Symbian 9.2 Hacked?

As all the Symbian modders or heavy users already know, SSS (Stupid Symbian Signed) have revoked the end user's ability to be a developer thus preventing them getting a developer certificate. This forced everyone but big boys to use use their open-signed online system. So all the free software were unable to be signed and people had to chase down certificates by various means like learn to follow through Chinese language sites. It was not easy even with my Japanese Kanji (limited) knowledge. So I had to rely on posts like this for support. Anyway people were able to obtain certificates and the applications running. It was not easy but did the job.
But now the same source that took us through the Chinese site is telling us how to do away with the certificates altogether.He has worked with FCA00000 and others in this Symbian Freak forum thread for coming up with this solution! Neanton from the same forum was involved in preparing the guide!
This hack allows you to install and run unsigned applications on Symbian device. So follow the link to get to the guide with clear instructions and screen captures that paves the path to a really "Open Symbian S60".
Parttime phone reviewer

tag: Symbian hack, Symbian modders, Stupid Symbian Signed, SSS, Open Symbian S60, Symbian S60

Aperture 2.1 with Powerful Image Editing Plug-In Architecture Released

CUPERTINO, California—March 28, 2008— Apple® today released Aperture™ 2.1, which introduces an open plug-in architecture that makes it easy for photographers to use specialized third party imaging software right from within Aperture. Available today as a free software update, Aperture 2.1 includes the Apple-developed plug-in, Dodge & Burn, which adds brush-based tools for dodge (lighten), burn (darken), contrast, saturation, sharpen and blur. Over the coming months, third party software developers will deliver image editing plug-ins for localized editing, filters and effects, noise analysis and reduction, fisheye lens correction and more.

“The image quality in Aperture 2 has won over the most demanding photographers,” said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of Applications Product Marketing. “Now, thanks to our open plug-in architecture, users can access an entire industry’s worth of imaging expertise without ever leaving Aperture.”

“To date, maybe two percent of my photographs needed to be touched up outside Aperture,” said John Stanmeyer, founding member of the VII Photo Agency and contributing photographer for Time and National Geographic magazines. “Now that I can dodge and burn right within Aperture’s new plug-in, I can’t imagine when I’ll have to open any other application to tone my images.”

By clicking on one or more images within Aperture, users can choose from a menu of installed plug-ins and apply specialized imaging operations to either TIFF or RAW images. Apple is working closely with key developers to bring the most requested plug-ins to Aperture such as:

• Nik Software’s Viveza plug-in, powered by U Point technology, which provides a powerful, precise and easy way for photographers to selectively control and adjust color and light in their digital images;
• PictureCode’s Noise Ninja plug-in that delivers advanced high ISO noise analysis and reduction;
• Digital Film Tools’ Power Stroke plug-in that features a simple, stroke-based interface to quickly mask and intuitively perform targeted adjustments;
• The Tiffen Company's Dfx plug-in that provides an expansive suite of creative filters and effects;
• dvGarage’s dpMatte plug-in, which is a high performance chroma key tool for creating seamless composites, and the HDRtoner plug-in that enables the selection of multiple photos to create a single high dynamic range (HDR) image; and
• Image Trends’ plug-ins that include Fisheye-Hemi to quickly and effortlessly correct fisheye lens distortion, ShineOff which automatically removes shine from faces and PearlyWhites that automatically whitens and brightens teeth.

Pricing & Availability
Aperture 2.1 is available immediately as a free software update to current Aperture 2.0 users. Full system requirements and more information on Aperture can be found at www.apple.com/aperture. Information and availability for third party imaging plug-ins can be found on www.apple.com/aperture/resources, www.apple.com/downloads and at the Aperture community site www.aperturepluggedin.com.

tag: Apple, Aperture™ 2.1, Dodge & Burn, Nik Software’s Viveza plug-in, PictureCode’s Noise Ninja plug-in, Digital Film Tools’ Power Stroke plug-in, dvGarage’s dpMatte plug-in, The Tiffen Company's Dfx plug-in

PWN To Own or PWN2OWN, Hack Vista, MAC OS X or Linux

Latest challange in the hacker world: Linux versus Mac OS X versus Vista. All three targets, all patched. All in typical client configurations with typical user configurations. Waiting for anyone to hack PWN it. You hack it, you get to keep it. Keep what?

The Three Targets (typical road-warrior clients):

• VAIO VGN-TZ37CN running Ubuntu 7.10
• Fujitsu U810 running Vista Ultimate SP1
• MacBook Air running OSX 10.5.2

This year's contest started on March 26th, and continue through the presentation hours and breaks of the conference until March 28th. The main purpose of this contest is to present new vulnerabilities in these systems so that the affected vendor(s) can address them. Participation is open to any registered attendee of CanSecWest 2008.

So far Laptops are still standing according to a DVLabs post;
"Today's first day of CansecWest's PWN to OWN contest is now officially over, and we can report that all three laptops are still standing without having been compromised. At 2:45pm local time today, to much fanfare, Aaron made the official announcement of the contest's opening to the CanSecWest crowd. "

Once you extract your claim ticket file from a laptop (note that doing so will involve executing code on the box, simple directory traversal style bugs are inadequate), you get to keep it. You also get to participate in 3com / Tipping Point's Zero Day Initiative, with the top award for remote, pre-auth, vulnerabilities being increased this year. Fine print and details on the cash prizes are available from Tipping Point's DVLabs blog.

Lets go PWNing

tag: PWN To Own, PWN2OWN, CanSecWest, CanSecWest 2008, DVLabs, Tipping Point's Zero Day Initiative,

First Ever Document Freedom Day '08

Today is Document Freedom Day: Roughly 200 teams from more than 60 countries worldwide are organising local activities to raise awareness for Document Freedom and Open Standards. To support the initiatives surrounding the first day to celebrate document liberation, DFD starter packs containing a DFD flag, t-shirts and leaflets have been sent to the first 100 registered teams over the past weeks.

More...

Document Freedom Day (DFD) is a global day for document liberation. It will be a day of grassroots effort to educate the public about the importance of Free Document Formats and Open Standards in general.

Complementary to Software Freedom Day, we aim to have local teams all over the world organise events on the last Wednesday of March. 2008 is the first year that Document Freedom Day is being called for, and we are looking for people around the world who are willing to join the effort.

DFD's main goals are:

• promotion and adoption of free document formats
• forming a global network
• coordination of activities that happen on 26th of March, Document Freedom Day

Once a year, we will celebrate Document Freedom Day as a global community. Between those days, DFD will be focused on facilitating community action and building awareness for issues of Document Freedom and Open Standards.

We hope that you will join the DFD community.

Translations:

Català Español German Italiano Norsk Română Srpski 中文简体

tag: DFD, Document Freedom Day, SFD, Software Freedom Day, document liberation, Free Document Formats, Open Standards

U Penn, Wait On Windows Vista SP1

IW is reporting that University IT Staff at University of Pennsylvania is advising users not to grab Windows Vista SP1 and upgrade their computers until all the bugs are cleared.
I thought that Vista Supposed to give red screens not blue screens. If it were the case, M$ has put the feature back in Vista, Now you can get blue screens!
"I downloaded it via Windows Update, and got a bluescreen on the third part of the update," wrote "Iggy33", in a comment posted Wednesday on Microsoft's Vista team blog.

Iggy33 was just one of dozens of posters complaining about Vista Service Pack 1's effect on their PCs. "What a disaster," wrote "SeppDietrich", of the update. "It exiled all my Nvidia drivers to the Bermuda Triangle."

"Bikkja" said that "after installing SP1 things seem to go really slow, even though my computer shouldn't have any problems."

Other troubles reported by Vista SP1 users ranged from a simple inability to download the software from Microsoft's Windows Update site to sudden spikes in memory usage.

You can join the discussion at IW.

tag: M$, Vista SP1, vista bluescreen, vista redscreen

Sony Kicks Its Own Crapware Fee Out.

Sony must not have any ***** left by now at the rate it is kicking itself. First it was the Rootkits, to here from here, then it created a bogus blog baptized "All I want for Christmas is a PlayStation Portable.".
Now it has to retract the $50 charge for removing bloatware from notebooks that it sells. I just wonder what moron even bother to fight, I'd have just returned the ugly thing. You at no lost for good notebooks, units from Toshiba, HP, Acer, Gateway and many others does the job better.
Anyway you can read the story on Washington Post and ARS' own crapware report.


tag: Sony, Sony rootkits, Sony Crapware, Sony Bloatware, crapware fee

DRM-Free Music from More than 50 Rock, Pop, and Hip-Hop Artists on MicroSD Card From SANDISK

Rock, Pop, and Hip-Hop Artists to be featured in a U.S.-Based Music Promotion Tied to the Launch of the New 8GB Sansa Fuze MP3 Player

MILPITAS, Calif., March 19, 2008– SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK), a leading seller of MP3 players in the United States, today announced the company will promote DRM-free music from more than 50 new and emerging artists on a microSD card. This U.S.-based program is the first of its kind to use microSD cards, and helps launch the new 8GB (gigabyte)¹ Sansa Fuze MP3 player. The “Sansa Sessions” microSD card is comprised of a collection of rock, pop, and hip hop songs, music videos, and photos from more than 30 labels. Featured artists include All Time Low, Ladytron, Magnet, Nada Surf, Of Montreal and The Coup.

“The Sansa Sessions microSD card is an innovative medium for music distribution, and great exposure for our artists,” said Matt Lunsford, co-president, Polyvinyl Record Co., which represents Of Montreal and other artists featured on the card. “This promotion benefits all involved, aligning the interests of the musician, label and consumer. We look forward to doing more together.”

“We’re excited to be working with labels and artists to create a new ecosystem for music,” said Daniel Schreiber, general manager and senior vice president for SanDisk’s Sansa audio/video product line. “The Sansa Sessions music card gives customers a simple way to enjoy, manage, and discover new music. This is just the beginning of our efforts to bring consumers a simplified and highly enjoyable music experience.”

NonStop Riot, a LA-based entertainment and music marketing agency, selected and licensed the 50+ tracks for the Sansa Sessions program. SanDisk is currently working with NonStop Riot to create its content strategy and develop relationships with innovative labels and artists to distribute music on devices and flash memory cards.

Added Schreiber: “Artists want to give their fans an easy and legal way to experience and share their music, while labels are looking for a form of physical distribution with more usability than the CD. The Sansa Sessions promotion is a great opportunity to explore this new format and gives both artists and labels a glimpse of the potential for music distribution in this medium.”

Roughly the size of a fingernail, a microSD card is reminiscent of the CD but much smaller. Using this card, music lovers can carry thousands of songs, videos and photos in their pocket – and easily transport content from a Sansa music player to a PC, PDA, mobile phone and even an automobile.

For a limited time, U.S.-based music lovers who purchase the 8GB Sansa Fuze player will have the opportunity to redeem a promotional offer inside their box to receive the exclusive Sansa Sessions music sampler on a pre-loaded microSD card. More information can be found at http://www.sandisk.com/promofuze.²

Announced last week, the new flash-based Sansa Fuze rounds out the Sansa product family, joining the tiny Sansa Clip and video-centric Sansa View. The Sansa audio/video line offers consumers highly affordable, yet fun and fashionable music players loaded with appealing extra features.

tag: DRM, DRM Free, SANDISK, ll Time Low, Ladytron, Magnet, Nada Surf, Of Montreal, The Coup, Sansa Sessions microSD, NonStop Riot,

Mozilla CEO does Not Like Apples Method Of Safari Distribution.

For a long long time I never had anything say bad about Mozilla or anything related to it. Always praise. Just see the left column, I ask you to install firefox. But today I had a laugh reading what Mizilla CEO had to say. I don't know the dude from a grass blade but I am surprised about what he has to say.
"What Apple is doing now with their Apple Software Update on Windows is wrong," Lilly said in a blog post on Friday. "It undermines the trust relationship great companies have with their customers, and that's bad -- not just for Apple, but for the security of the whole Web."

Hey go find another sand box to play! (Forgive him, he loves basketball! But Rockets will go in a puff today! Most of all Jo Ito took his blog photo. Anyone that Jo likes has to be good!!)
If I had a mechanism, I would do the same to Firefox like Apple does!
update;
OK John is right (Houston won) :(

tag: Apple, Mozilla,

Apple To Windows, Let Me Take You On A Safari, With Safari 3.1 For Windows

Keepeing to his words, Apple's Steve Jobs is offering windows version of Apples Web Browser Safari via it's iTunes Update Program.
When Mr. Jobs first unveiled Safari for Windows, he said that the main way Apple planned to get Safari on Windows is through its Software Update program. He noted that there are a million downloads of iTunes a day, with 500 million of those going to Windows machines."
What a better vehicle than iTunes to deliver Safari or any other Apple product. The task is even easier as these users already knows about Apple and it's ability to provide what users need without much of a hassle. (I myself do not like iTunes and assorted stuff running as services in my PC's as the grab too much resources. I let iTunes run freely on my Mac, correction, was my Mac. I just got a call from my girl friend who just got a new job saying that her office uses Macs and she need to practice Macs!)
But I alredy have Safari 3.1 running on one of my notebooks.
tag: apple, safari, safari for windows, safari 3.1, iTunes, mac

Windows 2008 Is a Service Pack! And You Can Have Your Vista SP1

I found this interesting information while reading about Vista SP1 at Computer world. So it explains that Vista SP1 and Windows 2008 goes hand in hand, with a little help from XP SP3.

Interestingly, the initial, release-to-manufacturing version of Windows Server 2008 is known internally within Microsoft as the Service Pack 1 version. This is because both Windows client and server are now based on the same code, and have the same kernel. Along with this parity, the same patches and updates apply to both Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008. It may seem strange to have the first release of an OS call itself Service Pack 1, but the first service pack for Windows Server 2008 will indeed be named Service Pack 2, and should appear in the channels at roughly the same time as Vista Service Pack 2.

Some other miscellaneous improvements relating to SP1 with regard to Windows Server 2008:

• Bitlocker, the drive encryption feature, now supports encrypting other volumes besides just the main C:/ drive in a system. The Bitlocker code in the Vista client has now achieved feature parity with that in Windows Server 2008.
• Terminal Services printing is improved, specifically when printing to a printer local to a machine from within a Terminal Services session.

tag: Windows 2008, Vista SP1,

Japanese ISP's Goes Against P2P Users

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The nation's four Internet provider organizations have agreed to forcibly cut the Internet connection of users found to repeatedly use Winny and other file-sharing programs to illegally copy gaming software and music, it was learned Friday.

The move aims to deal with the rise in illegal copying of music, gaming software and images that has resulted in huge infringements on the rights of copyright holders.

Resorting to cutting off the Internet connection of copyright violators has been considered before but never resorted to over fears the practice might involve violations of privacy rights and the freedom of use of telecommunications.

The Internet provider organizations have, however, judged it possible to disconnect specific users from the Internet or cancel provider contracts with them if they are identified as particularly flagrant transgressors in cooperation with copyright-related organizations, according to sources.

The four organizations include the Telecom Service Association and the Telecommunications Carriers Association. About 1,000 major and smaller domestic providers belong to the four associations, which means the measure would become the first countermeasure against Winny-using rights-violators used by the whole provider industry.

They organizations plan to launch a consultative panel, possibly in April, together with copyright organizations including the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers and the Association of Copyright for Computer Software. They will then begin making guidelines for disconnecting users from the Internet who leak illegally copied material onto the Net.

The number of users of file-sharing software such as Winny in the country is estimated to be about 1.75 million, with most of the files exchanged using the software believed to be illegal copies.

A brief six-hour survey by a copyright organization monitoring the Internet found about 3.55 million examples of illegally copied gaming software, worth about 9.5 billion yen at regular software prices, and 610,000 examples of illegally copied music files, worth 440 million yen, that could be freely downloaded into personal computers using such software, the sources said. In other words, this survey alone, uncovered damages amounting to 10 billion yen.

Two years ago, a major Internet provider tried to introduce a measure to disconnect users from the Internet whenever the company detected the use of Winny or other file-sharing software.

However, the provider abandoned the idea after receiving a warning from the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry that such an approach was regarded as Internet snooping and might violate the right to privacy in communications.

According to the new agreement, copyright organizations would notify providers of Internet protocol addresses used by those who repeatedly make copies illegally, using special detection software. The providers would then send warning e-mails to the users based on the IP addresses of the computers used to connect to the Internet. If contacted users did not then stop their illegal copying, the providers would temporarily disconnect them from the Internet for a specified period of time or cancel their service-provision contracts.
Source
tag: file-sharing, p2p, Winny, Japanese ISP

Spam King Goes To Jail

Seattle Times is reporting that Robert Soloway is going to prison for a long time. "Soloway appeared at a hastily scheduled hearing in U.S. District Court in Seattle, where he was set to go to trial in two weeks on a 40-count indictment that included seven counts of aggravated identity theft — which carries a mandatory two-year prison sentence added on to any other sentence — and 13 counts of money laundering."
I think it is a good read about the evasive spam king and learn why spam does not pay!

tag: Spam, soloway

Sparking iPod Prompts An Iinvestigation In Japan.

TOKYO - Japan is investigating a possible defect in Apple Inc.'s iPod after one of the popular digital music players reportedly shot out sparks while recharging, a government official said Wednesday.
An official at the trade and economy ministry, which oversees product problems, said a defect is suspected in the lithium-ion battery in the iPod Nano, model number MA099J/A. He spoke on customary condition of anonymity, saying he is reiterating a ministry position.
The problem surfaced in January in Kanagawa Prefecture southwest of Tokyo, and Apple reported the problem to the ministry in March. No one was injured, the official said. Other details weren't available.
Apple Japan did not contest the ministry statement but declined further comment. Nano players are sold all over the world, and it was still unclear where else besides Japan the suspected model was sold, said Masayoshi Suzuki, an Apple spokesman in Tokyo.
The ministry has instructed Apple Japan to find out the cause of what it is categorizing as a fire and report back to the government.
The iPod was assembled in China, but it was unclear who made the lithium-ion battery, the ministry official said.
Lithium-ion batteries have been blamed for a series of blazes in laptops recently that have resulted in massive global recalls.
The ministry said Apple has shipped about 425,000 iPods of the same suspected model were shipped into Japan. It was unknown how many have been sold and how many might still be in stores.
Shipments of the model began in September 2005 and were discontinued after September 2006, the ministry said.
Yahoo AP Article By YURI KAGEYAMA
tag: iPod, iPod Nano, iPod Japan, sparking iPod

Tele Atlas Will Show Microsoft The Way Of The Maps

Boston, March 10, 2008 — Tele Atlas (FSE: TA6, EUNV: TA), a leading global provider of digital maps and dynamic content for navigation and location-based solutions, today announced it has signed an agreement to extend its relationship with Microsoft Corporation to power its mapping and location platform services.

Through the agreement, Microsoft products Live Search Maps, Virtual Earth and Microsoft Streets & Trips will rely on Tele Atlas digital maps and content, including points of interest (POIs) such as hotels, gas stations and restaurants, for the United States and Canada.

“Our customers and industry partners have come to expect high quality location information and imagery on Live Search Maps, and working with an industry innovator like Tele Atlas helps ensure we deliver on those expectations,” said Erik Jorgenson, general manager of Live Search Maps at Microsoft. “We are looking forward to continuing to work with Tele Atlas so that our solutions continue to deliver relevant, rich location content, from maps and directions to 3D imagery.”

“We’re excited to expand our longstanding relationship with Microsoft and look forward to collaborating on future opportunities to further support their full range of mapping initiatives,” said George Fink, Tele Atlas President and Chief Operating Officer. “Combining our digital map expertise and Microsoft’s innovative applications, today’s community of digital map users are provided with a range of location and mapping solutions that enable them to better customize and personalize their search and navigation experiences.”
tag: Mapping, Microsoft, Tele Atlas, Live Search Maps, Virtual Earth, Microsoft Streets & Trips, digital map

Now Novel Is Having Second Thoughts About M$ Patent Deal!

According to meny sources but Washington Post for me, Novel is not happy about having to sleep with M$ in the Patent bed.
"Open-source pioneer and Novell Vice President Miguel de Icaza last week for the first time publicly slammed his company's cross-patent licensing agreement with Microsoft as he defended himself against lack of patent protection for third parties that distribute his company's Moonlight project, which ports Microsoft's Silverlight technology to Linux.

Speaking on a panel at the MIX 08 conference in Las Vegas, de Icaza said that Novell has done the best it could to balance open-source interests with patent indemnification. However, if he had his way, the company would have remained strictly open source and not gotten into bed with Microsoft. Novell entered into a controversial multimillion dollar cross-patent licensing and interoperability deal with Microsoft in November 2006."

De Icaza is a well-known technology prodigy from Mexico City who cofounded the GNOME open-source project and whose company Ximian was purchased by Novell in 2003. He remains one of the company's most well-respected and best-known open-source proponents.

De Icaza's comments came as he received questions from an audience member about the Moonlight project, Novell's open-source project to bring Microsoft's Silverlight to Linux. Silverlight is cross-browser runtime for building and delivering applications on the Web.

Read more at Washington Post.

tag: M$, novell, Patents, de Icaza, MIX 08, Ximian, Moonlight project, Linux Silverlight

Julius Baer Withdraws Wikileaks Lawsuit

A Swiss bank Julius Baer on Wednesday asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit that it had filed against a Web site that it claimed had displayed stolen documents revealing confidential information about the accounts of the bank’s clients.

It was also discussed widely if the Judge erred while handling the wikileaks case.

Lawyers involved in the case said the move by Bank Julius Baer most likely ends its battle against Wikileaks, a Web site that allows people to post documents anonymously “to be of assistance to people of all regions who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their governments and corporations.”

Source

tag: wikileaks, julius baer

Microsoft Office Live Space, Is Not Google Docs.

Today Microsoft opened up its Office Live Space as a public beta. I tried it out and it does what it says, a share point for your office, Microsoft Office documents.
Unlike Google Docs, you cannot make documents online. Also Google Docs runs on my PC, My notebook loaded with Ubuntu and Windows XP, My Nokia 810 and although I have not tried yet, even on my phone.
If you are planing to use Office Live Space don't plan to walk very far from your computer and a Microsoft OS. Those plugins don't run anywhere else!
So don't come telling me that M$ is challenging Google Docs, it does not. Perhaps in the future it might but hold the horses for the moment. Oh don't go sing the prises to Steve, the one who throws chairs around.
tag: Office Live Space, Google Docs

Vista Price Cut

Even though I own two copies of Microsoft Vista, non is running on any of my computers, six of them, desktops and notebooks. Reasons have been from lack of performance gain to incompatibility with Vista certified computers like the one I am writing this article. Another reason was memory requirements. Although considered to be pretty new computers, only three computers that I have support more than 4GB of memory. Anyway if I give any reasons here now for not using Vista, it will be incomplete. But I am not alone in not going in Vista way. From the article about Microsoft cutting Vista price.
I think people want more than eye candy.
For those in the U.S., Microsoft is cutting prices only on the higher-end versions of Vista, and only for the upgrade version used to move from XP or another copy of Vista. The suggested price for Vista Ultimate drops to $219 from $299, while Home Premium falls to $129, from $159.

In an interview, newly minted Windows consumer marketing vice president Brad Brooks said that Microsoft had been testing lower prices over the past few months and was surprised to find that the amount of revenue lost was more than made up for by an increase in the number of PC buyers willing to shell out for an upgrade.

Brooks said that Microsoft had done a lot of research prior to Vista's launch, but noted that both Home Premium and Ultimate were new products for the company. "We probably got the pricing mix wrong," he said. "You don't always get it right, but you make the adjustment."

Source of Vista price cut News
tag: Vista price cut, M$, Vista,

Geemodo: U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White might have erred in WikiLeaks site case.

WikiLeaks is back online after Federal Judge reverses his earlier order.

In reversing himself at a hearing in San Francisco on Friday, Judge White acknowledged that the bank’s request posed serious First Amendment questions and might constitute unjustified prior restraint. He also appeared visibly frustrated that technology might have outrun the law and that, as a result, the court might not be able to rein in information once it had been disclosed online.

“We live in an age,” Judge White said, “when people can do some good things and people can do some terrible things without accountability necessarily in a court of law.”

Critics of Judge White’s previous order had said one problem was its breadth: It obstructed access to documents beyond those that the bank said contained confidential information. But he noted that as a practical matter, no ruling might achieve what the bank wanted.

Garret D. Murai, a lawyer for Dynadot, the registrar that provided the Wikileaks domain name, said after the hearing that the Wikileaks.org domain name would probably be re-enabled within an hour of the judge’s issuing a written order outlining his decision. The site is working again.

Source of infromation.

Geemodo: U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White might have erred in WikiLeaks site case.
tag: wikileaks

ISS (International Space Station) Through The Phases.

There is an animation of ISS' progress at tietronix.
From here;

To Here
tag: ISS, Animation, animation of ISS

WaveMaker Visual Ajax Studio™ version 3.1.1 for building Enterprise Web 2.0 applications.

I have been lurking around the WaveMaker Development community for a while now. But It never occurred me to tell others about it. But the fact that they released the WaveMaker Visual Ajax Studio™ version 3.1.1, it is time to tell. It is a drag and drop assembly of scalable, web-applications using Ajax widgets, web services and databases. Trust me it was never easy for moi, to do those Ajax stuff, (look at this blog) ;0

If you want one more reason, there is a offer for 1GB Flash drive if you get through the tutorial and answer some questions.

Here is the company press release.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - February 27, 2008 - WaveMaker™ today announced the release of its WaveMaker Visual Ajax Studio™ version 3.1.1 for building Enterprise Web 2.0 applications. WaveMaker’s Visual Ajax Studio lets users create database-driven Ajax Web applications without having to write complex code. New WaveMaker features significantly reduce development time while enabling increased participation, feedback and collaboration.

“WaveMaker is introducing a new era of point and click Web 2.0 development,” said Christopher Keene, chief executive officer at WaveMaker. “For the first time, mere mortal developers can build Java Web applications. We see this as a huge market and the first credible alternative to ASP.NET for casual application developers.”

WaveMaker Visual Ajax Studio 3.1.1 now offers automatic form generation which reduces the time required to construct a form-based Web application to just seconds. This new feature treats forms as reusable widgets, making it easier to migrate from legacy client/server applications, such as Microsoft Access, Lotus Notes and Oracle Forms, to a standards-based, Ajax Web application. With WaveMaker, developers and IT managers can embrace innovative Web 2.0 technologies while adhering to the architectural, security and data policies of the CIO.

Additionally, the WaveMaker Visual Ajax Studio 3.1.1 and the WaveMaker Rapid Deployment Framework 3.1.1 are now available under the open source GNU AGPL version 3 license as well as a WaveMaker commercial license. With the addition of the AGPL license, WaveMaker continues its commitment to open source and open standards, eliminating vendor lock while enabling developers and enterprises to choose the license that best meets their needs.

New features of WaveMaker Visual Ajax Studio 3.1.1 include:

• Automatic Form Generation creates Web-based forms from a database table in a matter of seconds
• Extensible Palettes allow developers to add custom widgets to a palette within the Studio
• Developer Community Registration is now built into the Studio
• Dual license policy offers developers and enterprises the choice of an open source license (AGPL v3) or a commercial license
• DB2 is now a tested and supported database
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 is now a tested and supported browser
• Numerous bug fixes and improvements to widgets

Availability
For more information on enterprise support or to download WaveMaker Visual Ajax Studio 3.1.1, please visit http://wavemaker.com.

Note, for more information on the GNU Affero General Public License version 3 (AGPL), please visit http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/agpl-3.0.html.


tag: WaveMaker, Ajax Tools, Ajax widgets, web services, WaveMaker Visual Ajax Studio™ version 3.1.1, Enterprise Web 2.0

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White might have erred in WikiLeaks site case.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White issued a document late Thursday suggesting he might have erred last week when he signed an order that took down the WikiLeaks site and also locked "the WikiLeaks.org domain name to prevent transfer of the domain name to a different domain registrar."

A hearing on the issue is scheduled for Friday morning in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

Complete report here

EFF Sues DOJ Over Horvath and Google

Newsblog is covering information about lawsuit between EFF, The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the DOJ,Department of Justice.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice seeking information about communications between a former top privacy official,Jane Horvath and Google, which eventually hired the official.


tag: EFF, google, DOJ

European Union Regulators Fines Microsoft Corp. 899 Million Euros ($1.35 billion)

Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- European Union regulators fined Microsoft Corp. a record 899 million euros ($1.35 billion) for failing to comply with a 2004 antitrust order to stop overcharging for using its patents to connect to Windows.

``Microsoft was the first company in 50 years of EU competition policy that the commission has had to fine for failure to comply with an antitrust decision,'' European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said in a statement today in Brussels. ``I hope that today's decision closes a dark chapter in Microsoft's record of non-compliance.''

Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, announced last week that it will help competitors' software work better with some products, such as Office, in an effort to allay EU regulators' concerns over its dominance. While today's ruling ends the 2004 antitrust case, for which the company was fined the previous record 497 million euros, the EU has two new investigations under way over Microsoft's business practices.

Bloomberg report

tag: Microsoft, Anti-Competitive, EU, EU regulators, patents

Firefox 3 Beta 3 is now available for download

Firefox 3 Beta 3 is now available for download. But you are warned that this is beta software and to pay attention to the fact. So if you are a developer or a tester it is your piece of cake. Others should perhaps wait out a little.

That said the new version has a lot of new features and improvements. Following are the information on Mozilla site.

New features and changes in this milestone that require feedback include:

• Improved security features such as: better presentation of website identity and security including support for Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificates, malware protection, stricter SSL error pages, anti-virus integration in the download manager.
• Improved ease of use through: easier add-on discovery and installation, improved download manager search and progress indication in the status bar, resumable downloading, full page zoom, and better integration with Windows Vista, Mac OS X and Linux.
• Richer personalization through: one-click bookmarking, smart bookmark folders, location bar that uses an algorithm based on site visit recency and frequency (called “frecency”) to provide better matches against your history and bookmarks for URLs and page titles, ability to register web applications as protocol handlers, and better customization of download actions for file types.
• Improved platform features such as: new graphics and font rendering architecture, JavaScript 1.8, major changes to the HTML rendering engine to provide better CSS, float-, and table layout support, native web page form controls, colour profile management, and offline application support.
• Performance improvements such as: better data reliability for user profiles, architectural improvements to speed up page rendering, over 350 memory leak fixes, a new XPCOM cycle collector to reduce entire classes of leaks, and reductions in the memory footprint.

tag: firefox, firefox 3 beta 3, frecency, XPCOM

Get Ready For Micro-Hoo, Ya!

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) — A Microsoft executive on Friday sent workers an upbeat email outlining a vision of how the software giant expects to take over Yahoo and merge the companies' cultures and resources.

Yahoo spurned Microsoft's 44.6-billion-dollar bid for the veteran Internet firm on February 11. Microsoft is reportedly planning a hostile takeover bid if Yahoo's board of directors doesn't change its mind.

In a message to employees, Microsoft platform and services division president Kevin Johnson shared "a perspective of the process going forward."

"We look forward to a constructive dialogue with Yahoo's board, management, shareholders, and employees on the value of this combination and its strategic and financial merits," Johnson wrote.

"Once Yahoo and Microsoft agree on a transaction, we can begin the integration planning process in parallel with the regulatory review."

If Yahoo capitulates, the transaction would likely close in the second half of this year, according to Johnson.

The email is a tactic from the playbook of Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang, whose messages urging employees and stock holders to have faith in the company and its board have gone public after being filed with US regulators.

Johnson's missive comes on the same day that pension funds for Detroit city workers filed a civil suit charging Yahoo with betraying its duty to stockholders by resisting Microsoft's advances.

In an effort to avoid being gobbled up by Microsoft, the struggling Internet firm has reportedly explored alliances with Google, Time Warner-owned America On Line, and social networking website MySpace owned by News Corp.

Some Yahoo stock holders in California are suing the firm for not accepting an offer Microsoft made to buy Yahoo early last year, when the stock price was higher.

Microsoft is currently offering a combination cash and stock deal initially valued at 31 dollars per share but which fluctuates with the price of Microsoft shares.

Yahoo's board is said to believe the company is worth at least 40 dollars per share, a price that would drive up Microsoft's cost by more than 10 billion dollars.

Microsoft is adamant its offer is "full and fair" and argues that the merger would create a needed and "compelling" alternative in an online search and advertising market ruled by Google.

"I have personally met with top executives of the major media companies, and I know there is a desire for more competition in search and online advertising," Johnson wrote.

Google has condemned Microsoft's takeover bid as an attack on the freedom of the Internet.

While not promising that a merger would not result in the elimination of redundant jobs, Johnson said Microsoft wants to hold on to top talent and is so large it can absorb people in other parts of its operation.

In an effort to keep Yahoo employees from bailing out in the face of a Microsoft takeover, Johnson promised "significant rewards and compensation" will be given to workers at a combined company.

Johnson brushed aside speculation that Microsoft's historically stuffy corporate culture would clash with Yahoo's relaxed, playful California style.

"We would have an opportunity to bring together the best of both companies," Johnson wrote.

"Some aspects of the two cultures will naturally merge quickly and some will remain unique in the near-term and merge more slowly over time."

Yahoo would remain in Silicon Valley, where Microsoft has a campus, according to Johnson. Microsoft's headquarters is in Redmond, Washington.

Until a deal is cut, Microsoft employees should treat Yahoo workers as rivals, not budding workmates, the email urged.

"It's important that Microsoft employees not speculate with Yahoo employees about the proposal or about what a deal would mean for the combined company," Johnson wrote.

"Prior to the close of the transaction, we must continue to compete with Yahoo as before."

tag: Microsoft, Yahoo, take over Yahoo, 44.6-billion-dollar bid,

AdSense for video, beta, Debuts

Google AdSense for Video beta has extended its advertisements into video medium. We all watch videos online one way or another and like any other medium, this is a good way for advertisers to promote their products and for consumers, another avenue to gain knowledge about products that match with their life styles.
"We have two major goals: to make it easier for publishers to monetize video online, and for advertisers to learn how to reach the video community. Towards these ends, today we're also launching a single destination with an overview of various options to expand online video opportunities called Google Video Advertising Solutions. We hope this will be your starting point to understand how to leverage the Google Content Network and YouTube to make the most out of the online video experience. You can also see our overview videos for advertisers and publishers -- because isn’t video the best way to experience video?

We've been working with a number of video partners (e.g. popular destinations like BobVila.com, eHow, MyDamnChannel, ExpertVillage, PinkBike, TheNewsRoom, and social video aggregators like Revver, blip.tv, and GodTube). And we're also working with several key video platform solution solutions like Brightcove, Yume, Tremor Media, and Eyespot Network, who have plugged our ads into their platforms."
Official Google Blog: AdSense for video now in beta
tag: google, adsense, AdSense for video, youtube

Vista SP1, Server 2008 RTMs leaked

February 6, 2008 (Computerworld) Paying customers may not get their hands on Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) for weeks, but pirates can download the brand-new code today, according to searches at several BitTorrent trackers.

The RTM, or release to manufacturing, versions of both operating systems can easily be found on BitTorrent tracker sites such as Pirate Bay, which has made them available since yesterday.

tag: Vista SP1, Server 2008 RTM, BitTorrent

Help ClamAV, Find Prior Art On Trend Micro Patent #5,623,600.

I was visiting Groklaw to read about last gasps of SCO, when I noticed the request for help to find prior art on TrendMicro Patent #5,623,600.
Rather than repeating, I will state the facts and guide you to the article. Thank you for helping and I will. The Groklaw post is pretty big, and need to read it to find out what really going on.
" We have another Pick Your Brain request. This one comes from Barracuda Networks, the email and web security appliances company, but it's about an attack on ClamAV, the Open Source antivirus product.

Barracuda includes ClamAV in some of its enterprise solutions, although it's a small part of what Barracuda does. And Trend Micro has accused ClamAV of infringing a patent it owns, #5,623,600. It specifically has named Barracuda Spam Firewall, the Barracuda Web Filter, and the Barracuda IM Firewall as infringing. Trend Micro has been trying to get Barracuda to either pay license royalties for including ClamAV or stop using ClamAV in its products."

Groklaw Article.

tag: Patent Busting, ClamAV, Barracuda Networks, Open Source antivirus, Barracuda Spam Firewall, Barracuda Web Filter, Barracuda IM Firewall, groklaw

Boss Media Launches Next-Generation Gaming Platform

Boss Media Launches Next-Generation Gaming Platform

STOCKHOLM, Sweden--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:

Boss Media (STO:BOSS)has launched its Gaming Management System (GMS), a newly developed game and business platform. GMS was launched concurrently with Hembingo, a new Swedish online bingo operation (www.hembingo.com). Hembingo premiered Monday, 21 January in cooperation with the Swedish news tabloid, Aftonbladet. Hembingo is based on Boss Media's newly-developed Flash-based bingo platform.

“The launches of our bingo client and Gaming Management System are milestones for Boss Media and our customers,” says Eric Matsgård, Head of Marketing and Products, Boss Media. “GMS is the gaming industry's first true player-centric, one-account solution. GMS and our bingo client are both next-generation product families, developed to power the gaming operation of the future. We will successively roll out both of these products to our new and existing customers in 2008.”

Gaming Management System is based on standard technology and an open, scalable architecture. From a single platform, GMS integrates and manages all areas of a diverse gaming operation: all game systems, all distribution channels, all players, and all transactions and business information.B

Boss Media AB (publ) is one of the world’s leading independent and total suppliers of systems for digitally distributed gaming entertainment. Boss Media develops gaming system solutions for such distribution channels as personal computers/Internet, interactive gaming terminals and digital- TV. Licensees are offered a customized gaming system, an integrated payment system and operator related services. The Boss Media-share is listed on the OMX Nordic Exchange list (Small Cap/IT). More information about Boss Media is available at www.bossmedia.com

tag: Gaming Platform, Gaming Management System, GMS, Boss Media,

IP Address is Personal Information, EU Says.

When I read this Washington post article, I said yes. People have been using IP Addresses in their daily use and it is personal information. I have had the same IP range since 1990's and it has really become a part of my information. Way to go EU.

BRUSSELS -- IP addresses, strings of numbers that identify computers on the Internet, should generally be regarded as personal information, the head of the European Union's group of data privacy regulators said Monday.

Germany's data-protection commissioner, Peter Scharr, leads the E.U. group, which is preparing a report on how well the privacy policies of Internet search engines operated by Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and others comply with E.U. privacy law.

Scharr told a European Parliament hearing on online data protection that when someone is identified by an IP, or Internet protocol, address, "then it has to be regarded as personal data."

His view differs from that of Google, which insists an IP address merely identifies the location of a computer, not who the individual user is. That is true but does not take into consideration that many people regularly use the same computer and IP address.

tag: IP addresses, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, data-protection, EU, Peter Scharr,

Georgia Black with Green Marlbaro In Japan

Marlbaro (miss spelled intentionally, unlike I do most of the time) green packs with canned coffee called Georgia Black for sale in Japan for people want to kill them slowly. Got to know via BoingBoing from urban dirt.
tag: coffee, cigarettes, BoingBoing, georgia black, , urban dirt

DLD08, Digital, Life, Design 2008 in Germany:

A Video introduction, from all things digital. Last one DLD07 was real fun!

tag: DLD08, Digital, Life, Design, DLD07, DLD

A CyberJoke Called CyberLaw®

I have to point you to this article about a lawyer who copyrighted cyberlaw! EFF begins its article with;
"Eric Menhart may call himself a cyberlawyer, but we think he has a lot of learn about cyberlaw -- and common sense. Menhart is the author of a blog about cyberlaw issues called, logically if not innovatively, "Cyberlawg.""
Please read and educate yourself at EFF.
Slashdot discussion is here. (Pretty interesting!)
I also read his response of his blog, to which a link is provided at EFF.
tag: cyberlaw, EFF,

Microsoft launchs the .NET Reference Source project.

Microsoft said this week that it is now allowing developers to examine source code for .Net Framework libraries as a way to help developers build better software. But developers first will need to upgrade to the newly released Visual Studio 2008 software development platform.
But I have a sneaky feeling that once you examine the code, M$ might own you and what ever you do!
I have not read the complete details of the release yet but I will once I know, I will certainly will post the information. I just found out the information on Infoworld, but actual technical information of getting it working could be found at Shawn Burke's blog, one I actually read.

tag: Microsoft, M$, .NET Source, Visual Studio 2008

PhishTank Findings And The Catches For 2007

Let me post about a service that I am using, and I recoment to many people. I just remembered that I did not post about it before. Yes the product is PhisTank!. PhishTank is a collaborative clearing house for data and information about phishing on the Internet. Also, PhishTank provides an open API for developers and researchers to integrate anti-phishing data into their applications at no charge.
I recommend it to anyone who wants to have a peace of mind. If you want to how they performed, they have released a press release about the catch they made last month of last year.
Jan 5, 2008 — SAN FRANCISCO -- OpenDNS (www.opendns.com), the award-winning DNS service that makes the Internet safer, faster, smarter and more reliable, today announced December 2007 statistics for PhishTank , the free community Web site where anyone can submit, verify, track and share phishing data. During the month of December, the PhishTank community voted more than 77,000 times on more than 15,000 suspected phishes. PhishTank is the only consumer-friendly, anti-phishing effort that publicly shares timely phishing data.

Highlights from the December 2007 PhishTank statistics include:

Total number of votes by the PhishTank community: 77,769

Total number of unique, suspected phishing scams reported: 15,529

Country hosting the most phishing sites: United States

Percentage of phishing sites hosted in United States: 30

Median time it took for the PhishTank community to verify phishes: 6 hours, 56 minutes

For more detailed information about PhishTank's December 2007 statistics, including graphics you can use on your Web site, please visit: http://www.phishtank.com/stats/2007/12/
tag: PhishTank, phishing sites, phishing scams, OpenDNS

VOIP IP Telephony Brakes Technorati 50000 Rank Barrier!

Good Luck Partner! Let us brake some more ranks!
VOIP IP Telephony: Just Broke Technorati 50000 Rank Barrier!
tag: Technorati, Technorati Rank, voip ip telephony, ravenii, snapvoip

VOIP IP Telephony Brakes Technorati 50000 Rank Barrier!

Good Luck!
VOIP IP Telephony: Just Broke Technorati 50000 Rank Barrier!

Three Pound Macbook Air Floats! at $1799

3 lb Macbook Air is revealed at Macworld. Also claims to be the thinnest notebook in the world! But as with all other thin stuff, bunch of thick stuff is missing!
1.6 GHz Standard, 1.8 GHz Option -- Intel Core 2 Duo
2 GB Memory standard
80Gb hard disk standard. 1.8" hard drive, 64GB SSD as an option.
13.3" display, LED backlit. iSight built-in. MacBook-like keyboard, but an ambient light sensor, multi-touch track pad, 1 USB port - micro-DVI, audio out, 802.11n + Bluetooth 2.1/EDR, no optical drive.
5 hours of battery life.
All for $1799

Intel shrunk the Core 2 Duo - they did it by 60%. According to Intel CEO says it is thick as a nickel - and wide as a dime.

tag: Macbook Air, Macworld, Macworld Keynote, Macworld Live

Macworld Keynote By Steve Jobs Live

Out of four products that Steve is going to talk about, Mac OS X Leopard is the first one. We are also going to get Time Machines. New Airport Extremes with "server grade" hard drives. They are Time Capsules and 500 GB version - $299, 1 TB $499.
iPhone SDK is coming but people get new software today,
maps with location, Lyrics, Webclips, Customize home screen, SMS multiple people. Webclips are bookmarks on your home screen. you can have up to 9 of them. It's a free download and is available today.
iPod Touch finally gets the 5 apps its been missing. Mail, Stocks, Notes, Maps and Weather, if you pay $20 (If you have already bought your iPod Touch!)
iTunes get 20 million songs. 125 million tv shows. 7milion movies iTunes Movie Rentals, and bunch of new partners on board;
Touchstone, Miramax, MGM, Lionsgate, Newline, Fox, WB, Disney, Paramount, Universal, Sony.
We will be back with the last product announcement soon.
Info via Apple Gazette live;

tag: Macworld Live, Macworld Keynote, Macworld, time capsule

EU To Probe M$ (Microsoft) Again For Anti-Competitive Measures

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- European Union regulators said Monday they were again investigating software giant Microsoft this time on suspicion of abusing its market dominance by squeezing out competing Internet browsers and software rivals dependent on Microsoft programs.

The European Commission opened two formal probes, It's the first move against the company since a court four months ago backed the EU in a long-running legal battle over Microsoft's actions in using its ubiquitous Windows operating system to elbow into new software markets.

Microsoft said it would cooperate fully with the Commission's investigation and provide any and all information necessary.

"We are committed to ensuring that Microsoft is in full compliance with European law and our obligations as established by the European Court of First Instance in its September 2007 ruling," it said in a statement.

EU spokesman Jonathan Todd said he could not put a time frame on how long it would take regulators to decide whether they would file formal charges against the company, saying this usually depended on "how complicated the issues are and the level of cooperation that we receive from the company under investigation."

Although regulators did not specifically name Microsoft's latest operating system, Vista, they will look at some of its features such as desktop search.

The EU is also wading into a row between Microsoft and open source developers backed by International Business Machines by looking into Microsoft's open format for archived documents - Office Open XML.

The first new probe - triggered by a complaint from Norway's Opera Software - will look at whether Microsoft illegally gives away its Internet Explorer browser for free with Windows. Opera had called on the EU to strip Internet Explorer out of Windows or carry alternative browsers.

The investigation will check also if "new proprietary technologies" held other browsers back by not following open Internet standards. Regulators said they had also received allegations that Microsoft had also illegally packaged desktop search and Windows Live to its operating system.

The second investigation will examine whether Microsoft withheld information from companies that wanted to make products compatible with its software - including Office word processing, spreadsheet and office management tools, some server products and Microsoft's push into the Internet under the name of the .NET framework.

Since Microsoft supplies the software to the vast majority of home and office computers, rivals complain that refusal to give them interoperability information shuts the door on a huge potential market.

tag: M$, Microsoft, European Commission, EU, Anti-Competitive, Vista, Office Open XML, Opera Software, Windows Live,

Where To Find MAC WORLD 2008 Coverage?

Macworld 2008 will be extensively covered at Apple Gazette.com. If you like to subscribe to Apple Gazette's RSS Feed it is here, and you can read LIVE Keynote coverage at Live CenterTwitter and Flickr. on Jan. 15th. You can also follow our Macworld coverage on
Here is a list of sites where you’ll be able to follow live blogging of the event. If you are one of those that will be covering the event and don’t see yourself listed below, please contact Apple Gazette and they have promised get you added as soon as possible.

Apple Gazette
Apple Matters
Appletell
Arstechnica.com
Daily Tech Talk
Engadget
Loop Rumors
MacRumors
Mac Scoop
MacSpark
MacTeens
PomCast
SteveNote Live
Stuff
Uneasy Silence
World of Apple

tag: Macworld 2008, Macworld 2008 Live Coverage, Macworld coverage, Macworld Flickr, Live CenterTwitter, Macworld LIVE Keynote, Apple Gazette

VOIP IP Telephony: The Best of CES Is Bill Gates' Last Day at Microsoft

Really Funny
VOIP IP Telephony: The Best of CES Is Bill Gates' Last Day at Microsoft

Microsoft Says "NO" To Dual Boot OLPC XO Laptops

News com is reporting that Microsoft put stops on talk of a dual-boot XO laptop after OLPC chairman and founder Nick Negroponte told IDG News Service Wednesday that the two organizations are working on such a project. "While we have investigated the possibility in the past, Microsoft is not developing dual-boot Windows XP support for One Laptop Per Child's XO laptop," a Microsoft representative said in a statement Thursday.
Dual Boot Support development? oxymoron I would say. I have been dual, tripple booting systems for years before I settled of VMware, both PC and Apple hardware I run. Looks like M$ just being big! The OLPC might ship with both operating systems, Linux and Microsoft XP.
Here is the article.
tag: olpc, XO Laptop, Dual Boot OLPC

Radiohead's “In Rainbows” is #1 In Sales Charts.

Radiohead's “In Rainbows” album reached the #1 spot in the U.S. sales chart this week, selling 122,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

It arrived in stores in CD format on New Year's Day, nearly three months after the artsy British rock group unleashed the album to the Web at a cost to be determined by the user -- whatever price fans chose to pay, including nothing at all. We reported about that in Geemodo twice;

RadioHead Might Find That Pot of Gold "In Rainbows"

in November and

Radiohead's Social Experiment, Trusting People

in October last year. Seems that it is working for Radiohead and some others as well. Perhaps time to say bye to RIAA like outfits and practices. As weseepeople mentioned, you can trust people.
tag: Radiohead, RIAA, In Rainbows, SoundScan, Geemodo, weseepeople

Next Step For OLPC, Pixel Qi

Pixel Qi, a spin off from OLPC is set to create a $75 laptop, according to company website. I am one of the proud owners of OLPC but yet to take out of packing properly, I have been busy ever since I received the package. At least I am happy that there is some child somewhere. The Give one get one program is something that you can pursue untill Pixel Qi come our way. The New device(s) said to be carrying specialties including:

• Extreme low-cost
• Extreme low-power
• Mass producible new display technologies
• Outdoor use, sunlight readability and robustness

All these efforts are being lead by Dr. Mary Lou Jepsen was previously the founding CTO of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC). Notably Mary Lou invented the laptop's sunlight-readable display technology and co-invented its ultra-low-power management system. Critically, she transformed these inventions into ready-to-ship hardware, integrated into the XO laptop.
Pixel Qi
tag: olpc, XO, Pixel Qi, sunlight-readable display,

OLPC to Intel, We Will Not Miss Your Half Hearted Efforts

PC World is reporting on OLPC's reaction to Intel's decision to quit OLPC, One Laptop Per Child Initiative. It is widely believed that Intel decided to leave the OLPC after refusing a request to abandon its Classmate PC program, Intel Vesion of XO.

Intel's resignation from the One Laptop Per Child Project's board of directors will have "no impact" on the group's operations, since the chip maker contributed little to the project since joining last year, OLPC President Walter Bender said in an interview.

"We never really got much going with Intel to have an impact," Bender said.

Intel joined OLPC's board of directors in July as part of an agreement that seemed to bury the hatchet between OLPC and Intel's competing Classmate PC project. In addition to ending a war of words between Intel and OLPC, the two sides agreed to cooperate on technology development. Work also began on the development of a version of OLPC's XO laptop using an Intel processor instead of the AMD chip found in the current version.

But the partnership agreement ultimately yielded little, and Intel made a "seemingly half-hearted effort" to build a version of the XO based on one of its microprocessors, Bender said.

The development of an XO laptop based on an Intel processor was widely believed to rely on a version of Intel's upcoming Silverthorne processor, due out early this year. But the use of Silverthorne, billed by Intel as an inexpensive and power-efficient processor, was never confirmed by either Intel or OLPC, although Intel employees privately hinted at its use.

tag: olpc, XO, intel, amd, One Laptop Per Child Project, XO laptop, Silverthorne processor,

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Association Sued For $20Million By Nigerian Company Lancor

January 02, 2008 (IDG News Service) -- A company suing the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Association for patent infringement has asked for US20 million to settle claims that the nonprofit had copied its keyboard.

Lagos Analysis Corp., or Lancor, is still trying to settle after filing the patent lawsuit in Federal High Court, Lagos Judicial Division in Nigeria, said Adé Oyegbola, Lancor's CEO. Lancor, now based in Natick, Massachusetts, has offices in Nigeria and owns a Nigerian patent for a four-shift keyboard, allowing computers to better handle multiple languages, Oyegbola said.

Oyegbola on Wednesday confirmed information published on the Groklaw blog saying that in August his company had asked OLPC for $20 million. That figure was based on OLPC information on potential distribution in Nigeria, Oyegbola said.

Nigeria, in July 2006, placed an order for 1 million of the laptops, but the Nigerian government is now reviewing that decision. Lancor's Konyin Multilingual Keyboards sell for $19.95, meaning 1 million of them would be worth approximately $20 million.

Computerworld

tag: olpc, Lancor, Groklaw

Next Step For RIAA, "Listening to Music is illegal"

After reading this article and this, I am at a loss. What is RIAA is trying to achieve? Totally alienate everyone? I think the copying for personal use has come before the courts before. Since IANL, I will leave the legal stuff to the people who know about them. RIAA, the only music I listen is what I hear over radio in my car and occasional listening/viewing on TV. May be you can take on TIVO like entities because they record music and TV shows.
I have not bought a CD in years (but we buy even more expensive Japanese music, which cost us twice as much as a US music CD, because we have a Japanese member in the family.) in protest to ugly practices of RIAA. But I think now I will visit stores looking for music that is not RIAA affiliated.
I hope musicians will learn that they are too being ripped off by a bunch and react properly. also I hope more of; "RIAA Gets opposition From Student Lawyers" , "RadioHead Might Find That Pot of Gold "In Rainbows"" and less of "Jamie Thomas appeals RIAA (Capital Records v Jammie Thomas) decision," this year and most preferably that RIAA finds a better way to protect IP, intellectual properties of artists, not pockets of few individual corporations.

Update;
I also saw the following article; Make your own deductions;
The only problem with the outrage over the news that the RIAA has begun to target CD ripping is that no such claim was made. RIAA lawyer Ira Schwartz, writing in a supplemental brief, made clear that the defendant was being targeted not for ripping CDs, but for putting songs in a shared Kazaa folder, making them available globally.
tag: RIAA, Music piracy, Music, Jamie Thomas,