HP's cloud strategy under fire

Systems giant HP's attempt to reinvent itself as a cloud service provider has received a mixed reception, with some critics arguing the company has too much baggage to reinvent itself quickly, reports Computing.co.uk.

HP CEO Leo Apotheker used his first major public address to set out his vision to turn the company into a provider of cloud services.

But not everyone is convinced the company will be able to move from today's HP to become a cloud-based IT provider.

The White House has proposed sweeping revisions to US copyright law, including making “illegal streaming” of audio or video a federal felony and allowing FBI agents to wiretap suspected infringers, writes Cnet.

In a 20-page white paper PDF, the Obama administration called on the US Congress to fix "deficiencies that could hinder enforcement" of intellectual property laws.

The report represents a broad tightening of many forms of intellectual property law, including ones that deal with counterfeit pharmaceuticals and overseas royalties for copyright holders.

Internet companies are getting better at removing images of child sexual abuse, according to the charity that monitors the problem, notes the BBC.

The Internet Watch Foundation says the time it took Web sites and broadband providers to respond to complaints had halved in the past year.

However, it warns that abusers were distributing images more widely in an attempt to avoid detection.

Newspaper advertising in the US has sunk to a 25-year low as marketing budgets followed readers to the Internet, where advertising is far cheaper than what publishers have been able to command in print, says the Associated Press.

Advertisers spent $25.8 billion on newspapers' print and digital editions last year, according to figures released yesterday by the Newspaper Association of America.

That's the lowest amount since 1985, when total newspaper advertising stood at $25.2 billion.