Canonical Releases First Ubuntu With Linux Kernel 3.0

Canonical has released the third alpha version of Ubuntu 11.10.

The distribution includes the Linux Kernel 3.0 for the first time, even if Canonical goes its own way and lists the Kernel version as 3.0.0.

Ubuntu 11.10 alpha 3 includes Wi-Fi driver support for Realtek's RTL8192CU, RTL8188CU as well as RT53xx chipsets. The current alpha still integrates Gnome 3.1.4 while the final version is likely to get Gnome 3.2. Other new features include a new task manager for Canonical's Unity Shell, Thunderbird as new email client as well as a new version of the news client Gwibber.

Microsoft Cuts Down Spam By 90 Percent

The company claims that the spam level in Hotmail is just about 2%. The reduction also affected global spam levels to drop by 15% and Microsoft says that Hotmail outbound spam is down 75%.

A declining spam level isn't a bad thing, but I can't help but remember a famous Bill Gates quote from 2004: "Spam will be solved within 2 years." With a slight delay of 5 years, we are almost there, at least on Hotmail -- and I won't complain, given the huge annoyance that spam once posed. Today, it seems that spam mails are far more manageable and the occasional spam mail we receive can be easily moved into a junk mail folder.

Study Claiming IE Users Are Dumb Just A Hoax

IE users, you can take a deep breath. Your intelligence level is not necessarily below that of other browser users.

A recent study claiming that IE users are plain dumb, or at least not as smart as other browser users, was just a joke. The people at AtCheap.com put the site together to highlight the incompatibilities of IE6 "and how it is pulling back" innovation.

New Android Trojan Records Phone Conversations

Although there's a new trojan that saves phone conversations to SD cards, why on earth would any hacker want to listen through all those files? Sheer boredom?

There's a new Android trojan in town, and it's secret weapon is the ability to record your phone conversations. At least, that's what CA Technologies' Dinesh Venkatesan claims in his latest blog.

According to the report, the malware drops a "configuration" file -- one that contains key information about the remote server and the parameters -- once it's installed on the victim’s device. It then records and stores phone conversations in AMR format on the consumer's SD card. Based on the configuration file, it's assumed that the trojan also has the ability to upload these conversations to a remote server maintained by the trojan's author.

The ISS Will Be "Sunk" in 2020

The International Space Station will plunge into the ocean after 22 years in service.

Launched in 1998, the International Space Station (ISS) has been a fundamental piece of scientific ambition, providing a sophisticated platform of experimentation bringing together scientific genius from around the world. Space agencies from the United States, Russia, Japan, Europe and Canada have all left their mark on the ISS legacy.

Russia's space agency announced on Wednesday that the ISS will meet its end by plunging into the ocean in 2020. Orbiting 220 miles above the Earth, the ISS was initially expected to remain there for fifteen years but an agreement between the associated agencies decided it will continue operating until 2020.