As the economy begins to show signs of improvement we can look forward to expansion in various job sectors, such as the tech industry. Jennifer LeClaire highlights three areas of the tech industry that will be in demand for 2011 in her newsfactor.com article. The first field indicated is business analytics. Companies are striving to take collected data and make decisions that will improve efficiency, profitability, and increase customer satisfaction. Tim Powers, spokesperson for IBM’s business analytics division, says “Data unanalyzed is data wasted. Therefore, businesses and governments need two very important things to make this happen: the right technology, and employees with the right expertise and skill sets.” In fact, Gartner Inc., a leading global IT research and advisory company, reports that business analytics will be a top 10 priority for companies in 2011.

As we experience the arrival of a new year there’s one thing that won’t change, which is the need to remain vigilant over our personal security. With our increasing dependence on smartphones it’s helpful to be reminded of the potential security pitfalls of our trusty devices. Lookout Mobile Security reported December 29 in their blog that a new Trojan virus has been detected in China affecting Android devices.

There’s no question that the hottest tech trend right now are iPads and other tablets. This trend might soon cross over into sports, where NFL teams such as the Dallas Cowboys are looking to abandon their traditional paper playbooks in favor of iPads and other tablets.

How would you like to be able to pop whatever you’re viewing on your smartphone onto your tv with the flick of your wrist? Snapstick is a new software platform that enables you to “snap” your wrist at your tv and whatever video or video site you are viewing will be transported to your tv. The software will enable your smartphone, tablet, or laptop to communicate with your HDTV, Blue-ray player, set-top box, or gaming console through a WiFi connection. The software is currently in private beta stage and for this purpose Snapstick has created their own set-top box for demos. Snapstick plans to work with hardware manufacturers to build the software within your home entertainment devices. Additionally, Snapstick plans to license its software to existing set-top box manufacturers.

“Information integrity” determines whether your company succeeds or not. Critical company data, whether it’s customer contacts or financial information, is the lifeblood and foundation of any business. Today, with the proliferation of viruses, identity theft, and internet hacking, the threats to that information and the possibilities of it being compromised are greater than [...]

One network management vendor estimates that 20% of all U.S. data traffic between the peak hours of 8:00PM to 10:00PM is due to Netflix streaming. The implications for Internet providers are severe, seeing how Netflix is only moving to up its streaming video offering. About 66% of Netflix subscribers now use its steaming service, up from 41% last year. Netflix users now watch more hours of streamed content than hours of DVD rentals and these numbers are continually growing.

U.S. News and World Report just released its list of the 50 Best Careers of 2011 and technology positions account for a good portion of the list. In compiling the occupations for this list, they required that the industry is expected to add jobs at an above-average rate over the next decade and that the jobs provide an above-average median income.

“Macs don’t get viruses.” Until recently, that was one of the biggest selling points when Apple tried to entice consumers to switch from PCs to Macs. The fact that Macs didn’t have to fear viruses, spyware, and malware wasn’t due to an ironclad operating system but, instead, due to the small market share that Macs held in the computing industry. Malware authors didn’t bother targeting Macs simply because there wasn’t much reward.

Last week, RIM announced that they will be releasing their own 7-inch tablet, called the BlackBerry PlayBook. Expected to arrive in early 2011, the PlayBook will weigh less than a pound and will measure less than a centimeter in thickness.

Like that old Volkswagen in your garage, your PC gets slower and crappier over time. Here’s a short guide on cleaning it up without needing a reformat or reinstalling Windows.

How many times have we all turned on our PCs just to sit there for 3 or 4 minutes while it boots up or shuts down? Your applications open like molassas, your harddrive grinding away as Windows tries to populate the icons on your desktop. This isn’t the way it used to be. Your computer used to be impressively fast. You would call people into your home office, and show off your speedy startup. Now it’s all different, and this is no way to live.