Meta Web2.0rhea handed compass

Google has slotted the mobile version of its privacy-lite Buzz feature into its Maps site in a move to make its creepy realtime Tweetbookish tech more popular.…

gyrogeerloose writes "An article in the London Evening Standard claims that Apple has made an $8 billion offer to acquire ARM Holdings. For those few Slashdotters who don't already know, ARM makes the processor chips that power Apple's iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. However, ARM processors are also used by other manufacturers, including Palm and, perhaps most significantly, companies building Android phones. This explains why Apple might be willing to spend so much on the deal — almost 20% of its cash reserves. Being able to control who gets to use the processors (and, more importantly, who doesn't) would give Apple a huge advantage over its competitors."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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gyrogeerloose writes "An article in the London Evening Standard claims that Apple has made an $8 billion offer to acquire ARM Holdings. For those few Slashdotters who don't already know, ARM makes the processor chips that power Apple's iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. However, ARM processors are also used by other manufacturers, including Palm and, perhaps most significantly, companies building Android phones. This explains why Apple might be willing to spend so much on the deal--almost 20% of it's cash reserves. Being able to control who gets to use the processors (and, more importantly, who doesn't) would give Apple a huge advantage over it's competitors."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

<iframe src="http://slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?op=discuss&amp;id=1627724&amp;smallembed=1" style="height: 300px; width: 100%; border: none;"></iframe>

anethema writes "iPhone hacker planetbeing, from the iPhone Dev Team, has successfully ported the Android OS over to the iPhone. He is doing it on a first-generation iPhone, but others may be possible. The port is pretty functional, with data, voice, and many apps working, although it is running a bit sluggish and buggy at the moment. There appears to be much work left."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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anethema writes "iPhone hacker planetbeing, from the iPhone Dev Team has successfully ported the Android OS over to the iPhone. He is doing it on a first generation iPhone, but others may be possible. The port is pretty functional, with data, voice, and many apps working, although it is running a bit sluggish and buggy at the moment, since there appears to be much work left."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

<iframe src="http://slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?op=discuss&amp;id=1627718&amp;smallembed=1" style="height: 300px; width: 100%; border: none;"></iframe>

Hugh Pickens writes "AP reports that as part of an effort to stay ahead of counterfeiters, the Department of the Treasury has designed a high-tech makeover of the $100 bill with a disappearing Liberty Bell in an inkwell and a bright blue security ribbon composed of thousands of tiny lenses that magnify objects in mysterious ways. The new blue security ribbon will give a 3-D effect to the micro-images that the thousands of lenses will be magnifying. Tilt the note back and forth and you will see tiny bells on the ribbon change to 100s as they move. Tilt the note side to side and the images will move up and down."

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Wondering how much money Gizmodo, the gadget website, may have made by publishing pictures of the iPhone 4G phone? Here's a clue.

SheeEttin writes "Back in November 2008, Phoronix reported that Linux libraries appeared in the Left 4 Dead demo, and then in March, Valve announced that Steam and the Source engine were coming to Mac OS X. Now, Phoronix reports that launcher scripts included with the (closed beta) Mac version of Steam include explicit support for launching a Linux version."

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From the legendary @planetbeing.

Boat sailed, plane flown, horse bolted...

Proving it's still at the cutting edge, Nokia has rushed out an Ash Cloud Tracker application, available free from the Ovi store for those who still care where the Icelandic bugbear is.…

When was the last time you looked?

Lab  It would be odd to hear from an IT pro who didn’t have ‘demanding users’, regardless of which decade of business computing we care to examine. However, the nature of the demands and the expectations of today’s users are changing.…

A seasoned hacker believes Microsoft is now more secure than both Apple and Adobe, claiming Apple has only started taking seriously in the last six months.

Before it rains anymore

Salesforce.com plans to buy web-based biz address book vendor Jigsaw for at least $142m in cash.…

An anonymous reader writes "It was way back on 2006-09-07 when Red Hat released its first public beta of Enterprise Linux 5. Today, after more than three years, Red Hat finally releases its first public beta of its next-generation OS: RHEL 6 public beta 1. From the news release: 'We are excited to share with you news of our first public step toward our next major Red Hat Enterprise Linux platform release with today's Beta availability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6. Beginning today, we are inviting our customers, partners, and members of the public to install, test, and provide feedback for what we expect will be one of our most ambitious and important operating platform releases to date. This blog is the first in a series of upcoming posts that will cover different aspects of the new platform.'"

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"Universal packaging system -- How brilliant is this? Designer Patrick Sung's Universal Packaging System is meant to precisely fit anything that needs shipping. The individual cardboard sheets are scored with a triangle pattern that can either be fitted to an oddly shaped object, or formed into a custom fitted cardboard box: ..."

Service by design? Really?

Lab  A few years back I was involved in a project that turned out far more interesting than I expected. The plan was to write a training course about a software development methodology. As you see, it did start from a reasonably low point in terms of interest – but it quickly evolved into a much more worthwhile exercise.…

Vamman writes "If you've been following the drama surrounding the free release of MechWarrior4, then you're probably aware that the initial announcement, made last summer, was a bit premature. Now, nearly a year since that announcement was made, MekTek Studios has announced that Microsoft Legal has given clearance for the free release of Mechwarrior4. This move by Microsoft Games couldn't come at a better time for the community, as the owners of MechWarrior are attempting a reboot of the franchise."

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Google took aim at new standards on heating, refrigeration, and air-conditioning, saying that while efficiency requirements should be set, groups shouldn't dictate how data centers achieve it.

hatboyzero writes "University of Pennsylvania engineers have designed silk-based electronics that can stick to the surface of the brain, allowing for better brain-computer interfaces. The researchers say the silk-based devices are thin and flexible enough to reach previously inaccessible areas of the brain."

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Full details at the read link!

You might think that underwear, of all things, would be least susceptible to our tendency to gadgetize absolutely everything around us. Guess again: A few courageous entrepreneurs have come up with a gaggle of garments — call them undie upgrades — that combine tech and tighty whities.

In a rare public comment, Apple's public relations department responded Wednesday to criticisms from the project manager for Adobe Flash, suggesting his recent criticism of Apple was "backwards." In a statement to CNet's DeepTech, Apple spokeswoman Trudy Miller fired back at Adobe's Mike Chambers, who revealed this week that his company was...