Seven Tips to Success with a Corporate Wiki

Wikis can seem like a godsend to many corporate end users who've tried messy and unsatisfying collaboration via e-mail and other traditional corporate tools.

A wiki - a webpage that can be simultaneously edited by multiple users and (ideally) done without any experience writing HTML code - takes a legitimate stab at the elusive "one version of the truth" problem in the modern corporation. Traditionally, groups have shared information with one another by e-mailing around documents, making corrections to them, and then e-mailing the new document back to the entire group. One major downside to this method is that there's no ability for people to make changes at once and see the modifications their colleagues have made at the same time.

On the other hand, changes to a wiki get made in real time. Wikis also have much better version control, allowing you to revert back to a previous version if incorrect or unacceptable edits get made.

Choosing the best wiki platform, however, can be difficult. Both new and old vendors are offering an array of wiki platforms. But before you start thinking about vendors you need to do your research on your IT and end-user requirements, says Gil Yehuda, senior analyst at Forrester Research, who recently authored a research paper on seven steps for selecting an enterprise wiki.

CIO caught up with Yehuda to talk about these seven steps, and what it takes to pick a wiki that's just right for you and your company, both from a technical and end-user perspective.

1. Pick a Software Delivery Model

Most wikis can be delivered to your company in three formats: on-premise (you install the software on your machines and manage it), hosted (software as a service (SaaS), where the vendors store all the data on their servers), or as an appliance, which is a hybrid model between the first two options.

According to Yehuda, many larger enterprises choose to go with on-premise installs of wikis, especially if their industry has strict requirements around what type of proprietary data (if any) can be stored outside their company's server farms.

The hosted SaaS model can be attractive for small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) with leaner IT departments that have limited resources and can't take on the burden of managing more servers and software. In addition, SaaS is adopted sometimes within large enterprises by line of business departments who are tired of waiting for IT to provide them with a wiki or other collaborative technologies.

The third option, a wiki appliance, has also gained some popularity, Yehuda says. An appliance is what software gurus (and the tech jargon they speak) would call a "plug and play" offering. In other words, a company can plug the wiki appliance into their existing server environment, and after some minor install work by the vendor, the wiki is up and going, hosted in their current server farm.

Yehuda says the appliance also solves two complicated problems faced by companies interested in wikis. On one hand, many companies don't want to go through the complexity of installing the software themselves (making a full on-premise install unattractive), but they also have strict rules around storing data externally (thus eliminating SaaS as a viable option). An appliance "helps address those two problems," Yehuda says, by providing the in-house storage but avoiding the headache of the install.

2. Keep Track of Who's Who: Authenticating Users

According to Yehuda's report, it's important that a wiki integrate with your existing authentication environment, which could include a single sign-on or LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol). On an enterprise wiki, there can't be any anonymity when it comes to who edits it. An enterprise wiki should verify the identity of each user so that edits are attributed to the right user. Activity on the wiki needs to be transparent, clear and traceable.

Any enterprise wiki should also have ways in which to set access. Some wikis, for instance, should only be accessed, read and edited by a group of executives, while other more public wikis can be modified by anyone within the company.

3. Give IT What They Want

If you picked an on-premise wiki, you likely did so because it would fill a certain set of IT requirements around data storage and integration with existing enterprise systems. If that's the case, you need to talk to your IT enterprise architects, who can give you the nitty-gritty requirements around what will work (and what won't) for installing an enterprise wiki.

What kinds of things will they consider in finding the right wiki? For one, they might have a certain set of standards and frameworks they prefer for Web applications, and any wiki would have to fall into that category.

Regardless of architecture, all IT administrators will want a wiki that allows them to analyze how much server space it occupies and tracks usage. If the wiki catches on like wildfire, for instance, and many people start using it, they need to make sure they can give it enough server power on the back-end.

4. Plan for Mistakes

As people use a wiki, accidents can happen. For instance, most wikis enable people to edit the document at the same time, but due to technical glitches, when the first person hits save, her edits get saved while the second person's get lost.

That's a very specific problem, but Yehuda says it's one you should ask a prospective vendor. Their wiki must track all the changes that occur to a wiki and have a way to revert back to a previous version to find valuable edits that accidently get lost in the saving process. The happiness of your users - who ultimately drive the success or failure of a wiki since it's a tool that harbors collective intelligence - depends on it.

"There's nothing more frustrating than donating content into a wiki and finding out it got lost because someone else was editing at the same time," he says.

5. Manage (and Follow) Change

Key to properly managing corporate wikis are good notification tools that allow users to keep up with changes or modifications made to wiki documents of interest to them.

For instance, if you worked at an ad agency and were concerned about a particular pitch document that you were a key author for, you might want to know momentarily after a change occurs to the wiki so you can go check it.

As the Forrester report lays out, there are two main technologies to enable this notifcation: e-mail and really simple syndication (RSS). Yehuda notes that it's nice when a wiki can decipher between minor tweaks versus big changes to avoid an excessive amount of e-mails.

For the more Web 2.0 inclined, however, RSS feeds provide the best way to monitor updates. Your wiki should be able to tell people in the feed what pages were changed recently, and give some sort of idea how big they were in scale (and who made them).

6. Plan for Wiki Success

Assuming users like the wiki, it's important that the wiki has features that make it highly searchable and easy to discover information as more and more information gets added over the years.

One feature that most wikis have (or should have) is tagging. For instance, you might tag a document as "marketing" or "operations." However, general tags such as those can lead to problems over time as the wiki (and its pages) grow in size. As the report notes, "disciplined wiki page tagging makes pages easier to find." Create a set of tags with your group when you begin rolling your wiki out. Some of the tags will be generated organically by users, but give them guidelines.

Make sure your wiki has a strong search capability. One of the ways to ensure a strong search bar is a strong tagging system (which the search feature works in tandem with to return relevant results).

7. Consider Extra Features

The Forrester report notes that you should also examine what value-added features your wiki vendor offers and how that could resonate with your users.

For instance, if you're a large corporation, wikis that offer multilingual support can help bridge communications between offices that speak different languages.

Another feature is the ability to attach documents, which can be especially helpful if you want to use the wiki as your document management system. Other wiki software allows you to make the wiki accessible via a widget that you could embed on a personalized web page, such as iGoogle.

In assessing the usefulness of these extra features, and a wiki overall, Yehuda says start with the toughest end users in the bunch. If you can satisfy them, you can help make the wiki work for anyone.

"Go to the grumpiest people you have and have them test it," Yehuda says. "Hear their complaints. It will help you figure out how to provide a wiki that's helpful and not cumbersome."

Wanted: Web Wide Cops

The Internet needs to be globally regulated if it is to have any chance of stopping scams such as security 'scareware', a researcher has suggested.

According to Mary Landesman of ScanSafe, the recent Federal Trade Commission (FTC) injunctions against two companies accused of distributing fake anti-virus programs is a step in the right direction but against a backdrop of widespread abuse.

Landesman was referring to the recent case against US outfits, Innovative Marketing and ByteHosting Internet Services, both of which were said to have peddled bogus anti-virus programs designed to tempt users into paying to clean their PCs of non-existent malware.

The problem is that piecemeal action is fighting against a rising tide of such scams, fuelled by the release of automated tools in 2007 that made it simple for criminals to set up such cons.

"Large numbers of users are trusting 'scareware' scams as fraudulent companies are using increasingly sophisticated techniques to lure users into downloading the software. Some of the scams we have seen are branded Anti-virus 360 and look extremely convincing," said Landesman.

Part of the problem dated from the de-regulation of Internet registration nearly a decade ago with the removal of the monopoly enjoyed by Network Solutions, she agreed. That had allowed a multitude of unregulated companies to decide who was and who wasn't allowed to set up shop, making official oversight almost impossible.

"Hosts and registrars need to be held accountable. [At the moment] security researchers report sites but get no response," she said.

Researchers would complain about rogue ISPs and find that it was taking months to get them de-peered or even investigated, mainly because it was not the responsibility of any individual body to carry out such investigation.

Global regulation looks to be a nearly impossible task in today's Internet, though more informal action by ISPs could still form part of the answer. The recent takedown of spam-spewing ISP McColo is a case in point. It was nobody's job to put a stop to McColo, but that didn't stop ISPs from deciding to de-peer the company as a last resort.

"The FTC should be applauded for their recent progress; however, there is still a considerable amount of work to be done in the regulation of these bogus scams," said Landesman.

Verizon Wins $31 Million Judgment in Cybersquatting Case

Verizon Communications has won USD $31.15 million in damages in a cybersquatting case it brought against domain registry OnlineNIC, while Microsoft is seeking judgment against the same company and Yahoo has recently filed similar charges.

Verizon had accused OnlineNIC of registering at least 663 domain names identical or confusingly similar to Verizon trademarks. The domain names listed in the complaint, filed June 6, included verizon-cellular.com and buyverizon.net. Both of those domains are now in the hands of other companies.

OnlineNIC must now pay Verizon $31.15 million and transfer the disputed domain names to Verizon, according to the default judgment handed down by Judge Jeremy Fogel in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San José on Dec. 19. In addition, OnlineNIC may not register or trade in further domain names containing Verizon trademarks, Fogel ruled.

The win was an easy one for Verizon - although it may have trouble collecting the sum awarded, as OnlineNIC did not oppose the company's request for default judgment.

Microsoft filed its suit with the same court on Oct. 7, accusing OnlineNIC of registering over 97 domain names identical or confusingly similar to Microsoft trademarks including Windows, Encarta and Halo. On Dec. 16, Microsoft requested entry of a default judgment against OnlineNIC.

Yahoo filed suit on Dec. 19, accusing OnlineNIC of cybersquatting and trademark infringement. Yahoo listed over 500 domain names it claims are identical or confusingly similar to its brands, including yahoozone.com, yahooyahooligans.com and denverwifesexyahoo.com. It said the disputed domain names were registered by OnlineNIC either for itself or 10 other defendants, most of them with addresses in China.

OnlineNIC is still listed by ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, as an approved registrar for the .asia, .biz, .com, .info, .mobi, .name, .net, .org, .pro, and .tel domains.

Inside the Perfect Laptop

It's fair to say that laptops have gotten boring. For years now, they've offered pretty much the same features and pretty much the same designs. Sure, there have been a few innovations such as Apple's multitouch trackpad, but mostly laptops have had just incremental improvements such as adding more media slots over time and replacing USB 1.0 with USB 2.0 or FireWire 400 with FireWire 800.

So InfoWorld decided to challenge PC makers to do better. We subjected our project to the limitations that any manufacturer faces when it starts whiteboarding a new notebook. Components must either be available now in sufficient quantity to support volume production or have component manufacturers contractual commitment to availability at a supportable price within the next 12 months.

We came up with our WorldBook designs that take touch to a whole new level, integrate iPhone functions so the laptop is also a great communication station, take advantage of renewable solar power and rethink the display technologies. Plus we rethought the case design to make it more durable and reconsidered what a docking station should be.

You can take a Flash tour of our two WorldBook models and even price them out along with their options. Now, if only someone would build them! (PCWorld were pleased to see that Apple's newest notebooks take up one of our ideas: the use of DisplayPort video connectors.) Apple also explored how to make their perfect laptop greener.

But PCWorld didn't stop there. They asked their readers to add their ideas to the table. And they got some really interesting suggestions. They learned that features they excluded for being too expensive or impractical might have enough market appeal to justify another crack at doing them affordably.

Modularity was a popular theme among their readers' submissions. More than one reader wanted a removable keyboard, a removable screen, a detachable camera and microphone, removable wireless speakers and a removable disk drive that could be easily slipped out of the laptop and into a desktop computer.

Now that PCWorld and their readers have put a compelling design and ideas on the table, it's time for the PC makers to take up the challenge. Will it be Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Dell, Toshiba...? If we're lucky, we'll all find out in 2009.

OS Showdown: Linux vs. Mac OS X vs. Windows

The Mac's been on a roll, both due to its highly regarded Mac OS X Leopard operating system and to an unhappy reception for Microsoft's Windows Vista. The result: For the first time in memory, the Mac's market share has hit 9.1 percent, according to IDC data, and Windows' market share has dipped below 90 percent. (Linux distributions make up the rest.)

But can either Mac OS X or Linux be more than a niche OS? After all, Windows runs practically everything, from widely used productivity apps such as spreadsheets to highly niche applications such as chemical modeling. Mac OS X and Linux simply don't have the app base that Windows does. Of course, the fact you can run Windows on a Mac or Linux system, thanks to Parallels Desktop and EMC VMware Fusion, lets you have your cake and eat it too.

For some users - often technically savvy people such as engineers, consultants, designers, and CTOs - it is clearly an option that already works quite well. In the past year, running Mac OS X or Linux as your default OS has been made easier by the capability to run Windows in a virtual machine, giving you access to both Windows-only applications and Web sites that rely on Microsoft's Internet Explorer-only ActiveX technology. But in a business environment, switching to a Mac or Linux PC may not be quite as easy.

The Windows Option

Despite the increasing adoption of alternatives to Windows, the Microsoft OS remains the standard choice for the vast majority of businesses. After all, it's been their standard for nearly two decades; they know it, have become dependent on it, and understand its capabilities and limitations. Plus, it's backed by a company that puts a lot of resources into maintaining, supporting, and enhancing the OS for its very wide user base - and has a huge third-party support system, from vendors to consultants.

For most businesses, considering something other than Windows is not even a question; their concern is when to shift to a new version of Windows. Still, as users (re)discover the Mac and questions over Windows' long-term resource requirements hang in the air, some are considering alternatives to, or at least supplements for, Windows in the form of Mac OS X and Linux.

The Mac OS X Option

Of the plausible alternatives to Windows, Apple's Mac OS X has the largest market share and history. InfoWorld chief technologist Tom Yager has written that the latest version of the Mac OS, Leopard (10.5), is simply the best operating system available. And Macs are indeed popping up more frequently even within IT circles . Although there are no real numbers on just the business adoption of Macs, it's clear that Apple is in growth mode, gaining an increasing proportion of all new computer sales for more than a year now.

Many businesses have already adopted the Mac as a standard platform, discovering that the hardware is typically better designed than equivalent Windows systems for the same price, that security risks are lower, and that there are more enterprise-quality management tools than they expected.

The drive for Mac adoption often comes from users, not IT. InfoWorld's Yager has chronicled the adventures of one PC user who switched to the Mac OS, showing that for an individual, the conversion was ultimately a rewarding one.

A key tool for any Mac OS X switcher is a virtual machine to run Windows for those apps and Web sites that require it. Both Parallels Desktop 3.0 and VMware's Fusion software will do the trick, as InfoWorld's comparative review has shown.

Although Macs are compatible with most typical hardware, such as monitors and drives, fitting a Mac into an enterprise's management systems and ERP applications can be a different story. Yager's Enterprise Mac blog and the Mac Enterprise user group both provide advice on managing Macs in a traditional IT environment.

The Linux Option

The more technically inclined may be attracted to Linux, the most popular form of desktop Unix. Linux desktops typically are challenged by limited hardware compatibility (due to lack of drivers), limited application options, and user interfaces that require active participation to get work done, which tends to keep Linux away from the general user population. Still, it's possible to do.

But those who work with a Linux server all day may find that using it on the desktop as well actually makes their lives easier.

Just as Mac users need occasional access to Windows, so do Linux users. Because Linux distributions run on Windows-compatible hardware, it's straightforward to use desktop virtualization software, such as Parallels Workstation, Sun's (formerly Innotek's) VirtualBox, and VMware's Workstation software, to provide access to both environments.

Although some enterprises have committed to wide Linux deployment - such as automaker Peugeot Citroën's plans to install 20,000 Novell Suse Linux desktops - most have left Linux to the engineering and development staff.

InfoWorld Enterprise Desktop blogger Randall Kennedy argues that desktop Linux is doomed to remain a tiny niche OS, given the Linux community's lack of interest in providing a UI that regular people could use. Kennedy tried to spend a week working on nothing but the Ubuntu distribution of Linux but gave up on the fifth day.

But Kennedy's take isn't the last word on desktop Linux. Frequent InfoWorld contributor Neil McAllister put together a special report on how to move from Windows to Linux, concluding that the effort was not as hard as you might think.

Who's right? As with any platform choice, they both may be. A one-size-fits-all approach may be unrealistic. And that likely explains why many businesses will have a mix, dominated by Windows XP today (and perhaps Windows 7 in a few years) but not exclusively tied to Microsoft's OS.

Google, Apple, Microsoft Sued Over File Preview

A small Indiana company has sued tech heavyweights Microsoft, Apple, and Google, claiming that it holds the patent on a common file preview feature used by browsers and operating systems to show users small snapshots of the files before they are opened.

Cygnus Systems sued the three companies on Wednesday saying that they infringed on its patent with products such as Windows Vista, Internet Explorer 8 and Google Chrome, which allow users to view preview images of documents on the computer. Mac OS X, the iPhone and Safari also infringe, the company said in court filings. Apple uses this technology in its Finder and Cover Flow Mac OS X features, the filings state.

While Cygnus has sued three very high profile companies, they may not be the only vendors in Cygnus's sites. "They were a logical starting place for us," said Matt McAndrews, a partner with the Niro, Scavone, Haller & Niro, law firm, which is representing Cygnus. "We've identified many other potentially infringing products that we're investigating," he added.

Cygnus's owner and president Gregory Swartz developed the technology laid out in the patent while working on IT consulting projects, McAndrews said. The company is looking for "a reasonable royalty" as well as a court injunction preventing further infringement, he said.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Arizona, where Swartz resides, McAndrews said.

Google, Microsoft and Apple did not return messages seeking comment on the lawsuit.

Cygnus applied for its patent (# 7346850) in 2001. It covers a "System and method for iconic software environment management" and was granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in March of this year.

Microsoft Began Battling SQL Bug in April

Microsoft Wednesday confirmed that it has been working on a critical vulnerability in SQL Server for more than eight months, but declined to say whether it has had a patch ready since September, as an Austrian security researcher has alleged.

On Monday, the company warned customers of a bug that could be used to compromise servers running older versions of the database software, which is widely used to power websites and applications.

"Microsoft opened an investigation for this vulnerability in April upon the initial report by the security researcher," said a company spokesman in an e-mail today. "We immediately started an investigation and have been working on this issue since that time," he added.

The researcher, Bernhard Mueller of SEC Consult Security, a Vienna-based security consulting company, went public with details of the vulnerability as well as exploit code on Dec. 9, apparently after tiring of Microsoft's lack of communication.

According to Mueller, who posted findings in an advisory on the SEC Consult site, as well as to prominent security mailing lists, the bug was reported to Microsoft on April 17, 2008, and Microsoft's last message to him was on Sept. 29. After four requests for an update on a patch's status during October and November, Mueller disclosed the vulnerability.

Mueller also said that Microsoft had informed him in September that it had completed a fix.

The Microsoft spokesman didn't directly respond to a question about whether the company had a patch in hand, as Mueller claimed, but instead said, "At this time, security updates are not available for the affected versions listed in Microsoft Security Advisory 961040 ."

Although it is true that Microsoft has not yet issued an update to the affected software - which includes SQL Server 2000 , SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine, Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine and Windows Internal Database - one security expert said he's betting that the company will release one soon.

"We expect that Microsoft is currently working on a patch and will release it out of band," said Wolfgang Kandek , chief technology officer at security company Qualys Inc.

So-called "out-of-band" or "out-of-cycle" updates are those that Microsoft issues on days other than its regularly scheduled monthly Patch Tuesday. Microsoft's next scheduled update is set for Jan. 13, 2009, over two weeks from today.

Microsoft has released two out-of-cycle emergency updates in the last two months, the most recent a fix issued a week ago to plug a hole in all versions of Internet Explorer. The IE vulnerability, however, was already being exploited by hackers prior to the patch's release; Microsoft has said it has no reports of in-the-wild exploitation of the SQL Server bug.

Kandek believes that a SQL Server patch will present more problems for companies than they faced with the IE fix. "Patch deployment will be slow," he said. "SQL [Server] is part of the core server infrastructure of many enterprise companies and is subject to lengthy patch and testing cycles before any such fix can be deployed."

In lieu of a patch, Microsoft has urged users to deny permissions to the SQL procedure that can be used to trigger the bug. Yesterday, it updated that recommendation by posting a Visual Basic script which, when run, automates the workaround. "Essentially, the script iterates through the running instances of SQL Server and denies execute permissions on 'sp_replwritetovarbin' to 'public' on all the affected versions," said Microsoft spokesman Bill Sisk in an entry to the Microsoft Security Response Center blog.

A document added yesterday to Microsoft's support database included the script and instructions on how to use it.

"The potential exists for leakage of private data and major disruptions in critical SQL [Server-] driven applications, such as e-commerce and human resources," he said. "A smart attacker can easily pair this exploit with another attack mechanism such as phishing to get behind the corporate firewalls and then attack all accessible SQL Server installations."

SQL Server has been patched twice in 2008, most recently in September . The database software's biggest security gaffe, however, was in early 2003, when the fast-acting Slammer worm exploited a critical vulnerability in SQL Server, resulting in massive Internet-wide outages and slowdowns as sites were knocked offline.

Can Microsoft Juggle 3 Operating Systems?

Microsoft's tricky balancing act in 2009 will be to phase out Windows XP while boosting demand for Windows Vista and building anticipation for Windows 7.

Compounding this challenge is that Vista has been Microsoft's most embattled operating system, and though recent reports say that Vista has improved over the past year, there are also reports of a growing indifference from users. Many are sticking with Windows XP for now (or even requesting to "downgrade" to XP with new computer purchases) with the hope that Windows 7 will be more nimble and efficient than Vista.

Recent market share numbers from Net Applications Inc. show that Microsoft's market share is slipping with both Windows and the Internet Explorer browser, while companies like Apple and Mozilla keep making incremental gains. A silver lining in the Net Applications report is that Vista grew its market share in November and cracked the 20 percent mark for the fist time as Windows XP fell 1.81 percent.

With the definite release of Internet Explorer 8 and the possible release of Windows 7 happening in 2009, plus Microsoft's aggressive push into cloud computing with the Windows Azure operating system, the coming year looks to be a pivotal one for the software giant.

So far, the hype surrounding Windows 7 has been kept to a minimum by Microsoft, likely an effort not to repeat the over-hyping that hurt Vista's release. Playing it cool with Windows 7 will also give Vista some breathing room as Windows XP slowly becomes less prevalent.

Tim Bajarin, president of consulting firm Creative Strategies, says that the potential conflict of enhancing demand for Vista while raising awareness about Windows 7 "does not seem to be impacting new sales of Vista on PCs. In fact, pushing Windows 7 appears to be keeping people from downsizing to Windows XP at the business and consumer level as people are now anticipating upgrading to 7 in the near future, and it is not worth the trouble to go back to XP."

The low-key marketing of Windows 7 is a smart tactic, says Michael Cherry, analyst with Directions on Microsoft, but warns that Microsoft should not become standoffish about the value of Windows 7.

"They are being much more low-key in discussing the features of Windows 7 to put the Windows team in a position where they have under-promised and hopefully can over-deliver," Cherry says. "But Microsoft has to begin to share information with partners and customers to help reduce any potential compatibility issues."

Though Cherry believes Vista is not as bad as its reputation, he thinks that with Windows 7 Microsoft needs "to do a better job of telling customers what hardware they truly need to run the OS, and they have to be able to articulate the value of upgrading to both consumers and businesses."

Microsoft has not given an official release date for Windows 7, but has said publicly that it expects to ship it within three years of the January 2007 consumer release of Windows Vista.

Gartner Research has predicted that Microsoft will ship Windows 7 in time for the 2009 holiday season, which would require shipment to take place around August 2009.

Gartner analyst Michael Silver expects that Microsoft will try to differentiate Windows 7 from Vista by keeping ship date hype to a minimum and then delivering earlier than anticipated.

"If they don't give a date, it's harder for people to say they were late," Silver says.

Bajarin believes that Microsoft needs to ship Windows 7 as fast as possible and move quickly to start getting all of their PC users to upgrade. "If it is ready by mid-2009 as many believe it can be, there is no reason to delay it."

Another benefit of shipping Windows 7 as soon as possible, says Bajarin, is it could quash the lingering stigma of Vista.

He adds, "As long as Windows 7 is rock solid when it is released and gets good reviews, the Vista stigma will most likely fade away quickly."

Automatically Track Your Company and Competitors with RSS

RSS feeds consolidate web surfing, pushing the new content directly to you instead of making you bounce between sites. That time saver can make better use of your breaks, even if you're just checking sports updates. But you can make RSS feeds into a business tool, tracking industry events, news, your company, and competitors.

Visit google.com/alerts, and log in if needed with the link to Manage your alerts. Click New Alert, and enter a simple search term into the box. Type the name of your company or a competitor, the name of an upcoming tradeshow, or anything specific that would get coverage. Use the pull-down menu to choose if you want to limit searches to just news sources, blogs, or other targets, and change the Deliver to option to Feed. Click Create Alert.

Right-click the word Feed, and choose Copy Link Location. Open your favorite RSS reader and add the link. In FeedDemon, for example, click Subscribe, enter the URL, click Next, Next, and Finish. In Outlook, choose Tools, Account Settings, and click the RSS Feeds tab. Click New, paste the feed, click Add, and click OK.

Optionally, you could configure Google Alerts to just send email messages, but I like the flexibility in using an RSS reader; I can keep those messages separate from email. Plus, I have them synchronized across several devices. However you set up the alerts and feeds, you'll be the first to hear about relevant news, without having to scour through a bunch of sites.

Will Google and Microsoft Own the Web?

It's something of an open secret that Mozilla, the organization behind the open source Firefox Web browser, gets most of its funding from Google - 91 percent, to be exact. The deal gives Google top placement in Firefox's search engine bar. But now that Google is also shipping Chrome, its own branded browser, some critics are asking whether the search engine giant's deep pockets have allowed it to gain too much influence over the Web browser market.

This week, Mozilla CEO John Lilly admitted that his organization's relationship with Google is "more complicated than it used to be" in light of the current funding arrangement. But Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz goes even further, claiming that because the market is controlled by just a few giant companies - namely Google and Microsoft - the Web browser has become "hostile territory" for application developers. Could the days of an open Web be coming to an end?

The technologies used to build Web pages - including HTML, JavaScript, and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) - are all open standards, maintained by industry consortia. No one company owns them. But experimental features often appear in new browser releases first, then are integrated into the official standards later. One example is Google's Gears technology, which is built into Chrome and is available as a plug-in for Firefox and Internet Explorer. Gears is widely expected to influence the upcoming HTML 5 standard.

That's all well and good, except that arguably only Microsoft can compete with Google's share of the browser market. For example, Opera is a longstanding alternative browser that is often praised for its compliance with Web standards, but its market share is but a fraction of that of Firefox or IE. Because of Opera's narrower reach, a new feature introduced in Opera might be seen as less significant, and therefore be less likely to become part of the public standards.

Sun's Schwartz has good reason to fear a market where large companies wield an undue influence over widely-used technologies. A few years ago, Sun fought a protracted legal battle with Microsoft over the Redmond-based giant's nonstandard implementation of Sun's Java programming language. Sun argued, successfully, that Microsoft's actions amounted to an attempted hostile takeover of Java.

Rather than see the same scenario play out on the Web, Schwartz argues that developers should avoid the "hostile territory" altogether. Instead of the browser, he says, developers should build applications using Sun's new JavaFX technology. But this seems somewhat disingenuous, considering that JavaFX is so far almost entirely the brainchild of Sun, and is therefore less open than any browser.

But there are other reasons to be concerned about Google's stake in Firefox and Chrome, too. Some privacy advocates worry that Google's influence over the browser market gives it access to too much user data, which the company collects for the purposes of its massively lucrative online advertising business.

What do you think? Does the overwhelming influence of Google and Microsoft on the browser market mean the Web is destined to become just another proprietary platform? Or will the influence of open source and open standards bodies ensure that the Web remains a free, public resource?

Yahoo Inbox Gets Social, Opens Up to Third-Party Apps

Yahoo announced a new set of social media features for its e-mail service yesterday that will incorporate a set of friends (Yahoo calls them "connections"), third-party applications and e-mail filtering. The new services are part of Yahoo's Open Strategy that aims to open all Yahoo sites and services (not just e-mail) to third-party developers, and give you a "social profile" type dashboard with the goal of unifying and managing your Yahoo and other non-Yahoo services.

If you've already created a Yahoo profile you will find a new welcome page waiting for you on your Yahoo Mail inbox. It will contain some connections suggestions with other users who have also created profiles. To create connections with other friends, you can send invitations from your Yahoo Mail address book. In an instructional video, Yahoo says that anybody from any email service can connect to your Yahoo inbox, but the rub is that they must have a Yahoo profile as well.

After you're set up and "connected", Yahoo will prioritize your e-mail and will place e-mail from your connections on your personalized webpage. In addition, the new page will include what your friends have been up to on various sites across the Web. This includes uploading pictures to competitor sites like Picasa, marking a YouTube video as a favorite and using Yahoo's Digg-like service, Buzz.

Built into the inbox will also be a selection of third-party applications. At the moment, this service is limited to a very small, U.S.-based beta test group, but Yahoo says they will open the apps to a wider audience soon. Test applications include Flickr, Flickster, Wordpress, Xoopit (a program that lets you view all the photos in your inbox on one page), Family Journal (family tree application) and Yahoo! Greetings with American Greetings.

Open Social Fatigue

Yahoo's new service sounds interesting and may be very helpful to incorporate cross-platform online activities. It sounds nice, but will it take off? Another profile for yet another social media service to add to a growing list that already includes Delicious, Digg, Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn and on and on. Added to that is a growing list of cross-platform IDs. There's Facebook Connect, Google Friend Connect, MySpace's Data Availability, AOL's Beebo and now Yahoo. Of course let's not forget OpenID, the granddaddy of them all that was supposed to save us from this mess. And bear in mind that some of these services actually have partnerships with each other.

It seems that not only do social media mavens want you to connect to others across the Web; they want you to connect on their terms, using their site. Sure they might say, "No, no we want you to go away from our site and find things that you like."

Right, and then report actions back to a centralized location like a Facebook, MySpace or Yahoo profile. Enough already. Users don't need more social media; they need social media that brings it all together without the need to create another profile.

What social networking really needs is a good old-fashioned format war. Then again, maybe that's what we're seeing right now. Problem is it looks less like the Blu-ray vs HD-DVD battle, and more like the Cold War-and you know how long that dragged on.

Microsoft Issues Emergency Security Patch For IE

Microsoft will issue an emergency security patch Wednesday for all versions of Internet Explorer. The patch is considered a critical fix for the security flaw currently plaguing the IE browser. So far, more than 2 million computers are believed to have been infected.

Vulnerability Protection

An advance notification of the patch, published Tuesday, describes it as protection for a "remote code execution" vulnerability. The move follows Microsoft's security advisory posted last Wednesday and updated Monday explaining the vulnerability and suggesting temporary "workarounds" for protection.

Serious Flaw

The flaw can be used to let attackers steal personal data such as passwords if a user visits a compromised Web site, of which at least 10,000 are thought to already exist. Thus far, the vulnerability has been used primarily for grabbing gaming passwords for black market sales. The hole could, however, potentially also be used to steal more sensitive information such as banking passwords and other private information.

Some security analysts had gone as far as to suggest all IE users switch to a competing browser until Microsoft found a suitable fix.

Getting the Patch

Microsoft's emergency security patch will become available Wednesday at 1 p.m. EST at the Microsoft Update site as well as at the Microsoft Download Center. All users of IE5, 6, and 7 are advised to install it. A separate patch is expected to be made available for users of IE8 Beta 2. Expect to see far more detail by midday Wednesday when Microsoft officially issues its security bulletin.

Facebook Wants to 'Connect' to Your Blog

Blogging just got more social: Facebook has launched its Connect Plugin Directory in addition to its Connect program. If you're a blogger, that means you can let your visitors comment on your site using their Facebook credentials. If you're a reader, once you comment using your Facebook details, you can have the comment automatically published on your Facebook newsfeed.

Facebook launched almost two weeks ago the Connect program, that lets websites authenticate users with their Facebook login credentials. Now bloggers, thanks to the new Connect Plugin Directory, have a simple way to integrate Connect on their own sites and socialize more with their readers.

Movable Type bloggers got a free plugin that allows any Facebook user to sign in, comment and share their action on a certain site on Facebook. This plugin will also automatically display users' Facebook photos in one's comment and can share their comment via the social network's newsfeed.

In a similar way to Movable Type, Wordpress bloggers got a plugin that offers the same commenting possibilities but can also show recent visitors and allow readers to invite friends and share comments. Bloggers that use the Disqus commenting system will also be able to integrate Facebook Connect by the end of the year.

Facebook Connect seems to have a good effect on the number of comments a blog can receive. Josh Elman says on The Facebook Developers blog that "some blogs have seen an almost 2x increase in comments, and many have also sensed an increase in the quality of dialogue, as more commenters are using their real names and pictures."

Google and MySpace offer similar programs to Facebook's Connect also. Google's Friend Connect allows users to sign in with their Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account and interact with other visitors by making friends, sharing media or posting comments. The MySpaceID program works on the same basis and allows users to publish and syndicate their activities to and from partner sites.

Firefox Add-On Alerts Amazon Shoppers to Illegal Content

Nothing says thoughtlessness like the gift of pirated digital material, but more people may be receiving this type of illegal content this holiday season. A new Firefox extension, called Pirates of the Amazon, will alert Amazon.com shoppers whenever an illegal copy of a product they're about to buy is available on a torrent site called The Pirate Bay.

According to an introductory video by the anonymous rogues who created the add on, Pirates of the Amazon displays a large "Download 4 Free" text link whenever the extension finds an illegal copy of the Amazon product you're shopping for. It effectively turns the online retailer into a shopping mall for pirated content.

The site for "Pirates" was down as of 8:30 AM ET this morning, but it is unclear whether it has been shut down due to legal action or overwhelming popularity-the extension currently has over 2700 Diggs. Despite its catchy name, Pirates of the Amazon is not affiliated with The Pirate Bay and claims to be an "artistic project [that] addresses the topic of current media distribution models vs. current culture and technical possibilities," according to TorrentFreak.

Illegal downloads and digital property rights have been in the headlines recently. Minnesota mom Jammie Thomas had her conviction of distributing illegal content thrown out, and a new trial is pending. The rock gods AC/DC have been on an anti-iTunes crusade with their new album "Black Ice," only to discover their opus available on Torrent sites before its release. In addition, The Pirate Bay itself has faced legal action in Sweden, Denmark, Italy and from Hollywood studios. No doubt a potential face off between Pirates of the Amazon and the world's largest online retailer comes at a bad time for the torrent site and its fans.

Even though the new extension seems to facilitate illegal activity with greater ease, it is doubtful that something like this would take a significant chunk of gift giving dollars this month. We are still living in a society where stolen content is not considered a tactful gift and good old guilt and shame will most likely hold back would-be bandits where firewalls and lawsuits can't; however "Pirates" does have the potential to cut down on personal indulgences that people typically pick up while shopping for others. Then again, sometimes all you want for Christmas is the real thing.

Flickr Gets Flashy With New Video-Enabled Mobile Site

Flickr's making it easier to stay connected with a brand new mobile site being debuted Thursday. The revamped m.flickr.com brings a refreshed design and a handful of new features, including mobile video playback for some Flickr users.

Mobile Limitations

First, the reality check: The new Flickr mobile won't work with all cell phones. The enhanced features are limited to devices with "advanced browsers." The list is pretty extensive, though -- if you have an iPhone, an iPod Touch, an Android phone, or a device with Opera Mobile, Firefox Mobile, or another WebKit-based browser, you're golden. Otherwise, you'll be limited to basic functionality.

The video playback feature is currently available only on the iPhone and iPod Touch, though Flickr promises to roll out support to the other "advanced browser" platforms in the very near future.

As for mobile video uploading, it follows the model introduced on the regular Flickr site and is available only to "pro" subscribers, with a 90-second cap placed on all uploaded clips.

A Full Makeover

The rest of the Flickr mobile revamp features an updated and more user-friendly menu system with more focus on social features. Your activity stream is beefed up and accessible right from the home screen. Flickr mobile will also now let you comment on and favorite photos from your phone -- an option missing from the past design. It makes contact management a bit more intuitive, too, letting you add contacts and easily view friends' recently uploaded photos. Privacy settings are now accessible from the mobile site as well.

Flickr's modernized interface aims to make submitting pictures simpler with a new built-in way to add Flickr directly into your address book. Once you do that, you can just drop a mobile photo into an e-mail, tap in the "Flickr" address, and hit send. And if you've got nothing interesting to show, the retooled Flickr mobile brings the day's top public photos to your fingertips so you can find something to see.

Mobile Photo Growth

Flickr's motivation for expanding its mobile space makes sense. The Yahoo-owned company says it's seen a 50 percent increase in usage over the past year, and it's not alone. Recent numbers from data measurement firm ComScore indicate mobile photo messaging jumped 60 percent in the U.S. this past year. In a somewhat surprising twist, the group with the highest percentage of growth wasn't teenagers, either -- it was adults aged 45-54.

Flickr seems to have some catching up to do, too, judging by its traffic. A ComScore study ranked Flickr at 18.3 million U.S. visitors per month in July, behind Facebook Photos at 25.4 million and Photobucket at 23.5 million. Google's Picasa came in last with 8.3 million monthly U.S. visitors.

Yahoo is currently looking at testing an open source approach to Flickr in the future, another move that could set it apart from the competition in the world of photo sharing.

Wii Fit, IPhone 3G Among Japan's Top Impulse Buys in 2008

Nintendo's Wii Fit game and Apple's iPhone 3G are among the top 20 products Japanese consumers confessed to buying on impulse in 2008.

In a survey conducted by Japanese search engine Goo, the Wii Fit ranked third for the year behind the year's two sweet sensations: salted sweets and raw caramel. Wii Fit became a national phenomenon because it was seen as an easy and fun way to get fit.

Around 3 million units of the software and companion "balance board" hardware are expected to be sold by Nintendo in Japan this year, it said recently. Worldwide the company expects to sell 10 million units this year.

One other game, "Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G" for the PlayStation Portable, was among the top 20 in the ranking. The Capcom game is one of the most popular for handheld platforms in Japan and has sold more than 2.5 million copies since its launch in March. It was tied for 12th place with another local diet fad: a book that preached the values of keeping-in-shape by eating bananas for breakfast.

Following hot-on-the-heels and tied for 14th place was both a mobile PC and the iPhone 3G.

Japan was part of the simultaneous worldwide launch of the iPhone 3G on July 11 and the phone got considerable media coverage in Japan. It was the first time the iPhone was available here (the previous 2G version wasn't compatible with Japan's cellular networks) and some people began camping out several days before the phone went on sale to be assured of getting one. When sales began, parts of the launch were broadcast live on Japan's morning TV shows.

The popularity of the mobile PC this year can be put down to low prices. Not only are computers like Asus' Eee PC redefining what consumers expect to pay for a laptop but machines are being offered for as little as ¥100 (US$1) by cellular carriers in return for signing a 2-year flat-rate data contract.

The unscientific ranking polled visitors to the Goo portal between Oct. 21 and 24.