Gawker
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man vs. machine
A Computer That Answers Questions! What Will They Think of Next?
Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings is challenging IBM's Watson supercomputer. It's a replay of Big Blue's chess contest against grand master Garry Kasparov, but on an Alex Trebek-run battlefield. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Aaron Altman: Yeah, but I bet "Watson" can't name six foods that begin with the letter "Q". 6 Responses | Other threads
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badvertising
IBM running out of ideas
The company whose "Think" slogan became a generational buzzword isn't doing so well with the brand identity campaigns lately. A tipster points out that IBM's latest mouthful of a proverb, "A mandate for change is a mandate for smart," comes illustrated with what looks exactly like a 1981 Keith Haring drawing rinsed of its pizazz. The accompanying essay reads like Kevin Kelly in Wired circa 1993. I stopped reading when I got to the claim, "Smart healthcare systems can lower the cost of therapy by as much as 90%." Call me when that's ready. -
tim cook
Apple's CEO-in-waiting
Some days it seems like Steve Jobs will be CEO of Apple until he dies. But after a bout with pancreatic cancer and a health scare earlier this year, peope are starting the grieving process earlier. Part of that involves playing a guessing game about who will take his place. Fortune convincingly argues that Apple COO Tim Cook is the only real candidate. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by buzzzkilll: This is a clear case of a #2 job being vastly preferable to the #1 job, at which Cook's tenure... more » | Other threads
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sam palmisano
IBM CEO begs Obama for bailout
The world's biggest IT services firm fed the New York Times a copy of a speech CEO Sam Palmisano was scheduled to make today in front of the Council of Foreign Relations in New York City. Sam's proposal is blatant: "A technology-fueled economic recovery plan that calls for public and private investment in more efficient systems for utility grids, traffic management, food distribution, water conservation and health care." Also, free Zipcars for gossip bloggers.
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By Paul BoutinComment by AndriaGalolahere: It was like watching fly's around s**t with the CEO's at the White House. Give us all this cash... more » | Other threads
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tony fadell
iPod's father leaves Apple
Tony Fadell, the head of Apple's iPod division, is exiting Steve Jobs's reality distortion field. While Fake Steve Jobs likes to take credit for inventing the frigging iPod, its real mastermind is Tony Fadell, who took his plans for an MP3 player to Apple in 2001 as a consultant. His replacement: Former IBM chip expert Mark Papermaster, whose erstwhile employer is suing Apple to prevent him from taking a job there. That Papermaster is replacing Fadell makes its lawsuit even stranger; it is seeking to enforce a noncompete clause in his contract, but a job overseeing MP3 players and cell phones hardly seems a competitive threat to IBM. Fadell is planning to take some time off Pity. Since he joined Apple, Fadell's homepage has turned into a placeholder. We were looking forward to the return of the "jazzy, shameless self-promotion" it once offered.
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By Owen ThomasComment by ciscokidinsf: Can someone explain this to me like a 4 year old? Why the IBM guy? Is there like a secret... 1 Responses | Other threads
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lawsuits
Apple poaches IBM chip guy Mark Papermaster
Who's Mark Papermaster, the chip guru Apple and IBM are scrapping over? Here's one clue: He's the kind of guy who has no photos online. There used to be a "Mark Papermaster" profile on Facebook, but it's gone. No wonder he wants to disappear: Apple hired Papermaster, formerly a VP at IBM, possibly to run its PA Semi chip-design subsidiary. Apple switched to Intel chips for its Macs years ago, but after it bought PA Semi, speculation grew that it might use some variation on IBM's Power chips for the iPhone and iPod. Papermaster could help with that. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by alexr_vw: A guy named on only one patent isn't much of a "chip guru" if you ask me. He's clearly pure... more » | Other threads
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Cash Is King
Are tech companies turning into banks?
When Wall Street fails, Silicon Valley must step up. So goes the hubristic thinking here. Debt greases the wheels of commerce, and the sale of servers and software is no exception. And that part of the credit industry has hit a rough patch, too, with defaults on equipment loans nearly doubling in the past year. As with other credit markets, this had made traditional lenders nervous. So cash-rich tech companies are venturing into lending themselves. IBM has long had an in-house lending arm, with $24.5 billion in loans outstanding. Cisco lent $4 billion to customers last year. Even eBay is getting into the game through Bill Me Later; it acquired $550 million in consumer loans in conjunction with the purchase of the payments startup. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by macbeach: It goes with high profit margins. Can't most Apple products be purchased with no money down and no interest?... 1 Responses | Other threads
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earnings
IBM didn't get the memo, thank God
The world's largest computer services company pre-announced Q3 earnings with profits beyond analysts' forecasts. Even the Nasdaq is up on the news. Quick, ask your parents for that iPhone now.
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By Paul BoutinComment by thekevin: Bad timing, I had just shoved all my savings under the mattress too. more » | Other threads
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cleantech
IBM makes environment easy to bookmark and forget
"Energy-efficient computers powered by sunshine. This will be an instant hit," grouses chief bitterness officer Ted Dziuba in his latest opinion column for The Register. "There will be greenhouse gas output dashboards with neat little Ajax widgets." Mystery contributor theodp points out that IBM already sells it. -
commenter of the day
mrfomoco
In a post showing slides from IBM's 1975 presentation, commenter mrfomoco deftly explains the genius behind Big Blue's marketing, complete with visual aides: More »
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Comment by Passerby: Damn you mrfomoco! Damn you to hell! /shakes fist I thought I had it with the rewrite of the Sony... more » | Other threads
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Bolder!
IBM preso from 1975 proves they had better fonts then
One foot in the future, one planted squarely in the '70s. These slides from an IBM presentation — 17 years before anyone bothered to plug the projector into a laptop — prove how little has changed. Except now the office workers behind the narrator have YouTube to watch whenever he turns his back. -
politics
IBM's new antitrust muddle
European regulators are looking into whether IBM is unfairly dominating the mainframe market. What, is this 1968? IBM's purchase of Platform Solutions, a 36-person rival which made cheaper versions of IBM's mainframes, would normally be too small to rouse antitrust inquiries. But, amid accusations that IBM bought the firm to quash a rival, regulators are looking into it nonetheless. I'm actually disinclined to believe the conspiracy theories. IBM, under official antitrust oversight for decades, surely doesn't want to invite government officials back in. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by MauricioRaul: Oh you naive youngsters... from the CCIA website... Mainframes are critically important to virtually ever industry in the world. Indeed,... more » | Other threads
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your privacy is an illusion
IBM employee directory mocks your company's lameness
Tech companies like to babble about openness and transparency. But try finding an engineer's phone number. Standard procedure is to hide company telephone and email directories from external eyeballs, lest a recruiter — or, more annoyingly, a reporter — use the phone list to cold-call staffers. One shining exception: IBM, the world's largest IT employer, with nearly 400,000 people on board in at least 90 countries. Why would the company publish its entire directory and risk attack from headhunters and snoops? Because in 2008 IBM doesn't sell servers, it leases brains. Customers don't want to submit a request to a faceless feedback form and hope the right person at the world's biggest, sprawlingest tech company sees it. I'm sure there was a fight over the decision. But they finally faced the truth: We already hunt their employees down on Blogger and LinkedIn.
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By Paul BoutinComment by dclarus: The telephone numbers in the directory are the employees' direct telephone numbers. I just checked the listings of a... more » | Other threads
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exits
Bill Gates's relevance — and irrelevance
The Economist tidily sums up billg's career this week, now that Microsoft's Rain Man (see video) has walked away from the company after 33 years. I've whittled the piece down to its talking points. More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by dorian: Microsoft succeeded indeed in helping bring the PC into the mass market - and have been duly rewarded. I suspect,... more » | Other threads
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copyfight
Google, HP and others form League of Extraordinary Patent Holders
Tired of fielding lawsuits from patent trolls and scared of court injunctions like that faced by RIM which nearly shut down the company's BlackBerry service, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Verizon and Ericsson are among the companies rumored to be behind the formation of the Allied Security Trust. Ponying up $250,000 down payments and $5 million in escrow to make purchases, the trust seeks to buy patents before they fall into the hands of patent trolls. (That's the polite name the group's founders use for companies which seek to make money litigating infringers rather than by create products.) But the real bogeyman here is the rise of a possible patent troll to rule all patent trolls, Intellectual Ventures, which has close ties to Microsoft. More » -
quotable
Bill Gates looks back at the competition Microsoft annihilated
Putting media naysayers in their place, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates continued his farewell tour by pointing to old press accounts of companies like Ashton Tate and Lotus as worthy competitors into the perspective only the ultimate winner can enjoy. When asked by CNET's Ina Fried about the early presumptions that IBM would eat Microsoft's lunch and how that turned out, Gates used the opportunity to challenge those who would similarly presume that Google will eventually destroy Team Redmond. More »
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By Jackson WestComment by Uncle-Sam's Littlle Helper: Face it Bill Gates is out of business. A relict. Why do you cite that moron? more » | Other threads
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history lesson
Interview with Konrad Zuse, inventor of first functional computer
In the 1930s, Konrad Zuse, a German scientist, invented the first functional computing device, an electromechanical beast that used relays as logic gates. In this interview from The Machine That Changed the World, a 1992 documentary digitized and posted by Upcoming founder Andy Baio at Waxy.org, Zuse spoke about his role in history. More »
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By Jackson WestComment by DJCarbon43: Uhh.. not quite. Heard of Babbage? more » | Other threads
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acquisitions
HP moving to acquire EDS in $12 billion-plus deal
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Hewlett-Packard is nearing a deal to buy EDS for $12 billion to $13 billion. Having set Dell back on its heels in PC sales, HP is now moving to challenge IBM. As computers become commodities, the money is in installing and maintaining them, not marking up Intel's microprocessors and Microsoft's operating system for a thin margin. One wonders if Michael Dell is gutsy enough to launch a rival bid — or, with HP now worth three times as much as Dell, if he can really afford to. -
politics
White House used Microsoft software to flout email-archiving law
At last, an explanation of the Bush Administration's misbehavior that will resonate in Silicon Valley: It's all Microsoft's fault. Ars Technica details how switching from an IBM Lotus email system installed under Clinton to a Microsoft Exchange server made it impossible to store White House emails systematically. The archiving system was operated manually, and Bush appointees nixed efforts to upgrade it. CIO Theresa Payton says that the White House is now working on a new system, but knowing the ways of both Washington and enterprise software, what are the chances it will be done before we have a new president?
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By Owen ThomasComment by CaliforniaCajun: Why am I not surprised the mainstream press has said *nothing* about this? more » | Other threads
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cleantech
IBM researcher plugs house into Twitter for energy usage updates
It's only a matter of time before the inanimate home of inventor Andy Stanford-Clark somehow pisses off TechCrunch publisher Michael Arrington and feels the wrath of "@andy_house blocked." [Earth2Tech]
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By Jackson WestComment by matto: IBM researcher finally replaces his mother more » | Other threads
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stocks
IBM dividends up, American jobs down
Big Blue raised the company's dividend 25 percent to $0.50 per share, as union employees and retirees picked outside headquarters to protest outsourcing and pension problems. [AP] -
patents
Now we can relax: IBM files patents to fight the apocalypse
Worried about the next "episode of profound chaos" headed our way? Don't be! Your friendly International Business Machines Corporation is on the job. In 2006, IBM filed a patent for "computer usable program code" designed to optimize skills and resources during "episodes of profound chaos during hurricanes, earthquakes, tidal waves, solar flares, flooding, terrorism, war, and pandemics to name a few." As "human beings," IBM explains, we are "generally very ill prepared at a mental level for planning for and dealing with chaotic events." Which is true, but can we call it off if the program starts to get too good at chess?. -
ibm
IBM's board authorized $15 billion in additional stock buybacks for 2008 and raised its future outlook. The company spent $18.8 billion on buybacks last year and has repurchased $94 billion in the past 13 years. Why, that's two Yahoos! [AP]
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Comment by zionvier: Why by a company that's been declining for 10 years when you can buy your own company? more » | Other threads
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virtual worlds
IBM has ended the climate crisis by making an educational virtual world for teens. -
hardware
Smaller chip mean a cheaper PS3 — and a comeback for Sony
Gadget battles are won and lost on the price of components. In that regard, Sony has had poor luck with its latest PlayStation console. Its hulking size, exorbitant price, and dearth of interesting titles left it vulnerable to the Wii's unexpected rise. Gamers were more interested in the Wii's casual fun than the PS3's sophisticated Cell processor, especially since the available games hardly made much use of the expensive piece of gear. But the Cell is about to get cheaper. Manufacturer IBM has reduced the size of the chip to 45 nanometers, a technological leap which will at once make the processor cheaper and easier to cool, requiring a smaller case. Good news, at long last, for Sony.
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Comment by x40sw0n: One difference is that traditionally Sony (unlike Microsoft and Nintendo) actually does lower the prices of the hardware; they did... more » | Other threads
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second life
IBM ad mocks IBM strategy
A new IBM TV ad mocks the make-a-wish economics of virtual-world purveyors like Linden Lab. Perhaps Big Blue's ad agency didn't get the memo: In India, IBM is expanding its ranks of Second Life salespeople.
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By Owen ThomasComment by seanpercival: New? Playing for weeks if not months now. Owen when are you joining? The avatars have a nice slider for... more » | Other threads
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ibm
IBM cuts 7,600 employees' salaries by 15 percent
IBM tech-support workers believe they are eligible for overtime pay. And IBM agrees. It's just going to cut their salary by 15 percent to make up for it. After hearing the news, "I was so angry I could hardly speak, and it takes a lot to make me angry," one IBM employee told the AP. "I just don't know how IBM expects us to take this and just run with it." Here's my guess: They don't. If any of the 7,600 employees affected leave, it might just help IBM hike its recently raised 2008 earnings outlook even more.
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Comment by raincoaster: Great work on the image; we don't even NEED to see it. more » | Other threads
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earnings
IBM reported strong preliminary fourth-quarter results that sent the technology company's shares sharply higher. IBM said earnings from continuing operations were $2.80 a share, up 24 percent from $2.26 a year earlier, while revenue rose 10 percent to $28.9 billion. Overseas sales helped results beat analysts' estimates. [WSJ] -
intel
New York investigates Intel for bullying
The state of New York is launching its own investigation into Intel's anticompetitive behavior, adding to a list including the European Commission and Korea, all egged on by chipmaking rival AMD. It's only natural for New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo to want in on the action. The accusations are similar to other investigations: penalizing computer makers who purchase non-Intel chips, improperly signing exclusive contracts, and cutting off competitors' access to distribution channels. In other words, conducting business a bit too effectively for rivals' tastes. Note that IBM's main chip-assembly plant is based in New York. -
sam palmisano
IBM CEO punishes employees for having fat kids
CEO Sam Palmisano is proud of how "responsible" IBM has been. But don't forget: A corporation's only true duty is to its shareholders. And that's reflected in IBM's 2007 Corporate Responsibility Report. There's no cost-savings measure that can't be spun as a do-good move. Like IBM's Healthy Livings initiative, which effectively punishes employees for being fat. In 2007, Palmisano proudly writes, that program was expanded to cover employees' fat children as well. Technically, thin employees and their brood get "rebates," but it adds up to the same thing: Big Blue makes you pay for being big. After the jump, the chest-thumping brag from Palmisano, who's not that small-boned himself. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by RuthMerula: Comment on IBM CEO punishes employees for having fat kids I used to work for IBM. If I recall, the... more » | Other threads
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explainer
Amazon.com's SimpleDB is perfect for your stupid Web 2.0 startup
Those not initiated in the mysteries of databases, i.e. most of us, may think that Amazon.com's new SimpleDB service is competition for established databases from Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM. It's not. Nor is it, in the lofty language of Web-computing evangelists, a "cloud-based" alternative to large Web databases. But it's probably a perfect match for your stupid Web 2.0 startup, which makes it a genius move by Amazon. More »
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By Tim FaulknerComment by mblevin: How many web 2.0 startups *need* complex data models, and how many of them are perfectly happy with basic scalability? I'd... more » | Other threads
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ibm
IBM wants to embed advertising into your DVDs. An application filed with the Patent Office outlines a scheme to insert unskippable ads into your home viewing experience, presumably as a way to cash in on the rental market. You might not want to return that Internet-ready HD-DVD player you bought on Friday. [Ars Technica]
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Comment by AceKiller: It differs in that the commercials will INTERRUPT the presentation. Just like...well...a commercial. Comcast is already doing this with their On-Demand... more » | Other threads
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acquisitions
IBM purchased Canadian software maker Cognos for $5 billion in cash. Big Blue generally looks at acquisitions under $1 billion, making this one its largest acquisition ever. The largest prior acquisition was of Lotus for $3.5 billion many years (and a bubble or two) ago. [FT] -
ibm
IBM patents way to make money on patents
We were joking when we wrote about Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos' one-click patent system for taking out obvious patents. IBM — which holds more patents than anyone — just submitted an idea for "a system and methods for extracting value from a portfolio of assets, for example a patent portfolio." IBM pictures a system for purchasing licensing rights "like fire insurance." In other words, companies could buy the rights to a patent portfolio like IBM's as a legal shield against patent trolls. OK, but will we be able to do it with one click? (Photo by AP/Mark Lennihan)
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Comment by grrgle: Or, the patent trolls couldn't offer to sell indemnity against their own portfolios, because IBM has patented that process. ... more » | Other threads
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earnings
Apple now worth more than IBM
After Apple's phenomenal earnings report this afternoon, AAPL is up over 7 percent in after hours trading to $186.02. This marks Apple's market cap at $161.8 billion — above IBM ($154.23 billion) for the first time ever. Feeling a little blue, IBM? (Image by sarahbaker)
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Comment by Spectre: Actually, according the Corporate Finance, IBM is worth more. It is advantageous for a company to have a mid... more » | Other threads
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bad idea
IBM wants to sell you a chimera
As mascots go, I wouldn't have picked a cowducken. But that's what IBM is using to sell its Lotus Notes software. A marketing campaign with the slogan "Create Simplicity" lets you mix and match animal parts as a metaphor for its all-in-one office software. The unwieldy chimeras make me think of a hideous mound of software with poorly matched parts — probably not what IBM was going for.
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By Nick DouglasComment by GinaMuchava: They were probably going for posts like this, which looks like it worked. +1 for IBM's pr dept. more » | Other threads
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quotable
"As the 3D Internet becomes more integrated with the current Web, we see users demanding more from these environments and desiring virtual worlds that are fit for business," says IBM's VP of digital convergence, Colin Parris, while discussing his company's partnership with Linden Lab. In other words, Second Life isn't up to snuff, and Big Blue wants to handle the upgrade. [Worlds in Motion] -
schemes
Google and IBM have partnered to help teach computer-science students how to program for computing "clusters" — the large arrays of networked servers that run Google and that IBM hopes to sell to customers. Do-gooding educational philanthropy, or a scheme to get universities to sign up the student body for on-the-job training specifically designed for a career at Google? Why, a bit of both. [Google] -
deathwatch
SCO, a company which once claimed to own the rights to the Unix operating system and all Linux derivatives, is, unsurprisingly, one step closer to its deathbed. Nasdaq has sent a notice that they will be delisted from the exchange. Refusing to admit the fight is over, SCO will appeal the delisting. But with its cases against IBM and Novell in tatters, a bankruptcy filing, and dwindling cash reserves, the persistent litigator is unlikely to reverse Nasdaq's decision, which comes after after earlier warnings from the exchange. -
second life
Italian IBM workers, angered by a $1,377-a-year salary trim, will be taking their unrest to the virtual streets on September 25. The grand plan is to converge on IBM's Second Life campus. Of course. If there's any way to raise awareness for your cause, it's in a virtual world where you aren't actually disrupting anything. [Boing Boing]
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Comment by Wagner James Au: Thanks for the link. Actually, IBM's SL campus is one of the few company sites in-world with significant traffic,... more » | Other threads
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Sat Jul 11
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