online applications

Barack Obama's presidency could spell major changes for the technology industry after years of limited White House attention.

According to Ed Black, president and chief executive of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, Tuesday's election outcome is good news for technology companies since the Obama camp has many tech-savvy advisers who understand the sector and its users. That was reflected in the Obama campaign's innovative use of technology and the Internet to organize volunteers, raise money and communicate with voters.

Thankfully, my friends at Mozilla have not let me down with the new release of Firefox 3.0. I've been testing it, and it is certainly something to cheer about.

This is a relief, since Firefox 2.0 was more than a little disappointing. It got to the point where Arlene (my trusty assistant) and I couldn't recommend 2.0. This left us in a bit of a quandary. Internet Explorer is a kluge.

Although I consider IE version 7 far superior to version 6, it falls short of the speedy, secure, lightweight Web browser that Firefox promised with its initial offerings.

Other than another profitable quarter, Microsoft (MSFT) has little to celebrate these days. The company is falling sadly behind, serving fewer ads, video clips, search results, or personal Web pages than rival Google (GOOG). Microsoft's $300 million ad campaign humanized Bill Gates but left consumers wondering, Where's the beef? The company can't even seem to buy up competitors [Yahoo! (YHOO), anyone?].

Microsoft's name has never been synonymous with photography, visual imaging or innovative online applications. But its release Wednesday of Photosynth -- a hybrid software/service that allows users to create 3-D environments by stitching multiple photographs together -- suggests the company has more than a few cards up its sleeve.

On-demand data centers took another step toward becoming commonplace today, as AT&T announced the global launch of its Synaptic Hosting service.

Synaptic Hosting offers what the company called its "next-generation utility computing service with managed networking, security and storage for businesses." Customers will be able to purchase large-scale computing and applications on demand, through virtualized servers. Services to the user will be provided through AT&T's IDCs, or Internet data centers.

Paying Only for Capacity Used

Google and IBM committed to working more closely on cloud computing Thursday at IBM's Business Partnership Leadership Conference in Los Angeles. The companies said they were extending a joint research project that started last October.

"Cloud computing is the story of our lifetime," Google CEO Eric Schmidt said. "Eventually all devices will be on the network."

He was joined onstage by IBM CEO Sam Palmisano, who said the relationship marks a new avenue for Big Blue. "It is the first time we have taken something from the consumer arena and applied it to the enterprise," he said.

Google and IBM committed to working more closely on cloud computing Thursday at IBM's Business Partnership Leadership Conference in Los Angeles. The companies said they were extending a joint research project that started last October.

"Cloud computing is the story of our lifetime," Google CEO Eric Schmidt said. "Eventually all devices will be on the network."

He was joined onstage by IBM CEO Sam Palmisano, who said the relationship marks a new avenue for Big Blue. "It is the first time we have taken something from the consumer arena and applied it to the enterprise," he said.