Spencer F. Katt

Spencer got a tip the old-fashioned way last week: from a person cowering in a phone booth. According to the tipster, Lehman Bros. is not pleased with the IP telephony system the company installed last summer. “Disastrous” was how the caller described it, as she pumped coins into the phone. For example, on several occasions, […]

Attendees rocked out in the Big Apples Hudson Theater as rock legends Gary U.S. Bonds, Chubby Checker and the Shirelles helped Hewlett-Packard launch its Compaq Tablet PC last week. The audience was also treated to host Dick Clark, of “American Bandstand” fame, quizzing HP execs on music trivia. “Who knew company Prez Michael Capellas knew […]

As The Mouser slipped out of a mind-numbing slide show about “On Demand” computing during IBMs event at the Museum of Natural History, in New York, he stared at the large war canoe by the entrance, and it dawned on him that the most striking characteristic of the new Big Blue is … red. Sam […]

El Gato has come to the conclusion that David Emerys Web site, urbanlegends.about.com, which investigates and debunks all of the junky e-mail messages that circulate, should be subsidized by the federal government if it ever runs out of cash. Years ago, when e-mail chains contained faux information, such as the fable that Bill Gates and […]

The Kitty has heard tales from the trenches that illustrate the importance of good monitoring tools for a companys WAN. A vendor told El Gato that some employees at his company were once caught playing “Doom” on an expensive T-1 link spanning the Atlantic. The situation was discovered only because the company had invested in […]

Sun Microsystems is apparently taking a hard line with its executives running Microsoft Windows and Office on their machines and is strongly encouraging them to replace the software with Sun-supported products such as Solaris, Linux and StarOffice. A Tabby tattler told the Katt that even a VP whos overseeing Suns Linux and Solaris projects was […]

“Is it just me,” thought El Gato, “or did Microsofts acquisition of Liquid Audios patent portfolio for a measly $7 million garner less media attention than it should have?” With the entertainment industry frantically seeking solutions to selling music, film and other content over the Web, it would seem that scooping up Liquid Audios patents […]

Intel is getting serious heat from Hollywood over the chip makers decision not to implement certain features in its chips that would allow people to track copyright violations. But El Gato hears that, in a possible attempt to placate movie moguls, the company launched an internal probe for copyright violators. A Tabby tipster said when […]

Last week, while weeding out his inbox, The Katt came across a note from DataCore challenging EMC to a product shootout. DataCore, a storage virtualization software startup, is betting a new Porsche 911 Turbo, as well as a $137,140 charitable donation, that its SANsymphony product is faster than EMCs Symmetrix. El Gato could only assume […]

When it comes to parties, El Gato usually tries to get in by walking through the front door backward. When it comes to the Internet, it seems Web surfers in China had the same idea. Until last week, when their government finally lifted its ban on Google, they had been able to access the search […]

Although the messed-up Mousers memories of grade school consist mainly of his teachers using his noggin as a blackboard eraser, he can still see the value in Maines plan to distribute 36,000 iBooks throughout its public school system over the next two years. The Apple laptops are slated to be handed to every 7th and […]

Spencer heard that StorageTek, which makes tape and disk array products, recently paid exterminators about $5,000 to wipe out more than 4,000 prairie dogs that were ravaging its 450-acre campus in Louisville, Colo. Employees who use the companys outdoor day care center and jogging trails were worried about the increasing rodent population, a Katt crony […]