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Operating Systems

Submission + - Ubuntu prepares 'Gutsy Gibbon'

Submitted by Geoffery
Geoffery writes: Ubuntu developers have taken the wraps off the fifth update to the upcoming "Gutsy Gibbon" version, a major release that will include significant additions to the Linux distribution. A top Ubuntu design goal is ease of use, and several of the additions are user interface and configuration tweaks. A new graphical interface has been added for making adjustments to monitor settings, for example, it will be easier to choose graphics card drivers, set up dual monitors, change the default resolution for all users or change the monitor's refresh rate. Printing also has had an overhaul, with a virtual "PDF printer" set up by default to allow any application to output into PDF format.
Businesses

Submission + - How SBC (AT&T) pillaged South Africa's economy (busrep.co.za)

Submitted by Kifoth
Kifoth writes: For 8 years, SBC and Telekom Malaysia controlled South Africa's only telecommunications company, Telkom. Telkom had a government granted monopoly in order for it to connect the large parts of South Africa which had been neglected under apartheid. Instead of helping, SBC abused their position and raised Telkom's prices to amongst the highest in the world. The billions they made here ultimately went to fund their AT&T merger.

"SBC, described as "congenitally litigious", is said to have played a major role in the failure of South Africa's telecoms policy to develop a competitive telephone service. Under SBC's control Telkom not only failed to meet its roll-out obligations but behaved "as a tax on industry and a drag on economic growth"."
Books

Submission + - Programming Firefox with XUL (nullwares.com)

Submitted by
freedevelop
freedevelop writes: "Programming Firefox: Buiding Rich Internet Applications with XUL

        This is your guide to building Internet applications and user interfaces
with the Mozilla component framework, which is best known for the
Firefox web browser and Thunderbird email client. Programming Firefox
demonstrates how to use the XML User Interface Language (XUL) with open
source tools in the framework's Cross-Platform Component (XPCOM) library
to develop a variety of projects, such as commercial web applications
and Firefox extensions. This book serves as both a programmer's
reference and an in-depth tutorial, so not only do you get a
comprehensive look at XUL's capabilities — from simple interface design
to complex, multitier applications with real-time operations — but you
also learn how to build a complete working application with XUL. If
you're coming from a Java or .NET environment, you'll be amazed at how
quickly large-scale applications can be constructed with XPCOM and XUL

        Topics in Programming Firefox include

*An overview of Firefox technology
*An introduction to the graphical elements that compose a XUL
  application
*Firefox development tools and the process used to design and build
  applications
*Managing an application with multiple content areas
*Introduction to Resource Description Files, and how the Firefox
  interface renders RDF
*Manipulating XHTML with JavaScript
*Displaying documents using the Scalable Vector Graphics standard and
  HTML Canvas
*The XML Binding Language and interface overlays to extend Firefox
*Implementing the next-generation forms interface through XForms

        Programming Firefox is ideal for the designer or developer charged with
  delivering innovative standards-based Internet applications, whether
  they're web server applications or Internet-enabled desktop
  applications. It's not just a how-to book, but a what-if exploration
  that encourages you to push the envelope of the Internet experience

    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0596 102437"
Microsoft

Submission + - India shows thumbs-down to Microsoft's OOXML (indiatimes.com)

Submitted by
kdrlx
kdrlx writes: "India on Thursday gave Microsoft a thumbs-down in the war of standards for office documents. "We unanimously agree on the disapproval of OOXML with comments. The same will be submitted to ISO," National Informatics Centre head and BIS technical committee chairperson Nita Verma said after a marathon meeting that lasted over six hours.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/War_of_formats _India_shows_thumbs-down_to_Microsoft/articleshow/ 2305780.cms"
Google

Submission + - Google lashes out at Microsoft over shared source

Submitted by Stony Stevenson
Stony Stevenson writes: Google has lashed out at Microsoft's request to approve its shared source licence as an official open source licence.

Chris DiBona, Google's open source programmes manager, proposed in a discussion on a mailing list for the Open Source Initiative (OSI) to set additional requirements for Microsoft beyond those spelled out in the Open Source Definition. Microsoft should be required to stop referring to its licences as 'shared source', which DiBona argued is confusing users. Redmond should also clearly present and label its licences to prevent confusion between its proprietary closed source licences and its open source licences.

Bill Hilf, Microsoft's general manager of platform strategy, quickly pointed out that none of DiBona's objections are listed in the Definition, and that Google's open source image itself is less than spotless.
The Internet

Submission + - A campaign to block Firefox users (whyfirefoxisblocked.com) 5

Submitted by rarwes
rarwes writes: A website is aiming at blocking Firefox users. This because a fraction of the Firefox users installed an Ad Blocker and thus stealing money from website owners that use ads. They recommend using IE, Opera or IE tab. From the site: Demographics have shown that not only are FireFox users a somewhat small percentage of the internet, they actually are even smaller in terms of online spending, therefore blocking FireFox seems to have only minimal financial drawbacks, whereas ending resource theft has tremendous financial rewards for honest, hard-working website owners and developers.
Networking

Submission + - Open Source Global Content Data Network Goes Live (o3magazine.com)

Submitted by
Kayla
Kayla writes: "o3 magazine launched the very first Global Server Load Balanced Content Data Network yesterday based on a 100% open source solution. o3 magazine is an open source digital magazine that is built exclusively with open source projects Scribus and The Gimp. The new Content Data Network was built using Nginx, Mongrel, Rails and OpenVPN. The details and configuration on how to build what until now was exclusive to expensive commercial load balancers is available in the latest FREE issue of o3 magazine. The CDN has over 8 data center locations around the world and will be hosting other open source projects over time."
Google

Submission + - Gmail bumped to 9000MB+

Submitted by morpheus83
morpheus83 writes: Many Gmail users are reporting that their storage has increased to 9GB, 9030 MB to be precise. It does not seem to be a glitch as Google might be trying to catch up with Yahoo which offers unlimited storage. For now only selected accounts are getting the upgrade.
Space

Submission + - Time may not exist ! by discovermagazine.com (animatedhomepage.com)

Submitted by
faffou
faffou writes: "I found this Article on discovermagazine.com . German scientists claim that Time does not exist in the quantical level of the physics... " It is an issue that many theorists have puzzled about. It may be that the best way to think about quantum reality is to give up the notion of time — that the fundamental description of the universe must be timeless ""
Microsoft

Submission + - Top 5 Things About Vista That Still Suck

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Assessing the operating system 9 months after is release, InfoWeek has come up with what it thinks are the Top 5 Things About Windows Vista That Still Suck. The list ranges from the User Account Controls, which it says provide a false sense of security, to Microsoft's claims that 512-MB of memory is enough for adequate performance of Vista Home. Also on the list is poor performance of IE7, automated Windows Update, which pushes unwanted patches to unsuspecting users, and Vista's "Not Responding" messages when apps lock up. Do you think this is a fair list, and also what issues do you see as the big remaining Vista problems?
Biotech

Submission + - Brain implants allow patient to eat drink and talk (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by
stevedcc
stevedcc writes: "The UK newspaper, the Guardian are running a story about a minimally conscious patient who spent more than six years in a near-vegetative state. He used to be fed through a straw and communicated through ocassionally mouthing words. He has received a brain implant. He can now eat normally, talk and brush his hair. From the article:

With the parents' agreement, the man was fitted with brain electrodes that fed into twin regions of the central thalamus and hooked up to a pacemaker implanted under the skin of the chest during a 10-hour operation. He was then treated with electrical pulses for 480 days.....It is the first time the technique, called deep brain stimulation, has been used to treat a patient in what neuroscientists refer to as a minimally conscious state. It is also the first clear sign that it may be possible to rehabilitate people with such severe brain damage that they have previously been considered untreatable by modern medicine.
"

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