Overnight snowfall finally ended the 287-day streak of not an inch of snow in Central New York, according to The Post Standard. At 6:20 a.m., snow in front of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument at Clinton Square in downtown Syracuse was measured with a ruler at 2.5 inches. The National Weather Service predicts the region to receive between four and six inches of snow before it begins to rain in the late afternoon. Lake effect snow is then expected in the region with the heaviest snowfall predicted east of Lake Ontario.

My Take: Winter has finally arrived in Syracuse. The end of the record drought means students and residents need to take cautions on the road and at home. Heavy Snowfall, Wind Pounding Midwest, New England

Heavy Snowfall, Wind Pounding Midwest, New England

A fierce winter storm from the Upper Midwest through New England left dangerous ice, heavy snow and vicious winds, according to ABCNews.com. The National Weather Service warned of “extremely dangerous blizzard conditions” and near whiteout driving conditions along with more than a foot of snow in parts of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa. The storm slogged eastward Wednesday. Most of the businesses have been running from snow plow drivers, looking for coffee and energy drinks, said Todd Lane, an assistant manager of a convenience store in Des Moines.

My take: Syracuse has been fortunate to not experience winter hazzards thus far, But now that the snow is finally here, Syracuse residents should prepare for winter conditions. It’s going to be interesting to see if we have a bad winter despite the late coming of the snow.

Google Groups the Latest to Join Google Apps in the Battle for the Enterprise

Google Apps is adding Google Groups to join its enterprise suite of applications. As the New York Times reports, this is another example of Google’s commitment to developing an online application environment that encourages users to move off the Windows platform.  Until now Google Groups has been a consumer service. Now, however, it will be available among Good Docs, Google Calendar, Gmail, Google Sites and Google Video.

My take: The competition between Google and Microsoft is an on-going battle. It is that between on-line and off-line technology. Although Google's web-based applications are much faster in its development than Microsoft, it is still very simple compared to its competitor. Still, Google presents a debate whether all computer programs can be used on-line.