Tag Archives: Technology News
Carol Bartz Out As Yahoo CEO
According to sources at the company, Yahoo’s Carol Bartz is no longer CEO of Yahoo. CFO Tim Morse has been named interim CEO.
The situation around the departure is unclear, but Bartz has had a very rocky tenure in her 30 months at the company.
Several sources said the board, specifically Chairman Roy Bostock and Co-founder and director Jerry Yang, seems to have acted today, informing Bartz of the need to make a change.
What the next steps will be are unclear, but Yahoo needs desperately to explore a range of changes to bring it back to its former glory.
Sources said Morse held a call with Yahoo’s senior staff this afternoon, telling them Bartz was out and that a search for a permanent CEO is commencing.
Why Yahoo’s board did not name a new leader immediately is curious and might indicate a larger deal around Yahoo is in the offing.
As I wrote earlier today, when the company announced on January 13, 2009, that it had hired longtime Silicon Valley tech veteran — who was well-regarded for her tenure at running Autodesk — to replace outgoing CEO and co-founder Yang and turn around the company, there was much hope.
At the time, she presented a take-no-prisoners image and was touted as someone with a reputation as a professional manager who could clean up the place.
Steve Jobs Resigns: Apple CEO
Reuters reports that Apple CEO Steve Jobs is stepping down from his leadership position. Apple’s Board of Directors has named Tim Cook the company’s new CEO. Jobs has been elected Chairman of the Board.
“I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you,” Jobs wrote in his resignation letter.
Earth’s 2 Moons? It’s Not Lunacy, But New Theory
Earth once had two moons, astronomers now think. But the smaller one smashed into the other in what is being called the “big splat.”
The result: Our planet was left with a single bulked-up and ever-so-slightly lopsided moon.
The astronomers came up with the scenario to explain why the moon’s far side is so much more hilly than the one that is always facing Earth.
The theory, outlined Wednesday in the journal Nature, comes complete with computer model runs showing how it might have happened and an illustration that looks like the bigger moon getting a pie in the face.
Outside experts said the idea makes sense, but they aren’t completely sold yet.
This all supposedly happened about 4.4 billion years ago, long before there was any life on Earth to gaze up and see the strange sight of dual moons. The moons themselves were young, formed about 100 million years earlier when a giant planet smashed into Earth. They both orbited Earth and sort of rose in the sky together, the smaller one trailing a few steps behind like a little sister in tow.
And because the smaller moon was more than 600 miles wide, the crash took a while to finish even at 5,000 mph. Asphaug likened the smaller moon to a rifle bullet and said, “People would be bored looking at it because it’s taking 10 minutes just for the bullet to bury itself in the moon. This is an event if you were looking at, you’d need a big bag of popcorn.”
The rocks and crust from the smaller moon would have spread over and around the bigger moon without creating a crater, as a faster crash would have done.
“The physics is really surprisingly similar to a pie in the face,” Asphaug said.
And about a day later, everything was settled and the near and far sides of the moon looked different, Asphaug said.
Co-author Martin Jutzi of the University of Bern in Switzerland said the study was an attempt to explain the odd crust and mountainous terrain of the moon’s far side. Asphaug noticed it looked as if something had been added to the surface, so the duo started running computer simulations of cosmic crashes.
Space Shuttle Atlantis Final Landing, Ending 30-Year Era – Full Video
International Space Station in triumph Thursday, bringing an end to NASA’s 30-year shuttle journey with one last, rousing touchdown that drew cheers and tears.
A record crowd of 2,000 gathered near the landing strip, thousands more packed the space center and countless others watched history unfold from afar as NASA’s longest-running spaceflight program came to a close.
“After serving the world for over 30 years, the space shuttle’s earned its place in history. And it’s come to a final stop,” radioed commander Christopher Ferguson.
“Job well done, America,” replied Mission Control.
The twilight landing, just before dawn, came 30 years and three months after the very first shuttle flight in 1981. It will be another three to five years at best before Americans are launched again from U.S. soil, with private companies gearing up to seize the Earth-to-orbit-and-back baton from NASA.
The long-term future for American space exploration is just as hazy, a huge concern for many at NASA and all those losing their jobs because of the shuttle’s end. Asteroids and Mars are the destinations of choice, yet NASA has yet to settle on a rocket design to get astronauts there.
Atlantis’ main landing gears touched down at 5:57 a.m., with “wheels stop” less than a minute later.
“The space shuttle has changed the way we view the world and it’s changed the way we view our universe,” said Ferguson. “There’s a lot of emotion today, but one thing’s indisputable. America’s not going to stop exploring.
“Thank you Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Endeavour and our ship Atlantis. Thank you for protecting us and bringing this program to such a fitting end.”
It was truly a homecoming for Atlantis, which first soared in 1985. The next-to-youngest in NASA’s fleet will remain at Kennedy Space Center as a museum display.
This grand finale came 50 years to the day that Gus Grissom became the second American in space, just a half-year ahead of Glenn.
Atlantis – the last of NASA’s three surviving shuttles to retire – performed as admirably during descent as it did throughout the 13-day flight. A full year’s worth of food and other supplies were dropped off at the space station, just in case the upcoming commercial deliveries get delayed. The international partners – Russia, Europe, Japan – will carry the load in the meantime.
It was the 135th mission for the space shuttle fleet, which altogether flew 542 million miles and circled Earth more than 21,150 times over the past three decades. The five shuttles carried 355 people from 16 countries and, altogether, spent 1,333 days in space – almost four years.
Two of the shuttles – Challenger and Columbia – were destroyed, one at launch, the other during the ride home. Fourteen lives were lost. Yet each time, the shuttle program persevered and came back to fly again.
The decision to cease shuttle flight was made seven years ago, barely a year after the Columbia tragedy. President Barack Obama nixed President George W. Bush’s lunar goals, however, opting instead for astronaut expeditions to an asteroid and Mars.
Last-ditch appeals to keep shuttles flying by such NASA legends as Apollo 11′s Neil Armstrong and Mission Control founder Christopher Kraft landed flat.
None of these private spacecraft, however, will have the hauling capability of NASA’s shuttles; their payload bays stretch 60 feet long and 15 feet across, and hoisted megaton observatories like Hubble. Much of the nearly 1 million pounds of space station was carried to orbit by space shuttles.
Astronaut trips by the commercial competitors will take years to achieve.
SpaceX maintains it can get people to the space station within three years of getting the all-clear from NASA. Station managers expect it to be more like five years. Some skeptics say it could be 10 years before Americans are launched again from U.S. soil.
An American flag that flew on the first shuttle flight and returned to orbit aboard Atlantis on July 8, is now at the space station. The first company to get astronauts there will claim the flag as a prize.
Until then, NASA astronauts will continue to hitch rides to the space station on Russian Soyuz spacecraft – for tens of millions of dollars per seat.
Ever since snagging this plum assignment last year, Ferguson and his crew have tried to stay upbeat – focusing on the 30 years of success. They pointed to the delivery and repair of Hubble – one of 180 satellites and other spacecraft launched from the shuttles – and the completion of the space station, more than 12 years and 37 shuttle flights in the making.
But with thousands of layoffs coming as early as Friday – on top of thousands of shuttle jobs already lost – even Atlantis’ determinedly optimistic crew found it difficult at times to put on happy faces.
Local businesses and communities chimed in, hoping to ease the pain.
“Thank you shuttle workers,” read the sign outside Cape Canaveral City Hall.
After months of decommissioning, Atlantis will be placed on public display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex. Discovery, the first to retire in March, will head to a Smithsonian hangar in Virginia. Endeavour, which returned from the space station on June 1, will go to the California Science Center in Los Angeles.
Facebook Most Popular Women
Lady Gaga in total fans sometime around 12 P.M. EST on Thursday, July 14th.
With roughly 40,516,728 fans as of this writing, Rihanna’s new accolade brings her one placement closer to the Facebook fan champ, hip-hop artist Eminem, whose page has been ‘liked’ an impressive 43,225,888 times. For some perspective, Rihanna had just over 5,000 Facebook fans one year ago.
She’s come this far, will Rihanna make it all the way to the top? Apparently, not without a fight. In response to the news, Lady Gaga fans took to the Twittersphere, demanding that people, “unlike Rihanna on Facebook”.
Last week, Rihanna became the 13th person in history to attain 6 million Twitter followers. For comparison, Lady Gaga is approaching 12 million Twitter followers.
Check out Fame Count and All Facebook Stats to stay up to date on the latest fan rankings, and tell us in the comments below whether you think Rihanna can hold off Lady Gaga and achieve ultimate social network stardom.
AT&T: iPhones Mobile Insurance
AT&T, the plan applies to any iPhone model (old and new) and covers “Lost, stolen, accidental damage and mechanical or electrical failure after the manufacturer’s warranty period has expired.” The plan will cost $4.99 a month, plus a per-claim deductible fee that varies between $50 and $125 depending on the handset model–just as it does for non-iPhone owners.
Writes MacRumors, this is good news for AT&T customers (or potential customers) who balked at paying the previously pricier coverage of $11.99 per month with a $199 deductible, which the carrier made available through a third-party partner. The Next Web argues that this plan was “100% not worth it,” since Apple replaces “accidentally damaged iPhones for a flat $199 fee.” However, Apple’s warranty doesn’t cover lost or stolen devices, so AT&T’s newer, cheaper plan for iPhones should put worried customers’ minds more at ease.
YouTube Top 9 Videos Of The Week
Most popular YouTube videos of the week, look no further.
Once again, we’re bringing you the week’s most-watched videos, hot off the charts via YouTube Trends, a feature launched by YouTube that aggregates the site’s video stats and draws upon “the wisdom of top curators across the web” to offer visitors a look at real-time trends among the YouTube community.
So what did the web go wild over this week? Puss In Boots returns, Grandpa goes berserk, Selena Gomez gets flustered over Shia LaBeouf–and much, much more.
Watch the 9 most popular YouTube videos of the week and vote for your favorites.
She’s Not Human Secret Pop Idols Aimi Eguchi, Of Japan’s AKB48 Video
She was the latest addition to a Japanese girl group with millions of superfans, who vote each year on which of the group’s 61 members is the most popular, with the winner announced in an internationally televised awards ceremony.
So when Aimi Eguchi appeared in a candy commercial soon after joining AKB48, fans were understandably suspicious. Ordinarily, only the most popular girls get to do commercials, and Eguchi was still a “research student”–bottom of the ladder. That’s when fans started to suggest something extraordinary: What if Eguchi didn’t exist at all?
Well, it turns out the skeptics were right. Eguchi wasn’t conceived in the womb, but rather, inside a computer. Ezaki Glico, the candy company that first aired the commercial, revealed that Eguchi is a digital composite combining the physical characteristics of six other members’ faces.
According to the Singularity Hub, Eguchi’s unveiling shocked those fans who had been defending her humanity. Eguchi, in addition to the ad appearance, also had a profile on the band page, detailing her age, hometown, and hobbies. She had also appeared in a photoshoot in a weekly magazine.
Japan already has at least one virtual pop star: Hatsune Miku, a hologram, performs across the country to screaming fans in sold-out arenas.
Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’ Video Removed From YouTube
Rebecca Black’s “Friday” music video, which racked up over 160 million views on YouTube, has been removed.
The page to Black’s official video included a notice that the video is “no longer available due to a copyright claim by Rebecca Black,” with a “Sorry about that” from YouTube.
RIM Recalls 1,000 BlackBerry PlayBook Tablets Video
1,000 PlayBook tablets have been recalled for having shipped with an OS that prevents them from loading software when first being set up.
“The majority of the affected devices are still in the distribution channel and haven’t reached customers. RIM is working to replace the affected devices,” according to a statement from RIM.
Users can see if their tablet is affected by going to Crackberry, where the serial numbers of recalled devices have been listed.
