HP is going to announce Q2 results today but first breaking a bit of bad news: it has confirmed 27,000 job cuts that should save between $3 billion and $3.5 billion by 2014. The company is a tech behemoth: it employs 350,000 people worldwide, before these cuts were announced. This means the cuts are equivalent to about 8 percent of its workforce.
Posted 1 hour 49 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

Just a day after a gender discrimination suit was filed against one of Silicon Valley's most storied firms Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, an all-male panel of VCs at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference said that sexism isn't that much of an issue in the industry. "This business is a meritocracy by and large," said Greg McAdoo, who is a partner at Sequoia Capital and said that the firm has female partners. "I have no doubt that there are pockets of issues, because in humanity you're going to have that." He added, "We look for folks who can help companies become great businesses over time and we don't ask a lot of questions about gender or what have you."
Posted 1 hour 49 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

When you're stuck for three days in a big warehouse with the same group of smart people talking about the future of tech innovation over and over and over again (+beer), you start getting really silly. And some of the unique circumstances of year's TechCrunch Disrupt New York have given us plenty to be silly about. For instance, there are birds, live birds (!) in the conference hall, and in fact I can hear them right now chirping LOUDLY while one of the demo companies presents onstage.  The birds are so prevalent that they've spawned jokes from some of the speakers, like, "It's so hip of you guys to hold a conference in a bird sanctuary" in addition to a fake Twitter account, @CrunchBird, which tweets stuff like, "*Frightened fluttering from music,* ""Disappointed chirp.," "*quiet listening*," and my personal favorite, 啁啾 <a
Posted 1 hour 49 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

gbrumfiel writes "Two independent reports show that the public and most workers received only low doses of radiation following last year's meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. Nature reports that the risks presented by the doses are small, even though some are above guidelines and limits set by the Japanese government. Few people will develop cancer as a result of the accident, and those that do may never be able to conclusively link their illness to the meltdowns. The greatest risk lies with the workers who struggled in the early days to bring the reactors under control. So far no ill-effects have been detected. At Chernobyl, by contrast, the highest exposed workers died quickly from radiation sickness." Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Posted 1 hour 49 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

Here is a breakdown of R, Octave and Python, and how analysts can rely on open-source software and online learning resources to bring data-mining capabilities into their companies. The article breaks down which of the three is easiest to use, which do well with visualizations, which handle big data the best, etc. The lack of a budget shouldn't prevent you from experiencing all the benefits of a top-shelf data analysis package, and each of these options brings its own set of strengths while being much cheaper to implement than the typical proprietary solutions. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Posted 1 hour 49 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

pacopico writes "Businessweek reports that DARPA will pay for the creation of two new TechShops in Washington D.C. and Pittsburgh. The $3.5 million deal includes 2,000 TechShop memberships for military veterans and will have DARPA employees performing top secret work at night. 'The project is called iFab. For a month, a given factory might use dozens of machines to make parts for helicopters. Then you reboot the software controlling the machines, and out come the parts for the drive train system in a tank. The Darpa workers at TechShop will try to figure out which tools and methods can be used to rewire factories in this fashion.' Maker mayhem." Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Posted 1 hour 49 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

Google's Android operating system does not infringe Oracle's Java patents, a jury in San Francisco found Wednesday in a setback for Oracle.
Posted 1 hour 49 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

Rumors of the "Office for iOS" offering resurface with a November launch date. [Read more]
Posted 1 hour 49 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

The Stake 3-in-1 BBQ Tool combines three popular grilling utensils into one design. In addition to tongs and a spatula, the device hides a retractable fork. [Read more]
Posted 1 hour 49 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

Boxes will extend content to secondary TVs throughout the home and to mobile devices. [Read more]
Posted 1 hour 49 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

Levinsohn's former colleague, News Corp. digital head Jon Miller, is betting that Yahoo's board will give his friend the official title of CEO. [Read more]
Posted 1 hour 49 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

Found at the Maker Faire: A few solar-powered tinkerers selling, for the first time, open-source construction kits based on an old design. [Read more]
Posted 1 hour 49 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

The cuts are part of a major overhaul for the company as it looks to cut costs. [Read more]
Posted 1 hour 49 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

Four universities will participate, students "will be hired" as temp employees.
Posted 1 hour 49 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

Apple's Siri is persona non grata at IBM, and it's just the beginning.
Posted 1 hour 49 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

Some jurors felt Oracle's IP claims might not be in the public's best interest.
Posted 1 hour 49 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

Shareholder group files lawsuit against social networking giant, its executives and Morgan Stanley, lead underwriter in company's IPO.
Posted 2 hours 50 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

Federal jury ruled Google did not infringe on Oracle patents with its Android operating system.
Posted 2 hours 50 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

Bre Pettis of MakerBot stopped by our little show today and spent some time on the stage with John Biggs and other notables in the manufacturing space. But afterwards Pettis, co-founder and CEO of MakerBot, joined me on the TCTV couch to geek out a bit over the fantastic MakerBot Replicator. The company also has two MakerBot Replicators printing out random doodads and toys in our first ever Hardware Alley.
Posted 2 hours 50 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

sl4shd0rk writes "Today, the jury in the Oracle vs. Google trial found no infringement of patents by Google. The jury deliberated about 30 minutes to reach the verdict, bringing an end to the second phase of the trial, and a beginning to the damage phase, which may be very little of what Oracle originally asked for. Still no word on API copyright issues. Judge Alsup will be ruling on that in the near future, and it will certainly have an impact on the developer community." Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Posted 2 hours 50 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

U.S. President Barack Obama has ordered all major government agencies to make two key services available on mobile phones within a year, in an effort to embrace a growing trend toward Web surfing on mobile devices.
Posted 2 hours 50 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

Microsoft yesterday promised that a feature it's added to Windows 8 will put a stop to endless reboots.
Posted 2 hours 50 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

The CEO and founder completed selling a portion of his stock -- at a price that few other sellers have been able to get since. [Read more]
Posted 2 hours 50 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

Internal memo: Retail customers who overpaid for Facebook stock to receive price adjustments. [Read more]
Posted 2 hours 50 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

The cable and entertainment industry have a love-hate relationship with Netflix and other online streaming services, as execs from some leading companies in the business discuss at the NCTA's Cable Show. [Read more]
Posted 2 hours 50 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story