NEW YORK - In a blink of mere months, the mobile "smart" phone has been transformed from pricey corporate gadget to an affordable alternative for ordinary folk.

In the last month alone, Cingular Wireless has unveiled three devices priced as low as $200 (after jumping through the assorted contractual hoops and rebates). That's well below the $300 to $500 that BlackBerries, Treos and Pocket PCs have generally fetched even with promotional savings.

Provocateur predicts 'end of corporate computing'

Nicholas Carr, who agitated IT industry with his article "IT Doesn't Matter," publishes sequel that predicts even bigger change.

By Stephen Shankland, CNET News.com

Nicholas Carr, the former Harvard Business Review editor who agitated the information technology industry with his article "IT Doesn't Matter," has published a sequel that predicts another, even more disruptive change.

The unauthorized biography of Steve Jobs

The company reportedly removed several books from all 104 of its Apple stores by John Wiley & Sons, the publisher of iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business, an unauthorized biography of the Apple CEO.

By Tom Sullivan, InfoWorld

Wiley sent a manuscript to Apple and Apple, in turn, demanded that Wiley not publish. When Wiley said it would bring the book to market against Apple's wishes, Apple decided to stop selling other Wiley titles.

Linux on the Mainframe

By Linuxjournal.com

A must-have reference for those implementing Linux in a mainframe environment.

Two words that guarantee heated discussions at both the business level and the IT level are Linux and mainframe. So, when I saw this title, Linux on the Mainframe, I couldn't resist taking a peak inside.

The Art of Deception signed by no less than Mitnick himself. What a treat!

By Ashlee Vance in Chicago, The Register

So why doesn't Mitnick just regale the hungry public with stories of his own fantastic exploits and then sign a book for himself?

Kevin Mitnick has been commissioned to pen another book on the art of hacking and wants you to do the grunt research work for him.

America's "most-wanted" computer outlaw, who spent five years in the clink, is calling on fellow Net naughties to submit stories of their exploits for inclusion in a book tentatively titled The Art of Intrusion.

With the release of Windows Server 2003 barely a week old, Microsoft continued delivering on its sustained content model promise, as was exclusively reported in WinInfo Daily UPDATE last month. This week, the software giant issued its voluminous Windows Server 2003 Security Guide, a Threats and Countermeasures document for Windows 2003 and XP, and companion documentation designed to help harden Windows 2000 Server and Professional against attack.

As described by Microsoft, the Windows Server 2003 Security Guide includes 12 chapters that focus on providing a set of easy to understand guidance, tools, and templates to help secure Windows Server 2003 in many environments. "While the product is extremely secure from the default installation, there are a number of security options that can be further configured based on specific requirements," the company notes. "This guidance not only provides recommendations, but also the background information on the risk that the setting is used to mitigate as well as the impact to an environment when the option is configured."