Ubuntu 11.10, codenamed "Oneiric Ocelot", releases today. It is a key Linux-based OS release in the development history of the operating system. Earlier this year, Ubuntu 11.10 was made available as a pre-alpha development version, with many stating that the operating system had finally, "found its stride".Some of the more important updates involve the overall stability of the Ubuntu release, its streamlined cloud services and a heavily improved app store.Also included by the developers is an expanded version of ...

Google reports that its profit in the recently ended financial quarter climbed to US$2.73-billion on the back of soaring online advertising revenue."We had a great quarter," said Google co-founder and chief executive Larry Page."Revenue was up 33% year on year and our quarterly revenue was just short of US$10-billion," he added.The internet giant took in US$9.72-billion in revenue in the quarter ending 30 September. The bulk of this revenue came from its various online properties.Google stock jumped more ...

The announcement of Microsoft's Skype acquisition was greeted with scepticism,irritation and eventual happiness. Months later, the acquisition of Skype has now been finalised. The US$8.5-billion deal ended with a handshake and a smile from CEO Tony Bates who will now be named president of Microsoft's Skype Division.An official Microsoft blog, written by Bates, outlines the details of the acquisition in full:Joining forces with Microsoft is the best way to accelerate this mission and capitalise on our position at the intersection of ...

In an ABC of design A is for animated alphabet, B is for bamboo bike and Bionic Arch and C is for circular films and cycling safety.Letter formsA is for "anamorphosis", B is for "biscuit" and C is for "cell animation". Italian creative N9ve used unusual fonts and playful typefaces to make a short stop-motion animation in which each letter of the alphabet becomes part of a scene involving a word that starts with that letter.The Alphabet 2 from ...

The Bookmarks, a digital award showcase which aims to recognise excellence in digital advertising, has reorganised its categories, something it claims will open it up to "a wider range of digital publishers and agencies".The awards are an initiative of the Digital Media Marketing Association (DMMA).According to DMMA and Bookmarks chairperson Nikki Cockroft, the categories were reorganised, not just to open up the awards but also to “ensure all submissions were compared to relevant competitors, and evaluated by judges ...

The advent of eBooks means the publishing world now faces similar piracy battles to the music industry faces with illegal downloads.Publishers and experts at the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany say eBook theft is unlikely to go away, but is a manageable problem with vigilance and action already underway.eBook readers such as Amazon's Kindle and Apple's iPad are fuelling demand for digital books, which account in the US for about 20% of book sales according to Claire Holloway, of ...

The mystery virus which reportedly struck the US Air Force's unmanned drone fleet has been dismissed as a "nuisance" by the US Air Force.In the first official confirmation of the virus, Air Force Space Command said that while computers at the Nevada base were infected, the virus posed no serious threat to flight operations.Space Command also stated that the malware had not been a key-logger but rather a "credential stealer found routinely on computer networks"."The infected computers were ...

Sony was quick to negate reports that its popular line of Bravia LCD TVs was being recalled due to safety issues. Over 1.6-million Bravia's were thought to be affected. Instead of owning up to any technical error, however, Sony has decided on a free TV inspection program on selected models.When contacted, Bravia stressed that there was most definitely no recall. UK PR manager for Sony, David Edwards said, "The issue came to our attention through reports in Japan that a ...

In my previous post I spoke about ROI being the forgotten metric in online marketing, and how the hype around social media has veered digital marketers away from first getting the basics right.If you are focusing on social without having the fundamentals in place, it’s like putting the proverbial horse, which happens to be a real socialite, before the cart carrying the pot of gold! So for the sake of not putting the horse before the cart ourselves, lets ...

It's been a wild three days -- and counting -- for millions of BlackBerry users across several continents. Facing the BlackBerry Internet Service's biggest outage in history, and compounded by a hoax BBM message that asks users to forward it to their contacts in order to maintain BBM service, RIM held an emergency press conference on Wednesday to mitigate some of the growing animosity of its weary customer base.Following sporadic service status updates on its website since Monday, RIM addressed ...