Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on January 16, 2008 by CyberNet.

MySQL was acquired by Sun Microsystems today (also here and here) for a whopping $1 billion. I can’t say it was something I was expecting after MySQL has remained independent for over 10 years, but in the end I think it will be good for both the companies involved and the users.

The MySQL blog feels that users of the popular database software have little to worry about:

Given Sun’s proven track record as the largest contributor to Open Source, I think MySQL users have plenty of reason to feel happy about the acquisition. There are many companies that attempt to ride the wave of positive attention towards Open Source, but in my judgement, Sun gets it right.

The 350+ MySQL employees will be joining Sun’s 34,000+ employees, creating what I hope to be a remarkable team. The good news is that MySQL is currently available under the GPL license, which essentially means anyone can fork it off into their own product if they so desire. If Sun drops the ball it’s likely that someone else will pickup where the project left off.

Like most acquisitions we have to ride this one out to see if the end result is better or worse than what we would like. Sun is a good promoter of open source software though, and I would have to believe that they will not let us down.

Read more on the MySQL blog or on the Sun blog
Kudos to Mohan for the tip!

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Years ago, I believed experts who said Net Neutrality wasn’t a big deal for two reasons. First, It never really existed in the first place (because many ISPs prioritize traffic in some way, say, for or against online gaming). Second, the free market would solve the problem, because ISPs that threw up bad content roadblocks would be abandoned.

Read more…

Most people will immediately associate Mozilla with the popular Firefox web browser, but it does so much more than that. Firefox OS is the prime example, a new platform that’s already powering a few low cost smartphones. Mozilla has already said that Firefox OS smartphones aren’t going to be launched in the U.S. any time soon, that’s because it wants to focus on markets where saturation isn’t sky high. The buck doesn’t stop with low-end smartphones, Mozilla has created its very own Firefox OS tablet prototype and is conducting tests to see how its nascent platform performs on a different form factor.

(more…)

Firefox OS Tablet Prototypes Enter Test Phase original content from Ubergizmo.

Nintendo is having a tough time moving Wii U units, it has actually slashed sales forecast for the console by almost 70 percent, after predicting operating loss to the tune of $336 million. The company seems to have realized that it needs to change its strategy a bit, change the way that it conducts its business. It doesn’t come as a surprise that Nintendo has begun to ponder over mobile devices, as president Satoru Iwata said in a press conference, the company is “thinking about a new business structure.”

Iwata said that Nintendo is “studying” how the popularity of smart devices can be leveraged to further expand the game-player business. It might be that easy though, “It’s not as simple as enabling Mario to move on a smartphone,” Iwata says. Gaming, particularly handheld gaming, has evolved a lot over the past few years and Nintendo seems to have understood that. “If we stay in one place, we will become outdated,” Iwata said, without delving into further details about its study on mobile devices. Does this mean that Nintendo will finally open up to the idea of supplying its games to smartphones, even if some might see it as obtaining short term gain at the expense of long term growth? Time will tell, though Nintendo hasn’t always been a big fan of the idea.

Nintendo Is ‘Studying’ Mobile Devices original content from Ubergizmo.

It all started with T-Mobile and its uncarrier initiative last year. Magenta did away with conventional service contracts and announced its Jump program, through which it allows customers to upgrade their phones without having to worry about waiting to be eligible for an upgrade. The other carriers went down this exact same route, Verizon launched its Edge program through which it began allowing existing subscribers to upgrade mid-contract after six months had passed. Big Red has now cut down the upgrade time on the Edge plan from six months to just 30 days.

What this means is that after just 30 days, subscribers will be able to upgrade their phone, provided that at least 50 percent of the phone’s price has been paid off. They can then select a new phone and pay its full retail price in 24 monthly installments which will be added to the usual monthly bill. Existing phone can be traded and for a limited time, Verizon is offering a $100 gift card when subscribers trade in an old phone and buy a new 4G LTE smartphone on Verizon Edge. The carrier will also throw in free activation to further sweeten the deal. This new deal is said to be a promotion, though Verizon hasn’t specified what the end date is just yet.

Verizon Edge Upgrade Time Cut To 30 Days original content from Ubergizmo.