Sudesh Mesta

Ubuntu goes more mobile with 8.10 release

The gradual and metered improvement with the Ubuntu variant of Linux created and supported by commercial Linux distributor Canonical takes another step forward this week with the release of "Intrepid Ibex", which will be distributed as Ubuntu 8.10.

Ubuntu 8.10 is a regular release of the Linux variant, not one with what Canonical calls Long Term Support, or LTS. Regular releases of Ubuntu come out every six months and have 18 months of support from Canonical for both the server and the client. LTS releases are more hardened and have more stringent testing and certification of Linux applications, and only come out every two years; LTS releases have three years of support from Canonical on desktops and five years on servers.

Back when the feature set for Ubuntu 8.10 was being hammered out by the Ubuntu development community, Mark Shuttleworth, Canonical's chief executive officer and the founder of the Ubuntu project, said that the Interpid Ibex development cycle would have the desktop, not the server, as the focal point "so that Ubuntu works as well on a high-end workstation as it does on a feisty little subnotebook".

The other goal of the 8.10 release was to expand beyond WiFi connectivity and to have the network manager in Ubuntu link into 3G networks, thereby allowing mobile PC users to stay even more connected than they can be with just wired and WiFi networks alone. "Ubuntu 8.10 sees us lay the groundwork for a radically different, more mobile, desktop computing environment of the next two years," explains Jane Silber, chief operating officer at Canonical and the head of online services for the Linux distributor.

"Our rapid release cycle means we can deliver the elements to support this future faster, more fully realized, and more attractively packaged than traditional OS vendors. Ubuntu 8.10 has many features that sign-post how Linux will provide the drive and innovation in desktop computing."

The first step in this process is to embrace 3G networks, and the network manager in Ubuntu 8.10 can detect and connect to 3G networks via 3G modems, through dongles, through a mobile phone attached to a machine, or through a Bluetooth link. There are a lot of different 3G connectivity options, and Canonical wants to simplify it with the Intrepid Ibex. And further enhancing the portability of Ubuntu 8.10, the operating system can write an instance of itself to a USB flash memory stick, which is both faster and easier than burning a CD or DVD and allows end users to carry a copy of Ubuntu with them and use it anywhere.

Another small change in Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop Edition is a single-click button that allows end users to fire up a guest session so someone can borrow your computer and use it to, for instance, check their email or browse the Web without giving the borrower full access to your computer.

Canonical has also, according to Chris Kenyon, who is in charge of OEM services at the company, worked out a deal with the BBC to open up the radio and television content the news organization generates to Ubuntu users and allow them to access this content for free to users of the Totem media player in Ubuntu. The BBC has committed to use open codecs for its content as much as possible as part of its agreement with Ubuntu; the content access is enabled through a plug-in for Totem.

The Ubuntu 8.10 release is based on the Linux 2.6.27 kernel, which Canonical says has better hardware support and a number of bug fixes compared to the Ubuntu 8.04 LTS variant, nicknamed "Hardy Heron", announced in April of this year and based on the Linux 2.6.24 kernel. Ubuntu 8.10 uses the Gnome 2.24, which "has tons of bug fixes and new features", according to the release notes, as well as the X.Org 7.4 X window environment. Network Manager is now at the 0.7 level (more on this below), and the Samba Windows-compatible print and file server is at the 3.2 level. Users of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS can upgrade to Ubuntu 8.10 automatically, but those of earlier releases have to find an upgrade path into Ubuntu 8.04 first and then do a two-step (or, in some cases, a three-step) upgrade. (Just a reminder - Ubuntu 7.04 reached end of life on October 19.)

Like Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, Ubuntu 8.10 runs on 32-bit X86 and 64-bit X64 machinery, but it does not have support for Sun Microsystems's multicore Sparc T1, T2, and T2+ processors. The Ubuntu 6.06 LTS, 7.04, and 7.10 released did have support for the Sparc T1 processors, and a few years ago Sun and Canonical made a lot of noise about this support. But Sparc T processors are no longer part of the standard Ubuntu distribution, and Sparc T support has been put out to the same ports.ubuntu.com pasture where Power processors now graze.

By Timothy Prickett Morgan

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LinkedIn Search: Finding that former colleague of yours just got easier

By, Esteban Kozak

I'd like to announce today the launch of our new search platform, currently released to a small percentage of our LinkedIn users. In addition, a certain percentage of the remaining users can explore the new search experience by simply clicking on the “Try LinkedIn’s new People Search” link at the top of search results pages.

As the largest global professional network, we’ve had the privilege of having millions of users enter over a billion professional search queries, and we’ve been working hard to build a much more robust professional people search engine. We interviewed lots of users and aggregated thousand of pieces of feedback. The end result is a completely redesigned search experience aimed at making it easier and faster to find the most relevant professionals that you're looking for.

Here is a quick summary of the new features that will be phased out to all of our users in the coming months:

1. Unified search results:

We eliminated the need to switch tabs if you want to see professionals outside your network. The new search will retrieve the most relevant professionals from the entire LinkedIn community.

2. More powerful relevance algorithm:

The new relevance sort not only takes into account keyword relevance but also leverages both the professional graph and the rich profile data to ensure that the most relevant professionals are always shown at the top of your search results page.

3. Redesigned search results page:

Speaking of the search results page, we've redesigned this page from the ground up to make it more readable and actionable. This includes a new streamlined look, the ability to refine you searches from a new “Modify your search” module on the right rail, easily accessible sorts and views, and the ability to take actions from the results page as you mouse over results.

4. In Common:

"In Common" is a new field in search results that lets you see what connections and groups you share with the selected user.

5. Saved Searches:

This is one of the most requested features. We’ll allow you to save searches and very soon we’ll let you get reminders over email if we find someone new that meets your criteria.

6. Views:

We now offer two views as part of the search results redesign, basic and expanded. In addition, we also let you create your own view. You’ll be able to add or remove fields from search results based on what makes the most sense for your type of searches.

7. Spell check:

We know how hard typing people’s names is. We hear it from our users and also see it in the data. As a result, we built a robust spell checker for names. We’ll expand the spell checker to other type of keywords very soon.

8. Type-ahead for connections:

We also saw in the data that many of you use search to get to your connections quickly. In order to make it more efficient, we developed a type-ahead widget that recommends connections as you type from any people search box.

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We’ll be testing all of these features over the next few weeks as we fine tune them for full release.  Stay tuned for more here, as these improvements mark just the beginning in helping your professional people search.

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To Survive, Net Start-Ups Slow Their Metabolism

Silicon Valley has always been a land of big, bold dreams. In the first Internet boom its start-ups either grew fast or died trying, sometimes spectacularly. The casualties of the bust, like Pets.com and Webvan, became legendary.

In this downturn, say investors and entrepreneurs, start-ups are adopting a strategy that they hope will let them hang on instead of flame out.

To preserve cash, many tech start-ups are rushing to lay off employees and cut expenses. They are shelving their dreams of Google-size riches and getting small, humble and thrifty, all with the more modest goal of surviving the coming economic winter.

Once upon a time, an unprofitable Internet start-up like Zivity, a social site that revolves around photos of models, might have turned into just another dot-bomb. Though it has paltry revenues and just 20,000 registered users, the company pays only $8,000 a month to rent its offices in San Francisco and has received $8 million from investors. This month it laid off 8 of its 22 employees — saving enough money to stay alive through 2011 and survive even a prolonged recession.

“We think we have a valuable product,” said Cyan Banister, Zivity’s co-founder. “We should be able to weather the storm.”

Even in normal economic times, a majority of start-ups fail. But the same factors that have made it so easy to create Web 2.0-style start-ups — low fixed costs, access to inexpensive overseas programmers and cheap ways to advertise online — also make it relatively easy for even faltering companies to cut back their operations to the bare minimum and hang on through a slump.

Web start-ups “don’t fail in the same way they used to fail,” said Brad Burnham, a partner at the venture capital firm Union Square Ventures, adding that the previous generation of Internet companies lived hard and died young. Knowing when to pull the plug on the current crop of more frugal companies is now “different, more subtle, more problematic,” he said. “They don’t run into a wall.”

The Web companies in this new generation are so efficient with capital that venture capitalists “may not have the plug in our hand,” Mr. Burnham said.

The only certainty in Silicon Valley is that survival is quickly becoming more challenging. The growth in online display advertising, which helps fuel the new Internet ecosystem, is declining. Venture capitalists and other investors in start-ups, like hedge funds, are cutting back. The market for initial public offerings remains closed and potential acquirers — Google, Yahoo and the rest — are deep in their own problems. Many entrepreneurs and deal makers agree that a shake-out is indeed coming.

Venture capitalists have begun preaching frugality, urging the start-ups they have invested in to cut costs and get profitable. Their advice shares themes: cut employees, do not count on raising more money and move quickly.

The entrepreneurs appear to be listening. AdBrite, an online advertising network in San Francisco that raised $35 million in venture capital, recently laid off one-third of its staff, or 40 employees, to get to profitability next year. The company’s chief executive, Iggy Fanlo, ran the e-commerce site Shopping.com during the first dot-com bust, and he said he recalled how wave after wave of layoffs sank morale.

“I had gone through this before and we had death by a thousand cuts,” Mr. Fanlo said. “I wanted to credibly look people in the eye this time and say we are profitable.”

Every day seems to bring a new round of layoffs. In the last two weeks, the music site Imeem, the social search site Mahalo, the visual search engine Searchme, the real estate site Zillow, the Internet radio site Pandora and the social network Hi5 all cut as much as a quarter of their employees.

For many entrepreneurs, the lone goal has become survival. At Seesmic, a video blogging service, the day of reckoning — when it runs out of the $6 million it raised in May — will come in three years. To make the money last, Loïc Le Meur, the chief executive, recently laid off seven employees, or one-third of his staff, and cut all projects not directly related to the video service.

“If I can’t make this work in three years it will be a failure,” Mr. Le Meur said. “If I can and I get through this, it will be much stronger.”

Even companies with less than stellar track records and revenues say they can live through a protracted slump.

Lala, a music site based in Palo Alto, Calif., has scrapped two music services and recently began a third site in conjunction with the major labels. The company raised $35 million three years ago and, thanks to financial prudence, has $20 million in the bank. It recently delayed plans to double its staff and it put its excess office space up for sublet.

Lala’s founder, Bill Nguyen, expressed a measure of relief at the chill in the Valley. “This whole economic crisis allows me not to have to grow,” he said. “I view this as a free hall pass.”

That wholesale resetting of expectations might be the biggest change to settle over Silicon Valley. Instead of aiming for blockbuster public offerings or market-shaking acquisitions, most entrepreneurs now just want to endure. But if not enough people use these start-ups’ services and revenue does not grow fast enough to attract potential acquirers, mere survival may not look so good.

At Faraday Media, a Palo Alto start-up that is trying to create a personalized version of the Internet for its users, there is no revenue, no office space (the five employees work from their homes) and little chance of raising any capital from the newly miserly angel investors who would otherwise support a start-up of its size.

Chris Saad, Faraday Media’s founder, said the company saw no reason to give up. “We are committed to the idea that the company and technology we are building is fundamentally going to reshape the Web,” he said. “We are committed to investing our time into this for as long as it takes.”

If these skeletal start-ups do succumb to the downturn, firms like Sherwood Partners, which specializes in bankruptcy consulting and shutting down companies, will be waiting. Sherwood Partners has not yet had the kind of activity it witnessed during the last bust, but Martin D. Pichinson, a partner at the company, is preparing for a burst of new business as many start-ups acknowledge that just because they can survive does not mean they should.

Failing start-ups “are already out there, and we are starting to close some of them, when investors say it needs to be done,” Mr. Pichinson said.

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Microsoft Unveils Windows Azure at Professional Developers Conference

Company releases comprehensive Azure Services Platform for the cloud, offering unprecedented power of choice and open connections for developers.

Today, during a keynote speech at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference 2008 (PDC2008), Ray Ozzie, Microsoft Corp.’s chief software architect, announced Windows Azure, the cloud-based service foundation underlying its Azure Services Platform, and highlighted this platform’s role in delivering a software plus services approach to computing. The Azure Services Platform is an industry-leading move by Microsoft to help developers build the next generation of applications that will span from the cloud to the enterprise datacenter and deliver compelling new experiences across the PC, Web and phone.

Ozzie described how this platform combines cloud-based developer capabilities with storage, computational and networking infrastructure services, all hosted on servers operating within Microsoft’s global datacenter network. This provides developers with the ability to deploy applications in the cloud or on-premises and enables experiences across a broad range of business and consumer scenarios. A limited community technology preview (CTP) of the Azure Services Platform was initially made available to developers in attendance at PDC2008, giving them a chance to try out its features and functions and plan for their own future development.

“Today marks a turning point for Microsoft and the development community,” Ozzie said. “We have introduced a game-changing set of technologies that will bring new opportunities to Web developers and business developers alike. The Azure Services Platform, built from the ground up to be consistent with Microsoft’s commitment to openness and interoperability, promises to transform the way businesses operate and how consumers access their information and experience the Web. Most important, it gives our customers the power of choice to deploy applications in cloud-based Internet services or through on-premises servers, or to combine them in any way that makes the most sense for the needs of their business.”

Empowering Cloud Development With the Azure Services Platform

Unlike many of today’s service-based solutions, the Azure Services Platform provides developers with the flexibility and ability to create applications while taking advantage of their existing skills, tools and technologies such as the Microsoft .NET Framework and Visual Studio. Developers also can choose from a broad range of commercial or open source development tools and technologies, and access the Azure Services Platform using a variety of common Internet standards including HTTP, representational state transfer (REST), WS-* and Atom Publishing Protocol (AtomPub).

Key components of the Azure Services Platform include the following:

State-of-the-Art Datacenter Infrastructure

Microsoft also described the importance of building robust datacenters in delivering online services. Over the past year, Microsoft has opened major datacenters in Quincy, Wash., and San Antonio, with additional centers scheduled to open in Chicago and Dublin, Ireland. Microsoft is leading the way in services infrastructure with innovative use of shipping containers as flexible and portable housing for servers, providing 10 times the density and dramatic savings in power usage. Supporting the Microsoft software plus services strategy, Microsoft’s datacenters serve up e-mail accounts, Web pages, instant messages, photos, videos, software programs and search information to millions of Internet customers worldwide.

Cut Costs and Unlock Innovation

Services technologies, when employed alongside other core technology enablers such as virtualization and modeling, will result in dramatic benefits for customers’ IT departments. Specifically, these technologies will enable a new and more dynamic world, where IT departments can drive down operating costs, focus their spending on systems that differentiate the business, and ultimately enable IT to become a more strategic asset.

“Only a few companies in the world can bring the promise of cloud computing to reality, and we are excited about the strong capabilities of the Azure Services Platform,” said Paul Farrell, senior vice president of research and development for Epicor Software Corp. “We believe that Microsoft’s initiative and leadership in software plus services will be beneficial to Epicor customers as we architect our solutions to optimize for cloud and on-premises solutions.”

Providing Businesses Choice and Flexibility Through Software and Services

Microsoft’s service offerings also include Microsoft Online Services. These solutions deliver enterprise-class software as a subscription service, hosted by Microsoft and sold through partners. Microsoft services applications, including Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, Office Communications Online and Office Live Meeting can be used as a complement to or in addition to on-premises software, enabling the power of choice depending on a customer’s IT strategy.

More information about the Azure Services Platform and Microsoft’s software plus services offering can be found athttp://www.azure.com.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page athttp://www.microsoft.com/presspass on Microsoft’s corporate information pages. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/contactpr.mspx.

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SoftPerfect Scans Networks from a USB Drive

Windows only: A good network scanner digs deep into any network it's pointed at and opens it up for you to get into. SoftPerfect Network Scanner does those things, can do them from a thumb drive, and is a good deal less intimidating than some other scanner apps out there. The small program lays out its network findings in an easy-to-grasp manner, and can be expanded to show you more than just names and addresses. Weighing in at less than 1MB, it makes a great addition to any thumb drive, especially for anyone often called upon to figure out what's up with the router. Check out some of SoftPerfect's deeper options and offerings below.

After grabbing and installing the stand-alone executable, you'll see that SoftPerfect can do some pretty basic system-finding and exploration. Head to "Options" and choose "Auto Detect Local IP Range" to save yourself the typing. On most home networks, if you're prompted for an interface choice, pick the one that starts with 192.168. Hit "Start scanning," and you're off.

If SoftPerfect finds a shared folder, you can right-click it to open Windows' native explorer view or map it to a virtual letter drive. Right-clicking a computer icon offers you wake-on-LAN sleep/wake-up options, along with HTTP, FTP, and Telnet connection. Where are the MAC addresses, though? And how do you know which workgroup a system belongs to? Head into the options (Options menu, choose Program Options) to unleash SoftPerfect's more powerful tools.

The General tab doesn't offer too much intriguing, unless SoftPerfect is timing out on you regularly. Under Additional, though, you can enable MAC address finding, which you'd need to remotely wake up or put a computer to sleep, or to lock down a network later. The Workstation tab has more useful tools, including look-ups of "LAN group" (i.e. the workgroup setting that's driven many a would-be Window file-sharer nuts) and others.

More powerful than any of those, though, is the Applications tab. Here you can set up quick pipes to unleash your favorite apps on remote systems, whether you're usingPuTTY for SSH access, Total Commander to browse files, or just connecting to yourstreaming Jinzora jukebox with Firefox, while keeping Chrome your default browser (or vice-versa). Simply hit "New" and fill in the apps' details, and right-clicking on a system will let you work your custom-app magic.

SoftPerfect's great for anyone whose home router or cable modem regularly switches up their systems' IP addresses, or for traveling tech types who like to know what's on deck right away. Found a better use for SoftPerfect, or your preferred network scanner? Tell us in the comments.

SoftPerfect Network Scanner is a free download for Windows systems only. Thanks,MyTQuinn!

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Gmail Puts a Smile on Your Face, Adds Emoticons

In another step toward the inevitable devolution of the written word that is the internet, Gmail has finally added support for emoticons in Gmail. No longer must you say with words what you can more accurately convey with an animated smiley-face cartoon. Gmail Chat lovers will be glad to know the update brings a whole new page of emoticons to chat, as well.

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What is svchost.exe and why is it running?

You are no doubt reading this article because you are wondering why on earth there are nearly a dozen processes running with the name svchost.exe. You can't kill them, and you don't remember starting them… so what are they?

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You can support Greenpeace, I'm one of them

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Web traffic jam as people search for financial news

The financial crisis has people flocking to the Internet for the latest money news along with tips on how to salvage investments and save on the routine costs of living.

Visits to websites such as the business-centric Wall Street Journal and economy-focused Yahoo Finance set new records as the US Congress grappled with its 700 billion dollar plan to stop credit markets from imploding.

Internet tracker comScore says visits to www.gasbuddy.com, which steers drivers to stations featuring low fuel prices, are up nearly 30 percent and it expects to report spikes in traffic to finance and bargain-hunter websites when September statistics are calculated later this week.

"Investment pages are just red hot right now with people wanting to know what is going on with stocks," Yahoo Finance general manager Mark Interrante told AFP.

"We have been impressed by the traffic. People are not just diving down into stocks but asking what is going on, how it affects them and where it is all going."

Activity is up 40 percent at Yahoo Finance message boards where people chat online about cash, finance and other personal money matters and the website's Tech Ticker video news programme is getting millions of daily visitors.

"The editorial team at Tech Ticker is working around the clock to find the right stories for people to understand the crisis," Interrante said. "This is going to be a record month for us."

Yahoo Finance stock quotes and other features popular in the United States began being rolled out Tuesday at the California firm's websites in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Britain.

"We pre-launched a couple of pages in France and got very positive customer feedback and moved forward with the rest ofEurope," Interrante said. "You will see a lot more stuff rolling out in Europe in the next six weeks."

Google queries regarding "stocks" nearly tripled in September, according to data posted this week at the Internet search king's website that tracks trends in what people seek online.

US-based Akamai Technologies, which handles online traffic for major news outlets such as NBC and the BBC, reports visits to those websites surged to record levels as the dramatic events played out in money markets.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported an unprecedented two million visitors in a single day.

Meanwhile, penny-pinchers website http://SavingAdvice.com">SavingAdvice.com says it has seen "a significant amount of traffic" for information about shopping coupons, deals on gasoline and troubled banks.

"That increase in search engine traffic may indeed have something to do with the economic issues," said Jeffrey Strain of SavingAdvice.

"The forums have had some change in focus with the changes in the economy as well. Questions about the stock market and changes taking place there have increased as the financial meltdown has taken place."

Self-help startup http://PeopleJam.com">PeopleJam.com has seen interest in personal finance tips multiply nearly eightfold in the past month as people seek ways to save money or find reliable investing advice.

"Our audience is clearly worried about their retirement savings or waking up in the morning wondering if they can put gas in the car, pay their mortgage or cover a child's tuition bill," PeopleJam chief executive Matt Edelman said.

"They want ways to eat healthy on a budget; ways to exercise for free as opposed to joining a gym... day-to-day activities that people want to keep in their lives but don't have the money to afford."

http://FindHow.com">FindHow.com, a website created as a resource for people that want to fix or build things themselves instead of paying for professionals, sees a tsunami of interest heading its way due to the financial markets meltdown.

"If I were a betting person, right now I would bet that do-it-yourself is going to get very big in the coming months," FindHow president Dave Smith said.

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Windows XP Gets Reprieve, Yet Again

Windows XP is proving harder to kill than a Halloween vampire. With businesses having all but shunned Windows Vista, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has decided to extend the period in which it will make copies of its older sibling available to PC makers.

Microsoft originally planned to stop distributing Windows XP media to large OEMs on Jan. 31, 2009, but this week said it would move the deadline to July 31 of next year.

A Microsoft spokesman claimed in an e-mail that the move is designed to help businesses upgrade to Vista painlessly. "As more customers make the move to Windows Vista, we want to make sure that they are making that transition with confidence and that it is as smooth as possible. Providing downgrade media for a few more months is part of that commitment," the spokesman said.

The fact is, however, that very few large companies are eyeing Vista. A survey released last week by the UK's Corporate IT Forum showed that only 4% of businesses in that country are using Windows Vista on workplace systems, while 35% said they were "not yet interested" in Vista. 58% said they were still using Windows XP, now seven years old.

A document obtained by InformationWeek last week revealed that state IT officials in Maine will likely skip Vista and stick with XP until Windows 7 becomes available sometime in 2010. Users have complained about Vista's resource requirements, intrusive security measures and lack of compatibility with older software.

Vista's unpopularity in the business world may have forced Microsoft to extend XP's shelf life. The company officially retired the OS in June for most markets, but continues to make XP Professional available to PC makers who offer it as a "downgrade" option from Vista on business systems. Downgrade availability was set to end on Jan. 31 but will now continue through next July.

If Microsoft is on schedule with Windows 7, that will leave a gap of just six months between the end of the XP program and Windows 7's availability. It's a sign that Microsoft has conceded that Vista has flopped in the corporate market.

Microsoft is hoping Windows 7 will receive a better reception. In an effort to burnish Windows' reputation and pave the way for the next version, the company recently launched a $300 million ad campaign starring Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Gates, and a host of ordinary PC users. The ads make no mention of Vista.

Microsoft, however, has warned that Windows 7 and Vista share the same basic architecture. As a result, applications that aren't compatible with Vista won't likely run on Windows 7, either.

Microsoft shares were off 2.7% to $22.60 in mid-day trading Wednesday as world financial markets continued their downward slide. 

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