A round-up of the companies, deals, and trends that made headlines.
Every day, the Fortune staff spends hours poring over tech stories, posts, and reviews from all over the Web to keep tabs on the companies that matter. We’ve assembled the day’s most newsworthy bits below.
- Oracle (ORCL) co-president Mark Hurd unveiled the latest in its line of high-performance data processing systems, the Exadata Database Machine X2-8, which includes “smart storage” software and features like 5-plus TB of flash cache that provide substantial performance gains over previous Exadata configurations. (New York Times)
- HP (HPQ) has dropped its lawsuit against Hurd intended to stop him from joining rival Oracle. As part of the settlement, the former CEO forfeited roughly $13.6 million worth of HP stock options. (All Things D)
- Investors believe a rival bid for analytics company Netezza is inevitable. (Dealbook)
- More than 100,000 Germans have registered with Google (GOOG) to have their homes effectively blocked from Google Street View, launching later this year, due to privacy concerns. (Minyanville)
- Despite rampant speculation, Facebook denies development of a “Facebook phone” (for now). (PCMag)
- Apps now account for 50% of all mobile Internet traffic. (Read Write Web)
- As a potential sign of Digg’s decline, competitor Reddit started running ads from Microsoft (MSFT). In addition, the headline aggregator is encouraging users to download Internet Explorer 9 and give the software company feedback. (VentureBeat)
- Mail.com has been sold to German Internet service provider and telecom giant United Internet AG for anywhere between $50 million and $100 million. (Mashable)
- California-based cloud hardware company Cirtras Systems emerged from stealth mode and announced it’s raised $10 million during the first round of funding. (VentureBeat)
- Executive VP of Nintendo (NTDOF) Sales and Marketing Cammie Dunaway is leaving videogames for an unspecified position on October 1. Her departure comes at a time when Wii sales are at an all-time U.S. low since the console launched in 2006. (The Seattle Times and VentureBeat)
- Also leaving: Nokia UK and Ireland general manager Mark Loughran, who will take up a new role as president of Pace Enterprise. Loughran marks the fourth high-profile Nokia exec to give notice (either voluntarily or involuntarily) in the last month or so. (SlashGear)
- Speaking of, Nokia (NOKBF) is officially delaying its flagship N8 smartphone from late September to some time in October to “make some final amends” (what ever that means). (Engadget)
- Yahoo (YHOO) opened one of the most energy-efficient data centers in the world in Lockport, New York. The company says it will use 40% less energy and 95% less water than conventional data centers. (PCWorld)
- Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings will officially launch a Netflix (NFLX) Canadian counterpart tomorrow. (The Hollywood Reporter)
