20051204

Greasemonkey test

This is a post to test the working of the greasemonkey's blogger script. This will add technorati tags and del.icio.us tags to the post.
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/1240

20051023

Ubuntu OEM Installation

A nice tutorial about how OEMs like Dell, HP can install Ubuntu Linux for their customers. Ubuntu OEM installation mode is available in Ubuntu 5.10 Breezy.

read more | digg story

20050625

Google Summer of Code results

Google's Summer of Code results have been released. The mails were sent to all the applicants. Here is a breakdown on the mentoring organisations.
I got rejected for my Mambo Project. But I am planning to do something really useful this semester rather than sit idling around.

20050618

Introducing GNU/DOS 2005

GNU/DOS version 2005 was released today. GNU/DOS is a FreeDOS distribution for desktops which includes some FreeDOS utilities, much of the DJGPP suite including many GNU utilities, vim, Arachne, and OpenGEM. All code used in GNU/DOS is open-source or public domain with source. ISO images are currently available, and there are plans to produce commercial CDs very soon. Installation is currently difficult due to the lack of an open-source CD-ROM driver. For more information, go here.

Microsoft Office Formats Not Compatible With GPL

The royalty-free license under which Microsoft plans to make its upcoming new Office Open XML Formats widely available is incompatible with the GNU General Public License and will thus prevent many free and open-source software projects from using the formats, community officials say.

Total Conversion HL2 Mod

A comprehensive total conversion of the Half-Life 2 game has been released. Crafted by students from SMU's Guildhall, Eclipse is a beautiful change of pace from the average FPS. From the site: 'You play as a young Sorceress named Violet whose father went missing five years back. After learning the secrets of Telekinesis, you are teleported into Auld-Haven, a lush and fertile land where Violet grew up. Your objective is to return to Violet's home where she last saw her father years ago and dig up any clues to his whereabouts. In the broken down tower of her home you discover a journal left by her father. The journal unlocks a handful of secrets that ultimately leads you on a quest to find the ancient teleportation device - the Standing Stones.

Google to Challenge PayPal

According to a WSJ report (sub), Google is preparing to introduce an electronic payment system later this year, similar to that of PayPal. The service is code named Google Wallet.

Exact details of the search company's planned service are not known, the report said, but quoted people familiar with the matter as saying it could have similarities with PayPal, which allows consumers to pay for purchases on Web sites by funding electronic-payment accounts from their credit cards or checking accounts.

This could put a dent in eBay's revenue, with $233 million (23%) of its revenues in the first quarter, coming from PayPal. The move could also signal Google's desire to diversify its products and reduce its dependency on AdWords revenue, which accounts for 99% of the companies current earnings.

So how likely is Google Wallet to become a reality? Scot Wingo, CEO of ChannelAdvisor, said he believed the payment service would be launched soon.

In an interview, Mr. Wingo said he based his statement on questions from retailers with which his company works. Mr. Wingo said the retailers have asked him whether ChannelAdvisor would support the service, which some believe goes by the code name Google Wallet.

Could Google Auctions be too far behind?

For those of you without a WSJ sub, click here.

20050617

Google Trucks

The news may seem strange but this time Google is all ready to create a realistic 3D online version of San Francisco, and eventually some other major US cities.

This all will be done with the help of trucks equipped with lasers and digital photographic equipment. The trucks would drive along every San Francisco street using the lasers to measure the dimensions of buildings, to create a 3D framework onto which digital photos can be mapped..

The service will be much better than Amazon’s A9 service, which offers two-dimensional photos of buildings on US city streets.

One problem is that vehicles and people can block the automated laser and digital photo systems. This could be eliminated with a second pass, but Google wants to achieve results with a single run.

To this some dude suggested that they should use low flying airships instead.

I just hope to see Google Trucks in India soon…

Stanford CityBlock Project

20050616

Sun delays "Linux on Solaris" feature

Sun Microsystems had scheduled to release a feature in Solaris 10 - codenamed Project Janus - that would allow consumers to run Linux applications unmodified on Sun's operating system, but the feature is missing in OpenSolaris.

OpenSolarisInstead of bringing attention to the missing feature, Sun is emphasizing a related open-source project - named Xen - as an alternative. Janus - officially called the Linux Application Environment - takes Linux commands and translates them to Solaris so Linux programs can run unchanged on computers using x86 microprocessors, like Intel's Pentium and AMD's Opteron. This feature is part of Sun's strategy to compete against Linux.

Last year, Sun claimed that "Solaris 10 will be the only OS to run Solaris and native Linux binaries side-by-side with no modifications, providing customers with investment protection and broader access to applications written for both operating systems."

Sun had marketed the Janus feature as a helpful way to let users migrate from Linux in favor of Solaris. Originally seen as a migration tool, Sun seems to be looking towards running Linux side-by-side with their own version of Unix - Solaris.

Director of Solaris marketing for Sun Tom Goguen told News.com, "The interest in doing Linux applications on Solaris has been for migration. But when you talk about running certified data center applications, you're going to run that on the full stack of software that's been certified."

The open-source project "Xen" allows Linux and Solaris to run side-by-side on the same computer. Sun expects that the Xen feature will get wider use and provide more value to customers.

Sun still expects to offer and support Janus. The software was originally slated with a 2005 release date, but has been pushed back to 2006.

Read more posts regarding and here.

Google for Mobile devices

Google recently launched Google search for mobile applications. Here is the excerpt from the Google Blog
Since millions of people across the globe already use mobile phones like there's no tomorrow, we're launching Mobile Web Search in many languages. Try it the next time you visit Google on your mobile phone - you'll see a new option to search the Mobile Web. How different is it than standard web search? There are sites out there that have already been designed for your mobile phone, which makes them more navigable on the small screen. So we've created an index specifically for these sites. And so your phone can now be that much more useful.
Read more posts from other blogs about here.