Contents

• GNU/Linux
  • Distributions
  • Devices/Embedded
• Free Software/Open Source
• Leftovers
• Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day

GNU/Linux

• Pi Computation Record

  I am pleased to announce a new world record for the computation of the digits of Pi. The following number of digits were computed:

  2242301460000 hexadecimal digits (base 16)
  2699999990000 decimal digits (base 10)

  [...]

  The Linux Operating System was used with the 64 bit Red Hat Fedora 10 distribution. The 7.5 TB disk storage was managed using software RAID-0 and the ext4 filesystem. Files of up to 2.5 TB were manipulated during the computation.

• Top 10 Blog Posts of 2009

  Top Operating Systems

  * Windows: 62.1%
  * Linux 26.8%
  * Mac 9.7%
  * Mobile 1.4%

• RealNetworks acquires Varia Mobile

  Digital entertainment services firm RealNetworks has acquired Linux-based solutions provider Varia Mobile, which spun out of AOL-owned Tegic Communications three years ago.

• Blu-Ray Comes to Linux, Finally!

  For the Linux fans out there, today is a great day! Up until now, blu-ray playback support in Linux has been very complicated and quite an aggravating experience. First you would have to hope you had the right BD-ROM drive and that there was a hacked firmware for you to flash it with. Then you had to hope the correct AACS keys were out on the interwebs for the blu-ray disc you wanted to watch. Once you had the right drive and the right keys, you had to dump the entire blu-ray disc to your hard drive and play it from there.

• New Clutter 1.2 Development Snapshot

  Clutter 1.2 is expected in time for the release of GNOME 2.30 in March.

• Small Businesses Should Conduct Online Banking from Dedicated Computers

  We’ll go even further and suggest that the dedicated computer use Linux, FreeBSD, or even Mac OS X, if that suits you better. We’re not trying to start a controversy over which operating system is better or more secure. In fact, this has nothing to do with the security of the operating system itself, but the fact that 99.9% of these trojans were constructed for Windows and will fail to run on anything else.

• Graphics Stack

  • xf86-video-intel 2.10.0 Brings Pineview Support

    Intel has just put out its quarterly update to their X.Org DDX driver. This new driver is xf86-video-intel 2.10.0 and it delivers on dropping all support for user-space mode-setting (using kernel mode-setting is now a must),

• Applications

  • Lernid 0.4 Released And Demo

    Many of you are probably curious to see Lernid in action, so tomorrow I will be giving a short presentation (around 20 minutes) to talk about Lernid…using Lernid! I will talk about the project, it’s direction, show off a few features and answer questions.

  • Sushi Huh Grabs Linux Packages For Offline Installation

    If you’re planning a re-install of your Linux system that might involve being offline, free utility “Sushi Huh?” (actual name) can grab your software, and all the nagging dependencies, for easy installation without internet access.

  • Instructionals

    • Create a Public Share on Samba

    • Transcoding 50 fps Interlaced AVCHD to 50 fps Progressive x264 with MEncoder – Getting Every Last Drop of Quality out of your Interlaced AVCHD Recordings

    • Installing Lighttpd With PHP5 And MySQL Support On Ubuntu 9.10

    • Do you know which more things vlc mediaplayer can do ?

    • 12 Themes For Ubuntu You Can Download Directly From Ubuntu Repositories

    • Creating An NFS-Like Standalone Storage Server With GlusterFS On Ubuntu 9.10

    • A comparison of virtualization features of HP-UX, Solaris, and AIX

  • Games

    • Mystery of Solarus DX – Zelda Remake !

      Are you a Zelda fan ?
      If so then you would be happy to know that a new FOSS project to clone Zelda and fix the “flaws” released it’s first “demo version” .
      Mystery of Solarus DX is licensed under the GPL and is available in 4 languages : English, French, German and Dutch !

    • X-Plane 9 on Linux

      X-Plane contains subsonic and supersonic flight dynamics, allowing users to predict the flight characteristics of the slowest aircraft to the fastest. X-Plane includes thirty-five aircraft on its master disk, spanning the aviation industry (and its history), sporting aircraft from the Bell 206 JetRanger and Cessna 172 to the supersonic SR-71 and the Space Shuttle.

• Distributions

  • 2009 Milestones for Debian GNU/Linux

    In February 2009 Debian released version 5.0, “Lenny” with more than 25 000 packages including many security enhancements such as PHP’s Suhosin system.

  • Ubuntu Manual Will Be Available with Ubuntu 10.04

    Everyone was waiting for this, so… we are proud to announce that the upcoming release of the popular Ubuntu operating system, due for launch in late April this year, will come with a comprehensive manual! The manual is created as we speak and it will be ready to accompany the final release of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. The Ubuntu manual will be designed for beginners in Linux and Ubuntu (of course) and it will contain essential how-tos, guides, basic information about Linux and its components, and everything one needs to know after installing Ubuntu.

• Devices/Embedded

  • Kodak Easyshare Wireless Picture Frame – How to show everyone whats on your frame

    I recently purchased a Kodak Easyshare Wireless Digital Picture Frame off woot for an amazing price of $49.99. Infact, I bought two. The model number is W820, which is an 8″ frame, but there is also a 10 inch version as well. These picture frames have built in WiFi and can grab content off the internet.

  • Arium Embedded Linux Is Now Available

    AE Linux is a package that is targeted to developers who want a fast and easy solution to run an embedded Linux kernel on their Intel-based platform. This distribution uses the standard Linux build flow and is made from unmodified public distributions so that migration to newer or different Linux components is unencumbered.

  • Atom and OLED in new Thecus 4-bay NAS

    It’s hard to differentiate a NAS product with software features because the majority of NAS boxes are Linux-based and so come with features that are largely the same (although executed to varying degrees of success). On the hardware front, though, Thecus makes the N4200 stand out with its 2.8″ OLED display.

  • Marvell Plug Computer 3.0

    Some of our readers will remember the tiny Linux PC, the Marvell SheevaPlug that we featured on the site last year, Marvell has added a new tiny PC their range with the launch of the Marvell Plug Computer 3.0.

  • Integration of IGEL Software Client for VMware View™ 4 with PCoIP® Significantly Increases Performance and Energy Savings

    IGEL Technology, the world’s largest Linux thin client vendor and the third largest thin client vendor (2008 by revenue, IDC), today announced that all of its Universal Desktop thin clients running Linux and Windows® Embedded Standard will be equipped with the new software client for VMware View™ 4, which includes support for the PCoIP® display protocol.

  • How to build a network performance analysis test system using Linux

    The devices underpinning today’s communications networks grow increasingly powerful in their speed, throughput, features and supported services. That’s great for users—but it presents a significant challenge for manufacturers.

  • Phones

    • Emblaze Mobile to Introduce ELSE Linux-Based Mobile OS at CES

      Emblazed unveiled its Linux OS for mobile phones a couple of months ago in London. Now it will demo the first ELSE device at CES 2010 in Las Vegas. The first ELSE has a 3.5-inch touch screen with tactile feedback running at 854 x 480 resolution, up to 32 gigs flash storage, a 5 megapixel camera and built-in GPS.

    • Pebble, pretty, perfection, Palm…Pre

      That “new-ness” came in the form of a new mobile phone and the new operating system that ran on it: the Palm Pre, a phone that channeled the Zen-like beauty of a smooth black pebble; and webOS, the Linux-based OS with deep hooks to the modern phenomenon of social networking via a technology Palm has dubbed Synergy.

  • Android

    • Motorola orders to push Arima Communications handset shipments to 20-25 million units in 2010, say sources

      Taiwan-based ODM handset maker Arima Communications may see its handset shipments expand to 20-25 million units in 2010 compared to 12 million units in 2009, thanks to new orders from Motorola, according to industry sources.

    • Google set to challenge iPhone with Nexus One launch

      The smartphone market it already awash with Android devices from the likes of HTC, Motorola and Samsung, but this moves sees Google take a greater role in the design process. According to a report in the Guardian the firm decided to oversee the development of the phone itself and has been testing it behind closed doors for a number of months.

    • Google prepares to unveil iPhone-killer

      Ever since the launch of Android, Google’s open-source operating system, rumours of a Google smart-phone have surfaced as quickly as they have been denied by the search engine giant.

    • ASTRO – Android file manager

      The ASTRO File Manager helps you get the most out of your Android-powered phone. The Android operating system is designed to be very open and flexible, giving its users the chance to do more things on their phone than ever before. ASTRO helps your phone reach its full potential by giving you the tools to manage your phone.

    • Everything You Wanted to Know About the Google Nexus One

      Google’s upcoming Tuesday press conference is likely to mark the debut of the Nexus One, the search company’s own Android-based smartphone.

      Nexus One should showcase the latest generation of the Linux-based open source Android operating system. It’s also the first phone that is expected to be directly marketed by Google, setting higher expectations for the phone.

    • Apple ceding open-source app market to Google?

      CNET has reported that iPhone users and Google Android users have much in common in terms of their usage patterns and demographics. Their developer audiences, however, are increasingly different, and that’s to Apple’s hurt, especially as Android grows in market share.

  • Sub-notebooks

    • #25 Top Trend of 2009: Netbooks

      A few years ago, Asus was one of the first vendors to introduce a netbook, with the launch of its Eee PC Linux-based product. Shortly after, other vendors such as Acer, HP (NYSE: HPQ) and Lenovo, also followed suit.

    • Lenovo Opens Smartbook Chapter With Skylight

      Lenovo’s Skylight has a customizable user interface (UI) built on a Linux shell. “The gadgets consist of live Web gadgets like Facebook, Gmail and Twitter,” said Ninis Samuel, director of global marketing for Lenovo’s Idea product group. These gadgets are always connected to the Web and update automatically. The gadgets also let users buy and download videos and movies from the Web.

    • IdeaPad U1 Hybrid pairs notebook base with detachable tablet

      Lenovo has introduced the IdeaPad U1 Hybrid, a device which features a notebook base and a detachable tablet. The tablet integrates an LED-backlit 11.6-inch display and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon ARM CPU running the Skylight Linux interface. Users can easily browse the internet and perform other basic functions with the tablet alone. A 16GB flash drive, 512MB of RAM, and Snapdragon integrated graphics round out the tablet specs.

    • Lenovo Unveils New Hybrid Tablet/Laptop and Smartbook

      Skylight could emerge as an alternative in the low-cost laptop space to netbooks, which are mostly powered by Intel’s Atom chips. Atom-based netbooks have a leg up because of support for both Microsoft’s popular Windows operating systems and Linux. Arm-based chips do not support a full Windows OS, so smartbooks usually come with the Linux OS.

    • Lenovo unveils IdeaPad U1 Hybrid

      It has all the features of PC, including a Linux-based OS and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chip.

    • Lenovo launches Linux based Skylight Smartbook and Hybrid

      Lenovo has launched its Skylight smartbook, a mobile device with 10 inch screen and integrated 3G in a clamshell laptop format. Powered by a 1Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, the Skylight uses Lenovo’s own “web-optimised” interface. Users are presented with six “web gadgets” in the simplified, gadget-based user interface displayed on the 1280 by 720 resolution display.

    • [Moblin:] Happy New Year!

      We’ve survived 2009 with a couple of solid releases of Moblin–the 2.1 release has 14 languages! Thanks for all your hard work. We are busy trying to get a handle on what’s in the pipeline for the 2.2 release, which is tentatlvely targeted for April

    • CyberLink PowerDVD Linux Supports Intel Moblin Version 2.1

      CyberLink Corp. (TSE: 5203), an innovative solutions provider for the connected media lifestyle, today announced that they have developed a Linux version of PowerDVD to support Intel’s Linux-based Moblin 2.1 operating system. Moblin 2.1 operating system is specifically designed to run on the Intel Atom processor delivering minimized boot times and efficient power consumption on netbooks, Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) and embedded devices.

    • The Great Open Source Netbook Interface Race

      Scheduled for official release at the end of this month, the Plasma Netbook Interface (PNI) is being developed concurrently with the standard KDE Desktop. However, it is already well-known, thanks to some stable beta releases.

      PNI offers a somewhat different experience from the standard KDE desktop. However, there are some obvious analogies. The panel is little changed in PNI, and the button on the upper right is functionally similar to standard KDE’s desktop tool kit. Even the floating favorites and menu bars in the top middle of the screen are less of an innovation than they first appear, since they recall KRunner, the floating command center that many advanced KDE users prefer to the menu.

    • jolicloud – another Linux for Netbooks

      As I said, it looks to me like Jolicloud has in many ways the kind of “Social” orientation that Moblin has (see Facebook, Twitter etc. in the Apps shot above), but in my opinion they are doing a much better job of integrating it with Linux, keeping the whole thing much more familiar and accessible to experienced Linux users. Even more importantly, they have avoided the juvenile graphics that Moblin is riddled with, and they have actually produced an original and appealing interface. Their blog pomises that the “new UI” will be significantly better than this pre-Beta version, and if that is true it should be magnificent.

Free Software/Open Source

• Innovation, information technology and the culture of freedom

  Open Source is not necessarily anti-capìtalist. There are many capitalist firms, including very large corporate firms that practice open source. But it is a-capitalist, meaning that Open Source is compatible with different social logics and values. It does not need the incentive of profit to work, and does not rely on the private appropriation of the exclusive right to use and enjoy the product. It is based on a form of social organization that has profound political implications and may affect the way we think about the need to preserve capitalist institutions and hierarchies of production to manage the requirements of a complex world.

• Apache Ready to Unleash Another Decade of Innovation

  The Apache Software Foundation has arguably been the leading force for open-source software over the last 10 years and promises to continue being a force in the new decade.

• Whatever happened to Second Life?

  At its peak, the Second Life economy had more money swilling about than several third-world countries. It had even produced its own millionaire, Anshe Chung, who made a very real fortune from buying and selling property that existed only on Second Life servers.

• Munich administration switches to OpenDocument Format

  The LiMux project, which oversees Linux migration in Munich, the capital of Bavaria, has reached another milestone. According to a 2009 development review that the deputy project leader Florian Schießl has posted on his blog, open source OpenDocument Format (ODF) is now the main document exchange standard, with PDF being used for non-editable files. According to Schießl, the city administration’s standard desktops now consist of the free OpenOffice.org office suite, Mozilla’s Firefox browser, the Thunderbird email client and several other open source applications, such as the GIMP image editor.

• Guides to Learning Open Source CRM

  According to Sander Van Hooft, a blogger familiar with the SugarCRM literature, not all books are the right choice for all user types and offers his opinions based on experience with the CRM how-to must reads.

• Complete Change in the Composition of PBX: ITEXPO 2010 Speaker

  One market area in particular – open source PBX – will experience a complete change in composition. As a speaker at ITEXPO East 2010, Gal plans to show unmatched high-availability open source telephony systems. As for why customers may want Xorcom to provide its telephony solution, Gal promises a unique solution that delivers scalable and flexible with complete integral support both in IP telephony and all common standards of traditional telephony.

• IntelliJ IDE Keeps on Keepin’ On

  In a world of vanishing commercial Java IDEs, JetBrains’ code-centric IntelliJ is something of an anomaly. Among the relatively few such tools to survive intact the advent of the Eclipse juggernaut, IntelliJ continues to innovate, adapt and, among its devoted users, thrive.

• 10 start-ups to watch in 2010

  Eucalyptus is based on an open source platform which aggregates servers, storage and network infrastructure into a private cloud that allows self-service provisioning of computing resources. Eucalyptus is compatible with Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud, providing an easy bridge between internal and external cloud resources.

• VDEL GmbH and Zenoss Inc. Partner to Deliver Commercial Open Source IT Monitoring Solutions to Eastern Europe, Russia, and CIS

  Zenoss Inc., a leading commercial open source provider of Unlegacy enterprise IT management products and VDEL GmbH, the world’s first IT services distribution company, today announced a partnership under which VDEL has become a Master Distributor of Zenoss solutions in the territories of Eastern Europe, Russia, and CIS.

• VoIP to ‘explode’ in 2010

  Chad Behling, of open source software company RockBochs, said there will be significant market growth in the VoIP sector over the next few years as bandwidth increases and the use of analogue lines declines.

• TV Guide Magazine Partners With Kaltura to Power Video on tvguidemagazine.com

  TV Guide Magazine, the nation’s premier television entertainment magazine with over 20 million readers, has partnered with Kaltura, developer of the first open source online video platform, to power video on www.tvguidemagazine.com.

• Report: Songbird to be bundled with Philips MP3 players

  According to a report on Techcrunch, Philips is to bundle the open source media player Songbird with its portable MP3 players. Reportedly the deal will be be officially announced at CES in Las Vegas this week.

• Open source Songbird to begin shipping with millions of MP3 players

  And it’s about to become a whole lot more recognizable: Philips has just agreed to ship branded version of Songbird with millions of GoGear portable media players.

  The news is a major win for Songbird and open source software in general. It’s also the kind of distribution deal that you don’t often hear about for a piece of OSS. I’m still waiting for the day when laptops start showing up on retail shelves with Firefox preinstalled…

  It’s also a win for Philips, since lower-price MP3 players like theirs are often saddled with substandard software. Songbird gives them a sexy, extensible, and feature-rich application to ship.

• RandomStorm completes acquisition of Damn Vulnerable Web Application

  RandomStorm has announced the acquisition of the open source vulnerability testing application Damn Vulnerable Web Application (DVWA).

• What rankles in open source buy-outs

  What concerns me in this example is not so much what Oracle or VMWare may do with their asset. It’s what people who have invested time and money in open source communities may now decide to do.

  What’s next? Wikipedia bought by the Encyclopedia Brittanica? Firefox gets gobbled by Microsoft?

• Databases

  • Why MySQL’s creator thinks IBM could acquire the database

    A quick review of Save MySQL online petition stats shows that the results are still in line with the results I reported previously. Over 90 percent of petition signees would require Oracle to divest MySQL to a “suitable third party.”

• CMS

  • It’s an Open Source World

    When I began using The Vancouver Observer’s new drupal open source software on October 2, I quickly realized that I had a platform at my fingertips that was powerful enough to push the work of hundreds of reporters and bloggers into the world.

• Openness

  • A damning view of US intelligence in Afghanistan

    Interestingly he says that 90% of intelligence work these days is what he calls “open source”, and quotes a former head of intelligence saying that the job should be more Sherlock Holmes than James Bond.

• Programming

  • Perl 6 in 2009

    Much has happened in the Perl 6 land in 2009. Here is my humble attempt to summarize some of it; If you find something that I missed, feel free to contact me, I’ll try to add it.

Leftovers

• The format wars: of lasers and (creative) destruction

  Remember the format wars? Ars looks back at the heated battles between VHS and Betamax as well as HD DVD and Blu-ray, wondering if, now that the dust has settled, the end of the format wars is nigh.

• Opera (and Proprietary Software on GNU/Linux)

  • Opera Software CEO steps down

    Opera Software ASA announced Tuesday that co-founder and CEO Jon von Tetzchner has stepped down following 15 years at the helm of the Norwegian software developer.

  • Download Opera 10.50 Pre-Alpha Build 3186

    In addition to the introduction of the Opera 10.50 Pre-Alpha Build for Linux users, the latest testing version also brings to the table a few enhancements designed to improve the browser’s stability. However, the biggest addition by far to the new testing build is support for the video element.

  • Collaboration optimizes Flash Player for Freescale i.MX

    Collaboration between Adobe, Freescale, and Movial (Helsinki, Finland) is bringing Adobe Flash Player 10.1 to the i.MX platforms, enabling the creation of consumer products running either the Linux or Android operating systems and providing improved video and graphics capabilities.

• Security

  • Author of Torture, Spy Memos Was Just Doing His Job

    The government lawyer who wrote memos authorizing the Bush administration to engage in torture and warrantless surveillance says he was just doing his job, according to a recent interview.

    Asked by The New York Times if he regretted writing the torture memos, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo replied, “No, I had to write them. It was my job. As a lawyer, I had a client. The client needed a legal question answered.”

  • New Zealand: concern over sweeping new digital surveillance powers

    Police and Security Intelligence Service agents in New Zealand have been granted new powers to monitor any and all aspects of someone’s online life, according to this news report in the Sunday Star Times:

    The measures are the largest expansion of police and SIS surveillance capabilities for decades, and mean that all mobile calls and texts, email, internet surfing and online shopping, chatting and social networking can be monitored anywhere in New Zealand. In preparation, technicians have been installing specialist spying devices and software inside all telephone exchanges, internet companies and even fibre-optic data networks between cities and towns, providing police and spy agencies with the capability to monitor almost all communications.

  • Number of crimes caught on CCTV falls by 70 per cent, Metropolitan Police admits

    Prosecutions linked to CCTV have fallen in parts of Britain, raising questions about the true impact of the security cameras.

  • Only 0.65% of crimes solved by DNA database

    Just 33,000 of the 4.9 million crimes committed in Britain each year are solved using the DNA database, it has emerged.

    Chief Constable Chris Sims of West Midlands, the Association of Chief Police Officers’ (Acpo) lead on the issue, cited the figure as he gave evidence to the Commons’ home affairs committee.

• Environment

  • Global warming messages for children of all ages

    Preparing our children for their future is the most awesome responsibility we can bear. As we discuss global warming, the first thing we can do is listen. It is they who are preparing us – if we choose to hear.

    [...]

    It is really not helpful to ignore or suppress the problem. The only thing we should withhold from children is our anxiety — but not withhold our concern. Sharing our thoughts, and speaking to the issue is an expression of our love and our faith in them and their future. Denying facts, avoiding the issue, and steering them away only makes their lives more difficult. This is an important choice.

• Finance

  • Want to know if your MP is fiddling expenses?

  • Gulf petro-powers to launch currency in latest threat to dollar hegemony

    The Arab states of the Gulf region have agreed to launch a single currency modelled on the euro, hoping to blaze a trail towards a pan-Arab monetary union swelling to the ancient borders of the Ummayad Caliphate.

• Intellectual Monopolies/Copyrights

  • RIAA victim Tenenbaum asks for a new trial

    MUSIC INDUSTRY MAFIAA WHIPPING BOY Joel Tenebaum has asked for a new trial and remittitur from the same judge who presided over the original trial. A ‘remittitur’ is apparently grey-suitspeak for “we can’t afford the ridiculously dispropportionate damage award… can we have another go please m’lud, or at least reduce the damages?”

  • Nothing to celebrate on Public Domain Day 2010 in the US

    What entered the public domain in the US this year? Thanks to several decades of copyright term extensions, not a single major work.