Tech News » 'Bossie' Awards Crown FOSS' Best of Breed

"Where is Blender?" asked Slashdot blogger hairyfeet. "It is truly an incredibly powerful piece of software. "I had a client that was unhappy because the robot he is helping design for a NASA competition at the local college just doesn't have the level of lighting realism he wanted with Solidworks. So I just sent him to this link on the Blender wiki and voila!" Well September is shaping up to be a banner month here in the world of free and open...

Tech News » That Tired Old Computer Could Be a Neat Media Streamer

Converting an unused PC to a media streamer could cost you nothing per month, as opposed to a cable bill of $90 or more a month. However, some Internet programming, including Fox's, is embargoed for a few days after regular broadcast. Also, keep in mind that the interface and hook-up can be more fiddly than that supplied by a classic cable box. One antidote to escalating household budgets is to cut utility services. However, dropping trash pickup...

News » How NOT to Push a New Open Source License, Part 1

Bruce Perens wrote several times that he had to check with the lawyers to see what the various terms of his open source covenant really mean. If this license is so complicated that he doesn't understand it, shouldn't it be fixed? And why would he be publicly advocating others use a license he doesn't fully understand? This doesn't inspire confidence. Bruce Perens recently introduced what he calls a "Covenant" open source license on behalf of Lexis-Nexis,...

Internet » Facebook Rips a Page From Google+

Facebook may be way ahead in terms of membership, but it's been lagging in usability. Its latest design tweak is the ability to organize friends into lists -- a lot like Google+'s vaunted Circles. Actually, the list feature isn't new, but Facebook is now kickstarting the process, automatically organizing friends according to a few basic criteria, and enabling separate news feeds for each list. Facebook has been rolling out a slew of changes and...