The Technophilez

The latest version of the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution was officially released to the public on April 24th after the customary beta-test period. This version is designated "LTS," for "long-term support," which should make it attractive to business customers who prefer a longer upgrade cycle for their operating systems.

Ubuntu 8.04 is available in a version tailored for server systems, but in the past it has been the desktop version that has garnered the most attention. The new release should be no different, as it includes a number of improvements for desktop users -- most notably, a new installer that allows the OS to coexist on a Windows computer without partitioning or re-formatting the hard drive.

As is customary for Linux distributions, Ubuntu 8.04 includes incremental updates to many of the software packages that make up the system, from low-level details like the window manager and graphics subsystem, all the way up to the bundled OpenOffice.org productivity suite. The new release is also the first to ship with the Firefox 3.0 browser, which is currently still in late-stage beta testing. Despite some bleeding-edge additions to the package, my early testing of Ubuntu 8.04 showed it to be a remarkably stable and well-polished Linux desktop.

Developers have questioned the commitment to openness in Microsoft's Live Mesh service, which is designed to bridge the offline and online worlds.

The company's new service, that will synch all of a user's devices and applications to produce a seamless framework, was unveiled at Web 2.0.

Microsoft has said the service will use open standards and be rolled out to Windows machines, Macs and mobiles.

But developers at the conference said they needed more detail about openness.

Web 2.0 is one of the leading web development conferences

"As long as they innovate and it is an open platform that is compatible with other devices and other companies like Apple then I think it's great. I think they realise this and that they have to add value to people or they won't be able to keep up the strength of their brand."

Sam Pullara from Yahoo was not impressed by what he saw in the 15-minute demonstration, and he said that did not have anything to do with Microsoft's bid to buy the company he works for.

"I am a Mac man and frankly I have completely given up on Windows. To me it looks a lot like dotMac for the Apple and I think it will be a lot harder to execute well because Windows machines are just so different from one another." 

Microsoft's Live Mesh general manager Amit Mital told BBC News that the firm was committed to openness and said there was a need for developers to get on board.

"We hope people will look at the platform and the capabilities and think about new imaginative ways of building applications that will benefit our customers."

At an earlier demonstration of the product to an audience of developers, he said: "Today we live in the world of the web and the web is at the centre of everything we do.

" It is how we connect with the people we care about, access the data that matters to us and also accesses many of the applications we use on a daily basis. And the way we connect with the web is via a number of devices."

Live Mesh is being privately tested by a core group of about several thousand with a public test expected later in the year. Over the next couple of days those attending Web 2.0 will be able to give Live Mesh a run for its money.

Windows Vista customers can now receive the first service pack for the operating system via the Microsoft Automatic Update service, Microsoft said Wednesday.

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 will download automatically to PCs that have the automatic update feature of the OS turned on, the company said. Previously, Vista was available to customers via Windows Update, but people had to specifically download it.

Not all customers will receive SP1 immediately via Automatic Update, however. The company is distributing it in phases to "ensure a seamless download experience," Microsoft said. A timeline for when all customers would receive Vista SP1 via Automatic Update was not immediately available.

SP1 is a rollout of software updates that fix bugs and glitches in Vista and is seen as a milestone that will inspire many customers -- especially those in the business market -- to adopt the OS. In fact, in a recent report, "Building the Business Case for Windows Vista," Forrester Research said more business customers plan to upgrade to Vista now that SP1 is available. This comes as no surprise, considering companies often wait for the first service pack after a major Windows release to update corporate desktops.

However, even SP1 will not guarantee that enterprises and business customers currently running XP or an earlier version of Windows will upgrade, as some have said they would skip the OS altogether. The same Forrester report said as much, although the research firm is recommending that companies don't skip Vista because they would not be well-positioned for future versions of Windows if they do.

With less than a week until release, a pirated copy of Grand Theft Auto IV for Xbox 360 has hit the internet, according to Kotaku. Currently, this is only the PAL version of the title for the 360.

A group called "iCON" supplied the pirated files, which have popped up on a variety of torrent sites. There hasn't been verification that the 6.32 GB download is the full retail build at this point, but word is that the NTSC version may hit within the next couple days. This isn't the first time a GTA title has been leaked early, as it happened to San Andreas also a week before release.

We find the message from iCON regarding the torrent upload ironic, especially coming from a group whose strange motto is "Passion for Videogames." ICON urges downloaders to buy the game, because "R* deserves it..." despite providing a means for people to circumvent that very thing. If it's just about playing the game early, grow some patience, people. There's only a week left to wait, and it will be worth it.

General Motors Corp showed off its progress in developing the highly anticipated Chevrolet Volt and detailed its road map for bringing the rechargeable car to the market by 2010, an ambitious timeline challenged by some rivals.

"We are moving with incredible speed," Frank Weber, GM's vehicle line executive in charge of the Volt, told reporters. "This project is not concept work. This program is not theory. It is reality."

Weber said GM's senior executives remain committed to launching the Volt by November 2010, calling the plug-in hybrid the "No. 1 priority project that we have now within GM."

GM, which is counting on the high-mileage Volt to leapfrog Toyota's market-leading hybrid Prius, on Thursday opened its battery research labs and design studio to dozens of journalists and analysts.

The automaker's unusual open-door policy is part of an effort to show a commitment to the electric car technology many environmental advocates see as the best hope to cut oil use and greenhouse gas emissions. GM also wants to win back consumers it lost because of its reputation as the home of the Hummer.

The Volt is being designed to run 40 miles powered by a 400-pound, T-shaped lithium-ion battery pack that will be cooled by a liquid system to keep it from overheating.

Much lighter battery pack
That battery pack is shorter and only weighs a third as much as the nickel metal-hydride battery featured in GM's now-scrapped EV1 electric car, subject of the 2006 documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?"

The Volt marks the first attempt to adapt lithium-ion batteries, widely used in electronics, for a car, although Toyota is racing ahead with its own work on the same technology.

In its labs, GM is testing dueling battery packs, one supplied by a subsidiary of Korea's LG Chem  and the other built by a division of German auto parts supplier Continental AG using technology developed by Massachusetts-based A123 Systems.

The goal, GM said, is to ensure that it has a battery that can run at least 150,000 miles, last 10 years and allow drivers to accelerate to 60-miles-per-hour in less than 9 seconds.

Roland Matthe, a manager in GM's battery group, said the competing packs were neck-and-neck in tests meant to simulate driving in conditions ranging from Alaska cold to Arizona heat. "If you look at the data they look very similar," Matthe said.

GM has been quietly testing Volt-like technology in a maroon 2005 Chevrolet Malibu sedan at its Milford, Michigan proving track since last year and will began bolting the new batteries into vehicles for track testing this month.

"We've already learned a lot about how this battery behaves," said Michael Bly, GM's director of hybrid vehicle integration.

Gas-tank issue
Among the challenges GM is still grappling with is how to treat an unusual problem: the risk that gas in the Volt's specially pressurized, low-emission tank goes unused.

A gas engine will kick in to recharge the Volt battery as necessary, but with short trips and frequent recharging at a standard outlet some drivers may seldom need fuel.

GM, which has tweaked its global small-car platform for the Volt, could tune its proprietary drive-train software to kick in and burn off gas if needed to prevent engine damage.

Another problem: the first design GM showed off for the Volt at the 2007 Detroit auto show was too boxy and aggressively styled up front to cut through the wind and boost the vehicle's battery-only range.

After extensive wind-tunnel testing, GM designers rounded the front corners on the Volt and gave it a higher and bigger spoiler. Relatively small aerodynamic improvements have boosted the electric range by more than half a mile, Volt design director Bob Boniface said.

Meanwhile, GM engineers are counting on braking to capture energy that will deliver some 20 percent of the power needed for the Volt's 40-mile battery range. Without any braking — in perfectly traffic-free highway driving — the range would be closer to 32 miles, GM engineers said.

Apple, Inc. has filed a suit to prevent New York City's non-profit 'GreeNYC' initiative from using a logo that incorporates an apple in its design. Commentators have noted the substantial differences between the two designs, not to mention the irony of this sort of infringement claim. The city of New York has filed to have the claim rejected, and even possibly the cancellation of Apple's logo in light of the long history of the nickname 'The Big Apple' to describe the city.

A German telecommunications company announced that it was cutting the prices of its Apple iPhones bringing the cost down to $156 from a minimum of $629.

The price cut, announced by Deutsche Telekom AG, was intended to drive up exclusive German carrier T-Mobile's sales numbers of the Apple iPhone in the German market.

The offer is set to be available from April 7 to June 30, said CNN, and will be open to customers who subscribe to an "XL" service contract that costs at least $140 per month.

The telecom company also introduced a starter offer of $45 a month, and will come with a $393 iPhone.

Deutsche Telekom AG, according to the Wall Street Journal, is one of selected telecom operators authorized by Apple to several countries. Only one carrier per country was given permission to sell the handset, coupled by a service contract.

Microsoft said on Thursday that it will continue to allow Windows XP Home edition to be sold for a class of computers it calls "ultra-low-cost PCs." It's a category that covers machines with slower processors, smaller screens, and in many cases flash memory for storage, rather than a traditional hard drive.
Microsoft will give PC makers the option of using Windows XP or Vista on ULCPC devices, said Michael Dix, general manager of Windows client marketing.
Still, the minimal hardware used in ULCPC systems might make Vista ill-suited to such a task. The decision to discontinue Windows XP might have driven even more device makers into the hands of Linux, hence the extension.

Overall, big-name computer makers are still scheduled to have to stop selling Windows XP for all other uses by the end of June. Mainstream technical support will continue to be available for Windows XP through April 2009, and more limited support will continue through April 2014