~The Number Resource Organization (NRO), the official representative of the five Regional Internet Registries, made the announcement~

The long-awaited depletion of the Internet's primary address space came one step closer to reality on Tuesday with the announcement that fewer than 10 per cent of IPv4 addresses remain unallocated.

The Number Resource Organization (NRO), the official representative of the five Regional Internet Registries, made the announcement. The Regional Internet Registries allocate blocks of IP addresses to ISPs and other network operators.

The NRO is urging Internet stakeholders — including corporations, government agencies, ISPs, IT vendors and users — to take immediate action and begin deploying the next-generation Internet Protocol known as IPv6, which has vastly more address space than today's IPv4.

"This is a key milestone in the growth and development of the global Internet," said Axel Pawlik, Chairman of the NRO, in a statement. "With less than 10 per cent of the entire IPv4 address range still available for allocation to RIRs, it is vital that the Internet community take considered and determined action to ensure the global adoption of IPv6."

IPv4 is the Internet's main communications protocol. IPv4 uses 32-bit addresses and can support around 4 billion IP addresses.

Designed as an upgrade to IPv4, IPv6 uses a 128-bit addressing scheme and can support so many billions of IP addresses that the number is too big for most non-techies to understand. (IPv6 supports 2 to the 128th power of IP addresses.)IPv6 has been available since the mid-1990s, but deployment of IPv6 began in earnest last year.

The NRO recommends IPv6 as a way of ensuring that the Internet can support billions of additional people and devices.The NRO recommends the following actions:

* Businesses should provide IPv6-capable services and platforms.

* Software and hardware vendors should sell products that support IPv6.

* Government agencies should provide IPv6-enabled content and services, encourage IPv6 deployment in their countries, and purchase IPv6-compliant hardware and software.

*Users should request IPv6 services from their ISPs and IT vendors.

NRO officials warned of "grave consequences in the very near future" if the Internet community fails to recognize the rapid depletion of IPv4 addresses.

Nov 28, 2009 7:40 am

Dell has made available a customized download of Google's Chromium OS (the open-source version of Chrome OS), specifically for its popular Mini 10V netbook.

Google discussed its upcoming operating system (OS) at a recent press event, and released the source code. Since then various builds of Chromium have surfaced online.

Dell made the customized download available Friday, giving all Mini 10V owners the perfect weekend project. All you need to do in order to give Chromium OS a shot is a spare 8GB on a USB flash drive. Once downloaded, simply move the image onto the flash drive, plug it in-to your Mini 10V, and enjoy. It's worth noting that Dell's custom build is pre-beta and could be unstable.

Unfortunately early reports suggest that the Wi-Fi can act up; it may take up to 15 minutes to locate access points--ironic considering Chrome's Web-centric design. But as Google promised, the boot-up time is reportedly super fast, taking just under 12 seconds.

If you have given Google Chromium OS a try be sure to let us know in the comments!

direct download link...

http://linux.dell.com/files/cto/ChromiumOS_Mini10v_Nov25.img

Chris Brandrick

WarMouse, in collaboration with the OpenOffice.org community, revealed on Friday a new open-source mouse developed specifically for users of the OpenOffice suite.

The corded pointing device, memorably dubbed the OpenOfficeMouse, features an unconventional amount of buttons, and will undoubtedly be more than welcome in the lineup of the world's weirdest mice. The OpenOfficeMouse packs in a massive 18 programmable buttons, all of which can be double-clicked, in addition to a scrollwheel, 512KB of built-in flash memory, and support for over 60 separate configurations. With that many buttons, let's just hope the OpenOfficeMouse's target users are incredibly dexterous.

In addition to its OpenOffice uses, the mouse can may draw the interest of the gaming crowd. The OpenOfficeMouse can make light work of various gaming hits, including popular titles like World Of Warcraft and Call Of Duty. Mouse designer Theodore Beale said that "you can do far more with this mouse than most people are likely to realize at first".

Sadly, OpenOffice failed to detail when the confusing new point-and-click would be hitting stores, but we did learn that when the multi-button mouse does arrive it will set you back $74.99.

1. Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB Wd20eads

Drive size (GB): 2000GB, Supported Interface(s): SATA-300, Speed (RPM): 7200, Buffer Size (MB): 32, Cost per Gigabyte: $0.11,

Bottom Line: This drive packs in the bits for 2TB of capacity, but its price remains high, despite its competitive cost per gigabyte.

2. Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB

Drive size (GB): 1500GB, Supported Interface(s): SATA-300, Speed (RPM): 7200, Buffer Size (MB): 32, Cost per Gigabyte: $0.11,

Bottom Line: Great performance plus gargantuan capacity makes this a great drive for storing large media collections.

3. Western Digital Caviar WD1001FALS

Drive size (GB): 1000GB, Supported Interface(s): SATA-300, Speed (RPM): 7200, Buffer Size (MB): 32, Cost per Gigabyte: $0.13,

Bottom Line: Standard 1TB internal hard drive.

4. Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1000GB

Drive size (GB): 1000GB, Supported Interface(s): SATA-300, Speed (RPM): 7200, Buffer Size (MB): 32, Cost per Gigabyte: $0.11,

Bottom Line: Solid performance across the board on our tests makes this drive an excellent upgrade choice.

5. Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 1000GB SATA

Drive size (GB): 1000GB, Supported Interface(s): SATA-300, Speed (RPM): 7200, Buffer Size (MB): 32, Cost per Gigabyte: $0.14,

Bottom Line: Gargantuan drive is a fast write performer; carries industry-leading 5 year warranty.

6. Western Digital Velociraptor WD3000GLFS

Drive size (GB): 300GB, Supported Interface(s): SATA-300, Speed (RPM): 10000, Buffer Size (MB): 16, Cost per Gigabyte: $1,

Bottom Line: Super-fast performer, this 10,000 rpm drive leaves the competition--including WD's previous Raptors--in its wake.

7. Western Digital Caviar GP WD10EACS

Drive size (GB): 1000GB, Supported Interface(s): SATA-300, Speed (RPM): 7200, Buffer Size (MB): 16, Cost per Gigabyte: $0.14,

Bottom Line: First drive to bill itself as eco-friendly with low-power consumption proves it can stand with the big boys.

8. Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 750GB

Drive size (GB): 750GB, Supported Interface(s): SATA-300, Speed (RPM): 7200, Buffer Size (MB): 32, Cost per Gigabyte: $0.13,

Bottom Line: This drive was among our fastest performers across our suite of tests.

9. Western Digital WD5002ABSYS

Drive size (GB): 500GB, Supported Interface(s): SATA-300, Speed (RPM): 7200, Buffer Size (MB): 16, Cost per Gigabyte: $0.2,

Bottom Line: This pricey drive is a good choice for use in write-intensive environments, such as servers.

10. Western Digital WD Caviar SE16 750 GB

Drive size (GB): 750GB, Supported Interface(s): SATA-300, Speed (RPM): 7200, Buffer Size (MB): 16, Cost per Gigabyte: $0.24,

Bottom Line: Top-flight performer posted some of the fastest write times we've seen.

Windows XP retained many loyal users during the dark ages of Vista, but the emergence of Windows 7 may signal the end of an era.

The vast majority of PC users still haven't adopted Vista. Eight years after its release--and months after Microsoft officially discontinued it--Windows XP is more beloved than ever.

So will Windows 7 convince XP loyalists to switch? Instead of guessing, we decided to ask them. In August, we conducted an online survey of more than 8000 people who told us that XP was their primary OS. The top three reasons they haven't upgraded to Vista: They're comfortable with XP, Vista lacks features that might justify an upgrade, and they're concerned about driver and compatibility issues.

Vistaphobia ran high among respondents who had tried Windows Vista (62 percent said that their opinion of the OS was somewhat or very negative) and among those who merely knew about it (81 percent were somewhat or very negative). But most respondents said that were keeping an open mind about Windows 7.

In fact, the 26 percent of respondents who said they had already used Windows 7 were quite enthusiastic about it: 73 percent said that their opinion of Win 7 was somewhat or very positive, and only 11 percent said that it was very or somewhat negative. Also, 56 percent said that they intended to move to Windows 7 immediately or eventually. Among respondents who had read about Windows 7 but hadn't used it, 56 percent said that their opinion of Win 7 was somewhat or very positive, and only 12 percent said that it was somewhat or very negative.

Still, a meaningful minority of respondents have no interest in upgrading: 40 percent said that they intended to stick with XP indefinitely. Which brings up another interesting question: When will it become impractical to keep using XP and spurning its successors?

Supposedly, that date has already come and gone: Microsoft formally discontinued Windows XP on June 30, 2008, and it ended mainstream support on April 14, 2009. But the company has continued to permit PC builders to offer downgrade discs that let XP fans install the OS over Vista. It says that manufacturers can ship Windows 7 machines with XP downgrades for 18 months after Win 7's release or until it ships the first Service Pack for the new OS--whichever comes first. In other words, XP downgrades may be available until April 22, 2011 (assuming that Microsoft doesn't extend the deadline further; it has already granted XP so many stays of execution that refusing to grant any more would be a bit surprising.)

Windows XP's final death knell is scheduled to sound on April 8, 2014. On that date, Microsoft says that it will no longer take support calls and issue security fixes. This doesn't mean that no one will run XP on April 9 and beyond--it just means that they'll be on their own. XP holdouts, you've been warned.