Linda Rosencrance

IT spending projections decreased in the last quarter of 2006, with CIOs predicting IT spending increases of 5.8 percent over the next 12 months, and that's down from expectations in the previous quarter that spending would rise by 6.5 percent during the next year, according to the quarterly CIO Magazine Tech Poll.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has ruled that Continental Airlines can continue to offer free Wi-Fi access through its own selected carrier in its Presidents Club Lounges.

Most companies now offer workers the option to work from home, satellite offices and other locations, according to a survey of 198 HR managers, conducted by Philadelphia-based Yoh Services, a provider of outsourcing services.

Loss of personal data at U.S. government agencies is all too common, according to a report released by the House Government Reform Committee.

User satisfaction with U.S. government Web sites dipped slightly from last quarter, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).

The federal Web portal FirstGov.gov and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's home page are the most highly rated federal Web sites, according to the seventh annual e-government analysis by Brown University.

Online retailers are doing a better job communicating with their customers, but they still gather and re-use personal information without permission, according to the Third Quarter 2006 Online Customer Respect Study of Retailers.

The number of "brute force" attacks on small and mid-sized companies has risen by over 1,000 per cent in the past three months, according to Houston-based Alert Logic, an on-demand IT network security company that focuses on small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).