Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 18/09/2009: Palm Dumps Windows Mobile for Linux, Moblin 2 is Coming



GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux

  • Cool things with SELinux... Introducing sandbox -X
    One of the downsides of working in security is that we seldom get to do cool things. The desktop engineers, VM engineers, even kernel engineers get to show off cool stuff. But security guys usually only ever get to show how we broke something, if that. Sometimes all we can do is say "trust us, it's working." But I think I have something cool to show off which I'm calling sandbox -X.


  • Hewlett Packard’s Linux Systems
    On one of their web pages they did something that will disturb many of the Microsoft Sheep out there, they referred to the Linux system they are offering as being user friendly


  • Mainframe shops gush over big iron
    What can be said is that by corralling some mainframe engines, slashing their prices, and letting them run Linux instances or speed up Java or DB2 workloads, IBM has been able to keep the installed base of mainframe processing power, as measured in MIPS, growing - even as it has its ups and downs each quarter. And the downs have been especially sharp since the economic meltdown kicked in a year ago.


  • My preference for cross-platform applications leads me to Scribus for desktop publishing
    So the bottom line is that I hope Scribus does as well as some are claiming, because having a free, open-source application for creating high-quality printed documents, and having that application run on just about every computer out there is just what I'm looking for.




  • KDE

    • Indicators, notifications and co
      What is the difference between the “Indicator Display” plasmoid and the “Incoming Message” plasmoid from kdeplasma-addons? Both plasmoids have the same goal, but the “Incoming Message” plasmoid tries to implement this goal with application-specific code: it has specific code for Evolution, KMail, Pidgin, Kopete and XChat.


    • Amarok 2.2 Beta 2 "Red Dawn" released
      The Amarok team is pleased to release the second beta version of Amarok 2.2. For a list of the most important changes and fixes see the changelog below.

      As always please help us by testing, reporting bugs, sending patches and most importantly by enjoying discovering music. Thanks to everyone who already helped us this way. We are especially looking for help with podcasting support.






  • Distributions

    • GENTOO MAINTENANCE
      This tutorial is going to focus on two main aspects of working with a system...




    • Ubuntu

      • Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" Alpha 6 Released
        If the traditional Ubuntu with GNOME on the desktop is not your thing, 9.10 Alpha 6 spins are already available for Kubuntu, Ubuntu Server EC2/UEC, Ubuntu ARM, Xubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, Mythbuntu, and Edubuntu. More information on this release is available from its Ubuntu Testing Page.


      • Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 6 Has Ubuntu Software Store
        A few minutes ago, the Ubuntu development team unleashed the sixth and last alpha version of the upcoming Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) operating system, due for release in late October this year. As usual, we've downloaded a copy of it in order to keep you up-to-date with the latest changes in the Ubuntu 9.10 development.


      • Ubuntu releases last 9.10 Alpha


      • My thoughts on Ubuntu
        Ubuntu will be staying here, on my laptop, for the foreseeable future. I like Ubuntu, as I’ve discovered. And, since I’ve started recommending it to others, people for whom I provide ongoing computer support, I now need Ubuntu as well.


      • ...and now using Ubuntu! :P
        So well, I've decided to stick to Ubuntu, Synaptic, and to my very own surprise, even GNOME. I am liking it thus far. Synaptic "just works", and GNOME gives timely responses to my keyboard commands and mouse gestures.












  • Devices/Embedded

    • PowerPC SoC family gains multi-core members
      Freescale Semiconductor has announced a quad-core "P4040" version of its eight-core QorIQ P4080 system-on-chip (SoC), aimed at networking, military, and industrial applications. The company also announced a new power-efficient dual-core "P1022" member of its Linux-ready, PowerPC-based QorIQ family.


    • Rugged CompactPCI SBC runs Linux
      Aitech Defense Systems has released a rugged 3U single-slot CompactPCI single-board computer (SBC). Targeting embedded and harsh environment applications, the Linux-compatible C800 SBC offers an Intel Core 2 Duo clocked at up to 2.2GHz, 8GB of SATA flash, plus dual gigabit Ethernet and serial ports, says the company.


    • Pico-ITX board boasts 1080p video




    • Phones

      • Palm Pre beats expectations, drops WiMo to focus on WebOS
        Part of that strategy involves dumping any distractions, including both the company’s original Palm OS and the Windows Mobile partnership that Palm forged with Microsoft in 2006, a year before Rubinstein arrived. Palm’s support for Windows Mobile helped nearly double Microsoft’s market share at the time.


      • Palm dumps Windows Mobile
        PALM HAS SAID that it will be dropping the Windows Mobile operating system in favour of its own webOS platform.






    • Sub-notebooks

      • First Moblin v2 netbook launches
        The first netbook preinstalled with Moblin v2 for Netbooks will likely launch next week, possibly at Intel's Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco. Following that, the Moblin Project will release the first milestone release of the Moblin v2 Linux distribution, which began beta testing in May.












Free Software/Open Source

  • Version 4.2 of OSGi Java component technology available
    Popular open source implementations of the specification are Apache Felix and Eclipse Equinox; almost all enterprise application vendors use OSGi to provide modularised Java software.


  • Q&A: Visa dips a toe into the Hadoop pool
    Hadoop effectively gives enterprises the power of Google or Yahoo Web indexing for free, or for the cost of a CloudEra subscription if you want to involve Hadoop's core developers in your rollout. Credit card giant Visa is an early corporate adopter of Hadoop, and points to a bright future for the open-source project.


  • DragonFly BSD 2.4 released
    Developer Matthew Dillon has announced the release of version 2.4 of DragonFly BSD, originally created as a fork from FreeBSD 4.x. The major release includes several bug fixes, performance improvements and a new 64-bit port.




Leftovers

  • The 10 biggest moments in IT history
    It’s unlikely that everyone will ever agree on the most important dates in the history of IT. I know my IT timeline has a personal and professional bias. But I’ve tried to be objective in examining the events that have served to shape the current landscape of the modern computing industry.




  • Censorship/Web Abuse

    • Ex-BT tech chief quits Phorm
      Stratis Scleparis, the former BT Retail chief technology officer who joined Phorm after overseeing secret trials of its web monitoring and profiling system, has quit the firm.


    • Cable: Let us lock down your TV (we'll offer movies sooner)
      Top reps from Time Warner Cable and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association have met with the FCC to back the MPAA's bid for selectable output control. It's a sure sign that Big Content is still big on this proposal, despite tons of opposition from device makers and public interest groups.


    • FCC To Further Investigate Janet Jackson Super Bowl Reveal
      The FCC has reasserted its power to regulate fleeting nudity and says it wants to further investigate "whether CBS' indecency violation [in the Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake Super Bowl reveal] was willful."








  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Back to school with RIAA-funded copyright curriculum
      School kids in American could certainly stand to learn about copyright in the classroom—it's a fascinating topic that increasingly impacts the life of every "digital native" and intersects with law, history, art, and technology. But should they be exposed to industry-funded materials meant to teach kids:

      That taking music without paying for it ("songlifting") is illegal and unfair to others (RIAA) Why illegally downloading music hurts more people than they think (ASCAP) How the DVD-sniffing dogs, Lucky and Flo, help uncover film piracy (MPAA) To use problem-solving approaches to investigate and understand film piracy (The Film Foundation) The importance of using legal software as well as the meaning of copyright laws and why it's essential to protect copyrighted works such as software (Business Software Alliance)


    • Michael Robertson Wants To Crowdsource Proof Of EMI's Lies: You Lie EMI Bookmarklet Available
      EMI has been involved in a lawsuit with MP3Tunes for a while now. The whole lawsuit seems weird, since MP3Tunes is about creating a storage locker for the songs you already have. But one of the points that MP3Tunes made in response to EMI's claims is that EMI was lying in saying that it has never authorized MP3s to be available online.


    • Smashing Pumpkins Like Free Online Music Concept
      Billy Corgan Plans on Making Money From Real Fans

      Offering your album online for free seems to becoming quite a trend these days. The concept was pioneered by acts like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, and the latest group to jump on the bandwagon is Smashing Pumpkins.


    • Smashing Pumpkins Latest To Embrace Free Music... With A Reason To Buy


    • New Smashing Pumpkins album


    • UK Music Pretends That Musicians Aren't Against Kicking People Off The Internet
      There were rumors that following this little dustup, that the UK music industry would drop its support for three strikes. Instead, Feargal Sharkey, the head of the UK Music lobbying group, has come out with a totally meaningless statement that basically says that the industry supports the government's plan and there's nothing to see here in terms of a rift in the views of the UK music industry.

      That's not very believable. More and more musicians have realized that a proposal to kick people off the internet does nothing to promote better business models and does a lot to create significantly more ill will with fans.


    • ASCAP, BMI Demanding Payment For 30 Second Previews At Web Stores
      It's been really stunning to see just how little dignity groups like ASCAP and BMI have in trying to suck every last penny out of any kind of musical usage, without ever once considering the damage they're actually doing to songwriters. It's as if the folks who run these groups have no concept of the actual impact of their crazy demands.


    • I'm Sorry, But It Was Never Just About The Music
      Frank Sinatra made movies to reach a bigger fan base. Elvis's hips and haircut were as much a part of his success as his recordings were. David Bowie learned that image and imagery could propel him to greater heights. After Saturday Night Fever, dance steps helped propel many live shows and for a time MTV made being visual an important component of success.


    • Britain's postal-code database online at Wikileaks: produced at public expense, not owned by the public
      Wikileaks is hosting a copy of the "1,841,177 post codes together with precise geographic coordinates and other information" for the UK.










Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day



Jim Hogg teaches GNU Linux to high school kids 08 (2008)

[an error occurred while processing this directive]



Digital Tipping Point is a Free software-like project where the raw videos are code. You can assist by participating.

Recent Techrights' Posts

The Media Helps Microsoft, Amazon and Others (GAFAM and Beyond) Lie About Mass Layoffs Amid Valuation Bubble
The media, instead of saying that there's an "AI bubble" crashing the economy might instead choose the narrative of "jobs replaced by AI"
Bad Tempered? You Might Have Just Given Away That You're Losing the Argument
Brett Wilson LLP is fully aware that it is being investigated
Lies Need to be Corrected
the Court never invited us
 
The Linux Foundation Seems to Have Turned Linux.com Not Only Into a Spamfarm But Also LLM Slopfarm
it's polluting the Web, even important domains like Linux.com, with spam and LLM slop
Links 17/10/2025: UK’s Largest Breach Penalty and Windows TCO Examples
Links for the day
Go Watch Video About Librephone, Get Microsoft Ads
Very ethical company...
Campaign of Defamation Against the People Who Built NixOS (and Are Now Pushed Out From Their Own Project)
We've already grown familiar with - and resistant to - such tactics
Links 17/10/2025: Nestlé Crisis, Canada Post Versus 'Gig Economy' [sic] and Vista 11 Breaks Itself
Links for the day
Tux Machines Has Helped Separate Opinions/Analysis From News
In September 2023 we decided to split things apart and not repeat links in both sites
Tux Machines Has Improved Navigation of GNU/Linux and BSD News
Some more 'wiring' work
What a World Would Look Like If Everyone Used Free Software Only
Freedom is what matters, not "Open".
Richard Stallman (RMS) is a Target of Defamation Campaigns Because of His Views on Software (But Politics Are the Excuse for Defaming Him)
Here in this site we try to refrain from politics, except in Daily Links
End of Vista 10 and Rise of GNU/Linux as Client Side Operating System
It seems certain GNU/Linux will grow in popularity over time
Taking Stock of a Week's Worth of EPO Leaks
We remain committed to exposing EPO corruption as long as it keeps happening
Mathieu Parreaux claims FINMA knew since day one
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Calumny, Libel, Joerg Jaspert & debian-private untouchable cyberbullies
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 16, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 16, 2025
Techrights Turns 19 in 3 Weeks
coverage of suppressed topics and protecting all sources/whistleblowers
International E-Waste Day Same Day as End of Vista 10
message from Akira Urushibata
The EPO's Central Staff Committee Presents Evidence That Staff Compensation Lowered While the Office Increases Income by Illegally Granting Invalid Patents
These people become millionaires by doing illegal things
Second or Third Wave of Microsoft Mass Layoffs in October 2025, This Time Portugal
Those are just the ones we know about, there may be several more
'Help Net Security' (helpnetsecurity.com) May Have Become a Slopfarm as Well
Zeljka Zorz, Editor-in-Chief at Help Net Security, was reported to us
Gemini Links 17/10/2025: Rant About Network Solutions, Strange Anomaly on Lagrange
Links for the day
EPO Staff Representation Lacks Social Dialogue With Relevant Management, Controversial and Sometimes Illegal Policies Implemented Without Necessary Input
"In this open letter, the CSC requests that the President submits an agenda item in the next available General Consultative Committee (GCC) meeting on setting up regular meetings between the CSC and the higher management of DG1."
Links 16/10/2025: Political Leftovers and Gemini Protocol Links
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Guardian Digital (linuxsecurity.com), Slashdot, Google News, and More
Maybe one day, once the bubble pops completely, Google News will just outright delist all slopfarms
Lufthansa Modern Slavery, Joerg Jaspert (ganneff) & Debian NSB Softwareentwicklung charade
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 16/10/2025: US Starting More Trade Wars With China, CIA War on Venezuela
Links for the day
SUSE Blog is Still LLM Slop, Marketing Manager at SUSE Cannot Write
Would you buy from a company or seek support from a company that cannot even write (or fakes writing)?
Pretend You're Not Dead: Microsoft Spent Almost Two Decades Rebranding Things as "Cloud, Then "AI", Now "XBox" and "Quantum"
"AI" bubble pops, Microsoft harping about "quantum" already
IBM Allegedly Found New Tricks for Silent Layoffs: LPI, Then MIS (Not PIP)
Remember that "Red Hat layoffs" won't be reported after the bluewashing
Links 16/10/2025: Red Lines and Feeding of Microsoft Trolls
Links for the day
MIT as a Propaganda Mill of GAFAM, Paid by GAFAM
"the news" today
Links 16/10/2025: Lies Euphemised as ‘Dueling Versions of Reality’ and Microsoft "Open" "Hey Hi" Resorts to Porn as No Business Model Was Found
Links for the day
The Local Staff Committee Munich (Representation of the EPO's Staff) Explains When Cluster of Pregnancies May Result in Reduced Pay
"...even one week of part-time working is sufficient to reduce the salary you perceive during the entirety of your maternity leave."
Another Black Eye for 'Secure Boot', Microsoft Media Tries to Blame "Linux"
It enables Microsoft to remotely control computers, even computers that don't run Windows and never had any Microsoft software installed
Slopwatch: UbuntuPIT, linuxsecurity.com, and Various Slopfarms in Google News Attacking "Linux"
A new survey of the Web said that the majority of the Web is now slop (that's being said in the news this week)
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 15, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Links 16/10/2025: Increased Use of Social Control Media Surveillance in US, French Rage Over Pensions
Links for the day
Links 15/10/2025: Qantas Airways Loses Control of Sensitive Data and Software Patents Are Being Thrown Out
Links for the day
Vista 10 is 'Dead', Here's Why People Should Move to GNU/Linux (or the BSDs)
Today we try to make an outline of reasons move away from Windows to GNU/Linux
Our Sites Continue to Improve
LLM slop has had no noticeable impact on us
Gemini Links 15/10/2025: Neovim, Helix Compared and Gemlog.blue Now Closed
Links for the day
Links 15/10/2025: Mass Layoffs at Amazon, OneDrive Spyware Revved Up, More 'Gen Z Protests'
Links for the day
The EPO's Staff Engagement Survey 2025 is Already Tainted by Intimidation by EPO Management (Trying to Influence Outcomes by Scaring Genuine, Honest Critics)
"[W]e have received reports that, following the previous survey, teams with negative responses were reproached or questioned about their answers..."
The DDoS Attacks by Microsoft's Scam Altman and Other Slop Charlatans and Frauds is Hurting the FSF, Delinking It From Copyleft Projects
This impacts a lot more than access to the licences
Microsoft Scanning Faces in Photos People Upload to Microsoft (Even Unconsciously), Slashdot Turns Report About It Into "Microsoft Sez" (Says)
Or "let's repeat the lies from a PR person/Microsoft's publicist"
[Teaser] Angel Aledo Lopez the Manipulator (Nepotism, Poll Rigging, and Other EPO Corruption)
We'll discuss this later today or tomorrow, based on internal EPO material
Attacks on Techrights Are Only Making Techrights Bigger and Even More Popular
A week ago they offered to settle with us
Epic Metaphor for End of IBM: "The IBM Demolition is Down to the Last Shards!"
Nothing lasts forever
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 14, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Proprietary and DRM Prisons Spiralling Down the Sinkhole? Not Just Yet.
Let's hope that more people will flee to GNU/Linux
The European Patent Office (EPO), the Second-Largest Institution in Europe, is Cracking Down on Recreational Activities
Without AMICALE activities, and as staff already says it's pressured to work more for less, how can the EPO recruit bright people?
Transparency: FSFE financial reports exclude speaker fees and expenses
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock