Cloud Expo: Librato's alternative to server virtualization
"If you go with virtualization, you could be paying more than you need to pay," said Librato CEO Fred van den Bosch, in a briefing for Betanews at Cloud Computing Expo in New York City.
Furthermore, the hypervisors typically used in virtualization can produce performance hits of their own, he contended.
BlackBerry looking mighty tasty as RIM reports record Q4 earnings
iPhone who?, Research in Motion's Q4 2009 earnings report seemed to say on Thursday, as the Canadian firm's forth-quarter earnings report showed that the time is now for sales of its BlackBerry smartphones. The 50 millionth BlackBerry handset, in fact, shipped during the 2009 fiscal year just ended.
Not just to the usual business suspects, either. Co-CEO Jim Balsillie said on Thursday's earnings call that 70% of the 3.9 million new BlackBerry subscriber accounts launched in Q4 were non-enterprise accounts, and that 50% of all accounts now are held by consumers. In turn, he said, the company is changing to offer the sort of things consumers find appealing: social networking, e-commerce, music and the like.
Cloud Expo: RightScale adds RackSpace, Eucalyptus to its 'hybrid clouds'
Already supporting Amazon EC2, GoGrid, and FlexiScale clouds, RightScale is now working on integrating RackSpace and Eucalyptus into its environment for managing hybrid clouds, said Thorsten von Eicken, the company's founder and CTO, in a meeting with Betanews at Cloud Computing Expo in New York City.
Available in free as well as other versions, RightScale's platform is aimed at organizations looking to administer private and public cloud spaces at the same time, acording to von Eicken.
Opera becoming the de facto browser everywhere you don't expect the Internet
Software company Opera announced that its Web browser will be included in the Sprint 3G-connected Ford Work Soutions in-vehicle computer systems, and as a download for the Nintendo DSi that will be released in Europe tomorrow, and in the U.S. this Sunday.
In announcing the company's placement in the first 3G in-dash computer, Opera Americas' Software's Senior Vice President, Rod Hamlin said, "Opera's vision has always been about giving people access to the full Web anytime, anywhere. No example showcases this better than delivering a fast, feature-rich Web browser to a vehicle."
NPD reports changes in teen music habits: Less buying, less downloading
Would you find it more surprising to hear that even teens are spending less during the economic downturn, or to hear that even teens are kind of nonplussed by the current music scene?
A report out this week from The NPD Group says that the 13-to-17 crowd acquired 19% less music in 2008 than they did the previous year. That's acquisition by any means -- CD purchases (down 26%), digital downloads (down 13%), peer-to-peer sharing (down 6%), even borrowing (down 28%).
Tesla rakes in over $2.6 million from Model S reservations
In a slight modification to the old mantra, "If you promise to build it, they will come" seems to be the order of the day at Tesla Motors, which has become a darling of Silicon Valley with its $100,000 electric roadster built atop the Lotus Elise platform.
The company announced Wednesday that it has taken over 520 pre-orders for its recently-unveiled fully-electric Model S Sedan, which is expected to cost $50,000 after a $7,000 federal tax credit. Tesla doesn't actually take orders, since the vehicles won't enter production until late 2011 at the earliest, but is instead selling "reservations" for $5,000 each. And some buyers surely plopped down $40,000 to reserve the first editions of the car to roll off the line.
Hulu whips up its own DRM to block people from watching videos outside browsers
Hulu is reportedly attempting to keep out the non-browser based watchers by implementing its own form of DRM with JavaScript, but the trick didn't work for long as media center applications have already been updated.
Because of the sudden popularity of solutions like Boxee and MCE, and the related displeasure they caused content providers, streaming television service Hulu has been cat-and-mousing with third parties in the way that typically ends in legal action.
IBM's acquisition of Sun: Down to the details?
Rumors are flying at the moment that IBM and Sun are down to nickels and dimes in negotiations for the former to acquire the latter. And it really is pocket change -- the difference between $10-$11 per share and $9-$10 per share -- until you remember that it's still an eight-figure transaction.
Reports in the Wall Street Jornal, on which neither company is commenting at this time, indicate that the price-per-share reduction would come in exchange for assurances that IBM will endeavor to persevere even if the purchase gets a lot of unfriendly attention from regulators.
CA expands VMWare virtualization partnership
At the Cloud Computing Expo in New York City this week, CA announced certification of its CA Advanced Systems Management (ASM) software as VMWare Ready Optimized. CA also teamed with VMWare and Empowered Networks to launch the CA Partner Communicty for Business Transformation Through Virtualization Management, a new community for resellers and technology partners focusing on integration, development, product, and joint marketing support.
Designed for centralized management of virtualized and clustered server environments, ASM employs user-defined business policies for dynamic resource brokering across virtualized server resources. In a demo at the expo, CA's Larry Chorowski illustrated how systems managers can use ASM's dashboard to manage policies, provisioning, and other administrative functions. A VMWare partner since 2003, CA also supports virtualization technologies from Microsoft, Red Hat, Sun and other vendors with ASM and additional systems management tools, including CA Access Control and CA Recovery Management.
Android tethering is back, just not for those in the United States
Applications that allowed Android-based phones to act as 3G modems were pulled from the Android Market earlier this week, only to be returned again to everywhere...except in the U.S. According to a report from a developer of one of the apps that was pulled earlier in the week, Google found that the applications were a violation of T-Mobile's terms of service.
But given the open nature of Android, and the operating system's availability on wireless networks other than T-Mobile, Google today brought back the tethering apps, with the proviso that T-Mobile USA users will not have access to them. Because (unlike with the iPhone) Android applications can be distributed outside of the Market, however, those users who want tethering can likely find the download elsewhere.
Want to watch Slingbox on your iPhone? You may need to buy a new device
In a move seen by many as a tactic to drive more sales, Sling Media has decided not to support older versions of its hardware in the forthcoming SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone. That means customers who own a classic Slingbox, Slingbox AV or Slingbox Tuner won't be able to take advantage of the company's most highly-anticipated software release.
SlingPlayer Mobile enables users to connect with their Slingbox and stream television to their phones. Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Symbian and Palm OS based phones are currently supported, but the holy grail for the company has been the iPhone, with its large vibrant screen and powerful processing capabilities.
Windows Live mobile app updated, portal revamped for phones
Microsoft today released a new version of its free Windows Live app for Windows Mobile devices. The application, which was first debuted almost exactly one year ago, now includes Windows Live Messenger in addition to the push Hotmail syncing, Contact syncing, and Spaces upload support it previously offered. The software is available in both touch-based, and non touch-based formats.
Separately, all non-Windows Mobile devices will enjoy the upgrade to the Windows Live Mobile portal. The mobile page has been upgraded with a brushed-up UI and has received support for full HTML in Hotmail, a feature that Google's Gmail's mobile client does not yet offer.
Nokia: WiMAX is the new Betamax
Representing a veritable 180 degree turn in opinion, a Nokia spokesperson told the Financial Times today that the company no longer believes WiMAX is a viable wireless mobile standard.
"I don't think [WiMAX's] future is very promising. This is a classic example of industry standards clashing, and somebody comes out as the winner and somebody has to lose," said Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President of New Markets at Nokia. "Betamax was there for a long time, but VHS dominated the market. I see exactly the same thing happening here."
Netflix hits 2 billion shipped milestone with a Blu-ray disc
It took Netflix over 7 years to ship 1 billion DVDs to subscribers. It has now doubled that milestone in another two. The company announced Thursday that a Blu-ray disc of Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist was its 2 billionth delivery, and to celebrate, subscriber Clay Shannon will receive a free lifetime subscription to Netflix.
Netflix ships two million movies each day from its 58 distribution centers. Its library has grown from 2,000 titles in 1999 to over 10,000 -- 1,300 of which are on Blu-ray, leading the company to hike fees for the high-definition format. The delivery figures do not include the number of movies Netflix has streamed through its Instant-On feature, which may prove the significance of Blu-ray simply a blip in the company's timeline by the time its 3 billion milestone arrives.
OneRiot unleashes a fresh take on Twitter searches
Thanks to its open API, sometimes it seems as if there are many ways to parse the Twitter tsunami as there are people actually using the service. That said, social-web search site OneRiot has turned its experienced attentions to the microblogging service, and the results -- launching today -- are promising for those seeking to track the viral spread of URLs through the Tweetosphere.
Twitter's own search capacities are becoming increasingly integral to the service, as evidenced by the new homepage design they're working on over there. Third-party sites offer search-based slices of profanity on Twitter (Twittourette, spectacularly NSFW) or mental states on Twitter (twistori) or recurring keywords on Twitter (Tinker and Sideline, both launched earlier this week) or what you will. OneRiot's unique angle is to examine which URLs people are sharing in real time, learning from their tweets what it is people are talking about from moment to moment.
© 1998-2025 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy.