Business Tech

Acer execs downplay Android, hint at Verizon Netbook deal

Acer executives said that Google's Android still has a long way to go before it can be used as the operating system for the hot new category of laptops known as Netbooks. And the CEO of the Taiwanese company hinted that its Netbooks may soon end up on Verizon Wireless' network.

At a press event Tuesday night to launch the company's new line of consumer and business computers, Chief Executive Gianfranco Lanci and Jim Wong head of Acer's IT products business line, told reporters that the company plans to use Google's Android operating system on its … Read more

Google adding Java support to App Engine

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--Google announced Tuesday it's adding support for Java to App Engine, its service for running software on Google's own computing infrastructure.

Today, Google offers only applications written in Python, a language that's popular among the search giant's engineers but not as widely used in the outside world. Java, though, is commonplace among organizations' server software, and Java support was the top-requested feature for Google App Engine.

"I'm really excited to give you an early preview of Java language support on App Engine," Graham Spencer, a Google engineering director, said at … Read more

Acer PC joins Nvidia's 'Ion' with Intel's Atom

Updated at 3:50 p.m. PST: correcting for Intel GN40 graphics support and adding pricing information for target market.

Acer launched a PC Tuesday that attempts to bring PC-class performance to Atom-processor-based PCs.

The Acer AspireRevo is the first Atom-based PC from a major PC supplier to use Nvidia's Ion chipset that packs GeForce 9400M graphics, the same graphics used in the Apple 13-inch MacBook and MacBook Air.

By design, Atom is a more power frugal and, concomitantly, slower processor than Intel's mainstream Core 2 chip architecture.

The AspireRevo's marquee external feature is the diminutive size: … Read more

End nears for XP, Office 2003 support

Correction, 10:05 a.m. PDT April 8: This story misstated the type of support available after mainstream support ends next week. Under extended support, available for XP and business versions of Office 2003, users can sign up to get paid support or pay for help on a per-incident or hourly basis.

Microsoft will drop mainstream support for Office 2003 on April 14--the same day that the retirement process begins for Windows XP.

Although mainstream support for the Office 2003 applications suite will come to an end, Microsoft has the product scheduled to remain in "extended support" until … Read more

Q&A: Zend CEO talks up latest server releases

Zend is widely known as "The PHP Company," and this week, it's announcing new products that further its mission to make PHP the most popular language for building dynamic Web applications.

I spoke with company co-founder and recently appointed CEO Andi Gutmans about the upcoming product launch and the rise of PHP in the enterprise.

Q: What is Zend announcing this week? Gutmans: We're announcing the general availability of Zend Server and Zend Server CE. We released the beta in February and have been working diligently over the last couple months to put the finishing touches on both products.

Zend Server is an enterprise-ready Web application server for running and managing business-critical PHP applications that require a high level of reliability, performance, and security. Zend Server CE is our first-ever community version of Zend Server that gives developers a complete, simple, and faster way to develop and deploy PHP applications. We're very happy with the end results!

When you start talking about high reliability, security, and performance, it sounds like you're working to disrupt traditional Java environments? Is my hunch correct? Gutmans: The Java disruption by PHP is well under way.

PHP is everywhere, and Zend's solutions are being used in business-critical deployments by companies such as Tagged, Fiat, BNP Paribas, and Fox Interactive Media, to name a few. The strategic adoption of Zend in larger accounts, often in favor of Java, is related to our strong return on investment and shorter time to market.

The business is growing as a result of the maturation of Zend and the PHP ecosystem, which includes enterprise-grade frameworks such as Zend Framework and standardized tooling such as the Eclipse-based Zend Studio. We've also done a great deal of work with large vendors such as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and Adobe Systems to successfully interoperate in enterprise environments.

With Zend Server, we're taking this maturity to the next level and addressing the increasing market demand we see for a production environment that can support PHP developers and administrators. … Read more

Wireless industry wants in on health care stimulus money

Companies in the wireless industry hope they can jump on the stimulus spending gravy-train as hospitals and other medical facilities seek money from the government's economic stimulus package.

Wireless in the health care industry was a big highlight at last week's CTIA Wireless 2009 trade show in Las Vegas, where Dr. Eric Topol, chief academic officer of Scripps Health, gave a speech and demonstrated how wireless operations can benefit health care.

And this week, many wireless companies and several other big technology companies are gathering in Chicago at a health care technology trade show. Several companies such as … Read more

Intel launches new chip logos, rating system

Intel has revamped its processor badging and rating system. Consumers are the main target, though business systems will get new badging too.

The new badges include a die (the chip minus the packaging) accent in the upper right hand corner, a prominent main brand (e.g., "Core"), and the modifier (e.g., "i7").

Intel has also instituted a star system that rates chips from five stars (best performance in class) to one star (lowest performance). "So when a consumer goes into a Best Buy store they can distinguish between Centrino, Core, Celeron, Core 2 Duo, … Read more

Sun stands by its man

After taking a beating in the stock market Monday following the reported collapse of a merger deal with IBM, Sun Microsystems stood by its leadership team.

Reuters reported that Sun declined to confirm the breakdown in negotiations, but did say "Sun is committed to its leadership team, growth strategy and building value for its shareholders." Speculation had been building that CEO Jonathan Schwartz was in trouble after The Wall Street Journal reported that Chairman Scott McNealy had quashed a possible deal with IBM over Schwartz's objections.

IBM and Sun had been talking for several weeks about a … Read more

Google Health expands deal with CVS

Customers of CVS' pharmacy will be able to import their prescription records into a Google Health account as a result of an expanded deal between the two companies. The deal was announced Monday.

An earlier deal already allowed workers whose company uses CVS Caremark to handle drug benefits to use Google Health to store their drug records. The new deal expands this to customers of CVS' network of retail pharmacies.

"We now offer all of our consumers the ability to download their prescription and medication history into their Google Health Personal Health Record, whether they are CVS/pharmacy customers, … Read more