Software

A UC Davis graduate student has created short, colorful movies that show the development of open source software. With dancing points of light, rings of color and a soundtrack, the Code_swarm animations show how software such as the Python scripting language and the Apache Web server have developed from the contributions of different programmers.
Inspired by [...]

I’ve gone on and on about how important cross-platform software really is in the past, and my mission to spread the word about its importance will continue. It can be frustrating to hear about a great application, become intrigued by its features and functionality, and then find out that it’s only available for one operating [...]

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of OS X, and having a forum like this to discuss what’s going on with the operating system is something that I truly enjoy. Although there are plenty of positive things to talk about when it comes to Apple’s OS, I’m not so blinded by fanboyism that I [...]

I don’t care whether or not you are thinking of using Vista, OS X or Linux. As a personal rule, I rarely upgrade until any release has been out for at least six months. Why is this? Flash back to the two issues (not patched, I believe) with OS X Leopard, the vast issues with [...]

Users by the truckload fill various user forums with problem topics in Linux despite widely available support documents available online. Today, I will talk about a few key areas that would solve a number of problems if they were to be addressed in the open.
Stop Pretending, It’s Time to Accept What Works With Wireless. One [...]

PKware Inc. began giving away fully licensed copies of SecureZIP Standard v11 today. The package, which runs on Windows, supports passphrase — and digital signature-based encryption, or both, simultaneously. The application also integrates with popular e-mail clients, such as Microsoft Corp.’s Outlook, to let users encrypt and digitally sign both the message body and any [...]

Martin LaMonica and Mike Ricciuti of CNET report:
Hoping to get a jump on Google and other competitors, Adobe Systems plans to release a hosted version of its popular Photoshop image-editing application within six months, the company’s chief executive said Tuesday.
Can Google be far behind? It’s already Web-enabled Picasa for sharing…
[tags]photoshop,image,edit,Adobe,picasa,google[/tags]

In the digital age, organizing a photo collection has gone from bad to worse. The saying used to be that a picture is worth a thousand words. Now the question arises: what are a thousand pictures worth?
In a word, mainly a headache.
“Anyone who has a digital camera has the problem that they have more photos [...]

Computer software systems are now among the most complex, expensive artifacts ever created by humans, and some of the most sophisticated are being built by teams of volunteers as “Open Source” projects, where any programmer can read the code and suggest changes. A group of UC Davis researchers has just received a three-year, $750,000 grant [...]

Google is adding Open Source project hosting to its menu of services, said Greg Stein, a Google engineer and chairman of the Apache Software Foundation. Stein was scheduled to announce the launch in a talk Thursday at O’Reilly Media’s Open Source Convention in Portland, Oregon. The new service, to be located at code.google.com, competes with [...]

Finally!
Now all of us not lucky enough to be Microsoft MVPs or rich enough to pay for a rather high-priced MSDN subscription ($2000+) will be able to get our hands on a copy of the new baby from Redmond. At this point, Microsoft must have less than three months to get the final release candidate [...]

Genes are the underlying cause of a large number of disorders. But identifying and studying these genes more closely is a major challenge for biotechnologists worldwide. Researchers from ESAT-SCD (Engineering Sciences) and the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) connected to the Catholic University of Leuven have now developed ENDEAVOUR: a computer program that compiles [...]

Penn State researchers have developed software that allows databases to “talk to each other” automatically without compromising the security of the data and metadata because the queries, data communicated and other information are encrypted.
The Privacy-preserving Access Control Toolkit (PACT) acts like a filter but is resilient to eavesdropping or other attacks because of the encryption.
“The [...]

Computer scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed software that enables the sharing of high-speed wireless connections without compromising security or privacy. The software can improve Internet connectivity in residential areas at no additional cost.
“Significantly improved speed and the ‘always on’ feature of wireless routers have been driving the rapid spread of [...]

Software602… Not exactly a household name, UNLESS you’ve ever been in the market for a Microsoft Office replacement package. Not only that, but it was FREE. Yes, I said “was.”

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
It’s not going to be available until 2007, but heck, if you can’t get the OS, will stickers do? Starting next month, PCs with stickers saying “Windows Vista Capable” will be in stores. The stickers will be placed on those PCs that currently run Windows XP, but will be able to [...]

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
AOL appears to be on the ropes, and it certainly doesn’t need any help from Symantec to lose more customers. :-) But in a story reminiscent (though not as bad) as last week, when McAfee started deleting or quarantining Excel, an update to Norton AntiVirus and Norton Internet Security resulted [...]

Looks like the Google Beta team is at it again. This time it’s released a Web-based HTML editor. Think Frontpage Express but with a Google flair.

Jimmy Daniels of RealTechNews writes:
If you’ve read any of my previous articles on 180solutions, you know I’m not a fan, same as most of you, we can all see thru the bull, in the past someone catches them with some nonconsensual installs, and they try to turn it into PR, kicking the naughty affiliate to [...]

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
Body language can be very important in correct interpretation of a situation, and thus DARPA has funded a “game” to help soldiers learn Iraqi body language. The game is called Tactical Iraqi. The system module, or engine, was designed by Hannes Högni Vilhjálmsson of the USC Information Sciences Institute and is [...]