The WELL: pre.vue.132: Business and Technology News for 2007

#84: Cleave the general ear (ronks) Mon 31 Dec 07 14:36

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:36:00 PST

Goodbye, 2007... [Read entire topic]

#83: Cleave the general ear (ronks) Thu 20 Dec 07 15:39

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 15:39:00 PST

An interesting article on the culture and demographics of Silicon Valley in today's NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/20/technology/20cluster.html

Learn why "The cricket pitch...is a good place to scout recruits or learn of job openings". [Read entire topic]

#82: Cleave the general ear (ronks) Wed 19 Dec 07 08:42

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 08:42:00 PST

Just Like Old Times

A company has sued IBM for monopolistic practices. Software maker Platform Solutions alleges in a complaint to the European Commission that IBM has "abused its market dominance by refusing to share information related to its high-performance mainframe computers". I see a courtroom crowded with the ghosts of Telex, CDC, Burroughs, Univac, ... [Read entire topic]

#81: Cleave the general ear (ronks) Mon 17 Dec 07 09:27

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 09:27:00 PST

Software Gets Hard

An article in today's NY Times at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/17/technology/17chip.html

discusses the programming challenges posed by multiple-core CPUs, such as breaking down tasks for parallel processing. They are expected to grow as two- and four-processor chips expand to include dozens of cores and traffic management intrudes on the original problem-solving issue. It also features a photo of the Well's <clm>. [Read entire topic]

#80: it's time for a colorful metaphor (jmcarlin) Sat 15 Dec 07 10:40

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 10:40:00 PST

That's an interesting idea. We'll see how well that model works out in practice. [Read entire topic]

#79: Cleave the general ear (ronks) Sat 15 Dec 07 09:18

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 09:18:00 PST

Googlepedia

Google is reported at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/15/technology/15web.html to be thinking of building a for-profit rival to Wikipedia. Known as "Knol" (as in knowledge), it would let users build a Web page on any subject which they could allow Google to place ads on and share the revenue. This raises conflict of interest issues with Google's search engine that don't seem to be addressed at this early stage of development. Unlike Wiki, only the author of the page could edit it, and "competing pages on the same topic" are possible. [Read entire topic]

#78: Cleave the general ear (ronks) Fri 14 Dec 07 21:33

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 21:33:00 PST

Poof!

From http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/technology/7138103.stm

"Exodus to virtual worlds predicted

The appeal of online virtual worlds such as Second Life is such that it may trigger an exodus of people seeking to 'disappear from reality,' an expert on large-scale online games has said." [Read entire topic]

#77: Gail Williams (gail) Sun 2 Dec 07 21:13

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 21:13:00 PST

Yep. Also in the Web conf here, in the Facebook topic. [Read entire topic]

#76: Cleave the general ear (ronks) Fri 30 Nov 07 18:45

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 18:45:00 PST

Privacy? On The Internet?

Big brouhaha over Facebook telling your friends what you bought on other sites: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/30/technology/30face.html and http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/29/the-evolution-of-facebooks-beacon/ [Read entire topic]

#75: Cleave the general ear (ronks) Wed 28 Nov 07 14:17

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:17:00 PST

Energy From The Googleplex

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/technology/28google.html

Google says it plans to develop inexpensive (cheaper than coal-based) renewable energy sources, and not just for use in its server farms; they want to churn out a gigawatt, "enough to power the city of San Francisco - more cheaply than coal-generated electricity...[within] years, not decades."

Some investors wonder if the company is straying from its area of expertise: one analyst observes, "I've written off Google's competition as a threat to Google's long-term market share gains. But I haven't written off Google's own ability to stretch too far and try to do too much. Ultimately, that is the biggest risk in the Google story." [Read entire topic]