Jim Rapoza

Im not sure what the word “Oingo” means, but the unique namesake search technology from Oingo Inc. can figure out the meaning of pretty much anything else. Most standard search engines simply index text and metatags from Web pages, and queries of these engines will return any pages that contain the same words, meaning that […]

Internet appliances that provide network and Internet capabilities for small or regional offices come in a variety of shapes and sizes, from the distinctive Cobalt Qube to familiar tower shapes to rack-mountable units. Coming in on the smaller side of these devices is Celestix Networks Aries appliance, which is close to the size of most […]

Microsoft Corp.s Internet Explorer 5.0 was released in March 1999. Now, with the release of the beta of IE 6.0 two years later, its hard not to think, “Is that it?” IE 6.0 sure doesnt look like a major upgrade, especially when compared with how much of a difference there is between Windows XP and […]

Im losing my memory. Well, not mine personally, but I am losing stored information in two areas that are important to me. Recently, the IT administrators here decided to implement a new policy for our Notes servers. They will automatically delete any memos more than 3 months old from all mail databases. I can see […]

Perhaps creating a product in a new field where there are no established leaders to catch up to (or copy) is a good thing for Microsoft Corp. The companys BizTalk Server 2000 is an excellent platform for managing XML data processing among businesses and is one of the best first-version offerings eWeek Labs has seen […]

Website Professional was the first Web server that didnt make me edit config files to run it, so it holds a special place for me. Testing the new version, 3.0, from OReilly & Associates brought back a lot of memories, as some things havent changed much from the first version I used in 1995. In […]

As the shakeout of poorly thought-out ASPs continues unabated, I still see a few new services from application service providers that make a little sense for corporations. One I recently took a look at was Atomz Corp.s Atomz Publish, a hosted service for Web content management. Content management systems can be very costly, complex and […]

Do you think music just wants to be free? Or maybe youd just like to record and save your favorite streaming-media programs? Either way, youll want to look at Total Recorder. Total Recorder 3.0.1, from High Criteria, neutralizes any digital protection scheme the music industry comes up with, and it does so in a simple […]

A merger that took place recently will have a big impact on a large number of people who build, design and maintain Web sites—the acquisition of Allaire by Macromedia. n At first, the deal seemed like it had to be backward. Surely Allaire, the maker of the seminal Web editing tool HomeSite, as well as […]

The dust has settled from the frantic first week of Openhack III, with its heavy traffic and mass of DoS attacks. The second week saw a lot more stability in the site and a bit more frustration from serious hackers still banging away as they rethought their approaches and tried to come up with unique […]

With RealSystem IQ, RealNetworks Inc. has greatly improved the quality of its streaming video and audio and has made some important improvements in the way RealServer handles content. But the biggest news in the suite is RealSystem Proxy 8, which finally addresses the bandwidth concerns that many businesses have about streaming media. In eWeek Labs […]

Although RealNetworks Inc. is currently the leader in streaming media market share, it faces several competitors, the biggest of which is Microsoft Corp. and its Windows Media Technologies. Since Microsoft first decided to compete in the streaming media arena a few years ago and introduced the NetShow line, its products, although solid, have consistently been […]