Danes plan a working model of a large-scale fleet of electric vehicles powered by the wind.

By Chris Smith

Ralph Nader once said that the use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun. Efforts by the Danish government and IBM, however, may eventually lead to renewable energy being within reach of everyone.

Do you think it's time to cut back? Maybe a different approach makes better sense.

By CJ Rhoads

MC Press Online Editor's Note: The following article was previously published by Klee Associates, Inc., publisher of JDEtips Journal and SAPtips Journal. A sample issue of either journal may be requested by clicking the respective links. 

Klee Associates Publisher's Note, October 2008: As a result of the economic downturn occurring in September 2008, companies worldwide tightened their belts and started cutting budgets for everything that didn't appear to drive sales and profitability, including IT budgets. But is that the best strategy? In March 2008, we published an article by Dr. CJ Rhoads in which she anticipated the current events and advised companies to remain level-headed and even take advantage of the coming slowdown. That advice was true in March, and even more so today.

IT employees must develop multiple strategies to protect their jobs during this economic upheaval.

By Maria A. DeGiglio

Cathie Black--media mogul, president of Hearst Magazines, and author of the book Basic Black: The Essential Guide for Getting Ahead at Work (and in Life)--was interviewed recently on NBC's Weekend Today (remember, folks, I only watch the best on TV; I am also a devotee of South Park and Family Guy) for tips on how to avoid losing one's job during the economic crisis. "Be essential," was her reply.

Also, be indispensible and/or irreplaceable.

While each generation has left its imprimatur upon the workplace environment, the old workplace paradigms are arrantly still in effect today.

By Maria A. DeGiglio

Remember the 1990 movie Joe Versus the Volcano with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan? Recall the office scene with Joe, a veritable drone, in his cold, lackluster, monochromatic office, going through the motions of working under the flickering fluorescent light bulbs? Bingo!

IBM Labs comes up with novel idea to make the Web more accessible. And we can help.

By Chris Smith

For some reason, when I think of the size of the World Wide Web, I think of that scene at the end of The Perfect Storm where fisherman Bobby Shatford (played by Mark Wahlberg) swims up and away from the sinking Andrea Gail to emerge on the surface of the Atlantic Ocean only to see a limitless--and hopeless--panorama of high seas and wind-whipped waves.

As of the middle of this week, the closest estimate of the total number of indexed Web pages found on the World Wide Web is at least 27.77 billion (see WorldWideWebSize.com). Thinking about taking any universal applicable action on this--including reading all the pages or even a portion of them--seems simply overwhelming.

Recent news articles are rife with confusing--and often conflicting--reportage on the state of the IT job market.

by Maria DeGiglio

On Friday, May 23, I participated in the commencement ceremony at Sarah Lawrence College. I was awarded a Master's Degree in Health Advocacy with all the rights, privileges, and honors pertaining thereto. Me, the anthropologist turned retail executive and then IT systems analyst, consultant, and industry analyst (the latter for more than a decade) and now health advocate. (In over 25 years, I have reinvented myself several times.) Today, IT professionals should expect to reinvent themselves throughout their careers. This is critical to ensuring job security. The IT industry is dynamic; so too must the IT professional be.

The fifth annual global software piracy study finds signs that enforcement is working, but emerging markets are getting their start on PCs with unlicensed software.

By Chris Smith

The Business Software Alliance (BSA) released its fifth annual global PC software piracy study this week, and the numbers are mind-boggling.

According to the study, which was conducted by IDC, one of the industry's leading global market research and forecasting firms, losses from piracy reached nearly $48 billion in 2007, some $8 billion more than the prior year. There was an optimistic note in the report, however, since piracy was found to be declining in 67 of the 108 countries included in the report. Even though only eight countries had piracy rates that were increasing, they also happened to be countries where PC use is growing rapidly.