In the news on April 20: layoffs from the Chron, Sun-Oracle buyout, and Yahoo; Stanford is mixing gold, lasers, and nanotech to look up your butt; and we’ve also got killer drones… seriously.
BIZ
Thousands of layoffs are likely as Sun agrees to be acquired by Oracle for a $7.4 billion and the companies consolidate their hardware and software divisions. Chron
Teamsters agree to a deal at the SF Chronicle that will result in 100 jobs laid off. SF Business Times
GlaxoSmithKline is buying Stiefel Laboratories Inc., which has a facility in Palo Alto, for up to $3.6 billion. SF Business Times
Alviso-based TiVo is going to start selling more data about TV watcher’s ad-skipping habits. SF Business Times
Burlingame-based Virgin America Inc. has signed a deal to report its emissions of greenhouse gases to the Climate Registry (a nonprofit that tracks pollution) every year. SF Business Times
Yahoo’s 1Q earnings are set to be released tomorrow. Reports are doom and gloom accompanying the expectation of 13,600 worker layoffs. SF Business Times
Gartner report shows that open source software is gaining while propriety software is slowly declining. CNET
Social Media and New Communication experts gather in the 2009 NewComm Forum organized by Society for New Communications Research, a Palo Alto based think tank. Silicon Valley Watcher
Apple jumps 32 spots in the Fortune 100 list. CNN
Bay Area VC investment falls 57% in first quarter. SF Business Times
Adura Systems, a Menlo Park startup that has developed an electric power train for buses, has signed a testing agreement with a Chinese technology center that helps set the country’s standards for automotive equipment and is also negotiating with a Chinese bus manufacturer interested in the technology. Chron
TECH
Watch out–killer drones! Researchers out at China Lake are expecting to test a five-pound, two-foot long missile, designed for use with new unmanned aircraft designs that General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. began test-flying earlier this month. Wired
Want to figure out how much energy you consume? More than 1 million Miami residents are getting just that with Redwood City’s Silver Spring Network’s ‘smart meters’–the program is also expected to generate up to 1,000 new jobs. SF Business Times
Apple Netbooks are rumored to be manufactured by Foxconn. The Inquirer
Stanford is mixing gold, lasers, and nanotechnology to develop better… colonoscopy techniques? ABC
Adobe announces extension of Flash technology to digital home devices like Blu-ray players. Adobe
U.S. Army’s new ‘green’ ammo may have cancer risk. Wired
REAL ESTATE
A real estate agent in California who tells the truth? No. Really? On the Block
Kriozer’s plan to not pay over $5 million in fees to SF a move to push the city to become an investor in the second tower of One Rincon Hill? Socket
The scaffolding is down and only four weeks to go for 260 new Mission Bay apartments. Socket
What did we miss? Let us know.
