|
 
 
 
|
 Muratek
Updates
- May 2004 (GoTo: Tech News)
Call Security! But how often does security call
you!? On May 1st Muratek launched its Virus & Security Initiative for
2004/2005. VSI provides virus alerts in real-time. When a new threat
surfaces, our system sends alerts to all our colleagues, clients and friends,
warning them about what to look for. The Virus & Security section of the site
is being beta implemented as we speak - It will be a center for virus
information and removal tool downloads.
-
April 2004
Recent demand for end-user support has
prompted Muratek to answer the call, literally! We are now in the process of
beta testing our new toll-free help desk. The same service our corporate
clients are enjoying has now been customized to suit the needs of our end-user
market.
Our new number for support is 888-884-TECH!
Muratek's hardware replacement programs (HRPs) and Muratek Warranties (MWs)
have also seen more demand in the past few months. Our all-inclusive packages
are now more robust and have response time guarantees and stock rotation of
preconfigured goods.
- March 2004
Muratek unveils the newly renovated
Muratek.com website. New additions include news and download areas as
well as a total revamp of all site graphics and trim. The SMART system
on the backend of the website (client access only) has also been updated.
Our programming and development team, led by Vadym assures us that there
are many more upgrades to follow. Great job guys!
Tech News & Trends
Updates
Keeping you in the know!
- MAY 2004
A New Chinese Specialty: Spam
Despite Beijing's Net censorship, the country appears to be playing host to
thousands of the sites spammers want you to visit . The U.S. has no shortage
of people looking to blame China for America's economic problems. The flight
of manufacturing jobs is China's fault. Who's to blame for the deflationary
pressure that prevents companies from raising prices? China. Now that
deflation worries are giving way and the U.S. economy is picking up steam
while China runs the risk of overheating, who's to blame for inflationary
pressures? One guess.
The China critics surely aren't always right, but they have a point. Beijing
certainly has a much greater impact on the U.S. economy now that China is a
growing power. But Gideon Mantel, the head of an Israeli company that tracks
e-mail traffic, says China is also a major source for another American ailment
-- spam. Not the meat, of course, but unwanted, aggravating e-mail. The
majority of those messages telling you how to increase your penis size or get
a discount mortgage or get rich on eBay are trying to get you to visit Web
sites based in China.
An independent company began a project early last year. They surveyed 300,000
sites in spam messages and found that 71% of the Internet protocol (IP)
addresses for them were based in China. After shocking results, the
project was replicated to confirm its findings. A second team looked at the
URLs embedded in the spam messages and then checked the IP addresses that
those URLs pointed to -- and they clearly were Chinese.
This article in no way implicates any one group of people. The team isn't
saying that the spammers themselves are Chinese. Chances are, they're probably
American or European. But whoever they are, they're finding China to be a
convenient base to host their Web sites from.
Office, Beware -- Here Comes Workplace
[Back to Top]
IBM's new Web-based software package
aims to let corporations use as much or as little of Microsoft's software as
they want -- or none at all. If it stood on its own, IBM's $15 billion
software group would be the world's second-largest software company, trailing
only Microsoft (MSFT ). Yet, most of the software IBM (IBM ) makes runs on
powerful server computers, and it figures only minimally in desktop computing.
That's about to change.
Advertisement
On Monday, May 10, Big Blue is set to roll out a major new advance in its
software strategy -- an integrated group of products called IBM Workplace. The
strategy weaves together e-mail, collaboration software, IBM's Web portal, a
small database, software for working on Web applications offline, and
desktop-productivity applications including word processor, spreadsheet, and
presentation manager. It's aimed not at individual consumers but at
corporations.
"This is among the most important announcements we have made," says Steve
Mills, general manager of IBM's software group. "It really completes a picture
for customers. They can see an open platform for end-to-end computing needs."
TIMING IS EVERYTHING. IBM's move sets it up as a threat to Microsoft's
hegemony in desktop computing. The Colossus of Redmond offers an array of
software for both desktop and server computers -- all based on Windows. In
contrast, IBM's package will work with all the major operating systems,
including Windows, Linux, Unix, Macintosh, and those for handheld devices such
as PalmSource and Symbian. A host of smaller companies already duke it out
with Microsoft in desktop computing, but this competitive attack is coming
from IBM -- a much more powerful adversary.
-
APRIL 2004
[Back to Top]
How VoIP Can Connect the Disabled
Internet-based telephony holds great promise for allowing the blind and deaf
to communicate much better and become more productive. Don Barrett's phone is
his best assistant at work. Barrett, who's blind, has a phone that uses spoken
voice to let him know who the caller is or to read to him the messages people
leave when he misses a call. He can even use voice commands to tell his phone
to find a number in his electronic Rolodex.
None of these tasks are possible with a traditional phone, but Barrett is
ahead of the game. He's using a PC-based phone that runs on
voice-over-Internet-protocol (VoIP) technology. With some extra software, he
can also hear his e-mail and voice mail from the Internet. At his job as
assistive-technology specialist at the U.S. Education Dept., Barrett says the
VoIP gear has greatly improved his performance. "I can decide whether to take
a call. For me, that's huge."
While VoIP is creating quite a stir in the telecommunications field overall,
it's an especially promising technology for people with disabilities. VoIP
integrates the phone, voice mail, audio conferencing, e-mail, instant
messaging, and Web applications like Microsoft Outlook on one secure, seamless
network. Plus, workers can use their PC, laptop, or handheld as a VoIP phone
from virtually anywhere, with the same phone number, which benefits
telecommuters, including those whose mobility is impaired and must work from
home
A Machine-To-Machine "Internet Of Things"
[Back to Top]
For years, tech visionaries have spun
dreams of a world of connected, communicating machines -- what they call the
Internet of Things. Some gurus predict that within a few years, there could be
more gizmos chattering away over the Net than there are people. New wireless
technologies such as Wi-Fi and ZigBee that can link computers, consumer
electronics, vehicles, and millions of other devices are vastly speeding the
process. "This is going to be very big," says Ian Barkin, managing director of
researcher FocalPoint Group in San Francisco. By 2008, he figures,
machine-to-machine (M2M) communication could drive a $180 billion annual
business in hardware, software, and services, up from about $34 billion today.
Advertisement
These talkative devices need an on-ramp to the Internet to share their
information. And that's where mobile-phone companies see opportunity.
Equipment makers such as Nokia Corp. (NOK) and Sony Ericsson Mobile
Communications are churning out tiny cellular radios that cost as little as
$30 -- half the price of a few years ago -- that can be built into everything
from cars to home heart monitors. Once fitted, the devices could send status
reports or cries for help. Large mobile operators such as Sprint PCS Group
(PCS) and Singapore Telecommunications (SGTSY) are waking up to the market.
FocalPoint thinks carriers could score $2.5 billion in revenues this year and
$10 billion in 2008 from transmitting M2M data.
CEOs Learn the Technology Ropes
[Back to Top]
Burned by pricey projects with scant
returns in the '90s, chief execs are now savvier and watch CIOs and IT
spending far closer.. Not long ago, many chief executives viewed information
technology as a wand that could magically transform their businesses -- in
part because they didn't really understand it. As recently as 1998, surveys
showed that most CEOs didn't know how to open their own e-mail, much less make
wise technology decisions. So when their chief information officers painted
doomsday Y2K scenarios and their chief financial officers pushed for spending
on enterprise resource-planning (ERP) software, many CEOs just signed the
check.
Advertisement
Their inexperience carried a high price. By 2000, corporate tech spending had
risen to as much as 10% of some companies' sales -- vs. today's average of
2.3% or so. Preparing for Y2K did nothing to boost revenues. And worse,
according to market consultancy Gartner, more than half of the
multimillion-dollar ERP projects that businesses implemented to streamline
their accounting and basic operations failed -- and 40% exceeded their
original budgets by more than 50%. A recent survey of some 196 corporations by
consultants Booz Allen Hamilton found that more than half were dissatisfied
with their tech investments.
[Back to Top]
|
