Redhat’s New CEO; Hidden gems, and possibly traps, in the Amazon Kindle; Intel is dropping out of One Laptop per Child project.Redhat’s New CEO Interview, From Slashdot:
“Red Hat just got a new CEO, Jim Whitehurst, but based on a recent CNET interview with him, he’s cut from the same cloth as Matthew Szulik, Red Hat’s former CEO. He won’t buy an iPod because it won’t play Ogg Vorbis files. He refused other CEO roles because he ‘must have a mission.’ He suggests that taking proprietary shortcuts is a fundamentally wrong way to build a software business. And he believes Red Hat should be doing $5 billion, not $500 million. It’s a question of operational excellence and on focusing on its core businesses, according to Whitehurst.”
Reverse Engineer Finds Kindle’s Hidden Features, from Slashdot:
“CNET’s Crave site has an interesting article on Amazon’s Kindle eBook reader, and the extensive reverse-engineering that fans of the device have accomplished. The site specifically points out the work of Igor Skochinsky at the Reversing Everything website. His work on the Kindle’s Root Shell has revealed some fascinating goodies: ‘Among the ones uncovered and described on his blog are a basic photo viewer, a minesweeper game, and most interesting, location technology that uses the Kindle’s CDMA networking to pinpoint its position. There also are some basic location-based services that call up a Google Maps view to show where you are and nearby gas stations and restaurants.'”
Intel Drops Out of One Laptop Per Child Project (Shame on them) From Slashdot:“Reportedly angered by the One Laptop Per Child project’s demand that it curtail work on its Classmate PC and other cheap laptops, Intel has resigned from the project’s board and canceled plans for an Intel-based OLPC laptop. Intel’s withdrawal from the project comes less than six months after the chip-making giant earned kudos for agreeing to contribute funding and join the board of OLPC. It’s the latest blow to the OLPC, whose CTO quit earlier this week to launch a for-profit company to commercialize her OLPC inventions.”