acme

Oracle to pay $1.7B for network service provider Acme Packet

Oracle said today that it has agreed to buy Acme Packet for $1.7 billion.

Acme Packet sells voice and data products and services used across IP networks. Its customers range from telecommunications providers to large enterprises and include 90 of the world's top 100 communications firms, according to Oracle.

The addition of Acme is expected to help Oracle customers ramp up the move to all-IP networks. Together with Acme, Oracle will be able to offer a range of products and technologies that can support large companies as they deploy their IP networks.

All-IP networks are increasingly being rolled … Read more

Judea Pearl named 2011 winner of Turing Award

Judea Pearl is the winner of the prestigious Turing Award for his pioneering work in the field of artificial intelligence.

In becoming the 35th person to win the prestigious $250,000 award from the Association for Computing Machinery, the 75-year-old Pearl was honored with what is considered to be the highest prize that the computing industry has to offer.

"Of course, I'm delighted that people in your field and outside appreciate what you did, that recognize the work that I do in my little niche," Pearl said in an interview. "It's very rewarding."

List of published papers by Judah Pearl… Read more

Personalized screensaver creator

Acme Photo Screensaver Maker provides users with an excellent tool for creating a personalized screensaver. With simple commands and great results, this is a download everyone can enjoy.

The program's interface is so simple that users will most likely not need to take a trip to the Help file and Guide. With large command icons and an intuitive flow to input data, customizing your screensaver could not be easier. Users can choose individual photos to input or select entire folders with the program's photo tool that operates using addition and subtraction symbols in tandem with a file tree. … Read more

Camera tote aims for bowling bag chic

As women are widely thought to make up a large percentage of dSLR camera buyers, there's a demand for camera bags that not only perform well, but also look great. The latest offering from Acme Made, "The Bowler," is a bowling bag-style camera tote for a dSLR that can also be used as a handbag.

The Bowler features quilted satin lining, allowing cameras to easily slide in and out, and providing protection for the goods inside. There's an adjustable padded divider, which can be moved to suit your camera and accessories. Hidden side accessory pockets hold … Read more

Intel's Larrabee--more and less than meets the eye

Intel announced on Monday that it will be presenting a paper at Siggraph 2008 about its "many-core" Larrabee architecture, which will be the basis of future Intel graphics processors.

The paper itself, however, has already been published, and I was able to get a copy of it. (Unfortunately, as you'll see at that link, the paper is normally available only to members of the Association for Computing Machinery.)

The paper is a pretty thorough summary of Intel's motives for developing Larrabee and the major features of the new architecture. Basically, Larrabee is about using many simple x86 cores--more than you'd see in the central processor (CPU) of the system--to implement a graphics processor (GPU). This concept has received a lot of attention since Intel first started talking about it last year.

The three-headed portable computer

We'll never forget the sight of U.K. Craver Rory Reid lugging one of Dell's 20-inch laptops around the London Underground, miraculously avoiding both theft and herniated discs. But there's a new game in town, and it comes in the form of a lunchbox.

That's how Acme Portable Machines describes its LPG370TS computer, because it needs to fold up into a box if it has any hope of being carried around. The reason: It doesn't have a 20-inch LCD, but it does have a 17-inch screen--three of them, actually. Powering this Hydra-headed beast are a … Read more