Monday, February 12, 2007

On Sunday the representatives of International Business Machines Inc. said that the company will launch its new desktop software system for businesses. IBM’s new product is called “Open Client Offering”. The company hopes that its product will put Macintosh or Linux software on a more equal footing with Windows.

The Open Client Offering software was developed by IBM in-house, as well as with partners like Novell Inc. and Red Hat Inc. It is to answer the questions regarding the cost-effectiveness of managing Linux or Apple desktop personal computers alongside Windows PCs.

IBM officials stated that Open Client Offering will allow enterprises to use the same software on Windows, Linux or Apple’s OS X. It will be unnecessary for companies using Open Client to pay Microsoft for licenses for operations because these will no longer rely on Windows-based software.

Scott Handy, IBM’s vice president of Linux and open source, stated that the company worked together with the open source community and in the end found a way to develop a software that is able to function regardless of the operating system.

To create an alternative to Microsoft, IBM is going to offer Open Document Format software that the company developed for word processing, spreadsheets or presentations, instant messaging and blog tools and Internet Explorer’s long time rival – Firefox Web browser.

The software developers at IBM believe that the usage of Open Client Offering can cut the cost of managing applications as well as maintenance and cost regarding customer support on company networks that require other software rather than Windows.

PSA Peugeot Citroen, being the second largest car manufacturer, signed a multi-year agreement with Novell, which is the provider of Linux software, to run Linux on its 20,000 desktop PCs. In addition Linux will be installed on 2,500 server computers.

RedMonk’s analyst, Stephen O’Grady, said that today there is a strong appetite for Windows alternatives. However, he said, this doesn’t mean that the alternatives are to displace Windows wholesales. O’Grady outlined that no one is going to significantly damage the desktop dominance of Microsoft.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Sales of automobiles in the United States fell as much as 35% in January, compared to the same month a year ago, as manufacturers reported their January sales.

Ford Motor Company ^NYSE: F sales dropped 42% last month from the previous year. General Motors ^NYSE: GM reported a 49% decline. Chrysler was hardest hit among the domestically owned manufacturers with a plunge of 55%.

The decline in sales has not been limited to just US manufacturers. Japanese automaker Toyota ^NYSE: TM reported a 32% drop in US sales from a year earlier, Nissan Motors^{NASDAQ: NSANY} dropped 30%, and Honda ^NYSE: HMC sales dropped 28%.

Subaru and South Korean Hyundai Motor Company ^LSE: HYUD were two of the few auto firms that reported an increase in sales. They posted gains of eight and fourteen percent, respectively.

On an annual basis, sales overall have also been plummeting. Industry-wide US car sales dropped 18% last year to 13.2 million automobiles.

GM announced today that it will offer voluntary buyouts to 22,000 employees in the US, in an effort to reduce its expenditures.

Last month, GM and Chrysler were given loans worth US$17.4 billion from the government after they warned of imminent bankruptcy.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Ray Scott is running for the Family Coalition Party in the Ontario provincial election, in the Algoma-Manitoulin riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign.

Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.

Thursday, October 22, 2020

2020 Melbourne Lord Mayor candidate Wayne Tseng answered some questions about his campaign for the upcoming election from Wikinews. The Lord Mayor election in the Australian city is scheduled to take place this week.

Tseng runs a firm called eTranslate, which helps software developers to make the software available to the users. In the candidate’s questionnaire, Tseng said eTranslate had led to him working with all three tiers of the government. He previously belonged to the Australian Liberal Party, but has left since then, to run for mayorship as an independent candidate.

Tseng is of Chinese descent, having moved to Australia with his parents from Vietnam. Graduated in Brisbane, Tseng received his PhD in Melbourne and has been living in the city, he told Wikinews. Tseng also formed Chinese Precinct Chamber of Commerce, an organisation responsible for many “community bond building initiatives”, the Lord Mayor candidate told Wikinews.

Tseng discussed his plans for leading Melbourne, recovering from COVID-19, and “Democracy 2.0” to ensure concerns of minorities in the city were also heard. Tseng also focused on the importance of the multi-culture aspect and talked about making Melbourne the capital of the aboriginals. Tseng also explained why he thinks Melbourne is poised to be a world city by 2030.

Tseng’s deputy Lord Mayor candidate Gricol Yang is a Commercial Banker and works for ANZ Banking Group.

Currently, Sally Capp is the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, the Victorian capital. Capp was elected as an interim Lord Mayor in mid-2018 after the former Lord Mayor Robert Doyle resigned from his position after sexual assault allegations. Doyle served as the Lord Mayor of Melbourne for almost a decade since 2008.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

A male driver has been hospitalised with serious head injuries after the car he was in crashed into the corner of a house in Suffolk in the east of the United Kingdom. Members of the fire service attended the incident scene, which occurred in the Carlton Colville district of the town of Lowestoft, approximately seven minutes after it was reported to emergency services at approximately 0145 UTC today.

Although three people were inside the house when the car impacted it, none of them were hurt. However, the driver sustained serious injuries to the head. The road where the crash happened was temporarily closed while emergency services freed the driver from the red Audi TT. He was initially hospitalised in the James Paget Hospital in Great Yarmouth. He was subsequently relocated to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.

Structural engineers have been asked to examine the house. The house has been vacated by its occupants as analysis continues, police reported. It is not clear if the collision has caused the building to leak gas.

The cause of the incident is unknown at this stage. “Collision investigators will be at the scene today as we try to ascertain exactly what has occurred”, said Sergeant Bob Patterson. The Suffolk Constabulary Sergeant added: “At this early stage we could not speculate as to what has caused the crash.”

Friday, July 1, 2005

In the wake of a United States Supreme Court ruling in Kelo v. New London on eminent domain last week, a California man has proposed that Justice David Souter‘s New Hampshire home be seized by the state and a hotel be built on the site. Logan Darrow Clements faxed a letter to town officials in Weare, New Hampshire June 28, 2005 that justified the action as such:

“The justification for such an eminent domain action is that our hotel will better serve the public interest as it will bring in economic development and higher tax revenue to Weare.”

Justice Souter, who was in the majority ruling in the Kelo case, has lived at the farmhouse in Weare since he was 11 years old. Clements indicated that it was necessary to build on that location because “it is a unique site being the home of someone largely responsible for destroying property rights for all Americans.” The action has given rise to a great deal of support nationwide, as many are writing to the councilors of the small town of Weare to voice their approval for the proposal.

The proposal for the “Lost Liberty Hotel“, as it is to be called, features a number of components which seem to focus on the libertarian leanings of its designer. A dining room, called the “Just Desserts Cafe” and a museum based on the “loss of freedom in America” are two such components. Instead of a Bible provided by the Gideons (a standard item placed in most American hotel rooms), each guest will receive a free copy of Ayn Rand‘s novel Atlas Shrugged.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

News reports are claiming that dolls depicting former Nazi leader Adolf Hitler will go on sale in Ukraine. These reports cite Ukraine’s Zerkalo Nedeli newspaper which reported that a toy manufacturer would release the line of Hitler dolls in the summer.

The 40cm doll will reportedly first be available in Kiev with a £100 (GBP) price tag and comes with a large range of accessories in a presentation box with the dates of Hitler’s birth and death.

Nazis images are illegal in Ukraine, with positive portrayal specifically banned. However, there are allegations that right-wing nationalist politics are gaining strength in the country and that xenophobia and racism are on the rise, including some said to be comparable to that present in Germany under Nazi rule. Fascism and propaganda are also banned.

When the former Soviet Union, including Ukraine, was invaded by Germany under Hitler’s rule 2–3 million Ukrainians were among the casualties, of which 1.5 million were Jews.

Adolf can be dressed in various guises, including “early days Adolf”, which consists of a brown shirt and jodhpurs, and “Wartime Adolf”, which features a grey tunic, black trousers and the Iron Cross medal. The doll also comes with boots and shoes, caps, gloves, full uniforms, cane and belt which can be placed on Hitler, whose arms move, allowing the doll to replicate the famed salute of its real life counterpart.

Also included is a model of Blondi, Hitler’s female German Shepherd, who was exceedingly loyal to Hitler. Hitler poisoned Blondi with cyanide in 1945 at the same time as taking his own life in his bunker at Berlin.

“It is like Barbie. Kids can undress fuhrer, pin on medals and there’s a spare head in the kit to give him a kinder expression on his face. He has glasses that are round, in the manner of pacifist John Lennon,” said one saleswoman. The company, which will release the dolls in Summer, says that if demand is high a range of toys themed on the Third Reich may be released, to include barracks, working models of crematoriums and gas chambers, concentration camps and interior models of the chancellery.

The doll is not set to be released until the summer, but BBC News Online has footage suggesting that some stores are selling the doll already.