Google’s Desktop OS

In case you haven’t noticed, Google now has its well-funded mitts on just about every aspect of computing. From Web browsers to cell phones, soon you’ll be able to spend all day in the Googleverse and never have to leave. Will Google make the jump to building its own PC operating system next? What is it? It’s everything, or so it seems. Google Checkout provides an alternative to PayPal. Street View is well on its way to taking a picture of every house on every street in the United States. And the fun is just starting: Google’s early-beta Chrome browser earned a 1 percent market share in the first 24 hours of its existence. Android, Google’s cell phone operating system, is hitting handsets as you read this, becoming the first credible challenger to the iPhone among sophisticated customers. When is it coming? Though Google seems to have covered everything, many observers believe that logically it will next attempt to attack one very big part of the software market: the operating system. The Chrome browser is the first toe Google has dipped into these waters. While a browser is how users interact with most of Google’s products, making the underlying operating system somewhat irrelevant, Chrome nevertheless needs an OS to operate. To make Microsoft irrelevant, though, Google would have to work its way through a minefield of device drivers, and even then the result wouldn’t be a good solution for people who have specialized application needs, particularly most business users. But a simple Google OS–perhaps one that’s basically a customized Linux distribution–combined with cheap hardware could be something that changes the PC landscape in ways that smaller players who have toyed with open-source OSs so far haven’t been quite able to do.

Weekly Blog 6

Ths week in computer studies we learned about ethics. This week we also did presentations. I presenated on Mac vs. P.C. and my partners were Jovin and Guri. I learned the history of computers and the internet. We also had students from SFU come in and explain  what computing science is. I thought it was pretty interesting and knowledgeable. They explained what SFU offers and what percentage you need to get into SFU.

Weekly Blog 6

This week we had to work on a PowerPoint presentation in groups. In my group there is Guri, Jovin and me. My group has 3 people and we did operating systems. We did the difference between Windows 7 and Mac OS 10. This week on Wednesday we went with our parents to work.

Handshakes eschewed due to H1N1 at funeral for Toronto boy who died of swine flu

TORONTO – Burying a child is “the most horrific thing” for anyone to endure, the father of a 13-year-old boy who died from H1N1 said at his funeral, but he hopes the tragedy will encourage more education about the virus.

Evan Frustaglio, an otherwise healthy teen, died last Monday after complaining of symptoms at a hockey tournament on the weekend.

His father, Paul Frustaglio, said he, his wife Anne-Marie and son Will, 10, have been touched by the outpouring of support and stories from people who have also been affected by the swine flu.

“It truly amazes me that Evan’s death has captured a nation trying to find answers to a disease that is currently wearing the face of Evan Frustaglio,” his father said during a eulogy for his eldest son.

“We must learn from our loss and all become educated on a disease that took our son’s life.”

The spectre of the influenza on the minds of people all across the country was present during the funeral as Father Vito Marziliano asked those gathered to eschew the tradition of shaking hands during the sign of peace. In accordance with new H1N1 flu guidelines issued Monday by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto, a nod, bow or other such gesture was encouraged.

During the emotional tribute in front of about 900 mourners Frustaglio choked up several times as he shared memories of his “best friend.”

Mourners included dozens of children and teens in hockey jerseys and Maple Leafs forward Jason Blake, the Frustaglios’ former neighbour.

The boy’s passion for hockey was first sparked while watching the Canadian Olympic hockey team win a gold medal in 2002. Evan never had to be forced to go to practice, Frustaglio said. Instead it was Evan who would be prodding his parents awake for early-morning ice time.

“The job of burying your own kid is the most horrific thing for any human being to endure,” Frustaglio said.

“With every fibre of our being we keep hoping we’ll awake from this terrible nightmare and have him back in our arms again, shooting pucks in that driveway, protecting his brother Will, getting nagged by his mother Am to get to bed early and reminding me to get in shape.”

Evan was a charming kid, with a witty sense of humour who loved his parents and was a fierce protector of his younger brother, Frustaglio said.

“Not only did Evan act as Will’s elder sibling, but he was also his best friend and what I described as his other father. Evan was always warning Will pay attention when riding his bike. Will, stay off the road, stay on the sidewalk. Keep away from the hot oven.”

The day Evan died was also the day vaccination clinics in regions across Ontario opened to hours-long lineups for priority groups. Evan would not have been in one of the priority groups, which include people under 65 with chronic health conditions, pregnant women and children between six months and five years old.

As he prepared to bury his son, Frustaglio had a message to parents and everyone else to hold their children and loved ones close.

“The kiss of life is fleeting,” he said in his eulogy. “It is over before you know it. So never let the obligations of life distract you from the cherished gift of family.”

Facebook awarded hundreds of millions in damages against ‘Spam King’

The message to mischievous junk mailers is clear – don’t mess with Facebook – after the social networking website was awarded $711 million dollars (£430 million) in damages against Sanford Wallace, known as the “Spam King”.

A company spokesman said: “While we don’t expect to receive the vast majority of the award, we hope that this will act as a continued deterrent.”

Facebook claimed that Mr Wallace had been gaining access to users’ accounts and sending unsolicited mass emails, directing them to other websites that paid him for each visit.

It claimed that he had committed more than 14 million violations of the US CAN-SPAM Act, which covers spamming.

Facebook originally asked for more than $7 billion (£4.2 billion) in damages.

In his ruling Jeremy Fogel, a US district judge in San Jose, California, said: “Wallace wilfully violated the statutes in question with blatant disregard for the rights of Facebook users whose accounts were compromised by his conduct.”

Facebook noted that the judge referred Mr Wallace to the US Attorney’s Office with a request that he be prosecuted for criminal contempt.

“In addition to the judgment, he now faces possible jail time,” a spokesman said. “This is another important victory in our fight against spam. We will continue to pursue damages against other spammers.”

In May 2008, MySpace won a $230 million (£139 million) judgment against Mr Wallace and his partner Walter Rines over junk messages sent to its users.

The latest judgment is believed to represent the second largest anti-spam action.

Last year, Facebook won $873 million (£529 million) against a business that bombarded social networkers with sexually explicit messages.

 

Probe ordered after Calgary Flames score flu shots while public waits

CALGARY – The Alberta government has launched an investigation into how members of the Calgary Flames and their families scored swine flu shots at a special clinic as thousands of people waited in line for the vaccine or were turned away.

Alberta Health Minister Ron Liepert said he wants to know if the shots were “inappropriately diverted” to the hockey players while other Albertans stood in line for hours.

“There is only one supplier in the province and that’s us,” he said. “They would only be diverted with the approval of the chief medical officer of health.”

Dr. Andre Corriveau, Alberta’s chief medical health officer, said he first learned about the issue through the news media Tuesday and declined to comment due to the investigation.

 

Ken King, president of the NHL club, said the players and their families received their shots on Friday at a private location. He said the organization contacted Alberta Health Services and requested the clinic based on recommendations from team doctors, the NHL and provincial guidelines in place at the time.

“We thought that we were working within a protocol that Alberta Health Services thought was appropriate,” he said.

Players are at a high risk of spreading the virus “due to the fact that they have frequent physical contact, onerous domestic and cross-border travel, extreme exertion and, frankly, are in very close contact with other teams,” he said Tuesday.

Part of the consideration was that players are frequently recognized and could have caused a stir at a mass clinic, he said.

“The whole notion of some sort of a sideshow at these clinics, thereby also creating, perhaps, longer lineups and other issues and maybe more complications for other people.”

The revelation is one more hit for the Alberta government, which is facing mounting criticism for the way it has managed its swine flu vaccination program.

Initially, anyone who came to one of the mass clinics set up across the province was vaccinated. But that led to huge lineups and the clinics have been closed since the weekend so the plan could be rejigged to focus on high-risk patients.

Starting Thursday, only children between the ages of six months and under five years will be eligible to get the vaccine, followed by pregnant women.

Opposition politicians charged the hockey players were given special treatment because of their star status.

“It’s a failure of leadership that we are providing vaccines willy-nilly to whoever has money, to whoever has access, when cancer patients, when chronic lung patients, when pregnant women and their children can’t get it,” said Alberta Liberal Leader David Swann.

“It’s a violation of the basic principles of public health care.”

NDP Leader Brian Mason accused the government of paying more attention to its pocketbooks than to Albertans who could die without the vaccine.

“The Calgary Flames owners have an investment to protect and together have donated more than $44,000 to the Progressive Conservative Party since 2004,” Mason told the legislature.

“Why has the premier allowed millionaire friends of this PC government to receive preferential treatment over vulnerable Albertans like pregnant women and children under five?”

King said at the time the Flames requested the clinic, many Albertans who had no special risk factors were being vaccinated. He said he never would have expected such treatment under the government’s new stricter guidelines.

“We wouldn’t do it today because the vaccine wouldn’t be available today,” he said.

“We went at a time that hundreds of thousands of other Albertans of all risk profiles were getting it, and thought we were within scope.

“Clearly that didn’t sit well.”

Premier Ed Stelmach said Alberta Health Services will have a full report “very shortly.”

In Edmonton, Allan Watt, the Oilers’ vice-president of communications, said the team is keeping on top of the players’ health but has not made any H1N1 vaccination arrangements for them.

“If a player wants to get a shot he can go to a clinic just like any other person,” said Watt.

The NHL said last week that at least three players – forward Quintin Laing (notes) of the Washington Capitals, Edmonton Oilers defenceman Ladislav Smid (notes) and Colorado Avalanche goalie Peter Budaj (notes) – had been diagnosed with H1N1.

The league said it had “implemented no specific ‘contingency plans’ at this point in time” but would be prepared to do so should it become necessary.

-With files from Jim Macdonald in Edmonton.