June 16, 2006, 3:46 PM PDT
Phone companies combine efforts for a mobile Linux platform
Posted by: Nicole Lee

Open-source aficionados haven't received much love in the mobile world. While Motorola has released several Linux-based phones in Asia and Europe, they're not well known in the United States, and this is the case with a lot of Linux-based handsets. The problem may lie with disparate operating systems that differ from manufacturer to manufacturer. This is because while the Linux kernel is common, each company has implemented it differently. Now, however, two cell phone carriers and four manufacturers--Vodafone, NTT DoCoMo, Motorola, Samsung, NEC, and Panasonic--are getting together to try to develop a common Linux-based smart-phone platform that will work across all their brands. With a common platform and the support of multiple companies, they hope that Linux-based handsets may finally gain some backing and popularity with the rest of the world.

It'll be a rough ride, though, as the platform would have to compete against the other more popular ones, such as Symbian, Windows Mobile, and Palm. Plus, let's face it--most people just want a handheld that works, regardless whether or not the platform is open source. If and when they can come up with a Linux-based platform that will please even the most nontechnical among us, only then will it really have a shot at success.

Source: CNET News.com

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June 16, 2006, 2:10 PM PDT
Director of awful gaming movies alienates audiences further
Posted by: David Rudden

If you thought Jack "only gamers and hit men shoot people in the face" Thompson and Ken "a $600 console is cheap" Kutaragi had said some stupid things to enrage the gaming community, take a gander at this quote from Uwe Boll, the director of BloodRayne, Alone in the Dark, and many other game-turned-movie abominations, regarding his favorite TV moment:

My favorite TV moment was the September 11 attack. For one day in TV history, every channel showed the same stuff over and over again. This day showed us that we are all completely voyeurs, greedy for thrilling entertainment, no matter if this is real or not.

Actually, Uwe, we're not that greedy--we've avoided your movies. To see Uwe's foot-in-mouth escapade in its entirety, check out IGN's top 100 TV moments article.

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June 16, 2006, 1:04 PM PDT
Sirius Streams Stern
Posted by: Dan Ackerman

It's been a long time coming, but Sirius Satellite Radio has finally added Howard Stern to the Web-based version of its subscription radio service. From the beginning, Sirius has offered only music channels through the Web-based Sirius streaming player, skipping the news and talk programming.

Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin promised during Sirius's Q1 conference call that Stern would be available online by Father's Day. Starting today, the Howard 100 and Howard 101 channels are part of the Web player lineup.

This is especially good news for those of us who like Sirius but struggle to gets its sometimes complicated hardware hooked up. Try stringing a Sirius antenna cable all the way across the office to a window, and you'll see what we mean.

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June 16, 2006, 11:58 AM PDT
Crazy gambling law vs. free speech
Posted by: Molly Wood

It was pretty hard to swallow when Washington State passed a law making online gambling a felony on the same level with child pornography. But it's turned into, if possible, an even more bitter pill. The state now says it will pursue sites that even talk about online gambling--even going so far as to insinuate that a Seattle Times column linking to several such Web sites may itself be illegal. Well, what do you expect? I mean, gambling--not the Vegas kind or the tribal casino kind or the lottery kind or the video poker machine in some bars, entire states, hotels, gas stations, and stores kind--is, obviously, the worst problem in the entire world, right?

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June 16, 2006, 11:52 AM PDT
Microsoft working on iPod/iTunes killer
Posted by: Molly Wood

In case you thought Microsoft would roll over and die now that Bill Gates is moving on, think again. Sources have, in a possible effort to take back the news cycle, confirmed that Microsoft is working on a digital music and video player and its own iTunes-killing music service. Per Reuters, the service will push pay-per-download but will, unlike iTunes, offer a subscription service as well. And Microsoft is going for the destination approach, too, building in lots of community features--you know, think MySpace back when it was all about tunes. The sources say it's really cool, so we can only assume those sources are most certainly from within Microsoft. Beyond that little bit of snark, I'll withhold judgment. I'm certainly ready to hear about a legitimate alternative to the OTHER empire.

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June 16, 2006, 10:13 AM PDT
New Creative MP3 player?
Posted by: Jasmine France

Dapreview and its sister site Epizenter (a Creative fan site, incidentally) are reporting on rumors that a new Creative MP3 player is just around the corner. Dapreview is "betting on a high-capacity (2GB/4GB) flash player with a similar feature set and control setup as the Zen Vision:M. Zen Pico, maybe?" Hmm. Well, what do you think? I know the answer already, but I'm not spilling just yet. Just keep an eye on CNET if I've piqued your interest.

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June 16, 2006, 6:26 AM PDT
Excel 0-day threat
Posted by: Robert Vamosi

Microsoft has reported attacks against a previously unannounced flaw within its Excel spreadsheet program. According to Microsoft, "In order for this attack to be carried out, a user must first open a malicious Excel document that is sent as an e-mail attachment or otherwise provided to them by an attacker. (Note that opening it out of e-mail will prompt you to be careful about opening the attachment.) So remember to be very careful opening unsolicited attachments from both known and unknown sources." Microsoft says its Office team is working on a workaround and that antivirus companies have been notified to create signatures to block these attacks.

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