Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 16/5/2010: More Linux Tablets; Ellison Talks About Sun



GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux

  • Why cult madness is driving me off Apple
    Do I go with a commodity notebook platform based on Ubuntu? Do I trash years of experience with Apple's Mac as a platform? Steve Jobs has angered me in a personal way by behaving like the other boorish executives in the industry. I get FUD fed to me on a daily basis, and my FUD detector is strong. Like other consumers, I can be a strong ally. But I'm not a fanboi, not a lapdog sycophant, and am pro IT industry and not a stockholder.

    There's an HP Pavillion with my name on it out there for $300. It's a nice used machine. I'm wondering now what it will look like with Lucid Lynx on it. Maybe a VM with Windows 7.


  • Dell upgrades tough netbook
    In each version, the 10in, 1024 x 600 display - a touchscreen if you're buying for a school - is driven by the CPU's on-board GPU, the GMA 3150. 802.11n Wi-Fi is part of the package, but there's a choice of OS: Linux, Windows XP, Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Starter.


  • Medical researchers adopt HPC system
    A team from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has called on an IBM-based HPC system to help with research on genetics.


  • Acer to Launch Chrome OS Devices at Last?
    Remember Chrome OS, Google's stripped-to-the-browser operating system? It's reportedly ready for prime time, with Chrome OS devices from Acer leading the way.




  • Ballnux

    • Samsung's Bada gets a developer kit
      The Software Developer's Kit version 1 is available from the Bada Developers' portal, which promises that the Bada-based Wave phone (which should be shipping by the end of the month) will be followed by "successive promising handsets", and that Bada phones will be available globally later this year.


    • Samsung releases Bada SDK
      Time will tell if Samsung can attract developers to its own smartphone operating system now that it has released the beta of its Bada software development kit.


    • HTC EVO 4G $200, on Sale June 4
      Sprint’s first 4G smartphone, the EVO 4G, will go on sale June 4 for $200 after a mail-in rebate. (The full price is $450, but if you grab one from Best Buy, you’ll get the discount applied when you buy.)


    • Android This Week: Sprint Unveils EVO 4G Pricing; Patent Infringement Accusations Fly
      Sprint this week officially launched the Android-based EVO 4G phone. The EVO will cost $199 with a two-year contract and require a $79.99 monthly plan that provides 450 anytime talk minutes along with unlimited data, texting and calling to other mobile phones. However, the pricing includes a $10 “premium data charge,” which already has prospective buyers complaining. They’re interpreting the fee as a 4G tax, yet customers in areas without 4G coverage will be subject to it along with those in areas that do have 4G. The EVO 4G will be available on June 4 from Sprint and various retailers.








  • Devices/Embedded







Free Software/Open Source



  • Mozilla







  • Oracle

    • Ellison slams former Sun management
      In an interview with Reuters, Ellison said, "really great blogs do not take the place of great microprocessors", in an apparent swipe at former Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz.

      Schwartz, as we are sure you know, had a bit of a habit of blogging, and signed off with a haiku. Nothing unusual about that, maybe, but Ellison said that a lot of this chat came at the expense of actually running a business well.


    • Special Report: Can That Guy in Ironman 2 Whip IBM in Real Life?
      Although his products are used by businesses only and not nearly as recognizable as Apple's Macs or Google's search engine, they've made Ellison the world's sixth-richest man, worth an estimated $28 billion, according to Forbes. Oracle counts the bulk of the world's major corporations as customers, and the company's market value now tops that of Hewlett-Packard, the world's top maker of personal computers.








Leftovers



  • Security/Aggression

    • Indo-Mancunian Windows support scammer phones Reg hack
      Yesterday I got a call from a chap claiming to be from Windows Support, letting me know that my computer was dangerously infected, and that only he could help.

      The scam isn't new - we reported on it a year ago - but tough times are driving miscreants to expand operations to the point where even Reg staff are being targeted in the attempt to put the wind up unsuspecting computer users.


    • Gary McKinnon lawyers lobby new home secretary
      The new home secretary has been urged to overrule her predecessor's decision to allow the extradition of UK computer hacker Gary McKinnon.

      Mr McKinnon's lawyers have made "representations" to Conservative Theresa May as part of a long campaign to prevent a US trial for their client.


    • Guilty Plea After Botnet Tested With DDoS on ISP
      Edwards pleaded guilty to the charges before U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle on April 29. He is set to be sentenced August 19. Before he decided to plead guilty, Smith's case had been set to go to trial next week.


    • Software Insecurity is Our Biggest Weakness
      In place of this current model, Ranumm suggested that it may be time for a centralized federal development organization that focuses on writing custom software.

      "Why don't we have a government coding office? We have a government printing office," he said. "Why don't we have a strategic software reserve? Is this putting us at a greater or lesser risk? I'm not sure. But our own software is probably a greater threat to us than anything other people can do to us."


    • Cryptographer Whit Diffie takes ICANN security job
      Six months after leaving his job at Sun Microsystems noted cryptographer Whitfield 'Whit' Diffie has landed a new gig, this time as a security adviser to the corporation that manages the Internet.








  • Environment

    • US Climate Bill: The Good, Bad and Boring Details
      A comprehensive energy and climate bill like this one is a game-changer. It marks a fundamental, and I think irrevocable shift, in our way of doing business. It puts a bounty on carbon, and it marks out a clear path to a world where carbon emissions are a curiosity.


    • The Latest in E-Waste Recycling: e-Steward Certification
      This new certification program is truly worldchanging: it responds to social inequities and environmental problems, and builds consumer demand for responsible business practices by restructuring e-waste recycling through transparency and accountability. According to a Pike Research survey, 76% of American consumers believe recycling is the answer to e-waste.


    • Climate Change and the Integrity of Science: 255 National Academy of Sciences Members Defend Climate Science Integrity
      It seems these scientists realize that what the journal Nature said is true: “Scientists must now emphasize the science, while acknowledging that they are in a street fight.”

      Now these same scientists need to start writing op-eds, doing ed-board meetings, giving talks, and the like (see “Publicize or Perish: The Scientific Community is Failing Miserably in Communicating the Potential Catastrophe of Climate Change“).


    • Greenpeace heads to Arctic to investigate urgent ocean threats
      We are returning to the Arctic Ocean with our ship the Esperanza this month to reinforce the urgent need to protect one of the most pristine and fragile environments on Earth.


    • Setting sail to shut down bluefin tuna fisheries
      The Rainbow Warrior is heading out to confront one of the most irresponsible and destructive fishing operations in the world. Mediterranean bluefin tuna have been exploited to the brink of extinction - making them the most visible and tragic example of oceans and fishery mismanagement.


    • Bad days for bluefin


    • Oil spill could go on for years, experts say
      The retired chairman of an energy investment banking firm told National Geographic in little-noticed comments Thursday that efforts to stop the oil leak under the Gulf of Mexico could prove fruitless and than oil could gush into the ocean for years.


    • Angry Obama denounces oil companies’ ‘ridiculous spectacle’
      "I will not tolerate more finger-pointing or irresponsibility. The people of the Gulf Coast need our help," Obama said, as he also unveiled a review of the environmental safeguards to be put in place for oil and gas exploration.

      He slammed the three oil companies linked to the Deepwater Horizon rig for seeking to pass the blame, denouncing what he called a "ridiculous spectacle" by their top officials during congressional hearings.


    • BP must clarify intentions on clean up costs: US
      British Petroleum must clarify its "true intentions" on paying for costs associated with a massive US oil spill, the US homeland security and interior secretaries said in a letter released Saturday.






  • Finance

    • Exclusive: Waddell is mystery trader in market plunge
      A big mystery seller of futures contracts during the market meltdown last week was not a hedge fund or a high-frequency trader as many have suspected, but money manager Waddell & Reed Financial Inc, according to a document obtained by Reuters.

      Waddell on May 6 sold a large order of e-mini contracts during a 20-minute span in which U.S. equities markets plunged, briefly wiping out nearly $1 trillion in market capital, the internal document from Chicago Mercantile Exchange parent CME Group Inc said.








  • Censorship/Privacy/Civil Rights

    • China targets online commentator anonymity
      China is considering forcing its citizens to use their real names when they post comments on internet bulletin boards.

      The suggestion came from Wang Chen, head of the government's information office, at a meeting of senior Chinese leaders.


    • Evony case against British blogger withdrawn
      The Chinese owners of the massive multiplayer online game, Evony, dropped a libel case against British blogger Bruce Everiss after two days of hearings, the Guardian reports.


    • Google Comes Clean About Wi-Fi Network Data Collection
      Google opened up in a blog post today confirming that they have been collecting data from Wi-Fi networks with their Google Maps Street View Cars as they have driven around. This is a subject that has been brought up, but in a recent blog post Google said that it had not been collecting "payload data", but is now saying that it actually has been.


    • Google's Wi-Fi Spying: What Were They Thinking?
      It was no secret that Google's cars had already been collecting publicly broadcast SSID information (Wi-Fi network names) and MAC addresses (unique numbers for devices like Wi-Fi routers). But this techie data, which is used for location-based services such as Google Maps, didn't include any "payload data," or personal information sent over the network.








  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Obama to promote RIAA's favourite lawyer
      The prosecutor who spanked the World's Dumbest File Sharer, Jammie Thomas, is set to be the US' next Solicitor General.

      The Solicitor General represents the US Government in Supreme Court cases, and there's a vacancy after the current incumbent Elena Kagan became the latest Court appointment.


    • Pirate Bay ISP hit with German injunction
      The Hamburg district court has slapped an injunction on German ISP CB3ROB (Cyberbunker) and its operator, demanding that the outfit refrains from plugging The Pirate Bay into the internet.




    • Copyrights

      • Jane Siberry makes entire back-catalog into free downloads
        Clifton sez, "Canadian recording artist Jane Siberry has made all of her recordings (16 complete albums) available for free download, with the words: "DOWNLOAD ALL SIBERRY MUSIC HERE. IT IS FREE, A GIFT FROM JANE. TAKE GOOD CARE OF IT. AND 'PAY IT FORWARD' TO OTHERS."


      • Strangling the Net: Stripping DMCA Protections from YouTube
        Greetings. An amicus curiae brief was filed a few days ago by the Washington Legal Foundation in the ongoing Viacom vs. YouTube/Google lawsuit.

        Even by the normal standards of our adversarial legal system, this brief is startling not only in the depth of its misleading and just plain inaccurate arguments, but also in the implications that its "logic" would have for the Internet at large.

        Despite Google's implementation of a comprehensive "video fingerprinting" system to aid in the identification of copyrighted materials that rights holders wish to remove from the YouTube environment, the brief's arguments that services such as YouTube are not deserving of DMCA protections are clearly disingenuous.








    • Digital Economy Bill













Clip of the Day



NASA Connect - FOFE - Testing Aircraft (1/11/2001)

[an error occurred while processing this directive]



Recent Techrights' Posts

Creditors beware: VMS Enterprises Ltd vs Brexit Party (Reform UK Party Ltd)
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
 
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part XVII - A Vote for Campinos This Month (Reappointment) Would be an Endorsement of Cocaine
The harder they try to silence critics, the worse it'll get
The Cyber Show on "Career Scientists" (Resellers of Establishment Brands Like GAFAM)
"The "career scientist" - with PhD and research office by their mid-twenties - follows well oiled tracks and institutional signposts, steering away from controversial or "difficult" subjects."
Reporting Court Matters While Preserving Dignity of Staff
There's a high and growing probability we'll take our appeal to the Court of Appeal next year
Broligarchs Speech-Policing, Faux 'Community' or 'Hub' in 'User-Driven' Clothing
Until a broligarch decides to "flag" inconvenient stories
Gemini Links 02/10/2026: Haiku, Microsoft EEE ('Linux' as a Container in Windows), and ROOPHLOCH 2026 Roundup
Links for the day
Microsoft Promised Them Bonuses, Instead They May Get Laid Off
Laid off or paid off?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 01, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, October 01, 2026
Lots of People Left Red Hat This Week, No Announcement Made of Layoffs
Companies just find ways and excuses not to announce their layoffs
Gemini Links 01/10/2026: Gemini-to-Web Proxies Considered Harmful, ROOPHLOCH 2026 at Griffith Park Observatory
Links for the day
"SPONSORED FEATURE" of HPE and NVIDIA at The Register MS Has Just Mentioned "AI" 68 Times in One Page!
Meanwhile, grown-ups ignore the hype and get work done without slop
Microsoft's XBox Layoffs Not Finished, Won't be Finished, It's Called "Forever Layoffs"
Microsoft will shut down (XBox) after shrinking it, there's no need to sell anything (a straw man)
IBM's Red Hat Lost Lots of People Today, Chief People Officer (CPO) Dethroned
Headcount falls shortly in secret.
Microsoft is "Pushing Up Daisies" Amid Mass Layoffs (Secret Ones)
"Longtime Microsoft research leader Peter Lee and former LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky to depart"
Links 01/10/2026: "Lawyer Cites ChatGPT-Invented Fake Witnesses in Murder Appeal" and The 'Linux' Foundation Technical Advisory Board (TAB) Has Vacuum
Links for the day
Brigading Against Women - Part XIII - The Offer We Didn't Ask For (and Under Threats to a Lady at the Webhost, a Form of Extortion From America)
Two and a half months ago Garrett made an offer to my wife
Techrights Turning 20 Next Month
Our image is under attack, our finances are constantly under attack and so on
Links 01/10/2026: "Meat Proxies" and "Japan’s Far Right Is Courting Young Voters"
Links for the day
Red Hat Being Phased Out of Existence (Like Many Other Companies That IBM Bought)
The "Red Hat" brand (and badge) is being dissolved some more today [...] IBM is imploding 'creatively'.
IBM Layoffs Cover-up
thelayoff.com is censoring threads
"Restricted Boot" Garrett's State is Now Implementing Kill Switches (Just What We've Warned About All Along)
The underlying concept is hardly new
Brett Wilson LLP Has Had No Annual Report in 16 Months
A cynic might hint that they try to hide something
Reform UK last minute accounts filing
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 01/10/2026: "Babel With Better Hardware", Software Input That's Slop, and DWeb Cascadia 2026
Links for the day
Today is D-Day at Red Hat and People Leave in Droves
They said there would be "bluewashing", we're mostly seeing people announcing they're leaving
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 30, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Gemini Links 30/09/2026: Fish Leather, Slop Formation, and ROOPHLOCH
Links for the day
In a Lot of Europe (or EU) Android (With Linux) is Bigger Than Windows
For example in Greece
Slop-Posting is a New Form of S---posting
We recently caught several more "linux" sites (with "linux" in their domain name) turning to slop
EPO Cocainegate: Lots of Money (Over a Million Euros) for Cocaine Addicts, Not for Children With Special Needs
Next month we'll bring out some more Campinos scandals
High Court victory: Nigel Farage is 'the Company's own candidate'
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
It Took GNOME's Code of Conduct Committee (CoCC) Over 8 Months to Realise CoC Reports Went Into /dev/null/
It would be ironic if the blunder's culprits were punished for it, would it not?
Links 30/09/2026: Microsoft "OpenAI Ignored Employees’ Warnings About Safely" and "Pentagon Personnel Agency Data Breach Impacts 3 Million People"
Links for the day
The Register MS "Events" As Paid Spam That Promotes and Keeps Afloat Hype About Slop
This dreary sort of media reads like a soup of words, i.e. like the thing it is advertising
Digital Independence in the UK and in Western Europe
We have the technical capacity and skilled personnel to achieve this
IBM's Anderon as a Mass Layoffs Ritual With a Bailout (From US Taxpayers to IBM) and Other Perks
Like those empty promises in the first term of the Cheeto dictator
Gemini Links 30/09/2026: David Bowie, Web Rendering Proxy, Ink and Letters, Gemlog Nostalgia
Links for the day
EPO Annual General Meeting (AGM) Will Speak of Financial State of the EPO's Union
Their work is needed because the EPO breaks the law
Rust Causes Upgrade Issues in Ubuntu
They could just keep GNU coreutils in place (nothing was broken about it) and avoid Microsoft's back doors and TPMs
Losses From Slop Are "Investment", Hundreds of Billions in Debt Are "Growth Opportunity", Layoffs Are "Great to See", and Loss of Business Means "We Need a Slowdown" (for "Safety")
Microsoft is removing staff, as investment is apparently the act of shrtinking
Brigading Against Women - Part XII - Toxic Masculinity, Hunting Women, Will Code for Sex
Who says things like these?
The Microsoft Lunduke Slop Problem
Microsoft Lunduke does not support Software Freedom; he serves to discredit many ideas championed by Free software or ideals articulated which are apolitical for the most part
Links 30/09/2026: "Understanding the LLM Bubble" and "Florida Senate Threatened Legal Action Against Newspapers"
Links for the day
It Looks Like Mass Layoffs at "Nordcloud, an IBM Company" Today (a Day Ahead of Red Hat)
Expect the same from Red Hat next
British Prime Minister Recognises Social Control Media as National Cohesion Problem
one has to wonder if addiction to social control media is not compatible with peace
The Future Isn't Social Control Media (Nothing Will be Left of It, Not Even Archives)
"Error code: 502 Bad Gateway"
GNU/Linux Usage in China is Increasing
China is leaving Microsoft and Windows behind
43 Years of GNU and GAFAM's (Especially Microsoft's) Attacks On It
GNU is very widely used (when people say "Linux commands" they typically mean "GNU programs"), hence it's being attacked a lot
CDMAG Covers Free Software, New Magazine From Decent People
If enough people accessed their site, they would not rely on social control media (third parties, censorship platforms)
Brigading Against Women - Part XI - An Abject Lack of Social Skills (and Not Knowing How to Handle Women)
GGG enjoy - if that's the right term - very bizarre or esoteric sex life
Gemini Links 30/09/2026: Accelerationism, "The Billionaire is Wrong", Rant About LLM-generated Support E-mails
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 29, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 29, 2026