GigaOM

Yesterday AMD announced that it was building a specialty supercomputer to deliver gaming through a computing cloud. Aside from the coolness of being able to play your video games on an iPhone, pause them, and pick them up at home, the news bolsters the cloud business model — taking it beyond storage and run-of-the mill computing into the realm of specialty clouds.

Now that businesses and vendors are growing more comfortable with the pools of virtualized computing resources, it makes sense to start talking about what — other than the next great startup — can work on clouds. Combine this willingness to explore the cloud with the rise of general purpose computing on the graphics processor and you get the type of specialty cloud that AMD and its partner Otoy (makes software to access the graphics cloud) are building. Continue »

In 2008, Cisco Systems, typically one of the biggest shoppers in Silicon Valley bought only four companies, down from about 14 in 2007. In 2009, that stinginess might be coming to an end. In an interview with Barron’s Eric Savitz, Cisco CEO John Chambers noted that Cisco was always aggressive in buying companies during downturns because he thinks that is the best time. “Companies with cash are king, queen and the royal family,” he said, perhaps reminding the that he has $27 billion (in cash and short term investments) to spend.

Chambers told Savitz he expects consolidation in the networking sector, but said he is not interested in buying direct competitors. Makes sense — why buy when you can destroy them with your sales force? Instead, Cisco is focusing its energies on buying companies to expand into the consumer electronics arena. According to Reuters, Chambers has talked about making “stream of acquisitions” with focus on video. Chambers said a good acquisition for Cisco would be company that has 100 people and a product consumers are lining up to buy. While this Apple envy might cost Cisco a few million, for some startups and their backers, Chambers’ words are nothing short of sweet music.

Question for our readers: Which startup(s) should Cisco buy?

Today, Amazon ( s AMZN) Web Services announced a management console that illustrates how carefully Amazon is playing its role as a platform provider. The new console competes in part with products from  RightScale, Elastra (which has backing from Amazon) and Enomaly, but doesn’t crush them out of existence.  Currently those vendors offer management products beyond Amazon’s — either in functionality or in managing other clouds too.

I had wondered before whether or not Amazon would launch features that would make startups building around its platform obsolete. I came to the conclusion that Amazon’s willingness to share information would help vendors plan ahead in time for them to shift or expand beyond EC2 or other Amazon products. Continue »

Skype, which has a long standing relationship with Boingo, is making it simpler (and easier) to get access to Boingo hotspots around the world. It announced a new plan that allows Skype users to pay for Boingo Wi-Fi hotspots using Skype Credit. The feature is called Skype Access and is currently available to Mac users as part of the Skype for Mac 2.8 Beta software. I upgraded just for this feature alone. Skype will support this on Windows and Linux versions of Skype later. You pay per minute for the access you use. Previously, you had to sign up for Boingo and got a special rate for using Skype. I thought it was a bad deal. I find Skype Access simpler and easier. (Related Post: Full review of Skype 2.8 for Mac on TheAppleBlog.)

President-elect Barack Obama is asking Congress to delay the transition that will force the nation’s TV broadcasts to switch from analog to digital signals. Depending on how long the delay is, it could affect the deployment of several services destined for the spectrum currently occupied by those analog TV signals. Those services range from Verizon’s LTE deployment to Qualcomm’s plans to broadcast mobile digital televison in markets such as San Francisco and Miami.

A research report from investment bank Stifel Nicolaus Associates downplays the risks of a short delay, as long as it doesn’t extend past mid-May, but it also points out that the move could leave the door open to further delays. From the report:

We do not believe an extension of this length would significantly affect any of the winning bidders of the 700 MHz spectrum, including most significantly Verizon Wireless and AT&T. We believe the broadcasters would be quietly relieved. Continue »

The pain the recession is currently causing for the semiconductor industry has been well documented, but it may also escalate tensions between chip equipment vendors and their customers. An ongoing debate over the need to invest in the next cycle of manufacturing plants has pitted equipment vendors such as Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron, KLA Tencor and others against their customers — primarily Intel, Samsung and the large foundries such as TSMC.

Every decade or so, chip makers have transitioned to building their wares on larger wafers, as a way of producing more chips for less money. However, thanks to the recession and the costs associated with the hoped-for transition, not everyone’s convinced this switch needs to happen. Even if it does, it certainly won’t happen as fast as Intel, one of the most aggressive proponents of this transition, hopes. Continue »

Congressman Edward Markey, a key proponent of net neutrality and online privacy, will leave his position on the committee that deals with telecommunications regulation to chair the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment. House watchers had expected Markey to remain on the Commerce Committee, where he would direct the telecommunications agenda.

Instead, that role will be taken by Congressman Rick Boucher, who takes on the chairmanship of the Communications, Technology and the Internet Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Boucher has been a supporter of municipal wireless efforts, has co-sponsored a bill to direct Universal Service Funds for broadband deployment (and require VoIP providers to pay into the USF), tried to amend the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to provide more protection for fair use, and appears to favor government intervention to deliver rural broadband access.

Image courtesy of Congressman Ed Markey.