NoSQL joins SQL in FoundationDB purchase of Akiban

Database software vendor FoundationDB has acquired Akiban, another purveyor of database software, in a move to develop a hybrid data-store application capable of storing both SQL and non-SQL data.

“Being all things to all people is a tough place to be, but I think there is a way to thread that needle and offer a real interesting service,” said David Rosenthal, a co-founder of FoundationDB. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Vienna, Virginia-based FoundationDB developed a data storage engine that can store information in both non-SQL and SQL data structures.

FoundationDB offers all the capabilities of a standard relational database management system (RDMS)—including fault tolerance and full ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) compliance—while still offering the easy multi-server scalability of a NoSQL data store.

The software still needed a front end that could provide a SQL interface to applications that require a database, according to Rosenthal.

Boston-based Akiban offered a connector that provided a standard SQL interface, which the company used with its own NoSQL data store software. In early 2012, Akiban released its own NoSQL package for purchase, then switched to offering it as a hosted service, on a trial basis.

FoundationDB plans to link the Akiban connector with its own data storage engine, thereby creating a single software package that can store both in NoSQL and SQL structures. With this software, enterprises could potentially consolidate their databases onto a single platform.

“There ends up being a proliferation of databases within an architecture. One company may have five or six databases,” Rosenthal said. An organization may already have a number of standard SQL databases serving its applications, but also may be adopting NoSQL data stores for additional duties not typically well served by SQL databases.

FoundationDB plans to release a commercial product that combines the two technologies by August. The Akiban Boston office will remain open, according to Rosenthal. 

Verizon joins Ubuntu carrier advisory group

Verizon Wireless became the first U.S. carrier to join the Ubuntu Carrier Advisory Group, but it is not clear whether it will eventually promote phones running the open-source Ubuntu OS on its network.

Canonical, the company behind the Ubuntu project, announced in June the formation of a Carrier Advisory Group that would shape Ubuntu for the mobile industry. Other members of the CAG include Deutsche Telekom, Everything Everywhere, Korea Telecom, Telecom Italia, LG UPlus, Portugal Telecom, Smartfren, China Unicom and SK Telecom.

Being able to work closely with Verizon gives Canonical an opportunity to shape Ubuntu into “the most compelling new, alternative platform for mobile,” Canonical said Thursday.

CAG members get to launch Ubuntu devices before non-members in local markets. The first two launch partners will be selected from within the group, with the next following six months later. Non-members will have a substantial wait to gain access to the platform, Canonical said.

Verizon Wireless is joining the carrier advisory group “to participate in technology discussions around this new platform, which has the ability to bring new and exciting features to developers and ultimately, customers,” Samir Vaidya from the Device Technology team at Verizon Wireless was quoted as saying in a statement by Canonical.

Verizon did not immediately comment.

Ubuntu, Tizen and Firefox OS are three of a number of operating systems that are targeting the mobile phone market which is currently dominated by Android and iOS.

Tizen is an alternative backed by Samsung Electronics and Intel, while Mozilla claims over 20 operators and hardware makers support the Firefox OS. Deutsche Telekom said Thursday T-Mobile Poland would roll out the Alcatel One Touch Fire smartphone running the Firefox OS, with online sales beginning Friday, as the first leg of an European launch of the device. Telefonica announced earlier this month the world’s first commercial launch of a smartphone running the OS.

The Ubuntu operating system is expected to be available on phones during the fourth quarter of this year or in early 2014, Canonical said in February.

The CAG will close to new members at the end of this month.

Terence Stamp Joins Tim Burton's 'Big Eyes'

Oscar-nominated actor Terence Stamp has joined Tim Burton's Big Eyes.

Big Eyes is based on the true story of painter Margaret Keane and her husband, Walter Keane, who took credit for his wife's work.

Stamp joins Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz in The Weinstein Co. film as John Canaday, the New York Times senior art critic who is appalled and exasperated by Walter's rise to prominence.

Krysten Ritter, Jason Schwartzman and Danny Huston also star.

“Besides the fact that Terence is one of the most brilliant actors of our time and a likely best actor Oscar nominee for Unfinished Song, he dated Julie Christie and Brigitte Bardot. Not casting him for that reason alone would be a mortal sin!" said The Weinstein Co.'s Harvey Weinstein in a statement.

Burton is producing with Lynette Howell for Electric City Entertainment, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. Alexander and Karaszewski co-wrote the screenplay.

Stamp is repped by Untitled Entertainment.

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'90210' Star Jessica Lowndes Joins 'Eden' Cast (Exclusive)

90210 star Jessica Lowndes will be the female lead in Eden, the survival thriller from Ombra Films that stars actor-turned-producer Nate Parker.

Lowndes will join Ethan Peck and Diego Boneta in a story set in motion when a soccer team’s plane crashes on a deserted island.

Team spirit evaporates as disagreements both petty and profound cause the group to separate into factions, and soon sharks, abandoned Japanese mines and starvation are the least of the survivors’ worries as a Lord of the Flies mentality takes hold.

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Commercials director Shyam Madiraju is making his feature debut. Parker is producing with Jaume Collet-Serra and Ombra’s Juan Sola and Hernany Perla.

Lowndes starred for five seasons on The CW’s 90210 and also appeared in such movies as Darren Bousman’s rock opera The Devil’s Carnival and the horror thriller Altitude. She recently wrapped the screwball comedy Larry Gaye: Renegade Male Flight Attendant opposite Stanley Tucci, Jason Alexander and Molly Shannon.

Lowndes is repped by CAA, Aperture Entertainment and Sloane Offer.

Follow me on Twitter @sajilpl

Justin Guarini Joins Broadway's 'Romeo and Juliet'

NEW YORK -- Broadway has been awash during the past decade in American Idol contestants sidestepping into musical theater. But season-one runner-up Justin Guarini will go a step further late this summer when he joins the ensemble cast of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

While Guarini has performed on Broadway in the musicals American Idiot and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, this will mark his first time in a play -- let alone one of the classics. He will undertake the role of Paris, a noble rival to Romeo for the affections of Juliet, and unlike him, a suitor sanctioned by her parents.

As previously announced, the star-crossed lovers will be played by Orlando Bloom, making his Broadway debut, and two-time Tony Award nominee Condola Rashad, stirring interracial divisiveness into the tragedy's tale of feuding families and the innocent casualties of hatred.

Directed by David Leveaux, the original-language/modern-setting production starts preview performances Aug. 24 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, with an official opening night Sept. 19.

Also joining the cast is Christian Camargo as Romeo's best buddy, Mercutio. In addition to roles in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn and on Showtime's Dexter, Camargo recently completed his feature directing debut, Days and Nights, a modern retelling of Chekhov's The Seagull, in which he stars with Katie Holmes, William Hurt and Jean Reno. Also in the cast are Camargo's wife, Juliet Rylance, and father-in-law, Mark Rylance.

Playing Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet is Roslyn Ruff, who won the Lucille Lortel Award for best actress last season for her role in the Off Broadway revival of August Wilson's The Piano Lesson.

Other new additions to the ensemble are Conrad Kemp as Benvolio, Corey Hawkins as Tybalt and Geoffrey Owens as Escalus. They join previously announced castmembers Brent Carver (Friar Laurence), Jayne Houdyshell  (The Nurse) and Chuck Cooper (Lord Capulet).

 

Zach Braff Joins Cast of 'Bullets Over Broadway'

NEW YORK -- Initial casting is coming together for Bullets Over Broadway, the stage musical adaptation of Woody Allen's 1994 comedy, with Zach Braff set to make his Broadway debut in the role played onscreen by John Cusack.

Directed and choreographed by five-time Tony winner Susan Stroman (The Producers), the new musical will begin preview performances March 11 at the St. James Theatre, with opening night set for April 10.

Braff will take on the role of aspiring playwright David Shayne, cornered into casting a mobster's talentless girlfriend in order to get his latest drama produced, at the same time being pressured by theatrical grande dame Helen Sinclair to beef up her part.

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Lenny Wolpe will play theater producer Julian Marx, with former The Sopranos castmember Vincent Pastore as Nick Valenti, the gangster to whom he turns for financing. Helene York will play Nick's bimbo girlfriend, Olive, with Brooks Ashmanskas as the play's high-maintenance leading man and Betsy Wolfe as David's longtime girlfriend.

The key role of Helen Sinclair, which won an Oscar for Diane Wiest in the film version, has not yet been cast.

Adapted by Allen from the Oscar-nominated screenplay he co-wrote with Douglas McGrath, the musical features existing songs from the period. Producers on the show are Letty Aronson and Julian Schlossberg.

Braff previously appeared Off Broadway in Paul Weitz's play Trust at Second Stage Theatre, where his own play All New People also had its world premiere.

The actor has recently been in the news with his Kickstarter campaign to finance his second feature, Wish I Was Here, a follow-up to his 2004 directing debut Garden State. The project is set to star Kate Hudson, Jim Parsons, Mandy Patinkin and Josh Gad alongside Braff.

Follow me on Twitter @sajilpl

Justin Guarini Joins Broadway's 'Romeo and Juliet'

NEW YORK -- Broadway has been awash during the past decade in American Idol contestants sidestepping into musical theater. But season-one runner-up Justin Guarini will go a step further late this summer when he joins the ensemble cast of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

While Guarini has performed on Broadway in the musicals American Idiot and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, this will mark his first time in a play -- let alone one of the classics. He will undertake the role of Paris, a noble rival to Romeo for the affections of Juliet, and unlike him, a suitor sanctioned by her parents.

As previously announced, the star-crossed lovers will be played by Orlando Bloom, making his Broadway debut, and two-time Tony Award nominee Condola Rashad, stirring interracial divisiveness into the tragedy's tale of feuding families and the innocent casualties of hatred.

Directed by David Leveaux, the original-language/modern-setting production starts preview performances Aug. 24 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, with an official opening night Sept. 19.

Also joining the cast is Christian Camargo as Romeo's best buddy, Mercutio. In addition to roles in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn and on Showtime's Dexter, Camargo recently completed his feature directing debut, Days and Nights, a modern retelling of Chekhov's The Seagull, in which he stars with Katie Holmes, William Hurt and Jean Reno. Also in the cast are Camargo's wife, Juliet Rylance, and father-in-law, Mark Rylance.

Playing Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet is Roslyn Ruff, who won the Lucille Lortel Award for best actress last season for her role in the Off Broadway revival of August Wilson's The Piano Lesson.

Other new additions to the ensemble are Conrad Kemp as Benvolio, Corey Hawkins as Tybalt and Geoffrey Owens as Escalus. They join previously announced castmembers Brent Carver (Friar Laurence), Jayne Houdyshell  (The Nurse) and Chuck Cooper (Lord Capulet).

Follow me on Twitter @sajilpl

'American Idiot' Actor Joins Stephen King Adaptation 'A Good Marriage'

Rising actor Theo Stockman has joined Joan Allen and Anthony LaPaglia in A Good Marriage, the indie adaptation of Stephen King’s 2010 novella.

The movie, currently in production, is being directed by Peter Askin and sees Allen play a woman named Darcy, who discovers the sinister and gruesome double life that her husband and the father of their two children, played by LaPaglia, has been living.

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Stockman is playing their son, a man who made a name for himself in the advertising world and is enjoying his newfound success.

King wrote the screenplay.

Stockman has appeared in shows such as Blue Bloods, Private Practice, CSI, Nurse Jackie and 30 Rock. He also appeared in Broadway productions of American Idiot and Hair.

He is repped by APA and Gregory Russell at Regarding Entertainment.