Canonical has just released Ubuntu 9.10 Server Edition for free download. Ubuntu 9.10 Server Edition introduces Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) as a fully supported technology. This is an open source cloud computing environment, based on the same Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) as Amazon EC2, that will allow businesses to start taking advantage of the possibilities of private clouds. Private clouds allow businesses to reap the benefits of flexible compute environments while avoiding the security, regulatory or policy restrictions inherent in pushing data onto a public cloud.

“Ubuntu 9.10 Server Edition puts Ubuntu users at a unique advantage of being able to quickly and simply deploy and manage cloud environments. We strongly believe that businesses which are already embracing virtualized environments will take the next logical step to these self-service, super-efficient architectures and that Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud will be at the heart of that effort,” says Matt Zimmerman, CTO of Canonical.

Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) is powered by software from Eucalyptus Systems, and provides an open source software infrastructure for implementing on-premise cloud computing. UEC makes it extremely easy and fast for system administrators to set up, deploy and manage a cloud environment. Users familiar with elastic compute environments will be able to build similar infrastructure behind their firewall, avoiding any regulatory and security concerns that prevent many enterprises from taking advantage of cloud environments.

Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud is preparing a store capability that will provide users with easy access to ready-to-deploy appliances in the UEC environment. A first preview of this store is available in Ubuntu 9.10, together with a sample appliance. It will demonstrate the solution to software vendors and additional appliances will be added after the release.

The core server product and kernel have also received significant attention in this release. MySQL 5.1 has been added. The directory stack and Single Sign On tools have been upgraded for improved directory integration. Django now ships as a fully supported framework enhancing web server options.

There have been numerous kernel improvements to better support both Xen (guest) and KVM (host and guest) virtualization, and to improve caching performance. Support for the USB 3.0 protocol has been included to support super speed transfer rates when devices become available. System management support has been extended through support for the WBEM (web-based enterprise management) protocols which open up support of Ubuntu environment to the most popular system management tools currently deployed in enterprises. Ubuntu’s own systems management tool, Landscape, has added a dedicated server to its hosted version allowing deployments to be managed entirely within the firewall and will fully support Ubuntu 9.10 Server Edition and Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud.

Metabolix, Inc., a bioscience company focused on developing sustainable solutions for plastics, chemicals and energy, has completed a field trial of tobacco, genetically engineered to express polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biobased polymers. Metabolix obtained the necessary permits from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to perform an open air field trial in March of 2009 and field trial experiments were completed in early October. The trial was performed on 0.8 acres of land and provided valuable data and information relating to polymer production, with the best plants producing 3-5% PHA. This furthers development of Metabolix crop technologies for the co-production of biobased plastics in non-food bioenergy crops.

“The experience and knowledge we have gained during our tobacco field trial is laying the groundwork for planning and permitting activities for field trials in bioengineered, non-food oilseed and biomass crops producing PHA. We believe that our crop programs offer a number of commercialization options and hold significant potential. We are excited to continue to push this technology forward and believe it will ultimately support a diverse array of bioengineered, environmentally conscious and economically viable alternatives to petroleum-based products,” says Dr. Oliver Peoples, Chief Scientific Officer of Metabolix.

The Emerging Companies Summit is a unique forum for startup companies to showcase innovative applications that leverage the GPU to solve visual and high-performance computing problems. The event, which brings together entrepreneurs with those who fund their ventures, will be held at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, Calif., from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, 2009, in conjunction with the GPU Technology Conference.

Among participating companies are:

• MirriAd, a London-based start-up that seamlessly embeds advertising into video content, as if it were always there. Its solutions allow content owners to monetize their assets and deliver a means by which brands can capitalize on the worldwide shift from analogue broadcasts to multi-platform, on-demand digital video delivery.
• OnLive®, based in Palo Alto, Calif., develops solutions for the video-game industry, including the first video game on-demand platform, set to launch later this year. With groundbreaking video compression technology, it harnesses cloud computing to provide the power and intelligence to instantly deliver high-end games directly to TVs via a sleek, inexpensive MicroConsoleTM or via a browser plug-in on PCs and Macs.
• RTT, based in Munich, Germany, provides 3D real-time visualization technology and services for innovative workflows in the auto, aeronautical and consumer-goods industries, as well as in the fields of interior design and architecture. It supports customers in coming up with new ways to design and market their products.

Plextronics, Inc. is a technology startup that specializes in printed solar, lighting and other electronics. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, the company’s focus is on organic solar cell and OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) lighting, specifically the conductive inks and process technologies that enable those and other similar applications. Plextronics, Inc. announced that it has completed a $14 million Series B-1 financing round. The round was led by Solvay North American Investments, LLC, a member of the Solvay Group, which is an international chemical and pharmaceutical group headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. Marking Solvay’s second investment in three years, its $12 million investment makes Solvay the largest minority shareholder in Plextronics.

Daktari Diagnostics Inc., an Arlington startup focused on global health diagnostics, has received $2.5 million of equity financing. Daktari Diagnostics, Inc., is a new diagnostics company pursuing two innovative technologies: microfluidics and electrochemical sensing to enable simple and affordable blood testing solution for developing countries.

We have tested several email service providers. Here are our conclusions:

1. ConstantContact.com
Best functionality, best performance, very strict antispam policy. Strict antispam policy makes managing large email lists (more than 20,000 contacts) virtually impossible - expect putting on hold and verification call after every email campaign.

2. Icontact.com
Good functionality, good performance, lax antispam policy. As your contact list grows, the price per 1,000 contacts becomes prohibitively expensive. Actually you are punished for expanding your contact base.

3. Fusemail.com
Basic and very affordable email marketing service. A few times they experienced problems with ISPs, email campaigns had very poor delivery rates at that time. Support staff gave some elusive talk when we asked what is the problem.

4. ContactPro.com
The same as Fusemail - basic and affordable, but with regular delivery problems. Email campaigns aer frequently delayed, if you complain the support staff places you campaign on high priority list.

Bug Labs, a San Francisco-based developer of open-source platform for DIY gadgets, announces new modules:

• BUGsound (audio module)
• BUGwifi (wifi and Bluetooth)
• BUGbee (802.15.4 radio)
• BUGprojector (DLP pico projector)
• BUG3g GSM (3G modem)

Bug Labs is experimenting with a new business model, enabling hardware developers to build applications within short time on a tight budget.

My old PC has suffered a series of hiccups caused apparently by some Windows XP conflicts and finally died in my hands. I had either to buy a new desktop or try to re-install Windows and all programs. Instead I downloaded and installed Ubuntu 8.10.

The installation is pretty straightforward and fast. It takes about 30 min and includes all packages that come with Ubuntu, like Open Office, Mozilla Firefox, etc. A first pleasant surprise was understanding that I don’t have to install any drivers for cable modem, printer and scanner. Ubuntu has all drivers built-in. Ubuntu detects all hardware automatically.

Old habits die hard, it was somewhat a hassle to switch from Microsoft Office to Open Office. I use Gimp for image editing and Scribus for desktop publishing. If you badly need some MS Windows program, there is a fair chance that it will run under Wine emulation package. Nice feature of Open Office programs is built-in export to pdf.

In feature-by-feature scoring MS Windows will outrun Ubuntu but for home office or small business Ubuntu is definitely a viable choice with many merits. It just requires some determination to switch and learn the ropes.

SnapMyLife, a mobile photo-sharing site, has raised a new $5 million round of funding, led by current investors North Bridge Venture Partners and Carmel Ventures. SnapMyLife is subsidiary of Mobicious, Inc. George Grey, founder and CEO of SnapMyLife, says that SnapMyLife addresses three billion mobile phone owners worldwide capturing and sharing digital photos taken by their mobiles.

A company called CVSDude (based in California and Queensland Australia) provides an innovative service enabling disparate programming teams to collaborate and develop revision-controlled software. If you know about programming tools like Subversion and CVS - CVSDude has them available in a fault-tolerant, SaaS (Softwae as a Service) platform.

Their software development platform is available via the browser on Windows, OS X , Linux and Solaris. More than 60,000 users in 66+ countries worldwide use CVSDude every day to effectively collaborate, manage and deploy the world’s most complex open-source and commercial software applications.

In business since 2002, the company recently closed some early pre-Series A funding and have just announced the first customer for their upcoming Enterprise-level product.

When running a lot of Google ad campaigns I use the following approach to decide which campaigns to run and which to drop.

The first stage is gathering ad statistics and sales conversion evidence while disregarding advertising costs. That gives me a measure of sales elasticity of ad exposure. In other words, more ads mean more sales mean high elasticity. If the ad campaigns are inelastic, they should be dropped in most cases.

Here comes the second stage. If ad campaigns are elastic, but non-profitable than you can try to improve profitability by fine tuning ad campaign or raising product price (if possible). Below is Boston matrix adapted for our case and covering four possible outcomes.

Fig. 1 Balancing Ad Campaigns (Elasticity-Profitability Matrix)

Tracking sales conversion might be tricky. In the lack of hard sales conversion evidence the number of enquiries, emails or phone calls is a good secondary indicator of ad campaign elasticity.

Let us assume that our case is somewhere in Question Mark area. This is actually gambling – will ad-driven sales cover advertising costs or not? Do we need this?

Margaret Thatcher once said “Governments are bad businessmen, privatization at any cost would be better than keeping with the costs of ineffective structure”. Neither governments are good webmasters, website of the Israeli Institute of Export is a compelling example of how governments can botch a simple thing. A recent study from researchers at Princeton University suggests an interesting approach. The governments should publish raw information in RSS/XML format instead of putting it into clumsy websites. Information will be further disseminated, mashed up and syndicated by zillions of content aggregators.

Still one can’t underestimate capacity of governments to screw up even simple tasks. XBRL, Extensible Business Reporting Language, a XML-based microformat for financial reporting, is being implemented for ten years.

In a move to get into online document editing market Adobe introduced Acrobat 9 software, an upgrade that enables creating and sharing electronic documents. Acrobat 9 supports for Adobe Flash technology, the ability to unify a wide range of content in rich PDF Portfolios, and access to real-time capabilities for sharing and editing a PDF document with colleagues.

Acrobat 9 enables users to include Adobe Flash Player compatible video and application files in PDF documents, thus effectively converting static documents into dynamic. Acrobat 9 also includes the ability to unify a wide range of content into a single document with the new concept of PDF Portfolios. PDF Portfolios allow to assemble multiple media types, such as documents, video, audio, and even 3D objects, into one, compressed PDF file. Users can then choose among several professional layouts — or create their own — to quickly integrate content, define navigation, and add polish and branding. As a result, communications such as sales proposals, legal documents, and product collateral can become far more customized and compelling.

In addition, Acrobat 9 provides access to capabilities for collaborating live within a PDF document — enabled by working with Acrobat.com, a new suite of hosted services Adobe introduced as public beta today. For example, a salesperson could use Acrobat 9 to send a lengthy contract to clients. The sales professional, or any of the recipients using Adobe Reader1, can then drive the group’s navigation through the PDF document in real-time working with Acrobat.com. This helps ensure everyone is literally, and figuratively, on the same page.

Additionally, Acrobat 9 users can access Acrobat.com for storing and sharing files, use it as a central location for collecting data as part of a forms process, and to gather comments in a shared document review. Acrobat.com includes other services, such as Adobe ConnectNow, personal Web conferencing that provides desktop sharing, video and voice conferencing, and integrated chat; and Adobe Buzzword, an elegant, Web-based word processor that can be used to easily co-author and share documents for comment and review, creating high-quality print results.

via Business Wire

Internal and external threat, high energy prices and ceaseless quest of the Saudi Royal family to secure the realm will create a tremendous new demand for defense and security equipment and services in Saudi Arabia.

A recent market research report on Saudi Defense and Security Market reveals a stunning figure of $115 Billion cumulative 2008-2018 Saudi defense and security market. The report outlines business opportunities for surveillance equipment, perimeter protection equipment and ID card management.

Related reports:
Saudi Oil Industry Security Market

Below is the testimony of of Andrew Siegel, Vice President, When Pigs Fly, Inc., before U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The subject of the hearing is how fuel subsidies impact food supply.

Our bakery was started in 1993. Since then it has it has grown and changed dramatically. The Bakery has gone from a sole proprietorship baking 85 loaves per day and delivering to a handful of local stores and restaurants to where it is today. Delivering to over 250 grocery stores and supermarkets in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and a small presence in Rhode Island , Connecticut, New Jersey and New York . The bakery also has established 5 company stores where we bake and deliver our fresh breads seven days a week and we have an online business where customers can order and have breads shipped anywhere in the country. We have about 50 employees who are full and part time This is an increase of 25% over last year.

As in any business there are lots of obstacles and hurdles to overcome. I think that when a business starts up the odds of it surviving 10 years is not very high. So when we look at the decisions to be made one of the factors that we take into consideration is what can and what can’t we control.

We are very fortunate that the bread we bake is a product that consumers really like. The biggest challenges we face are not where to deliver our bread but how do we get it there and insure that the quality maintained as we grow the business.

So what hurdles has the bakery faced recently and what steps can we make to insure that we can continue to bake quality bread and deliver them to our customers at a reasonable price.

In the last 2 years we have seen some dramatic price increases in every part of our business. The cost of propane, electricity, gasoline, ingredients like honey, nuts, seeds, flour have had increases of 50 to 100% . We use about 50000 lbs of flour per week. If you relate that into costs

in September of 2007 it was about $7600 per week
In October of 2007 it increased to $9700 per week
in December it was $12400 per week that’s when things started to get crazy there were rumors that there may not be enough of some kinds of flour to get through until the next crop. So from December until the end of February the price went as high as $28000 per week. Before reaching the $28000 level I purchased some at $22000. An increase of 189% just from September

So now the price is about $15000 per week 100% above the cost of flour in September but almost 50% lower than where it was at the end of February.

The factors involved as I understand it is corn being planted instead of wheat to make ethanol, China’s economy growing and using more grains to feed livestock , The worst weather conditions making this the poorest wheat crop in decades and hedge funds
manipulating driving prices up in a bubble and causing us bakeries and the consumers to bear the costs. So when the prices are racing to the sky literally by thousands of dollars per week. Our bakery and every other bakery has to purchase flour or go out of business. So now we have raised our prices. Customers are upset and our employees are feeling the pain due to no pay raises and increased costs of all their living expenses. I think that we will survive this crisis. My fear is that if all of the above mentioned factors continue that next year we will not be so lucky.

Here is conclusion of Bruce A. Babcock, Director of the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development, Iowa State University, made at the same hearing of U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs:

“Thus, unless we have a return to $40 or $50 crude oil, we can expect the price of corn to be well above historical levels for the foreseeable future even if all support for corn ethanol were eliminated.”

A stratospheric airship is an airship designed to fly at very high altitudes (30,000 - 70,000 ft or 10 - 20 km). An unmanned lighter-than-air vehicle, the HAA, is intended to operate above the jet stream in a quasi-geostationary position to deliver persistent station keeping as a surveillance platform, telecommunications relay, or a weather observer. Such airship would be in the air for up to one month or for longer time and can survey a 600 mile diameter of land. It will use solar cells to provide its power and will be unmanned during its flight. Though the concept is very tempting, it’s still more concept than mature technology.

However, there is an entire industry launching radiosondes to gather weather information in stratosphere. This is how U.S. Patent 6,628,941 describes this field:

“Radiosondes are the instrument packages launched on weather balloons to gather weather data. Radiosondes are launched from a network of sites around the world at noon and at midnight Greenwich Mean Time each day. The weather service radiosondes collect temperature, humidity, pressure and wind data as they rise from the surface of the Earth to approximately 100,000 feet during a two-hour flight. This data is then input in atmospheric models that are run on supercomputers. The information gathered from the network of ascending radiosondes is critical in predicting the weather. Most countries of the world are bound by treaty to launch radiosondes from designated sites and to share the data with other countries. Currently there are about 800,000 radiosondes launched each year throughout the world. This number represents the 997 global weather stations launching two radiosondes per day, 365 days per year (727,000) plus a small number of radiosondes launched for military and research purposes. About 18% of radiosondes are recovered, reconditioned and reclaimed, resulting in new production of about 650,000 weather-gathering radiosondes per year. “

Space Data Corporation, Chandler, Arizona-based startup, has come with a solution to merge a concept of stratospheric airship with existing technology of radiosondes. Currently Space Data technology allows to reach mobile phone users in rural areas lacking reliable reception. The problem is that it’s too expensive to put cable or build cell towers in low population density areas (eighty percent of the U.S. population live in 10 percent of the U.S. area). Cell sites cost about $250,000. Space Data corporation took approach of launching expendable stratospheric platforms with lifetime of 24 hours.

Space Data Corporation launches large latex balloons filled with hydrogen. The balloon has attached a six-pound Styrofoam wrapped box that contains the transceiver. The balloon reaches altitude of 20 miles into the stratosphere. It lasts for 24 hours before bursting in the thin air. The transceiver, which costs about $1,500, parachutes to earth. The transceiver has GPS that allows to track and recover it (it also has sticker with reward coupon of $100 for returning it to the company). Inexpensive weather balloon costs about $50 a pop.

One balloon covers radius of about 420 miles. Space Data’s network presently covers rural areas in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana by launching daily 10 balloons.

Space Data has raised $75 million in funding and has about 100 employees. The firm got its breakthrough in 2005 by winning a five-year, $49 million contract from the U.S. Air Force.

Space Data technology is a good case study how a small/medium-sized company can tap into Homeland Security/Defense market. The tragic consequences of Hurricane Katrina made all too evident the drastic need for providing communications in emergency situation.

Space Data technology may prove itself as an inexpensive and way to launch backup cellular network in the disaster stricken area. It would take about 40 balloons for nationwide machine-to-machine wireless connectivity or 200-plus balloons for nationwide wireless voice coverage (according to one of the company’s press releases).

We can’t say yet that the market for expendable stratospheric platforms has already emerged. So far it’s rather small niche pursued by a small company. However, if the challenges of extending stratospheric platform lifetime and bringing down cost of payload will be overcome, we may witness emergence of new market.

According to Market Research Analyst the world’s ethanol production will reach 20 Bln gallons in 2012. Still wide acceptance of ethanol has been hampered by rising food prices. So, what is the answer to to the ethanol-food-controversy?

In cellulosic ethanol. Five startups (Mascoma, Range Fuels, Coskata, Zeachem, Lanzatech) are racing to take cheap cellulose-based ethanol to the market. VC’s are abundantly pouring money in development of cost-efficient production method of cellulosic ethanol.

According to UAV Consulting, UAV market for unmanned aerial vehicles launched from small seaborne platforms will reach $800 million by 2010.

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Michelle L. Kapica

Chesson Labs, located in Durham, North Carolina, got $3.3 million in new financing series A round to further develop liquid bandage applications.

Liquid bandage is a topical skin treatment for minor cuts and sores that is sold by several companies. The products are mixtures of chemicals which create a polymeric layer which binds to the skin. Ingredients to a liquid bandage typically include pyroxylin and 8-Hydroxyquinoline, dissolved in alcohol. Some brands also include an antiseptic ingredient although the alcohol and other ingredients may serve the same purpose.

Earth Class Mail, a Seattle startup, that converts regular mail into emails, has raised $13.3 mln in the third financing round. Quite a useful service to customers that prefer virtual office - you hire postal address, your physical mail is scanned and shredded, you get an email. Paper in, email out - online fraudsters will be definitely happy with this service.