You'll be forgiven for thinking Tizen is dead and resting in the large cemetary of failed mobile operating systems. Not only has the Tizen SDK 2.0 alpha been released, with highlights that include broader HTML5 support, USB accessory function support, web UI framework, Tizen web API's, improved IDE and development tools, but also an actual (insert rumour) phone, named the GT-i9300_TIZEN. Yup, an SIII running Tizen.

"So this news is a couple of days old now, but I wanted to write a blog entry about the exciting release of GStreamer 1.0. When we released GStreamer 0.10 about 7 years ago we did not expect or plan the 0.10 series to last as long as it did, I think if we had it would have been called 1.0 instead of 0.10. Our caution back then was that 0.10 was a quite revolutionary version with the core of GStreamer extensively re-designed around effective use of threads and thread safety."

ActiveWin.com has just posted their 45-page, 40-screenshot review of Microsoft Windows 8. The review covers many different aspects of the OS including performance, security, application compatibility, and more. "Is Windows 8 a hit or miss? It's a hit, it is clearly Microsoft's most bold development in years, it probably beats out the transition from Program Manager (Windows 3X) to Windows 95, the move from Windows 9x to the NT Kernel. The Windows 8 platform represents so many things: truly touch centric, support for modern processor architectures, fast and fluid as Microsoft puts it and also represents where the majority of the world is heading when it comes to computing, entirely mobile."

"RIM has just unveiled the latest iteration of the BlackBerry 10 operating system, set to be released on new devices early next year. We have finally gotten a look at the UI RIM will be shipping, and it's an interesting mix of user interaction metaphors we've seen on multiple devices to this point and a strong progression from the version of the software we first saw back in May." It looks nice. I like it.

The open source Contiki OS, a tiny operating system that runs on anything from the Commodore 64 to the Internet of Things, goes commercial: in an email to the contiki-developers list, Contiki founder Adam Dunkels talks about how newly founded startup Thingsquare is turning Contiki into an open source product called Thingsquare Mist, with a paid support model.

"It seems like people really hate the new Maps in iOS 6. Now, I'm not disputing that Maps does give a lot of strange results to a lot of people all around the world, but for a large, large number of people, iOS 6 Maps has been a huge improvement over Google Maps. I'm talking about those of us who live in China (you know, the place with 1.3+ billion people and the second-largest economy in the world)." Fascinating.

You might assume your new PC is secure, but is it? In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission just charged seven rent-to-own computer companies and a software design firm with computer spying. Some 420,000 rent-to-own computers allegedly secretly collected personal information, took pictures of users in their homes, and tracked their locations. Meanwhile Microsoft found that PCs from China had malware embedded before reaching consumers. The virus "could allow a hacker to switch on a microphone or Webcam, record keystrokes and access users' login credentials and online bank accounts." And, an FBI investigation found that counterfeit routers purchased by various US government agencies also were pre-loaded with malicious software. Do you assume your new PC is secure, or if not, what steps do you take to secure it?

On the same day I bought a brand new iMac and switched back to Mac (no joke!), and teased the employees at the Apple retailer with my Galaxy SII, Samsung goes around and pulls something idiotic like this. TouchWiz, Samsung's Android skin, has a very severe flaw which passes digits along from JavaScript (via their modified browser) to the modified dialler, allowing your device to be factory reset (!) by just visiting a link - via NFC, QR, or plain. This doesn't affect all Samsung devices, but those that are affected are all TouchWiz devices. This just proves once again that you should either buy Nexus, or make the switch to Cyanogenmod (or any of the other AOSP-based ROMs).

"Much like various versions of Firefox, the overall concept here is premium and of quality, but not because its expensive. Good quality design should be accessible to masses much like our products. Our strong focus is on high quality and distinctive design in the marketplace." Fantastic overview - quite detailed - about the UI design behind Firefox OS, from Patryk Adamczyk.

"A leaked document from the CleanIT project shows just how far internal discussions in that initiative have drifted away from its publicly stated aims, as well as the most fundamental legal rules that underpin European democracy and the rule of law. The European Commission-funded CleanIT project claims that it wants to fight terrorism through voluntary self-regulatory measures that defends the rule of law. The initial meetings of the initiative, with their directionless and ill-informed discussions about doing 'something' to solve unidentified online 'terrorist' problems were mainly attended by filtering companies, who saw an interesting business opportunity. Their work has paid off, with numerous proposals for filtering by companies and governments, proposals for liability in case sufficiently intrusive filtering is not used, and calls for increased funding by governments of new filtering technologies." I'll just leave a link here to one of the most popular OSNews articles of all time.

"I've been programming professionally for about 3 years at this point, and I've noticed some interesting patterns in other programmers I've worked with. One of the key differentiators among programmers is motivation. I'm not referring to an individual's passion to simply be successful in their career, but rather the type of work they want to pursue. The thing they want to do with computers every day, the types of problems they are interested in solving."

"Gnome 3 has received a lot of disapproval of late, from the Gnome foundation being charged with not taking care of its users, or losing mindshare, to Gnome 3 itself being an unusable mess. I've been using Gnome 3 myself for a few months to sort the truth from the fiction, and to try and understand just how the Gnome foundation expects their newest shell to be used. I will end with some thoughts on how Gnome 3 can be improved. The review will require a fairly lengthy preface, however."

Ubuntu 12.10 will include advertisements for products on Amazon. It will look like this - if you search, product suggestions will pop up. This seems like a rather slippery slope to me, and I certainly wouldn't want this on my desktop, laptop, smartphone, tablet, or anywhere else. On the web - fine, I'm on your site, not mine - but my desktop is mine, and mine alone. Not that it matters - open source, someone will disable them. Biggest concern: does this mean my search queries get sent across the web?

If there's one over-used buzzword currently making the rounds in the technology industry, it's 'post-PC world' - or the notion that desktops and laptops are a dying breed. Todd Bradley, executive vice president of HP's printing and personal systems group, thinks this is a nonsensical notion - and he's right.