What datacentre managers really think about cloud
Quocirca recently completed a research project for Oracle that solicited 919 datacentre managers' views on cloud computing.
Overall, the findings showed there was a positive view of cloud, with just under half stating that cloud would be either an important part of their future IT platform or a complete game-changer.
However, 16 per cent stated that cloud would have no part in their organisation's future at all, or dismissed cloud as a passing fad. That many of these respondents will already be using cloud services for receiving antivirus and application updates, while their employees use such services as Google Maps and LinkedIn, seems to have passed them by. Read more...
Facebook quietly switches on facial recognition tech by default
Facebook has rolled out its facial recognition technology to countries outside of the US, but has switched the feature on by default without telling its users first.
UK-based security expert Graham Cluely noted earlier today that Facebook had slotted the tech into the social network.
The Mark Zuckerberg-run company started using its facial recognition software in December last year for its Stateside users in a move to automatically provide tags for the photos uploaded by Facebook users. Read more...
Hackers may try to disrupt World IPv6 Day
Hundreds of popular websites -- including Google, Facebook, Yahoo, and Bing -- are participating in a 24-hour trial of a new Internet standard called IPv6 today, prompting worries that hackers will exploit weaknesses in this emerging technology to launch attacks.
Dubbed World IPv6 Day, the IPv6 trial runs from 8 p.m. EST on June7 until 7:59 p.m. EST on June 8. Read more...
IBM rolls out free cloud software development tool
IBM announced this week a cloud-based collaborative software development tool that's being offered free to students now for academic use only but is expected to become a commercial service at some point in the future.
Called the Jazz Hub and available directly at Jazz.net, the cloud-based software development service is based on IBM's software development tool Rational Team Concert. Particularly aimed at use by college students, Jazz Hub is an idea from IBM to encourage a new generation of software developers to work more collaboratively and in the cloud. Read more...
Oracle fixes 17 bugs in Java security update
Oracle has issued an update to Java SE that fixes a number of critical bugs in the widely used Internet software.
Nine of the 17 bugs that the company patched on Tuesday could, in theory, be used by hackers to take control of an unpatched computer. "Due to the threat posed by a successful attack, Oracle strongly recommends that customers apply [the] fixes as soon as possible," Oracle said in a statement on its Website. Read more...
Oracle wants a piece Google’s Android ad revenue
Oracle wants a significant chunk of the ad revenue Google generates in connection with its Android mobile OS, according to a filing made this week in the companies' ongoing patent litigation suit.
Oracle sued Google last August, claiming Android infringes on seven of Oracle's Java patents. Google has denied all wrongdoing.
Details of what Oracle wants in compensation have now emerged in a filing made Monday by Google in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Read more...
Riverbed releases WAN cloud storage gateway appliances
Riverbed Technology today released three new gateway appliances that use WAN acceleration algorithms in order to reduce the bandwidth required to send data to public or private cloud infrastructures.
Prior to the release of its new Whitewater-510, Whitewater-710 and Whitewater-2010 appliances, Riverbed's Steelhead acceleration technology required two appliances on either end of a WAN connection to replicate data. Now, the company said, one box can replicate data across a WAN to a private data center cloud or storage service provider. Read more...
Google adds download defense to Chrome, patches 15 bugs
Google on Tuesday updated Chrome to version 12, adding a new tool that warns users when they've downloaded files from dangerous websites.
The company also patched 15 bugs in the browser and paid out nearly $10,000 in bounties to outside researchers who reported vulnerabilities to its security team.
New to Chrome 12 is a feature that flags dodgy files pulled from the Web. Chrome now shows an alert when users download some file types from sites that are on the Safe Browsing API (application programming interface) blacklist, which Google maintains. Read more...
Apple’s iTunes in the Cloud isn’t really a cloud music service
Monday at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote address in San Francisco, CEO Steve Jobs rolled out a new batch of software as part of the company’s newly announced iCloud service. One big portion is called “iTunes in the Cloud,” and it’s that big cloud music service we’ve been hearing rumblings about for months.
Except what Apple (AAPL) is offering in iTunes 10.3, the latest version of the software, isn’t a cloud music service – at least not in the common sense. It’s not the same kind of service being offered by Google and Amazon, among other players such as mSpot. Those services actually stream music over an Internet connection to various devices; Apple doesn’t (at least, for the most part). Instead, it makes it possible for purchased songs to be quickly downloaded on any iOS device or computer. Read more...
Apple announces comprehensive Twitter integration with iOS 5 at WWDC ‘11
Twitter addicts with Apple (AAPL) products are getting a big boost with the launch of iOS 5, featuring full integration with the social networking site. At its Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, Apple announced that the newest version of its mobile operating system will have Twitter built into it. Read more...