EC2N-9HBR-HJD6 – Transformers: All Hail Megatron #1

63N8-R2BF-9E4D – Aleister Arcane #1

724K-A4BG-JLD7 – Star Trek Year Four: The Enterprise Experiment #1

Note: These codes will not work with MediaGo. These codes are for US PlayStation Network accounts only. They have to be used with the PSP’s built-in PlayStation Store. The Digital Comics Reader has to be downloaded to view these comics. These codes will expire on the 16^th of December, 2009.

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This is what Microsoft has been granted patent for:

Rights elevator
Systems and/or methods are described that enable a user to elevate his or her rights. In one embodiment, these systems and/or methods present a user interface identifying an account having a right to permit a task in response to the task being prohibited based on a user’s current account not having that right.

The above excerpt fairly accurately describes sudo. However, the detailed description of the patent application goes on to describe several features, which go above and beyond sudo’s capabilities. For example, the following description doesn’t at all apply to sudo. In fact, it appropriately describes Windows’ “Run as” feature.

There is one account having two tags; one tag is associated with limited rights and one tag is associated with higher rights. By default the account may be tagged with the limited-rights tag when logging in. This tag may be altered by the rights elevator on entry of the user’s password in the graphical user interface…

I am not lawyer and I have little knowledge about the internal workings of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). One of the many problems with software patents is their inherent ambiguity. Patent #7,617,530 may or may not cover sudo – perhaps a lawyer would be able to work that out. However, if it does indeed apply to sudo, then someone at USPTO forgot to do their research. It could also mean trouble for UNIX based OSs. Microsoft could demand royalty for including sudo (or other user rights elevator) or even sue UNIX OS developers for patent infringement.

This is a debate that would probably rage on for some time. Perhaps, further discussion will bring some much needed clarity to the situation. However, one thing is certain – this controversy will only worsen Microsoft’s already poor reputation.

via Groklaw

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Sun started it with the acquisition of MySQL AB.

Oracle continued it with Sun’s acquisition.

Intel followed suit, only this time to buy one of the top Embedded Linux companies, WindRiver. Actually, it has been done before. WindRiver acquired FSM Lab’s RTLinux, the hard real-time OS, that was giving WindRiver’s VxWorks a run for their money.

Today, Cavium Networks has announced that it has signed a “definitive agreement” to acquire MontaVista for $50 million, comprising $16 million in cash and the remaining $34 million in Cavium Networks common stock.

MontaVista , a Santa Clara, California based company was the leading developer of embedded Linux software and tools in the automotive, mobile phones  and communications equipments space. MontaVista was a regular contributor to open source software especially in the kernel and PowerPC ports. Arguably, one of the most valuable contributions made by MontaVista’s Robert Love is the real-time kernel preemption patch , rendering the vanilla kernel with soft real-time capabilities.

Cavium Networks makes media, network and security processors based on the ARM and MIPS architectures. It too is a Silicon Valley based company. Interestingly enough, Cavium Networks, which is a publicly owned company was founded a couple of years after MontaVista.

Cavium Networks’ cloning of Intel’s move validates the relationship between processor companies and their attraction towards embedded Linux software companies. Another similarity in these deals is that both WindRiver Systems as well MontaVista will continue as separate operating unit retaining it’s brand name.

Syed Ali, President and CEO of Cavium Networks says “This acquisition will complement Cavium’s market leading processor portfolio with world-class software expertise and will enable us to deliver highly compelling and differentiated solutions to the market”.

Rusty Harris, President and CEO of MontaVista has the following explanation to offer “By becoming part of Cavium Networks, MontaVista can confidently continue to offer industry leading commercial grade embedded Linux, support and services to our customers and partners“.

The move for acquisition seems to be good news for all parties involved since the CEOs of both ARM as well as MIPS Technologies also seemed to be positive about the deal.

Any bets on what AMD might go shopping for ?

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The new Bing video search page incorporates high quality content from around the web. It includes MSN’s original programming as well as videos from other services like Hulu, ABC, and YouTube. Bing Videos will be serving everything from amateur videos and movie trailers to full length TV shows. Bing Videos currently features more than 900 TV shows, all of which is arranged alphabetically and organized into genre based categories. Individual episodes are extremely easy to find as they are grouped according to the season.

The new Bing Videos has already started rolling out and should be available to all users within a few days. You can access the preview by going to bing.com/videos/browse.

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Today, in an official announcement on their website, SourceForge, Inc. was renamed to Geeknet, Inc.

According to the official statement, the idea behind renaming SourceForge Inc. is “to more accurately reflect the company’s business and the growing market it serves.”

According to Scott L. Kauffman, President & CEO of Geeknet, the renaming move reflects the companies articulation strategy to clearly define the Geek audience they serve. He feels that the geek demographic is no longer restricted to gadgets and software, but encompasses and influences all facets of the modern lifestyle like Video Games, Fashion, Automobiles, Entertainment, etc.  He calls this phenomenon , the “geekification” of the world.

The primary aim , however, for Geeknet Inc. is to expand the reach of it’s online advertising services into new categories.

What most people might not know about SourceForge Inc. , previously VA Software, currently Geeknet Inc., is that apart from SourceForge.net, it also owns other popular sites like Freshmeat, Ohloh, the very nerdy and almost as popular Slashdot and the geeky-yet-supercool online retail store ThinkGeek.

To support the new brand, the company is immediately launching a series of programs to raise awareness of Geeknet. It has already started doing so by making sure that all links, including Wikipedia are either redirected or updated to point to Geek.net

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A web annotation startup called Reframe It is now claiming that Google Sidewiki is a blatant plagiarisation of their own web annotation tool. Reframe It alleges that, the similarities are too many and too close to be coincidental.

Reframe It and Google Sidewiki aren’t the only annotation tools in the market. Wikipedia lists about a dozen web annotation tools. However, what makes Reframe It CEO and co-founder Bobby Fishkin uncomfortable is that “The interface, the layout, the look and feel, look extremely similar”.

Google Watch has an in-depth side by side comparison of Reframe It and Google Sidewiki. The similarities are uncanny to say the least. Reframe It’s intellectual property patent application is currently pending. If accepted, Google could end up in some major trouble for intellectual property theft. Since, the patent hasn’t yet been accepted, Reframe It also has the opportunity to adjust their patent application and include additional aspects to cover Google’s alleged transgressions. Reframe It can also sue Google for copyright violations, in which case Google will have to prove that their source code is drastically different from Reframe It’s.

According to Bobby Fishkin, apart from the obvious similarities between the two products, there were other incidents which solidified his suspicion. More than a year ago, Reframe It advisory board member Terry Winograd met with a senior Google Executive and encouraged him/her to take a look at Reframe It. Impressed with what he/she saw, the executive promised to pass it along to the team. A few months later, at least half a dozen Google employees signed up with Reframe It. Not only that, two days before launching Sidewiki, Google tried to hire Reframe It co-founder and Lead Engineer Ben Taitelbaum.

Google it yet to issue a direct response to the allegations. Instead this is what they told eWeek:

“The variety of existing products in this space and the increasing number of sites that enable user generated content shows that there is growing demand for allowing users to contribute to the Web. We are very excited by users’ response to Sidewiki and will continue to use their feedback to iterate more on the product.”

It is not uncommon for developers to be inspired by competitor’s product. In fact this is what drives genuine innovation. However, the question that needs to be asked here is how much is too much? What do you think? Is Google Sidewiki a rip-off? If it is indeed a rip-off, is it serious enough to be considered a copyright violation and (potential) IP theft?

via eWeek and Read Write Web.

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The new design conforms to modern web design practices and focuses on providing a simple and clutter-free experience. The number of links has been drastically reduced and now most of the content is neatly organised into tabbed modules. The biggest change is the integration of Facebook and Twitter. You can view your activity stream as well as publish updates directly from MSN. The iconic MSN logo has also received a facelift. The other major highlight is the inline integration of high quality video powered by Silverlight.

Microsoft has been desperately trying to turn around their loss making online division. The launch of Bing was a step in that direction. Although, it didn’t result in any drastic reversal of fortunes, it allowed Microsoft to gain some much needed momentum. The redesign of MSN is another positive move. The new layout gets its basics right. It is more readable, provides tight integration of local content and highlights various services offered by Bing.

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Wzor.net, which became notorious for leaking Windows 7 internal builds, is now reporting that Microsoft is planning on releasing the first beta of Windows 7 SP1 in January, 2010. If this is indeed true, then it would mean a gap of about 6 months between the RTM (which was finalised on July 22nd, 2009) and the service pack. This may appear to be too soon, but keep in mind that Windows 7 SP1 has already been spotted in the wild.

According to Wzor, Microsoft plans on releasing two beta builds and two release candidate (RC) builds for Windows 7 Service Pack 1. Windows 7 SP1 should be ready for OEMs by the summer (June-August) and would be available to end users by autumn (September-November).

via Neowin

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The objective of the new onebox for music related queries is threefold:

1. Reduce the effort it takes to find music by your favorite artists.
2. Enable you to discover new music through partners like Imeem and Pandora.
3. Allow you to identify that catchy tune you may have heard in a cafeteria. The new music search will return relevant music streams even if you use a line or two of lyrics.

Google is not the first major search engine to provide free streams within the search results page. Yahoo has been doing this since last year. Feeling left behind, they took this opportunity to remind us about their own music search abilities in a blog post. What remains to be seen now, is how Microsoft Bing will react.

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TILE-Gx Family of processors from Tilera is set for commercial release in 2011 and will be available in 16, 36, 64 and 100 core variants. All the processors are based on 40nm architecture, and according to Tilera, will outperform high-end Intel processors by a factor of four. TILE-Gx will reportedly consume between 10 to 55 watts of power, which is about a third of the power burned by a Nehalem. Tilera’s CEO, Omid Tahernia, expects these ultra-high performance processors to “open completely new computing possibilities”.

Tilera is a start-up specializing in scalable multicore processors. It started off as a Massachusetts Institute of Technology project funded by DARPA/NSF and became a start-up in 2007. Tilera’s processors are primarily aimed at commercial applications like cloud computing and video conferencing. While touching the 100-core mark is an achievement, only time will tell if Tilera can really deliver.

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