Posted 11/20/09 at 07:24:14 AM by Paul Lilly

A rising number of data flubs has caused some to question whether the benefits of cloud computing truly outweigh the risks, but is that really a fair assessment? The eggheads at Kroll Ontrack don't think so, who point out that the recent spike in data losses with corporate enterprises is simply the result of human error.

"While advanced storage options such as virtualization and cloud computing offer corporations storage optimization, human processes are still at the root of these solutions, instructing the technology as to how to perform," said Phil Bridge, managing director at Kroll Ontrack UK. "The complextity of these systems often requires a steep learning curve. With reported IT spending at a low, human error is increasingly common."

According to Kroll Ontrack, some of the biggest mistakes attributed to the human element include pulling the wrong drive while trying to pull a failed disk in a RAID array, accidentally deleting a business-critical database and restoring it with a corrupt or incomplete backup, attempting to force failed drives back online when rebuilding a bad array, accidentally deleting files, volumes, virtual machines, or a SAN LUN with no backup in place, and reformatting the wrong SAN LUN during a server migration.

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Posted 11/19/09 at 07:08:14 AM by Paul Lilly

We have to hand it to keepgoing.biz, because if you're going to get your point across, you might as well go all out in a high powered YouTube video that ends in a bang (literally). The victim, in this case, is a server.

To demonstrate the benefit of disk-to-disk backups with multiple offsite backups at data centers in separate states, keepgoing.biz posted a video of company president Jon Klaus and others firing rounds at a computer server with shotguns and an assortment of other weapons. The video culminates with the server being blown to bits.

So what's the point?

"Businesses rely on their servers and data being protected and safe," a voice over narrates. "When a server fails, data is often lost, putting your business at risk. Keepgoing.biz backs up your data continuously and restores it completely in minutes, no matter what happens."

Because, you know, a good IT is always prepared for a Colt M2 .50 caliber heavy machine gun firing rounds in slow motion at an exposed server that happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

All joking aside, keepgoing.biz's 2 minute video is worth every second. Check it out here.

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Posted 11/16/09 at 07:04:32 AM by Paul Lilly

Ready for a shocker? Rackspace Hosting, a company which rents server space, surveyed 441 U.S. and U.K.-based IT decision makers at companies with anywhere between 100 to 500 employees and found that just over half of them -- 51 percent -- "would love to never have to buy another server again."

Rackspace's spin on the survey suggests that the time and money enterprises currently allocate to managing in-house servers would be better spent on increasing strategic initiatives within the company. This, of course, would require a shift to cloud computing services, such as those offered by Rackspace.

The survey also found that "on-site servers are causing stress for IT decision makers," with hardware issues and maintenance, after hours issues, and 24/7 availability listed as the main challenges.

But while Rackspace sees the data as overwhelmingly positive in favor of cloud computing, another way to look at it is that nearly half of IT admins remain skittish about off-site services. And understandably so, given the early-adoptance aspect and high profile data scares, like the recent glitch that caused T-Mobile Sidekick owners to lose their contacts.

Survey Details (PDF)

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Posted 11/11/09 at 04:32:21 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Purchasing storage space in addition to the 1GB free space included with every Picasa Web Albums account just got cheaper, and dramatically at that. Google has slashed the price of additional storage space by eight times: “twice as much storage for a quarter of the old price.” Paid storage plans now start at $5 a year for 20GB and go all the way up to $4,096 per year for 16TB space, which is enough to store 8 million full resolution photos.

With that much storage on offer, it just sounds like the cloud storage solution that NASA has been waiting for to store its satellite imagery. “While the cost of hard drive storage has continued to drop in these two years, we've also been working hard to improve our infrastructure to reduce your costs even further. Today we're dramatically lowering our prices to make extra storage even more affordable,” Google engineer Elvin Lee wrote in a post on the official Google Photos Blog.

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Posted 11/11/09 at 12:00:00 PM by David Murphy

Everyone wants a piece of the direct-download pie. With apologies to our gaming columnist for inching onto his beat just a tad, I think that some intrepid gamer - or, better, an intrepid gamer-businessman - needs to put his finger in the swelling dike of direct download services before it bursts all over the Web and ruins us all.

Dramatic? Perhaps. The description is no less dramatic than my growing frustration at the inability to manage my downloads, multiplayer experience, and cash across the many platforms that exist on the modern-day "Gamer's Internet." In a perfect world, the various game publishers would band together and come up with a common solution-a universal iTunes, if you will-by which all could contribute core content, extras, add-ons, and share the costs of bandwidth, UI development, and communal matchmaking.

As you might expect, that's hardly the case.

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Posted 11/10/09 at 11:10:13 AM by Paul Lilly

After sitting in beta for six months, Panda today announced its Cloud Antivirus is now ready for prime time and is available as a free download for all consumers.

"Since the beta release of Panda Cloud Antivirus in April, we have been judiciously testing our cloud-based protection model, making upgrades in security and performance, and listening to our user community," said Juan Santana, CEO of Panda Security. "With Panda Cloud Antivirus 1.0, we've really changed the game, providing our users the most powerful and lightweight free protection available on the market today."

There's been a few improvements from when we first glimpsed the beta back in April, such as a polished interface, better performance thanks in large part to cache optimizations and memory management schemes, a Collective Intelligence Monitor which keeps a list of malware from the community updated in real time, and new support forums.

You can grab the free download here (and if you're a fan of the banjo, be sure to check out the video in that same link).

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Posted 11/04/09 at 07:23:15 PM by Ryan Whitwam

A series of images have shown up online that purport to explain how the mysterious Microsoft Courier interface works. They consist of some professional looking diagrams and illustrations of the Courier device from the previously leaked videos.

The docs indicate that the unit will have multitouch gestures for actions like opening apps, and zooming. There’s a pen as well. It has two buttons, an eraser, and a twist mechanism to access different functions. Courier’s “home screen” is called the Smart Agenda. It displays email, weather, to-do lists, and any active items in the journal. Almost any content the device can access can be “clipped”, and stored in the journal.

There are also numerous references to “the cloud” in these images. They say that any part of your journal can be shared with the cloud. People can instantly comment on these portions via a web browser. Speaking of browsers, the courier has one, and it actually looks nice. Pages are organized like a stack of note cards to flip through.

While this may be vaporware, it is very attractive vaporware. Let’s hope it actually exists.

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Posted 10/21/09 at 10:17:00 AM by Pulkit Chandna

IBM is hoping its latest war cry can somehow pierce the din that Windows 7 seems to be generating. In September, the company struck a partnership with Canonical, the UK-based sponsor of Ubuntu, which resulted in the launch of an Ubuntu-based desktop bundle in Africa.

The cloud- and Ubuntu-based software package, which is part of IBM’s Smart Work Initiative, will soon be debuting in the States. The Ubuntu-based desktop package includes IBM’s free Lotus Symphony productivity suite and Lotus Notes, which is a business email and collaboration solution.

The IBM Client for Smart Work will only arrive in the U.S. in 2010 despite IBM positioning it to rival Windows 7 – on the brink of launch - in the enterprise market. It will be available both as a run-of-the-mill desktop and as a virtualized desktop.

"If a company is a 'Windows shop,' at some point it will need to evaluate the significant costs of migrating its base to Microsoft's next desktop," said Bob Picciano, General Manager, IBM Lotus Software. IBM and chums are clearly targeting those businesses that are not too keen on Windows 7.

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