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Microsoft shows off finger licking Vista packaging
Microsoft isn't taking any risks. It's forthcoming Windows Vista operating system won't just feature a radically redesigned user interface, even the packaging will be completely new.
The new packaging features rounded corners. Because those cornery DVD boxes are completely uninspiring, explained product manager Nick White.
"Designed to be user-friendly, the new packaging is a small, hard, plastic container that’s designed to protect the software inside for life-long use. It provides a convenient and attractive place for you to permanently store both discs and documentation."
At least they didn't rip off another Apple design.
technorati tags: vista, windows, vista, apple, microsoft
October 31, 2006 at 12:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Broadband sharing project reaches first milestone
The FON Wi-Fi broadband sharing project is raising its hardware prices.
The project seeks to build a worldwide network of consumers sharing their broadband internet connections with outsiders. Those outsiders (Aliens in FON lingo) are charged 3 dollars or Euros for one day of internet access. Half of the revenues will be passed on to the broadband subscribers (the "Bills"). If you're in a sharing mood, you can also give away internet access for free (earning you the "Linus" moniker).
Users looking to share their connections require a special router. After months of subsidizing this hardware, FON founder Martin Varsavsky now claims that his network is large enough to end the subsidies.
Router prices in a few days therefore will be raised form 5 euro/dollar to 29.95.
Cynics could argue that FON is simply running out of money and is
facing disappointing subscription rates, forcing the company to raise prices. But the current maps seem to
indicate a decent ramp-up.
Wi-Fi access points listed on Fon's map in downtown San Francisco.
technorati tags: fon, wifi, wi-fi, internet, Martin Varsavsky
October 30, 2006 at 11:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Information security student flunks proper disclose class the hard way
Computer security student Christopher Soghoian failed his first class in proper disclosure of security vulnerabilities. But instead of an "F", he found his front door window smashed in and all computers missing from his apartment.
The FBI decided to raid his apartment after the student put up an online service that allowed visitors to create fake boarding passes for Northwest Airlines.
The site has since been taken offline, but the bare page can still be accessed through Google's cache.
Printing your boarding pass at home is one of the conveniences air travel in the internet age. These printouts will get you past the first security check that allows passengers into the gate area. This security check is the only time when a passenger's identification is checked.
Soghoian wasn't the first to warn about the weakness in the online check-in system. But he is the first one to create a publicly available service that allows people to create new passes with just a few clicks.
As any seasoned security researcher knows, you don't warn the world against the dangers of nuclear weapons by setting one off. We've got governments to do that.
Soghoian's boardpass forging service
technorati tags: security, christopher+soghoian, airport
October 30, 2006 at 10:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Acer grumbles at closed Windows pricing loophole
Acer is upset with Microsoft. The software vendor is cheating the system builder out of it profits because it positions the more expensive Windows Vista Premium as the main version of the operating system.
Vista Premium is more expensive than Vista Basic. If customers demand Premium on new computers, Acer's profit margins will suffer, the company claimed according to PC Pro.
Something smells rotten here. Acer's whining only makes sense if it is being singled out.
But if consumers demand that their new systems run Vista Premium, they will make those demands from every PC maker. Consequently, all PC makers have to buy Vista Premium from Microsoft and end up with the same cost structure.
The introduction of Windows Vista won't cause Acer's cost structure to change, compared to that of Dell, HP or Gateway.
Then why could Acer be upset?
Industry analyst Rob Enderle has a suggestion: the introduction of Windows Vista will change a loophole that Acer used to sell consumer PCs to small businesses.
Looking to cut costs, low cost system vendors often equip their business PCs Windows XP Home. Premium brands meanwhile stick to Windows XP Pro. The price difference is about $25 to $50, and most small businesses never really miss the features (such as Active Directory) in XP Pro.
But Microsoft doesn't agree with the practice. For once thing, the company likes the added revenues from the more expensive XP Pro sales.
Windows Vista Basic therefore has been stripped of several business features that make the systems easy to manage. Throw in Microsoft's marketing machine and businesses are expected to shy away from the consumer versions of Vista.
If Acer should be upset about anything, it should be upset about the unattractiveness of Vista Basic for bargain enterprise systems. But the evaporating profit margin argument is bullocks.
Microsoft shuts down Acer's blowout sale
technorati tags: vista, windows+vista, SKU, microsoft, Acer, bill+gates
October 28, 2006 at 04:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
IBM shows the true value of tracking systems: faster beer
IBM might sometimes look clueless in the IT market, but this time they created a solution that is bound to catch the hearths and minds of the IT sector.
Big Blue has opened up a Beer Living Lab where research ways think of way to use cellular and satellite technology to guide beer shipments through customs.
Beer actually is the essential ingredient that turns the project from a mundane IT pilot into the obsession of every IT developer.
It took IT geeks after all to explain the term free in open source software as "free as in free speech, not free as in free beer."
When Sun Microsystems unveiled its project Black Box earlier this month, one excited employee yelled the first (and only) question: "Does it have a beer cooler inside?"
Life is all about priorities.
More beer getting hauled across the big pond
technorati tags: beer, ibm, tracking, beer+living+lab, black+box
October 28, 2006 at 03:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Researchers crack open Vista's Patchguard
Instead of waiting for Microsoft to release the promised application programming interfaces that will allow security vendors to properly function on the 64-bit version of Windows Vista, researchers with Authentium crafted a technique that allows them to disable the technology altogether.
Why couldn't Symantec and McAfee think of this? Most likely because they know better. Microsoft isn't amused and plans to patch Vista and sabotage Authentium's
workaround.
Authentium on its website explained that access to Patchguard was required for one of its forthcoming products. While the company probably expected the Microsoft patch, the hack will generate some nice publicity around its software.
Furthermore, it keeps the issue of Microsoft blocking access to Patchguard on the agenda.
Microsoft might have promised to provide APIs, but has yet to publish a timetable. Gartner last week suggested that it will probably take at least one year before the initial APIs will be launched, and even longer before they are fully done.
Independent security vendors can't wait that long. And more importantly, the world can't be left to rely on Microsoft as the main source of security applications.
technorati tags: symantec, mcafee, patchguard, vista, windows+vista, microsoft, antitrust, monopoly
October 27, 2006 at 05:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Adware purveyors wage mob war
A turf war has been raging in the underbelly of the internet, where shady companies like Zango and Direct Revenue test the boundaries of legality with their adware software. (or to say it more politically correct: this is "software which a reasonably security-or privacy-minded computer user may want to be informed of")
In the past month, adult webmasters started crying foul over other webmaster stealing their Zango cookies, which is cheating them out of their adware installation rewards.
Zango pays webmasters to push its adware, offering an estimated 50 cents per installation. Webmasters now are charging that Zango is letting other affiliates take credit for their installations.
Although the practice itself isn’t new, it has been the subject of heated debates in the past weeks. Webmasters are pissed off because they are cheated out of their money, and Zango allegedly isn't doing enough to fight this.
Zango's lacking response now has prompted a group of adult website operators to hit back. Visitors who run the Zango software are presented with a warning and receive instruction on how to remove the software.
But Zango isn't prepared to go down without a fight. The company will create blacklist of these online porn vigilantes, allowing it to launch a pop up screen that overshadows the warning screen.
It's great when internet rats turn on each other, but in this case things are only getting more confusing for users.
technorati tags: zango, adware, 180solutions
October 26, 2006 at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Google steps up anti-Google campaign
Google is getting more serious about its "stop googling" campaign.
The search provider on Wednesday put up a blog posting, urging internet users to stop using the word "google" to refer to performing an online search.
Google last summer launched a similar bid with media organisations. At the time Google requested to refrain from using the company name as a verb altogether. Yesterday's blog posting merely asks to save 'to google' exclusively for searches on Google.
At stake is Google's trademark. Once a decent percentage of the world's population starts saying: "I googled the shop for some tomatoes, but they were out," there is no way to prevent a maker of navigation systems to launch an ad campaign that states: "We'll do you're googling for you." And a porn site or Yahoo could do the same.
But language is a living cultural being that doesn't respect trademark laws.
The makers of scotch tape or trampolines will tell you that it doesn’t hurt to be genericized. But try explaining that to the makers of spam (the canned kind).
technorati tags: google, to+google, verb, trademark, commodity
October 26, 2006 at 10:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Oracle explains its Red Hat assault (video)
Oracle today wiped out about $700m in Red Hat's valuation when the database and enterprise software vendor unveiled that it has started to offer support for Red Hat Linux at discounted rates.
Red Hat has failed the enterprise market, Oracle's Larry Ellison charged in a keynote at the Oracle OpenWorld conference. The company won't provide bug fixes for older versions of the operating system, won't indemnify its customers against legal claims (think of legal claims from SCO or Microsoft) and is overcharging for its support.
In the video below, Oracle's Edward Screven explains why the vendor feels it needs to step in with Red Hat support.
Oracle indemnifying could actually show benefits far beyond Red Hat. Anyone going after Linux, will now by default also go after Oracle. That alone could scare away the next SCO.
The small company (some call it a patent troll) EpicRealm earlier this year witnessed exactly how that could happen. Trying to enforce one of its patents, … sued some small companies hoping that they would settle. One of them however turned out to be an Oracle customer with indemnification. Oracle was forced to settle the case, and then sued …, seeking to invalidate the patent.
technorati tags: oracle, ellison, larry+ellison, linux, red+hat, oracleworld, oracle+openworld
October 26, 2006 at 03:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Penguins turn their back on Oracle
Oracle has launched support services for the Red Hat Linux distribution in a move that will clearly put the company in competition with the open source company.
The database vendor is offering two basic support products, one being very similar to what Red Hat is doing and the other going beyond, including legal indemnification and support for older software versions. At the same time Oracle is drastically undercutting Red Hat's prices.
Ellison stressed at the time of the unveiling that this isn't a move against Red Hat but will further advance Linux. But the move undoubtedly is going to put pressure on the Linux vendor. Red Hat stock fell by about 17 per cent in after hours trading.
Oracle putting the squeeze on Red Hat might not help the vendor win any popularity contests with the open source community.
The events on stage at Oracle OpenWorld could give an indication. Oracle sent out three penguins that were supposed to approach the billionaire. Except that they quickly turned around when they saw the executive. One caretaker picked up one of the birds and brought it closer. To no avail.
Tux is released (Ellison is standing further to the right)...
... glances at the 10,000 people in the keynote room ...
... and marches away
Oracle claims to make Linux even more unbreakable
technorati tags: oracle, ellison, larry+ellison, linux, red+hat, oracleworld, oracle+openworld
October 26, 2006 at 12:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Fedora 6 rakes in the downloads
The Fedora community today released the latest version of the Fedora Core 6 Linux distribution.
Fedora in its current form was born after a heated debate within Red Hat about the company's future course. The company was struggling to provide stable Linux distributions with solid support to its (somewhat boring) enterprise customers while satisfying the crowd of cutting edge Linux developers who have a desire to play with the latest technology.
The debate caused several executive causalities (for names, just look at the people that left the company around 2004). It also lead to the discontinuation of Red Hat's desktop product and the creation of the subscription based Red Hat Enterprise Linux (REL) that comes bundled with support and updates, as well as the free and unsupported Fedora.
Fedora today is more than just a playground where developers get experiment with new technologies without having to worry about breaking enterprises. Today it is the Linux distribution of choice for enterprises and education institutions that are too cheap to purchase a Red Hat subscription.
In addition to plenty of anecdotal evidence, there is hard data to back up Fedora's popularity. According to Red Hat, the project within hours of the official publication had logged more than 10,000 downloads through the Red Hat Bittorent server.
technorati tags: fedora, linux, distro, red+hat
October 25, 2006 at 01:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Oracle sprinkles enterprise data with some Web2.0
Looking to show its commitment to service oriented architectures as wells as 
lead the enterprise application space, Oracle this today unveiled its new WebCenter Suite.
The suite essentially offers a one stop shop for enterprise developers to craft Ajax applications. But where most of today's Ajax applications are using new data, Oracle is promising to unlock data from its current suite of CRM, ERP, HRM and other applications.
Of course, you can do the same by using third party products. But Oracle knows very well that Oracle shops are more likely to stick to Oracle tools, as they will offer easier integration.
Oracle's middleware boss Thomas Kurian.
technorati tags: oracle, kurian, thomas+kurian, middleware, web2.0, ajax
October 24, 2006 at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
HP's Hurd plays the "cost" card
HP's Mark Hurd today further established himself as the company's chief bookkeeper. In a keynote presentation at the Oracle OpenWorld conference in San Francisco, the HP chief mainly spoke about generic cost cutting, and very little about ways that technology will help companies do so.
It is common knowledge that partner keynote assignments at events like Oracle OpenWorld are directly related to the sponsorship level rather than the newsworthiness.
In other words, we didn't expect Hurd to say anything noteworthy, and he perfectly met our expectations.
Claiming that he didn't like charts, Hurd pulled up a chart to explain the fundamental dilemma that IT maintenance is taking up an ever increasing percentage of IT resources, leaving no funds to invest on innovation.
HP internally is looking to break through this cycle. Where the industry today on average spends 80 per cent of its budget to maintain its existing infrastructure, HP claims to be at 50-50, and in the near future is looking to move to 20-80.
That's all great, but we've heard it all before. Vendor X takes its own medicine and is magically cured from all IT ailments. But then in the real world it turns out that things are a bit more complicated.
While the overall spending on IT as a percentage of world wide GDP is declining, the number of worldwide IT workers is growing. Conclusion: IT is getting increasingly less efficient. The solution: just give all you money to HP.
technorati tags: mark+hurd, hurd, hp, oracle, oracleopenworld, openworld
October 24, 2006 at 09:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Cisco dives in the telepresence market (video)
Cisco today has unveiled its Telepresence solution.
We're tempted to describe it as video conferencing on steroids, but everybody with whom we spoke about the technology stressed that it shouldn't be described as video conferencing.
Video conferencing is about staring at somebody's forehead on a low resolution television image. Telepresence is designed to give you the impression that you're sitting at the table with the other party. You can see it for yourself in the video teaser below. Check back shortly for the full video report.
Cisco's entry into this market hardly comes as a surprise, as the company's chief executive John Chambers earlier this year already declared his love for the technology (you can watch him speak about it on video here).
The big disappointment actually lies in the fact that Cisco didn't declare telepresence an "advanced technology" and instead is labelling it as an "emerging technology". With the first Cisco is convinced that there is a billion dollar market, with the latter the company is merely praying for it to evolve into one.
These telepresence rooms sell at $299,000 each (list price). That includes three big ass 1080p televisions, servers, lightning and microphones, but doesn't pay for the network traffic and installation.
The plus side is that you only have to sell 3,500 rooms to hit the billion dollar mark. The bad news is that few people will spend that much. HP has had a comparable solution in the market for about one year allegedly sold about 50 of them.
technorati tags: cisco, telepresence, chambers, john+chambers, marthin+de+beer
October 23, 2006 at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Intel shines on 4-way quad core server
Intel today showed off a prototype of a server that simultaneously is using 4 quad core processors. The machine is powered by chips codenamed Tigerton that scheduled to start shipping in the third quarter of 2007.
During a demonstration, Intel's vice president of Desktop Platform Operations Stephen Smith (pictured left, holding the new Tigerton chip) ran a SunGard financial modeling simulation and rendered an image.
Below you can watch a video of the new server as well as the rendering demonstration (the Sunguard analysis isn't very exiting to show on video).
technorati tags: intel, quadcore, server, amd, opteron
October 20, 2006 at 11:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
McAfee loses its patience with Microsoft
McAfee has called "bullshit" on Microsoft's security interoperability pledged after the software developer kicked the company off a conference call that was intended to provide additional details on how Windows Vista plans to allow security vendors to interoperate.
The call was hosted on Microsoft Net Meeting platform, but the majority of the attendees was kicked off about 15 minutes into the call. Microsoft blamed the mishap on a software glitch.
The call however was the final straw for McAfee. Fed up with Microsoft's half baked attempts to provide information about the interoperability, the security vendor send out a press release blasting Microsoft for its "lack of action" and its "hollow assurances".
"Despite pledges, press conference and speeches by Microsoft, the community of independent security companies that consumers rely on for computer protection has seen little indication that Microsoft intends to live up to the promises it made last week", said McAfee's legal counsel Christopher Thomas.
McAfee's strategy is obvious. Microsoft last week called a press conference pledging to improve the interoperability for third party security software in Windows Vista, and at the time claimed that these promised would suffice to prevent further anti trust measures from authorities in Europe and Korea. McAfee's attack aims to put sanctions back on the table.
The stakes are high for both parties. If McAfee wins, Microsoft could face a ban on shipping Vista in Europe and Asia. If Microsoft gets its way, McAfee and several other security vendors will be essentially locked out from selling security software for 64-bit Vista.
McAfee and Microsoft square off in high stakes game
technorati tags: microsoft, security, mcafee, antitrust, europe, korea
October 20, 2006 at 02:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Thank you IE7 for messing up my computer
Microsoft is providing free support for its new Internet Explorer 7 browser, but is leaving users for who IE7 doesn't work out in the cold.
Case in point: we tried installing IE7 and soon noticed that it wouldn't work with our web based content management systems. We were left no option but to uninstall IE7 and convert back to IE6. One reboot and several minutes later, we were once against greeted with the trusted IE6 interface.
Except that the installation apparently didn't entirely remove IE7. The browser suddenly started issuing warnings every time we tried to paste text onto a web page. That might not look like a big issue, but it's frustrating nonetheless.
No worries. We figured, Microsoft is offering free phone support for IE7 problems. We had a problem getting rid of IE7, so surely we would be entitled to free support...?
"Wrong," said the help desk operator with an obvious Indian accent who identified himself as Ron. We would have to pay somewhere around $35 if we wanted to ask Microsoft a question.
A request to speak with a supervisor however made Ron change his mind and the loyal gate keeper allowed us to advance to the second level of Microsoft's helpdesk nirvana.
There we were greeted by Prim who guided us to the internet setting. It turned out that IE7 had completely messed up Windows XP's internet settings. The internet security settings are supposed to offer a vertical bar that allows users to change the setting from low to high. But this bar was suspiciously missing.
Together with Prim, we ended up manually applying the correct settings. Working with Prim was a delight and 45 minutes later, our system once again was running hunky-dory.
Thank you Microsoft for cleaning up your own mess.
The mysterious case of the missing vertical slider bar
Which somehow is available for trusted websites.
technorati tags: microsoft, IE7, internet+explorer, browser, helpdesk, hell
October 20, 2006 at 02:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
No security flaw for IE7
Internet Explorer 7 was only released yesterday and already has been hit by its first security vulnerability, according to Secunia. But Microsoft was quick to dismiss the report.
Secunia claimed earlier today that it had found a vulnerability in the new IE7 browser. An attacker could exploit the flaw through a specially crafted website
to access information if a user at the same time is logged onto another
site. The firm rated the vulnerability as rated "less critical".
But according to Microsoft, the bug affects Outlook Express instead of Internet Explorer 7.
Surely some day Microsoft will have to face the embarrassment of the first Internet Explorer 7 security vulnerability. But today wasn't it.
technorati tags: ie7, security, bug, microsoft, secunia
October 19, 2006 at 09:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Dell dethroned
For years HP passionately tried to compete against Dell by copying the firm's business model. It purchased Compaq and cut prices, only to draw the short straw.
Then HP turned on its brain power and came up with a way to differentiate rather than copy. Earlier this year for instance, the company unveiled its "the computer is personal again" campaign that highlights notebook features and how they make users more productive.
Mindless price reductions only work until the moment that some other low cost provider succeeds in cutting cost even more. Then you'll be forced to cut prices beyond profitability. HP witnessed that and Dell today is facing the same fate.
HP made a wise decision when it chose to start innovation and stop imitating. New data from Gartner indicates that HP has leapfrogged Dell as the world's largest PC maker, where IDC sees a dead heat.
HP chief executive Mark Hurd witnesses that true passion gets you much further than copying.
October 19, 2006 at 08:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Apple blames the world for its lack of quality control
Apple has screwed up once again, and is refusing to take responsibility for its stupidity. This time the company shipped video iPods with a trojan hiding on the unit's hard drive.
The digital RavMonE affects only Windows computers. The virus was embedded on "less than 1%" of the iPods that shipped after 12 September, which Apple dismisses as a "small number".
The company next reminds us why many consumers started hating Apple back in the 80-ies and 90-ies: for it's unrivalled arrogance:
"As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it," an security warning on Apple's website reads.
Apple has every right to lecture the world on security standards. Because there is no malware for OS X. The company is known for its flawless quality control and testing procedures and its software never suffers from vulnerabilities that put users at risk of remote code execution.
Fact is that Apple produced hardware that put its users at risk. But apparently it would be too much of an effort to admit that.
The cult of Mac is back, and ready to ignore all facts that shows the empty facade of its utopia.
Sizing up Apple's arrogance
technorati tags: osx, apple, ipod, security, trojan, malware, ravmone
October 18, 2006 at 09:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Inside and outside Sun's Black Box (photos)
There is little left to be said about Sun's Black Box data-centre-in-a-shipping container, other than show you some more pictures:
The container ships completely preconfigured. Load it off the truck and you're done.
Doors on both sides allow for easy access.
The inside is cramped to say the least. Service reps certainly don't want to spend time inside there. Instead, they can cart out an entire rack and replace it with with a new one. Allowing for repairs to be performed elsewhere.
The container houses four racks next to each on each side of the container, allowing for a total of about 250 servers.
If you can't power the server container, a medium sized generator will do the trick. The blue thing in the back is the cooling system that pumps around water.
All that needs hooking up is two hoses for the water cooling, power and a network connection.
technorati tags: black+box, sun, sun, microsystems, container, project+blackbox, blackbox
October 18, 2006 at 03:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Sun puts Moore's Law in its place (video)
Intel founder Gorden Moore has failed Google, according to Sun Microsystems chief executive Jonathan Schwartz.
Moore's Law (which claims that computer chip will doulbe the amount of transistors every 18 months, making them either twice as fast or cut their price in half) is unable to provide companies like Google, Ebay, Shell, Exxon and even Sun Microsysystems with the compute power that they need.
Serving massive amounts web pages, analysis for oil exploration or new chip design simluations require a massive grids of high power computers. There is no "good enough" when it comes to these grids. The only limiting factor is the amount of money that a company is willing to invest.
So saving a few dollars on the monthly power bill actually makes an impact there. As does being able to stack servers more densely. All this leads up to Sun's "Project Black Box", which is essentially a data centre that is housed inside a shipping container. It may not be for your average ERP system, but it just may be your thing if you're looking to rapidly grow your data center.
Below you can watch a video where Sun Microsystems' chief executive Jonathan Schwartz makes a case for the Black Box.
technorati tags: sun, sun+microsystems, moore, moore's+law, project+blackbox, blackbox, black+box, schwartz, jonathan+schwartz
October 18, 2006 at 02:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Touring Sun's Black Box server room in a container (video)
Sun today unveiled its Project Black Box.
Stacking a data centre into a shipping container was enough to make Sun chief Jonathan Schwartz to come out and talk up the new system.
He pulled a few inside-outside-the-box jokes for the gathered tech press, as well as a fair gathering of Sun employees on the parking lot outside Sun's Menlo Park campus in Silicon Valley.
Below you can watch a video of the unveiling and a tour the (cramped) inside of the unit.
technorati tags: black+box, sun, sun, microsystems, container, project+blackbox, blackbox
October 18, 2006 at 01:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Sun moves datacentre into a shipping container
Sun Microsystems on Tuesday plans to unveil a datacentre that's housed in a standard shipping container. Codenamed "Black Box", the idea is to drop off the appliance at a customer site where it is hooked up to electricity and a water line to provide for cooling and then its ready to go.
The term black box is commonly used to describe a device of which the inner workings are unknown to the end user. They only provide input and receive output.
Sun's container will still allow enterprises to open the doors and unscrew the servers inside, but the general idea is to provide a system that requires hardly any configuration and will provide compute power the moment it arrives. Sun claims that the device will cut set-up times by up to 90 per cent.
The Black Box therefore comes in a storage (up to , web server and high performance computing model. Such applications require monolithic hardware configurations and are generally very straightforward to use.
The systems might be conveniently modular, but will companies really replace their expensive data centres with cheaper Sun containers?
Sun is suggesting that enterprises might put some of these units in their parking lots, inside a warehouse or even on top of their Manhattan high rises.
But isn't that a security problem waiting to happen? Brazen criminals could come and pick up one of the containers on a weekend – just rent a helicopter for the Manhattan models.
Nonetheless, Sun could be on to something. Companies that shy away from outsourcing and public grid services might still be interested in a systems that provides compute power as a service.
Plenty of enterprises have emergency power generators because they don't want to rely on public utilities. But that doesn't mean that they are in the power generating business.
Enterprises today are in the compute power generating business, even though there is no logical explanation for it. We just have to find the proper device that convinces them to replace their datacentres with a container-like appliance.
technorati tags: sun+microsystems, sun, black, box, shipping+container, schwartz, project+blackbox, blackbox
October 17, 2006 at 05:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Oracle to cause San Francisco massive traffic headache
Oracle is preparing a massive traffic headache in downtown San Francisco next week. And the city is just thrilled to help out.
The database and enterprise software vendor next week will hold its Oracle Open World conference at the Moscone convention centre. The same facility houses famous technology shows including JavaOne, LinuxWorld and MacWorld.
But the Oracle event dwarfs all of those shows. Expected to draw a record crowd of 41,000, Oracle is taking up all three wings of the convention centre. Pedestrian crossing lights will stay on "walk" for 10 seconds longer than usual to accommodate the crowd. Meeting rooms in nearby hotels are all taken up.
And still the event ended up being short of space. Delegates therefore will be forced to have their lunch breaks in tents that will be put up on one block of Howard Street.
That might not seem like a big deal, but the five-lane strip of tarmac is one of downtown San Francisco's main traffic arteries.
Planning for the closure took one year and the event is bound to cause massive commuter frustration. But you won't hear the local government complaining. The Oracle show is providing a $50m boost to the local economy through the added restaurant and taxi revenues as well as an estimated 65,000 hotel nights.
Oracle furthermore is paying for all the additional police forces and emergency services that are required to keep the event in San Francisco.
technorati tags: oracle, oracleworld, database, enterprise+applications
October 16, 2006 at 11:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Meet the latest OLPC design
The One Laptop per Child project has produced a new design of its 'education project', better known as the $100 laptop.
Red Hat's Christopher Blizzard on his blog said that this design will be used next month for the build out.
You can see two USB ports and the rabbit ears that house antennas for the Wi-Fi connectivity.
Don't be thrown off by the green colour by the way. The final product will come in multiple colours. But changing colours for the early design makes it easier to tell them apart.
Earlier last week, the project showed off its dual mode LCD screen which functions as a full colour backlit screen and has a monochrome mode for use in direct sunlight.
October 16, 2006 at 08:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Explaining the Youtube dilemma Stephen Colbert-style
Everybody knew that when Google paid $1.65bn to acquire Youtube that the company would have to deal with service's copyright infringements. But Stephen Colbert explains the issue far more clearly.
Given that Youtube is widely build on copyright infringements, shouldn't the copyright owners receive most of the $1.65bn?
Furthermore, did Google open a Pandora's Box by acquiring the company? It didn't make a lot of sense to file legal claims against Youtube, because the company didn't have much money anyway. But Google has several billions in the bank.
Time Warner and News Corp have publicly speculated about their 'legal options', as have others.
It's going to be interesting to see if online video can mature beyond these copyright issues, of if it will go Napster's way.
technorati tags: google, youtube, video, online
October 16, 2006 at 07:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Fake Walmart blog shows its phoney character
Walmart is rapidly evolving into the tobacco lobby of the 21st century by its constant barrage of dishonesty and half baked truths.
The world's largest retailer last week was caught for trying to pass off a PR operation as a customer fan blog. A couple allegedly was travelling across the US in a camper that parked at Walmart stores at nights, because the chain was kind enough to provide shelter for RV-ing travellers.
But instead of a spontaneous fan blog, the operating was carefully scripted by PR firm Edelman. One of the travelers furthermore turned out to be Jim Thresher, a staff photographer with the Washington Post. He also authored several posts that are blatantly pro-Walmart.
The store has had its share of bad publicity. Last week the company in Pensylvania was ordered to pay a $78m fine for forcing employees to work through their breaks. Similar lawsuits have erupted in other states.
But just like the cigarette companies claim that smokers purchase their cancer causing cigarettes because they like them (not because they are stuffed full with chemicals that make them more addictive), Walmart claims that it's merely providing a service to shoppers who seek inexpensive goods. And if that involves putting up fake blogs and breaking labor laws, that is merely the fault of those cheap shoppers.
technorati tags: walmart, blog, edelman, fake
October 16, 2006 at 06:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Upgrading to IE7 is a social responsibility
Tucked away in Microsoft's Digital Life news was the announcement that the company plans to launch its Internet Explorer browser "within the next two weeks".
Microsoft desperately needs a new browser, as Internet Explorer's market share continues to slip.
But more importantly, the world needs a new Microsoft browser because IE7 is far more security than its predecessors.
Application compatibility might remain an ongoing concern, but once those issues have been solved, every users running IE6 or IE5 should upgrade. Not because of tabbed browsing and other nice to have features, but because running an insecure browser allows attackers to hijack your computer and use it to send spam and attack other computers.
You wouldn't lay guns on the street either, would you?
technorati tags: IE7, firefox, security, internet, internet+explorer, browser
October 14, 2006 at 01:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack
HP rehires a God's advocate
HP has found a replacement for the position of ethics and compliance officer.
The company's previous ethicist Kevin Hunsaker resigned last month as a result of the corporate spying scandal. He also refused to testify before a congressional committee, pleading the 5th amendment that safeguards individuals against being forced to make self incriminating statements.
Being the new HP ethics chief must be the best job a person can wish for. Every time you get into an argument, you simply whisper "Patricia Dunn" and your opponent will tremble and leave the stage.
If any new skeletons happen to turn up in the coming months, your position will only get stronger. After all, the HP way is supposed to be an ethical way.
In related news, HP's main spying target Cnet could use an ethics officer too. This week the firm's chief executive was forced to step down because he had degraded himself to stock option back dating, which essentially will help overpaid executives make even more money through their stock option programmes.
technorati tags: hp, spying, ethics, cnet
October 14, 2006 at 01:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Sun's virtual press conference: finally a change to jump on stage
Sun on Tuesday held its virtual press conference in the Second Life massive multiplayer online role playing game (mmorpg).
Judging by a video of the event (available below), it attracted a decent crowd and the virtual version Sun's John Gage (picture left) is a man trapped in woman's body. The audience meanwhile can freely walk around and jump on the stage without violating any social etiquette or disrupting the event.
But all kidding aside, Sun has demonstrated a new way to use virtual worlds as an online meeting and collaboration tool. At least it looks far better than WebEx.
technorati tags: sun, sun+microsystems, secondlife, pr
October 13, 2006 at 07:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Digg manipulation service speaks: Q&A with user/submitter
The user/submitter service offers promition for stories on the Digg.com service at a fee. As we wrote last week, we have our doubts about the credibility of the service. The site at the time didn't respond to our questions, but over the weekend the (anonymous) individual(s) behind the service send a reply that we've paste below.
User/submitter charges publishers a $20 setup fee in addition to $1/per digg. Individuals who vote on the stories get paid 16.7 cents per digg (50 cents for every 3).
We tested voting for the service last week which resulted in our Digg account getting banned within hours. Users who persist and create additional accounts have been hit by IP bans, completely blocking their access to the website. User/submitter has since responded by removing direct links to the Digg.com website and advising users to add diggs to random stories to prevent detection.
But enough introdction. What follows are user/submitter's answers to some questions that we asked by email:
When did User/Submitter launch?
We aren't sure exactly.
The general idea was conceptualized many months ago, but the foundation
wasn't laid until August. The project had dispersed into several
radically different forms before we finally decided on making the
"User/Submitter" variant public. During what was supposed to be a
mostly-isolated testing phase, we were hit with a trickle of unexpected
members. Before we could lock the shop, a few Submitters had already
expressed interest. Granted, we eventually had to keep the gates open
if the project was to ever be endeavored.
Have you had any contact with Digg regarding your service?
No.
Do you expect any response from them?
We don't expect too
much of a public breath in our direction, but initiating a private
dialog would be in their best interests. (And, no, we're not cleverly
hinting at extortion or anything remotely similar.)
Who, in general, are the types of submitters signing up for the service?
You
would be surprised at the number of A-list sites (say, Alexa Top 3000)
that have used User/Submitter already (during and after the public's
general reception). You might be surprised at a certain political
group's determination to infiltrate Digg. That aside, mostly blogs –
individuals interested in SEO [search engine optimization] and increasing visitor conversion rates.
Any specific industries or topics on Digg that seem to be more interested in your service than others?
Since
Digg is a news site, the industry of news and news blogging is most
common. Unsurprisingly, considering the background of Digg, a lot of
Submitters have been pushing Tech-related stories onto Users.
Are there any concerns that User/Submitter will lower the credibility of Digg and its ranking system?
Absolutely.
But that stems from the notion of Digg lowering the credibility of
Digg. Fact is, because of Digg's overgenerous social nature, the active
participants that mold the Digg network are suffering (whether they
know it or not) from a) their lack of digging privacy and b) the weight
of the network. We're not at all claiming that Digg is a social failure
and users should give up hope, but we're placing the spotlight on some
ridiculously wide holes in their social atmosphere -- holes that need
closing. The 'loose social networking' trend is over. Digg needs to
regress some of its social networking features.
While it's possible that we could determine nearly every front page story on digg, that's not our goal; we desire limitations. That said, the goal of User/Submitter is to exploit but control the fundamental flaws in Digg's social network so that it can sustain. Maybe then, they'll fix these flaws.
technorati tags: digg, manipulation, gaming, web20, user/submitter, usersubmitter
October 12, 2006 at 07:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Before you let your kids hug those Disney world characters…
Before you let your kids hug those Disney world characters, you might want to watch this video that shows them simulating sex acts. The movie is shot behind the scenes a tEurodisney in Paris.
Minnie features as the movie's main star. She is approached first by one of the 'human' employees and then gets sandwiched by Goofy and some snowman. Miney next gets cornered by the snowman, after which Goofy has a go at either Chip or Dale.
Disney isn't amused about the movie that show it's billion dollar characters humping in a poorly lit back room. The footage has already been removed from Youtube. But of course that didn't prevent it from showing up elsewhere.
