New .INFO Product Site from Afilias

Afilias, a global provider of registry services, today announced that it has launched a new product site (www.info.info) where domain name registrars and Internet users can get information about the .INFO domain.

The company avers that the new site contains .INFO WHOIS search, a news blog, statistical information, links, and FAQs about the domain name registration process. A major feature is also a directory of .INFO sites and a submission form where site owners can submit their .INFO Web site to be added to the directory and possibly be featured on the home page. It adds that internet users can also use the ShareThis feature to post information from the new info.info site into their favorite social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, del.icio.us, digg, etc.

Microsoft withdraws Yahoo bid

Microsoft walked away from its bid to buy Yahoo on Saturday after the Internet company turned down its offer to raise the price by $5 billion to $47.5 billion. Microsoft’s offer was for $33 a share but Yahoo would not lower its demand below $37, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said. The software company initially bid $31 per share for Yahoo more than three months ago.

.ORG Registry Launches New Online Resource Center

.ORG, The Public Interest Registry, announced the launch of the .ORG Resource Center. Committed to improving the online experience of the .ORG Community, it has created a comprehensive library of information, interactive tools, examples and guides to help community members harness the power of the Internet and social networks to advance their mission, claims the Registry.

The Registry states that .ORG Resource Center will serve as a guide through the many uses of .ORG, a non-restricted, versatile global domain name, along with examples of websites where one can see the numerous ways .ORG domain names are being used today. In addition, there is a wide variety of resources available, including social networking tools, wiki building software, fundraising gadgets for websites, technology resources for nonprofit organizations, best practices in web marketing, website building tools, and a number of other easy and useful free widgets for websites.

It declared that along with the .ORG Resource Center it includes the .ORG Featured Partner Program, made up of companies with the experience to be a trusted provider to the .ORG Community. Featured Partners are highlighted with a link to their website as well as an in-depth description of their company, products and services.

"The trends such as collaboration, community building, micro-donations and grassroots advocacy are all ones that fit right in with the values of the .ORG community," says Director of Marketing Lance Wolak. "We are simply aligning proven tools to help our customers further enhance the viability and effectiveness of their .ORG websites."

"Social media's ability to facilitate engagement, self expression and communication is a tremendously powerful weapon for .ORGs," said Jeff Zaretsky, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Business Development at KickApps. "KickApps' vision is based largely on making the power of social media as accessible as possible to every web publisher seeking to grow their website's audience. We're very excited to be included in the partner program and look forward to helping .ORGs further their mission."

HostGator Offers 4,500 Free Web Templates

HostGator, a shared hosting service provider offers 4,500 free website templates to customers and resellers. The templates cover nearly 120 different types of businesses and helps non-technical people to build websites.

The company claims that the free templates cover a broad range of page designs suitable for nearly 120 different types of small and medium-sized businesses from accountants and auto dealers, to cleaning services, consultants, martial arts studios, toy stores, women's health clinics, and everything in between.

It further states that the wide variety of templates makes it easier for resellers to attract people and businesses who want websites, but don't have the knowledge or design abilities needed to create good looking Websites.

The company even states that a reseller or webmaster simply browses through the templates, selects one or more to use and they automatically begin downloading to their computer. And further affirms that hosting resellers and webmasters are also welcome to modify the templates, so long as their websites remain hosted by HostGator. As an added feature, resellers can mirror the templates pages to show to their customers. That can make accessing the templates easy, while maintaining control over who can accesss them.

Although it's common for web hosting companies to offer a variety of perks, including free or low cost web tools, and even a limited number of templates, Oxley says the number of free templates HostGator has is far beyond the average: "I really don't know of any other large hosting company offering this many templates. We may be setting the trend here."

"These templates are free to any Website hosted by HostGator, whether on a shared or dedicated hosting plan, or through a hosting reseller," says HostGator founder and president Brent Oxley.

"We want to make hosting domains or building Websites as painless as possible, that's why we offer the free templates. We also offer free Site Builder, one of the easiest tools available for anybody wanting to custom build a Website, rather than use a template."

"The only restriction," says Oxley, "is that the templates can't be sold or distributed for use on Websites not hosted by us."

Coming soon: 'Google's Gdrive?

Google Inc is preparing a service that would enable users to store data from their personal hard drives on its computers, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday in its online edition.

Users would be able to house files they would normally store on personal computers -- such as word-processing documents, digital music, video clips and images -- on Google's computers, the Journal said, citing sources familiar with the matter.

According to the Journal, the service could let users access their files through the Internet from different computers and mobile devices when they sign on using a password.

Google launches India Labs, local search

Google India has launched Google India Labs, and two India-centric products, local search and Google local business centre.

Google Local Search promises to be a useful tool for Indian users who are looking for locally relevant information on the Web. With the launch of this product, users will be able to search for information on local businesses such as restaurants, shops, and hotels by simply doing a search on Local Search

Google Local Business Centre allow any business to add its information to Google Local for free. When users search on Google Local Search, the listed business information will be displayed. Local Business Centre already exists in other geographies and has provided owners with means to provide visibility to their businesses.

Sun Deploys Three New Datacenters

Sun Microsystems today publicly unveiled three active, new datacenters in Santa Clara, California; Blackwater, U.K.; and Bangalore, India, as part of the company's ongoing commitment to greening its global operations. Put into operation between January and June of this year, all three datacenters were built using breakthrough designs and next-generation energy efficient systems, power and cooling. Sun estimates that the company's datacenter efforts will save the planet nearly 4,100 tons of CO2 per year and trim 1% from Sun's total carbon footprint.

The Santa Clara datacenter is the largest of the three datacenters at 76,000 square feet. Phase One of the Santa Clara project began with a hardware consolidation and refresh project that took three months, increased compute power by more than 450% and is expected to save $1.1 million in energy costs a year. Accomplished in an aggressive 12 months, phase Two involved designing the Santa Clara space and installing the new hardware. Sun estimates that Phase Two will yield an additional 30% savings in energy costs. Silicon Valley Power, a local utility company, has recognized the breakthrough efficiencies and design of Sun's Santa Clara datacenter by giving Sun nearly $1 million in rebates and awards.

The three new datacenters run exclusively on Sun's line of energy efficient products, including Sun Fire(TM) T1000/T2000 servers, Sun's x64 servers and the Solaris(TM) Operating System. Today Sun also announced a suite of programs and solutions under its Eco Innovation(SM) Initiative to help customers architect more energy efficient datacenters and save money.