Having ten percent of your servers go down isn’t so bad, right? Wrong. When that 10% means that the total number of servers offline is over 480, cutting off service to two dozen state agencies (including the DMV) for a week, someone’s head is going to roll…. unless you have a $2.3 billion ten year contract that is. The computer shutdown is the latest hiccup for the 10-year, $2.3 billion VITA-Northrop Grumman contract, which went into effect in 2005. Earlier this week Virginia Secretary of Technology Jim Duffey called the storage area network malfunction “unprecedented,” citing uptime data on the model of EMC server that was involved in the outage. Comments

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State Reviewing Massive Computer Meltdown

Having ten percent of your servers go down isn’t so bad, right? Wrong. When that 10% means that the total number of servers offline is over 480, cutting off service to two dozen state agencies (including the DMV) for a week, someone’s head is going to roll…. unless you have a $2.3 billion ten year contract that is. The computer shutdown is the latest hiccup for the 10-year, $2.3 billion VITA-Northrop Grumman contract, which went into effect in 2005. Earlier this week Virginia Secretary of Technology Jim Duffey called the storage area network malfunction “unprecedented,” citing uptime data on the model of EMC server that was involved in the outage. Comments

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State Reviewing Massive Computer Meltdown

The most dangerous jobs in technology? Moderators top the list…ummm, infrastructure work in war zones…not so much. Think of the most disgusting things you’ve stumbled across online. Now imagine viewing the stuff that nightmares are made of–hate crimes, torture, child abuse–in living color, from 9 to 5 every day. That’s the work of Internet content moderators, who get paid to filter out that kind of material so you don’t have to see it pop up on a social network or photo-sharing site. Comments

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The Most Dangerous Jobs in Technology

According to this press release, Skype has filed an S-1 statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering. Skype S.A., a global technology leader that enables real-time communications over the Internet, today announced that it has filed a Form S-1 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of its ordinary shares. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined. Comments

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Skype Files Registration Statement for IPO

Google has pulled the plug on Google Wave. The search giant cited poor user adoption but said they will maintain the site at least through the end of the year. But despite these wins, and numerous loyal fans, Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked. We don’t plan to continue developing Wave as a standalone product, but we will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects. The central parts of the code, as well as the protocols that have driven many of Wave’s innovations, like drag-and-drop and character-by-character live typing, are already available as open source, so customers and partners can continue the innovation we began. Comments

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Wave Goodbye to Google Wave

I’m certainly happy that no one was on fire and the FCC was sent for water….they have finally approved the 4G Long Term Evolution phone for sale. This move paves the way for other 4G devices and networks to get rolling. Some significant actions should be made before the end of the year in LTE technology. The Samsung SCH-r900 will be the first LTE phone to market in the US, which MetroPCS hopes to launch “this summer” according to InformationWeek. We’re still mostly in the dark as to where MetroPCS plans to build out its LTE network (the company said earlier this year that it was targeting a number of metro markets, but only named Las Vegas), but regardless, it looks like Sprint will soon have to share the 4G limelight.

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FCC Gives Thumbs-Up to First LTE Phone Sale

General Motors is showing confidence in the Chevy Volt by increasing 2012 production from 30k to 45k due to the strong public interest in the Volt’s green technology and gas savings. The Volt offers a total driving range of about 340 miles and is powered by electricity at all times. For up to the first 40 miles, the vehicle drives gas- and tailpipe-emissions-free using electricity stored in its 16-kWh lithium-ion battery. When the Volt’s battery runs low, a gas-powered, engine/generator seamlessly operates to extend the driving range another 300 miles on a full tank.

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Chevy Volt Production Increased by 50%

The U.S. Army is taking robotics in a new direction by taking already existing robot technology and joining them together to make a completely new system of operations. The snakes also work in groups, acting more like fingers or the tentacles of an octopus. Arranging several of them on a circular base creates an array that can gingerly pick up, rotate, and inspect an IED or possibly even open a door

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Army Enlists Tentacled ‘Snakebots’

The speculation on RIM’s entry into the tablet computer market has progressed a step or two. The word now is that the ‘BlackPad’ is due to be released in November to go head to head with Apple’s iPad The new device will have roughly the same dimensions as the iPad, which has a 9.7-inch diagonal screen. It will also include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless technology that will allow people to connect to the Internet through their BlackBerrys, the sources said. RIM plans to call the tablet Blackpad, say sources. It will be priced in line with the iPad, which starts at $499. RIM acquired the Internet rights to blackpad.com this month, according to the Whois database of domain names.

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‘BlackPad’ tablet due in November?

Data miners are striking gold with new software, tracking your moves in real time- where you go, what you do, what you prefer- basically a complete profile of your internet habits. The internet used to be a lonely place, but now you are never alone. Tracking technology is getting smarter and more intrusive. Monitoring used to be limited mainly to “cookie” files that record websites people visit. But the Journal found new tools that scan in real time what people are doing on a Web page, then instantly assess location, income, shopping interests and even medical conditions. Some tools surreptitiously re-spawn themselves even after users try to delete them.

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The Web’s New Gold Mine: Your Secrets