Today's Google doodle is pretty inspiring to female programmers that are just starting out.
Grace Hopper was a pioneer in computer programming.

I won't try to describe the impact upon computer science that she made but rather let you read all about her.

http://bit.ly/1jGaDSg

The only thing I can say is that she was truly amazing.

Here Endeth the Lesson

Several developers at a recent Microsoft conference alluded that SkyDrive will be undergoing a rebranding. What they didn't say was what was motivating this rebranding.

In July of 2013, Ruppert Murdoch's British Sky Broadcasting and Microsoft settled a trademark dispute in which Sky asserted that Microsoft's SkyDrive brand infringed upon its trademarks. Rather than dispute the case, Microsoft entered into an agreement in which Sky will allow Microsoft to "continue using the SkyDrive name for a reasonable period of time to allow for an orderly transition to a new brand". The monetary settlement to this agreement has been kept confidential.

So what is the new brand for SkyDrive going to be?

Its anyone's guess at this point but for certain the trademark lawyers at Microsoft should be doing a lot more due diligence since the Metro and now SkyDrive brand trademark disputes.

Here Endeth the Lesson

Following the launch of Office fro iOS devices in June, Microsoft has now released Office for Android to allow users basic editing of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents on their Android Phone.

Yes you read that correctly ... on their Android Phone.

Microsoft is limiting this app to Phones only in a similar move that they did for the iPhone.

Similar to the iOS version, the Android app requires that the user has an Office365 account which costs the user $99 annually.

Many speculate that the reason why they are not supporting this app for tablets is so that more users will find Surface Tablets to be a more appealing choice. Surface tablets ship with a Windows 8 app for Office at no additional cost.

Here Endeth the Lesson

When there is a massive breach in security protecting personal data often times we hear about it for a week but then it's promptly forgotten. It's as if our brains can only retain the data for so long and then it's formatted.

Unless you are one of the thousands of people who's data was stolen, hacked, lost, etc.

A recent article in the Columbus Dispatch covered a loss of data at Chase when four laptops "disappeared" from a "secure" room. I don't understand why companies feel the need to store confidential personal information on mobile devices. With the state of computer networks, the data should reside on a server and the laptops configured to access the data but never store it. When it was discovered the laptops were missing, all Chase would have been out was the cost of the laptops.

In addition there is the problem of companies saving information on clients, customers, and employees that is not relevant and shouldn't be saved. TJX, the parent company of T.J. Maxx recently had data stolen. TJX believes their credit and debit ca rd transactions from January 2003 to June 2004 were compromised.

To make matters worse, this data was used recently to create dummy credit cards and then they purchased Wal-Mart and Sam's Club gift cards.

According to a report by the University of Washington, when analyzing the past 25 years, three out of five reported incidents of data breaches point to organizational malfeasance of some variety, including missing or stolen hardware, insider abuse or theft, administrative error, or accidentally exposing data online.

Businesses and Corporations need to get a handle on how they handle information. If they don't they may find that customers won't use them for fear of where all their data is going.

Here Endeth the Lesson