Interested in having a say in the development of OSNews version 4? OSNews is completely redesigning itself for our next major code update, OSNews version 4.0. Our last major increment included the introduction of registered users, and since then, we have implemented over 30 new features. With OSNews version 4, we're doing a massive redesign and introducing loads of new features. If you're interested in having a say in the development and features of OSN4, check out this post at firsttube.com.
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I made a change to OSNews code this morning that was actually suggested, in part, by one of our readers. Read on for details.
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Non-North American readers have reported that a pop-up phony error message is prompting them to install "virus detection" software that's really spyware/adware. We are aware of the problem and are trying to figure out where it's coming from. This is similar to the problem we had a few weeks ago, and again, it's coming from one of our advertising brokers. It's not coming from the same one as last time, as we stopped using them. We have three advertising partners, and they all target the ads to particular geographic locations. If you notice the problem, please know that we're working on fixing it. If you notice it, just so we have a record, in the comments of this story could you mention where you are physically located? Thanks!
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Today, Eugenia updated a few of the icons atop the news categories on OSNews. The Windows icon got updated to the Vista one (since Vista went gold), and we finally got around to update the Apple company logo to the modern black one (however, I still think the blue/torqouise one is the best-looking version). Anyway, you got any icons you find we need to update? Let us know in the comments below!
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We've been receiving reports of an ad from a company called Errorsafe that's essentially hijacking OSNews with a bogus pop-up warning about errors in the registry database. We have been unable to track down where it's coming from, but we're in the process of turning our various online ads on or off to try to track it down. We'd like to enlist help from the readers in this endeavor. If you see the Errorsafe ad, please contact osnews-crew at osnews.com and tell us what page you were on when you saw it. Thanks.
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I have added two new "themes" to OSNews. Honestly, I'm not particularly impressed by either, but I had a request for a darker theme and the diagonals one is a few months old, I just hadn't published it. So they are there. Hopefully, in the next few months, I can touch them up/improve them.
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Part one of the plan to better utilize recommendations is now visible. Receommendations are on the front page. In the coming weeks, you'll be able to recommend directly from the front page, and soon, organize the front page by recommendations.
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Some of you may have noticed a few changes I've merged in the last 24 hours or so. These changes include several small updates that no one will see. However, there are two things that may catch your eye.

They are as follows:
1. We now support a more modern URL scheme. So far, you'll see these on our story.php page and our printer.php page, both linked off of the front page. For example, this is a valid link to one of the top-most stories as of the time I'm typing this:

http://www.osnews.com/story.php/15902/Linux-Kernel-2.6.18-Released/

This URL scheme is supported everywhere, but mobile browsers will default links back to the old style (storu.php?news_id=XXX).

2. The second change is that you can now view people's recommendations in their user profile under "Additional Info." If you are logged in, you can click here to view your own. You can remove recommendations there too. Right now, it only displays the last 25 recommendations, but at some point, we'll find a place in the UI to view all previous recommendations.

Don't forget you can check out recommendations as they happen at /recommendations.php, or you can use the AJAX version here.
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I added several features to OSNews today. Here is an overview.

1. With the rise of "social bookmarking" sites, we've added submission links to the bottom of all originals stories. These links are only visible for 5 days to prevent late submission, but you can spot them at the end of original stories after the "recommendation" box.

2. We're often asked about an API for OSNews. Today I wrote the first bits for a submission API. It's VERY simple so far, but it works. Please see osnews.com/api for more. Remember, the inital interface is very rudimentary, but we're planning to have additional support for integrating OSNews into your website.

3. We've added lots of links to add OSNews RSS to your online feed reader. You can view all of our XML feeds at osnews.com/feeds.php.
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Adam and I did some work this morning and we have added better support for mobile devices on the 'OSNews Staff Blog'. It's recommended that your device has at least 176x220 resolution and lots of RAM to render the page. To be honest, the mobile version is best viewed with a PDA/smartphone and with a modern CSS browser, rather than some older WAP/cHTML-based phone browsers. Enjoy!
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Dear Server, who art in a data warehouse somewhere in the Southwestern US, we bid thee to serve our content without dropping connections.
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One thing I'm frequently asked that is VERY frequently mistaken in the forums is the concept of OSNews "trust." Trust is a private algorithm we use to measure your quality participation as a user. In this post, I'll explain how and why we use trust and why it's necessary for a site like ours.
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I get sick of OSNews at times, mostly because a very small, very vocal minority seems fixated on harping on the same old issues over and over again. This site is NOT a democracy, although we like to be as democratic as we can, but ultimately, it's an admin run site. And our rules are: you can't moderate our comments. Unfortunately, we get nonstop complaints about this, so today we begin our test. Read the complete story for more.
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So, it's that time again. People have been complaining again about our moderation system. I suppose there's some fairness in many of the complaints, so let's have an official sound off about this, shall we? Read on.
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I have changed the way "trust" is calculated. Before, it was a little too harsh on negative comments. It was easy to have a few negative comments bring down your trust rating quickly, so I tweaked the settings and made negative comments weight less.. uh... negative. I watched several users' trust rating go up significantly, so this weekend when votes are re-redistributed, we should see some new parity in the system.
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