If Hotmail was a person it could have kids now. But it would be a crime
It's a slow day on the tech-news desk in the temporary Olympic capital of the world, London. But, with proper IT news being in short supply, more than one starving blogger has been forced to resort to writing a "my first pony" story about Hotmail, now that it's turning into Outlook.com.
We take you now to a newsroom not far away:
"Mr editor, I've got a brillllllliant pitch for you."
"You have?"
"Yes! I want to tell the world about the wondrous past age of Hotmail now that Microsoft is gently saluting its passing."
"What, the same Hotmail that's been waiting to be sent to the glue factory for years now?" Read more...
Twitter crashes day before Olympics kick off
The day before the opening of the 2012 London Olympics that are expected to light up major social networks, Twitter crashed.
The micro-blogging site went down at approximately 11:45 a.m. EST Thursday, according to Twitter's Status page. The site was restored around 1:15 p.m.
Users from several different parts of the country reported that they were without Twitter service.
The crash came the day before the opening ceremonies for the Summer Olympics. Read more...
Olympics security cockup down to software errors – report
A computer software failure caused the security fiasco at the Olympics, the Independent on Sunday has said, after talking to insider sources at security contractor G4S.
G4S defaulted on their Olympic security contract two weeks before the start of the games, meaning that 3500 members of the armed forces have been drafted in to provide basic security coverage for the Olympics. The security firm said they were unable to recruit and train enough guards to adequately police the site.
The Indy has suggested both that Home Secretary Therea May was aware of problems with G4S in September and that staff management software was to blame. Read more...
Fans can watch every Olympic event live online
Usain Bolt could be defending his Olympic 200-meter title on a Thursday afternoon in the United States.
Fans will be able to watch the race live online for the first time during this summer's London Games, but what they'll see is very different from the tape-delayed, prime-time package that will still air a few hours later.
NBC executives decided to shift from their longtime philosophy and make every event available as it happens, convinced that the plan will build interest in the Olympics and not siphon off viewership from the traditional nightly broadcasts. That means the Internet streams will be fairly minimalistic, a move aimed at tempting fans to re-watch the competition in a more stylized presentation on the network that evening. Read more...
Yahoo to double Olympics presence in London
Yahoo plans to double its Olympics presence this summer, aiming to be the top website for the fourth straight Games.
Yahoo is sending 25 people from around the world to cover the Summer Games in London — about "twice as big" as it had in the Winter Games — including U.S. gold medal winners Shannon Miller and Dan O'Brien and many of its sports columnists and reporters. It also plans to cover the games in dozens of languages.
The move is an effort to outshine competitors. Despite not paying for exclusive rights to cover the games, Yahoo says it has been the No. 1 global destination for Olympics coverage for the past three games. Read more...
London 2012: Why the Olympics CIO is preparing for the worst
When asked what nightmare scenarios keep him awake at night, Gerry Pennell, the man in charge of technology for the London 2012 Olympic Games, jokes: "At this stage we're all significantly tired that staying awake is not a problem".
With less than a year to go before the Olympics opening ceremony, Pennell, CIO for the organisers of the London Olympics, has a team of 600 people working "flat out" on testing and preparing the technology for the games.
"The pace of delivery has picked up big time. We have been running the test events for the last three to four months - so it's becoming very real," he told silicon.com at an event in London yesterday.
The games hit a milestone this week with the official unveiling of the Technology Operations Centre (TOC) - the London-based centre that will manage and monitor the Olympics systems that run the venues, record results and relay them to the rest of the world. The centre's 450 staff will work with the thousands of technical staff situated in the Olympic's 94 venues to make sure the technology works without a hitch. Read more...