Stories by Shane Schick

Canadian CIOs admit lack of security awareness

Have hackers, bonets or rogue ex-employees managed to steal mission-critical data from the enterprise? Don't ask the CIO.

CIO study says IT leaders could one day be CEOs

Canadian CIOs have all the key leadership competencies they need if they were motivated to one day take on a CEO job and running an entire enterprise, based on research findings presented at an industry event on Thursday.

Hospital CTO identifies virtualisation gotchas

Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children has learned the hard way that virtualization efforts won't be successful if vendors aren't ready to support you, according to its director of technology.

Why Gen Y workers bypass IT usage policies

Nearly half of Generation Y employees in Canada say they routinely bypass IT usage policies and a quarter of them face no repercussions for doing so, according to a national study conducted by IT World Canada and Harris/Decima.

IBM tries to get information on corporate agendas

IBM on Tuesday said it will offer corporate customers consulting services and software that will help business units and IT departments in distinct vertical markets understand how to manage information more effectively.

Unleash your inner artist: Creativity and comp-sci

It took a 19th-century English poet to convince Robin Hunicke that her future lay in computer science.

10 changes Steve Ballmer should make at Microsoft

When I appeared on CBC Newsworld last week to talk about Bill Gates' departure from Microsoft, they asked me whether I thought the company can survive without him. I tried not to roll my eyes.

Some retail sales guys know how to treat an IT user

There's nothing wrong with working at Future Shop, but I think Ben has more potential than that.

Websense to take fear out of Facebook, Web 2.0

Websense used the InfoSecurity Canada show to introduce a software-based gateway product aimed at protecting enterprise customers from the dangers of social networking sites and other advanced online services.

Facebook offers a primer in effective site redesign planning

Drop-down menus. Tabbed browsing. A content management tool. Come on, people: it's not like Facebook is reinventing the wheel here.

Nearly half of IT projects are killed off early

Nearly half of all IT projects get killed off before they're even completed, according to a survey conducted by the Information Systems Audit Control Association.

Gross! A computer cleaner dishes the dirt

When a British study recently showed the average computer keyboard is dirtier than a toilet seat, Jacqueline Miller's worst suspicions were confirmed.

Barack Obama is the iPhone of politicians

I don't know why it took me so long to make the connection. Even for a political figure, Barack Obama generates an extraordinary level of attention, and probably hundreds of news articles a day. He represents (for many people, at least), hope for an enormous change, almost a transformative revolution. And, like Apple's most famous product, you won't find him in Canada.

AMD offers breathing room with Business Class PC

AMD's decision to move into the business PC market this week reminds me of the first line of Shopgirl, a novella by Steve Martin, which points out that working in the glove department at a large retail store means "you are selling things that nobody buys anymore."

Fifteen years of the Web

Without Tim Berners-Lee, we might all be slaves to Gopher by now.