vice president

James Traub in Foreign Policy:

Intel rolled out a new range of Xeon processor chips Tuesday that are based on the chipmaker's 32nm logic technology featuring second-generation high-k metal gate transistors. Called the Intel Xeon Processor 5600 series, the new server and workstation devices promise to decrease energy consumption in data-center applications even as they boost processing speeds.

The wait is over. Cisco Systems on Tuesday finally took the lid off its hype machine to reveal ... a new router. Cisco is positioning its CRS-3 Carrier Routing System as the foundation of the next-generation Internet that will pave the way for rapid growth of video transmissions, mobile devices, and new online services.

In a move to address an ongoing mobile challenges in the enterprise, Cisco Systems on Tuesday announced a new architecture to help business users access information from any device and from any location with better security. At the RSA Conference in San Francisco, Cisco debuted the Cisco Secure Borderless Network architecture.

The platform focuses on what Cisco sees as four critical anchors: Mobile and fixed enterprise end points, the Internet, the data center, and context- and location-aware policies.

Bill Warren founded an early online job board in the 1990s, helped kick-start an industry and was president of Monster.com, one of the leading Internet career sites. But these days he's not very happy with the results.

So he's taking another crack at it, going after Monster, Career Builder and similar commercial job sites. Warren is starting a nonprofit job listing system that could lower the costs that employers pay to list positions and make the process easier and more fruitful for applicants.

Amazon.com unleashed new e-reader software Thursday that enables selected BlackBerry handsets from Research In Motion to access and read e-books directly on mobile devices based in the United States. Called Kindle for BlackBerry, the free beta app is available for download from the world's largest online retailer.

Faster computers, broadband connections and free public Wi-Fi are taking the fun out of snow days.

The federal government was shut down for the second day in a row Tuesday and many offices were empty in the nation's snowbound capital, but work continued -- in homes across the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia region. It showed just how seamlessly well-equipped workers can soldier on even through disruptions such as heavy snowstorms.

AT&T has tapped Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson to deliver network equipment and related engineering services for the U.S. wireless carrier's upcoming deployment of a high-speed 4G network based on long-term evolution (LTE) technology. The financial terms of the supplier contracts were not disclosed.

Barnes & Noble said Monday that its popular nook e-book reader is back in stock online and will be rolling out in the majority of the bookseller's U.S. stores this week. Customers also will be able to enjoy exclusive Valentine's Day-themed online content this month, the company said.

The nook differs in several ways from many of the e-readers announced at the Consumer Electronics Show, which suffer from either high prices or little access to consumer channels, said Forrester Research Vice President James McQuivey.

You have to wonder whether there were any women in the room when the marketing geniuses at Apple decided to call the company's new gadget the "iPad." The jokes about feminine hygiene products have been flying since last week's debut.

"Will women send their husbands to the Apple store to buy iPads?" went one joke on Twitter. And a "MadTV" comedy sketch from several years ago about an electronic sanitary napkin called the iPad went viral on YouTube.

So how did the company come up with the product name? And how could Apple have set itself up for such obvious punch lines?