Jim Rapoza

When it comes to information technology workers, there’s one thing we definitely need to survive. And that’s new emerging technologies. For IT, emerging technologies are our food, our Sun, air, water, you name it. Without new and disruptive technologies we would truly have the boring, never changing jobs that the “IT doesn’t matter” types have […]

How does one define emerging technologies? Are they simply technologies that are new? Does it include products and tools that enhance and alter established technologies? To be an emerging technology does a technology need to be innovative and ground-breaking? The answer is of course, yes (for all of these questions), and that would be true […]

Earlier this year I came up with a list of the worst technology bills of all time, but it looks like I already need to update it, as a whopper of a bad technology bill is right on the horizon. In that list, I included the CAN-SPAM Act, which has really lived up to its […]

Some things just go together, like bread and butter or bacon and eggs or peanut butter and jelly. Everyone understands this because its obvious. Now say you make some small change to these pairings. For example, bacon and eggs served on a square plate or almond butter and strawberry jelly or toasted bread with a […]

Depending on how one looks at it, the new FlipStart micro-PC from the Paul Allen-backed FlipStart Labs is either a very small laptop or a really big Blackberry. Want to know just how small (or big) the FlipStart really is? Take a look at these images of the FlipStart as I test it out. CLICK […]

When it comes to technology patents and the effect they have on innovation and the ability to use and create technology, the news is usually on the bad side (for example some company crushing a competitor using a patent, or a troll attacking real innovators with a questionable patent). But finally the news is good, […]

I recently posted a list of my 12 Ways to Be A Security Idiot. This list was inspired by an older column (OK, rant) of mine where I bemoaned the stupid things that people do that cause most of the security problems that companies have to deal with. When I wrote that old column I […]

A core principle in many world religions is the concept of karma, which in its most basic interpretation is that all actions have consequences. Of course, I like to think of karma in a more western-slang sort of way, namely in that it means that what goes around, comes around. Thats why Im glad to […]

The new version of Thunderbird, the free, open-source mail client from the organization behind the Firefox Web browser, is a nicely polished application that makes it easy to sort, view and generally manage your daily e-mail load. But while Thunderbird 2 looks promising, it must face one important question: Do e-mail clients matter anymore? To […]

As the One Laptop Per Child project works toward a release this year of what is commonly called the $100 laptop, work has continued on the operating system and the new interface for the radical new laptop design. This interface is called Sugar and is based on a lightweight version of Fedora Linux. While this […]

Is “process” a dirty word? Certainly in some contexts it can come across negatively. For example, if someone describes something as being “such a process” they usually mean that it was an overly complex and tedious ordeal. Interestingly, if you polled some of the people who have been involved in the creation of one of […]

While I always follow the big patent battles, the recent ugly fight between Verizon and Vonage has been of interest to me for more than just its implications in the broader patent fight. That’s because for a while now I’ve been a very happy customer of Vonage’s VOIP service. I use its lower-tier basic service, […]