Mac OS X 10.4.3 will weigh in at around 100MB and include more than 550 fixes and improvements, although unconfirmed reports have pegged this number at more than 1,000 when smaller, undocumented changes are included in the count. The latest seed added tweaks to CoreGraphics, CoreImage, and OpenGL, as well as iChat and WebKit, among other improvements.
Microsoft plans to discontinue the use of the SSLv2 (Secure Socket Layer) protocol in the coming Internet Explorer browser refresh. In its place, he company will fit the stronger TLSv1 (Transport Layer Security) protocol into IE 7 as part of an overall plan to improve the security and user experience for HTTPS connections.
Intel has delayed by months the release of the next three major versions of the Itanium processor, a new blow for the processor family. But the chipmaker also plans a change it said will boost the performance of its more widely used Xeon line.
Mobile-Review posted a multi-screenshot article introducing the UIQ 3.0 user interface for the Symbian OS. Even more screenshots here. The same web site also discusses the foot Nokia tries to put in enterprise communications with its new E series smartphones using Symbian kernel 9.1 and as its user interface the 'Nokia Series 60 v3'.
"DR-DOS released DR-DOS 8.1 in the beginning of this month. But instead of an upgrade of the previous DR-DOS 8.0, it's something completely different. The kernel is a badly patched copy of the Enhanced DR-DOS kernel old version 7.01.06 without any credit to its author Udo Kuhnt. The other programs and drivers included are old versions of some popular open source, freeware and shareware products without licenses, documentation or even credit to their authors. This means that DR-DOS 8.1 is just a bunch of old tools plus a compilation of others' works, obviously sold without permission and in violation of their license terms."
"I must admit that I had mixed feelings when I saw the new toolbar metaphor for OpenOffice.org 2.0. On the one hand, the 1.x system for seeing different toolbars was a bit complicated and weird. On the other hand, the huge list of toolbars under the "View" menu of the OpenOffice.org 2.0 (release candidate) seemed potentially overwhelming. I must admit, though, that I am a happy convert to the new system." (Part 1|part 2)
The Measurement Factory and Infoblox today announced results of a survey of more than 1.3 million Internet-connected, authoritative domain name system servers around the globe. The results of the survey indicate that as many as 84 percent of Internet name servers could be vulnerable to pharming attacks, and that many exhibit other security and deployment-related vulnerabilities.
"It's almost mind-boggling that every 18 months or so, regular as clockwork, you can get twice as much computing power. In fact, it is mind-boggling, and these high octane servers can cause some hassles in the data center. In this tip, I explore the standard fixes applied when server shoppers go overboard. These include server consolidation and grid computing. Then, I explore another option: virtualization with Xen."
Sources close to the joint efforts between Google and Sun say rampant speculation about hosted desktop productivity offerings and common operating systems is way off base. Insiders with knowledge of the joint plans to promote and enhance the OpenOffice.org desktop productivity suite say it is far more likely that Sun and Google will find ways to promote both OpenOffice.org and Google Toolbar, including having Toolbar included as part of OpenOffice.org, StarOffice, and even OpenSolaris and Sun's branded Solaris products.
The notion of "business intelligence," or easy access to critical company data, is one of the key areas for improvement that the company has identified for the next version of its flagship desktop software. On Monday, Microsoft shared some of its plans in that area, including the outlines of a new server-based system for managing Excel spreadsheets.
P.A. Semi, a 150-employee chip startup, wants to make name for itself through attention to detail. The Silicon Valley chip startup, run by chip legend Dan Dobberpuhl-Dobberpuhl, its CEO, presided over the development of the Alpha processor while at Digital Equipment Corp. lifted its veil of secrecy Monday. The company will begin offering a new family of low-power, multicore, PowerPC architecture processors in 2006.
"MySQL 5.0.15, a new version of the popular Open Source Database Management System, has been released. The Community Edition is now available in source and binary form for a number of platforms from our download pages."
"Despite its recent announcement of servers based on AMD64 CPUs, Sun Microsystems is still gung-ho about its 64-bit UltraSPARC computers. The newest addition to Sun's workstation array is the portable Ultra 3 Mobile Workstation. At first glance you might think it's a fancy-looking notebook system, but on closer inspection you'll discover that it's got all the power of a Sun Blade workstation in a fraction of the size."
"Someone has started rearranging content on the Internet to suit their own purposes and the culprit might be a convicted monopolist. This article examines some compelling evidence and asks Congress to investigate."
"Once my original Mini-ITX project was completed I finally had a chance to sit back and use the computer. Knowing how simple my needs were, the Mini-ITX project computer was orginally designed to be as basic and quiet as possible. This meant no hard drive, no extra accessories- just a stripped down system. While this suited my needs well at the time, its lack of versatility soon became an issue. This meant it was back to the drawing board for a retooling of the Mini-ITX project computer."
Today, Andy Tanenbaum has officially announced the release of MINIX 3.0, the third stable version of this rather legendary operating system. The launch of v3 has been accompanied by a new website and a new logo. From the new website: "MINIX 3 is a new open-source operating system designed to be highly reliable and secure. It is based somewhat on previous versions of MINIX, but is fundamentally different in many key ways. MINIX 1 and 2 were intended as teaching tools; MINIX 3 adds the new goal of being usable as a serious system on resource-limited and embedded computers and for applications requiring high reliability." Read on for more information.
Rink Springer would like to see his Xbox port migrated into FreeBSD-current. He is looking to import his FreeBSD/Xbox within the FreeBSD/i386 port, bringing support into FreeBSD-CURRENT. He is proposing a prioritized plan in order to accomplish this goal and is looking for your comments and feedback.
"I've updated the Firewalling with PF manuscript, mainly for the tutorial I gave at the AUUG2005 conference. New sections: Info on bruteforce protection; Wireless net setup; authpf with wireless net. Updates to the spamd section and traceroute section."
"Are you ready to take a look at a fairly new technology that promises you to save bandwidth? Maybe you're even more interested when the promises range from a 50% to a 80% amount of savings? Jump in, and take the ride to see if it works out as well as you were promised. I'm going to take a walk down Apache 2 server lane and benchmark mod_deflate in a real life situation instead of a synthetic setup."
