Jason Zander, Microsoft’s corporate VP and head of its Azure business, said since Microsoft began allowing Linux on its Azure cloud platform, about one in four customers are running one variant of Linux or another, and in China that figure rises to about one in two. “We have a lot of enterprise customers who want an enterprise version of Linux and who have a relationship with Red Hat already.”
Source: Microsoft and Red Hat Team Up to Offer Linux on Azure Cloud | Re/code
Uptake’s model is to partner with well-known companies in various industries — from construction to mining to aviation — and create software and special algorithms that help these customers collect and understand huge amounts of data. The company is already producing positive cash flow, according to a person with knowledge of the financials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Source: Midwest Start-Up Achieves Rare $1 Billion Valuation – The New York Times
In Atlanta, for example, Comcast provided hourly median download speeds over a CDN called GTT of 21.4 megabits per second at 7pm throughout the month of May. AT&T provided speeds over the same network of ⅕ of a megabit per second. When a network sends more than twice the traffic it receives, that network is required by AT&T to pay for the privilege. When quizzed about slow speeds on GTT, AT&T told Ars Technica earlier this year that it wouldn’t upgrade capacity to a CDN that saw that much outgoing traffic until it saw some money from that network (as distinct from the money it sees from consumers).
Source: Major internet providers slowing traffic speeds for thousands across US | Technology | The Guardian
Autopsy – Lessons from Failed Startups
There isn’t any blurb provided for this site but it’s chock full of interesting stories about why various startups failed to succeed. The web site is very navigatable.
At the utility scale, it may actually be even more disruptive. Tesla appears to be selling the utility scale models at < $250 / kwh. Multiple utility studies suggest that such a price should replace natural gas peakers and drive gigantic grid-level deployments.
Source: Tesla Battery Economics: On the Path to Disruption | Ramez Naam
Tentative Conclusion: The battery is right on the verge of being cost effective to buy across most of the US for day/night arbitrage. And it’s even more valuable if outages come at a high economic cost.
LONDON — The Finnish telecommunications company Nokia said on Wednesday that it had agreed to an all-stock deal to acquire Alcatel-Lucent that valued its French rival at about $16.6 billion.
The combined company is expected to become the world’s second-largest telecom equipment manufacturer, behind Ericsson of Sweden, with global revenues totaling $27 billion and operations spread across Asia, Europe and North America.
via Nokia Agrees to $16.6 Billion Takeover of Alcatel-Lucent – NYTimes.com.
If you have AT&T’s gigabit Internet service and wonder why it seems so affordable, here’s the reason—AT&T is boosting profits by rerouting all your Web browsing to an in-house traffic scanning platform, analyzing your Internet habits, then using the results to deliver personalized ads to the websites you visit, e-mail to your inbox, and junk mail to your front door.
via AT&T’s plan to watch your Web browsing—and what you can do about it | Ars Technica.
Use https. They may know which sites you visit but they won’t know any of the http fields because that is all encrypted. Most big sites like Google and Facebook use https by default nowadays.
But there’s hope yet for drone delivery. Cincinnati-based Amp Holdings is currently developing a drone, called Horsefly, that deploys from a compartment in the roof of an electric delivery truck. After each delivery, the aircraft would return to the truck for its next package. It’s strong enough to carry parcels as heavy as 10 pounds (double what Amazon is shooting for), and durable enough to fly through, wind, rain and snow on its appointed rounds.
via The Dream of Delivery Drones Is Alive (And On A Truck) | Popular Science.
I had this idea a couple years ago when Amazon announced this. Launching from the truck is the most feasible both logistically and technically. The truck does not need to be connected to the Internet. All drone coms can be done via a local wifi and perhaps a server in the truck. This can make the truck driver more efficient and less dangerous as he/she doesn’t have to get out of the truck in traffic.
Microsoft this morning announced a deal to buy Revolution Analytics, the top commercial provider of software and services for the open-source R programming language for statistical computing and predictive analytics.
via Microsoft to buy Revolution Analytics, pushing further into big data – GeekWire.
Anousheh is a serial entrepreneur and co-founder and chairman of Prodea Systems, a company that will unleash the power of the Internet to all consumers and dramatically alter and simplify consumer’s digital living experience. Prior to founding Prodea Systems, Anousheh served as co-founder, CEO and chairman of Telecom Technologies, Inc. The company successfully merged with Sonus Networks, Inc., in 2000.
via Anousheh Ansari – About Anousheh Ansari.
This is an amazing story of accomplishment. It appears from her Prodea Systems website the company sells home automation and now Internet of Things which is a popular buzzword nowadays. This company made her enough money so she could buy a trip to ISS in 2006.