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10.26.10

Eye on Apple: Where Do You Want Not to Go Today?

Posted in Apple at 12:49 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Utah State Prison Wasatch Facility with Apple

Summary: Apple links for sceptics of the company’s direction and general behaviour

EXCEPT bugs and defects, Apple has limitations and restrictions to offer its customers.

● iPad’s orientation lock to mute switch change will be permanent

When iOS 4.2 gets rolled out to iPad users sometime in the coming weeks, the button on the side that, until now, has prevented the screen from swapping between portrait and landscape will become a mute switch, just like it is on the iPhone. However, since this is clearly a software-managed control rather than being hard-wired, some users were hoping that this might be configurable somewhere in the settings.

[...]

Apple doesn’t allow modification of hardware controls, as the developers of Camera+ learned recently.

● Is Mac App Store A Threat?

iTunes has already become a one-way gateway for iOS devices, despite continuous fraud and hijacked accounts which Apple supposedly doesn’t care about. The ‘cancer’ of iTunes has now spread to yet another company mastering the art of copy-pasting — Microsoft. They are using a similar model in their Windows 7 Phone devices.

● Gosling blows lid off Jobs Java nonsense (covered here before)

People who buy from Apple neither own (control) the product nor get their money’s worth. A.P.P.L.E – Anti-Piracy Pricey Lending to Elitists – where Steve knows everything. █

Signs of Defeat: Microsoft Speaks About Invisible Windows, Not Existing Products

Posted in Microsoft, Windows at 12:24 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

“In the face of strong competition, Evangelism’s focus may shift immediately to the next version of the same technology, however. Indeed, Phase 1 (Evangelism Starts) for version x+1 may start as soon as this Final Release of version X.”

–Microsoft, internal document [PDF]

Summary: Microsoft reveals a weakness by talking about a product which it only claims will be available in 2 years from now and for the time being may slow the adoption of its predecessor, Vista 7

IT IS worth starting with the confession that we struggle to post Microsoft news not due to lack of time (I posted a lot in my personal blog yesterday) but because there is hardly a darn thing in the news about Microsoft; Nothing of substance anyway. It’s generally the case that as time goes by, more of Microsoft’s products turn to dust or become products which are merely speculative or vapourware. Companies which are in a healthy state speak about today’s products, those who are hopeful speak about future products (which may never see the light of day), and miserable companies like Novell speak about past products, or legacy.

At the moment, Microsoft is somewhere in the middle, namely that classification of companies which focus on products nobody knows or can test (e.g. Vista 8) and rather than be upset about it, Microsoft critics ought to know that it’s a sign of weakness. When any company advertises a product it cannot sell (i.e. won’t make profit from) because it does not exist or may never exist, it’s a premature sign of defeat. This issue came up in IRC several times.

Some short while ago Microsoft was asked about its loss of market share and the company denied the facts, to which Pogson replied by writing:

SEC, are you listening? Slipping against MacOS on the high-end and GNU/Linux just about everywhere else and a company with huge market cap has a spokesman denying reality publicly.

What does Microsoft do while Vista 7 sales fail to amaze (and as we showed yesterday, Windows profits decline sharply)? It speaks about a mysterious successor, Vista 8. Who speaks about it? Mostly Microsoft boosters [1, 2] like Ina Fried. These people are desperate for any piece of news about Microsoft, especially something positive. Over the past couple of years they had to cover (or selectively ignore) news about people quiting Microsoft, divisions being shut down, products getting cancelled, and rounds of layoffs being announced. It’s not pleasant for people whose career depends on an audience which follows Microsoft.

It was especially amusing to see this post from OpenBytes where Microsoft MVP Da Costa (aka “Lucy” and other pseudonyms) is having a go with some spin. For those who do not know Da Costa, it is a textbook example of Microsoft ‘agents’ who plague blogs critical of Microsoft and insult the writers under all sorts of fake names. We wrote about the subject in:

Da Costa’s spin is a warning and a reminder of the fact that Microsoft has presence in GNU/Linux blogs and another known Windows booster in the same comments section (he turns offensive) shows how unpleasant this can be. We too had some Microsoft employees do this to us without disclosing their relationship with Microsoft (employed to do exactly that).

Microsoft says Vista 8 might be out in 2012 (historically, they almost always missed the target dates). Funnily enough, as Tim puts it (he is the one I’ll be doing the audiocast with): “The Mayans predicted that the world would end in 2012. Maybe they were right and Windows 8 will mark the end for Microsoft? Certainly Microsoft has some unhappy people, maybe that’s why people are now seeing other platforms as desirable?” █

Waterfalls in paradise

Links 26/10/2010: Facts From London Stock Exchange, webOS 2.0 Reviewed

Posted in News Roundup at 9:24 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

Free Software/Open Source

Leftovers

  • Mark Cuban Wants to Pay Government Attorneys to Get Off Their Ass

    Frustrated by the snail’s pace of the SEC investigation into insider trading allegations, Cuban offered to pay government attorneys to work faster.

  • Manila: A megacity where the living must share with the dead

    Land is precious in Manila, and people are prepared to endure incredible circumstances to claim their own piece. Baking’s family is one of hundreds that have set up home in the cemetery, jostling for space with the dead. “It’s much better living here than in a shanty town,” he assures me as we clamber over densely-packed powder pink and blue tombs on the way to his home. “It’s much more peaceful and quiet.”

  • Drug addict has vasectomy in return for £200 cash

    A drug addict has become the first man in Britain to take part in a controversial project that saw him get cash to be sterilised.

  • Report: Ancient ruins worldwide ‘on verge of vanishing’

    Twelve historic sites around the world are “on the verge of vanishing” because of mismanagement and neglect, according to a new report.

  • FarmVillains

    Steal someone else’s game. Change its name. Make millions. Repeat.

  • Judge Clears CAPTCHA-Breaking Case for Criminal Trial

    A federal judge in New Jersey has cleared the way for a landmark criminal case targeting CAPTCHA circumvention to proceed to trial.

  • UberCab Ordered to Cease And Desist

    Did Ubercab just crash and burn? Taxi and limo industry insiders in California today informed TechCrunch that the San Francisco Metro Transit Authority & the Public Utilities Commission of California have ordered the startup to cease and desist.

  • Health/Nutrition

    • Scientists suggest that cancer is purely man-made

      Cancer is a modern, man-made disease caused by environmental factors such as pollution and diet, a study by University of Manchester scientists has strongly suggested.

      The study of remains and literature from ancient Egypt and Greece and earlier periods – carried out at Manchester’s KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology and published in Nature Reviews Cancer – includes the first histological diagnosis of cancer in an Egyptian mummy.

  • Defence/Police/Aggression

    • Jesse Jackson: Britain’s moral authority is undermined by police discrimination

      The Rev Jesse Jackson has said that Britain’s moral authority is being damaged by the government’s failure to stop the police discriminating against ethnic minorities.

    • AND FINALLY

      With the impact of the soon-to-be-announced mega austerity cuts still to come, it could be that millions will soon find it hard to make ends meet.

      But help is it hand. There’ll be no shortage of people forced to turn to shoplifting or petty crime to survive – and now there’s a website that will pay you to sit at home and spy on everyone in the hope of catching them.

    • Inquiry after police filmed hitting anti-fascist protester

      An investigation is under way after a police officer was filmed hitting an anti-fascist demonstrator in the face during a far-right rally.

      Alan Clough, 63, from Radcliffe, Bury, was protesting against the English Defence League (EDL) rally in Bolton in March when he was struck, fell to the ground and was subsequently arrested.

    • Iraq war logs: military privatisation run amok

      Shortly after 10am on 14 May 2005, a convoy of private security guards from Blackwater riding down “Route Irish” – the Baghdad airport road – shot up a civilian Iraqi vehicle. While they were at it, the Blackwater men fired shots over the heads of a group of soldiers from the 69th Regiment of the US Army before they sped away heading west in their white armoured truck. When the dust cleared, the Iraqi driver was dead and his wife and daughter were injured.

    • They’re Trying To Sell the Brooklyn Bridge Again

      So it was last month when a friendly couple dumped their paper on the train seat opposite me. And bingo, it was as bad as ever. “Defense Officials Predict Slow Afghan Progress.” And the sourcing for this hardly unexpected headline? “Senior US military officials”, “military officials”, “a senior US military official”, “Obama administration officials”, “defence officials”, “the senior military official”, “military leaders”, “the official”, “military officials”, “the officials”, “many in the military”, “military officials” (again), “officials” (again), “military officials” (yet again) and “officials” (yet again).

      Why do our scribes write this horseshit? My old mate Alexander Cockburn calls it “selling the Brooklyn Bridge” and claims that Michael Gordon, chief military correspondent of The New York Times, is always ready to buy it.

    • David Kelly files prove little for campaigners whose fight continues

      Kelly’s death has never been the subject of a proper inquest, Powers argues. The original inquest was replaced by the Hutton inquiry – a highly unusual and, to many observers, unjustified break with standard legal procedure for single deaths. Last month, lawyers acting for Kelly campaigners delivered an application for a fresh inquest to attorney general Dominic Grieve. Grieve is considering it, a process which may take several more months.

    • Norwich Council uses ‘spying’ powers to catch smoke pub

      Norwich City Council used controversial spying powers to investigate and fine a pub for flouting the smoking ban.

    • Allotments and privacy

      With allotments in mind, news has reached Big Brother Watch of the ludicrous situation of a Lincolnshire council demanding to know the sexual orientation, race and religion of those applying for one of the eighteen vacant plots in the City of Lincoln.

    • Police chief wants Birmingham ‘spy’ cameras removed
    • Sacrificing our liberties won’t win the war against terror

      The good news, according to Professor Audrey Cronin at the US National War College, is that terrorist campaigns always end. The only questions are when and how. The answers hinge on government policy. After the 2005 London bombings, Tony Blair proclaimed: “Let no one be in any doubt, the rules of the game are changing.” Ministers proposed waves of authoritarian measures, including incursions on free speech, control orders, ID cards and extensions to detention without charge that one former chief constable labelled a “propaganda coup for Al-Qaeda”. If Al-Qaeda was looking for a repressive reaction, they got it. But, was it effective?

    • EXCLUSIVE: WikiLeaks Prepares Largest Intel Leak in US History with Release of 400,000 Iraq War Docs

      AMY GOODMAN: So they’re doing it again on this 400,000-document leak?

      DANIEL ELLSBERG: They’re doing it again, and it’s much to their credit, and I appreciate it. I’ve waited forty years for a release on this scale. I think there should have been something on the scale of the Pentagon Papers every year. How often do we need this kind of thing? We haven’t seen it. So I’m very glad that someone is taking the risk and the initiative to inform us better now.

    • Government web snooping back on the cards

      Government plans to intercept Internet communications and store details of “traffic data” are reportedly back on the cards.

  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife

  • Finance

    • French protests jeopardise airport fuel supplies

      France’s main airport has only a few days’ worth of jet fuel left, it was announced today, as the strikes against government pension plans continued to disrupt infrastructure.

    • Sarkozy should retire, says France

      More importantly, the French have decided to take to the streets in the millions – including large-scale strikes and work stoppages – to defend hard-won retirement gains. (It must be emphasised, since the media sometimes forgets to make the distinction, that only a tiny percentage of France’s demonstrators have engaged in any kind of property damage and even fewer in violence, with all but these few protesting peacefully.) French populist rage is being directed in a positive direction – unlike in the United States where it is most prominently being mobilised to elect political candidates who will do their best to increase the suffering of working- and middle-class citizens.

    • Greece promises to crack down on tax evaders

      Saying Greeks had already made “unprecedented sacrifices”, the prime minister, George Papandreou, insisted today there would be no more hard-hitting austerity measures, despite the country bracing itself for an expected upward revision of a budget deficit that at 13.6% has already hit record highs.

      “Whatever happens, there will be no additional burden placed on wage earners and pensioners. There will be no additional increase in tax rates beyond the ones we have already committed to making,” Papandreou said.

    • Fannie and Freddie’s Foreclosure Barons

      [Editor's note: In November 2009, MoJo reporter Andy Kroll received a tip about a little-known yet powerful firm, the Law Offices of David J. Stern, which handled staggering numbers of foreclosures in southeastern Florida—the throbbing heart of nation's housing crisis. Among the allegations, the tipster had it from insiders that Stern employees were routinely falsifying legal paperwork in an effort to push borrowers out of their homes as quickly—and profitably—as possible.

      Kroll spent eight months investigating Stern's firm and its ilk—a breed of deep-pocketed and controversial operations dubbed "foreclosure mills." After sifting through thousands of pages of court documents, interviewing scores of legal experts and former Stern employees, and attending dozens of foreclosure hearings in drab Florida courtrooms, he emerged with a portrait of a law firm—indeed, an entire industry—that was willing to cut corners, deceive judges, and even (allegedly) commit fraud—all at the expense of America's homeowners.

    • ForeclosureGate
    • Wall Street Sold `Tragically Deficient' Product, Angelides Says

      Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. created products that were “tragically deficient,” in the view of the chairman of the panel charged by Congress with identifying the causes of the financial crisis.

    • Timothy Geithner forecloses on the moratorium debate

      Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is good at telling fairy tales. Geithner first became known to the general public in September of 2008. Back then, he was head of the New York Federal Reserve Board. He was part of the triumvirate, along with Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke and then Treasury secretary Henry Paulson, who told congress that it had to pass the Tarp or the economy would collapse.

    • Unemployment Benefits: The 99ers

      Even after an extension of unemployment benefits to 99 weeks, many of those about to go off the program are in a quandary. Scott Pelley talks to some of them in Silicon Valley.

    • California Data Autumnal: Dialing Back a Decade

      From the highs of 2007, total California employment is down about 6.5%. And, 2008 total oil product consumption compared to 2007 is down about 5.5%. There is no question that 2009 energy data from EIA Washington will show another notable fall, in California energy use. Meanwhile, as we can see from the labor market data, there is no economic recovery occurring in America’s largest state.

  • PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying

    • Tell the DOJ: Investigate the Chamber of Commerce's campaign spending

      This year alone the Chamber has pledged to spend $75 million on ads attacking candidates who don't meekly bow down to the biggest and wealthiest corporate interests.

    • It's Not Your Local Chamber of Commerce

      Many Americans think of the Chamber of Commerce as a local organization that supplies maps or information about local businesses, or thing of it as a sort of civics league, like the Elks Lodge. But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. is completely different. It often has no ties to local Chambers of Commerce. It spends more money on lobbying than any other entity in Washington, D.C., outspending even the political parties on elections nationwide. The Chamber has a $200 million budget, and as a 501(c)(6) trade association, it doesn't have to pay any taxes or disclose its donors.

    • The Loaded Chamber: Secret Money
    • How Radical Christian Conservatives May Succeed in Destroying Democracy

      The ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes spent his life battling the assault on democracy by tyrants. It is disheartening to be reminded that he lost. But he understood that the hardest struggle for humankind is often stating and understanding the obvious. Aristophanes, who had the temerity to portray the ruling Greek tyrant, Cleon, as a dog, is the perfect playwright to turn to in trying to grasp the danger posed to us by movements from the tea party to militias to the Christian right, as well as the bankrupt and corrupt power elite that no longer concerns itself with the needs of its citizens. He saw the same corruption 2,400 years ago. He feared correctly that it would extinguish Athenian democracy. And he struggled in vain to rouse Athenians from their slumber.

    • The Kochs, Glenn Beck and Titans of Industry Met to Plot 2010 Elections

      ThinkProgress has discovered that the oil billionaire brothers, David H. and Charles G. Koch, who played a key role in creating and funding the Tea Party movement, hold a quiet annual, invitation-only gathering where they coordinate their political agenda with other titans of industry -- including the big health insurers, oil executives, Wall Street investors, real estate tycoons, conservative journalists and TV opinion show stars like Glenn Beck.

    • MEMO: Health Insurance, Banking, Oil Industries Met With Koch, Chamber, Glenn Beck To Plot 2010 Election

      In 2006, Koch Industries owner Charles Koch revealed to the Wall Street Journal’s Stephen Moore that he coordinates the funding of the conservative infrastructure of front groups, political campaigns, think tanks, media outlets and other anti-government efforts through a twice annual meeting of wealthy right-wing donors. He also confided to Moore, who is funded through several of Koch’s ventures, that his true goal is to strengthen the “culture of prosperity” by eliminating “90%” of all laws and government regulations. Although it is difficult to quantify the exact amount Koch alone has funneled to right-wing fronts, some studies have pointed toward $50 million he has given alone to anti-environmental groups.

  • Censorship/Privacy/Civil Rights

    • Google boss: 'Creeped out by Street View? Just move'

      Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said that if you don't like Google Street View cars photographing your house, you can "just move."

      “Street View. We drive exactly once,” Schmidt said during an appearance on CNN's “Parker Spitzer" late last week. “So, you can just move, right?”

      Schmidt's words were broadcast across the net on Friday, but they've been edited from the video now available on the CNN website. Before it was edited out, the moment was reported by The Wall Street Journal.

    • Why I'm suing the Department of Homeland Security

      Today the First Amendment Project is filing a lawsuit on my behalf against U.S. Customs and Border Protection (one of the divisions of the Department of Homeland Security) for violating the Privacy Act and the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) by refusing to disclose their records of my travels, what they did with my requests for my records, and how they index, search for, and retrieve these travel surveillance records.

    • Berlusconi 'vendetta' takes Italy's Paxman off air again

      His fans see him as Italy's Jeremy Paxman, an aggressive but penetrating TV anchorman. Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who owns most of the country's private channels and wields indirect control over the state network, RAI, sees him as a dangerous leftie. Meet Michele Santoro, the temporarily banned hero of Italian current affairs broadcasting.

    • Egyptian government fears a Facebook revolution

      Many Egyptians, in what is still a police state, regard Facebook as a safe haven where they can campaign and express their opinions freely. But that could soon change following a crackdown by the authorities against various types of media.

      In Egypt, many opposition movements have either started or grown significantly on Facebook, most notably the April 6 youth movement and the national campaign to support Nobel peace prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei as a presidential candidate.

    • Chinese police refuse to register human rights lawyer as missing

      Chinese police have refused to register an outspoken human rights lawyer who has not been seen since April as a missing person, his elder brother said today.

      The disappearance of Gao Zhisheng has caused international concern, particularly because he had previously made detailed claims of torture at the hands of security officials during detentions.

    • Tibetan student protests spread to Beijing
    • The west must stand up to China

      Pity the Chinese. The inhabitants of the world's next superpower cannot search the internet or assemble or travel or speak or read or write or even reproduce without restriction. Yet in the lands where freedom is abundant, China, rather than earning well-deserved rebukes, continues to be championed as the ineluctable future. This disgraceful journey began with a liberal assumption: the west, it was claimed, is more likely to influence China by partnering with it, by giving it a prominent position inside, rather than pushing it outside, global institutions.

    • Silence of the dissenters: How south-east Asia keeps web users in line

      Vietnam, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines have all moved or are moving towards monitoring internet use, blocking international sites regarded as critical and ruthlessly silencing web dissidents.

    • Gaza’s Surfer Girls
    • NYCLU Settlement Ends Restriction on Photography Outside Federal Courthouses
    • Plan to store Britons' phone and internet data revived

  • Internet/Net Neutrality/DRM

    • What Do Kids Say About The Internet? + Competition For Best Online Children’s Content

      And, by the way, we can get a good insight into where the internet might head by understanding what these kids use. School work or watching videos (84% and 83% respectively). Playing games (74%) and communicating via instant messaging (61%) are the next most popular activities online. One out of three youngsters now connect via their mobile phones or other portable devices.

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Vatican to rich countries: stop "excessive zeal" for IP rights

      On September 21, the Vatican observer at the UN, Mons. Silvano Maria Tomasi, addressed the 48th general assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva (English translation). He let the group know that the Vatican supports intellectual property rights (IPR) because such protection "recognizes the dignity of man and his work" and because it contributes to "the growth of the individual personality and to the common good."

      But Tomasi then went on to make a point we've harped on repeatedly here at Ars: supporting IP rights in general does not always mean supporting tougher patent and copyright rules; "better" does not always mean "stronger."

    • Steven Johnson: 'Eureka moments are very, very rare'

      What all this means, in practical terms, is that the best way to encourage (or to have) new ideas isn't to fetishise the "spark of genius", to retreat to a mountain cabin in order to "be creative", or to blabber interminably about "blue-sky", "out-of-the-box" thinking. Rather, it's to expand the range of your possible next moves – the perimeter of your potential – by exposing yourself to as much serendipity, as much argument and conversation, as many rival and related ideas as possible; to borrow, to repurpose, to recombine. This is one way of explaining the creativity generated by cities, by Europe's 17th-century coffee-houses, and by the internet. Good ideas happen in networks; in one rather brain-bending sense, you could even say that "good ideas are networks". Or as Johnson also puts it: "Chance favours the connected mind."

    • Copyrights

      • We should copyright the Canadian way

        The new copyright bill, C-32, places consumers and users at risk of infringement for a wide variety of things, such as circumventing digital locks to transfer a CD track to an MP3 Player, or to transfer e-book content from an old device to a new one. Alongside C-32, Canada has been involved in talks to establish an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). Both C-32 and ACTA represent a departure from Canadian copyright...

      • From "Radical Extremism" to "Balanced Copyright" : Canadian Copyright and the Digital Agenda
      • Six more website operators facing Righthaven copyright lawsuits

        Hotel management students in Canada are receiving a lesson in U.S. copyright law courtesy of Las Vegas copyright enforcement company Righthaven LLC.

      • US Library of Congress: Copyright Is Destroying Historic Audio
      • Critique of CBC’s new Anti-Creative Commons Policy

        The logical and ethical next step is to alter this policy, and as such I call for the CBC to do such; allowing for appropriately licensed Creative Commons music to exist alongside commercially licensed music, effectively giving back the rights of Artists and Show Producers to share content, and giving alternatives to Canadian Artists to decide for themselves how their content is to be used. A key issue here is artists’ right to give permission under copyright law for use of their works. They have various reasons for doing this, and why should CBC punish them? By blocking this, the CBC has effectively eliminated this potential on the larger scale. This is not the Canadian way of doing things – we share and we like sharing. Allowing policies like this to exist in our Public Services is a step backwards and creates justifications and rationalizations for similar policies in the future. As a Canadian, this upsets me – seeing my countries’ artists with alternative views set onto a back burner because they have been unfairly grouped in with others. This is not right at all.

      • MPAA Calls Censorship Of Websites 'Forward Looking'

        Ah, the word choices of the MPAA. The organization that once claimed the VCR was the "Boston Strangler" of the movie industry is now out there trying to get three strikes and censorship laws passed to protect their business model, and referring to these backwards looking protectionist policies as "forward looking." That's what MPAA boss Bob Pisano called the idea, found in the COICA proposal to censor web sites the MPAA doesn't like. Of course, if this had been in effect when the VCR first came out, there would be no VCR.

      • Is Mark Twain's 'New' Autobiography Covered By Copyright?

        PometheeFeu pointed us to the news that Mark Twain's autobiography, to be officially published for the first time 100 years after his death is already looking like it's going to be a best seller. The book comes out on November 15th, but it's already near the top of the bestseller lists on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble thanks to pre-orders. If you weren't aware, Twain (real name Samuel Clemens), wrote this autobiography towards the end of his life, but demanded that it not be published until 100 years after his death (some of it, he demanded be withheld for 500 years). Allegedly, he did this so that he could say what he wanted without worrying about the people he spoke ill of ever finding out. Also, it's not your typical autobiography. Apparently, it was more or less stream of consciousness, concerning whatever he felt like talking about. He would get up in the morning, talk about whatever he felt like, and people working for him would take it all down in dictation.

      • Sarkozy Wants To Use Anti-Censorship Conference To Promote Censorship By Copyright

        We've pointed out many times how copyright is, by its nature, a law for censorship. Now, you can argue that it's necessary or useful censorship (though, I doubt I would agree), but it cannot be denied that the basic purpose of copyright law is to stifle a form of speech. That's why I'm always amazed at the disconnect of politicians, who support anti-censorship efforts online at the same time that they promote plans to censor-via-copyright law. Of course, most haven't actually thought about it, or they insist that copyright is not censorship at all, and they can't fathom how the two are connected.

      • Irdial and the Underground

        The Underground story in brief is this: their comic was pirated and bootlegged on 4Chan. They didn't sue or whine: the authors went online at 4Chan to discuss their comic. What happened? More good publicity than you can imagine - go look at their website for what happened to their sales.

      • ACTA

        • FFII: ACTA goes beyond present EU laws

          The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is not in line with present EU laws, according to a Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) analysis. Previously, the European Commission has often stated that ACTA would remain fully in line with existing EU legislation.

          Health groups have pointed out that ACTA will hamper access to essential medicine in developing countries. FFII’s analysis focusses on the impact ACTA will have on European SMEs in the ICT field, and on diffusion of green technology, needed to fight climate change. The FFII concludes that patents have to be excluded from ACTA’s civil enforcement section.

Clip of the Day

The Digital Prism Screencast - MintBackup


Credit: TinyOgg

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

Free Software/Open Source

Leftovers

  • Mark Cuban Wants to Pay Government Attorneys to Get Off Their Ass

    Frustrated by the snail’s pace of the SEC investigation into insider trading allegations, Cuban offered to pay government attorneys to work faster.

  • Manila: A megacity where the living must share with the dead

    Land is precious in Manila, and people are prepared to endure incredible circumstances to claim their own piece. Baking’s family is one of hundreds that have set up home in the cemetery, jostling for space with the dead. “It’s much better living here than in a shanty town,” he assures me as we clamber over densely-packed powder pink and blue tombs on the way to his home. “It’s much more peaceful and quiet.”

  • Drug addict has vasectomy in return for £200 cash

    A drug addict has become the first man in Britain to take part in a controversial project that saw him get cash to be sterilised.

  • Report: Ancient ruins worldwide ‘on verge of vanishing’

    Twelve historic sites around the world are “on the verge of vanishing” because of mismanagement and neglect, according to a new report.

  • FarmVillains

    Steal someone else’s game. Change its name. Make millions. Repeat.

  • Judge Clears CAPTCHA-Breaking Case for Criminal Trial

    A federal judge in New Jersey has cleared the way for a landmark criminal case targeting CAPTCHA circumvention to proceed to trial.

  • UberCab Ordered to Cease And Desist

    Did Ubercab just crash and burn? Taxi and limo industry insiders in California today informed TechCrunch that the San Francisco Metro Transit Authority & the Public Utilities Commission of California have ordered the startup to cease and desist.

  • Health/Nutrition

    • Scientists suggest that cancer is purely man-made

      Cancer is a modern, man-made disease caused by environmental factors such as pollution and diet, a study by University of Manchester scientists has strongly suggested.

      The study of remains and literature from ancient Egypt and Greece and earlier periods – carried out at Manchester’s KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology and published in Nature Reviews Cancer – includes the first histological diagnosis of cancer in an Egyptian mummy.

  • Defence/Police/Aggression

    • Jesse Jackson: Britain’s moral authority is undermined by police discrimination

      The Rev Jesse Jackson has said that Britain’s moral authority is being damaged by the government’s failure to stop the police discriminating against ethnic minorities.

    • AND FINALLY

      With the impact of the soon-to-be-announced mega austerity cuts still to come, it could be that millions will soon find it hard to make ends meet.

      But help is it hand. There’ll be no shortage of people forced to turn to shoplifting or petty crime to survive – and now there’s a website that will pay you to sit at home and spy on everyone in the hope of catching them.

    • Inquiry after police filmed hitting anti-fascist protester

      An investigation is under way after a police officer was filmed hitting an anti-fascist demonstrator in the face during a far-right rally.

      Alan Clough, 63, from Radcliffe, Bury, was protesting against the English Defence League (EDL) rally in Bolton in March when he was struck, fell to the ground and was subsequently arrested.

    • Iraq war logs: military privatisation run amok

      Shortly after 10am on 14 May 2005, a convoy of private security guards from Blackwater riding down “Route Irish” – the Baghdad airport road – shot up a civilian Iraqi vehicle. While they were at it, the Blackwater men fired shots over the heads of a group of soldiers from the 69th Regiment of the US Army before they sped away heading west in their white armoured truck. When the dust cleared, the Iraqi driver was dead and his wife and daughter were injured.

    • They’re Trying To Sell the Brooklyn Bridge Again

      So it was last month when a friendly couple dumped their paper on the train seat opposite me. And bingo, it was as bad as ever. “Defense Officials Predict Slow Afghan Progress.” And the sourcing for this hardly unexpected headline? “Senior US military officials”, “military officials”, “a senior US military official”, “Obama administration officials”, “defence officials”, “the senior military official”, “military leaders”, “the official”, “military officials”, “the officials”, “many in the military”, “military officials” (again), “officials” (again), “military officials” (yet again) and “officials” (yet again).

      Why do our scribes write this horseshit? My old mate Alexander Cockburn calls it “selling the Brooklyn Bridge” and claims that Michael Gordon, chief military correspondent of The New York Times, is always ready to buy it.

    • David Kelly files prove little for campaigners whose fight continues

      Kelly’s death has never been the subject of a proper inquest, Powers argues. The original inquest was replaced by the Hutton inquiry – a highly unusual and, to many observers, unjustified break with standard legal procedure for single deaths. Last month, lawyers acting for Kelly campaigners delivered an application for a fresh inquest to attorney general Dominic Grieve. Grieve is considering it, a process which may take several more months.

    • Norwich Council uses ‘spying’ powers to catch smoke pub

      Norwich City Council used controversial spying powers to investigate and fine a pub for flouting the smoking ban.

    • Allotments and privacy

      With allotments in mind, news has reached Big Brother Watch of the ludicrous situation of a Lincolnshire council demanding to know the sexual orientation, race and religion of those applying for one of the eighteen vacant plots in the City of Lincoln.

    • Police chief wants Birmingham ‘spy’ cameras removed
    • Sacrificing our liberties won’t win the war against terror

      The good news, according to Professor Audrey Cronin at the US National War College, is that terrorist campaigns always end. The only questions are when and how. The answers hinge on government policy. After the 2005 London bombings, Tony Blair proclaimed: “Let no one be in any doubt, the rules of the game are changing.” Ministers proposed waves of authoritarian measures, including incursions on free speech, control orders, ID cards and extensions to detention without charge that one former chief constable labelled a “propaganda coup for Al-Qaeda”. If Al-Qaeda was looking for a repressive reaction, they got it. But, was it effective?

    • EXCLUSIVE: WikiLeaks Prepares Largest Intel Leak in US History with Release of 400,000 Iraq War Docs

      AMY GOODMAN: So they’re doing it again on this 400,000-document leak?

      DANIEL ELLSBERG: They’re doing it again, and it’s much to their credit, and I appreciate it. I’ve waited forty years for a release on this scale. I think there should have been something on the scale of the Pentagon Papers every year. How often do we need this kind of thing? We haven’t seen it. So I’m very glad that someone is taking the risk and the initiative to inform us better now.

    • Government web snooping back on the cards

      Government plans to intercept Internet communications and store details of “traffic data” are reportedly back on the cards.

  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife

  • Finance

    • French protests jeopardise airport fuel supplies

      France’s main airport has only a few days’ worth of jet fuel left, it was announced today, as the strikes against government pension plans continued to disrupt infrastructure.

    • Sarkozy should retire, says France

      More importantly, the French have decided to take to the streets in the millions – including large-scale strikes and work stoppages – to defend hard-won retirement gains. (It must be emphasised, since the media sometimes forgets to make the distinction, that only a tiny percentage of France’s demonstrators have engaged in any kind of property damage and even fewer in violence, with all but these few protesting peacefully.) French populist rage is being directed in a positive direction – unlike in the United States where it is most prominently being mobilised to elect political candidates who will do their best to increase the suffering of working- and middle-class citizens.

    • Greece promises to crack down on tax evaders

      Saying Greeks had already made “unprecedented sacrifices”, the prime minister, George Papandreou, insisted today there would be no more hard-hitting austerity measures, despite the country bracing itself for an expected upward revision of a budget deficit that at 13.6% has already hit record highs.

      “Whatever happens, there will be no additional burden placed on wage earners and pensioners. There will be no additional increase in tax rates beyond the ones we have already committed to making,” Papandreou said.

    • Fannie and Freddie’s Foreclosure Barons

      [Editor's note: In November 2009, MoJo reporter Andy Kroll received a tip about a little-known yet powerful firm, the Law Offices of David J. Stern, which handled staggering numbers of foreclosures in southeastern Florida—the throbbing heart of nation's housing crisis. Among the allegations, the tipster had it from insiders that Stern employees were routinely falsifying legal paperwork in an effort to push borrowers out of their homes as quickly—and profitably—as possible.

      Kroll spent eight months investigating Stern's firm and its ilk—a breed of deep-pocketed and controversial operations dubbed "foreclosure mills." After sifting through thousands of pages of court documents, interviewing scores of legal experts and former Stern employees, and attending dozens of foreclosure hearings in drab Florida courtrooms, he emerged with a portrait of a law firm—indeed, an entire industry—that was willing to cut corners, deceive judges, and even (allegedly) commit fraud—all at the expense of America's homeowners.

    • ForeclosureGate
    • Wall Street Sold `Tragically Deficient’ Product, Angelides Says

      Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. created products that were “tragically deficient,” in the view of the chairman of the panel charged by Congress with identifying the causes of the financial crisis.

    • Timothy Geithner forecloses on the moratorium debate

      Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is good at telling fairy tales. Geithner first became known to the general public in September of 2008. Back then, he was head of the New York Federal Reserve Board. He was part of the triumvirate, along with Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke and then Treasury secretary Henry Paulson, who told congress that it had to pass the Tarp or the economy would collapse.

    • Unemployment Benefits: The 99ers

      Even after an extension of unemployment benefits to 99 weeks, many of those about to go off the program are in a quandary. Scott Pelley talks to some of them in Silicon Valley.

    • California Data Autumnal: Dialing Back a Decade

      From the highs of 2007, total California employment is down about 6.5%. And, 2008 total oil product consumption compared to 2007 is down about 5.5%. There is no question that 2009 energy data from EIA Washington will show another notable fall, in California energy use. Meanwhile, as we can see from the labor market data, there is no economic recovery occurring in America’s largest state.

  • PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying

    • Tell the DOJ: Investigate the Chamber of Commerce’s campaign spending

      This year alone the Chamber has pledged to spend $75 million on ads attacking candidates who don’t meekly bow down to the biggest and wealthiest corporate interests.

    • It’s Not Your Local Chamber of Commerce

      Many Americans think of the Chamber of Commerce as a local organization that supplies maps or information about local businesses, or thing of it as a sort of civics league, like the Elks Lodge. But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. is completely different. It often has no ties to local Chambers of Commerce. It spends more money on lobbying than any other entity in Washington, D.C., outspending even the political parties on elections nationwide. The Chamber has a $200 million budget, and as a 501(c)(6) trade association, it doesn’t have to pay any taxes or disclose its donors.

    • The Loaded Chamber: Secret Money
    • How Radical Christian Conservatives May Succeed in Destroying Democracy

      The ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes spent his life battling the assault on democracy by tyrants. It is disheartening to be reminded that he lost. But he understood that the hardest struggle for humankind is often stating and understanding the obvious. Aristophanes, who had the temerity to portray the ruling Greek tyrant, Cleon, as a dog, is the perfect playwright to turn to in trying to grasp the danger posed to us by movements from the tea party to militias to the Christian right, as well as the bankrupt and corrupt power elite that no longer concerns itself with the needs of its citizens. He saw the same corruption 2,400 years ago. He feared correctly that it would extinguish Athenian democracy. And he struggled in vain to rouse Athenians from their slumber.

    • The Kochs, Glenn Beck and Titans of Industry Met to Plot 2010 Elections

      ThinkProgress has discovered that the oil billionaire brothers, David H. and Charles G. Koch, who played a key role in creating and funding the Tea Party movement, hold a quiet annual, invitation-only gathering where they coordinate their political agenda with other titans of industry — including the big health insurers, oil executives, Wall Street investors, real estate tycoons, conservative journalists and TV opinion show stars like Glenn Beck.

    • MEMO: Health Insurance, Banking, Oil Industries Met With Koch, Chamber, Glenn Beck To Plot 2010 Election

      In 2006, Koch Industries owner Charles Koch revealed to the Wall Street Journal’s Stephen Moore that he coordinates the funding of the conservative infrastructure of front groups, political campaigns, think tanks, media outlets and other anti-government efforts through a twice annual meeting of wealthy right-wing donors. He also confided to Moore, who is funded through several of Koch’s ventures, that his true goal is to strengthen the “culture of prosperity” by eliminating “90%” of all laws and government regulations. Although it is difficult to quantify the exact amount Koch alone has funneled to right-wing fronts, some studies have pointed toward $50 million he has given alone to anti-environmental groups.

  • Censorship/Privacy/Civil Rights

    • Google boss: ‘Creeped out by Street View? Just move’

      Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said that if you don’t like Google Street View cars photographing your house, you can “just move.”

      “Street View. We drive exactly once,” Schmidt said during an appearance on CNN’s “Parker Spitzer” late last week. “So, you can just move, right?”

      Schmidt’s words were broadcast across the net on Friday, but they’ve been edited from the video now available on the CNN website. Before it was edited out, the moment was reported by The Wall Street Journal.

    • Why I’m suing the Department of Homeland Security

      Today the First Amendment Project is filing a lawsuit on my behalf against U.S. Customs and Border Protection (one of the divisions of the Department of Homeland Security) for violating the Privacy Act and the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) by refusing to disclose their records of my travels, what they did with my requests for my records, and how they index, search for, and retrieve these travel surveillance records.

    • Berlusconi ‘vendetta’ takes Italy’s Paxman off air again

      His fans see him as Italy’s Jeremy Paxman, an aggressive but penetrating TV anchorman. Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who owns most of the country’s private channels and wields indirect control over the state network, RAI, sees him as a dangerous leftie. Meet Michele Santoro, the temporarily banned hero of Italian current affairs broadcasting.

    • Egyptian government fears a Facebook revolution

      Many Egyptians, in what is still a police state, regard Facebook as a safe haven where they can campaign and express their opinions freely. But that could soon change following a crackdown by the authorities against various types of media.

      In Egypt, many opposition movements have either started or grown significantly on Facebook, most notably the April 6 youth movement and the national campaign to support Nobel peace prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei as a presidential candidate.

    • Chinese police refuse to register human rights lawyer as missing

      Chinese police have refused to register an outspoken human rights lawyer who has not been seen since April as a missing person, his elder brother said today.

      The disappearance of Gao Zhisheng has caused international concern, particularly because he had previously made detailed claims of torture at the hands of security officials during detentions.

    • Tibetan student protests spread to Beijing
    • The west must stand up to China

      Pity the Chinese. The inhabitants of the world’s next superpower cannot search the internet or assemble or travel or speak or read or write or even reproduce without restriction. Yet in the lands where freedom is abundant, China, rather than earning well-deserved rebukes, continues to be championed as the ineluctable future. This disgraceful journey began with a liberal assumption: the west, it was claimed, is more likely to influence China by partnering with it, by giving it a prominent position inside, rather than pushing it outside, global institutions.

    • Silence of the dissenters: How south-east Asia keeps web users in line

      Vietnam, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines have all moved or are moving towards monitoring internet use, blocking international sites regarded as critical and ruthlessly silencing web dissidents.

    • Gaza’s Surfer Girls
    • NYCLU Settlement Ends Restriction on Photography Outside Federal Courthouses
    • Plan to store Britons’ phone and internet data revived

  • Internet/Net Neutrality/DRM

    • What Do Kids Say About The Internet? + Competition For Best Online Children’s Content

      And, by the way, we can get a good insight into where the internet might head by understanding what these kids use. School work or watching videos (84% and 83% respectively). Playing games (74%) and communicating via instant messaging (61%) are the next most popular activities online. One out of three youngsters now connect via their mobile phones or other portable devices.

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Vatican to rich countries: stop “excessive zeal” for IP rights

      On September 21, the Vatican observer at the UN, Mons. Silvano Maria Tomasi, addressed the 48th general assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva (English translation). He let the group know that the Vatican supports intellectual property rights (IPR) because such protection “recognizes the dignity of man and his work” and because it contributes to “the growth of the individual personality and to the common good.”

      But Tomasi then went on to make a point we’ve harped on repeatedly here at Ars: supporting IP rights in general does not always mean supporting tougher patent and copyright rules; “better” does not always mean “stronger.”

    • Steven Johnson: ‘Eureka moments are very, very rare’

      What all this means, in practical terms, is that the best way to encourage (or to have) new ideas isn’t to fetishise the “spark of genius”, to retreat to a mountain cabin in order to “be creative”, or to blabber interminably about “blue-sky”, “out-of-the-box” thinking. Rather, it’s to expand the range of your possible next moves – the perimeter of your potential – by exposing yourself to as much serendipity, as much argument and conversation, as many rival and related ideas as possible; to borrow, to repurpose, to recombine. This is one way of explaining the creativity generated by cities, by Europe’s 17th-century coffee-houses, and by the internet. Good ideas happen in networks; in one rather brain-bending sense, you could even say that “good ideas are networks”. Or as Johnson also puts it: “Chance favours the connected mind.”

    • Copyrights

      • We should copyright the Canadian way

        The new copyright bill, C-32, places consumers and users at risk of infringement for a wide variety of things, such as circumventing digital locks to transfer a CD track to an MP3 Player, or to transfer e-book content from an old device to a new one. Alongside C-32, Canada has been involved in talks to establish an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). Both C-32 and ACTA represent a departure from Canadian copyright…

      • From “Radical Extremism” to “Balanced Copyright” : Canadian Copyright and the Digital Agenda
      • Six more website operators facing Righthaven copyright lawsuits

        Hotel management students in Canada are receiving a lesson in U.S. copyright law courtesy of Las Vegas copyright enforcement company Righthaven LLC.

      • US Library of Congress: Copyright Is Destroying Historic Audio
      • Critique of CBC’s new Anti-Creative Commons Policy

        The logical and ethical next step is to alter this policy, and as such I call for the CBC to do such; allowing for appropriately licensed Creative Commons music to exist alongside commercially licensed music, effectively giving back the rights of Artists and Show Producers to share content, and giving alternatives to Canadian Artists to decide for themselves how their content is to be used. A key issue here is artists’ right to give permission under copyright law for use of their works. They have various reasons for doing this, and why should CBC punish them? By blocking this, the CBC has effectively eliminated this potential on the larger scale. This is not the Canadian way of doing things – we share and we like sharing. Allowing policies like this to exist in our Public Services is a step backwards and creates justifications and rationalizations for similar policies in the future. As a Canadian, this upsets me – seeing my countries’ artists with alternative views set onto a back burner because they have been unfairly grouped in with others. This is not right at all.

      • MPAA Calls Censorship Of Websites ‘Forward Looking’

        Ah, the word choices of the MPAA. The organization that once claimed the VCR was the “Boston Strangler” of the movie industry is now out there trying to get three strikes and censorship laws passed to protect their business model, and referring to these backwards looking protectionist policies as “forward looking.” That’s what MPAA boss Bob Pisano called the idea, found in the COICA proposal to censor web sites the MPAA doesn’t like. Of course, if this had been in effect when the VCR first came out, there would be no VCR.

      • Is Mark Twain’s ‘New’ Autobiography Covered By Copyright?

        PometheeFeu pointed us to the news that Mark Twain’s autobiography, to be officially published for the first time 100 years after his death is already looking like it’s going to be a best seller. The book comes out on November 15th, but it’s already near the top of the bestseller lists on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble thanks to pre-orders. If you weren’t aware, Twain (real name Samuel Clemens), wrote this autobiography towards the end of his life, but demanded that it not be published until 100 years after his death (some of it, he demanded be withheld for 500 years). Allegedly, he did this so that he could say what he wanted without worrying about the people he spoke ill of ever finding out. Also, it’s not your typical autobiography. Apparently, it was more or less stream of consciousness, concerning whatever he felt like talking about. He would get up in the morning, talk about whatever he felt like, and people working for him would take it all down in dictation.

      • Sarkozy Wants To Use Anti-Censorship Conference To Promote Censorship By Copyright

        We’ve pointed out many times how copyright is, by its nature, a law for censorship. Now, you can argue that it’s necessary or useful censorship (though, I doubt I would agree), but it cannot be denied that the basic purpose of copyright law is to stifle a form of speech. That’s why I’m always amazed at the disconnect of politicians, who support anti-censorship efforts online at the same time that they promote plans to censor-via-copyright law. Of course, most haven’t actually thought about it, or they insist that copyright is not censorship at all, and they can’t fathom how the two are connected.

      • Irdial and the Underground

        The Underground story in brief is this: their comic was pirated and bootlegged on 4Chan. They didn’t sue or whine: the authors went online at 4Chan to discuss their comic. What happened? More good publicity than you can imagine – go look at their website for what happened to their sales.

      • ACTA

        • FFII: ACTA goes beyond present EU laws

          The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is not in line with present EU laws, according to a Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) analysis. Previously, the European Commission has often stated that ACTA would remain fully in line with existing EU legislation.

          Health groups have pointed out that ACTA will hamper access to essential medicine in developing countries. FFII’s analysis focusses on the impact ACTA will have on European SMEs in the ICT field, and on diffusion of green technology, needed to fight climate change. The FFII concludes that patents have to be excluded from ACTA’s civil enforcement section.

Clip of the Day

The Digital Prism Screencast – MintBackup


Credit: TinyOgg

10.25.10

IRC Proceedings: October 25th, 2010

Posted in IRC Logs at 6:45 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME Gedit

GNOME Gedit

GNOME Gedit

#techrights log

#boycottnovell log

#boycottnovell-social log

Enter the IRC channels now

Links 25/10/2010: Mac OS X Lion Allegedly Copies GNU/Linux, Clang Builds Linux 2.6.36

Posted in News Roundup at 6:29 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

  • Mac OS X Lion Features Are Ubuntu Rip-Off

    Let’s look at Mac OS X Lion’s first “innovation” they introduced: multitouch gestures. This is curious because while Mac trackpads and “magical” mice support multitouch, not much work had been done with multitouch at the OS level. With Lion, Apple’s introducing system-wide gestures that command both applications and the OS. But wait, where have we seen this before? That’s right, Ubuntu.

  • Kernel Space

    • Clang builds a working 2.6.36 Kernel

      Clang can now compile a functional Linux Kernel (version 2.6.36, SMP).

    • Graphics Stack

      • Intel, Radeon DRM Get Precise VBlank Timestamps

        Mario Kleiner has published patches over the weekend that introduce precise vblank time-stamping support within the Linux kernel’s DRM core and has implemented this support already within the Radeon and Intel kernel drivers too. The precise vblank timestamps and counting is needed by the DRI2 sync and swap extensions and in particular to conform with the OML_sync_control extension.

      • Holy Crap! You Can Use XvMC With ATI Gallium3D!

        It was just over the weekend that we reported XvMC and VDPAU may come to the ATI R600 Gallium3D driver that would allow those with Radeon HD 2000/3000/4000/5000 series graphics cards (what’s supported by R600g) to enjoy accelerated video playback using GPU shaders beyond just the limited X-Video extension. This work was being done by Christian König and today he has one hell of a surprise: it’s to the point that today you can try out the code and it should work for XvMC! Yes, that’s the case, I just read the email twice and am now scurrying to test out the appropriate ATI DDX and Gallium3D driver.

  • Desktop Environments

    • GNOME Desktop

      • There’s Little Love For Ubuntu’s Unity Desktop

        The announcement of Ubuntu dropping the GNOME shell in favor of their own Unity interface that came during Mark Shuttleworth’s keynote to kick off their Ubuntu 11.04 development summit has not been welcomed by many Linux users.

        Of the three pages of comments (and it continues to grow) within our forums, there isn’t anyone that’s actually happy to see Unity coming to the Ubuntu Desktop rather than the GNOME 3.0 Shell. Many users have already tried the current Unity desktop used by Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition and there’s just lots of complaints.

      • Ubuntu moves away from GNOME
      • Ubuntu to move to Unity as default desktop for 11.04

        First things first: what Canonical is doing here is not new, by any means. Novell developed the slab on their own, based on their user testing and to their own design, before proposing it for inclusion in GNOME once it was released in Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop. Nokia have developed custom user interfaces on top of the standard Linux desktop shell for the past 5 years, built with GNOME technologies, and have actively participated in the development of core components through the GNOME project – they are now developing a custom interface based on Qt, for smartphones, using the same standard desktop stack. OpenMoko did the same thing with the Freerunner. Intel built a custom shell for netbooks in the Moblin project, which is now the netbook interface for MeeGo. OLPC built a custom designed user interface for educational computing devices. GNOME allows and enables this kind of work, because of the great platform and infrastructure we have provided over the years to all Linux software developers.

        In such illustrious company, forgive me if I think that Canonical’s management has seriously underestimated the difficulty of the task in front of them.

      • Ubuntu changes its desktop from GNOME to Unity

        Unity is Ubuntu’s new netbook interface. While based on GNOME, it is own take on what an interface should look and act like. Shuttleworth explained that Canonical was doing this because “users want Unity as their primary desktop.”

      • Shuttleworth: Unity shell will be default desktop in Ubuntu 11.04
      • Zeitgeist wants you

  • Distributions

    • Red Hat Family

      • Fedora

        • Fedora 15: Lovelock, Pushcart, Sturgis, Asturias?

          Earlier this month the Fedora community began proposing names for Fedora 15 with the proposals ranging from names like Malmstrom to Fortaleza and Gutzwiller. The list, however, has now been narrowed down to five potential candidates for the Fedora 15 codename.

          The potential names for Fedora 15 include Asturias, Lovelock, Pushcart, Sturgis, and perhaps the most normal name is Blarney. Personally I’d pick Blarney or Pushcart.

    • Debian Family

      • Canonical/Ubuntu

        • UDS Natty 11.04 – Mark Shuttleworth keynote – Part 1

          Mark Shuttleworth delivers the keynote speech kicking off the Ubuntu Developer Summit in Orlando, Florida. Note: This is an ‘unofficial’ rip of the video stream from the event which cut part way through.

        • Day 1 – Report from Ubuntu Developer Summit

          And so it begins. For anyone unfamiliar with the Ubuntu Developer Summit, it’s a biannual get together for the great minds of the wider Ubuntu community to figure out what’s going to happen in the next release. It’s pretty unique; almost all of the sessions are entirely open and broadcast online for remote participation.

          My day began, like everyone else’s, with the keynote by Mark Shuttleworth.

  • Devices/Embedded

    • Phones

      • Nokia/MeeGo

        • Nokia N900 PR 1.3 Firmware Now Available

          Simply grab the vanilla version for PR 1.3 for your region and get flashing using this guide. If you are on a Mac, this is the guide to follow. The new firmware brings bug fixes, stability improvements and support for Nokia’s Ovi Suite.

      • Android

Free Software/Open Source

  • Events

    • PGDay Europe 2010 schedule announced

      I’m pleased to be able to say that the schedule for this year’s PGDay Europe conference in Stuttgart, Germany on the 6th – 8th December 2010 is now available.

  • Openness/Sharing

    • No base station required: peer-to-peer WiFi Direct is go

      The Wi-Fi Alliance on Monday announced that its direct peer-to-peer networking version of WiFi, called WiFi Direct, is now available on several new WiFi devices. The Alliance is also announcing that it has begun the process of certifying devices for WiFi Direct compatibility.

    • Open Data

      • To Save Students Money, Colleges May Force a Switch to E-Textbooks

        You’ve heard it before: Digital technologies blew up the music industry’s moneymaking model, and the textbook business is next.

        For years observers have predicted a coming wave of e-textbooks. But so far it just hasn’t happened. One explanation for the delay is that while music fans were eager to try a new, more portable form of entertainment, students tend to be more conservative when choosing required materials for their studies. For a real disruption in the textbook market, students may have to be forced to change.

  • Standards/Consortia

    • HTML5 Audio and Video: What you Must Know

      In promotion of what I consider to be the best HTML5 book currently available on the market, Remy Sharp and Bruce Lawson agreed to donate a chapter of Introducing HTML5 to our readers, which details the ins and outs of working with HTML5 video and audio.

Leftovers

  • Interface Message Processor (IMP) – The First Internet Router

    Steve Jurvetson shot this photo of a Interface Message Processor (IMP) made by BBN, which was as used as a router by APRANET to create one of the first nodes Internet in 1969. It is part of an upcoming exhibition at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.

  • Defence/Police/Aggression

  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife

    • End of the Exmoor Emperor: sadness after giant red stag shot dead

      After 12 summers, the sun has finally set on the Exmoor Emperor, the magnificent red stag whose epic proportions were his making – and also, it seems, his downfall.

    • Prehistoric creatures discovered in huge Indian amber haul

      Hundreds of prehistoric insects and other creatures have been discovered in a large haul of amber excavated from a coalmine in western India. An international team of fossil hunters recovered 150kg of the dirty brown resin from Cambay Shale in Gujarat province, making it one of the largest amber collections on record. The tiny animals became entombed in the fossilised tree resin some 52m years ago, before the Indian subcontinent crunched into Asia to produce the Himalayan mountain range.

    • Days left to stop mass extinction

      A third of all animals and plants on earth face extinction — endangered blue whales, coral reefs, and a vast array of other species. The wave of human-driven extinction has reached a rate not seen since the fall of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

  • Censorship/Privacy/Civil Rights

    • NHS ‘suspended whistle-blowers’ in London

      Three senior NHS staff in London claim they have been suspended for whistle-blowing after raising concerns about the hospitals they work in, but have been given other reasons for keeping them off work.

  • Internet/Net Neutrality/DRM

    • Jailbreaking Your iPhone? Legal! Jailbreaking Your Xbox? 3 Years In Jail!

      Bunnie Huang is no stranger to absolutely ridiculous legal claims concerning trying to hack an Xbox. After doing so, he had trouble publishing a book on the subject, over fears that telling people how to modify a piece of electronics they had legally purchased might somehow violate copyright law (anyone else see a problem with that?). Now, techflaws.org points us to the news that Huang is scheduled to testify on behalf of a guy facing jailtime for modifying Xboxes. But US officials are trying to bar his testimony, claiming it’s “not legally relevant.” Technically, they’re probably right. But, from a common sense standpoint, Huang is trying to make a bunch of important points.

    • Mark Cuban: It’s Okay For Broadcasters To Block Access Based On Browsers, Because They’re Making Billions

      Like many tech sites, we recently wrote about the fact that the various TV networks were discriminating based on the browser, blocking access to Google TV’s browser, because they don’t want people to watch the shows they’re already giving away for free online on their TV (even though it’s easy enough to just hook up a computer to a TV and watch via your preferred browser of choice). Marshall Kirkpatrick pointed us to the fact that Mark Cuban decided to respond to Newteevee’s article on the subject, in which the author of the original article reasonably pointed out that this was a braindead strategy by the networks, who were shooting themselves in the foot.

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Copyrights

      • Universal Claiming Dancing Baby Video Not An Obvious Case Of Fair Use

        The latest part of the case is that both sides have filed for summary judgment, with Lenz arguing that the takedown violated the law, since Universal did not believe in good faith that the video was infringing (as required by the law). Universal’s motion, on the other hand, makes the argument that the 29-second video is not an obvious case of fair use. It still argues that there’s no requirement to check for fair use first, but says that even if it’s supposed to, this video was not obviously fair use.

      • Mom Asks Court to Declare Universal Violated Law in “Dancing Baby” Case

        Back in 2007, Stephanie Lenz posted a video to YouTube of her children dancing and running around in her kitchen. Stephanie wanted to share the moment with her family and friends. But they weren’t the only ones watching: a few months later, Universal Music Corp. had the video removed from YouTube, claiming that the video infringed its copyright.

      • Secret Anti-Piracy Negotiations, 3 Strikes, And a Taxpayer Funded Campaign

        As authorities, rightsholders and ISPs in Denmark negotiate behind an agreed press blackout over the possible introduction of a 3 strikes-style file-sharing regime, the government is set to commit tax payers’ money to the overall plan. The Ministry of Culture says it will help fund a public anti-piracy campaign and will match any financial contributions made by the entertainment industries and ISPs.

      • Porn pros hope to squelch online piracy by 2012

        The film and music businesses couldn’t stop file-sharing, but the porn industry has a plan to drive piracy into the shadows in 15 months or less. Can DogFart, Lords of Porn, and Naughty Bank succeed where others have failed?

      • ACTA

        • KEI’s ACTA timeline
        • Urgent EP written question: Is ACTA voluntary? Only binding for countries of South?

          Article 1.2 in the proposed ACTA agreement states:

          “Each Party shall be free to determine the appropriate method of implementing the provisions of this Agreement within its own legal system and practice.”

          At recent meetings in Washington the US Trade representative has told other US agencies, NGOs and US legislators that ACTA is not binding and that its Article 1. 2 allows for a general flexibility for any element that might contradict ACTA in US law.

Clip of the Day

Iraq War Logs Every Death Mapped – From Wikileaks and Guardian MIRROR


Credit: TinyOgg

Windows Profit Declines Sharply Because of Competition From GNU/Linux

Posted in Finance, GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Windows at 4:02 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Old building

Summary: Slowly but surely, Free software breaks Windows and other Microsoft platforms by lowering their market value and thus hurting Microsoft’s cashflow

ONE of our sceptical readers has raised an important matter in IRC yesterday. By looking back at some numbers he claims to have found more proof that Vista 7 does not succeed in the marketplace, contrary to these ludicrous claims that “Windows 7 might be a massive commercial success” (utter BS from Engadget, no offence intended). We’ll get to the pertinent details in a moment, not before pointing out that our informant from Sweden, Mikko, claims based on this article that “[S]ilverlight on the web is dead [...] Ballmer states that Silverlight is now pretty much strictly a client, non-cross platform thing, while explicitly stating that when it comes to doing something universal, “the world’s gone HTML5″.” So, we were right about Silverlight all along [1, 2, 3, 4], but that’s a separate story.

Mikko says he “thinks that there’s only bad journalism on Engadget” and we too wrote about the subject. Microsoft even gave this publication an expensive new laptop with Vista 7 (pre-beta) preinstalled so that it can praise Vista 7 before anyone else gets to see it. It’s an exercise of PR.

Windows undoubtedly has a margins problem. Mainstream publications that we cited recently say it clearly as it’s not hard to see. And looking at the source our reader cites, there is this MSFT analysis (Q1 of 2010) and one particular image that says it all. It’s all big minuses for Microsoft’s cash cows too.

Our reader responded by saying: “Record numbers of sales but 52% decline in income? Wow!

“If Microsoft’s sales have been flat of declining, it is no wonder they have gone from virtual dominance to 68% of all units today. 68% is a Vista 7 channel stuffing number, and the actual number is probably greater than that. That is, more than 32% of desktop computers are shipped without Windows…”

As we have shown before, Windows profits declined over the years. Profit fell by more than half based on the above, but income aside, revenue is down 39% too for Windows. That’s pretty shocking unless there’s a snag to be taken into account.

Our reader summarised by saying that “you can’t see the reports, sadly but the SEC will serve them to you… I was more interested in finding the number of licenses Microsoft has sold as a fraction of world PC shipments. Both are slippery numbers, with IDC providing most of the published PC shipment figures to Microsoft boosters and few hits on license numbers.” GNU/Linux is one cause of the stated declines. Microsoft is forced to lower prices to remain competitive. This may help explain the FUD attacks we’ve been seeing recently. One talking point is about GNU/Linux being “fragmented”, which is basically a negative word for “diverse”. “”Fragmented” is a proprietary spectacles view,” explained Groklaw some days ago in relation to Android, and “[p]eople say that about GNU/Linux too. But what they miss is this: you can do whatever you want. That is a wonderful feeling, and it leads to superfast development, not to mention a lot of fun.” █

GNOME and Mono Meet Through Zeitgeist

Posted in GNOME, GNU/Linux, Mono at 3:14 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Project

Summary: Development and architecture in GNOME to make Mono pluggable via Zeitgeist

NOVELL’S PROJECT, Mono, still wants to be inside GNOME Zeitgeist and it is still a threat, as we’ve been seeing recently and warned about even a year ago. Now we find some new updates about Mono bindings in Zeitgeist:

The great Manish Sinha has blogged about the development of Zeitgeist-Sharp bindings. Since I am too lazy/busy and preparing some new stuff for UDS, I just posted his whole blog post.

These bindings do not imply that Zeitgeist will depend on Mono. However, it never helps to have Mono bindings because of the way applications evolve and plugins which people may choose to use/develop with them.

As an aside, the latest Banshee endorsements neglect to point out that Microsoft's MCP makes it explicitly uncovered for patent matters (maybe the whole of Mono is not covered, either). █

Links 25/10/2010: Canonical Splits From GNOME Shell, LibreOffice Gains Momentum

Posted in News Roundup at 2:46 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

  • Tux and the Sixth Sense: I See Dead Linux!

    My colleagues who went to the talk also want to migrate to Linux and Open Office! Didn’t they see the beautiful video Microsoft produced explaining why you shouldn’t? Or how the grades of students are affected negatively if they use Open Office instead of MS Office for their assignments?

  • Numbers and the Death of Desktop Linux

    We are talking about DESKTOP LINUX, remember? What does that mean? Well, that is pretty self-explanatory: it means desktop computers that RUN Linux. We are not talking about sales figures here. We are talking about desktop computers. Sales figures are sales figures; desktop computers are desktop computers. These are different concepts as the realities they embody.

  • Tales from a Windows-free life

    I completely stopped using Windows around 2002, and I’ve really enjoyed it, very, very much :)

    Since then I’ve been distro-hopping (swapping different Linux-versions, more commonly known as “distributions”, or “distros”) through everything from Slackware Linux to Ubuntu. It’s been a rocky and unstable ride to be quite honest, but it’s been an awesome learning-experience.

    I can’t even begin to count all the problems concerning re-installation of Windows on both my hands. Yes, that’s BOTH hands! I really, REALLY hate re-installing Windows. And if you’re a super-user like me, who likes to play around with your computer-systems, you’ve done a re-install a couple of dozen times (or maybe even more).

  • Server

    • LSE makes world record trade speed on Linux

      If the third test is successful, the LSE will open on Linux on 1 November, otherwise it will postpone the launch for a fortnight.

      David Lester, CEO of Turquoise, said that alongside the 126 microsecond average latency, 99% of orders would be processed within 210 microseconds, and only 0.1% will take longer than 400 microseconds.

    • Linux dictionary tools

      The dictionary is a tool that any writer or student should have on their computer. And Linux users are not immune from this need. But if you look through the possibilities of Linux dictionary tools you find quite a large amount available. Which of these tools are the best or easiest to use?

  • Audiocasts/Shows

  • Kernel Space

    • Graphics Stack

      • Nouveau Gets Zaphod Mode Support

        It was just last week that page-flipping and sync-to-vblank support came to the Nouveau driver and now this open-source NVIDIA driver has initial support for Zaphod mode. While the Nouveau kernel mode-setting code has supported RandR 1.2 for quite a while with multi-monitor support, Red Hat’s Ben Skeggs has made an initial pass at providing Zaphod mode.

        According to Ben’s Git commit this less than 100 line patch should provide Zaphod mode capabilities for at least simple configurations. Zaphod mode is an older, alternate way for configuring dual-head mode support under Linux (rather than just configuring the displays with RandR) and is supported by some drivers. Setting up Nouveau’s Zaphod mode requires using the ZaphodHeads option (similar to the other supportive drivers) within the xorg.conf for specifying the RandR outputs that should be used for a particular driver instance.

      • X.Org Server 1.9.1 Released By Apple’s Huddleston

        As we mentioned earlier, Apple’s Jeremy Huddleston took over release management of the X.Org Server 1.9 series now that it’s stable and will only receive bug-fixes from this point on. Meanwhile, Keith Packard and the gang of X.Org developers are focusing on X.Org Server 1.10 to have that ready by early next year. Jeremy Huddleston on this Saturday night has just made his first point release, X.Org Server 1.9.1.

        This release though is not exactly a surprise considering there’s been release candidates for a few weeks and it was expected to make its debut in October so that it can be released as part of the X.Org 7.6 Katamari, but all has been quiet on that front, so it may be delayed or has just been held up until xorg-server 1.9.1.

  • Applications

  • Desktop Environments

    • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC)

      • Managing Offline Routing Maps in Marble

        Unlike tile-based maps used as layers in map themes, offline routing maps consist of large chunks of data that enable the calculation of routes in a certain area. For all of the offline routers supported by Marble, these maps are created by a router specific conversion tool: Put an osm map file in, get a router map file out. When copied to the right place, Marble uses them for offline routing. This task can only be accomplishing by users with detailed technical knowledge and quite some motivation to read the documentation and follow all steps. Clearly nothing I’d expect from the average user.

    • GNOME Desktop

      • Canonical Ubuntu splits from GNOME over design issues

        Canonical is changing the default interface on the next release of Ubuntu from GNOME to Unity, a new open source project that focuses on simplified interface and three dimensional displays.

        Canonical made the switch for the next release of its Ubuntu desktop Linux distribution, because of increasingly divergent views of how a desktop interface should look and operate, according to Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth.

      • First GNOME 3.0 development release arrives

        The GNOME development team have issued the first development version of GNOME 3.0, the next major release of the popular open source desktop for GNU / Linux and Unix. Version 3 of GNOME was originally scheduled for release towards the end of last month, however, in July of this year the release date was moved back by six months to April of 2011 because the GNOME release team felt the code was not sufficiently mature.

  • Distributions

    • PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandrake/Mandriva Family

    • Red Hat Family

      • Red Hat Inc. (RHT) EVP, CFO Charles E Jr Peters sells 5,688 Shares

        Red Hat Inc. has a market cap of $7.4 billion; its shares were traded at around $39.15 with a P/E ratio of 71.1 and P/S ratio of 10. Red Hat Inc. had an annual average earning growth of 22.7% over the past 5 years.

      • VeriSign Inc. Attracting Bullish Investors; VRSN, MSFT, RHT

        VRSN competes in the Application Software industry with Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) [Chart - Analysis - News]—the largest firm in the industry group—and Red Hat, Inc. (RHT) [Chart - Analysis - News], who have returned 3.88% and 1.47% during the past month, respectively. VRSN is likely to be sensitive to its competitors so future weakness in the Application Software industry could be an early warning sign that things might be turning around.

      • Red Hat Broke Resistance

      • Fedora

        • Approved, Now I’m a Fedora Ambassador =)

          I’ve been approved as a Fedora Ambassador for the North America region. I’d like to thank my mentor Larry Cafiero and the people in the #fedora-ambassadors irc channel on Freenode. My goals in this position are to spread the good word about the Fedora Project. I’ll be attending various Fedora events, I’ll be setting up my own events and I’ll likely do some talks regarding key features in the latest release of Fedora which will soon be Fedora 14. I am also investigating the process of setting up a Fedora and Free Software based netcast. It’s something I’ve started to get interest in ever since I saw a book on it at Value Village this weekend.

    • Debian Family

      • Canonical/Ubuntu

        • Ubuntu 11.04 to ship Unity as default desktop?

          A blueprint suggesting a that a variant of the Unity netbook interface should be used on the desktop edition for Natty Narwhal has been approved by Mark Shuttleworth for discussion at the Ubuntu Developer Summit this week.

        • UDS-N: Planning for the Ubuntu 11.04 Cycle Begins Today

          What’s on tap for this week in the world of Ubuntu? It’s the Ubuntu Developer Summit for the Ubuntu 11.04, Natty Narwhal cycle, otherwise known as UDS-N.

          Just as UDS website states, “Be there and make a difference”, I’ll be blogging, denting, tweeting, facebooking and more from the sessions this week. I am looking forward to seeing what we, as users of Ubuntu, can expect for our desktops, servers, ARM devices, and more from Ubuntu 11.04.

          There is also community sessions where I’ll find out what projects are happening in and around the community where you can contribute and let you know about those as well.

        • Linux Virtualization Performance Of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Through Ubuntu 10.10

          Earlier this month we delivered Ubuntu 10.10 benchmarks from some different hardware comparing the performance of this “Maverick Meerkat” release to that of Ubuntu 9.10 and 10.04.1 LTS. The results were interesting, but since then we have had the time to complete additional tests. In this benchmarking roundabout, we decided to see how the performance of every release from Ubuntu 8.04 LTS through the new Ubuntu Linux release performs when tested in a virtualized environment using Linux’s KVM virtualization. Here are the virtualized guest results for Ubuntu 8.04.4 LTS, 8.10, 9.04, 9.10, 10.04.1 LTS, and 10.10.

        • Ubuntu 11.04 will use Unity as the default desktop

          In his keynote address at the Ubuntu Developer Summit Mark Shuttleworth has announced that Ubuntu 11.04 will use a new desktop version of Unity for the default desktop environment.

          ‘Desktop Unity’ will be installed as the default desktop for users whose hardware support it. Improved work on the hardware front will ensure as many users are able to benefit from the unified interface as possible.

        • Ubuntu 11.04 to ship Unity

          …we have already started porting !Unity from mutter to Compiz and the initial work is much faster…

        • ‘Sponsor an app’ model coming to Ubuntu Software Centre in 11.04

          Helping to fund your favourite open-source applications will become much easier in Ubuntu 11.04.

          A new method will be introduced to the Ubuntu Software Store to allow users to ‘sponsor a package’ for any amount they so wish via the in-place UbuntuOne payment structure.

        • Ubuntu 11.04 Desktop To Get Rid Of GNOME’s Shell

          While GNOME 3.0 is expected to roll out in March and will boast the brand new GNOME Shell interface with the Mutter compositing window manager, this will not appear by default in the Ubuntu desktop. Certainly not in Ubuntu 11.04 and it doesn’t look like it will be used at all in the future by default (granted, you’ll be able to install the shell from a package repository). It’s just been announced that beginning with Ubuntu 11.04, the desktop spin will begin using the Unity shell that Canonical originally developed for netbooks.

        • LibreOffice 3.3.0 in Ubuntu

          LibreOffice is a productivity suite that is compatible with other major office suites, and available on a variety of platforms. LibreOffice is a fork of the famous project OpenOffice project which is now under Oracle. It is free software and servers all your basic needs. It is the result of immense efforts by The Document Foundation aimed at making an Office suite or desktops that servers all your needs for free.

        • Unity Confirmed As The Default Desktop Interface For Ubuntu 11.04, New Icon Theme Should Be Ready By 12.04

          Unity is the current Ubuntu Netbook Edition interface and has received a lot of criticism since UNE 10.10 came out such as not being finished, poor performance and the lack of customization.

        • Unity To Use Compiz instead of Mutter

          If you though Compiz was left in the dark once Gnome Shell comes out, think again.

        • Sticking With Ubuntu 10.04 LTS OR Switching To Ubuntu 10.10

          No doubt that Ubuntu 10.04 LTS was a really good distribution and still it’s LTS ” Long Term Support ” release, Desktop releases will be supported for 3 years and server releases supported for 5 years, but with Ubuntu 10.10 won’t be supported when the next release comes out 11.04 Natty Narwhal.

        • CloudSigma Launches Ubuntu 10.10 Cloud Servers

          CloudSigma AG, a leading European provider of cloud servers is pleased to announce the launch of a new range of pre-installed Ubuntu 10.10 servers in its cloud. CloudSigma customers can now enjoy the new features of Ubuntu’s new ‘Maverick Meerkat’ release in the form of instantly deployable high performing cloud servers.

        • Troubleshoot: Ubuntu 10.10 Folder Opens With Media Player

          The latest version of Ubuntu known as Maverick Meerckat or 10.10 has a minor bug which might be bothering you as well. When you try to open a folder via Places, instead of opening it as a folder, it opens it with some media player, Rhythmbox or VLC, etc.

        • Ubuntu 10.10 ‘Maverick Meerkat’ officially released

          The tenth day of the tenth month in the tenth year of this century has been the day for revolutionary day in mobile technology.

          Ubuntu Linux hit the market on this day with a 10.10 revision that is using a new Unity desktop interface, which is expected to make the congested net book screens more organized. This software purchase will make the Ubuntu platform as an app with a free 2 GB Drop box-like cloud storage that automatically synchronizes the files and folders, while streaming music to android and other devices like iPhones.

        • Ubuntu Maverick Meerkat Pokes Its Head Out

          Version 10.10 of Ubuntu, also known as “Maverick Meerkat,” has arrived. The Linux operating system comes in three different versions: one of desktops and laptops, one for servers and one with a special Unity interface designed specifically for netbooks. For version 10.10, Canonical has put a great deal of focus on the OS’s cloud offerings.

        • Flavours and Variants

  • Devices/Embedded

    • The Small Wonder: Belkin’s Connect N150 Wifi Router is Linux-Friendly

      Yesterday, I stopped by my local Walmart to buy a wireless router for my network. I wanted something small with good performance, a good price, and compatible with GNU/Linux. As I searched the computer electronics aisle, I saw wireless routers ranging from over $100 all the way down to about $60. However, $60 was more than I wanted to spend. I didn’t need anything fancy, just something that would allow me to get on the Internet with my IBM T40 laptop and my Dell netbook. I didn’t need IEEE 802.11n, 802.11g is fast enough for my network needs. I looked down and I saw the little white and yellow box containing the Belkin Connect N150. It seemed like a nice looking device, which made me quite happy. I was even happier when I saw the price: $29.95!

    • Phones

Free Software/Open Source

  • My Client Base- An Open Source Invoicing App for Your Business

    MyClientBase is an open source invoice and client management application that was built with simplicity and ease of use in mind. Running on your webserver, it comes with the following features among others

    * Multi Lingual
    * Customisable invoicing
    * Modular, extend functionality with contributed modules
    * Support for multi tax rate

  • SaaS

    • How is OpenStack Stacking Up?

      You may have noticed there’s a fair bit of interest in this cloud computing thing. You’ve probably also come across various articles suggesting this is the end of free software – and the world – as we know it, since cloud-based platforms render operating systems on servers and desktops largely moot.

    • Well, There’s No Radeon HD 6000 Open-Source Surprise

      We said there won’t be Radeon HD 6000 support ready for the Linux 2.6.37 kernel (the kernel release that’s beginning its development cycle right now) and that we’re unlikely to see any kernel mode-setting support ready before the Linux 2.6.38 kernel even if things go well. A Gallium3D driver is likely to come (not a classic Mesa driver) at some point after the DRM code has landed. Basically, if we’re lucky by the time major Linux distributions start rolling out in 2011 (i.e. Ubuntu 11.04, Fedora 15) we may see some form of open-source support for these new AMD Radeon graphics processors. However, at least a few users we’re wondering if AMD had some magical or surprise open-source drop to do for the Radeon HD 6800 series. Unfortunately, they do not. While there is no code or documentation to provide, in the days since the Radeon HD 6850/6870 launch we have learned at least a few more details about the forthcoming support.

  • Oracle

    • Links: Parting Words, Public Statements

      It’s autumn, the leaves are falling and the nights are drawing in. The season for endings is upon us.

    • G’Day and Goodbye

      And now, a different and exciting job awaits. My last day here is Oct 25, ending a brief and busy four years at Sun and then Oracle.

    • 5 Myths About OpenOffice.org / LibreOffice

      Most free software accumulates myths. Most people only know about it second hand (if at all), but few are slowed by the fact that they don’t know what they are talking abo

    • LibreOffice Contributions stats

      We had a really important amount of new contributions, but people tends to prefer figures to see it. I used the git repositories logs and gitdm to get the data and produce some graphs showing the intense activity around LibreOffice. The gitdm configuration and scripts to extract the data can be found in my personal git repos on freedesktop.org. The first graph is showing the number of contributors increasing each week. There are a few interesting points to note:

      * The number of new contributors grew quickly. The graph don’t show it, but there are now more than 60 new contributors.
      * The contributors counted in this graph are either developers or people working on localization.
      * Oracle is contributing: LibreOffice merges OpenOffice.org changes.

    • Finally! SVG Coming to OpenOffice.org

      It has been a long time but SVG import is coming to OpenOffice.org. This improves the scalability of graphics and makes it easier to use tools like InkScape to produce graphics for OpenOffice.org. This issue has been on the bug file since 2001… Some people have more patience than I.

    • Competition is Good

      Want to know how I spent yesterday? I spent many hours on a single XP machine that had lost its anti-malware. The download of anti-virus libraries took all day because they kept aborting. I installed OpenOffice.org 3.2.1, Google Chrome browser as well as the fool anti-virus.

    • IBM office suite Lotus Symphony 3 released (updated with .64bit .deb)

      The latest version of IBM’s OpenOffice.org based office suite ‘Lotus Symphony’ has been released.

      Lotus Symphony 3 boasts many new and enhanced features; benefits from the OpenOffice 3 codebase and introduces new sidebars for .

    • First Stable Release Of Libre Office In Late November

      With the formation of the Document Foundation (TDF), we saw the arrival of another office suite based on OpenOffice — it’s called Libre Office. Recently there was some conflict between TDF and OpenOffice.org/Oracle teams. We approached TDF to understand the current situation and the future of Libre Office. Here is an interview with Italo Vignoli of The Document Foundation.

  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

    • Fellowship interview with Leena Simon

      Leena Simon is studying philosophy at Potsdam University and is currently completing a dissertation on problems with the concept of “intellectual property”. She also works with FoeBuD, and was involved in the organisation of this year’s “Freedom Not Fear” demonstrations which took place throughout Europe. We sat down to discuss the dangers of state surveillance, the importance of the politicisation of software, and how organisations like FoeBud and The Pirate Party, as well as the Free Software movement, must be careful not to succumb to dogmatism. For more, check out leena.de.

    • Soft option

      The last 27 years have witnessed the rise of a different kind of software built in a different manner. This is the Free Software movement, started in September 1983 by Richard Stallman, who was working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States, at that time. He started the GNU project to develop software that would free users from the restrictive licences imposed by software companies. He also prepared the GNU General Public Licence, or GPL, a “copy-left” licence currently in its third version, under which such software can be distributed so that the freedoms are always preserved. He was soon joined by many people, and today there are possibly tens of thousands of people contributing to various pieces of software that are distributed under free licences. The freedom to share it freely makes it available at virtually no cost, while the freedom to study and modify the software ensures that the human readable source code is available for anyone who wants it. And bugs are quickly discovered and fixed.

  • Licensing

    • License compliance is not a problem for open source users

      Average:

      License compliance is a major and costly issue for proprietary software, but the license involved in that case is an End User License Agreement (EULA), not a source license delivering extensive liberties. When we compare like-for-like, we discover open source software has no such issues. End-users do not need to have a license management server, do not need to hold audits, do not need to fear BSA raids. Open source is so much easier!

      But it’s easy to forget that. The New York Times recently featured the activities of the GPL enforcement community. While there’s a part of me that’s pleased there are people doing this, I’m concerned that their well-intentioned actions – and those elsewhere, such as the Linux Foundation’s compliance programme – are the focus of public understanding about open source software. Of the many attributes of software freedom that could move to front-of-mind, it strikes me that the minimal license compliance burdens for open source software are actually a comparative strength and having them presented as a feature applies a “frame” that serves only the detractors of software freedom.

  • Openness/Sharing

  • Standards/Consortia

    • W3C Announces MathML 3, New Standards for Math on the Web

      W3C has announced the third version of its standards for the inclusion of mathematical expressions in Web pages. MathML (Mathematical Markup Language) is aimed to make math on the Web more accessible and more international. While the basic markup remains the same, this version brings to it some improvements for assistive technology, as well as for formulas in languages that are written from right to left.

Leftovers

  • Murdoch Wakes Up From Dream Of Leading News Industry’s Digital Aggregation

    The publisher may be right in the middle of introducing fees for its own online newspapers, but it is putting on ice Rupert Murdoch’s grander ambition of creating a pay-for digital news service comprising content from the entire UK news industry. At the same time, sources familiar with the company’s plans say similar efforts in the U.S. have been put on a slower track, but not being canceled.

  • Skype Demands Mobile App Nimbuzz Remove Support, Effective October 31st

    Nimbuzz, a popular mobile communication service provider, has been asked by Skype to remove support for all Skype services, effective October 31st.

    The startup will be announcing the news to its 30 million or so registered users later today.

  • Connect Any Wi-Fi Device to Any Other Wi-Fi Device with Wi-Fi Direct

    The Wi-Fi Alliance is about to drop a wireless connectivity bombshell called Wi-Fi Direct that will enable device-to-device connections using current Wi-Fi standards. The Wi-Fi Alliance will begin certifying Wi-Fi Direct devices today.

  • Amazon to Allow Book Lending on the Kindle

    One of the oldest customs of book lovers and libraries — lending out favorite titles to friends and patrons — is finally getting recognized in the electronic age, at least in one electronic book reader: Amazon has announced that it plans to allow users of its Kindle book reader to “lend” electronic books to other Kindle users, based on the publisher’s discretion.

  • Science

    • The MetraSCAN 3D Scanner

      Creaform just announced a brand new ultra-high-end handheld 3D scanner, the MetraSCAN. This totally amazing 2Kg device can scan 3D objects up to 10m in size to an astounding resolution of only 0.05mm, at a rate of 36,000 measurements per second!

  • Security

    • iPhone Jailbreak Tool Sets Stage for Mobile Malware
    • Linux bug bestows attackers with ‘superuser’ powers
    • Firesheep

      Firesheep is free, open source, and is available now for Mac OS X and Windows. Linux support is on the way.

      Websites have a responsibility to protect the people who depend on their services. They’ve been ignoring this responsibility for too long, and it’s time for everyone to demand a more secure web. My hope is that Firesheep will help the users win.

    • A frightening bug

      Just a quick note to let everyone know that Glibc is dangerous. This bug can be exploited to gain root privileges. This means that, basically, everything in the GNU tool chain is potentially a vector for entry. Hopefully a patch will be forthcoming, after which you can expect a million recompiles the world over.

  • Defence/Police/Aggression

    • Was the WikiLeaks Founder Right to Walk From This Interview? [VIDEO]

      Frustrated at the direction the media’s narrative has taken, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange walked out of an interview with CNN’s Atika Schubert.

      She inquired about the rape allegations made against him in Sweden but he threatened several times to walk when she brought the subject up. When she didn’t drop it completely, he removed his mic and walked away.

      The reporter drew some frustrated comments from Assange when she suggested that the rape accusations — which Assange believe were fabricated by the Pentagon or another enemy — affect WikiLeaks. “I’m not going to talk about that in relation to this … this interview is about something else.

    • Wikileaks documents: New info on Iraq war

      Over the weekend, Wikileaks struck again. That’s the Web site that continues to get its hands on some sensitive documents and releases the information.

    • NYT v. the world: WikiLeaks coverage

      To supplement my post yesterday about The New York Times’ government-subservient coverage of the WikiLeaked documents regarding the war that newspaper played such a vital role in enabling, consider — beyond the NYT’s sleazy, sideshow-smears against Julian Assange — the vast disparity between how newspapers around the world and The New York Times reported on a key revelation from these documents: namely, that the U.S. systematically and pursuant to official policy ignored widespread detainee abuse and torture by Iraqi police and military (up to and including murders).

    • Five bombshells from WikiLeaks’ Iraq war documents

      In the largest document leak in US history, WikiLeaks has released more than 400,000 secret US documents about the Iraq war. As with the second-largest leak in US history – the 92,000 Afghan war documents released in July – much of the substance of the leaks has been reported already, but details are new.

  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife

    • Tea Party climate change deniers funded by BP and other major polluters

      BP and several other big European companies are funding the midterm election campaigns of Tea Party favourites who deny the existence of global warming or oppose Barack Obama’s energy agenda, the Guardian has learned.

      An analysis of campaign finance by Climate Action Network Europe (Cane) found nearly 80% of campaign donations from a number of major European firms were directed towards senators who blocked action on climate change. These included incumbents who have been embraced by the Tea Party such as Jim DeMint, a Republican from South Carolina, and the notorious climate change denier James Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma.

    • BP sells Gulf of Mexico oil field assets to Marubeni

      BP has said it will sell its interests in four Gulf of Mexico oil fields to Japan’s Marubeni as part of its moves to pay for the oil spill there.

      The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to raise $650m (£413m).

      BP is in the process of selling assets worth up to $30bn to meet clean-up and compensation costs.

      Last week, the company announced it would sell business interests in Vietnam and Venezuela for $1.8bn.

  • Finance

    • Foreclosures: A Paperwork Fiasco

      After months of horror stories, it seemed that the real estate mess could not get any worse. But now, the nation is in the middle of yet another foreclosure crisis.

    • Think this economy is bad? Wait for 2012.

      We’re barely two years past the banking crisis, still weathering the mortgage crisis and nervously watching Europe struggle with its sovereign debt crisis. Yet every economic seer has a favorite prediction about what part of the economy the next crisis will come from: Municipal bonds? Hedge funds? Derivatives? The federal debt?

    • G-20 powers agree to Geithner currency and trade plan

      Finance ministers from the world’s major nations agreed to a U.S.-brokered plan for easing tensions over exchange rates and world trade patterns, saying that a “fragile and uneven” economic recovery was at risk if top powers pursued conflicting policies or used the value of their currencies to gain an edge for their exports.

    • The Worst Economist in the World

      A thought: it has occurred to me that we could use an economics equivalent of Keith Olbermann’s “Worst Person in the World” award. KO does not, of course, mean that the person he goes after on any given night really is the worst person in the world; he just uses the title to highlight some especially awful action or statement.

    • Obama: Consumers lose if financial law repealed

      President Barack Obama says consumers would lose if Republicans regain power in Congress and try to roll back his hard-won Wall Street overhaul.

    • Banks make moves to deal with fallout of regulatory changes

      As the banking community wades through the murky waters of regulatory changes, Washington area institutions are forging ahead with strategies to offset compliance costs, falling fee income and tepid loan demand.

    • The Subprime Debacle: Act 2, Part 2
    • Big Problem for Banks: Due Process

      Earlier this week, Bank of America, the nation’s largest consumer bank, reported its third-quarter earnings. It was a very good quarter; putting aside an accounting charge — a very large, $10.4 billion accounting charge, admittedly — the bank reported $3.1 billion in profits. It was the third consecutive quarter that Bank of America had earned more than $3 billion.

    • Health insurers help GOP after dalliance with Dems

      Health insurers flirted with Democrats, supported them with money and got what they wanted: a federal mandate that most Americans carry health care coverage. Now they’re backing Republicans, hoping a GOP Congress will mean friendlier regulations.

      They may get more than they’re wishing for.

    • Europe gives up IMF seats to emerging powers, China

      The G20 sealed an accord branded as “historic” on Saturday (24 October) to reform the International Monetary Fund, in a grand bargain that will see Europe give up two seats on the Fund’s Executive Board in return for greater responsibility from emerging economies on currency valuations.

  • Internet/Net Neutrality/DRM

    • Time to reboot our push for global Internet freedom

      Last Tuesday 215,646 Internet users in Iran evaded their regime to visit sites such as Facebook, Twitter and RadioFarda.com, the U.S.-funded Persian-language news service. In Syria, 14,886 people freely surfed; in Vietnam, 10,612; in Saudi Arabia, 14,691; in China, 18,000.

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Facebook Sues Faceporn, Cites Copyright Infringement

      Facebook has filed another lawsuit, this time against Faceporn.com, an x-rated social-networking site. Facebook filed suit on Oct. 15 in the U.S. District Court in Northern California, claiming that Faceporn copied Facebook to build its site and is in violation of copyright.

      Faceporn calls itself “the number one socializing porn and sex network,” but its site has been down since Wednesday according a Tweet.

    • Copyrights

      • Facts and Figures on Copyright Three-Strike Rule in Korea

        Unlike the suspension by the Minister’s order, a suspension by the Copyright Commission’ recommendation can be made without requiring that the unauthorized reproduction or transmission takes place at least three times.

      • Anonymous takes FACT down …

        You wouldn’t shoot a policeman, steal his helmet, go to the toilet in it and then send it to his grieving widow?

        Would you?

        That’s what the IT Crowd ask in a FACT parody.

        The IT Crowd is a British Channel 4 sitcom “Set in the London offices of the fictional corporation Reynholm Industries”, says the Wikipedia.

      • ACTA

        • KEI Letter to the European Parliament regarding ACTA, October 25, 2010

          Negotiations on ACTA were formally announced on October 23, 2007. Now, three years later, the European Parliament is being asked to endorse an agreement that was officially published in near final form on October 6, 2010.[1] This letter addresses our concerns about the current text, and asks the Parliament to consider actions that would address its shortcomings.

          Overall, and in many important areas, the October 2010 version of the ACTA text is a significant improvement over the only other public version, the one published on April 16, 2010. In the October 2010 text, a number of important safeguards have been added in areas such as privacy, public health, and in clarifying the objectives and purposes of the agreement. The border measures and the Internet provisions have been significantly improved by removing patents from the border measures, narrowing the scope and more carefully addressing the importance of safeguards and balance in the text. We also note improvements in the civil litigation provisions on injunctions. This said, there are outstanding issues that are important, and which may undermine the credibility, usefulness and durability of the agreement.

        • ACTA, Democracy & Access to Medicines

          Briefing Note for Members of the European Parliament by HAI, TACD, MSF and Oxfam

          Negotiations are not the end of the road – ACTA is a blank cheque for the future

          In a move that would circumvent open debate and due scrutiny, the agreement proposes an annual meeting of signatories where amendments to the Treaty can be negotiated. Even some of the most contentious issues that have been removed during the negotiations could, within a year, be back in the text once ACTA is out of the public spotlight. Any future changes to ACTA must be subject to public scrutiny by all stakeholders and must receive parliamentary approval. (ACTA, Art. 6.4: Amendments, Arts. 5.1.2. 5.1.4)

Clip of the Day

The Digital Prism Screencast: MintUpdate (also see: An Identi.ca Group For The Screencast)


Credit: TinyOgg

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