cloud

Last we reported, the launch of the CherryPal PC was very much up in the air. As Engadget notes, CherryPal has updated its shopping page for this tiny, cloud-computing PC with two important items.

1. The CherryPal PC will ship on election day, November 4. "Guaranteed!!!" it says on the CherryPal Web site, with three exclamation points. To prove it's serious about that 11/4 ship date, the model number has changed from C100 to C114.

2. The capacity of the CherryPal's flash drive has doubled. Once and future orders will get 8GB of storage. The … Read more

With less than two weeks until Microsoft's Professional Developer Conference kicks off in Los Angeles, news is starting to trickle out.

Come October 27, that trickle will turn into a flood. Here at CNET News we want to make sure you keep your head above water. To that end, our PDC page is already up and running.

You can bookmark that page and be sure that whenever you check it you will be up on the latest PDC-related info as well as catch any stories on the products expected to make headlines at the show.

Already there are a … Read more

Most of the time, changes in the technology landscape happen gradually. Sometimes we can look back and pick out some inflection point--though, in my experience, such are more about storytelling convenience than anything more concrete. However, at least as often, things just evolve until one day we've clearly arrived in a different place.

Such is the case with open source.

It's gone from being an outsider movement to an integral component of the computer industry mainstream. However, more specifically, it's clearly entered a phase in which pragmatism, rather than idealism, is the reigning ethos.

Matthew Aslett touches … Read more

Last week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer talked about "Windows Cloud"--the company's long-rumored cloud operating system.

At the time, though, he noted that the Windows Cloud name was not necessarily the final name. On Wednesday, an eagle-eyed blogger noticed that the Web site for Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference was listing several cloud computing sessions under the subject heading "Windows Strata." Microsoft has since taken down the Windows Strata references, but not before a number of blogs noted the listing.

In his talks last week, Ballmer quipped that by the PDC, Microsoft might even have … Read more

Assessing the open-source scorecard is complicated. A complete "state of open source" would fill many pages. But here are a few things that have struck me over the past year or two.

Large swaths of open source have become mainstream--to the point of invisibility. Jay Lyman summed this up well in the context of the last LinuxWorld. We've also seen large vendors, such as Hewlett-Packard and IBM, generally de-emphasizing Linux and open source as businesses in their own right.

Just to be clear, invisible is absolutely not the same thing as irrelevant. However, some open-source fans who … Read more

IBM on Monday launched a major initiative into cloud computing, a current term for Internet-based services, in an effort it hopes will challenge the early lead of cloud pioneers such as Amazon and Google.

Among the offerings launched on Monday is "Bluehouse," a Web-based social-networking and collaboration service designed for business, a test version of which is available from IBM's Web site.

Bluehouse allows users to carry out many of the activities associated with social networks, but is specifically designed for businesses, with features such as document and contact sharing, joint projects, online meetings and online communities. … Read more

In this week's EIC Squared podcast, ZDNet's Larry Dignan and I talk about how the economic crisis will impact the tech sector. Both the House and Senate have passed the bailout package, but the legislation doesn't mean that tech or any other industry sector will reverse the downward spiral. Tech companies and financial analysts are rapidly cutting estimates to prepare for a potential nuclear winter in the global economy.

We also discuss Microsoft's forthcoming moves into cloud computing and the state of citizen journalism following the fake Steve Jobs heart attack story that showed up on … Read more

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Thursday promised it won't be long before the world gets to meet what he is calling "Windows Cloud"--something that acts like Windows but operates over the Internet.

"Just as we have an operating system for the PC, for the phone, and for the server, we need a new operating system that runs in the Internet," Ballmer said Thursday in a speech before France's CIGREF (Club Informatique des Grandes Entreprises Françaises). "I bet we'll call it Windows something. We're going to announce it in … Read more

Stuck with a stinky new Mac Pro? Good news: it might be toxic! (No proof of toxicity has been determined.) Also, Tom Merritt reveals himself to be a ruthless murderer of Firefox downloads. And the state of Pennsylvania takes it upon itself to make the streets safer by making old people smarter. Love it! Listen now: Download today's podcast

Nintendo officially unveils Nintendo DSi and online store, coming Nov 1 in Japan for $180 http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081002-nintendo-shows-off-new-dsi-with-camera-app-store.html http://kotaku.com/5057870/nintendo-announce-new-ds-the-nintendo-dsi

Toxic fumes from Mac Pros? http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/02/1223203 … Read more