11.08.12

Contents

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

GNU/Linux

• Tiny $57 PC is like the Raspberry Pi, but faster and fully open

  It would be difficult to overstate the popularity of the tiny Raspberry Pi computer that launched earlier this year, but it’s just one example of a rapidly growing class of small, inexpensive, Linux-powered devices, as I’ve already noted on several occasions before.

• Me and my gadget: Linux Mint

  Rod Aldridge, president of the Hamilton PC Computer Club Inc, tells Chris Gardner why his favourite gadget is a computer running Linux Mint.

• Server

  • ARM Server Tech Gets a LEG Up on Linux

    Linaro is ramping up its efforts to get ARM more deeply embedded into mainstream enterprise computing.

• Kernel Space

  • AMD dismisses numerous open source developers

    As part of a process to reduce its staff by 15 per cent, AMD has closed the Dresden, Germany-based Operating System Research Center (OSRC) and dismissed the centre’s employees. First indications of this move already surfaced last week, when several OSRC developers had announced on the Linux kernel developers’ mailing list that they will no longer be available on their AMD email addresses. At the LinuxCon Europe conference, which is currently taking place in Barcelona, The H’s associates at heise open learned that the Operating System Research Center has now been shut down completely.

  • AMD Closes Linux Kernel Development Lab to Reduce Costs.

  • AMD shutters German Linux lab, gives devs the axe

  • Linus Torvalds Focuses His Keynote On Community Participation. Literally.

  • Linus Torvalds: The Android situation is improving

    During a panel discussion with Intel’s Dirk Hohndel, Linus Torvalds discussed the latest technical advancements and problems in kernel development. The creator of Linux and Intel’s Chief Linux and Open Source Technologist took the stage on day three of the LinuxCon Europe conference, which is currently taking place in Barcelona, Spain.

  • Linux Foundation welcomes Cloudsoft, other new members at LinuxCon

    The Linux Foundation made several membership announcements over the weekend, welcoming new members Cloudsoft, Cloudscaling, CloudSigma and DreamHost to the fold at LinuxCon Europe, currently being held in Barcelona.

  • Torvalds: I want to be nice, and curse less, but it’s just not in me

  • Linux Kernel Ported To The Synopsys ARC700

    The Linux kernel has been ported to a new family of processors commonly found in TV set-top boxes, digital media players, and other devices.

  • Intel’s Haswell Introduces VECS, VEBOX

    While AMD is letting go of their Linux staff responsible for new CPU enablement, there’s no slowdown on the Intel side for future hardware enablement under Linux. New Haswell Linux patches were published yesterday, which also reveal a few more details about the video playback improvements to be found on these Intel processors to be introduced in 2013.

  • Graphics Stack

    • Nvidia heralds Steam for Linux debut with ‘double-speed’ drivers

    • Nvidia Releases New Linux Drivers For Its GTX 600 Series

      Valve announced today that the closed beta for Linux is now beginning for those lucky few who were selected out of the 60,000 applicants. Those players will be able to start playing native versions of games like Team Fortress 2, but the performance may be a little spotty if the drivers aren’t up to date. It’s a good thing Nvidia is here with an update.

    • NVIDIA GeForce R310 Drivers for Linux Gaming Announced

    • Wayland’s Weston Brought To The Raspberry Pi

      Pekka Paalanen has published initial patches that allow Wayland’s Weston reference compositor to run from the popular low-cost Raspberry Pi ARM computer.

      Pekka’s patches for Weston allow for a configurable Weston back-end at build time, contains a small fix to the OpenGL ES 2.0 support, and introduces a Raspberry Pi back-end for the compositor. The “RPI” back-end is around 2,000 lines of new code for Weston.

• Applications

  • Proprietary

    • Opera 12.10 Browser Now Announced for HD Displays of Windows 8, Linux and Mac OS X Devices

  • Instructionals/Technical

    • Process real-time big data with Twitter Storm

    • 8 favorite Unix admin tricks and time-savers

    • Ubuntu 12.10 Samba Standalone Server With tdbsam Backend

    • Strongswan now supports Cisco unity extensions

    • Strongswan now supports PAM authentication

  • Games

    • The Linux Games Available on Steam

    • Valve launches Steam beta client for Linux

    • Humble Bundle, Vessel, and Porting

      In Humble Indie Bundle 6, we wrote that Vessel was coming to Mac and Linux in 24-72 hours. Unfortunately, this estimate was way off, and Vessel is still under development. The port is still being developed as fast as possible, but has hit quite a few unexpected setbacks along the way.

    • Mojang’s “Scrolls” will be on Linux

      Scrolls is a fresh take on the collectible card games of old. It’s developed by Mojang – creators of Minecraft. You’ll create your own personalised army from a digital deck before unleashing it in battles with players around the world. It will eventually be released on PC, Mac, Android and iOS.

    • Steam for Linux Gets Three More Great Games

      Steam is a great source for any gamer. It is a place that will allow you to try out and enjoy many of the more popular video games that are available on the market today. Steam Greenlight will allow you to vote on games that you would like to see come available. It is a great system for gamers, so they do not have to drop $50 to purchase every game off the shelf. They can simply join Steam and enjoy the most popular ones at a reduced price.

• Desktop Environments

  • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

    • KDE Plasma, Applications and Platform 4.9.3

      Packages for the release of KDE SC 4.9.3 are available for Kubuntu 12.10 and Raring. You can get them from the Kubuntu Updates PPA for 12.10. Raring testers will get it with the regular updates.

• Distributions

  • Interview with Gabriele, the man behind SalentOS

    Today I am pleased to publish an interview with Gabriele, leader of the project SalentOS, as well as owner of the interesting blog gmstyle.org , in the past we exchanged emails and articles and today I want to write a little more information about him and his project.

  • Slax 7 coming soon: Light-weight Linux distro that runs from a USB thumb drive

    Slax is a Linux-based operating system that you can run from a CD or USB flash drive. Developer Tomáš Matějíček is getting ready to release version 7, and this week he’s launched the first release candidate of Slax 7.

  • A KDE4 Operating System In Less Than 200MB

    SLAX 7 is now up to a release candidate state and it packs a KDE 4 desktop environment while the entire operating system is less than 200MB in size.

    SLAX is one of my favorite lightweight distributions that I have come across but hadn’t heard much about it in the past couple of years until receiving an email this week from Tomas, the SLAX maintainer. He was sharing that SLAX 7 is nearly ready for release and packs in KDE4 while still being fairly lightweight.

  • Four-Way ARM Linux Distribution Comparison

    The latest ARM Linux benchmarks to share at Phoronix is a comparison of Ubuntu 12.10, Linaro 12.10, Fedora 17, and Arch Linux when running from the dual-core Cortex-A9 OMAP4460-based PandaBoard ES development board.

  • New Releases

    • Alpine 2.5.0 released

    • Absolute 14.01 released

    • Snowlinux 3 White Screenshots

    • Zorin OS 6.1 Core is released

      The Zorin OS Team are pleased to announce the release of Zorin OS 6.1 Core, our operating system designed for Windows users and those who are dissatisfied with the Unity and Gnome Shell offerings. Zorin OS 6.1 Core builds on top of our popular previous release of Zorin OS 6 Core with newly updated software and a newer kernel out of the box. As Zorin OS 6.1 is based on Ubuntu 12.04 it is an LTS (Long Term Support) release, provided with 5 years of security updates.

  • PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandrake/Mandriva Family

    • The November 2012 Issue of the PCLinuxOS Magazine

  • Red Hat Family

    • Manx Telecom technicians gain exclusive ‘Red Hat’ qualification

    • Fedora

      • Fedora 18 Is Delayed Into 2013

        There was another go/no-go meeting today for the Fedora 18 Beta and it was decided to delay the release for a seventh time. The Fedora 18 Beta was decided to be delayed by two weeks (compared to the normal one week delays) and the final F18 release will be set-back into 2013.

      • [Test-Announce] Fedora 18 Beta to slip by two weeks, Beta release date is now Nov 27

  • Debian Family

    • Derivatives

      • Canonical/Ubuntu

        • Ubuntu developers plan the road to Ubuntu 13.04

          At the Ubuntu Developer Summit (UDS) that took place in Copenhagen last week, the developer community for Canonical’s Linux distribution laid down the goals for the next release of the project, expected in April of next year. This information is now publicly available thanks to the work of Ubuntu community member Alan Bell, who extracted the meeting notes from the Etherpad instance used at the summit.

        • Podio sees surprisingly high Ubuntu numbers, delivers One integration

          The Citrix-owned enterprise collaboration platform Podio is keen to plug into as many other platforms as it can. That’s why it’s already integrated access to Google Docs, ShareFiles and Dropbox files, and why it’s just done the same for Ubuntu One.

        • Ubuntu Advocacy Development Kit

          As I mentioned last week, our LoCo Teams are a core part of the Ubuntu community. They provide wonderful contributions in spreading the word about Ubuntu, introducing users in how to get started with the desktop/server, and providing a fantastic support safety net for new users. I want to help to better support the work of LoCo Teams in the 13.04 cycle.

          One idea I was discussing with my team the other day was the idea of an Advocacy Development Kit (ADK). Let me explain…

        • Ubuntu 12.10 review

          As always, the latest edition of Ubuntu was released on schedule. Ubuntu 12.10, code-named Quantal Quetzal, was released on October 18. What’s different about this release, is that it is the first October release that I can recall in a long time that comes with new features that are at once cool and controversial. End-to-end and bumper-to-bumper, it is the most interesting Ubuntu (Desktop) release in a long time.

          Even as a non-Ubuntu user, I still find one of the new desktop features a true innovation. Unless another distribution or operating system beat Ubuntu to it. In this review, I’ll highlight what that new feature is, why I think it’s cool and a few other details about this latest offering from Mark Shuttleworth’s crew.

        • Flavours and Variants

          • Linux Mint Forges New Deals with OEMs

            The most recent buzz related to desktop Linux OEMs has centered around Canonical. But Linux Mint, the Ubuntu-based distribution that remains fiercely independent of Canonical, has been striking deals of its own with hardware manufacturers to preinstall Mint on their devices. Could there be a commercial future for this outspoken member of the open source channel?

• Devices/Embedded

  • Raspberry Pi goes old school with OS designed for first ARM chips

    The Raspberry Pi Foundation yesterday announced the availability of RISC OS for the tiny computer. RISC OS dates to 1987, having been developed for ARM-based personal computers by the now-defunct Acorn Computers.

  • RISC OS comes to Raspberry Pi

    RISC OS, the operating system with its roots in Acorn’s 1987 Archimedes micro and therefore the birth of the ARM processor architecture, has been released for the Raspberry Pi.

    Available as a free download, or pre-loaded onto an SD card for £10 plus postage, the release for the Pi is version 5.19 RC6. There’s also a £35 software bundle on offer, dubbed NutPi, that includes all manner of useful applications to turn a RISC OS Pi into a viable everyday machine.

  • Phones

    • Android

      • Samsung Releases Android 4.1 Jelly Bean Open Source Files For Multiple Devices

        Samsung has released some new open source Android files for some of its devices, the files ate for Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and they apply to a number of devices.

  • Sub-notebooks/Tablets

    • Galaxy Note to get Android 4.1 by late December

    • Apple’s tablet dominance cut by rivals

      Apple Inc’s share of the market for tablet computers fell to 50 percent in the third quarter as the iPad faced more competition from Android devices such as Samsung Electronic Co’s Galaxy tablets and Google Inc’s Nexus 7.

      Apple still had a solid lead and shipped more iPads worldwide than a year earlier, Monday’s study by IDC showed. Apple had no new tablets out in the third quarter and also might have seen sales slow amid expectations of a smaller iPad.

    • As Nexus 10 hits the marketplace, new life is seen for Android tablet apps

      Once-skeptical developers may be coming around to the idea of building tablet apps.

    • Google Nexus 7 Has Landed In India

Free Software/Open Source

• Piwik among winners at open source awards

  Hundreds of people were due to celebrate the achievements of the open source software industry at its biennial awards in Wellington last night.

  Technology awards can resemble a Hairy Maclary book, with lots of repetition as the same familiar names doing the same things crop up on every page.

  But Don Christie, managing director of 150-person open source firm Catalyst IT, one of the award’s top sponsors, said these had again attracted a healthy tally of about 100 entries.

• CloudStack makes first release from Apache incubator

  The CloudStack project, based on Citrix’s CloudStack code which was contributed to Apache earlier this year, has had its first official release from within the Apache Incubator, where it is currently being mentored and matured into a future top-level Apache project. The Apache CloudStack 4.0.0-incubating release offers a Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) cloud orchestration system. Apache CloudStack competes with other open source IaaS platforms such as OpenStack, the European OpenNebula and the Amazon AWS-API compatible Eucalyptus.

• Open Source Awards compared, contrasted with US thinking

  Having the Open Source Awards presentation ceremony last night, on the same night as the US election results were announced, allowed some analogies to be made between the spirit of open source and democracy.

  In both systems, everyone is welcome to make a contribution and the profit motive is absent, said Awards judge and senior advisor at the Inland Revenue Department, Austin Sinclair, introducing the award for Open Source use in government.

• Events

  • Five Favorite Sessions from LinuxCon Europe 2012

    LinuxCon Europe has been buzzing with energy and lively ideas ever since its kickoff on Monday morning. As day two sessions wound down and everyone was gearing up for the much-anticipated Intel-sponsored reception at Gaudi’s Casa Batillo, we took a few moments to check in with attendees. They told us what’s inspiring them at this year’s conference—and how they’ll funnel that inspiration into action when they return to their workplaces next week.

  • LinuxCon Europe: Growing an Open Source Community

    The OpenStack team, a software community collaborating on a standard open source platform, had to solve this dilemma—and solve it fast—when the tech community became “ludicrously excited” about their new project. “We experienced growing pains … I guess I’m supposed to call them ‘opportunities’,” said Monty Taylor, manager of automation and deployment at Hewlett-Packard, and one of the creators of the project.

    In his Scaling an Open Source Community keynote presentation on Tuesday morning at LinuxCon Europe, Taylor explained how OpenStack overcame early challenges to create a truly non-hierarchical environment focused not only on open source, but also on open design, open development, and an open community.

  • ApacheCon NA, EclipseCon and Northeast Linux Fest calling for papers

    Several open source oriented conferences are calling for the submission of papers to their 2013 events. ApacheCon North America (NA), EclipseCon and the Northeast Linux Fest are all accepting talks from interested community members.

• Web Browsers

  • Chrome

    • Google has released Chrome 23 for Windows, Mac and Linux

      The Chrome team has officially announced the latest update for Chrome, which arrives as Chrome 23 and for Windows, Mac and Linux users. More specifically, Chrome version 23.0.1271.64 has been released. This update will arrive automatically for current Chrome users. Or alternatively, those not using Chrome and those feeling like they simply cannot wait even a second — you can grab the latest version by navigating to google.com/chrome.

    • Google Releases Chrome 23 Stable for Linux

    • New Version of Chrome Adds Do Not Track Privacy and Boosts Batteries

      Google is out with the new Stable Release version 23 of the Chrome browser, which is notable for several reasons. Thanks to the way it handles video decoding, users on portable devices such as laptops who are, say, watching YouTube videos will get longer battery life. And, with this version of Chrome, Google has finally adopted the Do Not Track privacy protection scheme that lets users choose not to be followed when online.

    • Google Chrome Adds Support For Do Not Track

• SaaS

  • How open-source Big Data can improve supply chains

  • Apache CloudStack 4.0 Expands the Open Source Cloud

  • Does Cloudera Have a Big Data Exit Strategy?

    Cloudera’s CEO has sold out to Oracle before. Will he do it again? And what are the economics of the Big Data business, anyway?

  • RightScale joins OpenStack, will support Rackspace’s open cloud

  • OpenStack Fights Cloud Lock-In Worries

  • Rackspace Rides OpenStack Clouds To Impressive Q3

  • Top New Networking Features in CloudStack 4.0 Release

• Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

  • The Document Foundation Announces First Group of LibreOffice Certified Developers

    The Document Foundation has announced the first group of LibreOffice Certified Developers, recognized for their ability to hack LibreOffice code to develop new features or provide L3 support to enterprise users.

    Other skills and knowledge needed to become a Certified Developer include, researching and developing solutions to new or unknown issues, designing and developing one or more courses of action, evaluating each of them in a test case environment, and implementing the best solution to the problem. Once the solution is verified, it is delivered to the customer and given back to the community.

• Education

  • UConn: Kuali Community Supports Move to Open Source Financials

  • The case for digital literacy and open source in classrooms

    Municipalities across America should be working to bring open source educational tools to schoolchildren so they will have the necessary digital literacy skills to tap into their creativity and imagination, or even to provide them with valuable future life and workforce skills. And the case of the Feoffees of the Grammar School in Ipswich, Massachusetts—the oldest charitable trust in America—illustrates this point well.

• Business

  • Open-source business intelligence and reporting solutions: Use or pass?

  • Pentaho launches new version of suite, mobile app

  • Talend Releases New Big Data Features

  • Talend zooms in on big data with Open Studio 5.2

• BSD

  • LLVM’s Clang Is Finally The FreeBSD x86 Compiler

    After talking about FreeBSD’s transition to Clang as the default C/C++ compiler rather than GCC, the move has finally happened where for x86/x86_64 systems the LLVM-based compiler has replaced GCC.

• Project Releases

  • FreeMedForms project reaches version 0.8.0

    It is always a pleasure to announce the official release of the new stable version 0.8.0 of the FreeMedForms project. This anniversary version (the FreeMedForms EMR one and its main admin) brings two major innovations:

• Public Services/Government

  • France government is latest to fully embrace open source

    France is the latest government to move from open source-friendly to open source-active, to paraphrase the European Commission’s aspirational reference to Cloud Computing.

• Openness/Sharing

  • Open Data

    • BBC Says it Should be Above Freedom of Information Laws

      The BBC is trying to wriggle out of some responsibilities when it comes to responding to requests for data made under the Freedom of Information Act, claiming it’s more of a private body than a public one and should therefore be exempt from having to answer some personal questions.

    • BBC argues it is not bound by FOIA in bid to keep Climate 28 secret

      BBC lawyers are insisting the law treats the public-funded broadcaster as a private body in a battle to resist a Freedom of Information request.

  • Open Access/Content

    • Australian university joins Stanford’s open-source online platform

      Class2Go, developed by a group of Stanford engineers, will be the basis for online courses at the University of Western Australia accessible through mobile devices. The mobile app will then be available for use by Stanford – and anyone else.

      The beauty of open-source technology is that people around the world can build things together. Like bricolage, technology can grow flexibly as developers respond directly and creatively to users’ needs and imaginations.

    • How Stanford plans to teach the world with open-source online classes

      Online classes are nothing new, but the University of Western Australia wants to take the technology one step further with the help of Stanford’s recently launched Class2Go platform. Using an open-source approach to content creation, Class2Go not only allows educators to fine tune their teaching material, but also provides a tool that can be used by anyone regardless of location or enrollment status. As explained by PhysOrg, David Glance, director of the Centre for Software Practice at the University of Western Australia, feels that platform paves way to the new methods of learning used in universities, allowing students to take entire classes using their smartphone or tablet via an app.

    • rSmart to Share Higher Ed Open Source Expertise at the 2012 EDUCAUSE Annual Conference

  • Open Hardware

    • Arduino gets piggyback from Raspberry Pi

      The AlaMode board makes it possible to build a bridge between the Raspberry Pi mini-computer and the Arduino prototyping platform and the many shields available for it. Although the Arduino-compatible board connects to the Pi’s GPIO header, the two boards operate independently, sharing data via the GPIO connectors. The AlaMode board is able to connect standard Arduino shields.

    • Open Source, Soccer-Playing Robots for All!

      What’s cooler than a humanoid robot? Why, a humanoid robot that plays soccer, of course. And you can get one for just 25 grand.

      The robot, developed by researchers at the University of Bonn, is more than just another droid headed for the intensely competitive RoboCup tournament. The little guy features some serious technical upgrades with a simple design and open source code so others can build their own ‘bot. The software and CAD files (.zip) are available on GitHub.

• Standards/Consortia

  • APIs

    If you’re creating Web apps, you’re designing APIs. Here are some things to keep in mind before you begin.

    The Web was designed for people. When Tim Berners-Lee created the trio of standards that make up the Web—HTTP, HTML and URLs—the intention was for people to browse Web sites, submit information to them and be at the heart of the experience. But for some time now, the notion of the Web as a set of sites that people browse has been somewhat untrue. True, hundreds of millions of people visit an equally large number of sites each day; however, more and more of the visitors to sites aren’t people, but programs.

  • The newsroom’s ally: Ally-Py

    Software architect Gabriel Nistor talks to Trevor Parsons about Ally-Py, the new Free Software framework designed to get the most from web APIs.

Leftovers

• Did Some Web Designer Troll Rick Santorum? 4chan’s Moot Pictured On Santorum’s Website

  This one is just funny. First noticed by folks on Reddit, former Presidential candidate Rick Santorum — perhaps most well known among internet kids for the Google bombing of his name to associate it with… something unpleasant — apparently has a picture of Chris Poole, better known as moot, the creator of the web’s most popular home for internet trolls, 4chan (and yes, there’s much more at 4chan, but… ).

• Why is Rick Santorum Using a Picture of 4Chan Founder Moot on His ‘Patriots’ Website?

• Judge denies injunction against Dish’s ad-skipping feature

• Health/Nutrition

  • Germany’s Merck halts supply of cancer drug to Greek hospitals

    German pharmaceuticals firm Merck KGaA is no longer delivering cancer drug Erbitux to Greek hospitals, a spokesman said on Saturday, the latest sign of how an economic and budget crisis is hurting frontline public services.

• Security

  • Police arrest Anonymous hacker

    Inspector Knacker of the Yard has fingered the collar of a 41 year-old man who he thinks hacked the websites of Theresa May and the Home Office.
    The attacks were attributed to members of the hacktivist group Anonymous.
    The Stoke man, who has not been named, allegedly carried out a DDoS attack on the sites. Coppers were seen removing computers, telephones and electronic storage devices from his house.

• Defence/Police/Aggression

  • Bunbury school’s hugging ban attracts national attention Save

  • Palestinian Killed By Army Fire In Central Gaza

    The sources added that as Palestinians medics rushed to the scene in an attempt to rescue the wounded resident, but Israeli soldiers fired several warning shots, and prevented the medics from reaching the wounded resident; six hours later, the medics were allowed to reach the resident who bled to death before the medics were allowed through.

  • Peace Now: Two new West Bank outposts built

    NGO says it fears the illegal settlements are part of renewed push to resume building outposts; IDF issues demolition orders.

  • South Africans to protest toy store supporting ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Palestinians

  • The war on the Palestinian olive harvest

    Some 80,000 Palestinians families depend on the annual olive harvest for their livelihoods. This year alone, settlers, with the backing of the army, have destroyed or damaged thousands of olive trees, threatening both a major source of income and an age-old agricultural custom.

  • The Levy report vs. international law

    Under the law of occupation, which is part of international humanitarian law,’territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army.’

  • Britain owed millions for weapons used by autocratic regimes

    Campaigners call for end to ‘unjust poor country debts’ after government figures show arms were used against civilians

  • South Africa mine massacre photos prompt claims of official cover-up

• Cablegate

  • Bradley Manning Indicates He Would Accept Responsibility for Transferring Information to WikiLeaks

  • Bradley Manning Willing To Admit To Leaking Info To Wikileaks, Hoping For More Limited Trial

  • US National Archives Has Blocked Searches for ‘WikiLeaks’

    Searches for “WikiLeaks” in the public search engine for the US National Archives have been blocked, according to a posting at Cryptome.org. Any search containing the word “WikiLeaks (like “Congress” and “WikiLeaks”) turns up an error message.

    WikiLeaks reacted on Twitter, “The US National Archives has literally turned into Orwell’s Ministry of Truth.” In another more vivid message, “The US state is literally eating its own brain by censoring its own collective memories about WikiLeaks.” And, in another message, “The US National Archives censoring searches for its records containing the word ‘WikiLeaks’ is absolutely absurd.”

• Environment/Energy/Wildlife

  • Sweden Needs More Trash, Because It Has Turned All It’s Got Into Energy

    What happens when a recycling plan is too successful? Sweden does such a good job recycling and turning its waste to energy that it has started importing trash from its neighbors.

• Finance

  • PUBLIC CITIZEN ANALYSIS: Candidates Nationwide Used Trade-Themed Ads to Appeal to U.S. Majority Opposing Trade Status Quo

  • The Plot to Destroy America’s Beer

    Brian Rinfret likes imported beer from Germany. He sometimes buys Spaten. He enjoys an occasional Bitburger. When he was 25 years old, he discovered Beck’s, a pilsner brewed in the city of Bremen in accordance with the Reinheitsgebot, the German Purity Law of 1516. It said so right on the label. After that, Rinfret was hooked.

• Censorship

  • What the papers won’t say

    The chilling effects of Lord Leveson are already being felt in every newsroom in the country — and it is the rich, powerful and influential who are reaping the benefits. I know this because after 17 years working in national newspapers, the last seven of which I spent on the Daily Mail, I have just walked away from a job I loved. The decision — one of the hardest of my life — was driven partly by a desire to spend more time with my young family. But a major factor was the menacing post-Leveson culture in which journalists are already forced to operate.

  • Nigeria charges more than 100 Biafra independence activists with treason

    More than 100 Nigerians have been charged with treason after a protest march calling for an independent state of Biafra.

    Supporters of the Biafran Zionist Movement were arrested after an independence rally in the regional capital, Enugu. The protesters included many elderly war veterans from the bloody 1967 conflict in which Biafra tried to break away from the newly independent Nigeria.

• Privacy

  • CIA wants to spy on you through your appliances

    Smart appliances and devices connected to the web, the coming Internet of Things, will be like Americans planted bugging devices in their homes. The CIA is looking forward to such an opportunity for mass monitoring. In the not-too-distant future, household appliances and web-connected devices will offer the government unfettered access to spy on citizens.

  • Smart meters not so clever about privacy, researchers find

• Civil Rights

  • Machine turns vote for Obama into one for Romney

  • Ohio faces controversy over voting machines

    As people head to the polls today to cast their ballots, a critical “battleground” state in the presidential election faces a last-minute controversy over its voting machines.

  • The Truth About Voting Machines: What’s Real And What’s A Nutty Election Fraud Conspiracy

    Earlier in the week I casually retweeted a note from the activist Bob Fitrakis. He’d posted a story about secret new software patches that had been rolled out to Ohio voting machines, with dark suggestions of shenanigans afoot in the counting of the votes there. Election maniacs may recall Fitrakis from the Ohio debacle of 2004, when he worked with Cliff Arnebeck to try to prove election fraud. (The questionability of the 2004 results is not quite in tinfoil territory; many not-outwardly-foaming observers do still believe that the Kerry-Bush election was stolen in Ohio.)

  • Invoices prove Romney-related voting company Hart InterCivic does maintenance on Cincinnati voting machines

    Why did Amy Searcy, Hamilton County Board of Elections director of elections, tell the Cincinnati Enquirer and the Washington Post that Hart InterCivic is not involved with operations or maintenance of their voting machines in Hamilton County — when her signature is on a quote from Hart InterCivic for voting machine repairs? View the document as a PDF.

  • Reddit user captures video of 2012 voting machines altering votes [Update: Confirmed]

  • Ohio Recount Rules, Ban on Some Election Suits Could Bring Delays, Legal Issues

  • Motion to Block Use of OH Sec. of State’s Last- Minute, ‘Experimental’ Software on 39 County Vote Tabulators to Be Heard Tuesday Morning

    Earlier today, Brad Friedman reported in detail on the uncertified, “experimental” software patches that Ohio’s Secretary of State Jon Husted (R) had secretly contracted [PDF] with Election Systems & Software, Inc. (ES&S) to create and install at the very last minute onto electronic central vote tabulation systems in 39 Ohio counties, encompassing more than 4 million Buckeye State voters.

  • Ohio Candidate Sues to Block Electronic Voting Machines

    Electronic voting machines being used by Ohio in today’s election contain a software “back door” that could allow manipulation of the results, a Green Party candidate for one of the state’s 16 U.S. congressional districts claimed in lawsuit.

  • Welcome to Election Day: Seven Things That Could Go Wrong (or Already Have)

  • California Elections Board Peels Back Layer of Dark Money Onion, Finds More Onion

• Internet/Net Neutrality

  • California Proposition Outlawing Anonymous Internet Usage For Broadly Defined ‘Sex Offenders’ Passes

• Intellectual Monopolies

  • Op-ed: Gates Foundation should step away from funding genetically modified crops in Africa

    AS California voters consider Prop. 37 to require businesses to label genetically modified food, people should consider that the Seattle-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is funding research to develop genetically modified crops around the world instead of more natural products.

    In June, the foundation granted $9.8 million to British scientists at the John Innes Centre to investigate whether a symbiosis of cereal crops and bacteria could be genetically modified to fix atmospheric nitrogen.

  • At UN, Gates Foundation Learns How to Buy Impunity Like Orr’s Position

    Footnote: the other side and engine of the Gates empire, Microsoft, got into the UN its so-called “Ambassador to Africa,” who just happens to be the brother of Ban’s then Special Adviser on Africa. Extra budgetary, indeed..

  • The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation is not as pure as it seems.

  • Bill Gates on higher education

    Bill Gates never finished college, but he is one of the single most powerful figures shaping higher education today.

  • Big Agriculture Bankrolls Defeat of California’s Proposition 37

    California’s landmark Proposition 37 was soundly and sadly defeated on Tuesday by corporate interests and big money politics. As of Wednesday morning, with more than 94 percent of the precincts reporting, news outlets reported that the measure has been rejected.

  • Copyrights

    • An historic loss: Howard Berman falls to Brad Sherman

      Tuesday’s election marked the end of a career for an icon of southern California Democratic Party politics. After a race marked by intense attacks from both sides, fifteen-term Congressman Howard Berman lost to fellow Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman in the newly drawn 30th District in the western San Fernando Valley.

    • Gabon to suspend new Megaupload site

      Gabon’s government said Tuesday it was suspending the website www.me.ga, which Internet tycoon Kim Dotcom had planned to use to launch a new version of his defunct Megaupload file-sharing site.

    • African Authorities Seize Kim Dotcom’s New File-Sharing Service’s Domain

    • Is Using A Single Lyric From A Musician You’re A Fan Of ‘Theft’ Or ‘An Homage’?

      A few different folks have submitted variations on this story of singer Taylor Swift copying a single lyric from a singer for whom she’d long expressed admiration. That singer, Matt Nathanson, responded the way any normal person would: by being happy about the homage and recognizing how it might draw more attention… I’m sorry, what was I saying? I meant that he called one of his biggest fans, who just happens to be a hugely popular singer with a ridiculously loyal following, a thief.

    • Cat Power Gets Sick, Atlantic Wire Declares Indie Music Dead