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Submission Summary: 0 pending, 46 declined, 14 accepted (60 total, 23.33% accepted)

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Android

Submission + - Android ICS will require 16GB RAM to compile (tabletroms.com)

Submitted by
ozmanjusri
ozmanjusri writes: "New smartphones may be lightweight, compact objects, but their OSs are anything but.

Ice Cream Sandwich will need workstations with no less than 16 GB RAM to build the source code, twice the amount GingerBread needed. It will take 5 hours to compile on a dual quad-core 2+GHz workstation, and need 80GB disk space for all AOSP configs.

Android developers are also being warned to be cautious of undocumented APIs

In almost every case, there’s only one reason for leaving APIs undocumented: We’re not sure that what we have now is the best solution, and we think we might have to improve it, and we’re not prepared to make those commitments to testing and preservation.
We’re not claiming that they’re “Private” or “Secret” — How could they be, when anyone in the world can discover them? We’re also not claiming they’re forbidden: If you use them, your code will compile and probably run.

http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2011/10/ics-and-non-public-apis.html"

Submission + - The Stealthy Fifth Core (nvidia.com)

Submitted by
ozmanjusri
ozmanjusri writes: "Nvidia's next-generation quad core Tegra processor, codenamed “Project Kal-El,” has fifth core that runs at a lower frequency and operates at exceptionally low power. Kal-El completely powers down its four performance-tuned cores for less power-hungry tasks like web reading, music playback and video playback. As computing needs increase, the CPU progressively turns on each of the high performance cores.

The Variable SMP architecture is also completely OS transparent, which means that operating systems and applications don’t need to be redesigned to take advantage of the fifth core"

Submission + - Will Microsoft's Secured Boot prevent Linux use? (softpedia.com) 4

Submitted by
ozmanjusri
ozmanjusri writes: "A new feature in the latest W8 Developer Preview Build 8102 Milestone 3 looks likely to prevent dual booting.

With Secured Boot, according to Microsoft;
“Windows will authenticate boot components to prevent any attempt to start malware before the operating system is up and running, If the component isn’t correctly signed by Microsoft, Windows will begin remediation and start the Windows Recovery Environment, which will automatically try to x your operating system. Measured boot Windows can further validate the boot process beyond Secured Boot. The startup processes are now signed, protected, and measured. They’re then stored in the TPM chip to prevent rootkit or malware infection”

This could mean that unless Linux distros are signed by Microsoft, they will not be permitted to boot."
NASA

Submission + - NASA Balloon crashes on take-off (ninemsn.com.au)

Submitted by
ozmanjusri
ozmanjusri writes: "A NASA-sponsored balloon was caught by wind gusts as it was being prepared for launch at the Alice Springs Balloon Launching Centre (in Australia) at 8am this morning. The balloon was blown away from the launch area before it hit a spectator's car and collapsed.

Most of the equipment on board, worth millions of dollars, was destroyed in the crash."
Patents

Submission + - Followup: CSIRO reinvests patent earnings. (theage.com.au)

Submitted by
ozmanjusri
ozmanjusri writes: "Will all the Slashdotters who called the recent CSIRO win a triumph for patent trolls please step forward.

The Australian government research agency has announced it will reinvest the windfall back into wireless research.

"It's very important that when you have a success like this, you re-invest it back into the wellspring," CSIRO boss Megan Clark said."
Microsoft

Submission + - Sidekick data loss: Sabotage or dogfooding? (visualstudiomagazine.com)

Submitted by
ozmanjusri
" rel="nofollow">ozmanjusri writes: "Questions are being asked about a dramatic disconnect between Microsoft's management and engineering teams.

A somewhat inflammatory article by Appleinsider points makes claims that longstanding management issues and a culture of "dogfooding" could have been to blame for Microsoft's recent catastrophic client data loss. Interestingly, they also claim that there may be evidence that could suggest the failure was the result of a deliberate act of sabotage.

According to the article, an un-named source has stated that a pre-existing project group called "Pink" was operating independently inside Microsoft designing a Zune-phone. The Pink team took over the Danger acquisition, with disastrous results.

"When Danger was acquired, Pink was already a going concern but had no engineering staff. Microsoft discovered that Danger had unbreakable contractual obligations that meant they couldn't turn us into warm bodies working on Pink, so they staffed up internally," the source reported. "By the time Danger engineering became available to work on Pink a year later, innumerable bad decisions had already been made by clueless idiots."

The source also claims the Pink project was failing because of a management decision to include UMTS and CDMA phones in the same form factor, a technical nightmare."

Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft's GPL code because of breach. (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by
ozmanjusri
ozmanjusri writes: "While Microsoft presented its recent embrace of the GPL as "a break from the ordinary", and the press spoke of them as going "to great lengths to engage the open source community", as is often the case with Microsoft, it turns out they had an ulterior motive.

According to Stephen Hemminger, an engineer with Vyatta, Microsoft's Hyper-V used open-source components in a network driver and the company released the code to avoid legal action over a GPL violation.

Microsoft's decision to embrace the GPL was welcomed by many in the open source community, but their failure to honestly explain the reason behind the release will have squandered this opportunity to build trust, something which is sadly lacking in most people's dealings with Microsoft."
Operating Systems

Submission + - Ubuntu forces woman to drop out of college (wkowtv.com) 2

Submitted by
ozmanjusri
ozmanjusri writes: "A woman who paid more than $1,100 for a Dell laptop with Ubuntu installed has dropped out of online classes at MATC because her new OS doesn't act like Windows.

She was unable to load her Verizon High-Speed Internet CD, and can't install Microsoft Word, which meant she wasn't able to meet the requirements for MATC's online classes. As a result, she had to drop out of the fall and spring semesters.

"I'm extremely frustrated," said Schubert. "I wanted to get back to school, but I needed a computer to be able to do that."

"
Microsoft

Submission + - Dell helps Microsoft: Vista to XP upgrade now $150 (pcworld.com)

Submitted by
ozmanjusri
ozmanjusri writes: "Dell has tripled the charge to upgrade Vista PCs to XP.

Under current licensing "downgrade" agreements, system builders can install XP Pro instead of Vista Business or Vista Ultimate, however Dell has opted for a surcharge of $150 over the price of Vista for the older but more popular XP Professional operating system.

Rob Enderle says the downgrade fees could potentially be disastrous for Microsoft;

The fix for this should be to focus like lasers on demand generation for Vista but instead Microsoft is focusing aggressively on financial penalties," says Enderle. "Forcing customers to go someplace they don't want to go by raising prices is a Christmas present for Apple and those that are positioning Linux on the desktop.

"
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft's "Softwear", a new clothing ran (boygeniusreport.com)

Submitted by
ozmanjusri
ozmanjusri writes: "Microsoft will be launching a new clothing range on December 15. The T shirts, which feature the MS-DOS logo in a unique font, photos of Bill Gates, a BSOD-coloured T with the word "Microsoft" printed on the front, and more Microsoft nostalgia, are being marketed by Crispin Porter & Borgusky, MS's new advertising agency.

Many of the shirts are designed by artist and rapper Common and are intended to add some street cred to Microsoft's somewhat jaded image. Pricing is yet to be announced."
Operating Systems

Submission + - Windows drops below 90% market share. (computerworld.com)

Submitted by
ozmanjusri
ozmanjusri writes: "Online market share of the dominant Windows operating system has taken its biggest monthly fall in years to drop below 90% market share, according to Net Applications Inc.

Computerworld reports that Microsoft's flagship product has been steadily losing ground to Mac OS X and Linux, and is at its lowest ebb in the market since 1995. The stats show that while some customers are "upgrading" from XP to Vista, many are jumping ship to Apple, while Linux is also steadily gaining ground.

Net Applications' executive vice president of marketing, Vince Vizzaccarro, suggests the slide may be caused by many of the same factors that caused the fall in Internet Explorer use; "The more home users who are online, using Macs and Firefox and Safari, the more those shares go up," he said. November has more weekend days, as well Thanksgiving in the U.S, a result which emphasises the importance of corporate sales to Microsoft Inc."
Portables (Apple)

Submission + - iPhone 3G glitch blamed on secrecy (smh.com.au)

Submitted by
ozmanjusri
ozmanjusri writes: "Apple iPhone 3G users in Australia, Europe and the US have flocked to tech forums with stories of slow connection speeds and dropped calls.

An anonymous source at an Australian telco said a flaw in the device may have been fixed if not for Apple's culture of secrecy, which meant that meant telcos were only provided with iPhone 3Gs the day before it went to market. That left them with no time to test it thoroughly on their networks.

Others believe the telcos will not be able to solve the problem, which may be due to issues with the chipset.
Nomura Securities analyst Richard Windsor writes:

"We believe that these issues are typical of an immature chipset and radio protocol stack where we are almost certain Infineon is the 3G supplier."

According to Windsor, the problem most likely won't be solved with firmware updates, which means Apple might have to replace the chips to meet performance promises."

Microsoft

Submission + - OOXML stalled in ISO, EU pushes open formats (iso.org)

Submitted by
ozmanjusri
ozmanjusri writes: "Microsoft's OOXML faces another barrier to acceptance as an ISO standard as appeals by Brazil, India, South Africa and Venezuela stall the software behemoth's efforts.

Since a document which is the subject of an appeal cannot be published as an ISO Standard, the decision to publish OOXML cannot be taken until the outcome of the appeals is known. The assessment of the appeals, and the establishment of a conciliation panel to resolve them, is likely to take several months.

In other document format news, EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes has made strong recommendation that open formats be used by governments.

No citizen or company should be forced or encouraged to choose a closed technology over an open one, through a government having made that choice first,"
she said in comments which appeared to target Microsoft who are currently under EU investigation again for possible antitrust abuse related to OOXML."
Microsoft

Submission + - Windows XP SP3 creates havoc. (informationweek.com) 2

Submitted by
ozmanjusri
ozmanjusri writes: "tech sites say "Beware of XP SP3".

According to Information Week, Microsoft's Service Pack 3 for Windows XP has drawn hundreds of complaints from users who claim the update is wreaking havoc on their computers.

I downloaded and installed [the SP3] package for IT Professionals and Developers on one of my computers. Now I can't get the computer to boot. I don't think Microsoft should have made this a critical update,"
said one user a Microsoft newsgroup.

Other sites, including IT Wire are also reporting problems, which include include random reboots or the inability to boot at all."
Microsoft

Submission + - Wii are Microsoft. (pcworld.com)

Submitted by
ozmanjusri
ozmanjusri writes: "According to many sources, Microsoft is developing a Nintendo Wii-like controller for the XBox 360, despite publicly questioning the viability of the concept when the Wii was released.

360 enthusiasts shouldn't hold their breath in anticipation of an innovative gaming experience, however. According to a developer involved with the project;

"The whole thing is a colossal cluster — , [Microsoft] marketing just want it so they can match the Wii point for point. The biggest parts of their marketing materials outline how easy it would be for third parties to port their Wii games to the 360."
Microsoft has declined to comment on the story."

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