http://www.osnews.com Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2012, David Adams Wed, 16 May 2012 20:18:01 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com http://osnews.com/story/25959/Windows_8_Release_Preview_to_include_multi-monitor_improvements http://osnews.com/story/25959/Windows_8_Release_Preview_to_include_multi-monitor_improvements "Microsoft has greatly improved its Windows 8 multiple monitor support in the Consumer Preview version of the operating system, but the company has fine tuned this even more with the upcoming Release Preview. Mark Yalovsky, a member of Microsoft's User Experience team, has taken to the company's Building Windows 8 blog to detail a number of important improvements in the Release Preview, including improved mouse targeting on shared edges and the ability to launch Metro apps on any monitor. Although the post in question has been mysteriously removed by Microsoft, we managed to secure the details thanks to a Google cached version." Very welcome. Wed, 16 May 2012 18:04:41 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Windows http://osnews.com/story/25958/WSJ_Apple_moves_toward_larger_iPhone_screens http://osnews.com/story/25958/WSJ_Apple_moves_toward_larger_iPhone_screens "Production is set to begin next month for the screens, which measure at least 4 inches diagonally compared with 3.5 inches on the iPhone 4S, the latest phone from Apple, the people said." Cue the usual suspects twisting and turning to change the very fabric of space-time so that instead of 3.5" being the optimal size, 4.0" will be the optimal size. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. Wed, 16 May 2012 11:39:04 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Apple http://osnews.com/story/25957/Google_to_expand_Nexus_program http://osnews.com/story/25957/Google_to_expand_Nexus_program "Google plans to give multiple mobile-device makers early access to new releases of Android and to sell those devices directly to consumers, said people familiar with the matter. [...] The expansion of direct sales marks a bid to exert more control over key features and apps that run on Android-powered phones and tablets, thus reducing the influence of wireless carriers over such devices, these people said. Wireless carriers typically handle marketing and sales of devices and thus can exert some control over the services that run on them." So, an expanded Nexus program that includes several smartphones and tablets without crapware. Sounds good. Wed, 16 May 2012 09:26:50 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Google http://osnews.com/story/25956/Alsup_quot_I_ve_written_code_like_rangeCheck_a_hundred_times_before_quot_ http://osnews.com/story/25956/Alsup_quot_I_ve_written_code_like_rangeCheck_a_hundred_times_before_quot_ A bit of a fascinating little surprise in the Oracle vs. Google proceedings yesterday. As it turns out, judge Alsup... Has done, and still does, a lot of programming, and hence, he knows just how silly the whole rangeChek issue is. Addressing Oracle's lawyer, Alsup notes: "I couldn't have told you the first thing about Java before this problem. I have done, and still do, a significant amount of programming in other languages. I've written blocks of code like rangeCheck a hundred times before. I could do it, you could do it. The idea that someone would copy that when they could do it themselves just as fast, it was an accident. There's no way you could say that was speeding them along to the marketplace. You're one of the best lawyers in America, how could you even make that kind of argument?" Ouch. Wed, 16 May 2012 07:35:24 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Legal http://osnews.com/story/25955/Register_for_the_HP_Discover_Conference http://osnews.com/story/25955/Register_for_the_HP_Discover_Conference OSNews sponsor Hewlett-Packard is extending an offer to OSNews readers who register for the upcoming HP Discover conference: "This is HP's largest global conference for customers and partners attracting 10,000 IT executives, managers, architects, engineers, and solution experts from around the world. Join them to network and explore pivotal technology developments, best practices, and strategies." Readers can get a $300 discount on registration by using this link and using the discount code: "BLOG." Tue, 15 May 2012 18:57:57 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) General Development http://osnews.com/story/25954/If_you_can_copyright_an_API_what_else_can_you_copyright_ http://osnews.com/story/25954/If_you_can_copyright_an_API_what_else_can_you_copyright_ "If Judge William Alsup rules that APIs are subject to copyrights, he would overturn common wisdom in programming circles, potentially exposing many companies and developers who have built software platforms that openly mimic existing APIs. But that's not all. Such a ruling could shake things up for many other companies across the programming world and beyond." The fact we even have to worry about this speaks volumes about the state of the industry. Tue, 15 May 2012 18:04:10 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Legal http://osnews.com/story/25953/My_Raspberry_Pi_thinks_it_s_a_mainframe http://osnews.com/story/25953/My_Raspberry_Pi_thinks_it_s_a_mainframe "As the Raspberry Pi started to ship the Sinclair ZX Spectrum turned 30 years old, and comparisons were being made between the two and their role in providing access to affordable computer hardware. Given the phenomenal advances in computing since the birth of the ZX Spectrum, I thought it might be fun to compare the Raspberry Pi with a computer that was closer to the state of the art at around that time, and to see if the Raspberry Pi could fill its shoes..." Tue, 15 May 2012 14:05:47 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Hardware, Embedded Systems http://osnews.com/story/25952/Minecraft_Xbox_360_Edition_sells_one_million_copies_in_five_days http://osnews.com/story/25952/Minecraft_Xbox_360_Edition_sells_one_million_copies_in_five_days One million copies sold in 5 days, $20 million in sales. People have already sunk 5.2 million hours into the game, including 2.4 million hours in 4 million multiplayer games. Minecraft on the Xbox 360 is yet another massive success. Pretty amazing. Coincidentally, I'm kind of done with Minecraft single player (on the PC, that is). Anybody here running a decent survival multiplayer server with mods (levelling, economy, etc.)? Tue, 15 May 2012 11:56:13 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Games http://osnews.com/story/25951/What_s_wrong_with_Windows_8 http://osnews.com/story/25951/What_s_wrong_with_Windows_8 For weeks - if not months - I've been trying to come up with a way to succinctly and accurately explain why, exactly, Windows 8 rubs me the wrong way, usability-wise. I think I finally got it. Mon, 14 May 2012 22:49:38 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Windows http://osnews.com/story/25950/Wozniak_calls_for_open_Apple http://osnews.com/story/25950/Wozniak_calls_for_open_Apple "I think that Apple could be just as strong and good and be open, but how can you challenge it when a company is making that much money?", Wozniak told a crowd in Sydney, according to ITNews. They'd score so many brownie points the internet would explode. Mon, 14 May 2012 18:28:41 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Apple http://osnews.com/story/25949/Dutch_Pirate_Bay_judge_is_corrupt_claims_Pirate_Party_founder http://osnews.com/story/25949/Dutch_Pirate_Bay_judge_is_corrupt_claims_Pirate_Party_founder "This week yet another court order was handed down in Europe with the aim of censoring The Pirate Bay. The ruling forbids the Dutch Pirate Party from not only running a direct proxy, but also telling people how to circumvent an earlier court ordered blockade. However, according to Pirate Party founder Rick Falkvinge, the judge in the case has a history of corruption relating to another file-sharing case he presided over in the Netherlands." This news has knocked me off my chair in disbelief that something like this could happen in The Netherlands. Yes, that was quite obviously sarcasm. Mon, 14 May 2012 16:57:19 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Legal http://osnews.com/story/25948/Judiciary_Committee_to_look_at_Microsoft_competition_allegations http://osnews.com/story/25948/Judiciary_Committee_to_look_at_Microsoft_competition_allegations "Senate Judiciary Committee staffers plan to take a look at allegations that Microsoft has made it difficult for competing Web browsers to run on a certain version of Windows, an aide to Antitrust subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl told The Hill Thursday." Good. We have to nip this in the bud, and with a bit of luck, it alerts Washington to the iOS situation as well. More browser competition equals a better web - mobile devices aren't magically exempt from this just because they have no keyboard. As simple as that. Mon, 14 May 2012 15:20:39 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Windows http://osnews.com/story/25947/FreeBSD_Clang_replacing_GCC_in_the_base_system http://osnews.com/story/25947/FreeBSD_Clang_replacing_GCC_in_the_base_system "The intent is to switch on this option by default rather sooner than later, so we can start preparing for shipping 10.0-RELEASE with Clang as the default system compiler, and deprecating gcc." Good to see Clang/LLVM continue to gain as much steam as it does. This will only make GCC better. Mon, 14 May 2012 13:55:15 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) FreeBSD http://osnews.com/story/25946/Systemd_tuning_gets_boot_times_down_to_less_than_2_seconds http://osnews.com/story/25946/Systemd_tuning_gets_boot_times_down_to_less_than_2_seconds Lennart Poettering, the author of systemd, has announced: "I just put a first version of a wiki document together that lists a couple of easy optimizations to get your boot times down to [less than] 2s. It also includes a list of suggested things to hack on to get even quicker boot-ups." Sun, 13 May 2012 23:48:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com () Linux http://osnews.com/story/25945/Yahoo_CEO_to_step_down http://osnews.com/story/25945/Yahoo_CEO_to_step_down "Yahoo's embattled CEO Scott Thompson is set to step down from his job at the Silicon Valley Internet giant, in what will be dramatic end to a controversy over a fake computer science degree that he had on his bio, according to multiple sources close to the situation." I can't even bother to feign interest. Sun, 13 May 2012 19:47:25 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Internet & Networking