CodePlex Foundation
Microsoft in inheriently against open source movements in their own self preservation... so why did they make their own 501c foundation dedicated to open source?
More at Microsoft's new CodePlex Foundation
Judge says Facebook needs to hand over their source code
If you didn't know already, Leader Technologies is suing Facebook for patent infringement. Evidently you can patent a method for "associating a piece of data with multiple categories" if it has to do with computers.
Well, everyone thought this was just a publicity stunt, but not any more. The judge ruled in Leader's favor and demanded Facebook present their full source code to Leader for review. Of course this was nonsense so Facebook appealed expecting reasonable protection of their trade secrets. Sucks for Facebook because today, the judge upheld the verdict in the appeal and Facebook is still required to hand over their source code. Wow.
Kernel 2.6.31 Released
The Linux kernel v2.6.31 has been released.
Improvements:
- Desktop improvements
- USB 3.0 support
- Audio driver improvements
- New hardware performance counter tools
- Readahead improvements for better drive access
- ATI Radeon improvements
- A memory checker and a memory leak detector
- btrfs improvements
- Support for IEEE 802.15.4
- IPv4 over Firewire
The full list of changes can be found here.
Pwnsauce Program: Google Book Downloader
Project Description
Google Book Downloader is small utility which allows you to save book as PDF from google to your local filesystem.
Features:
- Download any book from Google Books marked as 'Full view'
- Partially download any book from Google Books marked as 'Limited preview'
- Access to any book available only for US citizens.
- Searching for hidden pages (not indexed by Google Books)
TomTom Launches Open Source Navigation Project
from article:
"This technological development is being introduced to the open source community to assist in delivering location based services to customers. TomTom will use this technology for its own services too, allowing us to transmit content like HD Traffic to connected devices and improve service quality and coverage," Mark Gretton, TomTom's Director of Product Engineering, said In a prepared statement.
A knew that buying that GPS module for my laptop would pay off sooner or later...
Swine Flu @ PAX
There's been a confirmed outbreak of Swine Flu at PAX. Those who attended and are feeling under-the-weather after the con should not write it off as a typical convention cold and go see a doctor to make sure, just in case.
Straight from PA: http://www.penny-arcade.com/2009/9/7/feeling-sick/
UK Liquid Explosive scenario testing
From BBC:
The BBC used a qualified explosives engineer, Sidney Alford, to construct the devices to demonstrate their likely effect on an aircraft fuselage.
Pretty cool demonstration, but it isn't exactly feasible to properly mix a binary explosive on an airliner without being noticed within about 5 seconds.
Facial Recognition
Opensource Computer Vision and tutorial.
Also, see Java implementations of OCR and apply to larger sample size.
Hobbitses are returning!
From the article:
The suit claimed the US company failed to pay royalties due after the success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Its settlement, for an undisclosed sum, paves the way for director Guillermo del Toro's two films based on the book.
New Line plans to release The Hobbit in 2011, followed by another movie drawing from other Tolkien works.
*Marks calendar*