SAP to buy Ariba, boosts cloud bet
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Top European software company SAP AG plans to buy Ariba Inc in a deal valuing the business and commerce network company at $4.3 billion, its latest maneuver against Oracle in the fast-growing Internet-based computing market. SAP is taking aim at Oracle, the world's No. 2 maker of business management software, as they vie with Salesforce.com Inc in the multibillion dollar cloud-computing services market, one of the industry's hottest area of growth. Shares in Ariba, which were halted briefly, leapt 20 percent to SAP's offer price of about $45 per share. ...
Microsoft says 350 million Windows 7 devices will ship by the end of 2012
Despite the fact that Windows 8 is expected to launch in October, Microsoft still has high hopes for its Windows 7 operating system. The software giant predicts that 350 million Windows 7 devices will ship by the end of 2012, Bloomberg reported. “It makes Windows the most popular single system,” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said at a forum in Seoul, South Korea, although he didn’t provide any figures for comparison. Windows 7 was released in October 2009 and within two years, the operating system surpassed Windows XP to become the world’s most popular OS. Read
NASA Time-Lapse of Sea Currents
Click on the video below and prepare to be mesmerized. It’s called “Perpetual Ocean,” and it was put together by NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. It was actually done about a year ago, compiling data from several satellites...
Web series touts funky concept snowboards
In the summer of 2010, Signal Snowboards created the Web series "Every Third Thursday" to showcase the company's experimentation with funky concept boards. Think Science Channel’s “How It’s Made” — except with a lot more sass and a funkier setting.
The numbers on the Facebook earnings revisions
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Four of Facebook's major underwriters -- Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Bank of America -- reduced their financial estimates for the soon-to-be-public company following the release of a revised prospectus on May 9 that noted the negative impact of mobile users on Facebook's business. While Facebook did not provide any specifics in its amended S-1 filing, the four underwriters reduced their earnings and revenue estimates for both the second quarter of 2012 and the full year within the next two days, according to sources. ...
First Meteor Shower of 2012 Dazzles
The Quadrantid meteor shower, the first major show of shooting stars in 2012, peaks in the hours before dawn on Wednesday. The best seeing should be after the moon sets around 3 a.m. Astronomers say you may see 60-200 shooting stars per hour if the weather is clear.
