67673693
submission
judgecorp writes:
Canonical just announced a new Ubuntu Core which uses containers instead of packages. It's the biggest Ubuntu shakeup for 20 years, says Canonical's Mark Shuttleworth, and is based on a tiny core, which will run Docker and other container technology better, quicker and with greater security than other Linuxes. Delivered as alpha code today, it's going to become a supported product, designed to compete with both CoreOS and Red Hat Atomic, the two leading container-friendly Linux approaches. Shuttleworth says it came about because Canonical found it had solved the "cloud" problems (delivering and updating apps and keeping security) by accident — in its work on a mobile version of Ubuntu
66827795
submission
judgecorp writes:
Amazon has promised that its data centers, including those for Amazon Web Services (AWS) will run entirely on renewable energy. It's a long term commitment and comes after similar promises from Facebook, Google and Microsoft. But there's not enough detail yet for Greenpeace, which has been campaigning for years for Amazon to make this move.
66440525
submission
judgecorp writes:
The idea of re-using waste server heat is not new, but German firm Cloud&Heat seems to have developed it further than most. For a flat installation fee, the company will install a rack of servers in your office, with its own power and Internet connection. Cloud&Heat then pay the bills and you get the heat. As well as Heat customers, the firm wants Cloud customers, who can buy a standard OpenStack-based cloud compute and storage service on the web. The company guarantees that data is encrypted and held within Germany — at any one of its Heat customers' premises. In principle, it's a way to build a data center with no real estate, by turning its waste heat into an asset. A similar deal is promised by French firm Qarnot..
65744321
submission
judgecorp writes:
The hosting firm that holds the Queen of England's data has been granted a "Royal Warrant". This allows it to use the phrase "By Appointment to Her Majesty The Queen", and display the royal crest in public. The firm in question, Pulsant, has been working for the Royal Family for more than five years., and is understandably pleased with the marketing opportunities. "They are a very good customer," said somewhat-understated Pulsant CTO Matt Lovell.
65225353
submission
judgecorp writes:
Surprisingly, critical applications still rely on old platforms, although legacy hardware is on its last legs. Swiss emulation expert Stromasys is offering emulation in the cloud for old hardware using a tool cheekily named after Charon, the ferryman to the afterlife. Systems covered include the Vax and PDP/11 platforms from Digital Equipment (which was swallowed by Compaq and then HP) as well as Digital's Alpha RISC systems, and HP's HP3000. It also offers Sparc emulation, although Oracle might dispute the need for this.
65111315
submission
judgecorp writes:
Other cloud providers have followed Amazon in patching a flaw in the Xen hypervizor, a process which requires rebooting individual servers, and needs the co-operation of customers. The flaw can let an attacker with a virtual machine crash the host and read data belonging to other customers. Amazon got started before the bug was announced, and Rackspace followed fairly swiftly, apologising for bouncing its users into the process at short notice. IBM, however, waited until after the flaw was made public — potentially exposing some of its customers to attack.
62546595
submission
judgecorp writes:
The British Government has had to produce an emergency surveillance Bill after the European Court of Justice ruled that European rules on retaining metadata were illegal. That Bill has now been passed by the House of Commons with almost no debate, and will become law if approved by the House of Lords. But the so-called DRIP (Data retenteion and Investigatory Powers) Bill could face a legal challenge: the Open Rights Group (ORG) is fund-raising to bring a suit which would argue that blanket data retention is unlawful, so these emergency measures would be no more legal than the ones they replaced.
62538833
submission
judgecorp writes:
Microsoft has announced MapPoint will be closed by the end of 2014. The Windows mapping software has been replaced for most users by web services such as Google Maps or Bing Maps, but some saw value in an offline map application. The AutoRoute applicattion which formed part of MapPoint was hugely popular in the UK — running on half the UK's PCs in the 1990s
61326615
submission
judgecorp writes:
Two worrying developments in Android malware. FireEye has spotted a program which installs covertly and poses as the Google Play app store. The installation appears to fail, but carries an encrypted payload which is unpacked stealthily. Meanwhile, a Chinese phone manufacturer has a suspiciously cheap Android smartphone, which includes pre-installed malware, again pretending to be the Google Play app. Security firm G Data believes the manufacturer may be subsidising its costs using stolen data
60280119
submission
judgecorp writes:
China has banned installation of Windows 8 on any new government computers. The ban could be a headache for Microsoft, and may be a bargaining tool in China's campaign to extend the life of Windows XP — still running on the vast majorith of Chinese government computers, and something like 70 percent of computers in the country as a whole.
59778641
submission
judgecorp writes:
RightsCorp, the controversial copyright enforcer, is planning to begin operations in Europe. In the US, the company scans torrent sites for IP addresses, shares them with ISPs, forcing them to send lawyers' letters demanding money from the supposed copyright infringers. RightsCorp says Europe needs its help, in fighting piracy
59752203
submission
judgecorp writes:
People using shared storage providers such as Box and Dropbox are leaking data, a competitor has discovered. Links to shared files leak out when those links are accidentally put into the Google search box, or if users click links from within the documents. Dropbox competitor Intralinks stumbled across mortgage applications and bank statements while checking Google Analytics data for a Google Adwords campaign. Graham Cluley explains the problem in detail and suggests answers: for Dropbox users, it means upgrading to the Business version, which lets you restrict access to shared document links.
59743623
submission
judgecorp writes:
Symantec says anti virus is dead but the company — the world's largest IT security firm — still makes 40 percent of its revenue there. AV now lets through around 55 percent of attacks, the company's senior vice president of information security told the Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile, other security firms including FireEye, RedSocks and Imperva are casting doubt on AV, suggesting a focus on data loss prevention might be better.
59250205
submission
judgecorp writes:
Pavel Durov, who founded Russia's largest social network Vkontakte in 2007, has been sacked from the service,. and has left the country saying Russia is no place to run an Internet business. He was forced out by the two biggest shareholders, USP and mail.ru, but claims the reason was his refusal to co-operate with the KGB's successor, the FSB and disclose personal data fromVkontakte which claims around 250 million subscribers.
59169175
submission
judgecorp writes:
Although he was cleared of any wrongdoing, GitHub president Tom Preston-Werner has resigned from the company saying that his presence there would be "a distraction for both me and the company". Developer Julie Horvath left GitHub claiming harassment — an independent investigation subsequently cleared Preston-Werner.
