antiX M11

antiX M11, a lightweight offshoot of MEPIS Linux designed to run on computers with as little as 64 MB of RAM, has been released: "Just over a year since the release of antiX M8.5, the antiX team is pleased to announce that antiX MEPIS 11 'Jayaben Desai' - a fast, light, very flexible and complete desktop and live CD based on Debian 'Testing' and SimplyMEPIS - is now available in full, base and core versions (for i686 and i486 kernel). This release defaults to a fully customised IceWM Rox desktop (Fluxbox, wmii and dwm are also installed) using a SimplyMEPIS 2.6.36 kernel, our own assistants to help configuration, and the usual range of applications for desktop use. Latest Iceape (2.0.13) for Internet needs, AbiWord (2.8.6) and Gnumeric (1.10.14) for office use, GMMP and Goggles music manager (0.12.1) for audio, gxine, MPlayer and GNOME MPlayer for video...." Continue reading the release announcement for further information. Download: antiX-M11-486.iso (678MB, MD5), antiX-M11-686.iso (680MB, MD5).

FreeNAS 8.0

Josh Paetzel has announced the release of FreeNAS 8.0, a FreeBSD-based system providing free Network-Attached Storage (NAS) services: "I'm pleased to announce the availability of FreeNAS 8.0-RELEASE. FreeNAS 8.0-RELEASE supports NFS, CIFS, AFP, FTP and TFTP as file sharing mechanisms. It also supports exporting devices via iSCSI as an iSCSI target. Active Directory or LDAP for user authentication. The ZFS and UFS2 file systems are supported. ZFS is the primary file system and enables usage of many features, including quotas, snapshots, compression and replication that are not available in UFS2. This release is based on FreeBSD 8.2, but this version of FreeNAS is called 8.0 as there are future plans to add functionality that will get the versions catch up." Read the rest of the release announcement for further details and errata. Download (SHA256): FreeNAS-8.0-RELEASE-i386.iso (103MB), FreeNAS-8.0-RELEASE-amd64.iso (105MB).

The room where bin Laden was killed, messy and full of blood

The ABC News has published some pictures from her home in the city Abbotaba Pakistan, where al-Qaida terrorist network leader Osama bin Laden, was killed.

Images by ABC News show room where he was killed , which is messy and full of blood stains.

The American President, Barack Obama, announced that al-Qaida terrorist network leader Osama bin Laden, was killed in a shootout, and the forces U.S. over the corpse.

The clashes have killed three men and one woman used as human shield, but there were no casualties among the Americans on the ground, said sources cited.

Among the victims is also one of bin Laden’s sons, two other men, probably messengers used by al-Qaida leader, and a woman who is protecting one of the men, said sources cited.

Two other women were injured in the attack on the residence where he harbored bin Laden and where there were more women and children.

PS3 online services slowly being restored

The huge, long-running outage to the Playstation Network may be coming to an end.

But the damage control is only just beginning. After cutting off its users for more than a week, Sony is now ready to start rolling out restoration to the PSN, following an attack that compromised user security and private data.

"The company has implemented a variety of new security measures to provide greater protection of personal information. SNEI and its third-party experts have conducted extensive tests to verify the security strength of the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services," Sony wrote in a statement.

As part of the initial restoration, users can now play online PS3 games, access the console's Music Unlimited streaming music service, log onto Playstation Home, see their friend list, and engage in text and video chats.

Still unavailable is the Playstation Store, which is significant. The reason the digital download store is still not accessible is likely because there is still concern that the hackers who compromised PSN access have access to credit card data from anyone who has ever made a purchase on the Playstation Store.

Nevertheless, it seems like Sony has sealed off the back-door access obtained by hackers, and to thank users for their patience, Sony is going to offer a "Welcome Back" promotion, offering some free content:

* Each territory will be offering selected PlayStation entertainment content for free download. Specific details of this content will be announced in each region soon.
* All existing PlayStation Network customers will be provided with 30 days free membership in the PlayStation Plus premium service. Current members of PlayStation Plus will receive 30 days free service.
* Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity subscribers (in countries where the service is available) will receive 30 days free service.

Playbook update to bring video chat this month

Blackberry's tablet is slated to get its own Facetime-like application.

Research in Motion announced it will be bringing video chat functionality to the Playbook later this month, utilizing the gadget's front-facing camera and allowing users to chat with one another. The proprietary app will let users add friends, view video call history, and offer voice chatting as well, all over a Wi-Fi connection. There is no 3G or 4G version of the Playbook yet available.

RIM also noted it will be releasing a Facebook app this month as well. Currently, the pre-loaded Facebook "app" is nothing more than a shortcut to the browser app, with Facebook.com loaded up.

The new dedicated application will let users more easily upload photos and video, and connect with the social networking site without disrupting their current browser activity.

These upcoming additions will hopefully make the Playbook a more attractive device, but they also underscore one of the biggest complaints about the device - many have criticized it as an unfinished product. That is, it doesn't have all the bells and whistles that a true iPad competitor should have.

It looks like RIM will incrementally roll those out over time, but clearly it could have taken a bit longer to have them available from day one.

We're also still waiting for the Playbook models with mobile network connectivity, as portability is one of the defining ideas of the Blackberry brand.

The Playbook has received mixed reviews, but according to analysts it likely sold very well in its initial launch, giving RIM a much needed boost. It's up to the company to keep the newfound momentum going.

US hit squad swooped on Bin Laden villa in pre-dawn strike

Osama bin Laden was hiding in a two-storey villa 100 yards from a Pakistani military academy when four helicopters carrying US anti-terror forces swooped in the early morning hours.

Flames rose from the building that was the apparent target of the raid as it was confirmed that the world's most wanted fugitive died not in a cave, but in a town best known as a garrison for the Pakistani military.

A US official said one of bin Laden's sons was also killed in the raid along with three others, but the official did not name the son or the others killed.

Pakistani officials and a witness said bin Laden's guards opened fire from the roof of the building and one of the choppers crashed.

The sound of at least two explosions rocked the small north-western town of Abbottabad where the al Qaida chief made his last stand. The US said no Americans were harmed in the raid.

Abbottabad, home to at least one regiment of the Pakistani army, is dotted with military buildings and home to thousands of army personnel. Surrounded by hills and with mountains in the distance, it is less than half a days drive from the border region with Afghanistan, where most intelligence assessments believed bin Laden was hiding.

The news that he was killed in an army town in Pakistan will raise more pointed questions about how he managed to evade capture and whether Pakistan's military and intelligence leadership knew of his whereabouts and sheltered him.

Critics have long accused elements of Pakistan's security establishment of protecting bin Laden, though Islamabad has always denied this.

Abbotabad resident Mohammad Haroon Rasheed said the raid happened at about 1.15am local time.

"I heard a thundering sound, followed by heavy firing. Then firing suddenly stopped. Then more thundering, then a big blast," he said. "In the morning when we went out to see what happened, some helicopter wreckage was lying in an open field."

He said the house was 100 yards away from the gate of the academy.

A Pakistani official in the town said fighters on the roof opened fire on the choppers as they came close to the building with rocket propelled grenades. Another official said four helicopters took off from the Ghazi air base in north-west Pakistan.

Last summer, the US army was based in Ghazi to help out in the aftermath of the floods.

Women and children were taken into custody during the raid, he said.