News (54)

MS piracy squad targets Aussie retailers

As part of Microsoft's attempt to stop software piracy, it has named several Australian individuals partaking in "the sophisticated, illegal trade of pirated and counterfeit software". Read more »

Machine talkers fail Turing test

Artificial intelligence took a step closer to becoming a reality on Sunday as machines edged closer to passing the Turing test. Read more »

Oracle's Beehive buzzes at OracleWorld

Oracle unveiled a new open enterprise software application on Monday in the US, designed to improve the way users collaborate and communicate on projects. Read more »

iPhone: Google Talk, new security threats

Google is making its Google Talk instant-messaging application available for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch, however these new applications come in light of new security scares. Read more »

Teen bot herder pleads guilty in NZ

An 18-year-old bot herder from New Zealand plead guilty on Monday to six charges resulting from a failed botnet upgrade that led to a denial-of-service attack on the University of Pennsylvania. Read more »

Problems with SP1? Have some free support

Vista users encountering problems when they upgrade to SP1 can breathe out: the company is giving away free support for those installing the service pack. Read more »

Conroy's filtering can't fix Web 2.0 demons

Web 2.0 services pose the biggest risk to Australian kids -- and current filtering technologies aren't up to the job of protecting them, according to a report released yesterday. Read more »

Solving Yahoo's identity crisis

The troubled Web giant used to be known for its innovative ways. To find a way to a brighter future, it could benefit from looking at its past. Read more »

Google privacy blunder opens up share lists

Google has followed in the footsteps of Facebook by changing its Google Reader to make shared items automatically available to Google Talk contacts. Read more »

Pillow talking bots latest Russian malware threat

Those entering online dating forums risk having more than their hearts stolen, especially if they're chatting to a malicious Russian bot. Read more »

Features (40)

Mozilla chairman unfazed by Google Chrome

Things just got a lot more complicated for Mitchell Baker, the Mozilla Foundation's chairman and "chief lizard wrangler." Read more »

Five ways to make meetings bearable

More annoying than even junk mail is the dreaded Outlook meeting invite. Find out how to make meetings more bearable. Read more »

HTML 5 Editor Ian Hickson discusses features, pain points, adoption rate, and more

In this interview, HTML 5 Editor Ian Hickson discusses his favourite features, the features he thinks might be most contentious, the pain points he expects HTML 5 will address, and much more. He also talks about what he would change in the original HTML spec if he could go back in time. Read more »

50 significant moments from internet history

We take you through 50 defining moments of the internet. Read more »

Ivar Jacobson: Developers are too fashionable

One of the fathers of software development processes says the industry is too fashionable, needs to stop re-inventing the wheel, and focus on being more creative. Read more »

Seven aspects of a great user experience

The spotlight at this year's Web Directions South UX conference in Melbourne was on user experience. Andy Budd, a designer and developer at Clearleft in the UK, contributed to the theme of the day with his presentation -- "Designing the User Experience Curve". Read more »

Try IRC with Irssi to communicate via chat

Many IRC networks, particularly the Freenode network, cater to a lot of open source and Linux-based groups. There are many IRC clients available, but one of the most extensible and powerful is the command-line based Irssi. Read more »

Four issues to consider before becoming a remote IT consultant

This article suggests what issues to consider when deciding whether to become a remote IT consultant. Read more »

Labor should promise the kids XO, not XP

Should Labor get into power at the federal election next month, its promised "education revolution" rebate would be better spent on the world's largest single order for Negroponte's XO laptop instead of being a boon for traditional PC retailers and a certain software vendor from Redmond. Read more »

10 midyear resolutions for IT managers

More than half the year has gone by, and some of those promising New Year's resolutions made at the start of 2007 have probably been forgotten or abandoned. Here's a recap of some goals to help guide your progress for the rest of 2007. Read more »

Video (5)

New tech blocks calls when driving

A new program, "Drive-Assist," has been created to disable a cell phone if it detects driving motion, preventing people from chatting on the phone while driving. CBS's Daniel Sieberg has more. Read more »

Microsoft launches 3D photo viewer Photosynth

Microsoft Live Labs' latest project is actually an old one with a new twist. Windows-only Photosynth lets you stitch together an entire roll of photos into dazzling 3D environments. CNET.com's Ina Fried sits down with Microsoft's Gary William Flake to chat about what you can do with this new technology. Read more »

AOL takes AIM to iPhone

At Apple’s official launch of the iPhone software development kit, Rizwan Sattar, AOL senior software engineer, shows off the company's new instant-messaging software for the iPhone. The new software allows users to chat over the AIM network, switch among conversations, and upload user profile photos. Read more »

Commodore 64's silver anniversary

The Commodore 64 may be gone, but it's certainly not forgotten. Fans turned out in the hundreds Monday night for the PC's 25th anniversary party at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. CNET News.com's Kara Tsuboi raised a glass and chatted with industry leaders, including Steve Wozniak, Apple's co-founder, and Jack Tramiel, the founder of Commodore International, about the Commodore's impact on the personal-computing market. Read more »

Tim Buntel and the Tale of Scorpio

  Read more »

Blog (14)

Facebook's portal for the masses

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- This week, Facebook took a number of strategic steps toward its goal of giving people the "power to share and make the world more open and connected." That's how founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg described the mission statement for Facebook. Read more »

Resuming regular service

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- It wasn't all April fools this week. There were some important developments in the software world -- seriously. Read more »

How soon is Semantic?

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- At some point in the future you will be able arrive at work George Jetson-style. Your electric flying car will be streaming content to you from the new Semantic Web while your son in the backseat will be enjoying Duke Nukem Forever. Read more »

Nokia starts trolling

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- This week Builder AU is on the road at linux.conf.au 2008 in Melbourne -- but before we get into all that is happening here, there is the small matter of Trolltech. Read more »

Melbourne clichés: Things of stone and code

Chris Duckett [blogs:betaliving] -- It's fair to say that the weather in Melbourne has changed as often as speaker's laptops have failed -- and I'd expect nothing less. Read more »

Schoolgirl builds SecondLife Web app

Nick Gibson [blogs:byteclub] -- A new web application AjaxLife allows interaction with the online virtual world SecondLife. The cool part? It was developed in just a week by a fifteen year old English schoolgirl. Read more »

Adobe returns Silverlight's serve

Chris Duckett [blogs:betaliving] -- At the end of September it was debatable whether Flash or Silverlight was a better solution -- by the end of the first days in October it is clear that Flash is once again the undisputed champion. Read more »

Live Blog: MIX 07 Keynote

Chris Duckett [blogs:betaliving] -- Live blog from the MIX 07 Keynote. Will we see an announcement regarding Silverlight? It certainly appears so. Read more »

Do crash dialogs work?

Chris Duckett [blogs:betaliving] -- Typically it's the small things that will end up annoying users; and it's those same small things that can impress users. Read more »

Flash VoIP to expand

Andrew Muller [blogs:nouveauricheinternet] -- You may not have used Flash to make a call to a friend over the weekend, but chances are you could be doing that in the not too distant future. Read more »

Others (1)

LCA Open Day

Yesterday was show and tell day for linux.conf.au with a pavilion full of gadgets, toys and cool stuff Read more »

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