DEMO continued this afternoon with another spate of vendors, you guessed it, demo'ing their products. The format of DEMO is an interesting one. Each vendor gets six minutes to show off its product, and the time limit is strictly observed. If the product is intended to be used with the Internet, then that's how it's shown. If the vendor runs its program against Amazon and Amazon slows down at that moment, well tough luck. It's a very interesting format, especially for consumer products, but it's another matter for complex enterprise products.

New legislation announced to combat sex offenders smacks more of online politicking than it does of providing real means of protecting our kids.

This week finds me at Demo 2007. Chris Shipley now drives this show, and quite honestly, it's not an obvious fit for Network Computing. The technologies discussed tend toward the consumer side, or at least toward enabling B-to-C business. If one could find a theme in this morning's demos, it would be Web 2.0-ification of everything. Most apps shown were all about improving the end user experience of web based apps. So far there have been a few standouts.

There has been a lot out the upcoming CA/Browser Forum’s Extended Validation Certificates. The certificates are supposed to increase users confidence that a web site is legitimate and also supposed to stop phishing.

Listen as Robert Hertzberg interviews Citrix Systems' chief executive Mark Templeton about the capabilities he's been adding at a time when his company has passed the $1 billion sales mark.

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In the bowls, so to speak, of Apple's skunkworks designers are hard at work on, err, the iPottie?

Sean Ginevan, one of our frequent contributors out of our Syracuse lab found a study that delves into the addictive nature of the BlackBerry. Anyone who's been around a gaggle of BlackBerry users has surely seen some of the phenomena mentioned here. People certainly do walk, drive and probably bike will using these things. Here's what I've found.

Six hundred megabits per second! That is the highest theoretical speed of IEEE 802.11n if a product implements all the mandatory, as well as optional, capabilities of the standard. The same core radio technology that enables these high rates also extends range, which results in increased AP (access point) coverage. Although speed and range are generally good things, there are ramifications, along with various other things to consider, with this standard. I bring this topic up now for two reasons. First, IEEE is planning to release the second draft (draft 2.0) of the IEEE 802.11n standard this quarter, with compliant products available shortly thereafter. Second, I'm teaching a course on Wi-Fi technology evolution and integration at Portland State University on January 26 (see http://www.rysavy.com/training.html for more details), so I've been busily creating and updating 802.11n slideware.

Ok, I'm done obessing over the iPhone. Five months is a long to drool over a phone. And like other, ahem, mature technologists - I'll probably wait for the second generation (yeah, right). As I mentioned previously, I got some great responses to my original BlackBerry column. One came from Paul L., of Greenwich CT. With his kind permission, I've listed his tips here. The only part of Paul's advice I can't get my arms around has to do with the holster. Can't bring myself to clip that thing to my belt. Maybe I'll stick the holster in my briefcase, but the phone goes in my pocket.

Avaya took a play from the carrier page book last Friday with its acquistion of Ubiquity Software, service provider supplier. The $144 million deal might sound like a move by Avaya into the world of carrier voice. In fact, the move is more likely aimed at filling a critical hole in Avaya's enterprise-oriented telephony offering.

Despite the best intentions, simple changes to infrastructure can turn into a Chevy Chase slapstick schtick. You know the routine—Chevy reaches for a glass on a table, knocks a candlestick, tries to catch it, knocks something else over, and so on. A few weeks ago, I decided to make a few changes to our network topology. I set aside two hours for the changes to take place and that included troubleshooting time. I thought I was being liberal. I was wrong.

Having woken up from my spout of iPhone induced gizmo-lust, I've uncovered 10 ways Sir Jobs and co. have flubbed the iPhone introduction. And so without further adieu here they are...

It was a whirlwind, roller-coaster week for cell phone users, gadget buffs and curious onlookers as Apple's CEO Steve Jobs introduced the world to the iPhone. With its futuristic, flat screen panel and promises of music playing, phone service and internet connectivity, the iPhone was the talk of CES. But as the week passed, there was a bevy of interesting developments including concerns about the iPhone's performance and (gasp) a possible lawsuit by Cisco over the product name.

Here's a recap of some of those news stories. No doubt there will be plenty more in the weeks ahead.

Apple Reinvents The Phone Apple's CEO Steve Jobs introduces the iPhone, which he says is an iPod, a mobile phone, and an Internet communication device.

iPhone is Beautiful, But it's Also Slow
Cingular is working on technologies to speed up its network, but no significant breakthroughs are expected in time for the formal delivery of the iPhone in June.

Cisco Sues Apple Over iPhone Name Cisco, which recently introduced its own Wi-Fi phone with the iPhone brand, says it's owned the trademark since 2000.

Apple Unlikely To Go To Court In iPhone Trademark Dispute, Experts Say By going to court, Apple would have to spend a lot of money defending what appears to be a weak position, lawyers argue.

NWC Editor Art Wittmann's Initial Take on the iPhone

I'm still obsessing on the iPhone. I promise I'll get back to the BlackBerry thing shortly, but Apple's newest creation has got me thinking about the company's overall business model. iPods, iPhones, iBooks, iTVs, what else might the company have up its iSleeve? Since I'm sure I now have Steve Jobs' undivided attention, here are a few suggestions.

Over the holidays I kept busy reading the news reviews of 2006 and predictions for 2007. Don't worry, I won't subject to you to my own top-10 list, but I will confirm that FMC (fixed-mobile convergence) is on it. If your e-mail inbox is anything like mine, there won't be a day this year on which the term 'FMC' won't pop up in some newsletter.

So less than a week after I start my hip and trendy BlackBerry blog, Apple introduces the iPhone. Everything about the iPhone is interesting, to the point where you have to wonder why someone else didn't come up with at least some of this stuff. Even the name is interesting. Apparently Cisco trademarked the iPhone name a while back and there were 11th hour negotiations going on between the companies' lawyers to allow Apple to use the name. Either that, or Jobs just figured he'd deal with it later – which seems unlikely. So given my extensive expertise on such matters, here's my thoughts on the thing.

A blog on a BlackBerry, well that's original, isn't it? Ok, it's not so original; Google reports over seven million hits for "blackberry blog". However I recently wrote a column on getting the thing, and received about ten times as many responses as I usually get. So why not, right?

Now, what's going to set this blog apart from the apparently millions of other blogs about BlackBerrys? Only time will tell – which usually means "probably not much"; but my situation is somewhat unusual. First off, I wasn't really sure I wanted the thing (see the column for details). Besides my whining about it potentially invading my private time, there's also the utility of the BlackBerry to consider. As one respondent put it, it's a worse cell phone than current cell phone and a worse email platform than your PC. Perhaps most concerning, there's my techno-addictive nature. I've had it for only two weeks now and have already been chided for playing BrickBreaker at inappropriate times. Please – do NOT write in to tell me about other games I can load onto this thing – one simple stupid game will suffice. There are other oddities about my situation stemming from choice of email platforms and how Network Computing uses (or rather avoids) our parent company's email system.

But I'll get into all that later. My plan, at least initially, is to share with you some of the best insights and most interesting thoughts that I've received from my original column. Hopefully, we'll continue that discussion here and maybe have a laugh along the way. To that end, I can recommend the following video. It's worth a look!

NWC Editor Art Wittmann has a new Blackberry -- see if it makes or breaks him in this ongoing blog.

Cisco Systems tapped into two robust markets—anti-spam and messaging compliance—with today's $830 million acquisition of IronPort.