Computerworld Patrick Thibodeau News

Obama's H-1B answer in forum may haunt him

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:51:00 GMT

Until President Barack Obama responded to a question about H-1B visas during an online forum last week, the administration had said little about the controversial program.

India builds a mega data center

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:21:00 GMT

IBM has designed and helped to build a 900,000-square-foot data center in India that it says is the largest in that country in terms of size and power. It's also among the largest in the world.

Engineer's wife 'ferocious' in Obama Q&A on H-1Bs

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:50:00 GMT

The White House is following up on an offer made by President Barack Obama this week to help find a job for an unemployed semiconductor engineer in Texas.

H-1B workers are better paid, more educated, study finds

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:47:00 GMT

H-1B workers are better educated than U.S. born workers and earn more, according to a new study by an independent research group.

U.S. firms should disclose offshore hiring, says lawmaker

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:37:00 GMT

A newly filed U.S. House bill would require U.S. public companies to disclose how many employees they have in the U.S. and overseas.

The top 10 H-1B visa users in the U.S.

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:53:00 GMT

Offshore outsourcing companies continued to make up the majority of the top 10 H-1B visa users in 2011, according to new U.S. government data. These offshore firms have been adding employees by the thousands as revenues increase.

John Deere plows into agile

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:04:00 GMT

John Deere & Co., has moved about 800 software developers into an agile development process, and did so in just over a year.

Obama attacks offshoring, seeks visa reform

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:50:00 GMT

President Barack Obama Tuesday attacked offshoring, urged businesses to bring jobs back to the U.S., and renewed his appeal for visa reforms to keep foreign students from returning home after earning advanced degrees.

U.S. tech firms add jobs despite automation

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:11:00 GMT

U.S. high-tech companies are investing more in machines than in people, but IT hiring is still rising, according to a new report by Forrester and a just-released National Science Foundation study.

The top 10 tech priorities of CIOs

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:45:00 GMT

Analytics and business intelligence will be the top technology priorities for CIOs this year, according to Gartner Inc.'s annual survey of IT executives.

CES: Coming soon, drones for home and office

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:38:00 GMT

The Navibot and TeleMe show where robotics could be going.

SOPA fight in 'last rounds,' says senator at CES

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 01:34:00 GMT

Two lawmakers who are fighting the controversial SOPA and PIPA bills took their case to the world's largest consumer electronics gathering Wednesday.

Quad-core chips boost tablet price vs. performance battle

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:45:00 GMT

Attendees at Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week are seeing the tablet market splitting in multiple directions as the price and performance battle intensifies.

LiftMaster app can open your garage door

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:58:00 GMT

The increasing integration of networks to physical devices is bringing new companies, such as LiftMaster, to the Consumer Electronics Show.

3M Demos 46-inch multi-touch display

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:20:00 GMT

3M today is demonstrating a 46-inch coffee-table like multi-touch display at the Consumer Electronics Conference.

LG aims smartphones at sports fans, corporate IT

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:23:00 GMT

LG Electronics today unveiled its latest smartphone, highlighting its ability to stream sports.

IBM tracks pork chops from pig to plate

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:00:00 GMT

Meat suppliers can track a single pig all the way from live animal to pork chop, thanks to new technology from IBM that may limit or prevent disease outbreaks.

U.S. report sees perils to America's tech future

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:00:00 GMT

The ability of the U.S. to compete globally is eroding, according to a Commerce Department report released Friday that described itself as a "call to arms."

NOAA migrates to Google Apps, but gives users options

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 23:04:00 GMT

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has moved 25,000 employees and contractors to Google Apps for Government.

Ultrabooks to get the CES spotlight, netbooks get the knife

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:06:00 GMT

With ultrabook announcements expected to get all the attention at next week's CES, it's important to lament the ill-fated netbook -- left for dead by a callous and capricious tech industry. Patrick Thobodeau explains.

IT managers are aloof, insular, says psychologist

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 11:45:00 GMT

In an interview with Computerworld, organizational psychologist Billie Blair explains how IT managers and their staffs are different from the rest of us.

Where the tech workers are (map)

(Sharon Machlis and Patrick Thibodeau) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:48:00 GMT

A state-by-state look at concentration of technical workers in the civilian workforce.

Russia building 10-petaflop supercomputer

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 17:26:00 GMT

T-Platforms, a Moscow-based tech company that is behind some of that nation's largest systems, is building a 10-petaflop supercomputer for M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, the company said this week.

Hadoop challenger works to add developers

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 11:19:00 GMT

LexisNexis has worked for more than a decade to develop a large scale system for Big Data manipulation, and it believes that it has produced something that's better and more mature than the better known Hadoop technology.

House readies green card bill for tech

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 11:06:00 GMT

There's a big push in the House of Representatives to get Congress to allow people with advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering and math to automatically get green cards.

'Server huggers' impede cloud migrations

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 11:00:00 GMT

Chipita America has become almost serverless over the past six years by moving its ERP, EDI and BI systems, Office and Exchange applications and file servers to the cloud. (Insider, registration required.)

IT jobs are up, Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act stalls

(Patrick Thibodeau) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 11:00:00 GMT

As IT employment numbers near 2008's all-time high, Sen. Grassley blocks Senate action on the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act.

Two IT managers fatally shot by co-worker at Calif. utility

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 21:59:00 GMT

Two IT managers were killed Friday afternoon by a co-worker at Southern California Edison in a workplace shooting.

IT hiring expected to rise in 2012, says survey

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:03:00 GMT

A survey indicates that there might be new hiring activity in the IT job market in 2012, but most employers still aren't expanding their IT shops.

Paychecks, .xxx, and domain name woes highlight House hearing

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 02:04:00 GMT

ICANN's plans to roll out a slew of new top-level domain names next year, including the .xxx domain, were the subject of House subcommittee hearing Wednesday.

China beefs up its HPC training

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 11:02:00 GMT

China can use its power of government control to bring major changes quickly, and it is moving to expand parallel programming training to help its supercomputing efforts.

Offshoring comes under bipartisan attack in Congress

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:09:00 GMT

Four U.S. lawmakers -- three Democrats and one Republican -- have teamed up to attack call center outsourcing with a bill that would penalize any company that moves a call center overseas.

Microsoft, HP unveil joint cloud offering

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 22:27:00 GMT

Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard, hardly strangers to joint product efforts, are now teaming up to sell cloud services.

Java apps have most flaws, Cobol apps the least, study finds

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:08:00 GMT

There is a lot of badly engineered software in the world that's creating a lot of risk to businesses and organizations, and accumulating so-called 'technical debt.'

Facebook may draw tech workers to NYC

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 22:03:00 GMT

Facebook's decision to establish an engineering office in New York City may make it easier for other high-tech firms to recruit people who might be more likely to consider Silicon Valley over the Big Apple, according to some tech firms in the city.

Grassley wants worker 'protections' in green card bill

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:42:00 GMT

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is blocking Senate action on a bill to eliminate per-country caps on employment-sponsored green cards because 'it does nothing to better protect Americans.'

'Server huggers' present obstacle to cloud adoption

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:17:00 GMT

Chipita America CIO Scott Martin didn't see a competitive advantage in managing internal systems, believing that moving to the cloud would provide time to focus far more on business needs.

U.S. HPC lead in danger

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:00:00 GMT

Programs to develop ever-higher performance exascale computing systems are underway around the world -- but the U.S. isn't yet leading the way after dominating high-performance computing development for decades. (Insider, registration required)

U.S. tech employment nears its all-time high

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 20:48:00 GMT

The U.S. government's report today that the unemployment rate is down and hiring is up showed some good news for tech workers as well.

New year, new job? Ten companies that are hiring

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:00:00 GMT

Even in this today's struggling economy, there are rapidly expanding companies that have big tech hiring targets.

Feds report tech job losses in Mass. between '01 and '09

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:06:00 GMT

A snapshot of high-tech development in Massachusetts by the federal government found that tech employment in the state declined 15% between 2001 and 2009. Tech salaries, however, rose about 30%.

HP server revenue falls in turbulent quarter, Gartner says

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:39:00 GMT

Worldwide server revenue grew 5.2% in the third quarter but declined for Hewlett-Packard (HP), Gartner Inc. said in a report on server sales during the quarter.

This year's H-1B cap is reached at quicker pace

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 16:36:00 GMT

The annual H-1B cap has been reached, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and at a pace that is two months ahead of last year.

Will Congress crush tech spending?

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 17:21:00 GMT

The failure of the Congressional Super Committee to reach a deficit reduction agreement triggers automatic federal spending cuts beginning the next fiscal year, which will likely make a lot of government IT contractors nervous.

Five reasons the U.S. tech lead is in danger

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 11:55:00 GMT

There is a worldwide race to build the next generation of supercomputers, but U.S. efforts have stalled.

Automotive supplier doubles in size after adopting HPC

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 11:00:00 GMT

L&L Products, an automotive supplier in Michigan, grew dramatically after adding high performance computing to its manufacturing process.

Q&A: Exascale now a global race for tech

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 10:59:00 GMT

The international competition to build an exascale supercomputer is gaining steam. Peter Beckman, a top computer scientist at the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, explains why the effort is important.

Better Windows support due on IBM mainframes

(Patrick Thibodeau) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 11:00:00 GMT

IBM said its mainframes will soon be able to manage Windows applications, bridging one of the last major divides in data centers.

Exascale computing seen in this decade

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 14:21:00 GMT

At the supercomputing conference in Seattle, there's an almost obsessive focus on developing an exascale computing system before the end of the decade.

Intel's 'Knights Corner' chip hits supercomputing speed

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 11:06:00 GMT

Intel has produced a new chip that can operate at a sustained speed of one teraflop -- the type of supercomputing speed the U.S. government paid $55 million for 15 years ago.