Data

I'm a confirmed pack rat. I've got stacks of old utility-bill statements dating back to the 1980s. Alongside the boxes of ancient paper records in our attic are about a half dozen old PCs. The jewel of my "collection" is an original 60-MHz Pentium PC, complete with the famous floating-point bug. Well, it was famous in 1994.

One benefit of holding onto these PC relics is not worrying about their data falling into the wrong hands. (OK, I suppose a determined thief could break into our attic and walk off with the computer antiques, but I … Read more

Dell beat IBM to the PR punch, but does it really have the technology jobs to beat Big Blue in the server competition?

On Wednesday, Dell made a splash with a massive introduction of servers, workstations, storage arrays, and yes, even services. The message to corporate IT buyers was that yes, Dell understood their needs and could supply a variety of sophisticated hardware and software for the modern data center.

Has Michael Dell finally figured things out? Is this is the start of a dramatic assault on what has been the near-exclusive preserve of Hewlett-Packard and IBM? I wish him … Read more

Dell is attempting to gain some ground in the server market, which is dominated by Hewlett-Packard and IBM. In order to grab a larger piece of the data center pie, the company has shoveled everything together into one announcement. And it's a big one.

There are 14 new products altogether: new Dell M-series blade servers, 11th-generation PowerEdge servers, Precision workstations, EqualLogic PS6000 storage arrays, and a host of revamped services.

The fact that they have joined competitors in taking on the needs of enterprise IT departments holistically--instead of piecemeal--marks good progress, according to Frank Gillett, principal analyst at Forrester … Read more

VMware has come up with a tool that lets users access the virtualized machines in their data center from a mobile phone.

According to VMware, the VCenter Mobile Access tool will also allow system managers to migrate virtual machines from one virtual host to another, using their phones.

The software was introduced on Friday on VMware's VMTN blog by Srinivas Krishnamurti, the director of product management for the company. In addition to its search-and-migration capabilities, VCMA could also be used to remotely execute recovery plans, access scheduled tasks, and respond to alarms and events, Krishnamurti said in the blog. … Read more

Customers who lost data after it had failed to be backed up properly by service provider Carbonite in 2007 may have few legal remedies, a lawyer said on Monday. Meanwhile, Carbonite is suing the hardware manufacturer and reseller for charges including breach of warranty, breach of contract, fraud, and unfair and deceptive practices.

Carbonite filed a lawsuit last week against hardware maker Promise Technology and reseller Interactive Digital Systems, alleging it was sold $3 million worth of defective equipment, which affected backups of 7,500 customers.

In its lawsuit, filed in Massachusetts' Suffolk County Superior Court, Carbonite claims it lost … Read more

Justin calls Wilson out for being happy with his life, so they decide to name the show after the popular '80s song Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves. Meanwhile, Justin hates his life because New York City ruined his evening. Stay tuned for that story on today's The 404.

Jeff talks about a dangerous e-mail chain letter about entering your PIN number in reverse to call the police during a robbery. Too bad, it ain't true. You might just get stabbed in the stomach if you try this one. Speaking of your health, you can help stop the spread of the flu this year with Twitter. We also suggest not licking the subway poles, but hey--to each his own.

Also, Apple quietly introduces data tethering to the iPhone OS 3.0. Apparently, it takes a little minor hacking, but you'll be able to tether your iPhone 3G to your computer over USB. Bluetooth support is a few more hacks away. Hopefully, you don't take down the entire AT&T network when you BitTorrent the latest "Battlestar Galactica" over your iPhone 3G connection.

Microsoft releases the latest version of Internet Explorer 8 for download. The tech community gives a collective yawn (except for IT managers), while we get creeped out by a Japanese robot model.

Finally, our tagline contest is coming to an end, and before we decide on an official winner, we'd like you to chime in by taking our poll. Click here or look up and to your left. Jonathan Coulton had to reschedule but will make his appearance in the coming weeks, so hold onto your horses. Be sure to support our very own Natali Del Conte's Smackdown for Charity!

As the need for greater security grows--even for home users--finding intuitive but robust solutions becomes more important. R-Crypto Disk Security fits the bill nicely for the average user. This nicely designed app provides encryption on the fly as you save data, and decryption as you open data, by creating password-protected virtual storage disks.

R-Crypto Disk Security launches a handsome interface that clearly means business, but is easy to navigate. Its features are clearly defined by the task categories listed in the navigation bar on the left and the large function pane on the right side of its window. Setting up … Read more

The U.K. government is considering the mass surveillance and retention of all user communications on social-networking sites, including Facebook, MySpace, and Bebo.

Vernon Coaker the U.K. Home Office security minister, on Monday said the EU Data Retention Directive, under which Internet service providers must store communications data for 12 months, does not go far enough. Communications such as those on social-networking sites and via instant-messaging services could also be monitored, he said.

"Social-networking sites such as MySpace or Bebo are not covered by the directive," said Coaker, speaking at a meeting of the House of Commons … Read more

NEW YORK--At first glance Cisco Systems' latest announcement that it's entering the server market seems like another boring corporate IT announcement, but take a closer look. The company's long-term vision of a "virtualized" data center could eventually revolutionize how consumers will one day access new services via the Net.

First, let's look at what Cisco actually announced. On Monday, the company unveiled a new data center architecture it's calling Unified Computing. This new architecture includes new hardware from Cisco, namely blade servers, an interconnection "fabric," a chassis for the blade servers, Fabric … Read more