Time was, there was a Silicon Graphics workstation on every desk in computationally-intense industries like chemistry and film production. No longer. This morning, SGI, which recently endured a brace of layoffs, filed for bankruptcy protection for a second time and sold itself to Rackable Systems, which makes server and storage products for midsize and large data centers, for $25 million in cash.
Cisco has finally crossed the Rubicon. Long a partner to the big server makers, the networking equipment giant today became a competitor, announcing an aggressive push into the server market. No longer content to peddle switches and routers alone, Cisco is now selling a full-blown data center solution.
The Apple Store went down for updating early this morning and when it returned, it featured an all-new iPod shuffle. Nearly half the size of its predecessor, this third-generation player features a new aluminum design and a new VoiceOver feature that enables it to say the names of song titles, artists and playlists outloud in 14 languages.
Ironic, isn’t it, that Google, one of Net neutrality’s staunchest advocates, has been approaching major cable and phone companies with a proposal that appears to violate the very tenets of that principle? How could a company that has argued tirelessly that all Internet traffic should be treated equally, suddenly reverse course and seek preferential treatment for its own traffic?
Short answer: it didn’t.
Turns out RealNetworks Inc.’s new DVD ripper RealDVD is as legal as its creator is litigious. Real debuted RealDVD this morning and along with it a preemptive lawsuit against the Hollywood interests that will inevitably attempt to litigate it into oblivion. Brought against the DVD Copy Control Association and a who’s-who of major studios, the suit asks the court to rule that RealDVD complies with the DVD Copy Control Association’s license agreement.
Apparently, the folks who write AT&T’s mind-numbing service disclosures are the same ones who pen its press releases. How else to explain the company’s unwieldy description of its new Synaptic Hosting offering?
So that “technical issue” that caused 5 million to 10 million White House emails to disappear from its archives? A botched migration from Lotus Notes to Microsoft Exchange. Seems even the blame for the current administration’s failure to obey the Presidential Records Act can be laid on Microsoft (MSFT).
In written testimony to the [...]
Hard-drive maker Seagate Technology has finally settled on a strategy for competing with its solid-state drive rivals. It will enter the SSD market this year. And to prepare the market for its arrival, it’s suing an SSD pioneer for patent infringement.
Yesterday, Seagate (STX) filed a lawsuit in federal court accusing STEC Inc. (STEC), an early [...]
The S3 service is great but this just proves you can’t rely on it, this is a major issue especially since it’s been down for so long. Way to go Amazon.”
–a post on Amazon’s Simple Storage Service forum
Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (S3) suffered a “massive” outage this morning, impacting a number of businesses that rely [...]
Cisco is calling it its biggest enterprise product launch in 15 years, and given the cloud of hyperbole in which it debuted today the Nexus 7000 data-center switch may be just that.
Like any network switch, the Nexus 7000 controls and directs the flow of data between connected computers. But unlike any network switch, it can [...]
Its footing in the PC market slipping the way it has been–thanks to a deteriorating reputation for customer service and aggressive rivals–Dell is increasingly turning its attention to storage. In a big way. This morning the company announced plans to acquire storage virtualization outfit EqualLogic for $1.4 billion in cash. If approved by shareholders, the [...]
Flash memory maker SanDisk has apparently devised a means of offsetting the legal bills that might arise from the price-fixing suit filed against it (and 23 other companies) earlier this year: suing the better part of the removable flash storage industry for patent infringement.
SanDisk filed three patent-infringement lawsuits against 25 companies that make, sell or [...]
Apparently, Google’s “Store 100%” reality will come at a price. Yesterday, the company announced the beginnings of a shared online storage service–and a pricing schedule to go with it. “In a few hours we’ll be rolling out extra storage that you can purchase to use across several Google products (today, Picasa Web Albums and Gmail; soon, other applications like Google Docs & Spreadsheets),” Google engineer Ryan Aquino wrote in a post to the company’s blog.
John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper. Read more »
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
Best use of the Beeker “meee” ever.
While the technology behind the Telephone is new, the design is reassuringly old-fashioned, reminiscent of a phrenologist’s horn or ear-candle in form. We found the experience far more comfortable than the one we had with the Telegraph.
12:58 AM: Breakfast: Two schools of fish from Tokyo Bay. Calories: 782,000. How I was feeling when I ate this: confused, irradiated, hating my size.
11:37 AM: Exercise: “Taxi Stomp” (alternating legs, for 30 blocks). Calories burned: 148,900,183.
1983. The Beatles announce their first tour in thirteen years, but likewise announce that Michael Jackson will be going on tour with them as a one gigantic mega-concert event.
Best video mashup ever.
A Facebook Memorial
Wow.
Worth it for the Rickrolling photo alone.
Excellent.
Flughumor!
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