http://www.fopinion.com Just another WordPress weblog Sat, 04 Sep 2010 05:37:10 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en In every case, I'd argue that the projects have been significantly blessed by vendor involvement, not cursed. There are downsides to company involvement, but those are primarily the vendor's issues, not the customer's. In response to commercial open-source demand, many new projects are being commercialized early in their maturity phases--often by ... http://www.fopinion.com/index.php/2010/09/vendors-increasingly-control-leading-open-source-p/ The House of Representatives on Friday voted overwhelmingly in favor of a "compromise" spy law that would shield AT&T and other companies from pending lawsuits accusing them of opening their networks to the government in violation of wiretap laws. The major sticking point in the contentious rewrite of a 1978 electronic-surveillance ... http://www.fopinion.com/index.php/2010/08/house-passes-compromise-spy-law-shielding-teleco/ Better not leave the wallet or purse in the car. You'll lose your place in line and it's likely to be a packed house... In its filing to Delaware Chancery Court Chancellor William Chandler, Yahoo states: We strongly disagree with Plaintiff's statements made in support of their Motion for a Trial Date (and ... http://www.fopinion.com/index.php/2010/08/yahoo-to-ask-for-dismissal-of-amended-shareholder/ As expected, The Industry Standard is back, but without the trendy rooftop parties of the dot-com boom and the hype. (Credit: The Industry Standard) International Data Group is launching a Web-only version of The Industry Standard on Monday that will feature news and analysis items about the tech industry. The ... http://www.fopinion.com/index.php/2010/08/the-industry-standard-relaunches-but-online-onl/ TOM-Skype, eBay's joint venture in China, is recording customer text chats and censoring them if they contain certain keywords related to topics the government deems objectionable, according to a report released on Wednesday (PDF) by researchers in Canada. "TOM-Skype is censoring and logging text chat messages that contain specific, sensitive ... http://www.fopinion.com/index.php/2010/08/report-skype-service-in-china-recording-censorin/ Doesn't that headline state the obvious? Doesn't the entire world know that Linux simply doesn't offer the kind of mass-market appeal Windows and Mac OS X do? I guess not. According to the company, Wal-Mart has pulled all Linux-equipped computers off its shelves because it "didn't attract as much customer attention as ... http://www.fopinion.com/index.php/2010/08/does-linux-lack-mass-market-appeal/ Belkin FlyWire: A wireless HDMI product that's due later in 2008. (Credit: Belkin) HDMI has certainly had its growing pains, but the connection is finally beginning to deliver on its original promise: a single-cable solution for delivering high-bandwidth, all-digital HD video and multichannel audio. HDMI is nearly universal in the home video ... http://www.fopinion.com/index.php/2010/08/where-is-wireless-hdmi/ Looks like we have to wait all over again for Lenovo to build and ship a new computer, a process that took ten days the first time around (four to build, six to ship). But that process can't start until Lenovo or UPS declares the first machine missing in action ... http://www.fopinion.com/index.php/2010/08/ups-lost-my-computer/ Another weakness of eSATA today is hot-plug support, the ability to plug a drive into a running computer. "Some operating systems and/or device drivers might not yet have enabled full support for the hot-plug features that the SATA technology provides," Grimsrud said, and some legacy hardware configurations or product deficiencies ... http://www.fopinion.com/index.php/2010/08/esata-to-shed-the-power-plug/ Scott Forstall, head of iPhone software, has played prominent roles in major Apple keynotes dating back to 2006. Jobs often defers to other executives during questions posed by shareholders at the company's annual meeting. And Schiller has been a source of comic relief for years during Jobs' speeches, playing Lou ... http://www.fopinion.com/index.php/2010/08/apple-executive-parade-not-prelude-to-change/