Matt Loney's Blog

It may not be as good as sharks with lasers, but it the Opticon PDA with built-in bar scanner is likely to appeal more to those implementing stock-taking systems and haven't got to grips with RFID yet.

We don't have pricing, but the Opticon comes with the basic feature-set you'd expect: WiFI, GPRS, Bluetooth, and it's available from Barcoding.co.uk.

Having dinner with James Reinders, head of Intel's software division this week, conversation turned to the wisdom of releasing proprietary software as open source. Intel is currently grappling with the issue for some its software development tools, which you can currently use for free for non-commerical purposes (incidentally, Intel's compilers are on the on the list).

The question Intel is trying to answer is, is it wise to release them as open source? To try to answer this, Intel compiled a list of proprietary applications that have been released as open source; in almost every case, they surmised, it was an act of desperation, regardless of how the company concerned attempted to rationalise the move. This does not imply that open source applications are inferior to proprietary apps, or that making an application open source is necesarily a bad move; it is intended more an observation.

Of course there are companies that make a very nice living from open source, and those who use it in parallel to more conventional business models (MySQL AB for instance). And there are those who, James reckons, had and have a robust strategy (IBM). But the examples of those companies who have released proprietary software under an open source licence not out of desperation, he reckons, are few and far between.

From a 2005 Microsoft conference, to which several employees took video cameras, comes this really pretty funny video. Sadly Bill's dancing - even alongside Napoleon - has lost some of the dynamism it had in the 90s when he took to the stage at the Hard Rock Cafe in Vegas durnig Comdex, but it's still worth five mintues of your time:

Regular readers will be familiar with our annual Christmas giveaway. This year we think we have the best collection of prizes yet. And why not? - after all we know many of you will be working through Christmas. And we know you'll be included as always in your company's 'unsung hero' Christmas awards.

As as I expected, we're getting a lot of entries, which means that when we return from the Christmas break my team and I shall have *a lot* of tie-breakers to read through. You can make our lives easier by including tie breakers such as "because I want one" (easily filterd out!). Or you could make our jobs a little more difficult for us by dreaming up tie-breakers that are a little fun or off-the-wall.

Here's a selection of some of last year's winners:

For some networking gear:
"I live in a cottage with walls thicker than C4's Space Cadets"

For a media streamer:
"There's nobody greedier or needier for media than me dear"

For some virtualisation software:
"I'll give my PhD supervisor a heart attack by owning legitimate software"

And for a 19 inch TFT monitor:
"I'm only human - of course I'd prefer a couple of exta inches"

Get the idea? Now, put your thinking caps on and win:
Day 1: An Alienware Area-51 m5550 notebook PC
Day 2: An Orange SPV M600 with Sat Nav
Day 3: A Garmin nuvi 360
Day 4: A Sony VPL-CX76 projector
Day 5: A ZyXEL connectivity bundle
Day 6: A UBiQUiO 501 Pocket PC phone
Day 7: One of four 2GB Crucial memory kits
Day 8: An Adaptec Snap Server 210
Day 9: A Google Mini Search appliance
Day 10: A D-Link DNS-323 storage enclosure, DSL-2740B wireless router and USB adapter
Day 11: A Netgear WNR 854 wireless router and Eva 700 media streamer
Day 12: One of two Intel processor and motherboard kits

Good luck!

From the Not Safe For Work But You'll Probably Get Away With It department, the deliciously named LoveHoney.co.uk sends us news of the iBuzz Two. And what is this you may well ask. Well, it plugs into your iPod, vibrates in time to music and has his and hers attachments. Getting warm yet? You will.