Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 24/5/2011: More Linux Tablets (MeeGo and Android), LibreOffice Engineering Steering Committee



GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux

  • The Linux Week in Review (May 23 – 30, 2011)
    Fedora 15: Lovelock Continues the Fedora Heritage of Innovation


  • Desktop

    • Xi3 Spins Desktop As Google-Based ChromiumPC
      At Google I/O earlier this month, Google introduced (briefly) a Samsung-labeled Chrome desktop box. But while it looked a lot like the Mac Mini, there still aren't any true details to show people what it may be capable of. Google also stated that they'd continue to push Chromium for those who want a taste of Chrome on a non-sanctioned machine, and it looks like Xi3 is jumping on that notion to make a timely announcement.


    • Mini-PC offers Chrome OS, modular design




  • Server

    • FAUMachine: First Impressions
      For those of you who don’t already know about FAUmachine (FAU), it’s a virtual machine that allows you to install full operating systems and run them as if they were independent computers. FAUmachine is similar to VirtualBox, QEMU, and other full virtualization technologies. It is a project sponsored by the Friedrich Alexander University Computer Science Department in Germany (Erlangen-Nuremberg*). FAU is a computer simulator that is an independent virtual machine project. The CPU is based on the virtual CPU in QEMU.


    • Software AG acquires open source caching experts Terracotta
      Terracotta, home of open source projects such as the Ehcache Java cache and Quartz scheduler, has been acquired by Software AG. The acquisition will, says the German company, act as a foundation for its in-memory and cloud offerings, allowing it to run business processes which use in-memory cached data access at "up to a thousand times faster than database access"; it expects to offer the first combined products in the fourth quarter of 2011.


    • Software AG To Acquire Terracotta
      Software AG has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Terracotta. Terracotta provides in-memory technology for high performance applications and cloud services. The company also owns the de facto caching standard for enterprise Java used by over 1 million developers worldwide.







  • Kernel Space



    • Graphics Stack

      • MeeGo Tablet UX Can Already Run On Wayland?
        The MeeGo conference is running from tomorrow through Wednesday in San Francisco. This is the first conference for the Moblin-Maemo-mix since Nokia parted ways to team up with Microsoft and ship Windows Phone 7 on their future devices, but there's interesting work still going on in the MeeGo world. In particular, of interest to many Phoronix readers will be the fact that it sounds like the adoption of the Wayland Display Server is going quite well within the MeeGo world. It appears that there's already an experimental version of MeeGo Tablet UX working atop Wayland.






  • Applications



  • Desktop Environments



    • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC)

      • KOffice evolves: first Calligra Suite snapshot released
        The Calligra project, part of the KDE community, has announced the release of the first snapshot for version 2.4 of the Calligra Suite, a set of productivity applications. According to the developers, since splitting with KOffice five months ago, they have improved their core libraries as well as the applications themselves, adding that their goal is to "provide the best application suite on all platforms based on open standards."




    • GNOME Desktop

      • Advaicium: Adwaita Theme Ported To GTK2
        If you use GNOME 3 and Adwaita theme, GTK2 applications look different (as in ugly) than GTK3 apps. That's why maximo1010 @ Ubuntuforums has ported Adwaita GTK3 theme to GTK2.


      • Nautilus Elementary Ambiance Theme + Orange Themed Clarity Icons = Looks Nice in Unity
        Even more Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal customization tips. We have seen some of the most beautiful themes for Ubuntu 11.04 Unity desktop already and one of the highlights of that list was Nautilus Elementary Ambiance Theme. We think we have just found out an icons theme that gels pretty well with Nautilus Elementary Ambiance Theme and it's called Clarity.






  • Distributions



  • Devices/Embedded



    • Phones



      • Android

        • Is Android Really the 'Open' Platform?
          Rooting and jailbreaking are not illegal, but they usually will void your phone's warranty. Typically, though, you can restore the original OS before taking a phone in for service, and the company would never know.


        • No Movie Rentals On Rooted Android: Does It Matter?
          According to reports Google is blocking the installation of its Android Movie Market on rooted Android devices. Google's decision seemed to be driven by content providers who don't want rooted phones to be able to copy or download their movies.


        • Miro 4.0 Runs On Android
          The Participatory Culture Foundation (PCF) has announced the launch of Miro 4, the open-source desktop media player (read more about Miro here).

          Miro 4.0 allows users to manage music including iTunes libraries, videos, playlists and apps in one place and to sync these digital libraries with Android devices.






    • Sub-notebooks/Tablets

      • Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 great for media consumption, says review
        Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a remarkable media-chomping tablet with Android 3.0, a crisp, 10.1-inch touchscreen, 10-hour battery life, and a slim, lightweight design, says this eWEEK review. Despite the modest three-megapixel camera and lack of ports -- or even an SD slot -- the tablet is said to best the Motorola Xoom for straightforward media consumption purposes.


      • Asustek sets prices lower for US-bound Eee Pad Transformer tablet PCs
        Additionally, prices for Android 3.1-based tablet PCs to be launched by other vendors in the second half of the year may also be affected, with ASPs of Android 3.1 models likely to be dragged down by US$100, the sources commented.


      • Red Flag Announces MeeGo 1.2 Based Tablet OS
        Red Flag Software, the Linux major of China, is planning to release one of the first tablet operating systems based on the MeeGo open source software platform.

        The Red Flag Midinux Tablet Edition operating system will incorporate the MeeGo v1.2 common code base and a user experience built by Red Flag Software that uses the MeeGo user interface building blocks and demonstrates the flexibility MeeGo offers companies to differentiate their products. The tablet will be demonstrated at Computex in Taipei May 31 to June 4, 2011.








Free Software/Open Source



  • Creative Barcode Responds to the Hargreaves Report
    Digital Opportunity - a review of Intellectual Property and Growth, the 132 page report published on May 18, 2011, is the result of an intensive 6 month independent review lead by Ian Hargreaves, commissioned by PM David Cameron in November 2010.

    The basis for the review was a ministerial concern that in a digital age the intellectual property framework was not keeping pace with new innovation an


  • The Open Source Road Ahead: Individuals matter
    Jim Jagielski, Simon Phipps and Mark Radcliffe at OSBC unveiled OSI plan during the ”A New OSI for a New Decade: Rebooting the Open Source Initiative OSI” session (presentation). Some reports stressed the importance of organizations, but volunteers are welcome too!


  • Events



  • Web Browsers



    • Mozilla

      • Firefox 5: Track Me, Just Don't Track Me
        The Mozilla Foundation launched a beta version of its fifth edition of the Firefox Web browser Monday -- just eight weeks after it rolled out Firefox 4.

        This includes a mobile version for Android as well as versions for Windows, Mac and Linux desktops.






  • Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

    • The body coordinates development activities and defines the technology evolution of LibreOffice
      The Document Foundation presents the members of the Engineering Steering Committee, the second body to be announced – after the Membership Committee – of those envisioned by the foundation bylaws. The ESC has come into being in early 2011, and is now officially in place to coordinate all development activities and set future technology directions.


    • LibreOffice Creators Announce The Engineering Steering Committee Members
      The Document Foundation, the organisation behind LibreOffice, has announced the members of the Engineering Steering Committee. This is the second body announced by TDF after the Membership Committee.

      The ESC has come into being in early 2011, and is now officially in place to coordinate all development activities and set future technology directions.




  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

    • May 2011 GNU Toolchain Update


    • GNU Parallel 20110522 ('Pakistan') released
      GNU Parallel 20115022 ('Pakistan') has been released. It is available for download at: http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/parallel/

      This is a major release. So far GNU Parallel has been focused on replacing a single for-loop. The Pakistan release introduces ways to replace nested loops.

      If you are using the {1} {2} syntax for multiple input sources, then you need to read about --xapply as the function has changed.




  • Public Services/Government

    • U.S. Department of Defense Details Open Source Lessons Learned
      The 68-page report has the goal of helping the U.S. government to implement what they refer to as open technology development (OTD) for government software projects. As part of OTD, the report includes a number of specific recommendations for open source software usage. Some of those recommendations are somewhat of a surprise, considering that the U.S. military is often seen as an organization that is not likely to be very open about their software development practices.




  • Standards/Consortia

    • Cloudy with a Chance of Clarity: NIST Seeks Public Comment on Draft Guide to Cloud Computing
      Next time you feel like your head’s in the clouds, don’t fret: that’s where the action is. Advancements in information technology have made it possible to store virtually endless amounts of information in a system of “clouds.” Opening numerous possibilities, cloud computing is on par with the Internet in terms of its potential to change the face of computing and the way we live and do business.






Leftovers

  • IPv6 transition still a low priority for most organizations
    As the World IPv6 Day approaches, recent research reports show that a majority of organizations are still postponing migration to the IPv6 networking protocol. Despite the growing scarcity of IPv4 addresses, due in large part to the growth of mobile and embedded devices, a British Telecom Diamond IP survey says that only 35 percent of respondents considered IPv6 a "huge concern."


  • How can you trust a cloud? Verify.
    Group developing audit specs that could build faith in cloud applications


  • Security





  • Finance

    • Matt Taibbi: Wall St. Has No Incentive Not To Commit Crimes (VIDEO)
      In a video interview with RT America, Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi, the author of Griftopia, says that as of now, and until the government more aggressively prosecutes financial fraud, Wall Street has a continued incentive to bend the rules in their favor. (Hat tip to Naked Capitalism.)

      Since the financial crisis, Taibbi has been one of Wall Street's most outspoken critics. Earlier this month, Taibbi wrote "The People. vs. Goldman Sachs," a sweeping investigation into the Senate report on Goldman Sachs that accused the investment bank of profiting by misleading investors.


    • The “Road To Recovery” Is A Dead End
      The high profile financial analyst and investment manager Marshall Auerback explains in this exclusive interview his views on: the IMF; the ongoing financial crisis; the commodities rally; the implications of the current oil price; the conflict in Libya/Middle East; the rigging of the precious metal markets; and last but not least this, ironically spoken, “bunch of cranks“ – the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee, GATA.


    • Janet Yellen’s QE2 Promise Now Dying on the Vine, in California
      California reported its April jobs data on Friday. The LA Times repeated the figure, laid out in the report from EDD, that on a year-over-year basis the state had created 144,000 jobs. What The LA Times did not clarify is that these were non-farm payrolls. For the fuller picture of the Golden State’s job market, I track the total employment figure. In the same time period called out in media headlines, therefore, the number of employed persons actually fell by 22,000, from 15.960 million to 15.938 million. | see: California Employment in Millions (seasonally adjusted) 2000-2011.




  • PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying

    • Look Out, Pearson; Murdoch Is Serious About Online Education
      It was an unusual topic for the News Corp (NSDQ: NWS) CEO. In November, News Corp hired New York City schools chancellor Joel Klein as an advisor, and bought 90 percent of ed-tech provider Wireless Generation for $360 million. In January, Klein got his own education division in News Corp and a $2 million salary.

      Judging from his keynote to the eG8, which was assembled by France’s president Sarkozy to hear tech business’ views to be fed to the French-hosted G8 summit, Murdoch is both passionate and excited about what he sees as both a duty and a business opportunity.

      This could encompass both e-books and learning materials and group learning platforms, and could be a gauntlet thrown down to one of the digital learning sector’s big beasts - Pearson.




  • Civil Rights

    • France's G8 Focuses on Control and Restrictions to Online Freedoms
      A detailed analysis of exchanges between the French President and his former Minister of Foreign Affairs on G8 related matters appears in tomorrow's edition of the French magazine Marianne. La Quadrature du Net has had access to sources that confirm the existence of a control-oriented policy, explicitly hostile to the support to the freedom of expression on the Internet, in blatant contrast with the farcical “eG8 forum” smokescreen. Governments must be made accountable for the positions they take on these issues when they speak behind close doors.




  • Intellectual Monopolies



    • Copyrights

      • Please Help Us Figure Out How Much The Public Has 'Lost' Due To Overprotective Anti-Copy Laws
        We recently posted about an ITC report that, among other things, estimated that US companies "lost" $48 billion due to "piracy" in China. This $48 billion number generated plenty of headlines, and since the report was requested by the Senate, you can bet that it will be used politically. The problem, however, was that the methodology was ridiculous. Rather than using any sort of objective measure, the ITC went out and asked 5,000 businesses who were in "IP-intensive fields" what they thought their "losses" were, and then extrapolated out.


      • ACTA

        • FFII calls upon European Parliament to resolve uncertainties regarding ACTA
          We are writing to express our concerns with ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement). Whether the Parliament will ratify or reject ACTA, it will be a landmark decision. Yet, ACTA is still surrounded by uncertainties. We call upon you to decisively resolve these uncertainties. We urge the Parliament to seek an opinion of the European Court of Justice on the compatibility of ACTA with the EU Treaties, and to commission independent assessments of the effects ACTA will have on access to medicine, diffusion of green technologies needed to fight climate change, fundamental rights within and outside the Union, innovation, small and medium sized companies and a fair balance of interests.

          Prior to ratifying the 1994 WTO TRIPS agreement (Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights), the Commission asked the European Court of Justice whether TRIPS complied with the Treaties. The Court decided that the Community was not competent to ratify the criminal measures.












Clip of the Day



The Passion of the MeeGo Community



[an error occurred while processing this directive]



Credit: TinyOgg

Recent Techrights' Posts

Bailing Out GAFAM, Giving Taxpayers' Money to Failing Companies, and Trying to Outlaw Lawsuits Against Them
What would the late Lincoln have said?
Men Who Abuse Women Should Never Spend Over 3 Years of the UK High Court's Time
This demonstrates that we need a reform in the UK
 
Links 25/08/2025: Datacentres Versus Water Supplies and "The IPv6 Divide"
Links for the day
Links 25/08/2025: Data Breaches, Politics, and Financial Strain
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Distros Ought to Replace Firefox (and Firefox ESR) With Something Like LibreWolf
Perhaps it's come to replace Firefox
Father of Julian Assange Said the US Government Was Trying to Bankrupt WikiLeaks, Now the Assange Family Promotes Fake Currencies
Using the name for bad purposes?
Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) Inc. Lost 2 Million Dollars Last Year and Its Chief Took a Salary Increase of Almost $6,000
Another year or two like this... and the SFC will be bankrupt [...] Hallmark of mismanagement
The "New Techrights" Turns Two Very Soon
Accomplishing something each year is what's important, not merely "finishing" another year
Gulf Nations Leave Microsoft Behind
How much lower will Microsoft stoop in an effort to raise money from oil-rich lenders?
How to Combat IRC Trolls (in Our Experience)
Today I want to share my experience (or knowledge) of how to deal with IRC trolls
The Register MS Needs to Stop Participating in the "Hey Hi" (AI) Hype, But It Gets Paid to Participate in This Hype
the publisher (The Register MS) wants to have it both ways
Gemini Links 24/08/2025: Living With Your Parents, Zürich Zoo, and Macondo
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 24, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, August 24, 2025
Gemini Links 24/08/2025: Signal on OpenBSD and Keyboard Layouts Compared
Links for the day
Links 24/08/2025: Microsoft Settles Data Breach Lawsuits and Climate Change Causes Heatwaves, Water Shortages
Links for the day
CachyOS is Rising Fast, But Slopfarms Are 'Googlebombing' It
CachyOS receives more media attention
No Reason for Red Hat Relief Yet (Layoff Rumours)
the execution could be stalled, delayed, or scheduled for some time after people come back from holiday
GNU/Linux 6%, Windows 60% in Venezuela, Suggests statCounter
The cash cows are dying
Mass Layoffs Continue at Microsoft This Month (Remaining Workers See Conditions That Deteriorate)
So far this month (one week remaining) we saw at least two waves of layoffs at Microsoft
How SPAM E-mails With Windows-Centric Files Get Twisted as Linux Threats, Then Slopfarms Spread the Word
Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt/Fear-mongering/Dramatisation
Links 24/08/2025: Heatwaves Threaten Workers, Maldives Versus Press freedom
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/08/2025: Digital Cameras and Printers
Links for the day
Links 24/08/2025: GAFAM Lie About Pollution and Slop's Carbon Footprint, The Guardian Says Slop ("Hey Hi") is a Bubble That Will Send Stock Markets Into a Freefall
Links for the day
80% of the Sponsored (Fake) Articles in The Register MS Are Promotions of Ponzi Schemes (Unethical Money), the Rest is Banned Chinese Business
Is that an ethical way to make money? No.
The UEFI Restricted Boot 'Time Bomb' is About to Go Off in a Few Weeks
Garrett was the first person to face sanctions (like muting) in our IRC channels because of his abuse; worse yet, he hijacked other people's names and then locked them out of their own accounts
Should Currys PCWorld Start Voiding Warranties of Users of Vista 11?
If a person's laptop has a mechanical issue, should this person replace GNU/Linux with Vista 11 for the repair shop? Only to damage the SSD?
Newer is Not Always Better, and It's Possible That 'Peak' is the Past
People creating their own platforms means progress, whereas centralisation (like moving from blogs to social control media) is the opposite of progress
LLM Hype is Sowing Destruction: It Contributes to DDoS Attacks and Makes the Web Less Accessible (JavaScript "R U Human?" Tests)
If it was googlebot, it would be possible to argue that you'd at least then get referral traffic from Google Search. With LLMs, all you get is plagiarised.
Links 24/08/2025: New York Times Talks About Hey Hi (AI) Bubble
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/08/2025: Upgrading Debian and Mobile-indifferent Design
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 23, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, August 23, 2025
Richard Stallman's Talk in Buenos Aires Scheduled for 16 November 2025 (a Month After FSF Turns 40)
they've just updated their site and Stallman is listed first
Nobody is "Replaced by AI", It's Just a Smokescreen for Jobs Being Eliminated by Lack of Money (Too Much Debt) and Offshoring
It's also why many make the jokes about the "I" in "AI" being "India" or "Indians"
Slopwatch: Linux Journal, WebProNews, LinuxSecurity, and the Serial Slopper
The bubble needs to burst, but even then the Web will be left with residues of these slopfarms
Links 23/08/2025: Science, War, and Important Win for the British Media Against SLAPPers Who Abuse Women
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/08/2025: BaseLibre Numerical System and Back to Oldschool
Links for the day
"Deserved Victory" for "Women That Suffered"
"GNM defended its reporting as being both true and in the public interest and in a judgment on Friday"
The US Government is Now in the Business (Literally!) of Saving Microsoft and Intel
This means that President TACO/Cheeto now has greater financial incentive to also prop up Microsoft and Windows
Links 23/08/2025: onmicrosoft.com as Spam Cannon, The Cheeto-Intel Deal Is Official
Links for the day
Wired Complained About LLM Slop Only Days Before It Got Caught Doing That Itself
Never throw stones in a glass house
IBM "Value" Down 14.16% in a Month, Red Hat Layoffs Allegedly Discussed 12 Days Ago
"IBM is a dinosaur. Dinosaurs get extinct when the don't keep up."
We're Seeing More Countries Where Windows Isn't Even in Second Place Anymore (Third or Worse)
In a way, Microsoft can barely even hold onto second place anymore
Microsoft Workers on Canonical's Payroll
If you want something that's sort of like Ubuntu but is not controlled by Canonical, then look into Linux Mint, Debian, or LMDE
GNU/Linux Climbs to 4% in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone isn't a very rich country (to say the least), but it's better off than some of its neighbours
The SLAPPS Run Out of Oxygen Because They're Abuse of Process
At the end of the day we plan to publish over 1,000 articles explaining what happened
The Register MS Gets Paid by the Employer of the Previous Editor in Chief to Promote the "AI" Ponzi Scheme, Which Does Considerable Damage to the Web and to Online Journalists
The Register MS can 'badmouth' slop all it wants; it gets paid to inflate this bubble. It's actively participating in it.
Soon It'll be Autumn, Time to Repair Things
Where they don't charge an arm and a leg
Doing Our Best to Cover Software Patents When the Mainstream Media Does Not
Even the FSF has its limits
Gemini Links 23/08/2025: August Questions and Network Solutions
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, August 22, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, August 22, 2025