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Submission + - Apple Itunes has gone DRM-free

Submitted by scordis on Wednesday May 30, 2007 @01:54AM

scordis writes: Just this morning on running Apple's "Software Update" alongside the expected security update, I recieved a 7.2 update for itunes. Which includes the much talked about support for the so called enhanced DRM free music from EMI. So it is here! How long before we start to see other labels moving to this new "enhanced" format?

Submission + - ESR Gives up on Fedora

Submitted by tmc4inphilly on Thursday February 22, 2007 @12:21PM

tmc4inphilly writes: Eric S. Raymond's frustration with Fedora reach a breaking point that resulted a letter that he sent to a number of Linux-related publications and mailing lists. "After thirteen years as a loyal Red Hat and Fedora user, I reached my limit today, when an attempt to upgrade one package pitched me into a four-hour marathon of dependency chasing, at the end of which an attempt to get around a trivial file conflict rendered my system unusable."

Submission + - NASA signs memorandum of understanding with Virgin

Submitted by

caffiend666

on Thursday February 22, 2007 @12:19PM

caffiend666 writes: "Tuesday, NASA signed a memorandum of understanding with Virgin Galactic. Although not a partnership, it is interesting to see NASA work with even more private spaceflight companies. The cryptic agreement includes that 'The memorandum is only a framework to explore potential collaborations. It does not include training of NASA astronauts, an agreement to buy seats on a Virgin Galactic flight, or provision of technical advice by NASA to Virgin Galactic.'"

Puretracks Music Store Drops DRM 236

Posted by kdawson on Thursday February 22, 2007 @12:15PM from the apple-could-do-this dept.

khendron writes "The Canadian online music store Puretracks (a store I have generally avoided because of their Microsoft-specific solutions) has announced that it will immediately start selling part of its catalog as DRM-free MP3 files. The site's unprotected catalog, which includes artists such as The Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan, will initially feature only 50,000 of its 1.3 million tracks, but their number will grow weekly. The Globe and Mail says the move will likely profit Puretracks because its DRM-free-music will be playable on iPods. It quotes one industry watcher saying 'We're seeing the death of DRM.'" Essentially Puretracks is relaxing the major-label mandated DRM rules that it had initially applied to all labels, even the indies that wanted no part of DRM.

Submission + - Merrill Lynch: 30% of U.S. Households to Own Wii b

Submitted by

njkid1

on Thursday February 22, 2007 @11:56AM

njkid1 writes: "According to a report in the Financial Times, the Wii's sales momentum is so strong that some analysts have upgraded their long-term outlooks for the console. Nintendo's new console just came off a very strong performance in January, easily selling more consoles than either the Xbox 360 or Sony's PS3. http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=1530 9&ncid=AOLGAM000500000000022"

Journal Journal: Apple and Cisco Make Nice on iPhone

Journal by gabosgab on Thursday February 22, 2007 @11:51AM

Looks like the legal hounds were pulled back and Cisco and Apple agree to share rights on iPhone. More at the source

Submission + - ESR gives up on Fedora

Submitted by

greginnj

on Thursday February 22, 2007 @11:49AM

greginnj writes: "Noted Linux evangelist Eric S. Raymond (ESR) has publicly announced that he is giving up on Fedora and switching to Ubuntu: http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2 007-February/msg01006.html Not content to alert RedHat alone, it appears he has also sent out press releases to alert the media: http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=07/02/21/13402 37 . The announcement has already drawn smackbacks from David Cantrell of RedHat and Alan Cox."

Submission + - Our customers demand Linux

Submitted by rolfc on Thursday February 22, 2007 @11:41AM

rolfc writes: The OMXgroup, maker of systems for financial markets says in Computer Sweden that their next generation of software, Genium, will run on Linux since the customers demand it. The article in Swedish states that it is not the technical differences that is the reason but the fact that it is an open and competitive platform, and their customers has given clear signals that they want to run Linux.

Submission + - Zend Core web apps using Ajax with Dojo and DB2

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22, 2007 @11:39AM

An anonymous reader writes: Quickly create a responsive Web application using DB2 9 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows, XQuery, PHP, and the Dojo JavaScript Framework. This tutorial shows you the advantages of the Ajax approach and see a step-by-step implementation. You will be using Zend Core, which conveniently bundles the DB2 9 Express-C data server, Apache2 Web server, PHP scripting language, DB2 extensions for PHP, and a powerful administration console. See how to take advantage of the speedy pureXML capabilities of IBM DB2 9.

Submission + - What is the cost of using hosted applications?

Submitted by foniksonik on Thursday February 22, 2007 @11:39AM

foniksonik writes: I work at a small company, less than 30 people, and yet the leadership refuses to consider using hosted applications for ANY purpose. They won't consider going to Gmail as a POP email provider, or using Basecamp for Project Management or Harvest for timesheets, Salesforce for CRM. etc. even though these hosted applications would save them a lot of effort/grief as well as time = money.

They claim that there is a huge downside to not 'owning' their own data in these areas and that it far outweighs the savings from not having to manage, maintain and support those tools internally. SO we have created a hodgepodge of opensource versions of the tools (dotProject, timesheet, Sugar) which don't interoperate well together either AND take a lot of time to set up, deploy, configure and customize for our needs. We have competent developers and a team in India we contract to for time intensive troubeshooting... but he time they spend on these apps takes away from time they could be devoting to PAID projects.

What do you think Slashdot? Are hosted apps a money loser, does not having ultimate control of your operational business data (as opposed to your code or other proprietary data) keep you from considering them as a time = money saver? If your company has already made the leap to hosted apps for business use, what are your experiences — good and bad?

Submission + - AT&T and BellSouth to Merge...Here comes Ma Be

Submitted by kangdangalang on Thursday February 22, 2007 @11:20AM

kangdangalang writes: News is amuck about a merger between AT&T and BellSouth AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and BellSouth Corporation (NYSE:BLS) announced today an agreement to merge the two companies, a combination that will create a more effective and efficient provider in the wireless, broadband, video, voice and data markets. The merger will streamline the ownership and operations of Cingular Wireless, which is jointly owned by AT&T and BellSouth. The new company will be more innovative, nimble and efficient, providing benefits to customers by combining the Cingular, BellSouth and AT&T networks into a single fully integrated wireless and wireline Internet Protocol network offering a full range of advanced solutions. Seems like AT&T is trying to reacquire all the baby bells to get back to being the communications supergiant of decades past, do you think this will be allowed by the FCC or will this get shot down because of fear of AT&T becoming a monopoly once again?

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