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Links 2/10/2014: Kano Brings GNU/Linux to Education, Fedora 21 Desktop Matures





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Contents





GNU/Linux



Free Software/Open Source



  • Join me in supporting The Ada Initiative
    When I first read that Linux kernel developer Valerie Aurora would be changing careers to work full-time on behalf of women in open source communities, I never imagined it would lead so far so fast. Today, The Ada Initiative is a non-profit organization with global reach, whose programs have helped create positive change for women in a wide range of communities beyond open source. Building on this foundation, imagine how much more they can do in the next four years! That’s why I’m pledging my continuing support, and asking you to join me.


  • Eight Key Open-Source Internet of Things Projects
    Open source is key to the development of the Internet of things (IoT). Therefore, the Eclipse Foundation is taking a hard look at IoT for Java developers. In fact, the Eclipse IoT community is making it easier for Java developers to connect and manage devices in an IoT solution by delivering at JavaOne 2014 an open IoT stack for Java developers. Based on open source and open standards, the Eclipse Open IoT Stack for Java simplifies IoT development by enabling Java developers to reuse a core set of frameworks and services in their IoT solutions. In addition to the core Open IoT Stack, a set of industrial frameworks are available to accelerate the process of creating home automation and SCADA factory automation solutions. "Our goal with this is to ensure that Java developers have a free and open-source platform for building IoT solutions," said Mike Milinkovich, executive director of Eclipse.


  • Facebook engineers open source ‘cookbooks’ for Chef framework
    Facebook is opening up its cookbooks — but these recipes won’t taste good from the kitchen. Chef is Facebook’s engineering framework, and Facebook engineers have decided to open source that technology.


  • Inbox, Focused on Smart Email Apps, Takes Next Steps, Reveals Pricing
    Back in July, when there were only a few details available about it, I covered the announcement of Inbox, an email-focused startup company founded by MIT graduates who had worked for Dropbox.


  • Open Source Lessons Learned: Two Years of Telescope
    I’ve been working on Telescope (an open source Hacker News-type app built with the Meteor JavaScript framework) for close to two years now, and along the way I’ve learned a lot about what it takes to make an open source project successful.


  • How Talko wielded cheap cloud services and open source tools to build its communications app
    On this week’s Structure Show, hear how Talko stood on the shoulders of AWS and Azure — and wielded the Opus codec, WebRTC, FreeSwitch and other open-source tools to build an app that actually makes voice calls worth making again.


  • Goldman-led open source chat service makes its debut
    The much-anticipated chat service that Goldman Sachs has been rumored to be working on with startup messaging company Perzo was formally announced Wednesday under the brand name Symphony.


  • Vendors join hands to foster open source NFV
    The Linux Foundation has added another string to its virtualisation bow, with the launch of OPNFV, its project for an open-source network function virtualisation (NFV) platform.


  • Telecom operators and vendors push for open source NFV
    Rival telecom operators and infrastructure vendors lay down their swords to collaborate in an open source NFV consortium that will develop standards for productizing interoperable technology.


  • Web Browsers



    • Mozilla



      • Firefox OS media-casting stick strikes Kickstarter gold
        The first Firefox OS based media player has arrived on Kickstarter, in the form of a $25 open-spec HDMI stick that supports Chromecast-like content casting.

        The Matchstick, which has already zoomed past its Kickstarter campaign’s $100,000 funding goal, with 28 days still remaining, was teased back in June by Mozilla developer evangelist Christian Heilmann. The unnamed prototype was billed as an open source HDMI stick that runs Mozilla’s Linux-based Firefox OS and offers casting capabilities. Few details were revealed at the time except that the device used the same DIAL (DIscovery And Launch) media-casting protocol created by Netflix and popularized by Google’s Chromecast.






  • SaaS/Big Data



  • Databases



  • CMS



    • Role of Open Source in WordPress Popularity
      Almost every person associated with the web industry realizes the fact that open source solutions tend to produce better and cost-effective results. And the open source feature can be considered as a crucial factor that led to the evolution of the most popular and extensively used CMS, WordPress. I doubt that WordPress would have received the same recognition as it enjoys today, without the open source feature. This post throws light on how open-source feature has been the driving force behind WordPress popularity, but before that let’s have an overview of what open source exactly means.




  • Business



  • Funding



    • ‘Hello World’ Fundraising Update
      A little over two weeks ago, I told you about the Brothers Nielsen, Jared and JR, who produce short educational videos which teach Linux and other tech skills to nine to thirteen-year-olds under the “Hello World” banner — a name which should be familiar to anyone who’s ever taken a “programming for dummies” course.




  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC



    • Software Freedom Day in Hanoi
      To travel to Hanoi, Vietnam from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, we have to do two flights and my first flight was flying to Vientiane, Laos. I had to wait for 1 hour to transfer to Hanoi, Vietnam. Laos (WATTAY) International Airport was small, so I did not take any picture of it. Just after I landed like you see in the below picture. I departed from Phnom Penh at 5:50PM and arrived at WATTAY International Airport at 7:15PM and left there at 8:00PM and arrived Hanoi at 9:00PM.


    • GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: 14 new GNU releases!
      To get announcements of most new GNU releases, subscribe to the info-gnu mailing list: http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu. Nearly all GNU software is available from http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/, or preferably one of its mirrors (http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html). You can use the url http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/ to be automatically redirected to a (hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror.




  • Public Services/Government



    • HealthWatch England adopts open source CRM
      With Britain looking to cut it’s deficit the Government is looking to cut costs where it can including on the software-front by moving from proprietary solutions from the likes of Microsoft over to Free/Libre and Open Source solution. HealthWatch England, a part of the United Kingdom’s national health service, is the latest governmental body to move to open source solutions for some of their work.




  • Licensing



    • Open source more about process than licensing
      It is a testament to the success of the Open Source Initiative's (OSI) branding campaign for open source software that "open source" and "licensing" are functionally synonymous. To the extent that people are familiar with open source software, it is the source code released under a license that lets anyone see the "crown jewels" of a software program as opposed to an opaque binary, or black box that hides its underpinnings.




  • Openness/Sharing



    • Satoshimycin: The Future of Cancer Research and “Open-Source” Science


    • Open Hardware



      • Project PAM – College Students Look to Create an Entirely Open Source DLP 3D Printer
        Open source has contributed to 3D printing in such a tremendous way. Without the open sourcing of many desktop 3D printers several years ago, the space would not be nearly as advanced as it currently is. Open source allows for brilliant people to take brilliant ideas and products, and then develop them further through the implementation of their own ideas. Open sourcing is not for companies looking to make huge profits, although it definitely still remains possible. Open sourcing is meant for those individuals who believe that the ideology behind technology should be for the greater good of mankind, not for the profits on certain individuals. We have seen many companies originate as part of an open source movement, only then to slowly migrate into closing off the rights to their designs, through the filing of patents and other means.






  • Programming



    • A possible future for PHP
      ownCloud is one of the biggest open source project written in PHP if you look into the latest statistics. It is used for the server part of ownCloudas most of you know. We use other technologies like C++ and Qt for the Desktop Clients, Java for the Android app and Objective-C for iOS, JavaScript for the web-interface and more. But the heart of ownCloud is the server component which is using PHP 5.3 or higher..






Leftovers



  • Nick Griffin expelled from BNP
    The British National Party has expelled its former leader, Nick Griffin, over allegations that he harassed members and told “lies" about its top brass.

    Mr Griffin, who stood down as leader of the BNP in July, was found guilty of a string of offences by a party conduct committee, which released a statement that said Mr Griffin was “trying to cause disunity by deliberately fabricating a state of crisis” in the party.


  • Nick Griffin expelled from British National partyNick Griffin expelled from British National party


  • CUPS Turn 15 Years Old, CUPS 2.0 Released
    The British National party has expelled former leader Nick Griffin for allegedly “trying to cause disunity” in a bid to destabilise the organisation.


  • ‘Internal affair’: Beijing warns foreign countries not to meddle in Hong Kong
    China’s foreign minister made it clear Beijing would not allow other countries to meddle into its ‘internal affairs’, responding in this way to US Secretary of State’s call for Beijing to grant Hong Kong the “highest possible degree of autonomy.”

    The American and the Chinese heads of foreign offices exchanged their views on the massive protests in Hong Kong before their talks at the US State Department on Wednesday.


  • Security



  • Censorship



    • Recommendations on The Right to Be Forgotten by La Quadrature du Net and Reporters Without Borders
      The European Union Court of Justice ruling of 13 May 2014 on a case brought by Google Spain highlighted the problems for the protection of freedom of expression and the right to information posed by the right to de-indexation from search engine results and, more broadly, the right to be forgotten. Privacy and freedom of expression are fundamental rights of equal value (articles 8 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and articles 8 and 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union). Whenever one conflicts with the other, a balance must be reached under a judge’s authority because, as a matter of principle, one cannot be given more importance than the other.




  • Privacy



    • Darkcoin Steps Out of the Shadows
      Darkcoin this week announced that it has exited beta and is now ready for mainstream use. Also, the software's code is now open source.

      Darkcoin -- a Bitcoin competitor -- is the first fully open source cryptocurrency with financial privacy built directly into the software, its developers claimed.


    • The Ghost of Ronald Reagan Authorizes Most NSA Spying
      U.S. intelligence agents have broad authority to spy on U.S. companies as long as they are “believed to have some relationship with foreign organizations or persons” — a description that could conceivably apply to any company with foreign shareholders, subsidiaries, or even employees—according to newly released government documents published this morning by the ACLU.


    • ORG responds to Conservative's UK Bill of Rights proposal
      Executive Director of Open Rights Group, Jim Killock said:

      “This will make it very convenient for the government to carry on with mass surveillance and ignore future legal decisions limiting GCHQ’s whole population profiling. It is clear is that this government is determined to reduce the human rights protections available to ordinary people in order to avoid facing limitations on its own powers. But it is precisely these limitations that allow democracies to hold governments to account.”




  • Civil Rights



    • Michael Brown Had a Father
      But will Ferguson shift media ideas on ‘fixing’ black men?


    • In Wisconsin, a Push for Voter ID Law, But Not Voter IDs
      In May of 2011, Wisconsin Republicans took the rather extraordinary step of stopping work on the budget to pass a voter ID bill in advance of the recall elections. Earlier this year, Walker vowed to call the legislature back into session to pass a new voter ID law if courts didn't ultimately uphold the measure, which lower courts had blocked.


    • Theresa May Must Resign
      There was never any doubt that the accusation of terrorism against Moazzam Begg was, once again, a tissue of politically motivated lies. What is still more appalling, I am told by a Home Office source that the decision to arrest and detain him was taken by Theresa May herself. This involvement of politicians in the abuse of individuals by the state is appalling.




  • Internet/Net Neutrality



    • Open Letter to the Council of the European Union on Net Neutrality
      In the wake of the debate on the Telecom Single Market, which is becoming quite intense within the Council of the European Union, La Quadrature du Net has joined other organisations, consumers groups and industry representatives in sending to Member States representatives in Brussels a letter urging them to protect to Net neutrality in the European Union.




  • Intellectual Monopolies





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