ITGumbo: spicing IT up

Last Thursday, our hero was introduced to the confusing concept of SOA. But what is SOA, and how can it really make a business agile? In this comic SOA is further explained. In simple terms. That even folks on an empty stomach can understand.

For a better explanation of SOA, by real people with real heads, I suggest attending ebizQ's SOA in Action virtual conference, October 30 - 31. You can register here to see what SOA is all about.

HALO 3 COMES OUT TODAY!!! HALO 3 COMES OUT TODAY!!!!!!!!!

Okay, so I don't actually care that much about this release, being neither 1) a gamer, nor 2) a boy. But I do suspect that if you have someone in your office who IS both 1) a gamer, and 2) absent from work today, then this is where he is.

Many companies are sorely in need of SOA, and many more need a dictionary to teach them the difference between acronyms like SOA and SAD. (While the latter stands for Seasonal Affectedness Disorder and pertains to how people get moody in the winter, SOA means Service Oriented Architecture and is the key to building agility into a changing business.) In this comic, our hero begins to awaken to the possibilities of SOA.

If you still have some trouble understanding what is SOA and how can it revolutionize business, I suggest attending ebizQ's SOA in Action virtual conference, October 30 - 31. You can register here to learn more about what SOA really means.

MySpace owners Fox Interactive announced yesterday that they have already begun targeting ads to their users based on data gleaned from the users' profile pages. The idea is that advertisers should be able to dramatically improve click-through rates... to products such as Hooters T-shirts and shot glasses with fake noses drawn on them. Fortunately, anyone who's worried about their data privacy is already NOT ON MYSPACE, so Fox should have no ethical concerns about the new initiative. Only one question remains: will users now be judged not only by their hotpix but the coolness of their ads? We can only imagine.

Premier International Associates is suing Microsoft, Verizon, AT&T, Dell, Toshiba... basically anyone who makes a computer or facilitates use of a computer. The issue at hand is the violation of Premier's "patent" for an electronic "list building system." And how exactly did they patent all playlists? With the following language: "A plurality of works can be collected together in a list for purposes of establishing a play or a presentation sequence. The list can be visually displayed and edited."

Through the magic of our fine country's poorly funded patent office, pretty much any ridiculous patent can be granted to anybody, and the validity of the "invention" is only challenged when an infringement suit is brought before a judge. Still, we have to wonder where all this patent-hording is leading us.

The war on Spammers is not going well, according to a new report by SpamNation. A series of attacks have recently brought down a slew of antispam websites with denial of service attacks. The alleged perpetrators are a group known as the Zhelatin gang, who are also behind the Storm worm. Their methods of spreading a virus through botnets (or goups of host computers) are so exponentially frightening as to turn any computer user into a paranoid mess. Or vigilante...

Here's one clear indication that web content is winning the battle with main stream entertainment. Did anyone check out the VMAs last night? And by the VMAs, I mean the complete boring debacle that was MTV's formerly iconic event. The online discussion of the event was exponentially more lively than the performances, especially when Britney Spears opened the show looking a little, um, how can I say this nicely.... fat and on drugs. We assume that the repercussions of this event will be felt today in offices across America. Or at least a lot of productivity lost to You Tube. Enjoy.

In their big press conference yesterday, Apple introduced their new line of iDistraction devices, which are pretty much like the old line except buying replacement iPods makes you feel younger. The new iPod Nano sports a square look in order to play video and distinguish itself as A SQUARE IPOD CHECK IT OUT!!! Well, some of us think it's not so much a square as it looks like an iPod which needs to go on a diet, But that's just my judgmental self kicking in. Our hero is very excited about the new iPod.

NBC issued this press release over the weekend, just to let the general public know that Apple is a Greedy-Mc-Greederpants sort of a company, and NBC was only nicely trying to bundle their content into more expensive packages for their viewers' benefit. Our Mumbo Gumbo characters have come up with their own interpretation of the motivations behind the press release.