Diamond Age Solutions News for the IT Industry

Tue Jan 17 21:21:10 NZDT 2006

Today Index

Cuba is to replace all of its Windows systems with Linux, according to the government newspaper:
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=23300

Chinese Linux distributor Red Flag joins the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL), contributing to Desktop, Carrier Grade and Data Centre versions:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060114-5981.html

A recent XiTi study shows Firefox penetration in Europe at around 20% overall with Finland tops at 38.4% and Ukraine bottoming at 9.5%:
http://www.spreadfirefox.com/node/21602

Apple computers files a trademark request for the phrase "Mobile Me", fuelling speculation on iPod phones and supportive systems:
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-calbriefs13.1jan13,1,3606887.story?coll=la-headlines-technology&ctrack=1&cset=true

The first draft of the GPL V3.0 appears online:
http://gplv3.fsf.org/draft

Research in Motion says it will give away free synchronisation software to Mac owners so they can sync with BlackBerry PDAs:
http://www.informationweek.com/internet/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=177100324

Recent outages at the CRM site Salesforce.com and some site performance degradation raises questions on the wisdom of relying on hosted services:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1911625,00.asp

Suspicions mount that the recent critical Windows WMF exploit was a deliberate backdoor, and not a coding mistake:
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20060113111825193

Another patent dispute may stop Toyota hybrid vehicles being sold within the US:
http://www.autoserviceworld.com/issues/ISArticle.asp?id=51432&issue=01112006

SuperWaba has now been ported to the Sony PSP. Can us developers down here have one as a test environment device now, huh?:
http://www.superwaba.com.br/en/mostraNews.asp?n=41

First signals are received from the Giove-A GPS satellite, an experimental component of the European Galileo GPS system. Korea and China are also members:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4610452.stm

And finally. Those MRI scanners have big, big, powerful magnet in them. So what happens if someone approaches with, say, a floor polisher or welder?:
http://www.simplyphysics.com/flying_objects.html

News collated from various sources by Vik Olliver for Diamond Age Solutions Ltd. The views presented in this document are the personal opinion of the collator, and should not be taken as any more than that.