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Linux Business

Submission + - Dell to Preload Ubuntu Linux on Consumer Machines

Submitted by
TechDock
TechDock writes: "According to this EWeek article, Dell and Canonical will announce a partnership on May 1 that will see the hardware giant ship Ubuntu Linux preinstalled on some of its desktop and laptop computers. The move, which has been expected for some time, makes Dell the first major desktop vendor to release consumer desktops and laptops with preinstalled Linux"
Windows

Submission + - Symantec: Vista UAC Prompts Cannot be Trusted

Submitted by
ambr00sio
ambr00sio writes: "Symantec researcher Ollie Whitehouse has is warning that the UAC prompts in Windows Vista cannot be trusted to provide the end user with reliable warnings. In one potential attack scenario, Whitehouse showed how UAC privilege elevation prompts can look like it's coming from Microsoft Windows — when in fact the user is being asked to authorize admin rights for malicious code. Also see Slashdot's previous coverage of UAC design and implementation flaws."
Editorial

Submission + - Rounding Up the Modern Homebrew Scene

Submitted by
AKAImBatman
AKAImBatman writes: "As The Pensive Gamer points out, the latest generation of game consoles represents the first time in history that consoles have provided features that allow the average joe to create his own games. While homebrewing is not a new concept, it has traditionally focused on out of date systems like the Atari 2600 and the Sega Dreamcast. i.e. Systems that no longer matter enough to manufacturer to prevent homebrewing. Yet the features of today's console systems may be changing everything.

The Sony PS3 provides programmers with a full-up development environment for the Cell CPU and Bluray drive by not only allowing, but encouraging users to install a Linux variant on it. While this creates a huge number of game creation opportunities on the PS3, the resulting game ends up being difficult to distribute. Fellow homebrewers might happily install Linux on their PS3s, but convincing the rest of Sony's target market to do so may be a bit difficult.

The next best option — supported by both the PS3 and the Nintendo Wii — is to run web-enabled games in the console's web browser. Flash games in particular have become a very popular way of playing homebrew content on a console system. Yet here, the Wii has a distinct advantage. The in-built ability for the Wii Remote to act as a mouse allows for a wide variety of Flash games to be played out of the box. So many in fact, that Wii-specific gaming sites like Wiicade have been popping up left and right.

Even more exciting is the fact that the keycodes for the Wii Remote buttons have been decoded by enterprising individuals, but only through Javascript. While experiments with Javascript to Flash communication are underway, the first Javascript game to use the Wii Remote controls has already appeared, with promises of more exciting Opera Canvas games on on the horizon.

While the XBox 360 lacks a web browser, it does have perhaps the most exciting feature of all. Microsoft's XNA Game Studio allows for complete games that take advatage of the underlying hardware. (In direct opposition to the Wii and PS3 options.) The only downside are that Microsoft charges a subscription fee, and that the homebrews must be redistributed in source code form. (Though the latter limitation may please the OSS community to a certain degree.) Undeterred, the 360 community is embracing this new support with many new games on the way.

Altogether, the amount of audience participation available in these consoles is wholly unlike anything seen before. With any luck, this bodes well for the future of the homebrew community and the casual gamer alike."
Privacy

Submission + - MySpace Not Responsible for Sexual Assault

Submitted by
Common Sense
Common Sense writes: "Those looking to cash in after meeting sexual predators on websites like MySpace have been dealt a serious legal setback. The US District Court in Austin, Texas ruled in favor of MySpace in the $30 million lawsuit questioning whether it was responsible for allowing a 13 year old girl to lie about her age and meet a man who turned out to be a sexual predator. Judge Sparks wrote in his ruling that, "if anyone had a duty to protect [the victim], it was her parents, not MySpace." Score one for common sense."
Television

Submission + - Cable Companiy Vs Local Broadcaster

Submitted by
doroshjt
doroshjt writes: "I haven't seen a fox broadcast in over a month. My local cable company, Time Warner, is in a contract dispute with Fox 28 out of Spokane Washington. The dispute is over payment of rebroadcasting over the air signals. Fox believes that they should be paid for their signal, time warner thinks it shouldn't be forced to pass on the buck to customers who could get the signal free OTA. http://www.timewarnercable.com/northwest/kayufaqs. html for Time Warner's side and http://www.fox28spokane.com/faq.php#gen_40 for fox's side. Who's right?"
Debian

Submission + - Install Debian from Windows

Submitted by mpapet
mpapet writes: For those Windows users looking for the easiest way ever to install Linux, Debian has a new win32 installer. http://goodbye-microsoft.com/

It downloads a Debian install image. On reboot, the image is loop mounted. The installer resizes your NTFS partition and installs Debian in the freed space.

The usual "back up your important windows stuff before trying this" applies.
Privacy

Submission + - New teeny tiny RFID chips

Submitted by
paltemalte
paltemalte writes: "Hitachi has just come out with a new crop of RFID tags, measuring only 0.05 x 0.05 millimeters. Compare that with the previously smallest chips at 0.4 x 0.4 millimeters. The new chips width is slightly smaller than the width of a human hair. These new chips could put an end to shoplifting forever, but they could also be used by a government or other entity to 'dust' crowds or areas, easily tagging anyone present without their knowledge or consent. Think easy tracking of dissenters or demonstrators. Will someone come up with a surefire way of neutralizing chips that may be on your body or in your clothing?"
The Internet

Submission + - Canadian ISPs Send Thousands of Copyright Notices

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The CBC reports that Canadian Internet service providers are passing along thousands of copyright infringement notifications from U.S. copyright lobby groups such as the Business Sofware Alliance to subscribers under a system called notice and notice. Michael Geist comments that unlike the U.S. takedown approach, the Canadian system is proving effective while protecting privacy and free speech.
Software

Submission + - Obama's Campaign 2.0

Submitted by
Slaryn
Slaryn writes: "Barack Obama's campaign website is taking a very unusual spin for a typical presidential campaign homepage, allowing users to create blogs, plan events, and interact with other users in an almost MySpace/Facebook fashion. From the site:

"This site — and this campaign in general — will always be a work in progress. We're going to experiment, we're going to try new things. Sometimes it will inevitably be a little rough around the edges, for sure, but that's the risk we're going to have to take if we're going to run this campaign in a new way."

Is social networking the way of the future in elections and voter-politician interaction?"
Microsoft

Submission + - What is Microsoft's appeal?

Submitted by
beerdini
beerdini writes: "It seems like most people I talk to in the IT industry have a sour impression of Microsoft. How is it that if 90% of the world uses their products, many of the business IT administrators always talk about it with disgust and frustration? If superior, better cost effective alternatives exist, what was the reason for implementing a Microsoft solution over that alternative. I know many companies have one major piece of software that most likely runs on a MS system, but if a complete overhaul of the network is being implemented more companies are migrating from their current systems (Novell, Mac, etc) to Microsoft than the other way. Are the people that are expected to maintain the system (IT dept.) even a part of the decision making process to migrate or is a management decision that falls to brand name familiarity? Why is it administrators allow the implementation of a product that they know will provide endless frustration and "what do you expect, its Windows/Microsoft" types of support issues, and probably subject themselves to an intense product training (probably out of their own pocket) just to keep their job?"
Windows

Submission + - Vista first look: Bugs and confusion

Submitted by
SeanAD
SeanAD writes: "The Register has an article of its impressions of Vista. With the many articles comparing it to OS X, this article also deals with expectations of what a new OS should include. The closing paragraph is pretty telling: "It does benefit from a lot of good ideas, many of them Apple's, of course, but good nevertheless. It simply doesn't work very well, unfortunately. There are serious problems with execution; it's not polished; it's not ready. It should not be on the market, and certainly not for the outrageous prices being charged. Don't buy it, at least until after the first service pack is out. Don't pay to be a beta tester.""
Patents

Submission + - Drug patents threatening cheap medicines to poor

Submitted by
GillBates0
GillBates0 writes: "The BBC is reporting that a recent court challenge to India's patent laws by pharmaceutical giant Novartis may cut the supply of affordable medicines to treat AIDS and other epidemics in the developing world. Based on the rejection of it's patent on a drug, Novartis is arguing that India's requirement for drugs to be "new and innovative" is not in line with the WTO TRIPS (Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement that India is party to. India came to be called the "pharmacy of the world's poor" since it stopped issuing patents for medicines in 1970 allowing its many drug producers to create generic copies of medicines still patent-protected in other countries — at a fraction of the price charged by Western drug firms. In 2005, however, it changed it's patent laws to comply with international regulations. NGOs including Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and Oxfam say that if Novartis succeeds, pharmaceutical firms will be able to put newer AIDS treatments based on existing drugs under patent protection in India, preventing cheap generic versions being exported to Africa and elsewhere. In 2005, Slashdot carried a story about efforts to put India's ancient traditional medicine and Yoga online, so as to make it visible as public domain to patent examiners. More recently, Slashdot carried a similar story about Tiwan's decision to violate Roche's patent on a bird flu drug for the benefit of it's people."

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