Category: News

Grazed from InfoWorld. Author: Eric Knorr.

According to rumors floated by reliable sources a few weeks ago, Microsoft has finally done an about-face on Windows 8 with a forthcoming version dubbed Threshhold. Mary Jo Foley reported on ZDNet that inside sources told her two Threshhold flavors would return to a more "traditional" desktop look and feel, with a third version resembling Windows RT — presumably for tablets.

Paul Thurrott chimed in with his own inside dope that not only would the Start menu return, but also Metro apps would be able to run on the Windows desktop. (I can’t resist noting that InfoWorld suggested similar changes with our Windows Red proposal seven months ago.) Few now doubt that Windows 8 dealt a huge blow to already flagging PC sales and led hardware manufacturers to waste billions of dollars on desktop and laptop touchscreens…

Grazed from Enterprise Irregulars. Author: Louis Columbus.

Alan Kay’s saying that the best way to predict the future is to create it resonates through the best cloud computing and enterprise software predictions for 2014. Constraints that held start-ups back from delivering sophisticated new apps and services are disappearing fast. The dynamics of one of my favorite books, The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen, are in full force across the cloud and enterprise landscape. There are many predictions being generated right now and instead of writing yet another set, I’m providing a listing of those that are the most interesting and thought-provoking. They are listed below:

10 Cloud Computing Predictions for 2014 – In-depth analysis of ten predictions including how more companies will realize they are really in the software business, private cloud computing having a moment of truth and continued adoption of cloud brokerages. This set of predictions is an interesting read and provides useful insight. I’d just add that as application developers go, so goes an industry, a point Bernard Golden refers to in this post…

Grazed from GreatResponder. Author: Maria Dehn.

Intensive snowfall in the North East region of the North American continent has hit the cloud hosting services badly due to failure of Amazon web services. Since the entire north east of North American region is caught under severe snow fall and snow storm, the day to day life has been seriously affected. Like many other utilities and services, internet services based on cloud computing are also facing serious outages due to the failure of Amazon web services. This impacted many websites and services hosted by Amazon very badly.

It was reported at around 12:30 AM last night that Amazon cloud services were observing serious glitches and subsequently failed. It brought many websites down, among such websites a few are Netflix, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Amazon streaming media, Tumblr, Steam and many others. There were a large number of blogs, forums, and commercial websites that observed either serious glitches and degradation of services or went down completely…

Grazed from NewFactor.  Author: Barry Levine.

It’s a new year, and that means the big Consumer Electronics Show will soon showcase the latest trends and would-be trends for both consumers and businesses. Speculation is already rampant about what will stand out in this year’s mega-exhibition, which runs January 7-10 in Las Vegas.

Wearable Tech

One of the trends everyone is expecting is an explosion in so-called wearables, where smaller-than-ever computing devices double as watches, glasses, sneakers or other such form factors — even, reportedly, smart contact lenses. The wearable attracting the most attention has been Google Glass, which that technology giant has been rolling out in an extended alpha/beta phase. Recently, however, there have been a number of "hey, wait a minute" reactions in online publications and forums about Glass’ potential negative impact on person-to-person interaction, or its potential for privacy issues…

Grazed from ComputerWorld.  Author: Patrick Thibodeau.

The National Security Agency (NSA) is spending some $80 million in basic research on quantum computing. And what the NSA spends its research money on may ultimately help commercialize quantum computing — and even make it accessible via the cloud.  This is what Defense Department agencies do: They fund basic research that private industry sees as too risky, but if the work leads to breakthroughs, it’s the commercial sector that may benefit the most.

Information about the NSA’s quantum computing research comes from documents acquired by Edward Snowden and published by the Washington Post. These documents use macho sounding names for the quantum computing effort, including "Owning the Net (OTN)."…

Grazed from TalkinCloud.  Author: Joe Panettieri.

How can cloud services brokerages, channel partners and customers get a better handle on cloud costs? For those who are going Google, perhaps Google’s new Billing API can help. And for channel partners that leverage third-party clouds like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Rackspace, HP Cloud or IBM SoftLayer, perhaps CloudAbility’s billing management tools can help. Here’s the update.

Let’s start with Google’s cloud API effort. According to a recent Google blog entry:

"Tools for monitoring, analyzing and optimizing cost have become an important part of managing cloud services. But these tools are difficult to build if the usage data is only in the Google Cloud Console. We are happy to announce a solution to this problem. The Billing Export feature addresses this need, and it is available in Preview."…

Grazed from Forbes.  Author: Louis Columbus.

The five highest performing cloud computing stocks year-to-date on the Cloud Computing Index are Qualys (NASDAQ: QYLS), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), NetSuite (NYSE:N), Workday (NYSE:WDAY) and CA Technologies (NASDAQ: CA).

A $10K investment in Workday shares made on January 4^th of last year is worth $15,802 as of market close yesterday, and $10K invested in Qualys shares are worth $15,421 for the same time period. Included in the comparison is the annualized gain or loss and total gain or loss of IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP shares for the same time period…

Grazed from FierceBioTech.  Author: John Carroll.

Google Ventures has joined a group of investors seeding DNAnexus‘ cloud-computing services for biomedical researchers with a $15 million C round.  Mountain View, CA-based DNAnexus bills itself as a centralized hub for sorting through the virtual mountain of genetic data that is being generated, working with researchers hunting down the causes of complex diseases in search of new therapies. That’s right down Google Ventures‘ alley. The round was also backed by Claremont Creek Ventures, TPG Biotech, and First Round Capital.

Just weeks ago DNAnexus joined with Amazon ($AMZN) and Baylor College of Medicine to update researchers on a huge sequencing program aimed at understanding the genetics involved in heart disease and aging. Hundreds of scientists have sequenced thousands of genomes and exomes, creating 430 terabytes of data, which the consortium provides tools and cloud services to analyze in search of the genetic causes of diseases…

Grazed from TheAustralian.  Author: Editorial Staff.

THE National Security Agency is making strides towards building a "quantum computer" that could break nearly any kind of encryption, The Washington Post has reported.  The Post said leaked documents from fugitive ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden indicated the "cryptologically useful computer" would allow the secret intelligence agency to break encryption used to protect banking, medical, business and government records around the world.

Quantum computing has been a goal among commercial firms such as IBM because it could exponentially increase the speed and security of computers and other devices…

Grazed from TalkinCloud.  Author: Chris Talbot.

InterCloud Systems, a Red Bank, N.J.-based IT and telecom solutions provider, is adding to its growing cloud portfolio through the acquisition of Integration Partners-NY (IPC-NY).  The two companies serve similar markets—enterprises and services providers. InterCloud already has a cloud practice, serving its customers by providing cloud platforms and professional services wrapped around those platforms. By acquiring IPC-NY, InterCloud is expecting to add to its portfolio of cloud and managed services.

Through IPC-NY, InterCloud plans to further its distribution of its cloud platforms to both new and existing customers. According to InterCloud, IPC-NY has grown rapidly over the last five years, with 2013 revenue of $25 million…