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Analyzing public-cloud logs and transactions

Gartner has predicted that IT will spend more money on private cloud computing than the public cloud through 2012. And while I personally am a big supporter of private cloud, I've still been trying to figure what are the real issues that would make users avoid public cloud services, and what aspects of public clouds could be changed to make them more appealing to enterprise users.

It's no secret that security is a major concern, but companies' reluctance to adopt the public cloud seems to go beyond security. At its heart, it appears to be a matter of … Read more

The 404 Podcast 527: Where the sound is the thing

We have no idea what today's show title means, so we're happy to welcome Audiophiliac Steve Guttenberg back on the show to spell it out for us. He's also here to officially kick off "The Audiophillie Music Awards for Excellence in Recorded Sound" contest! Read Steve's blog on the contest here. Keep in mind that this is not "American Idol," so entries won't be judged by musical talent, but on the quality of the recording itself. This is your chance to prove your recording skills and promote your favorite unsigned band, so submit your entry on a CD and you'll be entered to win a pair of Monster Turbine Copper or Monster Turbine Gold in-ear headphones!

Click here for official rules and entry form (must complete and send along with CD). The contest ends on April 17, so good luck everyone!

The phrase "private Web browsing" has always been a bit of an oxymoron, but a new site called Have Your Friends Been There? threatens to broadcast your NSFW surfing to your closest friends and family. We're not exactly sure how it works, but the site works like this: you create a customized list of "naughty" Web sites, HYFBT generates a link that you can send to friends, and you wait for the results to come in, essentially catching your friends in the act. Think before you click on random URLs and don't forget to clear your history, people!

We've got plenty more to talk about in today's rundown, including a wrap-up of last night's spectacular hockey game, an update on the massive PSN meltdown and a segment we like to call, "What the hell did Justin do in his sleep last night?"

Finally, our hearts go out to the victims of the Chilean earthquake, and we urge all our listeners to join us in donating money to help. It's super easy; just text "Chile" to 25383 for Habitat for Humanity, 20222 for World Vision, 85944 for the International Medical Corp, or 52000 for the Salvation Army, and your $10 donation will automatically get added to your monthly phone bill.

EPISODE 527 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS VideoRead more

Amazon's Virtual Private Cloud goes public

Amazon.com is opening up its Virtual Private Cloud to all users of its EC2 cloud-computing services as part of a public beta launched Monday.

The full beta of Virtual Private Cloud follows a limited public test that began in August. At the time of that launch, Amazon said virtual private clouds were the most popular feature request from enterprise customers.

VPC is an enterprise-oriented feature that allows users to connect to Amazon's cloud-computing services via an IPsec virtual private network (VPN) link. The feature builds on other Amazon enterprise-friendly cloud efforts introduced over the past two years, such … Read more

Is Apple using software to check App Store submissions?

Gizmodo reported early this week that Apple may be using software to perform additional automated checks on all new App Store submissions during the app review process.

A series of tweets on Twitter from John Gruber of Daring Fireball and Craig Hockenberry of Iconfactory claimed that Apple is using an automated software tool that checks for private API calls in all new App Store submissions.

Hockenberry stated, "It wouldn't surprise me if the [App Store] review process now includes a step where they pass your binary through something that checks framework use."

Gruber responded saying, "Yup: … Read more

Ex-MySpace CEO wants to gamble on social games

What's former MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe up to these days? He wants to be the next big name in the social-gaming craze, we hear.

In late July, TechCrunch floated a report that DeWolfe was hitting up big private equity outlets to amass cash, at least $100 million, for a new venture that would involve "a roll-up of an Internet industry vertical," but TechCrunch didn't specify what that sector was. Three months prior, DeWolfe had been ousted from the troubled MySpace and replaced by former Facebook executive Owen Van Natta.

Now, several well-placed sources have told CNET … Read more

TC50 vs. DemoFall 2009: What can you use?

In the last three years, September has become a busy time for Web start-ups and other new companies looking to make their mark. Warring start-up conferences TechCrunch50 and DemoFall take place within mere days of one another, leaving a wake of more than 100 companies that are launched within just a week's time, all vying for media and consumer attention.

Last year it was even worse, as both conferences happened at the exact same time.

This scramble to get things ready often leaves companies not ready for the users they hope will flock to use their product. So, as … Read more

Another $100 million for Twitter?

Twitter's long-anticipated business plan had better be close on the horizon, because according to the Wall Street Journal, the site has some new investors on board: Mutual fund T. Rowe Price, Insight Venture Partners, and a handful of others have reportedly pumped $100 million into the microblogging phenomenon.

TechCrunch reported last week that Twitter was putting together a round of funding at around a $1 billion valuation. But that report suggested that the company would do so by raising about $50 million--half of what it actually has, per the WSJ, in a deal expected to close Thursday.

Twitter still … Read more

Easy encryption tool

PrivyPad provides a method to encrypt messages. However, the program's complicated method of reading messages practically ruins an otherwise successful tool.

The program's interface looked instantly familiar, since it mimicks Notepad. While familiar, we still needed to find definitions for our encryption options in the Help file. We created a message just like a normal Notepad document, but were also able to quickly encrypt by simply adding a password with the toolbar icon. At this point we were confused because our message looked the same. It wasn't until we saved the program to our hard drive as … Read more

Amazon introduces Virtual Private Cloud service

On the third anniversary of its Elastic Compute Cloud launch, Amazon Web Services late Tuesday announced a new service, the Virtual Private Cloud.

Targeted at customers with existing IT investments, the Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) service provides a way for companies to create a logically separated set of Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instances and a secure VPN connection to their own networks.

Jeff Barr, Amazon Web Services strategist, said in a blog that the service requires three elements: a VPC instance, an IPSec VPN gateway, and a block of IP addresses provided by the customer. The VPC's address space … Read more

Three debates that will benefit cloud computing

Cloud computing is one of those operations models that has already started to disrupt the way in which everyone consumes software.

It is also starting to have an effect (albeit tiny right now) on the way in which people and organizations consume (or don't consume) hardware. Cloud computing has become a part of the core information technology "fabric" of many.

Cloud computing does, however, generate more than its fair share of disagreement and debate. Vendors, customers, bloggers, twitterers, and even consumers have spend many thousands of hours, hundreds of thousands of words, and millions of dollars trying … Read more