INDUSTRY NEWS

July Web Outages Show Vulnerability of Data Centers
It’s the Web 2.0 era, and all the tech advances that implies, but a simple power surge can still bring sites to their knees. MORE

AT&T CEO: ‘We Don't Promote $10 DSL
Because No One Wants It’
From the yeah,-right department . . . MORE

Build Your Data Center Here:
The Most Energy-Efficient Locations
It's almost a no-brainer that bucolic Quincy, Wash., would be a more environmentally friendly site for data centers than, say, New York is. But according to a new study, Chicago beats all 20 of the other locations that were looked at — even Quincy — in terms of a data center's carbon output. MORE

Hypervisors May Replace Operating Systems
As King of the Data Center
The increased use of virtualization in the data center will enhance the importance of hypervisors and diminish the importance of Windows, Linux, and other general-purpose operating systems. MORE

FCC Embraces Open Access for 700MHz Auction
The federal agency today set the conditions on a chunk of valuable wireless spectrum to be auctioned by early next year, putting open-access rules on a third of the spectrum. MORE

The Cool New Look in Data Center Design
What may come as a surprise, however, is that hidden energy costs await those who do not plan the layout of their virtualized data center wisely. MORE

SIDE TRAQS

Coffee Drinkers Rejoice: Your Liver and Skin Thank You
We tend to view habits that are referred to as addictions as necessarily bad things. In recent years, however, there has been good news for those who consider themselves hooked on things like red wine, green tea and chocolate: these complex substances appear to contain some chemicals that actually enhance human health. Two recent publications suggest that we may be able to add coffee to that list. MORE

 

Shamed Scientist’s ‘Breakthrough’
A scientist who faked his research may have actually made a groundbreaking advance — without even realizing it. MORE

 

Office Printers ‘Are Health Risk’
The humble office laser printer can damage lungs in much the same way as smoke particles from cigarettes, a team of Australian scientists has found. MORE

 

Creating Tornadoes to Power Cities?
On a list of “holy sh*t that doesn't really sound like a good idea” ideas, creating tornadoes to power cities has got to be pretty close to the top. But really, does it sound any more foolish than attempting to control the force of atomic explosions? MORE

 

A Land Where Girls Rule in Math
This fishing village of 1,480 people is a bleak and lonely place, even in a country suspended at the top of the world. Set on the southwestern edge of Iceland, the volcanic landscape is whipped by the North Atlantic winds, which hush everything around them. A sculpture at the entrance to the village depicts a naked man facing a wall of seawater twice his height. There is no movie theater, and many residents never venture to the capital, a 50-min. drive away. MORE

 

Man Gets Thumbs Surgically “Whittled”
For Better iPhone Use
File this one under “you cannot be serious” until we see pictorial evidence, but the North Denver News is reporting that a local man has had thumb-altering surgery so as to better use the touchscreen on his iPhone. MORE


 

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