Final update: GoDaddy is up, and claims that the outage was due to internal errors and not a DDoS attack. According to many customers, sites hosted by major web host and domain registrar GoDaddy are down. According to the official GoDaddy Twitter account the company is aware of the issue and is working to resolve it.
Update: customers are complaining that GoDaddy hosted e-mail accounts are down as well, along with GoDaddy phone service and all sites using GoDaddy’s DNS service.
 Update 2: Anonymous is claiming responsibility. A member of Anonymous known as AnonymousOwn3r is claiming responsibility, and makes it clear this is not an Anonymous collective action. I’ve been adding more information below as details emerge. A tipster tells us that the technical reason for the failure is being caused by the inaccessibility of GoDaddy’s DNS servers — specifically CNS1.SECURESERVER.NET, CNS2.SECURESERVER.NET, and CNS3.SECURESERVER.NET are failing to resolve.

 AnonymousOwn3r’s bio reads “Security leader of #Anonymous (~Official member~).” The individual claims to be from Brazil, and hasn’t issued a statement as to why GoDaddy was targeted. Last year GoDaddy was pressured into opposing SOPA as customers transferred domains off the service, and the company has been the center of a few other controversies. However, AnonymousOwn3r has tweeted “I’m not anti go daddy, you guys will undestand because i did this attack.” The service Down For Everyone Or Just Me says the GoDaddy company website is down as well, but I’ve been able to access it just fine.

However, it does indeed appear that sites hosted by GoDaddy are down — including those who only have their domains registered through GoDaddy but use other hosts. For example, I’m seeing a database error on couponpuppet.com, one of the customers complaining about the outage on Twitter

An Akamai Technologies report, titled State of the Internet Q4 2011 holds the answers to the queries of those of you who think that the state of the Internet (no pun intended) is particularly deplorable in their part of the country. The report, which helped itself with data from the company’s Akamai Intelligent Platform has found the Internet connectivity in India to be among the worst in the world. The State of the Internet report provides with details about attack traffic, broadband adoption, mobile connectivity and other relevant topics concerning the Internet and its usage, as well as trends seen in this data over time. The report, among other details elaborated on several key factors. It stated that the connection speed in India, on an average was found to be as low as 0.9Mbps, which put it in line with countries, like Egypt and Venezuela.


The report further adds that the attack traffic percent in India in the fourth quarter of 2011 was 3 percent, which is lower than that it recorded in the third quarter of the year (3.7 percent). The average peak connection speed in the country was recorded to be 9651 Kbps in Q4 2011, while the average speed was 1664 Kbps. In the period of assessment (Q4 2011), there were 9,602,386 unique IP addresses that were recorded in the country. The average megabytes downloaded per month by mobile providers in the country was recorded to be 204 MB. Just a notch above India, in this respect is Kuwait (205 MB), closer on is Qatar (215 MB), while Hong Kong (3308 MB), Indonesia (6351 MB) in Asia fare exceedingly better.


In India, 27 percent of the connection is below the 256 Kbps mark, and only countries racing ahead of India in this respect is Libya, where 52 percent of the connections fall below the stipulated 256 Kbps mark, and Nigeria (31 percent), Iran (30 percent) and Nepal (32 percent). In countries like the U.S, this number is as low as 1.6 percent. Only a measly 0.5 percent of the Internet connection speeds in the country were found to be above 5 Mbps, which opposed to a whopping 83 percent by South Korea, 60 percent by Japan and 57 percent by Hong Kong pales.



Also, not surprisingly none of the Indian cities feature on the list of the fastest cities in the world, in terms of Internet connectivity speeds.

On Wednesday, Sweden’s Supreme Court announced that it decided not to grant an appeal in the long-running Pirate Bay trial. After a nine-day trial in April 2009, Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm and Carl Lundström were found guilty of assistance to copyright infringement and sentenced to one year each in prison and payment of roughly $7 million in damages. Each defendant appealed the verdict, and in November 2010 the sentences were shortened, but the fines were increased. The new sentence was again appealed, and now the Supreme Court has rejected those appeals. Sunde must serve eight months in prison, with Neij facing 10 and Lundström to face four months. Svartholm, who missed the hearing do to illness, will be forced to serve a one year prison sentence. One of the defendants, however, reached out to TorrentFreak and informed the website that he plans appeal the new sentence at the European Court of Justice.

The single-cylinder 125 Duke is a street bike jointly developed by KTM with Bajaj and already introduced in select European markets. It's taken no time to charge into the lead and become a segment leader there, while Indians have patiently stood by waiting for a 200cc variant of the same bike to be specially prepared for our market. The eagerly anticipated KTM 200 Duke will be backed by the sales and service might of Bajaj Probiking. It boasts remarkably potent specifications, which is why we couldn't wait to get behind the handlebars and tell you how it all comes together as a package.

Butch, lean and aggressive all at the same time, the striking 200 Duke proudly shows off its KTM genes. Black and trademark orange are the predominant colours, while sharp angles and steep creases define this modern naked bike. Every part is visibly pared down to the minimum, which allows the 200 to live up to KTM's ‘Ready to Race' tag and tip the scales at just 136kg. The front mudguard is sporty and bolted on above elegant, slim-spoke alloy wheels. A bikini fairing guards the engine sump, while the engine itself is exposed within a trellis steel frame. A stubby stainless steel exhaust box sits neatly tucked away underneath.

There's a chin-set auxiliary light below the headlight, while a compact digital instrument cluster sits over it. Fussy at best, only speed is prominently displayed and easily read and we found ourselves struggling to view the tiny, cascading rev counter, apart from other information relayed by the dinky readout. The 200 Duke comes with Bajaj-typical illuminated switchgear — which works with crisp clicks, dimpled palm grips, a comfortable set of levers and good mirrors. The 10.5-litre fuel tank offers deeply recessed, snug thigh supports. And the riding saddle is roomy and well-padded, although the same can't be said for the compromised pillion seat.

Overall quality, as well as the turnout of rubber and plastic parts is as good, as expected on the KTM 200 Duke. You couldn't ask for a more tech-rich engine on an Indian motorcycle. The new KTM deploys a short-stroke, four-stroke and single-cylinder, 199.5cc powerplant with 72mm bore and 49mm stroke measurements. State-of-the-art specs with no-compromise engineering ensure you receive the works; fuel injection, liquid cooling, a twin-camshaft-driven quartet of valves and a bantamweight, compact, six-speed gearbox.

The integral crankshaft rotates counter-balanced at the centre of this highly strung, high-compression engine that delivers a wide power band with excellent midrange to top end muscle.

Button-started, the KTM 200 Duke outputs a delightful, deep exhaust rumble that easily makes this India's best sounding small-capacity motorcycle. Quick shifts up the one-down, five-up gearbox have to be decisively timed in the first two gears, as the bike revs with such gusto, it's easy to miss the shift warning flashing on the console and smack into the rev-limiter.

The KTM 200 Duke engine amazed us with its silky power delivery. The 200's flowing, sweet revving capability impresses as well, and adds a lot to riding pleasure. Bajaj claims a 0-60kph time of 3.3 seconds, and 0-100kph in 9.2secs, which we can only confirm after a road test.

The riding position is upright, comfortable and good for daily use with the wide handlebars providing excellent leverage. Ride quality is good, pliant and still firm enough to enable sporty handling, but our ride was too brief and only over smooth surfaces. The KTM 200 Duke handles with a light, nimble feel, always steering with neutral manners and the MRF radial front and rear tyres provide terrific grip. This is a stable bike at all speeds, with superb cornering manners and brakes which always offer a powerful and reassuring bite.

We expect the KTM 200 Duke to return close to 30kpl for every litre of fuel. Bajaj will offer a variety of KTM merchandise as optional with this bike, including a pair of tasteful knuckle guards.

There is no two ways about it, the KTM 200 Duke is a very special motorcycle.

Dell's (Nasdaq: DELL) gaming computer brand, Alienware, has released a new desktop computer that -- while not quite in keeping with the trend toward mobile gaming -- is compact, powerful and sleek.


The Alienware X51
The X51, which weighs about 12 pounds and measures roughly 13 inches tall by 12.5 inches deep by 4 inches wide, is unobtrusive enough to be placed near a television. It is powered by a range of graphics cards and several Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) Core processors. Pricing starts at US$699 and goes to $1,149, depending on how the device is configured.

Options in the low-end version include a second-generation Intel Core i processor, 8 GB of 1333 Mhz dual-channel memory, a 1-GB GDDR5 Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA) GeForce GTX 555 video card with 330W PSU, a slot-loading dual layer Blu-ray reader, and a standard integrated wireless LAN card.

The $1,149 model is equipped with the Intel Core i7 processor, a 1 GB GDDR5 Nvidia GeForce GT 555 graphics card, and 8 GB of RAM.

Alienware did not respond to our request for further details.




The Mobile Trend

With the X51's diminutive size, it is easy to miss the fact that it is not designed to be mobile -- a major driving force in the gaming market now.

Gaming captured the largest proportion of a mobile user's time spent with mobile applications -- a whopping 49 percent -- according to Flurry. Social networking came next, but at a distant 30 percent.

A majority of tablet owners who play video games use a console or a handheld gaming device less often as a result of owning their tablet, according to research from GfK MRI's iPanel.

Gaming Laptops

Alienware isn't ignoring that trend -- last year, it released three powerful laptops including the M18x -- which it called the most powerful 18-inch gaming laptop in the universe and "a true desktop replacement." The other laptops are the M14x -- with enhanced performance and a focus on portability -- and an upgraded M11x. They also sport second-generation Intel Core i processors.

That said, there is still a place for the little X51 desktop unit in the current gaming environment, J. Gerry Purdy, principal analyst of mobile and wireless at MobileTrax, told TechNewsWorld.

"There are really two mobile stories unfolding with gaming," he said. One is that more people are using smartphones or tablets, and providers are extending the availability of some games on these platforms. The second one are the wireless initiatives, where you are seeing controllers become de facto smartphones or computers."

College student dorm rooms, for instance, are typical venues for these devices, noted Purdy. "The gaming market is huge enough, especially among the 18-24 age group, to accommodate a number of different form factors."

The top most and sought after encyclopaedia on the internet is Wikipedia and it must be said that many have enriched their knowledge after visiting this website. However, this hot site has been facing the threat of a shutdown thanks to an initiative by the US Congress and its laws.

However, Wikipedia seems to be in no mood to give up and they came up with their online agitation. As part of that, they have blacked out their site for 24 hours with the following message - Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge…For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopaedia in human history.

Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia

This call for support has been met with overwhelming response, as per sources. Apparently, millions follow Wikipedia each day and this restriction of information by the US government is not being taken sweetly. The web gurus say this is just the beginning of their agitation and if the US Congress doesn’t oblige then the later steps would be more aggressive.

Amid complaints with regard to the quality of the low-cost ‘Aakash’ tablet PC, the government on Monday said it is hopeful of bringing out an upgraded version of the device, ‘Aakash-II’, by April this year.

“In order to cater to the huge demand, we need several manufacturers to manufacture Aakash. We are enhancing the specifications on the basis of feedback we have received from the first version of Aakash. So we want to make sure that the upgraded product caters to the need of the customers... We have involved ITI in order to upgrade it... We will be able to bring in Aakash-II by April,” HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said.

The struggling Eastman Kodak Co. on Tuesday sued Apple Inc , whose market value is more than 2,400 times greater, accusing it of infringing four patents related to digital camera images. Kodak also sued Taiwan's HTC Corp, alleging violations of the four patents as well as a fifth. It said it filed a related complaint against both companies with the U.S. International Trade Commission.
Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment. An HTC spokeswoman said it is premature to comment until that company can review Kodak's complaints. Kodak is trying to preserve value as the money-losing company, which had been left behind by rivals that embraced digital camera technology faster, tries to raise cash by selling a large patent portfolio. It also has patent litigation against Research in Motion Ltd , which makes the BlackBerry.


The Wall Street Journal has said Kodak may file for bankruptcy, a prospect the company has declined to discuss. Kodak on Tuesday unveiled a revamped business structure, and its shares, which trade below $1, rose 50 percent. In its lawsuits, Kodak said it obtained its patents after concluding it would be desirable for people to easily share pictures from their digital cameras without first transferring them to personal computers.

It said Apple and HTC are infringing the patents by selling and importing mobile camera phones, tablets and other devices, among them Apple's iPad 2, the iPod touch and various iPhones. Kodak wants to stop Apple and HTC from selling these products, and seeks compensatory and triple damages. It filed the federal lawsuits in its hometown of Rochester, New York.
Shares of Kodak closed Tuesday up 20 cents at 60 cents. That gave it a market value of about $162 million, Reuters data show. Apple shares closed up $1.51 at $423.24, valuing the company at about $393 billion, Reuters data show. The stock touched a record high on Monday. The case are Eastman Kodak Co v. Apple Inc, U.S. District Court, Western District of New York, No. 12-06020; and Eastman Kodak Co v. HTC Corp et al in the same court, No. 12-06021.