Geeksww News

MySQL Gets Live Schema Updating

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 19:38:51 UT

Database tools provider Tokutek has updated its MySQL storage engine to support live updating of schemas, the company announced Wednesday. Taking a database offline to update the schema can be too time-consuming in today\'s fast-paced environments, said Lawrence Schwartz, Tokutek director of marketing.

Kick off for GNOME:Ayatana Project

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 17:04:15 UT

This has been one of the guidelines in my life for quite some time… It started as a curiosity a long time ago with Notify OSD and evolved to full project in openSUSE. It is important to acknowledge at this point the motivation provided by the openSUSE GNOME Team from which I’ve been getting plenty of guidance and help, namely from Vincent Untz (vuntz) and Dominique Leuenberger (Dimstar).

Linux Mint vs Pinguy OS Review

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 16:51:46 UT

Linux Mint is one of the oldest, and arguably one of the best-developed, spin-offs of Ubuntu. Over the last few weeks, I\'ve been seeing more articles talk about another similar spin-off of Ubuntu called Pinguy OS, and I thought, \"Another Ubuntu derivative? How many more does the world need?\" But then I saw that these articles were placing Pinguy OS on the same level of Linux Mint. I figured this warranted a full-on comparison test.

Common user interface mistakes in KDE applications, part 2: Dialog layouts

Mon, 27 Dec 2010 14:53:42 UT

It is not uncommon to find dialogs which contains tabs, which themselves contain groups, which contain other groups. That’s quite a lot of borders… Not only does it look crowded, it also eats valuable content space. There are a few easy tricks you can use to avoid this issue.

After hack, Gawker CTO outlines security changes

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 14:20:12 UT

Gawker Media\'s CTO has outlined a series of security changes designed to shore up the company\'s IT operations following an attack last week that compromised up to 1.4 million accounts.

Debian 6.0 Squeeze to be released with completely free Linux Kernel

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 02:06:04 UT

The Debian project has been working in removing non-free firmware from the Linux kernel shipped with Debian for the past two release cycles. At the time of the releases of Debian 4.0 Etch and 5.0 Lenny, however, it was not yet possible to ship Linux kernels stripped of all non-free firmware bits.

Yahoo slashing products like Delicious, MyBlogLog

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 02:00:26 UT

Layoffs apparently aren\'t the only thing Yahoo is doing to slim down size and cut expenses: A screenshot from a company Webcast began circulating Thursday that claims the company will be shutting down Yahoo Buzz, MyBlogLog, Delicious, AllTheWeb.com, Yahoo Picks, and AltaVista; as well as merging and consolidating a handful of other products like geolocation service Fire Eagle and event listing site Upcoming.

IBM `shows true colours` against open source Hercules mainframe emulator

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 11:49:41 UT

Florian Mueller, founder of the NoSoftwarePatents campaign, has attacked IBM for stifling open source innovation.

Adobe considers changes to mitigate PDF attack

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 11:47:40 UT

Adobe Systems is considering modifying its PDF applications to counter a way to run arbitrary code on Windows computers by embedding it in a malicious PDF file.

Wi-Fi issues dominate iPad user complaints

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:28:48 UT

Some owners of Apple\'s new iPad have complained of weak wireless signals, dropped connections and slow surfing speeds

Cree aims LED modules at old-school lamp makers

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 14:37:09 UT

To help light fitting makers that lack LED experience, Cree has developed a line of modules. Each contains LEDs, drive electronics, optics and primary thermal management.

Five iPad apps for busy IT people

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 11:43:33 UT

With the imminent UK launch of Apple\'s much-hyped iPad, Computer Weekly has identified five ways IT people could use it.

Hundreds Of Googlers Drop `Steve Jobs` Into A Dunk Tank (GOOG, AAPL)

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 15:00:13 UT

Some drink company called Function decided to add more fuel to the Google-Apple fire. When it was invited to Google\'s campus to give out drinks, it dressed up one of its employees -- meet Donnie from sales -- as Steve Jobs and put him in a dunk tank. On its blog, Function says \"The tank was a total hit, with hundreds of Google employees lining up to take a shot at Mr. Jobs\"

Google Buys Episodic

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 14:26:53 UT

Google has made its fifth acquisition of the year: video service Episodic, which is presumably being drafted to help out with the Google-owned Youtube video service.

Microsoft ending support for Itanium

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 14:12:14 UT

Microsoft is ending its support for Intel\'s Itanium processor with the current version of its Windows Server OS, according to a Microsoft blog posting Friday.

Apple sells over 300,000 iPad tablets on US launch day

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 13:13:16 UT

We heard some pretty ridiculous estimates over the weekend, but these figures are straight out of Cupertino\'s mouth: over 300,000 iPads were sold on April 3rd. Specifically, that many were moved in the US as of midnight (PT, we\'re assuming) on Saturday, though this does include deliveries of pre-ordered units to customers, deliveries to channel partners and sales at Apple Retail Stores.

Dell Aero is AT&T`s second Android phone

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 14:56:26 UT

Looks like Dell\'s finally entering the modern US smartphone market with a renamed Mini 3 called the Aero for AT&T. There\'s some serious Android UI skinning going on here -- it looks like a riff on what we\'ve seen on the Streak / Mini 5 -- but that\'s all we know specs-wise at the moment. To be honest, we\'re somewhat concerned that this custom UI skin will be built on top of Android 1.5

Design firm accuses Mozilla of UI plagiarism

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:43:06 UT

A Canadian interface design firm accused Mozilla of stealing user interface (UI) elements for a development tool in the browser maker\'s Jetpack project, which aims to simplify add-on making.

T-Mobile explains BlackBerry outage, says it`s fixed

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:18:43 UT

T-Mobile USA issued an explanation for the BlackBerry data outage affecting some nationwide users Monday and Tuesday, saying it related only to Wi-Fi and not T-Mobiles network, directly contradicting what some users reported.

8 weird but cool Android apps

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:14:08 UT

So you told your boss that you bought your Android smartphone so that you could track your business calls, be more effective when traveling for your company, have easy access to Gmail and keep your organization\'s Twitter feed current. But we know what\'s really going on -- you got that smartphone because it was cool and because you wanted to play with all the apps. (And possibly because it wasn\'t

Bing Gains Again -- Should Google Worry?

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:05:51 UT

Microsoft\'s Bing search engine may still be a bit player in the lucrative online search business dominated by Google, but it\'s slowly and steadily gaining users. And it appears that Bing\'s share is coming at the expense of both Google and Yahoo, the latter of which recently teamed up with Microsoft to be more competitive in online search.

Vid-biz: JooJoo, YouTube, OnLive

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:03:49 UT

JooJoo Revamps Interface Ahead of Launch, Adds Local Video Playback — and Changes Color; the device formerly known as the TechCrunch tablet plays back Flash video streams and local content stored on a thumb drive, supports H.264 HD and many other codecs. (Engadget)

Selecting an Open Source Operating System

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:59:40 UT

There\'s a large selection of free and open source (FOSS) operating systems available these days, and choosing the right one for any given circumstance can be quite a challenge. This article is intended to help you pick the best operating system for your needs and experience level. Although this article is geared primarily toward those who have little to no experience with FOSS operating systems,

Write for TheAppleBlog

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:19:13 UT

Interested in writing for TheAppleBlog? We’re looking for a few new folks to bring on board and would love to talk to you.

Street Fighter IV Arrives on the iPhone

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:14:27 UT

Square-Enix recently brought its popular Final Fantasy series to the iPhone, and now another heavy-hitter, Capcom, is bringing yet another marquee title to the platform. That title is Street Fighter — and Street Fighter IV, a port of the latest installment in the series, is now available for purchase in the App Store for $9.99.

Cisco, Microsoft certifications increase high-tech salaries

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:39:34 UT

IT professionals with certain IT certifications could make bank compared to counterparts, according to a study of 17,000 high-tech workers conducted by Dice Learning.

Group wants Microsoft`s browser ballot to go global

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:43:40 UT

A lobbying group composed of Microsoft rivals wants antitrust regulators worldwide to pressure the company into offering a browser ballot screen to their citizens.

Google To U.S. Senate: Start Leaning Harder On Countries That Censor The Internet (GOOG)

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:01:58 UT

A top Google (GOOG) lawyer told a Senate subcommittee that the U.S. should make Internet freedom abroad an important part of its foreign policy.

Aid groups enlist Google to help in Haiti effort

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:48:51 UT

Aid workers, with the help of Google Earth, are uploading key information onto the Web to illustrate the needs of hundreds of thousands of people left homeless by Haiti\'s earthquake - an innovation that could significantly boost the ability to respond to future disasters.

Dell`s Latitude 13 business laptop now available, looking businessy

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:39:13 UT

Hey, if you\'re in the market for a beauty of a thin and light, and you mean business, you\'re in luck today. Dell\'s Latitude 13 laptop marketed for the business type (with a preinstalled Citrix client, simplified virtualization options and so on) is now available on the Dell site. With three customizing options -- base, economy, and productivity packages

Google Counters Microsoft

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:13:12 UT

The search engine\'s initiatives include ways to find information by taking a photo and results that stream on to a Web page continuously.

IBM Introduces New Linux Servers for the System z Mainframe

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:10:44 UT

IBM press release: IBM today announced new hardware, software and services packages to help clients consolidate and virtualize enterprise workloads on IBM System z. Included are two new Enterprise Linux servers that provide attractive, off-the-shelf pricing and configurations for large-scale data center consolidation on Linux.

Google Gets True Real-time Search

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 23:53:29 UT

It was foretold, and lo, it has come to pass: Google has implemented real-time search, built right into its existing search results framework. What does that mean? It means you get instant access to stuff that’s happening as it happens, including up-to-the-minute results from Yahoo! Answers, news and blog posts, and Twitter content.

RIM comes onboard with the Wireless Power Consortium

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 01:11:54 UT

Look\'s like the Wireless Power Consortium can add another one of the big boys onto its list of powerful allies. Research in Motion\'s come on board as a member of the organization, which now includes 21 manufacturers. The Wireless Power Consortium\'s noble quest, you\'ll remember, is to develop a wireless charging standard, which it calls the Qi.

Psystar, Apple To Enter Settlement Agreement

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:22:01 UT

The case between Apple and Psystar may in fact finally be over. AppleInsider is reporting on a document filed with the California court which says that the two companies have entered into a settlement agreement. However, since AppleInsider doesn\'t actually provide the document in question, and nothing shows up yet on dockets, it\'s all a little bit unclear.

Study reveals extent of online news copying

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:18:45 UT

Stories by biggest U.S. publishers copied and distributed as many as 15 times without credit; publishers likely to blame Google, Yahoo

Susan Boyle and Stephen Gately top Google`s most searched list

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:05:23 UT

Other popular search terms included Robert Pattinson, star of the Twilight movies, Rhianna, Michael Jackson, Google Maps, Twitter and Iran, says Google\'s annual \'zeitgeist\'.

Web Geek Advent Calendar 24ways Returns

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:03:17 UT

24ways, an advent calendar for web designers and developers, returns today for its fifth year. Every day until Dec. 24, a new article — many of them penned by web luminaries such as Jeffrey Zeldman, Eric Meyer and Peter-Paul Koch — will be published on the site, covering topics including CSS and JavaScript techniques, performance

Chrome for Mac Imminent, Why We Should Care

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:47:40 UT

It has been a long time coming. Google’s Chrome web browser has been available on Windows for over a year, while Mac users have been left with three options — take their chances with a nightly build of the open-source fork of Chrome (dubbed Chromium), use Google’s developer release, or wait for an official Google

Michael Jackson tops Yahoo`s search charts in 2009

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:46:34 UT

Michael Jackson\'s stunning death made him Yahoo\'s biggest star this year.

Best New Android Apps for 2009 Announced

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:33:31 UT

The Google Android Developer Challenge for 2009 is complete with the announcement of the winning applications. The Challenge kicked off last year and awards gobs of money to the winners: $150,000 for the top overall app, for example. Eligible software titles mustn’t be in the Android Marketplace prior to August 1, so the apps are

Ahead of the Bell: Netlist tumbles on lawsuit

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:25:51 UT

Shares of Netlist Inc. tumbled in premarket trading Tuesday, a day after high-speed analog chipmaker Inphi Corp. said it sued the server and storage systems maker for patent infringement.

CrunchPad is Dead

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:29:08 UT

TechCrunch has shared that the CrunchPad is not going to happen, due to a bizarre situation with its partner FusionGarage. Rather than speculate what might have really happened, Arrington lays it all out in his post informing us all that the tablet will not happen. Bizarrely, we were being notified that we were no longer involved

Apple`s New Map Team Job: What It Really Means

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:06:42 UT

Apple has posted details on a new full-time position at its Cupertino headquarters for an iPhone Software Engineer who will join its newly created Maps team. On the job description web page, Apple says it wants to "..take Maps to the next level," and "..rethink how users use Maps and change the way people find

Atom-smasher breaks proton acceleration mark

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:15:44 UT

The world\'s largest atom smasher broke the record for proton acceleration Monday, sending beams of the particles at 1.18 trillion electron volts around the massive machine.

Latest Microsoft patches cause black screen of death

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:14:46 UT

Microsoft\'s latest round of security patches appears to be causing some PCs to seize up and display a black screen, rending the computer useless.

Google Promotes Cellular Phone Coupons

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:02:22 UT

A new Google service enables businesses to offer coupons to consumers on mobile phones

Chinese iPhones Don`t Say `Assembled In China` On Them

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:00:10 UT

I went to a store with a big Apple logo selling Apple products in Shanghai three days ago with a Chinese friend. She wants to buy an iPhone. So we picked one up and compared it to the one I have, bought in the states. My iPhone says on the back “Designed by Apple in California and Assembled in China.” The iPhone that we had in our hands in Shanghai left out “Assembled in China.

Iraqi Government Jumps on the YouTube Bandwagon

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:10:58 UT

Iraq has joined the growing list of nations whose governments have made the move into online video, with the launch of the Iraqi Government channel on YouTube. In his first address on the new video channel, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said the Iraqi government will use its YouTube presence to connect to various international communities

Trust Digital Makes Enterprise Smartphone Management Move

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:19:34 UT

Trust Digital offers mobile enterprise management software that covers the full smartphone market, including Apple iPhone.

Apple Seeks to Shut Down Psystar for Good With Permanent Injunction

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:58:31 UT

It’s been a long, drawn out legal battle, but Apple is clearly winning by almost all accounts, and it just filed for a motion that could end Psystar’s party permanently. On Monday, the company filed a claim for a permanent judgment against Psystar that would stop the clone maker from selling any products at all,

Ustream Viewer Launches on Android (Just in Time for a KISS Concert)

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:40:53 UT

Ustream has launched its Viewer App on the Android market, enabling users to watch streams of live events for free while interacting with other users on their mobile devices. The release comes as Ustream ramps up its coverage of live events, including live streaming from the red carpet premieres of hit movies The Twilight Saga:

TDK-Lambda sees power business picking up

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:31:02 UT

Business has picked up at power supply manufacturer TDK-Lambda, following a year which was "as tough as I have known it", European marketing director Martin Southam told EW

AT&T, Verizon ads duel on airwaves, in court

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:24:05 UT

Wireless foes becoming more aggressive in their marketing

Google under fire after refusing to remove racist image of Michelle Obama

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:21:52 UT

Google is facing a storm over free speech after refusing to remove a racist image of First Lady Michelle Obama.

In Search of `Cloud-Ready` for Midmarket

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:04:32 UT

The true benefits of cloud computing may show up on \'Cyber Monday\' as retailers will use virtualized servers and load balancing to stay ahead of shoppers

Forecasting the Demise of Social Media

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:40:06 UT

With users buying Friends and Followers and acting as shills for marketers, we may see the carefully crafted coils of the social graph start to come undone

AOL Spotted Hiring J-School Grads

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:32:19 UT

AOL is hiring -- for its Patch network of local news sites. Last Friday, Patch\'s president Warren Webster was at an NYU Journalism event along with Darien Patch editor Cecilia Smith.

Microsoft on Silverlight vs. Standards

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:15:21 UT

During Microsoft\'s Professional Developers Conference the company\'s President of Server and Tools, Bob Muglia, and Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie talked to a select group of reporters and bloggers about a variety of topics - including Silverlight.

Capture Ideas On the Go: Idea Organizer For the iPhone

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:06:15 UT

Here’s the thing. There’s one thing I can count on having on me at all times, and that’s my iPhone. It stands to reason, then, that in a pinch, my Apple wonder device is what I turn to to keep track of stray ideas and thoughts that might otherwise go unrecorded, lost forever to the

AOL Web Designers In Dulles Told Their Jobs Will Disappear

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:16:26 UT

AOL Web designers in Dulles should not expect to have jobs by the end of Q1 2010, several sources tells us. Dulles\'s design team supports AOL News, Sports, Money, Health and Living. Thirty to 40 people work under SVP Marty Moe\'s media operation in Dulles, but only 10 to 12 of them are in design.

Star Wars: Trench Run Brings the Force to the iPhone

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:06:41 UT

Star Wars: Trench Run is finally here and this thing is utterly beautiful, packed with authentic audio and video from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and boasting impressive gameplay visuals. Trench Run is based around the Rebel assault on the Death Star at the end of George Lucas' classic 1977 movie. Piloting an X-Wing

Facebook worm spreads with a lurid lure

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:43:27 UT

Some Facebook users have been infected with a worm after clicking on an image of a scantily clad woman, which then redirects the victims to a pornography site, according to security researchers.

Online `Love Machine` Proposed for Employee Retention

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:41:04 UT

Second Life founders have a new venture aimed at measuring and publicizing employee reputation on the Web

Reason to Quit: Apple Warranties Void for Smokers

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:37:38 UT

I quit smoking four years ago, but before that, I was a dedicated smoker for a solid decade. Luckily, I never had any Mac trouble that would necessitate a warranty replacement during that ten years, or I might’ve been out of luck. According to Consumerist, Apple has denied Applecare warranty service in at least two

Why Hasn`t the Web Killed SNL?

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:35:45 UT

The latest issue of Entertainment Weekly has a piece on that comedy stalwart, Saturday Night Live, that almost reads like a surrender treaty. The article basically says that while there are some chuckles, the show just is a bit toothless, but that “Saturday Night Live is a pop cultural machine that’s likely to continue until

Brin: Two Google Operating Systems May Become One

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:00:41 UT

It has been difficult for Google to explain away the seeming conflict between Chrome OS and Android.

Windows Mobile vs. Android: WinMo is Better Than You Think

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:20:44 UT

Android is the hot phone platform, with market share growing at a rapid pace, and Android phones being touted all across the web. I have been impressed with how far Android has come in a relatively short time, and it has a major accomplishment how well it has penetrated the market. Windows Mobile has seen

Microsoft technology reduces network redundancy

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:14:52 UT

Researchers at Microsoft Research India have developed a compression and redundancy elimination technology that can operate as a host service in enterprise systems without the use of accelerator devices over a WAN.

Acrobat.com Revamped -- Better Interface, New Features

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:08:12 UT

Over the weekend, Adobe launched a revamped version of Acrobat.com, its web office and collaboration suite. This is the first major upgrade to the service since it left beta last summer (as covered by Thursday) and provides some much-needed productivity enhancements to this service. An early concern of mine when Adobe made the leap to web

Apple Speaks: Schiller Defends App Store Approval Process

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:06:10 UT

In what BusinessWeek is describing as "his first extensive interview on the subject," Phil Schiller, everyone's favorite Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing for Apple, has defended Apple's application approval process. I've read through it a few times, and I'd hardly call it "extensive." I think it's more accurately described as "PR spin" more than

Microsoft To Pay Content Providers to `De-index` from Google

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:04:06 UT

It is no secret that Microsoft is doing whatever it can to eat away at Google\'s immense market share of the search market, with Bing being its most ambitious effort yet. Well, it seems the battle just got a whole lot dirtier, as The Financial Times has uncovered news that Microsoft has approached several news content providers, offering them money if they \"de-index\" their sites from Google.

Ruby shining on Java, Windows, and Mac OS

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:23:26 UT

Implementations of the dynamic language leverage popular platforms to broaden its appeal.

Apple`s decade: How it can hit $500

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:32:11 UT

Plus: Five features of a good investment

Vid-Biz: BBC, Sony, Blu-ray Sales

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:13:18 UT

BBC Gives Technical Details of Its New iPlayer On the Wii; the U.K. broadcaster has encoded streams using H.264 at a 700 kbps bit rate, compared to 1.5 Mbps for regular TV or even 3.2 Mbps for HD. (BBC) Speaking of British TV, the U.K. version of YouTube debuted its new site section that hosts

Jobs` Personal, Terse Reply to Developer

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:53:44 UT

Gotta love that Steve Jobs. He never was one to hold back, and even now, when he's the CEO of the Universe (or something like that), he won't be found spouting corporate speak. CrunchGear tells the story of a small software development company called The Little App Factory. It made an app for the Mac called

Yahoo`s search news shortcuts gain `tweets,` videos, photos

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:48:01 UT

Yahoo has enhanced its Web search engine\'s news \"shortcuts\" by adding Twitter posts, photos and videos to them, the company announced Thursday.

Google Android Chat Icons -- Helpful Tool or Privacy Breaker?

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:09:41 UT

Yesterday, Google introduced a Gmail Labs feature that tells you if your friends are online using an Android device. I can definitely see some benefit to this — before even sending an instant message to someone, you gain a little context of that person’s mobility. And that can help dictate the message scope you send.

Cut the Drama: Private APIs, the App Store & You

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:04:24 UT

I’ve had a rant building up for a few weeks. A rant about developer’s treatment at the hands of the App Store submission procedure. However unlike many rants on the topic, mine is not directed towards Apple. It is directed towards the iPhone developers who complain about the poor, unfair treatment they get, carrying their

Microsoft To Open C#, VB.Net Compilers

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:34:35 UT

\"Microsoft, which has been pursuing concurrent improvements for its Visual Basic and C# programming languages, plans to open up compilers for the languages and add capabilities for asynchronous programming and immutability. Discussed at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles, the blueprint for the two languages will feature compilers as services and accommodations for mul

It's Not About the Gadget -- It's What You Do With Them

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:23:50 UT

I was working away this morning, minding my own business, when a tweet sent to me and @Gartenberg got me thinking. The Twitter conversation was about reading e-books, and @AppGeniusBar asked us the question that got it all started: @Gartenberg @jkendrick Have u imagined spending at least 12 hrs without feeling the need for an electronic

Microsoft to align BizTalk Server with Azure`s AppFabric

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:22:18 UT

Microsoft Corp. plans to make its Business Process Management (BPM) software, BizTalk Server, work closely with the just-announced AppFabric .Net application server within the next few years.

Apple Ranks a Lackluster Fourth in Notebook Reliability Study

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:22:01 UT

Apple is fairly reliable, but not the most reliable company of all when it comes to notebooks, according to a new study by research firm SquareTrade. The top honor goes to Asus, which surprised me, but I suppose shouldn’t have when I consider the build quality of my fairly inexpensive Eee PC. Toshiba and Sony [...]

WorkSnug: Find Places to Work With Your iPhone

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:04:00 UT

WorkSnug is a neat augmented reality iPhone app that enables you to find great places to work nearby, from cafes to coworking spaces, complete with reviews. Here’s a short video showing how it works: After a few weeks of waiting, WorkSnug has been approved by Apple and is available for free download from the iTunes App

Microsoft told to stop some Windows sales in China

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:36:09 UT

A Beijing court has ordered Microsoft Corp. to stop selling some versions of its Windows operating system in China in a licensing dispute with a local supplier.

Mobile Software - and Apple - Are at a Turning Point

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:34:03 UT

Apple\'s closed practices with iPhone are starting to cost it the support of developers

Surveillance: New Online Get A Mac Ad

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:20:14 UT

Today, on CNN.com I noticed a new online Get A Mac ad that I’ve lovingly named “Surveillance.” Apple has done these sort of multi-banner ads on large news sites like CNN and NY Times before where the two ads cleverly interact with one another. In this ad, Mac and PC are talking about Windows 7 and above

Adobe AIR App Adds Google Tasks to Your Desktop

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:59:19 UT

While you could use many of Google’s services in the browser, some folks prefer actual client software. I’ve been using a Google Voice client created in Adobe AIR and today I started to use Google Tasks in a similar fashion. This too runs on Adobe’s AIR, so it’s cross-functional for use on various operating systems.

The Un-Googling of News Corp.

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:01:55 UT

Rupert Murdoch may make News Corp.\'s content unfindable by Google, signaling a shift toward new business models

Elastra offers a tool to build public-private clouds

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:49:19 UT

Elastra has announced the availability of its Cloud Server platform, which lets enterprises build public-private computing clouds, it said on Tuesday.

Zeus Offers Application Management Tools Through Amazon EC2

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:47:07 UT

The move will allow channel partners to provide cloud-computing services to their customers, company says.

Fedora 12 Released

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:36:28 UT

Fedora 12 has been released today. \"I\'m proud to announce the release of Fedora 12, the latest innovative Linux distribution from the Fedora Project, a global, collaborative partnership of free software community members sponsored by Red Hat.\"

Microsoft Admits, Then Denies, Copying Mac OS X

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:50:56 UT

It boggles the mind, it really does. Microsoft tries so hard but for each step forward, it seems to take three steps back. Windows 7, Redmond's answer to the train-wreck that was Vista, has been out for just a matter of weeks and has managed to garner mostly positive reviews. But Microsoft can't help itself. It

Dell will sell its smartphone first in China and Brazil

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:12:16 UT

In a surprising move, Dell said Friday it will sell its first-ever smartphone in Brazil and China, which should land on shelves as soon as the end of this month.

Google News: Chrome Mac Beta Due in December, Follow Function Added to Wave

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:04:08 UT

Two small pieces of recent Google news were just announced that merit a mention, since both have ramifications for web workers. First, Google has put a date on a Mac beta build of Chrome, meaning there’s finally an end in sight to one of the company’s most egregious oversights. Also, a new change to Google

iPhone Blogging Tools Roundup

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:14:10 UT

When I made the jump to the iPhone 3G s it was most definitely a platform play for me. As a web worker who can be on and off client sites all day, I still want access to my personal web properties, especially my blogs, which serve as a professional face for me online.

Twitt: A New Twitter Client For the Mac

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:03:34 UT

I’m very happy in my choice of Twitter clients at the moment. Tweetie is my weapon of choice for the Mac desktop, and it has served faithfully since its release. Doesn’t hurt that it’s free, either (though ad-supported). But I’m always glad to try out new contenders to the throne, and that’s why Twitt caught

Find Your Car With AR on the iPhone

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:49:35 UT

Augmented Reality (AR) is one of those cool technologies (subscription required) that fascinates me. The ability to merge what is seen through a phone camera into the real world and leverage it in useful ways is awesome. When the cool factor settles down, I’m left with the reality of AR, and that is trying to

Intel to pay AMD $1.25B in legal settlment

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:23:41 UT

Intel says it is paying AMD, its largest rival in the market for computer processors, $1.25 billion to settle all antitrust and patent suits.

SPB Wallet Lands on Mac

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:16:09 UT

Many moons ago I used SPB Wallet on my Pocket PC. And by many moons, I mean not long after Y2K — you kids will have to look that one up on Wikipedia. The application stores passwords, credit card numbers and other personal data in a virtual wallet. There was also a Windows.

In Depth: 20 essential free apps for your new Windows 7 PC

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:42:37 UT

The world feels like a better place when developers work hard to create amazing free software that does the job just as well, or even better than the paid versions. Here are 20 free Windows 7 applications that stand out in terms of quality of results you get of them. Ninite is a quick and easy way to download most of these applications into a single customised installer.1. GIMP The Paint applicat

Google Creates New Open Source Programming Language

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:31:21 UT

Google has invented a new programming language designed to reduce the complexity of coding without compromising the performance of applications. Called Go, the language has been tested internally at Google but is still at an experimental stage, so the company is releasing it as open-source code in the hope that it will get help with its future development.

Google to have larger iPhone ad presence with AdMob acquisition

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:12:11 UT

Google\'s purchase of AdMob Inc. will make it the Internet\'s largest mobile advertising company, and CEO Eric Schmidt said the acquisition will allow Google to have a presence in more iPhone applications.

Steer and Drive a Car Using an iPhone

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:19:50 UT

While I’d never advocate this hack from a safety perspective, it’s one of the most amazing uses of an iPhone I’ve seen yet. The real magic is in all of the motors and gizmos to make it work, but Make shows that the Do It Yourselfers at Waterloo Labs are actually driving a car using

Orange Launch Day iPhone Sales Set a Record

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:14:08 UT

Today is the day the iPhone stopped being an exclusive in the UK. Officially, as of 7 A.M. this morning, the device went on sale at Orange retailers across the UK, and the carrier is already claiming that the iPhone has gone over exceedingly well with consumers, despite it already having been available to O2

Users: New Oracle support portal a `fiasco`

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:59:02 UT

A number of Oracle users are infuriated by reported access and performance issues with the vendor\'s new My Oracle Support portal, which superseded the long-standing Metalink site on Nov. 6.

Jailbreakers: First iPhone Worm Discovered, Features Rick Astley

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:22:05 UT

The first iPhone worm has been discovered. It comes to us via Australia, and appears to be limited to that country for now, although it has the potential to spread. It also stars Rick Astley, so to speak. The work changes the iPhone’s wallpaper to an image of the 1980’s pop singer, who’s enjoyed

Some iPhone Coders Padding Resumes With Lies

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:13:57 UT

According to a report by the Silicon Alley Insider, if you’re looking to hire an iPhone dev, it’s probably best to make sure you do a thorough background check before you do. Some coders have been claiming credit for work they didn’t do, and are using the false accolades to try and wrestle more work

Ribbit Mobile Enters Beta; Invitations Available for WWD Readers

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:04:27 UT

The folks at Ribbit Mobile are offering 100 invitations to WebWorkerDaily readers for the beta of their new communication service. Just sign up on the reservations page, and enter the invite code “wwd09″ in the appropriate box. Ribbit Mobile has more features than Google Voice, and reminds me a bit of VoxOx, which I wrote about

Creating Social Value in the Midmarket

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:23:49 UT

Companies need good insight into why Enterprise 2.0 technology is essential to building the business... and it starts with changing the culture

Google to Purchase AdMob

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:20:55 UT

Google agreed to buy start-up AdMob, which runs a mobile-ad marketplace, for $750 million in stock.

Zune HD Firmware Updates -- Predictive Text, Better Keyboard, Desktop Site View

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:34:09 UT

Thanks to a firmware update, Microsoft addressed some of the little niggles in the Zune HD. Matt Miller upgraded his device to version 4.3 and sees a fair number of positive changes: Faster web browser Option in browser for desktop or mobile sites Predictive text in the keyboard Auto capitalization Larger landscape keyboard Toggle between seek or presets for radio Support for

How Ad-Juster Saved Me From The Ad Ops Brink

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:05:34 UT

Working at a startup, I wear a lot of hats. Although my title is Sales & Marketing Associate, what that really means is ad sales/marketing/event planning/writing/campaign maintenance/scheduling/invoicing/ad trafficking/ad operations/everything else. The most time-consuming part of my job is compiling ad delivery reports for our advertisers so we can ensure their campaigns are on track.

Subsidized Toshiba Netbook Comes with 3G, Windows XP

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:29:00 UT

Looks like you can add Toshiba to the ranks of netbook brands going the subsidy route. Over the weekend, jkOTR reader Hector Gomez and I both saw the deal in this week\'s Best Buy circular & which is actually square, not circular at all. The standard $399 price for a

Microsoft buys bridge between Java and .Net developers

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:10:33 UT

Microsoft is acquiring SourceGear\'s Teamprise suite, which lets Java developers build apps via Visual Studio TFS.

Microprocessor sales reach record levels, says IDC

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:52:21 UT

Intel\'s Atom processor, which is used in netbooks, helped PC microprocessor makers sell record numbers of chips during the third quarter, although the overall value of the market fell, according to market researcher IDC.

Microsoft Gives Up Windows Mobile Licensing Rights to BSquare

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:44:11 UT

Say what? Did you read that headline correctly? I believe that you did, and it is befuddling to say the least. Microsoft has signed an agreement with BSquare giving them the international rights to distribute and support Windows Mobile products, including Windows Mobile 6.5. "Microsoft is pleased to announce Bsquare as the first distributor for the [...]

New Twitter features borrow from 3rd party clients

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:29:40 UT

Twitter feels more and more like an ecosystem these days. Twitter takes features out of clients and rolls them into the API. The client devs incorporate new Twitter features and then extend them. In the end, everybody wins!

Droid Enters Ring Against BlackBerry, iPhone

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:07:12 UT

Motorola and Verizon on Friday make available to the public the Droid: the touch-screen, Android 2.0-based smartphone that is perhaps the most aggressively feature-rich phone on the market today based on the Google-driven mobile OS.

Beta Roundup: Social Networking, Twitter and Messaging Clients

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:08:01 UT

Internet-based communication is changing so quickly these days that there seems to be an endless stream of beta releases. Yesterday, Simon wrote about some of the latest browser betas; let\'s look at a few products and services for interacting with social networks, Twitter and instant messaging.

Look At Yourself In Google`s Mirror

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:49:41 UT

Ever wonder how much Google actually knows about you? To answer that question Google has released Dashboard. Every bit of information ever collected by Google about you -- from your web history, the videos you\'ve watched on YouTube, to the documents you\'ve opened in Google Docs -- will be available for review in Dashboard.

100,000 apps on the iPhone milestone

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:20:01 UT

Yes, there are more than 100k apps now available on the iPhone. But useful apps? Sponge-worthy apps? Apps that you will use more than once? Not so many

Windows 7: Microsoft`s Multimedia-Friendly OS

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:42:05 UT

I\'ve always believed in the separation of church and state: My desktop computer stays in my home office, and my TV and entertainment gear stay in the living room. Sure, sometimes there\'s crossover between the two & I like to view Web-based streaming video or shows I\'ve downloaded on my big-screen TV, for example.

YouTube`s Content Head Leaves to Join Ben Silverman`s Co.

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:59:37 UT

Jordan Hoffner will leave his position as head of content partnerships at YouTube to join Ben Silverman\'s new content endeavor at IAC. The announcement was made yesterday at YouTube and paid Content was the first to report it. Coming from NBC, Hoffner was an injection of big media know-how when he joined YouTube after it was acquired

Orange UK Unlimited Plan for iPhone Seems to Prohibit Almost Everything

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:46:10 UT

The BBC noticed something a little off when they investigated the new pricing structure and terms of use for the the iPhone deals Orange is about to begin offering on November 10. First, it turns out that far from sparking a price war, Orange has basically adopted the same deal that O2 currently offers, with

Peek unveils dedicated Twitter device

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:13:03 UT

Peek has debuted a dedicated Twitter mobile device, it said on Tuesday.

HP says some Windows 7 printer drivers are coming

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:11:29 UT

Windows 7 users may find there are no drivers yet for their Hewlett-Packard printer, although the company said it expects to release some new compatible drivers soon.

Opera Mobile for Symbian Gains Turbo, Speed Dial and Tabs

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:09:55 UT

We haven\'t had much good news on the Symbian front of late & declining market share and hot apps for nearly every other platform come to mind. That\'s why it\'s worth the mention that Opera Mobile 10 is ready for a public beta test on Symbian devices. The new user interface shares much from Opera

The Internet Has Sent Marketing Back to Its Roots

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:04:49 UT

Traditional marketing, limited on the Internet to promotion or \'messaging, has room to evolve

Windows 7`s share jumps 40% in first week of release

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:13:02 UT

Windows 7\'s market share surged nearly 40% in the week following its release, according to Web measurement company Net Applications.

Chrome to Pass Safari in Browser Market Share

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:11:16 UT

For October, OS X 10.6 and iPhone OS 3.0 continued to make incremental gains in market share, as did Safari. Unfortunately for the Apple web browser, Google\'s Chrome is gaining faster. Compiling data from more than 160 million visitors to its worldwide network of sites, web metrics firm Net Applications has released numbers for October.

Mac Market Share Hits All-Time High Following Windows 7 Launch

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:47:10 UT

Microsoft\'s advertising strategy with the latest installment of Windows is basically to none-too-subtly deride its predecessors, and it does appear to be helping Windows 7 gain traction among consumers. Unfortunately, it also might be contributing to the success of Mac OS X, or at least, it is\'t doing anything to slow down the steady progress

Microsoft: Worms are most prevalent security problem

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:45:14 UT

The Conficker worm continues to be one of the most prevalent threats facing PCs running Windows, according to a new security report published by Microsoft.

Why E-Books on Phones Can Succeed

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:18:54 UT

Folks are finally starting to pick up on something we\'ve been saying for years & there is a market for e-books on phones. Before you start the & it\'s painful to read books on the small screen & comments, hear me out. I agree with those comments, but only to a point. I\'ve read dozens of entire

DiVitas mobile collaboration goes to iPhone, Android, RIM

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:43:07 UT

Mobile unified communications vendor DiVitas Networks has added iPhone, BlackBerry and Android to the set of platforms it is supporting with software to access desk-phone and presence features on cell phones.

Google`s Voice Is Silent In Some Rural Areas

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:16:44 UT

Google Voice, the phone management service offered by Google, is blocking customers\' calls to about 100 phone numbers that were generating excessive long distance fees in the Midwest. Lawmakers and AT&T have cried foul, and the dispute is renewing focus on a controversial practice that lets some phone companies charge inflated fees.

OS X Killing Intel Atom Support -- No Hackint0sh for You!

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:14:26 UT

What is the most definite way that Apple can convince the netbook crowd that there will never be a Mac netbook? By killing off support for the Intel Atom processor family, that powers virtually all netbooks. It is being reported that Apple is going to do just that, in the next version of Snow Leopard

iPhone Finally Selling In China, But Without WiFi

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:50:24 UT

Apple\'s (AAPL) iPhone is finally selling in China legally today. It\'s available in 2,000 stores around the country, according to the AP. There\'s just one hitch. It doesn\'t have WiFi. China had a ban on WiFi enabled devices, which it lifted after phones were already being manufactured says 9 to 5 Mac.

Spammer ordered to pay Facebook $711 million

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:21:26 UT

Facebook was awarded US$711 million in damages from a convicted spammer on Thursday, but the social networking site is hoping a separate criminal action will eventually send him to jail.

Nintendo profits freefall as iPhone cuts into portable game sales

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:30:02 UT

Japanese game maker Nintendo\'s profits were cut in half, as sales of its portable Nintendo DS system continue to feel the impact of the iPhone and iPod touch.

MacBook Pros Have Hard Drive Problems?

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:01:47 UT

Many of us who have been using notebook computers heavily for years have experienced the \"Blue Screen of Death\" at least once. The sinking feeling you get when you have been working away fine and then the notebook refuses to do one more thing. It simply dies. Normally when we think about the BSOD we

Google Announcing New Music Search

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:59:43 UT

The new service will be featured within a standard Google search: plug in the band or musician\'s name and bios, videos and images will pop up. The search results will point you to online music retailers Google has partnered with.

Scareware launched from tech blog

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:31:14 UT

Gizmodo, one the world\'s biggest tech blogs, has been running adverts poisoned by malware say security experts.

Rumor Has It: Apple Sharing Tablet Info With Australian Media?

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:55:47 UT

The tablet rumor mill is heating up, which is in keeping with the early 2010 release date that\';s been mentioned in earlier reports. The latest news to hit the web is that Apple has been talking to the Australian media about content provision for the fanboi device of legend. The news comes via Australian paper

Facebook to `memorialize` deceased user profiles

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:10:53 UT

Social network says these accounts will be different from regular profiles and can be created by request from friends or family

Is Twitter Replacing the RSS Reader?

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:07:21 UT

Last Friday, I was attending Portland\'s weekly Beer and Blog event, and I stumbled across what later turned out to be an interesting trend. I had two separate, unrelated conversations about an hour apart with people working in the technology industry who once used RSS readers but had mostly abandoned them in favor of using

VMware ships Workstation for virtualizing Windows 7

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:43:47 UT

VMware has added support for Windows 7 and expanded the ability to handle virtual processors in Workstation 7, the new version of its platform for running multiple OSes simultaneously on a PC.

On2 Settles Lawsuits Holding Back Its Acquisition By Google

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:42:14 UT

On2 (ONT) announced a settlement today in the litigation that resulted from Google\'s (GOOG) planned acquisition of the video software firm. There were five class action lawsuits brought against the company in relation to Google buying the company for $106.5 million, or $0.60 a share.

$180 BlackBerry Storm2 hits the shelves on Wednesday

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:36:00 UT

RIM and Verizon jointly announced today that the BlackBerry Storm2 device will be available online and at Verizon Wireless stores on Wednesday at $180 after a rebate.

US/UK Cybercrime Clampdown Pins IP Registries

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:56:13 UT

The FBI and SOCA call out European registry RIPE as they join forces to disrupt further activities of the Russian Business Network

Windows Mobile worries mount as competition heats up

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:51:17 UT

When Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer admitted publicly in September that the company did \"screw up with Windows Mobile,\" many experts were left wondering how the mobile operating system can be fixed with the arrival of version 7 next year -- and beyond.

Windows 7 upgrade paralyzes some PCs with endless reboots

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:38:51 UT

Some users trying to upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 have seen their PCs crippled by an endless series of reboots, according to reports on Microsoft\'s support forum.

Adobe AIR App Breathes Cross-Platform Life into Google Voice

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:24:40 UT

Now that I have two mobile phones and no landline, Google Voice is part of my daily life. The service helps me manage my calls, regardless of which number people use to reach me. On my iPhone 3GS, I simply use the mobile Google Voice site to manage devices or listen to voicemails..

iPhone helps AT&T continue subscriber gains on Verizon

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:22:34 UT

Verizon and AT&T have both reported their latest quarterly earnings, and the strength of the iPhone has continued to help AT&T close the gap on the market leader.

Tech Stocks Explode Higher After Microsoft And Amazon Earnings

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:09:09 UT

Traders are piling into tech like crazy this morning after blowout numbers from both MIcrosoft (MSFT) and Amazon (AMZN). When was the last time Microsoft was up 10% in a day? That\'s a gigantic move for a company with $236 billion market cap.

Microsoft beats expectations

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:47:31 UT

Profit falls 18 per cent to $3.57-billion (U.S.)

Apple Boot Camp to support Windows 7

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:38:13 UT

Promises update by year\'s end for Snow Leopard, abandons nine older MacsApple said it will update its Boot Camp utility before the end of the year to support Microsoft\'s just-launched Windows 7.

Indian telecom department officials face charges

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:41:43 UT

India\'s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said Thursday that it is pursuing criminal charges against some officials of the country\'s Department of Telecommunications (DOT), private sector companies and some individuals, in connection with alleged irregularities related to the award of telecommunications licenses by the DOT.

Why I'm Dumping Vista For Windows 7

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:05:26 UT

The sound of cheers swell across the nation: Today, Vista users can finally dump the clunky and sluggish operating system for Windows 7. Praise for the new version has already started coming in from early adopters and reviewers. When I bought my laptop recently, I couldn\'t downgrade Vista for Windows XP, as I would have liked.

Ads on Your Desktop -- Windows 7 Sponsored Themes

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:03:36 UT

It is official Windows 7 launch day, in case you were wondering why you're seeing Windows 7 news all over the web. We're doing our part in scouring out the little known facts about the new version of Windows. One thing I've not seen anywhere that is a pretty shrewd move on the part of

Microsoft online store now featuring third party hardware and software

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:33:15 UT

Disappointed that you can\'t make it to Scottsdale for the opening of the big Microsoft retail store? Since you\'ve given up on real life in lieu of a completely wired existence anyways, perhaps a more meaningful experience would be to mosey over to the company\'s online shop and check out all the new PCs and third party software that\'s been added to the catalog. No longer just the fine purveyors o

Hacker activity will worsen, warns SOCA

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:29:54 UT

FBI, SOCA and banks in battle with organised crimeLaw enforcement agencies can count a few recent victories against cybercriminals, but agents say the battle against them isn\'t getting any easier.

Chinese group says Google violating copyrights

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:35:19 UT

A Chinese group is accusing search engine powerhouse Google of illegally copying Chinese-language works for its digital library, adding to disquiet about a project to scan millions of books.

IBM adds Voltaire`s 10G Ethernet switch into data centre line

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:22:32 UT

IBM tackles Cisco\'s entry into the data centre server marketIBM is adding 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches from long-time data centre partner Voltaire to its roster of resold products.

Facebook for Scientists Gets Millions in Funding

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:20:41 UT

A group of colleges have been awarded $12.2 million in federal economic recovery funds to create a social collaboration network for researchers and scientists.

Apple unveils new iMacs on eve of Windows 7 launch

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:19:10 UT

Apple revamps MacBooks and minisApple today revamped its iMac, MacBook and Mac mini lines in a long-expected refresh that company executives hinted yesterday was imminent.

Rohm to buy MEMS technology firm Kionix

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:12:05 UT

US-based Kionix is a supplier of micro-machined inertial sensors and the acquisition will support Rohm's growing semiconductor business by adding MEMS technology and products

iPhones power Apple`s most profitable results ever

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:21:11 UT

\"We are thrilled to have sold more Macs and iPhones than in any previous quarter,\" said Steve Jobs, Apple CEO who bullishly added, \"We\'ve got a very strong line-up for the holiday season and some really great products in the pipeline for 2010.\"

A Twitter Hole Lets You Google Protected Tweets

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:19:30 UT

Another security black eye for the little blue bird.

Irrational Exuberance Over E-Books?

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:00:04 UT

For a business that amounted to all of $113 million last year, e-books sure are getting a lot of attention these days. In just the past week we\'ve had an announcement from Google, concerning its e-book e-commerce platform, Google Editions, a sneak peak at the new Plastic Logic Que and hints of a \"dramatically different\" e-book reader coming from iRex. This week, Barnes & Noble will take cente

The BookServer Plan to Build an Open Web of Books

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:44:18 UT

The Internet Archive\'s ambitious BookServer project aims to let users find, buy or borrow digital books from a variety of sources.

Microsoft retrieves lost Sidekick contacts

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:23:14 UT

Microsoft Corp. says owners of T-Mobile Sidekick phones who lost their contacts and other data in a server meltdown can now at least get their contact numbers back.

SharePoint 2010 features Groove client

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:28:23 UT

Microsoft is using Groove technology, which it acquired four years ago when Ray Ozzie joined the company, to create an offline client for SharePoint Server 2010 that can also read and edit data from third-party line-of-business applications.

MobileTechMinutes -- Android 1.6 on a Samsung UMPC

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:56:19 UT

I've been admiring the ARCHOS Internet Tablet with Android from afar lately. A current Android device is appealing, but I'm on the fence between adding a CDMA Android phone that I can swap with my Pre or simply getting a standalone Android unit. That's when it hit me "why not repurpose my Samsung Q1UP to run

Sell MySQL to save Sun deal, Monty Widenius urges Oracle

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:59:19 UT

Open source database causes conflict of interest, says MySQL creator Oracle should resolve antitrust concerns over its acquisition of Sun Microsystems by selling open source database MySQL to a suitable third party, its cofounder and creator Michael \"Monty\" Widenius said in a blog post on Monday.

Palm Pre Coming to Verizon "Early Next Year"

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:46:20 UT

Contrary to previous rumors that Verizon Wireless wouldn\'t carry the Palm Pre, a simple tweet confirmed the opposite, says BGR. The official Verizon Wireless twitter account posted the update on Friday morning, stating that the Pre is coming \"early next year\". That info pretty much jives with the assumed six-month exclusive deal that Palm has

Microsoft issues first Windows 7 patches

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:29:56 UT

Microsoft\'s massive security update last week included patches for nine Windows 7 vulnerabilities, far fewer than were issued for Windows Vista and Windows XP.

ASUS Android smartphone unveiling to be `this year`

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:44:54 UT

It\'s short and sweet but we thought you\'d like to hear the good news doled out by ASUS chairman Jonney Shih and CEO Jerry Shen at a local press meeting in Taiwan today. Shih says that the company\'s first Android phone will be \"unveiled this year,\" not next as originally rumored. For a second, it makes you wonder what\'s going to happen to the OS underpinning the ASUS-Garmin nuvifone G60 --

Tata revenue down, profits up in tight market

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:56:29 UT

India\'s largest outsourcer, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), reported on Friday a fall in revenue, but growth in profit, in U.S. dollar terms for the quarter ended Sept. 30, indicating that the outsourcing market is still difficult.

Michael Dell Says Phone Coming in 2010; May Use Platforms Beyond Android

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:54:32 UT

I can understand the desire to go mobile, but I think any newcomer to the crowded phone-manufacturing space will have to produce a pretty innovative handset to gain much traction.

You make the call: NBA launches video rulebook

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:43:33 UT

Ever see a referee call a charge on a play you swore was a block? Or insist LeBron James took an extra step on his way to the rim?

Judge rejects ringtone lawsuit against Verizon

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:41:26 UT

A U.S. federal judge has rejected a music royalty collection agency\'s contention that a mobile operator is liable to pay public performance royalties when a ringtone is played.

Q&A: Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:28:58 UT

\"If you ask why is our usage exploding compared to everything else, we think it's because we made it really safe.\" When I first met [Mark Zuckerberg], he told me how many people put their cell phone numbers on Facebook. Facebook is that safe.\"

Facebook Targeting Bigger Ad Market Than Google Search

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:26:36 UT

Facebook is chasing the $576-billion market for "demand generation" rather than the $64-billion market for "demand fulfillment."

BBC opens way for first HD Freeview by Christmas

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:08:43 UT

BBC has opened the way for high definition Freeview TV services by signing an agreement with network operartor Arqiva to upgrade the UK digital terrestrial television (DTT) transmission network to DVB-T2

Dying Apple Time Capsules spark complaints

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:45:28 UT

Users of Apple\'s Time Capsule have taken to the Web with complaints about their dead storage and wireless devices and are tallying the hardware failures in an effort to convince Apple that there\'s a problem.

Jailbroken iPhone gets Expose-like view, you retail users just keep on scrollin` (video)

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:58:20 UT

How many apps do you have on your iPhone? Yeah, we figured it was a lot. Being able to re-arrange items now is mighty helpful, but not so helpful as this little hack from Steve Troughton-Smith that adds Exposé-like functionality to the mix. Just press the Home button and up pops a view of all the application pages; tap one and you\'re taken straight there, as shown in the video after the b

Twitter: Don`t change your log-in data until further notice

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:12:32 UT

Twitter users should refrain from changing their log-in data until further notice or else risk getting locked out of their accounts.

IE Radio Welcomes Clay Shirky at 4 PM ET!

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:10:47 UT

Join us for today\'s IE Radio broadcast featuring Clay Shirky

Cisco to buy Starent Networks for $2.9B

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:41:21 UT

Betting on the growing popularity of data-hungry phones like the iPhone, Cisco Systems Inc. said Tuesday it had agreed to pay $2.9 billion for Starent Networks Corp., a maker of equipment for wireless carriers.

Fate of some Sun technologies still up in the air

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:35:39 UT

Despite earlier assurances that Sun\'s technology will live on, questions remain over Sun\'s app server, IDE, and cloud platform.

IBM mainframe in antitrust probe by Department of Justice

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:15:52 UT

Big Blue allegedly refused mainframe licences to competitors. IBM is facing an antitrust inquiry from the US Department of Justice over its mainframe business.

Motorola Drops LiMo for Android

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:13:16 UT

While we wait for Motorola\'s Android phone, the CLIQ / DEXT, the company is once again confirming their commitment to the Android platform. Motorola had already stated they were dropping Windows Mobile to focus on Android, and they are doing the same with LiMo. Christy Wyatt, VP at Motorola, has vacated her seat on the

AT&T Not Ready for Tethering, May Throttle iPhone Data

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:02:07 UT

We reported here on Tuesday that AT&T had announced plans to make VOIP services available on its 3G network. That is great news for iPhone users who previously could only use applications like Skype and Vonage via a Wi-Fi network. So, AT&T sorted out MMS and now it\'s sorted out VOIP. That just leaves Tethering,

Snow Leopard Without Gears is Hurting my Mobile Productivity

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:59:43 UT

Lately I\'ve been using my netbook when on the run, so I hadn\'t noticed that I recently lost a very key bit of functionality. I\'m talking about Google Gears and its utter lack of support for Mac OS X Snow Leopard. I just tried to install it and received the disappointing message above, which I

A Windows to Help You Forget

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:57:22 UT

In just two weeks, on Oct. 22, Microsoft's long operating-system nightmare will be over. The company will release Windows 7, a faster and much better operating system than the little-loved Windows Vista, which did a lot to harm both the company's reputation, and the productivity and blood pressure of its users.

GooSync Kills Free Service

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:52:00 UT

GooSync, a handy third-party service that lets you sync Google Calendars, Tasks and Contacts to your mobile device that we\'ve covered previously, has announced that it will discontinue its free offering. Starting Oct. 18th, the GooSync Free service will be suspended and users will be migrated to a new plan, called GooSync Lite, that costs

MS Pushes for Business Customers to Use `Windows Phone`

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:49:44 UT

Microsoft yesterday announced the global availability of a number of handsets running its brand new mobile operating system (OS), Windows Mobile 6.5. While most of the new features and enhancements are aimed at consumers, the company says it isn\'t overlooking the enterprise.

Dell closes US plant

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:47:45 UT

Dell is to close its desktop computer manufacturing plant early next year in Winston-Salem North Carolina with the loss of 905 jobs. Some 600 jobs...

IBM Builds`Bar Code Reader` for DNA

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:58:59 UT

Personalized medicine mixed expressly for your genetic makeup may not be mere science fiction

RIM extends BlackBerry app development to Web developers

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:56:39 UT

BlackBerry capabilities no longer limited to Java developers as the new Widget SDK backs technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

FSF Files Amicus Brief in Bilski - The Country Needs and Relies on FOSS

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:51:47 UT

FSF has now filed an amicus brief in Bilski, and they too ask the Supreme Court \"to affirm that software ideas are not patentable\":End Software Patents (ESP) executive director Ciaran O\'Riordan explained, \"Every software patent is a restriction on software developers and users of computers, and there are currently 200,

Bell nabs iPhone deal in Canada, ends Rogers` reign of terror

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:44:21 UT

It\'s official, Bell and Apple have agreed to sell the iPhone 3G and 3GS in Canada starting November. The move ends the Rogers exclusive in while christening Bell\'s new 3G network with Apple\'s darling. Hmm, first O2 lost it exclusivity then Rogers, we\'re sensing a trend.

Injunction delivered over Twitter worked, attorney says

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:41:31 UT

A U.K. lawyer is claiming victory on Tuesday after a court-ordered injunction delivered over Twitter has stopped his antagonist from impersonating him on the microblogging service.

The Speed of Share

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:32:36 UT

Will the relative ease and speed of sharing on Twitter lead more people to share there than on Facebook? My take is: It depends somewhat on what\'s being shared (e.g., news headlines versus music, etc.).

Vonage releases calling app for iPhone, BlackBerry

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:02:17 UT

Vonage Holdings Corp., a pioneer in Internet-based home phone service, is launching applications for the iPhone and BlackBerry that undercut the international calling rates of major wireless carriers.

Microsoft battles class-action over WGA antipiracy technology

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:00:29 UT

Microsoft is slamming a lawsuit that claims it misled millions of Windows XP users about that company\'s anti-piracy software, calling the lawsuit \"fictional,\" \"demonstrably false\" and from an \"alternate universe.\"

Don`t Give the Lawyers Your Marketing Power

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:04:45 UT

It\'s time to stop letting corporate lawyers make decisions about Internet marketing

Test Environments - reducing the cost of ownership

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:26:28 UT

An insight on how you can leverage virtualisation and simulation techniques to set up test environments that can reduce operational costs.

Amazon`s EC2 Generating 220M+ Annually

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:17:34 UT

I forgot to post this yesterday, but it is well worth reading. Some insider information combined with educated guesses give a look into how Amazon Web Services functions, and how it contributes to Amazon’s bottom line.

New Elastic MapReduce Goodies

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:55:55 UT

Hive, Cloudera distribution, Karmasphere Studio & Amazon Web Services now supports them all. Amazon seems determined to become the best bet in web-based web infrastructures.

Lemnis LED Bulbs Hit the U.S.

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:53:27 UT

Lemnis Lighting, a Dutch startup, brings its dimmable LED bulbs to the U.S. at $40 a pop (on sale). The company has at least one early adopter: Google

Nvidia unveils Fermi GPU for supercomputers

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:07:37 UT

Nvidia reveals the new Fermi architecture, which could make its GPUs faster than earlier chipsNvidia showed off a new GPU architecture on Wednesday that it hopes will allow it to move beyond gaming to play a greater role in the supercomputing market.

Chrome OS coming to netbooks as early as next month?

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:35:40 UT

We\'ve heard vague allusions to Chrome OS hitting devices in the near future, but with Google\'s official stance that it won\'t be ready until sometime late next year, well, we were a little skeptical. Now we\'re hearing reports that Chinese netbook manufacturers are doing everything they can to get little Chrome lappies running a \"preview edition\" of the OS out onto the Asian markets by sometime ne

Android modder attempts to outmaneuver Google

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:32:29 UT

The creator of a popular souped-up version of Android thinks he\'s found a way to avoid a further tussle with Google over distribution of the company\'s mobile applications.

Apple tablet rumors redux: 10.7-inch display, iPhone OS underneath

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:20:34 UT

At this point, it\'s difficult to say exactly what we believe. Just a fortnight ago, we heard that the so-called Apple tablet would ship with a 9.6-inch display and a P.A. Semi processor, and now iLounge is hearing from \"trusted sources\" that something other than that is true. The latest round of maybe-sorta-probably-not-true whispers is that the current prototype of the device boasts a 10.7-inch

Russian hackers target Macs

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:42:08 UT

Cyber crime gang paid 43 cents for hijacked MacsA network of Russian malware writers and spammers paid hackers 43 cents for each Mac machine they infected with bogus video software, a sign that Macs have become attack targets, a security researcher said yesterday.

Report: How Mobile Cloud Computing Will Change Tech

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:04:54 UT

What happens when you promise end-users a persistent connection to data, applications and services regardless of the device they're using? Mobile cloud computing aims to deliver just such a promise. Mobile access to popular web-based services such as Facebook and Gmail, combined with next-generation smartphones like the iPhone, Palm Pre and Android devices, is driving broad adoption of mobile dat

$38 Zipit Wireless Messenger receives Linux injection, becomes $38 netbook

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:58:38 UT

Poor Zipit. As a $149.99 instant messenger client nobody got particularly excited about you. Even now, as a $38 IM client you aren\'t exactly in high demand -- but as a $38 portable Linux machine, well, that\'s another story altogether. The machines have been tweaked before, but the latest and greatest is this hack from Hunter Davis, who can turn a virgin Zipit Z2 into a full-featured Linux machin

Xerox to buy Affiliated Computer Systems for $6.4 billion

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:56:41 UT

Xerox copies Dell, buys into service managementXerox has agreed to buy business process outsourcer Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) for $6.4 billion (£4.02 billion) in a move it hopes will allow it to expand beyond the field of document management.

Orange UK to sell iPhone, ending exclusivity for O2

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:42:04 UT

Orange will start selling the iPhone 3G and 3GS to its U.K. customers later this year, it said on Monday. The deal means that rival network operator O2 will no longer have exclusive rights to sell Apple\'s phones in the U.K., something it has enjoyed for almost two years.

Windows 7 to ship early from custom PC makers

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:44:15 UT

Oh boy, we\'re getting close, eh? The October 22nd retail launch of Windows 7 is just around the corner. But if that\'s too late then you can get a new system nine days early through smaller custom PC makers. Apparently, Microsoft has given the green light for smaller system builders to begin selling their Windows 7 PCs just as soon as they get their product keys. That magic is set to begin as ear

Sony, Microsoft show progress in motion gaming

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:14:04 UT

For anyone expecting significant updates on the progress of the motion-controlled gaming systems under development by Sony and Microsoft, this year\'s Tokyo Game Show will have disappointed. While both systems made brief appearances -- Microsoft\'s behind glass on the show floor and Sony\'s at a news conference -- the lack of demonstrations indicated that a fair amount of work remains before either

Microsoft blasts Google over Chrome Frame plug-in

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 09:55:05 UT

Doubles Internet Explorer\'s security issues, cripples privacy mode, argues execMicrosoft today warned Internet Explorer (IE) users that they could double their security woes if they installed and used Google Chrome Frame, the plug-in that provides better JavaScript performance and adds support for HTML 5 to Microsoft\'s browser.

Dell deal faces insider trading probe

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:14:21 UT

Perot employee Reza Saleh allegedly made $8.6 million in illicit profitsThe US securities regulator on Wednesday charged a worker with insider trading in Dell\'s purchase of Perot Systems this week.

OnLive offers video games from the cloud

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:12:01 UT

On demand service shows off at MITSteve Perlman, CEO of a company called OnLive that\'s readying an on-demand video game service, cringes whenever Google\'s gmail or other high profile Web services conk out. After all, his company\'s bold plan is to offer streamed access to a slew of brand name video games via the cloud in such a way that users at their PCs and TVs get performance they\'re used to ex

Phishing scam steals your Twitter password

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:09:43 UT

Twitter messages are leading victims to a fake log-in pageA phishing scam is circulating on Twitter that aims to steal users\' log-in credentials and then forward scam messages to all their friends in the hope of tricking them too.

Microsoft tablet PC leaked

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:08:14 UT

Courier prototype - first detailsLate Tuesday night the tech world\'s entire concept of what cool should be was upended when Microsoft\'s tablet project, codenamed Courier, came to light. If you haven\'t heard about this yet, Gizmodo released an exclusive report showing off a double-screen tablet device that functions like a day planner, but a really cool day planner.

Bringing Cloud Metrics Down to Earth

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:31:17 UT

A more accurate (albeit longwinded) headline: IBM Wants Bigger Piece of Cloud Pie, is Willing to Spend to Make that Happen. You have been warned.

Google plug-in turns Microsoft IE into Chrome

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:18:39 UT

Chrome embedded into Internet ExplorerGoogle has released a plug-in that embeds its Chrome browser into rival Microsoft\'s Internet Explorer, a move one analyst said may be an admission by Google that getting users to switch is harder than it anticipated.

PS3 Motion Controller launching in March?

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:50:09 UT

Is your name \"harborneb?\" It is? Then you might be out of a job. That\'s the name attributed to the author of a Microsoft Word document sitting on SEGA America\'s official FTP site at this very moment. The .doc file resides in SEGA\'s otherwise benign \"news\" directory. Now, it\'s very possible that the document could have been uploaded in jest as an Internet prank. But assuming it\'s real, then these

Report: Net-connected printers, security cameras, ATMs pose threat

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:01:57 UT

Security certifier ICSA Labs\' new program will help vendors boost security of their devices and aid corporations in keeping malicious hackers and malware off their networks.

Adobe patches RoboHelp Server 8

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:59:39 UT

Last Friday Adobe released a security update to patch a critical vulnerability it is RoboHelp Server 8 software for Windows.

Microsoft Internet Explorer SSL security hole lingers

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:34:06 UT

Apple\'s Safari for Windows browser has same problemMicrosoft still does not acknowledge a weakness in its Internet Explorer browser that was pointed out seven weeks ago and enables attackers to hijack what are supposed to be secure Web sessions.

Windows 7 Takes Pricing Cue From Snow Leopard

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:06:24 UT

Snow Leopard is selling like hotcakes. It's selling much better than Tiger, and a lot better than Leopard, too. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say those strong sales numbers had something to do with price. Microsoft appears to think so, too. For a limited time, Microsoft is offering students the opportunity to grab one

Report: Hulu Has Subscription Plan in the Works

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:58:34 UT

There\'s been chatter about Hulu launching a subscription service lately, and now Dan Rayburn reports that Hulu is already beta testing such a paid service internally. Rayburn, whose sources confirm that Hulu-gans are indeed working on this initiative, doesn’t believe the subscription service will come to market this year. From his post:

Google to reincarnate digital books as paperbacks

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:23:57 UT

Google Inc. is giving 2 million books in its digital library a chance to be reincarnated as paperbacks.

Microsoft to end Windows Server 2000 support

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:18:10 UT

Also ends service packs for Windows Server 2003 next JulyMicrosoft is warning customers that it will retire Windows Server 2000 from support and at the same time shift the newer Windows Server 2003 to limited support from July 2010.

New phishing attack adds live chat

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:29:07 UT

Phishers use fake live chat to try to steal more dataWith many who bank online now wary of phishing attacks, criminals introduced a fake live chat window to their websites, where victims are tricked into revealing more information.

Google Docs tool used by 20 percent of companies

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:27:14 UT

New survey reports growing adoption of cloud based applicationThe near total dominance of Microsoft Office in the workplace may be getting a serious challenge from Google Docs, according to a new survey by market research firm IDC.

Apple iPhone gets Elements CRM app

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:25:18 UT

Smartphone gets cloud based business tool from developer NtractiveEarlier this summer, Ntractive updated and renamed its customer relationship management program. Now the software maker has come out with an iPhone version of the product.

Researchers overwhelming vendors with security flaws

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:21:35 UT

SANS report paints grim if complex picture.Booming numbers of security researchers are uncovering so many flaws that vendors are finding it almost impossible to patch them all in a reasonable timeframe, the latest SANS report has found.

Windows Mobile to live on, says Motorola

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:36:02 UT

But analysts say deal with Microsoft might doom mobile OSA Motorola executive today disputed the belief of some analysts that last month\'s Microsoft-Nokia agreement to jointly put Microsoft Office applications on Nokia handsets could mean that support for Windows Mobile could end within a couple of years.

Apple launching tablet PC next year, according to new report

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:30:00 UT

Those rumours just won\'t go awayApple will launch a tablet-style device sporting a 9.6-inch display in February 2010, according to sources cited by a Taiwanese Web publication today.

Facebook heads into profit with 300 million users

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:27:47 UT

Facebook has notched up 300 million users and is on its way to profitability, according to founder Mark Zuckerberg. The news came as Facebook...

Storage software market declines, but sees signs of life

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:16:59 UT

IDC sees pockets of growth compared to the last quarterThe storage software market showed signs of rebounding in the second quarter, but is still falling short of the pace set last year.

Electron-free microprocessor runs on air

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:17:06 UT

The University of Michigan has used air and planar process fabrication to implement programmable control logic and memory with pneumatics. The air chip came out of a need to reduce the amount of macroscopic equipment surrounding microfluidic chips used in medical analysis.

Microsoft updates Vista, but not XP

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:14:30 UT

TCP/IP patches \"will not be made available\"Microsoft late last week said it won\'t patch Windows XP for a pair of bugs it quashed in Vista, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008.

Facebook Lite emulates Twitter

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:15:55 UT

Social network giant adds Twitter-like featuresFacebook rolled out a slimmed-down version of its social network that sheds some of the heavy apps for people with slow or poor internet connections or new to the social networking scene.

IEEE gives wireless networking standard the green light

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:14:00 UT

802.11n gets the nodThe IEEE has finally approved the 802.11n high-throughput wireless LAN standard.

Linux kernel updated, adds more device drivers

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:12:22 UT

Version 2.6.31 tweaks memory management, file systemsThe Linux kernel project has release version 2.6.31, bringing a mutlitude of changes to mermory management, performance, file systems and device drivers, according to project founder Linus Torvalds.

OS X 10.6.1 Fixes Bugs, Updates Flash Plug-in

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:36:07 UT

Better. Faster. Easier. That marketing speak from Apple about Snow Leopard can now add: Updated.

Chrome Extensions Are Here -- In Dev Channel Versions, At Least

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:33:37 UT

The Google Chrome browser has been in existence for a little over a year now, and has close to three percent market share, according to NetApplications. Many people attribute its relatively low market share thus far to lack of availability of finished Mac and Linux versions, as well as a lack of of the kinds [...]

IBM Symphony set to rival Microsoft Office

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:31:39 UT

Clash of the productivity software packagesIBM Thursday announced upgrades to and a roadmap for its 15-month-old Lotus Symphony suite of productivity tools, emphasizing it indeed offers an alternative to Microsoft Office.

Linux chief calls out Microsoft developers

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:29:36 UT

Open source drivers abandonedAfter a kick in the pants from the leader of the Linux driver project, Microsoft has resumed work on its historic driver code submission to the Linux kernel and avoided having the code pulled from the open source operating system.

Airport Security Getting Smoother, But Are We Safer?

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:52:29 UT

While the technology to screen passengers has become more advanced and the check-in lines a little shorter, the question of whether flying is terrorism-proof remains. The Transportation Security Administration touts its latest machinery, but critics call the screening process \"security theater.\"

Report: Obama close to appointing White House cybersecurity chief

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:50:46 UT

More than three months after establishing a new White House office for cybersecurity, President Barack Obama may finally be close to appointing someone to head the office.

Adobe Story public preview released

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:32:35 UT

Adobe Systems has announced the public preview of Adobe Story, the company\'s new collaborative script development software, at the 2009 IBC (International Broadcasting Convention) trade show in Amsterdam.

Dell shows off thin and light Adamo laptop

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:54:57 UT

Dell previews skinny new Macbook Air rivalHoping to generate some buzz around its Adamo laptops, Dell showed off an ultra-thin design on Wednesday that could heat up the race between PC makers trying to build the world\'s thinnest laptop.

Sun/Oracle deal leaves customers in the dark

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:54:10 UT

The delays caused by the EC\'s decision to probe...

Apple updates QuickTime for Leopard, Tiger users

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:53:25 UT

New version offers incremental improvementsIt may not get the attention shown to a new version of iTunes or even an iPhone OS update, but QuickTime also saw a new version rolled out on Wednesday. QuickTime 7.6.4 adds support for the newly released iTunes 9 as well as improved audio device support for Windows Vista users.

Microsoft And Yahoo Search No Longer Irrelevant!

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:58:35 UT

Prior to July, no one cared about optimizing their sites to appear high in Yahoo! or MSN organic search results. They were stuck in obscurity with Ask and AOL. Thanks to the Yahoo-Bing, deal, however, Seth Besmertnik, CEO and Co-Founder of SEO firm Conductor, says clients are gearing up to approach SEO with Bing in mind. Together, the companies will have about 30% of the search market

TippingPoint IPS struggles in new security tests

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:46:10 UT

Vulnerability detection falls below 40 percent.Testing outfit NSS Labs says it has seen a sharp drop in the security performance of one of the leading intrusion prevention products (IPS) products on the market, the TippingPoint 10.

Spotlight: Apple`s \"rock and roll\" event

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:38:20 UT

iPod prices drop hours before Apple event What to expect at Wednesday\'s Apple event WOOHOO NEW IPODS COMING WEDNESDAY EXCITING!

Facebook application is virus free says FanCheck developer

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:36:23 UT

Controversial app carries no malware \"FanCheck contains NO malware,\" Janakan Arulkumarasan said in an e-mail interview with IDG News Service. Malicious hackers are trying to capitalize on insistent rumors that FanCheck infects users\' PCs with viruses, Facebook and security company

Mozilla to release Firefox 4 update in 2010

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:30:57 UT

Web browser to support multi-touch.Mozilla recently released a product roadmap with a number of new details on what the foundation is hoping to release between now and the end of 2010, including information on when to expect the next major iteration of Firefox.

This Week`s Gmail Outage: It`s Only Email, Get Over It

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:39:23 UT

This week Gmail went down and you would have thought the world stopped. The reaction all over the web was overwhelming, and Twitter became nearly useless if you wanted to hear about anything else. I mean, come on, it\'s only email, not the end of the world. Now, hear me out before you start railing

Nokia`s Ovi Software Development Kit released to invited and excited Javascripters

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:22:59 UT

Nokia\'s Ovi Store launched in late May -- and then promptly crashed. The company has long-since gotten everything working smoothly and so is now so confident about its stability that it\'s letting other developers in on the party. Coders proficient in HTML, CSS, and Javascript can apply for access to the beta SDK, invitations for which are being doled out right now. The navigation-focused kit incl

Server vendors see sharp declines in shipments, revenue

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:18:41 UT

This year continues to be tough for server vendors, which have seen dramatic declines in business due to lower investments by companies in new hardware, according to analysts IDC and Gartner.

Study: Bing Better Than Google in Canada

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:29:44 UT

Why are Bing searches more "successful" than Google's in Canada? Could it have something to do with the metric system?

GaAs market predicted to fall 5% in 2009

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:15:55 UT

"The GaAs industry effectively shut down as handset manufacturers turned off the taps in the final quarter of 2008," said Asif Anwar at Strategy Analytics

Cloud Computing's Silver Lining for SMBs

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:13:58 UT

Enterprise-class computing capabilities aside, the cloud helps small businesses reduce energy costs ($300 and $600 a year per server) and validate those green credentials that are becoming a prerequisite for doing business with big multinationals. Another selling point?

EU launches probe into Oracle Sun merger

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:39:17 UT

The EU has started a probe into the merger between Oracle and Sun. The merger has been cleared by US authorities, but because of concerns...

PCs running Windows 7 to be given turbo boost

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:11:52 UT

Microsoft and Intel partner over improving performanceMicrosoft has tweaked Windows 7 so that it runs faster on machines using Intel\'s multicore chips, resulting in better overall system performance and less power consumption.

Microsoft doubles charitable contribution for IE upgraders

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:09:55 UT

Upgrade from IE 6 to IE 8 and help feed a family in need.

ST-Ericsson names Delfassy as CEO

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:55:04 UT

Gilles Delfassy, who retired as head of wireless products at Texas Instruments two years ago, is to take over from Alain Dutheil as CEO of ST-Ericsson, the wireless joint venture made up of ST's wireless activities, NXP's wireless operation and Ericsson's mobile platform unit

Analysis: designing a 3G LTE mobile radio system

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:18:36 UT

For next-generation mobile phone networks, 3G LTE (Long Term Evolution) is a MIMO-based OFDM radio system which improves on current 3GPP technology with better coverage and higher data throughput

Did Goldman Sachs developer steal open source software?

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:16:24 UT

Programmer says he took open source software that\'s available to allArrested last month for stealing cutting-edge trading software from his former employer, Goldman Sachs Group programmer Sergey Aleynikov offered up an interesting defense: he was only trying to download open-source software.

Apple Users Targeted With Snow Leopard Malware

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:27:39 UT

Not that any TheAppleBlog readers would ever try to acquire software in a less than legal manner, but just in case you know someone who would, tell them to watch out for web sites claiming to bear Snow Leopard gifts. Like the Adobe Photoshop CS4 and..

Google Taps SpotMixer for DIY In-Stream Video Ads

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:25:35 UT

SpotMixer announced today that its do-it-yourself video ad creation service will be integrated within Google AdWords In-Stream Video Ads. The partnership allows Google AdWords users to create in-stream video ads that can be placed within video on the Google Content Network or YouTube.

With China Unicom deal official, Apple turns to China Mobile

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:23:10 UT

When Apple\'s iPhone enters the Chinese cell phone market later this year in a non-exclusive deal with China Unicom, it could only be the beginning, as the handset maker reportedly already has its sights set on another carrier.

VMware publishes virtualization security guidelines

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:20:46 UT

As it kicks off the second day of its VMworld conference, VMware is sharing newly published security and compliance recommendations for virtual environments.

Samsung X420, X520 CULV laptops outed

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:12:10 UT

Now, details are slightly thin here (as well as machine translated), but we\'re getting word of two new Samsung laptops on the horizon -- the 14-inch X420 and the 15.6-inch X520. The X420 will supposedly boast a 1.3GHz Intel Pentium dual-core SU2700, Intel GMA X4500M graphics, 3GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive, with not an optical drive in sight. Similarly the X520 will also feature

Find Web Audio on Android With Google Listen

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:03:15 UT

Those elves in the Google Labs are so busy that it is hard to keep up with them. That\'s why something they released recently fell under the radar, and from the looks of it might be pretty darn cool. Google Listen is a podcatcher for the Android platform, but is also so much more.

The Story of a Simple and Dangerous Mac OS X Kernel Bug

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:59:18 UT

\"Among other things, the update for Mac OS X 10.5.8 also fixed an interesting kernel bug related to the way the fcntl call is handled. The bug was identified as CVE-2009-1235 and the first exploit seems to be from June 2008. The variant that I discovered is much simpler and is, as far as I know, the one that really convinced Apple to solve the issue. The oldest kernel I was able to test the probl

HP`s New Photo-Editing Site Generates Smart Photo Albums

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:57:03 UT

HP\'s new software, which organizes online photos into albums, speaks to the growing need for automated organization of social media.

Oracle tackles storage costs with 11g Release 2

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:55:01 UT

Oracle has updated its 11g database server with Release 2, which it says will help businesses reduce...

Windows Mobile 6.5 phones coming Oct. 6

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:06:31 UT

The new crop, the first generation to bear the \"Windows Phone\" branding, include phones running on AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon Wireless.

iPhone vs. oPhone Debate Stimulates Chinese Shoppers

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:03:14 UT

The Apple iPhone may be the hottest smartphone in the US, but the \'oPhone\' is due out in China next month and may give Apple a worldwide run for its money

US Department of Justice drops flash anti-trust probe

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:24:47 UT

The US anti-trust investigation into price-fixing in the flash memory industry has been dropped. The two flash market leaders, Samsung with 37% market share, and Toshiba with 34.5% market share, have confirmed that they have been informed by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) that the two-year investigation has been dropped.

Arduino binary clock doesn`t care to be useful, just wants to be admired

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:01:31 UT

If there\'s one thing we love about DIY projects, it\'s the feeling that the outcome is more than the mere sum of its parts. This here binary clock is a prime example, being composed of scrap plastic, some dirt-cheap parts and a homemade Arduino board. And yet, after a few licks of polish and the inevitable LEDs, it looks like a true monument to geekdom, which is only amplified by the fact you can

Nissan says its new electric car, the Leaf, gets 367 miles per gallon

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 12:58:11 UT

Nissan\'s gotten into a bit of a bragging contest on Twitter -- possibly fueled by Chevrolet\'s recent, shaky claim that the Volt will get 230 miles per gallon. The company is now saying that its new electric car, the Leaf, will get an astonishing 367 miles per gallon... even though it\'s a 100 percent electric car, and runs on absolutely no fuel. So, isn\'t that zero miles per gallon?

Gadgets: Best iPhone app ever? Book has one answer

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:11:12 UT

What\'s the best iPhone app, or even the top 10? Those questions are impossible to answer.

Psion slips into loss, but sees market stabilising

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:08:02 UT

Psion is looking for a better second six months of the year as it sees signs of stabilisation in the mobile computing market

iPhone playing cards use washable PVC touchscreen technology

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 22:10:46 UT

Wanna spice up your next poker night? Meminos would love to help you out there with its deck of iPhone-inspired playing cards. They certainly look the part, as at first blush we thought we were dealing with an app, and are novel enough to appeal even to our cold and cynical souls. Another shot lies after the break, and you can grab your own deck for $25 through the read link.

Google gives search a shot of `Caffeine`

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:04:38 UT

Opens doors to new search technology.Search giant Google is to open its doors and allow power users try out an upgraded search technology, code-named Caffeine, that its engineers have been developing for the past several months.

DNA database revision still breaks law, says watchdog

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 09:49:00 UT

The UK government\'s new proposals on rules for its DNA database still do not meet the requirements set by European authorities, says a human rights watchdog.

Dell inadvertantly throws Vostro 10 out there, quickly reels it back in

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 09:45:41 UT

Dell and leaks go together like peas in a pod, and just months after we saw the outfit\'s Vostro 1220 sneak out ahead of schedule, it seems as if another in the biz-minded line has found its way onto the web. Reportedly, Dell hosted up a few images (which have since been yanked) of a so-called Vostro 10, which seems to resemble the newer Inspiron line in design and looks to boast an almost unheard

Google-Publishers Deal Raises Privacy Concerns

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 09:44:20 UT

Some authors and privacy groups are upset about the pending settlement between Google and publishers. Privacy advocates say the pact has no provisions protecting the anonymity of readers, and want something like the protections afforded library patrons. Google says the privacy of the system will be taken up after the system is built.

Solar panel glut but manufacturers still ramping production

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 10:03:42 UT

The solar panel production glut will last for another three years, according to iSuppli, but some producers are still ramping up production to try and hold onto their market shares.

Apple reinstates matte display option on 15-inch MacBook Pro, charges $50 for it

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:53:14 UT

We\'d heard just under a month ago that Apple was mulling the possibility of adding matte display options to more than just its flagship 17-inch MacBook Pro, and lo and behold, it seems the anti-glare revolution has begun. Starting now (like, right now), those in the market for a new unibody 15-inch MacBook Pro can order one directly from Apple with an anti-glare widescreen display, packing 1,440

Microsoft hobbles netbooks with Windows 7 licensing

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:51:03 UT

You can have any size you want as long as it\'s 10 inches.Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has confirmed that the company will limit Windows 7 Starter, the edition expected to end up on netbooks, to systems that sport small screens and low-powered processors.

The evil machines: Is a Skynet machine revolution close?

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 00:00:40 UT

As artificial intelligence (AI) progresses, there\'s always the fear that it might get out of control with machines thinking for themselves and taking over the world like Skynet in The Terminator films.

Twitter hit with patent infringement lawsuit

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:14:28 UT

Emergency alert vendor calls in the lawyers.Micro-blogging company Twitter has been hit with a patent infringement lawsuit by a mass notification and emergency alert systems provider in the United States.

Red Hat reveals top five Linux applications of 2009

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:12:21 UT

Here are five of the best Linux business applications of 2009, as voted...

Intel gains from processor inventory correction in Q2

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:58:49 UT

With the possibility of ODMs and OEMs having now balanced out their inventories, and with market demand for new PCs still weak, there are concerns that Q3 figures will not be so good

Yahoo`s get-out clause in Microsoft deal

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:18:23 UT

Yahoo will be allowed to bail out of its search deal with Microsoft, if the companies market share falls too far behind Google\'s.

ASUS` 11.6-inch 1101HA netbook finally on sale in America

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:37:12 UT

Call it coincidence or call it fate, but just as soon as we saw Samsung\'s 11.6-inch N510 netbook go on sale across the pond, ASUS\' long-awaited 11.6-inch Eee PC 1101HA has netted itself a date with UPS here on US soil.

T-Mobile launches next-gen Android mobile phone in the US

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:35:09 UT

The mobile phone market will be watching as T-Mobile launches its next generation Android mobile phone, myTouch 3G, in the US today.

Apple keyboard gets hacked like a ripe papaya, perp caught on video

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:15:33 UT

As far as Apple is concerned, the Black Hat 2009 hackers conference didn\'t end soon enough. Having promptly patched the iPhone vulnerability, Cupertino is facing another security hole, this time in its keyboards. A hacker going by the pseudonym of K. Chen has come up with a way, using HIDFirmwareUpdaterTool, to inject malicious code into the keyboard\'s firmware. While it\'s not yet possible to pe

Twitter filters malicious weblinks

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 10:20:47 UT

Twitter has introduced a filter to stop users posting links to malicious websites, security...

AMSAT-UK launches FUNcube amateur satellite project

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 10:19:04 UT

AMSAT-UK has announced an amateur satellite project called FUNcube, aimed at primary and secondary school pupils. The satellite will have a 145MHz telemetry beacon that will provide a strong signal for pupils to receive.

Kevin Mitnick dumped by ISP after attacks

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 10:16:54 UT

Ex-hacker becomes too hot to handle.Kevin Mitnick, the ex-hacker turned security consultant, is such a high-profile target himself that the web-hosting firm he was using finally told him it wouldn\'t host web pages for him anymore.

Overtis touts virtual vaults for encrypted file sharing

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:56:35 UT

As simple as creating as Zip file.Security protection firm Overtis Systems has launched VigilancePro Encrypted Vault Manager (EVM), which uses ‘virtual vaults\' in order for desktop users to easily encrypt data, as well as safely store and transmit it.

iriver reportedly working up Android-based K2 media player

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:42:03 UT

Take it for nothing more than it is (a lovely, delicious and completely unsubstantiated rumor), but word on the Australian streets is that iriver may have an Android-based portable media player on the horizon. According to local distributor C.R. Kennedy\'s iriver product manager, Danny Bejanoff, the outfit is looking to take on Apple\'s iPod touch directly, with a 3.5-inch touchscreen, WiFi, built

Microsoft looks to shake up mobile division

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:40:23 UT

But some analysts think firm should leave sector.Microsoft has acknowledged its Windows Mobile segment needs to be shaken up and is set to tackle its flagging performance.

DAC: Mentor unveils Android, Linux strategy at DAC

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:38:18 UT

With the buy, Mentor acknowledges demand for Google\'s Android platform in new, complex devices beyond mobile phones and the growing use of multicore processors running multiple operating systems.

APC touts energy efficient alternative to data centre aircon

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:07:05 UT

Row-based cooling to be future of DC cooling?With data centres focusing on ways to reduce operating costs, American Power Conversion (APC) is touting an alternative to power hungry air conditioners, with its recently launched row-based cooling systems.

DARPA`s CALO project, the militaristic Clippy, set to invade iPhones this year

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:33:40 UT

Microsoft\'s little Clippy, the uppity paperclip who just wanted to help, never got a lick of respect in the ten years he graced the Office suite. He\'s long-since gone, but his legacy lives on through a DARPA project called CALO: the Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes. It\'s intended for use to streamline tedious activities by military personnel, like scheduling meetings and prioritizin

Icann CEO reveals how to calculate the value of a network

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:05:53 UT

Black Hat, Las Vegas: Networks should be valued on the transactions they make possible, rather than how many people (or machines) are part of the network,...

Apple unveils 2TB Time Capsule, ships today for $499

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:02:33 UT

Nearly four months after we first saw evidence that a 2TB Time Capsule was in the works, Apple has finally come clean and listed said device for sale in its webstore. So far as we can tell, the 802.11n router + NAS drive isn\'t any different than existing models save for the internal capacity, and it looks to be shipping today for $499. If you\'ll recall, that\'s exactly what Apple was charging for

Apple kicks out MobileMe iDisk app for iPhone

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:00:31 UT

It still can\'t multitask, but as of today, it\'s finally capable of accessing and sharing iDisk files. Apple has at long last let loose a long-awaited application for iPhone OS 3.0 that enables iPhone and iPod touch users with MobileMe accounts to access the inner sanctums of their own iDisk. The app lets you login, view files (up to 20MB or so, sayeth Apple) and share files by sending

After 88% Q2 surge, TSMC expects strong Q3

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:59:28 UT

TSMC, the world\'s largest and most profitable silicon foundry, saw sales rise 88% in Q209 compared to Q109 reaching NT74bn (US$744m). Gross margin for Q209 was 46%, operating margin was 34% , net margin was 33%.

Microsoft releases `out-of-band` patches for IE

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:43:22 UT

Microsoft on Tuesday stepped out of its normal patch-release cycle to issue a set of fixes for vulnerabilities that affect every version of Internet explorer.

Tektronix aims to teach students basics of test

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:38:56 UT

Tektronix is proposing a series of hands-on problem-based laboratory experiments to teach students the fundamentals of test and measurement for basic electronics

IBM to challenge SAS, SAP and Oracle with SPSS acquisition

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:31:17 UT

IBM has signed a $1.2bn deal to acquire Chicago-based predictive analytics software company SPSS....

Microsoft and Yahoo! search deal announced

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:24:04 UT

Microsoft and Yahoo! have announced an agreement...

Twitter phishing scam exposed

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:20:08 UT

A website that promised to let you know who was stalking you on Twitter may have been a phishing site. Details on the scam, and on how to be safe on Twitter.

Government publishes Twitter rules of engagement

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 11:54:13 UT

The UK government has published a guide explaining why and how public sector bodies should use Twitter.

Windows officially opens mobile apps store

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:23:44 UT

A long way to go to catch up Apple though.Microsoft has officially opened its Windows Marketplace for Mobile application store to software developers. The company is now accepting submissions of mobile applications from developers,said Todd Brix, leader of Windows Marketplace for Mobile at Microsoft, in a blog posting.

DAC: ARM, Synopsys, IBM bring mobile SOC designs to alliance

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:11:51 UT

Targeting 32-/28nm mobile SOC designs, ARM, Chartered, IBM, Samsung, and Synopsys have collaborated to combine low-power processor architecture, integrated design flow, and system-level IP on the Common Platform foundry process.

Agilent buys bio-medical specialist Varian for $1.5bn

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:56:39 UT

Agilent Technologies has agreed to acquire Varian, the supplier of scientific instrumentation for life science and applied market applications, in a deal valued at $1.5bn

Video: Google builds IPv6 platform

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:54:24 UT

In this video, Lorenzo Colitti, network engineer at Google, discusses the company\'s new IPv6 network .

RIM officially intros BlackBerry Curve 8520, promises `out of the box` Mac compatibility

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:10:49 UT

Sadly enough, this is pretty much par for the course with RIM. We talk about a BlackBerry for months on end, and after everyone grows acquainted with its features via less-than-official sources, the company finally confesses. At any rate, the long-awaited BlackBerry Curve 8520 (which may or may not go by Gemini on T-Mobile) has finally found a dedicated landing page on its maker\'s website, and w

Microsoft to rush out IE patch

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:01:17 UT

Emergency fix before Patch Tuesday.Microsoft is set to rush out two emergency security patches ahead of its regularly scheduled updates on 11 August. The patches will include a critical fix for Internet Explorer as well as a related Visual Studio patch rated \"moderate\" urgency by Microsoft.

Research in Motion could still bid for Nortel

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:04:52 UT

Canada\'s industry minister Tony Clement has encouraged Blackberry maker Research in Motion (RIM) to bid in an auction for the mobile network unit of bankrupt...

IT job market decline begins to level out

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:51:25 UT

The decline in the IT jobs market looks as though it might be beginning to level out. The past quarter has seen an easing off in the fall of vacancies...

Gmail auto-unsubscribe simplifies your life

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:04:50 UT

Google has rolled out one more Gmail tool to help us wrangle the daily deluge of emails: an option to automagically unsubscribe from certain mailing lists. I gave it a try to see if it really worked.

Erin Andrews `Nude Video` May Install Computer Virus

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:58:54 UT

Searching online for that nude video of ESPN reporter Erin Andrews? Better not, say computer security specialists.

Xbox Live Dashboard update coming August 11th

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:18:40 UT

Ladies and gentleman, you can now mark your calendars with a permanent pen, felt-tip marker, or even a paint brush. Microsoft\'s announced that the next Xbox Live Dashboard update is beaming to your console on August 11th. This one includes Games on Demand, user ratings for games, a number of Netflix additions, and the much-anticipated (maybe not) ability to spend actual money on clothing for your

TI says Q2 sales up 18% on Q1 and more growth in Q3

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:49:02 UT

"After sharp inventory corrections in our markets during the prior two quarters, our revenue levels are beginning to more closely reflect end demand," said TI chairman, president and CEO Rich Templeton

Adobe tries to explain Acrobat patch woe

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:07:46 UT

While accuser Secunia stick to its guns.Adobe has played down the charge that it has been serving users an insecure version of its Acrobat PDF Reader, claiming that the software is automatically updated after installation.

HP's ProBook 4310s ultraportable now on sale, starts at $799

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:00:28 UT

We got a chance to toy with HP's latest "pro-level" ultraportable at the tail end of last month, and while it proved to be a bit chunky, the specs list is hard to argue with.

Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 beta adds Windows 7 conveniences

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:23:06 UT

It wasn\'t too hard to see this one coming, but Microsoft has now officially rolled out the beta version of Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 which, among other things, brings with it a slew of new features that tie into Windows 7. That includes support for full image backup of Windows 7 PCs, Windows 7 libraries support for shared media folders, built-in Windows Search 4, and a number of Windows

Video: iPhone 3GS can tether... to an RC plane

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:45:07 UT

We\'re still not sure what to make of the iPhone in a pool video, but if this one is legit, it certainly represents one of the most glorious ways to endanger expensive hi-tech gadgetry. Let\'s face it -- who doesn\'t want to see Apple\'s moneymaker strapped to the belly of an RC plane and shot up into the air? Major engine noise and the phone\'s camera struggling for focus are all excused by the awes

Doug Anson, Dell`s operating system Renaissance man, digs Chrome OS, Moblin

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:25:49 UT

When it came to Android, Technology Strategist Doug Anson wasn\'t exactly coy in indicating that Dell was evaluating the OS for inclusion on its netbooks. He calls this time of OS intrigue, with Linux, Android, and WebOS gaining favor, a sort of \"renaissance,\" saying: \"These alternative operating environments are truly \'different\' from the traditional Windows platform - they don\'t attempt to simp

LG`s other Black Label, the BL42 slider, gets exposed

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:19:09 UT

Remember that slightly stouter but still rather obelisky-looking Black Label cousin of LG\'s BL40 we spied earlier this morning? We\'ve now spotted a lot more pictures of the thing -- and its crimson slide-out keypad. Dubbed the BL42, it sports light-up nav buttons, a 240 x 320 screen, and what looks to be the same five megapixel camera found in its slightly taller brethren, specs that should allo

IBM makes LinkedIn and TripIt Notes friendly

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:16:27 UT

IBM has developed software widgets to provide travel management for LinkedIn users. As part of the company\\\'s Web 2.0 strategy to support...

Google Voice arrives on BlackBerry and Android handsets

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:14:05 UT

But iPhone, Windows Mobile, and Palm left out in the cold.Google has upped its communications move after revealing that Google Voice is now available on both BlackBerry and Android smart phones.

PC market takes from Dell, gives to Intel

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:44:13 UT

The PC market has boosted Intel to its highest Q2-on-Q1 growth for 20 years, but has forced Dell to admit that it expects only \'slight sequential increase\' in revenue for Q2 over Q1 and expects lower margins.

Windows 7 pre-orders begin in UK, selling out fast

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:24:04 UT

If you\'re hoping to get in on discounted pre-order pricing for Windows 7 in the UK then you\'d best get to clicking, son. We\'re hearing that copies of the £50 Windows 7 Home Premium E are already sold-out on Amazon but still available at Play.com, for example. Stocks of Windows 7 Professional E look plentiful at £100, for the time being anyway. While the offer is scheduled to go until

Bill Gates: Natal for Windows coming to an office near you

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:21:43 UT

The idea of bending over to pick up a virtual tennis racket in front of that 50-inch flat screen in our living room makes perfect sense to us. In fact, we can\'t wait to see Natal come to the Xbox platform. However, the idea of manipulating an excel spreadsheet on a 15-inch screen within a 5 x 5-foot cubicle sounds daunting, to say the least. Fortunately, Microsoft\'s plans to integrate Natal into

Google has Lotus Notes in its sights

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:19:02 UT

Launches new tool to migrate users to Google AppsGoogle has launched a tool aimed at helping companies migrate from Lotus Notes to Google Apps. The company said the new tool set, dubbed Google Apps Migration for Lotus Notes, could help IT managers migrate their users\' Notes e-mail, calendar items and contact lists to Google\'s suite of hosted applications.

Asus wins patent battle with IBM

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:17:43 UT

Taiwan 1 US 0The US International Trade Commission has rejected an IBM request to review a decision that denied the company\'s attempts to block the import of hardware made by Asustek on patent infringement grounds.

Microsoft delivers 9 patches, but leaves one hole open

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:07:13 UT

Microsoft today delivered six security updates that patched nine vulnerabilities. The patches fix two bugs now being used by hackers but leave one still open to exploit.

Dell halts alarming sales drop

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:21:35 UT

Slow return to sales normality.After recent declines, demand for Dell products is ‘stabilising\', the company has said.

Microsoft Reveals Windows Azure Pricing, SLA Details

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:03:35 UT

At its Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans, Microsoft gave partners a glimpse of the business model and service level agreement for its Windows Azure cloud development platform.

Microsoft Azure goes online: priced to compete with Amazon EC2

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:09:18 UT

Microsoft has announced pricing of Azure, its cloud computing service, which be made available in Europe, Singapore and the US from November.

Microsoft is Launching a Music Streaming Service This Month

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:38:17 UT

Microsoft’s online music strategy has been a disaster, with its half-hearted efforts with MTV and Zune being the most obvious. And here they are again, fast-following with another business model.

Microsoft Office 2010 -- Don`t Count Microsoft Out Just Yet

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:11:03 UT

Microsoft is taking on the competition by adding a lot of collaboration and cloud-based features to Office 2010. There is also significant reworking of the most widely used office productivity suite in the world.

Microsoft Readies Channel Partner Overhaul

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:09:30 UT

\'Gold\' certifications are out, with new \"competencies\"-focused program being unveiled Monday at Worldwide Partner Conference.

Apple`s 9.7-inch netbook to debut in October for $800?

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:52:19 UT

It\'s back. The Quanta assembled Apple netbook rumor that kicked off in March with a Commercial Times report calling for a Wintek-supplied touchscreen has returned... with a fever. China Times has now stepped in with a claim of a 9.7-inch touchscreen netbook to debut in October. CT claims that Wintek, and Dynapack have all received orders direct from Apple while Foxconn (not Quanta) will be the m

BlackBerry Onyx with optical trackball leaks out

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:59:45 UT

Looks like RIM\'s getting serious about optical trackballs -- first the Curve 8520 ditched the spinner and now it looks like the Onyx has been upgraded as well. That\'s pretty much just as we\'ve all expected ever since we first laid eyes on this 3G mashup of the Bold and Curve 8900, and we\'re pretty stoked about it, since we find optical trackballs to be pretty great. Of course, there\'s no word on

Google`s Schmidt initially opposed to Chrome, says Microsoft is welcome to port Internet Explorer on over

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:59:53 UT

While Chrome OS is still a pretty rough sketch in our mind\'s eye, the Google boys have hosted a press conference to answer a few burning questions. Among the myriad revelations, it turns out Eric Schmidt wasn\'t stoked on building a browser when Sergey Brin and Larry Page brought it up about six years ago, given the fact that Google was still relatively small, and the browser wars were still fres

Video: Toshiba TG01 gets UK launch, we handle it again

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:03:00 UT

It may have already been teased, poked and prodded, but the TG01 from Toshiba still insisted on making a big splash on its arrival to the UK and we were only too happy to oblige and join in on its launch event in London. As you should know by now, this is Toshiba\'s most significant attempt to date at penetrating the consumer smartphone market, and it\'s coming equipped with a battering ram named

IBM to build database of UK fingerprints for passport service

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:50:51 UT

The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) has contracted IBM to build a database to support the Government\'s switch to biometric passports. IBM will...

Big brands use Twitter to push corporate messages

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:29:42 UT

Big name brands are ignoring conversations on Twitter...

Rockchip plans on slashing Android phone prices with new RK2808 chipset

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:03:07 UT

Rockchip, already a favorite among dirt cheap, feature-laden PMPs, has its sights set on Android and we couldn\'t be happier. The company sees Android\'s free nature being the perfect match for the Chinese market, and plans to release its low-cost RK2808 chipset in October to take advantage of that. In addition to Android, Rockchip claims the RK2808 enables additional multimedia capability over wh

Low power Cortex-M3 start-up readies chip tester

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:17:06 UT

Norway-based Energy Micro purchased a microFLEX test system with BBAC and digital instrumentation to test its ultra low power microcontrollers for battery-operated industrial and consumer appliances

Adafruit`s Citizen Engineer comic book / SIM card reader kit

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:12:41 UT

The gang at Adafruit Industries are on a mission -- and they won\'t rest until every man, woman, and child on this planet has access to the DIY and open source electronics they crave. The most recent project of theirs, Citizen Engineer: SIM Card Hacking, is a comic book that both serves as a primer on GSM and SIM cards and tells you how to build a SIM card reader. And if that weren\'t awesome enou

Peek issues call for developers, yearns to build Linux-infused model

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:59:24 UT

Peek always has been a company for the people, with its suits sitting down late last year to listen intently to input from users regarding hacks and tweaks. Now, the outfit\'s looking for a bona fide Linux guru, someone who could get Linux running on the Peek\'s ARM7 processor and look suave doing it. The kicker? Should you succeed (and impress), you could score a \"mini-consulting gig\" with the to

Teens abandon Facebook as silver surfers flood in

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:15:40 UT

Facebook is being overrun by silver surfers, and simultaneously abandoned by young users, according to a new report.

Opinion: Chrome OS buffs up the Google Brand

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:54:57 UT

Google\'s announcement that it is working on a lightweight operating system is as much about marketing as it is about technology.

Automotive electronics sector to see 15% fall - analyst

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:18:42 UT

The impact the downturn in the automotive sector is having on the electronics supply chain is becoming apparent with figures from market-watcher Strategy Analytics. Global demand for automotive electronic systems expecting to fall by 15% to $118bn in 2009, said the analyst

Apple fixes WebKit vulnerabilities in Safari browser

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:17:12 UT

Apple has released an update to its Safari browser to fix...

Monster data centre heads for Scotland

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:31:58 UT

But are remote data centres the answer?One of the world\'s largest data centres could be heading to Scotland with a site that will reportedly cost £1 billion ($1.6 billion), spread over 250 acres, with 3 million square feet of server space.

Vendors plot fast-booting PCs

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:16:29 UT

The \'one second\' operating system.After being hampered by slow adoption, laptops with quick-boot capabilities may soon be upgraded with new features that could make them attractive to users.

Help me find the best iPhone 3G S apps

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:01:39 UT

On Road Trip 2009, I\'m testing out Apple\'s latest iPhone. I want to know what the best applications are that specifically take advantage of the features on the 3G S.

Techie owns up to writing spam program

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:22:53 UT

Pleads guilty to DOJ charges.A US software developer has pleaded guilty to charges related to creating and marketing software designed to send bulk commercial email messages.

CompuServe closes after 30 years

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:28:19 UT

Veteran ISP gets bulleted.The granddaddy of the ISP industry, CompuServe, has been closed down by its parent AOL as of 1 July, after 30 years in operation.

Need Some Weed? Just Check Twitter

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:56:08 UT

Some California drug dealers are living the high life this summer -- because high-tech social-networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter are allowing them to legally swap street corners for the Internet.

Oracle thinks again after support site ridicule

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:54:20 UT

\'Faster problem resolution\', the slow way.Oracle is planning to retire its MetaLink support portal in favour of its successor, My Oracle Support, and some customers are not happy about it.

iPhone 3GS crack released

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:58:21 UT

Apple will have to be quick to react to a software crack which makes it possible for unapproved software to be used on the new iPhone.

Nokia`s `android phone` would make no sense

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:39:11 UT

The mobile phone firm has spent a lot of money acquiring the Symbian OS which it is now turning into an open-source platform precisely to match other platforms like Andorid

Fallen Soldier`s Memorial Rockets Up Twitter \'Charts\'

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:34:34 UT

Father\'s request to honor soldier stepson gets phrase \'#thankyouaaron\' high on Twitter Trending Topics.

Oracle Fusion 11g will simplify enterprise computing

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:42:03 UT

Oracle\'s latest Fusion Middleware 11g is a key part in Oracle\'s stratagey to help organisation solve complex integration problems said Oracle president Charles...

Juniper stops researcher revealing ATM vulnerability

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:49:11 UT

A security researcher has been prevented from disclosing security flaws in cashpoint machines at the Blackhat...

New Flash plug-in to boost ARM

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:16:04 UT

Bsquare Corporation, the leading software solutions provider to the global embedded device community, today announced the development of an Adobe Flash Platform technology browser plug-in for ARM-based devices running Google\'s Android 1.5 \"Cupcake\" platform.

New Harry Potter ships for Mac, other platforms

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:10:25 UT

Electronic Arts (EA) on Tuesday announced the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, a video game based on the upcoming movie. It debuts simultaneously on multiple platforms including the Mac. It costs $30.

Dell Working on Pocket Web Gadget

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:56:39 UT

I can see some potential niche markets, but I’m not sure there’s much general demand for a device that’s bigger than a phone but smaller than a netbook.

Comcast Starts Selling Wireless Broadband Service

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:19:50 UT

Look for Comcast to move quickly beyond the Portland launch and expand to a few major markets in the next several months. And look for other telecoms to follow suit.

Skype updates for iPhone, iPod Touch

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:57:57 UT

An updated version of Skype for the iPhone and iPod Touch is now available for download. Skype, the voice...

Group pitches Linux for free netbooks from mobile carriers

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:39:17 UT

A Linux advocate urged Chinese companies to offer Linux-based devices and download stores

Internet cafe company offers $7.8 million for The Pirate Bay

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:38:23 UT

The owners of The Pirate Bay have agreed to sell the site to a Swedish Internet cafe operator for 60 million Swedish kronor (US$7.8 million), the company said on Tuesday.

Symantec offers Norton Online Living Calculator

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:03:46 UT

New Symantec tool calculates how much a person\'s online information is worth on the black market and offers a risk rating.

Steve Jobs returns to work, Apple confirms

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:17:13 UT

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs is back at work, according to a company statement, ending weeks of speculation about his return.

Sony gets Seiko Epson`s small and medium sized TFT LCD ops

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:11:13 UT

Sony has been given Seiko Epson\'s small and medium sized TFT LCD operations. Seiko Epson\'s high-temperature polysilicon TFT LCDs are not included in the deal.

Intant messaging a growing malware threat, report says

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:57:51 UT

An increasing number of instant messages contain links to malware, say security researchers at Symantec\'s MessageLabs. One in 78 links contained...

O2 and BT create Oh-zone for mobile broadband

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:41:25 UT

O2 users will be able to access 3,000 BT OpenZone Wi-Fi hotpots from today if they upgrade their O2 Windows-based...

Raw deal for UK and Europe over Win 7 pricing

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:15:37 UT

No browser, and up to double the price.Even though Microsoft\'s new operating system will ship without a browser in Europe, customers on this side of the pond will have to pay up to double the price for Windows 7, compared to American users.

Java delays approval of Oracle`s Sun takeover

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:02:21 UT

The US Department of Justice wants more time to consider Oracle\'s $7.4bn Sun deal before giving its approval.

Jackson death crashes Google News

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:59:11 UT

Other news sites take strain.The death of Michael Jackson last Thursday triggered a spike in visits to news websites that adversely affected the performance and availability of some of the biggest sites. This included Google News, which interpreted the sharp spike in Jackson-related search queries as an automated attack.

Google blamed for fish dissapearance

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:57:47 UT

A Community Support Officer in Humberside has fingered Google Maps as aiding fish thieves in their quest to raid garden ponds for Koi Carp.

Rackspace installs cloud services for UK customers

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:56:41 UT

Rackspace is installing a cloud computing capability on its UK servers to provide British customers...

Windows 7 pre-orders grab Amazon`s top sales spots

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:27:48 UT

Microsoft and online retailers today kicked off Windows 7 sales in the U.S., Canada and Japan, taking pre-orders at prices discounted by as much as 58%.

Phoenix Freeze Auto-Locks Laptops via Smartphone

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:43:14 UT

A new product from Phoenix Technologies, called Freeze, lets you use BlackBerry or iPhone Bluetooth to tell a PC that you\'re leaving the area and want it to lock up. When you return, Phoenix Freeze can also automatically unlock the machine so it\'s ready for you.

Dump Google? Bing is more user-friendly

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:28:02 UT

Bing, the search engine from Microsoft, has a better design than Google, a usability study from Catalyst Group has found. The research house, which...

Free tool provides real-time threat information

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:10:55 UT

Work out what\'s exaggerated and what\'s notIntenet backbone company, Interoute has launched a free tool aimed at providing up-to-date information on security threats. The Internet Barometer draws on information provided by 22 sensors placed at strategic points on the Interoute backbone network and gives accurate information on the volume of threats on the Internet at any one time.

Out of business, Clear may sell customer data

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:20:22 UT

Three days after ceasing operations, owners of the Clear airport security screening service acknowledged that their database of sensitive customer information may end up in someone else\'s hands.

Bing filters out sensitive results for Chinese searches

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:48:20 UT

Microsoft\'s Bing search engine filters out some sensitive results from searches made in simplified Chinese script.

Red Hat profits buck recession

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:39:15 UT

Open source supplier Red Hat has posted strong financial results for the first quarter of the year, defying the downturn. The North Carolina-based

Facebook Testing Status Update Privacy Controls

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:56:06 UT

Facebook is testing new privacy controls that will allow the online hangout\'s roughly 200 million users to decide who should see each of their personal updates.

US government data found on HDD in Africa

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:44:26 UT

Red faces at contractor.The safe disposal of old computer equipment is once again in the headlines after a hard disk drive (HDD) purchased from a market in Ghana was found to contain sensitive documents belonging to US government contractor Northrop Grumman.

Showtime for Yahoo`s Bartz

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:05:11 UT

One year after a raucous annual meeting, things should be quieter for Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz at Thursday\'s shareholder meeting. Still, they\'ll want to know the plan.

Testers give Security Essentials a thumbs up

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:53:47 UT

But rivals take pot shots.An independent testing company has given a positive reaction to Microsoft\'s free security software after it passed a preliminary anti-virus exam with flying colours.

Nortel`s liquidation could cripple UC relationship with Microsoft

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:02:32 UT

Nortel\'s liquidation of its assets could possibly gut the 3-year-old unified communications partnership the company has with Microsoft.

iPhone 3GS costs Apple $179 to make, says iSuppli

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:55:35 UT

Even though it has twice the storage space of last year\'s model, Apple\'s new 16GB iPhone 3GS costs the company less than 3% more to make than 2008\'s lowest-priced iPhone 3G, according to a tear-down analysis published today by iSuppli.

Google to promote Web speed on new developer site

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:04:55 UT

Google has created a Web site for developers that is focused exclusively on making Web applications, sites and browsers faster.

Security professionals fail to use passwords

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:09:45 UT

IT security workers are not using passwords...

Boxee comes to Windows, brings MLB along for the ride

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:05:51 UT

Yesterday was a big day for Boxee, the aggregation tool that strives to bring a television-like experience to online video, music and digital media.

Cisco`s IronPort gets RSA leak prevention

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:30:26 UT

Plugging holes at the gateway.Cisco\'s IronPort email security appliance will be capable of data-loss prevention monitoring through integration with EMC\'s RSA DLP scanning technology, Cisco has announced.

Google site tackles malware advertising

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:15:31 UT

Google has created an \"Anti-Malvertising\" website, which it says will help internet users and businesses make better-informed decisions to protect against...

Oracle shrugs off downturn by increasing software revenues

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:13:57 UT

Oracle\'s revenue for 2009 has grown 4% to $23.3bn, showing that businesses are still buying enterprise software licenses and renewing maintenance contracts...

Twitter: UK`s fastest growing website

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:12:38 UT

Traffic on Twitter has increased 22-fold in the past 12 months, according to Hitwise, which analyses internet usage, making it the fastest growing site in...

Diskeeper boosts virtual hard drives with defrag for Hyper-V

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:11:05 UT

Diskeeper has launched a defrag utility for Microsoft\'s Hyper-V virtualisation software to

Habitat uses Iran Twitter tag to sell its products

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:26:55 UT

Furniture store Habitat has been...

Myspace to cut another 300 international jobs

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:07:46 UT

Myspace is planning to cut 300 jobs and close four offices outside the US. The news follows an announcement that ...

Google`s vision improving for image search

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:31:34 UT

Researchers at Google believe they have found an accurate method of using reams to data to make computers \"see,\" and identify, images of famous landmarks.

Backdoor admin accounts blow corporate security

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:29:29 UT

Businesses and government systems are at risk from undocumented administrator accounts that enable unauthorised access, analyst Ovum has warned.

Apple sells more than a million iPhone 3GS models

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:49:41 UT

Apple announced Monday that it has sold more than 1 million iPhone 3GS models since they went on sale Friday, June 19, 2009.

T-Mobile`s second Android phone won`t come with keyboard

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:25:01 UT

Just like T-Mobile USA\'s first Android phone, the new myTouch will feature Google applications and is made by HTC. But unlike the original G1 phone, it won\'t have a physical keyboard.

Apple charges iPod Touch users for critical patches

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:59:16 UT

Owners of iPod Touch handheld computers will have to pay for the critical...

Ballmer recants `new Xbox in 2010` quote

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:55:51 UT

Last week Microsoft\'s CEO inadvertently fueled a rumor that there will be a new version of the Xbox gaming console launched in 2010. Now he has eloquently clarified the matter in true Ballmerian fashion.

Q&A: Kevin Mitnick, from ham operator to fugitive to consultant

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:01:17 UT

The world\'s most famous hacker talks about how his teenage quest to hack his cell phone led him to break into corporate networks, spend three years as a fugitive, and ultimately landed him in jail.

Global telecoms market has peaked, says analyst

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:51:06 UT

Telegeography is calling the top of the trillion-dollar communications market, saying that traditional markets are saturated, and new growth must come mainly from Asia and Africa

Security software market bucks the recession

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:42:44 UT

Business spending on security software is increasing despite the economic downturn, according to analyst firm Gartner.

Python threads

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:23:22 UT

Frequently I need to launch sub processes from Python. Sometimes these processes don't work as expected, and end up blocking the program. If you want to launch a command from python, and cut it off after a certain amount of time, I recommend the threading module.

OpenOffice.org 3.1 surpasses 10 million downloads

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:52:25 UT

OpenOffice.org 3.1 was announced on 7th May 2009 and is the current stable version.

Pre-installed Drools development environment for VirtualBox

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:43:45 UT

For the Drools Boot Camp SF09 I made up pre-installed Drools development environments for Sun\'s VirtualBox. This environment has everything you need to start development of drools.

Business Knowledge Life Cycle

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:13:40 UT

When talking about integration and unification of business processes, rules and event processing, people kinda understand quite rapidly what we are talking about at the runtime level (just imagine making business decisions inside your process as the most simple case). However, when we start talking about unifying or harmonization of the entire life cycle, it sometimes becomes more difficult to explain.

phpBB junior developers team

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:12:34 UT

phpBB is continuing its process of opening up the development process. After an internal trial phase we have now opened up the Junior Developer Team to regular members of our community. An increasing amount of people involved in phpBB development should both speed up the development and improve quality.

Experts ask Google to boost privacy, Google says maybe

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:42:13 UT

More than three dozen security and privacy advocates and researchers are asking Google to offer better data protection for users of Gmail and other Google apps and Google said on Tuesday that it is considering doing that, if it doesn\'t slow down the apps too much.

Fedora 9 End Of Life (EOL)

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:40:43 UT

In this case, since Fedora 11 just came out, that means that the end of life for Fedora 9 will be 2009-07-10. After this point, no new updates, including security updates, will be available for Fedora 9.

Announcing LXDE Fedora Remix 11

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:39:45 UT

I am pleased to announce the community remix of Fedora 11 with LXDE as the default desktop environment. It is available for download at http://alt.fedoraproject.org/pub/alt/remixes/LXDE/lxde-fedora-remix-11-i686-live.iso

Is Xandros a Linux distro, a marketing machine or a Microsoft stooge?

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:10:30 UT

You may know of Xandros Linux; for many people exposure came through the Eee PC, with this being the distro chosen by Linux-turncoat ASUS. Yet, what is Xandros\' stance on open source software? Might Xandros be a thinly-veiled Microsoft tout as Linspire reborn?

Novell to ship Linux-monitoring tool for Microsoft

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:09:46 UT

Suse Linux and Windows will become more closely integrated next week, when Novell releases a product allowing Microsoft management tools to monitor the open source operating system.

Steps to install Virtualbox in Windows

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:41:32 UT

VirtualBox runs on Mac OS X, Windows and Linux and supports a large number of guest operating systems including but not limited to Windows (NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista), DOS/Windows 3.x, Linux (2.4 and 2.6), and OpenBSD.

Breaking API for python-decorator in Fedora 11

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:34:02 UT

I\'m planning on updating the python-decorator package from 2.3.x to 3.0.x. This update breaks API in: 1) Some python-2.6 specific functionality 2) Some seldom used idioms.

RichFaces In Production

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:33:06 UT

RichFaces has been used in a great number of projects, environments, and companies. We would like to have a place for anyone to post their projects that use RichFaces and show off the work that they and their team\'s have done.

Streamlined support tricks

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:47:04 UT

Ubuntu is a big project. Nobody really understands everything about Ubuntu; even authoring a Training video on Ubuntu doesn\'t guarantee sufficient expertise. One great thing about the Internet is that it can bring people with a common interest or problem together. If you have a problem with your car, there are dozens of outlets you can explore to diagnose and repair it.

xPUD 0.9 - A Better Desktop For Your Computer

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:36:44 UT

We\'re proud to announce a new version of xPUD, a small and fast Linux with easy-to-use user interface, is now released. Version 0.9 is full of improvements and exciting new features.

OpenOffice.org Base Switchboard

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 12:10:40 UT

The Switchboard extension generates a Switchboard/Main Menu interface to access Base forms and reports. The switchboard can be grouped into categories, each of which can contain any number of menu entries. Furthermore, you can specify the size and screen location of the form to be opened.

Oracle Crowned `Software Vendor of the Year`

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:54:27 UT

Oracle UK's Alliances and Channels organisation picked up the 'Software Vendor of the Year' award at MicroScope magazine's third annual ACEs Award ceremony in London last week (June 5).

Getting started with JavaFX and JavaFX Studio plug-in for Eclipse

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:53:37 UT

This short tutorial shows you how to get started with JavaFX and Exadel JavaFX Studio plug-in for Eclipse. You will build an application where you can add users to a list and delete users from a list.

Fedora 11 with Firebird included in repository

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:52:29 UT

Fedora Linux 11 is released and Firebird is included in repository

The JRuby `Hello World` example

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:38:44 UT

Ruby is a programming language that is available since the mid-ninetees. It is powerful, object-oriented and allows to write short code. And, of course, there is the Java implementation JRuby where it is possible to call Java code directly.

Firebird: Deal with Unavailable Database

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:31:51 UT

"unavailble database" error prompt connecting to Firebird service is annoying and difficult to trace. Sometime it work and sometime it doesn't. We don't know when it work and when it doesn't work.

Announcing Fedora 11

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:27:18 UT

Get your copy of Fedora 11 today: http://get.fedoraproject.org/ For complete details of all the new features: http://docs.fedoraproject.org/release-notes/f11/index.html

A realistic exploration of the Desktop Linux opportunity

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:44:46 UT

How often have you dismissed the views expressed by extremists because what they are saying is so far removed from your own position and perceptions? The problem is that while single issue activists can make a lot of noise, they often come across as being out of touch with the complexities of the real world.

Moving from personal mail server to Gmail

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:17:13 UT

I was hosting my own email server for about a year. I enjoyed the fact that I had full and complete control over the entire mail server. I enjoyed being able to fine tune everything to fit my needs exactly. I was doing this for about 1.5 years.

6 best orthodox file managers for Linux

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:23:28 UT

Depending on when you got started with computers, you\'ve probably used an orthodox file manager. They\'re zippy, they\'re often favoured by those who are more comfortable on the command line, and enable you to do more via keyboards than some can do with a mouse.

It`s COOL-ER with Linux

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:22:32 UT

Have you bought a Kindle or Kindle 2 yet? Don\'t--at least not until you check out the COOL-ER ebook reader. It\'s about the same size and weight of a Kindle--so what makes it so much cooler than the Kindle?

Keeping File Ownership (UIDs) Consistent when Using EBS on EC2

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:57:02 UT

Persistent storage on Amazon EC2 is accomplished through the use of Elastic Block Store (EBS) volumes. EBS is basically a storage area network (SAN) and can be thought of as an on-demand, virtual, redundant hard drive plugged in to the server with super-powers like snapshot/restore.

Even more on MySQL password security

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:42:40 UT

This post follows Ronald Bradford's More Basic MySQL Security, and Lenz Grimmer's Basic MySQL Security: Providing passwords on the command line and More on MySQL password security.

Running Windows 7 On OS X Using VirtualBox

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:41:45 UT

I installed the GPL Open Source virtualization app VirtualBox tonight with Windows 7 so I could run the BlackBerry simulator on my Mac.

Linux Driver Project as of June 2009

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:14:56 UT

This is a status report for the Linux Driver Project as of June 2009, describing what has happened in the past year of work. It was originally posted on the Linux Driver Project developer mailing list.

Ubuntu: Getting Started with Firewall Builder

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:33:50 UT

This guide starts a series of articles about Firewall Builder. Firewall Builder (also known as fwbuilder) is a GUI firewall configuration and management tool that supports iptables (netfilter), ipfilter, pf, ipfw, Cisco PIX (FWSM, ASA) and Cisco routers extended access lists.

Google Launches New, Data-Rich Dashboard in Local Business Center

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:07:21 UT

Today Google is launching a new dashboard feature in the Google Local Business Center (LBC) that will provide business owners with a powerful level of information about how Google users are interacting with their local listings.

Fedora 11 RC3 Install Test Results

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:54:24 UT

This page tracks test results against Fedora 11 Release Candidate 3 builds. Test results against earlier Fedora 11 milestones can be found at. Testing with Releases/Rawhide is recommended for tests that do not require the use of physical media (e.g. DVD or CD images). Physical media can be found at http://alt.fedoraproject.org/pub/alt/stage/.f11-rc3/.

Sandisk collaborates to improve SSDs on Ubuntu netbooks

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:50:59 UT

Canonical announced that it has been collaborating with SanDisk, the global leader in flash memory cards, to improve how Ubuntu runs on the solid state drives (SSDs) that provide the memory - and memory management - for most netbooks and laptops in the market today.

Automate EC2 Instance Setup with user-data Scripts

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:46:38 UT

The Ubuntu and Debian EC2 images published on http://alestic.com allow you to send in a startup script using the EC2 user-data parameter when you run a new instance. This functionality is useful for automating the installation and configuration of software on EC2 instances.

Amazon's 25 Software Bestsellers - And Their Free Equivalents

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:41:13 UT

A few days ago, I was browsing through Amazon's software category when I stumbled upon the software best seller list. Intrigued, I took a look. Here's the top twenty five when I found it (go ahead and check, it's probably very similar right now).

915resolution with built-in uvesafb

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:27:25 UT

The video BIOSes of many (most?) Intel cards only support a very limited number of standard 4:3 resolutions. Widescreen and native LCD video modes are thus not available in (u)vesafb unless one hacks the BIOS using a special utility called 915resolution.

The feel of Scala

Fri, 29 May 2009 11:54:10 UT

As well as being a great introduction to Scala, \"The Feel of Scala\" talk by Bill Venners also gives a good insight into the design choices that underpin improved development productivity.

VirtualBox with dual boot Windows XP and Slackware

Fri, 29 May 2009 11:35:01 UT

Well that is possible after one day reading and implementing various workarounds. The purpose of this article is to give you the steps how to do it and to provide you with solutions to the several common problems which you will have to face.

Portable Windows with/without admin privilege

Fri, 29 May 2009 11:32:16 UT

Previously, I described how to get some freedom from the "no admin privilege" restriction that many workplace computers have. That technique involved running specially-built versions of one's applications from a thumbdrive.

Firebird Python PowerConsole Released for Testing

Fri, 29 May 2009 11:24:26 UT

Today I released PowerConsole v.0.7 to the public. PowerConsole is an enhanced Python interpreter that can host user defined commands. It uses pyparsing-based grammars for user commands to translate them into python calls, so it has limited support for mixing them with Python code.

JavaFX as JSF 2.0 view description language

Fri, 29 May 2009 11:16:27 UT

JavaFX is an expressive rich client platform for creating and delivering rich Internet experiences across all screens of your life. JavaFX 1.0 was released on December 4, 2008. As of February 1st, 2009, there had already been over 100,000 downloads of the tools and SDK. Today, JavaFX is available on over 50 million desktops.

Help improve Canadian copyright law!

Thu, 28 May 2009 11:46:23 UT

The Globe and Mail has put C-61, a copyright reform bill, on a wiki for editing. See the LibrePlanet page for information on participating.

Porting Weblogic to JBoss

Thu, 28 May 2009 11:43:10 UT

We introduce with this article a small series of tutorials which are aimed at porting applications from weblogic server to JBoss. In the first tutorial we focus on some general architectural aspects and on the connection pool and startup classes porting.

How to install Virtualbox Guest Additions for a Linux Guest?

Wed, 27 May 2009 13:10:31 UT

Installing Guest Additions on Virtualbox enables you to use some very powerful features such as seamless integration and full screen resolution mode. You can read more about these features in an article which we have already authored.

Q&A: Revamped Linux for Netbooks

Wed, 27 May 2009 12:49:32 UT

Swapping in Ubuntu Linux is not that difficult, and there is even a version called Ubuntu Netbook Remix that's optimized just for smaller, leaner hardware.

ASUS Linux insult will be Intel and Dell`s gain

Wed, 27 May 2009 12:46:48 UT

ASUS has effectively abandoned Linux and stated a power user would use Windows instead. This backflip stands against the history of their successful Eee netbook line. Nevertheless, ASUS' loss will be the gain of more savvy players.

Linux Mint 7 released

Wed, 27 May 2009 12:43:20 UT

Linux Mint is an Ubuntu-based distribution that aims to be user friendly and provide a more complete out-of-the-box experience by including support for DVD playback, Java, plug-ins and media codecs. The release is based on Ubuntu 9.04 (aka Jaunty Jackalope), the 2.6.28 Linux Kernel, X.org 7.4 and GNOME 2.26.

Has ASUS all but given up on Linux?

Wed, 27 May 2009 12:41:51 UT

At today\'s ASUS product showcase in Sydney, a bunch of media representatives where given a taste of the company\'s latest and greatest notebooks, including the new range of Eee PC netbooks.

netpgp: A digital signature signing and verification library for NetBSD

Wed, 27 May 2009 12:34:46 UT

NetBSD-current has recently had a new addition - that of netpgp, a BSD-licensed library that can perform digital signature signing and verification, and also encryption and decryption of files. An email explaining netpgp was sent to the tech-security mailing list, but I thought I\'d give a short summary of that email here

Do we need our own Linux?

Tue, 26 May 2009 13:02:30 UT

I downloaded a pre-release version of Bayanihan 5, the upcoming version of the state-sponsored Linux distribution, hoping to put it through its paces.

Four Linux Apps Worth Downloading

Tue, 26 May 2009 13:01:10 UT

There is such a wealth of great Free and Open Source software applications it\'s almost an embarrassment of riches, and we\'re going to look at 8 of them in this two-part series.

First look: Intel`s Moblin 2.0 Linux desktop for netbooks

Tue, 26 May 2009 13:00:14 UT

Over the past few days I've been taking Intel's Moblin 2.0 Linux desktop for netbooks for a spin. Can Intel compete with its long-time partner Microsoft in the operating system game?

Symfony (PHP): The new Getting Started tutorial

Tue, 26 May 2009 10:20:31 UT

As of now, the information needed to install symfony were available but they were disseminated in many different places (the installation page, the Jobeet tutorial, the old symfony book). But the main problem was that the best way to install symfony was not the easiest piece of information to find.

The Ubuntu Virtual Machine: For An Internet Safety Layer (Part I)

Tue, 26 May 2009 10:04:34 UT

For a brief description: I want to install Ubuntu Linux inside of a virtual machine (VM), using VirtualBox from Sun. To do that, I have to download VirtualBox software and an Ubuntu ISO image. Once I install both of those items, I create my virtual machine and associate it with my Ubuntu ISO image. I install Ubuntu on the VM. Last, I tweak the settings for my VM.

Drools vs jBPM personal experience

Tue, 26 May 2009 09:54:14 UT

This comment was published in The Server Side web page (http://www.theserverside.com) in response of some comments asking about the differences and the overlap between two projects from JBoss: jBPM and Drools low.

Ubuntu: Canonical support

Mon, 25 May 2009 12:34:29 UT

Let\'s introduce a subject that I\'ve rarely seen discussed on planets or forums: Canonical paid-for support. At Oxford Archaeology we have been paying customers for almost a year, and I think it is a good time to look back and see if it was worth it, what worked well, and what could be improved.

Firebird Maestro 9.5 released

Mon, 25 May 2009 12:14:29 UT

SQL Maestro Group is pleased to announce the release of Firebird Maestro v. 9.5, a powerful Windows GUI solution for Firebird administration and database development.

The depressing world of RoR

Mon, 25 May 2009 11:59:43 UT

This is a rant so you have to take it with a grain of salt; on the other hand, what I'm going to write about is not just my emotional status working with Rails, and you should not take it like it was coming from a Ruby or Rails either; Ruby is still my language of choice, and the blog is still running on Typo, after all.

Debian Archive Signing Key to be changed

Mon, 25 May 2009 11:57:49 UT

The Debian Project wishes to announce the change of the GNU Privacy Guard key used to digitaly sign its archive reference files. Signatures are used to ensure that packages installed by users are the very same originally distributed by Debian, and have not been exchanged or tempered with.

Windows server has Linux in crosshairs

Fri, 22 May 2009 12:50:49 UT

Microsoft\'s new entry-level server edition, Windows Server 2008 Foundation, is aimed squarely at Linux, and the software giant says its \"simplicity\" is expected to give it the edge over Linux as the choice server OS for the small business segment.

Linux Desktop Stats: Wrong Question, Wrong Answers

Fri, 22 May 2009 12:48:52 UT

I\'m not surprised that desktop Linux has hit the one percent milestone. I\'m surprised that anyone takes these numbers seriously in the first place.

Report Recommends How to Switch to Linux

Fri, 22 May 2009 12:45:11 UT

Experts predicted that the economy would make this the year that many organizations switched to Linux. A coming Windows 7 upgrade considered to be better than Vista -- seemed to increase the odds.

Deploy Linux desktops for non-technical users, says study

Fri, 22 May 2009 12:44:23 UT

A study commissioned by IBM and carried out by Freeform Dynamics found that Linux on the desktop was most easily achieved when first targeted at groups of non-technical users, such as those with moderate and predictable use of email and office tools.

Alleged Nokia Linux smartphone plans exposed by leak

Fri, 22 May 2009 12:43:30 UT

New information about Nokia\'s Linux strategy has been exposed through a leak. The company is allegedly planning to bring its Linux-based Maemo platform to smartphone devices in 2010.

Video Walkthrough: Switchvox Developer Central

Fri, 22 May 2009 11:51:40 UT

This video is a quick walkthrough of the Test Suite inside the brand new Switchvox Developer Central. It shows how to use this online tool to connect to your Switchvox and request XML via the new Extend API in Switchvox SMB 4.0.

FirebirdClient 2.5 Final released

Fri, 22 May 2009 11:45:29 UT

I'm happy to announce, after about 47 000 000 seconds of thinking and development, release of FirebirdClient 2.5. This new shiny release contains couple of very interesting new features

Drools 5 Released

Fri, 22 May 2009 11:41:23 UT

The Drools team are pleased to announce the release of Drools 5.0 Final. Everyone\'s favourite Java Rule Engine with the delivery of version 5.0 gives genesis to the Business Logic integration Platform, which provides a unified and integrated platform for Rules, Workflow and Event Processing.

Open Source as an Enterprise Strategy

Thu, 21 May 2009 11:53:28 UT

After the dotcom crash, a new argument about open source arose: \"What if the company you bought software from goes under? Open source gives you a viable route to find consultants, move development internally, and so on. You\'re not dependent on any one group\'s success.\" You can find this logic behind the Ubuntu Foundation pledge.

Running Fedora 10 on MacBook Pro

Thu, 21 May 2009 11:42:37 UT

VirtualBox is a freely available open source x86 virtualization product released under the GNU General Public License (GPL). I was directed to this product by a colleague of mine while trying to find a way to get a Linux bash shell running on my MacBook Pro for Linux Certification training purposes.

Even Linux-loving firms only deploy it to one-fifth of employees

Thu, 21 May 2009 11:27:30 UT

Half of the businesses that have deployed Linux on the desktop have rolled it out to less than 20% of their workers due to perceived and real obstacles, according to a survey by released by a U.K. analyst firm.

IBM: Linux desktops bucking the recession

Thu, 21 May 2009 11:17:30 UT

IBM put out a study datelined one minute past midnight this Thursday morning commenting on the fact that outside of netbooks, the recession has largely put the kibosh on PC growth.

Desktop Linux For The Windows Power User

Thu, 21 May 2009 11:16:40 UT

Ubuntu 9.04, codenamed Jaunty Jackalope, is a solid release and well worth the bandwidth. I stuck with 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron) when the sub-par 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) came out last October, but I will definitely upgrade all my machines to Jaunty in the coming weeks.

Beta-testing the .msi installer for Strawberry Perl

Wed, 20 May 2009 12:25:34 UT

I\'ve created some \"Beta-test\" MSI installers for Strawberry Perl - they\'re available at http://csjewell.comyr.com/perl/strawberryperlbeta.html for you to test out, hammer on, etc.

Windows 7 on your Mac for free

Wed, 20 May 2009 12:22:55 UT

Most people who read The Download Blog are probably familiar with the the coming release of Windows 7. For a full rundown of new features, check out Seth Rosenblatt\'s hands-on post, but there\'s plenty of Windows 7 content to pore over.

Runnable Userspace Meta Programs in NetBSD 5.0

Wed, 20 May 2009 12:15:59 UT

Rump (Runnable Userspace Meta Programs) is a kernel virtualization and isolation technique available only in NetBSD. Rump uses the standard user process abstraction to provide a virtualization container for kernel components such as file systems and networking. The first release to feature rump support is NetBSD 5.0.

Policy for Handling Flags in Fedora

Tue, 19 May 2009 11:34:48 UT

When a package contains flag images that are used (in the user interface, in documentation, etc.) to represent locations, countries, nations, other kinds of geopolitical entities, languages, other kinds of ethnocultural concepts, religions, political movements and institutions, and the like, and where such use is not technically or substantively essential to the package, those flag images must be placed in an -flags subpackage.

OpenOffice.org: Better diff of XML files

Tue, 19 May 2009 11:30:51 UT

I needed to compare the FlatXML of two OpenOffice.org files. I usually reformat the XML files using xmllint and then diff those formatted XML files. However I couldn\'t properly see the differences between for those files because the attributes were on the same line with the element. In order to compare all the attributes one by one, I decided to hack xmllint (and then libxml2 too) as we discussed it recently with Tor recently.

Suggest a name for Fedora 12

Tue, 19 May 2009 11:16:39 UT

To recap on the rules: 1) must have some link to Leonidas More specifically, the link should be Leonidas is a <blank> and <NewName> is a <blank> Where <blank> is the same for both

Scala on Google App Engine

Fri, 15 May 2009 12:19:46 UT

In their article, the three Google engineers, Toby Reyelts, Alex Rudnick and Lex Spoon show you how to implement Scala projects on the App Engine by taking you through two sample applications. They say \"Overall, it looks like the scalac compiler produces jars that are so close to Java\'s that App Engine just doesn\'t notice or care. We can second that: it works for us too!\"

In depth Linode (VPS) review

Thu, 14 May 2009 11:37:43 UT

Linode is a VPS provider. Linode stands for \"Linux Node.\" They offer relatively up to date initial Gentoo installations, among other distros. Overall Grade: 9.5/10 (because no one is ever perfect)

Fedora 11: OpenChange (MS Exchange alternative)

Thu, 14 May 2009 11:34:46 UT

Natively access Microsoft Exchange using OpenChange. By using the libmapi library from OpenChange, tools such as kdepim and Evolution can become first-class clients of a Microsoft Exchange Server

GNU/Linux: rubbery figures don`t help the cause

Thu, 14 May 2009 11:31:49 UT

Over the last 10 days there has been a spate of reports all based on some surprising statistics titled \"Operating System Market Share\" put out by a company named Net Applications. That there have been this many reports is all due to one fact - the figures put forward by this company claim that the use of GNU/Linux on the desktop has reached one percent of some subset of users.

The Programming Language with the Happiest Users

Wed, 13 May 2009 12:05:20 UT

Which languages make programmers the happiest? It's clear that some languages are more popular than others, and many of us debate long and hard over the relative merits of Python vs Ruby, C vs Java or Lisp vs everything else. But what's the general consensus?

Better ODF support in Microsoft Office via Sun`s ODF Plugin

Wed, 13 May 2009 12:01:23 UT

The Sun ODF Plugin for Microsoft Office, which is based on OpenOffice.org, adds support for ODF to Microsoft Office 2000 and newer versions. So you don\'t have to use the very latest Microsoft Office 2007 SP2 version (in case you really need Microsoft Office for some reason) , where ODF support is insufficient anyway.

Database Systems for Advanced Applications

Wed, 13 May 2009 11:51:09 UT

Database Systems for Advanced Applications (DASFAA) is an international forum for academic exchanges and technical discussions among researchers, developers, and users of databases from academia, business, and industry, and has been a leading conference in the areas of databases, large-scale data management, data mining, and the Web. The 15th DASFAA will come to Tsukuba, Japan in April, 2010.

Fedora 11: TigerVNC

Wed, 13 May 2009 11:49:22 UT

There was no update from RealVNC upstream since May 18 2006 and upstream is focused on their enterprise non-open vnc. Trunk TigerVNC is RealVNC fork with many improvements/bugfixes so it makes sense to use it. Main problem is that current Fedora vnc has also many changes so patches have to be merged.

How to VPN using SSH

Tue, 12 May 2009 11:52:45 UT

This post will cover how to establish a VPN (Virtual Private Network) using SSH. This is technically termed "layer-3 IP-in-SSH tunnelling" and is not using ssh to port forward (ssh -L ) or create a dynamic "application level" forwarding (SOCKS) (ssh -D ). Rather a VPN is established using a SSH connection to create a virtual interface, tun0.

Intel and Nokia announce open source telephony project

Tue, 12 May 2009 11:47:29 UT

Intel and Nokia are pleased to jointly announce the oFono project (http://ofono.org), an open source project for developing an open source telephony solution.

Fedore 11: GFS2 Stable

Tue, 12 May 2009 11:43:34 UT

A cluster filesystem allowing simultaneous access to shared storage from multiple nodes, designed for SAN environments. It is also possible to use GFS2 as a single node (local) filesystem by selecting the \"lock_nolock\" locking protocol.

Openoffice.org: Sun Report Builder

Mon, 11 May 2009 12:08:18 UT

Create with the Sun Report Builder stylish, smart-looking database reports. The flexible report editor can define group and page headers as well as group and page footers and even calculation fields are available to accomplish complex database reports. Along with the flexible database client of StarOffice it is possible to create database reports from HSQL, Oracle, or almost any other database type.

RedNotebook: lightweight journal for desktop

Mon, 11 May 2009 12:01:23 UT

RedNotebook is a graphical diary and journal to keep track of notes and thoughts. It includes a calendar navigation, customizable templates for each day, export functionality and word clouds. You can also format, tag and search your entries.

Interview with Edward Hervey about the opensource PiTiVI video editor

Fri, 08 May 2009 14:47:12 UT

This is the fourth in a series of interviews about open source multimedia, the previous interviews were about Jokosher, Totem and Empathy. For this interview we talk with Edward Hervey who is the maintainer of the PiTiVI video editor. Edward will talk to us about the current status of the PiTiVi video editor and their plans going forward.

Convert VMware .vmdk to KVM .qcow2 or Virtualbox .vdi

Fri, 08 May 2009 14:42:26 UT

I wrote this how to as I was having problems converting a VMware image to KVM. The existing tutorials all suggest using qemu-img to convert the .vmdk, however it was not working as qemu-img only supports VMware 3 and 4 compatible image formats.

Remote install of Debian overtop of RedHat

Fri, 08 May 2009 14:41:13 UT

A very long time ago I leased some server space that had RedHat and I wanted Debian. So I did a remote install using the /swap partition as a / partition. I thought the notes were lost, but I found them. I include them here for historical (hysterical?) purposes only.

OpenOffice.org: Handling sheets separately, part 1: Row Heights

Fri, 08 May 2009 14:36:20 UT

One of the possible approaches to improving Calc load performance is to separate the processing of individual sheets. The basic idea is that often a file with several sheets is loaded, but only some of the sheets are actually used for editing.

FSF launches new free software activist internship program

Fri, 08 May 2009 14:26:37 UT

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today announced a new internship program for free software activists, inviting students to apply for its first round of openings by Monday, May 25th.

FreeBSD Quarterly Status Report is out

Fri, 08 May 2009 14:25:32 UT

Since the last Status Reports there has been interesting progress in FreeBSD Development. FreeBSD 7.2 was released just a few days ago. Some of the highlights include: Support for superpages in the FreeBSD Virtual Memory subsystem.

Gentoo: USB hard drives with SMART

Fri, 08 May 2009 14:24:45 UT

A common way to check the health state of a hard disk is SMART. It gives various informations about occuring errors. In Linux, there\'s the smartmontools package containing tools to read SMART data of hard drives (smartctl -a /dev/[hddevice] gives you a bunch of information).

Fedora 11: 20 Second Startup Feature

Fri, 08 May 2009 14:23:35 UT

Boot faster than the F10 30SecondStartup. Make Fedora boot and shut down faster. The goal is to be at the login screen in 20 seconds and be as fast as possible after the login (gnome-session).

10 reasons why Linux will oust Windows

Thu, 07 May 2009 17:55:31 UT

Microsoft\'s failings are finally catching up with it and will cause the once-unstoppable juggernaut to cede to Linux. A key event was September 14, 2000, when Microsoft set a tiny snowball rolling with the release of the deeply flawed Windows Me. That snowball has been gaining momentum, despite some ups and downs along the way--XP was an up, for example.

Microsoft`s new search - Built on open-source

Thu, 07 May 2009 17:53:32 UT

When Microsoft purchased Hotmail in December of 1997 for an estimated $400m, it ran on FreeBSD. But Redmond ripped out the open source OS and replaced it with Windows 2000. Or at least, it tried to.

Python 3.1 beta 1 released

Thu, 07 May 2009 11:51:31 UT

Python 3.1 is a continuation of the work started by Python 3.0, the new backwards-incompatible series of Python. This is a development release. Using this in a production environment is not recommended.

How To Install Windows 7 On VirtualBox

Thu, 07 May 2009 11:49:38 UT

As you probably know, Microsoft released the much awaited Windows 7 RC few hours back to public. The new operating system is very stable and also very fast.

OpenOffice.org 3.1 released

Thu, 07 May 2009 11:45:36 UT

The final version of OpenOffice.org 3.1 is available for download now! A lot of new features and improvements make it really worth updating to this new version.

Twitter makes more progress with SMS in Canada

Wed, 06 May 2009 13:48:29 UT

We\'ve made more progress with SMS in Canada, this time with our friends at Rogers and Fido. Starting today, if you are a Twitterer as well as a customer of Rogers or Fido, then you can update via SMS and receive updates from Twitter via SMS.

Firebird included in Fedora Linux

Tue, 05 May 2009 12:05:38 UT

Firebird is included now in Fedora repositories (rank 4 on distrowatch). Also builds ok on Enterprise Redhat Distro. What is next? :php , flamerobin and kinterbasdb for fedora

How To Avoid Linux Migration Pitfalls

Mon, 04 May 2009 18:38:48 UT

To migrate your business to Linux successfully, it\'s crucial that you catch and avoid problems that can doom the project before you install a single piece of software. Here\'s what to look for.

Jaunty under Android

Mon, 04 May 2009 12:21:23 UT

About one month ago I bought an HTC Dream aka G1. I started to play with Android and I think it's pretty cool.

Job opportunities in Scala on the rise?

Mon, 04 May 2009 12:17:45 UT

According to TIOBE Scala has moved up from 35 to 27 in the programming language popularity league in the last few months. The index is considered to be an indicator of how attractive acquiring a given language skill is for job prospects or as a basis for future project development.

Fedora Minimal Platform Feature

Mon, 04 May 2009 12:06:30 UT

Minimal platform will enable user to perform tiny installation. This installation is later used to create minimalistic server or desktop appliance.

OpenOffice.org: PDF import extension is now online

Mon, 04 May 2009 12:04:59 UT

The PDF Import extension allows you to import and modify PDF documents in OpenOffice.org Draw and export it to the Open Document Format (ODF). We keep the layout of imported PDF document as close as possible to the original document.

VirtualBox Remote Desktop Protocol (VRDP)

Mon, 04 May 2009 12:03:59 UT

I recently tested Sun's VirtualBox v2.2. VirtualBox's Virtual Remote Desktop Protocol (VRDP) has been around for some time now. I was made aware of VRDP while listening to Jupiter Broadcasting In Depth Look. VRDP allows you to see the output of a virtual machine's window on any remote computer and control the virtual machine from there. I thought I'd test VirtualBox v2.2 VRDP.

Fedora User Guide - Sharing Your Desktop

Mon, 04 May 2009 11:52:40 UT

Fedora provides a means to share a user\'s desktop remotely across the network, so that a user at a different computer can view and, with your permission, interact with your computer. This is useful for receiving technical support from a remote location or for demonstrating a desktop feature to another user. You may also find it to be a useful way to remotely access files on your desktop from another computer.

Linux breaks through one percent web share

Mon, 04 May 2009 11:39:54 UT

Windows\' continuing loss of web share is primarily to the benefit of Mac OS X, though Linux and mobile platforms are also picking up share.

New Zend Framework 1.8 Delivers Rapid Application Development (RAD) for PHP

Fri, 01 May 2009 11:56:50 UT

Zend Technologies, Inc., the PHP Company, announced today a new version 1.8 release of Zend Framework. The project is an open, collaborative web application framework for PHP development and deployment that includes contributions from the open source community and Zend partners.

DbBench Released

Fri, 01 May 2009 11:46:46 UT

DbBench is a database benchmark application ported from pgbench in PostgreSQL project for Firebird and MySQL( and others in the futrure) using same code. DbBench is written by delphi2009 using dbExpress flamewok and running on windows platform

Ext4 in Fedora 11

Fri, 01 May 2009 11:44:08 UT

Fedora 9 originally included experimental support for Ext4, if the \"ext4dev\" anaconda installation-time option was given; in Fedora 10 as well, with the \"ext4\" option. After extensive feedback, testing, and a number of new Ext4 changes developed in coordination with the lead Red Hat filesystem developer, Eric Sandeen (who hacks on Ext4 as well as XFS), Ext4 is now enabled as the default filesystem in Fedora 11.

64-bit vs. i386 and Ubuntu vs. Kubuntu CDs

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 12:39:46 UT

There were a few comments to my latest blog post about the lack of 64-bit CDs in the LoCo CD box, and the reduced number of Kubuntu CDs compared to the number of Ubuntu CDs.

JBossAS now has an admin-console!

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 12:26:22 UT

JBoss AS users have always asked why JBoss does not have an admin console. Personally, i have always liked working directly on the configuration files without needing any web application or any other tool for doing the same.

An Introduction to JBoss Cloud

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 12:24:28 UT

Running services continuously, without downtime is a very important task for administrators. Having to deal with a large number of nodes in a cluster and setting up and configuring new nodes aren't always easy tasks for system maintainers when the computing power that's delivered isn't sufficient.

NetBSD 5.0 released

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 12:20:38 UT

The NetBSD Project is pleased to announce that NetBSD 5.0, the thirteenth release of the NetBSD operating system, is now available.

Free vs Open Source software

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:33:51 UT

People tend to intermix concepts, in this case Free and Open Source software used as synonyms. They are not and confusing the two clouds any thought you have on the license usage behind them.

Midgard2 9.03 Vinland released

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:15:34 UT

The Midgard Project has released stable release of Midgard2 9.03 \"Vinland\" - the new generation of the Midgard content repository.

Hibernate Validator 4.0.0 Beta1

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:53:41 UT

The first beta version of Hibernate Validator - 4.0.0 Beta1 - is now available. This version is based on JSR 303 Specification 1.0.CR2.

Asterisk + SS7 Setup and Installation

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:04:29 UT

From last few days I am trying to set up Asterisk + SS7 with Sangoma A102 card on my Ubuntu 8.04 machine. This being my first time with Asterisk I was bit skeptical of things and was wondering if it will be smooth? Well, it wasn\'t really out-of-box, but it wasn\'t tough either.

Announcing the NetBSD Project Blog

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:00:20 UT

The NetBSD Project Blog allows us to let you, the community, know about new developments in NetBSD and pkgsrc. The blog supplements our existing netbsd-announce mailing list and the \"Recent Changes and News\" webpage. We hope it will provide you with greater insight into the future of NetBSD.

Red Hat maps the open sauce world

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:47:47 UT

LINUX VENDOR Red Hat has published a study it calls the Open Source Index, which presents a comparison of open source adoption and potential in 75 countries.

Sun, Oracle, and MySQL

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:08:59 UT

Some links I found interesting, while reading about Sun acquisition by Oracle, particularly about MySQL.

Firebird php pdo driver install guide on Ubuntu

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:14:14 UT

First method is using the old source code from pear channel (pear install pdo_firebird doesn\'t work ). Second method is to use the official php5 source from ubuntu and build only the pdo firebird extension and install it

Fedora Unity Releases F10 Re-spins

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:12:47 UT

The Fedora Unity Project is proud to announce the release of new ISO Re-Spins of Fedora 10. These Re-Spin ISOs are based on the officially released Fedora 10 installation media and include all updates released as of April 14th, 2009 (saving about 650MB in updates on a default install).

A Quick Look at MySQL 5.4

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:22:53 UT

Although MySQL 5.1 was released in December of 2008, Sun Microsystems isn\'t wasting any time moving forward with a number of new and exciting enhancements for its next release, MySQL 5.4. The first item of note is that the MySQL Server will be returning to a release early/often paradigm.

OpenOffice.Now

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:48:06 UT

OpenOffice.Now tells you where the latest version of a document can be found on the web. In order to know that, this extension queries the WhereIsNow webservice developed and managed by Prossima Isola ( for further information go to http://www.whereisnow.com ).

What MySQL founder says about Sun`s Acquisition and its affect on MySQL

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:45:39 UT

Tonight at 4:30 AM, USA Pacific time, my phone started to ring; it was a call from a Sun employee saying that Oracle has bought Sun and he wanted to join Monty Program Ab. The reasons I see why Oracle is buying Sun are:

GSoC project : Internationalization for Haiku

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:41:47 UT

the idea was born because we were talking about \"which os is better\" on the ENSSAT mailing list, between linux, mac os X and windows (the kind of endless discussion student have all the day long ;)). I sent a link to Haiku homepage to point the fact that there was other alternatives, and someone replied \"hey, it doesn\'t even speaks french!\". This fact is quite annoying for an operating system targeted to regular users, and not powerful computer geeks.

NetBSD 5.0_RC4 binaries available for download

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:26:41 UT

On behalf of the NetBSD Release Engineering team, Soren Jacobs announced that the fourth release candidate of NetBSD 5.0 is now available for download from ftp://ftp.NetBSD.org/pub/NetBSD-daily/netbsd-5-0-RC4/.

Can Linux win netbooks back?

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:07:12 UT

In a world that's seemingly filled with doom and gloom, and stories of failing revenues, pink slips and ever-tightening budgets, the computing industry has found itself something of a salvation.

Dell targets Sun customers for re-education

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:06:32 UT

With Sun setting itself up for sale, a number of companies have started gazing towards its direction. While some of them are fixing their sights on the company itself as a whole, others are locking in on smaller, tastier prey - Sun\'s customers. Dell is one such predator.

Has Microsoft lost its war on open source?

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:05:48 UT

Is Microsoft a friend or foe of open source? Going by the company\'s actions, Microsoft can\'t seem to decide whether to make love or war. But if it\'s war, Microsoft appears to lack the legal weaponry to defeat or even disturb its adversaries.

Oracle to Buy Sun for $7.4 Billion

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:17:21 UT

Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) and Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) announced today they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Oracle will acquire Sun common stock for $9.50 per share in cash. The transaction is valued at approximately $7.4 billion, or $5.6 billion net of Sun\'s cash and debt.

First look at PC-BSD 7.1

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:11:14 UT

It\'s fair to say that while I\'m a free software guy, I\'m not a BSD guy. Like many, I\'ve done the odd install here or there, used a BSD-based appliance for one task or another, but it\'s never been on my mind when it comes to the desktop.

Application Binary Interface

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:10:02 UT

Following my earlier post about libtool archives, Jorge asked me how they relate to the numbers that come at the end of shared objects; mostly, they don't, with the exception that the libtool archive keeps a list of all the symlinks with different suffix components for a given library.

Presentation: Advances in Browser Security

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:32:53 UT

As an elected member of the Oasis IDTrust Steering Committee, I had an opportunity to participate at the NIST IDTrust 2009 symposium held at NIST. I moderated a special session on \"Browser Security\" where the speakers included Prof.Chadwick from University of Kent.

What features you want in JavaFX plug-in for Eclipse?

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:30:24 UT

We want to hear from you, the community what features would you like to see in Exadel JavaFX Studio -- plug-in for Eclipse? The plug-in is still work in progress (sneak peek: http://mkblog.exadel.com/?p=263 ) and we can\'t promise to include every feature but we want to hear from you.

Programming for Android with Scala

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:25:59 UT

Since I recently ordered a HTC G1 smartphone that runs Android, I wanted to be able to code for it as well. But since I'm a bit allergic to Java, I decided to figure out how to use the nice language Scala on it.

The hype around OSGi

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:09:09 UT

OSGi makes a nice kernel if you want to build really modular applications, but how many real world systems really need this? I\'d dare to say maybe 10% of them and certainly less than 20%.

Dell, Google make things tougher for Sun

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 01:53:42 UT

With an acquisition by IBM now out of the question, former Silicon Valley icon Sun Microsystems faces one challenge after another from competitors looking to eat into the Santa Clara company\'s market share.

OpenOffice.org: Writer`s Tools

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:48:09 UT

Writer\'s Tools is a set of utilities designed to help OpenOffice.org users perform a wide range of tasks. Using Writer\'s Tools, you can back up documents, look up and translate words and phrases, manage text snippets, and keep tabs on document statistics.

Migrating databases with DBUnit

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:18:41 UT

In the last few weeks I had to migrate a MySQL database and it turned out to be more difficult than I thought. In the past I\'ve used the tools that ship with MySQL, such as mysqldump and its various options. For the recent migrations that was surprisingly... impossible.

Google losing money on YouTube

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:17:45 UT

Google is spending more than $2 million a day on YouTube -- and it is nowhere near seeing a return on that investment. Indeed, it may be losing up to $1.65 million daily on the video site.

RichFaces Support for NetBeans IDE

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:48:31 UT

Wouter & I have completed a big update of the RichFaces support we created for NetBeans IDE last year. Now the 3.3.0 GA release of RichFaces is supported, while there are also many more components in the Palette than before.

Seven big tech acquisitions to watch for in 2009

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:26:18 UT

In this economy, cash is king. Since in the end of 2008, big tech companies have been stuffing cash under their mattresses in case the current recession goes longer and deeper than expected.

The Beginner`s Guide to Creating Virtual Machines with VirtualBox

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:16:42 UT

Virtual machines can seem juuuuust a bit too geeky for most otherwise computer-friendly people. That\'s sad, because it\'s an easy, free way to try or use a separate OS without messing with your hard drive.

Linux desktop Virtualbox and Ubuntu running under Mandriva

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:06:54 UT

Linux desktop Virtualbox and Ubuntu running under Mandriva

Hibernate tutorial for beginners

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 11:55:06 UT

Hibernate is an object/relational mapping tool for Java environments. What does it mean the term object/relational mapping? simply a technique of mapping a data representation from an object model to a relational data model with a SQL-based schema.

Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 updated

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 11:50:56 UT

The Debian project is pleased to announce the first update of its stable distribution Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 (codename lenny). This update mainly adds corrections for security problems to the stable release, along with a few adjustment to serious problems.

Internals: FirebugChrome

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 14:45:52 UT

I'm working to create a functional test for Firebug's Open-In-New-Window feature and then to get the feature to work again. In the process I think I've finally decoded how this feature works. Here is the critical bit: Every Firebug window has a different copy of FirebugChrome, but they all share the same copy of the Firebug and FBL objects.

Fedora 11 Snapshot 1

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 14:43:25 UT

This is the first and final snapshot before our final devel freeze (April 14th) and subsequent preview release. On the torrent sites you\'ll find live images for testing.

Portable Ubuntu: The Easy New Way To Try Linux

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:22:23 UT

Windows users who want to kick the tires on a Linux distro already have the option of using a Live CD. Ubuntu also offers a cool gadget called Wubi, which installs a fully functional Ubuntu Linux distro on a Windows system without reformatting or partitioning a system\'s hard disk.

Sun and Microsoft make cases to Linux developers

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:01:45 UT

Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, Ian Murdock, vice president of developer and community marketing at Sun Microsystems, and Sam Ramji, director of platform strategy at Microsoft, all made cases for their respective platforms in front of delegates at the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit.

Another Look At Linux Netbook Return Statistics

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:59:04 UT

Lately, quite a few netbook makers and resellers are saying that buyers return Linux machines far more often than identical models running Windows XP. Last year, for example, the director of U.S. sales for MSI told Laptop Magazine that customers return Linux netbooks four times as often as Windows netbooks.

Grand ambitions for Linux

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:57:25 UT

Like a fervent preacher appearing before his flock, Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin emphasized benefits and potential for the Linux platform Thursday during an industry conference that also featured an update on mobile Linux efforts.

Linux Desktop Hardware Myths Explored

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:45:23 UT

Perhaps one of the most common myths surrounding desktop Linux is the belief that modern distributions do not provide decent hardware support. It\'s unfortunate, but this thought pattern has been ingrained into the minds of many die-hard Windows users over the years. Many of them have only tried using Linux once or twice, at which point they experienced a problem that they attributed to poor hardware support.

Cost Replacing Functionality as Linux`s Appeal

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:43:34 UT

With a shrinking server market, financial services firms are porting more applications to Linux at the expense of Unix and other legacy platforms. While that has been an ongoing trend for many years, the motive has shifted in the past year from adding new functionality to reducing cost.

DSLs - A powerful Scala feature

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 12:13:25 UT

Domain Specific Languages (DSL) written in Scala have become powerful tool in the hands of Scala programmers. In the original language design great care was taken to ensure that the syntax would allow programmers to create natural looking DSLs.

BlackTie MR4 released!

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 11:53:30 UT

We are pleased to announce the availability of milestone release 4 of the BlackTie project. As always, you can access the release from our website: http://www.jboss.org/blacktie/

Video Tour through Google's Data Center

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:59:41 UT

A video tour through Google's Data Center.

Fedora: Re-issued isos for Beta

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:51:14 UT

The F11-Beta-x86_64-Live-KDE.iso has been re-issued both in torrent and on the mirrors. This was accidentally composed with 32bit packages instead of 64bit packages.

GPL's cloudy future

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:29:00 UT

One of the things about getting older is that you learn to ignore things until you have to do something about them. It's a learned efficiency, I suppose, rationing your increasingly precious time out to the unceasing demands upon it. I finally realized I have to do some serious thinking about cloud computing.

Sun`s Six Biggest Mistakes

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:17:41 UT

Like any star past its prime, Sun Microsystems is left with two choices: It can burn out, or it can fade away. If the struggling server vendor had signed away its independence to IBM in exchange for the tech giant\'s offer of $7 billion, the deal would have been a sad end for a Silicon Valley icon once worth more than $200 billion.

Zend Technologies Launches New Zend Server Community Edition as Free Download

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:40:25 UT

Zend Technologies, Inc., the PHP company, announced today the general availability of Zend Server Community Edition, a web application server that offers both ease-of-use and better performance in one simple package for PHP-based Web applications. This free to download version is available now at:http://www.zend.com/products/server/downloads-all

Vista running in a VirtualBox on Debian Sid

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:33:39 UT

This is Windows Vista Business running in a VirtualBox OSE on Debian Sid. Nothing interesting, just an Answer to a Video showing Portable Ubuntu, showing Ubuntu running on Windows - I thought maybe someone should show Windows running on a Linux.

JBoss EJB3 tutorials and docs

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:26:09 UT

I thought i will blog this, since i have been seeing many of the community members looking for some documentation or tutorials for EJB3 on JBoss.

How IBM builds up its store of Linux knowledge

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:04:02 UT

Ask anyone in the IT industry if they could have predicted years ago that a company like IBM would come to be known as one of the biggest users of Linux, and it\'s doubtful if there would be a single answer in the positive.

10 ways Microsoft could help Linux

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:02:01 UT

I confess, I never thought I would write such a title. Microsoft helping Linux? No way. I was always of the mind that Microsoft and Linux would forever be mortal enemies and one, hopefully Linux, would rise above the other in absolute world domination.

Testing SMTP servers with SWAKS

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:17:44 UT

When changing software configuration it is always a good idea to test things as thoroughly as you can. In the case of SMTP it is generally possible to test things offline pretty easily, and then perform simple tests via a manual telnet - but the SWAKS tool makes SMTP-testing even simpler.

OpenOffice.org: Linking to external data from Calc

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:14:04 UT

You can insert tables from HTML documents, and data located within named ranges from an OpenOffice.org Calc or Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, into a Calc spreadsheet.

Free RIA tools for students, teachers and unemployed developers

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:08:12 UT

Over the last couple of weeks I've been personally inundated with hundreds of requests for free Flex Builder licenses from developers who have found themselves unemployed due to the current economic climate - whilst no one wants to be in that situation, I'm glad that we've been able to do something, albeit small, to help people who have been affected and who want to learn Flex.

JBoss Communications Platform online user guide

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:59:01 UT

Network and application convergence are causing sweeping change in the communications industry. And increasing demands on providers. Red Hat delivers the tools that help carriers and service providers deliver next-generation communications: An infrastructure that cuts costs and increases performance. And a true open development platform that encourages rapid innovation.

Create a Twitter Application in Seconds

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:31:49 UT

Got a simple app you want to build? Allocate 5 minutes for initial code generation, slice setup, and initial deployment. All from the command line. In one command. Booya! How long does it take to start a new Rails project? Surely just a moment? rails new_project -m path/to/some/template.rb

Web 2.0: Why Twitter uses Scala?

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:22:49 UT

Find out why Scala sets the standard for next generation languages, and why it's a great choice for Web 2.0 architecture.

Railo goes Open Source

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:03:43 UT

This is a great news for the CF community. Railo has gone open source 2 days ago. And they have a brand new website www.getrailo.org .

Linux adoption grows

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:47:54 UT

The current economic climate will lead to the increased adoption of Linux in 2009. This is according to a market survey by IDC, which states Linux is in a good position to emerge from this downturn as a stronger solution.

Planning for GNOME 3.0

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:41:54 UT

During the first few months of 2008, a few Release Team members discussed here and there about the state of GNOME. This was nothing official, and it could actually have been considered as some friends talking together about things they deeply care about.

Google launches CADIE

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:36:19 UT

By reviewing all the code available on the Internet CADIE has learned how to code in Java, Javascript, PHP, C/C++/C# and Python. She is hungrily consuming all the code she can and seems to understand it all.

BlackBerry App World Now Available to download

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:33:07 UT

The Official BlackBerry App World - BlackBerry App Store has been released. It is now time to spend money on these cool little apps. Here is a link to download BlackBerry App World: http://na.blackberry.com/eng/services/appworld/? Here is a link to the featured BlackBerry App World Apps: http://na.blackberry.com/eng/services/appworld/featured.jsp As always you can navigate there using your BlackBerry: http://mobile.blackberry.com

Digium launches support services for Asterisk

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 22:08:39 UT

Coming 10 years after Asterisk\'s launch, Digium announced the general availability of annual support subscriptions for open source Asterisk. The new service options are expected to give organizations warm-fuzzies when working with the IP telephony platform and include technical support, hardware replacements and substantial discounts on training programs.

InnoDB & Google: Software is Hard Sometime ..

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 22:03:58 UT

Some months ago, Google released a patch for InnoDB that boosts performance on multi-core servers. We decided to incorporate the change into the InnoDB Plugin to make everybody happy: users of InnoDB don't have to apply the patch, and Google no longer has to maintain the patch for new versions of InnoDB.

Announcing Fedora 11 Beta

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:57:15 UT

Since this is a Beta release, there may still be some rough spots still in the polishing phase. Some of them are already known and in the process of fixing.

Skype Available on Apple App Store

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:15:21 UT

Free application enables millions of iPhone and iPod touch users worldwide to take their Skype conversations with them.

Introducing Silverlight for MySpace Apps

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:01:00 UT

Silverlight empowers MySpace developers with more freedom and flexibility to design OpenSocial applications that provide streaming video, graphics and audio to a variety of platforms and devices. Silverlight and the MySpace Open Platform will enable developers to rapidly create and deliver sophisticated MySpace applications with a custom look and feel through the flexible skinning of controls and data.

10 reasons to get started with bug and issue management today

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:53:49 UT

A list of 10 reasons: 1. Build self-documenting projects. 2. Integrate issue tracking with your source control management system (you are using version control right?) ...

JBoss Serialization simple example

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:46:57 UT

I know this is a rather trivial thing, but serializing non-serializable objects is not very well documented online (as far as I could see), so thought I would post an example using the well known solution JBoss Serialization.

Mobicents Media Server (MMS) 1.0.0.GA Released

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:45:46 UT

The initial days of MMS was nothing more than JAIN SLEE Resource Adaptor (RA) on top of JMF project and was shipped with early versions of Mobicents JAIN SLEE Server. The RA was un-stable and more over JMF is project to fulfill the media needs of a desktop application.

Report on Fedora August 2008 Intrusion

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:44:26 UT

This communication provides additional information on the Fedora infrastructure intrusion first reported on August 14, 2008. In part this communication reiterates information provided in previous announcements.

The key to Linux's mainstream success

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 21:46:42 UT

Linux will remain niche because open-source vendors don't have the inclination to push it that extra mile, to front up for "the hassle-free" experience that users expect in their operating system. Not when they have a devoted, tech-savy user base already to hand.

Novell Desktop Linux: Solid, But Lacks Features

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:00:58 UT

Novell has been advertising it's Linux platform with the slogan: "Your Linux is Ready", which is also apt for their current line of desktop offerings. The latest of which, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11, began shipping 23 March.

VirtualBox 2.1 for Mac OS X is Open Source Mac Virtualization

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:09:06 UT

Although Macintosh users can already run Windows on Mac OS X at native speed with the help of Boot Camp utility, which is already included with Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard operating system, two other commercial virtualization software packages - Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac and VMware Fusion 2 - remain top picks in Mac-Windows integration. VirtualBox 2.1 is another virtualization solution you should know about.

Qt 4.5 license changing to LGPL

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 14:09:50 UT

We are working on providing Qt 4.5.0 as updates for Fedora 9 and 10. The updates have already been built. They will be tagged into the buildroots for Fedora 9 and 10 shortly after this announcement is sent, in order for KDE 4 packages to get rebuilt against it, as some KDE modules are highly dependent on the Qt version used to build them and check the Qt version at build time.

Apache ServiceMix 4.0 released

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 19:24:22 UT

The Apache ServiceMix team is pleased to annouce the release of Apache ServiceMix 4.0. Download links and detailed release notes are available at http://servicemix.apache.org/smx4/servicemix-400.html

Ten ways to smooth the switch to Linux

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:11:07 UT

Moving users to Linux can be tricky, but Jack Wallen has some practical measures that should ease the transition. Sheer economics are making the use of the Linux operating system increasingly widespread. It is free, reliable and safe. But when adopting any new operating system, users always have a lot to learn.

An Open-Source Presidency

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:07:25 UT

President Obama has been praised and vilified for exploring the use of open-source technology. Yet touting open-source software use in the public sector is nothing new. The U.S. actually lags behind the governments of the Netherlands, Brazil and others that have effectively mandated open source over proprietary software in civil and federal government. The U.K. recently moved to favor open-source adoption while the European Commission has recommended the adoption of open source across all European Union member countries.

Ubuntu 9.04 Beta Available for download

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:05:10 UT

The Ubuntu developers are moving quickly to bring you the latest and greatest software the Open Source Community has to offer. This is the Ubuntu 9.04 beta release, which brings a host of excellent new features.

Running Microsoft SQL Server 2008 on the IBM System x3950 M2

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:45:17 UT

The IBM System x3950 M2 server provides extraordinary levels of scalability and processing power needed to run the most demanding enterprise database workloads. The x3950 M2 system is based on the fourth generation of IBM X-Architecture and is built on eX4 technology. As a scale-up platform, it offers unprecedented flexibility for supporting multi-node configurations using up to 96 processor cores.

OpenOffice: 50 million downloads

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:43:08 UT

Yesterday we recorded the 50 millionth download of OpenOffice.org from http://download.openoffice.org since OpenOffice.org 3.0 was released in October last year. The download counter is updated every day and can be seen on the Marketing Planet. Congratulations to all the community members who contributed to such a fabulously successful product!

Installing VirtualBox 2 On A Debian Lenny Desktop

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:28:58 UT

This tutorial shows how you can install Sun xVM VirtualBox 2 on a Debian Lenny desktop. VirtualBox is available as a package from the official Debian Lenny repository, but it\'s very old (version 1.6.6), therefore I explain how to install the current version (2.1.4 at the time of this writing).

Gentoo: Tips to upgrade your really old installation

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:24:19 UT

This post attempts to help out someone that is trying to bring an unmaintained installation up to date. Under most circumstances it is probably easier to reinstall after a certain point. These instructions have been created by an active contributor to Gentoo, Nick Fortino, to take a 2006.1 installation and update it to a current stable system. (Which I hope is much more extreme than anyone needs).

Firebug bugs vs Firefox bugs

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:13:18 UT

I'm having deja vu all over again. Last spring we spent several months to get Firebug 1.2 to work on Firefox 3.0. This included completely re-writing the Firebug console and command line among other issues. At the time I chalked this up to the big jump from FF 2.0 to FF 3.0. Now I can see this was the wrong way to look at it.

Win $1000 prize for working on free software

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:03:29 UT

CREDIL (Centre for Research and Experimental Development in Informatics Libre) is hosting a call for improvements to their free software Online Proposal Appraisal application.

Worm targets Linux home routers

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:52:29 UT

A worm has been used to build a botnet consisting of DSL routers running Linux, which may be still evolving, according to security training organisation the Sans Institute.

Are Linux apps and games worth paying for?

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:50:12 UT

The Linux operating system is free; you can download it without paying any licensing fees. You can use it in the home, you can run a business on it, even a data centre. You can embed it within tiny custom hardware. Despite this, Linux hasn\'t become a household name. Paradoxically, it may be the perceived dearth of commercial applications which is a cause.

Open Source Backers See Downturn Opportunity

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:48:12 UT

Most tech suppliers aren\'t too happy about the state of the economy. Tighter budgets brought on by the crisis generally means less IT spending. Proponents of open software don\'t dispute the challenge, but they argue the current tough times mean there\'s more opportunity to pitch the advantages of open solutions.

Announcing the AWS Toolkit for Eclipse

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:23:48 UT

The AWS Toolkit for Eclipse is a plug-in for the Eclipse Java IDE that makes it easier for developers to develop, deploy, and debug Java applications using Amazon Web Services. With the AWS Toolkit for Eclipse, you'll be able to get started faster and be more productive when building AWS applications.

Toward an open web standard for 3D graphics

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:08:14 UT

For years, developers have tried to create rich 3D experiences on the web. However, the lack of a common way to render 3D graphics in the browser has forced them to use workarounds like special purpose plugins or software rendering frameworks. As a result, web users have generally experienced lower quality graphics compared to what can be found in today\'s desktop apps.

A Look Inside JBoss Portal - The Open Source Portal Framework

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 22:58:27 UT

JBoss Portal always focused on the framework aspect of portals, it doesn\'t aim at providing an out of the box solution for portals, instead it consists of core elements and API that provide services to build a fully reliable customized portal.

Skype Gentoo Linux Client plugin (SMS support)

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 22:55:03 UT

I was pretty upset after reading that the last status update on the Skype Linux client was back in January. Since I was using Skype on Windows all week last week, I didn't know how bad it was on Linux until I got back home. What a bummer that all Linux gets is v2.0, while Windows gets v4.0. In particular, I needed the SMS feature. So, now Gentoo has this feature via plugin now too.

Flash Lite Developer Challenge - US$ 100,000 to be won

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:28:52 UT

We're getting close to closing the Flash Lite Developer Challenge, so get submitting with your applications. Remember that anyone can get involved including students, individuals and of course companies. Adobe, Thumbplay and GetJar are sponsoring with prize money and free marketing

Firebug: remove, remove, removeEventListener!

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:19:23 UT

Ever couple of months I spend an embarrassingly long time tripping on the same stupid mistake: win.addEventListener(\"pageshow\", onPageShow, true); .. 2215 lines all twisted together... win.removeEventListener(\"pageshow\", onPageShow, false); The removeEventListener() call fails, silently, so the event handler can be called again.

Virtual machine, real problems

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:18:29 UT

Since I bought Yamato I have been trying my best to make use of the AMD-V support in the Opterons, this included continuing the fight with VirtualBox to get it to work properly, with Solaris and Fedora, then trying RedHat's virt-manager and now, after the failure the other day QEmu 0.10 (under Luca's insistence).

Scala In The Enterprise

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:49:45 UT

You see, I have a small problem - 3 million lines of RPG and COBOL, 5,500 logical and physical files on a few AS400s that are not exactly cheap. Even better through the years, the system has been cloned and forked so several incompatible versions of exist through out the world.

Skype opens up to corporate SIP communications

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:46:41 UT

Skype today announced the beta version of Skype For SIP for Business users. SIP, short for Session Initiation Protocol, is an open standard and the leading voice over Internet protocol used in businesses telephony networks at millions of locations globally.

Configuring VirtualBox on a remote server

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:43:01 UT

At TwoMenDesign we are testing and evaluating the VirtualBox virtual machine from Sun. This VM is the youngest one around but nevertheless has a lot to offer. Creating a virtual machine on a remote Linux server is really easy. I assume that you've already installed VirtualBox, or if you haven't please look here for a tutorial for your Linux distribution.

OpenOffice: Solver for Nonlinear Programming

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:39:41 UT

Just released (well, actually already last Friday) has been an extension for Calc which adds two new solver engines. These engines are based on Evolutionary Algorithms and allow solving nonlinear programming models (like curve fitting as shown in the example below).

Bundling libraries: the curse of the ancients

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:31:04 UT

I was very upset by one comment from Ardour's lead developer Paul Davis in a recently reported "bug" about the un-bundling of libraries from Ardour in Gentoo. I was, to be honest, angry after reading his comment, and I was tempted to answer badly for a while; but then I decided my health was more important and backed away, thought about it, then answered how I answered (which I hope is diplomatic enough).

Oracle Buys Relsys

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:29:08 UT

Oracle today announced that it has agreed to acquire Relsys International, Inc. ("Relsys"), a leading provider of drug safety and risk management solutions with advanced analytics for the health sciences industry.

Project ideas for Google Summer of Code 2009

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:56:51 UT

Its that time of the year when students across the globe gets an opportunity to participate in Google Summer of Code and get paid for executing the project that they always wanted to. This year too RedHat/JBoss has participated and has been accepted as Mentoring Organization.

Benchmark Paludis 0.38 and Portage 2.1.6.9

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:55:36 UT

I didn\'t quite believe the benchmark done by bonsaikitten so I did my own and wasn\'t able to reproduce the results. Env (same as bonsai used) Portage 2.1.6.9 Paludis 0.36.0 hot kernel cache no metadata cache in gentoo repo no package manager on-disk cache (nuked /var/cache/edb/dep and /var/cache/paludis/metadata/gentoo)

Aggregate tables with Firebird

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 22:37:10 UT

Thomas Steinmaurer's article (in english) about using aggregate tables with Firebird is now available for download.

Will Microsoft Abandon Windows to Compete with Linux?

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 22:33:41 UT

As much as Microsoft loves to grinch about Linux, they\'ve made significant changes over the years to compete with it--and will abandon it altogether to maintain their competitive edge. Windows 7 will be the last Windows product.

XMLUnit for xml assertions

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:09:07 UT

Thought i\'d blog this little snippet. Was struggling with xml comparisons for unit testing, I initially tried XMLUnit but found that it was too sensitive. After a bit of digging in the docs, I found how to configure it to be much more forgiving on element ordering, whitespace etc.

Introducing Redis: a fast key-value database

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:08:13 UT

Redis is a key-value database. It is similar to memcached but the dataset is not volatile, and values can be strings, exactly like in memcached, but also lists and sets with atomic operations to push/pop elements.

GNOME to migrate to git

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:36:12 UT

The GNOME Release Team would like to announce that git will be the new Version Control System (VCS) for GNOME. In our opinion, the decision reflects the opinion of the majority of our active contributors.

phpBB: How many forums should I create?

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:49:47 UT

I touched briefly on this in the very first blog post here at phpBB.com. If you've just set up phpBB, how many forums should you create? As I said in that blog post, the key is to start small and increase the number of forums you have over time. There is nothing worse than going to a forum which takes a minute to load, takes twice that long to scroll to the bottom of the page and has dozens upon dozens of inactive forums with either a handful of posts or none at all.

Populating a DataGridView From a Database Query

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:42:30 UT

Over the years I have made sporadic attempts the wrap my head around programming using the .Net class library. I have used Delphi for over 10 years so maybe I am biased, but it seems as though many of the things that can be done with a couple of mouse clicks in Delphi require a lot more work to accomplish using .Net.

The Linux Staging Tree, what it is and is not

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:54:30 UT

It\'s been many months since the Linux Kernel developers conference, where the linux-staging tree was discussed and role changed. It turns out that people are still a bit confused as to what the staging tree is for, and how it works. So here\'s a short summary, I\'m not going into the history or background here, that\'s a much longer writeup that I\'d be glad to do if people are interested.

Ten obscure Linux applications you need to try

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:57:55 UT

With thousands of Linux tools available, it is inevitable that some of the best ones get lost in the crowd. Jack Wallen introduces apps that more admins should know about.

Does SUSE Linux Server Have a Future?

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:55:18 UT

If you look at the enterprise server operating system market, there\'s Microsoft\'s Windows server platform, there\'s the UNIX platform and there\'s Linux. To characterize it very broadly, UNIX has a large server market share but is in decline, Windows has a similarly large market share and is holding steady, and Linux has a smaller market share that is on the rise.

IBM and Sun: Good for Unix and Linux, Bad for HP?

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:52:18 UT

IBM is reportedly in talks to acquire Sun for a whopping $6.5 billion. At this early stage, its not known whether this is a fact or just a rumor. But just for the sake of argument, let\'s consider what a powerhouse IBM Sun would be. In my opinion, it would be a boon to both the Unix and Linux markets.

Upgrading Twitter without service disruptions

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:55:32 UT

Evan Weaver from Twitter presented a talk on Twitter software upgrades, titled Improving running components as part of the Systems that never stop track at QCon London 2009 conference last Friday. The talk focused on several upgrades performed since last May, while Twitter was experiencing serious performance problems.

Updated GoogleBar features new UI and targeted sponsored results

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:51:36 UT

The GoogleBar, a control in the Maps API to allow users to search the map for local businesses, landmarks and points of interest, has just launched a new version. In addition to a greatly improved UI, the new GoogleBar includes advertising targeted to the user\'s searches.

Drools Use Case: Telecom

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:25:15 UT

Here at Auster Solutions, we have been working with Drools since its version 2.0, back in 2004. We were developing a product for Telecom Rating & Billing data processing and selected Drools for its rules processing module. Now that our product is out there and running Drools 4 for some time, it is time to give some feedback to the project.

Club Management Database for OpenOffice.org

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:26:27 UT

The Club Management Database for OpenOffice.org is a comprehensive but very easy to use database application which makes it possible to administrate membership data on multiple operating systems very efficiently.

Sun Microsystems Unveils Open Cloud Platform

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:24:33 UT

Sun Open Cloud Platform to Power Public and Private Clouds with Leading Open Technologies Java, MySQL, OpenSolaris and Open Storage; Sets Course for World with Many Open and Compatible Clouds; Sun Also Announces Plans to Launch First Public Cloud for Developers, Students and Startups

SEO for Flash works

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:19:56 UT

SEO for Flash based sites and/or applications has always been a hot topic. Depending on the source you'll very hear different opinions. That's exactly why Belgian based agency Nascom did their own test a few weeks back. They came to the conclusion that Google can index Flash. You can read more about their test and their findings on their blog.

Apple releases iPhone 3.0 Developer Beta, previews iPhone OS 3.0 software

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:42:34 UT

Apple today announced that iPhone OS 3.0 software, coming this summer, will deliver 100 new features, including cut, copy and paste; MMS; landscape view for Mail, Text and Notes; stereo Bluetooth; Notes syncing; shake to shuffle; parental controls for TV shows, movies and App Store apps; and a new Voice Memo app

How To: Install VirtualBox on Fedora 10

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:51:13 UT

This is a tutorial on how to get VirtualBox up and running on Fedora 10. Also, this tutorial is for the 32-Bit version of VirtualBox, so you'll have to customize a little more to get the 64-bit version running. Everything in the "code" sections should be copy/pasted/typed into the terminal.

Still avoiding Objective-C? iPhone App Development with Python

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:48:20 UT

I've taken a couple of looks at Objective C. Long enough to initially decide that iPhone development was not for me. That accelerometer just seems so neat though so between Unity3D's iPhone SDK and other avoidance strategies I'm back on the iPhone development bandwagon.

Gentoo: MySQL build system

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:41:45 UT

I have to introduce the post stating that I'm not a MySQL user; this site and the xine bugzilla both run on PostgreSQL, and similarly PostgreSQL is what holds the symbol collision database on my box. So if I feel critical of MySQL, well, I am. I'm not really much interested in improving it either, but I don't want just to shitspread them, so my assessment will be as objective as I can be.

Do Hard Times Make Linux A Smarter OS Choice?

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:38:54 UT

Plenty of anecdotal evidence suggests that the economic downturn has actually been good for Linux. A recent study backs up that suggestion with some hard numbers. Here is how InformationWeek summarized an IDC survey of 330 IT managers taken last month:

Kodak releases scanning application for Linux

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:36:32 UT

Kodak has released a free scanner application for Linux called ScanTWAIN that promises \"production quality scanning.\" The software is released under the GNU General Public Licence (GPL) version 2 and comes with a complete GUI that supports all of the options of its Windows counterpart. Support is included for duplex scanning with automatic feeding of multiple pages through an Automatic Document Feeder (ADF).

Symfony: The Jobeet demo and feedback

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:08:47 UT

Today, I have taken the time to put online the long-overdue Jobeet demo website. As for the askeet website, you are now able to test the final result of the Jobeet tutorial online and have a look at what is being developed during the 24 lessons.

Installing Debian Web-server with Apache, PHP, and MySQL on virtual machine

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:07:52 UT

Installing Linux is not a complex task, you only need to follow some instructions and have basic understanding of how computer software and hardware work. Also you should be ready that documentation will be different from what you already might have seen. It means that it may be less colorful, more technical, and have different terminology.

The GNU/Linux Desktop: Nine Myths

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:57:46 UT

Nobody questions whether Mac OS X is ready for the desktop. Never mind that switching to it involves learning different assumptions and tools and a new desktop. It has a reputation for being user-friendly, and is backed by a proprietary company, just like Windows.

Renumbering Firebug Releases?

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:56:38 UT

While I still don't get why Firefox is renumbering its next release to 3.5, the discussion did make me think about the Firebug version numbering. Our current user release is 1.3.3 which targets Firefox 3.0.4+. Our next release is 1.4 and we will be targeting Firefox 3.5. These Firebug major release numbers have very little information content. Firebug 1.n is just the n-th release since 1.0.

Why I find MySQL to be so bad

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:55:00 UT

MySQL is the most used Open Source database engine. I have personally used it for almost 10 years. I worked with versions 3.x, 4.x and 5.x of MySQL, but I also used other database engines, some of them handling the same "data-set size" as MySQL, while others have been smaller databases (mostly Desktop based databases such as SQLite, MS-Access and Paradox).

Sun To Deploy South Africa`s Largest Supercomputer

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:20:21 UT

Sun Microsystems, Inc. today announced it has initiated the rollout of South Africa\'s largest high performance computing solution at the Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) in Cape Town, with local partners Eclipse Networks and Breakpoint Solutions.

Tomahawk Desktop Switches to BSD from Linux

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:57:22 UT

Tomahawk Computers Pte Ltd. has switched to FreeBSD from Linux to make the next version of the Tomahawk Desktop operating system.

Replacing Lamp with FUN + Profit

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:54:57 UT

A presentation prepared for Boston PHP meeting.

Google Friend Connect API Now Available to developers

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:05:08 UT

Today we are excited to make the Google Friend Connect API available to developers. Google Friend Connect lets a site owner instantly awaken and strengthen the community that visits their web site.

PCLinuxOS 2009.1 released

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:55:35 UT

One month after the PCLinuxOS beta was released, the PCLinuxOS developers have released version 2009.1. The final release includes the 2.6.26.8 kernel, KDE 3.5.10, Java JRE, Compiz-Fusion 3D, OpenOffice 3.0, Firefox 3.0.7 and Thunderbird 2.0.0.14. The developers decided to use KDE 3.5.10 as their default desktop because the latest version, 4.2, did not provide the functionality that they desired. KDE 4.2, however, is an optional install in the distribution\'s repositories.

Sendmail going to the cloud

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:54:23 UT

From the \'are you still using Sendmail?\' files: At one point or another nearly every human that has ever used email has benefited from the open source Sendmail mail transfer agent(MTA).

SUSE in LPAR on as400 Featuring openSIS

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:51:47 UT

openSIS is proud to announce that we are beginning construction of a Linux server on an IBM iSeries computer using a SUSE LPAR. This is a joint venture proof of concept with one of IBM's premier hardware resellers, Mainline Information Systems. The goal of this effort is to demonstrate that openSIS and many of the other packages offered in the openSUSE-Education project will be viable solutions that run natively on the IBM iSeries.

Making Silverlight Applications Available Offline

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 13:23:11 UT

Ok, so I am a huge fan of the Silverlight development environment, C# and XAML represent one of the best UI design paradigms in computing today. Needless to say, I cannot thank the Moonlight project enough for bringing Silverlight support to Linux.

How the New Stream Affects Applications and Feed Stories

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 13:11:52 UT

We announced last week that we're improving Feed and Feed forms in order to give your applications more effective and consistent distribution in the stream on the new Facebook home page. Today, we're starting to roll out these features to users.

Transactions on InnoDB: Plug In for Performance and Scalability

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 13:11:06 UT

Why should you care about the latest "early adopter" release of the InnoDB Plugin, version 1.0.3? One word: performance! - Enhanced concurrency & scalability: the "Google SMP patch" using atomic instructions for mutexing - More efficient memory allocation: ability to use more scalable platform memory allocator - Improved out-of-the-box scalability: unlimited concurrent thread execution by default - Dynamic tuning: at run-time, enable or disable insert buffering and adaptive hash indexing

What is bit-torrent?

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 13:09:10 UT

I received an email question today, and I figured other non-geek people might be wondering the same thing. I decided to post it here in hopes it helps others. Feel free to comment / make any corrections to my answer.

Gentoo live ebuild for Mercurial

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:47:11 UT

We (nelchael and me) just finished a live ebuild for Mercurial which allows to conveniently track the main (mpm) repo of Mercurial in Gentoo.

New Image Search Results for Android and iPhone

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:46:22 UT

Today we launched a new Image Search results page for Android, iPhone, and iPod touch in the US, the UK, and Japan.

Android leads Linux mobile sales higher

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 22:15:51 UT

Google's Android operating system gave Linux-on-mobile sales a healthy boost in the fourth quarter of 2008. In its latest report on the state of smartphones, IT analysts Gartner said that Linux-based mobile sales increased from 2.7 million units in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 3.2 million units at the end of 2008. This was despite a general slowdown in growth for the entire smartphone sector over the same period.

A Linux-Powered Cisco Server with VMware?

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 22:15:03 UT

Cisco in the server hardware business? With VMware? Using Linux? Has the world gone topsy-turvy while I wasn\'t looking? If you think about it, Cisco\'s forte--routers--are lightweight computers that do one specific job--routing packets from one network to another. So, their foray into the dark realm of higher-end server systems isn\'t such a big stretch for them.

Update on openSUSE Infrastructure Services (download.opensuse.org)

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 22:13:52 UT

We've restored user services to download.opensuse.org and are working to restore all services and add redundancy to the system. The repository inconsistencies last night were caused by a missing configuration on the system, which caused it to redirect requests on metadata to mirrors, which are often outdated. That is now fixed.

Firefox for MIPS N32 ABI

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 22:12:37 UT

Finally, I could announce that it is working (tm). I just submitted the patches (together with O32 ABI patch) to upstream. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=482759 This is a big step forward for MIPS N32 GNU/Linux desktop.

iPhone Toolkit

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:46:08 UT

Not sure how many of you are doing (or considering) iPhone related work, but I wanted to let you know that we just posted a Fireworks file for creating iPhone UI mockups (prototypes).

Facebook Launching New Home Page Today, Taking the Live Stream Mainstream

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:37:43 UT

When Facebook users login today, they're going to find something new - and, Facebook hopes, addicting - a real time stream of all their friends' updates from across Facebook, the Facebook Platform, and Facebook Connect.

New versions of IBSurgeon tools

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:36:47 UT

We are glad to announce availability of new versions of IBSurgeon emergency tools for Firebird and InterBase: IB/FB FirstAID 2.6, IBBackupSurgeon 2.6, IBUndelete 2.6 and IBSurgeon Pack 3.6.

Fedora 11 Blocker Review Day

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:35:54 UT

The BugZappers will be hosting a blocker review day on Monday, March 16, 2009. The purpose of this meeting will be to: 1) review all of the bugs on the Fedora 11 Beta Blocker list to see if they belong there 2) assess how things are looking for shipping the Fedora 11 Beta on time based on what remains on the list.

Steve Souders: Life`s Too Short, Write Fast Code (part 2)

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 03:03:32 UT

I\'ve been working on a follow-up book to High Performance Web Sites called Even Faster Web Sites. As I finish chapters, I talk about the findings at conferences and tech talks. The first three chapters are Split the Initial Payload, Load Scripts Without Blocking, and Don\'t Scatter Inline Scripts. You can hear about those best practices in my video from Google I/O.

TurnKey Linux Delivers Open Source Appliances

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 02:56:07 UT

The appliances can serve as the base for helping developers and users to more intelligently piece together products from the thousands of possible open source components.

Downtime for download.opensuse.org

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 02:55:10 UT

Peter Poeml has reported that the storage array is down for download.opensuse.org. We don't have a definite time for it to be up again, but it could be more than one day. We're working on the problem and will be getting a backup in place shortly.

Avoid deadlocks in Firebird for concurrent updates

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 02:54:23 UT

This is a small tip that can be used when you want to have separate processes to write to the same records in the database, without deadlocks.

First Look: Zenwalk Linux 6.0

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 02:53:36 UT

After pushing our trusty computer to its limits with all sorts of 3D desktop effects through Elive Compiz, moonOS or Ubuntu with KDE 4.2, we decided to let it relax for a while.

Open source server appliances ship

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:48:14 UT

Israeli software appliance project TurnKey Linux announced a dozen new open-source server appliances based on Ubuntu 8.04.2 LTS (Long-Term-Support). The releases include servers for LAMP, Ruby on Rails, Joomla, MediaWiki, Drupal, LAPP, Django, MySQL, and PostgreSQL, says the group.

Database backed Zend_Form elements

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:47:23 UT

A relatively common task when working with forms is filling select boxes or checkbox and radiobutton lists from a database. It's not very tricky to query a database, and fill a Zend_Form element's possible values from the resultset, but it can be quite boring and extraneous code

Now Accepting Applications for Google Summer of Code 2009

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:46:04 UT

Google Summer of Code, our flagship program to introduce college students to open source development, opens today. Over the past four years, we\'ve seen nearly 2,500 successful students \"graduate\" from the program, and we\'re looking forward to welcoming another group of students for our fifth year.

FreeNX future

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:39:06 UT

Hum, it\'s been some time since I last blogged on these Gentoo packages I handle! Let\'s catch up a bit! There is a thread running on freenx mailing list about current lack of new commits in freenx SVN.

First Beta of Web Beans available!

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:38:00 UT

I\'m pleased to announce the release of Web Beans 1.0.0.BETA1. This release implements around 90% of the JSR-299, Java Contexts and Dependency Injection specification. The only major feature missing from this release is support for annotating your beans using XML.

Fedora Classroom March 2009 IRC logs available now

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:36:44 UT

The following IRC sessions were conducted as part of the Fedora Classroom effort last weekend. * Introduction to bash shell scripting - Scott McBrien * Training & Tips for Fedora Ambassadors -- Max Spevack * Fedora Trademarks -- Paul W. Frields * Perl Basics -- Doran Barton * Using the Windows cross-compiler - Richard Jones * Introduction to mock, the chroot package builder -- Kevin Fenzi

Ubuntu 9.10 sees the cloud above the trees

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:35:38 UT

Next month Ubuntu 9.04, Jaunty Jackelope, hits an FTP or torrent site near you. With its feature set pretty much frozen the masterminds at Canonical are looking to the future with Ubuntu 9.10 - Karmic Koala, I kid you not - being touted as cloud-centric.

Open Source Project Gives Java Devs a `Lift`

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:46:44 UT

Some might question whether there\'s a need for another Web application framework following the recent consolidation of the upstart Merb project with the Rails 3 effort, but the creators of the open-source Lift Framework project aren\'t letting that stand in their way. They have released the first version under the Apache 2.0 software license as it celebrates its second anniversary this week.

Using Google PerfTools with MySQL

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:36:13 UT

I have updated my MySQL 5.0 branch in launchpad to use more from Google Perftools including CPU profiling and integration with exported tcmalloc functions. It took me and others to figure out how to get this done. You might want to stop reading now if you don\'t build your own MySQL binaries.

Sneak Preview of Adobe Reader 9.x on Linux and Solaris x86

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:35:26 UT

The wait is, well, almost over. Here\'s a sneak preview of the upcoming 9.x version of Adobe Reader for Linux and Solaris x86 platforms. You read that right - the 9.x version of the Reader will be available on Solaris x86 and OpenSolaris platforms, in addition to Linux!

How To Successfully Compete With Open Source Software

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:20:22 UT

Every once in a while, somebody on the Business of Software forums asks whether there is any point to trying to compete with open source software (OSS - essentially, software anyone can use and modify without needing to pay money or receive permission).

GNU needs your help

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:19:45 UT

More and more students are considering whether a university teaches computer science and software development using Free Software when deciding where they will study. If you know of a Free-Software-oriented university then email us.

Embedded Linux on the Grow

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:17:31 UT

While Linux is widely used in servers and is growing slowly on the desktop side, the embedded market for Linux is one that continues to have momentum. One such proof point for came this week from the year end financial results for embedded operating system vendor Wind River (NASDAQ:WIND).

When does it make sense to cache ColdFusion code?

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 15:25:07 UT

This is in response to a question asked of me on Twitter (I\'m using Twitter a lot recently, but I\'d probably suggest folks use emails for questions as Twitter can be hard to catch up). The user asked potential bottlenecks with cfdocument and cfpdf. This brought up a general suggestion I thought I\'d share on the blog. When does it make sense to cache ColdFusion code?

JBoss-Rails 1.0.0.Beta4 in time for the weekend

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 15:10:03 UT

I\'m happy to announce after quite a lag, there\'s a new version of JBoss-Rails available with lots of new features. Just in time for playing with it over the weekend! This release sees a solidification of the Job Scheduling component, along with the addition of the Ruby SOAP Endpoints component. The SOAP stuff also brings along support for cryptographic keystores and XML-to-Ruby-to-XML databinding.

IBUtils goes OPEN SOURCE

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 15:08:46 UT

Maybe you know the freeware visual tool IBUtils for Interbase/Firebird (http://www.unipals.cz/ibutils/ibutils.htm). The application IBUtils is designed for simlifying database design for Interbase and Firebird databases by showing the links between the tables in your database visually, like some CASE tools do.

Offerpal`s Anu Shukla Named Woman of Influence in Silicon Valley

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 12:40:23 UT

Offerpal Founder and CEO Anu Shukla has been named one of Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal's Women of Influence for 2009. The Women of Influence in Silicon Valley Awards honor 100 outstanding women making a difference in business, government or nonprofits in Silicon Valley.

InnoDB file structure, a look a the primary key tree structure

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 12:38:48 UT

Recently, I found a very handy tool, innodb-recovery, that can break an InnoDB file in pages. I am a visual type person so what a better occasion to try to learn more about the InnoDB file structure. To explore the file structure, I used the following table:

Open Source -- Is it Free?

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 12:27:23 UT

\"Open source\" has come a long way and with the new administration adopting the open source content management system Drupal to power the recovery.gov Web site, open source\'s visibility will likely get another big boost. Speaking from the standpoint of a developer, the number of tools, utilities and programs available under open source licensing continues to be very exciting. But it is also true that confusions still persist about what it is and, in particular, about its costs. \"Open source\" and \"free\" are not synonymous -- though there is a relationship between the two terms.

What the *, firefox?

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 12:25:46 UT

Just found this gem in the firefox default config: user_pref(\"urlclassifier.keyupdatetime.https://sb-ssl.google.com/safebrowsing/newkey\", 1237004239); Another domain to add to the blacklist, and what kind of rootkit injection service is that?

Bad/Good news for Ibo community

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 12:24:12 UT

Jason Wharton has some problems with his main job and property , You can follow this thread. If you use IBObjects and make money with it , now is time to act and buy a license or two .

openSUSE: Gearing Up for Google Summer of Code

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 12:22:58 UT

The openSUSE Project is looking for a few good mentors for the Google Summer of Code 2009! The openSUSE Project was a mentoring organization last year, and we're hoping to participate again in 2009. Organization signup starts next week, and prospective mentors can sign up next week as well.

DBRE (DataBase REplicator) 0.19.1 - asynchronous replication DB

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 12:21:36 UT

DBRE - is a system for asynchronous point-in-time databases replication. In addition, it can be used for a single transfusion of data between the DBMS. DBRE now supports Firebird and Mysql RDBMS. In future it will be supported Oracle, ODBC, PostgreSQL and SQLite. But any other database can be included to supporting with gomomorphic interface in C++ class.

POE::Component::IRC 6.00 is here

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:54:15 UT

POE::Component::IRC version 6.00 has just been released on CPAN. I\'ve neglected to blog about PoCo::IRC since I started contributing to it, but since a new major release has been rolled out[1], now would be a good time. Also, as it turns out, next May will be the tenth anniversary of the project\'s first release.

PostgreSQL Maestro 9.2 released

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:53:35 UT

SQL Maestro Group announces the release of PostgreSQL Maestro 9.2, a powerful Windows GUI solution for PostgreSQL server administration and database development. The new version is immediately available at http://www.sqlmaestro.com/products/postgresql/maestro/.

Code Conversations Episode 1 - Chris DiBona on Google\'s Open Source Programs

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:52:24 UT

\"Code Conversations\" is a new series of videos intended to film casual conversations with notable Google developers and legends in the technology field. No agenda, no topic... just thoughts. This video is the first episode of this series, in which Chris DiBona, our intrepid open source programs manager talks to Stephanie Liu of the Developer Team about his \"sweet goatee\" in the Chrome Comic. He also explains why Google open sourced Chrome and Android and why we didn\'t do it sooner. He also touches on why much of Google\'s software isn\'t open sourced.

Getting started with DTracing MySQL

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:48:51 UT

DTrace is a dynamic tracing facility built into the Solaris and Open Solaris operating systems and can be used by system administrators and developers alike to observe the runtime behavior of user level programs and of the operating system itself. On one hand, DTrace can be used to identify potential bottlenecks in the running processes on a production system and on the other DTrace can help you understand the runtime behavior of an external program such as MySQL better.

Choices Narrowed for First U.S. CTO

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:33:47 UT

Two Indian-born technology executives are the leading candidates for the incoming Obama Administration\'s newly created position of federal chief technology officer, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation.

The database driven RAD tool for PHP & Firebird

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:31:52 UT

If you are looking for a RAD tool for PHP & you love the Firebird database engine then perhaps you would consider supporting us in the endeavours of this project.

Qt-4.5.0 on Gentoo portage tree

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:30:15 UT

Finally Qt-4.5.0 is out. Ben pushed it yesterday on portage tree. Qt-creator-1.0.0 version is out and on tree as well. For those who havent yet moved to qt-4.5 series, I strongly recommend to read my previous blog post about Qt upgrade.

The Reality of Using Linux Every Day

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:28:57 UT

The above probably sounds like I\'m talking about Windows, but I\'m not. Those are a few of the many complaints I\'ve heard about Linux any time it\'s brought up. A couple years ago, I would have been nodding my head right along with whomever was talking--after all, I wouldn\'t have really suggested that someone with no technical knowledge (and no interest in learning) dump Windows and download a distro.

Digium AA50, 1.3 Software Release

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:58:24 UT

Digium is pleased to announce the release of 1.3 software for the AA50. Users may download the update directly from Digium's AA50 downloads portal Users who have registered their AA50 hardware and their subscription, as included with their AA50 purchase, at http://www.digium.com/register may visit the Asterisk Business Edition download portal at https://be.digium.com. Once logged in, you will see a "Downloads" link.

Announcing: Winners of the French and Spanish App Contests

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:57:19 UT

With over 175 million users worldwide, Facebook is continuously exploring new ways to improve our international user experience. We recently challenged our international community of developers to build engaging apps for our French and Spanish speaking users, and we\'re proud to announce that we\'ve selected two Grand Prize winners.

Introducing Labs for Google Code

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:56:27 UT

As Google\'s developer program continues to grow -- already over 60 APIs and tools on Google Code today -- we credit much of this growth to a culture of exploration and rapid iteration, and to the invaluable feedback and insights we receive from you about each product as it evolves.

Google Analytics Launches Individual Qualification Program

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:55:45 UT

Google announced today the launch of a new skills qualification program, Google Analytics Individual Qualification (IQ), which allows individuals to demonstrate proficiency in Google Analytics. Google provides a free online course that covers web analytics techniques and Google Analytics implementation, administration, and analysis tools. Agencies and other organizations can have staff take the course as part of professional development.

Haiku at SCaLE 2009: the Report

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:54:39 UT

After a long week of chronic procrastination, here is finally my report from the recent SCaLE conference. The 7th Southern California Linux Expo, familiarly known as SCaLE 7x, was held at the Westin Hotel Los Angeles Airport Hotel on February 20th through the 22nd, and Haiku had its booth for the third year in a row.

Much ado about Safari 4

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:53:39 UT

WHEN Apple released a beta test version of Safari 4 last week, it claimed it was the world's fastest browser. Some tests have supported that claim; others have not. These speed contests remind me of the gunslingers of the Old West-being the fastest draw was usually an ephemeral state.

Debian moved Firebird2.1 from experimental to sid (unstable)

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:35:39 UT

Overview of firebird2.1 source package on Debian\'s website.

Firebird is 3rd most popular open source database

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:31:10 UT

Well maybe FireBird will do better with promotion but this year FireBird won the #3 place in LinuxQuestions Database Of the Year Poll.

Finance for Android App

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:29:02 UT

Just over a year ago, during a user experience research trip for Google Finance, we were at the home of a stay-at-home mom / day trader. She was frustrated that there were \"personal blackout periods\" in the trading day when she was entirely disconnected from the stock market -- for example, while she was ferrying kids around or at lunch with friends. Her situation wasn\'t unique.

Why Open Computing matters for Government IT

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:26:33 UT

Our world is changing technologically at an astonishingly fast rate. Billions of computer chips are being embedded in devices from mobile phones to traffic sensors. All these new devices are being linked together along with the computers already connected around the world through the Internet.

SpinVox powers first Skype voicemail to text

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 14:25:51 UT

SpinVox, the global leader in voice to content messaging and Skype, announces the availability of voicemail to text conversion for all Skype voicemail users today. SpinVox conveniently converts voice messages to text in English, Spanish, French and German. The messages are then sent by Skype as an SMS text directly to a designated mobile phone for users to read.

Getting Started with Zend Server CE

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 14:06:22 UT

Every once in a while, I get the urge to clean up my development environment, reinstalling everything from the operating system on down just to experience the good vibes that come with a squeaky-clean (and super-snappy) system. However, this isn\'t something to be undertaken lightly - it typically takes me an entire weekend to get things set up the way I like them, and I always emerge from the experience bruised and bleary-eyed from squinting at installation documents and configuration variables.

Symfony: Call the expert: Adding subdomain requirements to routing.yml

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 14:03:06 UT

A question came across the mailing list today that provides an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the flexibility of the symfony 1.2 routing system. Evert Harmeling posed the following: How can I point sub1.domain.com/test to a different route than sub2.domain.com/test inside the same application? This is not supported natively by the symfony core, but the routing system can easily be extended to meet Evert\'s requirement.

Oodle Resurects Facebook Marketplace

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:07:33 UT

As Caroline McCarthy notes, Facebook Marketplace is back and powered by Oodle. It's Craigslist with real faces attached to the postings (which means it will likely not be nearly as fun). Oodle also powers MySpace.

Configure Squirrel to connect to Firebird Database

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:03:31 UT

I was looking for some tutorial about configuring Squirrel SQL (http://squirrel-sql.sourceforge.net/) to connect to firebird database and unfortunately i couldn't find one . So when i finally managed to connect, I thought of publishing the steps in my log so that it could be useful to some one else.

Open source vs. Microsoft: Automotive battlefield

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:01:30 UT

The competition between Microsoft and open-source software reaches into the automotive space with the announcement of a new alliance among automakers and technology providers called Genivi. The goal of the alliance is to build a Linux stack that will provide a common architecture for automotive infotainment systems.

Online chat: How Can Mozilla Empower Nonprofits & Movements?

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:00:29 UT

As part of Social Actions' Change the Web Challenge, they're hosting a "Change the Web Conversation Series," open online chats to discuss how to use specific technology platforms for good. This week's will be "How Can Mozilla Empower Nonprofits and Movements?" and will feature Zak Greant and Suneel Gupta of Mozilla.

Gentoo: Yearly Releases - help or hurt Gentoo?

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:59:16 UT

I enjoy Gentoo because I never have to re-install my host. The "rolling release" model is great, a model shared by nearly all(?) source-based distros. However, with our new automated weekly stages - which I think are a great idea, we lose a few things. In no particular order, we lose:

openSUSE Trademark Guidelines Released

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:58:10 UT

The openSUSE Project is pleased to announce the release of the openSUSE Trademark Guidelines (PDF). With the guidelines, the openSUSE Project is looking to clarify the use of the openSUSE marks and make it easier to redistribute openSUSE-based projects.

Rakudo Perl development release #14

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:26:13 UT

On behalf of the Rakudo development team, I\'m pleased to announce the February 2009 development release of Rakudo Perl #14 \"Vienna\". Rakudo is an implementation of Perl 6 on the Parrot Virtual Machine. The tarball for the February 2009 release is available from http://www.pmichaud.com/perl6/rakudo-2009-02.tar.gz

Installing Ubuntu inside Windows XP using VirtualBox

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:25:18 UT

VirtualBox allows you to run an entire operating system inside another operating system. Please be aware that you should have a minimum of 512 MB of RAM. 1 GB of RAM or more is recommended.

Facebook Investor Explains Recent Twitter Acquisition Attempt

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:05:00 UT

Three months ago, reports surfaced that Facebook and Twitter were in discussions for a $500 million takeover, but couldn't get a deal done. Today, early Facebook investor and board member Peter Thiel of Clarium Capital publicly explained what happened for the first time in an interview with BusinessWeek.

You can help get Gentoo into the Summer of Code

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:02:38 UT

This year, let's try something different! I posted a rough draft of our organization application on the Gentoo wiki, in hopes that we can all work together to improve it over the next week. Applications are due starting March 9, and earlier is better.

Firebird included in FunToo Linux Distro

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:01:50 UT

It's not Ubuntu but is Fun Too and is based on Gentoo . Here is where they keep the Firebird relevant patches

Lift 1.0 Released

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:20:28 UT

Two years ago, today, I launched the Lift Web Framework as an open source project. Wow... it\'s been a long and fun experience... and today the dozen plus Lift committers and the whole Lift community together are releasing Lift 1.0.

Bell Mobility and Twitter--No Extra Fees

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:19:34 UT

Last week we activated full SMS service for Canadian Twitter-ers who are also customers of Bell Mobility. Twitter and Bell have agreed that Bell customers on the company's text messaging bundles will be able to receive unlimited incoming Twitter SMS messages at no extra charge. If you haven't already, you can activate your phone to Twitter over SMS.

fbsql: Clean client-libraries for Firebird and Interbase databases

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:12:35 UT

I\'ve written this quite some time ago (and it didn\'t receive much love since then, but it\'s functional and should be bug-free), but I just noticed I haven\'t mentioned it on my blog: fbsql is a clean C-API that can be used to create bindings for other languages (such as Python or Ruby).

Release Summary for Asterisk Releases

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:07:07 UT

In the past, when we made a new release of Asterisk, the only file that you had to get an idea of what changed in that release was the ChangeLog, which includes the developer oriented commit message for every change. There is also the CHANGES file which lists new features included in a new major release. Also, the release announcements generally contain a high level overview of some of the important changes.

Using MySQL With Java Technology

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:05:33 UT

This tutorial will show you the essential steps to install and configure the Connector/J JDBC driver, with simple examples to connect to a MySQL database. Because the focus is on the database driver and the database connectivity from the Java programming language, this document assumes that some kind of MySQL database is already up and accessible from the client machine.

Experience with the Skype for Asterisk Beta

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:03:19 UT

Recently Digium was kind enough to include me in the closed Skype for Asterisk Beta. Skype for Asterisk is a new channel driver for Asterisk that connects to the Skype Peer to Peer network. While you could connect Asterisk to Skype in the past, this was all done with a hack to the Skype client, which limited scale and reliability. The new channel driver for Asterisk, actually does away with a client and allows Asterisk to become a peer node in the Skype network. This will be a much more scalable solution, and definitely easier to deploy.

ANN: InterXpress for Firebird v2.1.0 released

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:40:27 UT

"InterXpress for Firebird" is our driver that supports Borlands dbExpress technology! Today we release version 2.1.0 of our driver, this version includes support for Delphi 2009.

Announcing the Native Client Security Contest

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:24:58 UT

Exploits, bugs, vulnerabilities, security holes -- for most programmers these terms are synonymous with fire drills and coding all-nighters. However, for the next 10 weeks, the Native Client team is inviting you to bring them on! We\'re challenging you to find security exploits in Native Client. Sign up today for the Native Client Security Contest, you could win up to $ 213 , as well as recognition from renowned security researchers.

Facebook Must Handle the Twitter Threat

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:19:52 UT

Over the past two days I slowed down my blog volume to do something I hadn't done in a while: program an application for Twitter. My programming knowledge often becomes more of a hinderance then a benefit. The reason is that I come up with ideas so often that I occasionally start to program the idea without thinking it through. Being an idea person is good if you can't program but when you can program it can become a burden pretty quickly.

Ballmer: Linux Bigger Competitor than Apple

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:18:19 UT

Microsoft\'s CEO Steve Ballmer had some interesting things to say yesterday about which companies Microsoft sees as its competitors in the client operating system space. You\'d think Apple was their number one competitor - and you\'d be wrong. Microsoft sees two other competitors as their primary adversaries.

Database Sharding at Netlog, with MySQL and PHP

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:16:18 UT

This article accompanies the slides from a presentation on database sharding. Sharding is a technique used for horizontal scaling of databases we are using at Netlog. If you\'re interested in high performance, scalability, MySQL, php, caching, partitioning, Sphinx, federation or Netlog, read on ...

fireruby - howto start with firebird and ruby on ubuntu

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:48:17 UT

you might need some firebird dependencies something like firebird2.1-dev was already installed or you can check ...

MySQL founder invests in MoiPal

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:47:13 UT

Michael "Monty" Widenius, the creator and founder of MySQL, has invested in Ironstar Helsinki, a Finnish company behind the rapidly growing social gaming world MoiPal. The MoiPal world, offers a unique gaming oriented social network, which is open to allow other websites and games to interact with it.

OpenSearch support for the symfony API

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:46:31 UT

We are always looking for ways to enhance the developers experience with the symfony documentation. Some time ago, we added PDFs for all symfony documentation to ease offline work. Today, thanks to Geoffrey Bachelet, the symfony website has now support for the OpenSearch specification.

Create a REST API with PHP

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:45:35 UT

One of the latest (sort of) crazes sweeping the net is APIs, more specifically those that leverage REST. It's really no surprise either, as consuming REST APIs is so incredibly easy in any language. It's also incredibly easy to create them as you essentially use nothing more than an HTTP spec that has existed for ages. One of the few things that I give Rails credit for is its well thought-out REST support, both for providing and consuming these APIs (as its been explained by all the Rails fanboys I work with).

App Engine: Grow your app beyond the free quotas

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:45:01 UT

We\'re psyched to announce that developers can now purchase additional computing resources on App Engine, enabling apps to scale beyond our free quotas. This has been our most requested improvement to App Engine and we\'re thrilled to deliver it, as promised.

MySQL client for the iPhone

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:43:47 UT

iMy is a full MySQL client for the iPhone. It features the ability to generate complex queries without ever using the keyboard. iMy presents an interface similar to MobileCan.

Announcing openark kit for MySQL

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:43:03 UT

It is my great pleasure to announce the availability of the openark kit, a set of lightweight utilities for MySQL, which eases every day tasks.

Intel to Sponsor Facebook Developer Garages

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:36:48 UT

Conceived shortly after the launch of Facebook Platform in 2007, the Facebook Developer Garage program is a community effort to bring the latest Facebook Platform information and technology to the back yards of more than 660,000 Facebook developers.

Three Ways To Install VirtualBox

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:31:41 UT

VirtualBox is a popular virtualization application that allows you to run a guest operating system (Linux, Windows, etc...) within a host operating system. Basically, it allows you to run one operating system within another without dual booting.

Top 4 Free Embedded Databases

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:18:29 UT

I need an embedded database for my next project. During the last few days I've done a lot of virtual leg-work researching and comparing the various alternatives, trawling through documentation and forums. The results are below. Hopefully, if you're ever in the same situation, this list will make your life a bit easier.

IBM Tops in Server Hardware in 2008

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:17:04 UT

IDC reported that IBM was the top server vendor in 4Q08 with 36.3 percent factory revenue share, surpassing second-place HP which held 29.0 percent.

How Many of Your Visits are from iPhones?

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:14:11 UT

Advanced Segmentation is one of Google Analytics\' most powerful features - you can use it to slice and dice your Google Analytics data by, well, pretty much anything. We\'ve made it a little easier to see what your iPhone visitors are doing on your site by adding a default Advanced Segment showing just visits from iPhones.

$10,000+ in prizes! Change the Web Challenge

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:35:28 UT

Social Actions\' Change the Web Challenge is about building innovative tools to help people to find and share opportunities to take action on the websites, blogs, and social networks that we all visit everyday.

Skype For Asterisk Update

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:59:03 UT

Well, it has been nearly six months since the announcement of Skype For Asterisk at AstriCon, so it is high time for an update. So far we've been through several rounds of code with a very small pilot group. The results are encouraging - since that initial demo call on stage at AstriCon, we've logged tens of thousands of hours of Skype-To-Asterisk communication.

Fedora needs your help

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:46:38 UT

As some of you know Fedora 11 will feature automatic font installation. This is a genuinely new feature that does not try to ape what other operating systems do and play on Linux\'s traditional attention to localization and internationalization. It\'s a free/libre alternative to the DRM-ed distribution channels proprietary foundries are pushing right now.

KDE 4.2 on Gentoo

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:43:02 UT

While my life workwise is all messed up(tm) some days ago I had the chance to update my laptop to KDE 4.2 and here is my initial thoughts. The upgrade itself was a bit rough, so unmerged 4.1.x before emerging 4.2. Installation went without any major problems, once the blockers were solved. One thing I immediately noticed was that many of the small issues that plagued KDE 4.1.x was now gone. Indeed KDE 4.2 is almost ready for everyday use.

All 150 Features of the new Safari 4 Beta

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:40:17 UT

Here are some of the new features of Safari 4: - Top Sites - Cover Flow - Full History Search - Tabs on Top - Nitro Engine - Windows Native Look and Feel - Developer Tools

Harnessing Firefox Add-ons & Web Apps to Make Change

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:36:27 UT

Our friends at Social Actions are kicking off a unique contest today: Change the Web Challenge. They're calling for new Web apps that can help people make a difference while browsing the Web - allowing them to find and share actions on websites, blogs and social networks. Participants not only have a shot at glory, but $10,000 in prizes.

Introducing Internet Browser Safari 4 Beta

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:34:19 UT

It's a browser. It's a platform. It's an open invitation to innovate. Whether on a Mac, PC, iPhone, or iPod touch, Safari continuously redefines the browser, providing the most enjoyable way to experience the Internet.

Why Twitter uses Scala

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:12:14 UT

Alex Payne from Twitter will be giving a presentation at Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco on 01 March 2009 about why they use Scala at Twitter. Alex is API Lead at Twitter, a social network of individuals sharing short status updates via the web, SMS, IM, and an extremely popular API.

How to Import Your Blog Into Facebook

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:09:25 UT

Inside Facebook has recently written about simplifying how you use Facebook with other social media tools in order to make life a little easier. We've discussed merging calendaring by syncing Facebook events with Google calendar and simplifying microblogging by syncing Twitter and Facebook status messages.

Firebird 2.1.2 on Mips 64

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:08:42 UT

Phillippe Makowski tested Firebird 2.1.2 and flamerobin on Mips64 , seems that qmtest ran all OK , So i guess it can be stamped as an good port.

OpenSSH 5.2 released

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:07:49 UT

OpenSSH 5.2 has just been released. It will be available from the mirrors listed at http://www.openssh.com/ shortly.

Developer Preview Releases for the Visualization API

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:39:55 UT

We are now offering Visualization API developers an opportunity to preview upcoming release candidates. Developers can opt in to these bleeding-edge builds simply by changing one line of code when loading the Visualization library.

Using the google graph API with MySQL stored functions

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:38:15 UT

I created a stored function that takes a height, width and a graph type from the list of available graph types in the graph API. The function returns a url to a google graph that you can then use as you like. The possibilities are endless.

Using the symfony Event System

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:37:05 UT

In this tutorial I would like to show how you can add flexibility to your symfony applications using the symfony built-in event system. For this example let\'s imagine that we have a website where the user can rate pictures from other users in the system. Every time the user rates a picture, some actions should happen according to the application business rules

Case Study: SOA Banking Business Pattern

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:36:03 UT

This IBM Redpaper publication is one in a series of service-oriented architecture (SOA) papers that feature a case study involving a fictitious company called JKHL Enterprises (JKHLE). This paper focuses on the banking division of JKHLE titled JKHL Bank.

Put Java in your Rails apps with Maven

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:42:28 UT

One of the beautiful things about JBoss-Rails is the ability to integrate your Java bits right into your Rails app. Of course, some would argue that the best way (or at least a standard way) to build Java bits is with Apache-Maven.

Sharing Multiple Files at Once with iDisk

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:40:41 UT

A number of MobileMe members have asked if there\'s a way to use the new iDisk sharing feature to share multiple files at once. The answer is yes, it can be done easily using the Compress command in the iDisk web app. Here\'s how:

Easy Parallel Processing in PHP

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:23:42 UT

The proliferation of multicore CPUs and the inability of our learned CPU vendors to squeeze many more GHz into their designs means that often the only way to get additional performance is by writing clever parallel software.

Sharing your best practices for making money on Facebook Platform

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:32:55 UT

We launched Facebook Platform to give you the opportunity to create innovative new experiences for our users, and with that gave you the flexibility to monetize those experiences in the ways you best saw fit.

The Asterisk S-Prize: 10000 Call Legs, 1 Instance

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:31:07 UT

Asterisk is becoming more and more a choice for larger installations, both in Enterprise as well as Carrier environments. While SMB (small/medium business) continues to be the heart of the user base, it seems that many of the questions on the minds of the user and developer community have to do with scale, redundancy, and configuration issues which are relevant to larger installations.

Things you may not know about jQuery

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:29:07 UT

I was going to do a bit of a series, releasing a jQuery tip every day or week or something, but I think I'm a little too lazy to commit to something like that. So I've compiled them all into one post! I'll probably add to the list at later dates so make sure to bookmark it!

Zend announces public beta of a new product: Zend Server

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:27:11 UT

Zend today is announcing that it has opened a public beta of a new product called Zend Server. It\'s completely free for anyone to go download it and try it out. Zend is really hoping for some good feedback to make this product the best it can be.

Dailymotion, powered by symfony

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:20:32 UT

Dailymotion, one of the world\'s largest independent video entertainment website, is now powered by symfony. Dailymotion is among the top 60 websites worldwide. In December 2008, more than 41,9 million unique users visited the website and they viewed more than 922 million online videos (source: comScore, December 2008). Dailymotion is also the number 2 French site in the world.

Innobackup 1.5.1 released

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:19:41 UT

InnoDB Backup Utility (innobackup) 1.5.1 has been released. This version fixes a bug in MySQL binlog reporting with MySQL 5.1.

Your own PHP DNS daemon

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:18:49 UT

After my initial announcement of a PHP DNS Daemon, and some performance tests, and since it has been widely reported over internet (Zend DevZone, and today on Nexen which is deeply involved with French php community), I finally found the strength to write a guide on "how to get started with DNSd".

FLAP ( Firebird+Linux+Apache+PHPerl) is rather an operating platform than an application

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:17:48 UT

Since there are too many applications, really too many, to run on FLAP, it is impossible to list them all, or even impossible to list most of them here, I just list the most commonly used FLAP applications here. If you are running any other FLAP applications, it would be a great honour for me if I could have them listed/linked here.

20 Universities in Indonesia Join the Oracle Academy

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:15:40 UT

20 leading universities across Indonesia have joined the Oracle Academy and have integrated its Advanced Computer Science program into their IT curricula.

Improving the Firebug UI

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:14:15 UT

My main project for the last few weeks has been doing some Firebug UI work that I've been thinking about for a while. Since I've just been moving UI elements around (to make the layout more logical), I've been referring to this effort as "UI refactoring".

Fedora 11 Mass Rebuild

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:13:36 UT

Due to a number of Features, every package in Fedora 11 needs to be rebuilt. Release Engineering is coordinating this effort and has created a wiki page for it: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora_11_Mass_Rebuild

MySpace Developer Platform Wiki

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:13:01 UT

All MySpace Developer Platform (MDP) documentation is now available from one centralized location. We\'ve recently revised a good majority of the existing content and have a lot of new documentation on the way.

Facebook Begins Testing Ads on Applications

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:12:20 UT

In a new twist of events Facebook has decided to begin running test ads with Facebook applications. An announcement is expected on the Facebook developer blog in the next 20 minutes. David Swain of Facebook says that its running only a few small tests, but as an ad network running on Facebook this would certainly draw my attention.

Google Mobile App now available on Windows Mobile

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:10:57 UT

One of the most common questions we are asked on this blog is \"When will this be available for my phone?\". Well for all you Windows Mobile fans the answer is \"now\" for the Google Mobile App. Try it out by downloading it from http://m.google.com/search on your mobile phone.

Sun Establishes First Open Source Standard for Storage Encryption Solutions

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 02:18:56 UT

Sun Microsystems announced the release of the world\'s first generic communication protocol between a Key Manager and an encrypting device into an open source community. This latest effort in the Open Storage initiative gives customers greater choice, value and flexibility through the resources in open source communities, like the growing Storage community within OpenSolaris.

Swapping Column Values in MySQL

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 02:17:27 UT

Today I had to swap 2 columns in one of my MySQL tables. The task, which seems easily accomplishable by a temp variable, proved to be a bit harder to complete.

Michael Widenius, founder of MySQL, invests in WOT

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 02:16:32 UT

Our excitement here at WOT HQ has been building as discussions were conducted, ideas batted around and signatures placed on the dotted line. At last, the famed open source hero and creator of MySQL, Michael \"Monty\" Widenius, is joining our team!

Benetl version 2.5 is out

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 02:15:00 UT

Benetl, a free PostgreSQL-based ETL tool, has released version 2.5. It can be downloaded at: www.benetl.net

Running JavaScript on Startup in OpenSocial

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 02:13:48 UT

I recently had the opportunity to help some folks debug some odd errors in their JavaScript handlers. I discovered that there was some misunderstanding about how to run JavaScript when a gadget was loaded. There are so many ways to do things and each of these options has tradeoffs.

India`s open source future

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 01:44:34 UT

Today, nearly every corner of the world faces the challenge of a stagnant or shrinking economy. Bleak economic forecasts, shrinking budgets and increasing pressure on businesses and governments to meet the needs of their customers and constituents-often with less resources to do so-are becoming commonplace.

Patent defense, FOSS-style

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 01:42:04 UT

I wanted to let everyone know of a new development in the lawsuit against Red Hat and Novell brought by IP Innovation, a subsidiary of the noted patent troll firm Acacia Technologies. We are inviting FOSS community members to submit prior art relevant to the patents, which may be used to help invalidate the patents.

Change of License on the Wiki

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 01:40:57 UT

The license on the wiki has been changed to the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported. Authors who have text within the wiki and do not agree to this new license should contact any member of the Management Team.

FOSDEM openSUSE.org Devroom Recordings

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 01:38:01 UT

This year Juergen and me (tom) went to FOSDEM to do the video recordings of the talks in the openSUSE developer room. Last year we had some problems with the sound quality, so this year we brought some more equipment, amongst others 2 head mics for the speakers, one mic for the audience, an 8 channel mixer and speakers for the audience.

ArchLinux 2009.02 Released

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 01:36:37 UT

The ArchLinux Release Engineering Team announced the official release of the 2009.02 ISO after a long period of intense development. This distribution is among the first to officially support the new Ext4 filesystem.

Symfony Settings

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:42:54 UT

The symfony framework configurability is one of its most appealing strength, but it is also a thing that comes back over and over again as a weakness. Why? Because some people think that symfony has way too many settings that need to be changed when creating a new project. That\'s totally wrong. In this post, I will try to give an objective point of view on this matter as of symfony 1.2.

How to Sync Facebook Events with Google Calendar

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:32:41 UT

We're all well aware of the many web tools that exist to help us make ourselves more social, efficient, effective, etc - Facebook being one of the many. Some of us use so many that managing the tools themselves often requires another utility.

Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 released

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:31:25 UT

The Debian Project is pleased to announce the official release of Debian GNU/Linux version 5.0 (codenamed Lenny) after 22 months of constant development. Debian GNU/Linux is a free operating system which supports a total of twelve processor architectures and includes the KDE, GNOME, Xfce, and LXDE desktop environments. It also features compatibility with the FHS v2.3 and software developed for version 3.2 of the LSB.

Contributing Code to MySQL -- Some Simple Guidelines

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 15:47:37 UT

If you would like to contribute to MySQL development, you can read the relevant top-level page on the MySQL Forge. This page has some useful links to various forms of contributing to MySQL, including contribution of code to MySQL.

Python 3.0.1 released

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 15:42:35 UT

This is the first bugfix release of Python 3.0. Python 3.0 is now in bugfix-only mode; no new features are being added. Dozens of bugs that were reported since the release of 3.0 final have been fixed.

YouTube: HD/HQ and Widescreen Options on Embedded Videos

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 15:39:54 UT

You now have the option to watch embedded videos in high quality or HD (when those formats are available). The widescreen option is also available when you embed a video. You can use our handy how-to guide on optimising your uploads to look their absolute best on YouTube.

Edit Google Docs spreadsheets from your phone

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 15:21:55 UT

Until today, you\'ve only been able to view Google Docs spreadsheets on your mobile devices. Last night, we launched new capabilities to Google Docs for your phone that allow you to add new rows, edit existing cells, sort by columns, and filter by terms.

What to expect in JBoss cache

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 15:13:16 UT

So we\'re about to cut JBoss Cache 3.1.0 \"Cascabel\" - and the main feature here is the high-performance non-blocking state transfer (NBST) scheme we\'ve been planning for a while now, held back due to the lack of non-blocking reads in the past.

Firebird 2.0.5 is added to Debian Experimental

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 15:11:30 UT

So now if you use debian unstable and experimental. Now you can test and use firebird 2.0.5 packages.

Facebook Surpasses 175 Million Users, Continuing to Grow by 600k Users/Day

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 14:23:52 UT

Facebook has hit the 175,000,000 active user mark, just 5 weeks after it hit 150 million users in January. At this rate, Facebook has been growing by well over 600,000 users per day over the last several weeks, continuing the company's torrid growth pace.

Oracle Buys mValent

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 14:17:36 UT

Oracle has agreed to acquire mValent, a leading provider of application configuration management solutions. mValent is expected to enhance Oracle Enterprise Manager with extensive capabilities for managing application configurations across IT environments.

ITEXPO East 2009: A recap

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:19:56 UT

Last week, Fierce was onsite in unseasonably cool Miami for IT EXPO East. Our coverage of the show includes a combination of pictures, news and editorial commentary.

A Critical Warning If You Are Using InnoDB Hot Backup

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:18:47 UT

If you are using InnoDB Hot Backup and a recent version of mysqld (at least 5.0.67 or higher, including 5.1.30, though it may be later versions), your backup will run fine and output OK! at the end, as it should.

Weekend Apps at Googleplex - Feb 20 - 22, 2009

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:17:38 UT

We'd like to inform you about a special upcoming event at the Googleplex called Weekend Apps. This event is a 3 day codefest, where participants will work in teams (over the weekend), to create brand new OpenSocial apps, including MySpace apps.

Parallels Desktop 4.0 review

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:16:13 UT

Parallels Desktop 4.0 is virtualisation software that allows you to run Windows operating systems on an Intel Mac. When Apple moved its hardware to Intel processors in 2006, using Windows on a Mac became a practicable reality.

Sun Launches JavaFX Mobile With Support From Handset Manufacturers, Service Providers, and ISVs

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:14:52 UT

Sun Microsystems, Inc. announced the availability of the JavaFX Mobile platform, enabling the Java wireless ecosystem to create expressive solutions, which leverage the power and ubiquity of the Java Platform Micro Edition (Java ME). The JavaFX Mobile platform delivers rich content and services across the broadest range of mobile devices - from mass market feature phones to smart phones. Sun also announced that several leading handset manufacturers, service providers and ISVs are working with Sun to ship JavaFX Mobile handsets.

Drools goes Transactional

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:12:38 UT

The last bit of work for Drools 5.0 is almost in place, where units of work can now be made transactionally. Here is a quick unit test that shows two transactions, the later with a rollback, notice the rolled back insertion does not have any affect.

DB Solo 3.7 Enhances PostgreSQL Support

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:49:58 UT

DB Solo LLC is pleased to announce the general availability of version 3.7 of the DB Solo SQL Query Tool, the latest upgrade to DB Solo\'s sophisticated cross-platform Database Query Tool. DB Solo provides developers and administrators with a wealth of advanced features such as visual explain plan, database data & schema comparison tools, import/export tools and a schema scripting tool.

Answers to some big questions about PHP

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:49:11 UT

Last weekend I was at FOSDEM\'09, we\'re a central point for information and people used the opportunity to ask us a lot of questions regarding PHP. Here is a top 5 of most asked questions.

Google to Present at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:47:38 UT

Google Inc. announced today that Alan Eustace, Senior Vice President, Engineering and Research, and Patrick Pichette, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will participate in a question-and-answer session at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco. The session is scheduled for 8:20 p.m. Eastern Time / 5:20 p.m. Pacific Time on Wednesday, February 25, 2009. To access the live audio webcast of the session, please visit http://investor.google.com/webcast.html.

Teiid: A data virtualization system

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:46:51 UT

Teiid is a data virtualization system that allows applications to use data from multiple, heterogenous data stores. Teiid is comprised of tools, components and services for creating and executing bi-directional data services. Through abstraction and federation, data is accessed and integrated in real-time across distributed data sources without copying or otherwise moving data from its system of record.

2009-02-12 - Fedora Test Day - iSCSI

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:34:42 UT

Fedora invites testers to join #fedora-qa this Thursday, February 12, 2009 to help test the iSCSI initiator and target (software and hardware based).

How to Design a Server Cluster for Load Testing

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:31:48 UT

This article describes how we used JBoss Cache to create a clustered load server solution for our Java based load tool.

Input Validation: Using filter_var() Over Regular Expressions

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:29:14 UT

Just about the biggest time-sink on any project, is the amount of input validation that needs to be done. You _have_ to assume your visitor is a maniac serial killer, out to destroy your application. And you have to prevent it.

Desktop Linux Virtualization Options

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:28:34 UT

Virtualization was once thought to be something of a fad when it first began appearing on desktop PCs not all that long ago. And while no one ever said it outright, it was clear it was not taken seriously until its obvious cost savings - particularly in hardware costs - became self-evident. Today, we see successes with virtualization from the server on down to the lowly desktop PC. Despite these successes, the question as to which virtualization or "VM solution," is best suited for the job on the desktop front remains largely unanswered. I certainly find this to be relevant for desktop Linux users who remain stuck with specific legacy Windows applications that really do not play well with WINE.

Sun Takes GlassFish Application Server to New Heights With Integrated LAMP Stack

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:27:55 UT

Sun Microsystems, Inc. announced the Sun GlassFish Portfolio, the most complete, open source, high-performance Web platform, based on GlassFish, the industry\'s most downloaded application server. The Sun GlassFish Portfolio is available immediately via a flexible subscription-based pricing model starting at $999 per server (USD), making it the most cost-effective solution in the market. To purchase the Sun GlassFish Portfolio, visit: http://www.sun.com/glassfish.

Advanced MySQL Replication - Improving Performance

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:24:48 UT

MySQL Replication is some sophisticated and flexible technology. As we discussed in our recent article \"Fixing MySQL Replication\", it can be made quite reliable and robust if the right tools are used to keep it running smoothly. But what of sites who are experiencing enormous load on the primary server, which is overloading the slave server. Are there ways to speed up performance, so the slave can keep up? As it turns out there are quite a number of ways to do this. We\'ll discuss a number of them.

Exception Error Handling Implementation in MySQL/VB.NET Windows Database Applications

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:23:48 UT

In this article I would like to introduce you to the basics of error handling implementation in MySQL/VB.NET windows database applications. I'll be covering structured exception error handling, which was introduced for the first time in VB.NET 2002. I will also go over the latest technologies of disposing unmanaged recourses in .NET Framework with the Using statement. To write exception errors to a log text file, a generic procedure will be developed while MySQL data is loading, inserting, updating and deleting.

XPath Explained

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:22:49 UT

This paper will give an overview on XPath an addressing language for XML documents. XPath is a W3C recommendation currently in version 1.0. XPath was created in relation to the XSL recommendation and is intended to be used with XSLT and XPointer. Beside that, XPath can be used in a variety of programming languages, commonly in combination with a DOM API.

Is OpenSolaris Ready for Admin Desktops?

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:20:28 UT

OpenSolaris is essentially GNU-Solaris. When talking about the user experience, one could say that since the GNOME desktop is used, running OpenSolaris is no different from running Linux. For the casual Web, e-mail, and office applications user this may be true. For us network and systems administrators, however, we need to be more careful about jumping ships.

IP PBXes Gaining Unified Communications Capabilities

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:00:36 UT

Technology exists on two levels: The equipment itself and the overall marketing and public awareness that will determine - as much or even more than the bits and the bytes - whether a particular widget and the overall category in which it exists will succeed or fail.

PHPLinq 0.4.0 released on CodePlex!

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 12:59:52 UT

I'm pleased to announce that PHPLinq 0.4.0 has been released on CodePlex. PHPLinq is currently one year old, and I decided to add a huge step in functionality for the 0.4.0 release. This blog post will focus on the current status of PHPLinq and what it is capable of doing for you in a PHP project.

The Linux Reference Platform VM and VirtualBox

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 12:58:51 UT

Our Release Engineering group provides a VMWare VM image of the Linux Reference Platform, which is the VM upon which all of the official Linux builds happen. This is very handy, as you can trade some download time (it's about 1.2 GB) for the time it would take you to install Linux and setup all the build dependencies.

Windows 7 On VirtualBox

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:17:32 UT

There has been a fair amount of fanfare about Windows 7 beta that Microsoft released to the world to "tinker" with. I've held off downloading and tinkering, but finally the curiosity got the better of me.

Why is IP Communications Thriving?

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:16:45 UT

The TMC team never sleeps and as soon as yesterday had posted over a dozen interviews of some of the movers and shakers in the service provider and enterprise communications space. These interviews were from ITEXPO East 2009 which took place this week in Miami.

Ubuntu with Virtualbox running Xp seamless integrated

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:15:40 UT

see screenshots

Debian Project seeks Hardware Donations

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:10:12 UT

The Debian project is looking for sponsors for two new official services: snapshot and data archives. Both services utilize large amounts of data and therefore require a capable machine with a large disk array that provides 10 TB of disk space to start, with the ability to be easily extended. We\'d like interested sponsors to contact hardware-donations@debian.org.

PostgreSQL 2009-02-06 Update Releases Available Now

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 14:57:46 UT

The PostgreSQL Project today released updates to all active branches of the PostgreSQL object-relational database system, including versions 8.3.6, 8.2.12, 8.1.16, 8.0.20 and 7.4.24. These updates include two serious fixes, for autovacuum crashes in version 8.1 and GiST indexing data loss in 8.3, and those two versions should be updated as soon as possible.

Vmware boss gets a taste of his own MS medicine

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 14:57:06 UT

BELEAGUERED virtualisation firm Vmware, surely feeling the heat from \'free as in freedom\' virtualisation offerings as well as \'free as in beer\' ones, has decided to increase its chances of survival by releasing its Vmware \'thin client\' under the Lesser GPL licence.

ColdFusion and SugarCRM Integration

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 14:55:53 UT

If you would like to integrate your ColdFusion site with SugarCRM, please see the new ColdSugar project at RIAForge. This is a simple CFC that allows for complete integration with a SugarCRM account. You can get any kind of data and perform updates as well. I wish I could say there was something sexy about this code, but their API was relatively simple to work with.

Content Rewriting in OpenSocial 0.9

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 14:54:54 UT

Content rewriting is a new feature defined for OpenSocial 0.9. It allows a container to optimize some aspects of an application for use within that container. Before I explain what the feature does, we need to take a look at how OpenSocial applications and containers can handle resources.

Rails Developer for a Large Startup: My Vision of an Ideal Candidate

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 14:53:06 UT

Few days ago we were chatting in our corporate Campfire room and one of the guys asked me what do I think about Rails developers hiring process, what questions I'd ask a candidate, etc.. This question started really long and interesting discussion and I'd like to share my thoughts on this question in this post.

Sun`s Evolving VDI Strategy

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 14:52:16 UT

Sun has offered an early concept of VDI since 1999 with the Sun Ray Software and Sun Ray devices. Over the years the solution has evolved to support other operating systems beyond Solaris as well as roll in other devices or connections. Today\'s offering with Sun VDI Software 2.0 uses VMware\'s ESX as the hypervisor for guests on Sun Ray devices. But what have they been working on lately?

Fedora Project: Package update guidelines

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 14:50:24 UT

FESCo have approved a set of maintainers guidelines for package updates on release branches: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/PackageMaintainers/Package_update_guidelines Many Fedora users update automatically, so it is most important that an update doesn\'t cause a users\' applications or system to stop working suddenly.

Opening Up Facebook Status, Notes, Links, and Video to Facebook Platform

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 14:48:15 UT

We\'re launching several new APIs for Facebook Platform today. These new interfaces open up access to the content and methods for sharing through several Facebook Applications -- including Facebook Status, Notes, Links (what we used to call Posted Items), and Video -- to go along with the APIs already available for uploading and viewing through Facebook Photos. We\'ve seen increasing engagement with over 15 million users updating their status each day and sharing over 24 million links per month. We wanted to make sure this content and the ability to share this content was available through our standard APIs.

Saving a PHPExcel spreadsheet to Google Documents

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 14:47:18 UT

As you may know, PHPExcel is built using an extensible model, supporting different input and output formats. The PHPExcel core class library features a spreadsheet engine, which is supported by IReader and IWriter instances used for reading and writing a spreadsheet to/from a file.

Staying up to date with Google Code

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 14:46:14 UT

As the number of developers and projects have grown on Google Code, we\'ve started thinking about how to get projects to learn from and work with each other. Today, we\'re happy to announce that we have made a few steps towards that goal.

libpqtypes continues to improve, becoming more portable, reliable and efficient

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:23:39 UT

libpqtypes continues to improve, becoming more portable, reliable and efficient. This version is highly recommended over previous ones. This release includes: - Support for AIX 4.3 through the lastest version. - Support for SCO Unixware 7.1.4 - New API function PQparamCount - Improved memory management - Minor bug fixes

Next Steps in Openness

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:21:53 UT

Enabling social information to flow through the Web is one of the core goals of Facebook. In the two months since Facebook Connect became generally available, over 4,000 sites and desktop applications have gone live with the service. Users can now log into sites across the Web using their Facebook account, bring their identity and friends with them, and share information and experiences using the same features as they would with applications on Facebook.

MySQL Founder Monty leaves MySQL, starts a new company

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:21:07 UT

I have now departed from Sun and joined my own company, Monty Program Ab. There were a lot of rumors around me resigning in August/September last year. I didn\'t back then want to comment on the rumors, because I was still trying to work something out with Sun. Now I can finally describe a bit of what was going on.

Microsoft Launches Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:19:37 UT

Microsoft announced the general availability of Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2 (R2), which delivers enriched audio and video conferencing, powerful new developer tools, and enhanced voice capabilities.

Reality TV, Ads and All, Comes to Facebook

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:18:09 UT

Short-form video abounds on YouTube and the Web in general. But the vast majority of these are user generated content (UGC) and promotional videos that don\'t generate revenue.

Jonathan Lister Named Managing Director and Head of Google Canada

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:58:43 UT

Google Inc. has hired Jonathan Lister as the new Managing Director and Head of Google Canada. Most recently, Jonathan was the Senior Vice President of Operations for AOL Europe. In his new role, Jonathan will focus on continuing to build Google\'s brand and reach in the Canadian business community, as well as developing and executing Google\'s market strategy within Canada. As Managing Director and head of Google Canada he will lead Google Canada\'s advertising sales operations, and contribute to the strategic growth of Google products and services.

Perl: Update on Win32::API port to 64-bits

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:57:48 UT

I\'ve been the current maintainer of Win32::API for some years now. I am proud to be working on such a useful module, at least for Windows people. I even managed once to build it under Linux/winegcc.

Building AutoComplete Inputs with PHP, PEAR, Dojo and YUI

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:57:03 UT

Fortunately, modern programming toolkits like Dojo provide ready-made widgets that have the necessary client-side functions for autocomplete. Add a little bit of server-side glue, in the form of a PHP script that talks to a database to generate valid suggestions, and enabling this functionality in a Web application now becomes a matter of hours, rather than days.

Ekumo releases SQL Web Services builder 1.10

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:54:50 UT

Ekumo.com just released version 1.10 of its SQLWS, a SOAP and JSON front-end gateway, for easy database access. This system significantly reduces the time to build a Web Service for SQL query to the back-end database.

TeamPostgreSQL web-based (AJAX) administration released!

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:53:49 UT

Consisting of a server application and an AJAX web client, TeamPostgreSQL is ideal for sharing web access to PostgreSQL databases across an organization or a development team. An alternative to phpPgAdmin, TeamPostgreSQL\'s main advantages are a fast and user-friendly interface and team collaboration features such as easy sharing of SQL snippets and scripts.

Tech Industry Leaders Join to Develop Guidelines for White Spaces Database

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:52:50 UT

Seven leading technology companies today announced that they are working together to facilitate the timely creation and operation of a white spaces database to govern use of the vacant television broadband spectrum, commonly known as TV white spaces. Founding members of the White Spaces Database Group include Comsearch, Dell, Google Inc., HP, Microsoft Corporation, Motorola Inc., and NeuStar.

MySQL Query Analyzer review

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:51:00 UT

I had the chance to review the new Query Analyzer program from Sun over the last few days. I am very interested in how it performs as I have previously not had a chance to see the program in action (or the Enterprise Monitor program either for that matter). So, before getting into what the Query Analyzer can (and can not) do let's look at what Sun says it does.

symfony 1.2.4 - Fixing two unfortunate regressions

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:50:14 UT

The symfony 1.2.3 release introduced two regressions, and to prove that symfony favors no ORM, both got one :-). Just kidding. I am very sad about this having happened, but thats life, and even more important that we resolve the issue in a timely manner. I am sorry for any inconvenience these regressions might have caused.

Win7 From the Trenches: Update on running ITunes 8 in VirtualBox

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:48:48 UT

Just wanted to give some feedback on running ITunes 8 in a virtualized environment, even though it works good enough I have had to revert to using my server (running Windows 2008) as my ITunes machine :) abit weird but hey I need my ITunes

Flash Video marketshare continues to grow

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:47:39 UT

In a press release yesterday, comScore released the latest "Video Metrix" numbers. Once again, these numbers are record breaking and impressive!

Announcing K12Linux F10 Live Server

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:46:51 UT

The K12Linux team is proud to announce the release of K12Linux F10 Live Server. K12Linux is Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP.org) integrated with Fedora 10, in a convenient LiveUSB or DVD media installer. Since 1999 LTSP has empowered many schools and businesses with Linux-based terminal servers and thin clients, allowing low-cost clients or recycled computers to become powerful Linux desktop machines.

MySQL: Replicating Locking Sessions

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:40:31 UT

We were running Drupal benchmarks to measure the performance of Drupal/Galera cluster and were surprised to find locking sessions (LOCK TABLES...UNLOCK) in the SQL profile. Locking sessions were originally left out of Galera supported feature set, but now we need to re-consider our policy a bit. Apparently, we are going to encounter more applications, which were originally written for MYISAM usage, but were later migrated to INNODB.

$200 Laptops Break a Business Model

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:36:56 UT

The global credit crisis may have caused the decline in consumer and business spending that is assaulting the giants of high tech. But as the dominant technology companies try to emerge from this slump, they may find themselves blaming people like David Title just as much as they blame Wall Street.

Google Invites Classrooms to Doodle

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:35:55 UT

Google announced this year's U.S. "Doodle 4 Google". The competition invites all K-12 students in the U.S. to design a Google logo inspired by the timely theme, "What I wish for the world". The winning student's doodle will be displayed on the Google homepage on May 21, 2009. The champion "doodler" will also receive a $15,000 college scholarship and a $25,000 technology grant for his/her school. This year's competition also includes a $10,000 award to recognize the school district with the greatest quality participation.

Windows 7 Lineup Offers Clear Choice for Consumers and Businesses

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:34:53 UT

Last month Microsoft delivered the beta version of Windows 7 for public testing. Today the company announced its plans for Windows 7 SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) strategy, explaining that Microsoft expects that a majority of customers will be best served by two primary editions of Windows 7: Windows 7 Home Premium for consumers, and Windows 7 Professional for businesses.

Sun Microsystems introduces New High-Performance, Energy Efficient Disk Arrays

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:33:44 UT

New Sun Storage 6580 and 6780 Arrays, Deliver Up to Three Times Better Price/Performance than Competing Products and Allow Customers to Economically Scale to Keep Pace with Rapid Data Growth

JBoss Virtual Experience web-based technology Conference

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:08:22 UT

If you haven\'t already heard about it, next Wednesday (Feb 11th/2009) JBoss is hosting the JBoss Virtual Experience, a web-based technology conference.

New License for pg_migrator

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:23:07 UT

Pg_migrator, originally developed by EnterpriseDB, has changed its license from \"Artistic\" to \"BSD\". This new license should make it easier for pg_migrator to be used by the BSD-licensed Postgres project.

Opener Chat Release 0.7

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:14:42 UT

Opener Chat is completely programmed by Perl which consists of the graphical interface part and net part. Now we use the module of win32::GUI to carry its interface into effect, so this software can only run on the win32 platform.

Introducing Google Earth 5.0

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:07:31 UT

Google announced the launch of ocean in Google Earth, a new feature that enables users of Google Earth to dive beneath the water surface, explore 3D underwater terrain and browse ocean-related content contributed by leaders in ocean science and advocacy. The new version of Google Earth also introduces Historical Imagery, a feature that enables users to virtually travel back in time through archival satellite and aerial imagery, Touring, which makes it simple to create a narrated tour in Google Earth and share it with the world and Google Mars 3D, which features hi-res imagery and terrain of the red planet.

mydumper: A tool to do logical dump of MySQL data for large sites

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:04:42 UT

Last weekend I ended up working on small pet project - and today I'm kind of releasing it. So, I had that idea that there's no good tool to do logical dump of MySQL data for large sites - mysqldump doesn't provide too much of I/O pressure, mk-parallel-dump is closer, but it doesn't do consistent snapshots, uses same mysqldump, as well as is written in Perl (haha!), and.. I just wanted something new to hack, as proof of concept.

Another Look at MySQL 5.1`s SQL Diagnostic Tools

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:02:18 UT

No matter what they say, I don\'t think it\'s true. Database \'experts\' say that 80-90% of a database\'s overall performance comes from the SQL code that\'s running against it. And I just don\'t buy it. Instead, I think that most of a database\'s performance comes from optimal design, and after that SQL code comes next. If you properly design your database, then you\'re way ahead of the game in terms of performance issues. That\'s when well-written SQL code can glide along your design like butter on a hot skillet.

Get a Free Software PDF reader!

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:58:55 UT

The Portable Document Format (PDF) is a popular format to publish formatted text and documents. There are several different versions of it, some qualifying as an Open Standard, some certified by ISO and some encumbered by software patents. You might want to promote the versions that are Open Standards, because Open Standards guarantee interoperability, competition and choice.

YouTube: Annotations Made Easier

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:33:06 UT

Today, we are making it easier to add annotations directly to your YouTube videos. Simply login to YouTube, watch your video on the watch page and click on the video to start adding annotations. But don\'t worry - for those who need more control, you\'ll still be able to access the separate annotations editor.

Questions and Answers about Practical symfony book

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:42:03 UT

If you want to learn how to develop web applications with symfony 1.2, this is the best resource you can find as of today. If you only want to leaf through it, you can also read it online for free and even download it as a PDF file (4.7 MB). Otherwise, if you are serious about web development with symfony, you should buy it. The book is an invaluable resource to learn symfony and it sells at a competitive price, much lower than printing your own book (considering printer cartridges, paper, binding, your own time and the low quality achieved with own printing).

NetBSD 5.0_RC1 binaries available for download

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:36:28 UT

On behalf of the NetBSD Release Engineering team, Soren Jacobsen announced that the first release candidate of NetBSD 5.0 is now available for download from ftp://ftp.NetBSD.org/pub/NetBSD-daily/netbsd-5-0-RC1/.

Unofficial Fedora FAQ Update: 2009-01-30

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:21:19 UT

Here\'s what\'s changed since the last update: - The ATI question has been updated to reflect that there are now working 3D drivers for Fedora 10. - Some people experience sound cracking or popping on their machines. I\'ve added instructions on what to do about it. - Fixed the Flash instructions. - Fixed the instructions for installing Windows fonts. - Two new translations: German and Portuguese. - The site\'s layout and style has changed--let me know what you think.

Perl 5.8.8 Release Announcement

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:00:30 UT

The Perl 5 developer team is pleased to announce the Perl Release 5.8.8, the eighth maintenance release of Perl 5.8. The CPAN ftp multiplexor will pick a mirror close to you, if you select either bz2 (10123359 bytes) or gz (12829188 bytes) here; or, you can choose your own from one of the 272 CPAN mirrors worldwide.

Tips for Safe Cloud Storage

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 13:30:51 UT

Entrusting enterprise data to a storage provider\'s online cloud may be no more risky than putting it in a proprietary storage platform in your own data center, according to some analysts and users. But there are specific steps you should take to prevent problems.

Adobe, Apple working together on Flash for iPhone

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 13:29:37 UT

Once thought to be building Flash for the iPhone mostly on its own, Adobe has mentioned at the World Economic Forum that it\'s not only continuing work on the animation plug-in but has teamed up with Apple to make it a reality.

Google Flags Whole Internet As Malware

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 13:28:46 UT

We're not quite sure what's going on, but a couple of minutes ago any search result from Google started being flagged as malware with a message stating "This site may harm your computer". Including Google's own websites as you can see above.

Ma.gnolia Suffers Major Data Loss, Site Taken Offline

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 13:27:20 UT

There was a meltdown at bookmark sharing website Ma.gnolia Friday morning. The service lost both its primary store of user data, as well as its backup. The site has been taken offline while the team tries to reconstruct its databases, though some users may never see their stored bookmarks again.

OpenChange, KDE brings Exchange compatibility to Linux

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 13:20:03 UT

Recent developments in the OpenChange and KDE open source projects are set to bridge a "missing link" in messaging and groupware compatibility from Microsoft's Exchange to open source clients.

More traces of GDrive popping up

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 13:19:06 UT

Traces of GDrive have been extremely difficult, or impossible, to find in the wild - until recently that is. This higher rate of GDrive related discoveries tells me that the service is sure to be a released as a real product at some point, hopefully soon.

10 Websites To Make You A Photoshop Ninja

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 13:15:55 UT

Photoshop is hard. There's all kinds of menus, commands, and keyboard shortcuts that you've got to figure out. Once you learn how it works, it's an unbelievably useful and powerful tool, but the learning curve is enormous.

Hitachi warns of $7.8 billion loss, to restructure

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 13:03:45 UT

Japan\'s Hitachi warned of a record $7.8 billion annual loss due to weak sales, a firmer yen and costs to restructure its sprawling operations, joining a growing list of technology companies affected by the deepening recession. That loss would be the biggest ever by a Japanese manufacturing company.

10 cheap and easy upgrades for your old PC

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 13:02:42 UT

Is your old PC starting to feel a little sluggish? Upgrading a desktop computer really isn\'t as difficult as it sounds. The components are modular, the slots uniform and systems are expressly designed for expansion.

Remaking Microsoft: Get Out Of Web Search

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 13:01:35 UT

Microsoft continues to pour time, money, and management resources into online search--a market where it not only can\'t win, it can\'t even compete despite the billions of dollars it has spent on acquisitions, a Live Search program that pays users, and overtures toward Yahoo.

The case against Web apps

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:28:26 UT

Five reasons why Web-based development might not be the best choice for your enterprise. For most of us, especially given these tough economic times, for the Web to have become the platform of choice for enterprise application development seems like a no-brainer. But to paraphrase The Return of the Living Dead, maybe we need more brains.

Google Earth Reveals 2-Acre Weed Patch to Swiss Police

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:27:10 UT

Google Earth has helped police in Switzerland bust a marijuana farm suspected of doing up to $8.7 million a year in business. The police were initially using the application to locate a suspect\'s address, but as they scanned the view, they happened to glimpse the 2-acre farm, which was surrounded by rows of corn plants.

Canonical`s $30 Million and Redmond`s Gathering Storm

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:24:47 UT

Linux\'s gains are Microsoft\'s losses, and there were both aplenty in the past week, despite the best efforts of the Redmond crowd to tamp down enthusiasm for free OSes. Bloggers across the FLOSS world are speculating over what they see as a building storm headed straight for western Washington.

Microsoft adds fancy search option for Firefox

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:22:29 UT

If you had any doubts Microsoft didn\'t appreciate the advantages of Firefox\'s ability to accommodate add-ons, you can dispel them now. The company just released one that makes Microsoft\'s search service work better with the open-source Web browser.

NEC will cut 20,000 jobs

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:21:10 UT

Japanese electronics giant NEC Corp. says it plans to slash at least 20,000 jobs worldwide in an effort to cut 80-billion yen ($895-million U.S.) in costs over the next two years. Toshiba Corp. is in talks to merge part of its chip operations with NEC\'s semiconductor unit, a source said, as a sharp global slowdown forces Japanese chip makers to cut jobs and try to band together.

Amazon profits from festive sales

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:19:30 UT

Profit at online retailer Amazon rose 9% in the final three months of last year, as the company enjoyed a robust holiday shopping season. It said net profit totalled $225m in the fourth quarter, up from $207m a year ago.

Google Maps Lifts Veil Over Cheney`s Residence

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:18:24 UT

Hope and change has come to Google Maps. The official residence of the vice president, obscured until Dick Cheney\'s last days in office and residence, now shines in satellite sunlight.

Google and partners set up online testing lab for home broadband connections

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:28:24 UT

Google Inc. and two nonprofit partners Wednesday launched a Web site that lets consumers test their Internet connections to reveal possible interference and traffic management by service providers.

HOW TO: Survive a Social Media Revolt

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:27:16 UT

It often stuns me to see how poor social media entrepreneurs and their executives are at listening to their communities, communicating with them, and generally using the communities' feedback to improve their services. A quick glance at the top three sites in three of the fastest growing sectors within social media will exemplify this point.

8 Mobile Technologies To Watch

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:25:22 UT

Research firm Gartner unveiled its list of mobile technologies to watch in the next two years, and the list places a heavy emphasis on things that will soon be integrated into smartphones.

How Many Engineers Does It Take To Make Hotmail Work In Google Chrome?

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:11:21 UT

With yesterday's release of IE8 RC, I was reminded of an annoyance my partner had when I first installed Google Chrome because she was unable to use her Hotmail (short for the official name Windows Live Hotmail and not to be confused with Windows Live Mail) account properly using the new browser. I checked if the e-mail service - among the most popular webmail services in the world - was working better now that Chrome is a couple of months old, out of beta and - admittedly slowly - taking bits of market share on a daily basis.

Google Gobbled Up 90 Percent Of All U.S. Search Growth In 2008

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:08:33 UT

Google ended the year with 63.5 percent market share of all search queries performed in the U.S., estimates comScore. And that market share has inched up steadily from 58.5 percent in January, 2008. But the market share numbers mask the absolute growth in searches and how Google has ben able to Gobble up all of that growth.

Facebook: 276% Growth in 35-54 Year Old Users

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:05:43 UT

In October 2007 I wrote about "Facebook Demographics Direct From Their System" that gave an account of Facebook's democraphic composition using a few statistics that might be interesting to marketers. Ten months later we followed up with "Facebook Demographics 2008 Update - It's Getting Older In There" which showed that fastest growing group, the 35-54 year old segment, grew at a rate of 172.9% in that period.

Panasonic`s Lumix Digital Cameras support Face Recognition

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:01:27 UT

Lumix Digital Cameras: Digital still cameras with powerful zooms, stylish designs and advanced features like Face Detection, Optical Image Stabilization and Scene Selection.

Gmail Adds Offline Support

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:55:25 UT

One of Gmail's most requested features - offline support - is now available in testing. In other words, you can now use Gmail without an Internet connection, just like you can with desktop mail clients like Outlook.

Windows 7 to Ship in Multiple Versions?

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:54:16 UT

This shouldn't surprise anyone, but there's now evidence that Windows 7 will ship in multiple editions, following trends set by Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Digg Poaches New Head Of Sales From Yahoo

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:52:59 UT

After not being acquired by Google last year and announcing some cutbacks last week, Digg is rolling up its sleeves and getting to work. The company has hired Tom Shin as its new head of sales from Yahoo, where he was one of the top sales people and head of the Northwest sales region. His job is to build a sales team at Digg go after advertising dollars more directly., something CEO Jay Adelson recently underscored as a big goal of the company in 2009.

Western Digital Launches 2 TB Green Hard Drive

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:51:53 UT

Western Digital on Tuesday introduced a 2-TB hard drive to its environmentally friendly Caviar Green product line. WD believes many consumers are ready for such a large capacity drive to store video, pictures, audio, and other files in their expanding media libraries. Quoting market intelligence firm Trend Focus, the hard-drive maker claims about 10% of 3.5-inch drives sold today are at the 1-TB level or higher.

Coming soon: Full-disk encryption for all computer drives

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:49:01 UT

The world\'s six largest computer drive makers today published the final specifications for a single, full-disk encryption standard that can be used across all hard disk drives, solid state drives (SSD) and encryption key management applications. Once enabled, any disk that uses the specification will be locked without a password -- and the password will be needed even before a computer boots.

Blood Frontier: It`s bloody fun! (new release)

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:47:06 UT

Blood Frontier is a Free and Open Source game, using SDL and OpenGL which allows it to be ported to many platforms; you can download it for both PC (Windows, Linux, BSD) and Mac. You can also obtain it through subversion repository and live on the bleeding edge of development.

Suse Studio: Linux customization for the masses

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:31:50 UT

One of the great promises of software is its infinite malleability: software can be whatever you want, so long as you have the skills necessary (and legal rights) to modify it. Despite this promise, software has long sought to replicate physical goods: mass-produced with customization, if any, coming post-sale by a system integrator or other consultant. This has helped churn out billion-dollar software companies such as Oracle, SAP, and Microsoft, but it has failed to satisfy customer demand for a tailored fit.

Hands on: testing the KDE 4.2 release candidate on Windows

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:31:01 UT

Ars takes the KDE 4.2 release candidate out for a test drive on Windows. The popular open source desktop environment has moved beyond Linux and is becoming increasingly robust on other platforms. Even KDE\'s Plasma desktop shell is now Windows-compatible.

Microsoft: H-1B workers among those losing jobs

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:25:43 UT

Microsoft Corp. says it is cutting a \"significant number\" of foreign workers as part of the layoff of 1,400 employees last week, a number that is due to reach 5,000 over the next 18 months. The company isn\'t detailing how many of the the workers losing their jobs are in the U.S. on a visa, however.

Apple`s iLife 09 to ship Tuesday

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:24:26 UT

The latest version of Apple\'s iLife--shown off at Macworld earlier this month--will ship Tuesday. The new software comes with updates to iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand that Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller detailed during Macworld. For example, you will now be able to sort photos by the faces of your subjects in iPhoto and take $4.99 lessons from famous musicians in GarageBand.

Netflix 4Q profit up 45 pct, defying recession

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:23:23 UT

Netflix Inc.\'s fourth-quarter profit climbed 45 percent to surpass analysts\' estimates Monday, propelled by the widening appeal of its relatively inexpensive DVD rental and Internet streaming service during a budget-crimping recession.

Verizon Launches VoIP House Phone Hub

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:22:25 UT

The benefits of VoIP have convinced a large number of consumers to drop traditional landlines in favor of Internet-based phone services. Going after these users, Verizon has introduced the Hub, a home VoIP phone that incorporates lots special features by way of its constant Web connection. The main unit is designed for the center of the household, though other handsets for other rooms will be available.

Apple left out of Fortune`s Best Employers list

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:18:12 UT

Apple has again failed to make a list of the best American companies to work for, according to Fortune. In its 2009 compilation, the top company is named as brokerage firm Edward Jones, which has managed to avoid any ties to the credit crisis and during 2008 hired 698 new financial advisors in the first 10 months.

Ad Nets Find Q1 Less Horrific Than Expected

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:16:45 UT

So far, the first months of 2009 aren\'t looking as dire as once predicted for the online ad market, according to buyers and sellers. However, many report that business has slowed down, resulting in intensifying pressure on pricing, particularly in the ad networks space.

How Piracy Can Boost iPhone App Sales

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:09:38 UT

We recently reported the story of the pirated iPhone game 'Whack em All', where the developer actually engaged the game's cracker instead of taking an aggressive stance. The dialogue had a surprising effect. Sales increased 100%, pirates donated and the game is now available free of charge.

How to Bring More Readers to Your Blog

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:08:41 UT

When I come across a blog title in any of the social media sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon or Reddit, I seem to click on one that gets my curiosity. If the title gives up too much information, I can pretty much draw up my own conclusion of what the story will be about. It's important to choose the right title

Software Maintenance Fees: Time For This Model To Change?

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:00:36 UT

Rusty Gaston is one of thousands of CIOs who use Oracle software to automate their organizations\' supply chain, financial, and HR operations. But she\'s one of just a handful who have decided to run those applications without an Oracle maintenance contract, giving up rights to software updates, full upgrades, and Oracle-trained service expertise.

How to Build a Small-Business Web Site, Part 4: Web 2.0 Tools

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:58:56 UT

Interactive tools can add tremendous value to a business Web site, but it\'s not obvious where to begin -- or where to stop. Blogs, social networking connections and widgets will not only keep visitors coming back, but also provide conduits for increasing your site\'s exposure across the Internet.

High-Speed Internet Grants Find Support in House

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:58:09 UT

The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday approved rules for billions in government funds to spur high-speed Internet networks in unserved and underserved areas. House Democrats have proposed $6 billion in Internet investments as part of a sweeping economic stimulus bill that the full House is expected to vote on next week.

30 Useful Open Source Apps for Web Designers

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:57:19 UT

There are plenty of open source applications that can help you tremendously as a web designer. Open source projects are great not only because of their price tag (free), but also because of the passionate community that typically forms around them. In these economic times, it's often a worthwhile endeavor to see places where you can conserve, and open source alternatives are a good place to start looking.

Monster.com Reports Theft of User Data

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:56:41 UT

Monster.com is advising its users to change their passwords after data including e-mail addresses, names and phone numbers were stolen from its database.

AMD low-power chips headed for HP, Dell servers

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:55:12 UT

Advanced Micro Devices on Monday released both low-power and high-performance processors that will find their way into servers from Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Sun Microsystems, and Rackable Systems.

Twitter Raising New Cash At $250 Million Valuation

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:53:05 UT

Twitter, which just recently turned down a half billion dollar acquisition offer from Facebook (albeit to be paid mostly with Facebook stock), is dipping back into the venture capital market, we've heard from a source with knowledge of the deal.

10 Cloud Computing Predictions For 2009

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:50:57 UT

In some respects, the cloud computing market arrived in a big way in 2008. Amazon, EMC/VMware, IBM, Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, and a dozen other vendors introduced products and services for on-demand, pay-as-you-go computing.

8 Inspiring Stories Of ASCII Art

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:49:05 UT

Labels are fragile: text and pictures have always been closely connected. From the dawn of written language to the era of microcomputers, much of human creation has explored the relationship between the literal and the figurative, the form and the function. Within this is the future site of retro, ASCII art. It's often used as a catch-all term for "text-based art," regardless of the actual character set being used.

7 things Apple got disastrously wrong

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 14:13:04 UT

Today marks the 25th Anniversary of the original Apple Macintosh. Yesterday we marked the occasion by looking at 25 milestones of the Mac over the last 25 years.

Linux Elitism: Fact or Fiction?

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 14:12:02 UT

Newcomers to open source software might be intimidated by the insider nature of the communities, but they shouldn\'t mistake that for elitism, writes LinuxInsider columnist Jeremiah T. Gray. Stick with it, and the benefits will become clear, he advises.

Revolution, Facebook-style

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 14:10:14 UT

Only a few hours after Israel\'s first air strike against Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip late last month, more than 2,000 protesters marched through the streets of downtown Cairo, carrying Palestinian flags. This began what would become weeks of protests, in which thousands of Egyptians of all different political leanings gathered in Egypt\'s main cities, in public squares and at mosques and universities.

AMD Phenom II Processor Prices Slashed by 18%

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 14:08:35 UT

Advanced Micro Devices cuts the prices of some of its processors for high-end desktops and gaming PCs. The prices of the brand-new AMD Phenom II X4 processors are being cut by as much as 18 percent. AMD rolled out the Phenom II processors at the CES expo as part of its platform for gaming desktops, code-named Dragon. The processor price cuts follow similar cuts by rival Intel and come as AMD prepares to release its quarterly report amid reduced demand for desktops and notebooks due the economy.

Cover Your Tracks & Be Anonymous On The Net With JAP

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 14:04:33 UT

I can see you - well, your computer - naked. This statement is true when we are discussing the internet. Ordinary people would be amazed about much information can be retrieved from someone's computer everytime that computer is connected to the net.

Mobile & Wireless Slideshow: 10 Killer Phones Spotted at the 2009 CES

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 14:01:26 UT

At the 2009 International CES expo in Las Vegas, the showcase floor was jammed-packed with cell phones and smartphones for both consumers and business users. The biggest news in the smartphone market came from Palm, which announced a smartphone called Pre that the company hopes will address the market Apple created with the iPhone.

App Store replica site cashing in on iPhone

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 13:57:39 UT

Anyone who\'s into customising their iPhone or iPod touch but thoroughly sick of jumping through hoops at the clunky iTunes App Store now has an alternative way to find software, after the appearance of a third-party web alternative.

Apple`s Macintosh, 25 years on

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 14:03:35 UT

At a time when computers were more like glorified typewriters, Apple introduced the Macintosh - and changed how people interacted with them. In exclusive interviews, Steve Wozniak, Apple's co-founder, and Andy Hertzfeld, one of the developers, recall how it happened.

Google`s wildcard watch

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 14:02:38 UT

Steve Ballmer, who just announced to the troops that Microsoft was firing 5,000 employees due to the recession, might be excused for wanting to slam his head against the wall at this point. After reporting quarterly earnings, Google finished Friday up more than $18. So at this point, at least, it\'s still Google 1, Recession 0. The cool kids have the upper hand--at least for the time being.

Why You Should Always Log Out

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 14:01:52 UT

I can\'t tell you how many times I\'ve gone to the library or a computer lab and found someone still logged into their user account. It used to make me angry. It used to make me wonder what was wrong with people. I don\'t know if they just forget or just don\'t care, but either way they deserve to be messed with for their stupidity. It took almost a year of my life to find these and to some degree I feel bad, but I\'m pretty sure these people won\'t ever forget to log out again.

Ubuntu releases new version

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 14:01:11 UT

The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the release of Ubuntu 8.04.2 LTS, the second maintenance update to Ubuntu's 8.04 LTS release. This release includes updated server, desktop, and alternate installation CDs for the i386 and amd64 architectures.

Remembering the 1984 Super Bowl Mac ad

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 13:58:28 UT

The fact that the Los Angeles Raiders humiliated the Washington Redskins in a 38-to-9 victory is a mere afterthought. Super Bowl XVIII\'s lasting legacy has been a single advertisement sandwiched somewhere in the third quarter: Apple Computer\'s iconic \"1984\" commercial. It began, in a clear nod to George Orwell\'s novel of the same name, with tense strains of music, the image of figures marching through a tube across a dank industrial complex, and the start of a bizarre monologue: \"Today we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives.\"

Network Solutions Under Large Scale DDoS Attack, Millions of Websites Potentially Unreachable

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 13:56:17 UT

\"DNS queries for web sites should be responding normally. Thank you all for your understanding. As always, we will continue to work to take measures to prevent these and other types of technical issues caused by third parties that may impact our customers.\"

Ballmer`s e-mail to employees regarding layoffs

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:55:07 UT

From: Steve Ballmer Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2009 6:07 AM Subject: Realigning Resources and Reducing Costs In response to the realities of a deteriorating economy, we\'re taking important steps to realign Microsoft\'s business. I want to tell you about what we\'re doing and why. Today we announced second quarter revenue of $16.6 billion. This number is an increase of just 2 percent compared with the second quarter of last year and it is approximately $900 million below our earlier expectations.

AMD`s $1.4 billion loss bigger than expected

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:53:57 UT

Advanced Micro Devices on Thursday reported a bigger-than-expected net loss of $1.4 billion for the fourth quarter of 2008. This is the chipmaker\'s ninth consecutive quarterly loss. AMD also disclosed that it received a letter from Intel regarding the two companies\' patent cross-licensing agreement. The $1.42 billion loss, or $2.34 per share, was below the $1.77 billion loss, or $3.06 per share, reported a year ago but worse than Wall Street analysts had expected

Red Hat set to surpass Sun in market capitalization

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:51:22 UT

In what may come to be seen as a deeply symbolic moment in the history of operating systems, Red Hat is on the verge of surpassing Sun Microsystems\' market capitalization for the first time. Sun, perhaps unfairly, represents a fading Unix market. Red Hat, for its part, represents the rising Linux market.

Being Anti-Linux is bad for your business health

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:46:32 UT

Remember today\'s date: January 22, 2009. It may go down in business history as the day that it became clear that proprietary software had been broken by Linux and open-source software. First, Microsoft had its biggest layoffs in the company\'s history. Yes, Microsoft still makes billions, but, for the first time ever, Microsoft is staggering.

Gadgets that make you look like a jerk

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:45:25 UT

Seven fairly common gizmos you might just look cooler without

Meet Plinky, an eclectic Q&A service

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:44:03 UT

At the intersection of questions-and-answers services and social networking, Plinky is opening up to everyone Thursday. It offers up daily assignments called \"prompts\" for users to fill out, then share with others, be it on Plinky or on their existing social networks and blogs. Plinky isn\'t limiting the media type or format for responses, so users can submit photos, videos, and written responses, all of which goes into one big feed.

Tech Workers Get a Raise

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:32:27 UT

Businesses may be cutting the amount they spend on technology, but tech workers got a raise in 2008. The average information-technology pro made $78,035 last year, a 4.6% increase from 2007, according to tech job site Dice.com, which surveyed close to 20,000 of its visitors. Security analysts got the biggest raises in 2008, with an average salary increase of 8.4% to $86,778. Software engineers were next, with an increase of 7% to $90,031. Application developers got a 6.6% raise to $84,672.

Intel to close plants, up to 6,000 workers affected

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:29:55 UT

Intel said on Wednesday it will close chip plants to align its manufacturing capacity to current market conditions. Between 5,000 and 6,000 employees will be affected. The world\'s largest chipmaker will halt production at five \"older\" factories.

Yahoo tries harder to screen out spam

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:28:53 UT

Yahoo has signed a deal with start-up Abaca to help curtail spam on Yahoo Mail and has begun using Return Path technology to let companies know when and why their legitimate e-mail is being blocked.

How Google`s PageRank predicts Nobel Prize winners

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:23:38 UT

Ranking scientists by their citations-the number of times they are mentioned in other scientists' papers- is a miserable business. Everybody can point to ways in which this system is flawed.

Microsoft donates code to Apache Stonehenge project

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:20:09 UT

Several months after joining the Apache Foundation, Microsoft has made its first code contribution to an Apache project. The project, known as Stonehenge, is made up of companies and developers seeking to test the interoperability of Web standards implementations.

Apple`s iPhone may have outsold Android nearly 6-to-1

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:26:04 UT

Morgan Stanley has issued both research notes and a survey ahead of Apple\'s quarterly results report that paint a mixed picture for the Cupertino-based electronics maker, but which show the iPhone as favorable all the same.

50 Extremely Useful PHP Tools

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:25:26 UT

PHP is one of the most widely used open-source server-side scripting languages that exist today. With over 20 million indexed domains using PHP, including major websites like Facebook, Digg and WordPress, there are good reasons why many Web developers prefer it to other server-side scripting languages, such as Python and Ruby.

All Major Canadian ISPs Slow Down P2P Traffic

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:24:43 UT

Net neutrality really is the hot topic at the moment. After the FCC slapped Comcast for slowing down BitTorrent users, Canada is now looking into the network management practices of its ISPs. And rightly so, as a CRTC investigation reveals that most of the ISPs in Canada actively slow down customers using P2P applications.

Canonical and Microsoft: Is Sustaining a Business Better than Turning a Profit Right Now?

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:21:07 UT

The New York Times ran a piece this Sunday featuring Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth. Though a majority of the piece was biographical, and the rest wasn\'t exactly the picture of accuracy in its portrayal of Ubuntu (or Linux in general), there were a few interesting figures.

Payment Processor Breach May Be Largest Ever

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:20:20 UT

A data breach last year at Princeton, N.J., payment processor Heartland Payment Systems may have compromised tens of millions of credit and debit card transactions, the company said today. If accurate, such figures may make the Heartland incident one of the largest data breaches ever reported.

Move over GNOME, Ubuntu Mobile looks at Qt, other desktop environments

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:19:16 UT

The Ubuntu Mobile operating system is undergoing its most radical change with a port to the ARM processor for Internet devices and netbooks, and may use Nokia\'s LGPL Qt development environment as an alternative to GNOME.

Building desktop Linux applications with JavaScript

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:13:51 UT

During his keynote presentation at OSCON last year, Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth described application extensibility as an important enabler of innovation and user empowerment. Citing the Firefox web browser and its rich ecosystem of add-ons as an example, Shuttleworth suggested that the Linux community could deliver a lot of extra value by making scriptable automation and plugin capabilities available pervasively across the entire desktop stack.

13 Free Web Apps To Simplify Designers` Work Life

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:12:56 UT

I think designers do not search design tutorials and resources only. They also would like to have those web applications that can make their life easier. And If they found those web apps simple in use so they keep them using a lot and bookmarked for future use.

Cisco plans big push into server market

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:11:33 UT

Within the next few months, Cisco Systems, the largest maker of networking equipment, plans to release a product that threatens to shake up the technology industry and put the company on a collision course with traditional partners like Hewlett-Packard and IBM.

Throw your hard drive away, Google`s Gdrive arriving in 2009

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:08:47 UT

Chicago (IL) - Google Drive, or Gdrive as it is better known, has to be the most anticipated Google product so far. When it arrives, Gdrive will likely cause a major paradigm shift in how we use computers and bring Google one step closer to dethroning Windows on your desktop.

Automating Data Visualization with Ruby and Graphviz

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:04:12 UT

I often have the need to visualize data from the enterprise resource planning system we use at work. For those not familiar, an ERP is a collection of servers and software that essentially create a common environment for people to monitor and plan a business. One of the downsides I've ran into with our ERP system is that the data within is huge, complex, and not easy to visualize.

Layoffs at O'Reilly Media in Sebastopol

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:00:15 UT

O'Reilly Media laid off 30 employees on Thursday in a restructuring effort intended to help the influential Sebastopol tech publisher weather the economic downturn.

10 really cool Google Chrome hacks

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 13:32:19 UT

Google\'s Chrome browser is fast becoming the geeks\' choice, as users all over the world tinker with it and explore its deeper capabilities.

Mobile device syncing in Linux made easy

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 13:29:30 UT

There\'s a long history of syncing mobile devices with Linux. That long history is mostly filled with one device not synchronising, followed by another device not working, followed by another. The problem is that the protocols and software used by most devices to talk with one another are closely guarded secrets, and anyone attempting to write an open source client needs to decode those protocols bit by bit, and then stay ahead of any changes.

What killed Vista will make Windows 7 fly

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 13:28:08 UT

I\'m one of those users who has been using Vista with no problems ever since Microsoft gave out RTM copies to beta testers. However, as a writer, I\'ve watched the media completely destroy the public opinion of Vista, leading many to stick with Windows XP or to look for alternatives, even before they had tried Vista.

Intel cuts prices on some chips up to 48 percent

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 13:26:50 UT

On Sunday, Intel instituted broad price cuts on processors, spanning the Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Duo, Pentium dual-core, Celeron, and Xeon product lines.

Troubled Technologies: An 2009 Watch List

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 13:39:16 UT

Well, the new year is upon us. Time to cast off bad habits, internalize new resolutions, and call for the untimely death of a few Internet industries by year\'s end. OK... we won\'t take things that far. But we are ready to declare a few technologies to watch this year, as the VC well dries up, business models continue to fail to work or even materialize, and the recession comes around to cull the tech industry\'s weakest. It\'s safe to say, for some, 2009 will not be a good year.

How to Suck at Information Security

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 13:35:01 UT

The list presents common information security mistakes and misconceptions, so you can avoid making them.

Pope Benedict the next YouTube star?

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 13:30:38 UT

The Vatican--which recently endorsed an iPhone prayer app and gave its blessing to gadget evangelism--is displaying further receptivity to technology with Saturday\'s announcement that Pope Benedict XVI will get his own YouTube channel.

Facebook restructures developer platform management

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 13:27:52 UT

In a post on the company\'s developer blog on Friday, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced some changes to the management of its third-party developer projects. This encompasses both the Facebook platform, which opened up the social network to third-party applications and took off like wildfire when it launched in 2007, and the newer Facebook Connect, which brings Facebook log-in credentials to participating outside sites.

Coming Up Next... YouTube on Your TV

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 13:26:47 UT

Have you ever wanted to just sit on your couch and watch YouTube on your TV? Well, now that\'s possible via YouTube for Television, initially available through the Sony PS3 and Nintendo Wii game consoles at www.youtube.com/tv. Currently in beta, the TV Website offers a dynamic, lean-back, 10-foot television viewing experience through a streamlined interface that enables you to discover, watch and share YouTube videos on any TV screen with just a few quick clicks of your remote control.

The iPhone Could Be The Ultimate Study Machine

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 13:18:08 UT

We've all heard about the incredible growth of the App Store, which has seen more than 500 million downloads across over 15,000 applications. Much of the innovation (or at least, money) has come from games and other entertaining apps like Smule's Ocarina and Pandora Radio. But the iPhone is also poised to make huge strides in a somewhat less glamorous space: study guides.

12 Useful Web Tools for Designers

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 05:03:18 UT

When it comes to design, there's a plethora of free web-based tools to help you accomplish tasks such as color palette selection, creating unique fonts, editing images, and testing typography. In this article, you'll find a bunch of handy online utilities for designers.

Tim Cook: the man in Steve Jobs shoes

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 04:54:36 UT

Tim Cook, who will oversee the company while Jobs takes medical leave, never raises his voice. Still, Cook's management style won't be a shift for employees. He's been quietly running the company for several years, said Mike Janes, who worked with the executive for five years at Apple.

What your hard drive will look like in 5 years

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 04:53:19 UT

As solid-state disk (SSD) technology closes in on hard disk drive (HDD) capacity and price, experts say it may not be long before spinning disks are a thing of the past and a computer\'s storage resides in flash memory on the motherboard.

Ubuntu Faster on My Internet Than Windows XP

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 04:40:39 UT

This isn\'t a rigorous benchmarked lab test yet, but I found something bizarre this morning. After fixing a little router problem, I tested the download speeds on my DSL line from AT&T and my cable Internet line from Time Warner Cable. I have both for product testing needs.

Debian on Android installer released

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 04:39:37 UT

I have created and installer and bootloader (download below) for getting Debian running on your Android (G1 at the moment) device, the whole install process will take you about 10 mins, and leaves you with access to the full plethora of programs available in Debian and let\'s you continue using your phone as it was intended to be: as an Android device with all the capabilities thereof.

The Secret Lives of Ubuntu and Debian Users

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 04:32:17 UT

Using free and open source software (FOSS), advocates like to say, is not a popularity contest. It's about doing what's right. However, the Debian and Ubuntu Popularity Contest projects might disagree. Using the Popularity Contest package, these two projects collect and post weekly anonymous reports about the software used on each system on which they're installed. The result is a rare insight into the habits of FOSS users, including how often software is upgraded, what applications are used the most, and the differences between the expert-oriented Debian distribution and the more user-friendly Ubuntu distribution.

1 in 3 Windows PCs vulnerable to worm attack

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 04:28:01 UT

The worm that has infected several million Windows PCs is causing havoc because nearly a third of all systems remain unpatched 80 days after Microsoft Corp. rolled out an emergency fix, a security expert said today.

Netscape Enterprise Server, Now Open Source

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 04:23:58 UT

Last year when Sun acquired MySQL I did a tour of a few of the campuses meeting different engineers to see what they did with Sun. At some point last year I met up with a group in Menlo Park who had been working on a webserver at Sun. Low and behold it was the evolutionary grandchild of what was the Netscape Enterprise Server.

Android-powered G1 phone is an enticing platform for app developers

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:08:10 UT

The free and open source software community has been waiting for the G1 cell phone since it was first announced in July. Source code for Google's Android mobile platform has been available, but the G1 marks its commercial debut. It's clearly a good device, but is it what Linux boosters and FOSS advocates have long been anticipating?

The new openSUSE community-elected board speaks

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:05:04 UT

The distribution's first board was appointed by Novell in November 2007, tasked with the unusual job of "bootstrapping" a community-elected board that could guide the project with a balance of Novell and non-Novell influence. Less than a year later, that community-elected board is now in place, and looking forward to its new role.

Your Rights Online: IBM Teri-is-a-Girl-and-Terry-is-a-Boy Patent

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 21:34:53 UT

"The USPTO has granted IBM a patent for utilizing naming conventions to assign gender-based avatars for instant messaging. A user named Teri, IBM explains, would be given a girl avatar, while a user named Terry would be provided with a boy avatar. The three IBM 'inventors' were stymied by users named Pat, who as a result will be assigned a 'generic, genderless human figure image as his or her avatar.' Way to honor that significant-technical-content patent pledge, Big Blue!"

Biggest Threat to Microsoft - Google or Open Source?

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 11:11:29 UT

"Google always plays down suggestions that there's any looming clash of the titans between itself and Microsoft. Meanwhile, the search giant is pushing open source in every way it can. They're contributing directly by contributing code to projects and employing top hackers like Andrew Morton, Jeremy Allison and Guido van Rossum, and indirectly through the $60 million fees it pays Mozilla, its Summer of Code scheme and various open source summits held at its offices. Google+OSS: could this be the killer combination that finally breaks Microsoft?"

Fedora 8 A Serious Threat to Ubuntu

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 20:44:01 UT

"According to MadPenguin.org's latest article, Fedora 8 from Red Hat is a serious threat to Ubuntu. The author writes, "I was never that swept up with past releases of Fedora. There was nothing compelling about it. But for the first time, I cannot help but feel that the Fedora team has been spoon fed an extra helping of Wheaties, which has put them into overdrive with their accessibility efforts."

Linux: Long Live Closed-Source Software?

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 11:14:54 UT

"In an article for Discover Magazine, Jaron Lanier writes about his belief that open source produces nothing interesting because of a hide-bound mentality. 'Open wisdom-of-crowds software movements have become influential, but they haven't promoted the kind of radical creativity I love most in computer science. If anything, they've been hindrances. Some of the youngest, brightest minds have been trapped in a 1970s intellectual framework because they are hypnotized into accepting old software designs as if they were facts of nature. Linux is a superbly polished copy of an antique, shinier than the original, perhaps, but still defined by it.'"

Embedded Linux On a Digital Stethoscope

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 10:26:47 UT

"A team of electrical and computer engineering students at Calvin College is designing a digital electronic stethoscope running uClinux as its operating system. While there are many embedded devices built on Linux operating systems, medical devices running open-source software are extremely rare because of the perceived difficulty in obtaining FDA validation. The device is in its early stages of development, but major hardware choices have been made, and the team has recently released a Project Proposal and Feasibility Study."

SQL Server Security Tips

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 10:30:50 UT

SQL Server

China Anti-Corruption Web Site Crashes On First Day

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 00:00:00 UT

An anonymous reader tips us to news out of China that the Web site of the National Bureau of Corruption Prevention crashed on Tuesday, just hours after its launch, as droves of people logged on to complain about corruption among officials. "The number of visitors was very large and beyond our expectations," an anonymous NBCP official said.

Starting Apache Web Server at every Reboot (for Ubuntu / Debian Linux)

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 00:00:00 UT

Tutorial added in the tutorials section