Sun

Jonathan Schwartz unveils startup, talks about final days at Sun

Let's start with this: Jonathan Schwartz knew that the sale of Sun Microsystems was inevitable.

Schwartz, you may recall, was Sun's last chief executive--the guy who, in 2006, inherited control of a trailblazing company that had seen better days. He was full of personality until his departure, which he announced in a haiku tweet, but he acknowledges that there wasn't much he could have done to reverse the slide that eventually led to Oracle's 2009 deal to buy the company for $7.4 billion.

Could Schwartz have slowed Sun's decline? Sure. But stopped it? Not … Read more

Oracle squashes 78 software bugs in latest patch

Oracle yesterday deployed 78 different security fixes aimed at patching holes throughout its various database products.

As part of the company's January critical patch update, 16 of the 78 fixes were considered critical, meaning they could be exploited remotely. The fixes stretched across much of Oracle's product lineup, including Oracle Database Server, Fusion Middleware, E-Business Suite, Oracle Sun products, MySQL, VirtualBox, and PeopleSoft.

One of the patches addresses a major flaw that could compromise the security of Oracle database systems. Initially researched by InfoWorld, the flaw was shared with Oracle before the tech publication went live with the … Read more

Intel smartphone chip No. 1 in some benchmarks, says report

Intel's new chip for smartphones handily beats some of the fastest phones on the market, according to chip review site Anandtech.

Intel's Atom Z2460 "Medfield" delivers "tablet-like scores" on the BrowserMark benchmark, wrote Anand Shimpi. "The Galaxy Nexus running ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich) comes close, but once again Intel expects that on the same OS Medfield should be faster than any of the currently available SoCs (system-on-a-chip)," he said.

Intel announced the Medfield chip Tuesday at CES. The system-on-a-chip will be used in upcoming smartphones--and presumably other devices--from Lenovo and Motorola.

And … Read more

Old tech bands together for 'House of the Rising Sun' cover

First, there was "The Imperial March" and now, there's "House of the Rising Sun."

The traditional folk song is just the latest tune to be covered by an unlikely group of musicians: old computer equipment. YouTube user bd594 assembled a handful of old tech to re-create the tune made famous by the English rock group The Animals in the mid-1960s.

In his video description, bd594 explains that he used an Atari 800XL with an EiCO Oscilloscope to play the part of the organ, while the combination of an HP Scanjet 3P, Adaptec SCSI card, and an Ubuntu v9.10-powered computer provided the "vocals." The guitar section was performed by a Texas Instrument Ti-99/4A computer with a Tektronix Oscilloscope, and a hard drive powered by a PiC16F84A microcontroller created the bass, drum, and cymbals section.

Each instrument was recorded separately and then mixed; bd594 insists no sampling and audio effects were used in the recording session. What results is a pretty impressive and fresh take on the song. … Read more

U.S. betting on concentrated solar

The Department of Energy has decided to invest $60 million over the next three years to develop and commercialize concentrated solar technology, Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced yesterday afternoon.

This investment comes out of the U.S. government's SunShot Initiative, a plan to reduce the cost of solar energy in the U.S. by 75 percent in order to make it more cost effective and competitive with other energy sources, according to Chu.

What is interesting about this particular funding is that the DOE seems to have listened to the critics of concentrated solar and gotten very specific about … Read more

Solar firm SunPower goes micro

A leading solar manufacturer has decided to offer panels with microinverters for automatically converting electricity from direct current to alternating current.

SunPower, which is partly owned by gas and oil giant Total, announced this week it's adding the E18 and E19 AC Solar Panel series to its line of solar panels. The new solar-panel models will come integrated with SolarBridge Pantheon AC microinverters made by SolarBridge Technologies.

Normally, a solar panel generates electricity in DC (direct current), and needs to be routed to an inverter that converts it to AC (alternating current), the standard used in homes, before it … Read more

Scott McNealy's startup: Hash tags, polls on steroids

PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif.--Everyone wants to know what groups of people--large and small--are thinking in real time. But there has never really been a good way to figure it out.

That's the proposition behind the new startup from former Sun CEO Scott McNealy, called Wayin, which thinks it has the answer.

Wayin, which launched last night, is a system that aims to give people a way to share their thoughts about things--be it a question related to a live baseball game, a political debate, or the passing of a tech titan--in real time. Essentially, said McNealy at a … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1560: iPhone 5 invite: we've cracked the code! (Podcast)

Welcome to our first Buzz Out Loud Weekly, which is, ironically, our third show this week! It's a stair-step approach, really. We're recapping and analyzing Amazon's Kindle conflagration, wondering what the new iPhone 5 will look like and whether hidden retail skus do indeed point to a cheaper model, and pondering where to get free coffee on this, National Coffee Day. Plus, your calls and letters -- keep them coming!

Oracle to debut Sparc server with new T4 chips

Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison made his fortune with software, but he'll take the stage today to show off the first servers powered by the company's new Sparc T4 processor.

The product, called the Sparc SuperCluster T4-4, is "the first engineered system from a new generation of high-performance Oracle Sparc servers," according to an Oracle invitation to the event . Ellison will share the stage with John Fowler, the systems executive vice president who also led Sun's server group, at Oracle's Redwood Shores, Calif., headquarters.

Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems last year for its server products, … Read more

New Jersey hospital to add 2.1 megawatts of solar

St. Peter's University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J., announced today it's beginning construction this October to install 10,000 solar panels throughout its campus.

The 2.1-megawatt project will be the largest solar installation of any hospital in New Jersey to date, and be distributed across six different locations within the hospital's campus.

The solar system will include two rooftop installations, three parking lots with solar carports, and a solar carport on the roof of an existing parking garage.

The solar system will be constructed by Sun Farm Network, and the 10,000 solar cells will … Read more