Solving the massively-parallel software problem
Intel and Cray have been talking this week about building supercomputers with a million cores or brains, but how will all those processors-within-processors work together and communicate with one another and how difficult will it be to write applications that take advantage of all of them?
This is the question that Stanford University hopes to answer with its Pervasive Parallelism Lab, announced on Wednesday. Read more
Wigix makes a rare bid to match eBay
Tim Draper of famed Silicon Valley venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson has listened to hundreds of pitches from start-ups over the past few years, but only three put themselves forward as alternatives to the online marketplace eBay.
“I was surprised when he told me that,” says James Chong (pictured), founder and chief executive of Wigix, the fourth eBay challenger to cross DFJ’s path. Read more
MicroHoo enters the Twilight Zone
What should we make of the odd limbo into which Microsoft’s pursuit of Yahoo has fallen since the weekend, when it failed to follow through on a threat to go hostile? Here are the possible answers:
1. The two sides are just buying time while they stitch up a deal behind the scenes. Probability: miniscule. We’re still hearing that there haven’t been any discussions since early last week. When the bankers from both sides put their heads together at that point there was still no serious talk about price (one source suggests nothing has changed since day one, with Yahoo still holding out for $40 a share and Microsoft unwilling to budge from its opening offer, which is now worth more like $29.) Read more
GTA IV gets masterpiece as well as Mature rating
The queues for Grand Theft Auto IV, which went on sale at midnight, seem justified judging by the rave reviews for the latest game from developer Rockstar Games and its publisher Take-Two.
“Rockstar’s magnum opus is a modern-day masterpiece that could change the way the world views videogames,” said Gamespy. Read more
Intel and AMD’s different classes of business
Intel is taking the high road and its rival Advanced Micro Devices the low one in search of market share in different business segments, according to announcements on Monday.
Intel unveiled a partnership with the Cray supercomputing company. In an industry first, their engineers will work together on creating a new supercomputer for release around 2012. Read more
What happens to all those logo-festooned tote bags, pens and other pieces of corporate schwag that get handed out ad-nauseam on the convention circuit? Sure, some of it eventually goes on to serve some useful purpose. But much of it goes straight into the bin.
Enter the Schwaggin’ Wagon. Born just ten days ago over lunch in LA, the Schwaggin’ Wagon has cut a high profile at this year’s Web 2.0 expo. Read more
It has been more than a year since we flagged Twitter as the most buzzworthy social application in Silicon Valley. Thirteen months later, the micro-blogging site, which allows users to follow each others’ short online updates, has become an indispensible tool for the online cognoscenti who have gathered at San Francisco’s Moscone Center for this year’s Web 2.0 expo.
Jenn Van Grove, a social media consultant, says Twitter helps her follow the latest online buzz and keep in touch with hard-to-reach people. “If I need to get in touch with someone, Twitter is much faster than email,” she says. Read more
The future of the internet gets smaller, more social
Yahoo chose the Web 2.0 Expo conference in San Francisco today to announce its was rewiring its whole network.
Who knows what Microsoft will make of this, given its plans to acquire the company. Microsoft itself has launched its Mesh hybrid computing platform at the conference. Read more
Readers get final say in online strips
Zap-pow! Web 2.0 and user-generated content have hit comic strips.
Bitstrips made waves at South by Southwest last month with its launch of a cartoon-building website that makes creating your own strip easy. Read more
Sony’s Home still under construction
We’re still a long way from Home.
Sony has just admitted that its virtual-world interface for the PlayStation 3 is going to arrive at least a year later than first expected. Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.
Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 20 years and since 2004 has reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby.
Maija Palmer has been writing about technology for the FT since 1999 and is fascinated by cybercrime, privacy and all the other issues of the information society. Based in London, she covers European tech companies and hopes that they won't all get acquired by American rivals.
Robin Kwong is the FT's technology, media and telecoms page editor in London. Formerly he was the Taipei correspondent and wrote about the companies that manufacture the vast majority of the world's computers and gadgets. He is interested in the intricacies of the technology supply chain and how China is increasingly changing the tech landscape.
Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent, and has just moved from London to join our team in San Francisco. He has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.
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