At Green Wombat, Todd Woody writes about Sun's virtual plan to spare the real environment:

Sun Microsystems will build a virtual version of its Blackbox portable data center in Second Life, the online world. Sun is promoting the Blackbox - essentially a data center in a shipping container - as an energy efficient and green alternative to building massive power-hungry server farms. Dave Douglas, Sun's VP of Eco-Responsibility, mentioned to me last week that the company wants to introduce Second Life's 1.4 million residents to the environmentally friendly aspects of the Blackbox.

Read more here.

At The Next Net, Erick Schonfeld writes:

The promise of Web-based enterprise software has been a long time coming.  But for the past few years the only real standout in this category has been Salesforce.com, which now has more than half a million paying corporate subscribers and is on track to hit nearly $500 million in revenues this year.

But lately I’ve noticed that some newcomers are gaining traction delivering Web 2.0 software to corporations.  These include Zimbra, Success Factors, and Rearden Commerce (which just got a $22.5 million investment from American Express).

Read more here.

At Waterlog, Jeff Davis writes:

This week, Garmin (GRMN) not only unveiled 20-plus new marine nav products for 2007, it opened its first flagship retail store along Chicago's trendy Magnificant Mile, complete with all of the design features and options you see at Steve Jobs' Apple Stores. Who would have thought a few years ago that a niche maker of nav devices for Bassmasters, sailors, and Cessna pilots would be opening doors on its own version of NikeTown? While there are dozens of other rivals now in the GPS market, more than anyone else, Garmin paved the way - so it's fitting that the company is first to put a dedicated GPS boutique on the mall.

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At The Next Net, Erick Schonfeld interviews PayPal cofounder Max Levchin, whose new company has just raised more money:

Photo-sharing startup Slide received a new round of venture capital today from Khosla Ventures and Mayfield.  I chatted with Slide founder Max Levchin (also a co-founder of PayPal) about the company.  He was tight-lipped about the actual amount he raised (speculation puts it at north of the $8 million he got in his last round, or more than a total of $20 million raised so far).  He was also tight-lipped about exactly how many people are using Slide. But the numbers must be pretty good if ex-Kleiner rainmaker Vinod Khosla decided to invest (moreover, Khosla does not typically invest in consumer plays).

Read more here.