alancronin - Slashdot User

Submission + - Fedora 20 Released (fedoraproject.org)

Submitted by alancronin on Tuesday December 17, 2013 @12:23PM

alancronin writes: Excerpt from DistroWatch:

Fedora 20, code-named "Heisenbug" and dedicated to well-known Fedora contributor Seth Vidal who passed away in July, has been released: "We can say with great certainty the Fedora Project is pleased to announce the release of Fedora 20 ('Heisenbug'), which coincides with the 10th anniversary of the creation of the Fedora Project. Fedora 20 comes with GNOME 3.10, which has several new applications and features that will please GNOME lovers. This release includes a new music application, a new maps application, a revamp for the system status menu, and Zimbra support in Evolution. In keeping with Fedora's commitment to innovation, the Fedora community has been pushing to make ARM a primary architecture."

Submission + - Doom Is Now 20 Years Old (dallasnews.com)

Submitted by alancronin on Wednesday December 11, 2013 @09:54AM

alancronin writes: Few video games have had the impact that Doom has on the medium as a whole. While it wasn’t the first first-person shooter out there, it was certainly one of the earliest hits of the genre, due in no small part to its revolutionary multiplayer. Today, that game is 20 years old. Made in Mesquite by a bunch of young developers including legends John Carmack and John Romero, Doom went on to “transform pop culture,” as noted by the sub-title of the book Masters of Doom.

Submission + - BlackBerry Z30 Review: A Polished Business Phablet, Lacking A Lighter Side (zdnet.com)

Submitted by alancronin on Tuesday October 15, 2013 @10:28AM

alancronin writes: The Z30 is a polished business handset aimed at the multitasking executive, and contains lots of neat tweaks aimed at making such people as productive as possible. It's the short-back-and-sides of the phablet world — a briefcase when everyone wants a cool courier bag, or a pair of brogues when everyone is wearing trainers. For a rectangle, it's surprisingly square. In short, it's a little too serious, and BlackBerry 10 lacks the broad app ecosystem that would give the Z30 wider appeal for use in the office and at home — which is what most buyers actually want in a smartphone. To be a real success, smartphones have to appeal to consumers as well as business users, and the Z30 doesn't really bridge that gap. It's also impossible to review such a device without noting BlackBerry's current situation, with analysts Gartner even suggesting that enterprise customers should start looking at alternatives fast. The Z30 isn't the handset to turn the company's fortunes around, but it will certainly appeal to the (increasingly niche) business-first audience.

Submission + - Microsoft Responds To Pressure Over Canceled TechNet Subscriptions (zdnet.com)

Submitted by alancronin on Tuesday September 03, 2013 @04:16PM

alancronin writes: Microsoft's decision earlier this year to shut down its TechNet subscription service was sudden and unpopular among some of its most loyal customers. An online petition to "Continue TechNet or create an affordable alternative to MSDN" now has nearly 11,000 signatures. Today Microsoft addressed some of those concerns. No, the governor hasn't shown up with a last-minute reprieve for the program, which stopped accepting new orders on August 31. But Microsoft has made a few changes that address some of the complaints from those soon-to-be-ex-TechNet subscribers.

Submission + - PCWorld magazine is no more (time.com)

Submitted by harrymcc on Thursday July 11, 2013 @02:14AM

harrymcc writes: After slightly more than 30 years, PCWorld — one of the most successful computer magazines of all time — is discontinuing print publication. It was the last general-interest magazine for PC users, so it really is the end of an era. Over at TIME, I paused to reflect upon the end of the once-booming category, in part as a former editor at PCWorld, but mostly as a guy who really, really loved to read computer magazines.

Submission + - Open Source Alternatives For Google Services

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 11, 2013 @01:38AM

An anonymous reader writes: As it becomes more and more obvious that any reasonable user should stay away from Google's (or any other company's) free services, be it because of selling user data, or examining it, or PRISM, or lack of support, or any of the hundred reasons we can think of, one may start to wonder, why the open source community, given it power and widespread support, hasn't produced anything that could rival Gmail's (or gCal's, for example) usability and simplicity? Are we doomed to use mutt, or is it still possible to break away from the luring comfort this advertising giant provides us with?

Submission + - BlackBerry Z10 Incurs 'Critical' Security Warning (cnet.com)

Submitted by alancronin on Wednesday June 19, 2013 @05:38AM

alancronin writes: BlackBerry has issued a security advisory notice to those who have bought its flagship Z10 touchscreen smartphone — the first BlackBerry 10 device to launch following the company's bid for revival, back in February. The advisory, which was issued last week, notes a bug that relates to BlackBerry Protect, its security and backup utility, rather than the phone's operating system itself. According to the advisory, an escalation of privilege vulnerability exists in the software of some Z10 phones that could allow a malicious app to "take advantage" of weak permissions in the in-built security software. This could allow a hacker to gain access to the device's password, and intercept and prevent the device from being wiped. The "critical" factor is that the security flaw could dupe the device's user into installing an app which resets the device password through BlackBerry Protect. Though the device may be in the user's hands, its data is under the control of the hacker.

Submission + - Windows 8.1 Differences Unveiled (zdnet.com)

Submitted by alancronin on Thursday May 30, 2013 @10:00AM

alancronin writes: ZDNet has an article detailing the upcoming differences in Windows 8.1 which is coming as a preview in a few weeks. There are a lot of small improvements based on feedback Microsoft have gotten from their users but the Start menu is still omitted in favor of minor updates to the Start screen. Although Microsoft does now make it easier to boot start into the regular Windows desktop in order to avoid the Start screen. The next version of Windows 8.1 will be free to Windows 8 users.

Submission + - Ethernet Turns 40 Years Old (theinquirer.net)

Submitted by alancronin on Thursday May 23, 2013 @06:19AM

alancronin writes: Four decades ago the Ethernet protocol made its debut as a way to connect machines in close proximity, today it is the networking layer two protocol of choice for local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs) and everything in between. For many people Ethernet is merely the RJ45 jack on the back of a laptop, but its relative ubiquity and simplicity belie what Ethernet has done for the networking industry and in turn for consumers and enterprises. Ethernet has in the space of 40 years gone from a technology that many in the industry viewed as something not fit for high bandwidth, dependable communications to the default data link protocol.

Submission + - How BlackBerry Is Riding iOS And Android To Power Its Comeback (zdnet.com)

Submitted by alancronin on Friday May 17, 2013 @10:33AM

alancronin writes: While a fresh new generation of BlackBerry phones fight a ferocious battle for third place in the smartphone race, BlackBerry's other big business remains in a great position in its red-hot market, Mobile Device Management (MDM). At BlackBerry Live 2013 in Orlando this week, the company rolled out a major update to BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES) and deepened its commitment to making BES a multiplatform solution that now deeply secures its two leading smartphone competitors. Ironically, the trend that brutally undercut BlackBerry phones during the past five years—the "bring your own device" (BYOD) movement—is now driving significant sales of BES, the company's backend software. At BlackBerry Live, the company released version 10.1 of BES. BES 10.1 will support a powerful new module that will launch at the end of June called Secure Work Space, which brings BlackBerry's high security mobile solution to Android and iOS. "Our customers have been asking, 'Can you just take what you've done on BlackBerry and put it on iOS and Android?'" said Pete Devenyi, BlackBerry's SVP of Enterprise Software.

Comment So Much For Google's Corporate Motto (Score 1) 716

by alancronin on Thursday May 16, 2013 @10:00AM (#43740449) Attached to: Google Demands Microsoft Pull YouTube App For WP8

Their 'Don't be evil' motto seems to be wearing even thiner recently. This seems like the kind of thing that Microsoft would do but in this case I'm with Microsoft. They have a valid argument in trying to create an experience similar to other platforms.

Submission + - BlackBerry Q5 Debuts With Budget Buyers In Mind (cnet.com)

Submitted by alancronin on Tuesday May 14, 2013 @12:39PM

alancronin writes: BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins on Tuesday unveiled the BlackBerry Q5, a budget phone designed for emerging markets. The phone will launch in the summer around the world, Heins said during its BlackBerry Live conference here today. The company said in a blog post that the Q5 would launch as early as July in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. There's no word on pricing yet.

Submission + - Microsoft Confirms Blue To Be Free For Existing Windows 8 Users (zdnet.com)

Submitted by alancronin on Tuesday May 14, 2013 @12:35PM

alancronin writes: As many expected and hoped, Microsoft is going to make the coming Windows Blue update to Windows 8 free for existing Windows 8 and Windows RT users. Microsoft's Windows Chief Financial Officer Tami Reller, during an appearance at the May 14 JP Morgan Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, shared the pricing news. Reller also acknowledged what those who've downloaded leaked builds of Blue have known for a while: Windows Blue is Windows 8.1. Windows 8 is currently available via a handful of SKUs — Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro, Windows 8 Enterprise and Windows RT (not exactly Windows 8, but part of the family). She didn't provide more information about plans for the coming Blue SKUs. Reller also said today that Microsoft now has more than 70,000 Metro-Style/Windows Store apps in the Windows Store. She also noted that the final version of Windows Blue (both the Windows 8 and the RT flavors) will be made available to customers through the Windows Store once they are available.

Submission + - Google Commemorates Atari's Breakout 37th Birthday (mashable.com)

Submitted by alancronin on Tuesday May 14, 2013 @05:10AM

alancronin writes: In celebration of Breakout turning 37, Google has turned one of its search queries into the classic Atari game. In order to play it just do a Google Image search for 'Atari Breakout' and watch as the image tiles turn into the old arcade game.

Warning: This is addictive and will waste a lot of time.

Submission + - Debian 7.0 "Wheezy" Released (debian.org)

Submitted by alancronin on Sunday May 05, 2013 @06:22AM

alancronin writes: After quite a while in development, Debian 7.0, codenamed 'Wheezy' has been released. This release includes the ability to boot using UEFI on amd64 architectures and plenty of updated packages (more than 36,000). Nine architectures are supported in this release and it contains the Linux kernel 3.2. The installation images are up on the mirrors now.

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