November 17, 2005, 5:21 PM PST
What not to wear: IT edition
Posted by: Molly Wood

Organizers of an Australian fashion show say IT professionals represent the worst-dressed industry in that country. Help-desk staff are the worst, followed by geeky start-up types who always wear T-shirts or--worse--short-sleeved button-downs. Yeah, I think that's pretty much a worldwide thing.

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November 17, 2005, 5:15 PM PST
Out with the old Rokr, in with the new
Posted by: Molly Wood

Motorola says yep, lesson learned on the dismally received Rokr phone, but rather than let it slip away, the company plans to release new versions in 2006 that are more along the style lines of the Razr and more flexible in terms of music downloads. Hey, you know what would be cool with built-in music features? The Razr.

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November 17, 2005, 5:08 PM PST
Music industry forcing Jobs's hand?
Posted by: Molly Wood

The CEO of EMI says he thinks Steve Jobs will agree to price changes at the iTunes Music Store: lower prices on unknown artists, and higher prices for superpopular songs. This despite Jobs calling record labels "greedy" for wanting to charge more for online music. But maybe if they keep on saying it, it'll happen.

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November 17, 2005, 1:12 PM PST
Take my projects. Please
Posted by: Dorian Benkoil

I'm constantly trying to keep my various projects organized--for clients, for myself, for people I hire on a per-project basis. In the world of distributed work in which I live, I might at any one time have a half-dozen people working on a host of unrelated projects with no similar geography.

Like a lot of small businesses, I don't have a scheduling assistant (except my PalmPilot) or anything resembling a secretary to tell me who owes me what at what time or what the deadlines are. To some extent, I solve the problem by working with only reliable people who are honest about what they can and can't accomplish.

I also use Microsoft Excel spreadsheets or Microsoft Word tables to track what I'm doing. I've tried the Journal function in Outlook, which tracks every move you make, but found it too cumbersome.

I have played a bit with Basecamp, a Web-based project management and document-sharing program that allows me and clients to log on to the same area and update each other. I've tried free wikis at Jot.com, and I've toyed with the idea of having my own project-managing blog (haven't done it yet). I've thought about getting Microsoft Project (which, as a professor said, is not something you need unless you're building the Hoover Dam). I've used a Gantt chart. And, just today, I saw SharePoint, a project-managing application that comes free with a Microsoft 2003 exchange server, and which I'll probably start using with one client who also has a small business and has to manage staff and a bunch of consultants, including myself, along with myriad projects.

None of them is just right. The problem with all of these is that none of them is perfect or completely intuitive. Also, none of them works unless you rigorously record every step in a codified and similar way, and none of them does a great job of "talking" to you to prompt you or tell you what you have to do next or inform you of the deadlines you've missed--as would a human project manager or a good secretary.

I don't have any great, overarching advice here--it ultimately comes down to whether you're obsessively organized or not (I'm not, really), except to say that it's worth thought and trying out, and I am happy to hear from folks about what their solutions are. I don't need to hear from vendors. (Really guys, the moment you tell me your new-new thing will solve all my woes, I'll start shutting down my brain.) But I would love to hear from users who have found solutions and can give me tips on being as lazy as possible while keeping my various "to-do" lists in check and alive efficiently. I don't care if it's a technology. I'm looking for solutions.

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November 17, 2005, 9:56 AM PST
CableCard comes to PCs
Posted by: Dan Ackerman

We've been waiting a long time for this, and we only hope it's been worth the wait. For the past few years, defenders of PC-based DVRs have defended the lackluster image quality and performance of TV tuner cards by saying today's analog standard-def tuners just couldn't cut it in the world of HD digital cable, and that some day, we'd get proper support for modern cable features. Everyone assumed that would come in the form of CableCard, a well-liked but underused technology that basically replaces your bulky set-top cable box with a small card that can be slipped into, say, a plasma TV with the appropriate slot.

The industry has been dragging its feet on CableCard for a long time, but today Microsoft announced a deal with Cable Television Laboratories to allow PCs to use CableCard with Windows Media Center by this time next year.

What does this mean for Joe Consumer? The press release sums it up by saying, "Media Center PCs, capable of supporting a CableCard module, will allow consumers to enjoy one-way cable programming, including premium high-definition cable content, on their personal computer and throughout the home on compliant network-connected devices, such as the Xbox 360."

So this means we can all record HD cable content on our PCs, burn it to DVD, move it to portable devices, and so on, right? Of course not! While not letting the cat out of the bag completely, there will be a Windows DRM system implemented for "protecting cable operators' investments in high-value content in a digital environment." This could very possibly include tagging certain programs to prevent you even recording them in the first place or placing restrictions on how long you can keep a recording.

Another potential downside is that they're referring to this as "one-way" communication, which on its face means that services such as pay-per-view or on-demand programming won't be available. The same probably goes for the cable company's program guide info, although MCE will have its own EPG data.

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November 17, 2005, 8:15 AM PST
Here--hold my place
Posted by: Will Greenwald

An enterprising individual is putting himself on the eBay auction block for the Xbox 360's release. As first reported by Gizmodo, richman723 is offering to camp out and secure an Xbox 360 for the highest bidder. He will fly out to the winner's hometown and camp in front of the nearest Xbox 360 retailer for 24 hours, then hand-deliver the console on release day. The auction price includes airfare, the console, and a tent for the camper. I'm not sure if this is brilliant or stupid, but since the auction is already up to more than $800 with two days left, I'm leaning toward the former. Even if you can't get your own camper, check out our Xbox 360 coverage for the latest info on Microsoft's new system.

CNET's Xbox 360 central has all the information you need about the upcoming next-gen system.

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