OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing - Page 596

Windows 8 Plans Leaked

Submitted by waid0004 2010-06-29 Windows 48 Comments

An Italian Windows site called "Windowsette" has published some purported secret Microsoft documents outlining some design and strategy plans for Windows 8. The Microsoft Kitchen blog has provided some analysis of the documents. The documents appear genuine, and there's lots of interesting information there.

Computer Latency Problems Research

Submitted by fran 2010-06-29 Internet 15 Comments

Ever since the iPhone crashed AT&T's network, it has become common cause that the increase in mobile data, or rather data that is transmitted over the air, is going to grow. A lot. Networks are already straining to cope. But that's not the big problem, says Andrew Herbert, director of Microsoft's Cambridge Lab. The real problem, he says, is latency. Latency is the delay between sending a signal and receiving an acknowledgment of receipt. The time it takes light to circumnavigate the Earth, about 133 milliseconds, is a fundamental constraint on network speed.

Market Share and Malware Attention

Submitted by fran 2010-06-29 Bugs & Viruses 27 Comments

AVG has launched free security software for Mac OS X, which includes tools for Safari and Firefox. AVG's CEO JR Smith, says, "Mac users have traditionally been less vulnerable to attacks because of their lower market share, but that is quickly changing." That's the age-old question of to what extent the scourge of malware on Windows is a symptom of Microsoft's sloppy security decisions vs. due to Windows' popularity and the fact that malware authors can get "more bang for their buck" targeting the most popular platform.

QNX Software 30th Anniversary

Submitted by poundsmack 2010-06-29 QNX 9 Comments

QNX Software has posted a page for its 30th anniversary, noting 30 ways that QNX touches your life (whether you know about it or not. It includes QNX's use in high capacity routers, power generation systems, emergency dispatch systems, OnStar, navigation systems, warehouse automation, television broadcasting systems, trains and planes, and many more.

Intel Brews x86 Android

weildish 2010-06-28 Intel 18 Comments

Intel has been working lately on "Atomising" the Android mobile OS in lieu of the upcoming Froyo (or 2.2) release so that it can be installed natively on x86 devices-- Atom-based netbooks in particular. Says Renee James, Senior VP for software and services at Intel: "Our expectation is that will be based on the Froyo release and will be available this summer to developers... wasn't tremendously difficult, as we have a lot experience in Linux". The fun is supposed to arrive for developers this summer.

Profiting From Open Source – Without Selling Out

Guest post by snydeq 2010-06-28 Open Source 26 Comments

InfoWorld's Peter Wayner discusses the difficulties of transforming an open source project into a profitable endeavor, offering 8 business models for balancing openness with revenue. 'The debate over permissiveness is woven throughout the discussions of open source business models. Some companies stay small on purpose, while others argue that there's nothing wrong with proprietary options if they encourage all users to share the costs of development,' Wayner writes. 'The challenge for businesses is to find viable mechanisms for aligning the interests of the users and the programmers -- a complex task of social engineering.' From selling support, to selling documentaiton, to selling FUD, each business model offers a unique opportunity to strike a balance between purity and profit.

iPhone 4 Review

David Adams 2010-06-28 Apple 16 Comments

Ars Technica reviews the iPhone: Despite regular modifications to the OS and yearly hardware upgrades, the iPhone 4 is very much a more modern, more capable version of that original device that made such a splash in the industry back in 2007.

RISC OS in ‘No Longer Thoroughly Obsolete’ Shocker

Submitted by M.Onty 2010-06-28 RISC OS 6 Comments

The ARM based RISC OS has been floundering in the wilderness somewhat these past years, but it looks like it may - finally - be on the path to a real Lazarus moment with the new Beagleboard and, unusually, El Reg has taken an interest.

IE9 Platform Preview 3 Marches to the Standards Beat

Kroc 2010-06-26 Internet Explorer 118 Comments

Microsoft have released IE9 Platform Preview 3, an application that gives developers access to the IE9 rendering engine (it's not a full browser). In this update they have added hardware accelerated HTML5 Video, Canvas, Fonts (using WOFF) and big improvements in JavaScript with ES5, DOM Traversal, L2 and L3 events and 83/100 Acid3 score. It sits between Firefox and Chrome 6 on JavaScript speed, but outperforms every browser in real tests.

Google Flicks Remote Kill Switch on Two Android Applications

Submitted by fran 2010-06-25 Google 39 Comments

While it's currently cool to love Google's Android and hate Apple's iOS, especially because of the massive difference in philosophy (open vs. closed), Google still retains a fair amount of control over the Android Market. This was demonstrated this week Google employed its remote kill switch for two Android Market applications, removing them from all Android devices on which they were installed.

Opera 10.54 Released for Mac OS X, Windows

Guest post by vodoomoth 2010-06-25 Opera 21 Comments

Opera 10.54 has been released on June 21. Both the Windows release and the Mac release are recommended security upgrades, although on Mac OS X, other fixes and improvements are listed as well. No 10.54 for Unix. As a matter of fact, the 10.53 version is still beta.

Ubuntu Nearing X Server Not Running as Root

Guest post by lopisaur 2010-06-25 Ubuntu 91 Comments

Based upon a recent email to the X.Org developers' mailing list, Canonical is nearing the point of one of their goals for Ubuntu 10.10 of a rootless X Server, or being able to run the X.Org Server without root privileges.

Canonical Joins The Open Invention Network

Submitted by dizmal 2010-06-25 Legal 13 Comments

Canonical have become the first member to sign up to the Open Invention Network's new associate membership program. The Open Invention Network exists to acquire patents and license them royalty free to entities which, in turn, "agree not to assert their own patents against Linux or Linux-related applications." Current well-known companies involved with the OIN include Sony, IBM and Novell.

Why Xbox Kinect Needs an App Store

Submitted by superphage1 2010-06-25 Games 4 Comments

The Xbox 360 Kinect may be designed for games, but its true potential lies in Apps. Because Kinect has full-body tracking, gesture recognition, and specialized microphones that are good for hands-free voice recognition, new types of non-game apps that have never been seen anywhere except maybe in Star Trek could come into being. "Computer, show me the best Italian restaurants in North Beach." Kinect could then show these on the screen, and you could flick through this list with gestures, minority report style. What app is this? Why, Yelp for Kinect, of course.

Microsoft Open Source Strategy is Upside Down

Submitted by martini 2010-06-25 Open Source 7 Comments

Last April I was on a Microsoft interoperability and Open Source conference in Ecuador (South America). On this conference Microsoft spread the word that they support Open Source Software and they do have an OSS strategy. But by checking their OSS Strategy I just felt something sour in my mouth, so I wrote this article to explain it.

Linaro Seeks to Simplify ARM Linux Landscape

Submitted by fran 2010-06-25 Hardware 3 Comments

The ARM processor family is a complicated one, with many different variations, leading to large numbers of separate sub-architectures in the Linux kernel. A quick glance at the ARM directory in a recent kernel tree shows nearly 70 different sub-architectures, each corresponding to a different CPU or system-on-chip (SoC). That complexity has made it harder to develop new products for new or existing ARM devices. A new organization that was formed by six silicon vendors, Linaro, seeks to simplify that landscape, and allow easier--faster--development of ARM-Linux-based products.

Sad State of South Korean Internet

Submitted by neticspace 2010-06-24 Internet 76 Comments

Internet users throughout the world, and particularly in the United States, have long been chastened to hear of South Korea's legendary broadband penetration. The urbanized, technologically-advanced nation has been famous for rolling out ultra high speed network for the majority of its citizens, and many of us have looked on with envy. However, it turns out it's not all good news. An OSNews reader gives us the skinny from the trenches in Korea.

Symbian^3: A Review

Eugenia Loli 2010-06-24 Wireless 8 Comments

Mobile-Review took on the exhausting task of reviewing the new Symbian^3 Nokia system, an evolution off of their touchscreen-based S60 5th Edition. A new system at a time when Nokia announced that their high-end N-series phones won't run Symbian anymore, but MeeGo.

Microsoft Adds Yet Another Mobile OS

Submitted by fran 2010-06-24 Microsoft 12 Comments

This is getting ridiculous. Windows Embedded Handheld? And to make it worse, there are two different versions of Windows Embedded Handheld coming out, each based on a different underlying OS.

Android App Security Risk

Submitted by Governa 2010-06-24 Privacy, Security 52 Comments

About 20 percent of third-party apps available through the Android marketplace allow third-party access to sensitive data, and can do things like make calls and send texts without the owners' knowledge, according to a recent security report from security firm SMobile Systems. There's no indication that any of the highlighted apps is malicious, but the report does underscore the inherent risks of a more open ecosystem as opposed to Apple's oppressive yet more controlled environment, with every app being vetted before availability.