Military Supercomputer Surpasses Petaflop Milestone - NYTimes.com

Yow...

An American military supercomputer, assembled from components originally designed for video game machines, has reached a long-sought-after computing milestone by processing more than 1.026 quadrillion calculations per second.

[...]

To put the performance of the machine in perspective, Thomas P. D’Agostino, the administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, said that if all six billion people on earth used hand calculators and performed calculations 24 hours a day and seven days a week, it would take them 46 years to do what the Roadrunner can in one day.

Military Supercomputer Surpasses Petaflop Milestone - NYTimes.com

Novelties - Moving Mountains With the Brain, Not a Joystick - NYTimes.com

Yeah, we are Borg...

A new headset system picks up electrical activity from the brain, as well as from facial muscles and other spots, and translates it into on-screen commands. This lets players vanquish villains not with a click, but with a thought.

Novelties - Moving Mountains With the Brain, Not a Joystick - NYTimes.com

FT.com / Companies / Telecoms - Apple relents on iPhones subsidy

Hmm -- looks like the rumored $199 (subsidized -- with 2-year contract) AT&T iPhone may be real; we'll find out Monday

The new version of the Apple iPhone is set to be sold at significantly lower prices than the existing one, in a tacit acknowledgement by the US technology company that its previous sales strategy was not sustainable.

Apple has bowed to pressure from mobile phone operators and agreed they can subsidise the latest iPhone, expected to be unveiled by Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, on Monday.

FT.com / Companies / Telecoms - Apple relents on iPhones subsidy

Say, Whats On the Internet Tonight? - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

This seems suboptimal; I'd rather have full Internet access, e.g., through a game console 

When you’re contemplating which flat panel TV to buy, could your purchase decision be based on what’s on the Web? At least three television manufacturers hope so.

Panasonic, Sharp and Sony are now selling TVs that connect directly to the Internet, bringing a varying range of content to TV screens without using a PC. The systems do not give direct Internet access, but rather offer a selection of Web-based material.

Say, Whats On the Internet Tonight? - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

Icahn Presses Yahoo to Sell to Microsoft - NYTimes.com

Perhaps getting  a bit nervous about his investment?...

Carl C. Icahn told Yahoo on Friday that it should offer to sell the company to Microsoft for $34.375 a share, or about $48.7 billion.

In his latest letter to Roy J. Bostock, Yahoo’s chairman, Mr. Icahn said that if Microsoft did not accept the offer “in a friendly and cooperative transaction,” he would push Yahoo to do a deal with Google if he won control of the Yahoo board.

Icahn Presses Yahoo to Sell to Microsoft - NYTimes.com

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs: Great news for Zuckerberg

Another subtle FSJ snapshot...

His old pals at Harvard, those Winklevoss kids who've been suing him and claiming he stole their code to make Facebook, now have hired Boies, Schiller to represent them. That's right. David Boies. The same legal wizard who blew the antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft; blew it for Al Gore during the 2000 election; defended Enron's Andrew Fastow, who is now in prison; represented SCO Group in its failed lawsuit against IBM; and held Napster's hand while the RIAA sued it into oblivion. Yup. This is one sharp legal mind.

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs: Great news for Zuckerberg

Cyberfamilias - Salad Days for the Internet - NYTimes.com

Cool...

Buy food online to eat locally? It sounded unnatural, or at least counterintuitive.

But the phenomenon is growing nationwide. Now a number of sites — including Greenling.com in Texas, Naturaldirect.com in Illinois, Organicstoyou.org in Oregon and Mypersonalfarmers.com in New York State — deliver seasonal products from nearby farms to the doorsteps of customers.

These Web sites differ from the earlier generation of produce-delivery ones for two reasons: they all deliver products from local farms to nearby customers (whereas in the past it was rare to find an online organic produce delivery service that didn’t rely solely on a wholesaler). Second, these new sites all allow users to easily customize their standing-order box weekly.

Cyberfamilias - Salad Days for the Internet - NYTimes.com

Microsoft's pre-iPhone 'salute' to Apple | Coop's Corner : A Blog from Charlie Cooper - CNET News.com

"Salute" is a nice euphemism -- the competitive posturing can be quite entertaining.  Anyways, read the full article for a reality check on who's shipping what, in terms of unit volumes.

Apple fan boys (and girls) are counting down the days before Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday. Everyone and their mother-in-law expects Steve Jobs to use his keynote at the event introduce new iPhones, including new 3G models and a less expensive refresh of the 2.5G version.

Microsoft marked the occasion with a reminder to Windows Mobile partners that the company "will sell nearly 20 million Windows Mobile smartphone licenses."

Microsoft's pre-iPhone 'salute' to Apple | Coop's Corner : A Blog from Charlie Cooper - CNET News.com

Google to let users test new Gmail features | Tech news blog - CNET News.com

Hmm...

Google will invite users to try new features the company is considering adding to its Gmail service, the company said Thursday.

Don't let this distract you from other important stuff, e.g., reading the terabytes of speculation about the next iPhone; here's an example of one of the new "features":

The "e-mail addict" tool that lets people lock themselves out of their e-mail account for 15 minutes.

The article concludes with:

If Gmail is so great, how come it's been in beta testing for four years now?

"We have really high standards," [Keith] Coleman [a Gmail product manager] said. "There are a few things we want to do before we take it out of beta, but we expect to do it soon."

Google to let users test new Gmail features | Tech news blog - CNET News.com

Microsoft Will Not Extend XP Lifecycle Again: Here's What's Really Happening

Another timely reality check from Paul Thurrott

You may have read a news story--a rumor, really--recently claiming that Microsoft has logging calls to its support lines to determine whether it should extend the lifecycle of Windows XP, which is set to disappear from retail shelves and from consumer PCs after June 30. The rumor--which originated at a tech enthusiast blog--is completely untrue, Microsoft says. But it's just part of a wider range of misinformation that is muddying the waters for Windows users. It's time to send in the cleaner.

Jumping to the final paragraph (see the full post for more details):

Put simply, if you really want XP, you'll be able to get it after June 30, and it will be supported by Microsoft through April 2014. By that time, of course, Microsoft will probably have already shipped Windows 8, a Windows version three times removed from XP. Perhaps by that time, misguided calls for XP's continuation will have faded into the murky past, where they belong.

Microsoft Will Not Extend XP Lifecycle Again: Here's What's Really Happening

Application Platform Strategies Blog: We are hiring....

Burton Group's Application Platform Strategies team is hiring -- see the full post for details if you're interested.

The Application Platform Strategies team has two open positions to fill.   We are searching for a user experience (UXP) and presentation technologies expert and a software development life-cycle guru.   Successful candidates will have strong research and writing skills coupled with a desire to present a visionary goal state and deliver pragmatic, actionable recommendations to move organizations towards big goals.

Our new Data Management Strategies team is also hiring -- if you're into data stuff (DBMS, data modeling, business intelligence, and/or XML data...) and want to explore an analyst career at Burton Group, please ping me as pokelly [at] burtongroup [dot] com.

Application Platform Strategies Blog: We are hiring....

The Data Platform Insider : David DeWitt joins the SQL Server team

Somehow I missed this in April

I'm happy to report that Dr. David DeWitt, one of the top minds in the database field, has joined Microsoft as a Technical Fellow. David is tasked with starting up a new advanced development lab in partnership with the University of Wisconsin- Madison – the Jim Gray Systems Lab. The naming of the lab is a tribute to honor the late Jim Gray, the Turning Award winning Microsoft computer scientist whose contributions to the database and transaction processing field are so widely regarded.

David recently retired as active Professor in the Computer Sciences Department and was the founder of the database group at the UW-Madison. He was a legend at the University for the past 32 years, known not just as an educator, but a practical researcher who focused on building working systems. David did some of the first work on parallel databases which was a huge contribution to the field. And of course, he has educated a many students – students that over the years have made big contributions themselves to the field.

The Data Platform Insider : David DeWitt joins the SQL Server team

Why Google Can Land Its Jets at Moffett Field and Oracle Can’t : Beyond Search

An interesting take on Google's latest rocket science scheme (discount private air force parking and office space on NASA's turf):

Several thoughts popped into my mind as I mulled over the implications of this story:

1. Messrs Brin and Page will not suffer the indignity that Larry Ellison must tolerate when he tries to land his jet after the San Jose airport closes. $3.66 buys a pretty good parking place I surmise.
2. The hopes of Microsoft, Verizon, and other companies who have hoped that Google would self destruct in the next year suffered a set back. This deal says that Google is planning for the long haul. The Googlers won’t kick their plan in gear until 2013 which, if the company’s growth rate continues at its present pace, will occur when the GOOG is in the $50 to $60 billion revenue range.
3. Well, that solves the recruitment problem. Japanese companies built dormitories. If you know what the Google song, exercise program, and warm up suit will be, let me know.

See the full post for a classic closing comment.

Why Google Can Land Its Jets at Moffett Field and Oracle Can’t : Beyond Search

Social Networking Meets Madison Ave. - washingtonpost.com

Face it: marketing is ubiquitous...

Feeling feisty? Throw an orange Tic Tac at a friend through Facebook, sponsored by Fox Searchlight studios to promote DVD sales of the movie "Juno." Feeling thirsty? Give a friend a virtual bottle of Vitamin Water, courtesy of Coca-Cola.

These are a few of the ways big-name brands are advertising to the millions who use the social networking tools made by Slide, the largest maker of mini-software programs known as "widgets" that let people express themselves on sites such as Facebook and MySpace. Slide has received so many inquiries from advertisers that the San Francisco start-up is opening a New York office today to be closer to Madison Avenue.

Social Networking Meets Madison Ave. - washingtonpost.com

Tech Trader Daily - Barron’s Online : Apple's Back-To-School Promo: Buy A Mac, Get Free iPod

Hmm...

Buy a Mac, get an iPod Touch for free.

That’s Apple’s (AAPL) 2008 back-to-school promotion for this year, which started yesterday: qualified individuals who buy a Mac from now until September 15 can get 100% rebate on the purchase of an iPod Touch or an iPod Nano. Under terms of the offer, you get a $199 rebate on the 8GB Nano, or $299 on any storage capacity Touch. (Current pricing is $299 for the 8GB Touch, $399 for 16 GB and $499 for 32 GB.)

Tech Trader Daily - Barron’s Online : Apple's Back-To-School Promo: Buy A Mac, Get Free iPod

Mozilla Firefox 3.0 Is the Best Browser For Web — For Now | Walt Mossberg | Personal Technology | AllThingsD

See the full post for details

My verdict is that Firefox 3.0 is the best Web browser out there right now, and that it tops the current versions of both IE and Safari in features, speed and security. It is easy to install and easy to use, even for a mainstream, non-technical user. It can be downloaded, free, at mozilla.com by clicking on “Firefox 3 Sneak Peek.”

This situation may change. Microsoft is working on a new version of IE, scheduled to be unveiled later this year, with some impressive new features. And Apple is always working on new iterations of Safari, though it is secretive and hasn’t disclosed its plans. But for now, in my view, Firefox 3.0 rules on both Windows and Mac.

(Fake Steve Jobs is going to have fun counting the I/me/mine instances in this week's Walt Mossberg column...)

Mozilla Firefox 3.0 Is the Best Browser For Web — For Now | Walt Mossberg | Personal Technology | AllThingsD

Business & Technology | Yahoo "completely rewiring" for online advertising growth despite Microsoft talks | Seattle Times Newspaper

Maybe they'll change the self-destruct mechanism, as part of the "rewiring"...

Decker told a digital-advertising conference in New York on Wednesday that she and her colleagues were "completely rewiring" Yahoo to better coordinate sales efforts across parts of the company's operations, which had worked as silos.

She noted Yahoo has millions of potentially lucrative relationships with e-mail users and a separate group of people who use the photo-sharing service Flickr.

"We have the largest latent social network in the world," Decker said.

Business & Technology | Yahoo "completely rewiring" for online advertising growth despite Microsoft talks | Seattle Times Newspaper

Technology Review: Acrobat Gets Multimedia Makeover

Good snapshot of recent Adobe news; see the full article for more details

Acrobat 9.0, which is slated for public release in July, will offer far more, allowing users to distribute slickly formatted presentation packages, complete with Flash-based video and animation. A related set of online collaboration tools is aimed at giving Adobe a foothold in the growing market for hosted Web applications.

"One of the long-standing virtues of PDF was the ability to have a reliable presentation regardless of the platform," says Marion Melani, group marketing manager for Adobe's Acrobat team. "We're taking that history and extending it to include new mediums."

Technology Review: Acrobat Gets Multimedia Makeover

Microsoft Brings Rich User Experiences to Smart, Connected, Service-Oriented Enterprise Devices With Windows Embedded Standard 2009

Vista goes on a radical diet for some device scenarios...

Today at the Tech•Ed North America 2008 Developers conference and through a global webcast event, Microsoft Corp. announced the immediate availability of the Windows Embedded Standard 2009 Community Technology Preview (CTP). In addition, the company stated the product will be available to customers in the fourth quarter of 2008. Windows Embedded Standard 2009 is designed for OEMs wanting to quickly build devices that seamlessly connect into the existing enterprise infrastructure. Featuring new technologies including Microsoft Silverlight, Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) 6.1, and Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Embedded Standard 2009 is designed to drive managed and secure thin clients, sophisticated point of service and kiosk devices requiring visually compelling user experiences, and smart networked multifunction printers that are easy to manage and connect with enterprise infrastructure. Windows Embedded Standard 2009 also includes componentized drivers for Intel Corporation’s latest x86 processor architectures, providing device makers with the flexibility to access the latest generation of hardware.

Microsoft Brings Rich User Experiences to Smart, Connected, Service-Oriented Enterprise Devices With Windows Embedded Standard 2009: The next generation of Windows XP Embedded, Windows Embedded Standard 2009, enables devices to easily connect to Windows Vista-based PCs and take advantage of new features in Windows Server 2008.

Slate’s Editor Will Head a New Unit at the Washington Post Co. - NYTimes.com

Speaking of things Microsoft bootstrapped during Bubble 1.0 that never went away...

Slate helped set the standards for online journalism when it was formed by Microsoft in 1996. The Washington Post Company purchased Slate in 2005. The site, which is now profitable, averages 6.5 million unique visitors a month, according to comScore.

“Slate has become a good business, and I think the Slate Group can expand to be a bigger business,” Mr. Weisberg said.

Slate’s Editor Will Head a New Unit at the Washington Post Co. - NYTimes.com