'Tis the season to be jolly, and recent statistics make that especially true for Linux users. Exhibit A: Linux netbooks now account for almost a third of the 35 million or so netbooks to ship globally this year, according to Jeff Orr, an analyst at ABI Research. Specifically, the exact breakdown is 32 percent Linux versus 68 percent Windows machines, Orr said.

A civilian police officer who shot the Fort Hood gunman four times during his bloody rampage stopped the attacker cold, a U.S. Army official said today. The officer, Kimberly Munley, was wounded during the gunfight.

Firefighters and police responded to a reported shooting Friday at a high-rise building in Orlando, Florida.

Authorities received a report shortly before noon of a shooting on an upper floor of the office building, said John Tormos of the Orlando Fire Department.

CNN affiliate WESH reported that at least eight people were shot at the Gateway Center -- a 16-story building.

Read local coverage from CNN affiliate WESH

Read local coverage from CNN affiliate WFTV

Read local coverage from CNN affiliate WKMG

Police cars and emergency vehicles surrounded the area, video showed. It also showed people fleeing.

It is time to talk about the changing role of Web sites in business. They are no longer simply online calling cards and repositories of marketing collateral. They've become the heartbeat of the organization, the public face, the online portal for employee and partner access. They're evolving to multi-function application hubs, interactive global mash-ups combining internal and external data and content, melded into a unified user experience. From a Web perspective, once considered a secondary medium to print and other media, they're now business-critical infrastructure.

Shooting sky pictures every 11 seconds during an expected productive life span of about 10 months, the highly sensitive WISE infrared space telescope will gather more data than astronomers have ever had before about what's out there. "What you expect is the unexpected," said Neville Woolf, a professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona.

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) has taken the extreme step of yanking all 1,000 apps produced by Molinker after it learned that the Chinese developer had faked glowing reviews of its apps to drive up ratings and increase its downloads.

The fraud was first reported by the iPhoneography blog late last month. It was brought to iPhoneography's attention by a reader, Patrick Timney, who spotted similarities in reviews -- many of which were apparently very poorly written -- all praising apps developed by Molinker.

"It was Patrick's detective work that uncovered the extent of what Molinker [was] involved in," Glyn Evans, publisher, editor and owner of iPhoneography, told MacNewsWorld.

iPhoneography and Timney contacted Philip W. Schiller, SVP of worldwide product marketing at Apple, with the allegations. A week later he responded, according to iPhoneography, with news that Molinker's apps and ratings had been removed.

Apple did not respond to to MacNewsWorld's request for comment in time for publication.

Molinker apparently is confused by the turn of events, according to blogger Appfreak, who said its domain owner, Ma Kun, told him the company had contacted Apple to find out what was wrong and was hoping for a quick response.

Pushed Its Luck

It's Timney's opinion that others commit ratings fraud at the App Store.

"I've seen comments by people discussing other developers they suspect are doing it," he told MacNewsWorld. "Some developers may be posting one-star reviews about their competitors to bump up their own ratings."

Molinker got caught, he said, because it got cocky.

Timney had never heard about Molinker before, despite his avid use of photography apps in his own work and as a beta tester. A screen shot for Molinker's latest apps, though, appealed to him and he pulled up its reviews.

Some 24 hours after the apps had been released there were 40 reviews, which is unheard of, he said.

Timney did eventually did download the app, even though by that point he was sure the ratings had been faked. In most respects it was a disappointment -- the resolution was very small -- but it did offer some interesting filters, he said.

Sudden Switch

This is the first instance of Apple taking such a drastic step over astroturfing at the App Store -- at least publicly, said Rob Walch, host of Today in iPhone.

"It's very possible Apple may have come across ratings or review fraud before on a limited or one-off basis and acted in a more discreet manner," he told MacNewsWorld.

Given the magnitude of the fraud and the fact that is was first called out on an outside blog, however, Apple had little choice but to yank everything, Walch said.

Indeed, the very scale of the deception almost guaranteed that it would be uncovered. Setting up a wide-scale -- and successful -- operation to seed reviews would require a lot of patient donkey work, Walch noted, with several email addresses, domain names and, of course, writing styles. "I don't think this is something that would be easy to pull off except on a limited basis."

Fear of Apple

Legitimate developers would not want to try it even on a one-off attempt, he said -- largely for fear that Apple would ban them for life from the App Store.

There have been several high-profile complaints about the App Store's opaque approval processes. At bottom, though, developers are happy with the App Store and with Apple, according to Walch, who himself has an app in the App Store.

"Sure, there is frustration with getting approval," he said, "but conversely, developers realize that it does keep out apps that are busted and malware apps. The reality is, you are less likely to get malware in iTunes then in Android, which has no oversight. Developers like the fact that people feel trust in what they buy from the App Store."

When an enterprise uses a cloud computing platform, it must trust the provider to maintain a secure environment for its corporate data to reside. However, the Web-based applications with which the enterprise interacts with the provider can also be cause for concern in terms of security. When these apps are found to have security vulnerabilities, is it best to patch them and move on or rebuild them entirely?

In the early days of business computing, data was shipped from corporate locations to a central server. To spare enterprises the hands-on control of the process, third-party service providers handled the freight. Today, that same business model for massive off-site data storage and application delivery has a more nebulous name: cloud computing.

A new name, larger server farms, often unknown locations of the so-called clouds -- the process is almost like online banking, where you never actually visit a physical location to check on your deposits and make hands-on cash withdrawals.

Cloud computing entails more than mere long-distance data storage, however. It also involves the use of Web-based applications that come from someplace beyond a corporate server. Cloud computing, in addition, can carry with it a security risk.

For the cloud customer, it's often been understood that the service provider and the application developers take care of safeguarding customers' data. However, too many major data breach disclosures in recent years have fueled worries about data security.

These security concerns are no longer small worries for companies that trust their computing integrity to the clouds. Web application security concerns have become the basis of an ongoing debate for which no clear winning argument has yet resulted.

Developers with an eye on security say the only way to eliminate vulnerabilities in Web applications is to build them from scratch rather than apply code fixes and third-party security layers to existing applications. However, a major industry of security products has grown around different ways to plug the security holes found in Web apps, adding justification for the legitimacy of the build-it-then-secure-it philosophy.

"Building from scratch is no silver bullet. Developers have to face the security problem the way it is," Mandeep Khera, CMO of Cenzic, told TechNewsWorld.

Debate Parameters

The build-it-from-scratch approach is the stance taken by an industry group known as the "Open Web Application Security Project" (OWASP). The group offers a toolbox of kits and sponsored projects to help IT workers and app developers find and fix security holes.

"It is critical that program developers build security in. The problem is that most apps already in use are in maintenance mode. Existing apps need to be tested," argued Khera.

Not everybody buys into that argument. By the time companies invest in a product and have it in use throughout an organization, it is too costly to deal with a hunt for security holes. Many companies cannot take the time, effort and risk of taking their must-use applications offline.

"I don't agree that we need to start over and 'build' from scratch. I am confident that Web and more importantly application-based protection will be a driving technology for many enterprises. They can't control what's going on within the cloud, but they can certainly protect the data that is being passed back and forth," Ken Pappas, president of True North Security, told TechNewsWorld. .

What to Do?

For companies using a legacy Web app, a Web application firewall (WAF) could be the alternative to the build-it-from-scratch strategy . This is an appliance, server plugin or filter that protects the data processed by the Web app by applying a tailored set of rules to traffic entering and leaving the application.

The rules provide protection against specific types of data attacks. For instance, the WAF can identify and stop cross-site scripting (XSS) and SQL injection. By customizing the rules to your application, many attacks can be identified and blocked. However, WAFs are not set-it-and-forget-it tools. They must be customized and maintained as the Web app is modified.

The alternatives seem cut and dry choices. If users or Web app providers question the security of the product, they can replace it or bolt on a stop-gap measure like a WAF. However, the better solution might very well be doing both. That's the middle ground suggested by the PCI Security Standards Council.

"The answer depends on how critical the app is for the owner. Sometimes doing both is the only real option for security, especially for a large organization," Georg Hess, CEO and founder of Art of Defence and OWASP member, told TechNewsWorld.

Too Little Too Late?

It is somewhat odd that the computing industry is only now focusing on better security as enterprises turn to Web applications. Perhaps the growing prominence of cloud computing in business will put better security measures in place.

"Many companies for several years now have been utilizing this technology [Web apps from the clouds] without thinking of the security ramifications. Take for example Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM). This Web-based application and the company's data have been passing a public network infrastructure for years with little to no concern regarding data security," alleged Pappas.

The industry is entrenched with the business practice of Web-based applications and data that reside elsewhere beyond its corporate walls, he added. Even worse, the industry is facing a chicken-or-the-Egg mentality when it comes to Web app security and cloud computing.

"Really now, are businesses concerned with the concept of cloud computing or the fact that applications are Web-based? What should be most important within enterprise networks is the fact that [it] is their data that transverses and is stored outside the glass house," he warned.

What's Needed

Cloud and Web-app providers need to build tight network and data protections within their infrastructures, Pappas said. Until then, it will be too risky for any company to leave its assets at a third-party premise.

Another alternative is to fix what is broken and move on from there, advised Khera. Doing so will involve a two-step process to close the holes in any application.

The first step is finding the holes before the job becomes the equivalent of patching the roof to keep the rain out. The second step is prioritizing the timeline for patching the most critical holes found.

"The issue is too important to ignore. Until all the holes are plugged, the application is vulnerable," he cautioned. "You can't avoid the process. The timing is critical."

Starting Point

Perhaps the ideal place for the built-in security process to begin is with the app developers themselves. For that to happen, developers need to consider the software shelf life, according to Hess. Still, more is involved than just shelf life.

"An application is not done with the first version. But code writing expertise is needed for a company to review the security reliability of Web apps. The process has to start with the application developer. It is not common to see schooling in Web security," said Hess.

That is one of the major reasons for the current security troubles -- too few have skills in security. A general lack of education in security is at the root of the problem, he said.

Playing Catch Up

"It takes both time and money to build secure apps. That's the challenge," Hess said.

From a security perspective, it is actually better to have some methods for checking security of the code in the development phase. However, most of the industry is not yet there, Hess complained.

Developers that rush their apps that were in production yesterday expose companies that use them today to new attack vulnerabilities. Developers need some reaction time to fix security holes, he noted.

Then they need a timeframe to deploy patches. This process of deploying patches can take from two to four weeks.

That brings the debate full circle. With the Web application firewall in place, companies running a hole-ridden cloud app will be able to bolt on a stop-gap measure of security and possibly forestall a damaging data breach.

A new study has kicked up more dust in the debate about whether or not frequent cellphone use leads to brain cancer. The research casts doubt on links between mobile phone use and two common types of brain disease, though the researchers note the results aren't entirely conclusive. Still, there remains concern in the medical community that wireless phones can indeed cause deadly health problems.

Could heavy cellphone users be more likely to suffer brain cancer? Scientists and researchers aren't sure, but they're locked in debate.

Results of a study published by Scandinavian researchers in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute on Thursday indicated there doesn't seem to be any such link between cellphones and the incidence of brain tumors.

However, the World Health Organization insists there may in fact be such a link.

Looking Into Cellphones and Cancer

The Scandinavian study looked at the incidence of glioma and meningioma in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden from 1974 to 2003 using data from national cancer registries.

During this time, nearly 60,000 men and women, ages between 20 and 79, were diagnosed with brain tumors out of a population of 16 million adults. No change in incidence trends was observed between 1998 and 2003, the study concluded.

Gliomas are brain tumors arising from glial cells, which act as scaffolding and glue to hold, nourish, insulate and protect neurons. They are often aggressive and malignant. Synthetic scorpion venom has been used in the treatment of gliomas.

Meningiomas are the most common primary tumors affecting the central nervous system. Most of them grow slowly and are benign. Meningiomas grow from the central layer of the three membranes covering the brain and spinal cord.

WHO Warns About Cellphones

The researchers who put out the Scandinavian study warned that it was inconclusive. For one thing, it may not have covered a long enough timeline, they said. For another, they pointed out that they had only looked at the records of people with cancer and had not studied raw data on patients. They suggested more research is needed.

However, the World Health Organization (WHO) says long-term cellphone usage may be linked to some cancers, according to an Octoeber report in the UK's Daily Telegraph. This is based on the findings of a 10-year-long WHO study in which researchers interviewed nearly 13,000 people in 13 countries. The study was conducted between 2000 and 2004. The WHO will release more findings by the end of the year.

Children's use of cellphones should be restricted, and exposure can be reduced by limiting use and employing hands-free kits, suggested Elisabeth Cardis, who headed up the study.

Other Grim Findings

In November, the National Brain Tumor Society published a study asserting there's evidence people who use cellphones for more than 10 years are up to 30 percent more likely to develop brain tumors than people who use them less frequently.

The study, conducted by the Korean Meta-Analysis Study Group and the Center for Family and Community Health at the University of California at Berkeley, was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. It was an analysis of several previous studies conducted over a 10-year period.

There's fear within the medical community of a link between cellphone usage and cancer, according to the National Research Center for Women and Families. The Director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Ronald Herberman, warned his staff in July 2008 that the risks from cellphone radiation may be higher than thought previously, the Center's Web site notes. He advised them to restrict their usage.

The study shows no increase in either of two kinds of brain tumors during the informative time period after cellphones were introduced, said Michael J. Thun, vice president emeritus of epidemiology and surveillance research at the American Cancer Society. "What is clear is that the radio frequencies emitted by cellphones are not strong enough to damage DNA," he told TechNewsWorld. "While several other mechanisms have been theorized as causing cell changes, those need to be investigated by a high-level scientific group."

The study also does not answer questions about cellphone usage for longer than five to 10 years, Thun pointed out. Health authorities, he said, should continue monitoring any potential effects on users' wellbeing. "In the meantime, those who wish to reduce exposure can take simple steps to do so, including using hands-free devices like earphones that allow the phone to be held away from the ear," Thun added.

Bandwidth aggregation products, such as WAN link controllers, enable a business to purchase multiple low-cost network connections (i.e. DSL, cable, fiber, wireless, etc.) and combine them to give it the total bandwidth required. The customer can then easily and flexibly add bandwidth as the organization's Internet usage increases.

As an organization grows, so does the number of employees, partners and customers that use its network. A company may find itself needing more bandwidth to connect its organization to the Internet, or new leased line connections for its remote offices. However, a small to medium-sized enterprise's (SME) Internet bandwidth requirements may not have grown quite enough to move up to the next level of connectivity, such as replacing a T1 with a T3 or bonded-T1. There is a cost-effective alternative using WAN link controllers that aggregate bandwidth -- automatically load balancing traffic among multiple Internet connections to ensure optimal network performance, and providing connection failover for reliable Internet connectivity.

Optimizing Bandwidth Costs

Today, most organizations in urban and suburban areas use broadband and/or more reliable dedicated leased lines for Internet connectivity. Over the last several years, T1 connections have come down significantly in price but still cost an average of US$400 per month. In more remote areas, a T1 connection can still cost upwards of $2,000 per month. This is a cost that many SMEs can't afford. Their alternative is to use lower-cost but less reliable broadband connections such as cable, DSL, fiber and wireless.

Broadband providers often offer business packages with service level agreements guaranteeing bandwidth speed and uptime -- at lower prices than a T1 connection. For example, a business-class fiber connection to the Internet might deliver 15/2 Mbps (megabits per second) for $60 per month. Cable business Internet packages can range from $60 per month for 4 Mbps/384 Kbps to $160 per month for 8/1 Mbps.

With a business-class cable connection, an SME can save $360 per month compared to a T1 connection. By aggregating bandwidth from multiple broadband connections, the SME can also have more bandwidth, i.e. 15 Mbps downstream and 2 Mbps upstream, compared to 1.5 Mbps up and down for a T1 connection. They also gain the additional benefit of redundancy in the event that one of the ISPs has an outage.

By applying channel bonding, using WAN link controllers between two sites, the SME can take network connections from different ISPs (without their participation) and combine the two connections into one virtual connection to affordably gain more bandwidth. For example, the SME can combine a business-class fiber connection (15/2 Mbps), and a business-class cable connection (8 Mbps/1 Mbps) to receive a total bandwidth of 23 Mbps/3 Mbps.

Again, compared to a T1 at $400 per month with 1.5 Mbps up/downstream, the channel bonded fiber and cable connections with a combined cost of $220 per month with 23 Mbps/3 Mbps delivers a fast return on investment -- not to mention the built-in reliability that can't be achieved from a single ISP.

WAN Link Controllers Address 2 Primary Bandwidth Management Problems

The first example is where a business is looking for ways to lower its monthly costs for Internet connectivity (bandwidth). A WAN link controller will enable it to replace an expensive dedicated circuit with multiple low-cost broadband connections (such as cable, DSL, wireless, etc).

Alternatively, if the business already has a dedicated circuit and needs additional bandwidth, rather than having to upgrade to an even more expensive dedicated circuit, it can simply add a low-cost broadband connection. The WAN link controller will manage both the dedicated circuit and the broadband connection.

If a business is using mission-critical business applications such as VoIP and email, these applications can fail due to their reliance upon a single ISP connection. If that single connection goes down, the delivery of the application will fail. Similarly, if network throughput is slow (e.g. a large file transfer slows voice traffic because both applications are both limited by the same connection), business will suffer.

Cost-Effectively Improving Internet Performance and Reliability

WAN link controllers manage Internet traffic going to and from a business over two or more Internet connections of any type. Continually checking all connections for performance and uptime, if a connection problem occurs, the WAN link controller directs traffic to the working connections.

WAN link controllers automate Internet connection failover among multiple ISPs. Traffic load is analyzed and routed to the ISP connection most able to handle the traffic at that particular point in time. This form of "always-on" network resiliency ensures business continuity. Not only can businesses ensure network uptime, but they can also lower bandwidth costs by having the flexibility to choose lower cost network connections.

During an Internet outage, IT departments typically scramble to find and fix the problem. With a WAN link controller deployed, when a connection failure occurs, the IT department only knows about it because WAN link controller sends them a notification.

Winning the fight against cancer may end up being more of a nano-war than a surgical strike. A team led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has just successfully combined an antibody with single-walled nanotubes to create a precision search-and-destroy weapon that targets aggressive forms of breast cancer.

These tiny dual-mode weapons strike at the molecular level, delivering the kill in two ways: The antibody attacks the HER2 protein (an overabundance of which is associated with fast and deadly tumors); and the nanotubes detect and blow up invading tumor cells.

Molecular Bombs

In brief, here is how the nanotube weapons work: Nanotubes attached to the antibody also link to the tumor, thereby effectively detecting and targeting HER2 breast cancer cells. Near-infrared laser light at a wavelength of 785 nanometers reflects intensely off the nanotubes, and this strong signal is easily detected using a technique called "Raman spectroscopy." Increase the laser light's wavelength to 808 nanometers, and it will be absorbed by the nanotubes, incinerating them and anything to which they're attached -- in this case, HER2 tumor cells.

Boom, baby! Take that you serial-killing cancer!

Building a Nanotube Aresenal

This science may sound immensely cool, but achieving the desired outcome is no small feat. For one thing, the antibody must be loaded with nanotubes that are about 90 nanometers long, or 5,000 times shorter than an amoeba. So how are we doing in producing short nanotubes in sufficient numbers to defend all the cancer-riddled human bodies?

"The fact is that carbon nanotubes can be produced in bulk today, but their relevance to real-world applications is often hindered because the delivered product is in the form of a powder, like shaved pencil lead," Peter Antoinette, president and chief executive officer at Nanocomp Technologies, told TechNewsWorld.

Turns out pencil shavings of short nanotubes are perfect for tiny cancer explosives. The longer nanotubes are better for manufacturing bigger stuff such as CNT conductive wire and cable shielding, electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding panels, thermal spreaders, high-strength composite structures and ballistic protection material.

"The real trick is to use longer nanotubes to manufacture deliverable 'macrostructures' that not only carry forward the attractive properties of each individual nanotube, but can also be inserted easily into existing applications and manufacturing processes," explained Antoinette.

"We can currently produce kilometers of yarns and hundreds of square feet of finished CNT material per week, and are developing our path to scaled-up production," he said.

Nanocomp focuses on nanotube materials in the form of a yarn or sheet.

However, NIST doesn't want to wrap up the whole human body in nanotubes. Most likely, the loaded short nanotubes will be administered by injection, although delivery methods have not yet been disclosed. Still, the thought of taking a shot to cure breast cancer in the near future is a wonderful dream.

Which Comes First - the Chicken or the Nanotube?

HER2 is one of a whole family of genes that handle traffic control in the growth and proliferation of human cells. Normal cells carry around two copies of this gene. About a fourth of breast cancer cells carry around multiple copies of the gene, which leads to way too much of a HER2-encoded protein.

The antibody against this stuff is cooked up in chickens. It's called "chicken immunoglobulin Y" (IgY). Kind of looks like it should be called 'Iggy' with that tag, but no, it's chicken IgY. Anyway, chickens resemble humans -- well, not at all -- which is why chicken antibodies are so perfect: They react very strongly against the HER2 proteins on tumor cells and completely ignore other human proteins in normal cells.

The broad genetic difference between the species allows the antibody to be more precise in identifying a very specific foe as it is less confused over similar human proteins.

The chicken antibody is then attached to the nanotube and sent on its search-and-destroy mission.

Next in the Nano Wars

NIST scientists conducted the experiment in laboratory cell cultures and reported their findings in a paper published in the BMC Cancer journal. Using the HER2 IgY-nanotube complex to selectively identify and target HER2 tumors, they achieved a nearly 100 percent eradication of cancer cells, while nearby normal cells remained unharmed. In comparison, there was only a slight reduction in cancer cells for cultures treated with the anti-HER2 antibody alone.

The research is being funded under an interagency agreement between NIST and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation. In addition to the NIST researchers, the team included scientists from Rutgers University, Cornell University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, NCI and Translabion, a private company located in Clarksburg, Md.

The next step is for the team to conduct the same experiment in mice to see if they get the same results in animals as in lab cultures. If every stage is successful, they will continue to move through the standard testing procedures until they eventually reach the human testing phase.

Meanwhile, in a separate but related project, the team is testing a similar nanotube-antibody complex targeting MUC4 to treat pancreatic cancer

Millions of Windows users could potentially be affected by a computer glitch that results in a "black screen of death" after a security update is made, UK security firm Prevx reported in a blog post.

Users that are affected log on to find there is no desktop, task bar, system tray or side bar. "Instead you are left with a totally black screen and a single My Computer Explorer window," reads the post. "Even this window might be minimized making it hard to see."

Investigation Under Way

The cause of the problem -- which apparently affects a wide range of Windows machines from Windows 7 to Windows NT -- is unclear. At least 10 different scenarios might trigger the black screen, Prevx said, including a change in the Windows operating system lockdown of registry keys.

This change has the effect of invalidating several key registry entries if they are updated without consideration of the new ACL (access control list) rules being applied. The rule change does not appear to have been publicized adequately, if at all, with the recent Windows updates, the blog said.

Prevx did not return a call from TechNewsWorld by press time.

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is reportedly investigating the issue but apparently does not believe its support organization is at fault. There are no known problems similar to this one documented in the company's security bulletins.

Microsoft did not return a call from TechNewsWorld by press time.

Possible Solution

There is a procedure that might fix the problem, according to Prevx, although it admits it may not work given the uncertainty of the cause.

The firm provides step-by-step instructions in its blog.

It's as good a solution as any in the absence of additional details from Microsoft, Christopher Ciabarra, president of Network Intercept, told TechNewsWorld.

"It's hard to say what could be wrong and what could fix this just based on the limited information available right now," he said, noting that a corrupted profile also could be a cause.

What it doesn't appear to be is a copy-protection issue, Ciabarra said.

Several years ago, Microsoft would disable desktops of users who were found to have copied software. Users would log on and find the black screen in place of their usual desktop, he said, "but it stopped doing that and just began issuing warnings instead."

Though it's not quite as well-polished as Apple's iPhone OS, the version of Android that Motorola's Droid phone sports is still a breeze to use. The hardware is a bit bulky due to the slide-out keypad, which isn't as graceful to use as the touchscreen keyboard. However, the Droid also benefits greatly from Verizon's speedy 3G network.

Up to now, if you wanted a smartphone with power and without complexity, the only orchard you could go to was Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL). With the arrival of the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid, though, that's changed.

The Droid uses Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android operating system. It's not as slick as the OS in Apple's iPhone, but it's still a breeze to use, and it has some tricks of its own, like voice search. Yes, you can talk to this phone, and it will fill in your search terms. It's accurate, too. As a goof, I asked it to find "chronosynclastic infundibulum," and performed the search without a sneeze.

The unit will also run more than one application at a time. That's useful when you're using it as a GPS navigation device and a phone.

Tight Jeans

If you like wearing tight jeans and carrying your cellphone in your pocket, the Droid may not be for you. At half an inch thick, it's chunkier than something like the iPhone and at six ounces, noticeably heavier.

It has a gorgeous, expansive display. Measuring 3.7 inches diagonally, the TFT capacitive touchscreen supports 16 million colors and has a resolution of 480 by 854 pixels. Even the smallest fonts on Web pages are legible on the display, and multimedia objects -- photos and videos -- are sharply rendered. It responds snappily when poked.

Items can selected by touching them on the screen. To drag an object on the monitor, you touch it and drag it around. You can rapidly scroll up and down or left and right on pages by flicking your finger on the display. Although the screen doesn't support "pinching," you can increase the size of a Web page or photo on the display by double tapping it.

Smart Searching

In the vertical orientation -- the screen content rotates between portrait and landscape depending on the orientation of the phone -- there are four touch controls. They allow you to return to a previous screen, call up application menus, return to the home screen and do a soft search key. What kind of search is activated by the key is determined by what application is running on the phone. So if you're at the home screen, the search key activates a Google Web search, but if you're in the phone app, it will perform a contacts search.

In addition to a virtual keyboard, the Droid has a "thumbboard" that slides out from the side of the unit. The keypad's keys are relatively flat and crowded. I found typing with my thumbs difficult. Finger typing was easier, but then I had to set down the phone on a flat surface to type, which wasn't always convenient.

The keypad has a standard QWERTY layout. The numbers one to zero are located across the top row of keys and can be entered by pressing one of either of two ALT keys found at the bottom of the clavier.

5MP Camera

In addition to the QWERTY keys, the keypad has some special keys that add functionality to it. These are located in the same row as the spacebar. There's a dedicated "@" key. That's convenient for pecking in email and Twitter addresses. There's a search key for finding information. There's also a menu key and a Directional Key. The Directional Key allows you to navigate across the screen and select items without moving your fingers from the keypad.

On top of the unit is a button that does triple duty. It turns the device on or off, blanks the display or locks it. Beside the on/off button there's also an earphone jack.

On the left side of the phone is a mini USB port that can be used for charging the unit and transferring data.

On the right side of the phone is a button for activating its built-in camera. You hold the button in until the camera screen appears. The camera, which has a 4x zoom, will capture images in either portrait or landscape mode at five megapixels, or a maximum resolution of 2,593 by 1,944 pixels. The camera's lens and flash are located at the back of the unit.

The camera also shoots video with a resolution of 720 by 480 pixels at 24 frames per second and playback at 30 fps. Files formats supported are MPEG-4, H.263 and H.264.

Brisk Web Surfing

As high-powered as the Droid is, making a call with the phone is more intuitive than some less-endowed mobiles. From the home screen, you tap a phone icon. A traditional telephone keypad appears on the screen. You can punch in a number or poke an icon to access your phone log, contacts file or list of favorite numbers. To place the call, you simply touch a green handset icon at the bottom of the screen. What's more, voicemail can be accessed with a single tap of an icon.

Web browsing was very brisk on Verizon's 3G network. What's more, the quality of streaming video from sites like YouTube compared favorably with the experience you'd get on a PC.

Like the iPhone, Google has an app store for its Android OS. Programs packaged with the Droid include Google Maps, Gmail, Calendar and Amazon's (Nasdaq: AMZN) MP3 storefront.

Verizon is offering the Droid for US$199.99 with a two-year service agreement and $100 mail-in rebate.

Google's intuitive operating system coupled with some top-shelf Motorola hardware and Verizon's spritely 3G network make the Droid an attractive package for mobile users who want a smartphone they don't need a degree in geek to use.

Ask any IT organization to identify the No. 1 cause of network performance problems, and they'll probably point to high-profile events: denial-of-service attacks, computer viruses, fiber cuts, power outages or hardware failures. However, studies show that more than two-thirds of network issues are actually tied to a simple everyday activity: The ungoverned process of IT staff making network configuration changes.

Change is an opportunity for mistake. Internal errors -- often inadvertent -- can take a heavy toll on overall network performance. This is a serious IT challenge, especially because spending massive amounts of time on last-minute fire drills can be a huge burden. IT organizations typically spend anywhere from 60 percent to 85 percent of their time doing unplanned work, most of which is reactive, time-consuming troubleshooting.

Check out the following five network management  pitfalls. Are you a victim? If so, you're wasting precious resources, which could be spent focusing on more strategic activities.

And remember: change happens. Just be prepared.

Mistake 1: Manage Change Reactively

Change management is not the same as managing change. These two processes are different but complementary. Change management is how IT departments develop, request, schedule and implement change to network devices. Once it's implemented, this process is complete.

Managing change is the process of understanding a change's impact on network health and compliance. Even the smallest, most routine update can knock an entire network out of compliance. Instead of waiting for user complaints to come flooding in, this process finds potential issues before performance degrades.

Organizations should automate both processes: change management and managing change. A best practice includes both 1) a change management process that focuses on planning, scheduling and deploying the change, and 2) ensuring that the planned change is -- and remains -- a positive modification once it has been implemented.

Mistake 2: Too Many Manual Configuration Changes

Each time human hands interact with equipment, there's greater potential for error, even with experienced staff, and fat-fingered users can wreak serious havoc.

The benefit of custom-built scripts or programs is that they reduce the time-consuming, manual effort of collecting and storing configuration and change data. However, when additional scripts are needed over time, this adds to the complexity of the custom-built solution. On top of this is the added worry of staff turnover -- when the original creator leaves the organization, so does their knowledge. Custom scripts, then, can reduce the manual effort, but also grow unwieldy.

Automating the collection, storage, analysis and reporting of network change and configuration data not only reduces time and effort; it also lowers the risk of degraded service by reducing the number of individual, human touches. Automation empowers IT to focus on projects that can improve the overall success of the organization, instead of spending time on manual, repetitive tasks.

Mistake 3: Treat Performance Management and Change Management in Isolation

Almost every organization has tools that give visibility into network performance. The challenge is that these tools live in separate bubbles, frequently managed by different people. This becomes even more problematic once you start overlaying new technologies such as virtualization or cloud computing on top of the network infrastructure. Without a correlated view, IT must play a guessing game.

In more complex scenarios, a change doesn't immediately cause the network to exceed a monitoring threshold, so it doesn't trigger an alert. Hours, days, potentially even weeks later, the suboptimal configuration can combine with other factors, such as new usage patterns, to create unexpected network service degradation. In these cases, troubleshooting is especially tedious -- the root cause is likely buried in a stack of historical reports, and staff must play detective, slogging through every possible cause of performance degradation.

The most successful IT organizations tie network change views with network performance views. Instead of having multiple tools, a single system provides a correlated view, eliminating guesswork.

Mistake 4: Grant Too Much Administrative Access

Are you too trusting? There's a tendency to provide full administrative rights to any and all IT staff who manage devices. This is risky, especially once the list of "privileged" personnel grows to a substantial size.

IT folks usually make device modifications individually as they see fit, and often with the best of intentions. They think, "This is a small change, it won't impact anything. I'll just make it myself and not wait for the maintenance window." But keeping the IT team in the dark increases potential for an undesirable ripple effect -- one misconfiguration can affect a multitude of devices.

Organizations need to give access based upon individual roles and responsibilities. These should all be documented and managed from a central console. Success here hinges on giving appropriate levels of access and system views to each member of the entire IT team but avoiding overextending.

Mistake 5: Ignore the Impact of Change on Neighboring Devices

Ignorance is not bliss. One of the most frequent IT gaffes is taking a narrow, device-centric view when configuring an individual network component. It's crucial to correctly implement and understand how each modification impacts neighboring devices and overall network health.

For example, say there are several different help tickets. The respective issues are fixed, the necessary changes made, each modification is reviewed individually and appears fine. However, negative consequences can still be in store. One change can impact neighboring network devices, if the new configuration triggers a ripple effect that causes major problems as variations with users, applications or usage occur.

Instead of looking at devices in isolation, IT groups must view the impact of changes holistically, as well as on nearby devices. Note that using only a manual process, it's virtually impossible to determine the domino effect of a change across a complex, multi-device network. Successful organizations build automation into the process to identify potential issues before end users are affected.

In Conclusion

Change is inevitable, but organizations can take control of it in a way that reduces risk. The key takeaways are to move away from a reactive, troubleshooting approach to network change and configuration -- toward a proactive monitoring one, that limits risk by minimizing human configuration errors and greatly reducing the time and effort required to isolate and correct problems.

When it comes to networking, what you don't know definitely can hurt you

Let's put this simply: If you want to stream free, professional videos online, Clicker makes finding the video easier than most other solutions I've seen. In fact, it's one of the few online television and video search guides that I've felt compelled to create an account with. Why? Easy. It targets the content I want

With Black Friday only a few days off, I thought it would be timely to list a few of the products that I think stand out this year and, given that the economy is what it is, focus on things that are relatively affordable.

In my mind, half the fun of a gift is the sparkle you see in the eyes of someone who is truly excited about what you have given.

The things I'm going to list here will make a lot of men's and women's eyes light up.

The product of the week is a Web site called CaféGive, which takes a portion of your purchase and applies it to the charity of your choice.

This site is my wife's passion, and part of my gift to her is to bring this up.

 There are several books I think executives and those who want to be executives should read this year, and I've suggested them before.

The first is The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs.

This book teaches you the one major skill that has helped Steve become the executive of the decade and I think it is a foundation for a solid skill set.

The second is True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post Fact Society, which showcases how often we are misled.

I actually think this is a good book for anyone you know who seems unable to have a balanced political, product or personal view.

Both books are by long-time tech followers, and True Enough actually has a section on why Mac fans don't like reporters.

They are incredibly useful reads for the right person.

Gunnar Optics Glasses for a Digital Life

I was just turned on to these while I was writing this column. These glasses are designed to remove eye fatigue for those who spend way too much time in front of computer screens.

 Gunnar Stylus glasses

The Gunnar glasses actually look kind of cool and not really geeky at all, which may be a shortcoming, given this audience.

The gamer or computer geek in your life will be able to stay online longer and play harder with them, so you have to ask yourself if that is really a good thing.

They run around US$80 to $190.

Kindle and Kindle Stuff

While I might consider something like the Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) Nook for myself, given that there are no reviews of the thing yet, I can't recommend it for anyone else.

Sony's (NYSE: SNE) bookstore is more difficult to use than Amazon's (Nasdaq: AMZN), and it doesn't have as good a selection. Also, Sony has an attention span for underperforming products that can often be measured in months.

I'm on my third Kindle and have fallen in love with the big one, which is better for those that are a bit older because you can make the text bigger.

 Kindle DX

The regular Kindle is fine for anyone under 40, and it is both more affordable and more portable. (You can get Presentation Secrets on it as well).

Now, if you know someone who really likes being on the cutting edge, I would try to get them the Nook. It's a risk, but it may be a more exciting gift. Search the Barnes & Noble eBooks site first, though, for books your intended recipient likes, to make sure it has them.

Based on what folks have been telling me while I've been traveling, it looks like Kindle will be a really popular gift this year so make sure there aren't several of you buying one for the same person. The small one is price-reduced to $259, and the big one (DX) is still nearly $500.

 Kindle covers

If someone already has a Kindle, the M-Edge covers and light are inexpensive accessories (with the exception of the Prada cover) that they'll appreciate.

Make sure you match the light and cover to the Kindle they have -- version and size have to match.

Tony Stark's Heart

I ran into this by accident the other day and put it on my personal list. It is a replica of Tony Stark's heart from the movie "Iron Man."

This looks like the original heart that both saves his life at the beginning and toward the end of the movie.

Thousands of emails and documents were stolen from a prominent climate research center in the UK recently and posted online, firing up a fresh controversy over global warming. More than 1,000 emails and several thousand documents were apparently included in the hack attack on the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit, which is dedicated to tracking past and present causes of climate change on Earth.

For the third time in a matter of weeks, jailbroken iPhones and iPod touches have come under attack, this time by a worm that could set up botnets and steal banking information. Security researchers, already on alert as a result of the two previous attacks on jailbroken iPhones, jumped on the worm right away.

Thanks to Twitter's open API, applications that enhance the tweeting experience have proliferated. From TweetDeck to Tweetie, there's an app for everyone and for every purpose. This diverse world of Twitter apps, however, remains a mystery to some of the site's users. "When you go and buy a car, no one tells you that you need to fill it up with fuel; it is just a given," said Twitter consultant Mark Shaw. "When you join Twitter, no one tells you that to really become effective with using Twitter, that you need to use some third-party applications to help you."

It's not every brand new operating system that gets open sourced a year before it hits the retail shelves. Then again, Chrome OS isn't just any OS, and Google isn't just any company. Indeed, that's just what Google did last week, making its brand new Chrome OS freely available for download by developers far and wide

On Friday, Cloud Engines launched a bigger, shinier version of its Pogoplug USB file-sharing device/service. This will let users share files, photos and videos directly from USB drives or memory sticks plugged into the Pogoplug device with friends or clients over the Internet. The device is accessible from smartphones and mobile computers. Pogoplug is made up of two components: an adapter that plugs into a router and accepts any USB 2.0 drive or memory stick, and the Pogoplug service.

Dell has officially jumped into the smartphone arena, announcing that it will debut an Android model, Mini 3, in China and Brazil, with launches in other markets to follow. Though it may seem that an Android army is lining up against the iPhone, the plethora of choices may actually work in Apple's favor. The iPhone has a distinct personality, suggested analyst Greg Sterling.

After months of rumors, Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) has confirmed its intention to become a major player in the smartphone sector, announcing partnerships with China Mobile and Brazil-based Claro, which is part of the America Movil network.

This is not a regional or emerging market strategy on the part of Dell. "We plan to announce agreements with carriers in other markets eventually," spokesperson Matt Parretta told LinuxInsider.

Dell and its carrier partners will be marketing the Mini 3 smartphone, built on the Android platform. Specs for the device will be announced as the phone is ready to be released, Parretta said. For China, that will be as soon as the end of the month; in Brazil, Claro expects the handset to reach the market by year end.

Dell and China Mobile have been working on product development for more than a year, Parretta added.

Brazil and China First

Dell has existing agreements with other global telecom providers, including Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) in Europe; AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon in the U.S.; M1 and Starhub in Singapore; and Maxis in Malaysia.

The company has longstanding ties with both China and Brazil in other IT areas, which may account for its decision to launch the Mini 3 in these huge emerging markets. Dell was among the first mobile PC manufacturers to incorporate China Mobile's 3G technology and services into its netbooks and has since become a top seller of netbooks in the country.

Its ties to Brazil may be even stronger: The country was home to Dell's first offshore software development center, established in March 2001. It now employs more than 500 people and is one of only four IT centers supporting applications and infrastructure for Dell globally, Jairo Avritchir, Brazil IT site director for Dell, said at an IT event in New York this week.

It seems like it was just yesterday that talking on a mobile phone made you cool. You were obviously important, walking around with the confidence that you could be reached at all times. Well, times have certainly changed. Roughly half the planet's population -- over 4.1 billion people -- now pay for what was once limited to a select few, according to a recent United Nations survey. However, the widespread adoption of mobile phones is just one way communications have changed in the last 10 years, fostered in large part by the dramatic growth of the Internet

Rumor has it Apple's begun shopping a tablet computer -- or "iPad," as it's been unofficially dubbed -- to publishers. Would Apple's entry into the e-book market spell doom for the Kindle, Nook and Daily Edition? Or is it more likely that an iPad might be a nice device for everything but books?

Martha Stewart did a somewhat curious thing last week: She talked tablets with her followers on Twitter.

No, not pills, or some arcane French revival furniture piece. Tablets, as in computers.

"Serious question," the crafty decorating and cooking maven asked readers on Dec. 12: "How many of you will read magazines on an electronic tablet (interactive-full color) within two years? three years?"

This is notable, because when Martha Stewart talks publishing, people listen. In 2008, the American Society of Magazine Editors honored her with a lifetime achievement award, crediting her for creating an entirely new genre of magazine that has left an enduring impact across the American publishing landscape.

So it comes as no surprise that Stewart's query opened a new window on the long-running debate over what impact Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) long-rumored tablet computer will have on the nascent e-reader category currently dominated by Amazon's (Nasdaq: AMZN) Kindle.

A new study from the University of Utah provides more fuel for the conviction that sending and receiving text messages while driving affects concentration and reaction times. However, more potential digital distractions lie down the road -- as shown by another Monday announcement: Ford Motor said its second-generation Sync service will turn cars into rolling WiFi hotspots in 2010. Granted, the next-level Sync entertainment and connectivity qualities are designed for everybody in a car except the driver

Driving while distracted -- especially sending or receiving text messages behind the wheel, aka "driving while intexticated" -- is really, really dangerous, research shows. Yet technological advances are providing increasing opportunities for distraction, even if they're not intended for the driver's use while a vehicle is under way and may even contribute to a safer ride.

Entering a physical facility should be just as secure as logging onto a PC. Security professionals often find themselves hard-pressed to secure both physical and logical assets. So why are so many organizations behind the curve when it comes to managing physical and logical access? There are dozens of excuses: "It's too expensive." "Securing electronic data is a greater concern." "We wouldn't even know where to start." However, the reality is that a unified approach to physical and logical access actually saves money -- not to mention time.

Hackers have once again demonstrated that the GSM standard, the most widely used mobile phone standard in the world, can be hacked. The GSM Association has acknowledged the technology's flaw, but it said the weakness is not a serious threat and that hackers have not been able to create a practical attack capability that can be used on live, commercial GSM networks. However, the danger of this latest hack is that it was done with relatively inexpensive equipment, including a PlayStation 3 and open source software.

Google will be introducing its Nexus One smartphone device next Tuesday, it appears certain. Not that Google has said as much: All the the company has announced is that it will hold an "Android related" press conference on Jan. 5, a day identified in prior rumor accounts as the Google phone's launch date. The expectation of a Nexus One announcement has been bolstered by screenshots containing pricing information and other details published by the tech blog Gizmodo.