OSS is getting international recognition

At least SOMEONE understands the new world of technology we're approaching. The British Minister for Digital Engagement (-Tom Watson-) released a new 'plan-of-action' yesterday, entitled: "Open Source, Open Standards and Re-Use: Government Action Plan".

(Click here for a PDF version of the paper.)

A little intro-excerpt:

"Open Source has been one of the most significant cultural developments in IT and beyond over the last two decades: it has shown that individuals, working together over the Internet, can create products that rival and sometimes beat those of giant corporations; it has shown how giant corporations themselves, and Governments, can become more innovative, more agile and more cost-effective by building on the fruits of community work; and from its IT base the Open Source movement has given leadership to new thinking about intellectual property rights and the availability of information for re-use by others."

The new action plan adds to the old plan published in 2004, but the new one includes circumstances and agreements that can make it difficult for proprietary software vendors to compete in government IT deployment.

He states among a lot of things that the new era in IT development demands re-usage of code. (Securing government rights to special custom code and re-usage of the code within internal departments.)

So, basically, it looks very promising for OSS in the time to come regarding government software deployment, software costs and national IT system expansion.

Nytt liv i PSP leiren...

http://www.dagbladet.no/2009/02/24/kultur/spill/playstation_2/playstation_portable/motorstorm/5020515/

Sony slipper nå PS3-spillene "LittleBigPlanet", "Assassin's Creed", "Motorstorm" og "Rock Band" til PSP-formatet.

"- Det er mange store utsagn i spillbransjen, men vi er selvsikre når vi sier at 2009 vil bli et spennende år for PSP. Våre fans har krevd store PSP-spill, og i år vil vi levere igjen og igjen, uttaler markedssjef Mark Hardy i SCEE i en pressemelding."

SCEE => Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

"The office" #4

Yeah, a new pic-shot from my cellphone, and yes.., that's a brand new Asus Eee PC 900 to the left.

Since my Acer Aspire One bit the dust a few months ago, I've been missing my UMPC privileges. And when I got a newsletter about a clear-sale, I drew out my credit card ;P

ARCFOUR (RC4)

RC4 is a stream cipher designed in RSA laboratories by Ron Rivest in 1987. This cipher is widely used in commercial applications including Oracle SQL, Microsoft Windows and the SSL. The algorithm was kept as a trade secret until the mid-1990's.

The external analysis of RC4 was invoked by the leakage of its source code in 1994 to cypherpunks mailing list.

The key stream generated by RC4 is a stream of pseudo-random bytes.

This is the first in a series of posts about cryptography/security.
I won't delve far too deep into details, but I'm very interested in the specific protocol algorithms used.

P.S.: RC4 is reputedly an acronym for "Ron's Code 4"

Google / HTC Magic!

Processor	Qualcomm® MSM7201a™, 528 MHz
Operating System	Android
Memory	ROM: 512 MB RAM: 192 MB
Dimensions	113 x 55 x 13.65 mm ( 4.45 x 2.17 x 0.54 inches)
Weight	118.5 grams ( 4.18 ounces) with battery
Display	3.2-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screen with 320x480 HVGA resolution
Network	HSDPA/WCDMA: 900/2100 MHz Up to 2 Mbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz (Band frequency and data speed are operator dependent.)
Device Control	Trackball with Enter button
GPS	Internal GPS antenna
Connectivity	Bluetooth® 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g HTC ExtUSB™ (11-pin mini-USB 2.0 and audio jack in one)
Camera	3.2 megapixel color camera with auto focus
Audio supported formats	AAC, AAC+, AMR-NB, MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC-LC, MIDI, OGG
Video supported formats	MP4, 3GP
Battery	Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery Capacity: 1340 mAh Talk time: Up to 400 minutes for WCDMA Up to 450 minutes for GSM Standby time: Up to 660 hours for WCDMA Up to 420 hours for GSM (The above are subject to network and phone usage.)
Expansion Slot	microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
AC Adapter	Voltage range/frequency: 100 ~ 240V AC, 47/63 Hz DC output: 5V and 1A
Special Features	G-sensor Digital Compass

http://www.htc.com/www/product/magic/overview.html

WHERE IS THE "ANY" BUTTON!?

...the most common problem with PCs today is between the monitor and the keyboard, aka Joe User.

Joe, you see, is dumb. You'd think that in the 21st century with no one under the age of 40 able to remember when there were no PCs and no one under the age of 30 who can recall when there was no Web, that we'd be over basic computer illiteracy. You'd be wrong.

While Windows is insecure by design, you can stop most of its security problems just by patching it on a regular basis and using an anti-viral program. So simple even a chimp could do it right? Well maybe a chimp could, but not Joe User.

[Joe User => not a geek/nerd.]

http://blogs.computerworld.com/its_time_to_start_issuing_pc_licenses

January 22. - remember this date fellow geeks!

This article @ computerworld.com, discusses and reflects on the software giants vs. open-source. It describes what situation the IT industry is facing taking the financial crisis into consideration.

http://blogs.computerworld.com/being_anti_linux_is_bad_for_your_business_health