Crowdfunding site Social Teeth gives US public a 'political megaphone'

A Stanford graduate has announced the launch of a US crowdfunding site that gives the public the opportunity to create and broadcast political adverts to compete with corporate-funded campaigns.

"It's about giving everyday people a megaphone," Social Teeth founder Elaine Chang explained to Wired.co.uk. The graduate has David Cameron's strategist Steve Hilton -- who is at Stanford on a sabbatical -- on board as an advisor, and is prepped to launch the site on 1 August.

The US public is used to sifting through the barrage of propaganda from political parties and the corporations that support them every time election season rolls around. However, after the US judicial system ruled in favour of non-profit corporation Citizens United in 2010, matters have become increasingly worse. The ruling stated that the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which allowed the government to restrict money spent by corporations and unions on independent political campaigns, violated the First Amendment.

By: Liat Clark, Edited by: Olivia Solon

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via Wired.co.uk



http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-07/05/social-teeth

Ex-France Telecom CEO probed over staff suicide spate

Supremo quizzed in court after union cried foul

Former France Telecom chief executive Didier Lombard is under investigation following a spate of staff suicides at his firm in 2008 and 2009.…

via The Register - Networks

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/05/france_telecom_chief_investigated/

BT broadband packs up again - second big outage in a fortnight

'We're really sorry', sniffs enormous telco

BT has once again suffered what appears to be a major network outage affecting what the company described as "multiple areas".…

via The Register - Networks

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/05/bt_broadband_outage/

BT upset at Ofcom's wholesale leased-line price cap plan

Watchdog hopes it'll drive down costs for telco's rivals

BT is worried about Ofcom's plans to tighten its control of the national telco's wholesale Ethernet services prices outside of London.…

via The Register - Networks

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/05/ofcom_mulls_price_cap/

Rock-hard indie platformer Spelunky hits Xbox Live Arcade

Spelunky, a super-hard subterranean platformer from indie developer Derek Yu, is now available to download on Xbox Live Arcade.

You play as pint-sized underground explorer, who delves deeper and deeper into dangerous caves. It's a tough game, and it won't be long until you kick the bucket -- perhaps crushed by falling rock, speared on spikes, bit by bats or poisoned by spiders.

By: Mark Brown, Edited by: Duncan Geere

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via Wired.co.uk



http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-07/05/spelunky-xbla

Red Hat, the hidden cloud company

Red Hat is bullish on cloud computing. That's no surprise: Its version of GNU/Linux has been a driving force behind the last decade's infrastructure revolution, from which the idea of cloud computing arose.

via Open Source Software - Infoworld https://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source-software/red-hat-the-hidden-cloud-company-196676?source=rss_open_source_software

Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst weighs in on strategy, growth, and Oracle

Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst is coming up on his five-year anniversary at the helm, following his arrival in December 2007. Under Whitehurst's leadership, Red Hat's revenue has grown from $523 million in its fiscal 2008 to more than $1.1 billion in its fiscal 2012, without deviating from its core strategy of open source infrastructure software.

via Open Source Software - Infoworld https://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source-software/red-hat-ceo-jim-whitehurst-weighs-in-strategy-growth-and-oracle-196631?source=rss_open_source_software

The long death of fat clients

With Adobe's divestment of Flex and mobile Flash and Microsoft's move from Silverlight to Metro, Oracle now seems all alone in believing that a fat client framework -- in the form of JavaFX -- is a worthwhile investment.

Fewer and fewer options exist for developing purely fat client desktop applications and fewer still for RAD applications with Web-based delivery (aka, "thick clients"). We are on the verge of a purely HTML/JavaScript client world.

via Open Source Software - Infoworld https://www.infoworld.com/d/application-development/the-long-death-of-fat-clients-196554?source=rss_open_source_software

Red Hat unveils hybrid cloud, PaaS plans

Red Hat is planning to roll out a number of product sets for building hybrid clouds over the next few months, the company announced Wednesday at the Red Hat Summit conference in Boston.

via Open Source Software - Infoworld https://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/red-hat-unveils-hybrid-cloud-paas-plans-196558?source=rss_open_source_software

Eclipse's Juno release train features tools for mobile developers

The Eclipse Foundation, which has been a staple for open source development tools for most of the past decade, will offer its annual "release train" on Wednesday, featuring tools for mobile application development and a new base platform itself.

via Open Source Software - Infoworld https://www.infoworld.com/d/application-development/eclipses-juno-release-train-features-tools-mobile-developers-196467?source=rss_open_source_software

Facebook: We need to create our own dev and management tools

With nearly 1 billion users worldwide and 500 million people visiting its social network every day, Facebook has its work cut out for it in managing its systems. To help do that, the company has been developing its own management and development tools tuned to its specific needs, rather than relying on commercial offerings.

via Open Source Software - Infoworld https://www.infoworld.com/d/application-development/facebook-we-need-create-our-own-dev-and-management-tools-196437?source=rss_open_source_software

Eucalyptus CEO: Build your private cloud with our tools

There are a growing number of open source cloud infrastructure players in the market, but Eucalyptus says it is the best bet for private enterprise clouds. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix caught up with CEO Mårten Mickos, who, as the former CEO of MySQL, has loads of experience growing significant open source companies, to learn more about the company and how Mickos sees private clouds evolving.

via Open Source Software - Infoworld https://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/eucalyptus-ceo-build-your-private-cloud-our-tools-196361?source=rss_open_source_software

A reality check for OpenStack

Last week I caught up with Rackspace president Lew Moorman at the GigaOM Structure event to promote OpenStack, the open source "cloud operating system" started by Rackspace and NASA.

via Open Source Software - Infoworld https://www.infoworld.com/t/cloud-computing/reality-check-openstack-196249?source=rss_open_source_software

After Oracle, OpenSolaris rises again

While some of the open source projects that Sun Microsystems created -- and which I used to work with -- have maintained a high profile, the one most associated with Sun in the minds of system administrators has been strangely forgotten. Whatever happened to OpenSolaris?

The OpenSolaris story illustrates a key value delivered by the liberties provided via open source. When your vendor changes direction, what do you do? Traditionally, you have five options:

via Open Source Software - Infoworld https://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source-software/after-oracle-opensolaris-rises-again-196075?source=rss_open_source_software

Red Hat's RHEL 6.3 aims at large-scale cloud deployments

With the release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.3, Red Hat has tweaked the enterprise grade Linux distribution to add new capabilities in storage, virtualization, security, scalability, and performance.

"This is one of largest update release to date," said Tim Burke, Red Hat vice president of Linux engineering development. "It has a lot of performance scalability optimizations specifically targeted at virtualized cloud deployments in the data center."

via Open Source Software - Infoworld https://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source-software/red-hats-rhel-63-aims-large-scale-cloud-deployments-196098?source=rss_open_source_software

Red Hat releases NoSQL database for enterprise Java

Enterprise open source software provider Red Hat has jumped into the emerging NoSQL market, releasing an in-memory data store as part of an update of its JBoss management platform.

via Open Source Software - Infoworld https://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source-software/red-hat-releases-nosql-database-enterprise-java-196020?source=rss_open_source_software

Eucalyptus returns to its open source roots

Since last year, Eucalyptus CEO Marten Mickos has acknowledged that his company hasn't done a great job in engaging and retaining support from the open sour

via Open Source Software - Infoworld https://www.infoworld.com/t/iaas/eucalyptus-returns-its-open-source-roots-195867?source=rss_open_source_software

Managing swap space on Linux systems

When your Linux server starts feeling sluggish, you might benefit from looking at your swap space and gauging whether it's adequately sized for your system's workload. Fortunately, Linux has some handy commands for helping you get a good picture of your system's behavior.

Setting your swap space to be twice the size of your RAM is a good rule of thumb, but systems with very large amounts of memory likely won't likely need anywhere near that amount of swap. Besides, adding it later is easy if you have adequate disk space.

via Open Source Software - Infoworld https://www.infoworld.com/t/linux/managing-swap-space-linux-systems-196068?source=rss_open_source_software

A new way to end the patent madness

The new Defensive Patent License (DPL), launched this week by two UC Berkeley law professors, offers an improved way for businesses -- especially small businesses -- to protect themselves from patent attacks. Over time, it may also disarm patent trolls by reducing the supply of "weaponized" patents.

via Open Source Software - Infoworld https://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source-software/new-way-end-the-patent-madness-195611?source=rss_open_source_software

Facebook tackles Hadoop Achilles' heel

Running what they believe is the world's largest Hadoop-based collection of data, Facebook engineers have developed a way to circumnavigate a core weakness of the data analysis platform, that of relying on only a single name server to coordinate all operations.

via Open Source Software - Infoworld https://www.infoworld.com/d/business-intelligence/facebook-tackles-hadoop-achilles-heel-195546?source=rss_open_source_software

VMware bets on big data as it brings Hadoop to virtual world

In an effort to secure a spot as the de facto virtualization provider for all things Hadoop, VMware today announced an open s

via Open Source Software - Infoworld https://www.infoworld.com/t/cloud-computing/vmware-bets-big-data-it-brings-hadoop-virtual-world-195457?source=rss_open_source_software

Linaro boasts up to 100-percent speed boost for Android

Developers at open-source nonprofit organization Linaro have posted a set of code tweaks for Android, enabling up to 100 percent increases in performance, compared to a vanilla version of Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich."

via Open Source Software - Infoworld https://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/linaro-boasts-100-percent-speed-boost-android-195347?source=rss_open_source_software

Hortonworks tools extend Hadoop data analysis platform

For the first production release of what will be its flagship Apache Hadoop distribution, Hortonworks has focused on providing a set of tools to help deploy, manage, and extend the data analysis platform.

"Hortonworks' goal is to make Hadoop easy to use and consume," said John Kreisa, Hortonworks vice president of marketing.

via Open Source Software - Infoworld https://www.infoworld.com/d/data-management/hortonworks-tools-extend-hadoop-data-analysis-platform-195393?source=rss_open_source_software

Facebook's Open Compute and the future of IT

The phrase "open source hardware" sounds silly. Open source software tends to come in a free version, but hardware, not so much. Yet the folks at the Open Compute Project, led by Facebook, insist on the phrase.

What they really mean is that the hardware designs, including full specs and CAD files, are open source. So why would the Open Compute Project create intellectual property of significant value and give it away?

via Open Source Software - Infoworld https://www.infoworld.com/t/cloud-computing/facebooks-open-compute-and-the-future-of-it-195102?source=rss_open_source_software

Making sense of memory usage on Linux

Let's look at some basic commands that report on memory usage. The first that probably comes to mind is free. The free command will tell you about used and unused memory and about swap space. Physical memory is the random access storage provided by the RAM modules plugged into your motherboard. Swap is some portion of space on your hard drive that is used as if it is an extension of your physical memory.

via Open Source Software - Infoworld https://www.infoworld.com/t/linux/making-sense-of-memory-usage-linux-196126?source=rss_open_source_software

HTC defeats Apple in UK slide-to-unlock patent battle

The High Court in London has declared that HTC had not infringed upon Apple's slide-to-unlock patent, because the iPhone's lock screen was an "obvious" evolution from a feature on an eight-year-old phone.

The ruling will mean that Apple cannot ban certain HTC phones in Britain, and it could affect Apple's other legal cases against rival firms like Motorola and Samsung.

By: Mark Brown, Edited by: Duncan Geere

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via Wired.co.uk



http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-07/05/slide-to-unlock-invalid

Infographic: The Olympic evolution

What counts as an Olympic sport? It depends on the year -- live pigeon-shooting was a hot new event in 1900 -- but like 184 other events, it only lasted one Olympiad. Yet there are still firsts: this year will have the inaugural women's boxing bouts. Here's a look at some long- and short-lived events.

By: Rachel Swaby, Edited by: Ian Steadman

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via Wired.co.uk



http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2012/08/start/the-olympic-evolution

'Amazon can't do what we do': Twitter-miner's BYO data centre heresy

DataSift strains with Hadoop

Sometimes floating on somebody else’s cloud isn’t enough. Sometimes you just have to float alone – no matter how young you are. DataSift, the five-year-old big data company mining billions of tweets and Wikipedia edits, reckons it’s just one year away from building its own data centre.…

via The Register - Cloud

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/05/datasift_byo_big_data_datacenter/

Google announces offline editing for Docs, and Google Drive for iOS

Google kicked off the second day of its I/O conference by announcing offline text editing for Google Docs, and a version of its Drive storage service for Apple's iOS.

It also announced a version of its Chrome Web browser for iOS, and demonstrated the software running on Apple's iPad and iPhone.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://podcasts.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/google-announces-offline-editing-docs-and-google-drive-ios-196659?source=rss_cloud_computing

Red Hat, the hidden cloud company

Red Hat is bullish on cloud computing. That's no surprise: Its version of GNU/Linux has been a driving force behind the last decade's infrastructure revolution, from which the idea of cloud computing arose.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://podcasts.infoworld.com/d/open-source-software/red-hat-the-hidden-cloud-company-196676?source=rss_cloud_computing

Your corporate data needs to be in the public cloud -- starting now

Looking for your first cloud computing project? Chances are you're considering a very small, very low-risk application to create on a public PaaS or IaaS cloud provider.

I get the logic: It's a low-value application. If the thing tanks or your information is hacked, no harm, no foul. However, I assert that you could move backward by hedging your bets, retrenching further and further into the data center and missing out on the game-changing advantages of the cloud.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://podcasts.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/your-corporate-data-needs-be-in-the-public-cloud-starting-now-196475?source=rss_cloud_computing

Google pledges computing without limits in Compute Engine cloud platform

With its Google Compute Engine launched Thursday, Google is offering an IaaS (infrastructure as a service) cloud for running Linux virtual machines on the same infrastructure that powers the company itself.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://podcasts.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/google-pledges-computing-without-limits-in-compute-engine-cloud-platform-196656?source=rss_cloud_computing

Cloud adoption pushes storage virtualization

About three years ago Host.net, a collocation and managed service provider, decided it was going to fully embrace the cloud as a new suite of offerings for customers. When migrating to the new service, the company wanted to use its legacy hardware infrastructure -- mostly Dell and EMC storage servers -- with new hardware that had been purchased for the upgrade. But they didn't want to be tied down to any one vendor moving forward, in case application needs or markets changed.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://podcasts.infoworld.com/d/virtualization/cloud-adoption-pushes-storage-virtualization-196647?source=rss_cloud_computing

Update: Salesforce.com hit with outage

Salesforce.com experienced system problems in a number of regions on Thursday, starting at 3:34 a.m. PDT, according to an online status page.

The problem began in Salesforce.com's NA2 instance in North America, according to a notice on the page. A subsequent note blamed a "fault" in Salesforce.com's storage tier for the issue and said it was preventing customers from accessing the service.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://podcasts.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/salesforcecom-hit-outage-196635?source=rss_cloud_computing

Enterprise collaboration app earns spotlight at Google I/O

How do you get your Google+ app featured at Google's blockbuster I/O conference? According to Bjorn Haugland, the CEO of Symphonical, you just invite product manager Amit Fulay to join you in a Hangouts video chat and show him your stuff.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://podcasts.infoworld.com/d/applications/enterprise-collaboration-app-earns-spotlight-google-io-196628?source=rss_cloud_computing

Red Hat unveils hybrid cloud, PaaS plans

Red Hat is planning to roll out a number of product sets for building hybrid clouds over the next few months, the company announced Wednesday at the Red Hat Summit conference in Boston.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://podcasts.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/red-hat-unveils-hybrid-cloud-paas-plans-196558?source=rss_cloud_computing

Review: Weighing Windows Server 2012

It may feel like a wolf chasing you through the woods at night -- yet another Windows Server migration closing in on its prey. This is one migration you'll want to look at very closely before trying to pull it off.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://podcasts.infoworld.com/d/microsoft-windows/review-weighing-windows-server-2012-196431?source=rss_cloud_computing

Could cloud computing change how we communicate?

The way analyst Alan Lepofsky figures it, organizations have several options when it comes to their worker productivity applications. Besides ignoring the cloud option completely, IT leaders could:

Move their existing on-premises products (likely Microsoft Office) to the cloud, opting for the same or similar applications in a Web-based format.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://podcasts.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/could-cloud-computing-change-how-we-communicate-196389?source=rss_cloud_computing

Cloud-based Office tools: Right for you?

The Museum of Modern Art's migration to the cloud started last June, when MoMA moved from an on-premises email system to Google's cloud-based Gmail and Calendar, says Juan Montes, IS manager for the New York-based museum. And now, he says, he's seeing employees turn to other cloud-based productivity applications on their own as they become more comfortable with the notion.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://podcasts.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/cloud-based-office-tools-right-you-196390?source=rss_cloud_computing

Google-backed CliQr launches cloud management service

CliQr Technologies, a startup backed by Google Ventures, has an unveiled a service called CloudCenter designed to allow organizations move applications across different cloud providers with a minimum amount of work.

"What we see is IT departments having to do massive, complex integrations to a single cloud architecture" said Gaurav Manglik, co-founder and CEO of CliQr Technologies. "Applications should be completely unhooked from infrastructure, so they interoperate with any cloud, and be able to move between clouds."

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://podcasts.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/google-backed-cliqr-launches-cloud-management-service-196370?source=rss_cloud_computing

Eucalyptus CEO: Build your private cloud with our tools

There are a growing number of open source cloud infrastructure players in the market, but Eucalyptus says it is the best bet for private enterprise clouds. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix caught up with CEO Mårten Mickos, who, as the former CEO of MySQL, has loads of experience growing significant open source companies, to learn more about the company and how Mickos sees private clouds evolving.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://podcasts.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/eucalyptus-ceo-build-your-private-cloud-our-tools-196361?source=rss_cloud_computing

Google: The great hope for IaaS

It's almost a certainty that Google will announce an enhanced IaaS offering at its developer conference this week in San Francisco. Most industry analysts, and yours truly, have been expecting this move -- and hoping it would happen. It will build on Google's existing PaaS product and Google App Engine, as well as Google storage services.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://podcasts.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/google-the-great-hope-iaas-196314?source=rss_cloud_computing

41 London tube station platforms now WIRED for Wi-Fi

HELLO, HELLO. I'm on the Underground

Virgin Media has now installed Wi-Fi kit in more than 40 London Underground stations as it continues to connect its fibre backhaul network to around half of the capital's tube stations – although the service will only be available at platform-level.…

via The Register - Networks

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/04/40_more_tube_station_platforms_wired_for_wifi/

Samsung fails to stall Galaxy Nexus sales ban

Google pulls mobe from Play store, works on fix

Samsung's bad luck in the US courts continues after Judge Lucy Koh refused to delay a ban on its Galaxy Nexus smartphones.…

via The Register - Networks

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/04/stay_on_galaxy_nexus_ban_denied/

What does a Higgs boson look like?

Jon Butterworth, professor of physics at UCL who hunts the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider, has a cartoon picture of what the elusive particle looks like. "I usually see a little wave impulse, like a ripple passing down a slinky," he says. "But I know it's wrong."

While we can't be certain, fundamental particles probably don't look like a child's spring. There is a plethora of bizarre analogies that attempt to explain the Higgs -- one compares the particle to Margaret Thatcher at a cocktail party.

By: Alice Lighton, Edited by: Duncan Geere

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via Wired.co.uk



http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-07/04/higgs-boson-appearance

FIA press conference schedule - Great Britain

Local heroes Lewis Hamilton and Paul di Resta will be among the six drivers answering questions on Thursday at Silverstone, while Friday will see a gaggle of technical brains including Red Bull's Adrian Newey and Ferrari's Pat Fry face the media. The line-up in full

via Formula1.com - Latest Headlines http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/7/13528.html

Google Maps goes indoors across the UK

Google Maps for Android now features indoor floor plans for locations around the UK, including the British Museum, Harrods, Kings Cross Station, Birmingham Airport and Wembley Stadium.

When you're in a train station, a museum or a department store, the Google Maps dot will show your location within a few metres. You can use search to find sections, shops, platforms and toilets, or use Google Latitude to find friends.

By: Mark Brown, Edited by: Duncan Geere

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via Wired.co.uk



http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-07/04/indoor-google-maps-uk

EC's competition concerns stall UK's superfast broadband plans

Scrutiny of BT and Fujitsu deals 'will not delay rollout', insists gov

Competition officials in Europe have stalled the UK government's plans to lay superfast fibre optic networks for 90 per cent of homes and businesses in the country by 2015.…

via The Register - Networks

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/04/bduk_stalled_by_brussels_intervention_following_competition_concerns/

Petrov to demo Caterham near Moscow

Caterham's Vitaly Petrov will get to drive a Formula One car on home soil later this month when he takes part in a demonstration run for the team at the World Series by Renault (WSR) event at Volokolamsk, near the Russian capital of Moscow. "I get a lot of positive emotions every time I visit Russia, and much more so at events where there are fans

via Formula1.com - Latest Headlines http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/7/13527.html

Speaking in Tech: Apple, Oracle and Google SUCK at cloud

Plus: Does VMware's acquisition of DynamicOps change the game?

via The Register - Cloud

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/04/speaking_in_tech_episode_15/

Google Maps takes shelter from the British summer

Indoor mapping comes to Blighty

Google has extended its indoor mapping, launched in America last November, to the UK, providing guidance around any property the owners care to share.…

via The Register - Cloud

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/04/indoor_mapping/

Cern announces discovery of particle, consistent with Higgs boson

Two experiments at the £6 billion physics laboratory Cern have observed a new particle in the mass region around 125-126 gigaelectronvolts (GeV), which is consistent with the elusive Higgs boson.

"The results are preliminary but the five sigma signal at around 125 GeV we're seeing is dramatic," said Joe Incandela, spokesperson of the CMS experiment. "This is indeed a new particle. We know it must be a boson and it's the heaviest boson ever found."

By: Mark Brown, Edited by: Duncan Geere

Continue reading...



via Wired.co.uk



http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-07/04/cern-new-particle-higgs

R.I.P. Eric Sykes

You brought a smile to our faces for so many years...

Comedian and actor Eric Sykes has died at the age of 89, his manager has said...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-18704263

Nexus 7 teardown shows it's easier to fix than an iPad, but harder than a Kindle Fire

The expert hardware hackers at iFixit are at it again, this time with Google's and Asus' new Nexus 7 tablet in hand

By: Alexandra Chang, Edited by: Ian Steadman

Continue reading...



via Wired.co.uk



http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-07/04/nexus-7-teardown

Amazon buys 4-person 3D mapping startup, claims report

Accidentally hit 'buy with one click'?

Amazon have marked a sharp change in corporate direction by buying up 3D mapping start-up UpNext yesterday for an undisclosed sum.…

via The Register - Networks

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/04/amazon_3d_maps_nextup/

No excuse: Storms should not take down your cloud

For the second time this month, Amazon.com's Northern Virginia data center suffered an outage caused by a line of powerful thunderstorms coming through the area late Friday night. Disrupted services included Elastic Compute, Elastic Cache, Elastic MapReduce, and Relational Database Services. The outage has affected Instagram, Pinterest, Netflix, and Heroku, used by many startups and mobile apps.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/no-excuse-storms-should-not-take-down-your-cloud-196840?source=rss_cloud_computing

VMware acquiring cloud automation vendor DynamicOps

Expanding beyond the delivery of software for its own cloud platform, VMware is acquiring DynamicOps for its heterogenous cloud management offerings.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://www.infoworld.com/d/the-industry-standard/vmware-acquiring-cloud-automation-vendor-dynamicops-196900?source=rss_cloud_computing

Microsoft's Yammer buy raises questions about NewsGator's future

When NewsGator Technologies decided to play in the nascent enterprise social collaboration market a few years ago with a product that worked only with Microsoft's SharePoint, it was making a big bet.

It was gambling that by making a deeply integrated SharePoint add-on, it would carve a profitable niche that was different from the broader opportunity pursued by competitors with vendor-agnostic products.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://www.infoworld.com/d/applications/microsofts-yammer-buy-raises-questions-about-newsgators-future-196767?source=rss_cloud_computing

Moving to the cloud for the right reasons

About two years ago, I suggested the cloud had jumped the shark -- not in the sense it had ceased to become an important part of the future of IT, but that the hype surrounding it had reached such a fever pitch that what it means to be "in the cloud" had almost become meaningless. I've been surprised to find that the hype has not died down.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://www.infoworld.com/d/data-explosion/moving-the-cloud-the-right-reasons-196715?source=rss_cloud_computing

Google Compute Engine: What took them so long?

Finally, we've come full circle. The popular notion of cloud computing really began with Google: A sea of cheap white Google servers shimmered before the eyes of C-level execs everywhere, igniting the dream of commodity computing. Pool everything! Allocate resources wherever you need them! No waste! No downtime!

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://www.infoworld.com/t/cloud-computing/google-compute-engine-what-took-them-so-long-196780?source=rss_cloud_computing

Where Google Compute Engine fits in

InfoWorld described yesterday how Compute Engine is Google's first unabashed IaaS (infrastructure-as-a-service) product, a clou

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://www.infoworld.com/t/cloud-computing/where-google-computing-engine-fits-in-196738?source=rss_cloud_computing

Google announces offline editing for Docs, and Google Drive for iOS

Google kicked off the second day of its I/O conference by announcing offline text editing for Google Docs, and a version of its Drive storage service for Apple's iOS.

It also announced a version of its Chrome Web browser for iOS, and demonstrated the software running on Apple's iPad and iPhone.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/google-announces-offline-editing-docs-and-google-drive-ios-196659?source=rss_cloud_computing

Your corporate data needs to be in the public cloud -- starting now

Looking for your first cloud computing project? Chances are you're considering a very small, very low-risk application to create on a public PaaS or IaaS cloud provider.

I get the logic: It's a low-value application. If the thing tanks or your information is hacked, no harm, no foul. However, I assert that you could move backward by hedging your bets, retrenching further and further into the data center and missing out on the game-changing advantages of the cloud.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/your-corporate-data-needs-be-in-the-public-cloud-starting-now-196475?source=rss_cloud_computing

Red Hat, the hidden cloud company

Red Hat is bullish on cloud computing. That's no surprise: Its version of GNU/Linux has been a driving force behind the last decade's infrastructure revolution, from which the idea of cloud computing arose.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source-software/red-hat-the-hidden-cloud-company-196676?source=rss_cloud_computing

Google pledges computing without limits in Compute Engine cloud platform

With its Google Compute Engine launched Thursday, Google is offering an IaaS (infrastructure as a service) cloud for running Linux virtual machines on the same infrastructure that powers the company itself.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/google-pledges-computing-without-limits-in-compute-engine-cloud-platform-196656?source=rss_cloud_computing

Cloud adoption pushes storage virtualization

About three years ago Host.net, a collocation and managed service provider, decided it was going to fully embrace the cloud as a new suite of offerings for customers. When migrating to the new service, the company wanted to use its legacy hardware infrastructure -- mostly Dell and EMC storage servers -- with new hardware that had been purchased for the upgrade. But they didn't want to be tied down to any one vendor moving forward, in case application needs or markets changed.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://www.infoworld.com/d/virtualization/cloud-adoption-pushes-storage-virtualization-196647?source=rss_cloud_computing

Update: Salesforce.com hit with outage

Salesforce.com experienced system problems in a number of regions on Thursday, starting at 3:34 a.m. PDT, according to an online status page.

The problem began in Salesforce.com's NA2 instance in North America, according to a notice on the page. A subsequent note blamed a "fault" in Salesforce.com's storage tier for the issue and said it was preventing customers from accessing the service.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/salesforcecom-hit-outage-196635?source=rss_cloud_computing

Enterprise collaboration app earns spotlight at Google I/O

How do you get your Google+ app featured at Google's blockbuster I/O conference? According to Bjorn Haugland, the CEO of Symphonical, you just invite product manager Amit Fulay to join you in a Hangouts video chat and show him your stuff.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://www.infoworld.com/d/applications/enterprise-collaboration-app-earns-spotlight-google-io-196628?source=rss_cloud_computing

Red Hat unveils hybrid cloud, PaaS plans

Red Hat is planning to roll out a number of product sets for building hybrid clouds over the next few months, the company announced Wednesday at the Red Hat Summit conference in Boston.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/red-hat-unveils-hybrid-cloud-paas-plans-196558?source=rss_cloud_computing

Review: Weighing Windows Server 2012

It may feel like a wolf chasing you through the woods at night -- yet another Windows Server migration closing in on its prey. This is one migration you'll want to look at very closely before trying to pull it off.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://www.infoworld.com/d/microsoft-windows/review-weighing-windows-server-2012-196431?source=rss_cloud_computing

Could cloud computing change how we communicate?

The way analyst Alan Lepofsky figures it, organizations have several options when it comes to their worker productivity applications. Besides ignoring the cloud option completely, IT leaders could:

Move their existing on-premises products (likely Microsoft Office) to the cloud, opting for the same or similar applications in a Web-based format.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/could-cloud-computing-change-how-we-communicate-196389?source=rss_cloud_computing

Cloud-based Office tools: Right for you?

The Museum of Modern Art's migration to the cloud started last June, when MoMA moved from an on-premises email system to Google's cloud-based Gmail and Calendar, says Juan Montes, IS manager for the New York-based museum. And now, he says, he's seeing employees turn to other cloud-based productivity applications on their own as they become more comfortable with the notion.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/cloud-based-office-tools-right-you-196390?source=rss_cloud_computing

Google-backed CliQr launches cloud management service

CliQr Technologies, a startup backed by Google Ventures, has an unveiled a service called CloudCenter designed to allow organizations move applications across different cloud providers with a minimum amount of work.

"What we see is IT departments having to do massive, complex integrations to a single cloud architecture" said Gaurav Manglik, co-founder and CEO of CliQr Technologies. "Applications should be completely unhooked from infrastructure, so they interoperate with any cloud, and be able to move between clouds."

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/google-backed-cliqr-launches-cloud-management-service-196370?source=rss_cloud_computing

Google: The great hope for IaaS

It's almost a certainty that Google will announce an enhanced IaaS offering at its developer conference this week in San Francisco. Most industry analysts, and yours truly, have been expecting this move -- and hoping it would happen. It will build on Google's existing PaaS product and Google App Engine, as well as Google storage services.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/google-the-great-hope-iaas-196314?source=rss_cloud_computing

New Oracle OpenWorld details give early look at company's plans

Oracle tends to keep a tight lid on the specific announcements it will make each year at the OpenWorld conference prior to show time, but a newly released session catalog provides plenty of clues and fodder for speculation as to what's in store at the event, which runs from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4 in San Francisco.

via Cloud Computing - Infoworld http://www.infoworld.com/d/applications/new-oracle-openworld-details-give-early-look-companys-plans-196337?source=rss_cloud_computing

Big Data megaslurp 'to save UK.gov £30 BILLION pa', raves thinktank

Gov should be more like FaceGooglezon! <wipes foam>

Politicians should use their own expectations of privacy to judge how far the government should go when digging through databases and marrying up disparate information on individual citizens.…

via The Register - Networks

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/04/policy_exchange_big_data/

Pretty returns to telco land with Mahindra Satyam

Lands chairman role, set to drive A/Pac expansion

India’s IT outsourcing giant Mahindra Satyam has resurrected former high profile Telstra and Optus executive Ted Pretty, placing him in the chairman’s role for its newly fleshed out Australia and New Zealand operations.…

via The Register - Networks

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/04/pretty_gets_bollytechwood_role/

IBM snuggles up BigInsights Hadoop with Cloudera

Who says Blue elephants can't dance?

Like all of the other Hadoop disties, Big Blue is upgrading its big data muncher to the most recent Apache modules and integrating it with its own add-ons. And with its InfoSphere BigInsights Enterprise Edition V1.4, IBM is also doing something else interesting: It is letting customers slide in the Cloudera CDH distribution and slide out its own variant of the core Apache Hadoop stack.…

via The Register - Cloud

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/03/ibm_biginsights_v1_4_hadoop/

RIM boss denies cratering Canucks are in 'a death spiral'

If only Apple and Google would get their boots off his throat

RIM CEO Thorsten Heins has insisted that the troubled phone maker is not in "a death spiral" and will emerge successfully from its current travails.…

via The Register - Networks

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/03/rim_death_spiral_denial/

Bad generator and bugs take out Amazon cloud

From failover to fallover

Amazon Web Services battened down the hatches and called in extra troops ahead of the vicious thunderstorms that ripped through the Ohio valley and across Virginia and Maryland on Friday night.…

via The Register - Cloud

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/03/amazon_outage_post_mortem/

'That new Google button was our idea', claims lawsuit

Most people looking at our site were in Mountain View

Google has reportedly been slapped with a lawsuit from a New York-based startup that claimed a video sharing feature added to YouTube and Google+ was similar to the one it pitched to the company in 2011.…

via The Register - Cloud

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/03/google_camup_lawsuit/

Twitter: This year so far we have ratted out 948 users to the US govt

They are so sinister compared to us who know you all

The US government demands more data from Twitter than any other nation, the micro-blogging website has revealed.…

via The Register - Networks

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/03/twitter_transparency_report/

VMware snatches cloud-furtling biz from the very jaws of Dell

When you need to flip down that non-standard hypervisor

It looks like Dell was too distracted with its acquisition of Quest Software in the past several months to notice VMware sniffing around one of its key software partners. The server virtualization juggernaut and cloud plumbing wannabe has snapped up DynamicOps, a maker of management software for clouds and virtual desktop infrastructure.…

via The Register - Cloud

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/03/vmware_buys_dynamicops/

De Villota conscious after Marussia test crash

Marussia test driver Maria de Villota is conscious and undergoing further medical assessment in hospital, after crashing during a straight-line test at Duxford on Tuesday morning. De Villota's car struck the team's support truck shortly after the end of her first installation run at the Cambridgeshire airfield. “The team can confirm that Maria was transferred by ambulance from Duxford Airfield, where the accident happened, to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge,” said a Marussia statement. “Since Maria's arrival at the hospital at approximately 10.45 hours this morning, she has been receiving the best medical attention possible at the hospital, which is the region's major trauma centre.

via Formula1.com - Latest Headlines http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/7/13525.html

Van der Garde set to wow Rotterdam in August

Reserve driver Giedo van der Garde will demonstrate a Caterham in front of his home crowd in Rotterdam as part of the annual City Racing event. Mercedes have already confirmed the participation of their driver Nico Rosberg at the motorsport spectacular, which will take place on Sunday, August 26. “For years I have been following City Racing Rotterdam and I'm delighted that the organization has invited Caterham F1 Team and me to take part,” said Van der Garde. “I will make sure that the huge crowd will not be short of excitement! Last weekend I took part in the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England and I am looking forward to showing all the fans the Caterham F1 Team car and we will make sure we put on a spectacular show.”

via Formula1.com - Latest Headlines http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/7/13524.html

EU rules that digitally-distributed software can be resold as "used"

The European Court of Justice has declared that digitally distributed software can be resold as "used", just like a physical product.

This ruling stems from a spat between Oracle and UsedSoft -- a German business that sells product licenses for Oracle software, after they have been bought from Oracle customers.

By: Mark Brown, Edited by: Duncan Geere

Continue reading...



via Wired.co.uk



http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-07/03/digital-software-reselling

Google+ takes on a location element as it pushes deeper into iPhone

Choc Factory keen to keep a tentacle touching the fanboi

Google has pushed its social network Google Plus deeper into the iPhone and given it a location element, launching the Google + Local app yesterday. Google is wriggling itself into more crevices on the iPhone before the axe falls on Google Maps in September, when Apple will introduce their own maps app in iOS 6.…

via The Register - Networks

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/03/google_plus_gets_location_pushes_into_iphone/

Eville: Zynga CTO Cadir Lee on cloning, ethics and economics in social games

Zynga is changing. But you knew that already. The social gaming giant, owners of CityVille, Words with Friends and the rest of the ten most popular games on Facebook has been expanding at an startling pace.

Development studios Omgpop, Wild Needle and Buzz Monkey were acquired in the last four months alone, and recently Zynga announced a unified social gaming network, Zynga With Friends. Whether you're playing the network's games on your mobile, Facebook or Zynga.com, you can access the same saved games (stored on the "zCloud") and play with the same friends ("zFriends"). It's a trembling first step from the incubation chamber of Facebook, where Zynga continues to earn some 90 percent of its revenue.

Which, for many gamers, might be very worrying indeed, because Zynga has developed something of a reputation.

By: Quintin Smith, Edited by: Duncan Geere

Continue reading...



via Wired.co.uk



http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-07/03/zynga-eville

Williams: We have 'high hopes' for Silverstone

They may have left the last round in Valencia feeling frustrated but Williams are confident they will bounce back at their home race at Silverstone this weekend. “Following our strong showing in Valencia, which unfortunately ultimately ended in disappointment, we head to our home Grand Prix at Silverstone with high hopes,” explained chief operations engineer Mark Gillan. “Silverstone is a great circuit, with the highest average corner speed of any circuit in the championship and is a good challenge for both the driver and car.”

via Formula1.com - Latest Headlines http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/7/13523.html

OpenROV submarine crowdsources testing through Kickstarter

A Nasa engineer's open source submarine has smashed its Kickstarter target in less than 24 hours.

Eric Stackpole started building OpenROV -- a lunchbox-sized robot that can be controlled from a laptop -- to explore a nearby cave that was rumored to contain sunken treasure. Soon enough, a community of engineers, tinkerers and scientists took interest in the project.

By: Mark Brown, Edited by: Duncan Geere

Continue reading...



via Wired.co.uk



http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-07/03/openrov-kickstarter

Windows 8 to be heavily discounted at launch, but UK eligibility questioned

Microsoft has announced that customers running Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 will be eligible for a heavily discounted version of Windows 8 upon its release.

An upgrade to Windows 8 Pro (which is the more feature-rich of the two versions of Windows 8 set for release) will cost $39.99. That's US dollars, which equates to just over £25.

But does that include the UK?

By: Nate Lanxon, Edited by: Duncan Geere

Continue reading...



via Wired.co.uk



http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-07/03/windows-8-upgrades-uk

What is the Nokia Secret Plan if Windows 8 isn't Windows gr8?

So secret, even Elop doesn't know about it

Nokia’s new chairman says the company has an alternative strategy prepared, in case Microsoft’s new version of Windows Phone doesn’t live up to expectations. Except he won’t say what it is.…

via The Register - Networks

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/03/nokia_plan_b_schtum/

Marussia tester De Villota involved in test crash

Marussia test driver Maria de Villota has been taken to hospital after being involved in an accident during a straight-line test at Duxford on Tuesday. De Villota's car struck a stationary vehicle at the Cambridgeshire airfield. “At approximately 09.15hrs BST this morning, the Marussia F1 Team's Test Driver Maria De Villota had an accident in the team's MR-01 race car at Duxford Airfield where she was testing the car for the first time,” the team explained in a statement.

via Formula1.com - Latest Headlines http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/7/13522.html

ICANN's overlordship of the internet confirmed again by US gov

The king is, erm, still alive. Long live the king!

ICANN has had its powers over internet domain names, IP addresses and protocol numbers renewed by the US Department of Commerce.…

via The Register - Networks

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/03/icann_iana_contract_renewal/

Ofcom: PhonepayPlus to regulate PayForIt but not operator billing

Maybe later when it gets renamed OpCashRake

Payments made using the mobile PayForIt platform will henceforth be regulated by PhonepayPlus, but only a little bit, the governing regulator has decided.…

via The Register - Networks

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/03/ofcom_regulation/

Doctors must be trained to avoid web blab blunders, says group

Put down the smartphone, stethoscope boy

A stray tweet could bring the whole medical profession into disrepute, a body that advises doctors on legal and ethical issues has warned.…

via The Register - Networks

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/03/doctors_social_media_guidance/

Telstra invests in IPscape

Shiff keeps start-ups in business

Telstra’s Applications & Ventures GMD Deena Shiff is rolling out the acquisitions, revealing that the carrier has taken a stake in Australian contact centre application start up IPscape.…

via The Register - Networks

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/03/telstra_buys_into_startups/

Mozilla's 'Boot to Gecko' morphs into Firefox OS

Debut of new mobile OS: Brazil 2013

Mozilla has announced details of its forthcoming mobile OS built on web technologies, henceforth to be known as Firefox OS and aimed at the "billions of users" who will soon flood the shallow end of the feature pool.…

via The Register - Networks

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/02/firefox_os/

Web stats: iOS beats Android 3 to 1, iOS and Android tied

Welcome to Schrödinger's web analytics

Apple's iOS devices account for 65 per cent of mobile web traffic versus Android's 20 per cent – or the two operating systems are neck-and-neck at about a quarter of all mobile web traffic apiece.…

via The Register - Networks

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/02/mobile_web_stats/

Google nixes extra wireless attachments to its new Kansas fibres

That pipe isn't fat enough to interest us

Google has rejected overtures from a Kansas non-profit to integrate their wireless solution for the digitally challenged, saying that it didn't fit into their licensing model.…

via The Register - Networks

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/02/google_kansas/