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Cloudyn tool specs out Amazon cloud costs in advance

Which type of Amazon Web Services Reserved Instance should your company deploy and for what time period for any given job? These are the kinds of questions Cloudyn’s new calculator can help you sort out for yourself, the company said.

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GELI’s battery operating system is here

A startup building operating systems for grid batteries has shipped its first products to NIST for testing in a net zero home project. The company is an example of the Clean Web phenomenon, where startups use information technology for cleantech aims.

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Indian IT powers face big growth challenges

For Indian IT service powers, growth and valuation is becoming an issue, says M&A consultant Marty Wolf. Perhaps not surprisingly, he foresees more mergers and buyouts as tier two players scramble to add size to survive and tier one companies stockpile IP and domain expertise.

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Stock analyst: Studios are now hooked on Netflix licensing fees

While upgrading Netflix’s stock rating to “neutral” from “sell,” Janney Montgomery Scott analyst Tony Wible said that slow-moving competition as well as studios’ “addiction” on licensing fees will benefit the subscription streaming service in the near term. As for the long-term, Wible’s still not a believer.

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Opscode boosts scale, adds Active Directory support to Chef

Striving to make Chef more enterprise-friendly, Opscode added Microsoft Active Directory and Solaris support to the automated configuration management tool. It also says that its Private Chef version can now wring three times as much work out of the same old hardware.

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Check out Punch, the Mad mag for the iPad people

Punch is an iPad-only satire magazine that combines pop culture references and popular Internet memes with interactive game play. The New York-based start-up launched its app, and well let’s just say, it can be quite draining on your productivity.

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So what will happen to Mobile Hotspots?

When Apple announced the new iPad, it touted that the new iPad will be able to offer “mobile hot spot” like features, allowing you to share your wireless connection with five devices. This prompted folks at Fool.com to ask: did Novatel and Sierra Wireless get Garmin’d?

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Glassmap is like Find My Friends but better

The latest social-local-mobile app to enter the market is Glassmap, which is like a cross-platform Find My Friends, but with more features and better battery management. The app, created by a YCombinator-backed startup, also provides better privacy, messaging and notifications than the competition.

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Despite critics, Cisco stands by its data deluge

Cisco Systems’ oft-cited Visual Networking Index of the world’s projected mobile data consumption fell under some criticism this year as some operators’ rapid growth seemed to peter off, but Cisco isn’t changing its forecasts. Rather, it is revising them upward, predicting even greater traffic growth.

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Celebrity angels: a fad or the future?

The trend of ‘celebrity angels’ isn’t exactly surprising. But why are we suddenly seeing celebrities become more involved in tech investing? Hunter Walk of YouTube offers three possible explanations, and pulls together choice quotations from top consumer internet moneymen.

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Social Video Site VHX.tv Could Win the Discovery War

Social video sharing and discovery site VHX.tv is preparing to open up for public beta this Tuesday, after launching for private beta in early April. And with an eye-catching design and plenty of fun features, it might be the ultimate “what should I watch?” solution.

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Memo to Newspapers: Stop Thinking Like a Portal

The story of homeless radio announcer Ted Williams became an Internet sensation this week. But the video that started it all is no longer available on YouTube, in yet another example of a newspaper that can’t see the forest for the dead trees.

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Cult Filmmaker Tommy Wiseau Stars in Atom/Studio8 Short

Tommy Wiseau is a legend to a very small group of people, thanks to his cult film The Room — which has attracted fans like Brock LaBorde, who co-directed (with Jared Richard) a tribute to low-budget anthology horror shows featuring Wiseau and his “unique” acting style.

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How The Scott Pilgrim Trailer Got Interactive

The film Scott Pilgrim vs. The World appears to be faithful to the source material’s emphasis on 8-bit nostalgia. But while the latest bit of promotion embraces that love of retro technology, it’s also the very forefront of modern video interactivity.

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Vampire Mob Combines the Mythology With The Sopranos

A different kind of vampire narrative from the Twilight franchise, Vampire Mob focuses on a hitman struggling to find a balance between work, family and his new undead status. Independently produced, the first episode launched yesterday — but the second is being held “ransom.”

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Facebook Data Deleted After Lawsuit Threat

A researcher who had collected and was analyzing public data from more than 210 million Facebook profiles has deleted his entire database after he was threatened with a lawsuit by the social networking site. Peter Warden says he couldn’t afford to fight the case.

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Sierra Wireless Deal Signals Shift in Data Cards

Today Sierra Wireless, the maker of wireless data cards agreed to spend about 218 million euros ($274.9 million) buying Wavecom, the maker of machine-to-machine communications chips. For Sierra, the deal gives it the ability to follow the web as it moves from people to machines, providing a new avenue for growth as Sierra sees interest in wireless cards fade.

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The Bailout Passes

Watching this legislation to bail out Wall Street and banks clear the House has shaken my faith in true capitalism. I thought…

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Just Say No(thing)

Months after he sparked off a debate over network neutrality, SBC/AT&T chairman and chief executive, Ed Whitacre, is again making threatening (and…

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Worries about Grouper

PaidContent says that Grouper has raised MPAA concerns.: Grouper, a new streaming P2P sofwtare “which has been getting some breathless praise recently,…

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