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Tech News: If The NSA Helped Make It, Do You Want It?

For Windows Vista Security, Microsoft Called in Pros

When Microsoft introduces its long-awaited Windows Vista operating system this month, it will have an unlikely partner to thank for making its flagship product safe and secure for millions of computer users across the world: the National Security Agency.
by Alec Klein and Ellen Nakashima.

An Initial Analysis on the Apple iPhone

Apple today announced the long awaited iPhone, a device that I predicted about years 1.5 ago that it would happen (I won’t forget how a fellow editor from a Mac site emailed me to say that I am crazy after reading my blog back then). But the iPhone is real, and it’s public information now. So based on the little we know about the device so far, let’s see how it stacks up against its smartphone competition.
by Eugenia Loli-Queru.

iRobot Introduces the iRobot Create!

The iRobot Create is a dependable, rugged and versatile robot base that can be used for uncounted robotics hobby and research applications. It includes a selection of software routines developed for iRobot’s commercial appliance bots and a well-engineered, robust chassis designed for longevity. Many will consider this to be a DIY-roboticist’s dream come true.
by Tom Atwood.

Programming high-performance applications on the Cell BE processor, Part 1: An introduction to Linux on the PLAYSTATION 3

The PLAYSTATION 3 is unusual for a gaming console for two reasons. First, it is incredibly more open than any previous console. While most consoles do everything possible to prevent unauthorized games from being playable on their system, the PS3 goes in the other direction, even providing direct support for installing and booting foreign operating systems. Of course, many of the game-related features such as video acceleration are locked out for the third-party operating systems, but this series focuses on more general-purpose and scientific applications anyway.
by Jonathan Bartlett.

High-quality DVDs will not operate on some Vista PCs

Microsoft has been forced to acknowledge that a substantial number of PCs running the new version of its Windows operating system will not be able to play high-quality DVDs.
by Jonathan Richards.

Macworld Expo: The Mac Gets Back into Business?

Opinion: Everyone is talking about Apple’s drive into consumer video and iPod phones. But the real story on the show floor will be the renewal of the Mac as a business platform.
by David Morgenstern.

ATI brings CableCARD to the PC with Digital Cable Tuner

AMD used the Consumer Electronics Show to announce the new ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner yesterday, which will officially be launched on January 30, the same day Vista ships. The ATI TV Wonder DCT is an external box with a single unidirectional CableCARD slot, a USB 2.0 port to connect it with a Media Center PC, and a coaxial cable input. Most importantly, it is the first PC device to support high-definition video from cable providers (it does not work with satellite or IPTV providers), meaning that Media Center PCs with the Digital Cable Tuner will be able to do away with their set-top boxes.
by Eric Bangeman.

Linux KVM Virtualization Performance

For only being a release candidate the Linux 2.6.20 kernel has already generated quite a bit of attention. On top of adding asynchronous SCSI scanning, multi-threaded USB probing, and many driver updates, the Linux 2.6.20 kernel will include a full virtualization (not para-virtualization) solution. Kernel-based Virtual Machine (or KVM for short) is a GPL software project that has been developed and sponsored by Qumranet. In this article we are offering a brief overview of the Kernel-based Virtual Machine for Linux as well as offering up in-house performance numbers as we compare KVM to other virtualization solutions such as QEMU Accelerator and Xen.
by Michael Larabel.

Microsoft introduces Windows Home Server, Sync at CES

Bill Gates took the stage at the 40th Consumer Electronics Show tonight and officially opened the expo with his annual keynote address. Standing on a stage with bedroom, kitchen, and living room furniture scattered about, Gates laid out Microsoft’s vision for how the company would deliver on the promise of the “digital decade” while introducing a handful of new products and services, including a couple of previously undisclosed features of Vista.
by Eric Bangeman.

Windows Home Server: details and features

Much of what we predicted about Home Server is true. It’s all about centralization and ease of use, and it’s targeted at users who want an easy way to back up all of the important data in their house. It’s built using a mix of new and not-new sever technology, but whereas we previously believed it was based on a client OS, Windows Home Server is in fact based off of Windows Server 2003. Dropped behind a suitable firewall, this should be a strong server product that meets many emerging needs in the computing household. Whether or not it can fight off competition from other products, especially the coming onslaught of consumer NAS products, remains to be seen.
by Ken Fisher.

Gentoo/FreeBSD On Hold Due To Licensing Issues

Alan Trick writes “Flameeyes (a Gentoo/FreeBSD developer) recently came up with some serious problems among the various *BSD projects who use BSD-4 licensed code (which is all of them). Even other projects like Open Darwin may be affected. The saga started when he discovered the license problems with libkvm and start-stop-daemon. “libkvm is a userspace interface to FreeBSD kernel, and it’s licensed under the original BSD license, BSD-4 if you want, the one with the nasty advertising clause.” start-stop-daemon links to libkvm, but it’s licensed under the GPL which is incompatible with the advertising clause. The good news is that the University of California/Berkley has given people permission to drop the advertising clause. The bad news is that libkvm has code from many other sources and each of them needs to give their permission for the license to be changed. At the moment, development on the Gentoo/FreeBSD is on hold and the downloads have been removed from the Gentoo mirrors.”
from slashdot.