Japan unfurls solar sail in space

Japanese scientists are celebrating the successful deployment of their solar sail, Ikaros, reports The BBC.

The 200m² (2 100 square foot) membrane is attached to a small disc-shaped spacecraft that was put in orbit last month by an H-IIA rocket.

Ikaros will demonstrate the principle of using sunlight as a simple and efficient means of propulsion.

The mystery behind secretive server start-up SeaMicro was dispelled yesterday, reveals The Register.

The venture-backed maker of what it has been calling "data centre appliances" unveils its first product: the SM10000, a server cluster comprised of 512 of Intel's Atom processors with a built-in, virtualised network fabric for the servers.

SeaMicro has obtained $25 million in venture funding from Khosla Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Crosslink Capital, and an unnamed private backer. The company was also one of the vendors that received a slice of a $47 million grant in January by the US Department of Energy to come up with some greener technologies for the data centre.

Recent research suggests the endless hype surrounding cloud computing services has yet to convince many organisations of the model's merits, writes Computing.co.uk.

Cloud computing promises several benefits, the biggest being improved alignment of IT budget with system use, allowing firms to adjust capacity in line with demands on applications.

But confusion over terminology, issues with pricing models and problems relating to infrastructure are deterring many potential users.

A hacker tried to frame his neighbour by tapping into his WiFi and sending threatening e-mails to US VP Joe Biden, says The Register.

Computer expert Barry Ardolf, 45, is charged with using someone else's computer to send a threatening e-mail to Biden. However, the affidavits reveal years of disputes between Ardolf and neighbours from different areas he's lived in.

Ardolf, of Blaine, Minneapolis, had been using his tech skills to harass his current neighbours, according to affidavits filed by FBI Special Agent Robert Cameron. As well as the Biden e-mails, he's alleged to have sent indecent images of children to his neighbour's work colleagues, using fake e-mail accounts he'd set up in the neighbours' name. He's also alleged to have stolen personal information and sent offensive messages.