The Game Changer

Silicon Valley companies bet on Internet gambling
Game developers in Silicon Valley are anticipating a boom in the online gambling business as states increasingly pursue efforts to legalize gambling on the Internet. Some tech companies are focused on international markets, where laws are more relaxed, while they wait for the U.S. market to open up. "There is no question there is great interest from all kinds of people in games of chance, whether it is for real money or virtual rewards," said Mark Pincus, chief executive of Zynga. The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (2/17)
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Emerging Tools

HP introduces cloud-based BPO solution
Hewlett-Packard is marketing a business process outsourcing solution intended to streamline operations including finance, accounting, human resources and dispute management by leveraging a single platform hosted in the private cloud. HP says the tool, called AutoFlow, can lead to cost savings by automating tasks that once required manual intervention. AutoFlow utilizes Newgen Software Technologies' Omniflow workflow solution. eWeek (2/16)
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Security Update

Cybersecurity market attracts conventional arms firms
The cybersecurity market is becoming an expansion area for traditional arms firms as the market for conventional weapons dwindles for a variety of reasons. Arms dealers are moving into data and network protection and are gobbling up smaller cybersecurity companies to gain needed skills and services, according to Vincent Boulanin of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. ABC News/The Associated Press (2/18)
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Tech Business

Survey: Security spending isn't used on the right tools
Thirty-five percent of security experts believe their company's security-tools spending is misapplied, and 65% say they expect a breach at their business by 2016, a SafeNet survey indicates. "They're telling us in the same sentence, 'We know it's not working, we think we will be breached, but we're going to continue to do a lot of the same,'" SafeNet's Tsion Gonen says. CSO (2/13)
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Managing IT

Best practices for applying operating level agreements for multisourced IT
Enterprises are increasingly turning to multiple vendors for their IT needs, prompting some vendors to formalize their expectations from co-vendors through the use of operating level agreements. Once limited largely to internal IT processes, OLAs are gaining prominence across multisource enterprise IT environments. Experts say that when crafting an OLA, it is important to be thorough and make sure all processes -- such as planning work, coordinating changes and handling dispute resolution -- are accounted for. CIO.com (2/15)
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Are you falling behind, or do you just think you are?
While it's useful to compare yourself to colleagues and peers, keep in mind that such comparisons are more complicated than they seem, Rhymer Rigby writes. For instance, people working at a different firm may be making more money than you, but their schedules might not be as flexible. "Similarly, some metrics can be deceptive: a colleague may earn more than you for no reason other than that they drive a harder bargain," Rigby writes. Fast Company online (2/13)
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Most Clicked

Geeking Out

Scientists vie with fortune hunters for pieces of Russian meteor
Enterprising prospectors looking to make a buck are descending on the area around Russia's Lake Chebarkul hoping to find a piece of the meteor that exploded over Earth on Friday. Fragments of the space rock are already popping up on eBay and can fetch as much as $100,000 apiece from collectors. Russian officials are doing what they can to keep the treasure seekers out, and scientists say they are recovering pieces of the meteor, which was composed of iron, chrysolite and sulfite. TG Daily (2/18), ABC News (2/17)
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SmartQuote

Everyone is really anticipating this becoming a huge business." -- Chris DeWolfe, co-founder of Myspace, on the tech industry's newfound interest in online gambling, as quoted by The New York Times Share: