July – 2010 – OSnews

5 Tips For Upgrading From Windows XP to Windows 7

Submitted by estherschindler 2010-07-15 Windows 11 Comments

The official word from Microsoft is you can't upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7; you need a clean install. But in fact you can upgrade, including moving your data, applications, and settings. Here are some tips to help.

Is Computer Science a Dead End in the Workplace?

Guest post by snydeq 2010-07-15 General Development 70 Comments

Fatal Exception's Neil McAllister asks whether the need for advanced development expertise is on the decline in an era in which tools grow increasingly more advanced, and coding increasingly moves offshore. 'Few companies share Google's zeal for academic credentials when hiring new developers. Many are willing to accept self-taught programmers, particularly if they have other skills relevant to the business.'

IBM opens up beta for AIX 7

Submitted by poundsmack 2010-07-15 IBM 13 Comments

For only the second time since Big Blue entered the Unix market for real in February 1990 with the launch of the RS/6000 line of workstations and servers, the company is letting customers who use its Power-based servers take a future AIX release for a test drive in an open beta program

QNX6 Is Closed Source Once Again

Guest post by brynet 2010-07-15 QNX 36 Comments

As of April 2010, a silent change was made on Foundry27, users with a myQNX account could no longer checkout/update their copies of the QNX SVN repositories and a vague Wiki page was created "detailing" some licencing clarifications.

OpenSUSE 11.3 Released: Screenshots and Features

Submitted by a_weber42 2010-07-15 SuSE, openSUSE 14 Comments

The last time OpenSUSE users enjoyed a stable release was in November 2009 making today's release of OpenSUSE 11.3 a pretty big deal. This is the first release in the new eight month release schedule for OpenSUSE. Here are some screenshots of the OpenSUSE 11.3 install, KDE and GNOME desktops, and details about some of the popular new features in this release. Full Story

Mozilla’s JaegerMonkey JavaScript Engine

Submitted by lemur2 2010-07-15 Mozilla, Gecko 5 Comments

Mozilla has reached an important Milestone as its new JavaScript engine "JaegerMonkey" is now faster than the current "TraceMonkey" in a key benchmark. Mozilla wants JaegerMonkey to be faster than the competition and launch on September 1, which means that JaegerMonkey will make it into Firefox 4.0.

Early Look At Velocity Micro Android Tablets

Submitted by strestout1 2010-07-15 Wireless 7 Comments

"I've been a fan of Velocity Micro for years. Velocity Micro is a small system manufacturer that's been around for years, and you always have to root for the small guy. The company has announced that they will be releasing three new Android powered tablets this year to compete with hardware from heavyweights like iPad, Dell, and HP. Here's an early look at what to expect from the upcoming hardware."

Creating Mobile Web Applications With HTML5

David Adams 2010-07-15 General Development No Comments

In this five-part series, you will take a closer look at several new technologies that are part of HTML5, that can have a huge impact on mobile Web application development. Part 1: Combine HTML5, geolocation APIs, and Web services to create mobile mashups. Part 2: Unlock local storage for mobile Web applications with HTML5. Part 3: Make mobile Web applications work offline with HTML5. Part 4: Using Web Workers to speed up your mobile Web applications. Part 5: Develop new visual UI features in HTML 5.

Google Testing Multiple Account Sign In

Submitted by strestout1 2010-07-15 Google 5 Comments

If you only have one e-mail account with Google you may not realize how annoying it can be for those of us who have multiple accounts to have to constantly sign in and out of Google services to check e-mail or information. There are ways around it (extensions, Greasemonkey scripts, using separate browsers for each account, etc), but why shouldn't Google support multiple user logins? In fact, if screenshots posted on the Google Operating System blog are to be believed (and they have been in the past), Google is currently testing a new feature which will lets users easily switch between multiple accounts easily. The feature isn't available to the public yet, but we can't wait to test it out.

Apple Releases iOS 4.1 To Developers

Submitted by strestout1 2010-07-15 Apple 4 Comments

Apple has just released the first beta of iOS 4.1. While no official changelog has been posted by Apple, we can expect to see improvements in the way the iPhone calculates signal reception, a flaw which was found by Apple recently during testing. You must be a registered developer in order to access the download, but if you have an account, you can get it here.

Fiasco.OC and L4Env new releases

Submitted by fithisux 2010-07-14 OS News 10 Comments

Fiasco is a preemptible real-time kernel supporting hard priorities. It uses non-blocking synchronization for its kernel objects. This guarantees priority inheritance and makes sure that runnable high-priority processes never block waiting for lower-priority processes. Is it the Java of operating systems?

20 Ways To Lose Your Database

Submitted by HAL2001 2010-07-14 Privacy, Security 4 Comments

It has been proven to be relatively easy to bribe someone on the inside - or even plant a rogue employee in the organization -- to gain access to sensitive data -- but even if we leave this well-documented risk aside, how often has someone left your organization taking company stationery with them? Do you know what else has been taken? Could they have sneaked out with sensitive material? What about a copy of the entire corporate database? Would you even know if they had?

BareMetal OS

Submitted by iseyler 2010-07-14 OS News 56 Comments

BareMetal is an open source 64-bit OS for x86-64 based computers. It is written in Assembly, and applications can be written in Assembly or C/C++. It's aimed at three target segments (High Performance Computing, Embedded Applications, and Education). It's also designed to be simple, and it's really small. Under 16Kb small. Version 0.4.8 was released recently, which includes updates to the C application library, updated documentation, and better support for SMP. It's good to see some innovation in the startup/hobbyist OS space. We wish them well!

How Blackberry OS 6 Will Change The Smartphone Game

Submitted by strestout1 2010-07-14 Wireless 10 Comments

One of the first articles headline articles I wrote for Geekvine when we first started in May, was title 7 Reasons Blackberry Is Falling Behind and What It Can Do To Get Ahead. In that article, I discussed the reasons why RIM was being overtaken by the likes of Google and Apple and what it could do to get ahead. Sure, Blackberry devices are untouchable in the business sector but what about creating devices for the rest of us? The upcoming update to the Blackberry OS is a step in the right direction so I thought it was time to release an updated article and how things have changed. Today we'll discuss how Blackberry OS 6 will change the smartphone game and RIM may have in store for the future.

Microsoft Closes Five Vulnerabilities in Windows and Office

Submitted by HAL2001 2010-07-14 Microsoft No Comments

In today's Patch Tuesday, Microsoft delivers four bulletins that close five vulnerabilities in Windows and Office.

Windows XP Will Never Die

Submitted by No Body 2010-07-14 Windows 16 Comments

Microsoft originally said that new owners of Windows 7 who wanted to downgrade to XP would only have until 2011 to do so, but now the company has changed its mind and extended support for the old operating system until 2020.

Top 5 Scripting Languages on the JVM

Guest post by snydeq 2010-07-14 Java 6 Comments

InfoWorld's Andrew Binstock takes an in-depth look at scripting language performance on the JVM. While Java has become more complex, the JVM has become one of the fastest and most efficient execution platforms available, creating an opening for a new generation of languages that lack Java's syntax overload to take advantage of the JVM. The report examines Groovy, JRuby, Scala, Fanthom, and Jython. Of the five, Groovy and JRuby have risen from the niche, a trend that will also likely benefit Scala and Fanthom as well. Jython's moment in the sun, Binstock writes, has probably come and gone.

The Ten Most Short-Lived Gadgets

David Adams 2010-07-13 Hardware 19 Comments

Following up on the news a couple of weeks ago that Microsoft had killed the Kin, its first Windows Phone 7 device, after only a month on the market, we found a list of ten gadgets that, despite their promise, didn't make it in the marketplace. Some of these devices, such as the Modo, laid the groundwork for blockbuster products (iPod). Some, like the Audrey, developed a cult following once their failure made them affordable on eBay. Others just flat out failed (DataPlay). Are there any short-lived gadgets that didn't make the list? What about the CueCat?

OpenSolaris Governing Board Threatens to Shoot Itself In The Head

Submitted by diegocg 2010-07-13 Solaris 37 Comments

This morning, at the OpenSolaris Governing Board (OGB) meeting, the following was proposed and unanimously resolved: "The OGB is keen to promote the uptake and open development of OpenSolaris and to work on behalf of the community with Oracle, as such the OGB needs Oracle to appoint a liaison by August 16, 2010, who has the the authority to talk about the future of OpenSolaris and its interaction with the OpenSolaris community otherwise the OGB will take action at the August 23 meeting to trigger the clause in the OGB charter that will return control of the community to Oracle."

BlackBerry OS6 Shown Again, Without Dancers

Submitted by Linwood 2010-07-13 Wireless 3 Comments

I know everyone loved the last "exciting" BB video showing OS6, but here is another glimpse of what's coming. Seems to just have what every other smartphone OS has nowadays; social media tie ins, a web browser, and hopefully a useful touchscreen. nothing real eye opening other than the fact that its on a BB. The vid shows a good example of the touchscreen keyboard - I'm holding up hope that they keep the famous BB form factor with a real qwerty.

Monthly Archive:: July 2010