4:07 AM
I was on hold for awhile this morning so I was able to finish the LOTD early today.
Oracle signed a deal to purchase Sun for $7.4 billion, paying $9.50 per share. Oracle shares went up $2.41 per share to $9.10 during the first hour the stock market was open today:
http://www.infoworld.com/t/mergers-and-acquisitions/update-oracle-agrees-buy-sun-74b-095?source=NLC-DAILY
Article about some of the challenges Oracle will face, including how to succeed with Sun's hardware business when Oracle has focused on software before this:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/hardware/can-oracle-make-sense-suns-hardware-131?source=NLC-DAILY
PG&E is planning to sign a contract to get 1,700 gigawatt hours of solar energy from space. Startup company Solaren would design, build and launch the solar array into space, operate the satellite and deliver the electricity to PG&E's grid. PG&E would be taking about 200 MW of their 1000 MW of electrical capacity, so they are looking for others who might want to buy their electricity. The idea first came from an Isaac Asimov book:
http://www.cleantech.com/news/4361/solarens-plan-outer-space
Solaren has an interesting patent application that uses a solar-powered space station to kill hurricanes from space. This article also casts doubt on the business model behind Solaren's plans to sell solar energy from space:
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/04/weathermod.html
Britain's MI5 is looking for a real-life Q:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iT953RIOA_57IT_WUJ3bXejel8Fg
The struggling economy and improvements in technology has resulted in the replacement of building site security guards with high-tech CCTV cameras:
http://www.nebusiness.co.uk/business-news/latest-business-news/2009/04/20/cctv-surge-as-security-guards-are-phased-out-51140-23421992/
The "green" training ammo that the Army introduced in the 90s was designed to be less toxic and more environmentally friendly than the normal lead-filled rounds...but research has found that the green ammo might actually cause cancer so the Army has stopped its production:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/04/toxic-tungsten.html
The NSA says that it inadvertently overcollected data from Americans because they have difficulty in distinguishing between communications from outside the US and those originating and terminating in the US itself:
http://web20.telecomtv.com/pages/?newsid=44809&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10
The father of the little girl on Slumdog Millionaire is literally trying cash in on his daughter's success by selling his daughter for millions of rupees:
Article link
WiMAX appears to be dying in France:
http://www.muniwireless.com/2009/04/13/is-wimax-dead-in-france/
Meru announced the first video-over-wireless solution optimized for 11n:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/press-releases/meru-unveils-first-video-over-wireless-infrastructure-solution-optimized-802-11n-netw
Meru just closed a $30 million funding round:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/press-releases/meru-networks-raises-30-million-new-funding-0?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal
Commentary about how AT&T needs Apple more than Apple needs AT&T. With Verizon openly talking about how an LTE-enabled iPhone would be great on their network (and Verizon will have their LTE network ready around a year before AT&T will have LTE), AT&T is in a difficult negotiating position to keep the iPhone an exclusive without giving Apple much more than they get right now:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/t-needs-apple-more-apple-needs-t/2009-04-20?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal
Sprint is ramping up its advertising campaign for the Palm Pre, including taking out a $264k ad in the Wall Street Journal:
http://www.intomobile.com/2009/04/19/sprint-goes-all-out-with-264000-palm-pre-advertisement.html
Microsoft apparently lacks the legal weapons to derail or even disturb the open-source movement, and Microsoft appears to be quite conflicted about open-source software in their actions:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source/has-microsoft-lost-its-war-open-source-928?source=NLC-DAILY
A judge in Saudi Arabia has now twice refused to annul a marriage between a 47-year-old man and an 8-year-old girl. The same judge refused a petition from the girl's mother who was trying to get a divorce for her child:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/04/12/saudi.child.marriage/index.html
A former bishop in Paraguay has admitted that he fathered a baby with a woman that he had a relationship with while he was a bishop, with the sexual relationship apparently beginning when she was 16 and he was 47. This type of scandal we've all heard about before...but the twist in this scandal is that now this former bishop is the PRESIDENT of Paraguay!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30193616/
Oracle signed a deal to purchase Sun for $7.4 billion, paying $9.50 per share. Oracle shares went up $2.41 per share to $9.10 during the first hour the stock market was open today:
http://www.infoworld.com/t/mergers-and-acquisitions/update-oracle-agrees-buy-sun-74b-095?source=NLC-DAILY
Article about some of the challenges Oracle will face, including how to succeed with Sun's hardware business when Oracle has focused on software before this:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/hardware/can-oracle-make-sense-suns-hardware-131?source=NLC-DAILY
PG&E is planning to sign a contract to get 1,700 gigawatt hours of solar energy from space. Startup company Solaren would design, build and launch the solar array into space, operate the satellite and deliver the electricity to PG&E's grid. PG&E would be taking about 200 MW of their 1000 MW of electrical capacity, so they are looking for others who might want to buy their electricity. The idea first came from an Isaac Asimov book:
http://www.cleantech.com/news/4361/solarens-plan-outer-space
Solaren has an interesting patent application that uses a solar-powered space station to kill hurricanes from space. This article also casts doubt on the business model behind Solaren's plans to sell solar energy from space:
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/04/weathermod.html
Britain's MI5 is looking for a real-life Q:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iT953RIOA_57IT_WUJ3bXejel8Fg
The struggling economy and improvements in technology has resulted in the replacement of building site security guards with high-tech CCTV cameras:
http://www.nebusiness.co.uk/business-news/latest-business-news/2009/04/20/cctv-surge-as-security-guards-are-phased-out-51140-23421992/
The "green" training ammo that the Army introduced in the 90s was designed to be less toxic and more environmentally friendly than the normal lead-filled rounds...but research has found that the green ammo might actually cause cancer so the Army has stopped its production:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/04/toxic-tungsten.html
The NSA says that it inadvertently overcollected data from Americans because they have difficulty in distinguishing between communications from outside the US and those originating and terminating in the US itself:
http://web20.telecomtv.com/pages/?newsid=44809&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10
The father of the little girl on Slumdog Millionaire is literally trying cash in on his daughter's success by selling his daughter for millions of rupees:
Article link
WiMAX appears to be dying in France:
http://www.muniwireless.com/2009/04/13/is-wimax-dead-in-france/
Meru announced the first video-over-wireless solution optimized for 11n:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/press-releases/meru-unveils-first-video-over-wireless-infrastructure-solution-optimized-802-11n-netw
Meru just closed a $30 million funding round:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/press-releases/meru-networks-raises-30-million-new-funding-0?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal
Commentary about how AT&T needs Apple more than Apple needs AT&T. With Verizon openly talking about how an LTE-enabled iPhone would be great on their network (and Verizon will have their LTE network ready around a year before AT&T will have LTE), AT&T is in a difficult negotiating position to keep the iPhone an exclusive without giving Apple much more than they get right now:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/t-needs-apple-more-apple-needs-t/2009-04-20?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal
Sprint is ramping up its advertising campaign for the Palm Pre, including taking out a $264k ad in the Wall Street Journal:
http://www.intomobile.com/2009/04/19/sprint-goes-all-out-with-264000-palm-pre-advertisement.html
Microsoft apparently lacks the legal weapons to derail or even disturb the open-source movement, and Microsoft appears to be quite conflicted about open-source software in their actions:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source/has-microsoft-lost-its-war-open-source-928?source=NLC-DAILY
A judge in Saudi Arabia has now twice refused to annul a marriage between a 47-year-old man and an 8-year-old girl. The same judge refused a petition from the girl's mother who was trying to get a divorce for her child:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/04/12/saudi.child.marriage/index.html
A former bishop in Paraguay has admitted that he fathered a baby with a woman that he had a relationship with while he was a bishop, with the sexual relationship apparently beginning when she was 16 and he was 47. This type of scandal we've all heard about before...but the twist in this scandal is that now this former bishop is the PRESIDENT of Paraguay!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30193616/