On WesterosCraft, a “Minecraft” server on which “Game of Thrones” fans have recreated the continent that author George R. R. Martin’s novels describe, there is enough scope and detail to fill almost the entire landscape of Los Angeles. Fans have created a virtual land that is 59,000 blocks by 22,000 blocks, or over 500 square miles relative to the characters. But size isn’t the goal, according to the project’s co-creator. Continue reading Game of Thrones Fans Recreate Detailed Virtual Continent

Apple, much like Google and Amazon, delivers Web services to hundreds of millions of people, from servers based in enormous data centers. Apple’s iCloud currently serves more than 250 million people, which is beginning to require new hardware and software that are more efficient than what is available in those data centers. Apple and Facebook, among others, have turned to flash-based options from Fusion-io. Continue reading Modern Data Centers Turn to Flash Solutions from Fusion-io

According to Wired, a new chip war is on the way. For years, most of the massive data centers that power the Internet have been driven by Intel microprocessors. But in the coming months, a group of chip makers hopes to challenge the company with a new breed of processors based on ARM architecture, which is the same basic chip design found in most of the world’s smartphones. Continue reading New Chip War is Looming: Intel Versus ARM Architecture

“The launch of two new features into the Open Compute hardware specifications on Wednesday has managed to do what Facebook has been threatening to do since it began building its vanity-free hardware back in 2010,” writes GigaOM. These new features mean Facebook has “blown up the server,” says the article, adding that the server has been reduced “to interchangeable components.” Continue reading Facebook Features Could Lead To End Of The Server Business