Software-Programming

One of the many great things about Sony’s Playstation 3 gaming console is it’s ability to do multiple things other than just being a gaming console. Blu-ray support, future 3D support coming with a firmware update, Netflix instant streaming, and being able to partition the console’s hard drive and install a separate operating system on the gaming machine set it slightly apart from the rest of the pack. Gamers out there from all over snatched up a PS3, installed a Linux kernel, setup their own e-mail servers, media centers, and reached out to grab porn torrents.

Avira has added cloud technology to the latest version of its popular freebie anti-virus scanner.

Version 10 of Avira AntiVir, released on Tuesday, adds cloud-based detection to a free-of-charge security scanner that competes with similar products offered by (Czech-firm ALWIL's) Avast and AVG.

Rightly or wrongly, many in our community see Perl 6 as the definitive example of vaporware. But what about PHP 6? This release was first discussed by the PHP core developers back in 2005. There have been books on the shelves purporting to cover PHP 6 since at least 2008. But, in March 2010, the PHP 6 release is not out - in fact, it is not even close to out. Recent events suggest that PHP 6 will not be released before 2011 - if, indeed, it is released at all.

A number of BitDefender users, whose 64-bit Windows systems stopped working or were unable to be rebooted after updating their security programs, vented their frustration by flooding the antivirus (AV) vendor's forum pages over the weekend.

According to an IDG report, users on forum boards started signaling the problem on Saturday evening. The complainants said several Windows files, and the security vendor's own program files, were identified as "Trojan.FakeAlert.5" malware after they performed an update for their BitDefender AV programs.

A Microsoft kernel engineer, Dave Probert, gave a presentation last week outlining his thoughts on how the Windows kernel should evolve to meet the needs of the multicore future ahead of us. Probert complained that current operating systems fail to capitalize on the capabilities of multicore processors and leave users waiting. "Why should you ever, with all this parallel hardware, ever be waiting for your computer?" he asked.

While the Apple iPhone remains the undisputed king of mobile app downloads, Android has been winning converts among open source developers since its inception. Now, Android has made enough of a splash that it can claim more open source developers than the iPhone, according to new research by Black Duck Software.

MonoDroid, which will enable deployment of .Net-based applications on Google Android phones, is in development at Novell, with a preview release planned for August, the head of the project said Monday.

The runtime project is part of Novell's Mono effort, which has been responsbile for putting Microsoft .Net-based technologies on Linux and other non-Microsoft platforms.

An 18-year-old whiz kid from New Mexico has won the $100,000 top award in the Intel Science Talent Search for developing a software navigation system to improve spacecraft travel through the solar system.

The award, given to Albuquerque Academy senior Erika DeBenedictis, was announced Tuesday night at the conclusion of the annual science competition, sponsored by Intel Corp. and the Society for Science and the Public.

Forty finalists competed in Washington during the six-day event, and each finalist received at least $7,500 in awards.

If you were to design your dream enterprise server OS from scratch, what would it be like? Without knowing exactly what it would be used for it's hard to get too specific, but in general terms you'd probably want an OS with the following attributes, in no particular order:

1. Free (as in beer): Why pay for it if you don't have to?

2. Open source: Why not choose to have access to the source code? You may wish to adapt it, or inspect it -- but even if you don't, others probably will. What's more, you can benefit from their work.

VMWare has announced the availability of the beta version of Fusion 3.1, and it includes significant enhancements that the user community has been awaiting. Perhaps most eagerly desired are the graphics enhancements for gamers and 3D applications. OpenGL 2.1 is now supported on Windows Vista and Windows 7. They claim better DirectX 9.0 SM3 performance as well (and hopefully that means more DirectX 9.0C app compatibility).