LG launches iPhone look-alike ... Google to announce open-source mobile OS ... Cheap Linux laptops threaten OLPC

In this issue:
* LG's iPhone look-alike launched in Europe
* RIM offers BlackBerry software for small businesses
* Google to announce mobile platform on Monday
* Cheap Linux PCs may pressure One Laptop Per Child
* Mozilla offers stability update to Firefox
* Microsoft swoops in to claim Nigeria Linux deal
* Celebrity nerds outed
* Poll: What's your Wikipedia usage like?


IN THE NEWS

LG's iPhone look-alike launched in Europe
The iPhone-like handset that LG Electronics unveiled at August's Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) trade show is now on sale in Europe.

Samsung to target enterprise servers with new SSDs
Samsung Electronics is moving towards commercialization of solid-state disk drives that use the high-speed SATA II interface.

RIM offers BlackBerry software for small businesses
Research in Motion has released a BlackBerry software package deigned for businesses with up to 30 wireless users.

Google to announce mobile platform on Monday
Google negotiators this weekend continue to hammer out agreements with wireless carriers, handset makers, software developers and hardware providers, as the company prepares to announce on Monday an ambitious platform for creating mobile applications.

Cheap Linux PCs may pressure One Laptop Per Child
OLPC's XO laptop faces pricing and adoption pressure from tumbling prices of commercial laptops.

Mozilla offers stability update to Firefox
It doesn't include planned Leopard enhancements, but Firefox developers have released an update to their open-source software, fixing bugs that had been causing the browser to crash at startup, render Web pages improperly or disable add-ons for some users.

Survey: Open source gaining traction in U.S. government
A survey says more than half of all IT decision-makers in the U.S. government have implemented open-source software

Microsoft swoops in to claim Nigeria Linux deal
Linux vendor Mandriva had agreed to supply a customized Linux OS for 17,000 Intel Classmate PCs, which are rugged laptops aimed for educational use in developing countries. But Nigeria has since decided that it will strip the OS from the Classmate PCs and install Microsoft's Windows OS instead.


OPINION

I used to know what XML is. Now I am not so sure.
By Sean McGrath, ITworld.com

I used to know what XML is. With one hundred percent certainty I used to know that XML is a way of annotating text to make the structure of the text both open and explicit to machines. I have written a lot of stuff about it over the years. In the years since the acronym has crossed the chasm into, um, the chasms that follow the first chasm, there has been an enormous proliferation in the usage scenarios for XML. Not all of them wholly appropriate in my opinion but let us not go there today. For today's purposes, let us focus on two illustrative divergences in the interpretation of that humble TLA "XML". ...Continue


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Microsoft convinces Nigeria to switch to Windows ... Google to announce open-source mobile OS ... OLPC under pressure from commerical laptops


ITWHIRLED

Many celebrities also nerds
The worlds of the geek and the Hollywood movie star may seem to be miles apart, but many celebrities from the entertainment world have their nerdy side. For instance, Blossom's Mayim Bialik is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in neuroscience; Robin Williams is a hardcore gamer; and legendary beauty Hedy Lamarr patented spread-spectrum technology, which underlies both Ethernet and cell phone communication. ...Read more


POLL

What's your Wikipedia usage like?

- I would never use anything so notoriously unreliable
- I use it as a starting point to find out about subjects I'm unfamiliar with
- I sometimes contribute to articles on subjects I'm knowledgeable about
- I can follow from link to link for hours, and have done major surgery on a number of articles
- I'm currently engaged in at least three very heated edit wars

Vote now!