Netflix Cloud Prize offers over $100,000 in rewards to cloud computing gurus

Netflix has a vested interest in fostering cloud computing — after all, that’s increasingly the company’s core business . Accordingly, it’s not going to just sit around and wait for a breakthrough. The subscription service is kicking off its Netflix Cloud Prize competition in the hopes that developers can move technology a little faster. Programmers who build upon Netflix’s open-source code before September 15th can win from a pool of $100,000 spread equally among 10 categories, ranging from performance improvements to what has to be our automatic favorite: “best new monkey .” Each winner also gets $5,000 in Amazon Web Services credit, flights to Las Vegas and a spot at Amazon’s user conference this November. The challenge won’t completely make up for the end to Netflix’s public API, but it does show that at least some tinkerers are welcome in the streaming video giant’s world. Filed under: Home Entertainment , Internet , HD Comments Source: Netflix (GitHub)

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Netflix Cloud Prize offers over $100,000 in rewards to cloud computing gurus

NVIDIA details the Grid, a card built for powering cloud computing

NVIDIA’s CES 2013 press conference is still ongoing, but the chipmaker is already unveiling something we’ve only seen teased before: the NVIDIA Grid, a card used for cloud computing across PCs, smart TVs, and smartphones. CEO and founder Jen-Hsun Huang detailed the new card on-stage, which you can see above in a rack of 20 grid servers. Huang says the rack pushes out roughly 240 NVIDIA GPUs worth of power, or about 200 teraflops — equivalent to approximately 700 Xbox 360s. The Grid was given a tease earlier this year ; the card will assist in pushing serious horsepower to the cloud, so that gaming over the air, across multiple devices becomes a less complicated reality. During an on-stage demonstration, NVIDIA showed Frozenbyte’s Trine running on various devices, all powered by the Grid system. Beyond just looking great, it carried over seamlessly between multiple devices. Huang also detailed NVIDIA’s first partners for Grid: Agawi, Cloudunion, Cyber Cloud, G-cluster, Playcast, and Ubitus. Apparently biggies like OnLive and Gaikai are already all set? We’ll be sure to get a closer look in the coming days as CES rages on. Continue reading NVIDIA details the Grid, a card built for powering cloud computing Comments

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NVIDIA details the Grid, a card built for powering cloud computing

Microsoft to provide cloud services for city of Chicago in four year deal

There’s a cloud hanging over the second city and it belongs to Microsoft . In a release issued today, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced plans to migrate the city’s 30,000 civil servants to a cloud-based solution for email and all desktop applications . Apart from the $400,000 the four-year deal is projected to save taxpayers annually, the move to Microsoft’s cloud computing for government platform will also help to bolster efficiency and streamline communication internally, as the city goes from three conflicting email systems to just one. According to the city’s Department of Innovation and Technology, this department-wide transition should reach completion by the end of 2013. It’s not the Windy City’s first big leap into remote storage — its hosted Department of Aviation data there for some time — but it does mark Emanuel’s commitment to modernization . Hit up the break for the city’s official PR. [Chicago photo credit: Nimesh M / Flickr ] Continue reading Microsoft to provide cloud services for city of Chicago in four year deal Filed under: Internet , Microsoft Comments Source: The Official Microsoft Blog

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Microsoft to provide cloud services for city of Chicago in four year deal