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(The Hosting News) – An issue between internet DNS resolution service and search giant Google temporarily resulted in the downtime of various websites on Wednesday, according to a report from The Register.

The matter apparently occurred when OpenDNS halted Google script site googleapis.com from working through OpenDNS. The result was that websites relying on jQuery through Google were wrongly tagged as being internet phishers, thus leading to a block in access.

According to a post on web blog Geeky Scribbles, the number of sites affected accounted for “hundreds of thousands.”

“Phishing site blocked. Phishing is a fraudulent attempt to get you to provide personal information under false pretenses,” was the message some users received when trying to access the effected domains. Another message signifying the downtime included a 404 error.

Sites later returned to service. However, the downtime persisted for three hours for Mat Bennett of web design company Brit-Net, who talked with The Register. Bennett was also author of the post listed on Geeky Scribbles.

Some sites dealing with the problem looked to change CDNs (Content Delivery Networks).

So why did OpenDNS block access to Google’s APIs Console? According to GeekyScribbles.com, where Brit-Net’s Matt Bennett further discussed the matter, the issue may have centered on SSL certificates.

Meanwhile, The Register suggested a change in the SSLs on the part of Google could have resulted in the blocking of googleapis.com.

OpenDNS has proven to be a popular resolution platform, providing DNS with features such as phishing protection and spelling corrections for Internet searches. To view a report on the matter from The Register, go here (theregister.co.uk.).

Oops! Issue Leads to Downtime for Websites

(The Hosting News) – Google’s Hong Kong data center will come with a price tag of $300 million dollars, the tech giant recently revealed.

The price revelation follows a previous September announcement that the company would construct three data center facilities in Asia.

Aside from Hong Kong, the other locations include Taiwan and Singapore

The company says that the data center will provide better access to Google services for those in the area. Meanwhile, by the first part of 2013, Google expects to “start bringing the facility online.”

Discussing the Hong Kong data center on their site, Google stated, “Building this data center in Hong Kong is an exciting step for us.”

“More new Internet users are coming online every day here in Asia than anywhere else in the world. They are looking for information and entertainment, new business opportunities and better ways to connect with friends and family near and far,” the statement went on to say.

The news also means jobs. Aside from contractors, the facility is expected to employ about 25 full time workers.

The data center is being constructed in Hong Kong’s Kowloon area and the company says it will be “environmentally friendly.”

Currently, the tech giant has eight other data center locations, including six in the United States and two in Europe. For more information on the matter, visit Google here (Google.com).

Google Details Hong Kong Data Center Plans

(The Hosting News) – Indian business websites are soon expected to get a boost thanks to a new agreement between internet tech giant Google & popular Houston-based web hosting provider HostGator.

With the deal, the two companies will provide Indian small to medium sized businesses with domain registration (with the .in TLD) and hosting for an entire year. And the best thing about it? It’s free.

So why provide such a great deal in India? According to a recent report by IDG News covering the story, around 8 million small to medium sized businesses are in the country. However, only a relatively small amount of those businesses have websites (In fact, IDG News reported the number to be around 400 thousand.)

On their official website (called India Get Your Business Online) the project states, “Across India, more and more people are connecting with local businesses online. Make sure they connect with yours with a free professional website. Help customers find you easily and be where they are. It’s easy. Really fast. And absolutely free. So get your business online.”

So is profit involved for the participating companies? Perhaps in time.

When a member’s hosting expires after the initial year of free hosting, the project will offer a discounted price to continue hosting provided by HostGator.

Meanwhile, there are other partners involved besides just HostGator and Google. Indian companies participating include ICICI Bank and the Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises.

As a country, India represents a gigantic share of the world’s population accessing the internet. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that online access is completely widespread throughout the country. In a recent report on the matter, Reuters reported that less than a tenth on the nation has online access.

So the idea appears to be a good, solid plan that seeks to boost internet visibility for companies in a market that could definitely use it. To learn more about India Get Your Business Online, visit:  http://www.indiagetonline.in/)

Google & Hostgator Partner, Provide SMB Hosting for India

(The Hosting News) – Lately, Dublin, Ireland has been considered one of the hottest markets for data center construction. Popular tech giants already forming a presence in the area include Microsoft and Amazon Web Services. Internet search giant provider Google already has an established presence there as well, and now they’re ready to expand it.

Today, it was reported that Google plans to construct an energy efficient facility that comes with a price tag of €75 million. Gmail, Google Maps, and Google’s search engine are all services the data center will provide for.

Commenting on the matter in a press release by IDA Ireland (Industrial Development Authority), Google company head in the country John Herlihy stated, “We’re very happy to continue investing in Ireland and to build out our presence here even further.

“The new data centre will be one of the most energy-efficient in Google’s global fleet. This investment further strengthens our presence here, and I’d like to thank IDA Ireland for the assistance they gave us in selecting this site,” he continued.

Meanwhile, the facility’s construction could give the area’s economy a boost. According to the release, the facility will eventually provide for 30 employees. In the meantime, 200 construction jobs are expected.

Lately, Google has been rapidly expanding plans for data center construction. Just a couple days ago, AFP reported that the company is also planning three facilities in the Asian market.

The company highlighted its Hamina, Finland data center earlier this year, which relies on the Baltic Sea as a source of cooling. Meanwhile, the newly announced data center relies on “advanced air-cooling technology.” For more information on the news, visit: http://www.idaireland.com/news-media/press-releases/google_investment/index.xml

Data Centers: Google Set for Dublin Expansion

(The Hosting News) – Perhaps you’re tired of the pesky amount of time it takes to visit particular websites. Also, if you’re a webmaster, perhaps you’re especially tired of the of time it takes for your viewers to visit your own site. Well Google may just have the answer that could go a long way towards fixing such problems.

Today the company launched a new tool called “Page Speed Service,” which seeks to assist developers with speeding up the site load times.

Announcing the matter on the company’s Code Blog, Google Engineering Manager Ram Ramani stated, “Page Speed Service is an online service that automatically speeds up loading of your web pages. To use the service, you need to sign up and point your site’s DNS entry to Google. Page Speed Service fetches content from your servers, rewrites your pages by applying web performance best practices, and serves them to end users via Google’s servers across the globe.”

“Your users will continue to access your site just as they did before, only with faster load times. Now you don’t have to worry about concatenating CSS, compressing images, caching, gzipping resources or other web performance best practices,” he continued.

This isn’t the first time that Google has ventured into the area of website loading. In the same post, Ramani discussed Google’s history in the area. Other Google services include the company’s Page Speed browser Extension and Page Speed Online API, both performance evaluation and suggestion tools. Google also has mod_pagespeed, an Apache module that assists with site optimization.

However, the latest service may go further than the previously released ones, especially those pertaining more to evaluation. It could also be representative of Google taking a leap outside of just providing for services specific to Google (thus expanding into a larger market of customized websites).

The company is currently providing the tool for free to a limited amount of webmasters, but it’s expected that the company will add a price later on. Meanwhile, by filling out a request form, webmasters are allowed to request Page Speed Service.

For more information, please visit: http://googlecode.blogspot.com/2011/07/page-speed-service-web-performance.html

Google Assists Webmasters with Load Times

(The Hosting News) - Today .CO Internet S.A.S. announced that Google has acquired the domain name G.CO and will use the URL to more easily connect, communicate and engage with customers by launching an official shortcut for Google’s products and services. The Registry also announced that well-known Silicon Valley Seed Fund and Incubator, 500 Startups, will be rebranding its web address from 500Startups.com to 500.CO.

Just days ahead of the one year anniversary of the public launch of the .CO domain, on July 20th, 2011, momentum continues to be strong as world-leading companies and entrepreneurs increasingly embrace the .CO platform. Since it launched, the .CO domain has attracted more than one million registrations by individuals, organizations and businesses in more than 200 countries worldwide, including major brands like Twitter, Amazon and Overstock – and hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs around the globe.

In an announcement on the official Google Blog today (http://x.co/gcoshort), Gary Briggs, Google’s VP of Consumer Marketing, announced that G.CO would soon be the “official URL shortcut for Google websites.” Only Google will be able to create G.CO shortcuts, says Briggs; that means “you can visit a G.CO shortcut confident you will always end up at a page for a Google product or service.”

Increasingly considered to be a strategic digital asset by brands seeking to attract and engage consumers online, Briggs noted that “[i]n the world of URLs, bigger is not always better,” and that “the shorter a URL, the easier it is to share and remember.”

“We are thrilled to have Google join the select group of premium Internet brands that are using the .CO domain to innovate online,” said Juan Diego Calle, CEO of .CO Internet SAS. “By featuring G.CO in its product and service marketing efforts worldwide, we are confident that Google will help to drive massive awareness and adoption of the .CO domain extension in the years ahead.”

On a related note, Silicon Valley seed fund and incubator, 500 Startups, also announced today that it will be rebranding its web address from 500Startups.com to 500.CO this Fall. Founded by Internet entrepreneur, Dave McClure, 500 Startups has become one of the most prolific forces in today’s startup ecosystem, currently operating over 150 companies spanning five continents.

“.CO is quickly becoming the hot new geek TLD in Silicon Valley,” said McClure, in a blog post today on the 500 Startups blog (http://x.co/500co). “At 500 Startups we focus on doing things faster, making cycle time shorter, and simplifying brand – we know no one will care about your product if it’s not fast, easy-to-use, and memorable. We want to OWN the brand 500, and 500.CO helps us get there.”

“From the very beginning, .CO was built by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs,” said Lori Anne Wardi, vice president of .CO Internet SAS. “By making 500.CO its online brand, 500 Startups will role model to entrepreneurs in every corner of the world that .CO is the premium domain of choice to build the next generation of great companies online.”

“With .CO, startups can launch businesses and brands on a short, cool, credible domain name — without having to shell out a million bucks to do it,” says McClure. “That’s why we recommend .CO to companies in our portfolio, and why 500startups.com is moving to 500.CO.”

About .CO Internet S.A.S.

.CO Internet S.A.S. is the Registry Operator for the .CO top-level domain. The .CO domain offers individuals, organizations and businesses a truly global, recognizable and credible web address for branding their online presence. Thanks to leading-edge technology, enhanced security and unprecedented rights protections, the .CO domain is poised to become the world’s next premier web address. For more information about the .CO Registry, please visit http://www.Opportunity.co — or follow us on Twitter @dotCO.

Google Acquires G.CO Domain

(The Hosting News) – According to Mashable, Google is planning to rebrand popular services including image service Picasa and Blogger.

“Google Blogs” will be the new name for Blogger while “Google Photos” will become the new name for Picasa, according to the report. Google acquired Blogger in 2003 and Picasa in 2004.

Apparently the actual change will occur sometime within the next couple months.

Meanwhile, Google has kept busy by working on revamps other services including Gmail. Google is working to improve the service’s interface.

The rebranding comes shortly after Google unveiled its new social network, Google+. Despite the unveiling, Google has yet to make signup for the social site available to everyone.

The company’s launch of a social networking site possibly sets up a high profile battle with Facebook.

To view Mashable’s entire article on the matter, visit: http://mashable.com/2011/07/05/google-blogger-picasa-rebranding/

Picasa & Blogger Set for Rename, Report says

(The Hosting News) – Many of us interested in the IT industry have been paying heavy attention to breaches carried out by hacking group LulzSec. Over the last couple months, the group has successfully breached sites belonging to the CIA, Sony, U.S. Senate, an FBI affiliate, PBS, and more. Well, the group ended its 50 day operation on Saturday the twenty-fifth.

LulzSec often referred to political motives and just for laughs as reasons behind the high profile breaches. It remains unclear exactly why the group suddenly called it quits, but in a press release LulzSec indicated that their operation was only supposed to last a certain amount of time.

However, a suspect involved with the group had recently been arrested in the UK. After the group’s announcement to disband, it was also reported that U.S. Feds raided the home of someone with possible LulzSec ties.

Meanwhile, Lulzsec’s end doesn’t necessarily mean the end of high profile breaches. Anonymous, another well-known hacking group in the movement called “anti-sec” has already stepped up its game with LulzSec’s absence. The group is said to be planning new cyber-attacks. Upon disbanding, LulzSec asked its fans to support Anonymous through Twitter. Anonymous has also claimed that former LulzSec members have joined their group.

The LulzSec hacks have brought new attention to site security risks. The best effect of the breaches is that it might have resulted in others upping their sites’ security standards.

In related news, it was recently reported that researches at Kaspersky Lab discovered a giant botnet called “TDL-4.” In a blog posting on Securelist.com, Kaspersky writes that the latest botnet represents “the most sophisticated threat today.” The researchers already suspect that TDL-4 has affected around four and a half million computers. That represents a big contrast to the previous Coreflood Botnet. U.S. Federal investigators recently shut down Coreflood. The botnet was said to have infected around 2 million computer systems.

In the realm of social networking, Google recently previewed its social networking platform called “Google+.” The news possibly sets up a high-profile rivalry with social networking site Facebook. Sign-ups for Google+ are in high demand as they’ve only been offered by Google in a limited capacity. Google+ has five features including Circles, Sparks, Huddle, Hangouts, and Instant Upload. For the most part, reviewers who have previewed the social platform have given it pretty good reviews. Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see in time how the new social site shapes up against Facebook.

As for companies battling it out over use of their technologies, it was recently revealed that Oracle is seeking $2.6 billion in its lawsuit against Google. Oracle has accused Google of infringing upon its Java technologies. According to Reuters, a trial on the matter could begin in November.

Last month’s breach of Citigroup’s system may have been worse that previously suspected. The company recently confirmed to CNN that Citigroup customers had lost around $2.7 million in the breach that compromised user credit card accounts.  Despite the loss, Citigroup is not holding those effected responsible for charges related to the loss.

Hosting Wrap Up: LulzSec, Google+, Botnets & More

(The Hosting News) – Google unveiled a new social network called Google+ on Tuesday, possibly setting up a new rivalry with social networking site Facebook.

In a post outlining the social network on the company’s blog, Google stated, “We’d like to bring the nuance and richness of real-life sharing to software. We want to make Google better by including you, your relationships, and your interests.”

With its initial release, Google+ features 5 distinct social user capabilities.

A featured dubbed Circles allows the user to share things with their friends while a feature called Hangouts allows users to share where they’re hanging out, thus giving the friend a chance to join them.

Meanwhile, Instant Upload allows users to create albums featuring their photos and videos. With another feature called Sparks, users are able to tell Google their interests. Google then provides updates related to the interest.

The last feature called Huddle provides friends with a live multi-user chat platform. Google says this will provide friends with easier decision making.

Despite the announcement, Google+ is only currently available in a limited capacity. Not everyone can sign up just yet. For more information, visit: https://plus.google.com/

To view a Google blog post on the matter, visit: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/introducing-google-project-real-life.html

Google Unveils Social Network

(The Hosting News) – Database management company Oracle recently filed a new document in U.S. District Court specifying that they’re seeking 2.6 billion  from Google.

Oracle claims that Google has ripped off its patent designs related to Java. The company filed the lawsuit against Google in August of last year.

Earlier this month, Oracle had estimated it deserved an amount that was in the billions, but the exact price they were seeking was not specified until yesterday.

Google has previously challenged Oracle’s methodology and claimed that it should owe the database management company less.

Meanwhile, Reuters has estimated that a trial could start sometime in November.

The lawsuit has been based out of California and Oracle is headquartered in Redwood Shores, CA.

$2.6 Billion Sought by Oracle in Suit against Google