Siemens Computer Technologies

One of the biggest problems facing enterprises today is that the world is communicating faster than their IT systems can keep up with. This is particularly obvious in businesses that operate multinationally. Their managers collaborate and communicate daily across timezones and geographies by phone, email and Web conference, but their business applications don’t. Those applications were designed for an older, slower-paced world, in which business metrics were rolled up on a monthly schedule and it was quite an innovation to actually analyze last month’s data to look for emerging trends. In today’s faster, flatter, world, that kind of monthly batch reporting style seems distinctly old-fashioned, but it’s quite a challenge to graft new real-time reporting capabilities onto the older generation…

Darth Vader: You underestimate the power of the Dark Side. If you will not fight, then you will meet your destiny.  An article on the IOL Technology website discusses a consultant who pleaded guilty on Wednesday to raiding hundreds of thousands of computers.  The article states: John Schiefer, who worked as a computer security expert, “admitted that he gained access without authorisation to hundreds of thousands of computers in the United States and that he remotely controlled these compromised machines through computer servers,” federal prosecutors said in a statement. “Once in control of the ‘zombie” computers, Schiefer used his botnets to search for vulnerabilities in other computers, intercept electronic communications and engage in identity theft,” the US Attorney’s office said….

The New England Journal of Medicine has entered the debate over Personal Health Records (PHRs) with four articles, all with different perspectives, all with the full text behind their registration firewall. So let’s cut to the chase. I’ve seen this play out in a host of industries over the years – news, music, video — and it’s all about one word. Control. Arguments about control of the data are really arguments about control of the customer. The health industry, like all industries, fears losing that control. They have it now. Each doctor’s office I visit, each hospital, each clinic, has a file on me. It’s behind the nurse’s station. Usually it’s on paper. Sometimes it’s in a computer. But it’s not going anywhere…

If you’re planning on getting your hands on one of the new an AMD Phenom processors, you’d do well to make sure that you base your system on a Sapphire motherboard. In a press release today, Hong Kong-based Sapphire Technology has announced that AMD’s latest Phenom processors, in particular the 125W X4 9850 “Black Edition” (multiplier unlocked allowing broad overclocking opportunities) and the 9750, are fully supported by all its latest AM2+ motherboards. This support also extends to the microATX Hybrid Crossfire 780G. Of particular note is that SAPPHIRE has full support for these new CPU’s on its 780G product, PI-AM2RS780G. This is NOT the case for the majority of competing 780G designs as they have used a far less…

Medsphere’s efforts to revolutionize hospital computing with an open source code base (derived from the VA’s VistA system) got a big boost at HIMSS with news it would partner with Tolven Inc. The reason is only now becoming apparent. Tolven’s founders, most of them former Oracle executives, have the chops to adapt mainstream open source technologies to the field. They’ve already got Sun executives blogging about them. Medsphere co-founder Scott Shreeve has called this STAT news, believing it could save the whole OpenVista movement. The strategy is to build out open source EMR, PHR and hospital systems based on OpenVista and open source standbys like PostgreSQL and JBOSS, offered under standard open source licenses like the GPL. They’ve certainly got the…

For those of you running AMD/ATi graphics cards, you might be interested in knowing that Catalyst 8.4 driver suite has been released. For Windows users this is pretty much the usual fayre of bug fixes and performance improvements (release notes here). Here are some of the highlights: Company of Heroes: Setting the in-game options to maximum levels no longer results in the game exiting to the desktop after the game has completed loading. Further details can be found in topic number 737-32600 Crysis: Setting the Catalyst™ Control Center->Advanced View->3D->Standard Settings to Optimal Quality and having certain in game option settings no longer results in the game failing to render properly. Further details can be found in topic number 737-33395 Doom 3:…

Asus has officially launched the new version of its Eee PC mini-notebook. By now the basic specs of the Eee PC 900 are well-known: a larger (8.9-inch), 1,024×600 display, higher-resolution Webcam, more memory and flash storage, and multi-touch touchpad navigation similar to that of the Apple MacBook Air (Asus calls it FingerGlide). It is slightly longer and heavier than the original, the Eee PC 701, but it still weighs only 2.2 pounds. What’s it all add up to? The first reviews are in. Despite the cramped keyboard that is still tough to use, CNET UK liked all of the new features, which it said will help Asus retain its lead over a growing list of rivals for this new category….

This is a guest post by Aseem Kishore, a technology enthusiast and lead blogger for Online-Tech-Tips. Even though most people, including myself, use Facebook to connect with friends, family and colleagues, Facebook can also help you become more productive. Yes it’s true, Facebook does not necessarily have to be considered a time sinker. With the thousands of Facebook Apps out there, many of which are useless, there are a few shiny gems that can help you turn Facebook into a super-charged personal assistant. Keep reading to find out the best apps out there to help you be more productive in your business or career. Office/Document Writing Related Zoho Office Online Suite If you haven’t heard of Zoho, it’s an online…

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have developed techniques for creating movies of biological and chemical molecules. It has been done before for crystalline structures of salt or metals, but organic molecules are more complex, and more difficult to catch. Until now, researchers had to rely on computer simulations to visualize molecular motions in solution. This is the first time that scientists can see the movements of biological molecules and compare them to their theoretical counterparts. But read more… You can see on the left a frame extracted from a GIF animation showing how Argonne scientists have used high intensity X-rays to create ‘movies’ of biological and organic molecules. (Credit: Argonne National Laboratory) Here is…

Last year was the worst of times for open source in health care. The undercapitalized Medsphere had to reorganize after tossing its founders for daring to treat their open source promises seriously. Misys tossed some code over the side and called it an open source strategy. Open source had become a tactic, not a strategy. This was confirmed when Misys later did a deal to buy half of AllScripts, leaving the future of its code contributions uncertain. Lately, however, open source in healthcare has gotten a second life. I wrote earlier this month about the launch of Open Health Tools, under Eclipse co-founder Skip McGaughey. And now Tolven Healthcare has taken the OpenVista banner and married it to standard open source fare…