Microsoft sues TomTom [Posted February 26, 2009 by corbet]

As seen in this TechFlash article, Microsoft has launched a patent suit against TomTom, a seller of (Linux-based) navigation devices. "It's believed to be the first time Microsoft has filed a patent suit over Linux, after claiming for years that elements of the open-source operating system violate its patents. However, Microsoft says open-source software is not the intended focal point of the action." The complaint [PDF] is online. The patents involved are 6,175,789 (Vehicle computer system with open platform), 7,054,745 (Method and system for generating driving directions), 6,704,032 (Methods and Arrangements for Interacting with Controllable Objects within a Graphical User Interface Environment Using Various Input Mechanisms), 7,117,286 (Portable computing device-integrated appliance), 6,202,008 (Vehicle computer system with wireless internet), 5,579,517 (Common name space for long and short filenames), 5,758,352 (Common name space for long and short filenames, again), and 6,256,642 (Method and System for File System Management Using a Flash-Erasable, Programmable, Read-only Memory). Stay tuned, it could be interesting.


Dont Microsoft know what the word OPEN means in the computer business ?? 
Thanks to this, now Linux will get lots of media attention :-)  oh, and then Microsoft WILL lose this case....

I have just been creating a new website based around game consoles and modding them.  Its a simple site which I wanted.  Nice and clean white(ish).  check it out  www.theconsoleguy.com

Winamp is officially DEAD.  In my presence anyway.  There is a new kid in town.  Its name is AIMP2.  Its a music player that Winamp should have been.  Clean and nice usable features.  I urge you to try this if your not happy with the way winamp has gone....youll know what I mean if you have installed winamp recently!
I wanted a clean small music player.  Aimp2 is clean small and has accessable features.

Audio formats supported:
MP1, MP2, MP3, MPC, MP+, AAC, AC3, OGG, FLAC, APE, WavPack, Speex, WAV, CDA, WMA, S3M, XM, MOD, IT, MO3, MTM, UMX
Good functionality and friendly user interface
18-sliders equalizer and build-in sound effects
Reverb, Flanger, Chorus, Pitch, Tempo, Echo, Speed
32-bit sound processingfor crystal clear sound
Works with few playlists
Listern one, work with other
Plug-Ins support
You can add new utils or extend already exists, and connect some winamp plugins: Input, Gen, DSP
Autoshutdown manager
Internet-Radio
Listern and Capture!
Bookmarks and Queues
Hotkeys
Customizable local and global hotkeys
Multilingual interface
Multiuser mode support
Few users works unders one computer? It's no problem!
Full Unicode support
File search
File search by all opened playlists
Many program options
Small distributive size
Audio Converter
Any supported audio file can be encoded to WAV, MP3, WMA or OGG format
Audio Grabber
Audio CD Track can be encoded to WAV, MP3, WMA or OGG format
Sound Recorder
Capture sound from any audio device in your system to mp3, ogg, wav or wma format
Advanced Tag Editor
Edit ID3v1, ID3v2, Vorbis, WMA tags. Grouping rename, group editing and sort files by one of templates.
Audio Library

Blend one track into another...No problem,  Very quickly add directory's to playlists...No problem,  Stream off internet radio...No problem,  Record internet radio streams...No problem!
Give this a try...You wont regret it!
Softpedia - AIMP2

A definition according to dictionary. The word “chrome” is that shiny metal plate.
chrome Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[krohm] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation noun, verb, chromed, chrom·ing. –noun 1. chromium. 2. chromium-plated or other bright metallic trim, as on an automobile. 3. (of dyeing) the dichromate of potassium or sodium.

If I log on to the internet and use a particular search engine to research that word further, I get directed to something totally different as a 1st result link.

Recently the company Google, decided to launch a web browser called “chrome”. There is no hiding from this fact. If you type in that shiny metallic word in google, its first result is a link to its very own web browser chrome. Hardly an indepenednt, un biased search result.

I tried yahoo search page. Their first result (not including sponsor links) was to wikipedia, the Web-based, free content encyclopedia project. Ask.com the first result was google chrome project.

So I have no doubt that google indexes its own brand of companys in the top results of a search listing. Thats quite a domino effect with regard to people accessing your company and purchasing products on the off-shoot. Sure how could you compete with that ? Even the mighty Micro$oft can't. If you want a somewhat more unbiased search result on the web, I would go with yahoo rather than google. In saying all that, I too have igoogle as my homepage. Its all the rss feeds in one page that works well. Just dont rely on their search results :)

Looking at Linux feeds from websites like UbuntuGeek and HowToForge, I see they have HOWTO's on installing openoffice and picasa.  I have come to a conclusion...
When these sites stop publishing articles on how to install programs in Linux, then Linux will be ready for the average person.
What I mean is when there is no need to publish such helpful information, Linux will be ready.  How many howto's have you seem for windows programs?  Granted its a different process.  On windows you grab a install file from the producers website and click the setup.exe.  On Linux, a select amount of files are made available.  If the program your looking for is not on the Linux OS list....your on your own mate....Write a Howto for others to follow.
With packaging programs like getdeb, clicknrun etc.. things are getting easier. 
An impressive website for downloading their software is OPERA web browser (which a new version is just released).  They have every system catered for.  Windows, Mac, Linux...
I suppose we need to wait to see how it pans out.

Just having fun customising some Nintendo Wii's that I have.  This is a nice colourful spiderman theme.  Also did a Darth Vader thems and a Stormtrooper theme.

Nintendo Wii.....Installing a mod chip.
I bought a mod chip to install in my nintendo Wii.  I am no expert in soldering so it was heart stopping stuff to say the least.  There are 9 wires altogether to solder (3 really bitch ones).  It took me about 3 hours but...It worked!!  I can now use backed up games on my Wii. Sweet...

Evolvotron !!  An evolving image generation program.  I just recently discovered this hidden gem, in the Ubuntu Add/Remove repository...  From the programmers website:

Evolvotron is an interactive "generative art" application for Linux to evolve images/textures/patterns/animations through an iterative process of random mutation and user-selection driven evolution. (This process is also often referred to as "evolutionary art" or "genetic art".) If you like lava lamps, and still think the Mandelbrot set is cool, this could be the software for you.

If you have ubuntu on your system, it can be easily installed using the Applications menu / Add/Remove...
Enjoy...

Here is some images I generated...

I just bought a Nintendo Wii.  A fun simple games console.  Of course me being me, I had ordered a custom casing which I wanted to fit to it.
I got the console on Monday and the new case on Wednesday.  I had the Wii totally disassembled Wednesday night.  Right down to the bare mainboard and aluminium shielding on the plastic case.  It was a intensive moment :-)
But I had good printed out explanation with pictures.  The case is an "I-Case".  Yes, a very Appley name :-p
I bought it from England, But, in hindsight, I think I should have bought from America.  Cheaper rate for euro and cheaper pricing.  Nextime :-)
The install of the Icase went pretty much perfect.   The hardest part (for me) was them damn flaps on the side of the case.  I didnt want to break the clips so there was a lot of fidgeting around.  Closing the case was a bit "funky", as there are wires going along side and you must make sure there properly seated.  Makes for much better piece of mind that your not drilling a screw right through the wire when putting the screws on the case cover.
Im pleased with the look of it.  Only negative is you really cant handle it much.  Finger prints are a constant problem ;-)  But keep a shammy cloth close by and youll be fine :)

Thanks to www.davidsudjiman.info for this useful information on setting up the program "minicom" for use with a USB to serial converter.  Commonly used for accessing the CISCO routers.


[4309733.840000] usb 2-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 5
[4309733.936000] pl2303 2-2:1.0: PL-2303 converter detected
[4309733.940000] usb 2-2: PL-2303 converter now attached to ttyUSB0
Then I installed minicom.

$ sudo apt-get install minicom


Run the minicom program and using command CTRL-a z o (inside minicom) to configure the minicom serial port. Make sure the configuration look like this.

A - Serial Device : /dev/ttyUSB0
B - Lockfile Location : /var/lock
C - Callin Program :
D - Callout Program :
E - Bps/Par/Bits : 9600 8N1
F - Hardware Flow Control : Yes
G - Software Flow Control : No


Save the configuration with whatever name you want. In this case is “cisco”.

Next time you want to configure your router using minicom, just type “minicom cisco”