If you know one thing about Linux users, it's probably this: They enjoy the challenge of installing their operating system of choice on pretty much anything with a transistor in it. It's only a matter of time before they get around to replacing all those electronic singing greeting cards to make the sound of penguin mating calls.

So the news that Linux has been ported to the iPhone and the iPod touch shouldn't exactly come as a shock; please hold your cries of heresy until the end. OpeniBoot, which brings the Linux 2.6 kernel to the iPhone platform was developed by members of the iPhone DevTeam, the same folks who have long been working on cracking the iPhone's firmware every time a new version comes out.

[ Special report: IT's guide to the iPhone ]

The capabilities of OpeniBoot are still incredibly limited--at present, there's no support for writing to the flash memory, using the touch screen, wireless networking, the cell phone, sound, or the accelerometer. So if you thought that you'd be ending up with a fully operational Linux iPhone--or even a partially operational phone--I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed for now.

There's also some talk that this may pave the way for installing Google's Android OS on the iPhone, though as someone who's been using a G1 for a few days now, that seems like overhauling a Porsche to run like a Hyundai. But then again, there's always somebody who wants to prove that it's possible. So knock yourself out, guys.

Macworld is an InfoWorld affiliate

Consumer electronics giants Apple, Dell, Motorola, Microsoft, Nintendo, and Samsung have been slow to get serious about climate change, and are notably lagging behind, according to the latest edition of the Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics.

Many companies still show little engagement with the issue, which is a disappointment, according to Greenpeace International Climate & Energy campaigner Mel Francis.

[ For more on technology and the environment, see Ted Samson's Sustainable IT blog | Stay ahead of advances in technology with InfoWorld's Ahead of the Curve blog and newsletter. ]

"They are basically lagging behind on what we need for a good climate package. They haven't demonstrated any real commitment to cutting their own CO2 emissions, or to lobbying politicians to get a good deal post-Kyoto," said Francis.

"They assume that growth in their business also must therefore mean growth in their CO2 emissions. At Greenpeace we think that's not necessarily true," said Francis.

Greenpeace would like to see a lot more action going forward. "We are simply asking them to become climate leaders. They need to put their words into action and follow through on the claims they're making," said Francis.

Still, there are a few exceptions: Fujitsu Siemens Computers, Philips and Sharp support the level of cuts in greenhouse gases that science requires, according to Greenpeace.

In its latest Guide to Greener Electronics, Greenpeace gives Philips marks for committing to making absolute reductions in its own greenhouse gas emissions from the product manufacture and supply chain, which HP has done as well.

Both Philips and HP have also committed to making cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from their own operations. Nokia has done the same, said Francis.

Its overall ranking -- which takes into account company policies on toxic chemicals, recycling and climate change -- is topped by Nokia (Greenpeace likes its take-back program and use of renewable energy), followed by Sony Ericsson and Toshiba.

Philips and HP are in the bottom half of the list: good energy policies aren't enough, and both companies must improve how they handle e-waste, said Greenpeace.

Motorola, Toshiba and Sharp made the biggest moves up the chart, while the companies falling down the ranking are the PC brands Acer, Dell, HP -- and Apple, although it still gets a thumbs-up for improving its score, by better reporting on the carbon footprint of its products.

Apple's new iPods are also are now free of both PVC and brominated flame retardants, according to Greenpeace.

In general, the PC manufacturers need to improve the handling of e-waste.

Dell and Acer also need to reduce their use of toxic chemicals, said Greenpeace. Dell loses points for withdrawing from its commitment to eliminate all PVC plastic and brominated flame retardants by the end of 2009.

The use of toxic chemicals has in the past been a focus area for Greenpeace, but here there has been some positive movement. Consumer electronics companies have been allies to Greenpeace as it has tried to reduce the use of toxic materials and get legislation passed, according to Francis.

Nintendo remains in last place in the ranking, although it is taking small steps to remove or monitor the presence of some potentially toxic additives in the plastics it uses, Greenpeace said.

JetBrains released TeamCity 4.0, a continuous integration server and distributed build management tool featuring enhanced build capabilities, this week.?

Version 4.0 offers build chains support for breaking down a single build procedure into several parts that can be run on different build agents using the same sets of sources.?

Other improvements in version 4.0 include the ability to redo a particular build from a particular control revision, known as a history build, and improved authentication mechanics.

With version 4.0, statistics are offered for an entire project. Extensibility is enabled via a Java API, the company said. A tests reordering capability determines which tests are likely to fail and performs those first during the next project build.

TeamCity 4.0 automates routines and streamlines the software development process. Team communication is improved, and teams can implement agile methodology, JetBrains said. The product integrates with multiple IDEs.

Eclipse integration is highlighted as is integration with ClearCase, with Eclipse backing bringing IntelliJ Idea IDE capabilities to Eclipse users.

"Since its creation, TeamCity has been a key element in our own development process," said JetBrains CEO Sergey Dmitriev, in a statement released by the company. "The production TeamCity server at JetBrains is currently having over 50 build configurations in a build grid with more than 50 build agents, with literally every project and every developer using it on a daily basis

Version 4.0 also has an improved search engine and user interface improvements, JetBrains said. TeamCity automates more than 600 Java code inspections.

TeamCity 4.0 is available free to individual developers and small-to-medium-size teams. The free edition is restricted to 20 build configurations and three build agents.

TV network CBS has become the latest big name to have it Web site used to host malware, a security company has reported.

It appears that Russian malware distributors were able to launch another iFrame attack on a subdomain of the cbs.com site so that it was serving remote malware to any visitors. A user's vulnerability to the malware attack launched by the site hack would depend on a number of factors, including the type of security used on a PC, the operating system, and possibly the browser version.

[ Learn how to secure your systems with Roger Grimes' Security Adviser blog and newsletter, both from InfoWorld. ]

"This saga confirms our many previous warnings that obfuscated code posing a serious threat to Internet users' PCs," said Finjan CTO, Yuval Ben-Itzhak, who has devoted a fair amount of time in recent months to finding these hacks.

"Our Threats Reports have continued to identify the increasing use of code obfuscation as a means of bypassing traditional signature-based solutions in order to propagate malware," Ben-Itzak continued, taking a pop at the anti-virus products against which his company in part competes.

"It also highlights the fact that no web portal, no matter how high ranking, can be totally secure against a system hack and consequent infection of its visitors. Web users need to exercise caution at all times," he said.

Finjan has it had informed CBS of the issue, but that the Russian exploit server had in any case been taken offline, neutering the attack for the time being.

iFrame and SQL injection attacks on big-name Web sites have been one of the fashionable attacks of 2008, embarrassing a string of household names.

Techworld is an InfoWorld affiliate.

As President-elect Barack Obama prepares to take office, the task of upgrading the security of federal computer systems continues to be a work in progress.

Several cybersecurity initiatives launched during the Bush administration are still years away from being completed. Others are closer to completion but don't do enough by themselves to defend networks and systems against increasingly sophisticated attacks, according to IT security analysts.

[ Learn how to secure your systems with Roger Grimes' Security Adviser blog and newsletter, both from InfoWorld. ]

And, they said, resolving the security issues will require Obama to focus on more than just finishing the ongoing initiatives.

For starters, he needs to end the policy of tying federal cybersecurity efforts so closely to the post-9/11 war on terror, said Gartner analyst John Pescatore. "The terrorist attacks sent the Bush administration in the wrong direction" on cybersecurity, Pescatore said, adding that more immediate threats to federal systems have been overlooked.

Progress has been made, claimed Karen Evans, administrator of e-government and IT at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Evans said several security initiatives launched over the past few years are already making, or will soon make, a difference.

At the top of her list is a 2004 mandate by President Bush that required federal agencies to issue new smart-card identity credentials to all employees and contractors. But even that program hasn't been fully implemented. Agencies were supposed to finish issuing the new ID cards in late October, but most will need at least two more years to do so.

Other projects that Evans pointed to include a recent upgrade of federal networks to the more secure IPv6 protocol and the Trusted Internet Connections program, under which agencies are working to reduce their external network connections.

Evans also cited the Federal Desktop Core Configuration (FDCC) project, which is aimed at cutting costs and boosting security by requiring agencies to employ standard security settings on all Windows PCs.

Earlier this year, President Bush also put in motion a highly classified, multiagency program called the Cyber Initiative, with a goal of bolstering the nation's ability to detect and respond to cyberthreats against critical infrastructure targets.

Tom Kellerman, vice president of security awareness at Core Security Technologies in Boston, said the Cyber Initiative marked an "awakening" in Washington about the need for stronger cybersecurity efforts.

But Kellerman, who is a member of a commission that's developing cybersecurity recommendations for Obama, said much remains to be done. "The existing administration has only just begun to pay attention to cybersecurity" as a national security issue, he said.

Many of the ongoing initiatives are helping to improve security in bits and pieces, Pescatore said. But, he added, they were the result of "random edicts" from the OMB, not broad cybersecurity objectives.

Increasingly, new funding has been moving toward surveillance and monitoring initiatives related to fighting terrorism. While such efforts are needed, Pescatore said, they do little to protect federal agencies from cybercriminals.

Franklin Reeder, an independent consultant and former chief of information policy at the OMB, said the most important step for Obama is to use the government's purchasing clout to compel IT vendors to build more security capabilities into products. The FDCC program has shown that such an approach can be successful, Reeder said.

More spending is needed on security training, he added. He also thinks the feds must change how they work with the private sector on security. Existing programs, Reeder contended, "have just been convened by the government for the government."

This version of the story originally appeared in Computerworld's print edition. Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate.

Got something to add? Let us know in the article comments.

Microsoft and Yahoo have dismissed a report that they're once again in discussions to sell Yahoo's online search business for $20 billion.

The Sunday Times wrote Microsoft had agreed to the "broad terms of a deal" but there was no guarantee that it would be completed.

[ For the complete saga of Microsoft's attempted takeover of Yahoo, check out InfoWorld's special report ]

"We continue to offer no comment on such rumors and speculation," according to a statement supplied by one of Microsoft's public relations agencies, Waggener Edstrom, in London on Monday.

A Yahoo spokeswoman also said the company had no comment on the report.

The Sunday Times wrote that Microsoft would bring in Jonathan Miller, the former CEO of AOL, and Ross Levinsohn, a former president of Fox Interactive Media, to manage a new team.

The Times also wrote that Microsoft seeks a 10-year agreement with Yahoo to run Yahoo's search business. Microsoft would have a two-year call option to buy that business for $20 billion. Yahoo would still run its own e-mail, messaging and content services, the paper wrote.

Microsoft began courting Yahoo earlier this year, offering $44.6 billion in February for the entire company, or around $31 per share. Yahoo's cofounder and then-CEO Jerry Yang held out for a higher offer, but Microsoft eventually lost interest.

Yahoo's stock has since quickly fallen along with the stock of many other technology companies that are feeling the effects of the global credit crunch. Yahoo's stock closed on Friday at $11.28 per share, putting its total market capitalization at $15.96 billion.

Yang stepped down as CEO last week after taking over in June 2007. The company has been under increasing pressure from investors such as Carl Icahn, who is one of Yahoo's directors, to either make a deal or change the company's management.

The terrorists that attacked various locations in south Mumbai last week used digital maps from Google Earth to learn their way around, according to officials investigating the attacks.

Investigations by the Mumbai police, including the interrogation of one nabbed terrorist, suggest that the terrorists were highly trained and used technologies such as satellite phones, and global positioning systems (GPS), according to police.

[ Keep up on the latest tech news headlines at InfoWorld News, or subscribe to the Today's Headlines newsletter. ]

Google Earth has previously come in for criticism in India, including from the country's former President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

Kalam warned in a 2005 lecture that the easy availability online of detailed maps of countries from services such as Google Earth could be misused by terrorists.

A Google spokeswoman said in an e-mail Monday that Google Earth's imagery is already available through commercial and public sources. Google Earth has also been used by aid agencies for relief operations, which outweighs abusive uses, she said.

Indian security agencies have complained that Google Earth exposed Indian defense and other sensitive installations. Other nations, including China, have made similar complaints regarding military locations.

However the places attacked by terrorists last week did not come under the category of defense or sensitive installations. The information available to the terrorists on Google Earth about the locations they attacked is also available on printed tourism maps of Mumbai. The locations included two hotels, a restaurant, a residential complex, and a railway station.

InfoWorld today has made the vast majority of its site content available in native format for the new generation of mobile devices, such as the Apple iPhone, Palm Treo Pro, and RIM BlackBerry Storm. Users of such "mobile 2.0" devices can access the InfoWorld technology news and reviews site at infoworld.com/m.

The beta mobile site's news, features, reviews, Test Center analyses, and blogs are all available. InfoWorld will add access to its special reports, slideshows, and other content later this month. In the meantime, such content remains accessible to mobile users but will display as regular desktop HTML pages.

[ Which next-gen handheld is right for you? Find out in InfoWorld's mobile 2.0 device comparison . ]

The mobilized beta site supports the new class of "mobile 2.0" devices meant to provide desktop-class Web browsing: the iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry Storm, Google-Android-based T-Mobile G1, and most Windows Mobile 6 devices such as the Hewlett-Packard iPaq, AT&T Fuze, and Palm Treo Pro. Many BlackBerrys come with HTML browser emulation, though not all are configured properly out of the box; much of the InfoWorld mobile site should work under these BlackBerrys' HTML emulation as well. Other mobile devices that support HTML, such as Palm OS devices with the Blazer 4 browser and devices where users have installed the Opera Mini Web browser should also work at least partially, such as displaying stories and supporting embedded hyperlinks. (Older, WAP- or WML-only devices can access a basic version of InfoWorld's site at http://mobile.infoworld.com.)

InfoWorld's new beta mobile site follows other mobile-enabling efforts this year, including a mobile version of its Windows Sentinel PC-monitoring service and its Twitter feed.

Note that because of the many differences in browser capabilities, some content may not display properly on specific device/browser combinations. Desktop HTML pages are particularly susceptible to such issues because they tend to use features such as Flash files that few mobile Web browsers support and iframes that Windows Mobile browsers do not support.

Microsoft will deliver Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) to manufacturing in April 2009, two months after it issues a final test version to users, according to a Web site that accurately predicted several Windows ship dates in 2008.

TechARP.com, a Malaysian Web site that nailed the release-to-manufacturing (RTM) dates for Vista SP1 and XP SP3 earlier this year, said that Microsoft will post a release candidate -- the final test version -- of Vista SP2 in February 2009, finish the service pack next April and offer it to users via download from the Web at some point afterward.

[ And to learn more about Microsoft's next OS, Windows 7, check out the InfoWorld Test Center benchmarks in "Windows 7 unmasked." ]

The last was necessarily vague, if only because Microsoft has had trouble this year synchronizing service pack RTM dates with availability on Windows Update. It took six weeks last winter to get Vista SP1 in the hands of most users -- and then only after a ruckus when Microsoft initially denied access to subscribers of its for-pay developer services -- and a week to issue Windows XP SP3 in the spring. XP SP3 was delayed because of a data-corrupting compatibility bug with Microsoft's own point-of-sale software.

Although Microsoft issued the beta of Vista SP2 to a limited number of testers a month ago, company officials have so far only committed to shipping the update sometime in the first half of next year.

According to Microsoft, Vista SP2 will include Windows Search 4, Bluetooth 2.1 wireless support, faster resume from sleep when a wireless connection has been broken and support for Blu-ray. Some of those features, including Windows Search and the Bluetooth support, have been available to Vista users for months through individual updates.

The service pack will update both Vista, the client version of Windows, and Windows Server 2008, the company's corresponding server software.

Vista SP2 will require SP1 as a prerequisite, a factor that played to Microsoft's ongoing recommendation that users deploy the first service pack as soon as possible.

Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate.

Acer, the world's third-largest PC vendor, is planning to launch a netbook next year with a 10.2-inch screen, the largest netbook screen from Acer so far, a company representative confirmed.

The Taiwanese company's Aspire One netbook has been a hit this year. Launched at mid-year, the device now has Asustek Computer's popular Eee PC in its sights. Acer has forecast shipments of 6 million Aspire One's this year, against estimates of 5 million from Asustek for its Eee PCs.

[ For more on products in the hot mini-notebook category, check out our hands-on looks at Asus' Eee PC 901 and 1000 and the N10 netbook, the Cloudbook Max netbook, Elitegroup's G10IL mini-laptop, MSI's Wind low-cost laptop, Giga-byte's M912X mini-laptop, HP's Mini-Note netbook and Acer's Aspire one. ]

The Aspire One out now has an 8.9-inch screen, but most companies are putting out netbooks with 10.2-inch screens now. The slightly larger screen sizes are more popular with people who like to view Web pages without scrolling left and right to see the entire page.

Asustek, which has offered a 7-inch screen on its Eee PCs, has said it does not plan to offer the small screen size in the future because people don't seem to like it as much.

Netbooks are mini-laptop PCs designed for mobility, typically sporting 7-inch to 10-inch screens and weighing less than 2 kilograms. Most netbook components, including the microprocessor, are less powerful than those of full-fledged laptops so batteries last longer. Netbooks are designed for dealing with e-mail, browsing the Internet and working on word processor or spreadsheet documents, not for heavy-duty gaming, video editing, or other multimedia work.

Reports also indicate that Acer plans to launch a rival to Asustek's Eee Top, which is a low-cost competitor to Apple's iMac, a display with computing functions built-in.

Working in today's cutthroat economy has become a lot like the old joke about two guys being chased by a grizzly bear. One guy stops to take off his work shoes and lace up some sneakers.

"Are you crazy?" says Guy No. 2. "You can't outrun a bear."

"I don't have to outrun the bear. I just have to outrun you," Guy No. 1 quips.

And with high-tech firms laying off nearly 20,000 workers in the past month alone, outrunning the other guy is fast becoming the survival mode for IT.

[ Check out InfoWorld's 2009 IT career survival guide to find out where IT jobs are headed. ]

Here are seven tips for outlegging the competition and surviving the downturn with your job intact. What you find here may come off as common sense, but when it comes to keeping ahead of the guy in the cubicle down the hall, common sense just might be all you need to gain an edge. After all, how often do you see your coworkers demonstrating common sense these days?

IT survivor tip No. 1: Roll up your sleeves -- and cheer up, damnit The good news? You can survive in today's tight economy. The bad news? You may have to log longer hours and take on less-than-exciting projects.

Start by taking notice of the projects that get the most attention from management and ask to be a part of them, advises Betsy Richards, director of career services at Kaplan University.

"Ask to be transferred to a critical area, or volunteer for extra duties to support these activities," Richards says. "You'll be viewed as an employee who goes the extra mile while inoculating yourself against expendability when the pink slips get handed out."

More than just work harder than the next guy, you have to look like you're working harder, says Simon Stapleton, a technology careers coach who calls himself "the IT industry's answer to Indiana Jones" (but without the bullwhip). Show up before your boss gets in and leave after he or she leaves. Skip the long coffee breaks and work through lunch.

"My best advice is to roll your sleeves up -- literally," says Stapleton, who's also chief innovation officer at Skandia Investment Solutions, a U.K.-based financial services firm. "Pick up the pace when you walk around the office. Carry a clipboard. Your determination to help your company succeed will show in your body language. Now is the time to display the visible signs that you're busting your ass."

And if you can, do it with a smile.

"IT people tend to be grumps," notes Curt Finch, a formerly grumpy software programmer who's now CEO of Journyx, a maker of Web-based time- and expense-management software. "The No. 1 thing is having a positive attitude. The glass-half-full guys, the optimists, the ones who say, 'Sure, we're in a tough situation, but here's how we're going to get through it' -- those are the people I want around me during a recession."

IT survivor tip No. 2: Show off your mad skillz -- or get some, fast

The most reliable path for self-preservation is to become the in-house expert on topics vital to the business.

"You need to be the one everyone comes to when they have a question about a particular topic or technology," says Nicholas Lore, career coach and founder of Rockport Institute. "When you're the person everyone goes to, you become indispensable."

[ For a deeper look at training well worth your while, see "Hot tech certifications in a cool job market" ]

Similarly, if you have skills that cross departments or systems, you're less likely to be canned than Johnny One-Note in the cubicle down the hall.

Be versatile, advises Colin Strasser, CEO of U2i, a software consulting firm. "If you've been doing nothing but Java for 10 years, try Python or Ruby. If you've been working under Windows, do some work with Linux."

According to a survey by Robert Half International, Web developers with social-media savvy or expertise in technologies such as .Net, SharePoint, Java, and PHP will continue to be in high demand. Help-desk pros with knowledge of a wide range of systems are also more likely to hold onto jobs.

Ask your HR department if the company offers training programs or reimburses tuition costs, says Kaplan's Richards. You may also be able to obtain low-cost continuing education from professional organizations or user groups.

If those options aren't available, you can still expand your expertise relatively cheaply, notes Iman Jalali, director of sales and marketing at Train Signal, vendor of IT training materials. For around $400, Train Signal helps you get up to speed on topics such as Windows Server 2008 or VMware ESX.

"Some people feel like if they've been in the same business for 25 years, it's a badge of honor," says Jalali. "In IT, that could mean you'll lose your job tomorrow. Everyone needs to stay up to date, or risk being replaced by someone who's up on all the newest technologies."

IT survivor tip No. 3: Remember, it's just business

You know how in Mafia movies the hit man always says, "It's just business," right before he whacks his best friend?

Well, it is just business. And you need to know how the business makes money and what projects or systems are essential to that mission -- and get yourself assigned to them.

"Look at how your company is making its profit," says Finch. "You have to become indispensable to the success of that effort through adding real business value. Demonstrate through your timekeeping and meetings and activities that this is primarily what you are working on. Short-term revenue is more important than long-term in a down economy."

Getting the feeling your department needs to reduce head count? Come up with a plan for how to do it while keeping the lights on, and produce metrics to show how much money these cuts will save. If there's a line being drawn, you want to be standing on the same side as the CFO and the CEO, says Dave Taylor, co-founder of Sparxent, an IT management solutions vendor.

In other words: You're no longer a techie helping the business; you're a businessperson who uses tech to boost the bottom line.

"Transition your focus from technology to business value and business needs," advises Shane Aubel, co-founder of IT consulting firm Accent Global System Architects. "The more tangible, quantifiable results you offer, the more indispensable you will be. The business is the customer, and what the customer wants, the customer gets."

IT survivor tip No. 4: Work the numbers

Metrics are your friend. If you want to prove you're vital to the survival of your company, you better have the digits to back it up.

"IT people need to become experts at marketing themselves internally," says Sparxent's Taylor. "They need to provide more targeted and more detailed reports on where the IT dollars are spent; they need to put metrics in place to report on whether IT projects have generated ROI or not; and they need to be much more transparent in reporting on whether they've achieved the metrics or not."

[ Getting ahead is still possible. Check out "20 ways to get promoted in the tech industry" to find out how. ]

In other words, be proactive. Don't wait for the CFO to call you on the carpet to explain where all the money went, says Taylor. Know down to the dollar how much it costs to provision applications or provide level-one support -- and then suggest ways you can reduce it.

"You need to be able to say, 'We just deployed Office 2007, and it took an average of 43 minutes to install on every users' desktop at a cost of $180 an hour, so it costs more to provision Office than it did to pay for the license,'" Taylor says. "When you have that kind of detail at your fingertips, the CFO realizes you're focused on getting the company what it needs at the lowest possible cost."

Tying your projects to company profits is essential, adds Finch. You want to work on the projects that bring in the most revenue or save the most money.

"Companies always want to cut failing projects and unprofitable customers first," he adds. "If you do have to cut people, you want to be able to do it with a scalpel and not a chainsaw."

IT survivor tip No. 5: Be a peacock, not a turtle

Now is not the time to crawl under your desk and hide until the scary man with the pink slips goes away.

"The biggest trap people fall into during a downturn is to try and fly under the radar until it all blows over," says Nina Buik, president of HP's Connect user group. "Now is the time to show how you can make a difference. Be the person in your organization who sends an e-mail to the CIO saying, 'I've got a great idea I need to share.' You'll stand head and shoulders above the rest."

If you don't sell yourself, nobody will. But when you blow your own horn, sound less like a marching band and more like Miles Davis.

One of the best ways to promote yourself is to get other people to do it for you, says John Baschab, senior vice president at Technisource.

"People are always looking for anecdotal evidence of your performance," Baschab says. "If you're on the help desk and someone sends you an e-mail thanking you for your help, ask them if they can send a copy to your boss. When you get verbal kudos, get them written down and sent to the right place."

The praise of others is always worth more than self-puffery, agrees Buik. "But your boss may not know about all the little things you do. Take a win you've helped generate for the company, find someone else involved in it, and ask them to write it up for you and post it on your LinkedIn profile. Then offer to do the same for them."

Reminding your bosses all the wonderful things you've done is a start, but it isn't enough. You need to keep putting your hand up for new projects that keep revenue flowing.

"What you did last month is a lot less relevant than what you're going to do next month," notes Finch. "It's all about the bottom line. You could be Albert friggin' Einstein and still get fired if they have nothing for you to do for the next three months."

IT survivor tip No. 6: Schmooze it -- or lose it

Everyone hates a suck-up. And yet the world is full of them, so they must be doing something right. The people who are retained in a downturn aren't always the most competent, notes Lore. They're often the ones who are the best liked and know the right people.

"You've got to network inside your own company," says Lore. "Make sure the senior people know who you are, the contributions you've made, and that they like you. Create a wider circle, so other people start talking about you. Very often, techs are shy about being forward with senior people in the company. This is not the time to be shy."

Although the clich? is that geeks are notoriously bad at social interaction, these are skills that can be easily learned, says Lore. In fact, he adds, they're the same skills found in books that teach nerds how to pick up girls -- mimic your boss's body language, speak in the same tones, talk about the things they're interested in, and so on.

Joining user groups and professional associations will expand your network, exposing you to new skills and potential employers, notes Buik. Donating your tech skills to worthy organizations can also raise your profile.

"IT experts who volunteer their time to upgrade the network for a nonprofit tend to gain positive press and build name recognition in their locality," says Ari Kaplan, author of "The Opportunity Maker," a book on creative networking and business development.

Online networks such as LinkedIn can help, too. "Don't just put a little bit of information in there," says Buik. "Sell yourself. Tell everyone within three feet of you what you're trying to do. If you're looking for new opportunities, let everyone know."

Just be sure to use social nets wisely. Building up your r?sum? on LinkedIn is a good idea; sending your zombie to attack your boss' zombie on Facebook is probably sending the wrong message about how you spend your time at work.

IT survivor tip No. 7: If all else fails, move to Australia

Now is not a good time to be job shopping. Even if there's a photo of your boss next to the Wikipedia entry for "jerk," it's generally better to grit your teeth and stick it out until the economy recovers. But if the worst happens and you get downsized, you still have options -- like relocating to Australia, for instance.

[ To see what IT skills are in demand around the globe, see InfoWorld's guide to outsourcing yourself. ]

"A raft of big projects is keeping the local IT market relatively buoyant, and demand for skills remains solid," notes Peter Acheson, COO of Australia's largest IT recruiter, Peoplebank. "There will still be strong demand for IT skills in the market here in 2009 -- in fact, in some sectors it will still be tight."

Another option is to join the temp-to-perm workforce, says Tom Hart, executive vice president at staffing firm Veritude. Staff augmentation services offer both businesses and employees more flexibility, he says.

"There are so many good reasons to be flexible, even if all you've ever done is hold down permanent jobs," Hart says. "It gives you the opportunity to feel good about a potential employer, and for them to feel good about you. And you continue to collect a paycheck as you wait for things to get better."

It could even be time to consider going back to school or changing careers, says Lore, especially if technology isn't exactly your life's calling.

"Many people went into IT because they had strong analytical skills, not because they enjoyed the work," Lore says. "For them, a career change might be the best solution. Just because you have long legs doesn't mean you'll be happy as a Rockette."

Contributing editor Dan Tynan has legs and knows how to use them. When not kicking, he tends the Tynan on Tech and Culture Crash blogs.

Related articles Special report: 2009 IT career survival guide Slideshow: Where IT jobs are headed IT survivor: 8 signs it's time for new employment Timing is everything when it comes to jumping ship. Here's how to tell if your company's prospects are sinking For a promising IT career, go east, young techie The U.S. and Europe are slowing down, but hot tech jobs beckon in China, India, and Eastern Europe 20 ways to get promoted in the tech industry If you agree that there's no such thing as an IT project, you may already be on your way up the ladder Special report: Tech workers under fire Special report: IT and the financial crisis Hot tech certifications in a cool job market Not all credentials will boost your career, so in tough times you have to choose wisely The 30 skills every IT person should have An IT manager's guide on how to be better at what you do, no matter how experienced you are How to keep your tech career afloat As outsourcing and downsizing continue, find out what skills and certifications will make you an IT survivor Recession-proof IT jobs Believe it or not, some tech jobs are still in demand. Find out which ones employers need to fill

If your company is headed for a fall, it's usually better to jump than to be pushed. Don't let yourself be blindsided by quickly dwindling company prospects. These eight signs are surefire indications that it is high time to update your resume and start networking.

Sign No. 1: Closed-door meetings If all the conference rooms are booked or doors keep closing, the tide may be shifting toward cuts at your organization.

"Pay attention to what your gut is telling you," says John Baschab, senior vice president at Technisource. "A lot of the time it knows what's going on, even if your brain doesn't."

Sign No. 2: Strange faces If you look around the lunchroom and all you see are strangers, your company may be surreptitiously replacing permanent staff with temps.

Sign No. 3: Bad press Forget the clich? about there being no so such thing as bad publicity. Bad press is a harbinger of tough times ahead.

Sign No. 4: Back-burner fever If projects previously billed as vital to the future of the company are being scaled down or put on hold, it's a good sign the future isn't as bright as it once was.

Sign No. 5: Major decisions are delayed "When decisions that used to take a few days now take one or two weeks, that's a strong sign things are going bad," says Simon Stapleton, a tech careers coach and chief innovation officer at Skandia Investment Solutions.

Sign No. 6: Your boss acts like she owes you money She may know the ax is going to fall and can't tell you yet. It's usually better to ask if something is up, openly and calmly, says Nicholas Lore, career coach and founder of Rockport Institute.

Sign No. 7: Slashed training budgets If your organization is no longer planning for the future, it may not have one.

Sign No. 8: Slimmer sales force If your company is losing big clients or the sales force is being cut, that's a sure clue your employer is taking on water, says Tom Hart, executive vice president at staffing firm Veritude. "You don't want to be the last rat off that ship."

Related articles IT survivor: 7 tips for career growth in tight times Recession fears have tech jobs in jeopardy. Here's how to outlast, outrun, and outsmart the competition Special report: 2009 IT career survival guide Slideshow: Where IT jobs are headed For a promising IT career, go east, young techie The U.S. and Europe are slowing down, but hot tech jobs beckon in China, India, and Eastern Europe 20 ways to get promoted in the tech industry If you agree that there's no such thing as an IT project, you may already be on your way up the ladder The 30 skills every IT person should have An IT manager's guide on how to be better at what you do, no matter how experienced you are

A wave of coordinated terrorist attacks across Mumbai late Wednesday dominated the news this week, with bloggers and people using Twitter helping to get information to families and friends of those affected. Multinational technology companies are not expected to change their business strategies as a consequence of the stunning attacks, which targeted westerners.

1. Mumbai terrorist attacks don't deter technology companies and In Mumbai, bloggers and Twitter offer help to relatives: Terrorists attacked nine locations across Mumbai late Wednesday, with hostages taken in luxury hotels and at a Jewish center, where five were reported Friday to have been killed. The death toll by week's end was 151, with at least 327 injured in the stunning attacks, which targeted people carrying passports from the United States and the United Kingdom. The attacks were the latest in an ongoing string of terrorist activity in India. Despite the apparent continuing terrorist threat there, analysts and others said that multinational technology companies are not likely to alter their strategies for doing business in India. As the news unfolded this week from Mumbai, bloggers and people using Twitter helped get information to the families and friends of those affected by the attacks.

2. Microsoft warns of malware exploiting known vulnerability: Microsoft warned of an increase in exploits taking advantage of a bug in the Windows Server service that could lead to a worm infiltrating networks. The company issued an emergency patch for the exploit last month. Those who haven't applied the patch are being urged to do that as soon as possible.

3. Estonian ISP cuts off control servers for Srizbi botnet: An Estonian ISP cut off control servers for the massive Srizbi botnet, which is responsible for much of the spam that clogs inboxes globally. Srizbi was temporarily derailed earlier this month when upstream providers shut off access to McColo, an ISP that was identified as the host for the botnet's command-and-control servers. Spammers being spammers, it didn't take long for them to find a new host, Starline Web Services in Estonia, but that ISP got wise to them, too.

4. ComScore forecasts flat holiday online shopping: Online retailers got an ominous sign this month, with online spending dropping in the first three weeks in the run up to the critical holiday shopping season. Hopes for a robust "Black Friday," the day after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday that kicks off the year-end holiday shopping season, were dampened by ComScore's consumer survey. Online shoppers spent 4 percent less in the first three weeks of November than they did last year in the same period. ComScore predicted that spending online will be about the same this year as it was last year.

5. Nokia to pull out of Japanese handset market: Nokia, the largest cell phone maker, is bailing out of the Japanese handset market, which is the biggest in the world. The company cited the global economic downturn for its decision, with a spokesman saying that Nokia has failed to hit its "own internal targets for a sustained period of time," although he declined to say what those targets were. Nokia will keep open a research-and-development facility in Japan and continue procurement activities there. The move out of the market also will not affect Nokia's high-end Vertu handsets.

6. Cisco shutting down between holidays: Cisco Systems will shut down operations in U.S. and Canada from Dec. 29 to Jan. 2 for the first time in its history to save money. The cost-cutting move exempts business-critical teams such as technical assistance services and channel partner and customer product ordering.

7. Bamboo laptop by Asustek to debut Saturday: Asustek will unveil its laptop made of a bamboo casing on Saturday at the IT Month exhibit in Taiwan. The laptop is part of Asus' initiative to make products of renewable materials that are environmentally friendly. Anyone who has ever contended with trying to keep bamboo under control knows that it grows extremely quickly. It's also widely available. And quite tasty to pandas.

8. Greenpeace: Tech companies not serious about climate change: Apple, Dell, Motorola, Microsoft, Nintendo, and Samsung are laggards when it comes to getting serious about climate change and the impact their products have on the environment, Greenpeace said. "They haven't demonstrated any real commitment to cutting their own CO2 emissions, or to lobbying politicians to get a good deal post-Kyoto," said Mel Francis, international climate and energy campaigner for the environmental watchdog group as it released its Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics.

9. Apple's new VP could cause 'irreparable harm' to IBM, says judge: Mark Papermaster was ordered by a federal judge to stop working for IBM just five days after the former Apple executive started his new job, according to court documents unsealed this week. Papermaster's work at Apple could cause "irreparable harm" to IBM because he knows "highly confidential IBM trade secrets," U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Karas ruled. He granted IBM's request for a preliminary injunction to keep Papermaster from working for Apple, where he got a job heading iPod and iPhone hardware development. IBM contends that Papermaster signed a noncompete agreement in 2006 that bars him from taking a job with a competitor for a year after leaving IBM.

10. Vintage geek gift guide: If you know a geek who loves vintage gear, this InfoWorld gift guide is for you (and the vintage geek in your life).

[ See also: InfoWorld's 2008 geek gadget gift guide ]

European telecommunications ministers gave their backing on Thursday to a plan to cap retail prices for sending SMS (Short Message Service) text messages and browsing the Internet using mobile phones while abroad.

In September the European Union's executive body, the European Commission, proposed slashing both the retail and wholesale prices for text messaging by introducing caps of ¬0.11 and ¬0.04 respectively. Average retail prices are currently estimated at around 0.29 euros, the Commission said.

[ Get the latest on mobile developments with InfoWorld's Mobile Report newsletter. ]

It also proposed a cap on the wholesale price for downloading data of ¬1 per megabyte, and called for further reductions in the cost of voice calls when roaming.

"Ministers have answered the Commission's call for a speedy response to the SMS and data roaming rip-off very positively," said Viviane Reding, the telecommunications commissioner.

E.U. citizens sent 2.5 billion SMS messages, generating ¬800 million for their mobile phone operators last year, the Commission said. The cost of sending messages while roaming can be ten times more than sending a message from within the home country.

Slashing this price is seen as an essential part of creating one single European telecoms market, and an excellent way of illustrating the merits of the single European market to consumers.

"I am confident that with Parliament we will ensure that consumers travelling in the E.U. will save money when sending texts and surfing the Web with a mobile phone as of 1 July 2009. This would send a clear message of consensus that the E.U.'s single market is there to serve European citizens as well as businesses," Reding said.

Under the proposed re-drafting of the 2007 roaming regulation, roaming customers should also receive an automatic message with data roaming charges for the country they have entered. From summer 2010, consumers should be able to specify in advance how high their data roaming bill can go before the service is cut off -- a measure designed to put an end to what the Commission calls "bill shocks".

The cap of ¬1 per megabyte for wholesale fees should create a level playing field and stimulate competition, the Commission said.

Finally, the Commission, now with the support of the 27 member state governments of the E.U., wants to further reduce the caps on making and receiving phone calls while abroad.

In 2007 they were capped at ¬0.46 per minute for calls made abroad and ¬0.22 for calls received abroad. The plan now is to reduce these caps to ¬0.34 and ¬0.10 respectively, excluding value-added tax (VAT), by 1 July 2012.

Assuming the European Parliament supports the new roaming regulation, European consumers would also benefit from per-second billing after 30 seconds for roaming calls made and per-second billing throughout calls received. Today, mobile phone subscribers pay for 24 percent more than the minutes they actually use when making calls, and 19 percent more for received calls.

Whether waiting for the Thanksgiving meal or basking in its tryptophan-induced afterglow, the thoughts of your favorite geek (who could be you!) inevitably turn to gadgets, dancing like sugar plums in his or her thoughts. A real geek already has the obvious toys, such as Absolutely Mad: 50 Years of Mad Magazine on DVD, a Microsoft Xbox 360, an Apple MacBook Pro 2008 edition, a Garmin Nuvi 880, and one or more of the hot smartphones: the Apple iPhone 3G, Palm Treo Pro, RIM BlackBerry Storm, or T-Mobile G1.

What's really special this year for the techie in your life? InfoWorld's band of mad scientists -- a motley crew of software, networking, datacenter, and hardware experts that habituates the InfoWorld Test Center -- offers recommendations of what they lust after ? and know other true geeks do, too.

[ Looking for a high-tech collectible? Peruse David Margulius' collectible tech gift guide. | Curious about last year's geek gift guide recommendations? Check them out! ]

In alphabetical order, here are our 10 top picks: * Apple Time Capsule * Botanicalls DIY Plant Twitter Kit * Cathode Corner Nixie Watch * EVGA GTX 200 Waterblock * Eye-Fi Explore * 4th Motion Gyroxus Full-Motion Game Chair * MvixUSA MvixBox * Sky Factory SkyV * SRS Labs iWow for iPod Adapter * Yoggie Gatekeeper Pico

And delve into our guide to collectible tech.

Okay, we know you really want a new mobile, too. Get the scoop on the InfoWorld Test Center's top mobile picks.

Why you must have it: With all the computing devices we have on hand, managing backups and communications among them is increasingly difficult. InfoWorld Test Center contributing editor Stephen Hultquist recommends Apple's Time Capsule as the central place to handle many of these needs: As a 500GB or 1TB wireless hard drive (using 7,200-rpm SATA drives), it provides central storage as a network drive, plus backup capability, for both Macs and PCs. When used with Mac OS X Leopard's bundled Time Machine software, it's simply amazingly easy to back up and restore data -- too bad there's nothing as good for Windows. As an 802.11n Draft 2.0 wireless router, it can serve as your central connection hub for computers, iPods, wireless printers, and other wireless devices. There are also three Gigabit Ethernet jacks for wired devices. With its USB jack, you can connect a USB printer for sharing across Macs and PCs. Or you can connect a USB hub to share multiple printers and add storage.

Your chances of having the first one on the block: Moderate, as the Time Capsule has been around for some time, though it doesn't seem to have received the same attention as the iPhone 3G or MacBook Pro.

What you must know: The Time Capsule must be your base router if you use additional wireless routers as access points -- unless you have an Apple Airport Extreme Base Station, in which case the Time Capsule can function as an access point. Windows systems need to install the included Bonjour networking software.

What you need: 802.11a/b/g/n-capable devices to connect wirelessly. The 500GB version costs $299, while the 1TB version costs $499.

[ Next: DIY Plant Twitter Kit | Previous: Gatekeeper Pico | Gift guide index | Gift guide slideshow | Check out our guide to collectible tech ]

Why you must have it: You're busy, and your plants are getting thirstier and thirstier as you neglect them. What if they could let you know they need water? With Botanicalls' DIY Plant Twitter Kit, they can. When InfoWorld Test Center contributing editor Peter Wayner saw these at the ThinkGeek.com site, he immediately knew they belonged in the InfoWorld geek gadget gift guide. These kits let you assemble sensors that send out messages over an Ethernet connection to you via the Twitter service when they need or have gotten too much water.

Your chances of having the first one on the block: High, given the level of effort they take to put together and the fact that the Twitter version has been available for just a few months.

What you must know: These kits really do require assembly, down to the level of soldering on the components and tweaking the software code that determines how much water your plant needs, so you have to be an electronics geek to get them to work. The Botanicalls Web site has the complete instructions, complete with photos. If you're particularly savvy, you'll figure out how to establish a wireless connection so that you don't need to run cables to all your plants.

What you need: You'll need basic tools such as screwdrivers and pliers, as well as a soldering iron and solder. A kit costs $100.

[ Next: Nixie Watch | Previous: Time Capsule | Gift guide index | Gift guide slideshow | Check out our guide to collectible tech ]

Why you must have it: If you remember the 1960s, you'll recall those bulky neon display tubes once used in calculators. The Nixie Watch from Cathode Corner uses those quaint tubes to display the time on a large, not-so-stylish but certainly retro-geeky wristwatch. That's right -- a device for telling the current time that doesn't also make calls, receive messages, or play music. The Nixie Watch is a fashion statement that puts you squarely in the era of the original Star Trek series and the groundbreaking film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Your chances of having the first one on the block: High. Although the watch has been around since 2005, it's custom-made and not exactly cool in the sense of minimalist, futuristic James Bond, Apple, or Ideo gadget designs. It's definitely retro.

What you must know: The history of the Nixie Watch's development by an engineer who spent four years figuring out how to make it work will appeal to any true geek. Oh, and it's open source -- of course! Just be sure that when you wear it, you're cautious of your surroundings, since its large size is somewhat like wearing a mini satellite dish on your wrist, notes InfoWorld CTO Council member Rob Lux of GMAC.

What you need: The watches cost $405 each and must be ordered from the manufacturer.

[ Next: GTX 200 Waterblock | Previous: DIY Plant Twitter Kit | Gift guide index | Gift guide slideshow | Check out our guide to collectible tech ]

Why you must have it: If you remember the 1960s, you'll recall those bulky neon display tubes once used in calculators. The Nixie Watch from Cathode Corner uses those quaint tubes to display the time on a large, not-so-stylish but certainly retro-geeky wristwatch. That's right -- a device for telling the current time that doesn't also make calls, receive messages, or play music. The Nixie Watch is a fashion statement that puts you squarely in the era of the original Star Trek series and the groundbreaking film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Your chances of having the first one on the block: High. Although the watch has been around since 2005, it's custom-made and not exactly cool in the sense of minimalist, futuristic James Bond, Apple, or Ideo gadget designs. It's definitely retro.

What you must know: The history of the Nixie Watch's development by an engineer who spent four years figuring out how to make it work will appeal to any true geek. Oh, and it's open source -- of course! Just be sure that when you wear it, you're cautious of your surroundings, since its large size is somewhat like wearing a mini satellite dish on your wrist, notes InfoWorld CTO Council member Rob Lux of GMAC.

What you need: The watches cost $405 each and must be ordered from the manufacturer.

[ Next: GTX 200 Waterblock | Previous: DIY Plant Twitter Kit | Gift guide index | Gift guide slideshow | Check out our guide to collectible tech ]

Why you must have it: Your PC is tricked out with the ultimate graphics card, the EVGA GeForce GTX 260 or 280, using every one of those 500 watts in your monster power supply. But does that card get superhot, radiating like a supernova. EVGA's GTX 200 waterblock piggybacks on the GeForce, using water and copper to dissipate the heat, so the GeForce's performance is not compromised.

Your chances of having the first one on the block: Fair, since extreme gamers knew about the waterblock add-on as soon as it became available earlier this year.

What you must know: If you have a GeForce already, you know that your system can handle its voracious power needs. If not, be sure you have a handle on the 500W power supply and other specs.

What you need: A Windows PC with a GeForce GTX 260 or 280 graphics card, a free PCI slot next to it, and enough power and venting to run the GeForce. The GTX 200 costs $179.

[ Next: Eye-Fi Explore | Previous: Nixie Watch | Gift guide index | Gift guide slideshow | Check out our guide to collectible tech ]

Why you must have it: Your PC is tricked out with the ultimate graphics card, the EVGA GeForce GTX 260 or 280, using every one of those 500 watts in your monster power supply. But does that card get superhot, radiating like a supernova. EVGA's GTX 200 waterblock piggybacks on the GeForce, using water and copper to dissipate the heat, so the GeForce's performance is not compromised.

Your chances of having the first one on the block: Fair, since extreme gamers knew about the waterblock add-on as soon as it became available earlier this year.

What you must know: If you have a GeForce already, you know that your system can handle its voracious power needs. If not, be sure you have a handle on the 500W power supply and other specs.

What you need: A Windows PC with a GeForce GTX 260 or 280 graphics card, a free PCI slot next to it, and enough power and venting to run the GeForce. The GTX 200 costs $179.

[ Next: Eye-Fi Explore | Previous: Nixie Watch | Gift guide index | Gift guide slideshow | Check out our guide to collectible tech ]

Why you must have it: You're shooting photos on your digital camera, but no one can see them until you get back to your Internet-connected computer. The Eye-Fi Explore changes that, using an embedded Wi-Fi radio in the SD card to upload your photos to any of several popular photo-sharing services (a year of hotspot service access is included) or to your computer over a wireless LAN. Plus, it geotags your photos based on where you took them. InfoWorld Test Center contributing editor Brian Chee sung its praises in his Geeks in Paradise blog, and for good reason.

Your chances of having the first one on the block: Moderate, given the publicity the Explore and its 4GB cousins the Home and Anniversary Editions have received.

What you must know: Of the three Eye-Fi models, the Explore is the only one with upload-to-Web and bundled hotspot access service included.

What you need: A digital camera with an SD card slot (or SDHC for the Anniversary Edition). The Explore and Anniversary Edition cost $130 each, while the Home edition costs $80.

[ Next: Gyroxus Full-Motion Game Chair | Previous: GTX 200 Waterblock | Gift guide index | Gift guide slideshow | Check out our guide to collectible tech ]

Why you must have it: Sitting in your chair playing games is absorbing, no doubt, but if you've been to Disneyland or a similar theme park, you know you're missing the dimension of motion. No matter how much the game moves, you sit still. That's why InfoWorld CTO Council member Marvin Anderson's gaze lingered on the Gyroxus Full-Motion Game Chair from 4th Motion. As you move your body while controlling the game, the chair amplifies your actions, so the next time you're flying in space or weaving in and out of traffic, it will feel real. You can even buy skins to customize its appearance for the games you love.

Your chances of having the first one on the block: Good, as it's been available less than a year and at a higher price for much of that time.

What you must know: The chair comes in two versions, depending on the game controller you want: Microsoft Xbox 360/PC games or Sony PlayStation 3. Note that you cannot switch controllers. The chair supports up to 250 pounds, and is 23 inches wide, 44 inches long, and 31 inches high.

What you need: The game chair costs $389, and requires no drivers on your PC or gaming device (Xbox 360 or PS3).

[ Next: MvixBox | Previous: Eye-Fi Explore | Gift guide index | Gift guide slideshow | Check out our guide to collectible tech ]

Why you must have it: Geeks and home theaters are a natural combination, especially when they can throw a PC in the mix. MvixUSA's MvixBox is a Linux server that InfoWorld Test Center contributing editor Mike Heck called to our attention. It can hold two SATA-II hard drives, of up to 1.5TB capacity each, for use as a media server. It's NAS for your home theater. The Gigabit Ethernet port even lets you stream HD files to your media network. On a PC, the MvixBox shows up as a hard drive to which you can simply drag media files. But the MvixBox is also an Apache server with FTP and HTTP support, so you can manage it via a browser and use it as a Web server. And it includes the Torrent Client Blog iTunes Music Server UPnP media server.

Your chances of having the first one on the block: High, as the MvixBox became available just last month.

What you must know: MvixUSA also offers an HD media center box, the MX760HD, that links to the MvixBox and streams video to your big screen.

What you need: The MvixBox works with Windows, Mac, and Linux computers. It costs $299. Hard drives are not included with the MvixBox.

[ Next: SkyV | Previous: Gyroxus Full-Motion Game Chair | Gift guide index | Gift guide slideshow | Check out our guide to collectible tech ]

Why you must have it: The cold glow of an LCD monitor doesn't exactly give you the mental health benefits of real windows, something that most geeks only experience in their cars. After all, datacenters, development labs, and basement workshops -- where many techies spend hours -- rarely have windows. That's where Sky Factory's SkyV comes in: You put one of these custom light boxes in your ceiling, and they adjust the scenes automatically for time of day and season, simulating the outside world, no matter where you are. The SkyV uses a high-definition display and can show a variety of scenes. (The less expensive Programmable Sky Ceiling uses a static image, with only lighting changes to simulate times of day and seasonality.) Test Center contributing editor Logan Harbaugh calls them "the ultimate gift for a cubicle-dwelling geek."

Your chances of having the first one on the block: Very high, as the SkyV won't ship until early 2009 (the Programmable Sky Ceiling has been around since just August).

What you must know: These ceiling light boxes are custom-made, so you can't buy one and install it yourself. You'll need to contact the manufacturer directly to get a quote. The company also offers lighted window boxes that present natural scenes, but these don't have the ability to change color and intensity as the day and seasons progress.

What you need: A building that you can install the light boxes in, which typically means having a dropped ceiling (standard in office buildings) or an attic or crawl space above the ceiling (common in modern homes), plus available power circuits.

[ Next: iWow for iPod Adapter | Previous: MvixBox | Gift guide index | Gift guide slideshow | Check out our guide to collectible tech ]

Why you must have it: The iPod is quickly becoming the modern stereo, but its digitized files often lack the nuance of the original recordings. SRS Labs' iWow for iPod Adapter plugs into the iPod's bottom 30-pin connector and restores the audio cues in the sources, so music and video files sound more like they were intended. (SRS Labs also offers the separate iWow 2.0 software, which is an iTunes plug-in for your Mac or PC that adds the same audio restoration to music and videos played from your computer.)

Your chances of having the first one on the block: High, as the new iWow hardware was released just this month. (The iWow 2.0 software shipped in October.)

What you must know: The hardware adapter is not certified for the iPhone, though users report it works when the iPhone is in airplane mode. SRS Labs released a Mac-only iWow 1.0 iTunes plug-in in 2007 for $30, and it quickly gained popularity. The latest iWow plug-in adds the enhanced versions of its capabilities to both Mac and Windows versions of iTunes and to your iPod directly.

What you need: Any iPod for the iWow hardware, and a Mac or PC with iTunes 6 or later for the plug-in software. The adapter costs $100, while the plug-in software costs $80.

[ Next: Gatekeeper Pico | Previous: SkyV | Gift guide index | Gift guide slideshow | Check out our guide to collectible tech ]

Why you must have it: Anti-malware software is annoying, what with all those alert pop-ups. Plus, it gobbles PC resources that would be better spent running a mobile simulator or 3-D game. So InfoWorld CTO Council member Marvin Anderson and his colleagues at Trexin have on their wish list the Gatekeeper Pico from Yoggie. It's a small Linux-based minicomputer that -- get this -- runs a baker's dozen of security apps, from anti-virus to stateful packet inspection, all from a USB token. Uninstall your current anti-malware software, plug in the Pico, and you're set. Because the Pico boots from Linux, it's not susceptible to the usual PC malware.

Your chances of having the first one on the block: Good, as the PC version has been out less than a year and the Mac version less than two months.

What you must know: Yoggie also offers a management server if you want to deploy its enterprise cousin, the Pico Pro, corporatewide.

What you need: The Pico costs $149 and is available in Windows and Mac versions. The Pico Pro costs $199 and is available only for Windows. You'll need an open USB 2.0 port on your computer.

[ Next: Time Capsule | Previous: iWow for iPod Adapter| Gift guide index | Gift guide slideshow | Check out our guide to collectible tech ]

Terrorist attacks late Wednesday in Mumbai are unlikely to make multinational technology companies change their strategies for India.

The attack in Mumbai is the latest in a string of terrorist attacks across the country, including a number of attacks earlier in Mumbai.

[ Keep up on the latest tech news headlines at InfoWorld News, or subscribe to the Today's Headlines newsletter. ]

The attacks late Wednesday by terrorists using guns and grenades in Mumbai did however appear different than previous ones, because it targeted top five-star hotels in Mumbai's business district. About 100 are feared dead in the shootouts, which still continue as police battle the armed terrorists. Some foreign residents at the hotel are being held hostage by the terrorists.

"It is sad that this has happened, but we are confident that India will bounce back to normalcy," said Vidya Natampally, director of strategy at Microsoft Research India.

The terrorist attacks will not change Microsoft Research's plans in India. " We are committed to staying on in India," Natampally added.

Dell has issued a travel advisory to its staff, advising caution and due diligence when traveling to India, said a spokeswoman for the company. "That is the only measure we have taken," she added.

A large number of technology companies including Oracle, Microsoft, and Dell run large software development and call center operations in India. But ever since the threat of terrorism increased since last year, these companies have tightened on security at their facilities.

"For a long time now, we have tightened on security at all our facilities," the Dell spokeswoman said.

Indian outsourcing companies and Indian operations of multinational technology companies were not affected by the attacks, though the disruption of train service in Mumbai on Thursday could affect the movement of staff.

The Bombay Stock Exchange in south Mumbai has shut down on Thursday. The state government has ordered schools and colleges closed Thursday.

Embarcadero Technologies will unveil next week an upgrade to its ER/Studio data modeling tool, featuring visual representations of where data resides and how it has changed.

ER/Studio 8.0 offers a model-driven approach to tracing data in the enterprise from source to target, Embarcadero said. Highlighted in version 8.0 is a featured called "Visual Data Lineage," which helps architects and modelers solve business issues around data integration. Visual Data Lineage provides a visual representation of data flows and changes and offers users an automated process and richer metadata, according to Embarcadero.

The feature can accommodate data models from systems like CRM, product, and order systems, said Jason Tiret, director of modeling and design solutions at Embarcadero.

"Visual Data Lineage allows you to capture how data is linked and used across those systems," Tiret said. It also can assist with moving data from transaction systems to a data warehouse and helps with compliance initiatives and data audits, Embarcadero representatives said.

Version 8.0 offers data professionals the ability to conduct an impact analysis between data sources and targets and visually analyze and document data flow without the need to inspect code, the company said.

Other features in ER/Studio 8.0 include:

* Integration with LDAP directories, for managing user access in the Embarcadero repository via LDAP and Active Directory integration. * Attribute-level submodeling, in which users can select specific attributes displayed in a submodel for easier management of complex models. A submodel enables a large model to be broken up into functional or subject areas. * Expanded database support, with support for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Sybase IQ 12.5.

ER/Studio is part of Embarcadero's suite of modeling tools, which also includes products such as ER/Repository, which offers a server-side model repository, and the ER/Portal tool for metadata search and reporting.

ER/Studio costs $3,500 per seat, but tiered pricing is available based on specific database platforms and editions of the product.

Adobe on Wednesday released an update to its version management software, Version Cue.

Version Cue 4.0.1 includes performance improvements, according to notes provided with the update. The new version also adds functionality for migrating Creative Suite 3 Version Cue projects to Creative Suite 4.

[ Discover the top-rated IT products as rated by the InfoWorld Test Center. ]

Version Cue 4.0.1 can be downloaded from Adobe's Web site.

In the spirit of entrepreneurship, spammers are finding new ways to send out their junk mail just weeks after the shutdown of a major Web-hosting firm took many of them off the map.

According to MessageLabs, a division of Symantec, after Web-hosting company McColo Corp. was shut down two weeks ago, spam levels declined by 65 percent. Now new analysis finds spam levels are returning to two-thirds of what they were before the McColo Corp. takedown.

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McColo played host to several massive spam-sending botnets and its shutdown caused spam levels to plummet because the spammers were out of business. The lag between the initial decline and the subsequent rise is attributed to the time it took for the botnet owners to find a new ISP and bandwidth provider, according to Matt Sergeant, Senior Anti-Spam Technologist at MessageLabs.

"The Asprox and Rustock botnets are back with a vengeance after having found new command and control," Sergeant said in a statement. "Cutwail never went away and it seems its owners have used the opportunity to increase output. Mega-D is also on the rise again, he said. Srizbi, having once been responsible for 50 percent of all spam, is now completely defunct. Without this botnet, spam levels won't return to what they had been."

The research conflicts with figures from messaging security firm IronPort, which is part of Cisco Systems. The company claims to have blocked approximately 35 million spam e-mails on Monday, which is far below the level of blocking it saw before the McColo takedown. Ironport claims to have blocked in excess of 150 million spam messages before McColo's demise.

MessageLabs' Sergeant urged vigilance in the face of the news.

"As always, businesses and consumers are urged to make sure their spam filters and anti-virus engines are up to date."

Could the stretched-out replacement cycles for desktop machines be a boon for client computing? In a recent Wall Street Journal Business Technology blog post, Ben Worthen noted that a survey from our print publication, CIO Magazine, found that companies will forgo traditional three-year replacement cycles for desktop machines (both traditional desktops and notebook computers). According to the CIO survey, 46 percent of businesses will defer replacing machines for the next year or two.

Worthen says that this will be a problem for people who are already suffering from overloaded machines, bogged down by big apps and too much data. I'm not so sure about that. Any machine purchased in the past three years should be capable of holding at least 2GB of memory, which should be plenty for most people's workloads. On the data side, most three-year-old machines should have at least 40GB of storage, and probably more. It's hard to imagine most work environments requiring more than 40GB of storage.

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However, I think he's on to something -- not so much from today's workloads, but from tomorrow's. Specifically, the looming (semi) forced shift to Vista or Windows 7. Both of these versions of the OS require a significantly larger hardware footprint than XP does. Consequently, there's a collision course between the operating system of the future and the hardware of the present -- which presents an enormous opportunity for client virtualization.

There's three ways that client virtualization can help out in a capital-constrained environment:

If the current hardware really is overloaded by heavyweight apps, presentation virtualization is a possibility. This technology puts the application back on the server and merely shunts the user interface out to the client machine. Instead of having to host the entire application process and store the data, the machine acts as a rich client.

If the client hardware is insufficient to run Vista or Windows 7, move to a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) environment, with a virtualization server hosting multiple desktops. There's no need to outfit end-point machines with 4GB of memory and 200GB of storage. It's not even necessary to scale that level of resource onto the server.

For example, if you have 10 desktops on a single server, you don't need 40GB of memory. Because end-user machines are very spiky in terms of usage and, frankly, underutilized 99 percent of the time, a smaller amount of resource is required on the server. In other words, the resources can be multiplexed. This is financially savvy for two reasons: (1) Due to the multiplexing effect, you don't need to buy as much total resource capacity as you would if you were provisioning individual end points, each with sufficient capacity to support a Vista environment; and (2) buying in bulk for servers is, up to a certain point, less expensive than buying the same amount of capacity for individual end devices -- in essence, you're paying wholesale rather than retail (so to speak) for hardware capacity. There is a finite ability to play this "wholesale vs. retail" trade-off; typically when you start putting very large memory sticks into servers the price for it escalates wildly.

For those power users who can't (or won't) "share" a server, there's a different flavor of VDI available. You still put the client machine in the data center, but dedicate a blade server to it. A significant investment for hardware dedicated to a specific user, but the design of blade server systems still reduces overall investment. While you scale the amount of memory linearly for each dedicated blade, economies of scale are still available for resources like power supplies, network connections, and cooling.

Of course, all three options still require some kind of interface equipment at the end-user location -- after all, there has to be a screen to look at and a keyboard to type on. For the first option, the current hardware can be left in place. For the last two options, an existing desktop can be use. However, a thin client is also a possibility. This presents the intriguing opportunity to implement VDI for current users, using their existing desktop machines; when new users join the company (or a desktop machine for an existing user needs to be replaced) a thin client device is given to the user. The cost differential between a fully scaled desktop device and a thin client can be very large; I've heard $200, quantity of one, quoted for thin clients.

Of course, there are other factors to be considered. The capacity of the network needs to be examined to see if it can handle the traffic between the data center and the desktop locations. Also, the cooling capacity dispersed to end-user locations must be available within the datacenter.

On the other hand, client device reliability should go up significantly with centralized administration. Operations staff on-site visits to end-user device locations should drop as a result.

I don't know that I've seen any good case studies on how the numbers might pan out for a real-world desktop virtualization implementation. Intuitively, however, desktop virtualization seems like it must be less expensive to run. However,