Google’s ambitious design to create the world’s largest digital library and bookstore ran in to complications this week with the oldest story in the book, copyright. The company’s plan to digitize every book published was derailed when a federal judge in New York rejected the 125 million dollar legal settlement the company worked out with representatives of authors and publishers.

This recent decision has put Google’s most ambitious undertaking into limbo and brings into light the concerns of growing power over information. Currently Google has 15 million books scanned. The entire text of books whose copyright has expired is available through Google’s Book Search services.

Larry Page, co-founder of Google set to become chief executive next month, has long since declared this a pet project of his and has a wide variety of support for the project inside the company. This grandiose undertaking is right alongside the corporate mission to organize all the world’s information and Ken Auletta, author of Google: The End of the World as We Know It states, “It was very much consistent with Larry’s idealism that all of the world’s information be made available freely.”

New York Federal Judge Denny Chin states that the settlement would have granted Google a, “de facto monopoly” and the ability to profit from books without permission from the copyright owner. Chin acknowledged that “the creation of a universal digital library would benefit many,” but continued that the proposed agreement was “not fair, adequate, and reasonable.”

This decision is also a setback for the Author’s Guild and the Association of American Publishers, which sued Google in 2005 over its book scanning project. Just two years ago a settlement was finally approved by authors, publishers, and Google to bring millions of printed work into the digital age.

SoftLayer Technologies®, the innovative on-demand data center services provider, today announced that the research firm Longhaus has named SoftLayer the strongest offshore (no Australian data center) trusted infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) provider for Australian enterprises.

Longhaus conducted a detailed review based on 60 criteria resulting in the top 34 short-listed cloud providers currently serving Australian customers. Longhaus’ Pulse® methodology rates vendors based on their company performance, overall cloud solution and commitment to the Australian market.

“Receiving this recognition is great validation for the SoftLayer model,” said George Karidis, SoftLayer Chief Strategy Officer. “We are delighted to be included and look forward to gaining further traction as our international expansion plans accelerate.”

SoftLayer’s growth outside of North America leverages the firm’s unique ability to address the dynamic needs of businesses. SoftLayer’s cloud, dedicated, and hybrid infrastructure solutions offer an option for enterprises of any size, from any industry, to outsource their data center infrastructure needs and focus their resources on operational needs rather than capital expenditures, regardless of their geographic locale.

During its meeting last week in San Francisco, The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers – more commonly known by the acronym ICANN approved the creation of a new top level domain extension – .xxx. As the technical coordinator of the Internet’s Domain Name System ICANN is often called upon to debate and resolve issues related to domains. According to the recent press reports covering this latest decision – they blew it. Or they sold out – take your pick.

While a first blush it might seem that it makes sense to have a domain extension that segregates adult content – it simply won’t work. Besides the fact that literally hundreds of thousands of adult sites are already established on other domain extensions, having a simple filter that excludes the .xxx domains won’t prevent those interested in seeking it out and viewing the content. That is because every domain name can be translated into its underlying IP address in order to view the content. All that a person wanting to get around the filter has to do is search by IP or access a directory which translates the domain name into an IP address – then type that in.

Also – as mentioned above – every single adult content site created to date resides on a top level domain extension other than .xxx. So that means in order to use the .xxx extension for a site, the entire website along with databases, images and written content must be moved to a new account. Anyone who has ever had to move even a modestly large website knows that it is a big task – and not one that you would enter into lightly. Daniel Foster is technical director at UK web hosting company 34SP.com and explains, ”Moving a website, while not uncommon does require backing up and copying the entirety of the website. This alone may deter users from moving a website. Additionally, any move to a new domain name will require DNS propagation. That means the site may not be available for up to 24 hours after the move. This is another deterrent to moving.”

So if filtering adult content probably won’t work, why approve the domain extension at all? There is one simple reason: money. Big money.

The new .xxx domain extension will be administered and managed by ICM Registry. That is the company that ICANN contracted for the job. On the homepage of the ICM Registry website there is a counter in the upper right which is entitled, ”.XXX Domains Pre-Reserved”. That counter is up to 305,733 as of the writing of this article. If you combine that piece of data with the wholesale price of each .xxx domain – $60 – then you arrive at a guaranteed $18 million of revenue and growing each day.

The dollars will only go up from here. This is why: every large brand will need to register the .xxx version of their current brand name. The obvious example is The Walt Disney Company. Disney can’t take the chance that disney.xxx gets registered by anyone other than Disney. Similarly disneyland.xxx, mickeymouse.xxx, etc. You get the picture. Every mainstream brand now has to defensively protect their brands against exploitation via the .xxx top level domain.

Considering that there are currently nearly 130 million active domains in use, the upside for .xxx seems considerable. So maybe ICANN knew what they were doing after all.

Google, Inc. recently charged the Chinese government of blocking its Gmail services which has been making it difficult for locals to access the site.

Many people inside the country have been complaining past week saying they’ve had difficulty accessing their account or sending email. Even the Person Finder application seems to have connectivity restraints, which was set up to help people locate their missing relative during the aftermath of a disaster such as the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

Google first became aware of the problem just a few weeks ago and has checked into the issue and reports that there are no technical issues on its

side. Their security blog continues to state, “This is a government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail.” In another part of the blog they state “we’ve noticed some highly targeted and apparently politically motivated attacks against our users. We believe activists may have been a specific target.”

TELEHOUSE America, the United States’ leading provider of dedicated data centers, international Internet exchanges, and managed IT services, announces today that all 21 TELEHOUSE data centers located throughout Japan are operational without any unplanned outages. The TELEHOUSE Sendai facility, located in the most severely affected area of Japan, is also operational.

The earthquake and resulting tsunami, that occurred in the Pacific Ocean near Northeastern Japan, caused damage to the power infrastructure resulting in a major effort to conserve electrical power throughout the country. Tohoku-Electric Power and Tokyo Electric Power are implementing scheduled planned power outages. We want to reassure our community that all TELEHOUSE facilities affected by this 3-hour commercial energy conservation mandate will implement routine self-generating power procedures. All facilities have a minimum 24-hour fuel supply plus regularly scheduled refueling (natural gas and/or diesel) and are expected to continue normal operations.

To support the relief efforts in Japan, please visit the Red Cross at http://www.jrc.or.jp/english/relief/l4/Vcms4_00002070.html.

About TELEHOUSE

A stable and trusted pioneer of carrier-neutral data center services, TELEHOUSE provides secure, power-protected environments, where clients house and operate their telecommunications and network resources. Among the many benefits of colocating with TELEHOUSE is the ability to connect to state-of-the-art peering exchanges in New York (NYIIX) and Los Angeles (LAIIX). Through Manage-E, TELEHOUSE provides a comprehensive suite of solutions – from help desk and hardware support to managed IT infrastructure, security and compliance services – all delivered by expert consulting and operations teams on a global scale and from one point-of-contact. Additionally, the global availability of 38 TELEHOUSE-branded data centers in 20 cities throughout Asia, Africa, North America and Europe, delivers continuous, cost-effective operation of network-dependent, IT infrastructure to businesses around the world.

XCom Global, Inc., a leading provider of low cost wireless Internet access rental services for international travelers, announced today it is offering free Internet access to relief workers who are heading to Japan to aid in disaster recovery. Rental units will be shipped to relief workers in advance of their departure date. Those who are already in Japan or are heading out immediately can pick up rental units in Tokyo at XCom Global’s parent company (Inter Communications Co., Ltd) headquarters.

“I am relieved to say that all of my employees at Inter Communications are safe,” said Seiji Nishimura, CEO, XCom Global, Inc. “I was working in our Tokyo office when the earthquake hit. It was unlike anything I have ever experienced. The devastation in our country is heartbreaking. We appreciate all of the aid that is coming in from countries around the world. So much is done via the Internet now. If we can be of assistance by connecting the relief workers to information and each other, we are more than happy to do so.”

Relief workers still in the United States should contact XCom Global at 1-877-520-8242. Those who are already in Japan can reach Inter Communications at 03-5766-2722. XCom Global’s Internet access rental connection reliability and speed is dependent on the local carrier. In Japan, XCom Global uses Docomo, the country’s premier mobile communications company; however, infrastructure in Japan is still being stabilized and Internet connections could be affected.

Bundled with the Unlimited aXcess plan, the XCom Global’s MiFi Hotspot rental unit enables instant access to a personal mobile hotspot, so travelers can stay connected wherever they are. Up to five WiFi-enabled devices can use the unit simultaneously allowing the MiFi Hotspot to be shared with traveling companions and saving on multiple usage charges. http://xcomglobal.com/devices/

In a recent effort to improve recovery efforts from the recent earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan, the military has decided to block the use of certain websites from its network. Japanese military has reported that these sites are not being blocked due to any content reason but solely to improve the bandwidth necessary for militaristic needs. On Monday the U.S. Pacific Command received a request to block the 13 highest traffic usage sites commonly used on military networks such as YouTube, Google Video, Amazon, eBay, Myspace, and MTV.com.

On a more interesting note to the bandwidth control is the continuing use of Facebook in Japan. The site is considered one of the highest bandwidth usage portals in the region, but it will stay up and running due to its growing use by deployed military personnel. Facebook is the most common way to stay in contact with loved ones and was decided to be an important tool in the recovery of the disaster.

Strategic Military Command spokesperson Rodney Ellison stated to CNN.com, “This is a response to a time of extreme demand for networks. This blockage will be of a temporary nature and may increase or decrease in the size and scope as necessary. We are doing this to facilitate the recovery efforts under way in Japan. We are trying to make sure we are giving them as many avenues and as much support as we can.”

NEW YORK, NY March 16, 2011—NYI (www.nyi.net), a New York City-based, mission-critical data services provider, today announced IPv6 corporate compliance, the company’s latest milestone in its aggressive campaign to support World IPv6 Day, June 8, 2011. The news comes on the heels of NYI’s February announcement of full client support of the new network protocol that replaces the depleted supply of Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) addresses with a brand-new pool that offers such functionality as improved performance rate and security as well as reduced latency.

By achieving corporate compliance, NYI’s principal web presence is now v6 reachable, placing it at the forefront of supporters who understand the importance of raising awareness.

“NYI is among the growing list of companies making IPv6 available for commercial use,” said Leslie Daigle, Chief Internet Technology Officer of the Internet Society. “Companies who recognize the business imperative of forward progress for Internet technologies such as the deployment of IPv6 provide an example to the industry for others to follow.”

“The Internet Society has done a fantastic job of bringing IPv6 to the forefront,” added Phillip Koblence, VP Operations, NYI. “With World IPv6 Day, they have created a groundswell of attention that no one in technology can ignore. We all owe them a depth of gratitude for what they’ve done and look forward to doing whatever else we can to supporting their mandate.”

To find out more about World IPv6 Day and lend your support, visit: http://isoc.org/wp/worldipv6day/. For any business-critical questions about deploying IPv6, NYI has set up a special support team whom you can contact at IPv6support@nyi.net or 1-800-288-7387.

About NYI
Established in 1996, NYI is headquartered in the heart of the Wall Street area and owns and maintains its own data centers, including 999 Frontier, a flagship 40,000 square foot facility in Bridgewater, New Jersey. The company’s core services include colocation, dedicated servers, web and email hosting, and managed services, as well as turnkey disaster recovery and business continuity solutions from its Bridgewater location. With its high-bandwidth connectivity partners offering immediate, sub-millisecond access to more than 20 markets, NYI specializes in mission-critical data services for the financial services industry, in addition to solutions for customers from a broad range of industries, including media, law, fashion, architecture, life sciences and real estate. NYI is SSAE 16- and SAS 70 Type II-compliant, in addition to being both PCI- and HIPAA-compliant. NYI’s corporate motto is “Center Your Data.”™ For more information on how NYI can help you, visit: www.nyi.net.

Search Engine Academy NY Metro, announced today a new SEO “Content” Workshop designed to help businesses address Google’s “Farmer” Algorithm Change. Held at SEA NY METRO headquarters at 800 Westchester Avenue, Rye Brook, NY, the half-day workshop will take place on Friday, April 8th from 10am – 3pm. Students must register in advance athttp://www.seanymetro.com.

Google’s new algorithm change — known as “Farmer” — is designed to weed out shallow and low-quality content from its top search results. SEA NY METRO’s new course helps businesses avoid penalization by getting their content on the right track.

“Google’s recent algorithm changes come at a very opportune time,” says Mike Sancimino, managing partner and lead SEO Instructor at SEA NY METRO. “The Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) have been getting more and more cluttered with lower quality websites. Google’s primary existence is based on delivering the best, most relevant content to the user in the shortest amount of time for a given search term. If Google cannot do this, it will lose its competitive advantage – fast!

It’s changes like this that drive the need for businesses/site owners to become educated so they can take corrective action. We’ve been coaching our clients and students for years about the importance of original, quality content. Hopefully, Google’s clear message won’t fall on deaf ears. Our “Getting Found” workshops are designed to help businesses avoid Google’s list of ‘loser’ content websites, so they will continue to move up in the SERPs,” adds Sancimino.

“Content Spinning for Your Website & Social Media” Workshop
The comprehensive half-day course titled, “Content Spinning for Your Website & Social Media,” leads fledgling SEOs through the content development process, keeping reader and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) best practices top of mind. The course is geared toward those who have a handle on basic SEO factors, such as keyword development and inbound linking strategies, but content creation and leveraging social media is a weakness.

Prosper Communications’ SEO-PR expert and SEA NY METRO lecturer, Lisa Kaslyn, will instruct students on how to tell a story, why they should be blogging; how to mine content and use the news, complementary industries, and subject matter experts to create rich, unique and relevant content for target audiences and search engine spiders. The course will also provide an in-depth understanding of how social media can be leveraged as another channel to repurpose content, create link-baiting opportunities, and drive business exposure and website traffic.

Lisa will provide editorial input and advice on one page of web copy from each class participant’s website. Students signing up will be asked to submit a web page that they would like to work on and receive a critique on title tags, meta description and H1 tags, as well as an overall assessment and recommendations on improving copy and content type.

The workshop will take place at SEA NY METRO headquarters at 800 Westchester Avenue, Rye Brook, NY on April 8th from 10am – 3pm. For more information, visit the SEA NY METRO website: seanymetro.com.