Monthly Archive:: December 2012

Microsoft offers patches to WebKit to aid touch compatibility

Guest post by lucas_maximus 2012-12-21 Microsoft 30 Comments

"In a move that has raised eyebrows, Microsoft has submitted a patch to the WebKit project to extend the open source rendering engine with a prototype implementation of the Pointer Events specification that the company is also working on together with Google, Mozilla, and Opera. WebKit is the rendering engine used in Apple's Safari and Google's Chrome browsers, making Microsoft's work a contribution to products that are in direct competition to its own."

Submitted by someone 2012-12-20 Legal 18 Comments

"Samsung's move to drop all requests for injunctions against Apple in Europe may not be enough to escape sanctions from the European Commission over the alleged abuse of its standards essential patents. EC Vice President Joaquin Almunia said during a press conference on Thursday in Brussels that his office will continue with its investigation against Samsung and will release a 'statement of objections' within the coming weeks."

When I first heard the name ‘Safari’

Thom Holwerda 2012-12-20 Apple 18 Comments

"By the time I reached my office, I liked the name. Really liked it. I was committed. I could imagine seeing 'Safari' in the Mac OS X dock. I had to tell the team right away and, if necessary, convince them that they liked it too. Fortunately, and to their credit, they didn't need much convincing." Like I said - I love stories like this. Never liked the name 'Safari', though.

Guest post by Kaj-de-Vos 2012-12-20 Syllable, AtheOS 84 Comments

As the Syllable project predicted many years ago, version 3 of the REBOL programming language has finally been open sourced, under the Apache 2 licence (screenshot on Syllable Desktop). Also, the alpha version of the high-level Red programming language, supporting Syllable Desktop, has been released, by now in version 0.3.1 (screenshot, demo program, video at the Science Park in Amsterdam).

‘I’m not the product, but I play one on the internet’

Thom Holwerda 2012-12-19 Rumors 22 Comments

Derek Powazek exposes the meaninglessness of the already overused tripe 'If you're not paying for the product, you are the product'. "But we should not assume that, just because we pay a company they'll treat us better, or that if we're not paying that the company is allowed to treat us like shit. Reality is just more complicated than that. What matters is how companies demonstrate their respect for their customers. We should hold their feet to the fire when they demonstrate a lack of respect. And we should all stop saying, 'if you're not paying for the product, you are the product', because it doesn't really mean anything, it excuses the behavior of bad companies, and it makes you sound kind of like a stoner looking at their hand for the first time." Nailed it.

EFF gets $0.5 million from ‘Notch’, Mark Cuban to fight patent abuse

Thom Holwerda 2012-12-19 Legal 8 Comments

"America's broken patent system needs major reform to protect innovators and the public. Today, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is announcing a major new boost to its patent work: a half-million dollars in funding from entrepreneur Mark Cuban and game developer Markus 'Notch' Persson." Notch putting his money where his mouth is. Classy guy. Even if a creeper literally just blew up the front of my house.

Qt 5 released

Thom Holwerda 2012-12-19 Qt 27 Comments

Digia, Qt's new owner, has announced the release of version 5 of the framework. "Key benefits of Qt 5 include: graphics quality; performance on constrained hardware; cross-platform portability; support for C++11; HTML5 support with QtWebKit 2; a vastly improved QML engine with new APIs; ease of use and compatibility with Qt 4 versions."

Why was Pinball removed from Windows Vista?

Thom Holwerda 2012-12-18 Windows 45 Comments

"Windows XP was the last client version of Windows to include the Pinball game that had been part of Windows since Windows 95. There is apparently speculation that this was done for legal reasons. No, that's not why." I love these stories.

What you need to know: Instagram’s new terms of service

Thom Holwerda 2012-12-18 Internet 40 Comments

"Everyone from CNET to the BBC is freaking out today about Instagram's new terms of service. The new terms, they claim, allow Instagram to sell user's images. Users are understandably upset. Wired published a tutorial on how to download all of your Instagram photos and delete your account. But long-time Instagram users should think twice before pulling the trigger. The truth is that Instagram has always claimed full rights to your images, but has just re-worded their terms of service to make their intentions clearer." People should stop obsessing over individual service's privacy terms. There's a very simple rule on the internet that everyone ought to be aware of: the moment you put something on the web, it's no longer your property. Deal with it. Coincidentally: nobody cares about your stupid Instagram photos.

No sales ban or retrial in US; Samsung ends EU injunction requests

Thom Holwerda 2012-12-18 Legal 74 Comments

Lots of news about Apple vs. Samsung (and vice versa) in both the US and Europe today. In the US, judge Koh dealth two blows: one to Samsung (no retrial based on juror misconduct), the other to Apple (no permanent sales ban). In Europe, in the meantime, Samsung announced it will cease all ~~lawsuits~~ injunction requests against Apple... But only in Europe.

Microsoft responds to Google’s EAS move, sidesteps issue

Thom Holwerda 2012-12-18 Microsoft 155 Comments

Microsoft has just responded to Google's move regarding Exchange ActiveSync. Sadly, instead of addressing the very real problems consumers are about to face, Microsoft starts talking about switching to Outlook.com.

The flat design aesthetic: a discussion

Thom Holwerda 2012-12-17 Graphics 44 Comments

"In this article I'm going to talk about what flat design is, review what other designers are saying about it, and offer some tips on how to achieve it in your own designs." I give you one attempt to guess which 'design aesthetic' the next version of OSNews is inspired by. And yes, we will eventually get it done.

BBC Micro on an FPGA

Thom Holwerda 2012-12-17 Hardware 17 Comments

"With fond memories of educational titles like 'Granny's Garden', and less educational ones like 'Pole Position' and 'Boffin', the BBC B seemed like a worthy machine to bring back to life inside an FPGA." The Hacker News thread has links to more FPGA implementations of older home computers.

Google’s problem with Windows Phone and does it matter?

Thom Holwerda 2012-12-17 Windows 41 Comments

"Does Windows Phone need Google and its services to be successful? No. The fate of Windows Phone and its adoption in the marketplace does not rest in the hands of Google. Microsoft itself holds the key to Windows Phone becoming a successful platform, rapid evolution of its cloud services and integration with the rest of the MS eco system." Good editorial on Google killing AES support for consumers and how it affects Windows Phone, by WPCentral's Robert Brand.

Recreating Pong in its original, hardware forn

Thom Holwerda 2012-12-16 Games 14 Comments

"Unfortunately, many of the logic chips that make up Pong are no longer readily available. There are newer parts that will perform the same function but they have different pin connections. I started by re-drawing and adapting some the circuits to the available parts." Recreating Pong from scratch. In its original hardware form. Crazy cool.

Wallmart slashes iPhone 5 price by 33%

Thom Holwerda 2012-12-16 Apple 47 Comments

"Starting today, Walmart has dropped prices on both the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S, with the 16 GB iPhone 5 now on sale for just $127 and the iPhone 4S coming in at $47." I'm sure a 33% price cut right ahead of the holidays is totally normal for a product of which demand outstrips supply. Right?

Stephen Hawking pushes for pardon for Alan Turing

Thom Holwerda 2012-12-15 In the News 107 Comments

"Peers and scientists including Professor Stephen Hawking are once again pushing for an official pardon for codebreaker Alan Turing. Turing's death from cyanide poisoning in 1954 was ruled a suicide, coming after his conviction for gross indecency at a time when homosexuality was illegal." The fact that he still hasn't been pardoned is an utter disgrace.

Googles ditches Exchange ActiveSync for consumers

Thom Holwerda 2012-12-14 Google 31 Comments

"Google Sync was designed to allow access to Google Mail, Calendar and Contacts via the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol. With the recent launch of CardDAV, Google now offers similar access via IMAP, CalDAV and CardDAV, making it possible to build a seamless sync experience using open protocols. Starting January 30, 2013, consumers won't be able to set up new devices using Google Sync; however, existing Google Sync connections will continue to function." Others are free to implement the open protocols.

Google shuns application development for Windows 8, WP8

Thom Holwerda 2012-12-14 Google 107 Comments

"Google has revealed that it has no plans to develop dedicated apps for Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8 for its business app products such as Gmail or Drive." Product management director for Google Apps, Clay Bavor, told V3 that Google "will go where the users are but they are not on Windows Phone or Windows 8". Ouch - but for now, hard to argue with.

HTC’s chief product officer talks with The Verge

Thom Holwerda 2012-12-13 Wireless 30 Comments

"What are the chances that we'll see something with the finesse of the One X with stock software down the road? 'The Nexus devices are Google’s lineup,' explains Kodera, 'but in general, we're very proud of HTC Sense, and we'd like to continue shipping it on every device.' Not exactly encouraging." Big letdown. Not unexpected, but a letdown still. I will never again buy a non-Nexus device.