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EMC has introduced new disk-based backup and data-recovery offerings for enterprises facing an ever-expanding digital information glut. The range of new low-power disk-drive offerings will help enterprises improve their data-center operations by deploying EMC's latest data deduplication, drive spin-down, and power-saving technologies, said Mark Sorenson, senior vice president of EMC's Information Management Software Group.

“By adding key features like data deduplication across our portfolio, customers can eliminate redundant data, move more easily to disk backup, and strengthen the management of their backup infrastructures,” Sorenson explained. “This differentiates EMC from other vendors who must 'force fit' a single product across a range of deduplication use cases.”

LAN Backup-to-Disk Systems

EMC's latest local area network backup-to-disk systems, dubbed the EMC Disk Library 3D 1500 and 3000, are squarely aimed at midsize businesses in need of policy-based data backup and the “five-9s” (99.999 percent) of storage availability. “Basically, by replacing the tape target, you can get all the benefits of backup-to-disk along with the power of data deduplication (3-D),” noted Philip Fote, EMC senior product marketing manager.

The new offerings for LAN applications will enable enterprises to save a significant amount of money through reduced handling costs, as well as the elimination of issues associated with tapes that struggle with growing environments, Fote observed. Replication is also on tap for data backups formed over an IP network, which reduces the amount of backup data while meeting off-site protection requirements and without needing the physical transportation of tapes, he said.

“The fact that you are using less tape means that you can streamline your operations, get better utilization out of your labor force and your staff, and at the same time get the power and benefits of backup-to-disk,” Fote explained. “The third benefit is the low-cost replication that you get with 3-D technologies.”

SAN Backup-to-Disk Systems

The EMC Disk Library 4000, which is targeted at high-volume, large accounts with heavy data loads and lots of tape infrastructure, is a policy-based data deduplication option for SAN (storage-area network)-based environments with high throughput, Fote noted. Instead of backing up to tape in this environment, customers can improve their operations and data-protection performance by replacing tape with a disk library deduplication solution that can scale from terabytes to petabytes of capacity.

“The 4000 can also be used to replicate data from one site to the other for data recovery in long-term archive applications, which reduces the cost of all those tape-handling operations,” Fote said.

Even better, a disk drive spin-down option is available for enabling customers to reduce their overall power and cooling costs by putting idle drives in sleep mode. In a typical environment, this can reduce power consumption by up to 19 percent. Customers also have the option of deploying 1TB SATA drives running at 5,400 rpm, which require 3 percent less energy than 7,200 rpm drives.

Additionally, EMC has rolled out new source-based data deduplication offerings that are designed to double the amount of backup capacity in sophisticated systems incorporating large file servers, remote offices or VMware environments, where the backup process can be hampered by network or other resource bottlenecks. For example, a fully configured EMC Avamar Data Store Gen 2 system can provide enough capacity to store the equivalent of 1 petabyte of non-deduplicated, traditional backup capacity, EMC executives said.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Not long ago, Republican White House hopeful John McCain's official Internet site had Washington insiders laughing because it listed George W. Bush among “former US presidents” who support him — months before Bush's term ends in January.

Written off by some as an irrelevant short-timer and recently tarred by an ally as politically “radioactive,” Bush showed this week that he does not plan to fade away as the November elections to succeed him draw near.

The prospect delights Democrats, who hope to convince the US public that a ballot for the Arizona senator is a vote to give the vastly unpopular president a third term to pursue policies including the Iraq war.

“You can vote for John McCain and nothing will change,” Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama said Monday, accusing the Republican candidate of “running for George Bush's third term.”

Still, Bush and McCain plan to appear side by side at a May 27 fundraiser, their first public embrace since March 5, making the most of one of the president's most potent remaining political weapons.

Bush has done 19 political fundraisers in 2008, scooping up 37,142,500 dollars, according to records carefully kept by CBS news. His totals since 2001, including his 2004 reelection, are 310 events and 766,782,500 dollars.

The White House says the president plans to campaign vigorously for fellow Republicans, including McCain — but won't say just how often he plans to appear in public with his would-be successor.

“I think you'll see the president out on the campaign trail quite a bit. We'll keep you posted on their events that they may have together,” spokesman Scott Stanzel said Monday.

Stanzel shrugged off Bush's record-low approval ratings, and polls showing that four out of five Americans think the country is on the wrong track, saying: “It would be interesting to note the approval rating of Congress, as well, which is lower than all of those numbers that you cite.”

But that figure includes disapproval from large numbers of Democrats who think lawmakers have not confronted Bush's policies enough — hardly fuel for optimism from Republican candidates worried about their political future.

“They've got to get some separation from the president,” Republican Representative Tom Davis warned in a glum interview with Bloomberg television recently. “He is absolutely radioactive at this point.”

Last week, McCain found out just how hard it can be as long as Bush has the president's traditional “bully pulpit” — his ability to shape and dominate public discourse through the White House megaphone.

On Monday, the senator broke sharply with Bush on climate change and vowed, “I will not permit eight long years to pass without serious action on serious challenges” — a clear rebuke to the president.

On Thursday, he also for the first time gave a date for when he would like most US troops home from Iraq — 2013 — after months of rejecting, as Bush does, any suggestion of a withdrawal timetable, a key Democratic cause.

That same day, however, Bush used a speech to Israeli lawmakers to imply that Obama's pledges to talk to leaders of hostile foreign powers including Iran were akin to pre-World War II efforts to appease Adolf Hitler.

Obama quickly fought back — and McCain found himself defending Bush's unpopular foreign policy against a candidate whose most potent political weapon may be voters' belief that he will end business as usual in Washington.

Bush and McCain, bitter rivals in the 2000 election who have fought often since then, showed some awkwardness when the president endorsed the presumptive Republican nominee at the White House on March 5.

“I hope that he will campaign for me as much as is keeping with his busy schedule,” the senator told reporters. “I'm pleased to have him as is — as it fits into his busy schedule.”

“Look, if my showing up and endorsing him helps him, or if I'm against him and it helps him — either way, I want him to win,” joked Bush. “But they're not going to be voting for me. I've had my time in the Oval Office.”

ST GALLEN, Switzerland (Reuters) - The judge who signed a landmark European antitrust ruling against Microsoft (MSFT.O) said on Thursday he was surprised by the large size of a record 899 million euro ($1.42 billion) fine imposed by the EU executive against the software company after he had retired.

“I was surprised at the size of the fine,” said the former president of the Court of First Instance (CFI), Bo Vesterdorf. He stressed he had “no concrete knowledge” about the penalty imposed in February, five months after he left the court.

The European Commission imposed the fine for Microsoft's failure to carry out penalties imposed in a 2004 antitrust decision against the firm by the EU's executive arm. Microsoft has appealed against the fine to the Luxembourg-based CFI.

Vesterdorf was speaking on the sidelines of the St. Gallen International Competition Law Forum, sponsored by the University of St. Gallen, in Switzerland.

Earlier, he told the conference that although he signed the Microsoft judgment in September and was bound by secrecy, he understood “some of the worries” critics have expressed.

Vesterdorf said “one should be careful” not to encroach too much on patent rights “by a too-zealous enforcement of competition law.”

“It may give rise to frivolous private litigation, create legal uncertainty for holders of IP (intellectual property) rights, thereby perhaps diminishing the incentives to sometimes desirable but very expensive research and development,” Vesterdorf said.

Vesterdorf's remarks amplified views he expressed in March during a speech in London.

The 13-judge Grand Chamber of the European Union's second-highest court handed down a sweeping ruling in September, upholding the European Commission's tough 2004 decision saying Microsoft abused its dominance of PC operating systems to crush rivals. It also endorsed a 497 million euro fine.

Vesterdorf's long-planned retirement took effect later the same day, hours after the ruling.

Microsoft later announced it would not appeal against the ruling to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the European Union's highest court, and Vesterdorf said on Thursday that was unfortunate.

“I do quite personally regret that the CFI judgment was not brought before the ECJ on appeal to have its final say on these important issues,” he said.

Experts have said Microsoft's chances on appeal would have been slim.

Vesterdorf suggested the court would revisit the issue, calling the Microsoft case “unusual.”

“Such cases unfortunately often make for not necessarily bad case law but at least case law that may not necessarily be the lasting or the last word.”

(Editing by Dale Hudson)

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Matches made over the Internet often do not last because people end up choosing unsuitable partners and forming emotional bonds before meeting face-to-face, an Australian university researcher has found.

Women were especially susceptible to finding Mr. Wrong, as they tend to be attracted by witty comments or clever emails, said psychologist Matthew Bambling from the Queensland University of Technology.

“You can never assume things are the way they seem online,” Bambling told Reuters on Thursday.

“Just because they can write a clever comment or a witty email, doesn't mean they will be Mr. Right, that's for sure,” he said, adding some men use the concept of “netting,” sending emails to dozens of women and hoping one might respond.

Bambling said you can find a partner online, but warned those using the Web to find love to be aware of the pitfalls.

“There's definitely a dis-inhibition affect online,” he said, with people more likely to exaggerate their good points while hiding anything negative.

“Few guys for example would say 'look, I'm a middle aged alcoholic who's been married five times, pick me'. They're going to present themselves as a good catch.”

He said it was easy for people to quickly invest too much emotionally in an online relationship because they don't see the full picture of the person they are emailing.

He said some people can also become addicted to the rush of replies they receive on dating websites, which can lead to future disappointment.

Bambling said people can avoid many of the problems by meeting early in the virtual relationship, rather than by getting to know each other only by email.

He suggests couples arrange to meet over coffee after a few emails, which will help people from building up a fantasy image of their match.

“The main thing to remember is to make real life contact as soon as possible if you are to interested in someone, because then you will know if a relationship is a possibility,” he said.

(Editing by Miral Fahmy)

Open source advocates have questioned Microsoft’s commitment to using open document standards in the future.

The computer giant has said it will implement use of the Open Document Format (ODF), “sometime next year”.

The Free Software Foundation Europe said: “It’s a step in the right direction but we are sceptical about how open Microsoft will be.”

The European Commission, which has fined Microsoft for monopolistic practice, welcomed the move.

“The Commission would welcome any step that Microsoft took towards genuine interoperability, more consumer choice and less vendor lock-in,” it said.

The Commission added that it would look into whether Microsoft’s announcement “leads to better interoperability and allows consumers to process and exchange their documents with the software product of their choice”.

Open source software advocates have long criticised the file formats used by Microsoft’s Office suite of programs because they are not genuinely interoperable with software from third parties.

Microsoft has said it will add support for ODF when it updates Office 2007 next year.

Georg Greve, president of the Free Software Foundation Europe, said he remained dubious about “how deep” Microsoft’s adoption of the standard would go.

‘Right direction’

“This is definitely a step in the right direction. We have been encouraging Microsoft to support ODF natively for quite a while.

“Like all things, this will depend to some extent on how they do it.”

The Open Document Format Alliance said it was sceptical about the extent of Microsoft’s commitment.

Marino Marcich, managing director of the ODF Alliance, said: “The proof will be whether and when Microsoft’s promised support for ODF is on par with its support for its own formats.

“Governments will be looking for actual results, not promises in press releases.”

At the moment, Office users can use ODF documents by using a downloaded “translator” program.

Critics point out

But critics have pointed out that the translator does not integrate very well with parts of the Office suite.

The move by Microsoft follows attempts by the company to have its own standard, the OpenXML format, recognised as interoperable.

The International Standards Organisation approved its use but the full specification of the OpenXML format has yet to be published.

Mr Greve said: “Support for ODF indicates there are problems with OpenXML that Microsoft cannot resolve easily and quickly.

“OpenXML is something all users want to stay away from. It’s not clear if it will ever become an interoperable standard and so users should be very careful using it.”

Mr Greve said “genuine adoption” of ODF would give consumers more choice.

‘Full choice’

“People will no longer need to use Microsoft Office in order to interoperate.

“They will no longer need to choose a support platform for Office, i.e. Windows.”

He added: “There will be full choice on the desktop; people could switch to Linux and choose Open Office or other applications that support ODF, like Lotus Symphony or Google Docs.

“There is fairly large amount of apps to choose from, which can be based on the merits of the application and their personal preference.”

Chinese police in the northern city of Shenyang have detained a woman who posted a video filled with angry comments directed at victims of the devastating earthquake that rattled Sichuan province last week.

The 21-year-old woman, Gao Qianhui, was angry over a three-day mourning period that saw online entertainment and games shut down in China out of respect for those killed by the quake, according to a Xinhua News Agency report carried on Netease, a popular Chinese portal. The report, which was highlighted by Blogging for China, did not make clear what law Gao was alleged to have broken in her online outburst.

In the video, Gao is shown sitting inside what appears to be an Internet cafe. After introducing herself as a “common young girl” from Liaoning province in northeastern China, Gao complains she has no interest in coverage of the quake or its aftermath.

“How many of you died? It was just a few,” Gao said. “China has so many people, anyway.”

The video and apparent lack of sympathy on Gao's part for those affected by the Sichuan earthquake provoked an outpouring of anger and criticism from Chinese Internet users. The Xinhua story carried on Netease alone had more than 17,000 comments at the time of writing.

“Have you no humanity?” asked one commentator.

TOKYO - The new speakers from Sony are as tiny as golf balls but deliver the big, robust sound of a top-notch home-theater sound system.

The roughly cube-shaped speakers, to go on sale in Japan next month, measure just 1.7 inches on each side, Sony Corp. spokeswoman Eiko Sato said Thursday.

The 90,000 yen ($870) system includes five golf ball-sized speakers as well as a bigger, 17 inches tall box for the amplifier and subwoofer, a feature for producing bass sounds.

The Home Theater System HT-IS100 will go on sale in North America and Europe, but pricing and dates aren’t decided yet. The technology for achieving the miniature size cannot be disclosed, Sato said.

The system connects to TVs, Blu-ray disc recorders, Sony’s PlayStation 3video game consoles and other gadgets, according to Sony.

SEOUL, South Korea - Samsung Electronics said Thursday it was consolidating some of its key businesses a week after announcing a new executive lineup.

Samsung that it would merge its home theater, DVD and Blu-ray player businesses with its global No. 1 TV business as part of what it called a restructuring plan.

It will also move its digital music player, laptop computer and set-top box businesses from its digital media business to the telecommunications network business.

Set-top boxes bring Internet movie downloads to TV sets.

“By bringing its computing and mobile technology together, the company hopes to create new markets and take the lead in the rapidly changing industry,” Samsung said in the statement.

Samsung last week announced an executive reshuffle, which included the naming of Lee Yoon-woo, its former external relations chief, as chief executive officer and vice chairman, replacing long-serving Yun Jong-yong.

The move was seen as speeding up decision-making at Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest seller of computer memory chips, televisions and liquid crystal displays. The company ranks No. 2 in mobile phones behind Finland’s Nokia Corp.

Samsung also said that Lee Jae-yong, the 39-year-old son of former chairman Lee Kun-hee, was taking on new duties to develop businesses in emerging markets, including China, India, Russia and the other countries of the former Soviet Union.

Lee Kun-hee announced his resignation last month after being indicted on charges of allegedly evading income taxes. The indictment followed a high-profile probe by special prosecutors into the family controlled Samsung Group conglomerate, of which Samsung Electronics is the flagship.

Lee Jae-yong, who stepped down last month from his duties as Samsung’s chief customer officer while retaining the title of senior vice president, will carry out his new duties from a base in China, said James Chung, a Samsung spokesman.

“He’ll move to China as soon as possible,” Chung said of Lee, a Chinese speaker who also goes by Jay Y. Lee.

Chung declined to say where in China the younger Lee would be based.

Samsung shares fell 0.7 percent Thursday to close at $683. Samsung shares have risen 28 percent so far this year.

Does your ISP have a BitTorrent blockade? discuss the issue with other readers. Opinions seem pretty heated.

What are the most annoying things about social networking? We've listed our tell us what annoys you the most.

Share your concerns with us.

Popular stories this week include the three we've featured, plus Windows XP service pack issues and really buggy computers. To vote for your own favorites, click one of the thumbs-up icons on an article's page.

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Elude Your ISP's BitTorrent Blockade

redofromstart says: Nice try at the ol' straw man game, Mr. Spring, but the issue isn't whether BitTorrent users are downloading copyrighted content, it's their impact on the overall network and all the users who aren't greedy infantile narcissists.

Rtfire1 says: The issue is people that are paying for legit service are getting screwed. I pay for a fast up and down speed. I use it for watching TV that I pay for and downloading shareware or files I paid for with my money. For them not to let me do something I am paying for is bull poop.

Elver says: The writer of this article has hit the nail on the head right here. The hook drew me in because I too have been shut down by RoadRunner, and lied to by their tech support. Mr. Spring obviously is a problem solver because after reading his article I am confident that I will be able to outwit the halfwits at Roadrunner who are ripping me off. Also this article has encouraged me to educate myself further on this matter

Mcbarker says: If you are paying for a 10 mbps download speed, you should get a 10 mbps download speed, no matter what programs you use. If your ISP wants to slow down your service because you're using BitTorrent (or any other P2P network), it should be stated up front in the ISP's Terms of Service. Otherwise, it seems to me that they are ignoring their own TOS, and are essentially breaking the law by fraudulently and deliberately slowing down your service. Wouldn't it be better for them to be upfront about this instead of this cloak-and-dagger crap that they hide behind, lying to customers?

Read the posts in this thread and contribute your own opinion.

The Top 10 Social Networking Annoyances

GeekNews says: Add to the list all those stupid add-on apps they are now creating and you've hit the majority of my personal annoyances. How many times a day do I need a comment from someone telling me they “bought me” or “you are worth”?

Kilme says: This reminds me why I don't use MySpace anymore. Facebook is much better, but it still isn't that great. I just use it to keep in touch with friends that don't live near me. I find Facebook to be less spammy and has less random invites from people I've never heard of. The applications in Facebook are annoying indeed, but no one is forcing you to install them. No vampire-ninja parties for me I suppose.

Pooch says: I dropped Facebook because of its spam, its contenders for the most friends (someone I know has over 800 people on his list), its dumb applications, its bad-by-default privacy policy, and most of all, its movement outside of academia and company networks that allowed it to become just as bad as MySpace only in different ways. I prefer to rely on e-mail, phone calls, and meeting people in the pub now.

Sjeldich says: MySpace is the worst. Facebook seems to be less intrusive or the better term “not as social” as MySpace. There's just too many “what if's” involved with MySpace.

Read the posts in this thread and contribute your own opinion.

CBS to Buy CNET Networks for $1.8 Billion

Keeter says: I really dislike moves like this. As they said they want increased traffic to their site, yet they target the wrong audience. I am a member of CNET and Techrepublic, and we're not exactly the CBS kind of crowd.

Silentcon says: CNET is way better than CBS.

Bellelyly says: How CBS bought a company like CNET is beyond me… CBS should take care of better programming on TV than going tech. I don't think this will be so great. Too bad. I like CNET and have used the site for over 10 years. If I am bothered with a bunch of nonsense with CBS banners etc., I will go to other sites.

Read the posts in this thread and contribute your own opinion.

Top 5 Most Recommended

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LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - ABC.com is souping up its full-episode broadband player with new features for the fall.

Among the bells and whistles set for the broadcaster's online destination are full-screen viewing, closed captioning and the ability to send video links that can be embedded on blogs and social networks.

“Having come out of the gate with the first player in the space, we're continually looking at how we expand and provide a better experience from our users,” said Alexis Rapo, vp digital media at ABC Entertainment.

ABC.com was the first full-episode player online when it launched in 2006, and as of April, it is the dominant one: Its 8.9 million unique users was tops for the month among broadcasters, according to Nielsen Online. ABC.com also leads in minutes spent per user.

The user interface has been redesigned with new navigation and search features that allow users to comb series offerings graphically, alphabetically, by genre or popularity. Also added: content recommendation technology that suggests programs based on a viewer's choices.

Although ABC.com previously contained the video to a browser window, the improved player will allow the image to take up the entire monitor. The viewer also will have the option of choosing from a variety of screen sizes, as well as picking standard or high definition.

Users also can send links that can be posted elsewhere online, where they can launch cued to a particular scene mid-episode. Video on ABC.com also will be more easy to sift through, with thumbnail images that offer a glimpse of the story line progression in each episode.

The new player will be tested in a closed beta over the summer before launching ahead of ABC's premiere week in the fall. ABC.com uses technology from Move Networks for its player.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter