OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Jobs Dispels Health Rumours

Submitted by drcoldfoot 2009-01-05 Apple 11 Comments

Last week, Gizmodo rumoured that that Apple CEO Steve Jobs' health was in a very bad condition, so bad in fact that the "inevitable news" would arrive coming Spring. Then, Apple characteristically declined to comment on the rumour, meaning Gizmodo's story couldn't be verified. As it turns out, Gizmodo's story does have a hint of truth, but luckily, Jobs' health isn't even remotely in as bad a condition as they made it out to be.

Submitted by alcibiades 2009-01-05 macOS 6 Comments

MacInTouch reviews the EFI-X kit, a pre-assembled computer equipped with the EFI-X module which allows you to boot Mac OS X on a non-Apple machine without having to resort to hacks. They conclude: "The EFI-X kit offers the ability to run Mac OS X Leopard without hacks, to run Windows without special Boot Camp drivers, and to run nearly any other personal computer operating system from Linux to Solaris to OpenVMS! It's not quite the seamless experience of Apple's Mac computers, but it comes darn close. Its quad-core 3.82-GHz Core 2 Quad, combined with a fast Nvidia 8800 GT video card and 10,000-RPM Western Digital Velociraptor hard drive, leaves even today's quad-core Mac Pro in the dust. For anyone but scientific and engineering users, the EFI-X kit offers even more real-world performance than Apple's high-end, eight-core Mac Pro costing over twice as much."

Submitted by pepa65 2009-01-05 Linux 1 Comment

Keryx provides a way to download software and updates for Ubuntu systems that have little or no connectivity to the internet. Simply put Keryx on your pen drive, use it to create a new project file which retains a copy of your software sources and other system details, then take the pen drive to a computer with a better connection. Via its Synaptic-like interface, users can then select all updates for download, plus select any other software they may want to install, complete with dependency resolution.

Review: Windows 7 Beta

Thom Holwerda 2009-01-04 Windows 61 Comments

Reviewing the first beta of an important release like Windows 7 is never an easy job to do. A confouding factor is that many people have already made up their mind about Windows 7; not because they have tried it, but because it's a Microsoft product, and therefore it sucks. At OSNews we try to judge products by their own merits, not by the parent company that created it. Read on for a set of impressions regarding the Windows 7 beta.

Linux4one Ubuntu for the Acer Aspire One

Submitted by Richard 2009-01-03 Ubuntu 11 Comments

The Linux version of the Acer Aspire One netbook comes with a customised version of the Linpus distribution pre-installed, which might not be to everyone's fancy. Linux4one, a modified Ubuntu, could be a good alternative. Linux4One is optimized for the Aspire One; it includes drivers for the One, and comes with an interface derived from the Netbook Remix version.

“Windows 7 Outperforms XP, Vista”

Thom Holwerda 2009-01-03 Windows 87 Comments

Even though the EULA accompanying the beta build of Windows 7 prohibits the publication of benchmark results (good luck enforcing that one, Redmond), everybody and their dog will still compare the Windows 7 beta to Vista and Windows XP. Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is one of those benchmarking the beta, and according to his results, the Windows 7 beta beats both Vista and XP in just about every scenario.

Android-Based Netbooks in 2010?

Thom Holwerda 2009-01-02 Google 21 Comments

Netbooks run either Windows or Linux, and both are readily available in shops all over the world. The Linux variants chosen by several netbook manufacturers are usually derived from desktop distributions, and obviously, Windows is a desktop operating system as well. However, netbooks have small displays, and both Windows and GNOME/KDE and some of their applications aren't always suited well for such an environment. Enter Android, Google's Linux-based phone operating system. It is suggested that Android-based netbooks will appear on the market in 2010, maybe even sooner.

Adobe CS4: the Full Wrap-up

Thom Holwerda 2009-01-02 Graphics No Comments

Geek.com gave a graphics designer a few months with the latest Adobe CS4 suite, and tells you everything you wanted to know about CS4. From the article: "It's been several months since the CS4 Master Collection became available, and the focus of this follow-up review is to highlight the new features that have remained on my radar since first installing the programs. While every Adobe release features a slew of new features, I usually find that only some of those features remain completely indispensable as the novelty wears off."

Submitted by poundsmack 2009-01-01 Windows 9 Comments

"You probably have seen or heard about HomeGroup by now. We demonstrated it at PDC this year during Steven's keynote, it was mentioned a few times at WinHec, and some of you may have even tried it on your PCs with the PDC pre-beta build of Windows 7. HomeGroup represents a new end-to-end approach to sharing in the home, an area in which Windows has provided many features before - the intuitive end to end is what's new. HomeGroup recognizes and groups your Windows 7 PCs in a 'simple to set up' secure group that enables open access to media and digital memories in your home. With HomeGroup, you can share files in the home, stream music to your XBOX 360 or other devices, and print to the home printer without worrying about technical setup or even understanding how it all works. This blog post is designed to give you a behind-the-scenes look at how we designed HomeGroup."

Guest post by weildish 2008-12-31 OS News 4 Comments

Information Week released what they deem the top ten stories dealing with open source for the year of 2008 earlier this month. Reminisce all of the happy memories we've had of open source throughout this past year: nestle with netbooks, gallop with Google, frolic with Fedora, cuddle with copyrights, and even get your hands on a juicy murder mystery.

OSNews: What We’d Like To See in 2009

Thom Holwerda 2008-12-31 OS News 66 Comments

The internet, and much of the real world as well, is currently in list mode. Just about any possible list that can be made up regarding 2008 will be made up somewhere, so we decided not to reinvent the wheel and look forward instead of backward. Since we like to leave the ~~guessing~~ predicting to the analysts, we just limited ourselves to what tech-related matters we would like to see in 2009. Read on for our lists, and of course, post your own in the comments. And lest we forget: a very happy 2009 from the OSNews crew!

30 GB Zune Going Kaplunk!

Kroc 2008-12-31 Bugs & Viruses 29 Comments

"Judgment day has arrived for owners of 30GB (and only 30GB) Zunes. The music player inexplicably entered a worldwide coma last night, and players are completely non responsive."

Android Runs on Freerunner

Thom Holwerda 2008-12-31 Google 5 Comments

iMAndroid has screenshots and a video of Google's Android mobile platform running on the Neo Freerunner. "Some new shots & specs exclusive to iMAndroid have emerged. The pics are of Neo FreeRunner device running Android Platform. A little fuzzy, but its very likely that Neo FreeRunner will be the second Android Phone!"

The Ultimate Commodore 64 Talk

Kroc 2008-12-31 Hardware 26 Comments

At this year's 25th Chaos Communication Congress, an annual four day conference with the slogan "Nothing to hide" reveals everything about the Commodore 64, in 64 minutes. Across 256 slides. The video is now available to download via BitTorrent or FTP. The Commodore 64 is the greatest selling computer of all time; learn how it got there with its quirky hardware, loved by hackers worldwide.

“Jobs’ Health Rapidly Declining, Inevitable News Spring 2009”

Thom Holwerda 2008-12-30 Rumors 64 Comments

Steve Jobs' health has been an important topic of rumours ever since he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in mid-2004. He was treated successfully, and recovered from his ordeal. Ever since then, rumours of possible health problems popped up regularly, which were only ignited further by Apple's recent announcement to drop out of MacWorld San Fransisco, with Steve Jobs not delivering the famous keynote speech coming January. Gizomodo threw a whole lot of oil on the fire today by publishing information which they claim comes from a source which has always been 100% accurate.

Why You Should Support Mac OS X and Linux

Kroc 2008-12-30 Games 16 Comments

Indie game developer Wolfire Games gives 5 solid reasons why games developers should support Mac OS X and Linux."Obviously supporting Mac OS X and Linux means you tap into another platform and expand your potential market base. That much is clear. But surely adding an extra 5% is negligible, right? Wrong. Not all five percents are created equal." For their game Lugaru, they go on to claim "supporting Mac OS X and Linux directly increased sales by around 122%."

MSI Launches Hybrid SSD-HDD Netbook

Thom Holwerda 2008-12-30 Hardware 25 Comments

While solid state drives are very well suited for netbooks from a power efficiency viewpoint, they pose problems when it comes to capacity (and performance, but that's another matter). In order to combat this issue, MSI has launched a new netbook with a hybrid approach to storage: it has a solid state drive for the operating system and applications, and a conventional hard drive for storage.

AMD Releases Open-Source R600/700 3D Code

Submitted by Michael Larabel 2008-12-30 AMD 2 Comments

Since earlier this year we have been waiting for AMD to release documentation and/or code on the ATI R600 series concerning 3D acceleration so that the open-source Linux drivers can begin to support the newer ATI graphics processors. It has taken longer than expected for AMD to complete and release this information, but it's now available. AMD has released the fundamental Linux code needed to begin fostering the development of an open-source R600 3D driver. Furthermore, this code also concerns the latest R700 series of graphics processors! The microcode for the newest GPUs has also been released.

Submitted by jeanmarc 2008-12-30 Microsoft 39 Comments

A recently-filed patent from Microsoft gives us a glimpse into a possible future strategy from the software giant, wherein people buy a computer, but only pay for that portion of the computer's performance and capabilities they actually use. There's a pretty detailed summary of the plan in a Cnet article that's worth a read. It actually sounds a lot like a "cloud computing" strategy for the consumer, and it all seems to make sense, until you start to really think about it.

Real Web 2.0: Battling Web Spam

Kroc 2008-12-30 Web 2.0 No Comments

IBM takes a two part march through the attack vectors of spam on "web 2.0" sites.'Real Web 2.0 means harnessing the power of social groups to improve information systems. This will invariably attract nasty people who look for the cracks to take advantage of you and me. Spam on the Web is one of the biggest threats to a modern Web developer.'Part 1 of this series shows you how to assess visitor behaviour and control work-flow to reduce Web 2.0 spam. Part 2 shows you how to use the power of community against spam.