www.jinaa.com

In what is a rare demonstration of China taking a hard line on piracy four individuals have received prison sentences for distributing illegal copies of Microsoft’s Windows XP operating system.

The version being distributed was called “Tomato Garden Windows XP” and was available from the website tomatolei.com (which now redirects to Google) for anyone to download. That version of the OS proved very popular not only because it was free, but because the people making it available had managed to circumvent all authentication and security checks Microsoft uses. The result was an OS with all features available and updates possible. Money was made through advertisements on what was obviously a very popular site.

The four individuals behind Tomato Garden included the ring leader Hong Lei who received a prison sentence of three and a half years. One other member of the group, named Sun Xianzhong, got the same prison term while the other two only received two years. Hong Lei also received a fine amounting to $146,600. The company hosting the site, named Chengdu Gongruan Networking Technology Co., Ltd., has been punished with a fine of $1.27 million and revenue of $427,454 taken from it by the court.

Although the verdicts show that China is now willing to prosecute those who distribute illegal software it’s important to point out that the Tomato Garden version of Windows XP has been available since 2004 meaning it has taken five years for this to be resolved. In that time it is thought 10 million downloads occurred. Even so, Liu Fengming, vice president of Microsoft Greater China Region, has thanked the Chinese government for the action taken.

Microsoft will turn off the download spigot for Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) on Thursday around 11 a.m. ET, the company confirmed on Tuesday.

The company has been sending out e-mails to users who have already downloaded the release candidate, reminding them of the impending deadline. On Monday, a company spokesman repeated the warning, while a spokeswoman today said that the tap would be closed Thursday morning.

Microsoft first offered Windows 7 RC late on May 4, saying then that it would provide a download through at least July. Late in June, however, the company said that it would allow downloads until Aug. 15, then last month quietly extended that deadline by another five days.

Citing company policy, a spokeswoman today declined to specify how many copies of the RC have been downloaded since early May, although she said it was “in the millions.”

Although the actual downloads will not be available after Thursday, users who have obtained the disk image file may still request a product activation key after that date, Microsoft has said.

Other users, notably IT professionals and developers who subscribe to the TechNet and Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) services, have already moved on to Windows 7 RTM (release to manufacturing), the final version of the new operating system. Those users have been able to grab copies of the English RTM since Aug. 6.

Windows 7 RC is set to expire March 1, 2010, at which time it will begin to automatically shut down at two-hour intervals. The RC expires on June 1, 2010; after that date, it simply won’t boot.

Microsoft has slated Oct. 22 as the on-sale date for new PCs packing Windows 7, as well as for retail copies of upgrades to the operating system. Prior to that date, one of the few ways to obtain a legal, final copy of Windows 7 is to attend one of the 25 launch events Microsoft is hosting in the U.S. Those events begin Sept. 24 in Denver, Miami and Minneapolis, and end Nov. 9 in Baltimore, Houston and St. Louis.

A complete list of the sites and schedule is available on Microsoft’s site.

Until Thursday morning, Windows 7 can be downloaded in 32- and 64-bit versions, and in English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish editions, from this site.

Despite all the hype associated with a never-ending Linux versus Windows battle, it’s Unix, and specifically Sun Solaris that has felt the most pressure in the server operating system landscape.

While I doubt that Solaris will completely languish long-term under Oracle’s watchful eye (in fact, it may well flourish), there is little question that Sun’s ups and downs in the recent past have made customers look to alternatives.

At a recent IBM analyst meeting, Inna Kuznetsova, director, Linux strategy, told attendees that the Linux business is strong and growing.

• In the past three years, over 1,800 customers have migrated from competitive platforms to IBM, and nearly 50 percent of those IBM wins included Linux.
• IBM doubled their number of Sun customer wins between first quarter and second quarter 2009.

Much of the growth comes from IBM’s close relationship with Red Hat, which allows IBM to play all sides of the fence in terms of OS suggestions to their customers.

This comes at a time when Novell has decided to invest further into OpenSUSE, adding full-time staff to the project team. As The Register noted, it’s a bit shocking that it’s taken this long for Novell to properly fund the effort, but it seems like an obvious time to take advantage of the market opportunity as Solaris and OpenSolaris are potentially on the ropes.

The fastest, the lightest, the largest and the most viewed

1. Largest wireless internet provider
DoCoMo in Japan, with 45 million subscribers
Guinness World Record: Yes, in 2006

In 2006, DoCoMO in Japan set – and has kept – the record for the largest deployment of wireless internet with 45 million subscribers. The service is called i-Mode, and is similar to the US Sprint closed network system that enables users to access a set number of web sites and check their usage plans.

2. internet land speed record
Record stands at 7.67 Gbps
Guinness World Record: No

This record, set in 2007 by the University of Tokyo, is interesting because it essentially maxed out the limit of a 10 Gbps connection, running at a real-world speed of 7.67 Gbps. The test requires that the participants use standard TCP/IP and a single IP address sent to another single IP address, so no clusters are involved. Since there are no higher 40Gbps network interface controller cards available yet, the speed test is essentially on hold until new hardware is available.

3. Largest virtualization deployment
Userful and ThinNetworks’ 356,800 thin clients in Brazil
Guinness World Record: No

At just £30 ($50) per seat, the Userful and ThinNetworks deployment of 356,800 clients – which will be used for rural schools in Brazil this year – involves 18,750 workstations running thousands of desktop instances. Each workstation will run ten different clients in a classroom setting, with ten students using a screen, keyboard and mouse connected to a single thin PC. The deployment will save about 170,000 tons of CO2 emissions as well, and reduce power consumption by about 80 per cent. Impressive.

4. Most viewed internet concert
Madonna webcast on MSN in 2000 with 11 million virtual attendees
Guinness World Record: Yes

Way back in 2000, an online concert for Madonna attracted 11 million simultaneous visitors, even if it didn’t attract a hugely positive reaction. The video ran on both MSN.com and MSN.co.uk. Today, online concerts are rare – they tend to cause server outages, congestion problems with ISPs, and mean a lot of frustration for fans.

5. Fastest desktop processor
Intel Core i7
Guinness World Record: No

The current record-holder for fastest processor is the relatively new Intel Core i7, running at 3.20 GHz and setting a record score of 117 in the SPECint_base_rate2006 test. It’s the first CPU to perform better than a score of 100, and is ranked about 40 per cent faster than previous Intel processors. It’s also worth mentioning that AMD broke a world record for the fastest overclocked CPU, with the Phenom II X4 running at 6.5GHz, cooled by liquid nitrogen and liquid helium.

6. Largest data warehouse
Sybase IQ analytics server
Guinness World Record: Yes, in 2008

The largest data warehouse in the world is the Sybase IQ analytics server running on a Sun SPARC Enterprise M9000, which holds one petabyte of input data. The data warehouse fits into just three server cabinets and emits about 500 tons of CO2 per year, compared to conventional data warehouses, which fit in about 30 cabinets and emit 5,000 tons of CO2. The data warehouse holds six trillion rows of transitional data and 185 million documents.

7. Highest capacity media switch
The Steelbox, used for surveillance, supports 512 simultaneous video feeds.
Guinness World Record: No

The Steelbox Digital Matrix Storage Switch 3000 can handle 512 simultaneous MPEG-4 video feeds at 1.5Gbps each – the device is used for video surveillance. The appliance, which fits in a data center cabinet, adjusts load balances automatically to make sure each stream stays smooth, handles multiple codecs, and can automatically change storage locations if a video feed taxes the appliance.

8. Fastest supercomputer
IBM Roadrunner
Guinness World Record: No

The fastest supercomputer in the world is part of the IBM Roadrunner project at the Los Alamos National Lab in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The supercomputer runs at 1.105 petaflops, or 444.9 megaflops per watt. For those keeping track of the top ten list, the Dawn supercomputer that went online this year at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab in Livermore, California, debuted at the ninth position. When the 20-petaflop supercomputer at Livermore goes online in 2012 it will likely take the number one spot. To understand how fast a petaflop is: it’s the equivalent of having every human on the planet perform 150,000 calculations every second. At 20 petaflops, each human would do 3 million calculations.

9. Lightest mobile phone in the world
Modu (modumobile.com)
Guinness World Record: No

Forget the iPhone, which weighs a back-breaking 135 grams. The Moduphone weighs just 40 grams and measures only 72.1 mm (2.8 inches) x 37.6 mm (1.4 inches) x 7.8 mm – making it the world’s smallest mobile phone as well. The device has 2GB of built-in flash memory and a 1.3-inch screen.

10. Largest communications satellite
TerreStar-1 satellite
Guinness World Record: Under review

The largest communications satellite ever deployed is the TerreStar-1, launched this year. It will be used mostly for delivering a mobile broadband network. The satellite weighs nearly 7000kg and has an 18-metre antenna that transmits a signal on the 2GHz spectrum. The TerreStar-1 is also the largest satellite launched into geosynchronous transfer orbit, beating the ICO G-1 satellite launched in 2008.

It looks like there might be a trend brewing among products with nondescript September release windows coming out in August instead — first with Apple, and now with Sony. Supply shortages or no, Amazon’s telling those who pre-ordered the PlayStation 3 Slim the first day it was announced should expect to have their consoles in-hand on Wednesday, August 26th, almost a whole week before the new month begins. Delivery estimates are subject to change, of course, but Amazon’s not one to typically screw around with shipping confirmations. Any other early adopters received confirmations lately?

Source: Engadget.com

The rumors, as they usually are, were true: Sony formally announced a $299 slim PlayStation 3 on Tuesday. But while the slim PS3 will carry a larger hard drive than the current model, it will be priced identically to the current PlayStation, which contains a hard drive with less capacity.

The new charcoal black PlayStation 3 (CECH-2000A) will include a 120-Gbyte hard drive and will be priced at $299. It will be released worldwide on Sept. 1, save for Japan, which will receive it two days later. In Europe, it will be priced at 299 euros, and in Japan at 29,280 yen.
But Sony will also lower the price of the current PlayStation 3 to $299 as well. The problem is that the current PS3 carries just 80 Gbytes of storage, meaning that Sony will apparently push customers to the new model through the additional storage capacity, not by price.
The new PlayStation 3 was revealed via ads from Kmart and Sears earlier Tuesday.

While the new slim PS3 will maintain the same curved look as its predecessor, the new version contains a reworked internal design that has cut the PS3’s thickness and weight by two thirds. It will measure 290 mm by 65 mm by 290 mm and weigh 3.2 kilograms, Sony said. The unit’s power consumption has been cut by the same amount, to 250 watts, which should help cut fan noise, Sony said.

Sony also plans to introduce a new PS3 logo, also changing the formal name of the device from the PLAYSTATION 3 to “PlayStation 3″.

On Sept. 1, the PlayStation 3 system software will be upgraded to version 3.0, adding a new “What’s New” screen that provide shortcuts to new content. A “Bravia Sync” feature will also allow the game console’s media playback features to be controlled by Sony Bravia TVs. Finally, Sony removed the “install other OS” feature from the options menu, essentially making the PS3 a closed system.

A stand will also be sold for $24, allowing users to align the PS3 on its vertical axis, Sony said.

Source: www.extremetech.com

Linux has been cutting into Microsoft’s market share for some time now, but up until recently, it was difficult to get Microsoft to admit as much. But in a recent filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Microsoft for the first time named a pair of Linux distributors — Red Hat and Canonical — as competitors to its Windows client business.
“Client faces strong competition from well-established companies with differing approaches to the PC market,” Microsoft said in the filing. “Competing commercial software products, including variants of Unix, are supplied by competitors such as Apple, Canonical, and Red Hat.”
Microsoft went on to reference netbooks, noting that Linux has gained “some acceptance,” noting that “competitive pressures lead OEMs to reduce costs and new, lower-price PC form-factors gain adoption.”
Canonical makes the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution, known for its ease of use and often recommended to users new to open source OSes.

A New York woman has became the first person to receive a pacemaker wirelessly connected to her doctor, enabling monitoring and checkups without all that mucking about examining people.

The device contains a radio transmitter which connects to receiving equipment in New Yorker Carol Kasyjanski’s home, using a very low-power signal around 400MHz, to report on the condition of her heart. Any problems are instantly reported to the doctor, and regular checkups can be done by remotely interrogating the home home-based equipment – the pacemaker itself doesn’t have an IP address, fun as that would be.

“In the future, these pacemakers may be placed not just for people with slow heartbeats. We may be monitoring high blood pressure, we may be measuring glucose, we may be monitoring heart failure… it is not just a rhythm monitor but a disease monitor.”