Stories by: Mathew Schwartz

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Web data: Cached or current? 04 July, 2001 16:41

For all of its virtual connotations, the Internet depends entirely upon its physical infrastructure to move information around. And the physical distance from server to end user leaves plenty of time for information, in the form of packets, to get lost, resulting in e-mails that never arrive, Web pages that load incompletely and streaming audio or video that pops, flickers or just dies. So getting files closer to end users can improve performance.
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Microsoft releases update for Windows 2000 18 May, 2001 08:17

Microsoft on Wednesday released Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 (SP2). It is the first Windows platform to ship internationally with 128-bit encryption and includes myriad bug fixes, directory services fixes, application compatibility updates and security patches.
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To trap a thief 03 April, 2001 10:46

If you want to break into a house, why spend time prying open the front door if the back door is wide open? Same goes when breaking into computer networks. Most networks and servers are set up with configuration errors that are well known to hackers, who can download free tools that will scan many different networks looking for those easy-open entry points. No genius-level code manipulation or high IQ is needed.
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Trust but verify 13 February, 2001 01:06

Firewalls are guard dogs in a box, designed to resist brute-force attacks, foil hackers and generally police everything going in and out of networks. It's hard not to rely on them. But it's also easy to overestimate their importance in any enterprise security arsenal.
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What do you know? 29 November, 2000 12:01

As the data pile builds in large organisations, new information search technology must burrow faster to use it or lose it
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Handspring Launches Combined PDA, Cell Phone 29 September, 2000 12:01

If the person seated next to you on the bus tomorrow morning starts carrying on a conversation with his personal digital assistant (PDA), don't panic - he might be talking on a cell phone. This week, Handspring Inc. in Mountain View, Calif., released VisorPhone, a cellular phone that plugs into its Visor PDAs.
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HandSpring Launches VisorPhone 27 September, 2000 12:01

If the person seated next to you on the bus tomorrow morning starts carrying on a conversation with his personal digital assistant (PDA), don't panic -- he might really be talking on a cell phone.
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Know Who You Know 02 September, 2000 12:01

Last summer, a researcher asked the head of a small San Francisco media company - let's call him Gary - a simple question: "Who are all the people in your office space, and why are they here?"
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Intercepting Messages 28 August, 2000 12:01

Everyone in Congress seems to be proposing new legislation for Carnivore, the FBI's black-box system for wiretapping - with a court order - the communications of a suspect in a criminal case through that person's Internet service provider.
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Bluefly.com Might Be in Tailspin 11 August, 2000 12:01

Online retailer Bluefly.com posted substantial revenue increases but has announced that it is low on cash and might look for buyers.
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Compaq, Seagate sued over disk drive technology 17 July, 2000 12:01

Convolve, a New York-based maker of patented motion control technology and MIT filed a lawsuit last week seeking $800 million in damages against Compaq and Seagate Technology. The plaintiffs are accusing the companies of patent infringement on their disk drive technology.