Cloud Computing & Home Security (October 6, 2008)
Updates have been scarce lately thanks to a crazy schedule, not to mention moving house. The lack of a British summer (autumnal would be a nice way to put it) also made it difficult to believe time was passing.

On the work front, I have a few recent stories to highlight. First, InformationWeek recently ran my round-up of Internet-enabled home security systems. Soon: Secure your home from your iPhone.

Next up: cloud computing. Regardless of whether you think the term is the Next Big Thing, or already so over-hyped as to be meaningless, businesses are applying on-demand applications and storage in innovative and cost-effective new ways. And whenever technology costs less and gets easier to use, that's good news.

In fact, cloud computing does appear to deliver, as I discovered when speaking with companies which are running their entire business in the cloud. Another emerging trend, albeit one that is much less advanced than software-as-a-service applications: procuring IT infrastructure via cloud computing.

Look for more cloud computing-related stories soon. (Now if I could just get my photographs section updated.)

When Hackers Go Free (March 14, 2008)
My first-ever story for InformationWeek runs this week, and asks: Should you hire a convicted hacker?

I field answers to that question from such people as renowned ex-hacker Kevin Mitnick; the principal deputy chief of the Department of Justice's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, Christopher Painter; Jon Erickson, author of Hacking: The Art of Exploitation; and Cisco information security expert Jimmy Ray Purser.

The verdict: securing gainful information security employment with a conviction on your record presents challenges. (And that's putting it mildly.)

Return to Paris (February 1, 2008)
Back recently from two weeks in Paris, balancing work and play. Beyond simply walking the city, climbing the Notre Dame towers for the aerial city view (right), or passing time in cafes, highlights included four museum exhibitions.

The Grand Palais mounted a massive Courbet exhibition, which soon moves to the New York Met (February 27–May 18, 2008). Worth a visit. Meanwhile, the Pinacothèque de Paris paid homage to expressionist Chaïm Soutine, in his first retrospective since 1973. Also at the Pinacothèque: “One Jump,” Magnum photographer Alex Majoli's series for the 2007 Cannes Festival, of jumping celebrities.

Finally, and perhaps most notoriously, the Bibliothèque Nationale staged l’Enfer (Hell), which included selections from the library's collection, begun in the 1830s, of persecuted, condemned, and suppressed works — contraires aux bonnes mœurs. The National Library labels the exhibition as a celebration of eroticism, fantasy, desire, politics and pornography.

For more on all the exhibits, see "Paris Celebrates Courbet, Soutine, and Hell at the Library."

Oxford: St Aldates Guidebook Photo (January 16, 2008)
My photograph of a green Oxford Park & Ride double-decker bus driving south on St. Aldates has been included in the fourth edition of the Schmap Oxford Guide, in the St. Aldates section. This is the first I'd heard of the online Schmap guidebook series, which is free, and which seems to offer good, quick overviews of local items of interest.

Rebooting Records Retention (January 15, 2008)
My latest story for IT Compliance Institute talks about records retention. Specifically, under the revised Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), organizations must demonstrate that their electronic information is complete, accessible, and reliable. This is a challenge. The story discusses how to create a new records retention strategy to help.