Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope Alpha 6 Released

From the Ubuntu web site:

"The Ubuntu developers are moving quickly to bring you the absolute latest and greatest software the Open Source Community has to offer. The Jaunty Jackalope Alpha 6 is the fifth alpha release of Ubuntu 9.04, bringing with it a number of new features to improve daily computing."

Download Alpha 6 from here

NVIDIA announces investment effort for GPU-based computing startups

NVIDIA is known primarily for their PC graphics cards, but they’ve been in the news recently both for the expansion of their CUDA and PhysX initiatives as well as (allegedly) developing a CPU to challenge Intel and AMD. They’ve been proponents of parallel processing for quite a while, naturally, and have made some investments in companies like MotionDSP and Elemental Technologies, both of which are developing software that really leverages the GPU.

The success of these investments is difficult to measure (NVIDIA’s been hit as hard as the other semiconductor-related companies, losing 50% of its revenue), but it’s hard to argue with the fact that parallel computing is where practically the entire industry is heading. In light of this, NVIDIA has started what they’re calling the GPU Ventures Program, by which they hope to “identify, support and invest” in companies that are working on GPU-based computing applications. A ton of GPU-accelerated (or simply parallel-ready) applications can be found here at the Cuda website, including image manipulation, physics simulation, and advanced computation.

They’re hoping to draw some of the best startups and the minds within to NVIDIA as a sort of parallel processing father figure. A couple million here, maybe a peek at the new hardware there, and they’ve got themselves a pretty solid partner. I talked with Jeff Herbst, VP of business development there, who outlined the idea of it. It’s very much an investment thing and not some sort of “GPU App Store.” They’re hoping that VCs might like to get in early on what NVIDIA thinks is the next phase of computing. Personally, I was already convinced by the kind of interesting work being done by their partners already, but Mr. Herbst has been talking with many more companies and is planning on expanding their Emerging Companies Summit this fall.

The site is just launching today (any moment now…), and hopefully it’ll be populated with the kinds of hot young startups that tech investors love to just run their hands over.

Source: Crunchgear

Microsoft launches "Softwear" clothing line

In an attempt to shock, if not completely astonish the IT media world, Microsoft has just announced plans to enter into the clothing retail market. Dubbed "Softwear by Microsoft", the new clothing line is a collaboration project between Microsoft and thinkcommon.com in which the company intends to recreate the nostalgic days of DOS and a younger Bill Gates.

As of now, the clothing range is currently only covers t-shirts, with designs featuring anything from retro MS-DOS fonts to Gates's famous Misdemeanor mugshot when arrested for speeding violations. Overall, the product line is intended to evoke the '80s, an influential time in the history of the personal computer.

The Softwear by Microsoft site just recently launched and can be found here



Source: Fudzilla