OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Flash Tech with 50% More Storage, Little Increase in Price

weildish 2009-08-11 Hardware 3 Comments

"What's better than 2-bits per cell? 3 bits of course. IM Flash Technologies, a joint venture between Intel and Micron, has announced that they have developed a 3-bit-per-cell NAND device that Micron will begin producing for commercial consumption this fall. The technology, dubbed 3bpc (tricky acronym for 3-bits-per-cell), stores more bits per cell than current technology and allows the development of higher density flash memory so it can store more data in less space."

Apple’s Snow Leopard Rumored To Be Golden Master

Thom Holwerda 2009-08-11 macOS 2 Comments

The latest build of Snow Leopard, Apple's upcoming operating system, is rumored to be the "Golden Master", or final copy before the product will be released for duplication on optical media. Build 10A432 has been seeded to developers, and French Web site Mac 4 Ever has reported that the latest version is the final build, suggesting the product could be pressed onto discs very soon. The latest version of OS X is due to be released in September, but Apple has not announced an official date.

Managing User Interface Complexity

Thom Holwerda 2009-08-11 Graphics 9 Comments

Brandon Walkin has just published a fascinating article on the topic of managing user interface complexity. "I've spent the past year redesigning a particularly complex application with my primary focus being on reducing complexity. In this article, I'll go over some of the issues surrounding complexity and techniques that can be used to manage it."

Microsoft’s New Retail Logo Revealed

weildish 2009-08-11 Microsoft 9 Comments

No, the corporate logo and Windows logo are both staying the same, but a trademark application has been unearthed describing Microsoft's new logo that will brand its upcoming retail stores, two of which have already been announced. In simplified terms, the new logo seems to be a block representation, of the Windows logo we have all come to know and love. Sort of what you'd expect your seven years old child to build out of construction paper. As a glimpse into what the Microsoft Store will be selling, the official document also states that the logo will brand "retail store services and online retail services featuring computers, computer hardware, software, computer games, computer peripherals, portable music players and accessories, personal digital assistants, cell phones and accessories, video game consoles and accessories, webcams, books, clothing, back packs, messenger bags, computer bags and novelty items." What about toasters?

Benchmarks: AmigaOS 4.1 vs. MorphOS 2.3

Submitted by David Brunet 2009-08-11 Benchmarks 28 Comments

With OSNews really diving into the world of the Amiga as of late, with a review of AmigaOS 4.1 on ACube's sam440ep and an upcoming review of MorphOS 2.3 on an Efika, it was kind of coincidental that we have a set of benchmarks comparing MorphOS 2.3 and AmigaOS 4.1 to one another, both running on the Pegasos II machine.

Episode 20: Taking a Bite Out of Apple

Kroc 2009-08-11 Podcasts 33 Comments

A very special 3 hour show dedicated solely to the ~~topic~~ problem of Apple with the additional voices of OSNews owner David and OSNews Web-Wizard, Adam. We lay down our own Apple histories and 'geek cred', discuss the iPhone and AppStore, what should be done about it but move onto bigger things like the 'Apple Tablet', Apple's changing trends in design and what each of us would do if we got the call to be CEO of Apple. This show was a lot of fun to record, and we hope you enjoy it, Apple fan or hater alike.

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Submitted by Moulinneuf 2009-08-11 Windows 86 Comments

Technologizer has an interesting article about why Windows Vista failed, and it provides 16 reasons why this is the case. A few of those reasons reveal a certain lack of understanding, but a more pressing issue is that while listing these reasons individually is interesting, Vista's failure in the marketplace can be explained in a much more compact fashion.

Arch Linux 2009.08 Released

weildish 2009-08-11 Linux 21 Comments

Hot off the compilation press, Arch Linux comes to its full 2009.08 grandeur with a myriad of new and updated features, including exciting new additions to be utilized in the AIF (Arch Linux Installation Framework) and more, detailed within.

Microsoft Trims Product Line, Refocussing on Core Businesses?

Thom Holwerda 2009-08-10 Microsoft 14 Comments

We here at OSNews haven't really been reporting on this, but if you're following other tech websites, you will undoubtedly know that Microsoft has been axing a number of products and initiatives lately. It seems as if Microsoft is doing what many companies do in economically dire times: cut the cruft, and focus on your core aspects.

Thanks to the Cloud, the x86 Monopoly Becomes Vulnerable

Thom Holwerda 2009-08-10 Hardware 22 Comments

G. Pascal Zachary has written a very interesting article about the importance of Google's Chrome OS announcement, and what the move to the cloud (internet!) could mean for Microsoft and the operating system in general. I do think he missed an important part of the possible consequences of the move towards the cloud: the hardware.

Robot Makers Collaborate on Operating System

David Adams 2009-08-10 Hardware 21 Comments

Robots can be about as complex a machine as you're ever likely to encounter, but roboticists spend a lot of time solving mundane problems that have already been solved countless times by other robot makers. A recent New Scientist article documents the efforts of researchers around the globe that have begun to collaborate on the Robot Operating System (ROS), which they hope will provide a common platform for robot research, letting its users concentrate on advancing the state of the art instead of reinventing the wheel.

A New Thin Client

Guest post by mufasa 2009-08-10 Web 2.0 51 Comments

The web browser has been the dominant thin client, now rich client, for almost two decades, but can it compete with a new thin client that makes better technical choices and avoids the glacial standards process? I don't think so, as the current web technology stack of HTML/Javascript/Flash has accumulated so many bad decisions over the years that it's ripe for a clean sheet redesign to wipe it out.

Microsoft ‘Details’ Windows 7 Upgrades

Thom Holwerda 2009-08-09 Windows 59 Comments

While the tech media are all busy praising Windows 7, the operating system still obviously does have issues, it being Windows and all. Because we are talking about Windows, and not, say Ubuntu or Mac OS X, it comes with one big downside that will mostly hit new users of Windows 7 (meaning, everyone): the incredibly complicated upgrade paths.

Shuttleworth Offers Canonical Employees to Debian

Thom Holwerda 2009-08-09 Debian 62 Comments

Earlier this month, we reported that Debian had announced a new release schedule; a freeze during December, a release some time in the first half of the following year. After outcries from the Debian community, the December freeze aspect of the plan was reversed. Since most of the ire about this situation seemed to be directed towards Ubuntu, Mark Shuttleworth decided to step in and offer to put several Canonical employees to work on Debian instead of Ubuntu.

KDE, GNOME, Apple

Thom Holwerda 2009-08-09 OS News 12 Comments

We had a remarkably short week this past week, so this will probably be the shortest Week in Review yet. We talked about Apple's hardware design, GNOME's decision to drop icons from menus and buttons, KDE 4.3 was released, and more.

EU Ombudsman Criticizes EC Conduct During Intel Investigation

Thom Holwerda 2009-08-08 Legal 22 Comments

Earlier this year, the European Commission slammed Intel with a massive fine, penalising the chip maker for its anticompetitive practices. A report by the European Union's ombudsman has now criticised the EC for its conduct, as the EC did not perform proper record keeping, leading to the loss of some evidence. It won't turn the tide for Intel, but it does raise an important question: how fair are these EC antitrust proceedings?

Chkdsk Bug Anything But a Showstopper

Thom Holwerda 2009-08-07 Windows 10 Comments

Earlier this week, we had a page 2 item about a possible showstopper bug in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, but as I could've probably guessed by taking my time before posting said item, this bug has been way overblown and is anything but a showstopper. Steven Sinofisky himself responded to the bug by commenting on the blog.

Recommend a US-Based PC Builder

David Adams 2009-08-07 OS News 32 Comments

A friend of OSNews asks: "You might have heard of our Open-PC project. The idea is to collaboratively build a completely open PC, with free software and free drivers. We prepare an operating system image, do online services and support and choose the hardware. Then we work together with hardware manufacturers who build and sell the PC. We already have one manufacturer in Germany who committed to work with us. We will sell the first version of the Open-PC this fall. The problem is that it is expensive to ship the PC from Germany to the United States, so we are looking for a second manufacturing partner in the US. Can you recommend a company? I think the ideal would be a mid-size PC manufacturer who has experience with assembling custom PCs, experience with Linux and is able to ship the PC economically within North America." This seems like a great candidate for crowdsourcing. So, OSNews readers, can you give our friend any leads?

AMD Does Reverse GPGPU, Announces OpenCL SDK for x86

Thom Holwerda 2009-08-06 AMD 10 Comments

"AMD has announced the release of the first OpenCL SDK for x86 CPUs, and it will enable developers to target x86 processors with the kind of OpenCL code that's normally written for GPUs. In a way, this is a reverse of the normal 'GPGPU' trend, in which programs that run on a CPU are modified to run in whole or in part on a GPU."

Office 2010 To Get File Format Ballot

Thom Holwerda 2009-08-06 Microsoft 47 Comments

Just when you thought the world couldn't get any crazier, something happens that makes you move your expectations of the world up a few nothces. We already have to deal with the browser ballot, but that's not the only ballot Microsoft will deliver. Hold on to your panties, as Microsoft will also offer a file format ballot in Microsoft Office 2010. On a happier note, Microsoft makes a whole load of promises to the EU about opening up technologies and file formats.