Web 2.0: How High-Volume eBay Manages Its Storage

Web 2.0: How High-Volume eBay Manages Its Storage

Oct 31

The ultrapopular auction/sales Web site continues its exponential growth and finds itself adding 10 terabytes of new storage every week. That’s a lot of data. eBay, like Xerox and Google, is fast becoming its own generic verb for what it does (“Oh, just eBay it” ) And when a company itself becomes the name for what it does, then a certain level of success has been reached. A...

Apple Secretly Implementing 802.11n Wireless Standard

Apple Secretly Implementing 802.11n Wireless Standard

Oct 28

New model Core 2 Duo MacBook Pros and iMacs appear to be the first Macs to deploy the new wireless 802.11n standard. While the machines recognise the wireless card as only being an 802.11g device, MacRumors reckons the cards are actually built to support the standard. 802.11n hasn’t yet been ratified, but it appears likely it will be agreed soon, leading many manufacturers to begin to make...

GTalkPhone, Make PC-to-Phone Calls

GTalkPhone, Make PC-to-Phone Calls

Oct 26

I’ve just discovered this relatively new service called GtalkPhone (thanks to Rickshaw) that allows you to instantly connect to any phone anywhere. Although GTalkPhone is fairly new service (offered in conjunction with Google talk… hence the name), the company has been around for more than a decade providing advanced telecommunications, including PBX, Toll Free and ISP services. They...

Dell to Launch Sub $500 Notebooks

Dell to Launch Sub $500 Notebooks

Oct 26

Dell is preparing to launch a new range of notebooks costing under $500 according to reports. The new range is said to be powered by processors from AMD. Taiwanese news site Digitimes quotes notebook manufacturers in the Far East as saying that the new range is likely to be launched next month.Prices will range from between $449 to $499 for a 15.4-inch model and a 17-inch model, with machines...

iTunes copy protection ‘cracked’

iTunes copy protection ‘cracked’

Oct 25

The code that prevents music downloaded from Apple’s iTunes store being played on any portable player other than an iPod has been “cracked”. Apple has not commented on claims that Jon Lech Johansen has “reverse engineered” the FairPlay system. Prominent hacker Mr Johansen has made a name circumventing software used to restrict the use of digital media. His company,...