Best Storage devices: From USB flash drives to multi-drive RAID units

Summary: Here are my top five storage devices, ranging from something you can pop into your pocket, to a whopping 24TB RAID enclosure.

As we go about our day creating more data, so the demand for storage space increases, While the cloud has appeared just in time to offer free and easy access to gigabytes of storage space, some people like to keep their data close to hand. This is where personal storage comes into play. Also, it's not easy to shift gigabytes of data to and from the cloud unless you have a serious web connection.

As well as being a tech geek I'm also a photographer, and this means that I create enormous quantities of data. Just the other day I created a 10 second timelapse video, which on the face of it doesn't seem like much, but adding up the input, output and intermediate files put the total space consumed by this one project at 10GB.

That's a lot of data. I remember when all I had was a 10MB hard drive!

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

Zenoss, service level management and Hadoop

Summary: Zenoss has been known for using big data and predictive analytics tools to gain a deep understanding of operational systems. It is now expanding the reach of its products to be able to handle huge amounts of data. It is also working to focus on service level management from its current focus on unified performance management..

Alan Conley, CTO of Zenoss, dropped by the other day to bring me up to date on the company. Zenoss, like a number of competitors gathers a large amount of operational data from workloads, application frameworks, virtualization tools, databases, storage systems, networking equipment and systems. Then the company uses "preditive analytics" to gain a deep understanding of performance, user experience and to detect potential and actual issues.

While the company has developed tools allowing a unified view of all of the operational data that is collected, its customers demanded the ability to manage larger amounts of data quickly and easily. So, Conley said, the company's newest version of its software will use Apache Hadoop. This, he pointed out, will also allow customers to develop their own uses of this operational database using both tools supplied by Zenoss and other Hadoop-oriented tools. The move to Hadoop should allow the next generation of Zenoss' products to manage five times the operational data.

Zenoss customers that I've spoken with almost always comment on the usefulness and timeliness of the information they get from Zenoss' products. I expect the broad expansion in scope and product performance will be of great interest for them. I hope to speak with one of them in the future.

Daniel Kusnetzky is a distinguished analyst and the founder of the Kusnetzky Group LLC. He's also the managing partner of Lux Sonus LLC, an investment firm.

Microsoft's 'custom' Windows XP patches: Not a panacea

I've been seeing a few posts over the past week that may be giving some Windows XP users false hope that they will still be able to get patches for the operating system after April 8, 2014.

I think it was this statement from a Microsoft spokesperson that may have raised some expectations.

"After April 8, 2014, Windows XP users will no longer receive new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options, or online technical content updates from Microsoft. Third parties may provide ongoing support, but it’s important to recognize that support will not address fixes and security patches in the core Windows kernel. If an organization continues to use Windows XP and purchases Custom Support, they will receive critical security updates as new threats are discovered, along with technical support through their Premier contract." (Emphasis mine.)

It's worth repeating these patches aren't for everyone, or, in fact, almost anyone. To get these custom patches, users need an active Premier Support agreement, a Microsoft spokesperson reiterated. On top of that, you need to purchase Custom Support. The combo is costly. For many, other than those in Fortune 500 companies, who are still running Windows XP, it's probably outside the realm of possibility.

In case you were wondering, this kind of custom support option isn't new. Microsoft also made custom patches for XP SP2 available to those with Premier Support contracts when SP2 was moved to end of support (EOS) in 2010.

But back to the kinds of customers who are holding onto Windows XP in spite of potential new vulnerabilities which may arise after Microsoft stops making all patches -- including security patches -- available after April 8 , 2014. Who are those in the 35-plus percent group plus running XP as their desktop OS?

I asked readers recently to explain why they aren't willing and/or able to get off XP. I heard back from a number of individuals via email, in addition to the answers sprinkled through the hundreds of (sadly, mostly off-topic) comments on this post.

As has been noted numerous times before, a number of those still running Windows XP in their organizations are doing so because they have written custom, internal-facing applications that are dependent on IE 6. Some of these shops also are running custom-built apps that don't use IE, but which they have not had time/money to rebuild to run on newer versions of Windows.

There are others who say they do not have the money to buy new software and hardware. This includes retirees; some government users, noting their organizations and agencies haven't got funds to upgrade; and others who are just going to keep running XP machines until they die.

I heard from one user who said his XP PC is not connected to the Internet, so he feels no need to upgrade. I heard from a couple of folks who said they are counting on their firewall and security software, coupled with common sense, to protect them once Microsoft stops issuing security patches. And I heard from more than a few users who cited their dislike of Windows 8 as a reason to avoid moving off XP -- despite the fact users still can find PCs running Windows 7.

Microsoft has made it clear to its reseller partners that one of their biggest priorities in fiscal 2014 should be to get XP users to migrate to a more recent version of Windows. Microsoft recently warned XP users they'd risk being in a "zero day forever" state after April 8, 2014.

All this said, there won't be any kind of global meltdown happening on April 9, 2014. PCs running XP won't just stop working or burst into balls of flame. However, it's still worth noting, things will likely get worse for XP users over time, as ZDNet's Larry Seltzer noted. With no more security patches for XP, one important layer of defense will be weakened. Windows XP users will put more stress on antivirus software and firewalls as long as they continue to remain on the OS.

Carl Icahn bumping up investment in software maker Nuance

American business titan Carl Icahn has increased the investment stakes once again with another company not named Dell.

This time the lucky recipient is speech and imaging recognition software maker Nuance Communications, according to a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday.

Icahn now retains a 16.9 percent stake in the company, versus 16.4 previously, through his various properties, such as Icahn Enterprises Holdings and Icahn Onshore.

But it doesn't stop there.

A new report from Bloomberg on Friday speculated that the increased investment might be strengthen his chance at a board seat.

The news agency further suggested that could then lead to influence on whether or not to sell Nuance's communications technology to a larger tech player -- perhaps even a company that was also treated to a rather sizable investment from the financier: Apple.

Earlier this month, Icahn announced via Twitter about the news of his substantial investment in the iPhone maker, describing the Cupertino, Calif.-based company as "undervalued."

At the time of the announcement, Apple shares were up by approximately four percent to roughly $486.45 a pop.

However, the exact amount of Icahn's investment or his new share in Apple has yet to be revealed.

And then there is the Dell debacle.

At the beginning of August, Icahn upped the ante as well as his stake in the company by picking up four million more Dell shares. Icahn paid $12.94 per share, bringing his grand total number of Dell shares to 156,478,650.

The Wall Street Journal highlighted that he now owns 8.9 percent of the Texas-based company, making him the second largest shareholder behind founder and CEO Michael Dell.

Icahn and the PC maker's leader have been at odds for months now with Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners on one side of the fence trying to take the company private.

On the flip side is Icahn along with Southeastern Asset Management, which together have been doing everything possible to block that plan.

Office 365 outage Thursday night

Summary: Any major cloud service outage is bad, but good communications can make it less stressful. Microsoft did OK with last night's Exchange Online outage.

My personal domain is run on Office 365. I've generally been very happy with it, but last night was one of those times that makes for unhappy customers: a major outage. 

Late in the evening email just stopped working.  Multiple computers and devices on different networks were all timing out on Exchange Activesync access so it seemed pretty clearly to be the service. I also couldn't log into the Office 365 web portal.

At this point, my first thought was to check the Office 365 Twitter feed; surely Microsoft would post notice of a major outage there. But there was no sign of anything wrong, so I asked.

The Office Twitter folks seemed to know nothing about it, but another user told me there was a "major outage". At this point I thought to check the service status page for my account. Below are the content for the full incident last night. When I first checked, only the bottom 2 or 3 statuses were up.

Closure Summary: On Friday, August 30, 2013 at approximately 12:50 AM UTC, Microsoft identified an issue where some customers served from the Americas may have experienced problems connecting to the Exchange Online Service. Affected users were unable to access email via Outlook, OWA, and mobile devices. Investigation determined that upgrades to the environment had impacted domain controller health, causing an unexpected outage. Engineers implemented a fix to restore domain controller health across the environment, and then confirmed all Exchange services were restored. The issue was successfully fixed on Friday, August 30, 2013 at 3:45 AM UTC. A complete post-incident report will be available on the Service Health Dashboard within five business days.

Microsoft has identified an issue where some customers served from the Americas may be experiencing problems connecting to the Exchange Online Service. Affected users may be unable to access email via Outlook, OWA, and mobile devices. Engineers have identified that impact was caused by upgrades to the environment, and are implementing a fix to restore service.

Microsoft has identified an issue where some customers served from the Americas may be experiencing problems connecting to the Exchange Online Service. Affected users may be unable to access email via Outlook, OWA, and mobile devices. Engineers have identified that impact was caused by upgrades to the environment, and are currently working on steps to restore service.

Microsoft has identified an issue where some customers served from the Americas may be experiencing problems connecting to the Exchange Online Service with multiple protocols, including Outlook and OWA. Engineers are currently investigating the issue.

We are investigating a service alert. Multiple protocols may be down impacting access to the Exchange Online Service. We will provide more information shortly.

I'm pretty sure that the times in the table are east coast times (because I'm east coast and the table is generated for my account). Based on the final (top) status, the outage lasted almost 3 hours and was caused by some unspecified upgrade. Let's call it 3 hours. At 99.9% service, that would meet the contract for a 3000 hour period, which is 125 days. I'll have to re-read the SLA to see if they owe me something.

Overall, I'm not especially mad. These things happen in any sufficiently large and complex environment. I also don't know how big the outage was; it could have been relatively few users and I was just unlucky enough to be one of them.

But I am disappointed at Microsoft for their outreach on this. I can't be too mad because they did have the neat status page I embedded above, but I had to remember to go check that. Microsoft has an alternate email for me as part of my profile; the stated purpose of it is password recovery, but it would be useful in these cases. I'd be surprised if Microsoft had no idea which users were affected.

Even if they didn't know which users were affected, the Twitter feed would be a good place to note that there were outages and to link to a page with more detail. To my embarrassment I discovered this morning that they do have a field for just this, @Office365Status. It's all in there.

So the more I look into this, the less I have to complain about.  This sort of outage is rare, but inevitable, so what matters is how you handle it. Microsoft handled it well enough.

Topic: Cloud

Larry Seltzer has long been a recognized expert in technology, with a focus on mobile technology and security in recent years

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Microsoft and Google to sue government over transparency

Summary: Negotiations between big tech companies and the government to disclose their cooperation have broken down. Things may change today.

In a blog entry by Microsoft General Counsel & Executive Vice President, Legal & Corporate Affairs Brad Smith, the company explained how negotiations with the government over permission "…to publish sufficient data relating to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) orders" have faltered. Both Microsoft and Google will proceed with litigation to seek permission from the FISA court.

Ever since the public disclosure of the NSA's surveillance programs by former contractor Edward Snowden, Microsoft, Google and many other companies have called on the government to allow them to disclose the extent of their cooperation so that customers and foreign governments can make informed decisions about the trustworthiness of the companies' services.

Smith says in the blog that both Microsoft and Google filed suit in June for permission to disclose the information, and they believe they have the clear constitutional right to do so. On 6 occasions the government has asked for extensions from the court before replying to the suit.

According to this order from the FISA court, 5PM today (presumably eastern time, as that is the time of the court's seat) is the current deadline for the current extension. Smith says that Microsoft and Google won't agree to any more extensions.

In part because of the secrecy under which it operates, the court has a reputation as a rubber stamp for government requests, although both the court and government dispute this characterization. Finding for Microsoft and Google, not giving the government the benefit of any doubt, could be a way for the court to assert its independence in a public way.

Today may also be a good day for the government to cave on the Microsoft/Google petition. It's standard procedure, when you want to bury news, to release it on a Friday. Releasing it on the Friday before Labor Day buries it that much deeper.

Larry Seltzer has long been a recognized expert in technology, with a focus on mobile technology and security in recent years

Google smartwatch expected after acquisition WIMM Labs

With the version of the browser Google glass either by the door, the Internet giant is almost certainly going to a smartwatch.

GigaOM reported on a dream a little late Friday that the Android manufacturer has acquired WIMM Labs, somewhat smaller usable - in particular technology-tech manufacturer heavy wrist watches.

The financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed, but the purchase offer a great track of what Google wants to do in the flourishing market wearable.

The sector itself is still very small.

At $1,500 a pop, Google Glass is only a developer device with limited functionality. There are more products available in the gymnasium, the whistle scene (think FitBit for dogs) to the FuelBand of Nike for their two-legged owners.

Go to watches, Pebble is still pretty only on top (if there is still a top in this vertical) and WIMM Labs has been working on smartwatches (at least for developers) for awhile now.

But that could change quickly.

During a Q & A this week with some members of the press technology of San Francisco, Broadcom CEO Scott McGregor admitted that it is difficult to predict just how large the market technology usable will end up being based on various reports from analysts.

But he still argued that the majority of analysts believe that the sector will grow by a factor of 10 over the next five years.

For glasses computerized alone, market research firm IHS iSuppli had foreseen last April that there will be approximately 9.4 million units of these luxury shows shipping between 2012 to 2016.

There have been rumors for months that Apple and Samsung (among others) have secret smartwatches in the works, but nothing concrete has yet emerged.

Perhaps with the acquisition of WIMM Labs, Google hits all over the world with the punch with something already done in house.

Note: We do ping to Google PR for confirmation and will update this post once we hear back.

Update: a Google spokesman confirmed the acquisition of WIMM laboratories.