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How Linux killed SGI (and is poised to kill Sun)

The fact that SGI was acquired by Rackable Systems for the sad sum of $25 million was big news on Wednesday only because most people had forgotten that the company, formerly better known as Silicon Graphics, still existed.

So what killed SGI? In addition to the rise of Nvidia and makers of other graphics chips that ran on cheaper hardware, it was bad choices:

Continuing to stick with its own chips, operating system, and hardware while the rest of the world moved to commodity x86 boxes. The adoption of Intel's Itanium chip, which remains a depressing joke of a product. … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 925: Go Team Rush 27

We get tricked into supporting Robot teams we don't know anything about, plus we talk about Pluto's pimps, also known as the Illinois Assembly. And speaking of pimps, Cook County Sheriff's are trying to get Craigslist to stop helping prostitutes. Thank goodness Veronica was here to set them straight.

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 925

Sheriff files lawsuit over Craigslist’s red-light district (Updated) http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/03/sheriff-sues-craigslist-over-mass-levels-of-prostitution.ars

Seattle paper may shift to online-only: reports http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2009/03/reuters_us_hearst_pi

Palm investor: Pre will trump … Read more

Bake and boil on your baby Belling

In many battles, bigger is better. But, when it comes to working efficiently in tight kitchens, the little guy almost always comes out on top.

Belling makes a wide range of standard kitchen appliances, from ranges and built-ins to free-standing cookers, but it's the "Baby Belling" line that caught my attention. Specializing in compact appliances, the line features things like ranges and induction cooktops that make the most out of small spaces.

One product of the Baby Belling line is this Table Top Mini Kitchen, which combines a range top and a conventional oven in a unit … Read more

Microsoft researcher stores digital life

Chronicling our lives has been part of our culture for as long as we have kept personal diaries. Today, technology offers many different ways of recording our thoughts and feelings, which makes the task far easier.

Ten years ago, Gordon Bell, a principal researcher at Microsoft, set out to chronicle his life by recording everything that happened to him. Visit him in his office and you will face microphones and video cameras. As he travels, he goes "laden down with stuff."

The Microsoft-funded project is still going, and Bell sees it as "one of the most important … Read more

The 404 261: Where Obama made us late

The 404 started a bit late today, in honor of our new president's inauguration. It's just Justin and I today, as Wilson took the day off to fantasize about Barack Obama. Don't worry kiddies, Wilson will return tomorrow (or so he says). Plenty to discuss on this historic day, so we'll give you our take on the inauguration and what we thought of Obama's speech.

Justin and I then dive into today's stories, which include iPods held for ransom, Keanu Reeves and the Cowboy Bebop movie, Google Drive, and Taco Bell weddings. Don't … Read more

The demise of Bell Labs, a pictorial

Wired is running a photo gallery related to the history of Bell Labs. If I had to pick one word to describe the photos, it would be depressing.

Besides the fact that Bell Labs was one of the greatest innovation companies of all time, I worked in two of the buildings that are part of the photo collection. My first "really real" job was at a Bell Labs start-up based on the Inferno programming language (which was based on Plan 9, a very early open-source OS) that Lucent attempted to commercialize.

I was based in the Murray Hill, … Read more

The 404 170: Where we brush our teeth with roast beef

Wilson can't make it to the show again because of his ongoing illness, so everyone send us a voice mail wishing our buddy well wishes and a speedy return back to The 404! Dan the Mantern takes time out of his busy schedule of doughnut runs and paper stapling to fill in and give us some laughs on this overcast Monday. We recap our weekend adventures, talk about the dangers of kidnapping a virtual lion, send our condolences to the hungry worker bees at Google, protect ourselves from exploding iPods, and perform reveal the first ever sushi DNA test!… Read more

The 404 149: Where you can call us now for your free reading

After one of our listeners calls us out on our truly awful Jamaican impression, we try, try, try again--unsuccessfully. It doesn't work out so well, and we slowly start to sound like a Jamaican extradited from Ireland. Anyway...today's episode finally reveals the secret pre-show juice that powers the enthusiasm we bring you everyday: crunk juice! And, by crunk juice we mean orange juice! All this segues into our first story, where we lay the smackdown on 50 Cent for getting a little trigger happy south of the border. Jeff decides to change 50's name to "… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 697: Men behaving badly

In the news today, men are scamming and being scammed online, Jerry Yang (Yahoo) and Steve Ballmer (Microsoft) are getting nasty (in a legal-sounding way), the official Craigslist blog calls the unofficial Craigslist blog a deceptive text-ad-runner, and we ladies are just over here in the corner being nice to each other. Er, except the ones with the AVPR1a gene. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 697

Yahoo versus Microsoft: Thanks for the letter Steve; Now give us more money or get lost http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=8396 http://www.nypost.com/seven/04072008/business/ yahoo__sets_reply_to_microsoft_attack_105424.htmRead more

Europe Commission stamps Acer's Packard Bell acquisition 'approved'

The European Union gave its official blessing to the union of Acer and Packard Bell on Wednesday.

After reviewing the $48.5 million acquisition of Packard Bell by Taiwan-based Acer, the European Commission (the executive branch of the EU) ruled that the two companies as a combined entity would pose no threat to fair competition in the European PC market.

"The Commission's examination showed that the proposed merger would entail horizontal overlaps for desktops and laptops, both for professionals and consumers, at the EEA (European Economic Area) and national levels," the ruling read. "However, the market … Read more