Eweek Breaking Technology News

The FCC is postponing its net neutrality ruling while it seeks additional public feedback. The move follows an August net neutrality deal between Google and Verizon. - The Federal Communications Commission has begun a public inquiry (PDF) to get additional feedback on rules governing network neutrality, delaying a decision on how to regulate wireless providers' ability to curb activity on their networks. While the FCC's decision to hold additional hearings has ...

Plenty of IT events during the last two years have been "ghost towns," in the words of at least one respected IT analyst, Charles King, and he's right. However, this year's seventh annual VMworld conference and expo at San Francisco's Moscone Center belied that is far from that image. More than 17,000 people roamed the show floor, crowded technical meetings, and heard VMware executives and their industry partners talk about their technology "road maps" in general sessions. Virtualization continues to be a huge topic of discussion. Following are some snapshots of various parts of the show, which ends Sept. 2. (All photos by Chris Preimesberger, eWEEK) - ...

Gartner analysts predict that the boffo semiconductor sales in the first half of the year will not continue in the second half, as they fall in line with softening PC demand. - The worldwide semiconductor market is poised to have a strong year in 2010, but there are some dark clouds on the horizon, according to market research firm Gartner. In a report Sept. 1, Gartner analysts said they expect global semiconductor revenue to hit $300 billion, a 31.5 percent jump over rec...

Facebook is rolling out a security control that enables users to remotely log out of an active session from a different machine. The feature extends controls added in May to prevent unauthorized activity. - Facebook is updating security on its site to bolster protections added in May relating to user log-ins. This time, Facebook is giving users the ability to log out of any Facebook session they may have left active on another computer or device. For example, if a user logs into Facebook on a frien...

The technology hiring picture shows tiny growth as companies patiently await skilled job candidates. The operative word in ?cautious optimism is still caution when it comes to filling IT positions. - There are some unfortunate facts about the technology jobs picture right now, and while technology opportunities do exist, headcounts for IT in 2010 are not growing appreciably, according to research from technology analysts at Gartner. The Stamford, Conn.-based researchers found the rate of in...

News flash: Summer's over. Yes, the sun still may be out and the weather is warm, but there is a distinct smell in the air, which is telling you the lazy long weekends and beach days are fast approaching their end for the year. Now it's back to work and buckling down for autumn and then winter. It's not all bad, of course, and thanks to technologies such as Apple iPhone apps (and the enterprising and creative developers behind them) there are plenty of ways to ease out of the long hot summer and into the long, dark, cold winter. We kid, we kid! Here's a compilation of apps to get you back into the work spirit and embrace the golden hues of autumn. - ...

Small delegation from Seattle knocks VMware's view of the cloud world, talks up Azure as the better way to go. - SAN FRANCISCO -- Microsoft as alternative. This is certainly not a typical notion, but in the context of VMworld 2010, it absolutely fit. The world's largest application and operating system software maker is not nearly in as familiar waters when it comes to data center middleware, although it ha...

IBMs predictive analytics has proven to be not only a way for enterprises to make better business decisions, but to give fantasy football players a leg up in their leagues. - If you are one of the 21 million people who will sign up for fantasy football this year, IBMs predictive analytics could be the secret weapon you need to win in your league. According to Hetal Thaker, a product manager at IBM and long-suffering fan of the Detroit Lions, using IBMs predictive analyt...

Microsoft has updated a toolkit designed to help developers thwart attacks against their applications by implementing better security. - Microsoft released an updated version of a toolkit today to help developers bring more security to their applications. With Microsoft's Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit 2 (EMET), developers can bring technologies such as dynamic data execution prevention to bear for security, particularly ...

UPDATED: Hewlett-Packard wins out with an unsolicited, all-cash bid of $33 per share over Dell, ending the 10-day-long bidding war. - Minutes after being rebuffed by yet another higher offer for 3PAR from Hewlett-Packard, Dell decided on Sept. 2 to drop out of the high-stakes bidding process for the utility storage provider. Thus, with its final $33-per-share, all-cash bid, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based IT superpower will gain t...

Over two days, Cisco Systems bolstered its smart grid efforts by partnering with Itron and buying Arch Networks. - Cisco Systems is ramping up its push into the smart grid space, bolstering its efforts with a partnership and an acquisition. A day after Cisco unveiled a partnership with Itron to create an IP-based communications network for the smart grid market, the networking giant announced Sept. 2 that it ...

Google said Sept. 1 Gmail users made more than 10 million calls through its new Call Phones from Gmail feature. The company provided tips on how to use the service with Google Voice. - Google said Sept. 1 Gmail users made more than 10 million calls through its new Call Phones from Gmail feature since it launched a week ago. Launched Aug. 25, Call Phones from Gmail lets users place calls to contacts directly from Gmail. Calls placed from Gmail in the United States and Canada ar...

Samsung Electronics Co. Sept. 2 introduced Galaxy Tab computer to challenge Apple's iPad. The 7-inch-screen tablet machine will be available in Europe in two weeks, but U.S. and Asia will have to wait months for it. - Samsung Electronics Sept. 2 launched the widely anticipated Galaxy Tab computer to challenge Apple's iPad in a tablet market set to burst with Android devices. The tablet, unveiled at the IFA 2010 consumer electronics show in Berlin, sports a TFT-LCD 7-inch screen and runs Google's Android ...

Apple's Sept. 1 event in San Francisco unveiled a new line of iPods, a revamped Apple TV, a music-oriented social network called Ping, and two upcoming revisions to its iOS mobile operating system. Together, these updates offer a fairly detailed picture of Apple's short-term mobile strategy: Extend its strength in multitouch, as well as features such as multitasking, to devices beyond the iPhone 4. Apple TV and Ping also hint at Apple's interests in both cloud-based services and social connectivity. In addition, these advances place Apple in fiercer competition against Google, which is developing a Google TV; Microsoft, which plans on launching its own consumer-oriented mobile platform, Windows Phone 7; and Facebook, which might take issue with Apple starting a social network, music-centric or not. Trust that those companies are already busy analyzing the following Apple products-and judging how to best respond. - ...

: Intel has announced Intel Parallel Studio 2011, a new version of its toolset for building applications for parallel systems. - Intel has announced a new version of its toolset for developers working to create applications for parallel systems, Intel Parallel Studio 2011. Bill Savage, vice president and general manager of the Developer Products Division of Intels Software and Services Group, told eWEEK Intel Parallel Studio...

Having direct Web access is less important these days, as people are spending less time inside traditional Web browsers and more time accessing e-mail, social media sites and games from their mobile phones and smartphones. Here, Knowledge Center mobile and wireless analyst J. Gerry Purdy explains in more detail about why direct Web access no longer matters. - I'm sure this week's column title caught your attention. You might have even asked yourself, quot;Is this guy losing it or what? quot; While my family figured that out a long time ago, there's a very important message in the title, but it needs some explanation. The fact that the Web no longer m...

Google Chrome has teamed with a director and the band Arcade Fire to create "The Wilderness Downtown," a wistful, HTML5-intensive trip down memory lane to the band's song "We Used to Wait." - In one of the more bizarre mash-ups involving Web-based maps, browsers and indie rock music, Google has teamed with a director and the band Arcade Fire to create a sort of do-it-yourself movie that takes a wistful look at childhood. Where REM's quot;Stand quot; provided an upbeat soundtrack for...

NetApp Syncsort Integrated Backup combines Syncsort backup management software, NetApp snapshot, clone and replication, and NetApp disk storage in a turnkey package. - SAN FRANCISCO -- Storage maker NetApp and data integration/protection software provider Syncsort announced Sept. 1 at VMworld 2010 that they have combined to market a new data protection package for mixed-bag data centers -- which means just about all data centers. Called NetApp Syncsort Integrat...

Security researchers at Zscaler say many organizations are leaving themselves open to corporate espionage via the WebScan feature included in HP's all-in-one printers. - Research from Zscaler has exposed how a feature in Hewlett-Packard's (HP) all-in-one printers can be abused remotely to steal scanned documents. The feature, dubbed WebScan, allows users to remotely scan a document in the scanner and have an image of the document sent from the scanner to their...

T-Mobile says it will ramp up HSPA+ speeds to 42M bps in 2011 and reach 200 million people in 2010. - T-Mobile plans to increase theoretical peak speeds of its HSPA+ (High-Speed Packet Access) to 42M bps in 2011, according to an Aug. 31 statement from Neville Ray, the company's chief network officer. Currently, the carrier offers quot;theoretical quot; peak speeds of 21M bps. HSPA+ will allow Andr...

The disruption of the Pushdo botnet has not stopped spammers, despite nearly two-thirds of the botnet's command and control servers being taken out of commission. - From the shutdown of McColo to last week's disruption of the Pushdo botnet, spammers have continually found ways to stay in business. Nearly 20 of the 30 command and control (CnC) servers associated with Pushdo were taken offline last week due to efforts by security vendor LastLine. The servers we...

Amazon is getting ready to offer a video streaming service and when it does a major market battle may develop between it and Google. - Amazon is making plans to add a subscription-based video streaming service to its list of offerings and is trying to drum up support for it among media companies, the Wall Street Journal is reporting. The publication said that the service would compete quite well with Netflixs Instant Streaming opti...

News Analysis: Sprint directors are mulling an offer by Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile USA to invest in the Clearwire network owned by Sprint. - A growing coziness between T-Mobile USA and Sprint Nextel has been rumored for months. At one point there were rumors that T-Mobiles parent company, European communications goliath Deutsche Telekom was preparing to buy Sprint and make it part of T-Mobile. So far, nothing had come of it ? until now. ...

For the first time in 18 years, AutoCAD will be available for Apple's Mac platforms; Autodesk raises the ante by jumping on the iPad bandwagon. - Autodesk announced on Aug. 31 the planned release of AutoCAD for Mac, a native version of the company's professional design and engineering software built to run natively on Mac OS X, and the first version of AutoCAD for an Apple platform since George H.W. Bush was in the White House. The company...

ViewSonic will show a 7-inch multitouch ViewPad tablet at the IFA 2010 show in Berlin. The tablet is expected to be available in October. - ViewSonic is ready to roll out its Android-based, 7-inch mini-tablet multitouch device, called the ViewPad, at the IFA 2010 show in Berlin, which begins Sept. 3. This tablet is expected to compete against better-known offerings from Apple and Samsung. In addition to using Android 2.2, the ViewS...