Hosting acquisitions partly cloudy Rackspace Hosting - which is where the files that comprise The Register are stored - this week made two acquisitions to beef up its hosting business. The company, which went public in mid-August, is also re-branding its hosting and cloud computing products to make their naming consistent in the wake of the acquisitions.… Full published article at: Read More »

Selling the dog food you eat Sun Microsystems, like server rivals Hewlett-Packard and IBM, has been transforming its data centers in an effort to cut costs. And like HP and IBM, Sun wants to take the expertise it has developed from this process, put a price tag on it, and peddle it to customers who are facing the same budget pressures.… Full published article at: Read More »

Cherokee Nation awaits A well-intentioned attempt to make XML less exclusive to certain ethic groups actually risks causing breakage for those it's intended to help.… Full published article at: Read More »

Comes With Carphone Warehouse - or does it? Mobile operator 3 confirmed that it’s the first UK network to offer Nokia’s Comes With Music bundle directly to punters. Carphone Warehouse claims the right to be the UK’s exclusive retail partner for the deal – but 3 has a chain of around 150 stores.… Full published article at: Read More »

Tom Young, Computing, Friday 24 October 2008 at 17:32:00 Three-quarters now part of IT learning strategy development Local authorities are playing an increasingly important role in supporting and advising schools in the purchase of technology as part of the £45bn Building Schools for the Future (PDF) programme. According to a survey by Becta, three quarters of local authorities have a strategy for IT learning. "Local authorities have an important role to play in the strategic leadership and shaping of the local learning system," said Becta chief...Read More »

US private equity buyout succeeds Plasmon rides again. CEO Steve Murphy has successfully negotiated a private equity buyout of Plasmon Inc from the UK-based parent Plasmon Ltd which is in administration.… Full published article at: Read More »

Tom Young, Computing, Friday 24 October 2008 at 11:54:00 Technology bellwether shows strong growth and predicts steady next quarter Microsoft reassured investors today after posting a two per cent rise in first-quarter profits to $4.37bn (£2.81bn), up from $4.29bn (£2.75bn) in the same period last year. Quarterly revenue increased nine per cent from $13.7bn (£8.8bn) last year to $15bn (£9.6bn) on the back of growth in software maintenance contracts, a nine per cent jump. "In a challenging economic environment, the first-quarter results exhibit the strength and diversity of our business model," said Chris Liddell, chief financial...Read More »

RIM's first HSDPA phone back on Orange UK next month Vodafone has told its third-party sales partners to use the "software issues and technical faults" it claims forced Orange to stop selling the new BlackBerry Bold to persuade consumers it has a better 3G network than its rival does.… Full published article at: Read More »

PDC preview: Gates' trainers and Ozzie's head Radio Reg Microsoft's massive Professional Developers' Conference (PDC) hits Los Angeles, California, next week. It's the event for anyone interested in the direction and details of where Microsoft's software is headed.… Full published article at: Read More »

Computing staff, Computing, Friday 24 October 2008 at 10:42:00 If you can buy a computer carved out of a block of metal, you can buy one to do anything. Almost. We look at the top 10 claims for laptop quality With the recent release of the new Apple MacBook Air, which is apparently crafted out of a single block of metal, we've decided to have a look about for some other impressive sounding laptops. If you have a niche requirement such as: "I only want a laptop that is carved from a piece of...Read More »