The Federal Agency Data Breach Protection Act

This week, Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), Chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, introduced H.R. 6163 the Federal Agency Data Breach and Protection Act, amending Title 44 of the United States Code, to strengthen security requirements related to security breaches of data. Really, the act should be renamed to The Federal Laptop Control Act [...]

Microsoft SyncToy for WindowsXP

I was doing some research on the Windows Mobility Center in Windows Vista when I came across SyncToy. SyncToy is a downloadable free utility that allows the user to set parameters on a source destination folder to a target destination folder, then automate the copy, move, and deletion of files from one folder to another. [...]

An 802.11n Explainer

A, B, G, N – wait a minute: any preschooler could tell you that’s not the way the alphabet works. However, that’s the way standards are understood by the IEEE. The Wireless 802.11n standard was approved in draft in January 2006 and isn’t due for finalization until next year, around July 2007, and Linksys has [...]

HP Wins 2006 Truste Privacy Award

Opinion: The Guru Speaks… Around the time that it was privately revealed that HP Chairwoman Patrician Dunn was using phone and email records to spy on her board of directors to locate a leaker, TRUSTe and the Ponemon Institute announced HP to be the Most Trusted Company for Privacy in 2006. They were handed the [...]

Fight Spam Smarter!

So a lot of clients have asked about spam this week. Many of my clients feel helpless when it comes to spam and are uncertain how to be able to stave-off the flood of unsolicited email. Believe it or not, though, the small business does have a variety of options available to them: 1. Legal [...]

Online Education Advertising Outpaces Onground 11:1

Again, doing a little research into the perception of online versus onground education, I wanted to look at the differences between marketing spend in both environments. I ran across an interesting article and set of discussions at the Chronical of Higher Education. One particular article did catch my attention concerning the emphasis on advertising spend [...]

Does Online Education Suck?

I hoping for some help and comments on this one especially from current and former students, educators, and administrators. I was at the car dealership the other day and was in line to pay my bill. During the time in line, I had received a call from a student and was providing some advice on [...]

Where to Find a DBA

A former student of mine wrote me today asking where they might be able to find a qualified DBA for their startup. I wanted to pass along my response. *** Hey Bill – good to hear from you! I have a couple of recommendations: 1. Craigslist. DBA’s and other tech professions stay plugged in to [...]

"Hi – I’m a Mac…"

Anyone seen these commercials? You know them. These two guys are standing on a white screen. A hipster introduces himself as an Apple Macintosh; a nerd says he’s a PC. The hipster is energetic and sly; the nerd is business-dressed and geeky. These commercials drive me crazy because the assertions they make are patently false. [...]

The Mirror of Erised

I’m a news junkie and I’ll be the first to admit that I’m hooked on CNN’s Pipeline service. Pipeline allows for four video channels of nonstop news to be delivered to my desktop 24/7. On Sept. 11, Pipeline ran (and has been airing) the 9/11 events as they happened – chronologically – on one of [...]