Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Thu 24th Jul 2008 00:09 UTC
There are no less than five apps to turn my iPhone into a flashlight, yet I can't turn it into a 3G-powered Wi-Fi hotspot. Why? Because the SDK has more restrictions than Guantanamo-devs can't integrate with the OS and have to steer way, way clear of copyright and trademark issues-so the most innovative, game-changing apps might not ever make it to your squeaky clean iPhone." An editorial by Gizmodo. Many kinds of apps (from multi-IM apps running on the background, to copy/paste) require the level of system integration that either is not possible via the existing official API, or that Apple artificially limits via lawyers.
Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Thu 24th Jul 2008 00:09 UTC, submitted by irbis
Matthew Dillon has announced the availability of DragonFly BSD 2.0. Also HAMMER filesystem is released with the new DragonFly. Read the full Release Notes.
Linked by Amjith Ramanujam on Wed 23rd Jul 2008 21:52 UTC, submitted by AdamW
The How Software is Built blog secured an interview with Helio Chissini de Castro, one of the KDE developers employed by Linux distributor Mandriva. Helio talks about Mandriva, about KDE 4, and about the state of open source software in Brazil, where he is based.
Linked by Amjith Ramanujam on Wed 23rd Jul 2008 19:47 UTC, submitted by AdamW
Mandriva and Precedent Technologies (PTech) are pleased to announce a new partnership, working together on the release in September in the United States of a new low-cost desktop - the TechSurfer - with Intel Atom CPUs and Mandriva Linux preinstalled. TechSurfer is a web-centric computing platform that is designed for customers who mostly surf the web; download music; and utilize VOIP services, such as Skype. The TechSurfer platform is also suitable for light desktop applications. TechSurfer is powered by the Intel Atom processor. The Atom processor was designed especially for web-centric computers. TechSurfer prices starts at $399.99 with Mandriva Linux pre-installed: Microsoft Windows will cost an extra $100. The system will come with a three-year manufacturer's warranty. Find out more in the press release.Editor's note: Looks like Mandriva is taking full-advantage of the Low-cost hardware arena. First the Intel's ClassmatePC then the GDium and now PTech.
Written by David Adams on Wed 23rd Jul 2008 16:57 UTC
"The Japanese love those things!" That's what I've heard a lot of people say when I've talked to them about my latest obsession, the Coco 6035Re Bidet toilet seat. As part of OSNews' ongoing project, "Building The Wired Home," I wanted to try to see what the march of technological progress has brought to the bathroom, so we installed a bidet seat in OSNews' House of the Future. It turns out, I'm pretty impressed.
Linked by Amjith Ramanujam on Wed 23rd Jul 2008 16:34 UTC, submitted by LinucksGirl
In this article, learn how to be a more productive Linux systems administrator. These 10 essential tricks will lead you on your way to being one powerful Linux systems administrator. Learn about SSH tunnels, VNC, password recovery, console spying, and more. Examples accompany each trick, so you can duplicate them on your own systems.
Linked by Amjith Ramanujam on Wed 23rd Jul 2008 14:32 UTC, submitted by ahz1
Andrew Ziem takes a close look at Microsoft Word performance in a benchmark with 4500 measurements in 5 categories covering 6 versions and 12 years of releases to determine whether Word has become slower or faster over the years.
Linked by Amjith Ramanujam on Wed 23rd Jul 2008 00:00 UTC, submitted by Robert Lange
"I've read past reviews by other reviewers describing Vector Linux as "better Slackware than Slackware" or "what Slackware should be" and I always felt that was a bit of a stretch. With this release it isn't. You get all the reliability and stability of Slackware, better performance than vanilla Slack (at least on my hardware) and the features and most of the conveniences users of distributions touted as user friendly have come to expect."
Linked by Amjith Ramanujam on Tue 22nd Jul 2008 17:54 UTC
David Williams over at iTWire has done a comparison of Windows vs Linux. It is performed by doing functionally identical tasks in both the OSes. This comparison is not a fair one by any measure. The laptops running the Windows and Linux were different in the hardware config and the software used for the tests were comparable but clearly different (MS Office vs OpenOffice; IE vs Firefox 3).
Linked by Amjith Ramanujam on Tue 22nd Jul 2008 15:55 UTC, submitted by LinucksGirl
Linux loadable kernel modules are on of the most important innovations in the Linux kernel. They provide a kernel that is both scalable and dynamic. Discover loadable kernels, the ideas behind them, and learn how these independent objects dynamically become part of the Linux kernel.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 22nd Jul 2008 12:27 UTC, submitted by danmassa7
Scott Finley, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has ported the Linux files system Ext2 to Microsoft's new research operating system Singularity. One of the most striking observations was the author's comments on Singularity's robustness. "Perhaps the best testament to Singularity's dependability was the extremely good system stability during the development of ext2... If the ext2 process terminated as the result of a failure, it only resulted in open channels closing. Other processes could (and did) recover gracefully." Finley's report details all his findings quite extensively.
Linked by Tony Steidler-Dennison on Tue 22nd Jul 2008 09:36 UTC, submitted by snydeq
Peter Wayner takes a deep look at four cloud computing services: Amazon EC2, Google App Engine, GoGrid, and AppNexus, each of which simplifies your workload but forces you into a 'ball-and-chain-computing' routine you may not like. Although the services do let you pull CPU cycles from thin air when you need it, they can't solve the deepest problems that make it hard for applications to scale gracefully, Wayner writes. Overall, Wayner finds the 'clouds' rife with potential but 'far from clear winners over traditional shared Web hosting.'
Written by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Tue 22nd Jul 2008 08:29 UTC
Geeks.com sent us in a pretty cool computer gadget: a vintage-looking internet radio device, the iMedia100. I have a soft spot about classic-looking devices that have modern features, so this was an interesting experiment for me. Read on for more.
Linked by Amjith Ramanujam on Tue 22nd Jul 2008 01:54 UTC
Walter Bright talks about D and his desire to improve on systems programming languages. Many successful concepts from other languages like JavaScript, PERL, Ruby, Lisp, Ada, Erlang, Python, etc., have had a significant influence on D, he says. He adds: "D 1.0 was pretty straightforward stuff, being features that were adapted from well-trod experience in other languages. D 2.0 has ventured into unexplored territory that doesn't have a track record in other languages. Since these capabilities are unproven, they generate some healthy skepticism. Only time will tell."
Linked by Amjith Ramanujam on Mon 21st Jul 2008 22:38 UTC, submitted by Moulinneuf
Software engineer Satoshi Nakajima, the lead architect of Microsoft's Windows 95, picked up a Mac for the first time two years ago.
He was so impressed, he says he'll never again touch a PC again.
Satoshi loves Apple products so much, he started a company in April, Big Canvas, to develop for Apple's iPhone platform full-time.
"We have chosen iPhone as the platform to release our first product (for) several reasons," explains his company's website. "We love Apple products... You need love to be creative."
Linked by David Adams on Mon 21st Jul 2008 14:47 UTC, submitted by Moulinneuf
Microsoft rarely gives out sales numbers, but Vista is another story. Due to bad press, the company apparently wants to remind everyone that Vista is still selling well. The software giant recently announced that it would be putting resources into launching a marketing campaign that will fight back against Apple's ads and incorrect Vista assumptions and will instead tell the "real Vista story."
Linked by David Adams on Mon 21st Jul 2008 14:44 UTC, submitted by Moulinneuf
Linus Torvalds is remarkable, not only for being the technical genius who wrote Linux, but for then being able to inspire and lead an enormous team of people to devote their free time to work on the operating system and bring it to maturity. We sent Richard Morris off to interview Linus, and find out more.
Linked by Amjith Ramanujam on Mon 21st Jul 2008 14:35 UTC, submitted by Thom_Holwerda
Linked by Amjith Ramanujam on Sat 19th Jul 2008 19:01 UTC, submitted by cypress
Linux and UNIX-like operating systems in general are regarded as being more secure for the common user, in contrast with operating systems that have "Windows" as part of their name. Why is that? When entering a dispute on the subject with a Windows user, the most common argument he tries to feed me is that Windows is more widespread, and therefore, more vulnerable. Apart from amusing myths like "Linux is only for servers" or "does it have a word processor?", the issue of Linux desktop security is still seriously misunderstood.
Linked by Amjith Ramanujam on Fri 18th Jul 2008 23:29 UTC, submitted by Dale Smoker
The convoluted case of SCO v. Novell dealt a heady blow to the SCO Group Wednesday, with United States District Judge Dale Kimball ordering the company to pay $2.5 million to Novell for improperly claiming, and collecting royalties for, the Unix operating system.