Sun has agreed to buy MySQL for $800 million in cash and $200 million in options. Schwartz says the acquisition puts Sun in the position to provide the only "completely open source operating system for the internet."

New York Magazine has an interesting article about vertical farming, or growing food in skyscrapers. Dr. Dickson Despommier of Columbia University believes that "vertical farm" skyscrapers could help fight global warming. The article points out other uses: growing food in close proximity to cities, recycling urban waste, growing more food with less land and resources, sheltering food from pests without chemicals, and producing energy through farming. I'm not sure about the last one, (if mass comes out, energy must go in), but what does /. think? Is this a practical endeavor, or a Utopian pipe dream?