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Open Source

+ - Android based Tablet released by India at Rs 1,500->

Submitted by karpeamit
karpeamit writes "This new device will compete with OLPC from MIT, ClassMate PC from Intel and Mobilis from DSK Digital. If this news is 100% correct, then we can surely say, "This is world's cheapest computer develop & design in India". There is huge power and opportunity in Open Source for Education, with such low cost computing device for India & China ( as well as African ) like countries will benefit a lot. Also very low power requirement which is 2 watt, it may can run on Solar Power or with hand crank power generator. There is just great opportunity for Ideas & innovations."
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Communications

+ - Cameraphone shots faked on promotional site->

Submitted by Rofa
Rofa writes "According to Swedish mobile news site Mobil (article in Swedish), at least one sample photo, featured on a german promotional site for the new Sony Ericsson K850 cameraphone, actually originates from a Sanyo S50 digital camera. This was discovered by examining the exif information in the images. Other photos on the site lacked exif information indicating the source device. When inquired, Sony Ericsson's Mattias Holm was unable to give an explanation, but promised to investigate the matter with his German collegues."
Link to Original Source
Microsoft

+ - 7 Reasons Why Microsoft is DOOMED!-> 1

Submitted by
d3bugg3r
d3bugg3r writes "Not this year, not next year... but soon — almost certainly by the next decade.



#1. Their business model is a dead-end. — Back when Microsoft first started business in 1980, software as a commodity was still a fuzzy concept. Computers, themselves, were flying off the shelves, and of course you bought game cartridges for game consoles, but what little computer software was being sold in the early 1980's was worth a few dollars at the most. And then came "Micro-soft" — a BASIC interpreter on a floppy disk in a zip-lock plastic baggy! But somehow, it caught on.



Now, in 2007, the concept of software as a commodity is rapidly wearing off again. Today, it's all about the service and maintenance — something that Microsoft isn't prepared to deal with.



#2. They flunk at Web 2.0. — Another shift in the technology market is the much-hyped web app. When you can get more and more of your programs to download from a server and run in a web browser, your whole operating system — as far as what needs to be installed on your computer goes — can be a life-support system for a web browser. You can even get a full operating system to run in your browser! Meanwhile, the biggest stake they have ever had in the Internet user-space is Internet Explorer.



#3. They're running out of friends. — First off, they've been brought up on multiple anti-trust charges in both the United States and Europe, plus been the subject of 130 lawsuits besides. Now consider that IBM, their former friend, now values Linux above Microsoft. And then there's Sun, Apple, Google, and Oracle, who are flat-out competitors to Microsoft while favoring at least open source, if not Linux proper. Even Adobe is starting to look like a competitor with Microsoft, with nearly a one-to-one mapping of what Adobe and Microsoft each offer.



#4. They only have a couple of cash cows to work with. — Yes, it's easy to look good when you consider their dominance on the desktop and office programs — but that's their two products that they stay afloat on is Windows and Office. What about the other ventures of Microsoft? Is MSN taking over share from Google and Yahoo? Did the Zune beat the iPod? How many of you bought Microsoft Surface? Web servers? Nope, Apache rules that roost. OK, so what about the XBox? Yes! The XBox is selling well... at a loss.



At this point, it is becoming apparent that Microsoft had better cling to that operating system and office suite, because every time they step into another market, they get their head handed to them.



#5. People are hating on Vista. — We didn't even see this many people mad about Windows ME.



#6. Their stock isn't rising any more. — This is not to say "this week", but rather over the last seven years. This chart shows a clear picture. You see the stock value climbing steadily until right at the year 2000 — then it fell gradually and has puttered along at a level rate ever since. Microsoft was once the most profitable stock you could trade, but with a seven year slump, that magic spell seems to be irrevocably broken.



#7. PC makers are starting to turn their backs on Microsoft. — Sure, small-time markets have offered alternatives to Microsoft, but when a giant PC seller like Dell starts selling Ubuntu machines, that's another big sign. HP has followed suit.



Five months ago, noted tech industry guru Paul Graham declared Microsoft dead. People laughed and even I was skeptical, but now that we see the further developments that have happened since that time, it may turn out that Paul Graham has the last laugh, yet."
Link to Original Source
The Internet

+ - Emoticons in the Workplace

Submitted by Platonic
Platonic writes "According to the New York Times, the Emoticon has become much more than something the kids do after school. The little guys seem to have found their way into the workforce: being used by stock brokers and even the U.S. Military.
From TFA: "I mean, it's ludicrous," said Ms. Feldman, 25. "I'm not going to feel better about losing hundreds of thousands of dollars because someone puts a frown face to regretfully inform me.""
The Internet

+ - opened tabs on browser startup

Submitted by alobar72
alobar72 writes "As I just installed a new computer and configured firefox with some tabs to open per default on startup... I wonder what are the default tabs, /.ers like to have on browser startup ?"
It's funny. Laugh.

+ - 85-year-old man learns he needn't lease his phone

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes "According to Bangor Daily News, a man from Hermon was still leasing his phone from AT&T. "Lloyd Overlock never had much reason to think about his telephone. The 85-year-old Hermon resident just paid his bills and knew the service was there if he needed it. But Overlock, who for five decades has been paying a monthly fee to lease his phone, found out recently that the arrangement is a pricey, outmoded throwback to the days of telephone industry monopoly." What's amazing is even when his niece, Roberta York, tried to cancel the service via customer services, the friendly operator on the other end attempted to dissuade her, "offering her uncle a 20 percent discount off his monthly rental fee and reminding York of the benefits of leasing. 'She said that if something goes wrong with that phone, they'd have a new one here the next business day,' she recalled. I was thinking to myself, 'If something goes wrong with that phone, I'll go to Wal-Mart and get one the next day.' But I didn't say it.""
Microsoft

+ - Windows Animated Cursor Flaw

Submitted by blindd0t
blindd0t writes "Security Focus has an article summarizing a flaw with how Windows deals with animated cursors, which allows for an attack through a maliciously crafted web page or email. Admittedly, this is not supposed to affect users running Vista with IE7 in protected mode; however, this does affect those running IE6 or IE7 with Windows XP Service Pack 2, which is presently the vast majority of users. Microsoft has a security advisory as well."
Portables

+ - OLPC manufacturer to sell $200 laptop

Submitted by srinravi
srinravi writes "ArsTechnica reports that — Quanta, the company manufacturing the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project's XO laptops, plans to begin selling low-cost budget mobile computers for $200 later this year. According to Quanta president Michael Wang, the company plans to leverage the underlying technologies associated with OLPC's XO laptop to produce laptop computers that are significantly less expensive than conventional laptops.

The OLPC project, which hopes to bring inexpensive Linux-based laptops to the education market in developing countries, selected Quanta (the laptop manufacturing company that produces mobile computers for HP, Dell, and Acer) to produce the individual XO laptop units. OLPC project founder Nicholas Negroponte says that OLPC has no plans to make XO laptops, which are "designed for the poorest and most remote children in the world," available to ordinary consumers in developed countries. OLPC plans to sell the laptops in bulk to governments, which will then distribute the hardware to school children."
Security

+ - The art of apologizing for major security breaches

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes "There are so many ways to say you're sorry. And few organizations have had as many opportunities to apologize over the past two years as those that handle the sensitive personal information of Americans. Companies in damage control mode offer a range of apologies, some that sound sincere and others that appear to deflect blame. Network World compiled a list of 10 data breaches and resulting apologies (http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/031407-wide r-net-apologies-letters.html), and asked team members at Perfect Apology to rate each one in our list. They were not impressed by the mea culpas. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/031407-wider -net-apologies.html"
The Courts

+ - Charges Dropped in HP Scandal

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes "Charges were dropped against HP's Patricia Dunn who faced four felony counts and jail time for spying. Most interesting is that, before the judge dropped the charges, an e-mail press release was sent out by her lawyers saying that she would plead guilty to the four counts of felony.

"It was just a mistake by me," said Nathan Barankin. "Our lawyers told me that the defendants were going to court and mak[ing] a plea. I mistakenly assumed that they'd be making a plea of guilty."
There's nothing like admitting to committing a crime only to have the charges dropped by the judge."
The Courts

+ - CCTV cameras to get microphones and speaker

Submitted by
c_g_hills
c_g_hills writes "Unfortunately my home town of Redditch, Worcestershire, is looking to become one of the first towns to install CCTV cameras in the town centre which will be able to listen in and talk back to citizens. To add insult to injury, the police station is just a 30 second walk away! The solution to this, in my opinion, is that we install these cameras in government buildings so we can keep tabs on our civil servants ourselves."

There is no opinion so absurd that some philosopher will not express it. -- Marcus Tullius Cicero, "Ad familiares"

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