EC task force recommends a 'plan of action' for IPv6
A recommendation to the European Parliament regarding implementation and support for IPv6 addresses clearly states that legislators should, pretty soon, most definitely, whenever they can, do something.
European and Japanese Internet policy experts are now in agreement that the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority will likely run out of possible octet-based IPv4 addresses to assign to prospective registrants as soon as 2010. A recommendation by a task force led by the European Commission (PDF available here) states that as of January 2008, only 16% of the span of IPv4 addresses will be available in the IANA pool.
Sony re-enters the glass tube business, with an innovative new speaker
Sony is a company well known for creating new and innovative products, and has done it again with a new transparent tube speaker that will be released in Japan for a hefty price tag.
During a press event at Sony headquarters in Tokyo, the company introduced an innovative speaker design that uses hard glass instead of paper and magnesium used in regular speaker designs.
South Africa to appeal Open XML's ratification as a standard
Letters have been sent to both the International Standards Organization and the International Electrotechnical Commission saying the standardization process was flawed.
South Africa is believed to be the first country to file a formal appeal with the world's two leading technology standards organizations, protesting the ratification of what had been called "Office Open XML" as ISO/IEC 29500, and contesting its validity as a standard. The South African Bureau of Standards argued in both cases the process was rushed, and too much information was needed to be analyzed in too short a time.
FCC now seems open to free Wi-Fi plan
In a variation of a plan it previously shot down, the Federal Communications Commission has proposed that the winner of a newly planned spectrum auction be required to offer free wireless Internet service.
The FCC's proposal essentially sounds similar to a suggestion made last year by M2Z Networks, the first company to suggest free wireless Internet nationwide. The free wireless network would be required to cover half of the country's citizens within four years, and 95 percent within a decade. FCC officials told the Wall Street Journal that content restrictions would be placed on use.
Early pictures reveal Acer's next sub-notebook
If sub-notebooks weren't so small, it would be getting very crowded in here. The second addition to the ultra-portable PC category in as many days comes from Acer and its "Aspire One."
Acer's low-cost sub-notebook lacks firm specifications thus far, but the screen looks to be 8.9" with 1024 x 768 resolution. Further information is expected to be revealed at the Computex trade show in Taipei next week. UMPC Portal suspects it is an Atom/Diamondville device like the 1.6 Ghz MSI Wind, and Digitimes expects it to carry a price tag under €200.
As Google Gears turns one, it lands its biggest customers yet
Google's Web services project has been renamed simply "Gears," and the company has announced that MySpace will use the technology in its e-mail platform.
"We want to make it clear that Gears isn't just a Google thing. We see Gears as a way for everyone to get involved with upgrading the web platform," software engineer Chris Prince said.
Via bets everything on new ultra-low-power, single-core CPUs
Just two days after announcing it has released an open source model for a new UMPC platform based on its own CPUs and motherboards, Via announced a new Nano processor based on its "Isaiah" architecture.
Via Technologies' low-power x86 Nano processor will be offered alongside its existing, venerable C7 while directly competing with Intel's Atom. The Nano processor family boasts at least four times the performance of the C7, while staying within the same power range and remaining pin-compatible.
VMware invests in an SMT provider in its battle against Microsoft
Public perception is half the battle, especially when the prize is a virtual one. Yesterday, VMware placed a big bet that it could be perceived as a full-service provider like Microsoft, by acquiring a systems management tool company called B-hive.
Last year, Microsoft officials admitted they didn't hold any expectations for their company to suddenly become perceived as the world leader in virtualization, even if they end up outshipping VMware or Citrix XenSource quantitatively by virtue of the availability of Hyper-V for Windows Server 2008. But it did intend to leverage its existing position not only as an operating system provider but as an indisputable competitor in systems management tools, as a way to offer customers at least a complete package.
ICANN looks to lend a hand in spam fight
The administrative body in charge of the Internet's mapping of IP addresses says it has sent compliance letters to registrars commonly used by spammers, although it admits it can do little to stop spam itself.
ICANN's comments came in response to a widely circulated report by anti-spam group KnujOn -- which spelled backwards reads, "no junk." It found that 90% of all illegal sites tracked by the organization have their URLs marshaled by just 20 registrars.
Mozilla aims for record downloads with Firefox 3
Firefox 3's upcoming release is quite literally being hyped up to record-setting levels, as Mozilla aims for the final release to set a Guinness World Record, as the most downloaded single product within a 24-hour span.
To coincide with the still-unspecified June release date of Firefox 3, Mozilla has launched its "World Download Day" campaign to get as many users as possible to download the browser on its first day available.
Blockbuster tries another approach in battling Netflix, with a kiosk
Blockbuster and Netflix have been battling for home video supremacy for long enough to almost declare a winner, and the dual investor meetings held by the companies shows where the real disadvantage lies.
Blockbuster's more than 7,800 retail stores in the US are beginning to appear more of an onus than an asset.
Russinovich's Windows toolkit goes live, quite literally
Admins now have immediate access to any of Sysinternals utilities from any Windows computer, without having to install anything first.
There really aren't all that many EXE files that people would automatically feel are safe enough to run from a remote Internet server, directly from the command line. But probably taking up most of the spaces on that short list are the invaluable utilities of Mark Russinovich, who maintains the Sysinternals brand now for Microsoft.
Yahoo delivers a BrowserPlus sneak peek
Today, Yahoo is giving developers and end users an online "sneak peek" at BrowserPlus, an emerging cross-platform software platform aimed at expanding the kinds of content that run on Web browsers.
The first demos offered as part of Yahoo's browser functionality expansions include features such as drag-and-drop from the desktop, and easier acquisition of data feeds.
First release candidate for Microsoft Small Business Server 2008
The next edition of Windows Server's pre-configured server operating system for small business hit the wires this morning, with both Standard and Premium packages, in 32- and 64-bit editions, available for preview.
Download Microsoft Small Business Server 2008 RC0 from FileForum now.
Dell offers a new peek at an old UMPC prototype
It's cute, it's red, it has a Dell logo, and for many, it's enough. The buzz machine has been reignited, after Michael Dell gave a prominent Gizmodo writer another peek at something small it's been cooking up in its laboratories.
It would appear that Carlsbad, California, is the place for big companies to break technology news, and that the D: conference could be the new COMDEX. There, in a move reminiscent of the Dell of old, Michael Dell gave a Gizmodo correspondent a peek at a little red laptop that has the industry abuzz this morning.
Most Commented Stories
BetaNews, your source for breaking tech news, reviews, and in-depth reporting since 1998.
Regional iGaming Content
© 1998-2025 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. About Us - Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy - Sitemap.