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Find news, reviews, and how-tos on data center management topics, including server virtualization, storage, data center energy use, cooling, and green IT.
  • Review

    The year's best hardware, software, and cloud services

    Posted January 9, 2012 - 7:11 am

    These 2012 Technology of the Year Award winners make life better for the people who toil in service of the enterprises.
  • Review

    Cool mobile accessories to add to your travel toolkit

    Posted December 31, 2011 - 8:41 am

    Whether you are traveling for business or pleasure, you need to check into work on the go, get more out of your smartphone, and keep your gadgets powered and ready for anything. These durable cases, long-lasting chargers, and cool add-ons promise to help you do more on the road or in the air.
  • Review

    HP's touch-screen desktop continues to intrigue me

    Posted December 15, 2011 - 11:30 am

    Shaw reviews HP's TouchSmart Desktop 610 Quad series.
  • Review

    iPad keyboards: A buyer's guide

    Posted December 14, 2011 - 12:15 pm

    For serious typing sessions--or if you just can't get the hang of the iPad's onscreen keyboard--an external keyboard offers the tactile advantages of real keys without sacrificing the iPad's portability and touchscreen features.
  • Review

    NetSpot helps you optimize your Wi-Fi networks

    Posted November 29, 2011 - 3:55 pm

    When you set up a Wi-Fi network, whether using access points (base stations) from Apple or another vendor, you're usually playing a guessing game. Where should I put a base station to get the best coverage and performance? Or multiple base stations? Apple provides some tools to help, including the somewhat hidden Wi-Fi Diagnostics program (buried in /System/Library/CoreServices/), but using them requires some expertise, as well as keeping your eye on ever-changing signal-strength numbers. NetSpot bypasses the technical in favor of the visual. This free site-survey software is a remarkable aid in laying out even a small-home network, using a Mac laptop as your survey tool.
  • Review

    Finestra manages virtual desktops with panache

    Posted November 28, 2011 - 9:18 pm

    If Finestra Virtual Desktops (free/donationware) hadn't crashed on me once or twice, it would've scored at least a half star higher than the 3 stars that I gave it. It's that elegant and suited to the task. The program allows you up to 100 virtual desktops (four's plenty for most folks), has a host of options so that you can control which programs open on which desktop, etc., and even makes great use of the Windows 7 live window thumbnails.
  • Review

    Cool gifts for geeks, 2011: Home and office gear

    Posted November 26, 2011 - 9:53 am

    They say that a man’s home is his castle – we figure that if you’re going to have a castle, it needs to be filled up with some really cool, high-tech stuff. If you’re working at a home office or just want to boost that home network in order to get a better connected home entertainment system up and running, the following products are great gift ideas:
  • Review

    Cool gifts for geeks, 2011: Computer, notebook and tablet tech treasures

    Posted November 26, 2011 - 9:50 am

    We’ve always had a category covering the world of computers in our Cool Yule Tools holiday gift guide. But then computers gave way to notebooks (so we combined the category), and then tablets have entered the scene. With the arrival and success of the iPad and other tablets, many have said that “the PC is dead”, and we’ll admit, our choices of cool computers are fewer than in years past. But there are still some nice systems out there, here are a bunch of desktops, notebooks, and yes, tablets, that we think would make for some good gifts:
  • Review

    Cool gifts for geeks, 2011: Miscellaneous tech treasures

    Posted November 26, 2011 - 9:49 am

    In our 12th year of presenting our Cool Yule Tools holiday gift guide, we’ve done our best to try to categorize the gift ideas into different groups – portable entertainment, travel gear, etc. While many of these ideas could, in theory, be placed there, sometimes we just feel that the device/gift idea should just be placed in “miscellaneous.” So that’s what we did with some of these. Enjoy!
  • Review

    Cool gifts for geeks, 2011: Home entertainment tech treasures

    Posted November 26, 2011 - 9:38 am

    The home entertainment category in our Cool Yule Tools holiday guide used to be a part of the “After Hours” section, but with the explosion of high-tech features in the consumer electronics space, there’s a multitude of devices that will keep you entertained after a long day of work. Here are our picks for gift ideas that can keep you entertained and connected when you’re home:
  • Review

    Cool gifts for geeks, 2011: Digital video and photo tech treasures

    Posted November 26, 2011 - 9:36 am

    Like smartphones and music players, the digital video and photography category has exploded with cameras over the past few years. Rather than focusing on every model and device with an X number of megapixels, we’ve focused our attention new ways and gadgets that incorporate photography or video in new or different ways. There are plenty of sites that cover each new camera (PC World comes to mind), rather, here are some cool gift ideas to enhance your existing camera or video device:
  • Review

    Cool gifts for geeks, 2011: Portable entertainment

    Posted November 26, 2011 - 9:32 am

    In the category of portable entertainment, what once was filled with different portable music players has been replaced instead by accessories that go along with the iPod, iPhone or other smartphone device that can play music. Listening to music is no longer dedicated to a single device, but part of a comprehensive device. Instead, our portable entertainment category features a variety of cool earphones and speaker systems that you can take along with you when you travel or go running.
  • Review

    Cool gifts for geeks, 2011: Tablet accessories

    Posted November 26, 2011 - 9:20 am

    While last year may have been the year of the tablet (with the introduction/invasion of the iPad), this year certainly qualifies as the year of the tablet accessory. Whether it’s a case, a pillow, stand or speaker system, we’ve compiled a list of our favorite devices to go along with our favorite tablets:
  • Review

    Cool gifts for geeks, 2011: Health & fitness tech treasures

    Posted November 26, 2011 - 9:20 am

    Making a big comeback in this year’s holiday gift guide is the health and fitness category. Whether you’re just starting out on the path of exercise, or are a seasoned athlete, the number of consumer electronics products dedicated to a person’s health has increased steadily over the past few years. Here are some of our favorites that can make a good gift under the tree for your favorite fitness enthusiast:
  • Review

    Cool gifts for geeks, 2011: Smartphones and accessories

    Posted November 26, 2011 - 9:07 am

    Remember when cell phones were as big as a brick and required a separate shoulder pack to keep the battery up and running? Yeah, so do we. But we also remember the birth of the smartphone, and since then, they’ve gotten smarter and smarter. With dozens of choices out there now (several iPhone models and carriers, along with multitudes of Android devices), we figure that your gift recipient already has a smartphone. So we’re focusing on some products that can enhance their smartphone, whether it’s a nice case, charging device, Bluetooth headset or other cool accessory. Here’s what we liked this year:
  • Review

    Cool gifts for geeks, 2011: Personal storage tech treasures

    Posted November 26, 2011 - 9:05 am

    There’s a lot of shiny and flashy gadgets and home entertainment devices that will entice most of the population during the holidays – cameras, music players, camcorders and tablets are sure to be this season’s top sellers once again. But once gift recipients start to create content, listen to music, download apps or record videos, they will eventually need a good, safe and reliable digital place to store their stuff. That’s where storage comes in – it’s not always the sexiest product category, but there’s a lot of new innovations in storage that we think will make good gifts as well:
  • Review

    Kindle Fire vs. Nook Tablet: Which should you buy?

    Posted November 20, 2011 - 12:45 pm

    Some people want a tablet but don't want to shell out big bucks for it. For those frugal shoppers, this week was special, as it marked the release of the $200 Amazon Kindle Fire and the $250 Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet.
  • Review

    First look: Oracle NoSQL Database

    Posted November 16, 2011 - 7:14 am

    Oracle's take on the distributed key-value data store is fast, flexible, and enterprise-grade serious
  • Review

    First look: Dell Opteron server cranks up the cores with AMD 'Interlagos'

    Posted November 14, 2011 - 7:02 am

    New 16-core AMD Opteron 6200-series CPUs in the Dell R715 bring huge bang for the buck to wide virtualization workloads, but not until your OS supports it
  • Review

    Linksys prevails in dual-band duel

    Posted November 7, 2011 - 11:42 am

    Wireless routers are always something of a mystery. They combine a number of features into a single box and are usually complex to set up, but require little attention after that.
  • Review

    Synology RackStation: Virtualization storage on the cheap

    Posted November 7, 2011 - 7:06 am

    Synology finally hits the midrange sweet spot in price, performance, and capacity with the 10-drive, rack-mount RS3411RPxs
  • Review

    vSphere5 sets the virtualization bar

    Posted September 26, 2011 - 12:28 am

    VSphere 5.0, the latest iteration of VMware's "Cloud Operating System," boasts a wealth of updates, including new tools to manage fleets of VMs, and vast tiers of virtualized, vMotion-enabled storage links.
  • Review

    Windows Server 8: Massive storage enhancements ahead

    Posted September 14, 2011 - 11:30 am

    The killer feature in Windows Server 8: The new and built-in data deduplication, which detects duplicate data in files and folders, puts it in a separate store and simply gets rid of the redundant bytes.
  • Review

    Windows Server 8: Highlights of the upcoming server OS

    Posted September 14, 2011 - 11:30 am

    ITworld got an exclusive first look at Windows Server 8. Highlights of the over 300 new features include some pretty hefty performance improvements and balancing in Hyper-V 3 that's sure to make the virtualization crowd go wild.
  • Review

    Recoup with data dedupe

    Posted September 12, 2011 - 12:20 pm

    Backing up servers and workstations to tape can be a cumbersome process, and restoring data from tape even more so. While backing up to disk-based storage is faster and easier, and probably more reliable, it can also be more expensive.

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