More and more tech companies promise cloud offerings. But they're not all the same. InfoWorld's guide to what the key companies offer

By John Edwards
InfoWorld, August 27, 2008

The news that AT&T has joined the rapidly growing ranks of cloud computing providers reinforces the argument that the latest IT outsourcing model is well on its way to becoming a classic disruptive technology. By enabling datacenter operators to "publish" computing resources -- such as servers, storage, and network connectivity -- cloud computing provides a pay-by-consumption scalable service that's usually free of long-term contracts and is typically application- and OS-independent. The approach also eliminates the need to install any on-site hardware or software.   [Comments...] 

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Microsoft, Verizon, and other Apple critics have found a supporter in the British government

Apple has been a pain in the side of carriers such as Verizon and others vested in the cell phone industry, such as rival Microsoft. They have attacked the iPhone, but have been unable to dent its strong sales. Now the iPhone's detractors may have found some relief in the form of an unlikely ally -- the British government.

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Network notary system thwarts man-in-the-middle attacks

By Ryan Paul | Published: August 26, 2008 - 09:43AM CT

A new system devised by Carnegie Mellon University researchers aims to thwart man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks by providing a way to verify the authenticity of self-signed certificates. The system, which is called Perspectives, uses a distributed network of "notary" servers to evaluate the public key of a target destination so that its validity can be ascertained.

 The growing presence of public wireless access points puts more users at risk of falling prey to man-in-the-middle attacks. The researchers believe that the Perspectives system can resolve this problem and offer reasonably strong security guarantees for users who visit web sites that have self-signed certificates instead of certificates that are independently validated by certificate authorities.   [ARS Technica...]   [Comments...]

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August 26, 2008 8:35 AM PDT
Google Earth shows cows point north
Posted by Adam Richardson
C/Net News

My grandparents in England had cows on their farm so I've always had a lot of affection for them, and was delighted to read this story from the LA Times indicating a "hidden cow power". Turns out cows may have internal compasses much like birds and bees do for orienting themselves to magnetic north.

Using satellite images on Google Earth, German scientists were able to see that all over the planet cows stand with their bodies pointing to magnetic north....[Comments..]

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From The Inquirer:

THE INQ CAUGHT up with Nvidia CEO Jen Hsun Huang at his post key note Q&A earlier and asked him why the company wasn't disclosing information about their bad chips.

"How could you guys possibly even say that?" he replied, looking peeved. "The first person in the world who talked about the chip issue was me," he said, adding "I issued a press release with a 200 million dollar reserve and, in fact, our customers were saying 'Jen Hsun, why did you do that?"

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 Intel rounds off its developers forum with a wild new upcoming tech
Jason Mick (Blog) - August 22, 2008 9:25 AM
DailyTech

Wireless is one of those hot tech catch-alls of the new millennium. There's wireless broadcasters and receivers, utilizing such technology as WiMax, 802.11n, and Bluetooth. There's wireless gaming controllers. There's just about wireless everything -- except power transmission.

Wireless power transmission is something that inventor Nikolai Tesla came up with over a century ago and claimed to have perfected. However, his mysterious work vanished with his death, and for decades the topic was left untouched. Now there has been a resurgence in interest with several companies competing to becoming the first to offer commercially broadcast wireless power.

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 Security Researcher Warns of Vista Vulnerabilities

Ulrika Hedquist, Computerworld New Zealand Online

Monday, August 25, 2008 7:28 AM PDT

A New Zealand security researcher is exploring several scenarios in which Windows Vista could be attacked and warns more protection is needed for users.
Ben Hawkes presented his findings at the Black Hat conference, held in Las Vegas this month, and will also present them at the Kiwicon conference, to be held in Wellington in the end of September.

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From NY Times:

Personal computer maker Acer said Friday morning it is cutting the price of its Aspire “netbook” to $349 from $399. It’s cutting the price of another netbook, the Linpus Linux Lite, to $329 from $379.

None too soon.

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From Reg Hardware:

A small island in the South Pacific has become the world’s first nation to see all of its children equipped with laptops through the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project.

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Proposed FBI guidelines allow investigation sans suspicion

By Julian Sanchez | Published: August 22, 2008 - 11:18AM CT

Attorney General Michael Mukasey has agreed to postpone implementation of new FBI guidelines, after four Democratic senators raised concerns in a letter Wednesday about proposed changes that they say could permit the FBI to launch investigations of American citizens without any individualized basis for suspicion.

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Eric Wesoff
Greentech Media

Netcrystal has developed a MEMS-style solar technology that lets photovoltaic silicon stretch and expand to cover large areas. Netcrystal’s CEO, Bala Padmakumar, claims that the device’s efficiency will rival and exceed that of the mighty SunPower (~19%) while beating the price claims of the mightily-hyped Nanosolar ($.99/watt).

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