Im Juli 2010 entschieden Wettbewerbshüter, dass die amerikanische Sybase durch SAP geschluckt werden darf. Nun ist die Übernahme und Integration abgeschlossen, mit personellen Konsequenzen an der Unternehmensspitze. So gab die SAP bekannt, dass der bisherige President und CEO von Sybase, John Chen, das Unternehmen zum 31. Dezember 2012 verlassen werde.
Der Start ist zunächst einmal geglückt: Am ersten Verkaufswochenende von Windows 8 wurden mehr als vier Millionen Upgrades des neuesten Microsoft-Betriebssystems verkauft. Diese Zahl gab Microsoft-CEO Steve Ballmer auf der hauseigenen Entwicklerkonferenz Build in Seattle bekannt.
Laut einer neuen Studie aus Deutschland bevorzugen Eltern generell Bücher gegenüber Apps. Väter holen dank Tablets jedoch ihr Vorlese-Defizit auf. 40 Prozent sind von eBooks begeistert, während nur 23 Prozent gedruckte Bücher favorisieren. Frauen tendieren überwiegend zu Papier.
Adobe hat Mark Zablan zum neuen President für Europa, den Nahen Osten und Afrika (Emea) ernannt. In dieser Position, organisatorisch angesiedelt in den Adobe Worldwide Field Operations, wird Zablan laut Mitteilung direkt an den Senior Vice President Matt Thompson berichten.
Jörg Ackermann, Director Sales & Customer Service, verlässt nach zehn Jahren bei OKI Schweiz zum 31. Dezember das Unternehmen. Der Sales-Profi war 2002 von Graphax zu OKI gewechselt und hat seitdem den Vertrieb des Druckerspezialisten geprägt, zuerst als Key Account Manager und später als Verkaufsleiter.
Österreichs grösste Bank, die zur Unicredit gehörende Bank Austria, ist am Dienstagvormittag erneut nicht online gewesen, die Homepage und damit das Online-Banking funktionierten nicht. Betroffen waren rund 700.000 Kunden. Bereits am Montag war das System offline, nur in den Abendstunden war es vorübergehend online.
Deutschlands zweitgrößter Softwarehersteller Software AG hat im dritten Quartal wegen geringerer Umsätze und hoher Ausgaben für den Vertrieb weniger verdient. Der Überschuss sank im Vergleich zum Vorjahresquartal von 46,6 auf 40,7 Mio. Euro, wie das im TecDAX notierte Unternehmen am Dienstag mitteilte. Der Gewinn vor Zinsen und Steuern fiel von 72 auf 61,1 Mio. Euro.
Chip-Hersteller AMD geht einen neuen Weg, um gegen den großen Rivalen Intel zu bestehen. Die Nummer zwei im Prozessoren-Markt will künftig auch Server-Chips auf Basis von Technologie des britischen Entwicklers ARM bauen. Damit solle unter anderem die Energieeffizienz von Lösungen fürs Cloud-Computing verbessert werden, erklärte AMD am Montag.
Der kleinste der vier deutschen Mobilfunknetzbetreiber O2 kann sich bei der anstehenden Modernisierung der Netze eine Zusammenarbeit etwa mit dem Rivalen E-Plus vorstellen. "Die Zukunft ist, dass wir mehr miteinander arbeiten. Die Investitionen sind in unserer Branche enorm", sagte Vorstandschef Rene Schuster der Nachrichtenagentur Reuters am Dienstag auf dem Frankfurter Börsenparkett. Dort wird die Aktie der Telefonica Deutschland Holding am Dienstag erstmals gehandelt. "Momentan gibt es aber keine Gespräche", betonte Schuster.
Unternehmen, die SAP im Einsatz haben, können das Framework Hadoop künftig mit vorhandenen Business-Analytics- und Datawarehouse-Umgebungen integrieren. Hierfür sorgen ein Big-Data-Bundle sowie eine herstellerübergreifende Marktstrategie.
coondoggie writes "In one of the photos, the dark-haired, bearded hacker is peering into his computer's screen, perhaps puzzled at what's happening. Minutes later, he cuts his computer's connection, realizing he has been discovered. In an unprecedented move, the country of Georgia — irritated by persistent cyber-spying attacks — has published two photos of a Russia-based hacker who, the Georgians allege, waged a persistent, months-long campaign that stole confidential information from Georgian government ministries, parliament, banks and NGOs."
An anonymous reader writes "The Netherlands is moving forward with plans to build 'smart' highways that can become more easily visible in the dark or communicate weather conditions to drivers. Work will begin as early as next year. 'Special paint will also be used to paint markers like snowflakes across the road's surface — when temperatures fall to a certain point, these images will become visible, indicating that the surface will likely be slippery. Roosegaarde says this technology has been around for years, on things like baby food — the studio has just up-scaled it. The first few hundred meters of glow in the dark, weather-indicating road will be installed in the province of Brabant in mid-2013, followed by priority induction lanes for electric vehicles, interactive lights that switch on as cars pass and wind-powered lights within the next five years.'"
sfcrazy writes "Ubuntu 12.10 met with some controversy before and after its launch about the inclusion of Amazon product listings alongside local search results. Now, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has raised concerns around data leaks and Amazon Ads. The EFF has asked Canonical to update Ubuntu so it disables 'Include online search results' by default. 'Users should be able to install Ubuntu and immediately start using it without having to worry about leaking search queries or sending potentially private information to third party companies. Since many users might find this feature useful, consider displaying a dialog the first time a user logs in that asks if they would like to opt-in.'"
Jason Levine writes "Disney will acquire Lucasfilm, including the Star Wars trilogy. Additionally, Star Wars: Episode 7 is due to be released in 2015, with more feature films on the way. George Lucas said, 'For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next. It's now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I've always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime. I'm confident that with Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy, and having a new home within the Disney organization, Star Wars will certainly live on and flourish for many generations to come.'"
centre21 writes "I've been reading about solar-powered aircraft all over the Internet, as well as solar power in general. But I'm wondering: is it more than just solar cell efficiency that's preventing the creation of a solar-powered airliner? Conspiracy views aside (which may be valid), it seems to me that if I were running an airline the size of United or American, eliminating the need for jet fuel as a cost would be highly appealing. So, I'm asking: what stands in the way of creating true solar-powered airliners?"
colinneagle writes "Microsoft has promised that cross-platform development across the 8s – from Windows 8 on a desktop to Windows Phone 8 – will be a simple matter, but that's still not enough to get some developers moving on Windows Phone 8 support. The Windows Phone platform has made a remarkable recovery since its reset with version 7. Since then, WP7 has grown to 100,000 apps. But that pales in comparison to the 675,000 in Google Play and 700,000 in the Apple App Store. Granted, there's a ton of redundancy – how many weather or newsfeed apps does one person need? – but it points to availability and developer support. A report from VentureBeat points out what should be obvious: that while developers like Windows 8, they aren't as excited about Windows Phone 8 software because they have already made huge investments in other platforms and don't want to support another platform. A survey by IDC and Appcelerator found 78% of Android developers were 'very interested' in programming for Android smartphones, a slight drop from the 83% in a prior survey. Interest in the iPhone and iPad remained undiminished, with 89% and 88% interest, respectively."
MrSeb writes "There have been plenty of rumors about how the Nexus program was going to grow and change with this year's announcement. Now that we have all the details, it looks like almost none of them were right. There is no Nexus certification program, and the dream of multiple Nexus phones seems well and truly dead. What we do have is a range of device sizes with the Nexus 4, Nexus 7, and Nexus 10. However, the Nexus program has been altered in one important way: we know what Nexus means now. There can no longer be any doubt: a Nexus device is about openness first and foremost. Last year the technology sphere was busily discussing whether or not the Verizon Galaxy Nexus was a 'true' Nexus device. This year we have an answer: a Nexus controlled by a carrier is no Nexus. Rather than get in bed with Verizon, Sprint, or AT&T to produce an LTE version of the Nexus 4, we have HSPA+ only. Even the new Nexus 7 with mobile data is limited to this enhanced 3G standard. And then there's the pricing: The super high-resolution (2560×1600) Nexus 10 tablet starts at just $399; The Nexus 7 is dropping in price to $199 for a 16GB tablet; The Nexus 4 with 16GB of storage is going to sell for $349, exactly the same as the old Galaxy Nexus was until yesterday. To put this into perspective, the LG Optimus G, which the Nexus 4 is based on, sells for $550 without subsidy. Google is pushing the idea of openness with the Nexus devices, but it's not an entirely altruistic endeavor. By giving us cheap and open devices, Google is making sure it's in control — not the carriers. That's better for the consumers, but it's also better for Google."
An anonymous reader writes with this snippet from MAKE's blog: "Tangible interface designer and inventor Andrea Bianchi, along with his colleague, Ian Oakley (University of Madeira / Carnegie Mellon Europe), have come with a novel approach to interacting with a mobile device. Using the magnetometer built into most modern smartphones, Bianchi and Oakley have created a series of tangible user interface demonstrations that go beyond what's achievable with capacitive touch displays."
CWmike writes "Intel researchers are working on a 48-core processor for smartphones and tablets, but it could be five to 10 years before it hits the market. Having a 48-core chip in a small mobile device would open up a whole new world of possibilities. 'If we're going to have this technology in five to 10 years, we could finally do things that take way too much processing power today,' said analyst Patrick Moorhead. 'This could really open up our concept of what is a computer... The phone would be smart enough to not just be a computer but it could be my computer.' Enric Herrero, a research scientist at Intel Labs in Barcelona, explained that with the prototype chip someone could, for instance, be encrypting an email while also working on other power-intensive apps at the same time — without hiccups. Same for HD video. Intel's Tanausu Ramirez said it could also boost battery life. 'The chip also can take the energy and split it up and distribute it between different applications,' he said. Justin Rattner, Intel's CTO, told Computerworld that a 48-core chip for small mobile devices could hit the market 'much sooner' than the researchers' 10-year prediction."
ananyo writes "The world's largest scientific project is threatened with further delays, as agencies struggle to complete the design and sign contracts worth hundred of millions of euros with industrial partners. Sources familiar with the project warn that the complex system for buying ITER's many pieces could put the fusion reactor project even further behind schedule. Rather than providing cash, ITER's partners have pledged 'in kind' contributions of pieces of the machine. Magnets, instruments and reactor sections will arrive from around the world to be cobbled together at the central site in St-Paul-lès-Durance in southern France. Because no one body holds the purse strings, designs for the machine's components face a tortuous back-and-forth between the central ITER Organization and national 'domestic agencies', which ensure that local companies secure contracts for ITER's components. Managers say the project remains on schedule. But it would hardly be the first time that ITER had been delayed or faced budgetary difficulties."
Qedward writes "France may introduce a law to make Google pay to republish news snippets if it doesn't strike a deal with French news publishers before the end of the year, the office of French President François Hollande said. French publishers want to share in the revenue that Google earns from advertising displayed alongside their news snippets in search results. Readers are often satisfied by reading the headline and summary published by Google News, and don't feel the need to click through to the news site, the publishers say. In this way, Google profits and the content creators don't. The publishers want to be able to charge Google to compensate them for ad revenue losses."
Black Parrot writes "Several news sites are reporting that the 1962 replica of the HMS bounty was lost at sea due to hurricane Sandy, about 90 miles off North Carolina. The latest news I find says 14 of 16 crew rescued, one drowned, and the Captain still missing." And on land, the combination of wind and water surges knocked off Gawker sites and the Huffington Post for a time, and forced the evacuation of NYU's Langone Medical Center. Did it affect you?
eldavojohn writes "Inside the land of the Great Firewall censorship is rampant although rarely transparent. Foreign Policy has a lengthy but eyeopening recounting of what it's like being an editor for the only officially sanctioned English business publication inside the most populated country on Earth. Eveline Chao of the magazine 'China International Business' writes in her piece 'Me and My Censor' about her censor named Snow, the three taboo T's (Taiwan, Tibet, and Tiananmen), a bizarre government aversion to flags and how she was 'offered red envelopes stuffed with cash at press junkets, sometimes discovered footprints on the toilet seats at work, and had to explain to the Chinese assistants more than once that they could not turn in articles copied word for word from existing pieces they found online.' Anecdotes abound in this piece including the story of a photojournalist who 'once ran a picture he'd taken in Taiwan alongside an article, but had failed to notice a small Taiwanese flag in the background. As a result, the entire staff of his newspaper had been immediately fired and the office shut down.' " (Read more, below.)