» Axis touts new PTZ camera, plus Norwegian rail deployment
March 10, 2008 -- Axis Communications has introduced its Axis 212 PTZ-V network camera. Seperately, the company announced that its network cameras will be installed on trains in Norway.

» Ixia releases IEEE MACSec link security test products
December 6, 2007 -- Ixia, a provider of IP performance test systems, has introduced a test interface module for IEEE 802.1ae MACSec link security.

» Metered rack PDU targets high density blade server apps
June 10, 2008 -- APC's AP7866 PDU can support customer applications utilizing up to four blade chassis plus ancillary devices within a single enclosure, while allowing for the standard configuration of two PDUs per rack, with space remaining for cabling needs.

» Apple updates Safari for second time in two weeks

For the second time in less than two weeks, Apple updated its Safari Web browser by issuing version 3.2.1 Monday.

Unlike the Nov. 13 update, which added anti-phishing protection and patched 11 security vulnerabilities -- more than two-thirds of them critical -- today's minor upgrade was for unspecified "stability improvements," according to a terse notice on the Apple Web site.

[ Apple's browser has had a string of security woes this year: "Apple's Safari browser likened to malware,"  "Apple dismisses Safari download issue," and "Safari flaw worse than first thought." ]

Although the notice included a link to the "Apple security update" page -- where the company normally provides pointers to security advisories associated with such updates -- there was no listing there for Safari 3.2.1.

A security researcher who in the past has taken Apple to task for its unpredictable patching schedule did so again Monday. "It would be too much of an understatement to say 'more of the same'," said Andrew Storms , director of security operations at vendor nCircle Network Security, in an instant message. "But in doing so, it also represents the lethargic approach we've come to expect with Apple updates.

"If only they would put some of that creative spirit we love about Apple into their security development life-cycle," Storms added.

Although Apple's scanty information about Safari 3.2.1 made it impossible to know for certain, some people speculated on the company's support forum that the update was aimed at fixing problems users reported with Safari 3.2 since its release. Among the complaints: Frequent crashes, particularly when the new anti-phishing feature was enabled.

One thread on the Safari support forum titled "Safari 3.2 is Unusable -- Spontaneously Quits," has collected more than 100 messages and been viewed nearly 4,000 times since it was opened on Nov. 13.

There were few reports early Monday evening about whether the day's update had stopped browser crashes. One user, at least, said it had not. "[Safari] 3.2.1 still crashed for me," reported a user identified as Raymond Smith in a message posted around 7 p.m. EST.

Other users running PithHelmet -- a third-party ad-blocking plug-in -- also reported that the 3.2 update frequently crashed.

Apple updated both the Mac OS X and Windows versions of Safari to 3.2.1.

Mac OS X users can download and install 3.2.1 using Safari's built-in update feature, or on Windows, by running the separate Apple Software Update utility.

Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate.

» Seven ways to push mail to the iPhone -- without Exchange
Though the iPhone supports common e-mail protocols, Exchange is the only business-oriented option for offering push message notification and over-the-air updates to calendar and contact items. But there are other options.

» Why XBRL is good, mandate or no

Like any government mandate, the SEC's requirement to use XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language) in public companies' financial reports cannot be ignored. However, along with the government stick comes a number of beneficial carrots.

Up until now, many companies have lived in a document-centric world where finding the right information might require someone to read a 100-page filing to get the one piece of data they need. The use of XBRL moves documents from being about big unstructured ideas to those that have a lot more structure, making them more consumable and more reusable, says Mike Willis, a partner at auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers and the founding chairman of XBRL International, a supply-chain consortium representing more than 600 companies.

[ TheSEC's XBRL mandate will demand increasing attention from IT. Find out what IT must know to prepare for XBRL. ]

"XBRL takes the same exact document and structures it, so you can say show me everything related to this topic," Willis notes. Once data becomes more interactive, it becomes multidimensional, linking users back to authoritative documentation, says Diane Mueller, vice president of XBRL Development for JustSystems, an XML tools provider.

United Technologies Corp. (UTC), a conglomerate that makes helicopters, air conditioners, elevators, and aerospace components, was an early adopter of XBRL. After three years of use, John Stantial, UTC's assistant comptroller, says the company hasn't fully exploited XBRL, yet has still been able to reduce the time and cost of its corporate reporting processes by 25 percent. Stantial expects to gain further improvements as UTC applies XBRL to more systems and processes. As XBRL gains a sufficient mass of users, Stantial looks forward to new software tools for better automated retrieval and systemwide integration to help UTC take further advantage of XBRL.

Once every company is required to put XBRL into the SEC's Edgar database, which provides the public with access to corporate filings, every organization will benefit from better research and benchmarking capabilities, Stantial says. That will bring about the need for XBRL analysis tools for use by investors, regulators, and companies' financial departments.

All of these benefits will create new opportunities to apply XBRL, and thus more XBRL-related work for IT to take on.

» NECA Disaster Relief Fund
ELECTRI International joins NECA in extending heartfelt concern for the families and businesses impacted by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. ...

» SMC unveils 10GBASE-T product line
November 17, 2008 -- At SC 08, SMC Networks introduced what it calls a complete Gigabit Ethernet (10-GbE) product line, with the release of its TigerSwitch 24-Port 10G managed switch with (20) 10GBASE-T and (4) XFP Ports (SMC8724-10BT), and its Tiger Card 10G PCIe 10GbE 10GBASE-T server adapter (SMC10GPCIe-10BT).