Cody Taylor

Tom Brearley and David Somers are the 19-year-old developers behind Twitterfall, one of the hottest Twitter tools on the web.

Users still facing software issues while running the most current version of Mac OS X Leopard may take kindly to word that Mac OS X 10.5.7 is moving swiftly through its development cycle. Apple as early as this weekend is expected to equip its vast developer community with a new build of the maintenance and security release.

The developers behind Novell’s openSUSE Linux distribution have unveiled the roadmap for version 11.2 and the schedule for the next several releases. The distro is moving towards an eight-month cycle.

CNet is running an article that looks at the growing parallels between the major movie studios and some of the most successful game publishers, which have gradually turned into the juggernauts of the industry as they’ve absorbed a variety of smaller developers in recent years. “If we consider Hollywood — the model to which the video game industry is always compared — it doesn’t take long before we realize that it’s dominated by a handful of studios that effectively control a large percentage of the industry, while the independent studios are left trying to defy the percentages and get their innovative and artistic films to the masses. Since most fail, it’s the big studios that enjoy profits as the independents try to find some way to stay alive.” Gamasutra has a related piece suggesting the opposite trend: “Smaller, less expensive games made by smaller, more agile teams seem like a very logical step, now that the industry structure is better able to support it, with no less than three venues on which to distribute content as a small team. These are downloadable console, direct to consumer PC downloads via Steam-like services, portals, or direct sale, and iPhone and potentially DSi downloads.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Renegade stores are popping up online selling unauthorized software for the iPhone, threatening Apple’s lucrative App Store. The developer behind some popular iPhone software on Friday plans to open a service called Cydia Store that could potentially sell hundreds of iPhone applications that are not available through Apple’s official store.

Amerika sends in a Wired blog post on the desire in Congress to make data on lawmaking more easily available to the public. The senator who introduced the language into an omnibus appropriations bill wants feedback on the best way to make (e.g.) the Library of Congress’s Thomas data more available — an API or bulk downloads, or both. Some comments on the blog posting call for an authenticated versioning system so we can know unequivocally how any particular language made its way into a bill. “Congress has apparently listened to the public’s complaints about lack of convenient access to government data. The new Omnibus Appropriations Bill includes a section, introduced by Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.), that would mark the first tangible move toward making federal legislative data available to the public in bulk, so third parties can mash it up and redistribute it in innovative and accessible ways. This would include all the data currently distributed through the Library of Congress’s Thomas web site — bill status and summary information, lists of sponsors, tracking timelines, voting records, etc.”

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mikesd81 writes “ZDNet Australia writes that NSW state corporation RailCorp has threatened a Sydney software developer with legal action if he fails to withdraw a train timetable application that is currently the second-most-popular application in its category in Apple’s App Store. Alvin Singh created Transit Sydney after he began teaching himself how to program in Cocoa Mobile. Within days of its Feb 18 release, Singh received a cease and desist notice from Rail Corporation NSW, the government body that administers Sydney’s CityRail network. The email states: ‘I advise that copyright in all CityRail timetables is owned by RailCorp. … Any use of these timetables in a manner which breaches copyright by a third party can only occur through the grant of a suitable licence by RailCorp.'”

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Adobe AIR is marvelous. Simple as that. It takes either or all HTML, JavaScript, Flash or Actionscript and builds you a desktop widget that is compatible across all operating systems and can be used at any time off-line. There are very few limitations, and anyone with even a little programming knowledge could build an app with relative ease.

revjtanton writes “Amid all the discussion and argument about Gamestop’s two-billion-dollar trade-in industry it seems Amazon.com is getting in on the action. Like Gamestop, Amazon asks for the games to be in good condition, however they offer just a few more dollars for your discarded game (Gamestop listed Left 4 Dead for the 360 at while Amazon had it at .50 trade-in value). Gamestop had already ruffled feathers in the developer and distribution communities with its practice of accepting used games; does Amazon joining the practice legitimize it?”

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eldavojohn writes “The MIT Technology Review brings news of a new report from Harvard assessing circumvention software. The best tools they tested (and they actually did test them in cybercafes in China) were Ultrareach, Psiphon, and Tor, while Dynaweb and Anonymizer also scored well — of course, the huge downside is the long loading times. The report also includes responses from developers of the tools.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.