I’ve been meaning to write about this subject for some time now and finally have some time to spare. The topic: Mega-Mergers within the Pharmaceuticial/Biotech industry. In April of 2009, Pfizer agreed to buyout Wyeth for $68 billion; Pfizer’s market cap at that time was just around $100 billion. The following month Merck trumped the Pfizer deal with a ludicrous $41 billion merger with Schering-Plough. What was Merck’s market cap at the time? - Roughly around $50 billion. Seeing anything wrong with this picture yet? Not to be outdone, Roche rounded-up the mega-mergers of 2009 (so far) with a $46.8 billion deal to acquire Genentech. However, it must be mentioned that Roche already had a majority stake in Genentech (55.8%), so we’re really talking about $46.8 billion for the remaining 44.2 % of Genentech it did not already own. Read the rest of this entry »

At a Google Technology User Group meet-up last night, I listened to a presentation by a Google App Engine Engineer, Jeff Scudder. This past Sunday night Google announced the support for Java on there App Engine service. Previously, the only language that was supported was Python. Also, there is now integration with Google Web Toolkit, and a Google Plugin for Eclipse.
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In terms of using Ubuntu Linux as my laptop operating system, I have often been put in the predicament of needing to use applications that either I only have for Windows or applications that are not available for Linux. In the latter case, many hardcore Linux devotees will argue that a free open source Linux app can most likely be found for Linux to replace a Windows app. However, in the cases where a comparable software is not available for Linux, the user is often left in frustration.

So what can be done about this? I have found two options that provide the solution for this dilemma:
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On January 31st, 2009, at Sun Microsystems, I gave a presentation on IPv6 and the Hurricane Electric (HE) Tunnelbroker. The speech was given during the SupperHappyDevHouse 30 event and you can download the presentation slides here. The event attracted a SuperHappyDevHouse attendance record of over 400 people. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m currently writing this blog from a 1 GB Lenovo NetBook running Ubuntu Linux 8.10 inside virtualization software installed on Windows XP Home Edition. I have been experimenting with different virtualization software to compare and contrast - I have been very impressed! Read the rest of this entry »

Using a cool little app called wpToGo I am writing my first blog from my G1 Google phone. It’s pretty cool that I can post to my blog from my G1 without having to visit my website. Read the rest of this entry »

SuperHappyDevHouse 28 was today. I just returned, and I had a blast. So many events I go to are focused heavily on the tech side, which I like, but it was nice to finally go to an event like SuperHappyDevHouse that also has a large focus on networking and socializing with other techies, creative individuals, and entrepreneurs. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday I participated in a Google User Group Meeting at Google where presentations were made regarding SproutCore (a JavaScript framework) and Google App Engine. In this blog I will mainly focus on SproutCore as that was the main discussion topic of the night. However, I will also briefly add my two cents about the Google App Engine and Google Chrome (Google’s new browser).

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This blog is the first of several blogs that I will be posting form my experience at Silicon Valley Code Camp 2008.

The first session/lecture I attended was “LinkedIn’s Engineering Process using JIRA.” The speaker, Daniel Francisco, Project Manager for LinkedIn’s Content Distribution and Networks team (CDN), gave a brief overview of CDN’s engineering process and LinkedIn’s agile software development methodology.

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The Silicon Valley Code Camp 2008 is over. I really learned a lot and enjoyed this event; I’m already looking forward to next year! It’s a really brilliant idea to bring tech enthusiasts together for this two day learning / networking marathon. Read the rest of this entry »