User-agent: zombies
Disallow: /brains

The Google robots.txt file on Friday begins with the following exclusion:

(Via Matt Cutts.)

Google, whose servers constantly crawl the Web, doesn’t have anything against spiders. But zombies, well, that’s another matter.

(Credit:
CNET News)

Showing some timely techie humor, the search giant updated its robots.txt file for Halloween. For the uninitiated, search engines trying to index [...]

But when they seek explanations for Israel’s contemporary success in the technology field, chroniclers of the story often underplay the military’s part in helping to lay the groundwork for the nation’s high tech ecosystem. Instead, journalists more often focus on the network of personal connections that Israel entrepreneurs initially forge in the military. As if [...]

The company is hosting a briefing with financial analysts at its Round Rock, Texas, headquarters on Thursday at which CEO Michael Dell discussed its layoff plans.

Dell plans to cut deeper into its workforce than the already announced layoffs of 8,800 people, according to news reports.

“We are not satisfied with the current state of affairs and [...]

Larry Ellison is a smart guy, and Oracle is a hyperaggressive company capable of beating most companies on the market. While Keene’s macro view is probably spot-on, I suspect that Oracle isn’t going to turn into Computer Associates overnight and start an inevitable decline.
Larry’s rant is an extraordinary example of whistling past the graveyard. Oracle’s [...]

But it found everything else I was looking for: extensive catalogs for David Bowie, Charles Mingus, Brian Eno, Iron Maiden, and The Rolling Stones; lost classic rock hits (UFO’s “Love to Love,” Blue Oyster Cult’s “I Love the Night,” Jeff Beck’s “Bolero”); obscure dub act Scientist; plenty of Aphex Twin; Amon Tobin’s “Foley Room”…you [...]

“Traditionally, the first quarter has flat to negative growth for the computer industry as retailers and OEMs sell what’s left from the holiday season. The quarter saw the biggest drop since 2005,” said Peddie.
In the overall graphics market (desktops and notebooks), Intel held its first place position, claiming 42.7 percent, up from about 38.7 [...]

Carnegie Mellon’s Michael Shamos, pictured here in his home in Pittsburgh, says that paper trails are hardly the solution to worries about the security of electronic voting machines, and when mandated by law, stifle further research.

It’s a formal policy position of the U.S. arm of the Association for Computing Machinery, the professional organization of computer [...]

On Thursday, Microsoft announced four security bulletins for Tuesday. The announcement is intended as a heads-up for IT departments before Patch Tuesday. All four are considered critical, the most serious ranking offered by the software giant.

Starting next month, Microsoft will be sharing the technical details of new vulnerabilities to give software developers a catch [...]