Thinkcloud - Slashdot User

Submission + - Mozilla Makes Prototype of Firefox OS Available (ostatic.com)

Submitted by Thinkcloud on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @04:20AM

Thinkcloud writes: Even though the operating system hasn't arrived in a version for smartphones and tablets just yet, it is available as a prototype module that you can run on Windows, Mac or Linux computers. The initial Firefox OS phones are expected to arrive in 2013, and it's been reported that Alcatel and ZTE are the first manufacturers on board.

Submission + - LibreOffice 3.5.1 Released with Fixes (ostatic.com)

Submitted by Thinkcloud on Monday March 19, 2012 @05:38AM

Thinkcloud writes: Some of the core fixes include don’t crash for empty input data in charts and UI fix on PDF export dialog fdo. On a different note, the several companies have employed paid hackers and the number of TDF hackers has now crossed the threshold of 400 code developers.

Submission + - Linux From Scratch 7.1 published (h-online.com) 1

Submitted by Thinkcloud on Wednesday March 07, 2012 @05:44AM

Thinkcloud writes: The Linux From Scratch (LFS) project has published version 7.1 of its manual for building a custom Linux installation. The new release of the step-by-step instructions is 345 pages long and uses more up-to-date components than previous versions – for example, the 3.2.6 Linux kernel and version 4.6.2 of the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC). The update also includes fixes to bootscripts and corrections to the text, as well as updates to 20 packages.

Submission + - Open Invention Network Shelters More Open Source Technologies from Licensing Bat (ostatic.com)

Submitted by Thinkcloud on Wednesday March 07, 2012 @05:05AM

Thinkcloud writes: More than 700 new software packages including popular packages such as KVM, Git, OpenJDK, and WebKit will now receive royalty-free shelter under OIN (Open Innovation Network). This could make it more friction-free for organizations and developers to adopt and modify open source technology.

Submission + - Apache Software Foundation Lays Out its Plan for O (ostatic.com) 1

Submitted by Thinkcloud on Wednesday December 21, 2011 @04:39AM

Thinkcloud writes: In an open letter, the Apache Software Foundation has made its plans for OpenOffice clear, including an Apache-branded OpenOffice suite targeted at developers coming next year.

Opera Supports Google Decision To Drop H.264 336

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday January 12, 2011 @10:21AM from the rally-behind-the-big-dog dept.

An anonymous reader follows up to yesterday's Google announcement that they would drop H.264 support from Chrome. "Thomas Ford, Senior Communications Manager, Opera, told Muktware, 'Actually, Opera has never supported H.264. We have always chosen to support open formats like Ogg Theora and WebM. In fact, Opera was the first company to propose the tag, and when we did, we did it with Ogg. Simply put, we welcome Google's decision to rely on open codecs for HTML5 video.'"

Google To Drop Support For H.264 In Chrome 765

Posted by CmdrTaco on Tuesday January 11, 2011 @07:58PM from the shot-in-the-air dept.

Steve writes "Google just made a bold move in the HTML5 video tag battle: even though H.264 is widely used and WebM is not, the search giant has announced it will drop support for the former in Chrome. The company has not done so yet, but it has promised it will in the next couple of months. Google wants to give content publishers and developers using the HTML5 video tag an opportunity to make any necessary changes to their websites."

Unwise — Search History of Murder Methods 532

Posted by timothy on Tuesday January 04, 2011 @08:27PM from the unless-everybody-joins-in dept.

nonprofiteer writes "Mark Jensen's home computer revealed Internet searches for botulism, poisoning, pipe bombs and mercury fulminate. A website was visited that explained how to reverse the polarity of a swimming pool — the Jensens had a pool — by switching the wires around, likening the result to the 4th of July. The State pointed out the absence of Internet searches on topics like separation, divorce, child custody or marital property. Julie Jensen died as a result of ethylene glycol in her system, an ingredient found in antifreeze. On the morning of her death, someone attempted to 'double-delete' (apparently unsuccessfully) the computer's browsing history, which included a search for 'ethylene glycol poisoning.'" What if searches for devious, undetectable methods of murder were in everyone's history?

Security Researcher Finds Hundreds of Browser Bugs 145

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday January 01, 2011 @06:50PM from the going-for-the-gusto dept.

An anonymous reader writes "PC Magazine reports on a very understated late night post to the full-disclosure mailing list, in which security researcher Michael Zalewski shared a fuzzing tool reportedly capable of identifying over a hundred browser bugs. Some of these bugs, he says, may be already known to third parties in China. The report also includes an account of how browser vendors fared fixing these flaws so far. Not surprisingly, Microsoft's response timeline appears depressing."

Submission + - Don't Begrudge Mozilla for Being a Commercial Open (ostatic.com)

Submitted by Thinkcloud on Monday December 06, 2010 @06:02AM

Thinkcloud writes: Do you hate the idea of anyone tracking your habits and usage patterns online? I'm convinced that most of us hate the idea, and even more convinced that users of Linux and open source platforms and applications hate it even more than the average user does. Efforts are ongoing to track your habits very closely, though, and that's why it's worth paying attention to the ongoing debate over Mozilla's stance on web privacy. Canonical COO and noted open source blogger Matt Asay has a good piece up on the topic at The Register, and The Wall Street Journal has been covering it as well. So far, Mozilla appears to have behaved

Hands-On With Acer's New 10-Inch Android Tablet 159

Posted by timothy on Wednesday November 24, 2010 @01:54PM from the temptinger-every-day dept.

adeelarshad82 writes "Earlier this week Acer unveiled three new tablets, two for Android and one for Windows. Unfortunately details on the devices were slim, including their names. According to a hands-on with the 10-inch Android tablet, the device is about half-inch thick and weighs slightly more than an iPad. It's currently running an unknown Android version but according to the Acer executives the tablets will be running Google's tablet version of Android, Honeycomb. The tablet has no front-facing buttons. The side includes a power button, lock button, an SD slot and a docking port for full-sized keyboard dock. The device also includes two cameras, front and back, resolutions details of which are still unknown. There's also a mini HDMI port for playing content on HDTVs. The tablets are powered by Nvidia Tegra 2 CPU which gives it the edge when it comes to graphics."

Apple iOS 4.2 Hands-On 212

Posted by kdawson on Monday November 22, 2010 @02:11PM from the ooh-shiny dept.

adeelarshad82 writes "Apple's highly-anticipated iOS 4.2 update for iPad, iPhone, and the iPod touch finally arrived this morning, along with an update for Apple TV. The update includes Airplay, which enables wireless streaming of video, photos, and music from your iOS device to Apple TV. AirPlay is an exciting new development for iOS device owners who also have Apple TVs. As long as the devices are on the same wireless network, they automatically detect each other. AirPlay also lets users multitask while streaming video to an Apple TV. Unfortunately though, AirPlay is a one-way street. Users cannot stream something they rented on Apple TV to their iOS device. The iOS 4.2 update also included the introduction of AirPrint, which is the wireless printing solution for the iPad. (The ability to print to a printer attached to a local PC or Mac was dropped from the release, however.) Other minor changes Apple squeezed into this update were: better Word document fidelity in iWork, multi-tasking, and Game Center."

Mozilla Plans Mobile App Store 118

Posted by samzenpus on Sunday November 21, 2010 @11:48PM from the one-of-many dept.

dkd903 writes "Mozilla wants to make it big in the Mobile world and has revealed its plans for a unique mobile app store in its annual report — 'The State of Mozilla,' which was released recently. Mozilla has already brought the desktop Firefox experience to mobile devices as the Fennec browser, which was initially launched for the Maemo platform on Nokia N900. Mozilla has designed a prototype of a mobile app store and plans to call it a 'Open Web App ecosystem.' The aim is to create an open app store platform that would consist of apps that can run on all mobile devices: — A 'Mobile Device Independent' App Store."

Why Tablets Haven't Taken Off In Business 449

Posted by timothy on Saturday November 20, 2010 @07:33PM from the try-this-electric-notepad-bill dept.

An anonymous reader writes "On PC World's blog, Keir Thomas suggests reasons why tablets have never taken off in business, and explains how Apple's iPad was able to waltz in and steal the entire market. It's all about giving users freedom to figure out how useful tablets can be, he says, rather than forcing them into narrow usage scenarios: 'There's a lot to be said for having faith in users to make best use of their computer, without pushing and pulling them in ways you think are best for them.'"

Submission + - Asterisk 1.8 Released with Support for Google Voic (ostatic.com)

Submitted by Thinkcloud on Friday October 22, 2010 @08:16AM

Thinkcloud writes: Open source telephony vendor Digium released the newest version of its popular free VoIP software Asterisk today, and it's packed with more than 200 enhancements, security updates, and new features — including calendar integration and support for Google Voice and Google Talk. Asterisk's fully- featured PBX includes call waiting, hold and transfer, caller ID, and other useful tools so it's a great option for small businesses that need to watch costs.
Some of the notable new features in Asterisk 1.8 include:

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