Daily Tech Briefing: August 14, 2014 | eWeek

Daily Tech Briefing: August 14, 2014

Daily Tech Briefing: August 14, 2014
Written By
eWEEK Staff
eWEEK Staff
Aug 14, 2014
2 minute read
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Samsung has introduced the Galaxy Alpha, which is slimmer than both the Galaxy S5 and the Apple iPhone 5S. The phone seems to be designed for people who perhaps can’t quite make up their minds between a used or older iPhone and the long list of mid-tier Galaxy handsets.

Or rather, it could be for people who like the looks of the GS5 and the iPhone 5S, and wished for a lower-priced mash-up. The Galaxy Alpha, like the GS5, runs a 2.5GHz Octa Core processor. It’s also LTE-enabled and will come in black, white, gold, silver and “Scuba Blue.”

To help aid in Parkinson’s research, Intel is developing a big data analytics platform that will leverage wearable devices, an Intel-based cloud architecture and Cloudera’s Hadoop distribution.

The company announced a multi-phase program that will collect data from smart wrist devices worn by Parkinson’s patients and send it to the cloud-based infrastructure, where researchers will analyze the data in hopes of gaining information that will help them in their search for a cure.

In July, Michael Dell announced that his namesake company would let customers buy Dell products using Bitcoin, making the tech vendor one of the largest businesses to accept the digital currency.

A month later, Dell stated that the company had received an order for PowerEdge servers worth more than 85 Bitcoins, or about $50,000.

Dell is encouraging customers to use Bitcoin, even going so far as to offer $150 off Bitcoin purchases of Alienware products—an offer that expires today. It’s also laid out a three-step process on its Website for buying products using the crypto-currency.

VMware has been providing software for use in and around the private cloud for years, yet the company has been in the public cloud provisioning business for only 12 months.

However, the company does have one problem: How does it differentiate itself from all its competitors in the sector, such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, IBM, and Oracle? Bill Fathers, VMWare’s SVP of Hybrid Cloud solutions, explained that the company wants to differentiate itself by showing that they prioritize compatibility with your existing environments.

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