The micro-blogging app, Jaiku, has moved from it’s previous hosted servers to a Google data centre, following problems with the system.

Jaiku, who had been acquired by Google in October of last year, had always planned to migrate their systems to Google’s servers, in readiness for integration with Google Apps. However due to some problems they had last weekend, they decided to make the leap a little earlier than planned. Jaiku is still in a closed Beta, but now allows current users to give out unlimited invitations. If anyone wants an invite from me, drop a comment on this post.

In another anti-Microsoft post (God I’m getting good at these recently) it appears Microsoft’s email servers are down.

Just remember, don’t fret if you see the “Service Unavailable” message when trying to access your hotmail account - maybe it’s fate just whispering gently in your ear - “time to move to gmail…”

And we know what starts in the server market finishes on the desktop. Intel released details to Sun of their next chip and wanted them to keep it pretty secret, however Sun let it slip on a public server over the weekend - oops. Maybe Intel won’t be so eager to announce their intentions to Sun in the future! [SHOW ME]

There’s a serious “Geek alert” on this article. If you don’t know what IPv4 or IPv6 is then I suggest you look away and read the next article.. For those who are still reading, IPv6 address have been implemented on almost half of the root servers which means that IPv6 systems can communicate with each other without any legacy IPv4 stuff being used.

Why do we care? Well the number of IP addresses that are currently allocated on the internet is going to hit a very real limit in about 3 years time. This is because the pool of IP addresses available within IPv4 is nearly all used up. Of course back when the IPv4 standard was drawn up in the 70’s, it was never thought that there would be a need to address more than 4 billion computers on the internet. Thankfully with the IPv6 standard, which has had a real push for implementation, that upper limit of IP addresses goes up by a factor of 4 - a number roughly equivalent to 3 followed by 38 zeroes. Hopefully this will be enough for another 30 years! [SHOW ME]

Yeah I know, the Pirate Bay aren’t exactly the last bastions of copyright law, but it’s important to realise that they don’t peddle piracy, they merely allow those who want, to share what they have. Again, the word “Pirate” in their name doesn’t exactly lend themselves well to the RIAA or MPAA or the other myriads of money driven anti-copying corporations. But then that doesn’t immediately make them criminals. If that was a fact then Maersk or P&O would be held responsible for dealing with stolen cars, transported by their container ships - which is obviously not the case. This is just ridiculous and highlights how little the legal system knows or understands how torrents or the servers that hold them work. [SHOW ME]

Perhaps trying to stop the rot, Sun have bought the MySQL software & company for $1 Billion. What are their intentions with the purchase? In a press release from MySQL, it looks as though Sun are going to develop the database system for use outside the MySQL dominated web market, “MySQL will … gain new distribution through Sun’s channels including its OEM relationships with Intel, IBM and Dell.”

With Sun being a big believer in open source, it’s important the model of MySQL doesn’t get distorted in the move. Web developers across the globe look to MySQL as the definitive database system for the internet - and it hasn’t got to that point by being a stagnant under-developed piece of software - it’s through the dedication of millions of open source developers. This move should allow MySQL to increase it’s growth and development whilst at the same time involving the community in new areas and also allowing Sun to branch into different areas. Win-win-win? Time will tell. Sun’s Shares have climbed for the first time in a year though! [SHOW ME]

Finally AMD have got around to releasing their quad core chip, to hopefully rival the intel counterpart. Touted as the first “true” quad core (because all 4 cores are on the same die) AMD are going to try to make up some of the ground it’s lost to Intel over the last 6 months or so.

The quad core chip, nicknamed “Phenom”, and it’s server counterpart “Barcelona” will come in dual and quad core configurations. The Phenom will initially be aimed at the high-end gamer market, with a set-up named “FASN8″ that has a mock up of 2 Phenom processors (that’s 8 cores!) Due for release in the second-half of 2007, Intel are also looking to compete with a version of their quad-core chips using the same memory management technology as AMD’s new breed [SHOW ME].

Space cube? Yeap it’s a Rubik’s Cube just off the moon’s orbit.. No, hang on, it’s really a tiny PC. I believe it first arrived out of Asia from a Japanese company about 6 months ago or so. Spectacular in the fact of it’s tiny just-over-2-inches form factor that it sports. But also, I got thinking that using it as a PC would be such a waste of it’s tiny size. Ideas I’ve had (so far):

A small email server, for dealing everyone - via linux - their daily dose of spam!

A firewall. Again a great use of linux if you have a limited spec device.

The ideal solution for a print-server if you have a printer that only has a USB port.

An entry level PC for the in-laws, that perhaps live down a well without a lot of space..

OK, maybe I’m being stupid now. But I reckon there are so many places for such a small PC (perhaps hiding inside a door entry system, verifying biometrics or something?) that just using it as a “PC” seems a bit of a waste. Who has more ideas for this tiny marvel??

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It appears that on Sunday HSBC had some problems with a server which resulted in a multi-hour disruption to credit card authorisations and ATM transactions being accepted. However HSBC reported the problem as “minor.” The question that is raised to me, is, was the problem actually major, hence the comments on this post on The Register (see below.) Or by the same token, was the problem actually minor and people are generally always having problems with authorisations that they just put down to this incident on this occasion?

I personally have problems all the time with the new Chip & PIN scheme that’s been introduced into the UK. I and other people have had problems with authorisations going through with the new system. Only after wiping the chip 14 times and spitting on it repeatedly seems to cure the problem. I just withdraw cash from the cashpoint now and rarely use Chip & PIN.

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I saw this and had to share it. It’s a shot of a UPS for Equinix, the network datacentre company. If you’re a geek and you’ve ever seen a normal small-medium business UPS you’ll know how impressive this photo is!!