"The name Windows Phone applies to Windows Mobile 6.1, 6.5 and multitouch Windows Mobile 7. At least something in the Windows universe is forwards and backwards compatible. Features of the new platform (that is WM 6.5, a.k.a. Windows Phone) include back-up of all SMS and email content into Microsoft's cloud, remote disabling of the handset and inclusion of an iTunes-alike Windows Mobile software repository called Market Place."

"Novell has launched a new Web service called SUSE Studio that simplifies the process of building Linux-based software appliances. It provides a convenient interface for creating custom versions of Novell's SUSE Linux distribution with specialized configurations. The service is part of Novell's broader SUSE Appliance Program initiative."

I think I'd like to start an internet movement. Due to Apple's recent actions regarding the Google Voice app, I intend to criticize Apple every day at OSNews for 1984 days, or until they perform a very subtle and simple act of contrition. I'd like to enlist the help of every tech journalist, blogger, twitterer, Facebook denizen, and person who ever talks to another person. I'm that girl in the running shorts with the hammer, people! I'm throwing the hammer at the big creepy guy on the screen! We don't have to be slaves anymore! Read on for the full manifesto.

We've talked about Creative's brand-new Stemcell computing platform before. They developed a new processor, the ZMS-05, which consists of two ARM-926 cores, and 48 programmable 'processing elements' which can develop in real-time into performing any of the specialised acceleration functions needed by modern computing. In addition, the system-on-chips, called Zii, could be linked together freely, achieving teraflop speeds on a sheet of A4 paper. Back then, they claimed that a Zii could easily playback HD content (even on HDTVs). They put the Zii in a iPod Touch-like device, and their promises turned out to be true.

Valerie Aurora has published a great article in LWN about btrfs: "You probably have heard of the cool new kid on the file system block - after all, Linus Torvalds is using it as his root file system on one of his laptops. But you might not know much about it beyond a few high-level keywords - copy-on-write, checksums, writable snapshots - and a few sensational rumors and stories - the Phoronix benchmarks, btrfs is a ZFS ripoff, btrfs is a secret plan for Oracle domination of Linux, etc. When it comes to file systems, it's hard to tell truth from rumor from vile slander. In this article, we'll take a behind-the-scenes look at the design and development of btrfs on many levels."

Windows might be a popular platform for running certain kinds of Web applications. But too many developers have been burnt by trying to deploy PHP applications on a Windows server. "If you banged on too hard on Windows, IIS would crash, and nobody could tell why it died," Microsoft's Garrett Serack says. Microsoft is aiming to change that. In fact, while you weren't looking, they already made some improvements.

"Windows 7 Ultimate has been cracked. The pirate milestone, reached almost three months before Windows 7 is set to hit General Availability on October 22, 2009, was achieved via OEM instant offline activation that passes Windows Genuine Advantage validation and keeps the operating system permanently activated. Previous cracks weren't as solid: while they may be working now, they can easily be disabled by Microsoft. This one won't be so easy."

The venerable master boot record (MBR) partitioning scheme can't fully handle disks larger than 2TB. With 1TB-hard disks now common and 2TB-disks becoming available, forward-looking individuals are thinking about alternatives to the MBR partitioning scheme. The heir apparent is the GUID Partition Table (GPT). Learn how to make sure your Linux system is fully prepared for the future of disk storage.

The discussion around whether or not jailbreaking iPhones should be exempt from the DMCA has just reached a level of ridiculousness that words can't really describe any longer. As some of you might know, Apple and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are in a tussle with one another over whether or not the US Copyright Office should put an exemption in the DMCA allowing the jailbreaking of iPhones. Apple's reasoning for why no exemption should be made is rather... Over-the-top.

The rumours and back-and-forths have been going on for as long as I can remember, but today, the deal was finally announced: Microsoft and Yahoo! have tied the knot - but only strictly related to internet search and advertising. The move is supposed to help both Yahoo! and Microsoft in their competition with Google.

We haven't discussed Psystar in a while, have we? In case you've been living under a rock for a while, Psystar is a Mac clone maker entrenched in a legal battle with Apple. Recently, Psystar changed lawyers, and today they posted a vigorous entry on their website about how ready they are for the fight with Apple.

As Microsoft had already confirmed, it's going to open a line of retail stores later this year. Last week, Gizmodo published a set of detailed slides supposedly detailing the shopping experience Microsoft is going to implement. Today, Microsoft has confirmed those leaked plans are real (but not finalised!), while also announcing the first two store locations.

"Google has opened the source code of several key components of Wave, the company's new collaborative messaging platform. The code, which is available under the Apache Software License, will allow third-party developers to start experimentally bringing Wave-compatible federated messaging to their own software."

It's obvious that physical album sales would decline ever since the rise of iTunes and other online music stores, and who wants to buy an entire album of filler songs online when you can purchase the three or four songs from the album that you want? Apple and its associated record companies have noticed the large decline in online sales of entire albums, which have higher profit than individual tracks, so they're working on a new perk to spark people's interest in buying albums again. What's more is that these doubtful rumors that have been going around about Apple's tablet actually seem to have some truth to them.