Submission + - Can IT Give Users a Consumer Experience? (itworld.com)
rsmiller510 writes: As user expectations change from consumer and mobile applications, should IT give users what they want and simplify software?
Submission + - Linux hacker announces Parallel Programming book (livejournal.com)
Josh Triplett writes: Linux kernel hacker and parallel programming guru Paul McKenney announced his book-in-progress, Is Parallel Programming Hard, And, If So, What Can You Do About It?. It currently has a good combination of "documentation nobody else ever bothered to write" on many forms of synchronization and concurrency, from the simple to the cutting edge, with a bit of a peek beyond. It has a ways to go before it could become a publishable book, but by the standards of software documentation it represents one of the best references I've seen.
Submission + - Kno Textbook Tablet, Based on Ubuntu, Ain't no iPa (ostatic.com)
Thinkcloud writes: It’s a dual screen, open source tablet that takes a very renegade approach to the tablet market in general.
Submission + - Most Android tablets fail at GPL compliance (networkworld.com)
polar_bear` writes: Red Hat's Matthew Garrett has been checking to see who's naughty and nice. Most Android tablet vendors? Naughty, naughty, naughty, when it comes to GPL compliance. The current crop of Android tablets fails miserably when it comes to GPL compliance, with most of the vendors flouting the GPL and failing to ship source.
Submission + - Here Comes the Holodeck (technewsworld.com)
bakercom1 writes: recent breakthroughs bring holograms into reality!
Submission + - RIM's Jim Balsillie: Mobile is All About The Web (oreilly.com)
blackbearnh writes: There's been a lot of noise recently about which mobile devices will support what development environments, and whether the iPhone's lockout of Flash hurts Apple more, or Adobe. But Jim Balsillie, co-CEO of Research in Motion (you know, the Blackberry guys...) is betting the house that HTML5 and the mobile web is really where the future lies. In an interview promoting the Web 2.0 Summit, Balsillie talks about RIM's new emphasis on the web, what the reemergence of Microsoft in the mobile market might mean, and if cell phones and tablets need to converge. "You start asking the question: If you're carrying around a tablet, how much performance do you want in the smartphone? Because you want to do a certain set of tasks really well, but you don't want the smartphone to be a proxy for a tablet-type job because now you've got the tablet. The interplay is uncertain."
Submission + - GNOME's executive director resigns, joins Mozilla (networkworld.com)
Julie188 writes: Stormy Peters is stepping down as GNOME's executive director and heading to Mozilla to work on developer engagement. Peters says she is leaving the GNOME Foundation to join Mozilla and work on "pushing freedom on the Web as much as we've pushed for it on the desktop." GNOME is in rough waters these days, what with Ubuntu's plans to move away from it in favor of its own Unity UI and the endless delays on GNOME 3.0.
Submission + - Fedora 14 Released (fedoraproject.org)
Submission + - Android Code May Be at Risk (esecurityplanet.com)
graychase writes: Writing for eSecurityPlanet.com, Sean Michael Kerner reports: "Google's Android mobile operating system may include a number of high-risk software flaws, according to a new report from static code analysis vendor Coverity. Coverity detected 359 software defects in the Android Froyo kernel that is used in the HTC Droid Incredible smartphone. Of those defects, Coverity has identified 88 defects or about 25 percent of the total flaw count, as being high-risk and potentially leading to security risk for Android users."
Andy Chou, Chief Scientist and co-founder of Coverity is quoted as saying, "We found that the Android kernel had about half the defect density that you would expect, compared to other industry average codebases of the same size. What that means is that a defect density of one defect per approximately one thousand lines of code is industry average, according to our measurements – for the Android kernel, the defect density was about 0.47."
Andy Chou, Chief Scientist and co-founder of Coverity is quoted as saying, "We found that the Android kernel had about half the defect density that you would expect, compared to other industry average codebases of the same size. What that means is that a defect density of one defect per approximately one thousand lines of code is industry average, according to our measurements – for the Android kernel, the defect density was about 0.47."
Submission + - Fedora 14 Reviewed: Advanced, And Not For Wimps (itworld.com)
jfruhlinger writes: Remember the days when being a Linux user was like being part of a select priesthood — arcane knowledge needed, but great rewards? Steven Vaughan-Nichols has tested out Fedora 14, and that was how it went. No Ubuntu-style handholding, but some powerful new features.
Ubuntu Moves Away From GNOME 514
An anonymous reader writes "It's official: Ubuntu has, with its ironically named 'Unity' interface, chosen to move away from GNOME for Ubuntu Natty Narwhal. Or at least move away from GNOME Shell. Mark Shuttleworth says that Ubuntu will still be 'GNOME,' even if it's not using GNOME Shell. Do you agree?"
Submission + - Ubuntu moves away from GNOME (networkworld.com)
An anonymous reader writes: It's official: Ubuntu has, with its ironically named "Unity" interface, chosen to move away from GNOME for Ubuntu Natty Narwhal. At least move away from GNOME Shell. Mark Shuttleworth says that Ubuntu will still be "GNOME," even if it's not using GNOME Shell. Do you agree?
Submission + - Adding a Gaming Layer to the Real World (oreilly.com)
blackbearnh writes: Anyone who's ever seen a LARP (Live Action Role Playing) run at a science fiction convention know that you can take the real world and add a game on top of it. Kevin Slavin has been doing the same thing, but one a much bigger scale. He has spent the last decade designing "big games", games that are played out over entire cities using the existing landscape as part of the story. In an interview running today, he talks about the attraction of big games, why seemingly 'mindless' games like FarmVille have value, and why virtual realities like Second Life are going about it wrong. "One thing that Second Life and the movement toward augmented reality have in common is that they both believe the pleasure of a game and the meaning of a game and the experience of a game rest primarily in the optics. But I think that there's a fundamental misunderstanding about what makes games fun. Chess wouldn't be more fun if you had perfectly rendered kings and actual castles. I think one of the best examples of this is Tamagotchi. The creature itself was maybe eight pixels by eight pixels and black and white. What made it feel real wasn't that it looked real; it was that it acted real. It could articulate demands upon you that your eye itself couldn't do. In Tamagotchi versus Second Life, I'll go with Tamagotchi."
Submission + - The real truth about Oracle's "new" Kernel (networkworld.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Yesterday at OpenWorld Oracle announced a "new" Enterprise kernel for its so-called Unbreakable Linux. What's the real truth? The company is simply sticking a 2.6.32-based kernel on top of its re-branded Red Hat Enterprise Linux clone and trying to spin it as a new and innovative development.
Submission + - Bdale Garbee gives beard for Tasmanian Devils (ostatic.com) 2
polar_bear` writes: "Linus Torvalds took garden shears to Bdale Garbee today to help save the Tasmanian Devil. Garbee's beard went up for auction at Linux.conf.au 2009 Wednesday night, and he went under the razor right after lunch today to entertain the LCA crowd and raise awareness about the plight of the endangered Tasmanian Devil."
