Qaida sympathizer who once threatened to release a powerful worm if the United States attacked Iraq.
Romanian antivirus firm Bitdefender claims the worm's author has signed his nickname into an encrypted part of the worm's code.
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C|net, 7/15/04: Latest Bagle succeeds by sheer numbers
By Robert Lemos
Unknown online vandals with an apparent connection to spam e-mail have created a new version of the Bagle computer worm that has spread somewhat successfully in the past 24 hours, antivirus companies said Thursday.
The mass-mailing computer virus, dubbed Bagle.AF or Beagle.AB by different security firms, opens a path for intruders to relay bulk e-mail messages through the infected computer and attempts to contact one of almost 150 compromised German Web sites to let the attackers know of their latest conquest.
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Future Focused
Dan Bricklin Blog, 7/15/04: Software That Lasts 200 Years
Editor’s Note: Dan Bricklin coded Lotus 1-2-3
The structure and culture of a typical prepackaged software company is not attuned to the long-term needs of society for software that is part of its infrastructure. This essay discusses the ecosystem needed for development that better meets those needs.
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Collaborative Technologies
The New York Times, 7/15/04: Conventioneering.com
H. L. Mencken is said to have guffawed and slapped his thigh in delight at times as he would write about a typical day at a presidential nominating convention. Those long-ago times are enviable for their unpredictability — eons removed from the scripted conventions that will soon be offered to the nation once more as lean cuisine for thought. All the more reason to hope, then, that this year's one potentially risky innovation — accepting dozens of free-form online bloggers as accredited convention journalists — may lace the proceedings with fresh insight and even some Menckenian impertinence.
People who think the mushrooming world of wannabe polemicists and their Web logs, or blogs, is merely a high-tech amusement should talk to Senator Trent Lott, the Mississippi Republican.
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Thanks, Bill
The Register, 7/16/04: Excel ate my DNA
By Lucy Sherriff
Genetic research is being hampered by a smart formatting function in Excel, according to US researchers.
The problem, which can cause medically important genes to be hidden from view, is widespread, and has affected some public databases, including the gene expression data on the NCBI LocusLink database in the US, the researchers say.
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Otherwise
SF Chronicle, 7/16/04: A future that is eerily possible sets the stage for the action-packed 'I, Robot'
Mick LaSalle, Chronicle Movie Critic
"I, Robot" has going for it a world-class sci-fi director in Alex Proyas and the commanding presence of Will Smith, who for the first time tones down the irony and holds the screen as a solid leading man. He's still funny when he needs to be, but this time he doesn't act as if being in a movie is in itself funny. He brings a newfound relaxation to his role that allows him to be still for stretches at a time, long enough for us to notice that Smith is in his mid-30s now, looks it and acts it, and it suits him.
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