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Discusses perceptive networks made up of pillbox-size computers with sensors that run on an operating system called TinyOS. How the devices can be used to monitor factories and stores and read radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags; Linking of the computers to radio transceivers and sensors, by research groups at the University of California, Berkeley and Intel, to form autonomous nodes called "motes"; Use of the wireless gadget as a "macroscope" to record environmental data; Idea that motes are not miniaturized personal computers; Challenge of designing perceptive networks to be economical; Details of a pilot project doing research on petrels on Great Duck Island off the coast of Maine; The mote system's design and power source; Percentage of time a mote spends in a standby mode; How the mote compares to the handheld PDA; The self-organizing aspect of perceptive networks; The challenge of iMotes; The constraints on power use and processing speed; Purpose of software called TinyDB; Outlook for wireless sensor nodes and perceptive networks. INSETS: Overview/Perceptive Networks;MORE TO EXPLORE.

The article discusses the various factors involved in the agile development of computer software in the U.S. It explores the recommendations provided by the authors of the "Manifesto for Agile Software Development" which provides assistance to developers in enhancing the performance of computer software. These include considering customers in the application of process and equipment to be included in the development process, meeting the needs of customers of customers in making software design, and revising plans. It states that considering the ways will help developers prevent the failures involved in software development.

The article focuses on the challenges facing U.S.-based data storage hardware manufacturer EMC Corp. in its expansion into information management technology. With the acquisition of several software companies since 2000, the company was able to lessen its dependence on hardware sales, having 39 percent of its overall revenue from its software business by the end of June 2006. However, the company faces a challenge in helping customers understand its information infrastructure vision.

Personal computers (PCs) have never been less expensive in the United States. Weary of the low-price pitch, and despite vicious fights for market share, most consumers continue churning away on older PCs. Windows 98 is prone to failures, and it's often necessary to upgrade an old machine. For $400, consumers don't get a monitor, but an old screen can be used successfully with a faster machine on rock-solid Windows XP.

This article analyzes the pros and cons of patenting computer programs in the U.S. A proposed set of guidelines that would aid patent examiners in reviewing applications for computer program patents has raised opposition in Washington D.C. The consensus in the patent office is that the guidelines are inadequate. The House Judiciary Committee plans to hold hearings this year on an entire revamping of the patent laws in the U.S. Bell Laboratories is supporting the program patents, but most manufacturers remain solidly against patenting programs. Some software firms would like to receive program patents; however, the resistance shown by the Patent Office to patent computer programs is currently blocking the way.

The article reports on the involvement of several computer and software companies in the stock option manipulation scandal in the U.S. Most cases involve inappropriate "backdating" where executives and sometimes rank-and-file employees exercise stock options based on an earlier, lower stock price than the day of the grant resulting in inflated returns. The scandal is not expected to affect the bottomline but it would certainly distract executives from doing jobs.

Presents letters to the editor referencing articles and topics discussed in previous issues. "What Are U.S. Developers Worth?" which focused on job stability; "The New Brain Drain," which focused on the software industry; "Japan's Software Factories: A Challenge to U.S. Managers," which discussed the challenges facing U.S. managers.

Discusses conditions in the information technology industry during 2002 and the outlook for 2003. Data-mining algorithms of ClearForest in New York City; Software developed by Autonomy in Cambridge, England; Fall in sales during 2002 in comparison with the previous 20 years; Companies that excel in the information technology sector; Effect of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the sector; Efforts of the Oracle and Siebel Systems companies to develop software that can be used by law-enforcement and intelligence organizations; News related to Raytheon, EMC, SAP in Germany, PeopleSoft, NCR, digiMine, Intelliseek and Unisys.

This article focuses on follies of a computer industry that produces larger and computationally more demanding programs full of largely useless features -- that look good only in marketing brochures and that force users to upgrade their machines every three years. While it is true that almost everyone in the U.S. owns a television or a washing machine, not everyone owns a guitar. Automobiles are convenient transportation, but there are at least three ways in which our dependence on them has been artificially increased. First, with the systematic destruction in many cities of public transportation. Second, by driving the urban design of our cities in a direction that makes use of automobiles indispensable. Third, by refusing to explore options other than individual ownership of the physical vehicle. Computer and software manufacturers seem to have realized they can't maintain sales based solely on the usefulness of machines alone and appear to be following a similar strategy.

This article presents a directory of companies in the computer storage industry in the U.S.

Features several software and hardware products for the computer software industry in the U.S. as of December 2004. Functionalism of AutoQuant Pro™ from MIDAC Corp.; Prevalence of the Version 5.0 of FiberSIM® from Vistagy Inc.; Distinct features of SIMPLORER® from Ansoft Corp.

The article focuses on computer software development in South America. It is stated that Brazil is the sixth or seventh largest market for software worldwide, and its information technology (IT) spending is growing at a double-rate. North American companies are building outsourcing relationships with South American companies. Latin America, which also include Mexico and Central America, is identified by IDC as having a pool of software developers essentially equal to Central and Eastern Europe, a region that many consider as source of talented software developers.

The article reports that re-engineering programs to work on multicore chips is expected to get even harder as the processors in the U.S. continues to multiply. Chip multiprocessors (CMP) offer the opportunity to significantly boost performance of applications that are able to share them. However, new skills, techniques and tools for designing, coding and debugging are need to reap the benefits of CMP. Fortunately, both hardware and software vendors in the U.S. are already developing tools and methods to make the job easier.

The article reports on the negative reactions of corporate customers to U.S.-based Microsoft Corp.'s license checks. In 2005, the company visited about 1,200 corporate users it suspects may be not licensed properly. Microsoft is also trying to persuade corporate customers to participate in its Software Assessment Management program which it claims is not a license compliance audit. Under the program, Microsoft pays for its consulting partners to educate customers on the merit of asset management, help inventory installed software and make recommendations on policies and procedures.

The article discusses a class action lawsuit in Iowa against the Microsoft Corporation, which alleges that the software company engaged in illegal monopolization and other anticompetitive conduct. The suit has revealed that Microsoft terms the methods used to get developers to ship products that support the company as "evangelism."

Hasbro Inc.'s business may be all fun and games, but the second-largest toy maker in the United States doesn't play around when it comes to business process management. Two years ago, Hasbro decided to replace its manual vendor-inquiry process in an attempt to better identify gaps, bottlenecks and opportunities for improvement in its manufacturing process. After looking at several RPM packages, the Pawtucket, Rhode Island, company deployed TeamWorks business process management software from Lombardi Software Inc., of Austin, Texas. The decision to automate the way vendor inquiries are handled was easy, according to Hasbro CIO Doug Schwinn. Implementing TeamWorks not only streamlined the inquiry process but also provided greater visibility for the status of toy orders. The deployment of the Team Works software, which took several weeks, was so successful that in its first year of using the RPM product, the company doubled productivity without increasing head count, said Schwinn.

Caron Carlson's article on electronic voting is a well-informed overview of some of the risks in adopting paperless voting One more issue is important: access to the code used to count the votes. Any security professional will tell you that open review is the best practice for ensuring that code has no holes. Some U.S. companies have shipped software development projects overseas, pursuing low-cost labor, and have decided to turn back to developers who keep all operations in the United States. The driver in many of those decisions is security concerns: The companies determine they can't afford to expose intellectual property in markets where its legal protection is uncertain. Some companies, however, have determined that total cost of ownership doesn't favor offshoring. They have seen that the budget relief realized by offshoring software development can be more than offset by productivity losses. Too frequently, a developer without local presence cannot gain an adequate understanding of a company's software needs within the context of that company's business mission. The company's users, then, spend considerable time testing the new software, and the company must pay for followup coding to produce the business level results that were initially sought.

Highlights trends in software programming in the U.S. Push toward simplified development and the desire to get software developers working more closely with employees from business units; Extensive use of Unified Modeling Language by business and systems analysts; Growing acceptance of agile development and extreme programming.

Describes how the 40-mile strip between Salt Lake City and Provo, Utah, became the world's second-biggest swathe of software and computer engineering firms after California's Silicon Valley. Sales and numbers of people employed in Utah's IT industry; Evans & Sutherland's venture with the University of Utah; WordPerfect and Novell; Cost of doing business in Utah; Utah Information Technology Association; The future.

The article reports that U.S.-based Amazon.com Inc. is preparing to release a feature of its Elastic Compute Cloud service that would make cloud applications and services more attractive to business. The so-called elastic block storage has been available since April 2008 in limited beta mode. In the coming weeks, the company will be releasing a persistent storage offering.

The article discusses the significance of client virtualization to the both the users and computer industry in the U.S. Eventhough it has not always been the kind of solution providers that users prefer, it is considered an important element of any server-consolidation effort that usually leads to additional information technology (IT) service opportunities and the sale of few larger servers to replace a whole host of underutilized smaller servers. Most often, customers are deploying virtualization software on their servers as part of its strategy to increase the utilization rate of their existing units.

The article reports on developments relevant to the computer software and computer industries in the U.S. as of November 5, 2007. It includes information on the acquisition of software company Securent by Cisco Systems, as well as plans by Lenovo to introduce new consumer laptops and desktops as part of its sponsorship of the Beijing Olympics.

The article reports on U.S.-based Microsoft Corp.'s launch of Titan, a true software-as-a-service product. This is the company's first attempt at a multitenant architecture, where customers access a single instance of the application while their data is partitioned into a secure environment. It is also Microsoft's attempt to roll over Salesforce.com.

The article reports on the plan of the International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) to expand its high-performance computing product offerings while gaining traction in the U.S. midmarket. On February 28, 2007, the company announced its new software applications for its Cluster 1350 product line, aiming at midmarket companies including financial institutions, computer-aided engineering firms and life science companies. Moreover, the company's partnership with Microsoft Corp. to create cluster solutions for IBM-based high performance computing clusters was also announced in the same day.

The article reports on the consolidation in the software market in the U.S. Software companies are being bought by large computer companies. In 2006, dozens of business software manufacturers have been bought computer firms to stay competitive in the content management and compliance marketplace. For instance, International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) planned to acquire document management and content management software maker FileNet Corp. for $1.6 billion in cash. The deal would help IBM to compete better with the likes of EMC, Microsoft and Oracle.

The article presents an opinion regarding developments in the U.S. computer and software industries. An open source software called Chandler brings together calendar functions with instant messaging and electronic mail. A computer security conference revealed a rumor that IBM might acquire Internet Security Systems.

The article reports on the creation of Windows Client Mobility Marketing Team by Microsoft Corp. in the U.S. The team will be tasked to devise new marketing methods, find new partnerships, and research more features for Windows upgrades. They will also ensure that Microsoft Windows operating system for handheld devices can work efficiently. Goals of the team include pushing towards more-featured-packed mobile computers in the ultramobile PC space and the ultraportable notebook PC category as well as in full-size and replacement notebooks.

The article provides an analysis on the acquisition of RSA Security Inc. by EMC Corp. for $2.1 billion in the U.S. The move reportedly has reinforced the concept of unified storage and security management. The deal will give EMC expertise in important areas such as single sign-on encryption key management. EMC's compliance-oriented storage products can be pulled into the mix to customers the ability to preserve their data. RSA and EMC have had alliances such as the integration of RSA Access Manager Web access management software with the EMC Documentation eRoom collaborative work space.

The article reports developments related to the computer industry in the U.S. Microsoft Corp. has been working for its Office Open XML file and interoperatibility with the OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications alternative. Any development about the XML translator project will be posted on SourceForge, the open-source software development Web site. Security Software maker McAfee confirms that malware threats are growing at a significantly faster pace. The growth represents a 60 percent decrease in the number of time necessary to generate the second 100,000 threats.

The article focuses on the history of the anti-computer industry in the U.S. The industry was formed in the mid-1980s when the computer revolution was just starting. Most of the early innovators knew each other or knew of each other. They were competitors but almost everyone was cooperative. And most of them were involved the Antivirus Research Organization.

The article provides information regarding IPsphere Forum, a telecommunication industry group, which aims to improve the ability of online contents in different network providers in the U.S. The group is consist of equipment suppliers, service providers, application vendors and software companies. They are working on a technical software that would allow the end users to have an easy access to their network providers. The group also aimed for public networks to have a dynamic performance and security on Web applications.

The article reports on the resignation of Mark Scott as chief executive officer of N-able Technologies. N-able Technologies chairman Gavin Garbutt assumes the position while the company searches for a replacement, and Rob Rose was named as Garbutt's replacement. Its board of directors wants to remain focused on managed services, while Scott wanted to diversify into other technology areas such as customer relationship management. It offers an overview of the managed services market in the United States and suggests that the market will likely undergo changes before settling into maturity and that includes a wave of consolidation.