Last year I wrote this post reviewing 40 years of using email. I am old enough to recall many of those events and while I wasn't exactly present at the dawn of email, I know people who were. But it seems as if email, at least corporate email, has come and is in the process of going all in my own lifetime. A number of factors are making turning off, or at least reducing your email dependency, more viable these days. And I should point out that we are talking here about just eliminating internal emails; no one is suggesting that we go without emails to connect people in different domains.

Remember last year when questions arose about Microsoft's policies on UEFI secure boot on Windows 8? Microsoft's response, or lack thereof, was that "OEMs are free to choose" how or whether to enable turning off secure boot on systems shipping Windows 8. It appears, however, OEMs may not be as free to choose if they're shipping ARM hardware.

Glyn Moody points out a clause from Microsoft's Hardware Certification Requirements for Windows 8 on page 116, that says "Disabling Secure MUST NOT be possible on ARM systems."

There's an interesting discussion brewing in the wake of some of the comparison articles recently published about the latest Android tablet devices, including Amazon's Kindle Fire. I'm on record here as liking what I saw from the initial publication of Joshua Topolsky's "revenge" upon Engadget, The Verge, and I'd be blind if I didn't point out that competitor publications may feel they have something to gain by casting The Verge in a negative light. That's by way of disclaimer.

That said, I think the discussion about what's important in a product review is an important one to have, and we need to have it periodically. The current debate stems from whether device specifications - particularly with respect to this positive recommendation of the iPhone 4S by Consumer Reports and this comparison of Kindle, Nook, and iPad tablets by The Verge - truly matter nowadays with respect to buyers' decisions.

If you have purchased a Ford with its SYNC software package in the past several years, starting early next year you can upgrade your car to the latest version that it will be shipping in its 2013 models, and for free. Yes, finally there is a car company that operates like a computer company, and I mean that in all the good aspects. (Note: I have test driven numerous Ford and Lincoln models, and own one myself.)

Yesterday's groundbreaking proposal by IBM for a new and open-source asynchronous protocol for machine-to-machine (M2M) Internet communication, called MQTT, cites a projected 1000x (put another way, 100,000%) increase in broadband device-generated traffic by the year 2020, and the need for a formal protocol for managing it all. Now, a study from the University of California San Diego's Global Information Industry Center (GIIC) projects, using data supplied by numerous sources including the FCC and network systems leader Cisco, suggests that bandwidth of that magnitude doesn't just simply fall out of the sky.

Earlier this fall Visa announced a new credit card in Europe that comes with its 48x8 pixel LCD panel on the back, just above where your signature would normally go. Called the CodeSure Matrix Display Card, the idea is to have a more secure credit card, that can be used for online shopping where you have to use your card without swiping it at a retail payment terminal. This is what the credit industry calls "card not present" and they charge higher per-transaction fees to the merchants because of the fraud potentials seen.

Jobs. Cars. Pets. Rides. You can find almost anything online on places such as Craigslist, eBay and Angie's List. What you won't find is information about the actual buyer or seller, so you know something about the person you're dealing with.

Enter the Electronic Marketplace for Merchandise and Activities or "Emma." It is a new iPhone app from Microstrategy that, simply put, lets you view the Facebook profile of buyers and sellers. This know before you go approach may not be a deal breaker if you're in the market for collectibles. But for personal, community-based services - like tutors, rideshares, dates, carpool and parties - then Emma could add a level of security to the transaction. Sadly, it disappoints.

One of the major trends we have seen in business in 2011 is how enterprises are coping with the movement of employees to bring their own mobile devices to work. There are a plethora of problems associated with the bring-your-own-device culture, from security to application and device management to employee reimbursements. This is an ongoing topic that is not going to go away any time soon.

Research firm Forrester has come out with a roadmap of how to "build an operations stairway to a mobile future." The firm outlines seven key aspects that will help IT departments prioritize efforts in the mobile enterprise, from workforce segmentation to how to handle multi-platform development. Check out Forrester's results below.

The folks at Good Technology have released their latest report analyzing the trends in tablet and smartphone activations using their software, and the results show a trend towards greater Android adoption in corporations, although a still overwhelming use of Apple devices. We last covered these reports from Good here earlier this year.

Webcasting provider On24 has beefed up and improved support for iOS and Android users for those wishing to participate in its conferences from mobile devices. I do a fair number of seminars with their service and like the ability to engage my audiences with live question and answers and stream both audio and split screen video of my studio guests with the PowerPoint slide decks that I use. The mobile device support is automated, and no special setup is required from the event producer side of things.