Archive for the ‘Open Source’ Category
What is up with all these slow news days? No seriously, what happened to the news? Yeah sure, Leopard came out today and everyone is basically spooging all over it. Anyway, let’s get this short post over with. And don’t forget to check out our Recommended Reading link at the end!
It seems like Nokia is gearing up to announce some new phones on November 2. We know they’re having an event next week and some
spy shots of the rumored N82 phone were released today. It’s worth noting that Symbian-Guru leaked the N81 and N82 a few months back and the N81 was indeed for real. The spy shots coupled with the fact that an official event is coming indicate that the N82 does exist. It’s rumored to come with 5MP camera, GPS, QVGA display, Wifi, Bluetooth, and a Series 60 OS. [Via Mobile-Review]
Sticking with leaks, Video Games Blogger has what they’re calling the final setlist for Guitar Hero III. Ordered by difficulty. We don’t know about you, but European Invasion has some very awesome songs. The final tier is sure to bring a lot of pain on higher difficulty levels. The big surprise? DragonForce have been relegated to the bonus tracks! Read the full list here. [Via PC World]
With the DS and the Wii minting money for Nintendo, the company has said that the Wii will not be getting a price cut any time soon. And we don’t blame them. It’s already the top current gen console at $250. The profit margin for Nintendo is pretty sweet and so why would they cut prices? [Via Yahoo! News]
If you keep track of security-related news, you ought to have heard of the Storm worm. Well, it seems like the worm is making its way out. But worms don’t go away that easy, do they? The worm is mounting DDoS on researchers as it can use its botnet to retaliate against anyone trying to probe the worm. Don’t malware authors have nothing better to do? What kind of a loser do you have to be to gain sadistic pleasure from making other people’s lives miserable? [Via ArsTechnica]
Recommended Reading: Run Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) from a USB Flash Drive
Popularity: 40% [?]
- By Vivek on Oct 27, 2007
A bit of a slow news day today. Not a lot happened but coming up is a short summary of today’s top stories. On slow news days like today, we’ll try and add a “Recommended Reading” link which will take you to an analysis/article/editorial/op-ed that while not news, makes for good reading.
The
Indian government did a U-turn on OLPCs today as it agreed to a pilot project that will give 22 students in Maharashtra an OLPC each. The government will evaluate the usefulness of the OLPC and then decide on whether to get more OLPCs. A few months ago,
the government was bragging about being able to build $10 computers which was as unlikely then as it is now. A year ago, the Indian government snubbed the OLPC but things appear to have changed now. [Via Yahoo! News]
For once, Microsoft has managed to beat Google. The company managed to clinch a 1.6% stake in popular social networking site Facebook earlier today for a whopping $240 million. This means that Facebook is now worth $15 billion in the short span of three years. The deal gives Microsoft exclusive rights to post adverts on the website outside the United States among other things. [Via REUTERS]
In news sure to please open source aficionados, Version 2.4 of the GNU Image Manipulation Program or GIMP was released to public today. While it hasn’t brought any GUI changes with it, the GIMP website has been given a much-needed makeover. Version 2.6 is expected to bring in a new interface but this is a solid release by the GIMP team. Click here to download the latest version.
In our last item for the day, we have information courtesy HardMac that copies of Leopard have already made their way into retail stores ahead of its impending release. Leopard is the new Mac OS X operating system (10.5) and ushers in several new features and enhancements over Tiger. [Via HardMac]
Recommended Reading: Why Motorola and Sony Ericsson need to “get it” from AllAboutSymbian.com
Popularity: 20% [?]
- By Vivek on Oct 25, 2007
The guys behind the Linspire Linux offering have released a new Linux OS based on Ubuntu 7.04 and features support for proprietary codecs such as MP3 and Windows Media and offers superior 3D graphic card and WiFi support. It also includes proprietary software such as Java, Flash, and Adobe Acrobat. And it’s available as a free download from the Freespire website.
Furthermore, it support Linspire’s CNR service that “provides free one-click access to thousands of open source applications, as well as options for legally licensed DVD playback software, Sun’s StarOffice, Parallels Workstation, Win4Lin, CodeWeaver’s Crossover Office, TransGaming’s Cedega, commercial games and many more.”
Freespire [Via TG Daily]
Popularity: 5% [?]
- By Vivek on Aug 8, 2007
Motorola recently unveiled a new mobile platform called Motomagx based on Linux. The first phones to use this new platform, the ROKR Z6 and the RAZR2 V8 are already available in select markets and Motorola hopes to use the new platform in up to 60% of all its phones in the coming years. According to DigiTimes,
Motorola’s Motomagx platform is designed to support a broad array of content created by third-party developers. Today, it supports applications developed in Java ME, with plans to introduce new WebUI (featuring web technology to enable widgets and Web 2.0 experiences) and native Linux application environments in upcoming releases.
Sounds interesting. They should probably work on coming up with better names though.
DigiTimes
Popularity: 4% [?]
- By Vivek on Aug 8, 2007
Obviously, Dell seems to be happy with the response it has been getting from consumers regarding Linux-based computers and so they’ve decided to expand. Linux-based computers went on sale in Europe from Tuesday. Dell didn’t say when these computers will go on sale in China.
Interestingly, Dell will stick with Ubuntu for Europe while China will get Suse Linux. In any case, this is great news for Linux fans!
REUTERS
Popularity: 13% [?]
- By Vivek on Aug 8, 2007
Do you love Linux but moan the fact that it ain’t no windows when it comes to games? Well, fear no more! Here is an excellent list of 370+ games available for Linux. Some are free and some are commercial. But either way, it’s a great list.
Linux Gamers’ Game List
[Via Digg]
Popularity: 4% [?]
- By Vivek on Aug 7, 2007
Following in the footsteps of Dell and possibly Acer, Lenovo announced today that it will begin selling laptops preloaded with Linux software from Novell. The new laptops are expected to go on sale in the fourth quarter and will be available to business customers as well as home consumers.
Here’s hoping that their laptops will finally be more reasonably priced. A man can wish!
REUTERS
Popularity: 4% [?]
- By Vivek on Aug 6, 2007
The latest Firefox version is now available for download from Mozilla’s website. The new version, 2.0.0.6 patches two security flaws that were recently discovered. The release notes list the following two fixes:
MFSA 2007-27 Unescaped URIs passed to external programs
MFSA 2007-26 Privilege escalation through chrome-loaded about:blank windows
To download Firefox 2, hit the link below. In case you wish to read the release notes, hit the link below the download link. Efficient, eh?
Firefox 2.0.0.6
Release NotesÂ
Popularity: 4% [?]
- By Vivek on Jul 31, 2007
Mark Shuttleworth says that Dell will soon expand its Linux PC line-up as they’re pleased with the consumer response so far. Canonical Inc., founded by Shuttleworth, provides Ubuntu support to Dell and hence his claims should be taken seriously.
Of course, Dell refused to comment on “products in the pipeline.”
REUTERS
Popularity: 10% [?]
- By Vivek on Jul 27, 2007
SGI’s Atix supercomputer will be used by NASA to power its NAS Technology Refresh Program. The computer will feature 1024 Intel Itanium 2 processors for a record total of 2048 cores along with 4TB of RAM running a single copy of Linux. The impressive specs don’t stop at that! The computer will use a 240TB storage system also from SGI and will be able to generate 13.1 TFlops of computing power.
The system will be installed at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility in California in August.
CNNÂ
Popularity: 4% [?]
- By Vivek on Jul 26, 2007
