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TechCrunch , FeedBurner , iStockPhoto , YouSendIt , Meebo , Vimeo and Alexaholic . These are some of the most popular websites on the Internet. You have heard about them, you have read about them and you have most likely used or visited at least one of them. But how often have you read about what these websites are actually running on? This article dives into the facts and figures about the underlying hardware and software that keep these sites running smoothly in spite of their massive popularity. Pingdom performed a survey of these seven “super sites” that focused on web, database and file server numbers and setup, operating systems, bandwidth usage, network hardware and other technical questions relevant to maintaining a site. For those who are interested in the nitty-gritty details there is a PDF matrix with the survey results attached to this article . The variety of websites in the survey gives a good cross section of different kinds of setups. They all represent the crème de l...

September 26, 2007 Google Search users in the United States are 10 times more likely to encounter a problem than users in Brazil, according to this unique one-year survey from Pingdom . Google has a large number of localized versions of their Google Search homepage. We have monitored the uptime of Google Search for 32 different countries during a whole year to see how they perform when it comes to availability (uptime). The website with the most downtime was the Swedish Google Search ( www.google.se ) which was unavailable a total of 48 minutes. The website with the least downtime was the Brazilian Google Search ( www.google.com.br ) which was only unavailable for a total of 3 minutes. In other words, Google Search users in Sweden are 16 times more likely to encounter a problem than Google Search users in Brazil. The American Google Search ( www.google.com ) ended up in position 26 out of 32, with ten times more downtime than the Brazilian Google Search. Downtime measured from...

Many Microsoft Windows users who downloaded the recently released AntiSpyware program from Microsoft, or had it installed through an automatic Windows update, woke up to a surprise. Unintentionally, the heuristics of the software detected Internet Explorer as spyware, and removed the program from their systems. Microsoft has pulled the program from its website until the problem can be corrected. Elias Weatherbee, a Microsoft representative, said the program was "only in beta" and that "a fix was forthcoming." "It shows how powerful our AntiSpyware program is," said Weatherbee. "Not only is it able to remove spyware from the system, but also the source of most spyware. Our competitors can't match that." A representative from Lavasoft, which sells Ad-Aware another spyware removal program, complained that Microsoft was using its monopoly and knowledge of the operating system to "offer features that others can't match." "To...

Redmond, WA – In response to customer demands Microsoft announced that instead of patching bugs and improving features of Windows Vista in the next service pack release, they would just install XP. "We're focused on giving the customer what they want, and want they want is to just go back to XP," said Microsoft Development Chief Greg Elston. Elston said not only will the move improve customer satisfaction with Vista, but will allow the company to focus resources on the next operating system instead of the flailing Vista. "We can move people off of Vista development now, and move them to Windows 7 development," said Elston. "That should allow us to only delay Windows 7 by thirteen months past its scheduled date instead of the planned eighteen." Customers have had many complaints about Vista, so it wasn't surprising the response to the move was mostly positive. "Ever since I install Vista I've wanted to go back to XP," said Trey Sportia...

The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-FO4 lifted off from the Sriharikota launch range with India's latest communications satellite INSAT-4CR at 1821 IST on Sunday. The launch was earlier postponed twice -- three seconds before the blast off and then to 1821 IST. The countdown had stopped due to a "technical snag in parameters related to the launch", sources in the Indian Space Research Organisation said. The GSLV will put into orbit the INSAT-4CR, which carries 12 high-power Ku-band transponders for direct-to-home television services, video picture transmission and digital satellite news gathering. The last launch of the GSLV in July 2006 ended in failure, with the rocket falling into the Bay of Bengal shortly after blasting off from the Sriharikota launching range.

At least 42 people, including five women and seven students, have been killed and 50 injured in two explosions at a crowded park and a popular eatery here last evening, three months after the Mecca Masjid blasts, police said today. The week-end outing at the popular Gokul Chat shop at Kothi locality turned into a tragedy when a deafening explosion ripped through it killing 32 people and wounding 21, they said. Five minutes earlier, 10 people, most of them from outside the state, were killed and 29 injured in another blast in an open air auditorium in Lumbini Park near the state secretariat in the heart of the city when a laser show was underway, they said occured around 19:40 hrs on 25th aug 07. The blast at the auditorium, where 500 people were present, was so powerful that some bodies were flung in the air. Among the dead at the Lumbini Park were two students from Ahmedabad. Four Railways employee are among those killed in the blasts. The condition of some of the injured was stated ...