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Open Source

Why Linux Is Not Attracting Young Developers 742

Posted by Soulskill from the beards-are-going-out-of-style dept.
judeancodersfront writes "Jonathan Corbet recently pointed out at the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit that the Linux kernel team was getting older and not attracting young developers. This article suggests the Linux kernel no longer has the same appeal to young open source developers that it did 10 years ago. Could it be that the massive code base and declining sense of community from corporate involvement has driven young open source programmers elsewhere?"
Open Source

Microsoft's CoApp To Help OSS Development, Deployment 293

Posted by timothy from the meet-the-world's-biggest-foss-vendor dept.
badpazzword writes "Microsoft employee Garrett Serack announces he has received the green light to work full time on CoApp, an .msi-based package management system aiming to bring a wholly native toolchain for OSS development and deployment. This will hopefully bring more open source software on Windows, which will bring OSS to more users, testers and developers. Serack is following the comments at Ars Technica, so he might also follow them here. The launchpad project is already up."
The Media

Google Wants To Ease News Browsing With Fast Flip 125

Posted by timothy from the see-page-17-for-details dept.
CWmike writes "Google is developing a product called Fast Flip that aims to make it simpler and faster to browse through news articles on the Web, a process the company says is cumbersome and discourages people from reading more online. Fast Flip, which lets readers glance at pages and browse through them quickly without having to wait for multiple page elements to load, was expected to go live late Monday at the Google Labs Web site. The idea is to try to replicate online the ease with which people flip through the pages of print magazines and newspapers in the offline world. This could motivate people to read more online, which Google argues will help publishers attract more readers and increase their revenue. However, when users click on a Fast Flip link, they will be taken to the corresponding publisher's Web site, where the Google technology will not be on hand to display the page more quickly."
Operating Systems

OpenSolaris vs. Linux, For Linux Users 303

Posted by timothy from the give-it-a-whirl dept.
An anonymous reader writes "With Sun busy being swallowed up by Oracle, should Linux geeks pay any interest to OpenSolaris? TuxRadar put together a guide to OpenSolaris's most interesting features from a Linux user's perspective, covering how to get started with ZFS and virtualisation alongside more consumer-friendly topics such as hardware and Flash support."
Upgrades

Kernel 2.6.31 To Speed Up Linux Desktop 360

Posted by Soulskill from the zoom-zoom dept.
Dan Jones writes "As the Linux community looks forward to another kernel release, the kernel hackers have been working on improving the memory management so that the X desktop responsiveness is doubled under high memory pressure. The result is an improved desktop experience. Benchmarks on memory-tight desktops show clock time and major faults reduced by 50 per cent, and pswpin numbers (memory reads from disk) are reduced to about one-third. Another improvement coming with 2.6.31 is kernel mode-setting support for ATI Radeon graphics cards, enabling faster user switching and a more seamless startup experience. Peripheral developments that will also improve the Linux desktop experience include support for the new USB 3.0 specification and a new Firewire stack. Even minor Linux releases have heaps of new features these days!"
Censorship

Submission + - Bill to give Obama emergency Control of Internet 5

Submitted by neonprimetime
neonprimetime writes: Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773 (excerpt), which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.
Cellphones

Why the Google Android Phone Isn't Taking Off 745

Posted by kdawson from the know-thine-enemy-and-drive-him-nuts dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "Farhad Manjoo writes in Slate that while the iPhone commands nearly 14 percent of smartphone sales and BlackBerry about 21 percent, Android has only 3 percent. And even though Android is far friendlier to developers, it has failed to attract anywhere near the number of apps now clogging the iPhone. Manjoo writes that Google went wrong by giving handset manufacturers and carriers too much control over the design and marketing of Android phones so there is no idealized 'Google phone' — instead, Android devices get names like the T-Mobile G1 or the myTouch 3G, and each is marketed separately and comes with its own distinct capabilities and shortcomings. 'Outside handset manufacturers lack ambition — -none of them even seems to be trying to match the capabilities of the iPhone, let alone to knock us down with features that far surpass those of Apple's device,' writes Manjoo. 'A smart handset manufacturer could build a top-of-the-line Android device that outshines Apple's phone in at least a few areas — better battery life, a much better Web browser, a brighter or bigger screen, faster or more functional controls... something that might help Android inspire gadget lust. But so far, that's not happening.' John Gruber echoes this advice and adds this advice to Android manufacturers: 'If Apple is BMW, you can be Porsche.'"
The Media

Submission + - Time for Newspapers to Stop Blaming Craigslist (newscloud.com)

Submitted by
reifman
reifman writes: "WiredMag reports, 'Revenue from newspaper classified ads is off nearly 50 percent in the past decade, a drop that comes to almost $10 billion. Only a fraction of this loss is because of Newmark's company, but as the largest online classified site, [it's] easy to blame'. More likely to blame is that community newspapers largely cede the role of online town hall to craigslist — or take the wrong approach when they do compete. With the trust and eyeballs of their communities, why is it so difficult for local newspapers to take on a site that Wired calls 'firmly stuck in 1999'?"
Graphics

Linux Port For id's Tech 5 Graphics Engine Unlikely 461

Posted by Soulskill from the sounds-like-they-need-some-encouragement dept.
DesiVideoGamer writes "John Carmack, the lead developer for id's Tech 5 graphics engine, does not plan on making a Linux port for the new engine. From his e-mail: 'It isn't out of the question, but I don't think we will be able to justify the work. If there are hundreds of thousands of Linux users playing Quake Live when we are done with Rage, that would certainly influence our decision.' One of the reasons for not making a Linux port was due to the fact that the new engine 'pushes a lot of paths that are not usually optimized' and that the Linux port would have to use the binary blob graphics driver in order to work."
Portables (Apple)

Submission + - Apple Tablet, Iphone, coming to Verizon by Q1 2010

Submitted by
RAAN
RAAN writes: "Can you hear me now? Good. I have learned from an unnamed source at Verizon about the plans that they have been working on for quite some time...longer than AT&T would like to believe, I think. Verizon is prepared to support both the Iphone and long-rumored-but-never-revealed-for-some-reason Tablet in Q1 2010, possibly as early as January. Both will feature dual technology, which will be compatible with Verizon's existing 3G network and it's in-the-works 4G network, which should be completed by mid-2011, and in select markets earlier. Sorry Macophiles, you won't be able to buy 3 Iphones within a few months this time.... Looks like a smart phone just got smarter. Also, I heard the tablet described to me as a "big Ipod touch," which I don't think is surprising to anyone. So there it is, you can choose to believe me or not, but I'm still happy with my enV2..."
Robotics

Submission + - High-Speed Robot Hand Shows Dexterity and Speed (hizook.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A few blogs are passing around videos of the Ishikawa Komuro Lab's high-speed robot hand performing impressive acts of dexterity and skillful manipulation. However, the video being passed around is slight on details. Meanwhile, their video presentation at ICRA 2009 (which took place in May in Kobe, Japan) has an informative narration and demonstrates additional capabilities. I have included this video below, which shows the manipulator dribbling a ping-pong ball, spinning a pen, throwing a ball, tying knots, grasping a grain of rice with tweezers, and tossing / re-grasping a cellphone!
Graphics

Submission + - No Linux port for id's Tech 5 graphics engine 2

Submitted by DesiVideoGamer
DesiVideoGamer writes: John Carmack, the creator of id's Tech 5 graphics engine, does not plan on making a Linux port of his new engine. From his e-mail:

It isn't out of the question, but I don't think we will be able to justify the work.

. One of the reasons for not making a Linux port was due to the fact that the new engine "pushes a lot of paths that are not usually optimized" and that the Linux port would have to use the binary blob graphics driver in order to work. However, the MacOS port has not been cancelled yet.

Businesses

Submission + - Advice on Living and Working Abroad in New Zealand 5

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: I am a self-educated software developer in my late twenties with over 10 years of experience in my field. Other than than taking a few business trips overseas for a multinational corporation I work for, I have not considered working or living outside of the United States until recently. I'm getting to a point in my life where I am considering casting aside my single lifestyle and settling down, but before doing so want to go on one last big adventure for a few years.

While open to considering alternative locations, I have begun setting my sights on New Zealand; which I have heard many great things about. From my research on-line, it appears to be friendly to foreigners looking for work. What I have yet to determine is what the local employment market is like for a man such as myself, with marketable skills in software development such as Java, Python, SQL, AJAX, C++, XML, AS3, etc. What is the competition like out there? And who are the desirable employers of software developers in New Zealand?

Any advice from those who have worked and lived in New Zealand is greatly appreciated.

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