01.28.12

Contents

• GNU/Linux
  • Distributions
  • Devices/Embedded
• Free Software/Open Source
• Leftovers

GNU/Linux

• Kernel Space

  • Linux: a lot of hullabaloo about a vulnerability

    A lot of noise has been made about a security vulnerability affecting the Linux core. The fault has been corrected and Linux editors are updating all of their systems after exploits appeared on the web.

• Applications

  • Beets Music Tagger: Command Line Tool To Fix Metadata And Organize Your Music Library

  • Fedora relocates operating system under /usr/

    The Fedora developers are currently working on implementing the plan to move all files stored in the Linux distribution’s /bin/, /sbin/, /lib/ and /lib64/ directories to equivalent sub-directories in /usr/. Symbolic links will ensure compatibility with scripts and software that may otherwise be caught out by the change. The restructuring was first mooted last autumn, before being earmarked for inclusion in Fedora 17. The development team has since discarded the idea of moving all files stored in /sbin/ and /usr/sbin/ into /usr/bin/ and deleting the sbin directories.

  • Instructionals/Technical

    • Weekend Project: Take Control of Vim’s Color Scheme

• Desktop Environments

  • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC)

    • The Reveal

      The first tablet computer that comes with Plasma Active pre-installed.

• Distributions

  • PacApt Brings Arch Linux’s Amazing Pacman Package Manager to Other Linux Distributions (Well, Sort Of)

  • PacApt Is Arch Linux’s Package Manager For Other Distributions

    It’s no secret that we love Arch Linux and one of Arch’s best features is the simple, easy-to-use package manager, Pacman. Here’s how to get Pacman’s simple command structure in other Linux distributions.

  • Debian Family

    • People Behind Debian: Josselin Mouette, founder of the Debian GNOME team

      People Behind Debian: Josselin Mouette, founder of the Debian GNOME team
      Josselin Mouette is one the leaders of the pkg-gnome team, he takes sound technical decisions and doesn’t fear writing code to work-around upstream issues. He deserves kudos for the work he has put into packaging GNOME over the years. He can also be very sarcastic (sometimes he even enjoys participating to flamewars on debian lists), and there are quite a few topics where we have long agreed to disagree. But this kind of diversity is also what makes Debian a so interesting place…

    • Derivatives

      • Canonical/Ubuntu

        • Canonical Brings Apps to Life on Ubuntu Linux Desktop

          Linux vendor could change the way users interact with enterprise applications with its Heads Up Display. The intelligent HUD interface will understand user needs and respond to them.

        • Introducing Ask Ubuntu Lens for Unity

          Following our previous articles, Ubuntu Flickr/Shotwell Photos Lens, Ubuntu Spotify Scope, Ubuntu DeviantArt Scope, Ubuntu SSH Lens, Ubuntu Binary Clock Lens, Ubuntu YouTube Lens and Scope, Ubuntu Calendar Lens, Ubuntu Web Sources Lens, Ubuntu Gwibber Lens, Ubuntu Books Lens, Ubuntu Cities Scope, Ubuntu Grooveshark Scope, Ubuntu Calculator Scope and Pirate Bay Torrents Lens for Unity, today we are introducing the Ubuntu Launchpad Lens for the Unity interface.

        • Ubuntu moves beyond the desktop with new TV interface, menu-killing navigation system

• Devices/Embedded

  • Pandora Handheld to Go Into Mass Production Next Month

    Open Source Linux based gaming handheld and mini-laptop Pandora has created lots of buzz when it was revealed 4 years back.

    Since then the project has gone under numerous rough stages, production issues, tech spec changes and financial problems. A limited batch of 4000 units was available for pre-orders but not everyone has got the device on time.

  • Phones

    • Android

      • Verizon-bound ZTE V66 slate gets photographed, looks just like you imagined

Free Software/Open Source

• Top five open source social networking platforms available in the market

  In this era of technology and internet, social networking sites are getting more and more popularity. People are spending hours in front of them. For creating a social media website a platform is necessary, to make this easy came the social networking platforms. In the case of social media software, market the competition is very high. If you are looking to start a social media website then it is difficult to choose the platform. Before choosing social media software just get all available information about it and conclude weather, it will benefit you or not. Let us now take a look of the five most popular open source-networking platforms available in the market

• Open source: The Best Choice For Big Data

  Just 12 months ago, even the largest organisations lacked the infrastructure, tools and skills to turn large datasets into business insight. Today, though, the world has changed. A combination of low-cost, commodity hardware and great open-source software are lowering the Big Data bar for organisations of all types and sizes. Put simply, open-source solutions are allowing organisations to spin up hundreds of servers to support Big Data services in seconds, and pay only for the resources they use.

• Web Browsers

  • Chrome

    • Chrome and Chromium: small golden rules to get the perfect browser !

      I bet that when you turn on your PC, one of the first programs that you start is your Browser .
      Indeed, many say that the browser that we have installed in our computer show a part of us! There is, therefore, who prefer Opera: a browser elegant and very
      particular, for those who prefer the aesthetics at the practicality, there are those who, following the mass chose the Firefox browser, which has won a great battle against IE in a recent past.

• Project Releases

  • FFmpeg 0.10 Gets New Filters, Decoders, Encoders

• Openness/Sharing

  • S. Korea to open integrated information centre on N. Korea

    The Open Source Centre is designed to collect foreign information made public by media reports, press releases and announcements by international organizations, said the official at the Unification Ministry.

• Standards/Consortia

  • Web video framework company publishes State of HTML5 Video document

    As Flash’s ubiquity begins to erode, standards-based Web technologies are going to become the path forward for developers who want to offer a user experience that works across all screens. The HTML5 video element is already widely supported in modern Web browsers, but the capabilities and codecs that are available differ between implementations.

Leftovers

• Security

  • Security Theater… Or Why I Had To Go Dumpster Diving At The US Capitol Last Week

    However, at security to get into the Capitol, I was told I could not bring the canteen in, even though it was empty. I asked if there was any reason for this. I was told I just couldn’t bring it in. I asked if there was any place I could “leave” it, and I was told to go outside and there were dumpsters to the right. I even asked if someone could hold it for me, since it would just be an hour or so. No luck. Dumpsters, outside to the right. The canteen isn’t anything special, but I do like it. According to the price tag still on the bottom, it cost $11 when my wife bought it for me. I can buy another canteen, but really, there’s a bit of a principle thing to all of this. If the canteen itself is dangerous, then, putting it in a dumpster outside isn’t going to change that.

• Civil Rights

  • Hawaii may keep track of all Web sites visited

    Hawaii’s legislature is weighing an unprecedented proposal to curb the privacy of Aloha State residents: requiring Internet providers to keep track of every Web site their customers visit.

• Intellectual Monopolies

  • Knowledge Is A Universal Natural Resource — And Locking It Up Hurts Everyone

    One of the more important points in understanding some of the fights over the ridiculousness of today’s copyright and patent laws is to recognize how knowledge (information) is a natural resource. It is the input that makes other great things. Economist Paul Romer’s famous research really showed how knowledge and information as a resource is what creates economic growth. Once you recognize that fact, you begin to run into problems when you think about locking up that natural resource. Think of other natural resources. Do we think the world is better off if there’s a greater supply of each of those? An abundance? If we have an abundance of wheat, that’s a good thing. If we have an abundance of energy, that’s a good thing. There may be side effects of such abundances, but the overall abundance is something worth cherishing.

  • Copyrights

    • [Satire] Internet Against SOPA, PIPA

    • UK Court Says You Can Copyright The Basic Idea Of A Photograph

      We’ve talked a lot in the past about the “idea/expression dichotomy.” This is an important concept in copyright law that says you can only copyright the specific expression, and not the idea. This is supposed to protect people from getting accused of copyright infringement for basically making something similar to what someone else made. Unfortunately, as we’ve been noting with dismay over the past few years, the idea that there’s some bright line between “idea” and “expression” has been slowly fading away, and courts are, increasingly, effectively wiping out the distinction. In the US, we’ve seen this with the ridiculous case between a photographer, David LaChapelle, and the singer Rihanna, because some of her videos were clear homages to his photographs. The expression was entirely different, but the judge didn’t think so, and Rihanna ended up having to pay up.

    • Reduce the term of copyrights to a maximum of 56 years

    • An Infographic Showing Just How Frequently Hollywood Has Cried Wolf About ‘Piracy’

    • The SOPA War: A Frantic Call, an Aborted Summit, and Dramatic New Details on How Hollywood Lost

    • Karaoke CD Manufacturer Strikes Back At Sony’s $1 Billion ‘Scheme’

      Karaoke might be fun, but it’s also proved legally dangerous over the years. One publisher of karaoke discs is taking a publisher co-owned by the Michael Jackson estate to court over alleged abuse.

    • Universal Music Claims Copyright Over Song That It Didn’t License, Just Because One Of Its Artists Rapped To It On A Leaked Track

    • ACTA

      • Acting on ACTA – What We Can Do

        Earlier today, Loz Kaye, leader of the Pirate Party, published a statement highlighting a major threat to the Internet, to civil liberties, and our political and legal systems; ACTA. Following this, the Party has received many requests asking what we, ordinary citizens, can do about this and the best way to stop it.

      • The ACTA Fight Returns: What Is at Stake and What You Can Do

        The reverberations from the SOPA fight continue to be felt in the U.S. (excellent analysis from Benkler and Downes) and elsewhere (mounting Canadian concern that Bill C-11 could be amended to adopt SOPA-like rules), but it is the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement that has captured increasing attention this week. Several months after the majority of ACTA participants signed the agreement, most European Union countries formally signed the agreement yesterday (notable exclusions include Germany, the Netherlands, Estonia, Cyprus and Slovakia).

      • As USTR Insists ACTA Doesn’t Need Congressional Approval, Wyden Asks State Dept. For A Second Opinion