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04.30.11

Links 30/4/2011: Systemd and a Lot of Ubuntu Coverage

Posted in News Roundup at 9:47 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

  • The naming of parts: Time for “Linux Inside”?

    Names matter in free software. Just think of the number of electrons that have been spilt arguing over whether it’s “Linux” or “GNU/Linux”.

  • Linux, a slice of heaven for programmers.

    I have just read among one of the pc news articles which I browse every day, that gartner has finally, officially, stated that Linux is one of the fastest growing operating systems available today. Faster than microsoft even. According to gartner, Linux is rising while windows is falling.

    What this means is that more and more programmers will be attracted to the Linux platform as another revenue stream for their programs. When they do decide to stick their toe into Linux waters they will be very pleasantly surprised.

  • 4 Great Sources of Information About Linux and Open Source

    If you’re new to Linux and free/Open Source software, or even if you’re a more seasoned user, then you’re often looking for more information. Not just documentation, but also useful tips and tricks.

    The team here at Make Tech Easier works hard to provide as much quality information as we can. But we can’t write about everything (though we’re trying!).

  • Linux on a Fingernail

    This issue of Linux Journal is all about how to get Linux in your pocket. In this article, I go one better and tell you how to get Linux on your fingernail. Now, before you get too excited, I won’t be discussing some new nano-computer being used by James Bond, unfortunately. Instead, I discuss how to put Linux on a micro-SD card (or any other USB drive, for that matter). Using this, you can run Linux on any machine that can boot off a USB device.

  • Desktop

    • Linux Needs To Change! So They Tell Me

      Everyone’s heard of the year of the desktop, right? At least every new year a 100 or more people write about it too, no? Know why? Because someone did once and every other person has copied them since. It’s like a catch-phrase, it takes one person to say it so one person can hear it. Next thing you know the whole world is saying the same thing. It’s no different for all the people who think we need to do this or that to get people from other operating systems over to using a Linux Kernel based one. Someone wrote that once and everyone has run around saying the same thing since. You can see it in almost every comment area, forums, mailing list. People in the media within our community love it when they don’t have something else to talk about, it’s a good source for page hits. You can even see it from developers, even ones from well known professional projects. I look on in awe.

    • Life in a Linux-less World

      Linux has been with us for two decades now, but what would the technology world be like if Linus Torvalds had never gone about creating it? It’s impossible to know for sure, but lots of scenarios do come to mind: Microsoft may actually have been weaker, Apple may have ruled the smartphone world unopposed, and the enterprise would likely look very, very different.

    • What If Prince William And Kate Middleton Were Linux Fans

      Today is great day in the UK. Day of another Royal Wedding.
      Not only because this is just another Bank Holiday in this country. But also because this day continues monarchy. Hopefully Prince William and Kate Middleton will have baby soon, who can inherit British throne.
      I actually don’t know if William and Kate are Linux fans or not. Maybe they even have not heard about this great operation system.

  • Server

  • Audiocasts/Shows

  • Kernel Space

    • The 2.6.35.13 longterm Linux kernel is released
    • Response to “Why systemd?”

      So I read Lennart’s blog post entitled Why systemd?. In it, he makes a number of comparisons between systemd and the two other Linux init systems that are still in widespread use (this being the third init system some distributions have adopted within the last few years). Overall, he makes a good argument that systemd has many nice and exciting features, and I’m sure they are of interest to various people who want their init system to be SYSV on steroids. Here are some of them…

    • Graphics Stack

      • Open-Source AMD Fusion Graphics Still Mixed

        While AMD was very fast to provide open-source Fusion graphics driver support under Linux (along with official support in their proprietary Catalyst driver), the support has not ended up working out too well for us. It has regressed since the November push. As mentioned in March, the E-350 Fusion Linux support took a dive in terms of its graphics support with some outstanding bugs. Since then, the support has improved and is now largely usable, but there are still some big issues.

  • Applications

  • Desktop Environments

    • A new Linux desktop appeal

      With Gnome and Ubuntu shaking up the Linux desktop market it might be time to look at an alternative desktop interface

      With the Gnome project radically overhauling its desktop environment with Gnome3 and Ubuntu switching to the Unity environment, many Linux desktop users could be looking for alternatives this month. Here, then, are a few viable alternatives it you’re not sold on Gnome3 or Unity.

    • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC)

      • Fire Up Your Electrons!

        The scripting system is still powered by QtScript, but is now handled in such a way that it is able to control many more aspects of the game engine, and generally much more consistent.

      • tokamak 5 begins
      • Tokamak 5, Day 2

        Yesterday, in defiance of the weather reports, the day was sunny and reasonably warm and set the stage for a very productive day 2 here at Tokamak in the Netherlands. We held four design sessions in the morning: 2 on libplasma2 (specifically the dual topics of isolating QGraphicsView from the core code and using Qt Components), one on plasma-desktop defaults (a button to show the activities, an auto-hiding pager when virtual desktops drop to one, some default launchers that track the default file manager and web browser, and much more) and one on a new first-boot screen designed with OEM style installs in mind.

      • a typical day at Tokamak 5

        We just finished our daily progress meeting here at Tokamak 5 where we take turns moving our (self-)assigned sticky notes on the kanban window into the “Done” category. We each share what we’ve done the previous day, what we’re working on now and what (if any) blockers we’ve encountered.

      • KDE Commit Digest for 24 April 2011

    • GNOME Desktop

      • The Board 0.1.3

        Time for a new development snapshot release of The Board! I’ve just uploaded the 0.1.3 tarball. Get it while it’s hot! So, what are user-visible changes?

        The main feature of this release is the webcam support in photo elements with Cheese. It’s fun, it’s magic! A couple of useful key shortcuts were added: Ctrl+N to add a new page and Delete key to remove selected elements. An important crasher fix—caused by an update in gobject-introspection—is also included.

      • The crazy Zeitgeist week…

  • Distributions

  • Devices/Embedded

    • Dual-core panel PC’s for hospital patients

      Advantech announced an “infotainment terminal” for hospital patients that includes a 15.6-inch touchscreen and a single- or dual-core Intel Atom processor. The PIT-1502W offers a resistive touchscreen with 1366 x 768 pixel resolution, a two megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, RFID, and a smart card reader, according to the company.

    • Rugged, Atom-powered handheld runs Linux

    • Phones

      • Nokia/MeeGo/Maemo

        • Nokia Kills MeeGo and Symbian- Finally

          Nokia has finally nailed the coffin for Symbian and MeeGo by announcing it will cut R&D staff dedicated to those two platforms, with some being transferred to Accenture, obviously to get them out of sight till Symbian dies a slow death.

        • LG working on MeeGo Linux tablets, phones, and more?

          LG is holding a session at the MeeGo Conference next month where the company will show off devices running MeeGo, including tablets, phones, and in-vehicle entertainment systems. It’s not clear at the moment if this means that LG will definitely be bringing these devices to market, but it at least shows that the company is putting some of its research dollars into MeeGo.

      • Android

        • Why Midrange Android Phones Aren’t Worth the Sacrifice

          While these phone’s list prices blow the competition out of the water (as they range from $100 to free with a new contract), you can still find high-end phones on Amazon for just as cheap. Instead of grabbing a $100 phone, for example, you might be better off snatching up the slightly-old-but-still-awesome Droid Incredible, for example, a mere $80 on Amazon or the slightly less old HTC G2 for $100.—and it’s probably a better phone than even the $100 midrange phones. These deals aren’t permanent, but every few months Amazon seems to have a slew of steep discounts on high-end phones that make buying midrange phones unnecessary.

          If you don’t want to be beholden to when Amazon or other outlets have deals on certain phones, or you want to get a phone for free, the lower-end phones are probably a fine buy, as Tested notes. But with a bit of patience and hunting around, you can almost certainly get just as good a deal on a higher-end phone—thus avoiding the sacrifice of a slow processor or the latest version of Android. Hit the link to Tested’s article on midrange phones, and share your thoughts on the subject in the comments.

        • Manage Your Photo Gallery from Android Using ReGalAndroid
        • Xoom sales still flag as developers rethink Android tablets

          Verizon says it is happy with Motorola Xoom tablet sales, despite a Global Equities estimate that only 25,000 to 120,000 units — a small fraction of the 500,000 to 800,000 units said to have been manufactured — have actually sold. Meanwhile, increasing frustration with Android fragmentation, as well as a rough-edged Android 3.0 (“Honeycomb”) release, has tipped mobile developer interest back toward the Apple iPad, claims an Appcelerator/IDC survey.

        • MIPS Honeycomb port in progress

          MIPS Technologies says it’s working on a port of Android 3.0 (“Honeycomb”) to the MIPS architecture, and also announced a 15 percent year-to-year increase in revenues for its fiscal third quarter. Meanwhile, MIPS and new licensee Ali Corp. of Taiwan announced Ali’s Linux-compatible, MIPS32-based “M3701G” chipset, designed for triple-play set-top boxes.

        • Dear Google: Here’s your roadmap out of Android Honeycomb hell

Free Software/Open Source

  • Dropbox snuffs open code that bypassed file-sharing controls

    Dropbox – the San Francisco startup that offers a free service for sharing files over the net – has suppressed a fledgling open source project that lets anyone use the service outside of its control, saying the project exposed Dropbox’s proprietary protocol and could be used for piracy.

    The open source project is called Dropship, and it provides a means of sharing files via Dropbox using only their hashes. It saves hashes of a file in JSON format, and anyone can then use the hashes to load the file into their Dropbox account. This could be used to share, yes, copyrighted content, which is officially barred by the company. “Dropship is a tool that attempts to access the Dropbox servers in an unauthorized manner,” a Dropbox spokesman tells The Register.

  • [VIDEO] Free and Open Source Software in Developing Countries
  • Dropbox Attempts To Kill Open Source Project

    Yesterday morning I woke up much earlier than I wanted. Instead of lying in bed, wishing I was asleep, I decided to get up and check out Hacker News. Better to waste my time reading industry news than lying around. One headline in particular caught my attention: “Dropship — successor to torrents?“. The name was an obvious reference to Dropbox and the suggestion it could replace torrents was enticing. Data storage and distribution has been a long time interest of mine and I can’t resist reading about the industry. I had no idea that by the end of the day I’d have received a fake DMCA takedown notice, correspondence with Dropbox’s CTO, and witness the near killing of an open source project.

  • 2600hz Launches First-Ever Distributed, Open-Source Communications Software

  • Events

  • Web Browsers

    • Benchmark The Browsers! Which One Is The Best?

      Every article presented here about browsers always generates some controversy about which browser is the best? With the arrival of new browsers market leaders, a series of 14 tests held to know the most comprehensive and impartial browser as possible.

    • Chrome

      • Chrome 11: Google’s web browser learns to listen

        Google has released the stable version of Chrome 11. After the update, users will have version 11.0.696.57 of Google’s web browser. As previously reported, Chrome 11 features the addition of a new logo that drops the previous 3D bubble look for a flatter and more simple look.

      • Latest Google Chrome Build Now Supports Speech Input

        The latest stable release of Google’s Chrome browser features speech input through HTML. What this simply means is that you can now translate your voice input into other languages using Google Translate right in the browser.

      • Google Chrome Patches Net Bug Hunters $16,500

        Google paid out a record $16,500 to developers for plugging 27 Chrome Web browser vulnerabilities, paving the way for the launch of the Chrome 11.

    • Mozilla

      • 10 Must-Have Free Firefox 4 Add-Ons

        As appealing as Firefox 4 is, it could be better at searching, keeping information secure, and performing other important tasks. Each of these freebies adds to the browser’s functionality and ease of use.

      • Mozilla Fixes Vulnerabilities in Firefox 4
      • Firefox 4.0.1 fixes several security issues
      • Firefox gets faster on Linux

        Linux users have always been a big part of Firefox‘s vocal fan base, and today a group of Mozilla developers has repaid their devotion with some good news. Mozilla’s Mike Hommey reported this morning that his team of coders finally managed to get both 32 and 64-bit Firefox builds for Linux to compile with GCC 4.5. The updated compiler has been available since April 2010, but Hommey’s team tried twice last year without success to make the switch. Now that they’ve been able to pull it off, Firefox on Linux should perform every bit as well as it does on Windows — with the possible exception of hardware acceleration, where Firefox’s utilization of Direct2D still gives Windows Vista and 7 a performance edge.

  • SaaS

  • Databases

    • What’s New in Upcoming CUBRID Manager 8.4.0

      CUBRID 8.4.0 is coming out very soon, so is the CUBRID Manager. In this article I would like to explain briefly how we gathered the user requests for the CM 8.4.0 and which of them have been implemented.

    • Database Sharding with CUBRID

      Our development team has just released the User Specs for the Sharding feature which we are going to implement this year in CUBRID. In this blog I will explain the overall plan and how the database sharding will work in CUBRID.

    • Will the 2011 MySQL Conference Be the Last One?: A Q&A

      This year marked my fifth year at the MySQL Conference. With some distance between the Oracle acquisition, this year’s show provided an interesting glimpse into the status of MySQL, both the project and the ecosystem. Let’s get to the questions.

      Q: Before we begin, do you have anything to disclose?
      A: Yes. Prior to its acquisition by Oracle, Sun was a RedMonk client. And prior to its acquisition by Sun, MySQL was a RedMonk client. In addition, multiple entities that compete directly or indirectly with MySQL are RedMonk clients, including Akiban, Basho, IBM, Lucid Imagination, Membase, and Microsoft.

  • Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

    • LibreOffice development on track after Oracle move

      The Document Foundation on Friday announced a second beta for LibreOffice 3.4, the offshoot of the OpenOffice.org codebase, one week after Oracle said it would no longer sell a commercial version of the productivity suite.

      “Please be aware that LibreOffice 3.4 Beta2 is not yet ready for production use,” the Document Foundation said on its website. “You should continue to use LibreOffice 3.3.2 for that.” Release 3.4.0 is currently scheduled for delivery on May 31, according to the site.

    • Another LibreOffice Developmental Release Emerges

      The Document Foundation today announced another developmental release on the way to LibreOffice 3.4. Release candidates will be delivered throughout May with the final expected May 31.

  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

    • GNU Guile 2.0.1 released

      We are pleased to announce GNU Guile 2.0.1, the first and overdue maintenance release of the brand new 2.0.x stable series.

    • GNU Chess 6 released

      Version 6 is a major change of GNU Chess, because it is based on Fruit v2.1, a completely different chess engine. Fruit was written by Fabien Letouzey, thus he is the primary author of GNU Chess v6.

    • Volunteers needed to convert pages from a proprietary wiki to MoinMoin

      We are looking for volunteers to help write code to convert a free software project’s documentation wiki pages and associated history from a proprietary format to MoinMoin, a free software wiki written in Python.

  • Licensing

    • Free Art License 1.3

      The Free Art License grants the right to freely copy, distribute, and transform creative works without infringing the author’s rights.

      The Free Art License recognizes and protects these rights. Their implementation has been reformulated in order to allow everyone to use creations of the human mind in a creative manner, regardless of their types and ways of expression.

  • Openness/Sharing

    • Open Hardware

      • ARM processor shipments — and profits — are booming

        Buoyed by sales of smartphones and tablets, ARM Holdings reported a 35 percent increase in year-over-year profits. The company added that shipments of processors based on its designs were up 33 percent, while 39 different licensees signed up during the first quarter of its financial year.

  • Programming

Leftovers

  • Why We Need An Open Wireless Movement

    If you sometimes find yourself needing an open wireless network in order to check your email from a car, a street corner, or a park, you may have noticed that they’re getting harder to find.

    Stories like the one over the weekend about a bunch of police breaking down an innocent man’s door because he happened to leave his network open, as well as general fears about slow networks and online privacy, are convincing many people to password-lock their WiFi routers.

  • The Possibilian

    When David Eagleman was eight years old, he fell off a roof and kept on falling. Or so it seemed at the time. His family was living outside Albuquerque, in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains. There were only a few other houses around, scattered among the bunchgrass and the cholla cactus, and a new construction site was the Eagleman boys’ idea of a perfect playground. David and his older brother, Joel, had ridden their dirt bikes to a half-finished adobe house about a quarter of a mile away. When they’d explored the rooms below, David scrambled up a wooden ladder to the roof.

  • Ian Hislop attacks Andrew Marr over super injunction

    Private Eye editor Ian Hislop has accused the BBC’s Andrew Marr of hypocrisy after he admitted taking out a controversial super-injunction while working as a journalist.

  • Buying computers in multiple languages

    Very interesting petition from a French citizen. What strikes me is that the petitioner asked for regulatory changes while the Commission in its answer restricts itself to positive law, positive competition law.

  • Hardware

  • Security

    • Discrete Geometry Viewer – Quantum fun!

      Discrete Geometry Viewer may not be useful to everyone, but it will surely delight geeks and geek artists, who have gained a powerful new tool for image manipulation. Apart from its immediate scientific value, DGV also has educational aspects and can be used for stunning visualization effects that are otherwise virtually impossible to achieve.

      Personally, I think DGV is a great project. Whether it’s ever going to hatch from its infant phase depends mainly on the interest of the author, who could be pursuing other ideas once he completes his PhD. One thing is sure, this can be a smart ice breaker for all those terrified physics students, expecting years of boredom at the university. Lure them in, make them feel safe and comfy, thinking they are going to enjoy themselves. Well, they might actually get amused pasting pictures of Stalin and Mark together, even if they fail at the solid state physics exams.

  • Finance

    • Microsoft Stuck as Near-Record Discount Fails to Win Investors

      Yet the stock is stuck, Bloomberg Businessweek reports in its May 2 edition. It closed at $26.38 yesterday versus its average of about $27 since the start of 2001. The shares, which first surpassed $26 in 1998, have lost about 7.1 percent including dividends in the past decade while the S&P 500 returned 30 percent.

    • Former SAC Manager Pleads Guilty to Insider Trading

      As the jury continued to deliberate in the trial of Raj Rajaratnam, the government notched another guilty plea in its investigation of insider trading at hedge funds.

      Donald Longueuil, a former portfolio manager at SAC Capital Advisors, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and securities fraud before Judge Jed S. Rakoff in Federal District Court in Manhattan.

    • The Post Is on Another Planet: Job Growth in the First Quarter Was Not Strong

      The calls for the bankruptcy of the Washington Post (a.k.a. Fox on 15th Street) are getting louder. The post told readers that:

      “The job market was a bright spot in the first quarter … with the unemployment rate falling and job growth coming in strong.”

    • EU targets 16 major banks in swaps market probes

      The European Union’s competition watchdog is investigating the practices of some of the world’s largest banks, as well as a clearing house and a financial data firm, in the market for credit default swaps.

      The two probes home in on a market that has come under fire for lacking transparency and allegedly worsening market turmoil during the financial crisis.

    • Profit Jumps at Exxon and Shell

      Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell reported huge increases in their first-quarter profit on Thursday, helped by higher oil prices and earnings from refining.

      Exxon Mobil, the largest American oil company, said net income rose 69 percent to $10.7 billion, or $2.14 a share, in the first three months of this year, from $6.3 billion, or $1.33 a share, in the same period last year.

    • Gas prices jump to $3.91 a gallon, heading to $4

      The average price for a gallon of gas in the U.S. is now within a dime of $4.

      Drivers in 22 states are paying more than the national average of $3.91 per gallon. In Alaska, California and Connecticut they’re paying $4.20 or more.

      With one day left in April, gas prices are up 30 cents for the month. On average, the increase has been slightly more than a penny per day. At that rate, the national average for gas would reach $4 on Sunday, May 8. In 2008, when gas hit a record of $4.11 per gallon in July, it didn’t cost $4 until June 8.

  • Wisconsin/PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying

    • Madison’s Battle of the Brats

      The “World’s Largest Brat Fest,” which will take place over Memorial Day weekend at Willow Island at the Alliant Energy Center, will serve brats donated by Johnsonville Sausage of Sheboygan Falls, WI. Johnsonville owners (the Stayer and Stayer-Maloney families) and other principals of Johnsonville Sausage contributed a total of $48,450 to Scott Walker’s gubernatorial and other 2010 Republican state campaigns, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign’s Campaign Finance Database.This prompted Madison activists such as Sam Hokin to call for a boycott of Johnsonville and other corporations that contributed to Scott Walker. Tim Metcalfe, president and co-owner of Metcalfe’s Market and organizer of the “World’s Largest Brat Fest,” issued a statement on March 20th that “Brat Fest has, and continues to be, truly apolitical… My hope is that these traditions and civil accord can continue.”

    • Could Michigan-style “Martial Law” Be On Its Way to Wisconsin?

      Rumors have been circulating about a little-known initiative to subject Wisconsin local governments to “stress tests” and other new constraints. Many believe the proposal resembles the “martial law” bill that was recently passed in Michigan, which allows the state government to dissolve local governments in a “fiscal emergency,” and worry that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker or his friends in the legislature could be cooking up a similar plan.

    • Governor Walker’s Self-Managed Medicaid Mishaps

      Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s op-ed in the New York Times last week advocated for a Medicaid that promotes innovative, self-managed and flexible care that would allow individuals to stay in their own homes. Despite these statements, Governor Walker is eliminating a Wisconsin Medicaid innovation that worked toward these stated principles, a newly-created and relatively inexpensive statewide registry that helps vulnerable people with disabilities stay out of assisted living facilities and control their home healthcare.

  • Privacy

    • Sony’s security breach raises questions around data protection

      The Sony security breach is serious. Obviously it is hugely distressing if you are one of the huge number of people affected but it also raises questions on when should we, the public, be told about a serious security breach? Also what constitutes a security breach?

      In most US states, companies are required to report data breaches as soon as they happen. Let me be clear, I have no doubt whatsoever that Sony would have acted as quickly as possible once the full extent of the security breach was known, but the fact that it appears that a whole week went by before a public announcement was made has raised a few eyebrows. We do know that the EU is already looking in detail at a Data Protection Directive which will potentially introduce a mandatory reporting process for all organ

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Embryo patent row could dash Europe’s stem cell future

      Europe’s highest court has been urged to declare stem cell patents immoral and therefore illegal. Researchers warn this will destroy prospects for stem cell treatments in Europe, driving potential investors to patent-friendly China, Japan and the US. New Scientist explores what is at stake.

    • This is self-explanatory

      We find it extraordinary that Hong is apparently unaware of the IEEE publication. Although Hong does cite Phillips’s paper, we find that he does so in a somewhat misleading way and makes only cursory references to Bose. In particular, he does not refer to the crucial papers of Bose cited above.

      We hope you find these observations useful. We believe that they not only serve to debunk the claims of Marconi’s priority, but also to provide another illustration of the fact that inventions do occur without the protection of intellectual property.

    • Copyrights

      • Righthaven Suffers Blow in Copyright Crusade

        A federal judge blasted Righthaven’s copyright-collection business model in a ruling that says an Oregon nonprofit was justified through fair use to post an article by the Las Vegas Review Journal.

        “[Righthaven's] litigation strategy has a chilling effect on potential fair uses of Righthaven-owned articles, diminishes public access to the facts contained therein, and does nothing to advance the Copyright Act’s purpose of promoting artistic creation,” U.S. District Judge James Mahan ruled Friday.

      • IPR FILESHARING APPEAL: RIGHTS-HOLDERS LOST A
      • CERTAIN CANADIAN INDUSTRIES’ INPUT ON POSSIBLE WTO

      • ACTA

      • Digital Economy (UK)/HADOPI

        • BT and TalkTalk lose challenge to Digital Economy Act

          As no doubt you have heard by now, four out of the five judicial review claims on the Digital Economy Act brought to court by BT and TalkTalk have been dismissed. BT and TalkTalk argued that the Digital Economy Act was illegal under privacy and e-commerce laws, that the impact on business was disproportionate, and that the UK failed to notify the EU of the impending implementation of the law. Mr Justice Parker ruled today that all of these issues were not feasible reasons to deem the Digital Economy Act illegal except for the cost order which mandates that ISPs pay 25% of the charges incurred in implementation. A review of this cost order will now take place.

          We at Big Brother Watch are disappointed in this ruling. Our very own Dan Hamilton said today,

        • Judgment in the Digital Economy Act Judicial Review

          After only three weeks, Mr Justice Kenneth Parker has handed down his judgment in the Judicial Review of the Digital Economy Act. In summarising thousands of pages of evidence and submissions and the four-day hearing, the judge rejected nearly all of the grounds for the review, only allowing the challenge to part of the allocation of costs. The full text of the judgment can be found here and summaries of the hearings here.

          The first point to note is the number of parties. While the case was between BT, TalkTalk and the government, there were thirteen interested parties involved, including six notorious pro-copyright lobby groups and four unions. This gives an indication of the intense lobbying pressure behind the Digital Economy Act, and why the previous government felt compelled to act the way they did.

Clip of the Day

How Apple Genius Bar Works – South Park


Credit: TinyOgg

IRC Proceedings: April 29th, 2011

Posted in IRC Logs at 3:27 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME Gedit

GNOME Gedit

GNOME Gedit

#techrights log

#boycottnovell log

#boycottnovell-social log

Enter the IRC channels now

04.29.11

TechBytes Episode 42: Bandwidth, Android and Patents, Games, and Computer Nostalgia

Posted in TechBytes at 9:53 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

TechBytes

Direct download as Ogg (1:18:49, 14.9 MB) | High-quality MP3 (72.2 MB | Low-quality MP3 (9.0 MB)

Summary: Tim and Roy return to an older format wherein they cover many different issues and close with a single track

Today’s show starts with a discussion about broadband speeds, based on some new statistics and interesting factoids. It then discusses some issues like patents, games, Windows, and GNU/Linux. We are currently transitioning into a new generation of episodes with video duality. Update: the show notes have just been published.

RSS 64x64“Gary is a Robot” by AmpLive on SXSW 2010 Showcasing Artists is the track which closes today’s show. We hope you will join us for future shows and consider subscribing to the show via the RSS feed. You can also visit our archives for past shows. If you have an Identi.ca account, consider subscribing to TechBytes in order to keep up to date. █

As embedded (HTML5):

Download:

Ogg Theora
(There is also an MP3 version)

Our past shows:

November 2010

Show overview Show title Date recorded
Episode 1: Brandon from Fedora TechBytes Episode 1: Apple, Microsoft, Bundling, and Fedora 14 (With Special Guest Brandon Lozza) 1/11/2010
Episode 2: No guests TechBytes Episode 2: Ubuntu’s One Way, Silverlight Goes Dark, and GNU Octave Discovered 7/11/2010
Episode 3: No guests TechBytes Episode 3: Games, Wayland, Xfce, Restrictive Application Stores, and Office Suites 8/11/2010
Episode 4: No guests TechBytes Episode 4: Fedora 14 Impressions, MPAA et al. Payday, and Emma Lee’s Magic 9/11/2010
Episode 5: No guests TechBytes Episode 5: Windows Loses to Linux in Phones, GNU/Linux Desktop Market Share Estimations, and Much More 12/11/2010
Episode 6: No guests TechBytes Episode 6: KINect a Cheapo Gadget, Sharing Perceptually Criminalised, Fedora and Fusion 14 in Review 13/11/2010
Episode 7: No guests TechBytes Episode 7: FUD From The Economist, New Releases, and Linux Eureka Moment at Netflix 14/11/2010
Episode 8: Gordon Sinclair on Linux Mint TechBytes Episode 8: Linux Mint Special With Gordon Sinclair (ThistleWeb) 15/11/2010
Episode 9: Gordon Sinclair returns TechBytes Episode 9: The Potentially Permanent Return of ThistleWeb 17/11/2010
Episode 10: Special show format TechBytes Episode 10: Microsoft FUD and Dirty Tactics Against GNU/Linux 19/11/2010
Episode 11: Part 2 of special show TechBytes Episode 11: Microsoft FUD and Dirty Tactics Against GNU/Linux – Part II 21/11/2010
Episode 12: Novell special TechBytes Episode 12: Novell Sold for Microsoft Gains 23/11/2010
Episode 13: No guests TechBytes Episode 13: Copyfight, Wikileaks, and Other Chat 28/11/2010
Episode 14: Patents special TechBytes Episode 14: Software Patents in Phones, Android, and in General 29/11/2010
Episode 15: No guests TechBytes Episode 15: Google Chrome OS, Windows Refund, and Side Topics Like Wikileaks 30/11/2010

December 2010

Show overview Show title Date recorded
Episode 16: No guests TechBytes Episode 16: Bribes for Reviews, GNU/Linux News, and Wikileaks Opinions 3/12/2010
Episode 17: No guests TechBytes Episode 17: Chrome OS Imminent, Wikileaks Spreads to Mirrors, ‘Open’ Microsoft 5/12/2010
Episode 18: No guests TechBytes Episode 18: Chrome OS, Sharing, Freedom, and Wikileaks 11/12/2010
Episode 19: No guests TechBytes Episode 19: GNU/Linux Market Share on Desktop at 4%, Microsoft Declining, and ChromeOS is Coming 16/12/2010
Episode 20: No guests TechBytes Episode 20: GNU/Linux Gamers Pay More for Games, Other Discussions 18/12/2010
Episode 21: No guests TechBytes Episode 21: Copyright Abuses, Agitators and Trolls, Starting a New Site 20/12/2010
Episode 22: No special guests TechBytes Episode 22: Freedom Debate and Picks of the Year 27/12/2010

January 2011

Show overview Show title Date recorded
Episode 23: Tim, Gordon, and Roy TechBytes Episode 23: Failuresfest and 2011 Predictions 2/1/2011
Episode 24: Tim, Gordon, and Roy TechBytes Episode 24: Android, Microsoft’s President Departure, and Privacy 10/1/2011
Episode 25: Tim and Roy TechBytes Episode 25: Mono, Ubuntu, Android, and More 14/1/2011
Episode 26: Tim and Roy TechBytes Episode 26: £98 GNU/Linux Computer, Stuxnet’s Government Roots, and More 18/1/2011
Episode 27: Tim, Gordon, and Roy TechBytes Episode 27: Linux Phones, Pardus, Trusting One’s Government-funded Distribution, and Much More 22/1/2011
Episode 28: Tim, Gordon, and Roy TechBytes Episode 28: The Weekend After Microsoft’s Results and LCA 30/1/2011
Episode 29: Tim, Gordon, and Roy TechBytes Episode 29: KDE, Other Desktop Environments, and Programming 31/1/2011

February 2011

Show overview Show title Date recorded
Episode 30: Tim, Gordon, and Roy TechBytes Episode 30: Microsoft at FOSDEM, Debian Release, and Anonymous 7/2/2011
Episode 31: Tim and Roy TechBytes Episode 31: Nokiasoft and Computer Games 13/2/2011
Episode 32: Tim and Roy TechBytes Episode 32: Desktop Environments, Computer Games, Android and Ubuntu as the ‘New Linux’, Copyright Mentality 22/2/2011

March 2011

Show overview Show title Date recorded
Episode 33: Tim, Gordon, and Roy TechBytes Episode 33: Patent ‘Thieves’ and News That Deceives 6/3/2011
Episode 34: Tim, Gordon, and Roy TechBytes Episode 34: Done on a Dongle 13/3/2011
Episode 35: Tim, Gordon, and Roy TechBytes Episode 35: You Can’t Please Some People 19/3/2011

April 2011

Show overview Show title Date recorded
Episode 36: Tim, Gordon, and Roy TechBytes Episode 36: “Come to Take Me Away” 3/4/2011
Episode 37: Tim, Gordon, and Roy TechBytes Episode 37: Escaping the Soaps 4/4/2011
Episode 38: Tim, Gordon, and Roy TechBytes Episode 38: Thanks for Reaching Out 11/4/2011
Episode 39: Tim and Roy TechBytes Episode 39: Groklaw wins, Microsoft me too’s and trolls fail 13/4/2011
Episode 40: Tim, Gordon, and Roy TechBytes Episode 40: Video Begins at 40 17/4/2011
Episode 41: Tim, Gordon, Rusty, and Roy TechBytes Episode 41: Going Rusty 24/4/2011

TechBytes Video Pilot: Feedback Welcome

Posted in TechBytes Video at 7:47 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

TechBytes

Direct download as Ogg (20.1 MB)

Summary: Pilot for a new show that will come in the form of video

THIS episode is a test which we hope will help us get sufficient feedback before the first episode of the video series/show. Please put comments at the bottom to help us improve delivery. We are already aware that audio and video are a tad out of sync (video lag) and will attempt to address that.

RSS 64x64We hope you will join us for future shows and consider subscribing to the show via the RSS feed. You can also visit our archives for past shows. If you have an Identi.ca account, consider subscribing to TechBytes in order to keep up to date. █

As embedded (HTML5):


Download:

Ogg Theora

Update: we are having a hard time uploading this to YouTube, maybe due to video dimension.

Update #2: After spending about 5 hours trying to push Ogg into YouTube in all sorts of ways it turned out that YouTube was the problem, not the videos (sometimes they show up, sometimes they don’t). I found a solution that involves a conversion and it ought to work now.

Video: Mark Menard on Software Patents

Posted in Patents at 10:18 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Perspective on the subject of software patents

AS PART of our special week’s coverage on software patents we now turn our attention to this recent TEDxAlbany talk from Mark Menard (November 2010). We may not agree with all of his points, but it is a relevant talk and it is quite recent.


Credit: TinyOgg

As a secondary item, consider this guy’s show which is really quite good and deserves more exposure (he occasionally but not regularly covers GNU/Linux issues). Here he is addressing the subject of software patents. He will hopefully become a regular in TechBytes. He was on it in the latest epidsode and he expressed interest in being part of future episodes. █

OEMs Should Bundle GNU/Linux as Windows Declines, Attracts Malware

Posted in GNU/Linux, Hardware, Microsoft, Windows at 10:14 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

“We should whack them [Dell over GNU/Linux dealings], we should make sure they understand our value.”

–Paul Flessner, Microsoft

Dell monitor logo

Summary: Microsoft Windows is not selling well, so hardware companies ought to start looking for alternatives

Sales of Windows continue to decline as we noted earlier this week. The “operating revenue down 10%, Windows revenue 4%,” quotes a reader of ours from here, noting “that’s worse than the decline in PC market share” (an elusive market due to its general decline). He added that “tablets and smart phones are the main reasons” (many run Linux) and “Windows 7 is a failure” (which is also true as the numbers suggest, contradicting fake hype). So why aren’t more OEMs moving away from Windows just yet? Microsoft has just admitted yet again that Windows sales are declining, but we are still not seeing many OEMs that sell GNU/Linux on desktops and laptops. The FFII and AFUL try to address this issue while in the mean time, a UK-based journalist complains about Dell:

  • Dell Does it Again

    One of the first PCs that I bought was a Dell. It came with 8 Mbyte of memory, 230 Mbyte hard disc, and cost a mere £1479 (the HP Laserjet IV cost an extra £1030) – all excluding VAT. Sadly, it was running Windows 3.1, not least because at this time – 1993 – I had yet to discover free software (and GNU/Linux was, in any case, still pretty rudimentary at this point.)

    Since then, I’ve bought more Dell PCs from time to time, but always with an eye on whether the machine would run GNU/Linux well. In particular, I’ve always checked whether Dell itself was offering such systems. My view was that if it did, I should buy from them in an attempt to (a) reward them for supporting open source and (b) encourage them to offer more machines.

  • Report: Don’t Look to Dell These Days for Linux-based Systems

    I followed Moody’s tracks through the Ubuntu-focused link above, and sure enough, he’s right that at first glance it’s nearly impossible to find anything on Dell’s site that would seem to make it easy to order a Linux-based system. Moody’s further investigation led him to this more helpful page, but if you follow the “Shop Now” button on that page, you find a woefully incomplete landing page.

    These findings are more significant than they may seem at first. It’s extremely important for the major PC manufacturers to offer Linux as an option, and make it easy for people interested in Linux to learn about its advantages. If this doesn’t seem important, just consider the success that Microsoft had in the late 1980s and early 1990s in getting PC manufacturers to adopt Windows. Its sway with them helped Microsoft put Windows on the vast majority of business desktops, and–at the time–helped squash Apple’s personal computing efforts.

There are more reasons to move away from Windows and they include security and the cost to the economy. This was talked about in IRC yesterday. Groklaw responded to this report about citizens paying for Microsoft's mistakes by writing: “Just a suggestion. If everyone used GNU/Linux, fixing a problem is so much more simple. You can delete everything except your home partition, keeping all your documents and data while reinstalling the system. Or vice versa, if it’s the home partition that is affected. You can save all your materials, then wipe out the home partition without having to reinstall everything. Of course, this kind of virus doesn’t affect GNU/Linux systems anyway, but I wonder why the government doesn’t help people to understand the security advantages they could benefit from. And users would benefit too, because they wouldn’t need to let the FBI access their computers to clean it up, a rather disturbing concept.”

More OEMs can offer dual-boot systems as standard. The GNU/Linux part (not merely fast-boot Linux) does not cost a thing and Microsoft will get the competition it deserves. It will give the OEMs a sound business model and an advantage over the competition, an added value of sorts. █

Links 29/4/2011: Linux 2.6.39 RC 5, Slackware 13.37

Posted in News Roundup at 3:30 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

  • Ten places Linux and open source can thrive

    Some people might be surprised at the numbers of organisations that are now employing open source, says Jack Wallen. But which areas of activity could most benefit from its greater adoption?

    Some industries with few outward signs of open source are already taking advantage of it, while in others it has no presence whatsoever. What is certain is that they could all benefit — in ways ranging from cost-effectiveness to reliability.

  • Kernel Space

    • Linux 2.6.39-rc5
    • Why systemd?

      systemd is still a young project, but it is not a baby anymore. The initial announcement I posted precisely a year ago. Since then most of the big distributions have decided to adopt it in one way or another, many smaller distributions have already switched. The first big distribution with systemd by default will be Fedora 15, due end of May. It is expected that the others will follow the lead a bit later (with one exception). Many embedded developers have already adopted it too, and there’s even a company specializing on engineering and consulting services for systemd. In short: within one year systemd became a really successful project.

  • Applications

  • Desktop Environments

    • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC)

      • New Kdenlive Released, Gets Rotoscope

        The Kdenlive Team has announced the release of version 0.8. The latest version of the popular film-editing software has some cool features which include: Multi track editing; Realtime effects and transitions; Image, color, titles, video and audio clips; customizable layout and ability to export to various formats.

      • User experience, one pixel at a time

        A couple of weeks ago, I’ve been attending 2011 user experience Sprint, in Berlin. That was interesting and nice and productive and everything, and above all it was my first live encounter with other KDE people, including Nuno.

        There’s been (notably) quite some discussions about how information and functionality should be presented to users, organized and formulated, in order to be complete but not overwhelming, sexy, gratifying, and elegant.

        [...]

        Things one notices:

        * more visible pressed tool buttons at the top
        * new slider at the bottom
        * and new folder icons (quite unrelated with this post actually), on which Nuno has been working lately (and I’m sure he would blog better than I about it).

        Things one does not notice (but with which we are happy):

        * improved holes for the scrollbars, progressbars, and main view (note notably how the main view bottom corners are better rounded)
        * improved (well, bug fixed) rendering of the capacity bar at the bottom.

        To give proper credit to whom it belongs, some of the improvements above have been primarily instigated by Peter Penz, Dolphin dev.

  • Distributions

  • Devices/Embedded

    • Tablets

      • Convert Your NOOk Color Into An Android Tablet

        Barnes & Nobel announced that NOOK Color’s update to Android OS 2.2/Froyo offers system improvements, enhanced browser performance and a more complete Web experience giving customers access to enjoy even more video, interactive and animated content.

Free Software/Open Source

  • Modo Labs Launches Open-Source Mobile Development Framework

    Modo Labs, a provider of open-source content-delivery solutions for mobile, has debuted its Kurogo Mobile Framework for developers.

  • Web Browsers

    • Chrome

      • Google Releases Chrome 11 Stable for Linux

        The Google Chrome developers at Google proudly announced last evening (April 27th) the stable release and immediate availability for download of the Google Chrome 11.0.696.57 web browser for Linux, Windows, Macintosh and Chrome Frame platforms.

    • Mozilla

      • Iceweasel/Firefox 4 in Debian Squeeze – I make the leap

        I contend that it’s not necessary nor even desirable to upgrade an entire Linux distribution or BSD installation just to get some shiny newness like Firefox 4.

      • New Flamerobin snapshot revision 2100 in #debian

        The main change is that now it requires firebird2.5-dev instead of firebird3.0 headers and decided that is better to have a flamerobin 0.9.3 in the distros released for the next 1-2 years with a stable firebird 2.5.x and add firebird 3.0 requirement when is ready and stable ~1-2 years

      • Firefox AwesomeBar HD, Nothing That I Want

        Different teams and individuals are working on the Firefox web browser. Some are improving the web browser’s core, others are working on the interface or experimental extensions that may one day be added to the web browser’s core.

        One of those experimental spin-offs is the AwesomeBar HD which is now available as a beta release for Firefox 4 and newer versions of the web browser. As the name suggests, it has something to do with Firefox’s address bar.

      • Mozilla overhauling Firefox graphics, JavaScript

        In the quest for better browser speed, Mozilla has begun work on new Firefox engines for running JavaScript programs and displaying graphics.

  • Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

    • Oracle May Cease Support of Popular Linux Distributives Too.

      In a bid to further consolidate its server business in general and mission-critical server in particular, Oracle may in future cease support of popular Red Hat and SUSE Linux operating systems, according to an analyst. This currently seems to be a problem for a lot of customers using Intel Corp.’s Itanium-based systems from HP, who are unsure about the future of Itanium in general and HP-UX in particular.

  • BSD

    • Did You Know You Can Try BSD With VirtualBSD?

      A while ago back in January I came across this announcement on OSNews.com and made a mental note that this was something I had to try.
      VirtualBSD 8.1 was released on or around 4/01/2011 and it basically gives you a pre-defined FreeBSD 8.1 installation with Xfce 4.6 and a range of applications in a virtual machine. It is a desktop ready FreeBSD 8.1-RELEASE in the form of a VMware appliance but can also in a few steps be made to run with VirtualBox. Read the instructions for that here.
      As I already had VMware Player installed I went for using it as intended. Most of what I’m going to write you can also read on the VirtualBSD site so feel free to skip over.

Leftovers

  • US Supremes deal death blow to class action lawsuits

    The US Supreme Court has granted a whopping victory to AT&T, the US Chamber of Commerce, and supportive corporations, by reversing previous court decisions that had prevented corporations from requiring individual arbitration of customers’ complaint.

    By issuing its 5-4 decision on Wednesday, the Court has essentially stripped away individuals’ rights to band together in class-action lawsuits should a corporation choose to include an arbitration requirement in its contracts or licensing agreements.

  • Finance

    • How Wall Street Thieves, Led by Goldman Sachs, Took Down the Global Economy — Their Outsized Influence Must be Stopped

      The Senate report calls for tighter regulations so that banks can’t play these games ever again. It calls for more effective regulatory agencies and rules, and it wants major reforms on the way the rating agencies work — much of this already contained in the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill. But in addition, the subcommittee obviously wants more federal prosecution of Goldman Sachs and others as it asks that “Federal regulators…. identify any violations of law…” (p 638).

    • As Wall St. Firms Grow, Their Reputations Are Dying

      Reputation is dead on Wall Street.

      This is not to say that financiers and financial institutions still do not commit foolish misdeeds. Rather, so long as the authorities do not find law-breaking, the penalties are few.

      The list of examples is long.

    • Don’t Let Goldman off the Hook

      With crises mounting daily—wars, deficits, debt limits, natural disasters—it’s tempting to forget the cataclysms of the past. In particular, America seems to have amnesia about the Wall Street-induced catastrophe that destroyed so much of our economy. We still haven’t learned its lessons, and if we don’t pay attention, we’re soon going to pay again for its perpetrators’ callous disregard for the public interest.

    • Taking on Wall Street

      Lorin Reisner ’83 and Kenneth Lench ’84 were about to take on perhaps the most important lawsuit in the history of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

      It was April 2010, and Reisner, the deputy director of the SEC’s enforcement division in Washington, D.C., and Lench, head of a key unit in the division, were preparing a civil fraud suit against Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs.

      The Brandeis graduates had helped successfully convince the SEC’s five commissioners to vote for the suit, arguing that 
Goldman misled investors about complex securities at the heart of the mortgage meltdown. But opposition within the agency was so fierce that it led to a nonunanimous vote to pursue the suit.

    • A.I.G. to Sue 2 Firms to Recover Some Losses

      The American International Group, the giant insurer rescued by the federal government during the financial crisis, on Thursday will file the first of what could be a series of lawsuits against Wall Street firms, contending that it was the victim of fraud.

    • Report: Republicans’ Hidden $34 Trillion Tax On Seniors

      A new report by economists at the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research looks at House Republicans’ plan for privatizing Medicare from a new angle, and finds that it could increase Health Care costs for beneficiaries by a staggering $34 Trillion over 75 years.

    • U.S. Economic Growth Slows to 1.8% Rate in Quarter

      Total output grew at an annual pace of 1.8 percent from January through March, the Commerce Department said Thursday, after having expanded at an annual rate of 3.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010.

      When the year first began, economists had been expecting a much more robust growth rate of about 4 percent, only to be barraged by bad report after bad report as the days wore on. Turmoil in the Middle East set off a jump in oil prices. Winter blizzards shuttered businesses and delayed construction, causing investments in nonresidential structures like office buildings to fall by 21.7 percent compared with an increase of 7.6 percent at the end of 2010. Imports, which are subtracted from output, surged, and military spending sank.

    • ExxonMobil earnings up 69 percent
    • More people applied for unemployment benefits

      More people sought unemployment benefits last week, the second rise in three weeks, a sign of the slow and uneven jobs recovery.

      Applications for unemployment benefits jumped 25,000 to a seasonally adjusted 429,000 for the week ending April 23, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s the highest total since late January.

    • Sokol Is Accused of Misleading Buffett on Trades

      Berkshire Hathaway directors have accused David L. Sokol, once considered a possible successor to Warren E. Buffett, of misleading the company about his personal stake in a specialty chemicals manufacturer that Berkshire recently agreed to acquire.

      Mr. Sokol, who resigned in March, never told Mr. Buffett that he had bought his stake in Lubrizol after Citigroup bankers had pitched the company as a potential takeover target, according to a report by the audit committee of the Berkshire board that was released on Wednesday.

    • Wonkbook: The Fed chooses a side

      Ben Bernanke’s first press conference wasn’t much for pomp and circumstance. Bernanke sat, he didn’t stand. The few cameras in the room didn’t hunt for the dramatic angles or work to heighten the tension between the chairman and his interrogators. Very few jokes were cracked, and Bernanke made no major missteps. It looked like what it was: an economist talking to econowonks about the economy. But tucked inside the talk of “anchoring inflation expectations” and “the economy’s central tendency” was perhaps the most important economic policy statement that Americans will hear this year: the Fed, Bernanke admitted, has chosen a side.

    • The FDIC’s Resolution Problem

      Under the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation (Title II of that Act), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is granted expanded powers to intervene and manage the closure of any failing bank or other financial institution. There are two strongly-held views of this legal authority: it substantially solves the problem of how to handle failing megabanks and therefore serves as an effective constraint on their future behavior; or it is largely irrelevant.

      Both views are expressed by well-informed people at the top of regulatory structures on both sides of the Atlantic (at least in private conversations). Which is right? In terms of legal process, the resolution authority could make a difference. But as a matter of practical politics and actual business practices, it means very little for our biggest financial institutions.

    • Economy slowed by high gas prices, bad weather

      The economy slowed sharply in the first three months of the year. High gas prices cut into consumer spending, bad weather delayed construction projects and the federal government slashed defense spending by the most in six years.

      The 1.8 percent annual growth rate in the January-March quarter was weaker than the 3.1 percent growth in the previous quarter, the Commerce Department reported. And it was the worst showing since last spring when the European debt crisis slowed growth to a 1.7 percent pace.

    • Profit Jumps at Exxon and Shell

      Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell reported hefty increases in their first-quarter profit on Thursday, helped by higher oil prices and earnings from refining.

      Exxon Mobil, the largest American oil company, said net income rose 69 percent to $10.7 billion, or $2.14 a share, in the first three months of this year, from $6.3 billion, or $1.33 a share, in the same period last year.

      The earnings beat some analysts’ expectations, and marked the fifth quarter in a row that Exxon reported an earnings increase.

  • Privacy

    • Jobs Says Apple Made Mistakes With iPhone Data

      Hoping to put to rest a growing controversy over privacy, Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, took the unusual step of personally explaining that while Apple had made mistakes in how it handled location data on its mobile devices, it had not used the iPhone and iPad to keep tabs on the whereabouts of its customers.

  • DRM

    • Sony, Security, and Bovine Waste

      You see, another really annoying feature of the PS3 is Sony’s removal of the Other OS option, which made it possible for people who bought a PS3 to install Linux if they were so inclined. The removal of this option was something that happend basically as soon as I got my PS3. Shame on your Sony for telling people they could use your device for a specific purpose then taking that feature away from your paying customers. To make matters worse on this front, Sony thinks it’s okay to harras, sue, and otherwise make their customers’ lives a living hell for trying to return the functionality customers paid for. Ask George Hotz how reasonable Sony is when their legal thugs come knocking. In case you haven’t been following this, George Hotz, aka geohotz, figured out a way to jailbreak the PS3 and got sued for doing so.

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Trademarks

      • Steve Jobs’ Android jabs may cost him App Store trademark

        Quick: When you hear the phrase “app store,” what’s the first thing that comes to mind?

        That’s the question a couple of tech’s biggest players — Apple and Amazon — are fighting over right now. Apple says “app store” is synonymous with its iOS App Store alone; Amazon says the term is generic and can be used by anyone.

        You’ve heard about this battle, right? Apple is suing Amazon for using the term “app store” (or, more specifically, “Appstore”) in the name of its new Android application store. Apple claims it owns the trademark and has exclusive rights to the term.

      • Apple’s App Store lawsuit gets a response from Amazon

        Apple had filed a lawsuit in March against Amazon’s use of “App Store” in their newly launched Amazon AppStore. Apple had informed Amazon that using the term “App Store” was unlawful because they owned the rights to the term itself. In the lawsuit Amazon indicates that the term “App Store” is too generic for Apple to lay claim to the name itself.

    • Copyrights

      • Wikileaks Cable Confirms Public Pressure Forced Delay of Canadian Copyright Bill in 2008

        A new Wikileaks cable confirms that the Conservative government delayed introducing copyright legislation in early 2008 due to public opposition. The delay – which followed the decision in December 2007 to hold off introducing a bill after it was placed on the order paper (and the Fair Copyright for Canada Facebook group took off) – lasted until June 2008. The U.S. cable notes confirmation came directly from then-Industry Minister Jim Prentice, who told U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins that cabinet colleagues and Conservative MPs were worried about the electoral implications of copyright reform…

      • The Massive Treasure Trove Of Historic Jazz Recordings That Almost No One Has Heard… Thanks To Copyright

        The museum is rushing to digitize the collection (much of which has deteriorated or was destroyed), but the only way to hear it is to make an appointment at the museum. They insist they’re going to try to tackle the copyright issues to release the music, but it’s clear that’s going to be an incredibly difficult task. What’s really unfortunate is how all of these works should be in the public domain, if we just went by what the law said when they were made. Yet, thanks to copyright maximalism, the world and our culture suffers completely unnecessarily.

      • ACTA

        • When DHS Questioned ACTA
        • Homeland Security’s 2008 letter to USTR: ACTA is a threat to national security

          On August 7, 2008, Stewart Baker, the Assistant Secretary for Policy at the Department of Homeland Security, sent a one page letter and a three page “Policy Position on Border Measures of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.”

          Stewart Baker was the General Counsel of the National Security Agency from 1992 to 1994, and was appointed the first Assistant Secretary for Policy at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by George W Bush.

Clip of the Day

HTC Desire Z running Gingerbread/Cyanogenmod 7 (And debian linux with lxde)


Credit: TinyOgg

IRC Proceedings: April 28th, 2011

Posted in IRC Logs at 2:01 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME Gedit

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#techrights log

#boycottnovell log

#boycottnovell-social log

Enter the IRC channels now

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