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Links 30/11/2009: Another Linux Phone from Nokia Next Year



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Contents





GNU/Linux

  • Eixil Group partners with Anustubh Labs
    Eixil Group division Eixil Technosoft Pvt. Ltd. being a Business Development and Online Promotion Company, ventures into high end software development on LINUX Platform by partnering with a new venture Anustubh Labs, launching soon by the Technology Experts.


  • Questions and Answers About the Linux Operating System
    These are some basic answers to questions people ask me when I tell them I use Linux. It still seems strange to most of them that somebody nowadays can use an operating system that neither is Windows nor MacOs.


  • [The Accent]




  • Server

    • Mad Dog 21/21: The Fox in IBM's Storage Henhouse
      The reason XIV just might be revolutionary, at least by IBM standards, is that it is a disk array that has some of the attractive characteristics of just about every kind of array in the alphabet soup of today's storage industry. Basically, an XIV box has a front-end based on X64/Linux servers with software and interfaces that let the machine talk over Fibre Channel, Ethernet, iSCSI (which uses Ethernet), and if there were a need, any other fast hookup the market might want.








  • Google

    • Let’s start with Chrome
      Google, after changing the way we look at the Internet, is now working on revolutionising how we see computers. As cloud computing and ‘computing as a service’ set the tech world abuzz, everyone is thinking of moving everything online. Gone are the days where your PC needed an Operating System with a multitude of applications, as most of what you need is already available for use online.


    • Microsoft and Firefox engineering a Chrome web OS rival?
      But we can say that only for self-defense, Redmond giant needs an alternative to Chrome OS to offer its customers.


    • Reducing UI clutter, docking bars removed








  • Kernel Space

    • DRM Change Continues To Cause Debate
      Kristian Høgsberg on the 6th of November had wrote a message on the DRI development list regarding the libdrm repository. With so much of the Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) work going straight into the Linux kernel -- thanks in large part to all of the work on memory management and kernel mode-setting -- Kristian proposed that the DRM driver code be removed from the separate DRM Git tree. With this message, Kristian created a new DRM repository that dropped all of the linux-core, bsd-core, and shared-core code. Seems simple and straightforward, right? Well, three weeks later with dozens of replies, this change is continuing to cause debate.


    • GlusterFS performance tuning for small files, replication, distributed, NUFA


    • FreeBSD 8.0 Benchmarked Against Linux, OpenSolaris
      With the stable release of FreeBSD 8.0 arriving last week we finally were able to put it up on the test bench and give it a thorough look over with the Phoronix Test Suite. We compared the FreeBSD 8.0 performance between it and the earlier FreeBSD 7.2 release along with Fedora 12 and Ubuntu 9.10 on the Linux side and then the OpenSolaris 2010.02 b127 snapshot on the Sun OS side.








  • Applications







  • Desktop Environments

    • KDE Community Forums Announce the Continuation of Klassroom
      Early on in the lifetime of the KDE Community Forums, the staff launched regularly-held courses for people willing to help KDE called "Klassrooms". For each of these courses, a mentor (usually a KDE contributor, but not limited to them) guided a group of "students" towards a simple, definite goal that would improve KDE, for example fixing simple bugs in an application. However, the courses were not limited to coding: documentation, promo and other important areas were handled as well.








  • Distributions







  • Devices/Embedded

    • Archos releases developer edition firmware for Internet Tablets
      Based on the Angstrom Linux distribution, this is by no means a commercial distro (no multimedia software) but since you're taking it upon yourself to code the next great multimedia / social networking / productivity / time travel app anyways, you don't really want to be bogged down by such pedestrian fare.


    • Archos 5 & Archos 7 Tablets Get New Developer Firmware [Archos Releases Special Developer Edition Firmware for Its Internet Media Tablets]
      The new special edition firmware is available as a “proof-of-concept” according to the press release and it “does not contain the traditional Archos multimedia software.” Developers interested in building native applications for the Archost 5 and Archos 7 platforms will surely enjoy the release and we’re definitely interested in their upcoming apps.

      In fact if you’re going to use this Angstrom Linux distribution-based firmware to create any fabulous app, then, by all means, let us know about it.




    • Nokia

      • Nokia N900 - Part tablet - part cell phone
        The biggest improvement in the Nokia smartphone design is the software - it runs on Nokia’s next-generation, open source operating system called Maemo 5 Linux – a big step forward from the n97’s and all previous Nokia phones which used the tried-and-true Symbian OS.


      • Nokia plans just one Linux phone next year: source
        Nokia's Linux Maemo operating system is seen as a key for the top cellphone maker in its battle against Apple's iPhone, and many analysts and industry players have expected the firm to roll out numerous Linux models already next year.








    • Phones

      • Data Collection Where It’s Needed The Most
        The biggest reason we use Android is because it’s open source. It’s not the first open mobile operating system, but it’s the first open and comprehensive system with the wide and viable device support that our users need.


      • Droid does, iPhone doesn't: The porn app store
        MiKandi's publicity material naturally avoids this term, referring to the more PC phrase "adult only." However, there is a little kink in its offering. According to Android fanperson site, Phandroid, the MiKandi Market apps only work with Android phones and not with Apple's more morally minded handsets.












Free Software/Open Source

  • The Apache
    I know what most of you are thinking right now, and no it’s not the Apache helicopter. The “Apache” software foundation (ASF) is non-profit organization that has a community of software developers that develop free and open source software.


  • Electronic Voting Machines and a New Era of Fixing Elections
    Perhaps in the future more secure, open source systems may be available to any country (similar to open source operating systems like Linux/Unix) but for the moment, Electronic Voting hardware and software is produced privately, without open access to what is going on in these machines. Should we then trust these private companies just because they say we should? You do the maths.


  • Getting Organized With Tracks
    Tracks is based on David Allen’s Getting Things Done, which rests on the principle that a person needs to move tasks out of the mind by recording them externally. This method frees the mind from the job of remembering everything that needs to be done, and allows it to concentrate on actually performing those tasks.


  • A Doctrine for Change - Lawrence Lessig Again
    Watch the video from Big Thinkers wherein Lessig explains his views on freedom our culture and creativity.


  • How can you benefit from Open Source Software (OSS)?
    Huh? You can benefit from Open Source Software? This question usually paints a confusing scenario in the local IT community and brings about many misconceptions, The answer to this question will be approached from two different angles, from a developers point of view and then a business point of view.


  • IT jobs will be slow to recover - OECD
    It has established an open source software competence centre to support the wider use of open source software within the public sector and has launched a "green IT" initiative to try to reduce energy consumption in the public sector by 40 per cent by 2013.


  • Fracture risk tool built using QResearch
    The tool is available as open source software www.qfracture.org and users are asked to enter details including age, sex, weight, height and illnesses to determine the risk of a fracture.




  • Sun

    • Open-source culture at heart of Oracle deal
      But like most open-source companies, MySQL’s sales, tied to support deals, never matched the astronomical number of downloads for its product, about 60,000 a day. In January 2008, the founders decided to sell the company for $1 billion to Sun Microsystems. And this year, Sun agreed to sell itself to Oracle, which makes database software aimed at larger companies and tougher jobs, for $7.4 billion.


    • Open Source as a Model for Business Is Elusive
      Now, disagreement over the value of MySQL — both as a stand-alone entity and as part of a big company — lies at the heart of a bitter public battle between Oracle and the European Union over the Sun acquisition. The fight illuminates a larger truth about open-source companies: their societal and strategic importance far exceeds their financial value as operating businesses.


    • Are open source programmers fools and suckers?
      Analyst and consultant Josh Greenbaum has criticised the European Commission’s view that Oracle should jettison MySQL. Part of his argument is that MySQL can’t die because it is open source – and, Greenbaum says, this means there is no end of suckers willing to maintain it for free.

      [...]

      In part, open source software isn’t about money. Young Finnish student Linus Torvalds certainly wasn’t thinking “how can I monetise this?” when he posted his now-famous Usenet post that he’d made a rudimentary Linux-like kernel.








  • Openness

    • The Death of Journalism: David Eaves and Vancouver's Open Source Era (part two)
      I’m not sure if it’s an explicit demand, so much as a behavioural shift. People don’t trust anybody anymore. People don’t see the Vancouver Sun as an authoritative news source that they should implicitly trust. And they certainly don’t see 24hrs or Metro that way. These things are rags that people get bits of information from. People are disappointed when they find out that these news sources have lied to them, but they aren’t shocked. Traditional media is no longer the authority. It's not so much that people are organizing against the media, but they prefer more transparency. People want the opportunity to know what’s actually going on.

      In terms of the open data portal, there may only be a small percentage of residents who go and look at the data. But the fact that we have the option of knowing...that’s really powerful.


    • Open-source car firm proposes new business model








  • Education

    • Online university of hope
      "The concept is great, and one we'll see more and more," says Peter Scott, director of the Knowledge Media Institute at Britain's Open University, which provides free access to course materials through the OpenLearn website.


    • Contest drives genetic engineering advances
      MIT's 2009 International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition has yielded an open source, Internet-based cellular engineering program to assist in synthetic biology design, and software tools for creation and assembly of DNA-sequence parts.


    • Big advantages in schoolbooks going digital
      Digital textbooks are on the way to Texas public schools, perhaps as soon as next fall. As reported by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in our Nov. 23 edition, the state Legislature has already passed two bills allowing the Texas Education Agency to create a repository of online textbook content. The agency is seeking bids from both online and traditional publishers and planning to have the first open-source textbooks available to students in the fall of 2010.








Leftovers

  • Budding authors publish own work online and in print
    Self-publishing on the internet has given many budding writers a platform where their work can be shared with the world.


  • Amy Goodman Detained at Canadian Border, Questioned About Speech…and 2010 Olympics
    While traveling to Vancouver, Canada to speak at the Vancouver Public Library at a benefit for community radio stations, Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and her two colleagues were detained by Canadian authorities. Amy was questioned extensively about the speech she intended to give; their car was gone through by armed border guards, and their papers and laptop computers were scoured. The armed interrogators were particularly interested in whether she would be speaking about the upcoming Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.




  • Policy

    • The SWIFT scandal of Lisbon
      The EU-Constitution, later rebranded as the Lisbon Treaty did not get a very warm reception.

      [...]

      Surprisingly the SWIFT debate does not receive much attention in the English news. In Germany it is big news. The Bundesrat, the Chamber of Federal States filed a strong resolution. The Libdems, among them Minister of Justice Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger are very sensitive to the issue. The German banking sector is alerted. In the middle of the month four nations blocked the agreement, among them also France, Finland and Austria. A fierce political battle happens behind the scenes. The current German position is abstention. Ironically Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger gets a lot of critical press now as if she was the driving force, not Chancellor Angela Merkel.


    • Analysis Mason spectrum report for the EU Commission
      I wonder how this report would take the Toia report from the European Parliament into account. It seems a bit upfront to claim that the Commission report would be based on the consortial study of Analysis-Mason. It makes the report vulnerable to attacks.


    • TACD Resolution on IPR Enforcement
      A colleague informed me that I completely overlooked the TACD recommendations on IPR enforcement (patents, copyright, trademarks etc.) measures. TACD stands for the transatlantic consumer dialogue and they officially represent “consumers” as stakeholders in the ongoing transatlantic Transatlantic Economic Council and ACTA negotiations as a counterpart to TABD, the transatlantic business dialogue.








  • Intellectual Monopolies/Copyrights

    • Copyright Law Changes In India Could Gut Fair Use
      Well, here we go again. Reports are coming out of India about new draconian copyright law changes that were apparently decided on between the government and the recording industry with little to no input from everyone else the new laws would impact. Among the concerns? The new law would significantly strip fair use (fair dealing in India) rights, to the extent that they are effectively useless. This seems to happen over and over again in different countries.










Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day



Michael Shaw, community reporter for Assigment Zero 06 (2007)

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

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