23
April
2009
|
19:55 PM
America/Los_Angeles

Newswatch: IBM Makes Cloud Plans; Myspace Changes CEO Profile

Friday 8am Silicon Valley news report:

IBM plans cloud computing services for 2009 -Reuters


In addition to the service for developers, the company also plans to introduce clouds that allow businesses to run business applications and virtualize personal computer networks, Sims said.
Much of the technology was developed using know-how that IBM developed through a partnership with Google to develop cloud services for academic computing that dates back to 2007, she said.


MySpace co-founder DeWolfe to step down -SFGate


DeWolfe is expected to move onto a new startup, following the path of several executives who left MySpace last month including former Chief Operating Officer Amit Kapur.


Former Facebook Exec Van Natta Set to Take Over at MySpace, as Founder DeWolfe Prepares to Step Down -AllThings Digital


Van Natta is well known at News Corp. and was, at one point, the leading candidate to head up MySpace Music, which launched last fall, and the two sides held extensive conversations.


Employers Watching Workers Online Spurs Privacy Debate -WSJ


"The question is whether employees have a right to privacy in their non-work-created communications with each other. And I would think the answer is that they do," said Floyd Abrams, a First Amendment expert and partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP in New York.


Cost cuts help tech giants ride out weak economy -Reuters


While a rally may prove difficult to sustain, analysts say the prospects are better for an IT recovery because tech products and services are integral to the day-to-day functioning of the global economy and people's lives.


Yahoo pulls the plug on GeoCities -Reuters


A posting on a Yahoo Help page for GeoCities on Thursday said the service was no longer accepting new customers and that it will be closing later this year, with more details about how individuals can save their data coming this summer.


Software That Copies DVDs to Players Is on Trial -NYTimes


That software, which the company refers to by its internal name, Facet, would allow companies like Sony, Samsung and Toshiba to sell DVD players capable of making digital copies of all discs, even movie DVDs that have anticopying software, called C.S.S.





Cloud Computing Surpasses Virtualization in Popularity -Virtualization Journal


For the first time the term "cloud computing" has surpassed "virtualization" in terms of search popularity. What is all the more interesting is it took cloud computing a little over a year and half compared to nearly 5 years for virtualization to see the same level of search volumes.


Gmail Hole Can't Be Closed By End Users, Says Windows Secrets -.NET


CSRF attacks use security holes in cookies, password requests, and other interactive Web components to intercept communications between browsers and a Web site's server. Gmail users can lose private data to hackers or find that their passwords have been changed, giving an intruder control of any other Google services the users customarily sign in to by using the same password, according to a proof of concept by ISA.


Typical lost or stolen laptop costs companies nearly $50,000, study finds -MercuryNews


"The faster the company learns that a laptop is lost, the lower the average cost," the study said. "If a company discovers the loss in the same day, the average cost is $8,950. If it takes more than one week, the average cost rises significantly to approximately $115,849."


Top E.D.S. Executives Leave H.P. -NYTimes


Mike Koehler, the head of the Americas region for E.D.S.; Tom Haubenstricker, the head of finance; and Mike Paolucci, the head of human resources, all plan to call it quits at H.P. by the end of May. And Bobby Grisham, the head of sales, will retire at the end of June.


Apple Profit Rises 15%, Driven by iPhone Sales -NYTimes


Despite a 3 percent slump in sales of the company’s Mac computers, Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s chief financial officer, called the quarter “the best nonholiday earnings in the company’s history.”Apple reportedthat its net profit jumped 15 percent, to $1.21 billion, or $1.33 a share, from $1.05 billion, or $1.16 a share, in the same quarter a year ago.


Facebook users' vote ending way short of threshold -AP


Facebook invited the 200 million people who regularly use the site to vote on its governing documents. But it's unclear how much of a difference it will make.


German GEMA in talks with YouTube on video dispute -Reuters


On March 31, after the failure of negotiations to renew a contract under which Google paid a set fee per streamed music video to GEMA, YouTube said it would block access to music videos in Germany of artists who are members of GEMA.


AMD No Longer Feels the Need to Go “Native” -WSJ


Asked about the shift, Patrick Patla — a vice president and general manager in charge of AMD chips for servers — said the company never said packaging multiple chips together “is a bad idea,” as long as computing performance is not sacrificed in the process.


Lawmakers Examine Privacy Practices at Cable, Web Firms -WSJ


Lawmakers are concerned about consumer privacy as cable, phone and Internet companies experiment with Internet-based technologies that pinpoint advertising to consumers in new and more accurate ways. Legislation to impose tougher privacy rules could be coming later this summer.


EBay 1st-quarter profit falls - beats estimates -SFGate


Revenue from eBay's marketplaces segment - which includes eBay itself and e-commerce sites such as StubHub and Shopping.com - fell almost 18 percent to $1.22 billion. The company blamed the drop on the difficult economy and the strengthened dollar.


Bartz’s ‘Technical Difficulties’ Become ‘Expletive Deleted’ -WSJ


It’s not the first time an executive swore during a call (Enron’s Jeff Skilling famously did so in 2001), but it woke listeners up. Valleywag editor Owen Thomas posted a recording of the quip and a post titled “Yahoo CEO Lays Off Workers, Not Swear Words.”