data

Dell racks up Microsoft as data center customer

When it comes to picking a spot for a data center, Google and Microsoft often have the same sites in mind. But when it comes to how they build, the two companies take far different approaches.

Google relies largely on its own design expertise, contracting for and building its own server designs. Microsoft, meanwhile, relies on outside companies to build the hardware, though it certainly takes an active role in designing the centers themselves.

Dell is one of the companies that helps power Microsoft's server farms, including the ones that power Microsoft's operating system in the cloud, Windows Azure. … Read more

Microsoft puts data centers on wheels

Microsoft is taking its container approach to data centers a step further, making the building housing the data center itself a module.

In a blog posting on Tuesday, Microsoft detailed what the "generation four" data centers will look like.

"This is a significant step forward, and one that Microsoft believes will reshape how companies build data centers and support cloud computing," a Microsoft representative said in a statement.

The generation four concept "builds on the innovation at Microsoft's Chicago data center, which houses shipping containers packed with up to 2,500 servers each," … Read more

Facebook Connect appears set for expansion

Facebook Connect--the service launched last spring that lets members log on to other Web sites using their Facebook profile--appears to be entering a new phase.

The New York Times, in a big-picture story Sunday about the social network's plans to extend its reach across the Web, notes that the Facebook Connect service is gearing up for expansion:

In the next few weeks, a number of prominent Web sites will weave this service into their pages, including those of the Discovery Channel and The San Francisco Chronicle, the social news site Digg, the genealogy network Geni, and the online video … Read more

We Feel Fine

We Feel Fine is “an exploration of human emotion on a global scale.” The site, created by Brooklyn-based artist Jonathan Harris and Stanford computational math professor and former Google employee Sep Kamvar, looks like exactly the result of these two minds combined: emotional data mining with a human touch and an artistic interface -- a particularly beautiful application of moodgraphics.

The site is driven by a huge database that browses the web for emotional expressions around the globe and maps them graphically: “Every few minutes, the system searches the world’s newly posted blog entries for occurrences of the phrases ‘… Read more

Maltego and the science of 'open-source' snooping

Data mining used to be an expensive, somewhat esoteric affair. But as Forbes highlights in a recent article on Maltego, a new "open-source intelligence" tool, new technology "lets just about anybody do the kind of data mining that in the past only fraud investors, government specialists, and hackers typically could do."

Should we be worried?

Not really. Maltego doesn't snoop into closed data repositories, but instead mines publicly available data and helps to make inferences and connections between the disparate data sets. Here are two examples:

Worried about information leaks your company? Input lists of … Read more

Hacked USB flash drive piques interest, remains ironically forgettable

USB key drives usually only serve one boring purpose: to give users an inexpensive way to download and take information with them on the go. But who said all USB keys have to be so boring? We're starting to see manufacturers get more creative, but whatever happened to the classic practical joke?

Peep this "Hacked!" USB flash drive designed to look like someone got pissed and Hulked out on your USB cord. You even get a few frayed wires at the end for added effect! It only comes in a single 2GB model, and $49 is a … Read more

Don't confuse the economy with data privacy

This week, the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Regulations pushed back the deadline to comply with a new state law mandating encryption of sensitive consumer data. The law, passed in September 2008, was supposed to take effect on January 1, 2008. Instead, the deadline will now be pushed back to May 1.

Why the change? The extension was driven by the current economic crisis in order to give companies a bit more leeway.

OK, I read the papers and see what's going on. Yes, the economy is a mess and it ain't gonna get much better between … Read more

Survey: Are SharePoint sites the weakest link?

Eighty-seven percent of IT managers cited content-sharing and employee collaboration service SharePoint as their top concern for leaking sensitive data, according to a survey schedule for release on Tuesday.

Courion, an access management and compliance company, found that SharePoint sites are being deployed in some corporations without consideration of security's best practices. More than 33 percent of the organizations surveyed said they did not have a policy to manage the rights necessary to create SharePoint sites.

The study of 150 business managers conducted in September found that companies lack automated tools for provisioning SharePoint users and managing their access … Read more

Swedish data warehouse looks more like hidden lair

The Swedes, it seems, like to add a touch of flair to everything they do. Take Internet service provider Bahnhof's new underground high-security data center built in a former nuclear bomb shelter. Royal Pingdom says it looks like something a Bond villain would have for his headquarters, and I must agree. I think it looks like a combination of all the levels from the N64 game Goldeneye put together.

I want to live here.

Look at the amazing steam waterfall machines! They can be powered by German submarine engines! If that doesn't evoke Thunderball, I'm not sure what else could.

I haven't had a chance to see Quantum of Solace yet as it just opened Friday, but after looking at the amazing photos of the Stockholm structure after the jump, I'm not sure if I have to.… Read more