Document Foundation Breaks off from Oracle

Recently, Oracle bought SUN Microsystems and got the copyright to all of their products, including the massively popular free alternative to Microsoft Word, OpenOffice.org

This caused some of the creators of OpenOffice to branch off and create their own group, the Document Foundation, as they didn't like the idea of a corporate controlled open-source project. They say that they "welcome corporate participation, e.g. by sponsoring individuals to work as equals alongside other contributors in the community," but they do not want to be controlled by a corporation and be limited in what they can do. They also created the Document Foundation saying that "...an independent Foundation brings out the best in contributors and will deliver the best software for users."

They have offered Oracle to donate the code and copyright of OpenOffice to them, but they have also made it clear that they do not need the copyright to continue working. So instead, they have created a fork of the popular office suite, called Libre Office. This is currently in beta, and it isn't fully developed, but feel free to try it out here. Libre Office will also be an open-source project, and the Document Foundation hopes to expand and make Libre Office the best free alternative to Microsoft Word. Good luck!

-Teguh

Ironic Segway Accident

Tragic news, Jimi Heselden, the owner of the Segway Inc., died after a segway accident. He was using a segway, believed to be made by his own company (a gyrobike model), to drive around the perimeters of his property, when his segway drove off a cliff with him, it is believed. His body was found near what the police describe as "a segway-style vehicle". He had sustained multiple injuries upon the discovery of the body in the River Wharfe close to the town of Boston Spa in North England on September 16. A spokesman for Hesco Bastion (the company that Mr. Heseldon was chairman for) announced his death formally. A court session adjourned in the middle of deciding on whether or not a court inquest was required. The detective who inspected the scene, and later informed the wife of the deceased was Detective Superintendant Paul Taylor. Unfortunately, the body was not initially permitted to be released to the family in order for a funeral, but has now become available for a funeral service scheduled for October 11, at noon. Our hearts and minds are with this 62 year old man, whose life was stolen by the very product he loved, bought, and endorsed.


-Karl J.

SHAtter

Recently Apple released a new iOS update that provided many new features. It was iOS update 4.1 and it enabled a sort of mmo-based game center as well as a couple other minor features.  Jailbreakers have been told not to update there unlocked devices to this new update for it is a "trap" and will brick or unjailbreak their device. However a day later a vulnerability was discovered and a jailbreak is in the making. The hole in the software is a bootrom vunerability referred now to as SHAtter. It is still in development, but anytime this week, or this month, the dev-team (a group of hackers) will release a jailbreak called "greenpois0n." Apple will want to find a way to shut down this hole, but a full device recall is not going to happen. So the most likely response will be to close down the hole with the in-production devices. It is recommended that if you want to take advantage of this hole, than a device should be purchased now. However, when Apple ships the un-jailbreakable software, than it is more than possible that there will be another hole.
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-Mason

Happy Birthday Google!

Today, (Sept. 27) Google is 12! To celebrate, Google is sending the the whole world cake by means of a doodle on its home page! Of the many doodles on Google's homepage, this one is the second best I have seen- nothing can beat the Pacman game on the homepage. That is the first interactive Google homepage that I have seen. I would be more impressed if they had a cake with twelve candles, or an animation of the candle(s) being blown out every time that you searched something.

It isn't quite clear when exactly Google's birthday really is (read this article). I think that Google would know when its own birthday is, so this pretty effectively kills any arguments that say that their birthday is the seventh of September. Either way, at least it's been with us for a dozen years. Google has completely changed the web with all of their tools and services for all to use. What I love the most about Google is that they are still evolving, coming out with new tools and improving their existing tools. Overall, Google is transforming the internet for the better, so why not celebrate?

-Scotty