Thom Holwerda Archive

"Paul Otellini, CEO of Intel, outlined plans to bring a wide range of content, from sports to first-run movies, to anyone with a broadband Internet connection and a remote control using its new Viiv PC platform, during a Thursday night keynote at the 2006 CES. While it incorporates new hardware and software, including Intel's latest Core Duo and Pentium D 900 series chips, Viiv represents the company's larger effort to bring together a variety of content and display it on a range of devices, including televisions and handhelds." In addition, Intel teamed up with Google to provide video content for the Viiv platform.

Terrasoft has released YellowDog Linux 4.1. This new release of course incorporates the latest and greatest of the Linux world, but besides that it also features support for the latest Apple PowerBooks, beta support for Apple G5 PowerMacs with dual-core processors, and basic 64-bit development and runtime support. The release is now only available to subscribers, but a public release is planned for mid-February.

"This is a guide to create or restore images of your partitions using the great open source tool Partimage. It provides information on how to do this locally or across the network, by setting up a Partimaged Server. I guess this info is non distribution specific, since we will work from a Rescue environment. Partimage is a command line tool with a basic ncurses user interface. For information about the supported filesystems, you can check its homepage."

Microsoft has officially released the patch that fixes the WMF flaw. The patch can be download individually here, but it is advised to simply use Windows Update. Yesterday, Microsoft said it would not release it until next Tuesday, but two (1 | 2) third party fixes were already available. And to make matters worse, Microsoft accidentally leaked their own patch to the Net yesterday.

"Palm this week introduced a Treo model that uses the latest version of Microsoft's Windows Mobile software (formerly known as Pocket PC). On the outside, the new Treo 700w looks very much like the current Palm-based model, the Treo 650, which will remain on sale and will continue to be developed on a parallel track. On the inside, though, the new Treo's key software functions - phone, email, Web, multimedia - are all different."

"Tomorrow Google will announce a new commercial video download service, according to multiple sources. In related news Google will also take the wraps off of Google Pack, a bundle of applications that will be made available for download in a single installation bundle. Sources tell us that Google pack will feature a Google-tweaked version of Firefox, Adobe Acrobat Reader, antivirus software from Symantec, AdAware, Trillian, and Google's own offerings, including Google Desktop Search, Picasa, Google Earth, Google Talk, and all of the toolbar action you can shake a stick at. Oh, and I left out one other item: the RealPlayer."

"As every network manager knows, you should never run your computer as administrator, especially if it has access to the Internet. Malware often depends on admin rights to disable firewalls, delete registry entries and download or create files. Without those rights, malicious code must find another path to your destruction. That bit of insight led Microsoft Security Engineering's Michael Howard to create DropMyRights for Windows XP and up. Once DMR is added to a web application's shortcut, the app starts with Normal User Rights instead of Admin rights. Users get the freedom of movement they've always enjoyed, with a little extra protection." In related news, there's now another unofficial patch for the WMF flaw.

Opera Software is to concentrate on the embedded browser market, expanding the range of devices and architectures its browser software will run on. The company hopes to take advantage of increased broadband penetration, and the growing number of Internet-connected devices being produced.

Just as the discussion surrounding the Pegasos II and AmigaOS4 is settling down, a new possibility for hardware for AmigaOS4 has arisen. PPCNux reports about an Amiga-branded G5 board- which is basically the motherboard of the iMac G5 without the AirPort slot, but with an Amiga sticker slapped on. Another reason why this is a fake is that the board lacks legacy ports, heresy for Amiga fans. PPCNux speculates that with the switch to x86, Apple might be left with excess stock on PPC hardware, and will be licensing them as Amiga hardware. This is supported by Hyperion's statement that they "are working with several hardware companies that want to provide hardware for AmigaOS4.0." Another possible indication is that Hyperion states that AmigaOS4 runs on the PPC 9xx series-- the G5 is the 970. Speculation, and probably a prank at best, but an interesting idea nonetheless.

"From when to choose mobile Web services to the overall design guidelines to the value types to use in mobile Web services, this article addresses many of the design considerations you need to ponder when developing Web services for mobile devices. Learn how to decide when to use Web services, what things to consider when you design Web services, and what to keep in mind when planning mobile Web services."

"With a message dated 14th December 2005 the Ubuntu server team was officially created. This group of programmers has the task of creating a server-specific version of Ubuntu Linux. This is particularly interesting, since up to now the Debian-based distro has been desktop-oriented. That's why I decided to ask some questions to Fabio Massimo Di Nitto, the server team leader."

As many had already predicted, the LA Times rumour about Google entering the PC market has been squashed by both Google and Wall Mart. "Reporters calling Google's public relations staff about the rumor were told it is 'wholly inaccurate.' Similarly, Wal-Mart's rather busy PR team classified the Times speculation as 'a rumor without any truth to it at all.' And why would a high-flyer like Google want to enter the death match that is the PC industry? Slugging it out with the likes of Dell and HP for a few dollars doesn't seem appealing when you've got a high-margin ad business humming."

"With Opera recently releasing their web browser completely free of Ads, it is a good time to let the truth be told. Not only is Opera faster then Firefox in all performance areas, it is much more secure and more compliant."

"After a lot of hacking behind the scenes, a new initiative to improve KDE's interaction with network and hardware devices has been launched. Solid will provide a robust basis for the dynamic modern desktop in KDE, which needs to be aware of available hardware and networks, paving the way for innovative functionality. Users should see KDE applications taking advantage of Solid in KDE 4, from the most basic Plasma applets and complex applications to desktop-wide awareness. Developers will be able to take advantage of a robust, flexible and portable API and will be integrated into the Plasma engine. It will make use of existing technologies like HAL."