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NewsVac: News from around the Web

• Giving KDE a second chance 11 months, 2 weeks ago
  
  After years of Gnome I am taking a second look at KDE and I like what I see.
• Open Source Industry Expert Defends Decision to Join Microsoft 11 months, 2 weeks ago
  
  Proving the old adage "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em," Microsoft has hired another open source expert whose primary responsibility will be to work on "consumer, enterprise and government identity problems." Dick Hardt, founder and CEO of Sxipper, Inc., will stay on as Chair of the identity management company, and take on the title of Partner Architect at Microsoft.
• HP Opens Up Open Source for Small Businesses 11 months, 2 weeks ago
  
  HP has been quirky over the years when it comes to open source. It has been, traditionally, a company that supports open source -- especially in larger enterprises. While large businesses are a major focus for HP -- and it has supported open source in other ways -- a "smaller business" line of open source products has been a long time coming.
• Whither open source in the land of leeches? 11 months, 2 weeks ago
  
  IBM's Savio Rodrigues sees a lot of benefits from proprietary technology companies like Cisco "leeching" off open-source communities to boost profits and drive top-line revenue growth. I'm inclined to agree, at least with his assessment of IBM's involvement in open source.
• Podcasting and Images in Drupal 11 months, 2 weeks ago
  
  In this article by Bill Fitzgerald we will learn about Podcasting. Podcasting allows you to share audio files over the Internet. In recent years, as podcasting has increased in prominence and popularity, there has been an almost overwhelming amount of information about how to get started with podcasting: the technical requirements, the hardware, the software, and so on. Sharing images creates a variety of ways for students to get involved in the class. In some classes, such as Photography or other Fine Arts courses, images provide a way for students to showcase their work. In other courses, online image sharing can be used to enhance the curriculum. In this article, we will focus on cutting through the noise, and setting up your site to work as a podcasting and image sharing platform. This article will break down the technical aspects of publishing audio and images, along with ways of integrating podcasting into your class.
• Google Squashes the Rumor: Announces Native Client Technology 11 months, 2 weeks ago
  
  Though the majority of companies have policies pertaining to responding to speculation, sometimes it just gets to a point they have to. For instance, say a rumor makes the rounds (with at least some supporting evidence) that Google has something up its sleeve that might possibly have to do with an operating system. Google can keep mum for a while, but it obviously has to be formally addressed, sooner or later.
• Open Source Myths 11 months, 2 weeks ago
  
  We've covered Black Duck Software a few times before. The company offers services for managed and secure implementations of open source software, and maintains a giant knowledgebase of over 170,000 open source projects. It's doing very well even in this economic environment, as seen in the story linked to above. Today, the company sent along a collection of myths about open source, responses for which answer some interesting questions.
• New Funding for Appcelerator and Jaspersoft 11 months, 2 weeks ago
  
  Despite the dire economic times, funding continues to flow toward open source. Appcelerator, which has an open platform for building web, desktop and mobile applications, has announced that it has received $4.1 million in Series A venture funding. Storm Venture managing partner Ryan Floyd will join Appcelerator's board of directors along with Larry Augustin, a noted angel investor.
• The Microsoftie Who Embraced the Dark Side (Open Source) 11 months, 2 weeks ago
  
  At the University of Michigan in the early 1990s, I knew I wanted to go work for Microsoft. I had long been a fan of Apple, but their computers cost so much I felt they would be relegated to a niche in the computer industry. I thought Microsoft had a much more expansive view of the power of the PC. Even on my Mac Plus, I spent nearly all of my time inside Word and Excel.
• The open strategy of the "MySpace Open Platform" 11 months, 2 weeks ago
  
  MySpace introduced the "MySpace Open Platform", a suite of products including the MySpace Application Platform, "MySpaceID" (formerly Data Availability) and Post-To MySpace. MySpaceID enables all global MySpace users to be in control of their personal and portable social identity whenever they travel online. Ushering in the new structure, MySpace announced an additional roster of global partners for MySpaceID - Vodafone and Netvibes, all of which are currently developing MySpaceID implementations.
• Packt Publishing seeks authors for Open Source titles. 11 months, 2 weeks ago
  
  Packt Publishing today announced the subjects on which it will be releasing some books in 2009. Packt is seeking authors interested in writing these books.
• Symbian Foundation Details its Mobile OS Plans--AT&T Buying In? 11 months, 2 weeks ago
  
  The Symbian Foundation has now made its plans clear for the delivery of an open source Symbian mobile operating system. The first version will be ready in the first half of next year. The foundation has also announced a number of new partners, including AOL, Cell Telecom, Intrinsyc, ISB Corporation, Trusted Logic and Xenient. The new partners join 58 others, including AT&T, Texas Instruments, ARM, Broadcom, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, EA Mobile, Freescale, and many more.
• Open Source Vendors Giving to Charity This Season 11 months, 2 weeks ago
  
  Stories of a struggling U.S. economy are on everyone's lips these days but some open source companies are doing what they can to help combat the pain. One vendor has decided to forgo a lavish holiday party this year and donate money to a local charity instead, while another is collecting canned food for the needy.
• Healthcare Pros Heed the Call of Open Source Groups 11 months, 2 weeks ago
  
  If you're involved in healthcare IT and also have a fondness for open source, there's a newly formed group at LinkedIn that you may want to know about. The OpenVista Health Information Technology (HIT) group is looking for healthcare professionals who use the popular electronic medical record system and want to swap implementation and deployment ideas.
• Crooks Deliver Call Blizzards Via a Bug in Asterisk 11 months, 2 weeks ago
  
  How would you like to be on the receiving end of thousands of scam phone calls in an hour? In an auto-dialing nightmare, that's exactly what's happening thanks to a bug in an older version of Digium's Asterisk open source VoIP (voice-over-IP) software. The FBI has warned users of Asterisk to upgrade to the most current version, although it has not specified which version has the bug.
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