Did you know that BZ Media was started nearly a decade ago? We founded the company in 1999. Right now, we’re finishing up the 9th anniversary issue of our flagship, SD Times, the Industry Newspaper for Software Development Managers. We launched SD Times in a recession, and we’re in another one today. We’re glad that […]
It’s not really a dragonfly, but I think it looks like one — it’s the 2009 Shelby Ultimate Aero EV. According to Shelby SuperCars, it’s the world’s fastest production car. The company says, SSC will display its AESP in the Ultimate Aero EV in order to prove that electric-powered vehicles will not only match but […]
Another software-development publication bites the dust, as 1105 Media Inc. shutters Redmond Developer News. RDN was a twice-monthly newspaper for Microsoft-centered development managers that launched in 2006. Think of it as a short-lived “SD Times Lite.” Today, 1105 shut down RDN, which will be “folded into” another 1105 publication, Visual Studio Magazine. Business-wise, this is […]
It’s that time again! The editors of SD Times are beginning their deliberations, choosing the leaders and innovators who had the greatest impact on software development during 2008. SD Times subscribers are invited to participate by offering up their nominations. Now in its seventh year, the SD Times 100 recognizes the top companies, organizations and […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Coming Off Its Blow-Out Bay Area Conference, BZ Media Launches SPTechCon Boston in June 2009 The Only SharePoint Technology Conference in the Northeast U.S. will satisfy a strong demand for education on Microsoft’s popular enterprise platform Huntington, N.Y., January 27, 2009 — BZ Media LLC today announced that it is bringing SPTechCon™: […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SPTechCon San Francisco: The SharePoint Technology Conference, Succeeds with Blow-Out CrowdDespite the recession, attendees flock to BZ Media’s debut SharePoint Technology Conference Huntington, N.Y., January 27, 2009 — BZ Media LLC today announced a blow-out attendance at SPTechCon™ San Francisco: The SharePoint Technology Conference. The debut event defied conventional wisdom during tough […]
Z Trek Copyright (c) Alan Zeichick
Computer science has an image problem. That’s one of the conclusions drawn at the Rebooting Computing Summit, which I attended a couple of weeks ago. Last week, I wrote about some of the challenges facing computer science. I covered what we discussed in the first day of discussions, which was the overall issue of attracting […]
“Former President Bush.” Those are three of the most beautiful words in the English language. What a great speech our new president gave. I’m proud to be an American! Z Trek Copyright (c) Alan Zeichick
What is computer science? Why are so few young people, at least in the United States, choosing to enter the field? Isn’t computer science just programming? What can we do about it? Last week, I was privileged to attend the Rebooting Computing Summit, a gathering of 200-odd enthusiasts in Silicon Valley. The summit brought together […]
Here we go again, as the company which once had the best brand in software development jumps back into the blender. You’ve probably seen the cheery stories that broke yesterday, about Tod Nielsen, former CEO of Borland, becoming COO of VMware. The positive, “isn’t this great?” coverage was skillfully orchestrated by VMware’s crack PR team, […]
Hewlett-Packard has long been an inspirational company. Not just because of its current prowess in the hardware and software markets, of course, but because of many stories about its origins in a Palo Alto, Calif., garage, back in 1939. Considered by many to be the true founders of Silicon Valley, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard […]
What a year! In the past 12 months, we’ve seen a lot of change – some good, some bad. The global economic meltdown, top of mind for so many people, is squarely in the “bad” category. Across the board, and across the world, jobs are in peril, due to business closings, downsizing, cutbacks, hiring freezes […]
Moore’s Law talks about transistor density doubling every 18-24 months. How about every five months — or less? On August 4, 2008, I purchased a new flash-memory key. Specifically, I purchased a Kingston DT100 Data Traveler, capacity 8GB, for $29.95. Today, nearly five months later, that same model sells for $17.95. What’s more, the 16GB […]
It’s the end of the venerable Dr. Dobb’s Journal. DDJ is turning into “Dr. Dobbs Report — A Special Software Development Monthly Section in InformationWeek Magazine.” TechWeb — a division of United Business Media — has long used InformationWeek as the dumping ground for its dead magazines. For example, in July 2007, the company shut […]
I mean, really! See “The Shoe Heard Round the World” in today’s New York Times, written by John Kenney. Z Trek Copyright (c) Alan Zeichick
Breaking news today, and we’re all very excited! Redwood Collaborative Media Acquires Software Test & Performance from BZ Media LLC New Company to Provide Knowledge, Insights, and Resources for the Professional Software Test and Quality Assurance Community Melville, N.Y., and Huntington, N.Y., December 16, 2008 — Redwood Collaborative Media, a new integrated B2B media company […]
Earlier this week was the 40th anniversary of Doug Engelbart‘s “Mother of All Demos,” which is described as: It was the world debut of personal and interactive computing: for the first time, the public saw a computer mouse, which controlled a networked computer system to demonstrate hypertext linking, real-time text editing, multiple windows with flexible […]
When Bjarne Stroustrup talks, we listen — and when Bjarne decries the training of software developers in our colleges and universities, we need to do something about it. Bjarne, of course, is the designer of C++. After working for 24 years at Bell Labs, he became a professor of computer science at Texas A&M University […]
Here’s an open letter to Amazon.com (and Wired Magazine) from Ted Bahr, the “B” of BZ Media. I don’t blame him for being annoyed! Each month, I receive many magazines that I didn’t sign up for, many of which come because I’m an American Express cardholder. They go right into the recycle bin. Even though […]
Sun’s JavaFX is here. It was announced at the JavaOne conference – in 2007. Sun began delivering early bits of its rich Internet application software this summer. As I wrote about last May, Sun is talking big about having a common display platform for “all the screens of your life,” that is, desktops, notebooks and […]
Within the past hour, I’ve fielded two off-target PR pitches, thanks to an “alert” sent out by PRSourceCode, a public relations directory service. PRSourceCode describes itself as PRSourceCode is a content service provider (CSP) serving journalism, conference, industry accolade, and public relations (PR) professionals within the information technology (IT) community. PRSourceCode is your partner in […]
Among the most peevish of my pet peeves are email messages that have no subject line. Why do people send them? I know, I know, it’s generally accidental. Unfortunately, not all email applications warn users when they’re sending a message without a subject line. While most do warn, often you can set a configuration preference […]
Several weeks ago, out of the blue, Facebook began using captcha codes when I would send messages to other Facebook users. They’d also appear if I put a link into my Facebook status message. In order to confirm my entry, I’d have to correctly describe the partially obscured text. In theory, this is a task […]
I worked with Mert in the late 1970s and early 1980s at the Univ. of Maine at Orono, shortly before he moved to the Univ. of Southern Maine. I just learned that he passed away nearly three years ago, in January 2006. That’s what happens when you lose touch with people…. Mert was the smartest, […]
Purely by coincidence: A day after I posted about the Lego handguns, Bruce Schneier blogged about a Lego safe. I suppose you should store your Brickgun inside the Lego safe, to keep it out of the hands of children. Hmm. What? Z Trek Copyright (c) Alan Zeichick
No, it’s not a Zen thing. Brickgun claims that its models are “the coolest Lego weapons in the world,” and going by the pictures on their site, I believe. The company makes very detailed models of five weapons: Beretta 92FS (pictured), Glock 17, Glock 19, Desert Eagle and H&K MP5. According to Brickgun, these aren’t […]
Get with it, AT&T! In the past few weeks, I’ve been getting a lot of “anonymous” telemarketing calls on my wireline phone. As a general rule, if someone calls me, and their phone number doesn’t show up in Caller ID, it’s not someone I want to talk to. Can I have the calls blocked? Yes. […]
Before you light up your San Francisco Bay Area fireplace, check the Internet, to see if it’s a Spare the Air Day. If it is, and if you light up anyway, be prepared for a $2,000 fine. Regulation 6, Rule 3, passed on July 9, 2008, restricts people’s ability to burn wood when the Bay […]
It’s the end of an era — PC Magazine will cease publication in January, as Ziff Davis Media focuses on its Web site and a new “digital network.” According to the company’s press release, Ziff Davis Media, one of the leading integrated technology media companies in the country, announced today that PCMag, its flagship brand, […]