Microsoft's Bill Hilf Reveals Its Open Source Strategy

"InformationWeek recently interviewed Bill Hilf, Microsoft's leading light on open source issues. Since coming to Microsoft from IBM in 2003, Hilf has been inextricably involved with Microsoft's strategy for dealing with Linux. He's recently been appointed general manager of Windows Server marketing and platform strategy, which means he's taking on an expanded role, but open source is still one of his core issues."

Crytek, Microsoft, NVIDIA Downplay DirectX 10.1

Game developers, hardware manufacturers and Microsoft all have something to say about the next-generation DirectX protocol, but none have anything to say too positive

AMD's Radeon HD 3850 and HD 3870 will be.....

Google to Make $4.6 Billion USD Bid for Piece of 700MHz Spectrum

It seems that Google may not be content with merely playing a co-star in the mobile market presentation. Not even two weeks after the introduction of their Android operating system, and offers of $10 million USD in bounties for software, it seems that the Californian colossus is preparing a bid of $4.6 billion USD or more for a piece of the soon-to-be-free 700MHz wireless spectrum -- and what's more, they're apparently....

Microsoft Releases Vista SP1 RC Preview to Testers

While Apple is using its latest round of TV commercials to further push the butcher knife into Windows Vista -- specifically, Microsoft's decision to extend the sales of Windows XP and allow users to downgrade Vista to Windows XP -- the boys in....

Xbox 360 May Also Gain DivX Support

DivX Inc. announced yesterday that its video technology will be soon introduced to the PlayStation 3. While Microsoft has previously said that it “wasn’t a priority” integrating DivX support into the Xbox 360,attitudes in Redmond may be changing in order to compete with Sony’s system.

At a recent earnings call for DivX, CEO Kevin Hell revealed that....

DivX Playback Coming to the PlayStation 3

The PlayStation 3 is a media hub like few others. It can handle high-definition movies, upscale DVDs, read pictures from memory cards, not to mention play PlayStation games. And it seems that soon the PlayStation 3 will gain the ability to playback DivX-encoded media.

DivX Inc. today announced that its video technology will....

Report: 8GB, 10" ASUS Eee PC Slated for 2008

ASUS' new Eee PC 4G is undoubtedly a hit with consumers and reviewers. The device is small, lightweight and performs quite well despite its aging processor and chipset.

The Eee PC 4G, however, hasn't been without its...

YouTube to Introduce High-Resolution Videos

YouTube co-founder Steve Chen, speaking at the NewTeeVee Live conference today, confirmed that high-quality YouTube video streams are coming soon. Although YouTube's goal, he said, is.....

5 little-known Gmail features you may not yet know about

When we began rolling out a new Gmail code architecture a few weeks ago, we also launched some new features to help improve the speed and convenience of managing email. I've been using several of these new additions over the last few weeks, and while they might seem small on their own, they really can add up to save you a lot of time and hassle. That's why I decided to list my five favorite new features that are so new, you may not have noticed them. We are still rolling them out to IE6, international and Google Apps users, but for those.....

ASUS Extreme Radeon HD 3870 review

This week AMD came to unveil its latest generation of ATI graphics hardware, an awaited release that without a doubt created a lot of expectations and speculation especially because of two factors:
1) The dominant player, Nvidia had just killed its whole high-end line up two weeks before, in favor of an affordable and more efficient model, the GeForce 8800GT.
2) A holiday season that has shaped up to become one of the most exciting in recent times for PC gamers, with a buttload of good titles like Unreal Tournament 3, Crysis, Call of Duty 4, World in Conflict, The Orange Box, Bioshock, Hellgate: London, and the list goes on...

GPL v3: Was It Worth the Effort?

A survey conducted by Evans Data shows that open source developers are not adopting the third version of the GNU General Public License as quickly as some may have hoped. Those who remain reluctant to incorporate GPL v3 cited reasons ranging from questions of its enforceability in court to disagreements with some of its new components....

Linux Goes Hollywood With New Terra Soft Film Rendering Tool

Creating modern digital visual effects in movies is not an easy process. The job falls on clusters of computers called "render farms." Terra Soft, developer of the Yellow Dog Linux distro, says its new offering, Y-Film, is designed to significantly streamline the task, bringing a more efficient process to large studios and putting glossy effects within easier reach of smaller ones.....

The Open Source Time Machine Replicant

An interesting aspect of the project is the fact that an Apple technology is being looked on with admiration from at least some quarters of the open source community. On the Flyback site at Google Code, the About section said, "Apple's Time Machine is a great feature in their OS, adding that Linux has "almost all of the required technology" already built in to recreate it.
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VMware Takes Fusion Up a Notch for Leopard

Fusion, the VMware virtualization program that allows Mac users to simultaneously run Windows on their machines, has been upgraded to version 1.1 in the wake of Apple's Leopard OS X rollout. The new offering includes support for Windows Vista as well as enhanced integration with Boot Camp. Also, an iPhone can be synced with Outlook while in Windows mode.

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IBM's 'Free Radical' Grady Booch: Linux Makes Sense

IBM Rational's "free radical" talks about the enduring difficulties of software development, his advocacy of open source and Second Life, and his license to kill. "The OS wars are largely over. Let's decide on a common platform. Therefore, Linux makes sense," said Grady Booch.
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The Evolution of Spam, Part 2: New Defenses

"There is no single head to cut off, no centralized command structure to attack. These aren't the Red Coats standing in a neat formation; these are guerrillas scattered across the landscape with known objectives and infrequent need for direction," said Randy Abrams, ESET's director of technical education.

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5 Reasons to Spring for an iPod - and 5 Reasons to Wait

From iTunes to its elegant design to the way it handles and entire music library, the iPod has plenty of reasons why it's the best-selling personal media player around. Nothing's perfect, though, and there are some ways the iPod could improve. For instance, can't they toss in a pair of earbuds that aren't tortuous to wear?

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A Guide to Taming the Leopard

eopard isn't for everybody, but if you think it's for you, keep in mind that upgrading an entire operating system is rarely a simple task. Though Apple makes it easier than most, there are still plenty of things that could go wrong if you're not careful. Should you choose to buy Leopard, here are some guidelines to walk you through the job and get you on your way to playing with the system's new features.
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Historians Recreate Source Code of First 4004 Application

The team of 'digital archaeologists' who developed the technology behind the Intel Museum's 4004 microprocessor exhibit have done it again. 36 years after Intel introduced their first microprocessor on November 15, 1971, these computer historians have turned the spotlight on the first application software ever written for a general-purpose microprocessor: the Busicom 141-PF calculator. At the team's web site you can download and play with an authentic calculator simulator that sports a cool animated flowchart. Want to find out...

Intel Core 2 'Penryn' and Linux

An anonymous reader writes "Linux Hardware has posted a look at the new Intel "Penryn" processor and how the new processor will work with Linux. Intel recently released the new "Penryn" Core 2 processor with many new features. So what are these features and how will they equate into benefits to Linux users? The article covers all the high points of the new "Penryn" core and talks to a couple Linux projects about end-user performance of the chip."