Stories by Jake Widman

Microsoft Office for Mac 2011: Clunky to cool

When I reviewed Microsoft Office for Mac 2008, I said the then-new version of the suite was "kind of like getting a new Chevy." In other words, it was a solid upgrade, but nothing to really get excited about.

Facebook's privacy options

Facebook users -- and their managers -- who are concerned about keeping control of their information should get themselves over to the social network's Privacy Settings page without delay.

How Facebook mucks up office life

Imagine walking into a meeting and encountering not just your current co-workers, but all your colleagues and managers from jobs past, along with your spouse, your college drinking buddies, your Senior Prom date, and, off in a corner, your adolescent son, busy telling your boss how many hours he logs in every day playing Grand Theft Auto.

Boss by day, gamer by night: IT leaders' favorite games

Do video games stimulate the intellect? Are gamers more social and better equipped to make decisions than nongamers?

Extreme IT: Hurricanes, high winds and heavy seas

When Lance Gibson talks about a storm knocking out his systems, he doesn't mean the infamous worm. He might be referring to the latest hurricane to sweep through the Gulf of Mexico or to the lightning accompanying a vicious thunderstorm.

IT's biggest project failures & what they teach us

Every year, the Improbable Research organization hands out Ig Nobel prizes to research projects that "first make people laugh, and then make them think."

Extreme IT: Battling dust, heat and bombs in Afghanistan and Iraq

Lots of people like to describe their jobs as "being on the front lines," but there are IT professionals whose jobs really do put them on the front lines of a combat zone. You think your work life's stressful? Try getting a network restored after it's been brought down by a mortar attack - in 110-degree heat.

A new kind of Web - don't miss these 11 sites

Call them Web 2.0 sites or mashups - or come up with your own trendy term. Whatever you call them, there are sites popping up all over the Web that process information in new ways rather than just present it.

Review: Microsoft Office for Mac -- better than iWork?

It has been almost four years since the last revision of Microsoft Office for the Mac, and Macintosh users can be forgiven for getting a little impatient. We heard all the buzz about the radical interface makeover for Office 2007 for Windows, and we wondered what user-interface goodies might be waiting for us.