Peter Coffee

System Architect Version 10, released earlier this month by Popkin Software & Systems Inc., defies the “Version 10 curse” that often seems to pull a product across the line from maturity to senility. Click here to read the full review of System Architect Version 10. 2 System Architect Version 10, released earlier this month by […]

In “Matrix Revolutions,” our hero Neo enters a (simulated) dark and stormy night. He finds himself surrounded by ranks of grim-faced copies of “Agent Smith,” the former intrusion detection avatar whos grown into the ultimate virus. “Welcome back,” Smith snarls, as the rain pours down and his thousands of clones look on. “How do you […]

Its getting much easier to tailor an applications platform to the specific tasks of the target user. Ironically, such long-sought customization may no longer be a good idea. What got me thinking about this possible paradox was a pair of news stories that praised almost opposite approaches to enabling device-oriented application developers. In one case, […]

A “Provenance,” documenting the origin and the chain of ownership of an art object to ensure its authenticity, is also good to have in the case of a complex calculation used in designing a product. Designate, set to be unveiled this week by Mathsoft Engineering & Education, brings the idea of provenance to the companys […]

Ten years ago, congress enacted the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, otherwise known as CALEA. That bills opening paragraph mandates that “a telecommunications carrier shall ensure that its equipment, facilities, or services … are capable of … delivering intercepted communications and call-identifying information to the government.” The camels nose had officially entered the building. […]

When someone says that something is “remotely possible,” most people take it to mean that something might happen but isnt likely. I wonder if application developers will soon find themselves hearing a different and more positive meaning in that phrase, along the lines of “Yes, you can make that happen anywhere, from anywhere.” My thoughts […]

Personal storage capacity growth is outpacing the speeds of both our processors and our network connections. This means that many ideas about how to manage future desktop and mobile storage are swimming against the tide, while recent developments are ignoring users most critical priorities. Offloading personal data to managed servers is at best a mixed […]

Wolfram Inc.s Publicon 1.0 offers electronic wordsmiths a novel environment for creating and sharing complex documents and for building customized documentation tools. Click here to read the full review of Publicon 1.0. 2 Wolfram Inc.s Publicon 1.0 offers electronic wordsmiths a novel environment for creating and sharing complex documents and for building customized documentation tools. […]

The arms race—or, should I say, the fingers race—continues. For all who have struggled to free their pointing devices from the surly bonds of wires or the confining ghetto of the “mousing surface,” the laser tracking technology introduced this month by Logitech International is more than mere hype. I found several surfaces on an eWEEK […]

With this months approval by the Federal Communications Commission of an Ultra-Wideband chip set, device designers and users can enjoy new options for robust, high-bandwidth wireless connections with minimal power consumption. The XS110 chip set, now available in sample quantities from Freescale Semiconductor Inc., enables a claimed data rate of 110M bps over distances of […]

You have only until Sept. 9 to object to the federal governments proposed decertification of the Data Encryption Standard. After reading the proposal, Im tempted to complain that it would not leave DES sufficiently dead. Many would say that its already been 15 years since the end of this algorithms useful life, even though theyd […]

In Robert Heinleins classic 1966 novel, “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress,” a computer technician has to explain to a newly awakened conscious machine that some jokes are only funny once. The first time, he tells the computer, youre a wit; the second time, a half-wit. “Geometric progression?,” the computer inquires. “Or worse,” he grimly […]