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Announcements

Submission + - LiMo Foundation launched

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic Mobile Communications, Samsung Electronics, and Vodafone announced today the official launch of the LiMo Foundation. The Foundation aims to provide an API specification, architecture, references to open source code, new source code-based reference implementation components (to be developed and contributed by Foundation members) and specifications for referenced third party software, all to be used in a Linux-powered mobile device.
The Courts

Submission + - Canadian company joins iPhone trademark row

Submitted by
Z0mb1eman
Z0mb1eman writes: "Canadian newspapers are reporting that a Toronto company has been using the iPhone brand for voice-over-IP services since 2004, before Appple applied for the iPhone trademark.

"There's no confirmed reports that Apple will launch iPhone in Canada," [Comwave president Yuval Barzakay] said in an interview. "And there's no trademark designation on their iPhone logo. So we're not quite sure where they're headed with that."

It will be interesting to see how this will affect Apple's iPhone rollout in Canada, for which a date hasn't been announced yet."
Google

Journal Journal: Google Kills "Google-Bombs"

Journal by PoliTech
Google Kills Bush's Miserable Failure Search & Other Google Bombs.

After just over two years, Google has finally defused the "Google Bomb" that has returned US President George W. Bush at the top of its results in a search on miserable failure. The move wasn't a post-State Of The Union Address gift for Bush. Instead, it's part of an overall algorithm change designed to stop such mass link pranks from working.
Software

Submission + - Software Quality

Submitted by Anonymous PHB
Anonymous PHB writes: As a former techie turned pointy hair boss (PHB), I procure more than my fair share of expensive software to meet business needs. It seems that the quality of "enterprise" software has been dropping faster than the sale of Zunes. Cases in point, firewall software that failed to handle FTP connections, intrusion detection software than dropped 90%+ of packets, packet capture software that refuses to install. To limit the risk of poor quality software, I tend to buy software from larger, reputable companies or support contracts from companies who implement open source. When possible, I run proof of concepts before signing on the dotted line. What tricks do you use to ensure that software qualtiy prior to purchase?
Programming

Submission + - Lisp in Ruby

Submitted by
dtolton
dtolton writes: "Pat Eyler has posted an interesting interview with the Rubinius developers. The discussion revolves around adding a Lisp style dialect to the rapidly progressing Rubinius VM. Ready for macro's with your Ruby code anyone?"
Robotics

Submission + - A lightly older follow-on to programmable robots.

Submitted by Bright Apollo
Bright Apollo writes: I was reminded of a Slashdot story a few days ago about a fully-programmable robot from iRobot, and stumbled upon a month-old c|net photo article about a robot+PC: http://news.com.com/2300-11394_3-6139725-1.html.

I kinda dig it, especially if you can couple this with the proximity charging tech (Splash tech: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2861987.stm) . You can dock it in your workroom, load it up or tweak it, then "deploy" it to your home for serving up video in the living room, etc (would only be viable for people with ranches layouts, no splits or colonials).

-BA
Space

Submission + - Brightest Comet in 30 Years Visible in SOHO Images

Submitted by anthemaniac
anthemaniac writes: The brightest comet in 30 years is now entering the field of view of the SOHO spacecraft, and it's simply stunning. Many skywatchers were frustrated because Comet McNaught was about as bright as Jupiter but it was so low on the horizon that it was very hard to spot. Now it's easy to see without even going outside. Next up: Folks in the Southern Hemisphere will get a good look at the comet starting Sunday.
Announcements

Submission + - Robet Anton Wilson, R.I.P.

Submitted by
a.ferrier
a.ferrier writes: "Robert Anton Wilson — philosopher, author, visionary, Discordian, and Fortean, — died early this morning. From his final blog post on January 6: "Various medical authorities swarm in and out of here predicting I have between two days and two months to live. I think they are guessing. I remain cheerful and unimpressed. I look forward without dogmatic optimism but without dread. I love you all and I deeply implore you to keep the lasagna flying. Please pardon my levity, I don't see how to take death seriously. It seems absurd.""
Power

Submission + - Wireless Power is finally here

Submitted by
oxide7
oxide7 writes: "Wireless battery technology was unveiled at this year's International Consumer Electronics Show by Powercast LLC, promising to set consumers free from power cables and heavy power adapters. The company claims its Powercaster and Powerharvester modules can recharge batteries in consumer devices smaller than a cellphone using RF broadcasts from up to a meter away."
Democrats

Submission + - Florida congressional loser wants access to code

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Florida congressional loser Christine Jennings (D) wants access to the source code of touch screen voters.

"... Her lawsuit says she must be allowed access to the secret inner workings of the touch-screen machines in order to find out if something did go wrong.

The manufacturer, Elections Systems and Software, does not want to disclose its trade-secret security systems, which are protected by Florida law. "

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A ID=/20061219/CAPITOLNEWS06/61219007/1001/RSS

10 Best IT Products Of 2006 223

Posted by Zonk from the i-do-so-love-a-top-ten-list dept.
digihome writes "CRN.com chooses the ten best new products of 2006, including the best development tools, server, notebook and storage device. Some of the choices may surprise you ... such as their choice for operating system of the year." From the article: "With Windows Vista, Microsoft has refreshed the user desktop experience. While debate rages over whether the five-year wait was worth it, the truth is Vista is pretty much the only game in town. One may question whether Vista should be bestowed with Product of the Year recognition in the operating system category. But the product unquestionably brings new features and capabilities to solution providers that in turn promise new revenue generation dialogues with end users."
Security

Month of Apple Bugs Debuts in January 171

Posted by Zonk from the sure-to-raise-some-eyebrows dept.
An anonymous reader writes "A pair of security researchers has picked January 2007 as the Month of Apple Bugs, a project in which each passing day will feature a previously undocumented security hole in Apple's OS X operating system or in Apple applications that run on top of it. According to a post over at The Washington Post's Security Fix blog, the project is being put together by researchers Kevin Finisterre and the guy who ran November's Month of Kernel Bugs project." From the post: "It should be interesting to see whether Apple does anything to try and scuttle this pending project. In November, a researcher who focuses most of his attention on bugs in database giant Oracle's software announced his intention to launch a "Week of Oracle Database Bugs" project during the first week of December. The researcher abruptly canceled the project shortly after the initial announcement, without offering any explanation."
Programming

Submission + - Web programming development environment?

Submitted by
umdenken
umdenken writes: "I'd like to know how other slashdotters do their server-side web programming: We have dozens of perl cgi scripts, and are currently doing development by editing these production scripts in place on the web server. (!!) Our sysadmins have finally installed the svn client on the server (Solaris), and have offered to create a new virtual host that we can use as the development server. I'd like to have an idea of what some best practices currently are, for organizing this kind of set up. Thanks!"

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