31 years have passed since the first internet protocol structure was put in place and now, we’re faced with an obstacle. The internet is in danger of running out of free IP addresses - at least according to Google’s chief internet evangelist Vint Cerf.

According to Cerf, often referred to as “the father of the internet”, out of the 4.2 billion possible addresses there are only around 600 million left. I know that sounds like an awful lot, but with the expected explosion in the number of mobile devices connected to the internet, the world could run out of free addresses as early as late 2009/early 2010. Scary, isn’t it?

There’s a new system, known as IPV6, already in place though. IPV6 can provide up to 2^128 addresses (340 trillion trillion trillion), and Cerf is urging ISPs to inform customers of the upcoming switchover.

The situation regarding Apple’s App Store for the iPhone is getting weirder by the day. Several applications have been rejected from the App Store based on seemingly dubious claims such as duplication of functionality (even though they didn’t duplicate anything), or alikeness to default applications. Two such cases made headline news over the past few days; Podcaster and MailWrangler. The developers of these applications openly protested against these rejections, and apparently, Apple doesn’t really like that. Apple now reiterates that rejections fall under the NDA, prohibiting developers from speaking up about rejections.

View: Full Story @ OS News.

Earlier this year, Sony and Toshiba announced that they had successfully shrunk the 65nm cell that powers the Playstation 3 down to 45nm. Though the companies were previously rumoured to be moving the console chip onto the newer process in autumn this year, Japan’s Nikkan Kogyo is now reporting a date for mass production of the 45nm Cell processor: 2009.

The smaller chip will use 40% less power than its predecessor, meaning it will generate less heat, thus not requiring as much cooling and ultimately making it cheaper to produce. Cheaper production costs also means more $$ for Sony (or price drops for us). From a consumer perspective, we would of course expect to see price drops in 2009, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

While Windows Vista did have some success with a small pocket of the user base, for the most part people were ranting and raving that it was a massive failure. And with that part of the user base still reeling from Vista’s apparent misdeeds, Microsoft is already going to be rolling out a new operating system in the late end of 2009.

Windows 7 will supposedly be a big change from Windows Vista, sporting various improvements and tweaks at our request, which will hopefully make it far better than Vista. However, some of the previews being given suggest something altogether different.

Here is a sample of them: http://www.thinknext.net/archives/2268

What’s this? At the surface, it still looks almost exactly the same as Windows Vista! It is even projected that Windows 7 is going to be running on exactly the same system requirements as Vista. Is Windows 7 really that much different? Is it going to be such a huge change?

The answer is both simple and complex: yes, and no. Windows 7 will be a huge change because it will finally be running on the hardware that Vista should have been running on when it was released. This means that people can’t complain that their system runs it too slowly because almost every system will be able to handle it by then. It will also certainly contain various tweaks and improvements that people strongly disliked in Vista as shown in the previews. Reorganized toolbars, a few new features for Windows Media Player, and some other things that are thus far only interface related. However, people may be turned off by how strikingly similar it is to Windows Vista.

The problem comes in the form of the user mindset. Vista, contrary to popular belief, was not a terrible operating system. It was just too demanding for the time. Windows 7 will have the advantages that Windows Vista didn’t. And I for one believe Windows 7 has the potential to surpass XP by a long shot if people would finally let go of XP and give something new a chance. People will simply be scared off by the user interface because it will remind them too much of their bad experiences.

However, the fact that Windows 7 runs almost exactly like Vista is not necessarily a bad thing entirely. Since the standard for most systems is rapidly shifting to two gigabytes of memory, a decent video card, and a dual-core processor of some sort, this means that Windows 7, unlike Vista at the time of its release, will be able to run very comfortably on just about any system. Had Vista been released in 2009, it would have probably been given a much better reception.

A smooth performance will likely win back some of Microsoft’s users and get them to stop clinging onto XP for dear life. We will all have to make the switch eventually. At least Windows 7 shows some promise despite inconclusive previews. If Microsoft is smart about it, Windows 7 will be very affordably priced too.

Howdy!

To celebrate the opening of our Live Chat tonight we will be giving away 10 1 year licenses of a-squared Anti-Malware and 10 1 year licenses of Mamutu.

The giveaway will be at 9PM GMT / 4PM EST!

Requirements
These are the following requirements-:

• Be registered here at the forums and;
• Be in the chat room at the time of the giveaway. Note: you’ll need sign up at ustream. I’m working on integrating forum users but until then, you’ll need to register. Guests in the chat will not be entered into the draw.

I want as many people as possible in the chat tonight so please get spreading around the net by digging this blog post ect.

See you tonight; and remember, getting spreading the word!

Regards,

Jason

The first one was a little disappointing, but the second ad is a little more entertaining.

Some sources appeared to jump the gun and reported that the ads had been cancelled, however Gizmodo is reporting that the ads have not been cancelled. Microsoft did however request that the “I’m a PC” spots become the new focus. They’re saying “Crispin Porter has another completed spot featuring the lovable, affluent couple in the can, ready to air (even though it won’t quite yet).”