OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Google, Verizon Weasel Their Way Out of Net Neutrality

Thom Holwerda 2010-08-09 Internet 49 Comments

Well, this is interesting. As some rumours already suggested, Google and Verizon have released a joint proposal for a legislative framework regarding net neutrality. This being Google and all, some of you may expect this to be all flower-farting unicorns darting across rainbows, but sadly, that's not the case. This proposal? Well, it's not good.

Ubuntu: We Have No Plans to Fork GNOME

Submitted by suka 2010-08-09 Gnome 66 Comments

Ubuntu's community manager Jono Bacon talks in an interview with derStandard.at about the relationship between Ubuntu and GNOME, GNOME Shell, Unity and why the netbook market is that important to Canonical.

Try Out Windows Azure for One Month – Free

Submitted by Amy Bennett 2010-08-09 Internet 4 Comments

Between now and October 31, 2010, Microsoft is giving one-month passes to the Windows Azure platform to the first 500 developers to respond to the offer.

Flexible Plastic Displays

David Adams 2010-08-09 Hardware 8 Comments

Displays built out of plastic instead of glass would be a gadget lover's dream: they'd be rugged and lightweight, and they should be inexpensive to make on "roll-to-roll" systems similar to those used for newsprint. But to develop prototypes for flexible tablet computers and other gadgets with plastic displays, the device makers have had to develop custom equipment.

Submitted by philip.may 2010-08-09 Oracle and SUN 16 Comments

For the first time since Sun was eaten by Oracle there was an email in my inbox today promising news and updates from the transition. As a valued member of the Sun community, we'd like to make sure you keep abreast of all the latest as we transition to Oracle. A lot of great things will be coming from the combination of Oracle and Sun and you'll want to stay informed! Here's your chance to keep up to date. Simply follow the link below and tell us a little more about yourself to receive news and information about products and events from Oracle. Maybe they are finally realising that we won't wait around forever. Time will tell if this will be substantial. The phrase 'a little slow on the uptake' leaps to mind.

What Is your Most Likely Apocalyptic Scenario?

Thom Holwerda 2010-08-09 Humor 75 Comments

Now that I'm done with my internship and ready to take on OSNews again, I figured it'd be nice to start off with something light-hearted. I just read that Google bought an unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with a camera, ready to photograph whatever it flies across. We may consider Google's biggest threat to be privacy, but with all this computing power they have, their Street View cars, and now, unmanned flying drones, they look more and more like SkyNet to me. So, what's your most likely apocalyptic scenario?

Flash ‘Ported’ to iPhone

Thom Holwerda 2010-08-08 Apple 26 Comments

So, now that jailbreaking is easier than ever, right now is probably the best time to dive into the vast array of possibilities that lay ahead in shackle-free land. I've already tricked my iPhone out pretty substantially, but there's always somewhere further you can go. Yes, Flash had already been ported to the iPad, and now the iPhone has received the Flash treatment as well. Jailbreaking required, naturally.

HP CEO Mark Hurd Resigns After Inappropriate Behaviour

Thom Holwerda 2010-08-06 In the News 22 Comments

Right before the weekend, we have some interesting news from Hewlett Packard, hardware and software maker, but most of all (at least to me) owner of Palm and its assets. CEO of HP, Mark Hurd, has resigned, effective immediately, after the board found out he had behaved "inappropriately" towards a former HP marketing contractor which "violated HP's Standards of Business Conduct". Cathie Lesjak has been appointed interim CEO while the company seeks a new one.

Android Phone Sales Outpace iPhone Sales

Thom Holwerda 2010-08-06 Wireless 41 Comments

A bunch of figures travelled all over the web this past week regarding Android's remarkable growth. Its growth is indeed remarkable - bigger than the iPhone, bigger than Research In Motion's BlackBerry (in the US, at least). However, as impressive as those figures are, isn't it about time we start comparing platforms instead of devices?

Live Kernel Patches with Ksplice

David Adams 2010-08-06 General Development 7 Comments

Ksplice applies kernel patches on-the-fly - no reboot required -- in a fraction of a second. Here's a hands-on guide to performing painless system updates. Learn how to patch a live kernel and give reboots the boot.

Glass is Hot in the Smartphone Era

David Adams 2010-08-06 Wireless 8 Comments

During the fiber boom, Corning became the darling of Wall Street. A decidedly old-school industrial era company that specialized in making glass, Corning is getting rich of another boom -- this time from smartphones like the iPhone.

JoliCloud Launches

David Adams 2010-08-06 OS News 3 Comments

JoliCloud, the much talked-about cloud client OS, is making its debut today with the release of the official 1.0 milestone, and is now available for general release. JoliCloud is an operating system combined with a user interface that allows people to access web services as if accessing an app on their smartphones.

Submitted by poundsmack 2010-08-06 Qt 59 Comments

Been wondering about Nokia's strategy for conquering the rapidly expanding app space? Great! So were we, which is why we joined up with a recent dev event carried out by the Finnish company for an update on how and where things are going. It's a familiar narrative by this point: Qt is all set to become the way that Nokia-friendly apps are made -- whether it be for Symbian smartphones or MeeGo-powered mobile computers, coffee machines or infotainment consoles

High Availability With the Linux Distributed Replicated Block Device

David Adams 2010-08-06 Linux 4 Comments

The 2.6.33 Linux kernel has introduced a useful new service called the DRBD - Distributed Replicated Block Device. This service mirrors an entire block device to another networked host during run time, permitting the development of high-availability clusters for block data. Explore the ideas behind the DRBD and its implementation in the Linux kernel.

Apple Loved You Pro Users; Loves Your Money More, Now

Guest post by Universal Mind 2010-08-06 Apple 94 Comments

The "Macs are too expensive" argument is one of the most tiresome and long-lived flamewars in internet history. Obviously, Apple makes a premium product and charges premium prices, and you can always find a computer from another vendor that seems to match or exceed specs that costs less. But if you look at Apple's Mac Pro line, and compare it not so much to other vendors, but to the past lineup of Mac Pros, you discover some very unpleasant truths that help explain why Apple is enjoying record earnings for their Mac line, but doing so to the detriment of some its most loyal and valuable customers.

Submitted by lemur2 2010-08-05 Original OSNews Interviews 44 Comments

If the latest reports on IE9 preview are accurate, then this is a very encouraging development: "The fourth and final Platform Preview for Internet Explorer 9 was released today, along with a raft of new HTML5 demos and tests." Microsoft have reportedly further improved IE9's performance and standards compliance.

25 Years of AmigaOS Development

Submitted by Peter Gordon 2010-08-05 Amiga & AROS No Comments

Hyperion Entertainment have posted a visualisation of the AmigaOS source code repositry. You can see it grow from AmigaOS 1.0 back in 1985 right through to today.

How to Get Windows and Linux to Cooperate on the Network

Submitted by Amy Bennett 2010-08-05 Internet 4 Comments

This article looks beyond Active Directory at a variety of approaches available today to getting Linux and Windows to work together on the network. While still not a job for an average Linux administrator or a Windows Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) who's still wet behind the ears, there are tools available that make the job easier than ever.

Submitted by poundsmack 2010-08-05 Internet Explorer 22 Comments

The British government has rejected a call to dump Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6 (IE6), saying that it is saving taxpayers' money by staying with the nine-year-old browser.

Submitted by HAL2001 2010-08-05 Bugs & Viruses 19 Comments

Traditional AV vendors continue to lag behind online criminals when it comes to detecting and protecting against new and quickly evolving threats on the Internet, according to a report by Cyveillance. Testing shows that even the most popular AV signature-based solutions detect on average less than 19% of malware threats. That detection rate increases only to 61.7% after 30 days. Even after 30 days, many AV vendors cannot detect known attacks.