I’ve always daydreamed about what working at IKEA must be like: Creating whimsical reindeer-shaped furniture, testing new meatball recipes, and dreaming up adorable product names. But as the Wall Street Journal reveals today, the process of developing products at the world’s largest furniture retailer is an epic, efficiency-driven numbers game.
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It appears the tests of an IPTV-ready TiVo on Sweden’s Com Hem service went well, as the provider is officially launching service September 30th. It’s also built a few new service packages around the three tuner, 1TB HDD-equipped DVR, with the TiVo Max option offering about 80 channels and TiVo Combo Max bundling internet and phone service. Another part of some of the TiVo packages is a TiVoToGo offering that let’s users stream several live TV channels and video on-demand to other devices, along with DVR scheduling and remote control features from the iOS app. The other juicy detail is that, like Virgin Media in the UK and Google Fiber in the US, Com Hem will allow the Netflix app on its set-top boxes. The Netflix feature is expected to launch on its TiVos in December, and we figure there will be plenty of customers ready, with a claimed 45,000 already preregistered for the new boxes since May 15th.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Com Hem
Facebook’s first European data center in Luleå, Sweden (near the Arctic Circle) is now online, and thus far it’s the only facility that’s exclusively using servers the company itself designed. Similar to the social network’s North Carolina complex that served as testing ground for its outdoor air-cooling configuration, the Swedish facility takes advantage of the region’s frigid winds. Excess heat produced by the machines is then routed to offices to keep employees warm in the chilly region. The firm claims the 900,000-square-foot center is powered entirely by hydroelectric energy — a source so reliable that Facebook saw it fit to scale down the number of backup generators by more than 70 percent. With an average power usage efficiency (PUE) of 1.07, the servers should consume 1.07 watts of energy for each watt they need to function pointing to minimal energy loss. Now that the Luleå installation is complete and operational, the company can focus on building its $1.5 billion megastructure (its biggest data center yet) in Altoona, Iowa.
[Image credit: Facebook]
Via: Ars Technica, The Register
Source: Facebook
Google has just secured the services of an entire 72MW wind farm in Maevaara, Sweden for the next ten years to keep its Finnish data center humming, according to the official blog. It brokered the deal through German insurer Allianz, which purchased the farm and will begin selling all the electricity it produces to Mountain View by 2015. The move is part of Google’s quest to remain carbon neutral, and is along similar lines to a recent deal which saw the search giant purchase 48MW of energy from a wind farm in Oklahoma. The news follows Apple’s announcement that it gets 75 percent of its power from renewable sources — showing the arch-foes can at least agree on something.
Filed under: Misc, Internet, Google
Source: Google
While there are signs HTC’s fortunes might turn a corner through the launch of the One, few would doubt that its finances could use some streamlining. The company has just outlined one of the ways it will be pinching pennies: it’s closing its Watch movie stores in Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden by May 31st, with some Italians reporting a shutdown on the 15th. As the company explains to us in a statement (after the break), it’s concentrating on supporting Watch in those regions with the “highest engagement” while dropping those with “less application traffic” — in short, markets with poor performance get the boot. HTC stresses that Watch isn’t going away, however, and it’s delivering a steady stream of content. We’re glad to hear that the company is sharpening its focus rather than cutting the cord. Still, that won’t be much consolation to movie-loving Europeans and Scandinavians.
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile, HTC
Source: Telefonino.net (translated)
The Swedish Language Council appeared on Google’s radar when it wanted to add the term ungoogleable (in Swedish, ogooglebar — yep) to a list of new words. The company didn’t want the word nixed, but redefined to reference Google directly and not just any general search engine — this was the initial meaning of the term. Lawyers got involved, but instead of battling in court, the Language council decided to drop the addition entirely, not due to the objection but to bring more input to the process and avoid any legal time (and money) being wasted. The head of the council, Ann Cederberg said that “it’s our use that gives it meaning — not a multinational company exerting pressure.” For now, at least, it looks like the definition is headed in the same direction of the one-time home of the Swedish Chef translator.
Via: Geek
Source: The Local.se
LG is about to kick its currently slow, worldwide Optimus G deployment into high gear. Right in time for Mobile World Congress, the company has confirmed that its late 2012 flagship is about to reach Europe. Sweden gets first crack at the Optimus G before February is over, while at least France, Germany and Italy are next in line. Every European version will ship with the Jelly Bean update LG promised for new launches back in late January. It adds more than just obvious Android 4.1 features like Google Now and rich notifications: there’s a wider variety of QSlide-friendly apps, better status bar controls and small perks like Privacy Keeper for calls and Safety Care live support. We’re still waiting for Jelly Bean to hit the US, but Europeans (and envious Americans) can see what they’ll get by watching the video after the break.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG
Whether you chalk it up to the hyper-realism of today’s video games or an overzealous neighborhood watch program, it’s hard to blame the Swedish police who responded to a frantic call reporting what sounded like a brutal massacre. The ten-man team raided the apartment to find a group of teenagers in the midst of murder and destruction, yes, but also enjoying just another friendly night in playing Call of Duty. More »
You’re looking at what was once the main junction for telephone connections in Stockholm. See all the wires? That’s because it was used for around 5,000 phone lines—literal lines—from 1887-1913. More »
Last night in Saltsjöbanan, Sweden, a young woman decided to try her hand at driving a train. It didn’t end well: she careered off the end of line and straight into this house. More »
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