Monthly Archive:: September 2010

A Little Positive Apple Analysis

Guest post by mjhi11 2010-09-16 Apple 189 Comments

I love OSNews, but it does seem like some of its editors enjoy just a little too much taking a good natured jab at Apple upon occasion (well, more like every chance that particular editor can get). I thought it time for a little good news and analysis about Apple that critics often overlook.

Skyhook Sues Google Over Patents, Interference

Thom Holwerda 2010-09-16 Legal 25 Comments

It looks like Google has a serious lawsuit up its tailpipe. Skyhook Wireless, the company that develops technologies for determining the location of cell phones and similar devices, has filed a patent infringement and a tortious interference lawsuit against the search giant, claiming Google's interference cost Skyhook tens of millions of dollars.

Guest post by iseyler 2010-09-16 OS News 15 Comments

BareMetal OS v0.4.9 has been released. Newest features are network communication via Ethernet as well as Memory allocation/free functions. BareMetal is an open source 64bit operating system for x86-64 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). The kernel binary is still under 16 KiB as well!

Submitted by poundsmack 2010-09-15 Graphics 42 Comments

"Adobe Flash Player 'Square' is a preview release that enables native 64-bit support on Linux, Mac OS, and Windows operating systems, as well as enhanced support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 beta. We have made this preview available so that users can test existing content and new platforms for compatibility and stability."

HTC Launches Desire HD, Desire Z, New Sense UI

Thom Holwerda 2010-09-15 Wireless 14 Comments

It's no surprise that HTC is working very hard on increasing its brand awareness, preferring to market phones as being HTC devices instead of carrier-branded ones that do not carry any HTC branding at all. This strategy is paying off, and today must've been very nice for them: they held an Apple-style product announcement in London, attended by media from all over the world. The news: two new phones, and an improved Sense experience which includes a web presence where you can remotely manage your HTC devices.

Internet Explorer 9 Beta Released

Thom Holwerda 2010-09-15 Internet Explorer 69 Comments

After several months and preview releases, Microsoft has finally lifted the curtain for the Windows Explorer 9 beta release. Internet Explorer 9 is Microsoft's attempt at not just catching up to the competition, but at actually surpassing them. Since enough sites will be focusing on just how many nanoseconds faster or slower the beta is compared to the competition, I'll talk a little about the new minimalist interface.

Introducing NPF, NetBSD’s new packet filter

Submitted by Ed 2010-09-15 NetBSD 30 Comments

"The NetBSD Foundation is pleased to announce NPF, a new packet filter by Mindaugas Rasiukevicius. NPF is designed for high performance on multiprocessor machines, and for easy extensibility."

Shuttleworth Responds to Ubuntu’s Critics

Thom Holwerda 2010-09-14 Ubuntu 211 Comments

If there's one consistent piece of criticism that gets lobbed in Canonical's and Mark Shuttleworth's direction, it's that they do not contribute enough code - or anything else for that matter - to the Free software world. Mark Shuttleworth has apparently had enough, and has written a very, very lengthy blog post detailing how he feels about this criticism.

Submitted by poundsmack 2010-09-14 macOS 12 Comments

"Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac launched today with a number of new features and refinements for users looking to run alternative operating systems in virtual environments on their Macs. As summarized on Parallels' site, the update brings enhancements to gaming and graphics, simpler setup and integration, greater manageability and mobility, and better performance. Beyond improvements to the standard Parallels Desktop application for Mac OS X, the company has also released a new, free iOS application, Parallels Mobile, bringing remote access on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch to users running the desktop software."

Guest post by shmerl 2010-09-14 Solaris 13 Comments

The OpenIndiana project has been officially announced. OpenIndiana is part of the Illumos foundation and a community distribution which aims to to continue OpenSolaris, previously shut down by Oracle. Some details of the announcement were published on c0t0d0s0.org.

HDCP Master Key May Have Leaked

Thom Holwerda 2010-09-14 Multimedia, AV 45 Comments

If the rumours are true, and if this Pastebin post (be sure to mirror the key if that won't get you in trouble with your authorities) is legitimate, then it looks like High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection has been cracked so hard its mother's mother felt it. HDCP is a copy protection mechanism which protects the audio and video streams sent over DisplayPort, HDMI, and DVI.

Intel Opens App Store, Unveils Atom Chips

Thom Holwerda 2010-09-14 Intel 1 Comment

"Intel kicked off the second day of its developers conference by officially launching its app store and rolling out new Atom processors. The chip maker's AppUp center, which went into beta early this year, went live today, Renee James, an Intel senior vice president and general manager of the Software and Services Group, said during the morning's first keynote at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco today. The AppUp center is a consumer-centric store that focuses on free and paid apps for entertainment, productivity, networking and gaming. The apps are optimized for netbooks in terms of screen size and mobility, according to Intel. Intel also launched a new Atom chip that was formerly known as Groveland. Doug Davis, vice president of Intel's architecture group, took the wraps off the Atom CE4200, which is designed for smart TVs."

Technical Support of the Day

David Adams 2010-09-14 Humor 6 Comments

I never get tired of pictures like this.

Nokia Launches New Symbian^3 Smartphones

Thom Holwerda 2010-09-14 Wireless 35 Comments

Nokia might not be gaining a lot of mindshare in the smartphone world with its Symbian operating system, but fact of the matter is that Symbian is still the most popular smartphone operating system in the world - by a long shot. Today, Nokia officially unveiled three new smartphones that will run the latest iteration of the mobile platform, Symbian^3.

Submitted by HAL2001 2010-09-13 In the News 2 Comments

HP and ArcSight have signed a definitive agreement for HP to acquire ArcSight, a security and compliance management company, for $43.50 per share, or an enterprise value of $1.5 billion.

Ars Technica: Mac OS X Public Beta Repost

Thom Holwerda 2010-09-13 macOS 2 Comments

"For the vast majority of Mac users, the September 13, 2000 appearance of the Mac OS X Public Beta was the first glimpse of Apple's attempt to produce a modern operating system. Hop in the Classic.Ars time machine and check out John Siracusa's original review of the Mac OS X Public Beta." I've read all Siracusa's Mac OS X reviews in one day once. Very much worth it.

Microsoft Provides Russian NGOs with Unilateral Software License

Thom Holwerda 2010-09-13 Microsoft 27 Comments

Who said a public outcry - even if it's just on the internet - never helped anyone? Yesterday, we reported on The New York Times' findings that Microsoft lawyers were taking part in raids on opposition groups in Russia. Today, Microsoft has announced a number of steps to fix the situation - the most significant of which is a unilateral software license extended to all NGOs in Russia and several other countries.

Guest post by snydeq 2010-09-13 Open Source 26 Comments

InfoWorld's Neil McAllister offers 20 questions to test your knowledge of the open source and free software movements. Which was the first commercial Linux distribution? How many separate clauses make up the typical BSD-style open source license? What is the difference between the GPL and the LGPL?

Swiss Federal Supreme Court Declares P2P Investigations Illegal

Thom Holwerda 2010-09-13 Legal 65 Comments

With bad news after bad news when it comes to consumer rights in relation to software and copyright, it's always refreshing to see that there are still people in high places who aren't yet bought by big content. Late last week, a major battle was won for consumer rights in Switzerland: Switzerland's Federal Supreme Court has ruled that IP addresses are personal information, and therefore, fall under the country's strict privacy laws, and may not be used by anti-piracy companies.

NYT: Russia Uses Microsoft to Suppress Dissent

Thom Holwerda 2010-09-12 Microsoft 49 Comments

Piracy is a big problem for large software ~~vendors~~ licensors like Microsoft. As such, the Redmond giant is undertaking several anti-piracy efforts all over the world, and, of course, it attempts to make its software harder to crack through activation and validation. As The New York Times has discovered, however, the prevalence of pirated Microsoft software in Russia is giving the Russian authorities a pretence to raid the offices of outspoken advocacy groups or opposition media - supported by Microsoft lawyers. Update: Microsoft responds with a blog post that says all the right things, including "Microsoft will create a new unilateral software license for NGOs that will ensure they have free, legal copies of our products."