privateer

Nimbula, a provider of cloud infrastructure software and founded by former Amazon executives Chris Pinkham and Willem van Biljon, on Monday announced that it has secured $15 million in its second round of venture capital funding led by Accel Partners. That brings total funding to more than $20 million. Current investor Sequoia Capital, which led Nimbula's first round of venture financing, also participated in this round.

Nimbula emerged from stealth mode in June and in fact has remained somewhat stealthy. The basic premise of the software is to provide private-cloud infrastructure similar to Amazon Web Services EC2 platform--an approach … Read more

The private browsing options provided by the four major Web browser publishers aren't as anonymous and secure as most users might think, researchers at Stanford University's Computer Science Security Lab said in a new paper (PDF) to be published next week at the Usenix Security Symposium.

In tests comparing the anonymity and security of the private browsing modes in Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Apple Safari, the paper concludes that "current private browsing implementations provide privacy against some local and Web attackers, but can be defeated by determined attackers."

When activated, the private … Read more

Debates flare up all the time about what is the "right" way to consume cloud computing. Public cloud providers push for ditching your data center in favor of pay-per-use services delivered over the network. Many hardware vendors claim that the enterprise's road to cloud computing is through the operation of private clouds. Still others argue that the whole concept is a crock of...well, you get the idea.

Which argument do you buy? How should you plan to deploy and operate your IT resources over the next 3, 5, even 10 years? In who's basket should … Read more

Two men who led one element of Amazon.com's successful cloud-computing services have launched their own a start-up called Nimbula to focus on a private version of the technology.

Cloud computing takes several forms, but Amazon Web Services generally delivers building blocks available over the Internet that developers can use to construct their own higher-level services. Nimbula, in contrast, focuses more on a "private cloud" approach geared for companies building their own computing services based on a similar but in-house approach.… Read more

While Apple continues its aggressive campaign to call the future of Flash into doubt, Adobe has released its latest version of the content platform. Adobe Flash 10.1 is now available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

By some estimates, Flash powers more than three-quarters of the Internet's video and games. Adobe has had release candidates out for months, going through six previous release candidate versions, not to mention multiple beta releases. The most important improvement for Windows users is that the new version offers hardware acceleration, but the feature isn't fully supported yet on Macs. Adobe plans on supporting … Read more

Most companies struggle to reinvent themselves, so shackled by their pasts that they can't reorient themselves toward the future.

Novell, once the king of the software world, is like that. Over the years it has built up a broad portfolio of software (with associated revenue streams) in repeated attempts to regain its glory days. That portfolio now stifles its ability to focus on other areas with the most promise.

But Novell's management may be about to get a lifeline. Twenty of them, actually.

According to Thursday's Wall Street Journal, up to 20 bidders, most of them private … Read more

Microsoft will pay VirnetX Holding $200 million to settle a patent dispute over VPN technology in Windows, the companies announced Monday.

As part of the settlement, Microsoft will also obtain a license to use VirnetX technology in Microsoft products.

VirnetX first sued Microsoft in 2007, claiming the software giant had violated two of its VPN (virtual private network) patents through the use of the technology in Windows XP and Vista. A U.S. District Court ruled in VirnetX's favor in March, determining that Microsoft had willfully infringed on the VPN patents in question and ordering the company to pay … Read more

Google goes "Incognito," Microsoft's is "InPrivate," the other browsers call it "Private Mode," and colloquially it's known as "porn mode." Whatever you call the tracks-free way to browse, watch this how-to video to force your favorite browser to always start with its privacy protocols activated.

We all have reasons for craving our privacy, some more socially questionable than others. No matter. As a computer user, it's within your power (and your rights, darnit!) to keep your browsing from others' eyes, be they actively prying or innocently perusing.

Here's the good news. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Opera all contain a private browsing mode that won't leave tracks as you intrepidly explore the Web. That's excellent if you're trying to keep your activities under wraps, but unfortunate if you accidentally forget to switch back and forth as you transition from your … Read more