World’s Most Stunning Data Centers

Who says there can’t be any art in technology? Here I present, some visuals of the most expensive data centers in the world.
Pictured above and below, its the Microsoft’s top-secret data center – it surely is a piece of Art. Physically real, yet still beautiful !

Sweden’s Largest ISP:
This underground data center has greenhouses, waterfalls, German submarine engines, simulated daylight and can withstand a hit from a hydrogen bomb. It looks like the secret HQ of a James Bond villain.

And it is real. It is a high-security data center run by one of Sweden’s largest ISPs, located in an old nuclear bunker deep below the bedrock of Stockholm city, sealed off from the world by entrance doors 40 cm thick (almost 16 inches).

And here is what it used to look like:

Quite a difference, isn’t it?

Pics via 1 , 2

Shock 3D for Windows

If you thought Microsoft’s Windows 7 desktop was cool, wait till you see Shock 3D, an OpenGL application that is under 3MB. The application turns all your icons/desktop into 3D, such that you can move them around like objects. 3D desktop action is not limited to only Linux or Windows 7 users anymore, see Shock 3D and you’ll know what I talking about.

A drawback of this app is that you cannot use your desktop normally as Shock 3D sits as a layer on top of your desktop. It is not a fully baked application to replace your desktop, but hey… give the developer a break !

Download Shock 3D

Related Content: Make your Windows look like Mac OSX

Secure Yourself Against Conficker Worm

Windows OS users across the globe have been worried sick about the Conficker worm striking back on April 1,09.

Anti-virus and security solutions providing companies like Symantec, F-Secure, Avast! and others are however singing a relieved tune. That’s because they say they’re prepared to tackle it.

What’s this Conficker worm anyway?
The ‘C’ variant of Conficker worm, aka Downadup or Kido, infects Windows machines (XP and Vista) and disables them to get security updates or patches from Microsoft and from other vendors. According to Symantec, the creators of the worm will also start using a communications system that is more difficult for security researchers to interrupt.

(Image source: Wikimedia)

How will Conficker harm users?
While nobody knows what exactly Conficker will actually do, most likely, the worm will be used to create a botnet that will be rented out to criminals who want to send SPAM, steal IDs and direct users to online scams and phishing sites.

What can be done to protect a computer from this worm?
First of all, update your anti-virus software. Especially on April 1, make sure that it’s actually running when you start your computer. Secondly, make sure that you have the latest Windows security updates.

You should know:
1. Changing the date of your system will not help avoid this worm.
2. Keeping your computer shut on April 1 will also not help either.
3. The only way to get past this worm is by updating Windows and your anti-virus software.

Conficker History
The ‘B’ variant of the Conficker worm had created ruckus around January this year. By February, it had affected over 9 million Windows users worldwide. Perturbed by the virus, Microsoft had even announced to pay reward of $250,000 to any individual who’ll find out the culprits behind Conficker.

Last words
Before this April 1 — Don’t be a fool, download the security tool.

Some resources are listed here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/962007
http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_153464.htm
http://www.411-spyware.com/conficker-worm-removal
http://community.mcafee.com/showthread.php?t=225901

First look – Internet Explorer 8 (RC1)

Microsoft made available Internet Explorer 8 RC1 (release candidate 1), which means that as far as Microsoft is concerned, IE8 is cooked and that barring anything major, this will become the final release. So, what’s the new browser like?

A new release of IE is always important because this is the browser that many millions of Windows users will be surfing the web with daily. Like it or not, by the very fact that IE is knitted into every Windows installation makes this an important event.

After what seemed like years of stagnation, Microsoft is continuing the tradition of kitting out IE8 with features that users of other browsers take for granted. According to its team blog, the latest version of the browser includes some general performance improvements, plus added security to avoid clickjacking attempts and some very nice features built-in, including:

* Smart Address Bar
The address bar isn’t now just a place to type URLs into. The Smart Address bar in IE8 tries to make sense of what the user is looking for by retrieving sites visited from the history and bookmarks. This is handy for those times when you want to find something but can’t remember where you saw it.
* Enhanced find
Sometimes it’s not finding the site that’s difficult, but finding where on the page you need to look for the information that you are after. IE8 offers a broad range of enhanced and improved tools to help you spot the information you are after. One such example if this is result highlighting.
* Tab groups
When one tab is opened from another one, the new tab is placed next to the one from which it was opened, and both are marked with a colored tab. This is a good way to keep track of your open tabs.
* InPrivate
Along with keeping track of stuff that you might later want to refer back to, IE8 also gives you powerful tools that allow the browser to have temporary amnesia in relation to the sites you’ve visited by temporarily halting the writing of information to the cache and history.
* Crash recovery
If your IE locks up of crashes while you’ve a shed-load of tabs open, with IE8 there’s a good chance that when you fire up the browser again that it will remember what what sites you had open and fire them up again. It can also reload information that you had typed into forms.

The RC1 version of IE8 is compatible with Windows Vista, Windows XP and Windows Server releases. It’s not currently compatible with Microsoft’s Windows 7 Beta operating system, which comes with its own version of IE8.

Its Official: Windows 7 Beta Available

Microsoft last night officially released the first beta of its Windows 7 to MSDN and TechNet subscribers. The beta will be open to all testers sometime today afternoon.

Windows 7 has been there Out in the Wild (Torrents, etc) since December. Windows 7 features and screen shots can be viewed here.

The release of the beta had been widely expected in recent days but CEO Steve Ballmer made it official Wednesday night in the opening keynote address at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

In his CES keynote, Ballmer indicated that he wants a broad swath of users and developers to test Windows 7 Beta 1 Build 7000. “We are on track to deliver the best version of Windows ever, we are putting in all the right ingredients — simplicity, reliability and speed and working hard to get it right and to get it ready,” Ballmer said.

A recorded video of the keynote address can be viewed here.