News podcast: Network World 360
Cyber espionage seen as growing threat to business, government; Open access not as important to wireless consumers as QoS, pricing, survey finds. (5:30)

This week's most-read stories

1. 20 useful Web sites for IT professionals
2. How much do big-name CIOs make?
3. Microsoft's response to the Xbox's strange wireless signal: It could be anything
4. Young IT workers disillusioned, hard to hold, survey says
5. 8 hot technologies for 2008
6. 14 Fantastic Freeware Finds
7. Star Trek-like 'Phraselator' device helps police communicate
8. Top new gadgets from CES 2008
9. New Trojan intercepts online banking information
10. Sales rep at Cisco reseller pleads guilty to fraud

11. The future of IT jobs? Not all bad news, Carr says
12. Sun to acquire MySQL for $1 billion
13. NASA seeking fast moonbuggies and reliable lunar landers
14. IBM retains slim lead among patent-winners; Samsung, Microsoft gain ground
15. The 15 best downloads of the year
16. 10,000 Web sites rigged with advanced hacking attack
17. What doesn't matter in IT anymore
18. Apple iPhone Doomed To Failure - Windows Mobile 7 Plans For 2009 Leaked
19. The IT department is dead, author argues
20. How to get out of an Outlook jam

21. How Microsoft is going green
22. Hottest gadgets from Macworld 2008
23. Torvalds breaks down Linux
24. Not buying Microsoft's MediaCart
25. The 'Net is a roiling cauldron of clown hatred

Mac users: MacBook Air lacks features, 01/16/2008 Steve Jobs wowed the Macworld audience when he unveiled the slim, ultraportable MacBook Air notebook, but users and analysts say its lack of some ...

Apple at MacWorld: No home runs, but solid hits, 01/16/2008 January is the best time of the year for gadget nuts: During the first week we get the madness of the Consumer Electronics Show, and that's closely ...

Apple's MacBook Air: evolution, not revolution, 01/15/2008 As I write this it's a little after noon Eastern Time on Jan. 15. I'm sitting in front of my computer (a Mac of course) watching two different live ...

Tips to improve the performance of Cisco routers Netcordia's latest Tech Tip details how to improve the performance of Cisco IOS routers.

Is Cisco worth the premium? Cisco Ethernet market share by ports falls. Is Cisco worth the big bucks?

Putting realism into your network Cisco Subnet introduces a new blogger: Larry Chaffin, who will inject some realism into your network buying plans.

Wireless LAN scan finds big security holes in NYC retailers’ wireless nets, 01/15/08 About one-third of nearly 800 NYC retailers have "bulletproof" WLAN security, according to a new onsite survey by AirDefense during the National Retail Federation trade show. But the remainder have weak or non-existent ...

SONET to fade as 40G Ethernet flourishes, 01/15/08 U.S. analysts CIR have predicted that new Ethernet standards on the way will kill off SONET by 2016, just eight years away, and that 40Gps Ethernet will be the mid-term winner ahead of 100G Ethernet.

Steelbox airs IP video appliance and storage array system, 01/14/08 The Steelbox 1250 video appliance is a network video recorder and distribution system that can support up to 250 IP cameras for 750Mbps ...

Boeing subsidiary solves its storage problems, 01/14/08 Boeing’s supply-chain management subsidiary doubles its storage, gains new features and improves application performance, all while keeping ...

Boeing subsidiary shares storage-upgrade lessons learned, 01/14/08 Lessons learned about making a storage upgrade are shared by a Boeing subsidiary.

HP launches four SMB-targeted servers, 01/14/08 HP is launching four rack-mount servers for small and medium-sized businesses. The 1U HP ProLiant DL160 G5 and 2U ProLiant DL 180 G5 are sister products to the enterprise-level DL360 and the DL380, according to HP's server and storage VP Paul Miller. These are Intel-powered boxes, with the accompanying DL165 G5 and DL185 G5 housing AMD chips.

Data Robotics launches DroboShare network storage tool, 01/14/08 Data Robotics unveiled a companion product for its Drobo storage device that allows users to share data over a LAN. Dubbed DroboShare, the $199 product automates network management and lets users add capacity as their needs require.

Corporate IT almost ready for online backup, IDC says, 01/14/08 The inability of large enterprises to control exploding data growth over the next few years will fuel rapidly increasing corporate use of hosted backup services, according to an IDC report released last week.

Lockdown Networks tunes up Enforcer NAC, 10/25/2007 Lockdown Networks is tuning up its Enforcer NAC appliance so it doesn't bog down network access during emergencies, when traffic might be greater ...

Lockdown Networks enforces NAC at the switch without network interruption - Network ..., 10/03/2007 Lockdown Networks Cost: $24,995 per appliance, which support as many as 2,000 users . . Score: 4.35 . . Lockdown Networks Enforcer functions in a ...

Prize for zero-day Windows flaws set at $20,000, 01/16/2008 A security research company is offering $20,000 for information on undisclosed security flaws in Microsoft's Windows OS.. . Digital Armaments ...

12,500 sign 'Save XP' petition, 01/16/2008 Within 36 hours of the full launch of InfoWorld's petition drive asking Microsoft not to discontinue Windows XP as planned on June 30, 12,621 ...

Microsoft warns of new Excel vulnerability, 01/16/2008 Attackers are exploiting a vulnerability that lies within several versions of the Excel spreadsheet program, Microsoft warned late Tuesday. . . The ...

What Microsoft could have said but didn't about the strange Xbox wireless signal, 01/11/2008 After 37 days, Microsoft finally issued a statement in response to the strong radio apparently generated by its Xbox 360 game console that was ...

Microsoft's response to the Xbox's strange wireless signal: It could be anything, 01/11/2008 After 37 days, Microsoft issued 43-word statement on the report of a strange, strong radio apparently generated by its Xbox 360 game console, and ...

Microsoft confirms another executive departure, 01/15/2008 Microsoft confirmed on Tuesday that a long-standing and influential member of the Windows OS team has left, one of several recent and imminent ...

Microsoft partners to deliver ads on shopping carts, 01/15/2008 A partnership unveiled this week between Microsoft, MediaCart Holdings and Wakefern Food will deliver personalized ads to grocery shoppers through ...

Raikes to leave Microsoft in September, 01/10/08 Jeff Raikes, the president of Microsoft's Business Division, plans to retire in September, the company said on Thursday.

IBM retains slim lead among patent-winners; Samsung, Microsoft gain ground, 01/14/08 IBM secured 3,148 patents in 2007, besting all other competitors for the 15th consecutive year, but Big Blue's lead is getting slimmer.

Microsoft to provide virtual access to Library of Congress, 01/10/08 Microsoft will provide the technology that allows visitors to the U.S. Library of Congress (LOC) to first take a virtual tour of ...

Microsoft trained 200,000 teachers in India, 01/14/08 Microsoft has trained 200,000 teachers in India on the use of computers, ahead of its original target to train 80,000 teachers in the country during the five-year period ending December this year, it said.

Today on Microsoft Subnet: The No. 1 reason smart IT professionals fail certification exams: time management. Podcast: Using Active Directory to manage Linux systems. The purpose of roles in Window Server 2008.

Two great giveaways from Microsoft Subnet Enter to win a training course worth up to $2,500 from New Horizons. Plus: enter to win a free Cool Stuff gift worth up to $500 from Global Knowledge's Cool Stuff catalog.

Wishes for MacWorld Mitchell Ashley names his list of announcements that he says Apple should make at Macworld '08. It begins with his idea for the "iPhone Plus" which would, among other t things, support Microsoft Exchange.

An in-depth look at Windows Server 2008 Delve under the hood of the soon-to-be-launched server OS with Microsoft Subnet guest blogger Glenn Weadock, an instructor with Global Knowledge.

Cisco souped up cable modem races at 1Gbps Cisco demonstrated - well, showed a slide anyway - of a concept to make a DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem perform at 1Gbps through the use of optical networks.

Tips to improve the performance of Cisco routers Netcordia's latest Tech Tip details how to improve the performance of Cisco IOS routers.

How current WAN firewalls are flawed, 01/15/2008 Last time, we mentioned that the current generation of WAN firewalls has not advanced as rapidly as the security threats that the firewalls are ...

Packeteer readies faster generation of traffic-shaping gear, 01/14/2008 Packeteer Networks in a few weeks will be coming out with a faster generation of its traffic-shaping gear that eventually will reach 20Gbps ...

Cisco warns of Unified Communications Manager heap overflow flaw, 01/16/08 Cisco has released its first new security alert of the year: a warning that its Cisco Unified Communications Manager - formerly CallManager - contains a heap overflow vulnerability in the Certificate Trust List that could allow a hacker to cause a denial-of-service attack or execute arbitrary code. (Plus: Read what the bloggers are saying.)

Scalix adds to Outlook support in its Linux e-mail server, 01/09/2008 Scalix Wednesday released a new version of its Linux-based e-mail server adding encryption support for Microsoft Outlook clients that eliminates ...

Ikea closes global spam gap, 01/15/08 The global furniture giant Ikea has closed a serious security gap that for an unknown period of time gave hackers and phishers a free rein to exploit the company's mail server.

Perimiter eSecurity buys e-mail compliance vendor, 01/15/08 Looking to expand its presence among New York financial companies, security services vendor Perimiter eSecurity has acquired Secure ...

Collaboration plug-in for Outlook unveiled, 12/20/2007 An e-mail collaboration tool developer seeks to capitalize on the familiarity of a worker's natural habitat -- e-mail -- to bring the plethora of ...

The coming VMware networking storm Michael Morris, Cisco Subnet blogger and network architect at a $3 billion high-tech recently put VMware to the test at his company. Read what he thinks of this virtualization technology.

With WiMAX iffy, what's your laptop strategy?, 01/16/2008 The prognosis for widespread U.S. WiMAX services improved slightly last week, when Sprint Nextel said its Xohm WiMAX network is proceeding on ...

How current WAN firewalls are flawed, 01/15/2008 Last time, we mentioned that the current generation of WAN firewalls has not advanced as rapidly as the security threats that the firewalls are ...

Packeteer readies faster generation of traffic-shaping gear, 01/14/2008 Packeteer Networks in a few weeks will be coming out with a faster generation of its traffic-shaping gear that eventually will reach 20Gbps ...

Gartner's magic quadrant WAN optimization vendors, 01/10/2008 Four vendors placed in the "leaders" section of Gartner's magic quadrant for WAN optimization controllers: Riverbed Technology, Juniper, Blue Coat ...

14 Fantastic Freeware Finds
Sometimes I wonder why I ever pay for software. After all, clever people keep turning out great new programs and giving them away! Here's my latest collection of cool finds that will cost you absolutely nothing to ...

BEA stares down Oracle, gets its price
Oracle got what it wanted when BEA Systems agreed to a buyout Wednesday for $8.5 billion, but BEA was the real winner. Plus: Oracle’s 12 acquisitions since January 2007

Cisco warns of Unified Communications Manager heap overflow flaw
Cisco has released its first new security alert of the year: a warning that its Cisco Unified Communications Manager - formerly CallManager - contains a heap overflow vulnerability in the Certificate Trust List that ... (Plus: Read what the bloggers are saying.)

Mac users: MacBook Air lacks features
Steve Jobs wowed the Macworld audience when he unveiled the slim, ultraportable MacBook Air notebook, but users and analysts say its lack of some important features may make it unattractive to buyers.

Open access not as important to wireless consumers as QoS, pricing, survey finds
While many carriers have been moving toward opening up their networks over the past year, a new survey shows that open-access networks aren't nearly as important to consumers as device prices or service quality.

With trials beginning, another Estonia cyberattack
With the trial starting for four ethnic Russians charged in connection with rioting last year, the Estonian news site Delfi.ee has weathered a two-week-long denial of service attack.

XO's new VoIP pricing model may save small companies money
In a move that could help small and medium-size businesses save money, telecom carrier XO Communications has rolled out a new pricing model for VoIP services based on the bandwidth a business uses, instead of the number ...

Trial set to determine what SCO owes Novell
Novell will head to court this April to find out what it is owed, if anything, by SCO, which had been trying to earn royalties from Unix code it did not own.

CHAT TRANSCRIPT

Like it or not, Web 2.0 is heading for your network
The inevitability of Web 2.0, how to attract VC money and if the iPhone will always be cool are topics discussed by DEMO's Chris Shipley in a recent Network World Chat.

LIVE CHAT

ITIL demystified with Lou Hunnebeck
Mark your calendars for Tues., Feb. 5 from 2 p.m. – 3 p.m. EST, for a live chat with Lou Hunneveck. Widely recognized as an industry ITIL v3 expert, Hunnebeck is a vice president for the ITIL training and consulting firm, Third Sky. Hunnebeck served on the public QA team for ITIL v3, is on the ITIL Examination Panel for ITIL v3, and a regular on the IT service management speaker circuit. Hunnebeck has over 20 years of experience in IT service industries and has led global teams in best practice and methodology design. No registration required. Just log on and post a question now.

BLOGS

Buzzblog: The 'Net is a roiling cauldron of clown hatred
It should come as no surprise that a recent survey of British children shows deep antipathy toward clowns. After all, the Internet is up to its bulbous red nose in unbridled adult hatred of clowns, and you know where kids learn everything these days.

Today on Layer 8, NASA seeking fast moonbuggies and reliable lunar landers
If you have a hankering to drive fast on the moon, or just want to build somehting that can offer lunar transportation, NASA wants to hear from you

Today on Cisco Subnet
U.S. Supreme Court ruling is a stunning victory for Cisco and investors worldwide. Cisco souped up cable modem races at 1Gbps. Tips to improve the performance of Cisco routers. Blogger Jamey Heary gives an insider's view of finding stuff fast on cisco.com. Plus: The coming VMware networking storm - are you prepared?

Today on Microsoft Subnet
The No. 1 reason smart IT professionals fail certification exams: time management. Podcast: Using Active Directory to manage Linux systems. The purpose of roles in Window Server 2008.

Wishes for MacWorld
Mitchell Ashley names his list of announcements that he says Apple should make at Macworld '08. It begins with his idea for the "iPhone Plus" which would, among other t things, support Microsoft Exchange.

GIVEAWAYS

January giveaways from your friends at Cisco Subnet and Microsoft Subnet
Win an iPod Touch courtesy of Cisco Learning Partner Global Knowlege. Plus Global Knowledge is also giving away a free "Cool Tools" gift worth up to $500. Up for grabs 15 copies 'Firewall Fundamentals' by Wes Noonan and Ido Dubrawsky. Plus: win your choice of a Microsoft training course worth $2,500 courtesy of New Horizons.

LATEST TWISTED PAIR PODCAST:

Drinking from fire hydrants at CES
An exhausted Jason and Keith discuss their favorite things from CES, whether the IT department is doomed, and why young IT workers may feel entitled to better jobs and pay.

LATEST FROM THE VIDEO LIBRARY:

CES 2008 videos
Between Keith Shaw and myself, plus our colleagues over at the IDG News Service, we blanketed last week's CES show with video cameras. Check out our entire library of videos shot at the show.

LATEST FROM NETWORK WORLD PANORAMA:

5 myths of virtualization
Virtualization is one of the hottest topics in IT these days, but there are some things that companies and IT managers should be aware of before they jump into a large virtualization project. Keith Shaw talks with Fortisphere CTO and co-founder John Suit about some of the myths surrounding this technology. (11:12)

LATEST VOICES FROM IT ROADMAP:

Using Web 2.0 tech in a top secret world
Knowledge workers at the Defense Intelligence Agency are like any in Corporate America: They want to be able to share information with each other more easily. Of course, the information is highly sensitive and the network is rated "Top Secret". So how does a IT guy deal with the cloak and dagger parameters in open, Web 2.0 world? Lewis Shepherd, former senior technology officer at the DIA, explains on this edition of Voices from IT Roadmap. (17:20)

LATEST FROM THE PODCAST LIBRARY:

Six Minutes With ... Kevin Dinn, CEO & Founder of Kannuu
It's never easy to launch a company, but doing so in the US – specifically in Silicon Valley – can be an advantage with an almost plug-and-play infrastructure on which to build. Many international entrepreneurs have come to the U.S. in recent years to start companies, but others stick close to home and tackle the additional challenge of geography. In this episode, Kannuu CEO Kevin Dinn (pictured) talks about the height of this obstacle down under (6:06).

LATEST COOL TOOL BLOGS:

Search for videos via SMS
JuiceCaster this week launched its Mobile Video Search (MVS), a search application that looks for user-posted videos via wireless devices. The free service lets anyone with a video-capable cell phone to instantly watch desired videos on-demand by texting a keyword to 84462. The search tool then immediately sends a reply, with links to the requested content. The company says MVS works on more than 95% of video-capable phones, including the iPhone, BlackBerry, Treo and Windows Mobile devices, as well as mass-market phones like the Motorola Razr series.

If only Timmy had a computer to understand Lassie
Must not be a lot to do over in Hungary since scientists are busy at work building a computer that will enable humans to communicate with dogs, according to a Reuters story.

News podcast: Network World 360
VMware announced Tuesday it has entered into an agreement to acquire application virtualization vendor Thinstall for an undisclosed sum; The U.S. Federal Communications Commission announced this week that it approved a total of 214 bidders for the upcoming 700MHz auction, which is due to start on Jan. 24. (7:24)

Prize for zero-day Windows flaws set at $20,000
A security research company is offering $20,000 for information on undisclosed security flaws in Microsoft's Windows OS.

Cyber-espionage moves into B2B
The practice of cyber-espionage is rapidly moving beyond the government sector and finding its way into the world of international business, according to experts with SANS Institute, one of the world's top IT security ...

12,500 sign 'Save XP' petition
Within 36 hours of the full launch of InfoWorld's petition drive asking Microsoft not to discontinue Windows XP as planned on June 30, 12,621 people had signed the online petition. And dozens of the site's readers added ...

More than half of H-1B visas go to India nationals
More than half of H-1B visas issued are issued to Indian nationals, who received 54% of the total number of temporary visas approved in 2006, according to a government study released Tuesday. And an increasing number of ...

Intel 'energy-efficient' claim debunked
After Intel CEO Paul Otellini bragged that Intel's Xeon chip was the most energy-efficient processor Neal Nelson compared it to AMD's offering and found that Intel wasn't being exactly truthful.

Microsoft warns of new Excel vulnerability
Attackers are exploiting a vulnerability that lies within several versions of the Excel spreadsheet program, Microsoft warned late Tuesday.

Web flaw yields free MacWorld VIP pass
For the second year running, security researcher Kurt Grutzmacher has found a way to get a free "Platinum" pass to the MacWorld Conference & Expo, being held in San Francisco this week.

Sun to dangle prize money over open-source efforts, 12/04/07 Sun Wednesday will release details of a new award program meant to spur growth and activity within the company's open-source efforts, according to a post by Sun's open-source officer, Simon Phipps, on his corporate blog.

Open source and the corporate elephant, 12/12/2007 More and more open-source developers these days are employees of companies, paid to work on open-source projects, rather than independent ...

Oracle calls BEA's price 'impossibly high', 10/26/07 Oracle has rejected BEA Systems' proposed purchase price of $21 per share, calling it "impossibly high" for Oracle or any other company to pay.

Oracle offers $6.7 billion to buy BEA Systems, 10/12/2007 Oracle Friday announced that it has offered to buy middleware vendor BEA Systems for $17 per share in cash. . . Oracle said it had written to BEA's ...

Slideshow: How much do big-name CIOs make? While many IT professionals will enjoy increased compensation in 2008, CIOs and IT executives in particular will be raking in top dollar, according to recent research data from management consulting firm Janco Associates. Read on to see Janco Associates' list of 22 CIOs and other senior IT executives who each earned more than $2 million in salary and eompensation extras at leading U.S. companies including Best Buy, Home Depot, Honeywell and Wachovia.

Young workers not to blame for IT retention problems, industry veterans say, 01/15/08 IT professionals have strong opinions about the reasons behind today's IT hiring and retention challenges, but most don't think young, inexperienced workers are at the root of the problem.

CIOs must realize business benefits from latest technology, 01/15/2008 IT professionals need to realize their worth if business is really to benefit from the latest technological developments, says Gartner research VP ...

Fortisphere release aims at virtualization 'sprawl', 01/14/08 Startup firm Fortisphere on Monday plans to launch a product suite aimed at managing virtualization "sprawl."

Through the BGP looking glass If you do a lot of work on the Internet or have several ISP connections, BGP looking glasses can be a great tool for troubleshooting and general information.

Using Microsoft OpsMgr for disaster recovery Here's a cool tip from Microsoft Subnet blogger Kerrie Meyler: Wave 1 of the Operations Manager Resource Kit includes a tool for inventorying the components on each computer where you installed an OpsMg.

The look and feel of Windows Server 2008 New Microsoft Subnet blogger Glenn Weadock writes: "When you take your first look at Windows Server 2008, you'll find that many of the traditional tools that graced Server 2003 are still around…Where things change a bit is in the Server Manager console which is really the "nerve center" of Server 2008." Plus, enter to win a free Cool Tools gift worth $500 from Weadock's employer, Global Knowledge. All giveway info is located on the main Microsoft Subnet page.

ITIL demystified with Lou Hunnebeck Mark your calendars for Tues., Feb. 5 from 2 p.m. – 3 p.m. EST, for a live chat with Lou Hunneveck. Widely recognized as an industry ITIL v3 expert, Hunnebeck is a vice president for the ITIL training and consulting firm, Third Sky. Hunnebeck served on the public QA team for ITIL v3, is on the ITIL Examination Panel for ITIL v3, and a regular on the IT service management speaker circuit. Hunnebeck has over 20 years of experience in IT service industries and has led global teams in best practice and methodology design. No registration required. Just log on and post a question now.

Wanted: bloggers
You have what it takes to blog with Network World? We're looking for a few good bloggers. Contact Site Editor Jeff Caruso today!

Apple's MacBook Air: evolution, not revolution
As I write this it's a little after noon Eastern Time on Jan. 15. I'm sitting in front of my computer (a Mac of course) watching two different live blogs coming from people watching the Steve Jobs keynote at Macworld 2008. I'm watching to see what, if any, "big" announcements Steve will make.

Flash attack could take over your router
Security researchers have released code showing how a pair of widely used technologies could be misused to take control of a victim's Web browsing experience.

New Trojan intercepts online banking information
A new Trojan program is targeting unwitting users' bank data by intercepting account information before it is encrypted and sending it to a central attacker database.

How safe are your files from government inspection?
The U.S. government believes it can freely search the contents of your laptop or other mobile device upon entering the United States, since it views this practice as conceptually identical to searching your luggage at ...

Nashville laptop theft may cost $1 million
The theft of a laptop containing Social Security numbers of Nashville, Tennessee, area voters is expected to cost local officials about $1 million as they roll out identity-theft protection to those affected.

Start-up touts smart virtualization growth, management
Fortisphere makes available its Virtual Essentials virtual machine lifecycle management software, which the company says provides tracking, reporting, visibility and policy-based management in virtual environments.

Catbird launches virtual security service
Security vendor Catbird announced the availability of its Catbird HypervisorShield service, which the company says will protect virtual machines from management errors, unauthorized access and malicious attacks on the ...

Steelbox airs IP video appliance and storage array system
The Steelbox 1250 video appliance is a network video recorder and distribution system that can support up to 250 IP cameras for 750Mbps throughput, acting as a controller switch for video traffic across any IP-based...

Putting realism into your network
Cisco Subnet introduces a new blogger: Larry Chaffin, who will inject some realism into your network buying plans.

LIVE CHAT

ITIL demystified with Lou Hunnebeck
Mark your calendars for Tues., Feb. 5 from 2 p.m. – 3 p.m. EST, for a live chat with Lou Hunneveck. Widely recognized as an industry ITIL v3 expert, Hunnebeck is a vice president for the ITIL training and consulting firm, Third Sky. Hunnebeck served on the public QA team for ITIL v3, is on the ITIL Examination Panel for ITIL v3, and a regular on the IT service management speaker circuit. Hunnebeck has over 20 years of experience in IT service industries and has led global teams in best practice and methodology design. No registration required. Just log on and post a question now.

BLOGS

Buzzblog: GoDaddy vs. … Victoria's Secret?
Victoria's Secret will advertise on the Super Bowl this year for the first time since 1999 and the company's chief creative officer assures everyone that its commercial will be "classy," in other words nothing like those offered up in recent years by Internet domain name registrar GoDaddy.com. Barks back GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons: "How are they any different than us? All of sudden they're classy (and we're not). I don't think so."

Today on Cisco Subnet
Could Cisco or Apple survive without Chambers or Jobs? DOJ reports of another man pleading guilty to defrauding Cisco SMARTnet. Nortel gloats and asks: Is Cisco worth the premium? Plus: Watch out because Apple will soon overshadow Cisco in market cap.

Today on Microsoft Subnet
Microsoft Office for Mac: Was it worth the wait? Microsoft released five security updates for the beta versions of Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008. Plus, Mitchell Ashley's predictions for Macworld. An ode to acronyms -- Tyson Kopczynski's wants to know if acronym usage can be contained.

GIVEAWAYS

January giveaways from your friends at Cisco Subnet and Microsoft Subnet
Win an iPod Touch courtesy of Cisco Learning Partner Global Knowlege. Plus Global Knowledge is also giving away a free "Cool Tools" gift worth up to $500. Up for grabs 15 copies 'Firewall Fundamentals' by Wes Noonan and Ido Dubrawsky. Plus: win your choice of a Microsoft training course worth $2,500 courtesy of New Horizons.

Putting realism into your network Cisco Subnet introduces a new blogger: Larry Chaffin, who will inject some realism into your network buying plans.

Network discovery capabilities smooth out NAC deployment, 01/15/2008 Cisco and Juniper have enlisted Great Bay Software to supply network discovery capabilities that smooth out NAC deployment, but the software is ...

Today on Cisco Subnet Trainer Wendell Odom gives a couple of options for building a CCNA lab. Why blogger Michael Morris believes BGP looking glasses are a great tool for troubleshooting. Could Cisco or Apple survive without Chambers or Jobs? DOJ reports of another man pleading guilty to defrauding Cisco SMARTnet. Plus: Watch out because Apple will soon overshadow Cisco in market cap.

Cisco releases unified communications client for Macs Cisco is expected to unveil the latest version of its Cisco Unified Personal Communicator unified communications client with native support for Apple Mac and Leopard.

Motorola blends bar code scanning and VoIP on retail handheld, 01/15/08 Motorola is unveiling a data device -- a wireless barcode scanner -- that also supports voice communications, with VoIP and walkie-talkie connections. The goal, officials say, is to make store staff better equipped to ...

Steelbox airs IP video appliance and storage array system, 01/14/08 The Steelbox 1250 video appliance is a network video recorder and distribution system that can support up to 250 IP cameras for 750Mbps ...

Wireless LAN scan finds big security holes in NYC retailers’ wireless nets, 01/15/08 About one-third of nearly 800 NYC retailers have "bulletproof" WLAN security, according to a new onsite survey by AirDefense during the National Retail Federation trade show. But the remainder have weak or non-existent ...

FCC clears 214 bidders to participate in 700MHz auction, 01/15/2008 The U.S. Federal Communications Commission announced this week that it approved a total of 214 bidders for the upcoming 700MHz auction, which is ...

Will MacBooks follow iPhone to 3G?, 01/15/2008 Banners hanging at Macworld Expo on Monday read, "2008: There's something in the air," suggesting wireless news to come in CEO Steve Jobs' keynote ...

Vendors fine-tune 802.11n products to meet new networking demands, 01/10/2008 One of the surprises to emerge from CES 2008 is the idea that the 802.11n wireless LAN standard just isn't good enough. . . Most if not all of the ...