Saturday, November 30, 2013

Deutsche Borse to open Cloud Exchange, treat computing as a commodity

Deutsche Börse launches marketplace for trading outsourced storage and computing capacity

World's first neutral trading venue for "cloud computing"/ Trading to commence beginning of 2014/ Standardised trading for cloud computing resources/ Clients have free choice of providers

2. July 2013

Deutsche Börse: Deutsche Börse today announced that it will launch a trading venue for outsourced storage and computing capacity – so called "cloud computing" resources – in the beginning of 2014: Deutsche Börse Cloud Exchange AG is a new joint venture formed together with Berlin-based Zimory GmbH to create the first neutral, secure and transparent trading venue for "cloud computing" resources.

The primary users for the new trading venue will be companies, public sector agencies and also organisations such as research institutes that need additional storage and computing resources, or have excess capacity that they want to offer on the market.

"With its great expertise in operating markets, Deutsche Börse is making it possible for the first time to standardise and trade fully electronically IT capacity in the same way as securities, energy and commodities," said Michael Osterloh, Member of the Board of Deutsche Börse Cloud Exchange.

As the first international, vendor-neutral marketplace of this type, Deutsche Börse Cloud Exchange will set and monitor standards regarding the product offering, admission procedure, changes of provider and guaranteed purchased capacity. Clients will be able to choose capacity providers freely, as well as select the jurisdiction that will apply to the outsourced data. The product offering will initially include outsourced storage capacity and computing power.

Product standards and technical provision will be developed in close cooperation with potential marketplace participants and related parties. These parties include representatives from the traditional IT environment, national and international SMEs, and large corporations from a wide range of industries, such as CloudSigma, Devoteam, Equinix, Host Europe, Leibniz- Rechenzentrum, PROFI AG, T-Systems and TÜV-Rheinland.

„The cloud marketplace of Deutsche Börse offers companies a further choice to purchase top secure and tested cloud-services from T-Systems. Due to the high level of standardization this will all be done with great speed and efficiency and with up-to-date prices", said Frank Strecker, responsible for the cloud business of T-Systems.

Founded in May 2013, Deutsche Börse Cloud Exchange AG is a joint venture of Deutsche Börse and Zimory, a Berlin-based specialist in cloud management that ensures that the users connected to the marketplace have easy access to the cloud capacity they have purchased.


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20 Sleeveless Tops to Wear in This Heat

Even for July, it's been incredibly hot across the country, especially if you live on the West Coast. While you're probably spending most of your time hiding in the air conditioning, you still have to go outside at some point probably. Wearing a lightweight minimal maxi dress is one option (and pairing a camisole with shorts is another) but both of these aren't necessarily appropriate for the office. For the days when you require a bit more coverage than flimsy silk can provide, try the sleeveless shell top. It's an airy option that pairs well with anything from trousers to a pencil skirt. Pair Tibi's black and white printed version with a slim black skirt and heels, or add a jolt of color with Maison Martin Margiela's bright blue version layered under a blazer. For the weekend, Topshop's neon pink and slightly cropped take would look great with shorts while MSGM's patterned top goes well with a neutral A-line mini. Click ahead to see all of these and more, because there are still at least eight more weeks of this heat and humidity.


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Sorority Sister Who Sent Berserk E-Mail Is Back As Female Bro

The literary and journalistic potential in the University of Maryland’s “Deranged Sorority Girl” emailer was immediately apparent. “Someone get this lady a blog,” Maureen O’Connor wrote. And, lo, someone did. But not, it turns out, a lady blog. Former Delta Gamma Rebecca Martinson published her first column yesterday on The Bro Bible, a blog devoted to frat bro culture, and perhaps a more logical home for the woman who once wrote, “Newsflash, you stupid cocks.” Having written the book on the importance of not being "so fucking BORING," she now takes on “Getting a Guy to Text You the Morning After.” 

Martinson boldly sticks a fork in the old “three-day rule.”  The cause of death? Alcohol-induced memory loss. She writes:

Another archaic rule of three, however, endures. The three-date rule.

I hope the next installment is “Cunt-Punting 101.”


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Samsung to build five new R&D centers in Korea for $4.5 billion

Samsung to build five new R&D centers in Korea for $4.5 billion data = {blogUrl: "www.engadget.com",v: 400};when = {jquery: lab.scriptBs("jquery"),plugins: lab.scriptBs("plugins"),eng: lab.scriptBs("eng")}; var s265prop9 = ('20648570' !== '') ? 'bsd:20648570' : ''; var postID = '20648570'; var modalMNo = '93319229', modalVideoMNo = '93320648', modalGalleryMNo = '93304207'; when.eng("eng.omni.init", {pfxID:"weg",pageName:document.title,server:"acp-ld39.websys.aol.com",channel:"us.engadget", s_account: "aolwbengadget,aolsvc", short_url: "",pageType:"",linkInternalFilters:"javascript:,",prop1:"article",prop2:"misc",prop9:s265prop9,prop12:document.location,prop17:"",prop18:"",prop19:"",prop20:"", prop22:"terrence-obrien", prop54:"blogsmith",mmxgo: true }); adSendTerms('1')adSetMOAT('1');adSetAdURL('/_uac/adpagem.html');lab._script("http://o.aolcdn.com/os/ads/adhesion/js/adhads-min.js").wait(function(){var floatingAd = new AdhesiveAd("348-14-15-14d",{hideOnSwipe:true});}); onBreak({980: function () { adSetType("F");htmlAdWH("93319229", "LB", "LB"); adSetType("");}}); EngadgetMenu NewsReviews Features Galleries VideosEventsPodcasts Engadget ShowTopics Buyers Guides Sagas Store Hands On More Betterer HD Mobile Alt Announcements Cameras Cellphones Desktops Displays Gaming GPS Handhelds Home Entertainment Household Internet Laptops Meta Misc Networking Peripherals Podcasts Robots Portable Audio/Video Science Software Storage Tablets Transportation Wearables Wireless Acer Amazon AMD Apple ASUS AT&T Blackberry Canon Dell Facebook Google HP HTC Intel Lenovo LG Microsoft Nikon Nintendo Nokia NVIDIA Samsung Sony Sprint T-Mobile Verizon About UsSubscribeLike Engadget@engadgettip uswhen.eng("eng.nav.init")when.eng("eng.tips.init") onBreak({980: function () {htmlAdWH("93308280", "215", "35",'AJAX','ajaxsponsor');}});Samsung to build five new R&D centers in Korea for $4.5 billionBypostedJul 3rd, 2013 at 7:00 PM 0

Samsung R&D center

You gotta spend money to make money. Samsung knows that, which is why the Korean powerhouse will be spending about 5 trillion won (roughly $4.5 billion) to build five new R&D centers over the next three years. All of the facilities will be in the company's homeland, with a $1 billion research center set to open in southern Seoul late in 2015. At that particular building, it's expected that some 10,000 employees will take up residence, focusing primarily on design. Samsung also plans to dedicate new R&D centers to materials and component development, as well as chips and displays. In 2012 Samsung dropped a company-record 11.9 trillion won (about $10.5 billion) on R&D, and there's no sign that it'll be slowing down anytime soon. In fact, its research budget is up about $1.4 billion from 2011. Sure, there might not be as much of an immediate windfall from the investment, like you might see from an advertising blitz or lawsuit, but we're willing to bet it keeps Sammy competitive for much of the foreseeable future.

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Kate Middleton’s ‘Feelings,’ and More Royal Baby News

With Kate Middleton about to give birth any day now (but please, please not tomorrow, because that would ruin our barbecue plans), the media is publishing literally anything they can come up with about the royal fetus. Meanwhile, journalists have set up camp on the sidewalk outside St. Mary’s Hospital, where Kate is to give birth in the private Lindo Wing. Read on for more scintillating tidbits about organic baby food and other creepy gifts from weird fans.

1. The hospital scene
In order to preserve order outside the hospital (you know, should an ambulance need to drive through), a press pen complete with risers has been set up in the parking lot. Crowds of photographers are already there, so the world will know as soon as Kate arrives.

Uncomfortable-looking press pen at the hospital.

2. Kate's status
Us Weekly has a lengthy report from an unnamed source full of generic quotes about how "great" Kate's feeling. A selection: "She's full of energy and really rather used to the bump ... Naturally she is a little nervous about the big day, what new mum wouldn't be?" Also: "She's still busy, making sure she's done as much as possible for the new house before the baby is born." And finally: "She's healthy, the baby is healthy." So not revelatory, but still nice to know.

3. The weird gifts
Artist Kaya Mar, who has previously satirized political subjects like Chancellor George Osborne in his paintings, has been loitering around the hospital with a large portrait of Kate Middleton as the Virgin Mary, complete with a halo, a suckling infant wearing a crown, and a Corgi at her feet. It's pretty weird, but at least it's more interesting than her royal portrait.

4. The less-weird gifts
While Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla were making a public appearance in Wales, representatives from the food manufacturer Plum presented them with an enormous basket of organic baby food. They were one-upped by the Finnish government, who sent a cardboard box containing baby clothes, nail clippers, cloth diapers, a hairbrush, a teething ring, and — for the Duke and Duchess — bra pads and condoms. Bonus: The box doubles as a crib in a pinch, according to the Daily Mail. How thoughtful!

5. The due date
Still July 11, says Us Weekly, but that's a silly assumption, since she plans to give birth naturally so it could come anytime now.


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13 Pop Stars Who Sang for Dictators

Jennifer Lopez is feeling the heat this week for singing “Happy Birthday” to the authoritarian ruler of Turkmenistan. The former Soviet state is considered “one of the world’s most repressive countries”; it once shut down the entire Internet in order to stop a video of its president falling off a horse from disseminating. Lopez’s publicist has said the party was a corporate event put on by China National Petroleum for its executives in oil-rich Turkmenistan — it just happened to fall on the president's birthday — and Lopez never would have attended “had there been knowledge of human right issues of any kind.”

Naive as it sounds, we're inclined to believe it. Say what you will about Dennis Rodman schmoozing with Kim Jong-un or Naomi Campbell accepting “dirty-looking stones” from Charles Taylor. Who among us could have picked Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov out of a lineup? Let alone named his human rights abuses?

Nor is J.Lo the first pop star to sing before googling, unwittingly bringing international human rights abuses to the attention of the Us Weekly crowd. From Sting to 50 Cent, the music industry’s free speech beneficiaries are the preferred American and British export of cash-flush dictators everywhere. Rather than pile on this Fourth of July weekend, discover what pop stars can teach you about repressive states the world over.


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