IT Knowledge Hub » IT Management & Trends

Microsoft’s Mobile Morass, Part 1

Richard Adhikari — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:00:00 +0000

Microsoft recently announced record revenues of $16.04 billion for its fourth fiscal quarter of the year, which ended June 30. This was 22 percent up year over year. Operating income, net income and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were up 49 percent, 48 percent and 50 percent, respectively, year over year. The company provided relatively conservative growth figures in its guidance for the first half of 2011. Is that good enough? Most of its businesses are tied to the PC and server market, and the world is going mobile.

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iOS 4 Murders iPhone 3G … but Nobody’s Perfect

Erika Morphy — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:00:00 +0000

Apple is looking into reports that its iOS 4 does not run well on older devices such as the iPhone 3G and 3GS. To be sure, Apple has warned from the beginning that not all of the features — in particular, the multitasking in iOS 4 — could be supported on older devices. However, owners of those phones have found that upgrading resulted in problems more extreme than the lack of new features. Most of the complaints center on devices that slow down to the point where they are barely functional.

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IT suppliers – reduce your costs or your out!

Ron — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 07:48:25 +0000

The above headline seems to be the message in an article in the latest edition of Computer Weekly.: “The article, called “How will suppliers be able to cut IT costs?” starts with the words: “The government has told IT suppliers it wants them to reduce the cost of contracts with government departments.” The paragraph ends with: “But it could be the government that has to change the most.”

Nineteen IT suppliers met the Cabinet Office Minister, Francis Maude to start the process of reducing the cost of contracts.

The article goes on to suggest that ‘red tape’ needs to be addressed and the government must overcome a lack of trust if suppliers are to meet targets without just cutting costs to the bone or stripping service levels.

“The government wants immediate reductions in costs and ongoing cuts” says the article.

Francis Maude said he was challenging major government suppliers to take costs out of contracts. “Some of this will come from margins, but we will invite ideas on how we can structure things differently to reduce complexity and cost.”

There will no doubt be more articles like this as time progresses and for sure, this will impact on many people – anyone involved in IT, project management or procurement plus of course shareholders.

If you are based in the US you also have some ‘issues.’ Shortly before completing this article I came across the headline: “White House to Review High Risk Projects”. This can be found here.

An extract of the Computer Weekly article can be found here.

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Hacker Makes ATMs Cough Up Cash Willy-Nilly

Richard Adhikari — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:52:58 +0000

Security researcher Barnaby Jack demonstrated remote hacks against two automated teller machines that made them spew out money at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday. A large number of ATMs are vulnerable to remote and physical attacks, said Jack, who works for IOActive. The manufacturers of the ATMs, Triton Systems and Tranax, have patched the vulnerabilities, Jack found, but he said there are similar flaws in ATMs from other manufacturers. Jack reportedly developed an exploit kit he calls “Dillinger” to access ATMs.

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Camera Makers Take 3D to the Living Room

John P. Mello Jr. — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:00:00 +0000

With 3D movies now mainstream fare in theaters and 3D TVs adorning retail shelves, it was only a matter of time before 3D consumer camcorders would begin to hit the market. That time was this week as two camcorder makers, Panasonic and DXG USA announced 3D camcorder products. Panasonic’s 3D offering, the HDC-SDT750, is a camcorder-lens combo expected to sell in the United states for around $1,400. When a user wants to shoot 3D, they attach a 3D conversion lens to the camcorder. Without the lens, the unit can shoot ordinary 2D video.

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Amazon Kindles Lose Weight, Pack On Features

Richard Adhikari — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:03:03 +0000

Amazon has announced two new Kindle models, one with 3G and WiFi connectivity, the other offering WiFi access only. The two six-inch-screen devices are smaller and lighter than Amazon’s previous six-inch-screen Kindle, and they have more features. The Kindle WiFi is priced at $139, and the Kindle 3G + WiFi goes for $189. Both can be pre-ordered now and will ship Aug. 27, Amazon said. The two new devices are 21 percent smaller than the old Kindle, although they have the same six-inch screen size, Amazon said.

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Intel Demos Light Over Silicon

Kimberly Hill — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:00:00 +0000

Microprocessor maker Intel has announced that it has developed a research prototype that it says is the world’s first silicon-based optical data connection with integrated lasers. The link can move up to 50 gigabits of data per second — about as much data as that contained in an entire HD movie. Current chip manufacturing uses physical connections, rather than light, to transmit information from one part of a computer or other electronic device to another.

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Acrossair: Getting There Is Half the Fun

Paul Hartsock — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:00:00 +0000

When I first heard the term “augmented reality,” I expected nothing short of corneal implants and tiny, cloud-connected computer systems that run on body heat and live just under your skin. I imagined something that would add layers upon layers of information to the visual world we see every day — every face we lay eyes on would be tagged with vital contact info, Facebook posts, musical tastes and all sorts of useless trivia. It sounded really futuristic, so I was careful not to let myself get too excited until next October. All the good stuff comes out in October.

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Reaction to the Final Rule EHR Incentives

hospitalcio — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:41:01 +0000

On July 13, 2010 the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services released their Final Rule regarding the Electronic Health Record Incentive Program, known within our industry as the definition of “meaningful use” of an EHR.

Senator Russ Feingold’s office contacted Ministry Health Care to get our reaction to the regulations. We greatly appreciate the Senator taking the time find out how such rulings impact our organization and our ability to live out our mission of improving the health of the patients we serve, especially the poor. Here is our response:

Thank you for asking for Ministry Health Care’s reaction to the Final Rule on HIT – Meaningful Use.

Our overall reaction is favorable. While there may still be challenges associated with timing and certification, we do believe some specific comments from Ministry Health Care and others were heard and addressed in the Final Rule.

Under the Draft Rule, we viewed the Meaningful Use regulations as a disincentive, requiring too-much-too-quickly for an entire healthcare industry. Given the changes in the Final Rule, we are re-evaluating our plans with an eye toward accelerating Electronic Health Record plans at many of our hospitals. This is good news for our patients!

The true measure for us is Ministry Saint Clare’s Hospital in Weston. Under the Draft Rule, Ministry was challenged just to reach Stage 1 meaningful use in Weston, where Ministry Saint Clare’s is Wisconsin’s first all-digital hospital and the only hospital in the state recognized by The Leapfrog Group as having fully implemented Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) (by the way, the invitation for the Senator to visit Ministry Saint Clare’s to see this firsthand is always open). This was a sign that the originally-proposed incentives were not rational. Under the changes in the Final Rule, the path to Stage 1 meaningful use is more easily accomplished for Ministry Saint Clare’s: Wisconsin’s most IT-advanced hospital that has been perfecting its EHR since opening in 2005.

Likewise, Ministry Medical Group would not have been able to easily achieve Stage 1 meaningful use despite our project to deploy the Marshfield Clinic’s EHR (CattailsMD). We were not sure that the 1,000 Wisconsin doctors were going to be able to receive EHR incentives using that system. Under the Final Rule, we feel there is an achievable effort to reach Stage 1 Meaningful Use, which is an incentive to start improving the system in order to meet Stage 2.

Our only significant concern at this point in time is the EHR certification process. We are now nine weeks from the October 1, 2010 start of the EHR Incentive Program, and none of the EHR products on the market today are certified to meet Stage 1 meaningful use criteria. As of today, ONC has yet to identify an Authorized Certification Body.

Ministry could implement the most sophisticated and beneficial Electronic Health Record in the world and still be denied EHR incentive payments due to the EHR certification requirements. These requirements, in our opinion, have not been well defined or well conceived. The certification process does not seem to take into consideration that a large sophisticated health system, such as Ministry, implements EHRs using a combination of commercial products and internal software development. While no single piece of the puzzle is a certified EHR, the combination of these solutions result in an Electronic Health Record that exceeds the certification requirements. The uncertainty over the certification process is now a much greater concern than the final meaningful use requirements.

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Adobe Gets Its Say on Microsoft’s MAPP Security Channel

Richard Adhikari — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:24:47 +0000

Adobe has joined Microsoft’s MAPP program, which provides members with information about security vulnerabilities before Microsoft releases its monthly patches. This will let Adobe, which has been plagued by security flaws, notify MAPP members about vulnerabilities in its apps so they can fix those problems more quickly. Separately, Microsoft has announced a coordinated vulnerability disclosure program which will let anyone who discovers security flaws report them directly to a CERT-CC or other coordinator.

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