Rackspace’s really bad 36 hours: The Internet is fragile

Rackspace’s really bad 36 hours: The Internet is fragile by ZDNet's Larry Dignan -- Rackspace, a Web hosting firm, should adopt that song “I Don’t Like Mondays” as its corporate motto. After all, Monday turned out to be horrendous for the company. That song, a 1979 hit from The Boomtown Rats, sums up Rackspace’s last 36 hours. First, Rackspace had a “maintenance failure” at its Dallas data center on Sunday. [...]

SiCortex wins Dev Connection “Sexiest in show” award

SiCortex wins Dev Connection “Sexiest in show” award by ZDNet's Ed Burnette -- Here's one computer that looks like it belongs on the bridge of a starship: the SiCortex SC5832. It's this year's winner of the soon-to-be-coveted Dev Connection "Sexiest in show" award for SC07.

Vista mistakes Microsoft won’t repeat with Windows 7

Vista mistakes Microsoft won’t repeat with Windows 7 by ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley -- Microsoft learned some hard lessons with Windows Vista that it already is applying to Windows 7. So says Mike Nash, Corporate Vice President of Windows Product Management, who is chatting this week with press and bloggers about the state of Vista, just about a year after the company released the product to manufacturing.

Malware found on new hard drives

Malware found on new hard drives by ZDNet's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes -- The Taipei Times is reporting that around 1,800 new 300GB and 500GB external hard drives manufactured by Maxtor shipped with malware on them. What makes this story even more interesting is that Taiwanese authorities suspected that Chinese authorities were involved.

Can we afford not to give our kids Linux?

Stan Beer's article on iTWire hit home. I also have placed Ubuntu Linux on the machine that my wife and daughter use. My wife uses the computer to attend an online college. She doesn't have any problems with anything she has to do for her classes. My daughter uses it to play kids games (educational downloads or Nick Jr.). Since she is only four years old she doesn't do IM's and emails yet. By the time she does, she will know the difference between Windows and Linux. Especially when her friends talk about a new virus or malware they have on their machine and she is not affected.

All the machines at my house have Ubuntu Linux installed. I have one machine that dual boots Windows just in case I need to do something that absolutely cannot be done in Linux. Needless to say, I rarely have to boot into windows.

If you build it they will come. I have been saying this for a while now. If the programmers start compiling their programs for Linux as well as Windows, They will see more of a shift towards Linux. I am sure of it.

I hope you enjoy his article as much as I have. He is not trying to score points for Linux, he is just stating what I know to be true.

For any parent, myself included, setting your kids loose on the net is a daunting prospect. We have to do it because the net is a fact of life - it's in our schools, the workplace, public libraries and in many if not most homes of the developed world. Therefore, do we really have any option but to give them Linux?

When I first conceived this article I considered giving it the title "can we afford to let our kids use Windows online". However, I felt that taking a positive tack would be more constructive. The fact is that these days security is paramount with kids surfing the net, exchanging emails and chatting online while still in primary school.

Having recently migrated to Ubuntu from Windows, I fully appreciate the risks that our kids are exposed to everytime they venture online with Windows. Basically, kids online are an accident waiting to happen, regardless of what anti-virus, firewall and anti-spyware they happen to be running.

Every other day, some anti-malware vendor issues a media release about a zero day attack of a new worm or Trojan horse that has slipped under the guard of known anti-malware signatures. At least once a month - and quite often more frequently - we hear of critical vulnerabilities in Windows whatever the version that require software patching. Microsoft freely admits that exploits for these vulnerabilities could hand control of a computer to a remote attacker. Sometimes exploits are already in the market before patches arrive.

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Clueless flight attendant to passenger: Turn off that iPhone movie NOW!

Clueless flight attendant to passenger: Turn off that iPhone movie NOW! by ZDNet's Russell Shaw -- My colleague Tom Krazit notes a Consumerist report that an ATA Airlines flight attendant tried to get a passengerto turn off his iPhone because, well, cell phones are not allowed to be used in flight and he was watching a movie on his iPhone. The passenger, who we know as Casey, tried to explain to the [...]

When it comes to releasing operating systems, Ubuntu have it figured out

When it comes to releasing operating systems, Ubuntu have it figured out by ZDNet's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes -- I know that it might not seem like it at times, but I'm a big Ubuntu fan. I haven't fully figured out how and where it fits into my computing ecosystem yet, but I know that it does have a place there. One aspect of Ubuntu that particularly impresses me is the clear development time-line that is published and adhered to. You always know what's coming and when to expect it.

Funny Breakup Video

This video made me laugh. Thought I would share it.




Help!! My Girlfriend Is A Lesbian!! - video powered by Metacafe

ICANN taps New Zealand lawyer to replace Cerf

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has elected New Zealand lawyer Peter Dengate Thrush as its new chairman, replacing one of the Internet's "founding fathers," Vint Cerf.

ICANN, the not-for-profit organization that governs the Internet's domain name system, has elected Thrush, a specialist in intellectual property and Internet law, in a unanimous decision to replace Cerf, co-creator of the TCP/IP protocol.

"ICANN has moved from a foundation state to a steady state," Cerf said in a statement.

Cerf indicated that Thrush's understanding of the transition made him the preferred candidate "to keep the organization strong and focused," and described the appointment as "a clear signal that ICANN has matured."

Thrush has been involved with ICANN since its inception in 1998 and, before being elected to the chairman's position, was serving on the ICANN president's strategy and executive committees.

ICANN President Paul Twomey said Thrush's legal background is an important asset for the advancement of the organization and singled out his experience with contract law, which Twomey describes as a "key mechanism" in ICANN.

The agency will now set to work on better catering to an international audience.

"ICANN is a unique model supporting a global community, which works because it stands for one global Internet that is coordinated and not controlled," Thrush said.

Italy's Roberto Gaetano was unanimously re-elected as ICANN's vice chairman.

Article here.

Bogus FTC e-mail has virus

The Federal Trade Commission, which has declared war on Internet scams, warned consumers on Monday not to open a bogus e-mail that appears to come from its fraud department because it carries an attachment that can download a virus.

The e-mail says it is from "frauddep@ftc.gov" and has the FTC's government seal.

But it was not issued by the agency and has attachments and links that will download a virus that could steal passwords and account numbers, the agency said.

"It's a treasure trove for identity theft," said David Torok of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. "We're concerned. The virus that's attached to the e-mail is particularly virulent."

The agency, which is one of several government agencies investigating cyber fraud, did not know how many people had received the e-mail.

"We've received hundreds if not thousands of calls and complaints, this one may have had a large distribution," he said.

Recipients should forward the e-mail to spam@uce.gov, an FTC spam database used in investigations.

Nine percent of people surveyed in a poll conducted in August and September reported having had their identities stolen, Bari Abdul, a vice president at security software maker McAfee, said at a cybersecurity conference on October 1.