os

Windows losing out to Web-centric development?

Google's Chrome operating system isn't the only thing threatening Windows these days. In a recent New York Times story, VMware CEO Paul Maritz highlighted how dynamic Web frameworks and languages are fundamentally shifting our understanding of the operating system. He said, "If you are in Ruby on Rails, you have to work really hard to tell what the operating system is, it is so far removed."

I spoke with Engine Yard's Yehuda Katz, a member of the Ruby on Rails core team, who said that open-source platforms like Ruby on Rails are changing the game by giving power to the developer to make decisions. "The freedom that comes with open standards and open-source software like Rails will ultimately make software applications better. We believe the replacement of the traditional desktop with application-centric development will benefit everyone."

These comments bring to light the changing nature of application development. A decade ago, if you were writing an application, chances were you were writing it for Windows. Today, there's a good chance you're writing it for the Web as a platform. A new generation of applications are both Web-centric and OS neutral thanks to open-source development platforms.

Importantly, the language and underpinning architecture for Web applications doesn't matter to the end-user (though it has serious impact on the development and operations teams). What matters is the ability to add new features quickly and affordably. … Read more

More iPhone OS 3.1 beta improvements discovered

Apple's iPhone OS 3.1 beta 3 introduces new features that are subtle, but interesting. Our readers have discovered a handful of these and passed them along to us. Check them out below.

A counter for tethered data appears alongside cellular data usage in the network settings.

A new, improved security feature for pass-locked phones prompts for a PIN the first time an iPhone is attached to a new computer for syncing. The phone won't connect without the PIN being entered first. iTunes already had this feature, but the protective measure now works in more apps, including PhoneView. … Read more

The 404 395: Where we get to reboot Motherboard

Natali Del Conte's alter-ego, Motherboard, returns to the show to fight your computer worms and viruses! On today's show, we start off with a bit about fishing and gadgets. I think we have a new show idea: Ms. Del Conte will demo the latest fishing technology on a boat every week. Any takers?

Radioshack is trying to be cool again by renaming itself "The Shack." Too easy when it comes to jokes. There's no way that we're going to hang out at "The Shack." For a matter of fact, the only reason we can think to really go to Radioshack is if we needed something random, like a cable or a transistor.

Further down the show, we find out that scientists think women are getting hotter because of evolution. Apparently, attractive women tend to breed more, but for some reason or another this has no effect on men. We're ugly as ever. Natali testifies to this when she looks at Jeff and Wilson.

A recent graduate of Monroe College in the Bronx decided to sue her school after her information technology degree proved pretty useless in this economy. While we don't know the details of the situation, this can't be good for art school. Perhaps students will get disclaimers when they get Bachelor of Fine Arts or anthropology degrees?

We finish the show with some iPhone app updates. The new OS 3.01 has beefed up Wi-Fi connections in addition to its SMS fixes, but it still doesn't discount Apple's move to block Google's Voice app on its App Store. The Palm Pre gleefully still holds onto its Google Voice app. Finally, Steven Spielberg announces that he will be remaking the Jimmy Stewart classic "Harvey." Why? Didn't Hollywood see what happened to the remake of "Miracle on 34th Street?"

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What about the Apple TV, Steve?

Can a product's value be measured by how much its developers improve it over time? If so, that metric would not have positive implications for the Apple TV.

Apple quietly updated its Time Capsule storage device Thursday. The high-end model will now retail for $499 and allow up to 2TB of storage. The low-end model with 1TB of storage will now retail for $299.

It's a nice upgrade. And it follows a list of several updates Apple has made in recent months to many of its products, including the iPhone, MacBook, and MacBook Pro. Apple is even preparing for its new operating system, Snow Leopard, which is slated for release in September.

But the company has yet to release a major upgrade to its Apple TV. Granted, Apple has updated the device's software on multiple occasions, but where's the new, major hardware update?

For almost a year now, we've been hearing about impending refreshes to the Apple TV.

In September, reports suggested that an Apple TV update featuring anything from a "Mac Mini/Apple TV" hybrid to something related to HDTVs was imminent. Nothing of the sort was ever announced.

In February, reporters found a survey that Apple conducted asking Apple TV owners how they were watching video on the device. It also asked them what they would change about the set-top box. That survey vanished from Apple's Web site. And once again, no major updates were released.… Read more

CentOS Linux developers threaten mutiny

Offering a free clone of Red Hat Enterprise Linux turned out not to be such a simple matter after all.

The CentOS project aims to reproduce Red Hat's tested, supported, and certified version of the operating system, without its per-server subscription fees. Because RHEL is open-source software, it's theoretically possible for an outsider to select the same software packages, apply the same patches, and produce a version of the Linux product that works the same.

But several lead programmers in the project went public on Thursday with complaints that CentOS founder Lance Davis is threatening the project with … Read more

Poll: Do you use iPhone Spotlight search?

Spotlight search, one of the high-profile features introduced with OS 3.0 last month, lets you search contacts, appointments, music, mail, and more without first loading their respective apps.

In other words, it's a time-saver. In theory.

Confession time: I haven't touched Spotlight once since installing OS 3.0 on my 3G. On a few occasions I've flicked past my apps and landed on the search screen, invariably prompting the same reaction: "Huh. Forgot that was there."

I have used Mail's new in-box search, which frequently proves invaluable. But Spotlight strikes me as a … Read more

Apple releases iPhone OS, SDK 3.1 beta 3

Several weeks after iPhone OS 3 beta 2 release, Apple posted new, beta 3 versions of the iPhone OS 3.1 firmware and the iPhone SDK 3.1 for developers. The OS 3.1 is available for all versions of the iPod Touch and the iPhone, while the SDK 3.1 is available in versions that are compatible with Leopard and Snow Leopard.

We received only one anonymous tip so far (shown in the picture below) that Voice mail now has an Audio button that allows you to select an audio source.

We don't know what other changes the … Read more

Web OS 1.1 released - ho hum

Palm pushed it's Web OS 1.1 update to me today, I had hoped for some decent improvements, but they were negligible - nice improvements, but negligible. Palm's release notes can be found on their support site ( webOS 1.1.0). CNET also gave a good overview on their news site: Palm releases WebOS 1.1 for Pre; brings back iTunes syncing. A highlight of this update and of the article is the battle that Palm is raising with iTunes regarding it's ability to sync with that application. I suspect this will be the first of many … Read more

Palm releases WebOS 1.1 for Pre; brings back iTunes syncing

This post was last updated July 24, 2009 at 7:50 a.m. PT.

Oh, snap! Things just got a little more heated between Palm and Apple. On Thursday, Palm released WebOS 1.1 for the Palm Pre, which, among other things, brings back iTunes syncing even with version 8.2.1, which disabled the feature. The news was posted on Palm's blog where it listed the new features and enhancements of the software update and nonchalantly added at the end:

Oh, and one more thing: Palm webOS 1.1 re-enables Palm media sync. That's right--you once again … Read more

Google building 3D hardware boost into Chrome

Departing significantly from what other browsers offer, Google has begun building its O3D plug-in for hardware-accelerated 3D graphics into its Chrome browser.

"The O3D team is working on getting O3D integrated into the Chromium build, and we're close to being able to complete our first step towards integration," said programmer Greg Spencer in a mailing list announcement Wednesday about Chromium, the open-source project that underlies Chrome itself. "I'll be making the Windows build of Chromium be dependent upon building O3D as part of the build process."

By helping to pave the way for high-powered Web-based games, the move furthers Google's ambition to speed the transformation of the Web from a static medium into a foundation for applications. Another piece of the work is Google Native Client, which is designed to let Web applications take advantage of a computer's native processing power. … Read more