technorati tags: intel, idf, idf2006, idffall2006, otellini, quadcore, cpu, viiv, tera+computing, rattner, gaming

September 27, 2006 at 01:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

O'Reilly tiptoes into online search

The IT book publishing powerhouse O'Reilly has launched a search engine where developers can look for code samples.

The Code Search contains about 2.6m lines of code that have been collected from the 700 books that the company has published.

For those of you who aren't into writing code, O'Reilly is the publishing firm owned by Tim Oreilly (not to be confused with the FOX TV show host Bill Oreilly). He's considered a visionary in the world of IT.

Among things he coined the term "web2.0" in 2004 to describe the current slew of collaborative web services such as wikis, blogs and social networking sites.

Photo: Jeff Ooi

technorati tags: o'reilly, google, search, code, programming

September 26, 2006 at 01:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Yahoo forces staff to spend Christmas at home

Yahoo has instated a mandatory vacation period during the coming Holiday season.

The 10,500 people working at the company's US offices will be forced to take paid time off, or take an unpaid leave. In an email to its employees, the company claimed that:

"This makes good business sense and is common practice for many media and technology companies during what is traditionally a quiet work week."

Investors are mainly focussing their speculations on the first five words, as they fear that it indicates that Yahoo is desperate to save money and facing a slowdown in revenue growth.

The latter could bode badly for that other search engine and the true darling for the online world: Google. But then, Yahoo also could simply seek to make sure that its employees use up all their vacation days because buying them back will cost more money.

Yahoo knows what's good for its employees

technorati tags: yahoo, google, vacation

September 26, 2006 at 12:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Zero day IE flaw draws attackers

The chances of Microsoft getting forced to issue an "out-of-cycle" update for its Internet Explorer browser are getting bigger by the day.

The commercial virus authoring tool WebAttacker has added support for the flaw, according to McFee. This allows any low-life botnet operator to create malware exploiting the flaw with the push of a button.

Left and right reports are trickling in about new attacks exploiting the vulnerability. But Microsoft won't budge – at least not yet.

It will take another two weeks until the software vendor will release its patch (scheduled for 10 October). That leaves two more weeks for botnet operators to build out their online empires. Is Microsoft prepared to let things get out of hand that badly?

Attackers are attracted to the latest IE-hole like...

technorati tags: Microsoft, internet+explorer, VLM

September 25, 2006 at 11:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Open source activist exposes D-Link

GPL-violations.org founder Harald Welte (pictured below) has claimed a new victory in his crusade to enforce the terms of the General Public License.

Earlier this month a German judge ruled against the maker of networking gear and ordered the company to reimburse Welte's legal costs. Most importantly, the ruling provides additional proof of the legality and enforceability of the GPL, which some open source critics have attempted to dispute.

D-Link isn't the first company to get slapped for ignoring GPL provisions. Security vendor Fortinet and TomTom's GPS navigation systems are among roughly 100 commercial vendor who failed to read the fine print in the GPL.

Most companies however quickly give in when they are contacted by Welte. D-Link for some reason didn't, and gets to pay the price.

technorati tags: gpl, welte, harald+welte, dlink, legal

September 23, 2006 at 05:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Emergency rooms turn to video conferencing to bridge language barriers

Using videoconferencing technology, the San Mateo Medical Center, along with two other hospitals in northern California, is linking doctors with non-english speaking patients via  remote interpreters.

The interpreters are almost all employees of one of the three  hospitals that perform the interpretation alongside their regular duties.

In this video, San Mateo General Hospital's Dr. Susan Ehrlich "diagnosis" Cisco PR man Mark Ferrone in Hmong via San Joaquin General Hospital employee Toua Moua.

technorati tags: cisco, medical, san+mateo+medical+center, interpretor, hmong,

September 23, 2006 at 02:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

HP spying case draws media circus

HP chief executive Mark Hurd today came clean about the spying scandal that has been hanging over the company as a dark cloud.

As more and more details of the scandal had started leaking out, an official explanation was long over due. So HP put together a press conference where Hurd was scheduled to speak.

The scandal has been the talk of the town all across Silicon Valley for the past weeks, and just the announcement of the press conference was enough to spark new media reports. In an effort to cool off the emotions, HP put some odd restrictions in place.

Early Friday morning the company's PR team informed reporters who had registered for the event that Hurd wouldn't take any questions. Once at the event, security was tight as a fist.

One security guard blocked access to visitor the parking lot in front of HP's corporate headquarters. After we informed him that we were "here for the Mark Hurd party", we were allowed to proceed. Two more suit-and-tie gorillas guarded the building's entrance door. It was there that we were informed that video cameras weren't allowed in, and we were told not to use the digital video recording feature on our digital cameras either.

It might have been a minor inconvenience for print and online publications, but half a dozen of TV stations were forced to report about the event outside of the HP building.

And the event itself? You can read all about it here.

HP security was on a camera hunt, but at least they didn't have any rubber gloves

Mark Hurd

Mark Hurd

The true media circus was forced to rage outside

Photo's by vnunet.com's Shaun Nichols

September 23, 2006 at 01:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

HP spying case turns ever more nasty

HP has scheduled a press conference for Friday 22 September to further discuss its spying case, in which the company illegally obtained phone records for several reporters and board members.

The company still has plenty to explain, especially now evidence seems to suggest that chief executive Mark Hurd knew of the illegal operation, and even had considered placing spies in the offices of several news organisations.

The most fun part is that all of these juicy details are coming from internal emails that have been leaked to the media – the story appears to be starting all over again.

The only thing for HP to do at this point is to come clean. Disclose everything, repent and confess. And than face the storm, pay a hefty fine and offer the head of Patricia Dunn, the alleged mastermind behind this dark scheme, on a silver platter.

Identity thieves belong in jail. From the looks of it, that's where Dunn belongs too.

Dunn practices her "but I'm innocent!" look

technorati tags: hp, dunn, hurd, spying

September 22, 2006 at 05:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Upgrade your digital camera with Wi-Fi

Are you fed up with the hassle of USB cables or memory card readers to transfer photos from a digital camera to your computer?

A start-up company called Eye-fi is feeling your pain. They are developing a memory card with a build in Wi-Fi radio that promises to automatically upload your photos to an online service – be it Flickr, Snapfish or some other photo storage service.

The device is currently is the alpha stage, and one of the early test units has been made available to Stewart Butterfield, the co-founder of Flickr.

Below you can watch a video where Butterfield attempts to demonstrate the device. But although the silicon looks real, we never saw the photo he took turning up on Butterfield's Flickr account.

technorati tags: eye-fi, wifi, digital+camera, sd+memory, sd

September 22, 2006 at 05:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

OLPC lift lid off string dynamo

Zdnet has a picture of a mock-up of the string powered dynamo that will power the 2B1 laptop computers (better known as the $100 laptop that the One Laptop per Child project is developing)

The OLPC's chair Nicholas Negroponte showed off the prototype design for the power generator at the AMD Global Vision Conference in Pasadena. The device is designed to allow users to recharge the batteries of their laptops.

There are no technical specifications as of yet, which isn’t that odd given that the generator for now seems to be limited to a 3-D graphic.

Unfortunately you'll have to visit the above link to view the generator, as Zdnet owns the copyright on the photo.

Negroponte speaking earlier this year at Linuxworld Boston.

technorati tags: negroponte, $100laptop, olpc, 2B1

September 21, 2006 at 01:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Microsoft banks on buyer's remorse for Windows Vista

Microsoft will allow users to upgrade to more advanced versions of Windows Vista through its Windows Anytime Update feature.

That little factoid isn't very new. But the fun part is that users will receive all the required software as part of their basic Vista version and can simply unlock the advanced features by purchasing a registration key.

So if you just bought Windows Vitsa Basic and realize that you can't live without the Glass graphics that are only available in more advanced versions, you only have to surf to the Microsoft website and give them your credit card number.

You don't even have to feel sorry for the computer maker that missed out on his margin for selling a premium Vista version, because Microsoft has decided to share the upgrade revenues.

No word however about a downgrade feature that refunds your money if you realize that the $400 Vista Ultimate edition isn't much better than the $200 Basic version.

technorati tags: microsoft, vista, upgrade, windows+vista, windows+anytime+update

September 21, 2006 at 01:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Talking SOA and open source with BEA chief executive Alfred Chuang (video)

BEA may be one of the foremost vendors and developers of software for service oriented architectures (SOAs), that still leaves plenty of questions about the company's vision on SOA, how it plans to compete with open source as well as questions on its more forward looking initiatives like the micro services architecture (MSA).

We decided to sit down with BEA's chief executive Alfred Chuang and ask them all.

You can watch the video interview below.

technorati tags: alfred+chuang, bea, beaworld, soa, webservices, interview, video, blip.tv, youtube

September 20, 2006 at 06:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

SOA in real life (Video)

How can service oriented architectures make life easier?

BEA turned to SOAs for a new customer service application that is designed to constantly monitor the performance of its software and catch potential problems even before the customer notices.

The application might not seem very impressive until you realise that data is constantly being transported between the customer site and BEA and across applications that historically would never talk.

Below you can watch a video of BEA's chief executive Alfred Chuang demonstrating the new service.

technorati tags: bea, beaworld, soa, service+oriented+architecture

September 19, 2006 at 09:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

BEA takes SOA to a new level

BEA is challenging the IT industry to rethink how it architects applications. The vendor for the past years has grown into a major provider of middleware for service oriented architectures (SOAs), but along the road started asking itself a fundamental question:

Why should componentized applications remain limited to just internally developed applications?

SOAs allow enterprises to re-use code between applications. When several internal applications for instance use a currency conversion functionality, an SOA architecture lets the company develop the functionality once and use it across all of its applications. You could view it as carpooling for enterprise applications.

Componentized applications can be put together like lego blocks. The user simply determines the kind of functionality that he requires and puts them together.

But why stop at internally developed applications? Most users will never use the bulk of the functionalities that are build into Windows, OS X or Office. Yet they take up disk space, suffer from potential security vulnerabilities and to be configured and maintained.

Middleware is facing more or less the same issues. Except that in the world of middleware, many applications have overlapping functionalities. There, componentizing allows for easier setup, configuration and maintenance.

So BEA has started to componentize its middleware applications. In about 18 months, users will be able to provide the vendor with a list of application requirements and create an application that much closer fits their needs.

The rest of the industry has yet to sign up to this notion, but if this catches on, you can just say bye to shrink-wrapped software.

BEA chief executive Alfred Chuang kicks of BEA World San Francisco

technorati tags: service+oriented+architecture, Bea, soa, beaworld, beaworldsf2006, beaworld2006, alfred+chuang, rob+levy

September 19, 2006 at 09:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Silicon Valley flocks to Vista install fest

Silicon Valley is coming to the aid of Microsoft in a new way. Local residents within three days signed up for the 160 slots that the software vendor made available for a Windows Vista Install Fair early October.

Attendees were lured in with a free copy of Windows Vista Ultimate Edition, valued at $400 (to be provided once Vista comes out).

In exchange they need to put their personal computer to the ultimate Windows Vista test: bring it to the event, install Windows Vista and iron out any issues that might pop up along the way.

Microsoft intends for the event to expose Windows Vista to some unusual applications, and thereby provide some valuable new testing experiences. The whole process also will be closely monitored by Microsoft engineers to see how a somewhat random sample of Silicon Valley geeks handles the applications.

technorati tags: windows, microsoft, windows+vista, vista, beta, silicon+valley

September 18, 2006 at 10:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Intel marketing: we're no geeks

Thinking of Intel marketing used to spawn images of people in bunny suites dancing around. It was only summer 2005 when Intel CEO Paul Otellini donned one of the clean room approved garments to announce Apple's switch to Intel processors. It was Intel's idea of hip.

But even Intel changes. Today the chipmaker launched a new bunny-suit-less advertising campaign. Instead the company hired director Vaughan Arnell, who has made music videos for people like Robin Williams and David Gray. He signed up bands from the UK, Sweden and Spain to feature in the ads. You can watch the result below.

Print advertising:

Intel provides a behind the scenes look at its forthcoming TV commercials.

One of the TV ads, this one's featuring Carlos Jean with Mr. Dabada .

technorati tags: intel, tv, advertising, core+duo, core+2+duo, marketing

September 18, 2006 at 04:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Every silver lining has a dark cloud inside

Windows Vista will create 50,000 new jobs and generate Euro 32bn in additional revenues for the European economy, IDC concluded in a study that Microsoft commissioned.

You should be wary of any vendor sponsored study, as the outcome historically tends to favour the organisation that’s paying for it. But IDC is enough of a reputable company to kill any conspiracy theories.

The study however conveniently coincides with a recent flare-up in the legal battle between Microsoft and the EU, which is fearing that the software giant could kill innovation in the security industry through its OneCare security software.

Microsoft essentially is telling the EU that messing with Windows Vista will harm the local economy.

The study alleges that Windows Vista will be installed on 30m computers in the first years. Those new computers will apparently need new software (didn't Vista provide backward compatibility?) and require truckloads of consultants.

IDC furthermore argues that Windows Vista will cause a bump in IT spending, based on the premise that for every Euro that is spent on Windows Vista, companies on average will spend another 13.31 Euro on hardware, services and third party software applications.

Vista will gobble up 20 per cent of all IT workers in the first years after the launch and more than half of all the new IT workers who get hired in 2007 will end up working on Vista. And that's for an operating system that's supposed to be easy to install and make workers more productive.

All this might be great for the European economy, but it also indicated that companies looking to adopt Windows Vista desktop computers will have to increase their IT budgets by a combined total of Euro 32bn.

That's a pretty staggering figure for an operating system that is supposed to be easy to install and make workers more productive.

technorati tags: windows, windows+vista, microsoft, idc, growth, economic+growth

September 18, 2006 at 02:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A disappearing Google video mystery solved

After Google Video pulled one of our videos from their website for an alleged copyright violation, the company hasn't just re-instated the video following our counter-complaint, after some insisting on our part the search engine also disclosed who filed the original complaint.

The issue revolved around a video dubbed "Cisco on Telepresence". We shot it at a press conference during Cisco's recent Networkers event in Las Vegas and it features the company's chief executive John Chambers.

So we were surprised to find out that it was Cisco that filed the complaint with Google Video.

In a written complaint, one of the company's lawyer's claimed that the video "contain[s] information that is confidential and property to Cisco, and [was] unlawfully recorded without Cisco's consent. Cisco has a good faith belief that this content violates its privacy rights, and its rights to proprietary and confidential information. These postings were not authorized by Cisco or any agent of Cisco. I represent that the information in this notification is true and correct."

The letter actually complained about two videos. The other one is no longer available.

Cisco PR today confirmed that "the request for removal of the video in question was made in error".

I can only assume that the company's legal department went a little crazy and failed to see the "Shot at Networkers 2006 in Las Vegas" in the movie's closing credits. After all, why would they have become lawyers if they had any real talents?

It continues to concern me however that anyone can file a legal claim with Google, prompting the search provider to take a video offline. Google might want to stay on the cautious side of copyright law, but it's a fundamental mistake to let your life be guided by lawyers and their baseless claims.

technorati tags: google+video, youtube, google, cisco, john+chambers, chambers

September 16, 2006 at 02:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A PC challenge for bimbos

Take some overly self-confident Swedish bimbos, mix with a group of IT workers who are drowning in IT lingo and you have the recipe for the Swedish reality TV show "Princesses and professors".

In the hilarious segment below, the ladies are given the task of swapping out the processor from a computer.

Sit back and enjoy.

technorati tags: youtube, bimbo

September 16, 2006 at 12:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

iTunes debacle demonstrates need for better Apple testing

For all that Apple has going for it, the company has a pretty poor track record in launching products that just work.

The newly launched iTunes version 7 is frustrating the hell out of some of its users. Some Windows users complain about highly distorted sound, while several Mac users witnessed the application crash if they skipped through songs.

One of the vnunet.com editors wasn't able to re-create the problems on his Powerbook, but there's no reason to assume that the reports on Apple forums are ill conceived.

Apple is treating its unannounced products as its crown jewels. None of the Mac rumour websites had gotten wind of new iTunes features or of the iTV device that Steve Jobs unveiled last Tuesday.

But while this allows Apple to create a major buzz around its product launches, the quality of those hypes products is suffering. It isn't just iTunes, earlier this year it turned out that Apple had used a faulty design for its MacBook Pro fans.

By contrast, Microsoft today released Windows Vista RC1 to the general public as a free download. The company expects that 5 million people will end up testing the code. That's a sure way to get tons of feedback and iron out as many creases as possible prior to the software's launch.

Vista may be delayed beyond belief and you don't have to like Microsoft's monopolistic ways, but Apple could learn a thing or two about its testing process.

technorati tags: apple, itunes, bug, crash

September 15, 2006 at 01:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Stalking James Gosling

Yes, the picture below is meant to depict Java creator James Gosling before he's subjected by a rectal examination

It's part of a rather funny promotional video for the upcoming Javapolis conference in Antwerp, Belgium, which is shot by an alleged James Gosling stalker.

I won't spoil it any further. Watch the full video here.

Via: Richard Monson-Haefel

technorati tags: java, gosling, james+gosling, javapolis

September 14, 2006 at 09:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sun kicks off $32,000 Youtube challenge

Sun Microsystems is giving away a $33,000 Sun Fire X4500 server to whoever can come up with a cool way to use the beast. 

All you have to do is create a video explaining why you need a server with up to 24 Terabytes of storage capacity and two dual core AMD Opteron processors, and upload it to Youtube. To kick it off in fashion, Sun chief executive Jonathan Schwartz launched the contest in a Youtube video (see below).

Videos have to be "approximately" 30 seconds long and have to be "original, creative, humorous". In addition to uploading the video to Youtube, contestants are required to register on a Sun website.

The fine print: the contest is open to residents from 21 countries (sorry, Belgium, North Korea, Netherlands, Iran and so many others). The contest ends on 15 December.

In addition to a Thumper server, Sun is handing out one Sun Ultra workstation (valued at $895) each month through December.

technorati tags: sun, sun+microsystems, youtube, jonathan+schwartz, schwartz, project+thumper, thumper

September 14, 2006 at 04:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Vonage puts the squeeze on disappointed investors

Vonage is demanding that investors pay for the shares that they received as part VoIP provider's IPO earlier this year.

About 9,000 Vonage subscribers has signed up for the IPO. A group of them now claims that the company had provided insufficient information, offering them a loophole to weasel their way out of the floatation. The latter was just all too convenient given the fact that Vonage stock tanked soon after its IPO (for reasons that I won't repeat), dropping from $17 to its current price of $7.80 today.

Vonage has had enough however, and is starting to collect payment. The VoIP-provider needs the money to pay for its marketing campaign, and of course to keep the money flowing to adware and spyware makers.

technorati tags: vonage, ipo, shareholder

September 13, 2006 at 11:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Cisco launches denial of service attack on Silicon Valley's streets

Few people in Silicon Valley realised just how big Cisco was until the company decided to gather 30,000 of its employees at the Shoreline Amphitheatre for a company pep talk today.

The result: roads around the outdoor concert venue became a parking lot when the router designers drove up to the location, according to local traffic reports.

Cisco claimed it was just explaining its corporate re-branding to its staff, now that the company is evolving from a boring router and switch maker into a major IP TV  and data services powerhouse.

But the conspiracy theorist inside me likes to think that this physical denial of service attack is also intended to send a subtle message to Google, which has its corporate headquarters just across the street from the Amphitheatre. I just have to figure out exactly what it is that Cisco would have to tell Google. Until then I have to admit that it makes for a pretty lousy conspiracy theory. So dear readers: any suggestions?

Photo: Yarik Mission

technorati tags: cisco, gridlock, traffic

September 13, 2006 at 10:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Happy 50th birthday to the hard drive

The hard drive turned 50 today, and to celebrate IBM and Hitachi threw the device a party at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.

The bragging rights for the world's first hard disk go to IBM, which launch the IBM 305 Random Access Method of Accounting and Control (RAMAC) in 1956. It has a whopping 5Mb of storage capacity (that's about one mp3, but tons and tons of punch cards).

Volunteers at the Computer History Museum are working to restore one of the remaining RAMAC units to a full working condition. They are hoping to put it on display at a yet to be established museum at 99 Notre Dame Avenue in San Jose, which is the location of the IBM laboratory where the device was originally invented.

Slight problem however is that the original building has been torn down and today houses a court house.

The RAMAC unit that's currently being restored to a working condition

Picture of an actual RAMAC unit within its case. The beast was the size of several refrigerators and weighted a few ton.