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The News - April 12, 2009
"If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Once you choose hope, anything's possible.” – Christopher Reeve
Top Picks
Cyberspies penetrate electrical grid: report
“Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE53729120090408
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gniLM6lFJe1fkwWluc_qrG2kJdow
HIMSS09: Greenspan's thoughts on economy and health care IT generate a buzz
“Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, kicked off the final day of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference in Chicago, IL. He focused on why the economy is in the state it is in and highlighted some of the telltale signs that we may be heading out of it; for instance, the dramatic decline in inventories has begun to slow. But I felt his remarks lead to more questions than answers; the questions raised focused more on how the economy will impact health care.”
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/cio-for-hire/?p=239
IT Audit / Internal Audit / Compliance / Ethics
Less Than Half of Self-insured Organizations Addressing HIPAA
“Most self-insured U.S. companies are in danger of failing to meet the HIPAA security requirements, and for many, the problem is that they think it applies only to insurance companies and health care providers. In fact, any organization that handles any individually identifiable health information for insurance purposes for 50 or more individuals is responsible for meeting the HIPAA requirements, including the security rule. There are substantial penalties each time an organization fails to meet the 18 standards and 36 implementation specifications, META Group reported.”
http://health-information.advanceweb.com/editorial/content/editorial.aspx?CC=35763
IT Process Improvement / Quality Management
Understanding the Cloud/Ops Disconnect
“Since ITIL is the lingua franca – the accepted common language – for IT operations right now, let us use the ITIL framework to consider operational inter-operability between the Cloud service provider and the customer.”
http://www.itsmwatch.com/itil/article.php/3814356
Why U.S. Navy is Standardizing IT Strategy Around ITIL
“In 2006, EDS had a problem. A big problem. The company was facing rampant and voluble dissatisfaction of its $9.9 billion contract to manage the Navy and Marine Corps’s land-side IT infrastructure, better known as NMCI for Navy/Marine Corp. Intranet. The solve this migraine of a headache, EDS, now a division of HP, turned to ITIL. “
http://www.itsmwatch.com/itil/article.php/3813651
New ITIL Adoption Slowing
“Large IT organizations are continuing to expand ITIL initiatives at a healthy pace, but new adoption may be slowing. The obstacles to adoption are real, and benefits are sometimes difficult to quantify. Furthermore, the current economic crisis is not favorable to investment in long-term improvement programs such as ITIL. On the other hand, a downturn in business volume may be the best time to make changes to IT processes and services, as personnel may have more time for such initiatives.”
http://www.itsmwatch.com/news/article.php/3811856
Note: The Australian IT Service Management & Help Desk Summit is April 28 th and 29 th at Luna Park in Sydney
“The Australian IT Service Management & Help Desk Summit is where the Help Desk industry thought leaders meet, key issues are discussed, partnerships are formed and business is done. The focus of this event is People, Process and Technology. The summit will showcase best and innovative practices in the help desk industry including techniques to make you helpdesk into and resourceful, motivated and integrated business who deliver on service excellence.
Join your help desk industry peers and thought leaders at The Australian IT Service Management & Help Desk Summit.”
http://www.acevents.com.au/contact2009/index_itsmhd.html
Data Centers / Cloud Computing / Green IT
Microsoft's Data Center Chief to Leave Company
“Manos will be senior vice president of technical services at Digital Realty, which designs and manages data centers for third parties. He will oversee the design and construction of Digital Realty's data centers worldwide, and lead a new professional services offering that the company plans to unveil shortly, it said in a statement Wednesday.”
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/162841/microsofts_data_center_chief_to_leave_company.html
Digital Realty Trust Adopts Green Standards
“Wholesale data center provider Digital Realty Trust (www.digitalrealtytrust.com) is adopting the newly announced Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method Bespoke (www.breeam.org) data center standards for all future construction of its data centers, ensuring environmental sustainability, reduced running costs and increased long term building value, according to the company's Tuesday announcement.”
http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/033109_Digital_Realty_Trust_Adopts_Green_Standards
Free-Cooling Estimated Savings
The Green Grid launched a free calculator for data centers that want to estimate the savings that the use of an economizer could bring.
http://cooling.thegreengrid.org/calc_index.html
Security and Risk Management
Microsoft warns of dangerous rise in scareware
“The threat of rogue security software, or 'scareware', has risen dramatically over the past year or so, according to a new report from Microsoft, but there was good news for the industry after a fall in the number of vulnerability disclosures. Scareware is used by criminals to extort money from vulnerable users by persuading them that their PC is at risk or infected, and urging them to buy bogus security software.”
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2240101/microsoft-warns-rise-scareware
Updated Conficker Ropes Victims into Rogue Anti-virus Scam
“An updated version of the Conficker worm is installing malware that attempts to lure people into buying rogue anti-virus software. Security researchers also say the worm is downloading malware tied to the notorious Waledac botnet.”
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Updated-Conficker-Ropes-Victims-into-Rogue-Antivirus-Scam-376657/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10217386-83.html
Cyber spying a threat, and everyone is in on it
“Nowadays, a hacker with a high-speed Internet connection, knowledge of computer security and some luck can pilfer information thought to be safely ensconced in a digital locker. And the threat is growing, with countries — including the U.S. — pointing fingers at each other even as they ramp up their own cyber espionage.”
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g9Qba11VwXiwuvQ129By-RandlvAD97F54H00
Giving Government Power To Unplug The Internet
“As the U.S. government considers significant changes to federal cybersecurity regulations, one line item in proposed Senate legislation shows why companies and citizens should pay attention. The bill would give the president explicit power to turn off computer networks in the interest of national security.”
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/government/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=216500090&subSection=Vulnerabilities+and+threats
Rid your computer of the Conficker virus
“Let's assume you're on the receiving end of the worst April Fool's Day joke of 2009: your computer's been infected with the Conficker virus. It's a frustrating but not insurmountable problem. This guide will walk you through how to cleanse your computer and inoculate against other Conficker variants.”
http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-10208734-12.html
Health and Healthcare
HIMSS: Dell, Perot Systems Unleash Health Care IT Salvo
“Dell (NSDQ:Dell) and solution provider Perot Systems (NYSE:PER ) (2008 VARBusiness 500 No. 35) announced a partnership Monday to provide products and services to the health-care IT industry, including virtualized desktops, servers, storage and electronic medical records (EMR) either on-premise, hosted off-site or in secure private clouds.”
http://www.crn.com/healthcare/216403066
HIMSS: Moving From Stimulus Hope To Real Health-Care IT Projects
“If there was a dominant theme at this year's Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference in Chicago, it was undoubtedly the federal stimulus--what the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act means for those with a health-care IT stake, and what they can do to capitalize on the opportunities it presents.”
http://www.crn.com/healthcare/216500291
Human Error / Safety / Environment
Obama, Who Vowed Rapid Action on Climate Change, Turns More Cautious
“President Obama came to office promising swift and comprehensive action to combat global climate change, and the topic remains a surefire applause line in his speeches here and abroad. The latest on President Obama, the new administration and other news from Washington and around the nation. Yet the administration has taken a cautious and rather passive role on the issue, proclaiming broad goals while remaining aloof from details of climate legislation now in Congress.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/11/us/politics/11climate.html
Chu wants labs to work on energy, climate change
“In a speech today at Sandia National Laboratories, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu compared unchecked global warming to riding on the Titanic. ‘Lots of people see there’s an iceberg ahead, but it takes a long time to turn the boat around,’ Chu said. ‘If we turn it now, we can mitigate the blow.’”
http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/stories/2009/04/06/daily51.html
Climate change hits Australia first, and hard
“A Southern Hemisphere continent that was already a land of climate extremes has become more so in recent years. Even as the tropical north is deluged by flooding and warmer ocean currents are spawning more powerful cyclones, the parched south and interior have turned into baking dead zones. The results: vast brush fires, killer heat waves, increased tropical diseases, ruined crops, loss of livestock, severe water shortages and quickening species extinction.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-australia11-2009apr11,0,5613275.story
The earlier article by Julie Cart they mention is at: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-climate-change-australia9-2009apr09%2C0%2C65585.story
Global News / Business / Economics
The Outlook For China's Economy
“Even once the U.S. economy recovers, it will rely less on consumption and imports and more on an improvement in net exports. The world where the U.S. was the consumer of first and last resort--spending more than its income and running an ever larger current account deficit--and where China was the producer of first and last resort, spending less than its income and running ever larger current account surpluses, is changing.”
http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/08/china-economy-yuan-exports-opinions-columnists-nouriel-roubini.html
Asia key to restoring world growth-World Bank chief
“Asia is key to restoring global growth and an East Asia Summit in Thailand next week is a good opportunity to discuss economic issues confronting the region, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said on Thursday.”
http://in.reuters.com/article/specialEvents4/idINN0917011320090409
US News / Business / Economics
Google addresses newspaper woes
“The majority of newspapers should be online, says Google boss Eric Schmidt, amid criticism it should share some of the millions it makes from newslinks.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7988561.stm
The Most Innovative Companies
A Business Week Special Report.
http://www.businessweek.com//magazine/toc/09_16/B4127innovative_companies.htm?campaign_id=rss_null
Betting On Technology
“Depression-era history hints that big technology firms might do best in a long economic downturn.”
http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/08/success-during-downturn-technology-global-09-success.html?feed=rss_news
The Smart-Grid Dilemma
“What do utilities make money on? Energy consumption. So, what incentive do they have to install smart meters in your house and make this a transparent process with variable pricing if that means it would eventually reduce your energy bill, hence their revenue?”
http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/26/smart-grid-utilities-technology-enterprise-tech-smart-grid.html?feed=rss_technology_enterprisetech
Technology & Science
General Motors, Segway unveil electric two-wheeled, two-seat vehicle
“ Struggling General Motors Corp. is hoping that one answer to people's green transportation needs lies in a two-wheeled, two-seat electric vehicle it jointly developed with Segway Inc.”
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9131240&intsrc=news_ts_head
Are Patent Problems Stifling U.S. Innovation?
“The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office is drowning in applications while its budget shrinks. Stanford Law professor Mark Lemley suggests some fixes”
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/apr2009/id2009048_138177.htm?campaign_id=rss_tech
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