Dogecoin, for those who don't spend their time indulging in internet meta-memes, may seem like harmless nerdery. But for one enterprising hacker, it's created a small fortune -- at the price of annoying a lot of systems administrators. A pair of researchers at Dell's Secureworks security division...
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-06/18/dogecoin-hacker
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Jun 16, 2014
Today's news of flash-memory giant SanDisk buying out Fusion.io in an all-cash transaction valued at $1.1 billion wasn't entirely all that unexpected. Today's flash storage market is in a state of flux with a flood of acquisitions and offerings taking place as big storage players like SanDisk and Western Digital are trying to boost their storage expertise with companies that can bring software expertise to the table.
In late May, storage provider Seagate Technology purchased Avago's flash businesses for $450 million. Last September, Western Digital swallowed server-side flash storage company Virident for $683 million, which came only three months after the hard-drive maker spent $340 million to purchase solid-state drive company sTec. EMC has even gotten into the flash storage battleground with its updated VNX hybrid storage array that it rolled out last September.
With the advent of cloud computing, companies don't want to have spend their time manually determining which data should be partitioned to RAM, flash or even a spinning disk; they want software to figure this out and automate the task.
While Fusion.io's recent management issues certainly don't offer a sense that the company was operating on steady ground, the fact that SanDisk sought it out highlights the ever-important need for software to be integrated with hardware in order to improve efficiency.
Both Western Digital and Sandisk have specialized in making physical boxes, but they haven't focussed on software, which is Cottonwood Heights, Utah-based Fusion.io's specialty.
Remote desktop apps have an easier time working on tablets, where you have a lot of display area to work with, but they're frequently awkward on smartphones. Wouldn't it be nice if you could control a PC at home like it was just another phone app? Parallels is tackling that challenge head-on with smartphone-friendly versions of its Access app for both Android and the iPhone. Much like the earlier iPad release, the new titles give you a remote view of your Mac or Windows PC that's optimized for your mobile platform of choice. You can launch programs, select text and type almost as if the computer's software were built for a small screen. On the Android client (which also handles tablets), Parallels will even let you create shortcuts to jump directly into favorite desktop apps.
The wider support comes alongside a bundle of fairly hefty upgrades. It's now possible to wake up your computer in some circumstances, so you won't have to always leave it running for Access to work. You can also choose from extra screen resolutions if you need to see more of your desktop at a glance, and apps can borrow your device microphone for speech recognition or a quick voice chat. Those on iOS have the added perk of a file browser that makes it easier to track down that all-important presentation.
For some, the biggest change may be the cost of entry. Parallels has cut its personal subscription price from $80 to $20 for one year, and $35 for two years ($30 if you sign up by the end of June). That's obviously a much better value, particularly if you only occasionally need to reach your PC. There's also a new business tier that lets companies hook up five people for $50 per year. All the new apps are free to try for a couple of weeks, so it won't hurt to give them a shakedown. Who knows -- they might save your bacon the next time you leave your laptop at home.
Source: http://gizmodo.com/genetically-modified-orange-bananas-are-ready-for-human-1591535115
It's been nearly a decade in development, but a genetically modified breed of bananas that's designed to combat starvation will soon enter human testing. The bananas are rich in beta-carotene which turns into vitamin A in the body. For the children in Africa suffering from vitamin A deficiencies, this is a godsend. Also these banana are orange.
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/merger-mania-june-2014-2014-6
There have been a lot of mergers this year.
The first quarter of 2014 was the busiest first quarter for U.S. M&A activity since the first quarter of 2007, according to MergerMarket.
The first quarter also saw the largest aggregate deal value since 2007 and the largest average deal size since 2009.
And in the second quarter, there have been three U.S. merger proposals worth at least $40 billion.
On April 22, Valeant made its first offer for Allergan, which was worth about $46 billion, and has twice increased its offer for the Botox-maker. Valeant's deal raises a number of issues for the pharmaceutical industry, which we discussed at length last week.
On May 18, AT&T reached an agreement to acquire DirecTV for $95 per share. The offer represented a total transaction value of $67.1 billion.
And just yesterday, medical device-maker Medtronic agreed to acquire Covidien in a deal worth $42.9 billion that also involves a controversial "tax inversion" plan.
The Medtronic-Covidien mega merger also comes amid at least three deal announcements this mor! ning worth more than $1 billion.
And today's deals also follow last Friday's announcement that Priceline would buy OpenTable for $2.6 billion.
Recent reports have also said that Sprint is getting close to buying T-Mobile for more than $30 billion.
And let's not forget about Comcast's $45 billion deal to buy Time Warner announced in February, which proposed to create the nation's largest cable company, which customers probably won't be crazy about. And neither are some U.S. lawmakers.
This chart from FactSet shows the number of deals and the aggregate deal value over the last 15 months.
As you can see in this chart from FactSet, volume and value have both been elevated in 2014 compared to last year.
But it's the mega deals that really get people's attention.
In today's Wall Street Journal, two separate articles discuss the possibility of further consolidation in the cable and media space.
Miriam Gottfried's Heard on the Street column said it could be the right time for CBS and Viacom, which split in 2006, to get back together.
Meanwhile Amol Sharma and Keach Hagey report t! hat smal ler TV channel owners like AMC Networks and Scripps Networks could benefit from being acquired by a larger company.
But this increase in deal activity does not come as a complete surprise.
Reports from financial advisory firms American Appraisal and KPMG said that M&A activity in 2014 was expected to be strong.
American Appraisal said it expected consolidation across industries to increase deal volumes in 2014.
KPMG said 63% of the more than 1,000 M&A professionals surveyed expected their company or their clients to initiate at least one acquisition in 2014.
With the stock market near record highs, companies are also using their stock prices to finance deals, a la Facebook's $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp, which was comprised of 75% stock and 25% cash.
Interest rates and overall market volatility also remain low, making it easy for companies to borrow money to finance large acquisitions.
Don't be surprised to see even more merger activity this year.
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