Die Technologiewelt hat eine neue Nummer zwei nach Apple: Der Suchmaschinenprimus Google hat den Softwarekonzern Microsoft vom Börsenwert her überholt. Im New Yorker Handel vom Montag legte Google nach Daten der Technologiebörse Nasdaq ein knappes Prozent zu auf einen Gesamtwert von 249 Milliarden Dollar - während Microsoft ein halbes Prozent verlor auf 248 Milliarden Dollar (202 Mrd. Euro).

Der US-Softwarekonzern Microsoft arbeitet an einem eigenen Nachrichtenangebot. Das Unternehmen investiere Millionen in den Aufbau einer Mediensparte, der mit der Überarbeitung des Webportals MSN zusammenhänge, erklärte Microsoft-Manager Bob Visse.

In absehbarer Zukunft könnten Steaks und Schnitzel aus dem Drucker kommen. Die US-Firma Modern Meadow erzeugt mit Hilfe von 3-D-Printern essbares Fleisch aus lebenden Zellen. Mit der "Bioprinting" genannten Technik will das Unternehmen aus dem US-Staat Missouri Fleisch und Leder herstellen, die ethisch vertretbarer und klimafreundlicher wären als Produkte aus der Massentierhaltung.

Das Weisse Haus in der US-amerikanischen Hauptstadt Washington ist nach Angaben eines Sprechers Ziel eines Hacker-Angriffs geworden. Demnach hätten Hacker versucht, in ein Netzwerk einzudringen, dass nicht der Geheimhaltung unterliege. Die Attacke sei rechtzeitig erkannt und abgewehrt worden.

Die neue Yahoo-Chefin, Marissa Mayer, hat einen Jungen zur Welt gebracht. „Der kleine Bogue (Nachname des Vaters) ist in der vergangenen Nacht geboren worden“, schrieb Mayers Ehemann Zachary Bogue heute in dem Kurzbotschaftenportal Twitter.

Mit dem ERP-Riesen Oracle ist es Nokia gelungen, einen weiteren grossen Kunden für seine Kartendienste an Land zu ziehen. Der US-Konzern will die Nokia-Karten für Nutzer seiner Programme verfügbar machen. Ein Nokia-Sprecher bestätigte den Deal dem „Wall Street Journal“.

Mit der "KMU Business World" kündigte Swisscom eine Online-Plattform speziell für Schweizer KMUs an. Die Plattform, die per heutigem Tag verfügbar ist, beinhaltet einer Aussendung zufolge webbasierte Applikationen, Fachwissen und die Möglichkeit zur Vernetzung.

Im Rahmen eines Management Buyouts übernimmt Lorenzo Medici, derzeitiger Geschäftsführer der Tessiner Swisscom-IT-Services-Tochter Athon, dieses Unternehmen mit Sitz in Bioggio. Athon erbringt IT-Dienstleistungen für SAP- und Microsoft-ERP-Lösungen sowie Infrastrukturdienste mit Fokus in der italienischen Schweiz.

Mit Florian Stutz hat die Messaging Spezialistin Retarus einen neuen Country Manager an die Unternehmensspitze berufen. Stutz folgt auf Georg Hartmann, der das Unternehmen laut Mitteilung verlassen hat. Neu verstärkt zudem Ernesto Eggli als Senior Account Manager ab sofort das Retarus-Team.

Der US-amerikanische IT-Gigant Hewlett-Packard (HP) steht offenbar vor einen erneuten Milliardenabschreibung im Bezug auf Firmenübernahmen, die in der Vergangenheit getätigt wurden. Zumindest berichtet dies das San Jose Business Journal mit Verweis auf Analystenaussagen.

Nerval's Lobster writes "Back in May, I took a look at three cloud management platforms: RightScale, Scalr, and enStratus. Perhaps the biggest surprise was that people from two of those companies—RightScale and Scalr—took note of the article and replied in the comments, offering some clarification on their offerings. (And they were very civil: thank you!) What I'd like to do next is re-visit these platforms, but focus directly on the APIs that the three offer—not so much coding, but a high-level picture of them. How do they stack up? What features do they have? How do they fit with standards? And what can you expect from the long-term?"

An anonymous reader writes "The European Union believes that Apple should be investigated for the way that it advertises warranties on their products. EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding wrote to the member countries which is 27 to ask them to check whether Apple retailers failed to let buyers know about the right to a minimum 2-year warranty for products such as the iPhone and iPad under EU law."

adeelarshad82 writes "For a second year in a row PCMag partnered with Speedtest to find out the fastest ISPs in the U.S. The results were a product of 110,000 tests ran between January 1, 2012 and September 19, 2012. Collecting data for both download and upload speeds for each test, Speednet was able to calculate an index score for a better one-to-one comparison, where downloads counted for 80 percent and uploads 20 percent. Moreover, rather than testing the upload and download speed of a single file, the tests used multiple broadband threads to measure the total capacity of the 'pipe.' While the results at the nationwide level were fairly obvious with Verizon FiOS crushing its opposition, the results at regional level were a lot more interesting and competitive."

justelite writes "It is an old trend to build "The World's largest..." something. One of the latest somethings is a 630-foot tall Ferris wheel planned for Staten Island. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said 'The New York Wheel will be an attraction unlike any other in New York City even unlike any other on the planet.' Designed to carry 1,440 passengers at a time, it's expected to draw 4.5 million people a year to a setting that also would include a 100-shop outlet mall and a 200-room hotel."

Zothecula writes "The internet has revolutionized global communications and now researchers at Stanford University are looking to provide a similar boost to bioengineering with a new process dubbed "Bi-Fi." The technology uses an innocuous virus called M13 to increase the complexity and amount of information that can be sent from cell to cell. The researchers say the Bi-Fi could help bio-engineers create complex, multicellular communities that work together to carry out important biological functions."

stevegee58 writes "After a long string of legal setbacks, the case brought by Jonathan Corbett challenging TSA's use of full body scanners and enhanced pat-downs has come to and end. Today the Supreme Court declined to hear the case so current TSA practices will stand. The TSA started allowing the use of the advanced imaging technology in October 2010."

He co-founded Apple Computer, he's a programmer and engineer who invented the Apple I and Apple II computers, he's one of our most influential readers, he is known simply as Woz. To kick-off our 15th anniversary month, Woz has agreed to take some time to answer a few of your questions; as with other Slashdot interviews, you're invited to ask as many questions as you'd like, but please ask them in separate posts. We'll be running a number of other special interviews this month, so keep your eyes open.

Nerval's Lobster writes "Oracle CEO Larry Ellison used his opening keynote at Oracle Open World (OOW) to unveil several initiatives to accelerate the cloud, including its own private cloud, Infrastructure-as-a-Service, and its latest database version—which, coincidentally, can be stored in memory within Oracle's latest Exadata database machines. Ellison also paid tribute to Oracle hardware partner Fujitsu, which had earlier announced 'Project Athena': a server designed with a UltraSPARC chip that (he claimed) can run the Oracle database 'faster than any microprocessor on the planet.' Ellison opened OpenWorld with four key announcements: that Oracle is now offering infrastructure as a service; that it will complement the IaaS offering by allowing customers to run that same infrastructure behind their corporate firewall as a private cloud; the launch of Oracle database 12C (where the 'c' stands for 'cloud'); and, finally, the new Exadata servers, which barely use disk drives at all in-favor of in-memory storage, with flash memory as a fallback."

First time accepted submitter weiserfireman writes "For the first time in our company's 60 year history, we are going to be building a new facility from scratch. We are a CNC Machine shop with 40 employees and 20 CNC machines, crammed into a 12,000 sq foot building. We are going to build a new 30,000 sq foot building. I am the only IT person. I support all the computer systems, as well as all the fire/security/phone systems. My Boss has asked for my input on what infrastructure to include in the new building to support current and future technology. 1st on my list is a telecommunications equipment room. Our current building doesn't have one. I have been researching this topic on the Internet, and I have a list of a lot of different things, all of them are nice, but I know I am going to have a limited budget. If you were in my shoes, what priorities what features would you design into the building?"

diegocg writes "Linux 3.6 has been released. It includes new features in Btrfs: subvolume quotas, quota groups and snapshot diffs (aka 'send/receive'). It also includes support for suspending to disk and memory at the same time, a TCP 'Fast Open' mode, a 'TCP small queues' feature to fight bufferbloat; support for safe swapping over NFS/NBD, better Ext4 quota support, support for the PCIe D3cold power state; and VFIO, which allows safe access from guest drivers to bare-metal host devices. Here's the full changelog."

MojoKid writes "If you've ever attended a World Maker Faire, the first thing that strikes you is how organic the whole scene is. Inventors, creators, and engineers from all walks of life have their gadgets, science projects, and creations on display for all to see. Some of the creations you see on display range from downright amazing to completely bizarre. One of the big attractions, a technology area that has experienced explosive growth, is the land of 3D Printing. MakerBot took the open source RepRap 3D replicator project mainstream back in 2009 with the release of the Cup Cake CNC machine, then came the Thing-o-Matic and then a little bot called Replicator. With each iteration, improvements in process and technology are bringing better, more capable 3D printers to market, from MakerBot's new Replicator 2, to new players in the field like Solidoodle, Up!3D, Ultimaker, and Tinkerines. To watch a 3D printer in action is like witnessing art, science and engineering all working together in glorious unison."

PolygamousRanchKid writes "The economics of the current drought are likely to nose up prices for bacon and other pork products next year, by as much as 10 percent. But U.S. agricultural economists are dismissing reports of a global bacon shortage that lent sizzle to headlines and Twitter feeds last week. Simply put, the talk of scarcity is hogwash. 'Use of the word 'shortage' caused visions of (1970s-style) gasoline lines in a lot of people's heads, and that's not the case,' said Steve Meyer, president of Iowa-based Paragon Economics and a consultant to the National Pork Producers Council and National Pork Board. 'If the definition of shortage is that you can't find it on the shelves, then no, the concern is not valid. If the concern is higher cost for it, then yes.'"

Hugh Pickens writes writes "Reuters reports that President Barack Obama has invoked a little-used law to block a privately owned Chinese company from building wind turbines close to a Navy military site in Oregon due to national security concerns. 'There is credible evidence that leads me to believe' that Ralls Corp, Sany Group and the two Sany Group executives who own Ralls 'might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States,' said Obama in issuing his decision. The military uses the Oregon naval facility to test unmanned drones and the EA-18G 'Growler.' The electronic warfare aircraft accompanies US fighter bombers on missions and protectively jams enemy radar, destroying them with missiles along the way. At the Oregon site, the planes fly as low as 60 m and at almost 480 km/h. The administration would not say what risks the wind farm purchases presented but the Treasury Department said the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States, known as CFIUS, made its recommendation to Obama after receiving an analysis of the potential threats from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The last time a president used the law to block a transaction was in 1990, when George H.W. Bush voided the sale of an aerospace company, Mamco Manufacturing, to a Chinese agency."