Microsoft .NET vs Java – The Trailer [Video]
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We don't cover the development platform wars as much as we should. But wherever you fall in the epic battle between .NET, Java, and LAMP, you'll probably enjoy the video after the jump.
Rumor: Another Attempt at Social Networking by Google?
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This could very well be another attempt by Google to establish itself as a successful social network under the title 'Google Me' after Orkut and Google Buzz. The seed to this rumor was originally a Tweet by Kevin Rose, Founder of Digg.
The World’s First 3TB External Desktop Drive
Archivers rejoice! Seagate introduces the world's first 3TB external HDD. One can fit up to 120 HD movies or 1,500 video games on this 3.5 inch thick external hard drive.
Cisco Cius: An Android-based Tablet PC
Cisco has announced plans for the Cisco Cius, an Android based tablet. However, it seems to be mainly targeted at business users. It will be packed with features like one-click video conferencing and will be able connect to the Internet via WiFi or a 3G cellular network.
12 Interesting, Unusual Linux Distros
There are hundreds (at least!) of different Linux-based operating systems. Most people will be familiar with some of the big names - distributions like Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Debian and Mandriva. Most of the well-known Linux distros are designed to be used as general purpose desktop operating systems or installed on servers. But beyond these distros are hundreds of others either designed to appeal to very specific audiences or to fulfill the somewhat niche needs of some users. We rounded up some of the most interesting Linux distros out there that you might not have heard of.
FFmpeg Gets Its Own VP8 Implementation
"Developers Ronald Bultje, David Conrad, and Jason Garret-Glaser are creating a native VP8 video codec implementation for the open source FFmpeg project. The aim of this effort is to bring first-class VP8 support to FFmpeg and demonstrate the feasibility of producing an independent VP8 implementation."
Android 2.2 (Froyo) Update for Nexus One Phones
Starting today, Nexus One users will begin to receive the Android 2.2 (codenamed Froyo) over-the-air software update on their phones. This update provides some great new features including support for making your handset a portable hotspot and support for Adobe Flash within the browser.
LLVMpipe Still Is Slow At Running OpenGL On The CPU
The open-source Mesa/X.Org developers have been working on LLVMpipe, a Gallium3D driver that accelerates OpenGL and other state trackers on the CPU rather than any GPU driver to provide a better software rasterizer via LLVM optimizations. Unfortunately, it's still slow and can barely keep up with games.
Google Forced to Change China Approach (Again?)
Google announced late Tuesday night that China will not renew its Internet Content Provider license - a key authorization scheduled to expire Wednesday--unless Google stops redirecting Google.cn visitors to Google.com.hk.
Windows 8 Plans Leaked
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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
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
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
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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
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
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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
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 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
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
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
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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.