software

Yesterday Microsoft announced the release dates of Windows 7 Service Pack 1 in a Windows Team Blog Post. Whilst beta and RC builds of SP1 are already out in the wild, the first few customers are going to start seeing the RTM Service Pack 1 today, February 16th. However, the February 16th date is exclusive to MSDN and TechNet subscribers, as well as Volume License customers. So what does Service Pack 1 include, and when is it going to be available for general download? Hit the jump to find out! ...read more

Security firm Coverity decided to run a fine tooth comb over the Android kernel, or at least the one used in the HTC Droid (since each OEM uses customized code, there really is no single Android kernel). What they found were 359 defects in all, including 88 labeled as "high risk," which includes memory corruption, resource and memory leaks, and unitialized variables.

"We downloaded the code from HTC's developer site (http://developer.htc.com), configured, built, and analyzed it, and put the results on a server running our Coverity Integrity Manager web UI," the firm explained.

How serious these flaws really are remains to be seen. Coverity said it will go public with the full technical details after an unspecified waiting period.

Put on your penguin suit and get jiggy with Ubuntu 10.10 (codenamed "Maverick Meerkat"), Canonical's latest Linux release. Available in both Desktop and Netbook trim, the newest version of the arguably the world's most popular open-source OS serves up a new Kernel with improved CPU and GPU power management schemes, virtualization tweaks, better scalability, hundreds of driver updates and additions, and a bunch more.

"Ubuntu 10.10 for desktops and netbooks is our most consumer-friendly release yet," said Jane Silber, CEO of Canonical. "Ubuntu One’s personal cloud services will put Ubuntu at the heart of many users’ computing worlds even when they need or prefer to use other platforms. Unity has the opportunity to change how we think about our use of computers and the Software Centre will bridge Ubuntu with the applications users need to switch to the world’s best OS."

You can get more information here.

Microsoft is telling anyone who will listen that it has sold some 150,000 license of Windows 7 to date, thus reiterating the claim that Redmond's latest and greatest is the fastest selling OS in the history of the known galaxy.

While bragging about how well the software giant's OS has been flying off of store shelves, Microsoft also used the opportunity to announce the beta versions of its new Messenger, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, and Sync, all of which will be available on June 24. Source

"MySpace’s new co-presidents are making changes to the News Corp.-owned social-networking site, reducing clutter on users’ profile pages and expanding music, movie and game features.

Mike Jones and Jason Hirschhorn, promoted last month with the departure of Owen Van Natta, said they are returning MySpace to its roots by fostering interaction around entertainment. New offerings will be introduced in stages over the next year, they said in an interview yesterday." source

"Nokia has made Skype available as a free download from its Ovi online store. It will mean that for the first time Nokian's Symbian-based smartphones will get fully functional cheap internet calls.

The Skype for Symbian service allows users to make free Skype-to-Skype calls internationally, save money on regular international calls and to share files including pictures and video. Of course you have to be talking to other Skype users, but all it will cost you is your data connection." source

"On Wednesday, Mozilla issued patches for versions 3.5.8 and 3.0.18 of the browser, sending out fixes for the latter even though it had said it would stop supporting Firefox 3.0 in January.

In its security bulletin, the company said the vulnerabilities had previously been resolved in Firefox 3.6, which was launched on 21 January.

The five flaws addressed by Mozilla included three the company rated 'critical'. These three flaws involve an error in handling out-of-memory conditions; stability errors in the Gecko rendering engine; and a bug in the way Mozilla's implementation of web workers handles posted messages, Mozilla said. Web workers are used to carry out scripting tasks in a way that reduces the processing load on the user interface." source

"High School students have sued the Lower Merion School District in Philadelphia for spying on them using their laptops' built-in cameras. School administrator used software to activate the webcams and record students' activities at home. Way to go, KGB-wannabe assclowns.

The situation was discovered by the Robbins, when their kid was disciplined for "improper behavior in his home." How could that be possible? The Vice Principal showed a photo as the evidence. A photo taken with the school-provided laptop webcam." source