MS slims virtualisation offering

Microsoft says it is pulling features out of the initial version of its 'Viridian' hypervisor, to avoid having to delay the virtualisation technology, reports ZDNet.

The first feature that is being taken out of the initial Viridian release is so-called live migration, which enables people to move a running virtual machine from one physical server to another. It will also not support hot-swappable hardware.

The move limits Viridian's initial scope and gives more breathing room to competing projects, most notably Xen and VMware.

Computer scientists are hoping to add GPS satellite navigation technology to hand-held music devices like MP3s, to help guide pedestrians around cities, reports BBC News.

Swansea and Glasgow universities have had funding for the three-year project. The idea is to programme a destination into a device and be directed there while listening to songs.

If headed the right way, music would play from both headphones, and shifting volume to different ears could indicate a change in direction.

Facebook, the social networking Web site, is adding free classified ad listings, putting it into competition with dozens of established companies like Craigslist and many newspapers, reports News.com.

Facebook is hoping the new feature will keep its 22 million active users coming back to the site regularly, instead of going elsewhere to conduct their Internet business.

"We don't try to lock people up or take more of their time, but we try to provide them with easier ways to do the things they want to do on the Internet," said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder.

Facebook is calling the new service Marketplace, and plans to introduce it on Friday.

One of the most visible ads for Mothers Day, in Japan, suggests that you give your mom Nintendo's portable videogame system and load it with software like Nintendogs, Brain Age or an interactive cookbook called 1 000 Recipes, reports Wired.com.

Initially taken off guard, Japan's game-makers are now in the grip of girl fever, scrambling to market directly to women gamers who were once ignored.

"I'd go to school and play the old gray Game Boy on the train, and people would stare," says Eleanor Harada, a 31-year-old computer programmer at a financial firm.

Two senators fired the latest salvo in a battle over copyright payments for Web radio broadcasters on Thursday, with a bill to annul a pending royalty rate increase, which they say threatens the fledgling industry, reports Reuters India.

Senator Ron Wyden and Senator Sam Brownback introduced the Internet Radio Equality Act to undo a ruling by the US Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) requiring Web broadcasters to pay sharply higher rates for music royalties.

"I am alarmed by the recent CRB decision and the effect it will have on Internet radio, especially small Web casters with limited revenue streams," Brownback said in a statement.