Monthly Archive:: April 2012

After two months of testing the release candidate, the Syllable project presents Syllable Desktop 0.6.7. The release notes detail many changes and additions, such as the first 3D functionality in Syllable (screenshot - the screenshot shows tearing because the demos are animating at full speed. This is an artifact of the screenshot process, not of the actual display). Other highlights include that REBOL 3 and Boron are now included and that the system is now prepared for the upcoming high-level Red programming language.

"Oracle's case against Google has evolved primarily into a copyright infringement suit over the past several months, and with the full trial scheduled to begin this coming Monday, the court is making an effort to get down to the nuts and bolts of copyright law. The judge issued an order last week requiring that both Google and Oracle provide their respective positions on a fundamental issue in the case: 'Each side shall take a firm yes or no position on whether computer programming languages are copyrightable'." Seems like an easy enough answer to me, especially since Oracle's example doesn't hold up at all - Oracle points to Klingon's custom glyphs to illustrate that a language can fall under copyright, but unlike Klingon, a programming language uses standard glyphs we all use every day. Arguing you can copyright that is borderline psychotic, and opens up a whole can of worms.

"Slashtop has released a $25 remote desktop client that brings the Windows 8 experience to the iPad. Aimed squarely at developers, the Win 8 Metro Testbed app offers support for Windows 8 Metro UI gestures in what appears to be a fast, low latency environment." It supports the Windows 8 gestures and all that, but of course, this is nothing more than remote desktop.

I don't actually have a reason for trying to build a Linux kernel with the CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT patch set. There's no way I can even measure the impact of it. Still, I felt like having a "real-time" Linux box, and set out to make one. Little did I know how difficult it would be to even get started.

"Former Goldman Sachs programmer Sergey Aleynikov, who downloaded source code for the investment firm's high-speed trading system from the company's computers, was wrongly charged with theft of property because the code did not qualify as a physical object under a federal theft statute, according to a court opinion published Wednesday." This could be a huge deal, if it ever were to be upheld in higher courts. More specifically, "because Aleynikov did not 'assume physical control' over anything when he took the source code, and because he did not thereby 'deprive of its use', Aleynikov did not violate the ". Well paint me purple with white and red dots and call me a girl scout.

It looks like 2013 is finally going to be the year that we're going to see truly high resolution displays - according to Intel. Retina displays for laptops and desktops for everyone. Considering promises regarding HDPI have been thrown our way for years now, it's high time they became reality. As the article mentions, there's one interesting possible issue: Windows 8's desktop mode. How will it handle HDPI displays?

I would honestly serve at the altar of the person that did this. Keep the debugging information, but for the love of god, make your email client do something pretty and useful with it.

According to Trend Micro, BlackBerry 7 is the most secure enterprise-ready mobile operating system. "When it comes to individual platforms, the experts' analysis clearly points out that some operating systems are more mature than others. BlackBerry OS scores very highly across the board, clearly separated from the group of the three emerging consumer mobile platforms. Corporate-grade security and manageability make this platform the option of choice for the most stringent mobile roles."

If there's one defining characteristic of Android, it's the operating system's extensive customisability. Since I'm quite curious what you guys are doing to your phones, I figured I might as well just ask you what your phone looks like - homescreens, widgets, applications, lock screen, whatever. Another thing that has me curious - what Android version are you running? Do you use a custom ROM, or do you prefer stock?

"Here's a business riddle: divine Google's intentions for its largest-ever acquisition, the $12.5 billion purchase of the once-great, now-faltering Motorola Mobility. Motorola represents one of the thorniest strategic and operational challenges in Google's 14-year history. Oddly, few seem to be paying attention."

"The Justice Department could sue Apple as early as Wednesday over alleged electronic book price-fixing, while settling with several publishers as early as this week, two people familiar with the matter said." I feel safe already. Update: ...and we have lift-off.

"Apple is developing software that will detect and remove the Flashback malware. In addition to the Java vulnerability, the Flashback malware relies on computer servers hosted by the malware authors to perform many of its critical functions. Apple is working with ISPs worldwide to disable this command and control network." Good and fairly quick response. Apple is learning.

"Germany's upstart Pirate Party has overtaken the Greens to become the third strongest political grouping in the country, according to a new poll. The survey by Forsa for broadcaster RTL showed support for the Pirates, whose platform is based on internet freedom and more direct participation in politics, pushing up to 13 percent and outstripping the Greens for the first time." Not surprising. I have lots of close friends in Germany (especially in the former DDR), and for obvious reasons, I've noticed they tend to have a very firm grasp of concepts like privacy and government spying. The bit about six parties being a lot and troublesome for coalition building made me smile.

If you ever needed evidence that no, people don't want a browser as an operating system, it's this: Google has updated Chrome OS to pretty much turn it into a traditional desktop operating system. This does raise the question - does anybody actually use Chrome OS?