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QuickPicks

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" new title

Author JK Rowling has revealed the title of the seventh and final Harry Potter book. It will be called Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

OScar - Open Source Car

What do you get if you apply the open source model to the car industry?

madbean » JarWars

For the Java fans out there, here comes a nicely produced JarWars, as found by Kirk.

Cisco owns iPhone, not Apple

Cisco is relaunching its Linksys VOIP range as iPhone, to capitalise on the trademarked name it owns, despite the rumors that Apple would be creating their own iPhone.

Disco Dancing Santa Claus

My 6year son is now giving me links for compiledby! He found this great disco dancing santa that is very funny.

Skype users to get lie detectors

You better watch out; Skype will be offering lie detecting software to its users to measure stress levels. Hope it will filter out the stress of dropped connections and poor quality.

What Can't Open Source Achieve in the Next 10 Years? | Linux Journal

Gly Moody writes a blog on what he sees could be the next 10 years after reviewing just how far it has come in the last.

Festive return for singing sheep

Its the season of novelty records, and there is nothing more novel than a singing christmas sheep!

Bush's daughter's phone on 'eBay'

We noted last week how the President's daughters phone was snatched. Well it has popped up on an auction site!

From the desk Santa

A very funny letter found by Joe illustrating just how the whole present giving system works.

Five reasons to forget about C

Well, Joe found this article on why C should go the way of the dodo

Open source Java presents world of opportunities

Now that Java is open source what can we do with it?

Is IBM Happy Over Sun's Open Source Java?

An interesting piece on IBM's feelings about Sun's recent open sourcing of Java

Golden Gate Bridge considers corporate sponsors

Come on Cisco, time to step up and offer some money to the very symbol that has inspired your corporate logo for years

'Hairy Fairy' treats shoppers

A modern day fairy, albeit a middle aged man in a pink dress, is handing out free lunches and good deeds in Cornwall England

Million Dollar Challenge

Need to earn $1M? Then simply prove the existence of the paranormal and you'll be laughing all the way to the bank. Come forth all soothsayers.

Rocky Balboa Trailer

Rocky is back! Trailer looks promising

Beyonce and Eva Longoria as lesbians next film

My wife found this news nugget - Sophia Coppola will be thanked by men worldwide if her next film gets the go-ahead. :)

The Conference Community

Andy found this conference site where you can review and discover all about past and future conferences. Pretty neat idea.

Digging Deep into the Sun/GPL Announcement

James Turner writes a beautiful piece on the reality of the announcement that Java is now GPL. Well worth the read.

Peer-2-Power Skype, More Open Source, Cathedral building and serious water-power pistol fun

posted Mon 13 Jun 05
BusinessWeek has a good piece on the success of Skype and how it is utilising the vast peer-2-peer aspect of the Internet to put the fear of God up the traditional telco's with its free VoIP voice calls. Peer-2-Peer with its many-hands-make-light-work attitude is very similar to how the open source thrives when you ask the community for help.

Speaking of community help, Andy Singleton writes an interesting editorial over at IT Manager's Journal on why some companies don't open source their software. He goes through the classic reasons some companies would not want to go down that route.

The ideas and plays behind open source software aren't unique to the software world. Have you ever wondered how to build a cathedral in today's modern world with no funding, no planning permission or even formal building skills? Do it the open source way; get the community involved. Justo Gallego Martínez is doing just that in Spain. [Thanks to Kirk for passing on the link].

Finally, for some serious office games, check out the latest water gun unearthed by Gizmodo; it is a laser guided power water gun, complete with gallon tank on the back for serious rapid fire action.

The Power Of Us

Click here to read the full piece
How can a tiny European upstart like Skype Technologies S.A. do a number on a trillion-dollar industry? By dialing up a vast, hidden resource: its own users

Fear and loathing in source code licensing

Click here to read the full piece
Can established enterprise software vendors match the flexibility of open-source applications? If you ask for source code from a vendor that doesn't normally distribute it, you often get an instinctive answer of "we can't do that." You see fear, even paranoia. What are the sources of this fear that is preventing wider source code licensing and collaboration?

Modern day Cathedral

Click here to read the full piece
Justo Gallego Martínez is building his very own Cathedral in Mejorada del Campo near Madrid, Spain. This is no "model" cathedral and he is neither a qualified architect, nor engineer, nor bricklayer -- he is a farmer. "The plans have only ever existed in my head" and have evolved over time in response to opportunity and inspiration.

Head mounted water gun

Click here to read the full piece
The head mounted water gun operates with an antique liquid based fire extinguisher and it is actually more complicated than it looks. For full instructions head over to their site and soon you can be having
the time of your life in no time.

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BlackBadger

blackbadger 0.9.2 released (Mon, 16 Oct 2006 15:58:58 GMT)

Released at Mon, 16 Oct 2006 15:58:58 GMT by alanwilliamsonIncludes files: blackbadger_0_9_2.zip (13900469 bytes, 50 downloads to date)[Download] [Release Notes]