OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

How To Install VirtualBox 5.0 In Ubuntu/Linux Mint Or Other Derivatives

Submitted by MohdSohail 2015-07-14 Linux 5 Comments

Most of us know what virtual machines are but for those don't know, virtual machines are the kind of software that allow users to run other operating system within current operating system. It's the favorite for everyone to taste other operating systems without going away from main operating system. In this article I'll show you how to installPicture VM VirtualBox 5.0 in Ubuntu 15.04/14.10/Linux mint Rafaela or other derivatives. Read more

Submitted by Thexder 2015-07-14 Apple 3 Comments

It's been over 22 years since the last official version came out of Apple Computer. Some dedicated enthusiasts have made bug fixes and added additional features to create a new version of the operating system. More information and a link to the software can be found here.

Apple Adds Two Factor Authentication to OS X and iOS

David Adams 2015-07-09 Privacy, Security 15 Comments

Apple wants to make OS X El Capitan and iOS 9 less susceptible to attackers, so it's introducing a new two-factor authentication system to both operating systems. The new authentication system will be available in the public betas for both operating systems.

Video of MacOS 7.5 Running on Apple Watch

David Adams 2015-07-09 Humor 8 Comments

A fun-loving guy named Nick Lee got an Apple Watch running watchOS 2 to run MacOS System 7.5.5, using the Mini vMac Macintosh emulator. Not to be outdone, someone else got Windows 7 to run on an Asus Zenphone.

Apple: You Can Not Downgrade Watch OS

David Adams 2015-07-09 Apple 8 Comments

With the launch today of the watchOS 2.0 beta 3, Apple has officially confirmed that there is no way to downgrade to an earlier version of watchOS without sending your device into Apple.

Submitted by matthekc 2015-07-09 OpenBSD 32 Comments

The Microsoft corporation has become OpenBSD's first "Gold Level" sponsor after a large donation. (Facebook and Google are both silver contributors). The move is likely related to Microsoft's use of OpenSSH in future versions of Powershell. Meanwhile at the FreeBSD site companies LineRate, NetApp, Google, Hudson River Trading, and Netflix dominate the top sponsors. Noticeably absent was the Apple Computer Corporation who base their OSX and IOS systems off of the free software BSD systems. More info about OpenBSD's 2015 fundraising campaign here.

Virtualbox 5.0 Release

David Adams 2015-07-09 Oracle and SUN 26 Comments

Oracle has released Virtualbox 5.0. Major improvements include: Paravirtualization support for modern Windows and Linux guests, xHCI controller to support USB 3.0 devices, Improved Drag & Drop support, Disk image encryption, Headless and Detachable start option, and numerous UI enhancements.

Support for Windows Server 2003 Ends Next Week

Submitted by Samantha Sharp 2015-07-08 Windows 18 Comments

Microsoft is ceasing support for enterprise IT workhorse Windows Server 2003 on July 14th. Despite support reaching end of life, research from the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) suggests that at the end of 2014 61 per cent of businesses were still reliant on Windows Server 2003. A further study by Bit9 predicts 2.7 million Win2k3 servers will remain deployed post end-of-life. To give the OS a fitting send-off, Databarracks and the University of Surrey’s Electronics and Amateur Radio Society launched a Windows Server 2003 CD-ROM into the stratosphere in a weather balloon. You can watch the video at YouTube.

Submitted by M.Onty 2015-07-08 Hardware 6 Comments

The design for the Micro Bit, the sequel to the venerable BBC Micro, has been finalized, and will be given to every 11- and 12-year-old British child in October. BBC Learning head Sinead Rocks said: "The BBC Micro Bit is all about young people learning to express themselves digitally. As the Micro Bit is able to connect to everything from mobile phones to plant pots and Raspberry Pis, this could be for the internet-of-things what the BBC Micro was to the British gaming industry." The Micro Bit's web site confirms it will include an ARM Cortex M0 process, bluetooth, motion sensors and a built in compass.

Submitted by MohdSohail 2015-07-08 Linux 41 Comments

As with many things Linux-related, the variety of desktop environments is both a strength and a weakness. For new users, the decision of which DE to use can be a hard one. To help, the folks at Linux and Ubuntu have compiled a list of their top five. In typical fashion, partisans for the DEs that were left out were quick to advocate for their favorites in the comments. (I post this mostly to give OSNews readers the opportunity to opine on how wrong they are).

Submitted by mbpark 2015-07-08 Microsoft 30 Comments

In a move that shouldn't surprise OSNews readers that much, Microsoft is writing off most of what it acquired from Nokia less than two years ago and will be laying off 7,800 people in its hardware division. According to Ars: "The hardware division includes the lion’s share of former Nokia employees, who became part of Microsoft last year. Former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop is leaving--this much we knew from last month--and Reuters says that Microsoft is also going to record an "impairment charge" of $7.6 billion dollars from the Nokia acquisition and perform a complete restructuring of its phone business. It's a shame, considering that Windows Phone has actually shaped out to be a pretty good OS, and a mobile OS landscape with only two players is good for neither consumers nor OS enthusiasts.

Jolla announces focus shift

Thom Holwerda 2015-07-07 Wireless 39 Comments

And so, a day before I leave for Italy for my Summer vacation, we've got some... News about Jolla. The company just put out a press release, announcing a focus shift.

Jolla Ltd., the Finnish mobile company and developer of open mobile operating system Sailfish OS, today announced a change in its company structure and management as further action toward company's strategy to focus on Sailfish OS licensing and development.

As of today, the company Jolla Ltd. will concentrate on the development and licensing business of the independent and open mobile operating system Sailfish OS. A new company will be established to continue Jolla's device business, where the company sees a specific interest from privacy-aware consumers and corporations around the world.

The press release - of course - frames this as happy news, but years of experience in covering technology (or just years of not living under a rock, really) has taught me that moves like this are never borne out of desire, but out of necessity. Combined with several delays of Jolla's tablet and of Sailfish 2.0, it's hard not to conclude the company (companies?) is facing bleak times.

I haven't exactly kept my displeasure with the slow pace of progress regarding Sailfish development a secret, and I've had worries about the company's future for a long time now. The Jolla phone is now 19 months old, and it wasn't exactly flagship-quality to begin with when it was first released in December 2013. While there's been considerable updates to Sailfish 1.0, it, too, is now 19 months old. In addition, the promised support for paid applications never arrived.

One also has to wonder just how wise it was to focus on building a tablet. Tablets don't get replaced very often, and they are a far smaller market than smartphones. In addition, adding a whole new form factor to support is surely to negatively affect the smartphone experience. Had the company instead focused on releasing a new phone, we might have had it sooner - no new form factor to develop - and we'd have a replacement for the under-performing original Jolla phone. Hindsight, though, right?

Regarding the tablet:

Jolla is committed to deliver the Jolla Tablet to its Indiegogo crowdfunding contributors and is working hard to start first shipments as soon as possible. "The software (Sailfish OS) part of the work is in good shape but we have been slowed down by supply issues of certain hardware components. We expect to solve this issue very soon," Mr. Saarnio says.

I hope the company can stay afloat long enough to ensure we get our tablets (I ordered one within minutes of the announcement). Maybe things are not as bleak as I make them out to be here, but I'm not exactly getting the positive vibes.

Hacking Team hacked, attackers claim 400GB in dumped data

Thom Holwerda 2015-07-06 Privacy, Security 20 Comments

On Sunday, while most of Twitter was watching the Women's World Cup - an amazing game from start to finish - one of the world's most notorious security firms was being hacked.

Specializing in surveillance technology, Hacking Team is now learning how it feels to have their internal matters exposed to the world, and privacy advocates are enjoying a bit of schadenfreude at their expense.

Hacking Team is an Italian company that sells intrusion and surveillance tools to governments and law enforcement agencies.

Feels poetic.

Revisiting how we build Firefox

Thom Holwerda 2015-07-06 Mozilla, Gecko 26 Comments

Big changes afoot for Firefox.

We intend to move Firefox away from XUL and XBL, but the discussion of how to do that is in the early stages. There are a ton of unanswered questions: what technologies/best practices for web development should we adopt in its place? How does this affect add-on developers? Is there space for a native-code main-window on desktop like we have on Android? How much time should we spend on this vs. other quality issues? What unanswered questions have we not asked yet?

This clearly isn't a small endeavour, but the rationale given seems sound to me.

Netherlands: a look at the world’s high-tech startup capital

Thom Holwerda 2015-07-06 In the News 8 Comments

It’s a fascinating time to take stock of startup innovation in the Netherlands, a rare turning point where you can watch the hard work of the past give way to the immense promise of the future.

Behind London and Berlin, the Dutch startup scene is already considered to be one of the most prominent in Europe. (If it feels unfair to weigh an entire country against individual cities, consider that the Netherlands has 17 million people crammed into an area half the size of South Carolina.)

The world of startups is intricately linked to technology, software, and Silicon Valley, but at the same time, it's a world that's very far away from me. The working hours, the insecurity, the minute chances at success - I would never opt for such a life.

Which is why people like me don't found the next Apple or Google.

Microsoft to finalize Windows 10 this week

Thom Holwerda 2015-07-06 Windows 5 Comments

Microsoft is planning to finalize Windows 10 this week, ahead of its official launch later this month. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell The Verge that the company is currently working on final copies of Windows 10, with a release to manufacturing (RTM) build expected later this week. RTM candidate builds have already been spotted online. Once the RTM build is ready, Microsoft will send the final copy of Windows 10 to its PC partners ahead of a release to the public on July 29th.

The actual release will be staggered; not everyone will get the update on 29 July. Probably a wise thing - hopefully this will allow Microsoft to catch problematic hardware components and drivers before it's pushed to all users.

Yotaphone says bye-bye to Android, switches to Sailfish

Thom Holwerda 2015-07-04 Wireless 22 Comments

Update: there's a denial, which in turn is also being questioned. Conclusion: nope, not happening.

Russian manufacturer Yota, well known for its Yotaphone dual screen phones, has announced that its next devices will no longer operate using Android but Sailfish, an alternative developed by former Nokia engineers at Jolla.

Interesting, if not a bit of an odd decision. One has to wonder what prompted this decision, because even though I like Sailfish for what it represents, it's far from a true alternative to Android or iOS. Maybe Yota knows something about Sailfish 2.0 we don't?

I'm intrigued.

Fabled CD SNES-compatible “Play Station” prototype found

Thom Holwerda 2015-07-03 Games 20 Comments

At the 1989 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nintendo of America's then-chairman Howard Lincoln took the stage to reveal some unexpected news: the company was partnering with European electronics firm Philips to make a CD-ROM-based games console. While the announcement took everyone in the audience by surprise, Sony engineer Ken Kutaragi was the most shocked of all. Just the night before, he and several Sony executives had been demonstrating a product developed in partnership with Nintendo. It was to be the world's first hybrid console, featuring an SNES cartridge slot and a CD drive, with both formats available to game developers. That product, called "Play Station" (with a space), would never see the light of day.

Industry lore suggests that only 200 of the Play Station consoles were ever produced, and hardly anyone has actually seen one of the fabled consoles in the flesh. However, pictures of the legendary original Play Station surfaced on reddit yesterday, showing the hybrid console in all its grey and yellowed-plastic glory.

Absolutely glorious. I could look at the pictures for hours.

Safari isn’t the problem; the lack of browser choice in iOS is

Thom Holwerda 2015-07-03 Apple 26 Comments

Recently there has a been a lot of debate wether Safari is the new IE, or Apple simply is building a user-centric web, but I think that removes focus from the real problem.

The problem isn't Safari. It's a somewhat modern browser that in the eyes of some might lack some important features, but overall is still pretty good and modern.

The real problem is Apple's lack of browser-choice in iOS, and that's a problem for several reasons.

When Apple allows other browsers (not just wrappers!), email clients, mapping services, etc. to be set as default by iOS users, we're going to see a whole bunch of Google iPhones. I'm pretty sure Apple is not looking forward to that as of yet.

Maybe later, when Apple Maps stops being a joke, Mail.app doesn't choke when it's displaying more than 3 emails, and Safari stops sucking.

Is this BlackBerry’s upcoming Android phone?

Thom Holwerda 2015-07-03 Android 9 Comments

From The Verge:

We've expected for a month or so that BlackBerry is working on an Android phone with a "dual curved display" that slides up to reveal a physical keyboard underneath. It is supposedly based on a device that was originally announced at Mobile World Congress back in March, and back then the best image we had to go off of was a low-resolution snapshot of the device being held up on stage. Now, Evan Blass (aka @evleaks) has posted a high-resolution render of the device, codenamed Venice, to Twitter.

If this is for real, and BlackBerry doesn't mess it up by tying it to carriers and making it very hard for normal people to buy it, this is my next phone. Finally a modern phone with a keyboard.