Monthly Archive:: September 2009

"The new versions, 3.1 for the iPhone and 3.1.1 for the iPod touch, are fairly minor upgrades which on the surface seem to add compatibility features with the newly introduced iTunes 9. While the iPhone software update is free, iPod Touch users will once again be forced to ante up if they want to upgrade."

PandaLabs has issued a ranking of the most insidious malware threats that have surfaced in the past 20 years. Threats have been selected for the notoriety they achieved through widespread epidemic and the damage caused. Some of the "stars" from the list include Melissa from 1999, ILoveYou from 2000 and Nimda from 2001.

Open source 3D graphics drivers for ATI R600 garphics cards has been submitted to the kernel-next tree for possible inclusion in the Linux kernel 2.6.32. "David Airlie has pushed a horde of new code into his drm-next Git tree, which is what will get pulled into the Linux 2.6.32 kernel once the merge window is open. Most prominently, this new DRM code brings support for kernel mode-setting with R600 class hardware as well as 3D support."

After back and forth rumors about the health of Apple's revered Steve Jobs way back in last year and the beginning of 2009, it turned out that he really did have some health problems: complications with his liver requiring a transplant. It was supposed that he'd return to Apple by the end of June, and now he's finally made his first public appearance since he first took his medical leave of absence earlier this year.

iTunes 9 was released today, and the big question on everyone's mind (ahum) was: will it break webOS sync once again? Well, yes, it does. In other words, webOS devices can no longer sync with iTunes. Luckily, the webOS 1.2 update is right around the corner, so big chance it'll be fixed quickly.

I've been developing software for quite a few years. One of the issues that seems to come up again and again in my work is this concept of design and implementation. I recall it being a significant part of my education at the University of Waterloo's Computer Engineering program as well. The message was always the same. Never write code first. First you must design software by writing a design document, flow charts, pseudo-code, timing charts... then it's merely a trivial matter of implementing it. Make note of the attitude here given towards implementing. The real work is in the design, and it's just a trivial matter of implementing it. It sounds so simple doesn't it? Now, how often does this work out in real life?

"Microsoft has placed a clutch of Silicon Graphics patents in the hands of those trying to defend Linux and open-source against trolls. The Open Invention Network has taken ownership of 22 patents covering operating systems, desktop, and browsers applications, after they were bought from Microsoft by middleman Allied Security Trust."

We usually don't report on security flaws, unless they're on platforms that usually don't see such flaws, or when the flaw in question is pretty serious. Well, a new zero-day flaw has been discovered in Windows Vista and Windows 7 which will trigger a blue screen of death using the new SMB 2.0 protocol. Update: Windows 7 RTM and Windows Server 2008 R2 are not affected by the flaw. So, this is less of a problem than expected.

According to a leak from a BestBuy employee, Microsoft is initiating a sort of "Anti-Linux Training" course for the employees, and those who take part in the said training are rewarded with a copy of Windows 7 for only ten dollars. The leaked screenshots of the campaign show Microsoft's comparison of its own system with an obscure "Linux" and how Windows is better in every way including security, "free downloads", and software and hardware compatibility.

Over the past few days, we've seen yet another rollercoaster ride in Apple's App Store. The fully licensed Commodore 64 emulator, which was rejected earlier this year, was admitted into the App Store yesterday, only to be removed this morning. This tug of war between Apple and its 3rd party developers is getting a bit old, so let's take a look at a company that treats its 3rd party developers right: Palm.

"Manomio's Commodore 64 emulator has finally been approved by Apple. We first reported on the project back in June, after Manomio had received their first rejection from Apple. The rejection was particularly disappointing considering the efforts that Manomio had made in making sure their emulator fully licensed and legal." Update by Kroc: The app has been pulled, after Apple caught wind of the much publicised trick to enable BASIC in the emulator. Tsk, tsk; if you're going to put in easter eggs, the point is to keep them a secret, umm'kay.

Developer Frans Pop, author of debtree, posted an article showing the evolution in size of the GNOME desktop environment in recent Debian releases. The picture he paints isn't particularly pretty: the default GNOME install has increased drastically in size over the years.

Last week, Culf of Mac published an article showing off some of Snow Leopard's beautiful 512x512 icons, revealing some interesting tidbits about them you could only see when the icons are fully maximised. In this article, I compare some of Snow Leopard's icons to those of Windows 7, and you'll see while both operating systems have beautiful icons, there are some key differences between the styles of these icons. Note that this article contains some large images, so if you're on dial-up, you've been warned.

This was a bit of a weird week for OSNews. Monday and Tuesday I was unable to reach OSNews and its related domains from home; we still don't know why, but the end result was that I could not work on OSNews, meaning very few items. For the rest, it was a very quiet and relaxed week, with little going on.