A few months ago, Editor-in-Chief David Gewirtz was invited to give the Saturday afternoon keynote address at the 31st Annual International Computer Consultants Association National Conference in Washington, D.C. With all the work he’d done on White House email, it seemed appropriate to address some of the nation’s leading computer consultants in the cradle of our democracy. This is his trip report

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In the future of computing, IBM is attempting to demonstrate that water, not air, is the best way to cool the tiniest components of the data center.

At a technical conference June 5, IBM, along with researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute in Berlin, will demonstrate a new system of cooling microprocessors by piping water directly into the chip instead of the more conventional method of using air to remove heat and cool a system.

As microprocessors become smaller and smaller, and as companies such as IBM, Intel and others add more processing cores and capabilities to the next generation of chips, the amount of heat these processors produce also becomes greater. The thrust of the IBM research is to find a better way to remove heat at the chip level, which will also have an effect on the amount of power used in the data center.

The rise of new technologies and globally dispersed teams is putting pressure on companies to help employees develop a new set of skills. Many companies are looking to recent college graduates to fill this gap, given their familiarity with collaboration tools like Instant Messenger and social networking sites like Facebook.

IBM is taking a stake in this growing effort, by teaming with Michigan Tech to help students prepare for jobs of the future. By working in teams consisting of students from different academic disciplines and geographies, the IBM sponsored Michigan Tech team (IT Oxygen) simulates what it’s like to work in today’s globally integrated enterprise (GIE).

The student-run team operates like a real business–students get paid, and the team pays rent and other overhead costs associated with running the "business." IT Oxygen uses IBM software to solve some of the complex IT challenges facing the university. Specifically, IT Oxygen team members are getting a chance to apply a service oriented architecture approach to improve business processes at Michigan Tech. All of the solutions developed by the team are done using open source technologies so they can make them available to other universities.

South Korea’s antitrust regulator said Thursday it will order Intel to pay 26 billion won ($25.4 million) for violating fair trade rules.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission said in a statement that it was issuing the order because the semiconductor giant offered rebates to South Korean computer companies and undercut competitor Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

Intel immediately criticized the ruling and said it would consider its options, including a possible appeal.

Though not all were created equally, IT certifications once had an almost-guaranteed value. In the years after the dot-com bust, many IT pros stocked up certifications namely in an effort to improve their job security. Their managers, in turn, used these accreditations to assure their value to the organization’s penny-pinchers.

But when speaking to CIOs, IT managers and analysts about what counts and what doesn’t on an IT professional’s resume nowadays, one thing that stands out is an almost universal agreement that IT certifications don’t matter the way they used to.

Want to stay stuck in your current job? Or even get on the fast track to fired? Then follow these simple guidelines.

With nearly 75 percent of the U.S. workforce projected to be mobile by the end of 2011, you must prepare to accommodate their increasing numbers. For expert tips and advice on how to do just that, check out this live Webcast, presented by BNET, and sponsored by Citrix Online.

When surfing the Internet for safe Web sites, not all domains are equal. Companies that assign addresses for Web sites appear to be cutting corners on security more when they assign names in certain domains than in others, according to a report released Wednesday by antivirus software vendor McAfee.

McAfee found the most dangerous domains to navigate to are ".hk" (Hong Kong), ".cn" (China) and ".info" (information). Of all ".hk" sites McAfee tested, it flagged 19.2 percent as dangerous or potentially dangerous to visitors; it flagged 11.8 percent of ".cn" sites and 11.7 percent of ".info" sites that way.

NetOp Tech announced the latest version of its Internet software, Netfilter 5.0, with added features such as "Follow Me" technology with Internet protection for computers both in and out of network range. The software will also continue to use dynamic Internet filtering, which quickly analyzes Web sites for offensive or dangerous text, images and behaviors, blocking those found to be offensive.

NetOp’s "Follow Me" technology protects the integrity of computers on a company or educational institution network by continuing Internet protection and filtering services even when outside of the network. Employees and students are protected against harmful content continuously, whether they are accessing the Internet through the network, at home or on the go.

Unlike other Internet filters that only rely on a list of blocked Web sites, Netfilter 5.0 has the ability to analyze text, images and individual behavior to detect whether or not the material is appropriate to view. This counters efforts made by some Web sites that may use misleading and seemingly safe Web addresses to host inappropriate or offensive content. Using Netfilter 5.0, IT administrators can also upload a blacklist of Web sites that have been previously reviewed as inappropriate.

OnForce, the online exchange of professional IT services between solution providers, compiled the following market intelligence from more than 750,000 work orders it processed in the first three months of 2008 on behalf of nearly 13,000 solution providers.

Most rankings are based on OnForce’s Hourly Rate Index (HRI), which is a comparison of specific hourly rates to the national average which is assumed to be 1.00. For instance, if a data point has a HRI rating of 1.25, it means it’s 25 percent above the national average.