Technology News: Computing

XP Update Ushers In Fresh Round of Bugaboos

Monday - May 12, 2008

Shortly following Microsoft's release of the third service pack for its Windows XP operating system, reports of problems regarding the SP's installation began appearing on blogs and the Windows XP Newsgroup. XP users have experienced an assortment of issues both with the installation itself and after the installation, ranging from failed and frozen installations to failure of external disks, wireless networking problems and repeated reboots following the update. Microsoft is aware of the issues and is investigating them further, it said. [More...]

Can a Windows PC Really Be Cheaper Than a Linux Box?

Monday - May 12, 2008

It must have been a chilly week in hell last week, because the unthinkable appears to have happened: A Windows PC has been announced that will be cheaper than a Linux one. That's right, folks: The Windows XP version of the Asus Eee PC 900 will sell for $599 in Australia, while the Linux version will cost $649, according to APC Magazine. [More...]

User Names and Passwords: How to Manage the Keys to the Kingdom

Sunday - May 11, 2008

Creating and remembering strong passwords -- like backing up our computers' contents -- is something many of us know we should do, but don't. And can you blame us? Having to come up with user names and passwords for virtually everything we do on a computer is enough to make anyone use "Magic123" over and over. I've even heard of people who keep lists of passwords taped to their computer screens. [More...]

E-Commerce Web Services: Better, Faster, Cheaper

Saturday - May 10, 2008

Typically, new technologies tend to promise more than they deliver. That has not been the case with Web services, which are being integrated into just about every new e-commerce application. "Support for Web services has come from application vendors, application development tool suppliers and middleware vendors," said Jason Bloomberg, a managing partner with market research firm ZapThink. [More...]

Climate Researchers Dream Up iPod-Based Supercomputer

Friday - May 9, 2008

Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have suggested building a supercomputer based on low-power embedded microprocessors to improve global climate change predictions. Using the embedded microprocessor technology used in mobile phones, iPods and other consumer electronic devices, the boffins propose a cost-effective machine for running complex computational models. [More...]

Azul Systems: Jazzing Up Java

Thursday - May 8, 2008

In early 2002, the founders of Azul Systems wagered that Java was going to become a prominent enterprise platform. If that happened, they suspected enterprise customers of Java would soon need relief from the pain points caused by poor scaling and disappointing deployment costs. [More...]

Dell Gets Real With Virtualization Strategy

Thursday - May 8, 2008

Dell unveiled an array of virtualization solutions Wednesday. The hardware maker's new lineup includes more than a dozen servers, tools and services designed to make the deployment and management of virtual environments as simple as possible for enterprises regardless of size, the company said. Four new virtualization-optimized servers stand at the center of the hardware manufacturer's latest offering. [More...]

HP Targets Web 2.0 Firms With Heavy-Duty NAS System

Wednesday - May 7, 2008

HP announced on Tuesday a new, highly scalable storage system meant to address the needs of online and digital media businesses. The HP StorageWorks 9100 Extreme Data Storage System is designed to simplify the management of multiple petabytes of data with an eye to affordability. [More...]

Bush Beats Britney in Easter Egg Hunt

Wednesday - May 7, 2008

Software developers are known to hide all sorts of "Easter eggs" in their code, but code search engine Krugle has revealed just what might be found among the billions of lines of open source code available on the Web. Krugle searches across code repositories and development resources, using contextual search to provide insights to developers. [More...]

Into the Blu: Neil Young Touts High-Def Format at Sun Conference

Wednesday - May 7, 2008

Rebellious rocker Neil Young hates the sound of compact discs. So he waited 15 years for a different technology, which he says will allow him to share his life's work the way he wants his fans to enjoy it. Starting this fall, Young plans to release a comprehensive archive of music, videos and other material dating back to 1963 on a series of interactive Blu-ray discs. [More...]

Semi Heavies Push Fabs to Upsize Wafers

Tuesday - May 6, 2008

A trio of semiconductor companies have banded together in a joint effort to push the industry into transitioning to a larger, 450mm-sized wafer by 2012. Led by Intel, Samsung and TSMC, the idea is to line up the industry so that all of the required components and manufacturing needs are developed in time to benefit from the larger design. [More...]

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