It has been a dream for quite some time that Mobile phones become a true extension to our computer. That dream hasn’t been a reality. Even when you do have a smart phone that can get online, the interface was clunky and you couldn’t just add/remove apps as you wanted. The cell phone carrier dictates what you can and cannot do with your phone. And if you want to change it before your contract is expired, they’ll charge you a penalty for your troubles.
When you click on that button, you see a system whereby you can “rat out” an employer using pirated software and do so anonymously. Now, a one million dollar payday would, of course, be limited to people who expose a really big case. But, a recent news release by BSA says they are expanding that program and that they have awarded $58,000 to 14 people who provided credible reports of piracy.
A lot of people are interested in open source software but don’t exactly know where to find it. A web site that has a very large filebase with hundreds of active projects is SourceForge. It’s been around a long time and is one of the best open source software sites in existence.
In the video below I show some simple tips on how to find the software you need faster on SourceForge.
A Miami-based vendor called Psystar is attempting to rain on Apple’s parade. They have created, essentially, a Mac based on PC hardware. They then ported Apple’s OS X Leopard operating system over to it, all for a package price of $399.
It goes without saying that this price tag is $200 cheaper than even Apple’s Mac Mini. The specs of this pseudo-Mac are:
The other day I got into a somewhat heated discussion about why Linux is a viable alternative desktop OS. Despite my best efforts, I was unable to move the other side past the rhetoric and myths that seem to surround Linux. It is because of this discussion that I am writing this…as a way to give accurate information. Let’s start by looking at some of the most common myths.
Myth 1: “Linux is hard to install”
This could not be further from the truth. Many Linux distributions are as easy, if not easier. to install as Windows. Ubuntu, Linux Mint and PCLinuxOS are but three of the most popular. The install is nothing more than a few mouse clicks and basic options like timezone, language and name. All these are explained well and you need to provide the same information when installing ANY operating system. Continued
If you want to run one OS from inside of another OS (a guest in a host), then a virtual machine (VM) is the way to go. The great thing about VM’s is anything you do in the guest has no effect on the host so it is ideal for testing. While there are many choices available for any OS you use, one choice to consider is VirtualBox. Vi
VirtualBox is an open source virtual machine software package which works on all major OS’s. There are many features which make VirtualBox attractive, such as mouse pointer integration in Windows and Linux (this is huge) and portable configuration files. VirtualBox is owned by Sun Microsystems, so this is a pretty good sign future development is in the works.
Personally, I use Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 for my work use, but the feature set of VirtualBox really has me considering giving it a try.
Have you ever wanted to convert your DVD library to files you can play on your computer, but don’t want to worry about having to find the right program? If so, make sure to give HandBrake a download.
HandBrake is an open source program which converts DVD videos to MPEG-4 files (among other formats such as AVI). HandBrake works on Windows, Linux and Mac so no matter what your OS of choice is, you can run it. You can view screenshots of HandBrake here. The only issue you may have is with some copy protection on DVDs which might require external programs to decode.
So if you are looking to build your DVD library on your computer, then HandBrake can be a great way to get your discs converting.
Rich Menga, a native New Englander residing in Tampa Bay Florida, 
