Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 20/2/2013: Linux 3.8





GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux

  • Spain's Extremadura publishes tailored Linux distribution
    The government of the Spanish autonomous region of Extremadura published Linex 2013 on Monday last week. This tailored version of the Debian GNU/Linux distribution was unveiled in the city of Mérida by Sergio Velázquez, secretary general for the regions department for Employment, Entrepreneurship and Technological Innovation and Manuel Velardo, director of Cenatic, Spain's open source resource centre.


  • Hiring managers: “A good Linux-head is hard to find”
    A new report shows Linux experience is in greater demand — and, hiring managers say, harder to find — than in past years.

    The 2013 Linux Jobs Report, released today by the Linux Foundation, surveyed 850 hiring managers and 2,600 Linus pros and found that Linux might be a good area of focus for aspiring techsters.


  • Desktop



  • Server

    • IBM data centre fault enters second day
      IBM's $80 million data centre in South Auckland has now been down for more than 30 hours and customers say the outage is having a serious impact on their businesses.

      One east Auckland school has been left completely stranded in the same week that it hosts a visit from the Education Review Office (ERO).

      IBM said today from Sydney that it had a team of global experts working on the outage as a high priority.






  • Kernel Space



  • Applications



  • Desktop Environments/WMs



    • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

      • control and openness
        Occasionally people ask me what I think about Plasma Active appearing on various devices, knowing that we're working on a tablet ourselves. It's a really good question, and gets to one of the core tensions around open culture: the interplay between control and benefit.

        The conventional wisdom is that to maximize benefit, control must also be maximized. Thus the historical emphasis on proprietary technology in the IT industry, something that has been slowly but surely shifting with time but certainly has not fully swung away from proprietary-is-better.


      • The Luminosity of Free Software, episode 4
        It's that time of the week again already! Yes, the Luminosity of Free Software episode 4 will be broadcast live tomorrow at 20:00 UTC via Google+ Hangouts, and you're all invited.






  • Distributions



    • New Releases



    • PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandrake/Mandriva Family



    • Red Hat Family



      • Fedora

        • Fedora 18: Nice Tweaks to the OS, but It's Haunted by a GNOME
          With a code name like "the Spherical Cow," the new Fedora 18 software has to be good, right? After all, a better Linux kernel and some added features make the operating system a good choice for busy work environments. A limp GNOME 3 desktop, however, may bring users and that rotund bovine to a screeching halt.


        • Firefox 19 Comes With A Built-in PDF Viewer
          Mozilla Foundation has announced the latest version of Firefox open source Web browser. The release does bring new features including a built-in PDF viewer that allows you to read PDFs directly within the browser.

          According to Mozilla, this feature “makes reading PDFs easier because you don’t have to download the content or read it in a plugin like Reader. For example, you can use the PDF viewer to check out a menu from your favorite restaurant, view and print concert tickets or read reports without having to interrupt your browsing experience with extra clicks or downloads.” This feature is already available in Chrome for more than two years now.






    • Debian Family

      • Debian 7 Progressing, Mageia 3 Delayed
        Debian 7.0 is progressing and testers were treated to Release Candidate 1 recently. On the other side of town Mageia has reported a change in the release schedule for upcoming version 3.


      • Derivatives



        • Canonical/Ubuntu

          • Ubuntu unveils Linux tablet
            The company is developing a united phone, computer, TV and tablet operating system that it hopes will provide a more intuitive interface than that currently offered by Google’s Android.

            It announced a mobile phone interface using the open-source operating system in January, and has since secured a partner to make compatible silicon chips. It claims it will launch to consumers in October. Devices aimed at both the premium and budgets ends of the market will be available.


          • Ubuntu for tablets unveiled: A crazy idea that might just work


          • Ubuntu Linux Primed for Life on Tablets


          • Shuttleworth: Ubuntu tablets won't be as “jarring” to users as Windows 8
            After today's announcement that Canonical has created a tablet interface for Ubuntu Linux, company founder Mark Shuttleworth described his ambitions and answered questions from reporters in a conference call.

            He addressed many topics including how Ubuntu for tablets and phones will differ from Windows 8; Canonical's discussions with hardware makers and carriers; potential release timelines for phones and tablets; whether Ubuntu devices will be "hackable"; and the chances of Canonical finally becoming profitable.


          • Ubuntu Pros and Cons
            Whether more people love Ubuntu or loathe it is an impossible question to answer. I know people who spend most of their free time promoting it as volunteers — and just as many who denounce it as a betrayal of everything free and open source software (FOSS) represents.

            The trouble is, so many hopes have been invested in Ubuntu over the years that it invites extremes. While some still hope that it will live up to its initial promise and bring Linux to the mainstream, others find the compromises for the sake of business a betrayal of those same promises.

            There is ample evidence for both these reactions — and, no doubt, for those in between.


          • Why More People Are Choosing Ubuntu


          • Ubuntu for tablets revealed with split screen multi-tasking, preview for Nexus slates coming this week


          • Ubuntu Linux Primed for Life on Tablets


          • Open Ballot: Are you excited by the Ubuntu tablet?


          • Ubuntu phones won't ship till 2014, might be locked down by carriers
            Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that smartphones running Ubuntu Linux would ship in October of this year. Ubuntu boss Mark Shuttleworth says that's a mistake. Today, the founder clarified that while a smartphone friendly version of the operating system — Ubuntu 13.10 — will be widely available in October with developer preview builds available this week, phones likely still won't ship until early 2014. Though the OS will be ready for phones this year, he explained that the devices themselves would probably still need months of carrier testing.


          • Canonical to Highlight Ubuntu Cloud, Management Solutions
            As the CeBIT upcoming convention in Germany nears, Canonical has announced what it will be showcasing at the event–which, in turn, provides some clues about where the company behind one of the world’s most popular open source operating systems might be concentrating its efforts in coming months. Alas, Ubuntu tablets are not on the list. But if you’re interested in Ubuntu on servers in and the cloud, there’s going to be a lot to see in Hanover between March 5 and 9.










  • Devices/Embedded



    • Phones

      • Tizen 2.0 operating system released to developers
        The Intel and Samsung backed operating system is seen as potential competition to Android in some markets


      • So Who's Your Daddy? Return of the World's Most Accurate Forecaster in Mobile. Today? Windows Phone Forecasts and Foibles
        So who's your daddy in mobile numbers? Lets look at the forecasts made about Windows Phone, after the Nokia-Microsoft partnership was announced. If you remember, I recently examined the accuracy of the Nokia forecasts made (and found that I had once again been the most accurate forecaster in mobile. But will that reputation hold through this, very challenging Windows Phone forecasting conundrum?)

        When the world's largest computer software company has said that the future of computers is mobile, and then sees its position in software for mobile phones (ie smartphones) fall from 12% and second biggest to 2% and 6th in the market - and at that point, promises to grow back to a 'third ecosystem' - it is either being brave with a cunning plan, or being foolish with forlorn hope and hype.


      • Ballnux



      • Android

        • HTC One Announced!
          The new flagship phone from HTC has just been announced, and it's planning to go head to head with the competitor flagship smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S III and the LG Optimus G.


        • Swipe Launches Android-Powered Phone Tablets In India
          After the launch of Fablet F1, Swipe Telecom has come up with two new 5-inch fablets in the Indian market - Swipe Fablet F2 and Swipe Fablet F3. Swipe Fablet F2 is claimed to be India’s first 2G dual SIM smartphone fablet. Swipe Fablet F3, on the other hand, comes with the latest 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system. These devices are set to add another dimension to the market priced at Rs 7,590 and Rs 9,290, respectively.

          Swipe Fablet F3 offers a dual 3G SIM and allows you to use your Skype account and make free video/voice calls to your contacts with the correct hardware support. Moving between home screens and switching between apps feels effortless and the browsing speed is enhanced. The Fablet F3 has a 5-inch enhanced display with 5-point multi touch Screen. It also includes 0.3 MP front facing camera and a 5 MP rear camera. For the first time, Swipe has introduced 360€° Camera Technique, a camera technique which will take you to different levels of capturing images.


        • Sony Xperia Z May Get Android 4.2.2 Update In March
          If latest rumours are to be believed, Sony Mobile’s Xperia Z should get a taste of the new Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean operating system by next month. What’s more, a leaked screenshot of the update for the Sony Xperia Z raises hopes that the newest flavour may come by late March.

          According to XperiaBlog, which got the screenshot from an anonymous tipster, the Jelly Bean update will arrive on the handset with firmware version 11.1.A.1.450 inside. "However, we are told this is a beta version, so expect the firmware version number to be in the form of 11.1.A.X.XXX by the time it is released," the post adds.


        • Control Your Linux PC With Voice Commands: Siri For Linux?
          James McClain has managed to get voice recognition working on GNU/Linux. You can now open sites, ask questions and perform other tasks just by voice. While initially developed for Ubuntu it is distro agnostic and can be used by other distributions as well.


        • Samsung announces Wi-Fi version of GALAXY Camera
          Samsung today announced a Wi-Fi version of the Samsung Galaxy Camera will be offered in the coming weeks. Stopping short of giving a price or exact launch time frame, the hardware maker indicates that the camera is the exact same as the 3G/4G model. This means the same Android 4.1 Jelly Bean experience with 21x Super Long Zoom lens and a super-bright 16M BSI CMOS.


        • 51 Must-Have Android Apps










Free Software/Open Source



  • Events

    • ApacheCon North America 2013 Only a Few Days Away
      ApacheCon North America 2013 (http://na.apachecon.com), the Apache Software Foundation’s (http://www.apache.org/) official conference starts this Sunday. The event will take place at the Hilton Portland and Executive Towers, Portland, OR from 24 February-2 March 2013 (http://na.apachecon.com/venue/).




  • Oracle/Java/LibreOffice



  • CMS

    • Choosing an open-source CMS, part 2: Why we use Joomla
      In this, the second installment of our three-part series on finding the best open-source content management system (CMS) for your needs, we asked two organizations that use Joomla to explain why they felt that Joomla was the best choice for them, how the transition went, and whether they're happy with the results.




  • Education

    • openStudent replaces traditional student achievement system
      The Saanich school district of British Columbia has banded together and is funding an open source Student Information System (SIS) called openStudent. It has been licensed under the Education Community Source license (modified Apache 2.0) to ensure that they have better control of the code. Yet, the decision didn't come about easily.




  • Public Services/Government

    • Open Source for America awards: Nominate someone today
      Open Source for America (OSFA) announced today the opening of its nomination period for the annual OSFA awards. Each year, the organization recognizes individuals, projects, and deployments that support its mission to encourage free and open source software adoption in the U.S. government.




  • Standards/Consortia

    • Web Served 7: Wiki wiki wiki!
      This series is proving a lot more popular than I'd figured. Who would have thought so many people enjoy noodling around with Web servers? By popular demand, "Web Served" now enters the bonus round with two things I didn't think I was going to be able to get to: MediaWiki in this piece, and Etherpad Lite in the next.






Leftovers

  • Study: All Internet Pages Connected in 19 Clicks or Less
    Hungarian physicist Albert-László Barabási has published a new paper which claims that you can connect any two pages on the Web by 19 or fewer links. That may not seem impressive until you consider that there are more than 14 billion webpages in existence.

    Slate's Jason Bittel reported, "Everybody is familiar with 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,' right? Well, according to a Hungarian physicist, the Internet works basically the same way. Despite there being something like 1 trillion pieces of Web out there (websites, hosted images, videos, etc), you can navigate from any one of them to another in 19 clicks or fewer."

    Smitsonian's Joseph Stromberg added, "Barabási credits this 'small world' of the web to human nature—the fact that we tend to group into communities, whether in real life or the virtual world. The pages of the web aren’t linked randomly, he says: They’re organized in an interconnected hierarchy of organizational themes, including region, country and subject area. Interestingly, this means that no matter how large the web grows, the same interconnectedness will rule. Barabási analyzed the network looking at a variety of levels—examining anywhere from a tiny slice to the full 1 trillion documents—and found that regardless of scale, the same 19-click-or-less rule applied."


  • Defence/Police/Secrecy/Aggression



  • Cablegate



  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife

    • Friendly Oil–Not the Venezuelan Kind
      With the Keystone climate protests in Washington bringing climate change back into the media, we're hearing a lot about how the Keystone pipeline will, at the very least, mean that we'll be getting our oil from a nice country.






  • Finance

    • Michael M. Thomas’ Solution to the Crisis
      Throw in what’s in the “stimulus” package and you’re probably at close to $3 trillion.

      So why not simply distribute $25,000 tax free to every U.S. taxpayer? There are 100 million of us, in round figures, so we’re talking about $2.5 trillion, give or take.


    • Anti-austerity strike to bring Greece to a standstill
      Greek workers walk off the job on Wednesday in a nationwide anti-austerity strike that will disrupt transport, shut public schools and tax offices and leave hospitals working with emergency staff.




  • Privacy

    • EU Parliament: Will Liberals (ALDE) Weaken Privacy in Industry Committee?
      While the “Industry” (ITRE) committee is about to vote on its opinion regarding data protection regulation, it is now clear that the outcome will depend on the Members of the liberal ALDE group. They will have to choose between allowing full-on exploitation of our personal data or imposing tough safeguards to protect our fundamental right to privacy. Citizens must act today 20 February before 4pm and urge their MEPs to defend the general interest by choosing the latter.


    • Southampton Council in the dock
      Southampton Council’s attempt to justify it’s policy of requiring taxis to record audio and video of every journey took another blow yesterday when the ‘First Tier Tribunal’ ruled against it.


    • Application of the DPA to surveillance activities
      The First-Tier Tribunal (“FTT”) has just issued the first ever tribunal decision concerning the application of the Data Protection Act 1998 (“DPA”) to surveillance activities: Southampton City Council v The Information Commissioner EA/2012/0171, 19 February 2013. In this case, the Council’s licensing committee had resolved in 2009 that all taxis it licensed should be fitted with digital cameras, which made a continuous audio-visual recording of passengers. The Information Commissioner (“ICO”) issued an enforcement notice against the Council under the DPA, requiring the Council to stop audio recording, because it was in breach of the Data Protection Principles in the Act (the first Data Protection Principle in particular).




  • Civil Rights

    • Think there's no alternative? Latin America has a few
      Not only have leaders from Ecuador to Venezuela delivered huge social gains – they keep winning elections too


    • Aaron Swartz’s FBI File
      Two of the 23 pages were not released, according to the FBI, due to; privacy (U.S.C Section 552 (b)(7)(C)), sources and methods (U.S.C Section 552 (b)(7)(E)) and, curiously, putting someone’s life in danger (U.S.C Section 552 (b)(7)(F)). Putting someone’s life in danger? Typically that refers to informants. Did someone close to Swartz provide information to the FBI on him or is the FBI just being really dramatic? Or is this standard justification for not releasing the Special Agent on the case’s name? I am honestly still confused by that box being checked off.


    • Aaron Swartz's FBI File




  • DRM

    • I Can't Let You Do That, Dave
      In my new novel, Homeland, the sequel to Little Brother, I explore what happens to people when their computers don’t listen to them anymore. Imagine a world where you tell your computer to copy a file, or to play it, or display it, and it says no, where it looks at you out of the webcam’s unblinking eye and says, “I can’t let you do that, Dave.”




  • Intellectual Monopolies



    • Trademarks

      • Wikimedia and Internet Brands settle travel wiki dispute
        The Wikimedia Foundation has announced a settlement of the legal dispute with Internet Brands, owners of Wikitravel, which began when the Foundation's alternative travel site, Wikivoyage, was being planned. The settlement requires both parties to post on their sites a statement that they "believe there is enough room for multiple travel sites to co-exist, and for community members to contribute to multiple sites in this area."




    • Copyrights







Recent Techrights' Posts

IBM's CEO Has Become a Stochastic Buzzword-Generating Machine
The current CEO is extremely unpopular
Chicago Transit Authority Has Dumped Twitter (X), As Did Many Others Without Announcing It (Due to Fear of Right-Wing Mobs)
If you don't have an account in Gab, then you probably should not have one in "X", either
How-To Geek Sort of Supersedes MakeUseOf (MUO) for GNU/Linux Coverage
some writers from MakeUseOf (MUO) have been migrated to a sister publication
Red Hat's Bluewashing to be Further Completed This Year
Do not wait for some announcement from redhat.com - it's already covered by IBM
Dr. Andy Farnell on a Death to Efficiency and Cash
Cash is not the same as "digital cash", which isn't even remotely the same
A Gift That Keeps on Giving: Microsofters Reveal a Campaign of SLAPP, Seeking to Censor Critical Information About Lawsuits Against Microsoft
All they can get here or mockery and ridicule
 
GNU/Linux and Android Trump Microsoft in Saudi Arabia, Bing Down Since the LLM Hype/Hysteria Began
Microsoft leaves a lot of money on the table
The Interplay Between Free Software and Journalism Based on Truths, Suppressed Facts
Honest people can be transparent. Dishonest, rogue people rely on a lack of it.
FSF Talk: "Free Software Teaching Materials" by Dr. Miriam Bastian
Software Freedom is rooted in philosophy but it's about technical solutions
New Year's Resolutions Scoreboard
The goal is to improve clarity, accessibility, speed, and accuracy
Sites Reporting Crimes and Getting Harassed for Reporting Crimes
you cannot just ignore those who constantly seek to harass
Links 19/02/2025: Science, Hardware, and Digital Restrictions (DRM) Striking Again at eBooks
Links for the day
Zizian, transgender, Google & Debian open source extremist cult phenomena
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 19/02/2025: The Forgotten USB Competitor and Pope's Bilateral Pneumonia
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/02/2025: AuraRepo and Offpunk
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Wayne Williams is Making Up for His Workers' Slop Party, LinuxSecurity.com Still Publishes Fake Articles
We must identify and call out the culprits
“Open Source” Really Does Miss the Point, We Can Do Better Than That
We need to reject groups of people who promote Microsoft GitHub (proprietary) and call that "Open Source"
Links 19/02/2025: Organisations Quitting Social Control Media, Windows TCO Illustrated Some More
Links for the day
The Free Software Foundation is More Financially Independent From Large Corporations Right Now
Money that comes with strings attached to it is always problematic
The Free Software Foundation's Position on IBM Taking Red Hat Enterprise Linux 'Private' is Articulated Almost 2 Years Late
The Free Software Foundation finally spoke out about this issue
Techrights Publication Topics
One thing we'd like to do more of is Software Freedom advocacy
Springtime Layoffs at IBM (2025) and Statement From IBM European Works Council
It's about cost-cutting, even if such cuts doom the company
Microsoft Paying People Who Harass and SLAPP Techrights, Demanding Censorship
At this point the money trail leads directly to Microsoft
It's Not Even Hidden Anymore: Microsoft is Passing Bribes for Media to Publish Puff Pieces About Itself
GeekWire is paid by Microsoft to publish many puff pieces (even outright lies) about Microsoft
Links 19/02/2025: Political Roundup and Halifax Wants to Dump Twitter ("X")
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/02/2025: Beginning Meditation, Poison as Praxis, and Blogging
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, February 18, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, February 18, 2025
Two Years After Issuing Ridiculous Threats and Choosing a Law Firm in Debt (Probably Desperate for Clients) Matthew J. Garrett Gets Help ('Bailout') From Microsofters
The karma won't be good
How Americans View 'Free Speech' in Practice
"No good deed goes unpunished"
Threats Against Techrights Always Come From Outside Britain
Over the coming days we shall write about an example of our own and we'll show how Americans have the audacity to bully people using a foreign (to them) court
Links 18/02/2025: More DeepSeek Bans and Supreme Court Patent Challenges
Links for the day
Links 18/02/2025: FAA Layoffs and EU Betrayed
Links for the day
On Technical Contracts of Employment and Why People Must Read Before Signing
The wave of layoffs under MElon will worsen prospects of finding alternate/better employment
LLM Slopfarms: LinuxSecurity.com and FUDZilla Doing 'Linux' (Fake Articles)
It's 2025. Everything on the Web is getting worse, except SPARTAN.
Gemini Links 18/02/2025: Reading Books and Oneiric Monk
Links for the day
Swiss corruption, Greens, Liip & Debian human rights violations
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Swiss police TIGRIS unit, World Cat Day, Swiss-corruption.com & Debian
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/02/2025: “Hey Hi Video Surveillance” and YouTube at 20
Links for the day
LLM Slop is Now Filling the Web With Pure Fiction/Fabrication/Misinformation About Linux
The timing of this lie/fiction is curious because Torvalds is being brigaded for defending C
FUDZilla Has Turned Into LLM Slop and Machine-Generated FUD (New York Times Has Also Just Admitted Moving in That Direction)
Failing news sites, instead of calling it quits with some remaining dignity, are handing control over to LLM slop (pretending to still be active)
By Buying Twitter, MElon and Cheeto Now Control EU Politicians, Even at the Highest Levels
"the top level politicians make the egregious mistake of trying to treat Xitter as if it were a communications medium"
The Washington Post (Jeff Bezos) Dies in Darkness
spread it on
How to 'Sell' Software Freedom to People
In my experience, it helps when one speaks about control, not freedom, including confidentiality
Gemini Links 18/02/2025: Downloading Gemini Files with Emacs and Elpher, Gopher on Devuan
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Confirms His Next Talk, "Free/Libre Software and Freedom in the Digital Society" (Next Monday in Free University of Bozen-Bolzano)
He could already advertise this more than a week ago
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, February 17, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, February 17, 2025
IBM's Chronic Neglect Won't Save Anything and It Might Even Get IBM Sued
The problem is likely a lack of manpower, not deliberate shoddiness
Gemini Links 17/02/2025: Ideal OS, AuraRepo Alpha, and Simple Code
Links for the day
The "Cool Kids" Are Already Using GNU/Linux, Microsoft is Just Cheating
The future and the present are Linux
Links 17/02/2025: War on Dissent and Bloggers, Nationalism a Growing Theme
Links for the day
IBM Going International (and India)
It's Monday and a national holiday
GeekWire: Microsoft Bribes Us While We Cover Microsoft Affairs (Spin Doctoring), Hence We Are "Independent"
What good is a "journalist" sponsored by the very same company he or she writes about?
The Attacks on LinuxQuestions.org
Going to Clownflare only worsens the problem
The GNU Manifesto Turns 40 Next Month
The guardian of Free software (definition, licences, philosophy, hosting and so on) has managed to endure and persevere for 40 years. Very few others can say the same.
Microsoft Lunduke Belongs in 4Chan
Assuming Microsoft Lunduke is aware of the full context, he is now trolling not one but two decent organisations
In Europe and in India Richard Stallman Need Not Duck Anymore, People Trying to Cancel His Talk Have No Sway
the last time a talk by Dr. Stallman got canceled was about a year ago
Back From a Short Break
We can now resume and try to stick to the usual pace
Links 17/02/2025: LLMs Failing and Patreon Support Becoming a Burden to Bloggers
Links for the day
Links 17/02/2025: Blogroll Conundrum; Research, Scientists Under Siege
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, February 16, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, February 16, 2025