Byte Into It - 27 May 09

Microsoft announces Windows 7 specs for netbooks - News - PC Authority

According to a Sydney Morning Herald report (and various other sources), Microsoft have just announced the hardware specs for the upcoming Windows 7 Starter edition, although it's not exactly what we we're hoping for.
With a little careful reading between the lines, the specs read more like a set of draconian restrictions, especially when it comes to memory, which sets a 1GB base. But, why stop at 1GB? Surely Microsoft must of realised that the relative cheapness of memory makes it easier than ever to provide 2GB on board - so why not support it?
The report specifies that hardware manufacturers must build all future netbooks with the following in mind:

* 10.2 inch display (down from 12.1 inches for XP)
* 250GB hard drive, or 64GB solid state (up from 160GB/32GB for XP)
* 2GHz single core processor
* 1GB of RAM

However, if Microsoft are keen not to repeat their old Vista mistakes, they'll want to take a close look at how smoothly Windows 7 runs on netbooks, under a variety of settings. True, most netbook users won't be playing games or designing homes in Autocad 3D, but that won't stop enterprising consumers from purchasing their netbook as a cure-all for much of their personal computing needs

Side by side: UI changes from Windows 7 beta to Windows 7 RC - Ars Technica

This is not an official list of changes; nor is it a list of every single change. It focuses on visible differences, as opposed to bug fixes or under-the-hood improvements. This post is about tracking every noticeable "tangible" change. Here's a simple example. As you can see below, Build 7000 takes up more space than build 7100. The difference isn't really a huge one, given the size of the operating system, but it is still worth noting: 0.8GB. This change was measured on the same laptop with two separate partitions, using the 64-bit flavor.

Service Pack 2 for Vista and Server 2008 finally arrives - Ars Technica

Microsoft has finally given the public Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 (final build is 6.0.6002.18005). You can download the installer from the Microsoft Download Center: 32-bit (348.3MB), 64-bit (577.4MB), and IA64 (450.4MB). There's also an ISO image (1376.8MB) that contains these installers. The installers will work on English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish versions of either Vista or Server 2008. Other language versions will arrive later. SP2's main requirement (assuming no incompatible drivers are detected) is that SP1 is already installed.SP2 includes Windows Search 4.0. SP2 improves Windows Media Center (WMC) in the area of content protection for TV. (whatever that means)...and more...

Public Beta 1 of Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0 - Ars Technica

Microsoft gave MSDN subscribers Beta 1 downloads of Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0. As promised, the releases are now available to the general public via the Microsoft Download Center. For reference, you may also want to check out the Visual Studio 2010 Product Overview (1.02MB) five-page PDF document.

Zune HD is official, heading your way this Fall

The specs go like this: 3.3-inch, 480 x 272 OLED capacitive touchscreen display, built-in HD Radio receiver, HD output (utilizing a new dock -- not on-board), and... not much more right now. Microsoft is doing away with the famed squircle in favor a full multitouch device, and they seemed to indicate that some new touch-friendly apps and games would be headed our way, though they were fairly mum when it came to details. The device will boast an IE-based, customized browser, but little else was said in the way of software.

Details are also scarce concerning storage capacities, CPU performance, and other crucial numbers, but it seems like they've got more in store come E3... and that's the next big piece of news. Zune integration is coming to the Xbox and Xbox Live, as the Zune marketplace will step in to replace the current Live video resources, expanding the library and offering all kinds of new perks, like Zune's first foray into international waters

Nokia starts roll-out of Apple App Store rival - Mobility - iTnews Australia

Nokia has begun rolling out its online software and content store, Ovi Store, as it aims to follow the success of Apple's App Store.
Nokia said the store was opened to users of a few of its phone models in Australia and Singapore before being rolled out globally later in the week.
Customers can access the store by typing store.ovi.com into their Nokia device browser.
The Australian store offers users the chance to buy applications for their Nokia phone using their existing carrier relationships with Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and Crazy John’s.
However, analysts say firms will likely struggle to match the success of Apple's store when creating their own stores, hampered by technical issues, a lack of applications and increased competition.

Scientists invent memory storage good for a billion years - Hardware - iTnews Australia

The device is an iron nanoparticle, 1/50,000 the width of a human hair, enclosed in a hollow carbon nanotube.
The iron can be shuttled back and forth within the tube as an effective way to store data.
The team says it is achievable to build storage devices capable of carrying a terabyte of information per square inch, making it more effective than current techniques.
However, the data will also be almost incorruptible and should remain available for a billion years or more.

Lifehacker - Google Chrome 2 Brings New Features and Serious Speed - Google Chrome
Apart from the speed and stability increases, Chrome users can also expect:
Improved New Tab Page: The most requested feature from users was the ability to remove thumbnails from the New Tab page. Now you can finally hide that embarrassing gossip blog from the Most Visited section.
Full Screen Mode: If you've ever given a presentation or watched a large video using Google Chrome, you might have wished you could use every last pixel on your screen for the content. Now you can hide the title bar and the rest of the browser window by hitting F11 or selecting the option in the Tools menu.
Form Autofill: Filling out your information in forms over and over again can be tedious. Form autofill helps by showing information you've previously entered into the same form fields automatically. If at any point you want to clear out your information, that's easy to do from the Tools menu. Windows Only...still...

ASUS Eee Keyboard to launch by end of June

The dream of owning a keyboard embedded with a full-blown PC running XP on an Atom N270 processor and 5-inch, 800 x 480 pixel touchscreen display/trackpad is nearly upon us. A dream, quite honestly, nobody had prior to seeing the reveal of the 2-pound Eee Keyboard prototype at CES in January. Engadget Chinese has it on authority that this oddball all-in-one will ship in June with specs that should include a 32GB SSD, 802.11n, Bluetooth, HDMI-out, stereo speakers and mic

Conroy mulls review of ACMA blacklist - Internet - iTnews Australia

Senator Conroy has revealed the Government is considering appointing a panel to conduct a regular audit of ACMA's blacklist of banned web sites.
Speaking at the Senate Estimates hearing yesterday, the Communications Minister agreed that the ACMA blacklist process requires greater transparency.
"The government is considering options for greater transparency and accountability in respect of the black list," he said.
"We are considering options which could include a regular review of the list by a panel of eminent persons or a parliamentary committee or a review of all URLs by the classification board."

Spam tops 90 per cent of all email - Internet - iTnews Australia

Spam levels rose by five per cent last month to reach over 90 per cent of all email, according to the latest figures from cloud-based security vendor MessageLabs.
The firm's monthly Intelligence Report found that spammers are increasingly sending unsolicited emails from webmail accounts hosted by legitimate providers.
The rise has been driven in part by an increase in messages containing a subject line and link to social network profile pages created by automated Captcha-breaking tools, the report said.
"As spam levels continue to increase, we are seeing existing attack techniques combine and morph into one," said Paul Wood, senior analyst at MessageLabs.
"In 2008 Captcha-breaking, social networking spam and the use of webmail for spamming all became popular tactics. Today, the bad guys are using the three together as a triple threat to heighten the effectiveness of their spamming."
The report also found that users in Europe tend to receive a steady stream of spam throughout the day, while those in the US witness a peak between 9am and 10am.

Facebook and Twitter hunt for revenue - Software - iTnews Australia

Facebook and Twitter have helped make social networking a household word. Now they need to make money.
Efforts to monetize the popular Internet services are increasingly a priority within the two companies, with Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter Co-founder Biz Stone outlining several initiatives at the Reuters Global Technology Summit in New York.
And analysts and investors, in search of the next Google-like hit, are paying close attention to the breakneck speed at which Facebook and Twitter are adding new users.
While the popularity of the two social media firms has yet to translate into the kind of revenue-generating machine that Google Inc developed with its search advertising business, some say Facebook and Twitter have become so central to the Internet experience that they are inherently valuable.
"Both are new ways of communicating. And when you have a new way of communicating ... you benefit people enough so that there is going to be value there," said Tim Draper, managing director of venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson, noting that he regretted not having invested in either firm.
In April, Twitter's website attracted 17 million unique visitors in the United States, up sharply from 9.3 million the month before. Facebook grew to 200 million active users in April, less than a year after hitting 100 million users.
Facebook sees advertising as its primary money-making strategy, said Zuckerberg, noting that the company could eventually offer ads not just on its own website, but on other sites that interact with Facebook.
Stone said Twitter was less interested in generating revenue through advertising than it was in offering premium features for commercial users of Twitter.

Vodafone and 3 make last ditch appeal to ACCC - Telecommunications - iTnews Australia

Vodafone and 3 have promised not to raise prices for two years of competition regulator ACCC allows the two mobile operators to merge.
A merged VHA, the two companies said, will maintain all existing mobile voice and data plans on offer from Vodafone and 3 for the next two years, even as it offers new deals to the market.
The offer is a last ditch ploy to convince the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to approve the merger, which has been approved by Hutchison shareholders.
The ACCC's preliminary view on the merger, published some six weeks ago, was that "the proposed merger raises competition concerns in the short to medium term."

Russians clone Macs again - Hardware - iTnews Australia

Historically the Soviet Union used a lot of Apple clones, machines manufactured in Bulgaria.
When the Berlin Wall fell, so did the Bulgarian economy and its light manufacturing industry. The cloned Apple Macs disappeared.
But the Russian Mac clone is back courtesy of RussianMac.
According to the company's website, RussianMac builds Mac clones that come with a full version of Mac OS X Leopard pre-installed. The company claims the system is advanced enough to fool Apple into sending it automatic software updates.
The computers are sold at 30-50 per cent of the price of a real Mac, the company said, but come with three to five year warranties and feature components from the likes of Intel, Asus and Gigabyte.
RussianMac claims that it does not violate the terms of Apple's licence agreement because it has bought the software legitimately from Apple

Ain't no money in Mac cloning: Psystar files for bankruptcy - Ars Technica

Mac clone maker Psystar, after having been embroiled in a lawsuit with Apple since last July, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US Bankruptcy Court's Southern District of Florida. The filing gives Psystar a temporary stay in its legal proceedings with Apple, though it certainly calls into question the viability of the company's business plan.

Psystar began selling a Mac clone called "OpenMac," which the company quickly renamed "Open Computer," in April of 2008. After a couple months of nary a peep from Apple legal, a lawsuit was filed against Psystar in July. Since then, Psystar has attempted to countersue Apple for limiting installation of Mac OS X to Apple's own hardware. The filing for bankruptcy protection comes not long after the company was ordered to provide detailed financial information to Apple as part of the evidence discovery process.

Gizmodo - What's Cooking for Apple WWDC '09 - Wwdc 2009

Apple's WWDC 2009 is almost here. On the menu: Definitely Snow Leopard and a even-stronger-than-before focus on the iPhone OS, as the sessions schedule and the promotion materials show. What else?

Mostly Lisa, Mostly Photography, Always Geeky » Entry » 5 iPhone Photography Apps to make your Shots Spectacular

So many people whine about the iPhone's camera quality and say that it can't take good pictures. It's definitely a greater challenge to get a good exposure on an iPhone vs a 5D MkII, but it's not impossible.  If you are up for the challenge, here are 5 apps that will help you take smashing iPhone pictures:

Mac Hacks: 17 AppleScripts To Make Your Life Easier | Developer's Toolbox | Smashing Magazine

Whether it’s opening a file in Photoshop to change the format or adding an iCal to-do item based on an email you received, these little tasks can be streamlined. That’s the purpose of AppleScripts.
AppleScript is a scripting language developed by Apple to help people automate their work processes on the Mac operating system. It accomplishes this by exposing every element of the system’s applications as an object in an extremely simple, English-like language. AppleScript is to the Mac OS as JavaScript is to browsers.
Quite a few AppleScripts are available on the Web, ready for you to use, so you don’t even need to look at their code. This article presents you with 17 of the most useful ones.

Hackintosh Mini 9 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Much info to be found here:

Is the New iTunes Sirius App a Sign of Things to Come? -- Seeking Alpha

Up until now, speculation has been that Sirius XM would wait until early June to introduce its new iPhone and iPod application. Sirius XM Radio, Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) is the holding company for two satellite radio services (SDARS) operating in the United States and Canada, Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio.

One of the newest and most popular Sirius XM Radio channels is Doctor Radio which can be heard 24 hours a day/7 days a week on Sirius and XM.
An alert Satwaves reader has sent in this link which links to Apple’s iTunes store. The application is described as:
‘Reach MD Medical Radio delivers world class medical content directly from Reach MD, the leader in medical education and information for medical professionals. All of the programming is broadcast on their exclusive Sirius XM channel 160…”
The application offers listeners the ability to listen to a live stream of EXCLUSIVE content (a point Satwaves has been driving for weeks now) and access to over 5000 podcasts as well.
What is most interesting is that this application seems to not be part of a single Sirius XM application, but rather as exclusive content to Apple!

Slashdot | Apple Plans $1 Billion iDataCenter

Apple is planning a major East Coast data center to boost the capacity of its online operations, and may invest more than $1 billion in building and operating the huge server farm. That's nearly twice what Google and Microsoft typically invest in their massive cloud computing centers. The scope of the project raises interesting questions about Apple's plans, and has politicians in North Carolina jumping through hoops to pass incentives to win the project. The proposed NC incentives build on a package for Google that later proved controversial.

Lifehacker - Wolfram Alpha Google Adds Computational Answers to Google Results - Wolfram Alpha

You've heard all about it, you've probably given it a spin, and maybe added it as a search plugin. But wouldn't it be nice if you could get Wolfram Alpha's "computational knowledge" at the same time as Google results? This Firefox extension makes it so.

It's an experimental extension, which means you'll have to click and agree that you understand the unofficial nature of Wolfram Alpha Google. Once you do, you'll start seeing Wolfram Alpha results pasted JavaScript-style into the right-hand side of your Google search results page—well, maybe. The Wolfram results' appearance was somewhat hit and miss when I tested it out on a clean Firefox install. Sometimes signing out and refreshing would have them show up; other times, being signed in and slightly resizing the window seemed to voodoo-activate the Wolfram results. It might be server load or connection issue, so don't expect to get perfect paste-ins from the get-go.

Lifehacker - JetPack Could Revolutionize Firefox's Extensibility—in Time - Firefox JetPack

Mozilla introduced a new Firefox project, called JetPack, that could revolutionize the extensibility of Firefox. Currently available as a Firefox extension, JetPack allows users to extend their browser using regular HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. So far JetPack seems to us sort of like a hybrid between a normal extension and Greasemonkey user scripts; using new JetPack functionality requires a page refresh and not a browser restart (like Greasemonkey), but JetPack can add elements to the user chrome (like extensions). It's a tool that'll probably interest developers most for the time being, but JetPack's functionality could be the future of Firefox extensions down the road. [JetPack via Mozilla Labs]

Android apps coming to Ubuntu - Boing Boing

Canonical, the folks who maintain the Ubuntu flavor of the GNU/Linux operating system, have demoed code that lets you run apps from Android phones and devices (like Google's G1) on your desktop. Google's Linux-based Android platform is attracting a lot of attention. The new version significantly improves the platform's reliability and could make it look a lot more appealing to carriers and handset makers. The availability of an experimental x86 port has caused some people to speculate that Android might have a place in the netbook market.

Ubuntu AppStore in the workings ?

Everybody’s up creating an AppStore of some kind. After Apple brought out the concept, Nokia, Microsoft and even Sun (really !) are hurrying up putting together their ones.
Many Open Source supporters have noted again and again, that Linux repositories are pretty much the equivalent of an AppStore. Interestingly enough, many Mac users noted the same thing, equaling Ubuntu’s Add/Remove program to the iPhone AppStore.
Still, there’s some ground to fill, as AppStore has some end user features that Linux equivalents lack.It seems that times are finally mature for Ubuntu to re-do their package manager frontend.

Well, their four (4!) frontends, since Ubuntu currently uses a mixture of Synaptics, Add/Remove applications, UpdateManager and gDebi to full fill its software needs. A Launchpad blueprint dated 2005 (!) has been finally taken in consideration and the related wiki page has been given some love during the past months.

Moblin netbook Linux preview - Computerworld Blogs

Intel wants to compete with its long-time partner Microsoft in the operating system business. To do that, Intel wants broad support from the Linux community. Intel doesn't want Moblin to be 'Intel Moblin,' the company wants it to be Linux's Moblin with support from everyone.
Thus, what we have is a Linux desktop that's built on top of a Fedora Linux framework; uses GNOME for its desktop and applications, and will rely on Novell/SUSE to get customized versions of the desktop pre-installed on the Taiwanese OEM (original equipment manufacturers) netbooks. Its main competition: Windows 7, but Google Android also looms as a desktop Linux challenger.
How does Moblin stack up? Well, the look is great, and it's not quite like any other desktop I've ever seen. The closest thing I've seen to it in recent memory is gOS, which puts Google applications on top of an Ubuntu Linux base.

Hands-on: Intel brings rich UI to Moblin Linux platform - Ars Technica

a real hands-on look at the new version.

Red Hat Sues Switzerland Over Microsoft Monopoly - News - eWeekEurope.co.uk

Linux vendor Red Hat, and 17 other vendors, have protested a Swiss government contract given to Microsoft without any public bidding. The move exposes a wider Microsoft monopoly that European governments accept, despite their lip service for open source, according to commentators.
The Red Hat group has asked a Swiss federal court to overturn a three-year contract issued to Microsoft by the Swiss Federal Bureau for Building and Logistics, to provide Windows desktops and applications, with support and maintenance, for 14 million Swiss Franc (£8 million) each year. The contract, for "standardised workstations", was issued with no public bidding process, Red Hat's legal team reports in a blog - because the Swiss agency asserted there was no sufficient alternative to Microsoft products.
Red Hat and others have made the obvious response that there are plenty of alternatives to Microsoft, and the current situation makes them more attractive than ever, according to a report issued this week by Freeform Dynamics.

Best Linux distros for power users, gamers, newbies and more | News | TechRadar UK

What kind of user are you? Take a step back and ask yourself what you need from a Linux distribution.
Before you embark on a distro adventure, it's worth giving some thought to the kind of Linux user you are.
The answer isn't as obvious as you might think, and which distribution you do choose will have an effect on that distribution's future, and indirectly, that of Linux.
You might have a preference for open source-only distributions, for example, or you may prefer proprietary drivers and codecs to be pre-installed. If you're choosing a Linux distribution for another person, or for a group of people, that decision is going to be even more important.
A typical group of office workers are unlikely to have used Linux before, and your choice is going to affect their perception of the operating system. Those first impressions count.