Miscellaneous

I'm almost always saddened by news of businesses being forced to close because of the economy, but I'm glad to see the apparent demise of JuicyCampus.com. The site, according to a blog post from its founder Matt Ivester, is shutting down because "in these historically difficult economic times, online ad revenue has plummeted and venture capital funding has dissolved."

I'm not shedding any tears for Mr. Ivester. What he refers to as "lighthearted gossip of college life" was, in many situations, vicious innuendos, hateful messages, and downright lies. In covering the site … Read more

In an animated--and sometimes tense--conversation with bloggers, SAP co-CEO Leo Apotheker said the software giant would step over a systems integrator if it would save an IT project.

That comment, which was in response to multiple questions about the triangle between consultants, SAP, and customers, illustrates how the enterprise application vendor is trying to end the days where it's a whipping boy for failed implementations.

"I don't give a s**t if it's Accenture or IBM. I care about the customer. I find it shocking people are walking around talking to customers and have no experience … Read more

When Slacker Radio first introduced its streaming Internet radio app for the BlackBerry, it only worked on standard BlackBerrys running version 4.3 and above. Starting Wednesday, the free app gets touchy-feely with a brand new version for the BlackBerry's touch-screen Storm.

Slacker Radio for the Storm brings with it everything we loved on the Curve and Bold, including its best feature ever, caching a song to play offline later. It also throws in some touch-screen specials, like support for landscape mode.

The app still serves U.S. customers only on the BlackBerry and iPhone.

To get it, go … Read more

NBC's Chuck aired in 3D Monday, and it left many viewers wanting to do exactly that with the paper 3D glasses: chuck them.

The overriding opinion of many people interviewed who tuned in to the 3D television event was disappointment.

"I thought it was a gimmick and did not add anything to the show," said Jamie Knapp of Columbus, Ohio. "The red/blue (glasses) did not look good and gave me a headache."

The 3D promotion was intended to raise awareness of 3D movies, specifically ones coming to theaters soon, like Monsters vs. Aliens from … Read more

If you're already using Pageonce on your BlackBerry, get ready for version 2.0.

On Wednesday, the Silicon Valley company is releasing an upgrade to its productivity application.

Instead of getting a fresh lick of paint or a slew of new features, Pageonce 2.0--which lets you view status feeds for your social networks, e-mail, flights, and finances from a centralized app--will simply, importantly, give you full managerial control over the app's basic functions. Starting Wednesday, you'll be able to register, add accounts, and delete them from the phone.

While the new functionality is more a win … Read more

This story has been corrected. See below for details.

IBM plans to announce on Tuesday that it will supply the world's fastest supercomputer to the U.S. Department of Energy in the next few years, according to numerous reports.

Not only will the machine, called Sequoia, be the fastest supercomputer to date, it will blow the current record-holder out of the water. IBM's Roadrunner, located at the U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory, was the first system to reach 1.026 petaflops (a petaflop is equal to a quadrillion calculations per second; the "… Read more

I don't know why it took so long, but Microsoft has finally fixed Vista. Only it isn't calling it Vista. Instead the company is working on what it's calling a new version of Windows, Windows 7. The operating system isn't commercially available, but is likely to be out by the end of the year.

I don't know how much Microsoft plans to charge for the upgrade once it's officially available, but the company should give it away free to anyone who bought Vista or a PC with Vista preinstalled. Even though there are some new features, Windows 7 strikes me mostly as a bug fix. It speeds up Windows and fixes one of its most annoying "features" and makes one particularly useful change to the user interface. It seems to me that anyone who paid for Vista is entitled to this upgrade.

Microsoft has launched a free, public, beta test of the software, but to participate you must download it by Feb. 10. It's not for everyone. Microsoft strongly recommends that "only experienced computer users sign up" for the beta program. Displayed on the screen is the caveat, "For testing purposes only." The beta will expire in August, but should be replaced by a newer beta or the real product. If you're game, you can download the beta test of Windows 7 at Microsoft's Web site

I installed it on two machines, a brand new desktop and an older notebook PC. The notebook installation was an upgrade of an old copy of Vista that I've had for a couple of years. As is often the case with Windows, the OS on that machine got pretty slow after two years of use. But Windows 7 sped it up. Until now, every new version of Windows was slower than the one it replaced.

… Read more

Former Netscape executive Mike Homer lost his battle with a rare brain disease on Sunday, reported Kara Swisher of All Things D. He was 50.

Homer suffered from Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a degenerative and fatal neurological disorder that leads to dementia (a variant is known as mad cow disease).

Among other things, Homer steered the creation of Netscape Communications' Netcenter portal until Netscape's acquisition by America Online. The Silicon Valley stalwart also worked at Apple.

Before his illness, Homer had been investing in and mentoring a series of start-ups. But he had also been focusing on philanthropy and spending time … Read more

Girl Ambition is a social-networking site on a mission. The site, which is aimed at 7- to 13-year-old girls, does more than provide communication tools. It also teaches values. Girl Ambition's CEO, Hilary DeCesare, says it's about boosting girls' self-esteem "to help promote positive female role models, going forward." In an interview, DeCesare says some activities focus on "liking yourself and your limitations." The site also teaches online safety, which makes it, in a sense, training wheels for teen social networks like Facebook and MySpace.