We were looking for some tarps or covers for our server racks. Are there any made specifically for server racks?

Stephanie Earley

To my knowledge, there are no tarps or covers specifically made for server racks. Any tarp should work, but there is a trade-off involved. Keeping water out of the racks will probably prevent cooling air from entering as well. So your servers won’t get damaged by water, but instead will overheat and burn up. Neither option would seem to be viable.

Water resistant cabinets (call 800-458-6255 for details) will prevent sprayed water from penetrating a cabinet. This will protect critical components should the sprinklers in the data center accidentally turn on. However, this protection is only to allow you time to turn everything off. Once everything has been powered down, should water makes its way to any electronics, they should not be destroyed. There might have to be some careful drying out and inspection, but nothing should be irreparably damaged.

Intel plans to release a new chip next year, dubbed Silverthorn, that will be 1/7 the size of normal chips and consume 1/10 the power of typical processor chips today. Intel hopes to attack the market for devices optimized to “cost, power and portability.”

Intel’s Silverthorn Draws Doubts

CEO Otellini is betting on a new power-sipping chip aimed at mobile Internet devices, but analysts are skeptical it will be a silver bullet

by Arik Hesseldahl

When Intel CEO Paul Otellini took the dais at a May 3 analysts meeting in New York, he discussed plans for a processor that will be aimed at everything from low-cost mobile PCs to handhelds. The skeptics in the Marriott (MAR) conference room might have been forgiven for thinking they had heard this message before.

Intel (INTC) has struggled for growth in a personal computer market that in areas of the world is reaching maturity, and at various stages of history the company has taken aim at new markets like wireless phones and bargain-basement PCs—too often, unsuccessfully. Case in point: the mobile-chip business sold to Marvell (MRVL) last year.

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Yahoo’s shares SURGE as talks again resurface about Microsoft’s interest in buying the search engine operator. Microsoft is feeling more and more pressure to compete with search engine giant Google, especially after Google’s recent plans to beef up its search reach with the $3.1 billion buyout of DoubleClick.

Microsoft is said to be pursuing Yahoo again

NEW YORK (Reuters) — Microsoft (MSFT) is resuming its pursuit of search engine operator Yahoo (YHOO), to help it better compete with Web search leader Google (GOOG), published reports said Friday.

Yahoo shares surged more than 17% in premarket trading.

The New York Post reported Friday that Microsoft has asked Yahoo to enter formal negotiations for an acquisition that could be worth $50 billion. Yahoo’s market capitalization was about $38 billion on Thursday.

The Wall Street Journal said executives of the two companies are looking at a merger or some other kind of matchup and said talks appear to be early-stage discussions. It said the companies explored the idea of combining last year but the talks led nowhere.

The newspaper reports each cited unidentified people familiar with the situation.

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After nearly a decade of dominating the new internet surfers market, AOL is feeling the crunch of technology explosion and high speed connection availability. They lost nearly 2 million subscribers in this year’s first quarter alone.

AOL Slips to No. 3 on Internet

By SAUL HANSELL
Published: May 3, 2007

After more than a decade connecting more Americans to the Internet than any other company, AOL has given up its title as the leading Internet service provider, a reflection of changing consumer habits and its own strategic shift.

AOL decided last year to chase advertising dollars by offering nearly all of its content and features free. Its traditional model had been eroded by the shift to high-speed Internet service from cable and telephone companies.

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I.B.M. will soon be announcing a new breakthrough in its chip-making capabilities. The new technique can increase chip speed by as much as 35% with an additional overall 15% reduction in energy consumption.

I.B.M. to Announce an Advance in Making Chips Faster and More Energy-Efficient

By JOHN MARKOFF
Published: May 3, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO, May 2 — Scientists at I.B.M. have designed a new material that could increase the speed of semiconductors and reduce their energy consumption.

The advance, to be announced Thursday, involves a manufacturing process that uses heat to create trillions of atomic-scale holes in a thin layer of material deposited on top of the conducting wires at different stages of chip making. The material is then extracted through the holes, leaving insulating vacuum channels around the miles of ultrathin wires that make up a modern microchip.

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