Scientific Linux 6.1 Alpha 1

Troy Dawson has announced the availability of the first alpha release of Scientific Linux 6.1, a distribution built from source packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1 and enhanced with extra application useful in academic environments: "The first alpha for Scientific Linux 6.1 has been released. This release has all the new updated packages from the upstream vendors (TUV) update 1. It will install, and it appears to work, but no major testing has been done. Changes from 6.0 (in addition to TUV changes): Shawn Thompson created a whole new graphical theme for Scientific Linux 6 called 'Edge Of Space'; we pulled the fastbugs and testing repositories out of the repository file, they are now in their own RPM called yum-conf-sl-other - this is done to fix the problem of people checking the fastbugs during the install. Read the rest of the release announcement and release notes for further details. Download: SL-61-i386-2011-05-31-Install-DVD.iso (3,559MB, SHA256), (4,115MB, SHA256).

Angry Birds to arrive on Roku this summer

If playing Angry Birds on your phone, computer and tablet isn't enough, well, soon you'll be able to get your daily dose of the uber popular game on TV - courtesy of Roku's next-gen set-top box and a new controller.

"Angry Birds is the most popular and fastest growing casual game yet is has been trapped on mobile devices. We believe there's a huge market for games like these on the TV," explained Roku founder and CEO Anthony Wood.

"Just as we were the first to enable Netflix to stream instantly to the TV, we intend to be the catalyst for transforming the way people play casual games - starting with Angry Birds-on the biggest screen in the home."

Unfortunately, streaming & online video expert Dan Rayburn says Roku has confirmed Angry Birds won't run on existing players because "some of the new games will require more horsepower."

So yes, while Angry Birds is coming to Roku, it seems as if you'll have to wait until sometime this summer to play the game on the company's new box.

Of course, as Engadget’s Richard Lawler points out, it may also be quite difficult for Roku's gaming initiative (Angry Birds or no) to realistically compete with Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo - on their native turf.

We'll just have to wait and see how Roku's aspirations pan out. And what if you don't feel like waiting for Roku? Well, there is always HDMI out, right?