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Data Storage

Submission + - Amazon offers SimpleDB - for-pay web data storage

Submitted by
firepoet
firepoet writes: "Amazon has released a new web-services based storage engine that looks an awful lot like a directory service: SimpleDB. While not supporting SQL per se, they offer several Simple operations:
  • CREATE — to make a new domain,
  • GET, PUT, DELETE — to manipulate your domain, and
  • QUERY — to find things within the domain
Data is stored in cells, that contain multiple attributes. A single attribute may contain multiple values, for example: (name, bob), (favoriteFruit, apple), (favoriteFruit, banana).

Another interesting tidbit is the cost structure — you pay for how much data you store, how much you transfer, and how much CPU the database uses while manipulating your data. While I'm not convinced it'd be practical for systems that store lots of data and manipulate it constantly, one might imagine small apps that can cache their data effectively taking advantage of the service."
Windows

Submission + - The pros of upgrading from Vista to XP! (dotnet.org.za) 4

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A reviewer takes on the daunting task of upgrading [sic] from Vista to XP, and gives a very nice breakdown of the Pros and Cons (yes, there are a couple...;)
Biotech

Submission + - Gene Study Supports Single Bering Strait Migration (eurekalert.org)

Submitted by
Invisible Pink Unicorn
Invisible Pink Unicorn writes: "One of the most comprehensive analyses of genetic variation ever undertaken supports the theory that the ancestors of modern native peoples throughout the Americas came from a single source in East Asia across a northwest land bridge some 12,000 years ago. One particular discovery is of a 'unique genetic variant widespread in natives across both continents — suggesting that the first humans in the Americas came in a single migration or multiple waves from a single source, not in waves of migrations from different sources. The variant, which is not part of a gene and has no biological function, has not been found in genetic studies of people anywhere else except eastern Siberia. The researchers say the variant likely occurred shortly prior to migration to the Americas, or immediately afterwards.' The full article is available online from PLoS."
Security

Submission + - Anonymity of Netflix Prize dataset broken (arxivblog.com)

Submitted by
KentuckyFC
KentuckyFC writes: "The anonymity of the Netflix Prize dataset has been broken by a pair of computer scientists from the University of Texas, according to a report from the physics arXivblog. It turns out that an individual's set of ratings and the dates on which they were made are pretty unique, particularly if the ratings involve films outside the most popular 100 movies. So it's straightforward to find a match by comparing the anonymized data against publicly available ratings on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) (abstract on the physics arxiv). The researchers used this method to find how individuals on the IMDb privately rated films on Netflix, in the process working out their political affiliation, sexual preferences and a number of other personal details"
OS X

Submission + - Java 6 available on OSX thanks to port of OpenJDK (bikemonkey.org)

Submitted by LarsWestergren
LarsWestergren writes: Many Mac users have been upset that Apple has not made Java 6 available on the platform. Landon Fuller posts that there is a developer preview release available of Java JDK6 on Mac OSX, Tiger and Leopard. It is based on the BSD port of Sun's Java 6 and is made available under the Java Research License. Charles Nutter posts about impressive JRuby performance gains using Java 6 on his Mac.
Microsoft

Submission + - The worst consumer tech in history (cnet.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: CNet has named what they claim are the worst technology products in history. Probably the most controversial is the inclusion of Windows Vista which sits alongside the Sinclair C5, the Gizmondo and the Tamagotchi. "[Vista's] incompatibility with hardware, its obsessive requirement of human interaction to clear security dialogue box warnings and its abusive use of hated DRM, not to mention its general pointlessness as an upgrade, are just some examples of why this expensive operating system earns the final place in our terrible tech list."
Novell

De Icaza Pleads For Mono/.Net Cooperation 262

Posted by kdawson from the talk-to-me dept.
suka writes "In a recent interview with the online edition of an Austrian newspaper, Mono project-lead Miguel de Icaza pleads for cooperation between Mono and Microsoft's .Net: 'I think that the deal should include a technical Mono/.NET collaboration, and even go as far as Microsoft recommending Mono for all of their developers looking at migration'. The whole interview has some other interesting bits, like de Icaza's thoughts on open sourced Java and information about upcoming versions of Mono."
Sun Microsystems

Submission + - Sun released ODF plugin for Microsoft Office

Submitted by Verunks
Verunks writes: Microsoft Word users now can easily import and export to the OpenDocument Format.
The StarOffice 8 Conversion Technology Preview, a plug-in for Microsoft Word 2003 that allows users of Microsoft Word 2003 to read, edit and save to the OpenDocument Format (ODF) is now available

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