Category Archives: Business
Outercurve Foundation Overview
The name ‘Outercurve Foundation’ speaks to our ambition to be a foundation on the leading edge of the open source world, representing the interests of the growing audience of developers and corporations engaging with the traditional FOSS community.
via Outercurve Foundation Overview.
Microsoft is involved in this organization.
Low-Orbit Servers? Or A Pirate Prank?
“We’re going to experiment with sending out some small drones that will float some kilometers up in the air,” wrote “MrSpock” on the Pirate Bay blog. “This way our machines will have to be shot down with aeroplanes in order to shut down the system. We’re just starting, so we haven’t figured everything out yet. But we can’t limit ourselves to hosting things just on land anymore.”
via Low-Orbit Servers? Or A Pirate Prank? » Data Center Knowledge.
This is the only true implementation of cloud computing — the servers are literally in the clouds. Exchanging torrents or magnet links is a relatively low bandwidth operation. There really could be something to this scheme but I would think doing it with satellites would be better. Transmitters and servers can use a lot of power.
The Pirate Bay said it was experimenting with using GPS to control servers using Raspberry Pi, a credit-card sized Linux computer.
Raspberry Pi servers aren’t going to be able to handle any kind of web load. They should consider some kind of broadcast system.
If Barnes & Noble Wants To Take Its Nook Tablet Abroad, It Has A Lot Of Work To Do
She noted that at the moment “over 70 percent” of buyers of the Nook are women aged between 25 and 45. They live within 15 minutes of a B&N store and often have kids. “When you go in, you can see kids running around loose in the store,” she said. “We even have nook tables in the stores for the kids to try out apps.
via If Barnes & Noble Wants To Take Its Nook Tablet Abroad, It Has A Lot Of Work To Do | TechCrunch.
How To Catch a Criminal With Data
The researchers ultimately turned the department onto a predictive software called SPSS, which had for years been used to crunch data in a host of disciplines not necessarily connected to crime. The department launched a pilot program with it to analyze trends, as part of a strategy of fighting crime by real-time data-mining.
via How To Catch a Criminal With Data – Technology – The Atlantic Cities.
IBM acquired SPSS back in 2009, and did the same late last year with Knisley’s software company, i2. On a computer monitor, Knisley had pulled up a program called COPLINK, which sucks into one massive database all that disjointed information that was once scribbled down by hand.
Mystery Men Forge Servers For Giants of Internet
Hyve Solutions was created to serve the world’s “large-scale internet companies” — companies increasingly interested in buying servers designed specifically for their sweeping online operations. Because their internet services are backed by such an enormous number of servers, these companies are looking to keep the cost and the power consumption of each system to a minimum. They want something a little different from the off-the-shelf machines purchased by the average business. “What we saw was a migration from traditional servers to more custom-built servers,” says Hyve senior vice president and general manager Steve Ichinaga. “The trend began several years ago with Google, and most recently, Facebook was added to the ranks of companies who want this kind of solution.”
via Mystery Men Forge Servers For Giants of Internet | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com.
Hyve is a place where internet giants can go if they want Open Compute servers. But even before Hyve was created, Synnex was working for the big internet names. It has long provided custom machines for Rackspace — the San Antonio, Texas company that offers infrastructure services across the net as a scale rivaled only by Amazon
San Jose tries again with free downtown Wi-Fi
The IEEE 802.11n network from Ruckus Wireless is designed for outdoor public use, with multiple antennas and beam-forming mechanisms to get around obstacles. It will be implemented by system integrator SmartWave Technologies.
via San Jose tries again with free downtown Wi-Fi.
San Jose’s new system will replace a series of public hotspots that the city set up with partner MetroFi in 2004. Those networks were supported by advertising, but the arrangement fell apart when MetroFi went out of business in 2008. The annual $22,000 operational cost for the single new network will be about equal that of the old hotspots, Sammeta said.
Apple: iWork.com to get the axe on July 31 so back up your documents
Apple first introduced iWork.com as part of an iWork software refresh in January of 2009. The goal was to allow iWork users to share their documents online for collaboration with others—sort of like a Google Docs, but by Apple. Since then, however, Apple launched iCloud—among other things, the service allows apps like iWork on the iPad to sync documents to other devices, and the launch of Mountain Lion for the Mac will bring that same functionality to the desktop.
via Apple: iWork.com to get the axe on July 31 so back up your documents.
Nvidia Jumps on Board with the Linux Foundation
Nvidia has long taken a closed approach to Linux drivers for its graphics cards, offering only a proprietary one and declining to participate in the open source Nouveau driver project, which has depended instead on reverse engineering.
Nvidia’s GeForce graphics chips are used in many PCs–often targeting high-end gaming–while its Tegra system-on-a-chip platform is designed for the mobile and embedded market.
via Nvidia Jumps on Board with the Linux Foundation | PCWorld Business Center.
Blueprints on the iPad for Construction
The iPad will be the thing that changes all this. Although the things it does better than laptops – smaller, more durable, longer battery life, doesn’t need a table to be useable – seem more evolutionary rather than revolutionary, in the context of construction field workers, it’s the difference between using a tool that almost works and a tool that is able to get the job done. It’s basically the first computer that is usable in the field and as a result it’s starting to be rapidly adopted by construction companies.
via PlanGrid – Blueprints on the iPad for Construction.
This statement applies to all tablets, not just the one branded IPAD.