September 23, 2009
September 15, 2009
The Morning Buzz — September 15, 2009
Tidbit of the day: Global PC shipments rose 1% in the quarter to 67.2 million units, compared to 66.5% in the first quarter, iSuppli said. While the sequential growth is not enough to generate growth for the entire year, it marks the start of continued sequential growth in the third and fourth quarters. Hewlett-Packard remained the top PC vendor in terms of shipments for the 12th consecutive quarter. Dell was No. 2 and Acer was No. 3. (InformationWeek)
Headlines
-WSJ: With Deal, Intuit Adds to Offerings
-WSJ: Silverlight Is Still Racing Flash
-NY Times: Insurers Fight Speech-Impairment Remedy
-NY Times: Security Pros Are Focused on the Wrong Threats
-BusinessWeek: Next: An Internet Revolution in Higher Education
-Forbes: The Death Of Business Intelligence
-SF Chronicle: Variety of startups at TechCrunch50 conference
-SJ Mercury: Google news feature mimics print sources, lets people browse stories
-Seattle Times: Paul Allen-backed Gist opens public beta
-TechFlash: Zune HD to get Twitter, Facebook as Microsoft abandons ’squirting’
-InformationWeek: InformationWeek 500: A Year Of Relentless Innovation
-InformationWeek: Oracle, Sun To Announce Joint Hardware Product
-eWeek: Clearwire Launches WiMax Silicon Valley Network
-Computerworld: Open-source software may unify the medical-records realm
With Deal, Intuit Adds to Offerings
Wall Street Journal
By Jay Miller
September 15, 2009
Intuit Inc. agreed to buy personal-finance site Mint.com for $170 million, adding to the tax and financial-management company’s offerings in the burgeoning business of providing software as a service.
Silverlight Is Still Racing Flash
Wall Street Journal
By Nick Wingfield
September 15, 2009
Microsoft Corp. has closed the technological gap with Adobe Systems Inc. in a battle over software for adding video and animation to Web sites. But Microsoft’s efforts to win customers in the market are moving much slower.
Insurers Fight Speech-Impairment Remedy
New York Times
By Ashlee Vance
September 14, 2009
Kara Lynn has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, orA.L.S., which has attacked the muscles around her mouth and throat, removing her ability to speak. A couple of years ago, she spent more than $8,000 to buy a computer, approved by Medicare, that turns typed words into speech that her family, friends and doctors can hear.
Security Pros Are Focused on the Wrong Threats
New York Times
Blog by Riva Richmond
September 15, 2009
Corporate information technology departments are prioritizing the wrong threats to their computer systems, focusing on old problems and leaving their companies open to a raft of new cyberattacks targeting sensitive customer and corporate information.
Next: An Internet Revolution in Higher Education
BusinessWeek
By Kevin Maney
September 14, 2009
Scott McNealy, former CEO of Sun Microsystems (JAVA), met me for breakfast at an unassuming little restaurant in a strip mall tucked into the woods a few minutes’ drive from his house. We discussed one of his recent passions: applying technology’s open-source model to education. Sun was an early proponent of open source, giving the concept a huge boost when it opened up its Java software. And McNealy funded and helped promote a project called Curriki to create open-source textbooks that will ultimately be free, via the Internet.
The Death Of Business Intelligence
Forbes
By Dan Woods
September 15, 2009
During the presidential election, CNN anchor John King danced around the newsroom in front of gigantic multi-touch screens, tapping states and moving information around with his hands. He showed a way of analyzing information that is applicable to almost every business.
Variety of startups at TechCrunch50 conference
San Francisco Chronicle
By James Temple
September 15, 2009
A Penn and Teller card trick app for your iPhone. Plush, robotic toys that tell your children stories when prompted online. A device that allows you to play your video game console on a remote laptop.
Google news feature mimics print sources, lets people browse stories
San Jose Mercury
By Steve Johnson
September 14, 2009
Google on Monday unveiled an experimental feature designed to let people scan news on its Web site as quickly as someone flipping through stories in a newspaper or magazine.
Paul Allen-backed Gist opens public beta
Seattle Times
Blog by Brier Dudley
September 15, 2009
Gist today is opening up its impressive “relationship management” Web service to the public during a free test period. The 15-person Seattle startup was spun out of Paul Allen’s personal investment group in May 2008 and began testing its service September 2008. It raised $6.75 million this past May and has more than 10,000 people using the private beta release.
Zune HD to get Twitter, Facebook as Microsoft abandons ’squirting’
TechFlash
By Todd Bishop
September 15, 2009
One of Microsoft’s big bets when it decided to challenge Apple’s iPod in 2006 was a feature known as Zune-to-Zune wireless sharing — or “squirting,” as Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer dubbed it. People could use the built-in Wi-Fi to send a full song to another Zune device nearby, for as many as three playbacks.
InformationWeek 500: A Year Of Relentless Innovation
InformationWeek
By Chris Murphy
September 15, 2009
It’s the first half of 2009, and unemployment’s rising to a 26-year high of 9.5%. Sound like the perfect time to launch an aggressive technology-driven product?
It was for Progressive Insurance, which kicked off its “Name Your Price” Web sitetool, letting customers build their own insurance policies, starting with what they think they can afford. It was for Coca-Cola, which tested a prototype fountain drink dispenser IT developed over two years with the company’s R&D team, letting consumers mix a variety of new flavors while aligning Coke with a select group of fast-food restaurants to analyze buying data and manage inventories better.
Oracle, Sun To Announce Joint Hardware Product
InformationWeek
By Charles Babcock
September 15, 2009
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is expected to announce a piece of hardware coming out under Oracle’s Exadata brand at a joint press conference with Sun Microsystems Tuesday. The joint press conference is unusual in that Oracle is still at a preliminary stage of acquiring Sun. Companies usually avoid talking about how they will change their product lines or the nature of future products until mergers are completed.
Clearwire Launches WiMax Silicon Valley Network
eWeek
By Roy Mark
September 15, 2009
Clearwire introduced Sept. 15 the launch of the company’s largest 4G WiMAX application test environment in the Silicon Valley. Thedeveloper network, which is a precursor to commercial service planned for the San Francisco Bay Area in 2010, will cover more than 20 square miles in Santa Clara, Mountain View and parts of downtown Palo Alto.
Open-source software may unify the medical-records realm
Computerworld
By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
September 15, 2009
Open-source medical software has been around for over 30 years. Unless you are in healthcare IT, however, chances are you’ve never even heard of it. But that’s poised to change.
September 14, 2009
The Morning Buzz — September 14, 2009
Tidbit of the day: In the first half of this year only 14 IPOs made it to market, raising $2.4 billion, according to Renaissance Capital, an IPO research firm. That’s down from 35 offerings and the $26.8 billion raised in the first half of 2008. (CFO)
Headlines
-WSJ: EMC Nabs Intel Talent; Race Looms For CEO Spot
-WSJ: Intel Elevates Three Executives
-NY Times: Ad Shift Throws Blogs a Business Lifeline
-NY Times: Where Google Is Really Big: India and China
-BusinessWeek: Investors Warm to Web Calling
-Forbes: Global Politics Meets The Data Center
-SF Chronicle: Motorola puts Google Android OS to good use with new Cliq phone
-InformationWeek: IBM Launches Cognos For SMBs
-eWeek: HP Still Tops PC List, but Acer Is the Big Climber
-Computerworld: Google move may mark new front in browser war
-c/net: GE boosts offshore wind with acquisition
EMC Nabs Intel Talent; Race Looms For CEO Spot
Wall Street Journal
By William M. Bulkeley
September 14, 2009
EMC Corp. is poaching a top executive from Intel Corp. as the computer-storage giant reorganizes its executive suite, likely setting up an internal battle to succeed Chief Executive Joseph Tucci.
Intel Elevates Three Executives
Wall Street Journal
By Don Clark
September 14, 2009
Intel Corp. announced a management shakeup that shifts greater power to three executive vice presidents, while two other well-known managers are leaving the big chip maker. The company said the moves will allow Paul Otellini, Intel’s chief executive officer, to spend greater time focusing on corporate strategy and new initiatives to spur growth for Intel.
Ad Shift Throws Blogs a Business Lifeline
New York Times
By Claire Cain Miller
September 13, 2009
Lisa Sugar began blogging about celebrity gossip in her spare time four years ago. Now she and her husband, Brian, have a little media empire called, sensibly enough, Sugar Inc., with 12 blogs, 11 million readers a month and advertisers like Chanel and Sony.
Where Google Is Really Big: India and China
New York Times
By Miguel Helft
September 14, 2009
Google’s dominance of the Internet in the United States is hard to overstate. The company accounts for two-thirds of all Web searches, it owns YouTube, which is 10 times more popular than its nearest competitor, and it is No. 1 in areas like maps and blogging. Overall, U.S. Internet users spend 9 percent of their time online on some Google service, according to comScore.
Investors Warm to Web Calling
BusinessWeek
By Olga Kharif
September 13, 2009
For many consumers, the appeal of low-cost Web-based calling has long been clear. But many investors have kept their distance from companies specializing in Internet telephony out of concern the industry would struggle to make money.
Global Politics Meets The Data Center
Forbes
By Ed Sperling
September 14, 2009
The proposed purchase of Chartered Semiconductor, a Singapore-based semiconductor foundry, by a Middle Eastern investment group may sound far removed from the everyday buzz of the data center and the CIO’s world, but reality may prove to be quite different.
Motorola puts Google Android OS to good use with new Cliq phone
San Francisco Chronicle
By Ryan Kim
September 14, 2009
In Google’s Android operating system, Motorola has found a technology that it hopes will resurrect its fortunes. Last week, it unveiled its first Android phone, the Cliq, and a new interface service called MotoBlur that will ride atop many of the dozens of Android phones coming from Motorola.
IBM Launches Cognos For SMBs
InformationWeek
By Paul McDougall
September 14, 2009
IBM on Monday introduced a slimmed down version of its Cognos business analytics software that’s targeted toward medium-sized companies. Big Blue described Cognos Express, as the offering is called, as “an all-in-one business intelligence and planning solution specifically designed for midsized clients.”
HP Still Tops PC List, but Acer Is the Big Climber
eWeek
By Michelle Maisto
September 14, 2009
The PC market, while not yet in full recovery mode, took “one small step away from the abyss” in the second quarter of 2009, according to a Sept. 11 report from market researcf firm iSuppli.
Google move may mark new front in browser war
Computerworld
By Gregg Keizer
September 14, 2009
Sony Corp.’s recent agreement to pre-install Google Inc.’s Chrome on its Vaio line of PCs could mark the start of a renewed push by the search leader to boost its browser business. The move comes about a year after Google debuted the Chrome browser to great fanfare but then failed to meet the initial expectations of analysts.
GE boosts offshore wind with acquisition
c/net
By Martin LaMonica
September 14, 2009
General Electric filled out its offshore wind turbine portfolio by buying ScanWind, which makes direct-drive turbine components. GE on Monday said that it has completed the acquisition, which was valued at a about $18.5 million. ScanWind, which is headquartered in Trondheim, Norway and has a design center in Karlstad, Sweden, is now testing 11 turbines off the Norwegian coast.
September 11, 2009
The Morning Buzz — September 11, 2009
Tidbit of the day: The number of uninsured nationwide rose to 46.3 million people in 2008, up from 45.7 million the prior year, with 15.4% of the total population uninsured, according to the U.S. Census. (Modern Healthcare)
Headlines
-WSJ: Motorola Bets on Google-Powered Phones
-WSJ: Optimism for Clean-Technology Market
-NY Times: Copyright Office Assails Google’s Settlement on Digital Books
-NY Times: Digital Health Records: The Hard Road Ahead
-BusinessWeek: Oracle Has Customers Over a Barrel
-Forbes: How We Use Media (And Vice Versa)
-Forbes: New Ways To Mentor Entrepreneurs
-Fortune: San Francisco gets smart with green technology
-InformationWeek: AMD Looks To Simplify PC Buying
-InfoWorld: Is cloud computing killing open source?
-c/net: 10 TechCrunch50 grads: Where are they now?
Motorola Bets on Google-Powered Phones
Wall Street Journal
By Scott Morrison and Roger Cheng
September 11, 2009
Looking for a hit device that can revive its struggling cellphone business, Motorola Inc. unveiled its first handset powered by Google Inc.’s Android operating system. Motorola said its new Cliq, which has a touch screen and slide-out keyboard, will come with software that will aggregate contact information from various social networks and email accounts. The company didn’t offer pricing details.
Optimism for Clean-Technology Market
Wall Street Journal
By James T. Areddy
September 11, 2009
A group of Western companies says it can see a $500 billion to $1 trillion market annually for clean technology in China, according to a report published Thursday meant to highlight how a big new industry might develop in the world’s most-populous nation.
Copyright Office Assails Google’s Settlement on Digital Books
New York Times
By Miguel Helft
September 10, 2009
The nation’s top copyright official made a blistering attack Thursday on a controversial legal settlement that would let Google create a huge online library and bookstore.
Digital Health Records: The Hard Road Ahead
New York Times
Blog by Steve Lohr
September 10, 2009
Encouraged by the billions of dollars in government funding, technology companies are making a big push to help bring computerized health recordsinto small-office physician practices.
Oracle Has Customers Over a Barrel
BusinessWeek
By Steve Hamm and Aaron Ricadela
September 10, 2009
Over the past four years, Oracle (ORCL) Chief Executive Lawrence J. Ellison has been on an acquisition binge that has brought all sorts of benefits to the company. After spending $30 billion to buy 56 companies, he has doubled the software giant’s revenues to an estimated $24 billion this fiscal year and sent Oracle’s stock surging. Ellison’s latest deal is one of his most ambitious to date. His $7.4 billion offer for Sun Microsystems (JAVA), which still needs approval from European regulators, would move Oracle into the hardware business for the first time and greatly expand Ellison’s empire.
How We Use Media (And Vice Versa)
Forbes
By Quentin Hardy
September 11, 2009
Humans are good at many things, but perhaps nothing more so than staring at the bright and diverting. It began with fire, which was probably stared at late into the night. More recently we’ve looked at television screens, computer screens, mobile phone screens, GPS navigation screens, game screens and in-store display screens, to name a few. And they tend to be more entertaining than flame.
New Ways To Mentor Entrepreneurs
Forbes
By Sramana Mitra
September 11, 2009
Among my recent experiments with grooming young talent has been a year-long effort at mentoring entrepreneurs using various distance learning tools and technologies that are now gaining maturity and becoming quite effective.
San Francisco gets smart with green technology
Fortune
By David Ewing Duncan
September 11, 2009
On Pier 96 on San Francisco Bay, a dirty, smelly leviathan of a machine roars and vibrates as it organizes 750 tons of refuse each day into neat cubes of plastic, paper, and metal.
AMD Looks To Simplify PC Buying
InformationWeek
By Antone Gonsalves
September 10, 2009
Advanced Micro Devices on Thursday launched a marketing campaign that downplays the hardware specs inside a PC in favor of a more consumer-friendly focus on what buyers can do with their new computer. In introducing its “Vision” campaign, AMD said specs related to CPUs, graphics processors, and other hardware mean very little to most consumers and make the process of buying a PC too confusing.
Is cloud computing killing open source?
InfoWorld
By David Linthicum
September 11, 2009
According to Andrea DiMaio, a member of the Gartner Blog Network, the increased use of cloud computing could be diminishing the use of open source. In this post, specifically looking at the government vertical, Andrea asserts that while cloud computing and open source are clearly linked, the hype and the political popularity surrounding cloud computing is turning attention away from the open source movement. Core to this issue is that the usage of both is driven around the cost advantages.
10 TechCrunch50 grads: Where are they now?
c/net
By Josh Lowensohn
September 11, 2009
Tech blog TechCrunch is hosting the third iteration of its annual startup show next week, where 50 brand new sites and services are slated to be launched. The show was started in early-2007 by TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington and entrepreneur and Weblogs Inc. co-founder Jason Calacanis as an alternative to the DEMO conference series. Instead of paying to be on stage (once selected) as is done at DEMO, companies selected by Arrington and Calacanis get to present for free.
September 10, 2009
The Morning Buzz — September 10, 2009
Tidbit of the day: According to IDC in a June 2008 study: “Roughly 40 percent of all Internet users worldwide currently have mobile Internet access…and the number is forecast to surpass 1.5 billion worldwide in 2012. (KM World)
Headlines
-WSJ: Jobs Takes Stage at Apple Event
-NY Times: Tech Companies Push to Digitize Patients’ Records
-NY Times: Google Plans Tools to Help News Media Charge for Content
-BusinessWeek: What EMC is Doing in India
-BusinessWeek: AMD Presses Consumers to Rethink the Chip
-Fortune: Oracle’s enforcer – Safra Catz
-Forbes: Salesforce.com’s Service-as-a-Service
-Forbes: The Real Meaning Of Google Wave
-SF Chronicle: 11 Things: Your kids won’t understand
-SJ Mercury: Facebook: 65 million people use mobile devices to connect with social
-InformationWeek: Business Intelligence Beckons CIOs, IBM Study Finds
-InformationWeek: SugarCRM Opens Up To Amazon EC2
-InformationWeek: Health Insurer Deploys Social Media
-InfoWorld: SAP: Still no ship date for long-promised small business ERP suite
-c/net: Google moves toward micropayments for newspapers
Jobs Takes Stage at Apple Event
Wall Street Journal
By Yukari Iwatani Kane and Jessica Hodgson
September 10, 2009
Steve Jobs appeared in public for the first time since the Apple Inc. chief executive received a liver transplant earlier this year, showing he was back in charge and allaying some concerns about his health.
Tech Companies Push to Digitize Patients’ Records
New York Times
By Steve Lohr
September 10, 2009
On one proposal for health care reform at least, there is a rare bipartisan consensus: the push to computerize patient records. The goal of moving paper medical records into the digital age has been championed for years by health care policy makers across the political spectrum, from Hillary Rodham Clinton to Newt Gingrich. As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama, too, was an advocate, and the economic crisis opened the door for an ambitious step — $19 billion put into the recovery package to encourage doctors and hospitals to install and use electronic health records.
Google Plans Tools to Help News Media Charge for Content
New York Times
Blog by Miguel Helft
September 9, 2009
Google is planning to roll out a system of micropayments within the next year and hopes that newspapers will use it as they look for new ways to charge users for their content.
What EMC is Doing in India
BusinessWeek
By Steve Hamm
September 9, 2009
When information management technology giant EMC began investing in India in 2003, it looked like a me-too move. Every other major global technology company was establishing a presence in India, so EMC would too. But it’s now clear that EMC has something much grander in mind. Today, EMC announced it plans to spend $1.5 billion on building up capabilities in India over the next five years, which represents a tripling of its investments over the past five. A key element is its new R&D and services complex in Bangalore, which will initially employ 2,000 people and has room for 3,500.
AMD Presses Consumers to Rethink the Chip
BusinessWeek
By Cliff Edwards
September 10, 2009
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) wants to change the way you think about its chips. For years AMD emphasized the speed and other geeky details of its processors. But on Sept. 10, the Sunnyvale (Calif.) maker of computer and server chips announced a new marketing effort that will focus less on processor speeds and more on how those chips affect how a computer is used.
Oracle’s enforcer – Safra Catz
Fortune
By Adam Lashinsky
September 10, 2009
After months of on-again-off-again negotiations to sell itself to IBM, Sun Microsystems this spring found a new, if unlikely, suitor. Oracle, the business-software giant, in many ways promised to be a better fit for Sun, the beleaguered maker of server computers.
Salesforce.com’s Service-as-a-Service
Forbes
By Taylor Buley
September 9, 2009
Salesforce.com is expected to announce Wednesday the next iteration of its Service Cloud product, an enterprise Web application for managing many customer service functions. The announcement includes the addition of two new features for making its service platform more sensitive to outside knowledge bases, Salesforce Knowledge and Salesforce Answers, and a way for customer service representatives to engage with customers on Twitter.
The Real Meaning Of Google Wave
Forbes
By Dan Woods
September 9, 2009
Google Wave, the Internet giant’s new online collaboration tool, is making, well, lots of waves. Google Wave lets users work on the same content object, dubbed a “wave,” which can house both text and multimedia. Users can reply to messages and edit together in real-time.
11 Things: Your kids won’t understand
San Francisco Chronicle
By Michelle Broder Van Dyke
September 10, 2009
1. Home phones
Actually remembering someone’s phone number and not knowing who’s calling you.
2. Fax machines
Accidentally picking up the phone, hearing that incessant, blaring brzzzzeeekkkkk while ruining your boss’ connection.
Facebook: 65 million people use mobile devices to connect with social networking site
San Jose Mercury
By Mike Swift
September 9, 2009
Facebook says more than 65 million people around the world now regularly use a mobile device to access the social network, more than triple the number who connected through a smart-phone or other mobile device nine months ago.
Business Intelligence Beckons CIOs, IBM Study Finds
InformationWeek
By Thomas Claburn
September 10, 2009
Chief Information Officers (CIOs) believe business intelligence and analytics will help their organizations become more competitive, according to a study that IBM plans to release on Thursday. A total of 83% of the CIOs participating in the survey indicated that business intelligence and analytics represent a path toward more effective competition.
SugarCRM Opens Up To Amazon EC2
InformationWeek
By Charles Babcock
September 9, 2009
SugarCRM is making its open source customer relationship management application, Sugar Community Edition, available to developers on the Amazon EC2 cloud. Sugar Community Edition 5.2 is available as a pre-packaged Amazon Machine Image on the Amazon site to give development teams a central location to produce and assemble custom Sugar applications, said Clint Oram, SugarCRM’s co-founder and VP of product management. Developers can be located at different sites around the world and still contribute code to the common site, he said.
Health Insurer Deploys Social Media
InformationWeek
By Mitch Wagner
September 10, 2009
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Wisconsin is using Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to connect with patients, fielding complaints about customer service and putting out information on healthy lifestyles in conjunction with one of the stars of the TV show The Biggest Loser. “Tools such as Twitter and Facebook provide an additional means of communicating with our members and all consumers in the communities we serve in a way that’s convenient and of interest for them,” said Anthem president Larry Schreiber in a statement.
SAP: Still no ship date for long-promised small business ERP suite
InfoWorld
By Chris Kanaracus, IDG News Service
September 9, 2009
A top SAP executive said Wednesday that the vendor’s Business ByDesign on-demand ERP (enterprise resource planning) suite for small businesses will take “the world by storm” one day, but declined to reveal when a long-anticipated broader release will occur. SAP initially announced the suite in late 2007, and predicted it would generate $1 billion in revenue by 2010. But it subsequently limited the rollout to a handful of markets while working to make sure the SaaS (software as a service) application will be profitable enough at scale.
Google moves toward micropayments for newspapers
c/net
By Caroline McCarthy
September 10, 2009
With micropayments and transaction platforms a buzzworthy sector of the Web right now, it’s no surprise that Google would want to get in on the game. But Mountain View’s pitch is a little bit different: the payment platform it plans to build, according to Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab, is geared toward newspapers that want to charge for digital content.
September 9, 2009
The Morning Buzz — September 9, 2009
Tidbit of the day: According to Daratech, worldwide sales of GIS (geographic information system) for software in the public sector grew from $577 million in 2004 to $923 million in 2009, with estimated sales of $962 predicted for 2009. (KM World)
Headlines
-WSJ: Wikia Hits Profit Target Early
-NY Times: Mayfield Fund Hires a Young V.C. for Her Fresh Eye
-NY Times: Palm Unveils a Smartphone for Younger Users
-BusinessWeek: Reinventing Print Media: IDG’s Online Ad Network Gains Traction
-Forbes: When The Suits Tweet
-Fortune: Extreme green goes mainstream
-SJ Mercury: What will Apple announce?
-Seattle PI: Changing corporate culture, one data center at a time
-InformationWeek: Gov 2.0: Beyond Transparency
-InformationWeek: Veeam, Liquidware, Offer VMware Add-Ons
-InfoWorld: Salesforce.com to revamp its customer service app
-eWeek: SugarCRM Teams with Amazon to Bring More CRM Developers to the Cloud
-Computerworld: How to get your green IT cred
-c/net: Obama tells kids to be wary of Facebook
Wikia Hits Profit Target Early
Wall Street Journal
By Andrew LaVallee
September 9, 2009
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales’s for-profit initiative, Wikia, said it has reached profitability ahead of forecasts amid an uptick in Web traffic and online advertising revenue. “We’re pleased to be able to show that you can actually build a media business using social tools and getting people to contribute,” said Gil Penchina, Wikia’s chief executive. It previously expected to achieve profitability by mid-2010, he said.
Mayfield Fund Hires a Young V.C. for Her Fresh Eye
New York Times
Blog by Claire Cain Miller
September 8, 2009
There are not many young faces in Silicon Valley’s venture capital firms. That worries some people, who say that young entrepreneurs need young investors who are up-to-date on new technologies.
Palm Unveils a Smartphone for Younger Users
New York Times
By Jenna Wortham
September 9, 2009
Taking the next step toward rebuilding its lineup of smartphones, Palm announced on Wednesday a new cellphone called the Pixi. Palm also announced it was dropping the price of its Pre smartphone by $50 to $150, with a two-year service agreement and after a $150 instant rebate and $100 mail-in rebate.
Reinventing Print Media: IDG’s Online Ad Network Gains Traction
BusinessWeek
By Spencer Ante
September 8, 2009
Everyone knows the print media is in a world of hurt. The more difficult question is this: What do publishers do about it? Technology publishing giant IDG just may have come up with one killer idea. And no, the answer does not involve scantily clad women or slide shows touting the best nude beaches.
When The Suits Tweet
Forbes
By Ed Sperling
September 9, 2009
Web 2.0 has become popular as a communications medium for techno-savvy young adults, but it is fast becoming a mainstay of even the most traditional companies.
Extreme green goes mainstream
Fortune
By Josh Garskof
September 8, 2009
Just a couple of years ago the only people putting solar panels on their houses wore Birkenstocks and preferred tofu to T-bones. But now that energy bills are skyrocketing and it has become downright fashionable to reduce your carbon footprint, the idea of adding solar electricity to your home doesn’t sound all that far-fetched to the rest of us.
What will Apple announce?
San Jose Mercury
By Troy Wolverton
September 9, 2009
Apple this morning will hold a music-related event in San Francisco where it will likely announce updates to its iPod lineup. But there’s always the chance of “one more thing.” Every September since 2005, the company has held a press event to update its iPod lineup. Foreshadowing that this event will likely be for that purpose, the invitation Apple sent out to members of the media last week showed a silhouette of a woman dancing with an iPod in her hand and earbuds in her ears.
Changing corporate culture, one data center at a time
Seattle PI
By Nick Eaton
September 8, 2009
Changing the culture of a 92,000-employee company is no small task. But with their new Redmond Ridge data center, a team of Microsoft IT managers is trying to do just that. Right now, it’s a warehouse half-full of hundreds of computer servers, housed and wired together into “pods.” The facility is a 20-minute drive northeast from Microsoft’s main Redmond campus – just far enough, officials say, to discourage Microsoft employees from going there.
Gov 2.0: Beyond Transparency
InformationWeek
Blog by John Foley
September 8, 2009
As the Gov 2.0 Summit gets underway in Washington, I will be looking for examples of how government agencies are moving beyond the low-hanging fruit of the Government 2.0 movement and onto the hard stuff — process overhaul and new efficiencies.
Veeam, Liquidware, Offer VMware Add-Ons
InformationWeek
By Charles Babcock
September 9, 2009
Third party software suppliers made the most of VMworld in San Francisco Sept. 1-3, by introducing their own enhancements to the VMware environment.
Veeam Software of Columbus, Ohio, introduced the fourth version of Backup & Replication, which is widely used virtual machine backup and recovery software. It now includes full support for VMware’s vStorage APIand VMware’s vSphere 4, VMware’s infrastructure for virtual machines running in ESX Server environments.
Salesforce.com to revamp its customer service app
InfoWorld
By Chris Kanaracus, IDG News Service
September 9, 2009
Salesforce.com on Wednesday will make a series of announcements regarding its Service Cloud customer-service applications, which are a major part of the on-demand CRM (customer relationship management) vendor’s long-term growth plans.
SugarCRM Teams with Amazon to Bring More CRM Developers to the Cloud
eWeek
By Daryl Taft
September 9, 2009
Taking a page from the Salesforce.com playbook, SugarCRM has announced the availability of Sugar Community Edition on Amazon EC2 to provide CRM developers with an easy-to-deploy development environment in the cloud.
How to get your green IT cred
Computerworld
By Mary K. Pratt
September 9, 2009
The push is on for companies to go green, and IT professionals will likely feel the pressure to deliver. Although most ITers don’t have specialized eco-skills, there are ways to develop this knowledge, and to parlay what you already know.
Obama tells kids to be wary of Facebook
c/net
By Chris Matyszczyk
September 9, 2009
It’s not every day that a high school student gets some advice on social networking from a president. So it was interesting to hear where President Obama’s focus lay Tuesday when talking to 40 students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va., before his nationally broadcast speech to America’s schoolkids.
September 4, 2009
September 3, 2009
The Morning Buzz — September 3, 2009
Tidbit of the day: The worldwide CRM market extended its growth streak to a fifth consecutive year, according to a report from Gartner, up 12.5 percent in 2008, from revenue of $8.13 billion in 2007 to $9.15 billion in 2008. (CRM Magazine)
Headlines
-WSJ: EU to Probe Oracle-Sun Deal
-WSJ: Cisco, EMC Weigh Tech-Services Venture
-NY Times: Server Makers Go Retro as Sales Plummet
-NY Times: Customers Angered as iPhones Overload AT&T
-BusinessWeek: Consumers to Spend Big on TVs, Smartphones
-BusinessWeek: Tech: When Options Costs More Than Research
-Forbes: Facebook Wants Mobile Friends
-Fortune: Is Gmail Ready for Business?
-SJ Mercury: YouTube reportedly in talks to offer online movie rentals
-TechFlash: Five startups Google could buy
-InformationWeek: Gmail Outage Says More About Google Than Clouds
-InformationWeek: Red Hat Bids For Enterprise Virtualization
-InfoWorld: VMware cloud initiative raises vendor lock-in concerns
-Computerworld: Can Indian firms deliver cloud services from offshore?
EU to Probe Oracle-Sun Deal
Wall Street Journal
By Peppi Kiviniemi
September 3, 2009
The European Commission Thursday opened an in-depth antitrust investigation into U.S. software maker Oracle Corp.’s planned $7.4 billion purchase of Sun MicrosystemsInc., citing “serious concerns” the deal will stymie competition in the database market. “The commission has to examine very carefully the effects on competition in Europe when the world’s leading proprietary database company proposes to take over the world’s leading open source database company,” said Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes.
Cisco, EMC Weigh Tech-Services Venture
Wall Street Journal
By Ben Worthen
September 3, 2009
Cisco Systems Inc. and EMC Corp. are in talks to form a new joint venture to provide technology services, in a move by the companies to branch into new areas in the increasingly competitive tech sector. The joint venture plans to target large businesses and emphasize installing products from Cisco and EMC, according to people briefed on the plan. Cisco, which provides networking gear, and EMC, a maker of technology storage, would both have board representation on the new company, these people said.
Server Makers Go Retro as Sales Plummet
New York Times
Blog by Ashlee Vance
September 2, 2009
There’s bleak, and then there’s pull-the-covers-over-your-head, tremble-and-hope-it-stops bleak, which is the state in which server manufacturers find themselves. The research outfit IDC has just issued its second-quarter data on the server market, and it shows server sales falling off by 30 percent year-over-year, to $9.8 billion. As it turns out, that number stands as the lowest three-month total since IDC began keeping track of such things on a quarterly basis in 1996.
Customers Angered as iPhones Overload AT&T
New York Times
By Jenna Wortham
September 2, 2009
Slim and sleek as it is, the iPhone is really the Hummer of cellphones. It’s a data guzzler. Owners use them like minicomputers, which they are, and use them a lot. Not only do iPhone owners download applications, stream music and videos and browse the Web at higher rates than the average smartphone user, but the average iPhone owner can also use 10 times the network capacity used by the average smartphone user.
Consumers to Spend Big on TVs, Smartphones
BusinessWeek
By Cliff Edwards
September 2, 2009
Even a global recession can’t come between Americans and the high-tech gadgets they love. Consumers of all ages and family situations are purchasing high-definition TVs, network gear, and smartphones at a breakneck pace, according to a study released on Sept. 2.
Tech: When Options Costs More Than Research
BusinessWeek
By Nanette Byrnes
September 2, 2009
If you want to spur innovation, is it better to lavish stock-based compensation on employees or boost spending on research and development? The question is posed implicitly by a recent study that compared R&D spending with stock options and restricted stock awarded to employees of tech companies. The surprising finding: Quite a few companies, including Apple (AAPL) and eBay (EBAY), gave out more in stock pay in 2008 than they spent on research.
Facebook Wants Mobile Friends
Forbes
By Lionel Laurent
September 3, 2009
Mobile applications are hot right now, particularly since Apple’s iPhone showed you could make money off them. And although some companies might be thrilled with getting one app onto handsets across the world, Facebook clearly wants more—it wants to sit on any mobile app, on any platform, and eat up growth in the process.
Is Gmail Ready for Business?
Fortune
By Jessi Hempel
September 3, 2009
Gmail’s patrons are still cranky after the Sept. 1 outage that left them without Gmail for nearly two hours. For most users who rely on the free e-mail service, its absence – during prime web surfing hours no less – was a nuisance.
YouTube reportedly in talks to offer online movie rentals
San Jose Mercury
By Troy Wolverton
September 2, 2009
YouTube is in talks with some of the major Hollywood studios about allowing the giant video site to rent movies to consumers. YouTube and the studios are still working out the details of the deal, such as what consumers would pay and how soon after films are released in theaters they would be available on the site. But the service could be up and running by the end of the year, said a source familiar with the matter.
Five startups Google could buy
TechFlash
By John Cook
September 3, 2009
Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt made some news this week when he told Japan’s Nikkei that the search titan has “begun seriously looking into acquisitions again.” That should get the attention of venture capitalists and entrepreneurs, since M&A activity has slowed considerably this year.
Gmail Outage Says More About Google Than Clouds
InformationWeek
Blog by Michael Hickins
September 2, 2009
The hand-wringing over yesterday’s Gmail outage was as predictable as it was wrong-headed. Yes, as many observers were quick to point out, this was Gmail’s fifth significant outage of the year. But what most of them fail to say is that their own systems are probably even more unreliable.
Red Hat Bids For Enterprise Virtualization
InformationWeek
By Charles Babcock
September 3, 2009
Red Hat has taken its first step toward offering an alternative, open source virtualization environment for the enterprise. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4, the latest release which became available Wednesday, includes the KVM hypervisor, extensively tested for enterprise use. KVM stands for Kernel Virtual Machine.
VMware cloud initiative raises vendor lock-in concerns
InfoWorld
By Jon Brodkin, Network World
September 3, 2009
VMware talks a good game about interoperability, but its cloud initiative threatens to introduce a type of vendor lock-in that rival virtualization vendors claim they would not impose. While competitors Citrix and Microsoft have embraced the notion of supporting multiple virtualization platforms with their software, VMware has long maintained that its management tools will support only its own hypervisor. Now its growing cloud initiative, highlighted at this week’s VMworld conference, depends upon customers and vendors using its vSphere virtualization platform, which could prevent true cloud interoperability.
Can Indian firms deliver cloud services from offshore?
Computerworld
By Patrick Thibodeau
September 3, 2009
The Indian offshore companies have become masters at moving code, call centers and research to high-skilled, low-wage regions. Their business model is synonymous with globalization. But cloud and SaaS delivery is best served by proximity and infrastructure reliability, and that may bring some changes to the Indian offshore model.
September 2, 2009
The Morning Buzz — September 2, 2009
Tidbit of the day: A study of the global search market by comScore shows that more than 113 billion searches were conducted in July 2009, representing a 41-percent increase versus year ago. Google Sites attracted significantly more searches than any other engine with 76.7 billion searches conducted, or 67.5 percent market share. Yahoo! Sites ranked second worldwide with 8.9 billion searches (7.8 percent share), followed closely by Chinese search engine Baidu with 8 billion searches (7.0 percent share). (IDG News Service)
Headlines
-WSJ: Nokia Sets Facebook Deal, Launches New Phones
-NY Times: In a Sale, Skype Wins a Chance to Prosper
-NY Times: The Race to Be an Early Adopter of Technologies Goes Mainstream, a Survey Finds
-BusinessWeek: Opportunities in the Obesity Epidemic
-SF Chronicle: Google’s Gmail service down nearly 2 hours
-SJ Mercury: Sales of computer servers fall 30 percent
-InformationWeek: Microsoft, Intel Pump Up Windows 7
-InformationWeek: VMware Seeds Amazon Cloud Competitors
-InformationWeek: Is Google Chrome’s Rise Limiting Firefox’s Future?
-InfoWorld: Cisco readying collaboration software platform
-eWeek: EMC Acquires E-Discovery Specialist Kazeon Systems
-Computerworld: Salesforce.com sets sights on the smallest businesses
-c/net: HealthBase–medical search engines maturing
Nokia Sets Facebook Deal, Launches New Phones
Wall Street Journal
By Gustav Sandstrom
September 2, 2009
Finland’s Nokia Corp. announced new phones and services at Nokia World conference, including a new “Lifecasting” offering that integrates its phones with social-networking service Facebook. The company also disclosed the price for its Booklet 3G mini-laptop, which it unveiled last week. The device will ship at a price of €575 (about $817), Executive Vice President/Markets Anssi Vanjoki said.
In a Sale, Skype Wins a Chance to Prosper
New York Times
By Brad Stone
September 1, 2009
With its sale to private investors, the online calling service Skype has thrown off the last of the shackles that limited its growth and potential as a unit of eBay. Now its challenge is to turn its global popularity into bigger profits.
The Race to Be an Early Adopter of Technologies Goes Mainstream, a Survey Finds
New York Times
By Jenna Wortham
September 1, 2009
For decades, the adoption and use of the latest technologies was limited to a subculture: Whether called “tech enthusiasts” or “gadget geeks,” the implication was that most of the world got along fine with older, established products and services, while a smaller group pursued the most leading-edge technology.
Opportunities in the Obesity Epidemic
BusinessWeek
By Catherine Arnst
September 1, 2009
In the past six months, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration has considered whether to approve three new drugs for gout, a painful malady once called “the disease of kings” because of its association with rich living. It is an unusual confluence, given that there have been no new treatments for gout for more than 40 years.
Google’s Gmail service down nearly 2 hours
San Francisco Chronicle
By Ryan Kim, James Temple
September 2, 2009
Google Inc.’s Gmail service was down for nearly two hours on Tuesday, another in a series of outages that analysts claim can undermine confidence in online applications. The Mountain View search company said it fixed the problem, which affected most Gmail users, around 2:40 p.m. It is still investigating the cause.
Sales of computer servers fall 30 percent
San Jose Mercury
By Brandon Bailey
September 1, 2009
The global market for computer servers crashed in the second quarter of this year, with sales falling 30 percent to the lowest level in 13 years, according to the industry research firm IDC, although analysts for the company said they’re seeing signs of recovery recently.
Microsoft, Intel Pump Up Windows 7
InformationWeek
By Antone Gonsalves
September 2, 2009
Trying to leave the failings of Windows Vista behind, Microsoft teamed up with Intel to promote the upcoming Windows 7 on the chip maker’s hardware platform.
VMware Seeds Amazon Cloud Competitors
InformationWeek
By Charles Babcock
September 2, 2009
VMware is taking up cloud seeding in a direct challenge to the leading cloud vendor, Amazon, with its EC2 and Amazon Web Services. VMware CEO Paul Maritz said at VMworld Tuesday that his firm will offer service providers VMware vCloud Express, a set of virtualization tools that allow them to set up low end, self-provisioning, pay-as-you-go cloud services that match up more easily with the VMware environments inside the enterprise.
Is Google Chrome’s Rise Limiting Firefox’s Future?
InformationWeek
By Thomas Claburn
September 1, 2009
August was a cruel month for Microsoft Internet Explorer, which saw its global market share decline to 66.97% in August, a loss of 0.71 percentage points, according to NetApplications. Firefox gained 0.51 percentage points, reaching a global market share of 22.98%. Apple’s Safari market share remained unchanged, at 4.07%. Opera returned to where it was in April, with 2.04% market share. And Google Chrome gained 0.25 percentage points to reach a market share of 2.84%.
Cisco readying collaboration software platform
InfoWorld
By Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service
September 2, 2009
Cisco Systems is developing a collaboration software platform that will allow enterprises to combine social networking, presence, content and transactional applications in a single interface. The Enterprise Collaboration Platform is scheduled to be announced in early November and should be available in a beta-test form around that time, according to Sheila Jordan, vice president of IT at Cisco.
EMC Acquires E-Discovery Specialist Kazeon Systems
eWeek
By Chris Preimesberger
September 1, 2009
Storage giant EMC on Sept. 1 made a move to bring fresh e-discovery functionality into its own content management realm by announcing that it will acquire cash flow-challenged Kazeon Systems for about $75 million in cash.
Salesforce.com sets sights on the smallest businesses
Computerworld
By Chris Kanaracus, IDG News Service
September 2, 2009
On-demand CRM (customer relationship management) vendor Salesforce.com on Tuesday will announce Contact Manager Edition, an application aimed at companies with just one or two employees.
HealthBase–medical search engines maturing
c/net
By Elizabeth Armstrong Moore
September 2, 2009
It all started with Content Intelligence–focusing on understanding the actual meanings of sentences independent of grammar, lexicon, etc., and creating structured semantic indexes from massive volumes of content to power search experiences. It wasn’t until after the Mountain View, Calif.-based NetBase Solutions developed its content intelligence platform that the company decided to test it out in the world of medicine. Their just-unveiled HealthBase is to medicine what Kayak.com is to travel–the mother search engine of not just content, but other search engines.
September 1, 2009
The Morning Buzz — September 1, 2009
Tidbit of the day: A sign of the economic times. Equifax noted that there has been a 39 percent decrease in new credit cards issued this year. (BusinessWeek)
Headlines
-WSJ: EBay Sells Skype to Investor Group
-WSJ: Apple Is Expected to Update iPods
-NY Times: VMware vs. Microsoft: It’s About More Than the Plumbing
-NY Times: Venture Firm’s ‘Green’ Funds Top $1 Billion
-Business Week: Techland’s Tentative Job Recovery
-Forbes: The “Core” Problem
-SJ Mercury: Graphics chips speed up medical imaging
-InformationWeek: IBM To Offer Desktop Virtualization
-InformationWeek: Down To Business: Outsourcing’s Next Big Thing
-InfoWorld: New Windows Mobile phones due in October
-eWeek: Microsoft Adds Virtualization to Its Data Center Software Mix
-Computerworld: IE tumbles, Firefox regains market share mojo
EBay Sells Skype to Investor Group
Wall Street Journal
By Geoffrey Fowler
September 1, 2009
EBay Inc. said Tuesday it will sell a 65% stake in its Skype Internet phone business to private investors in a deal that marks the end of an unhappy tech marriage. San Jose, Calif.-based eBay said it will get $1.9 billion in cash and a $125 million note from the buyer, an investment group led by the private equity firm Silver Lake including Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada.
Apple Is Expected to Update iPods
Wall Street Journal
By Yukari Iwatani Kane
September 1, 2009
Apple Inc. is expected to unveil an updated line of iPods at an event next week as it aims to boost slowing demand for the music players.
VMware vs. Microsoft: It’s About More Than the Plumbing
New York Times
Blog by Steve Lohr
August 31, 2009
I wrote an article Monday on the competition between VMware andMicrosoft in virtual machine software. Truth is, this is the sort of story that, by the standards of The New York Times, falls into the realm of subjects geeky but perhaps of broad significance. Sometimes, the importance of plumbing technology extends well beyond the purview of plumbers.
Venture Firm’s ‘Green’ Funds Top $1 Billion
New York Times
Blog by Claire Cain Miller
August 31, 2009
Vinod Khosla, the prominent venture capitalist who has been investing hundreds of millions of his own dollars in green technology companies for the last several years, will now invest other people’s money, too.
Techland’s Tentative Job Recovery
BusinessWeek
By Rachael King
August 31, 2009
As recession forces many tech companies to cut jobs, pockets of the industry are adding workers en masse. Consider Platinum Solutions, a provider of software and IT services to the government. In the past 12 months, Platinum has boosted its workforce by more than half, to about 130 employees, after receiving large multiyear contracts from government agencies, including the Food & Drug Administration. As of mid-August, the company had more than 50 job openings.
The “Core” Problem
Forbes
By Ed Sperling
August 31, 2009
One of the biggest questions hanging over the processor world for the past few years is what to do with all those cores. This isn’t a matter anyone is taking lightly. It’s one that carries huge ramifications, because without a compelling answer there’s no reason for CIOs to collectively spend billions of dollars on new server hardware with more cores on each chip.
Graphics chips speed up medical imaging
San Jose Mercury
By Steve Johnson
August 31, 2009
Beyond just jazzing up video games, one of the growing array of applications being found for the powerful graphics-oriented chips that Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices sell is in speeding up medical imaging, which can be a lifesaving benefit.
IBM To Offer Desktop Virtualization
InformationWeek
By Charles Babcock
September 1, 2009
IBM has announced a public desktop cloud through which it will deliver virtualized desktops to thousands of end users per customer site at a time. IBM will virtualize the desktops via the products of either VMware or Citrix Systems to match a customer’s current environment.
Down To Business: Outsourcing’s Next Big Thing
InformationWeek
By Rob Preston
August 31, 2009
Outsourcing providers are touting their ability to move beyond service-level agreements to deliver services tied to customers’ business results–higher sales, lower costs, reduced errors. CIOs say they’re wide open to forging such deeper, “outcome-based” partnerships, where their vendors share in the risks and rewards of major IT implementations and upgrades. But if outcome-based outsourcing is ever to work as advertised, customers will have to put more skin in the game as well.
New Windows Mobile phones due in October
InfoWorld
By Nancy Gohring, IDG News Service
September 1, 2009
Phones running Microsoft’s newest software will hit shelves on Oct. 6, but don’t expect the big lines and excitement that have characterized other iconic smartphone launches in recent years. In North America, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, Telus, and Bell Mobility will sell phones with the updated Windows Mobile 6.5 software, Microsoft planned to announce on Tuesday. Phone makers including HP, HTC, LG Electronics, Samsung and Toshiba will offer devices.
Microsoft Adds Virtualization to Its Data Center Software Mix
eWeek
By Chris Preimesberger
September 1, 2009
Most people don’t yet equate Microsoft with data center management or virtualization software, but the fact is, the world’s largest software company has been developing these for a few years in the form of its System Essential data center wares.
IE tumbles, Firefox regains market share mojo
Computerworld
By Gregg Kaizer
September 1, 2009
Last month, Microsoft Corp.’s Internet Explorer posted its largest market share loss since November 2008, while Firefox reaped nearly all the benefit, Web metrics company Net Applications said today. Meanwhile, Google Inc.’s Chrome continued to gain on Apple Inc.’s Safari, closing to within 1.25 percentage points. At Chrome’s current pace, it will replace Safari as the No. 3 browser in 11 months.
