Zynga's Cloud Computing Advantage

Read the whole article at Seeking Alpha:

>>Zynga was created in 2007 with the idea that “play — like search, share and shop — would become one of the core activities on the internet.”

Just 5 years later, the company has about 150 million monthly unique users in 166 countries, and has just filed for what could become one of the most important IPOs of 2011.

There's little doubt that Zynga is one of the fastest and most interesting growth stories on the Internet, and it may be interesting to analyze how the company succeeded in supporting its customers' strong demand while keeping a flexible and cost conscious architecture.

AdvanPOS Wins Computex 2011 Design & Innovation Awards

AdvanPOS, the leading POS provider, is honored to announce that two of its POS products, ABox-2120 and Force Feedback Monitor, have received Computex Taipei Design & Innovation Awards. Three of AdvanPOS products just won TAIWAN EXCELLENCE Awards this year, which include Chameleon, Z-POS and QP-1000. Computex Taipei Design and Innovation Awards is organized by IF and Computex Taipei. 179 entries from 6 countries have registered for the Computex Taipei design & Innovation Awards 2011 and 42 entries were chosen to be awarded.

Force Feedback Monitor features the patented Force Feedback design which enhances the interest and easiness for human-machine interaction. When users press a specific key, a force feedback effect will be delivered to the user’s finger for unmistakable confirmation. It expands usability when audio and visual feedback is limited by giving the user certainty that the system is keeping up with their selections. The small footprint makes it suitable for limited workspace while the cable-less modular design enables simple peripheral connection and maintenance. The front panel is constructed of robust and recyclable aluminum with IP65 certified.

For more information about AdvanPOS products, please visit www.advanpos.com

http://www.advanpos.com/eng/AdvanPOS-EDM/110503.html

Smartphone Demand

from www.businessweek.com:

>>The company, which aims to sell 60 million smartphones this year, is estimated to have shipped 19.2 million units of such handsets in the second quarter, Charles Park, a Hong Kong-based analyst for Mizuho Securities Asia, said in a June 24 report.

Samsung’s global smartphone sales rose more than fourfold to 10.8 million units in the first quarter on the popularity of Android devices, making it the fourth-biggest seller of smartphones, according to research firm IDC Corp.

Helped by sales of Galaxy devices and lower-priced models, Samsung, the No. 2 mobile-phone maker in the world, will further narrow the gap with the market-leader Nokia OJY by the fourth quarter, NH’s Seo said in the report.

Samsung’s share in global smartphone market in the first quarter jumped to 10.8 percent from 4.3 percent a year earlier, while Nokia’s share slipped to 24.3 percent from 38.8 percent, according to IDC.

Densitron Introduces 7" Haptic Technology

TouchSense^® to differentiate Densitron displays in medical equipment, scientific instruments, industrial controls solutions and gaming.

CORONA, Calif. and SAN JOSE, Calif., July 6, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) Densitron Corporation, Inc., a leading designer and manufacturer of information display systems today announced that Densitron has extended their Immersion’s TouchSense licensed technology for integration into 7" Projected Capacitive touchscreen solutions for medical products, scientific instruments, industrial controls and gaming.

Densitron’s 7" 85-0203-000 DensiTouch™ reference design is for our new 7" TFT projected capacitive touchscreen display line. This is a turnkey reference design including a windows XP development board. Available immediately, the system incorporates Immersion’s TouchSense 2000 software and effect library, schematics and application programming interface, as well as recommendations for motor, amplifier, NEMA 2 sealing and mechanical integration.

Integration of Immersion’s haptic technology will offer the feel of traditional mechanical buttons , sliders and dials resulting in a solution that provides OEMs design flexibility and greater panel control durability while offering a more satisfying user experience.

"Immersion’s haptics technology is an excellent complement to our touch panels,” said Greg Hayes, President, Densitron America. “By leveraging touch feedback, we’re able to provide manufacturers and designers with cost effective solutions that will differentiate their products and are intuitive to use.”

Equinix Completes $750 Million Public Offering of Senior Notes

Read the whole article at Seeking Alpha:

>>Yesterday, Equinix (EQIX) announced that it intended to offer $500 million aggregate principal amount of its senior notes due 2021.

After the close of the market, the company announced that it had priced $750 million aggregate principal amount of its 7.00% senior notes due 2021, a $250 million increase from the original offering.

GamesBeat 2011 Announces 8 Finalists in “Who’s Got Game” Startup Competition

GamesBeat gives finalists a chance to compete for top honors

San Francisco – Silicon Valley’s most disruptive gaming industry gathering, GamesBeat 2011, will take over San Francisco July 12th and 13th, bringing together the industry’s top VCs, gaming execs, journalists and entrepreneurs. Organized by VentureBeat, this year GamesBeat focuses on the intersection of gaming and mobile, and organizers have put together a collection of hot startups in the space. There were dozens of worthy entrants but in the end eight companies stood out from the competition.

The eight finalists are:
MetalCompass —Maker of social real-world games and peripherals for smartphones.
Haptify —Creator of games that make use of haptics; started by Immersion.
Guerillapps – Maker of social games with green twist.
Kaiju Empire – Developer that wants to bring back the Japanese classic monster characters.
Zipline Games – Maker of Moai mobile game creation tools.
Protege Production — Creator of DreamHome social network casual games.
Gbanga – Developer of mixed-reality games.
OneUp Games – Maker of a live sports game.

The Who’s Got Game competition will take place at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco on July 13th with the winners announced at the end of the day. Judging the presentations are industry heavy hitters including moderator Sana Choudary, chief executive of the game accelerator YetiZen; Tim Chang, a partner at venture capital firm Norwest Venture Partners; Michael Chang, director of corporate development at Electronic Arts; and Terence Fung, head of corporate development at Zynga.

This year’s competition is sponsored by YetiZen, who will offer the winner a round in its three-month accelerator program starting in August. TriNet is also offering the winner of the competition an iPad 2.

http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=140810

LG sees H2 smartphone sales up 40 pct

from REUTERS:

>>LG Electronics Inc , the world's No.3 handset maker, expected its smartphone sales to rise by around 40 percent in the second half to 14 million units from the previous half, as it introduced Optimus 3D on Thursday in South Korea in its latest push to turn around the loss-making handset business.

But it lowered its overall handset sales target for 2011 by a quarter to 114 million units from 150 million units made earlier this year, as demand for its mainstay feature phones drop due to customers switching to smartphones.

Equinix ratings unaffected by increased offering

from www.xe.com:

>>* Moody's: Equinix's upsized debt offering does not impact ratings

Half Year Data Center Stocks Analysis

Read the whole article at Seeking Alpha:

>>It is always interesting to note how the same numbers can be analyzed from different angles.

We recently reported our half year scorecard for data center related stocks (which is showing, on average, very good returns), but we also noticed that both May and June were relatively weak for the sector, with half and the majority of stocks in the red in those two months, respectively.

Worth asking the question: has a peak already been reached in the sector?

Getting Good Feelings About Immersion

from blogs.forbes.com:

>>Gamers playing on consoles, laptops, and tablet PCs are hardly the lone market for Immersive. Smartphone makers like Nokia (NOK), Samsung, and LG are big users, and haptic technology is increasingly found in automobiles. In addition, Immersion’s MOTIV Development Platform providing haptic integrating services for Google’s (GOOG) Android operating system demonstrates the firm’s ability to secure strong partnerships.

Deutsche Börse migrates Xetra to new data centre for co-location

from www.finextra.com:

>>The Xetra infrastructure is now housed in the International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centre of the international IT company Equinix Inc., a global provider of data centre services. Deutsche Börse and Equinix have already been offering Proximity Services since 2006.

Gartner Says Spending on Gaming to Exceed $74 Billion in 2011

from Gartner:

>>In 2011, the gaming software spending will be followed at a distance by gaming hardware and online gaming, reaching $17.8 billion and $11.9 billion, respectively (see Table 1).

Table 1: Total Gaming Market Spending, 2010-2015 (Millions of Dollars)

	2011	2013	2015
Gaming Hardware	17,797	24,621	27,354
Gaming Software	44,730	51,129	56,512
Online Gaming	11,899	21,453	28,298
Total	74,426	97,204	112,163

Source: Gartner (June 2011)

Within the gaming software market, mobile gaming will experience the largest growth opportunity with its share growing from 15 percent in 2010 to 20 percent in 2015.

What Does Amazon Web Services' Price Cutting Means for Investors?

Read the whole article at Seeking Alpha:

>>In our previous article about Amazon (AMZN) Web Services (AWS) we tried to cover a few key reasons why the company is becoming the 800 pound gorilla in cloud computing, which we'll continue to look at here:

• Market share leader, with no competition in sight (Coke without a Pepsi);
• Strong customer demand;
• Infrastructure already deployed in all key world regions (both from a data center and peering point of view);
• Three-digit growth rates year-over-year (Y/Y), judging from some recent data released.

Japan's Data Centers Excluded From Power Conservation Measures

Read the whole article at Seeking Alpha:

>>The last time we wrote about the impact to the Japanese data center industry of the devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit the country in March 2011, we also mentioned the fact that the Japanese government was recognizing the key importance played by data centers in keeping critical services operating during and after those terrible events.

The CBOE Stock Exchange Moves Its Operations to Equinix's NY Metro Data Center

Read the whole article at Seeking Alpha:

>>Last week, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), the largest U.S. options exchange and creator of listed options, announced that it was moving its operations to the East Coast of the USA:

$1.5bn boost for data centres http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

from www.theaustralian.com.au:

>>Equinix's pitch was its ability to bring global companies into the local market to swiftly.

"If any company wants to deal with a single supplier on a global basis, we are it," Steve Smith, Equinix global CEO, said.

Equinix Australia managing director Darren Mann, who unveiled the company's latest data centre in Sydney, says it was looking at opportunities in Melbourne.

Samsung's Galaxy S II becomes company's quickest selling phone: three million in 55 days

from Engadget:

>>Samsung sold three million of its original Galaxy S phone in 85 days. A few months later, a full ten million had been moved. Now, it looks as if the superphone's proper successor may put that latter statistic to shame. The outfit just announced that it took but 55 days to move three million Galaxy S II handsets, which works out to one phone every 1.5 seconds.