Stories about: Promise

Using teleconferencing technology has lately become an obvious and financially practical choice to offset rising business travel expenses. Yet sometimes simple chatting doesn't cut it. There has been growing interest in the notion of online conferencing with a "virtual presence" emphasis, which enables people to share information and their very selves with one another with a stronger sense of near-tangible "face time."

When you're one of just two technology managers tasked with supporting a geographically dispersed user base, any kind of self-help technology that takes the burden off IT is welcomed with open arms. That's why Ernest Kayinamura of Enel North America and his lone counterpart have actively embraced wikis as a way to make IT materials more accessible to the end users they support.

Australia could be the cloud computing hub of the Asia Pacific within the next 20 years, according to top government CIOs and industry experts.

Expressing a now-familiar theme, a Microsoft executive at the ApacheCon conference on Friday morning touted Microsoft's efforts to be more open, highlighting moves such as offering the company's "M" modeling language under the Microsoft "Open Specification Promise."

Just a day after Google walked away from a proposed search advertising partnership with Yahoo, the latter firm's CEO said a takeover by Microsoft would now be the best thing for his company.

When the computer industry buys into a buzzword, it's like getting a pop song stuck in your head. It's all you hear. Worse, the same half-dozen questions about the hyped trend are incessantly paraded out, with responses that succeed mainly in revealing how poorly understood the buzzword actually is.

Mobile applications for specific business needs can offer a wide range of benefits for users: access to internal databases and server-based applications (anything from sales and product management tools to patient information systems) as well as custom tools such as loan calculators or internal process guides. Providing these types of tools on a mobile device means workers can access resources and perform job functions on the road or while meeting with clients with little more than a carrier's mobile data service.

Yahoo is making good on its promise to rewire itself by opening its data and tools to developers so they can build customized applications.

For most of Microsoft's history, it designed software the same way Detroit built cars during its mid-century heyday. Adding features was like building a bigger engine and longer tailfins. What could be finer? It may not be entirely coincidence that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer grew up in the Detroit area, the son of a Ford Motor Co. manager.

Microsoft will reveal on Tuesday its intent to open up its planned "M" application modeling language via the company's OSP (Open Specification Promise), according to the company.

A newly expanded ivory ban on eBay highlights the challenge of running a global marketplace while complying with local laws. eBay has decided to stop all sales of ivory products on its auction site, the company announced this week, following concerns over endangered elephant species often targeted for their ivory tusks and teeth.