Sun clouds over as another 1,500 workers are let go
As announced back in November and discussed during their most recent earnings call, Sun's effort to reduce their workforce by 15-18% continues this week with layoffs for 1500 employees. It is believed that most of the positions are sales jobs and other "customer-facing" staff.
The layoffs, which overall are expected to affect 5,000-6,000 staffers, will cost the company $375-$450 million, after which they're expected to save Sun between $700 million and $800 million annually. The company's next earnings call will take place on April 28; their Q3 '09 ends today.
Wikia Search finds its way to the bitbucket
The contributions counter on the front page ticks slowly, slowly along, but it would be faster to watch the minutes count down for Wikia Search, Jimmy Wales' "people powered" would-be Google competitor, which announced Tuesday that it was shutting down at day's end.
The Wikipedia founder wrote in his blog that the project "has not been enjoying the kind of success that we had hoped." Wikia Search, known early in its career as Wikiasari, was launched in January 2008, and rolled out its Wikia Intelligent Search Engine for developers in October.
YouTube wins out in the race against Hulu for ABC content
In a move which may have forestalled a deal that may have accelerated arch-rival Hulu's "evil plot" to assimilate consumers' brains, YouTube has made an extended deal with Disney Media Networks -- parent company of the American ABC and ESPN channels -- that not only gives ABC its own branded YouTube channel, but enables Disney to manage its own in-stream advertising.
This afternoon, a hastily-produced preview video was posted to ABC's new channel in a format that could not be embedded elsewhere, contrary to the usual YouTube methodology. And a two-and-a-half minute clip from a recent SportsCenter serves as a placeholder for future content on ESPN's new YouTube channel. ESPN already has a full-featured sports news and video highlight service on Disney's own Go Network, its homebase since 2004 after Disney and Microsoft's MSN terminated their deal.
Broadcom looks to replace HDMI with Ethernet
Wireless streaming of high-definition video must still be very far off.
While it does exist in various forms today, one of the premier members of the Wireless HD Consortium, Broadcom, is proposing a new streaming video interface standard which focuses on HD over Ethernet.
High resolution satellite images offer up-close view of North Korean missile site
As tensions rise in the Far East, satellite-image purveyor GeoEye has snapped a pair of finely detailed images of activity at North Korea's Musudan-Ri missile facility, the most recent gathered at 11:49am local time on Sunday, March 29. The image, taken from 423 miles up and at a slightly oblique angle, shows the launch pad, the vehicle assembly building, and (according to analysts at GlobalSecurity.org, who have reviewed the image) a great many vehicles near the facility's launch control complex.
GeoEye, with the help of an analyst at IHS Jane's, has annotated the March 11 image for your viewing pleasure. The annotations spotlight the missile launchpad with its umbilical cord, the large Launch Control Complex to its north, the Missile Assembly and Checkout Facility just to its west, and an Engine Test Stand in a defile to the southeast.
DHS releases its Conficker tool...for the public sector
In the wake of yesterday's discovery that the Conficker worm can give hints to its presence on a system in a Windows-based network by changing the network signature of that system, the US Dept. of Homeland Security released what the chief of its US-CERT division says is "the most comprehensive [tool] available for enterprises like federal and state government and private sector networks to determine the extent to which their systems are infected by this worm."
But its use, says a DHS statement published yesterday, is limited to computers -- including network infrastructure systems -- operated by the federal government and its private sector partners. For that reason, DHS says, it's distributing this detection tool only through its secured channels. Specifically, government sources may acquire the tool through the Government Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (GFIRST) portal; and private sector partners may contact their designated Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC).
Adobe + Facebook encourages app development
At this point, the Adobe Flash platform is ubiquitous. For many users, like the growing number of those browsing on their iPhones its absence can be point of perpetual irritation.
Likewise, Facebook has reached near ubiquity, counting everyone from octogenarian grandparents, to captive elephant seals as users. A marriage of the two is a perfect fit.
HP's latest effort at giving admins insight into the cloud
The whole point of drawing the mass of interconnected processors and storage units as a "cloud" in the first place was to give customers the impression that they didn't have to bother themselves with the configuration or the administration or anything whatsoever about the texture of where their services were being housed. But when those customers have customers of their own, the notion that a business' processes, logic, and vital data are being housed in some distant and texture-less nebula tends not to inspire confidence.
So businesses that want to deploy cloud services of their own are faced with two competing pressures: the need to cut costs and reduce overhead, and the need to ensure security and privacy. While the whole cloud metaphor does seem comfortable on the surface, the disconnect between a company and the resources it entrusts to the cloud may be the source of some stress.
Sony announces cheaper PS2 as expected
This morning, Sony has officially reduced the price of the PlayStation 2 to $99.99, confirming rumors that the nine-year old console would finally hit the "sweet spot" in price on April 1.
In Sony's announcement today, the company noted that the PlayStation 2's library of titles will grow to almost 1,900, an impressive total by any metric. The fact that it is still able to grow is especially remarkable when considering the console's proximity to retirement.
Former music industry lawsuit target Seeqpod files for bankruptcy
Music search engine provider SeeqPod filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US Bankruptcy court in the Northern District of California yesterday. Not a large company by any means, it listed a modest $2 million in assets and $1.6 million in debts. Five percent of the company is owned by the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory.
SeeqPod is most easily remembered for being sued by Warner Music Group early last year based on the record company's belief that the search engine was built to make money off of advertising in its built-in Web player, even though it did not even advertise.
Google to share (some of) the wealth with venture-cap arm
William Maris and Rich Miner are living the dream: They've got $100 million of someone else's money and a year to spend it on interesting projects. Maris, an experienced venture-capital hand, will be joining with Miner (formerly of Google's mobile branch) to head Google Ventures, a new albeit long-rumored VC endeavor for the company.
The project, announced in the corporate blog, will focus on early-stage projects -- anywhere between seed and mezzanine-level, in the parlance of the VC tribe. The project's fledgling site states that it's "studying a broad range of industries, including consumer Internet, software, hardware, clean-tech, bio-tech and health care," and says explicitly that it's not merely seeking potential acquisition targets.
Ericsson launches always-on mobile broadband chip for Windows 7 machines
Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson today has announced its newest mobile broadband module, which offers promising wireless features built specifically for upcoming Windows 7 devices.
Ericsson's Vice President of Mobile Broadband Modules, Mats Norin, told Betanews that the F3607gw module consumes half the battery of its predecessor. With this decreased battery consumption, the module's HSPA/GPRS/EDGE radios can remain connected even when the equipped device (notebook, netbook, MID, etc) is asleep.
Microsoft to discontinue Encarta encyclopedia
Tip a cap, tip out a beverage, tiptoe to your CD-ROM shelf and pay your respects: Microsoft has announced that its venerable Encarta encyclopedia is to be discontinued later this year. First released to great acclaim in 1993, the shiny reference guide fell victim to the march of time, the explosive growth of the Web... and, yes, possibly to Wikipedia and its ilk.
Sixteen years isn't a terrible run for a non-headlining product, though, and Microsoft's announcement was sanguine about Encarta's legacy. "Microsoft's vision is that everyone around the world needs to have access to quality education," reads the statement announcing the change, "and we believe that we can use what we've learned and assets we've accrued with offerings like Encarta to develop future technology solutions." As for the editorial vision guiding the product -- the main Encarta page on microsoft.com boasts that its 60,000-plus articles were written by actual experts, "in contrast to many web encyclopedias" -- well, you've got until October 31, 2009 to enjoy it. Go.
Acer's US arm responds to Android phone reports
Acer's US arm isn't saying either 'yes' or 'no' right now about rumored plans to introduce an Android phone purportedly dubbed the 'A1.'
"At this time, no comment from Acer," echoed Alison Williams, a US-based Acer spokesperson, when asked by Betanews to either confirm or deny reports that Acer will roll out a phone based on Google's Android platform.
Intel's latest energy-saving CPUs: 'As revolutionary as Pentium Pro'
In practical simultaneity this afternoon, AMAX, Cray, NEC, HP, and Dell all announced brand new products. The common link? They're all based upon the newly available Intel Xeon 5500 processors.
In fact, Intel says more than 70 companies will be announcing new products based on the Xeon 5500 processor, based on the company's energy-saving branch of its Nehalem architecture. Intel introduced the 5500 series today, touting it as its most revolutionary server processor since the Pentium Pro nearly 15 years ago. (Those who remember the Pentium Pro may be scratching their heads at that.)
© 1998-2025 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy.