• Distributions
• Devices/Embedded

2010: The Year of Virtualized Desktops?

Ultimately, the desktop virtualization market sounds quiet a bit like a next-generation successor to the thin client market. So it’s safe to expect virtualized desktops to surface within settings where thin clients first emerged — health care, retail and so forth.

Applications

• Nathive developer spotlight

  Nathive is a libre software image editor, similar to Adobe Photoshop, Corel Photo-Paint or GIMP, but focused on usability, logic and providing a smooth learning curve for everyone. The project run in the Gnome desktop environment and anyone is welcome to collaborate on it with code, translations or ideas.

• Open source and 3D

  Thus I read with interest the related blog posts “Sweet Home 3D” and “Sweet Home 3D: Open Source, Cross Platform Design Application” which, not surprisely, talk about the Java-based open source program called Sweet Home 3D. This seems similar to the programs I used on Windows years ago, though it is, as I said Java-based and open source. I’ll definitely give it a try.

Distributions

• Run Multiple Debian Versions Simultaneously

• New Releases

  • PC/OS 2009.3 released

    PC/OS 2009.3 has been released for the general public. This release fixes many of the hardware issues that users had with PC/OS 2009v2 series. With this release we went ahead and and installed all updates so all security updates since PC/OS Maintenance Pack 3 have been applied. The changes to PC/OS 2009.3 application wise are common across all releases except XFCE 4.6 was not included in WebStation due to some issues that are being explored right now on some models of netbooks.

  • Finnix 93.0 released

    Finnix is a small, self-contained, bootable Linux CD distribution for system administrators, based on Debian testing. Today marks the release of version 93.0 for the x86/AMD64, PowerPC, and UML/Xen platforms.

  • The G:Standard 3.0.rc01 (2.9.90) is Released

    The GoblinX Project is proud to announce the second released of the next G:Standard. The G:Standard 3.0.rc01 (2.9.90) is Released. The G:Standard is the original edition first released in the end of October 2004. In the past it was called as GoblinX and later as GoblinX Standard. In order to dismiss doubt about the releases and follow the same criteria used for all distributions (editions) of the GoblinX Project it became simply G:Standard.

  • kademar 4.9

  • SystemRescueCd 1.2.3

  • Clonezilla 1.2.2-27

Devices/Embedded

• Nokia to cull Symbian from smartphones?

  Nokia smartphones may soon be shipped running the phone giant’s Linux-based Maemo operating system instead of Symbian, it has been claimed.

  Maemo – also known as the Internet Tablet OS – has been around since 2005 and was originally designed for Nokia’s family of handheld internet gadgets.

  Now a report by the Financial Times Deutschland has hinted that Nokia is preparing to drop Symbian from its smartphones, in favour of Maemo. The paper’s source is unclear.

• Nokia: We’re Fully Commited To Symbian

• How to hack a Sony Reader

  Inside the Linux-based e-book viewer

• Phones

  • Mobile Marketers Must Look Past The iPhone

    Some experts suggest it’s time to warm up to Android, as the Google-backed, open-source mobile-operating system is set to power a growing numbers of handsets, making it an equally vital, if not bigger, long-term play. And though there are only two Android-based phones available in the U.S. (the second one was only introduced last week), Google said 19 Android-based handsets will launch by year-end worldwide, from the likes of LG, Samsung and Motorola, and folks in the app-development space predict about half a dozen of these will be unveiled stateside. Android’s platform is also open source, meaning that unlike the iPhone, anyone can build a device or create apps for it.

  • Dell to launch China-only mobile phone after all, calls it “Ophone mini3i” (Updated)

    We broke the news on Dell launching a China-only cell phone on Sunday, and today major Chinese news portal 163.com reports the device is on its way: What Dell will be offering in China is an Android-powered “Ophone” called the mini3i.

• Sub-notebooks

  • Moblin v2 to reach netbooks this Oct.?

    The first netbook pre-installed with Moblin v2 operating system technology may reach market in October. A report suggests that Asus will offer Moblin v2 technology preinstalled on its “Seashell” netbook.

Flemish Region to educate citizens on open source

The Flemish regional Government wants to educate its citizens on “free software (open source)”, it writes in its coalition agreement published on 10 July 2009.

The open source information is meant to help to increase the region’s use of the Internet, including electronic government services, media, culture, health services and eLearning.

The Open Source Desktop Made Easy

That’s why for some time I’ve been advocating a phased introduction of open source software. This means swapping out programs like Internet Explorer, Outlook and Microsoft Office, and swapping in Firefox, Thunderbird and OpenOffice.org, but sticking with Windows. Once users are comfortable with these on that platform, it is possible to shift them across to GNU/Linux, using the same apps. Aside from one or two trivial changes of menu structure, the programs work identically across both, which means that users can concentrate on just one aspect of the second move: getting to know GNU/Linux.

Bank boosts customer service 60 per cent with open source tool

A new way of tracking and capturing employee and customer ideas and data using an made-in-house CRM tool has worked wonders for YES Bank. In a short time, this relatively new banking firm has improved customer service by 60 per cent and turnaround time for its processes by almost 70 percent.

College Bytes

Around 400 students from various colleges and experts from the IT industry interacted during the event. The topics included Green IT, Cloud Computing, Entrepreneurship, Open Source Software and Natural Language processing which were delivered by experts from IT companies like TCS, CDAC and Omniscient Technologies.

Mod Anti-Malware goes open source for server security

The other key question that I had for Dasient was how their technology is different than say the mod_security Web Application Firewall (WAF), that is also open source.

Open Source Web Anti-Malware Tool Released

An interesting new piece of security freeware was launched today as Dasient introduced an open source version of its Web server infection remediation technology.

[...]

However, anyone who downloads and installs the freeware version will be granted a limited free trial of the paid services.

MySociety.org calls for project proposals

The group, who use open source to power their sites and release their code under the GPL, are looking for ideas which involve the internet and encompass ideas which have an easy to explain “social, civic or democratic benefit”.

CMS

• Joomla! calls for awards backing

  Open source custom webhosting platform Joomla! is calling on its users to put it forward for entry into an upcoming awards scheme.

  [...]

  “There are over 3,000 extensions to Joomla 1.5 in the Joomla Extensions Directory,” the developers explained.

• A big, open idea

  Matt’s WordPress, which I use at interest.co.nz, is one of the best and most used of these consumer open source softwares. Open source software is built through an essentially cooperative process where developers work together to create and debug software before giving it away. It uses a General Public License (GPL). There’s more information on the GPL here.

  Essentially, the free software movement was borne in the early 1980s and led by Richard Stallman, a former MIT student and hacker. See more background here. Other devotees include Linus Torvalds (Linux).

Business

• Forecast: Cost Cutting Will Drive Open Source Growth

  “We’ve seen a tremendous growth in interest from companies who really feel uncomfortable with the price hikes and the pricing practices of the big players in the proprietary world,” said Ingres CEO Roger Burkhardt in an interview. “Now that budgets are being squeezed, we see a tremendous interest in the economic model that we offer.”

• Career Watch: Job growth could be more robust away from the coasts

  One other area to consider: open source. Having strong knowledge of open-source alternatives to purchased products can give you an edge over competitors that are only offering packaged software. Giving your customers options, especially lower-cost options, should help you get work. Open-source solutions are going to be increasingly viable in the future.

• xTuple 3.3 open source ERP debuts

  Version 3.3 also allows customers to export to OpenOffice from any screen and the ability to copy one item, row or entire table to the clipbopard. One can export all displays to OpenOffice document formats, as well as HTML and comma-separated text Support for Qt version 4.5, now available under the Lesser GNU Public License (LGPL),” according to the release.

Funding

• Open source living on VC time

  The price on the deal, $362 million plus the assumption of debt, is curiously close to what another Java framework outfit, JBOSS, fetched over three years ago.

  This may also make VMWare a more powerful adversary against Red Hat, although I had thought they were competing with Citrix’ Xensource. Silly me.

• Peter Fenton Has That Magic Open-Source Touch

  Rather than “expensive sales efforts and negotiations with the upper management to get the most money possible,” the people that will be using the software can easily download and try the product. This helps the best products proliferate and weeds out the underperformers.

• Google gives $300K to OSU Open Source Lab

  In yet another show of support for open source projects, Google has made another $300,000 gift to the Oregon State University Open Source Lab, increasing its cumulative support of academia’s premiere open source development and hosting operation to more than $1 million. The new funds will support OSL efforts to provide hosting services used by many of today’s most recognized open source projects and communities.

Government

• Ghana: Imani Honours Late Guido Sohne

  “He was one of the early founding members of the Free and Open Source Foundation for Africa as well as being part of the FOSSFA Council. However, he resigned due to differences over governance and direction of the organization and moved on to establish a new organization called AfricanIntelligence with the purpose of focusing on developing developers rather than promoting open source software.”

  “He was responsible for the first Open Source project in West Africa (and possibly in sub-Saharan Africa as well) and won awards for creating two of Africa’s top fifty websites. He has made minor contributions to OSS projects like the Linux Cross Reference tool, RedHat’s Interchange e-commerce system, Ruby’s Rannotate and JavaScript and Ruby implementations of a 2D barcode system, DataMatrix aka Semacode.”

• UK

  • Tories call for health computer systems cuts

    Mr O’Brien insisted that “open source” systems could be more secure. We guess he means open source database software run by government offices, not inviting all the world’s under-employed programmers to rewrite the UK’s NHS software systems.

  • Conservatives publish NHS IT policy pledges

    The Conservatives say they “welcome these conclusions” in part because they are “consistent with our plans to free the NHS from Labour’s central control and interference so that it is locally accountable to patients and can focus on improving the results of their treatment”.

  • Archives names expert as new FOIA ombudsman

    Miram Nisbet has been hired to head the Office of Government Information Services, which is housed at the National Archives and Records Administration. The ombudsman’s office was created by the 2007 amendments to the Freedom of Information Act to be an intermediary between government agencies and requesters.

• US

  • HHS to sponsor open source ‘code-a-thon’ for NHIN

    The project’s initial strategy will be guided by Brian Behlendorf, an open source advocate and contractor to the Administration’s Open Government team.

  • White House tells agencies, think ‘open innovation’

    The White House is telling its agencies, which are set to prepare budgets, to pursue an “open innovation”-approach to government, be visionary in their spending requests, and focus on “transformative” projects that help the climate, energy, life expectancy and the economy.

    [...]

    The “open innovation” concept is akin to that used in open source circles. But longtime open source advocate Eric S. Raymond, author of The Cathedral and the Bazaar, read the White House memo and said he believed its call for open innovation is largely meaningless.

  • Obama, open source & healthcare

    Linux-based and open-source healthcare software has been around for years. Unless you were in health IT, however, chances are you never even heard of it. It’s time to pay attention, because it may soon be tracking your medical records.

    With the passage of ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009), $19-billion dollars has been ear-marked for Medicare and Medicaid technology incentives over the next five years. Collectively, this program is known as HITECH. If open-source, medical software advocates have their way, some, if not most, of that money will be going to free software and open standard based EHR (electronic health records).

Openness

• Info-sharing tops DOD’s tech wish list

  Forge.mil, a family of services for developing open-source solution for the DOD, is example of the enterprisewide, on-demand services DISA wants to continue to develop, Mihelcic said.

• 3-D Printers Make Manufacturing Accessible

  3-D printers can take blobs of plastic and shape them into almost any object you desire. Now, thanks to open source hardware designs and enthusiastic do-it-yourselfers, these printers are increasingly popular and accessible. People are using them to fabricate iPod docks, plastic bracelets, hair clips and miniature teapots at home.

• Kaupthing’s loan book exposed and an injunction ordered against RÚV

  Yesterday the website WikiLeaks* published TOP SECRET information about loans made by Kaupthing bank just before the Big Meltdown last October. The info is a 209-page inside document containing slides used at a meeting of the bank’s loans committee on September 25 last year.

• Open Plaques: open data about UK heritage sites

  There are currently over 1700 plaques, which can be browsed by area, by person, by role or by organisation. Though the project is currently in alpha the idea is that anyone will be able to add or edit plaques, and display photos uploaded to Flickr. We hope there will be participation from local history groups, schools and so on!

U.S. FCC examining broadcasters in music fee row

U.S. regulators have launched an inquiry into whether certain broadcasters are refusing to air the music of artists who demand to be paid when their songs are played on the radio.

The Federal Communications Commission reviewed a June petition by a music coalition that accuses radio stations of skipping songs of artists who support legislation aimed at paying royalties to artists.

According to an official notice dated on Friday, the agency is seeking public comment on the petition until Sept. 23. The FCC customarily seeks comment on proposals for new or amended rules, but petitions received on a wide variety of subjects are also published for public comment.

Why the Internet Will Shape Social Values (and not the other way around)

If anything, I suspect the internet is going to create a society that is more honest and forgiving. We will be returning to a world of thin anonymity – a world where it is difficult to escape from the choices you’ve made in the past. But the result won’t be a world where fewer people take risks, it will be a world that recognizes those risks were necessary and expected.

Nabaztag can’t make RFID cool, has to file for bankruptcy

We always knew that any company courageous enough to take a technology designed to help mega-corps monitor their inventory levels and make it mainstream would face an uphill battle, but we never envisioned Nabaztag caving entirely to the pressure.

Special Report: Is US Chief Information Officer (CIO) Vivek Kundra a Phony?

This is the sort of question you might ask after trying to actually verify his supposed MS in Information Technology from the University of Maryland, College Park campus. The registrar has no record of it. In fact the current University of Maryland grad department doesn’t even show this degree as being commonly available to anyone. A search of his college records shows no attendance after he received his BS degree in Psychology on 12/20/98. In fact his last day of school 12/19/98 wrapped up the six years it took Kundra to obtain his undergraduate degree.

Intellectual Monopolies

• Pirate Party UK Officially Registered

  The UK Pirate Party has been officially registered at the Electoral Commission and is hoping to follow in the footsteps of its successful counterpart in Sweden. With all the recent controversy surrounding anti-piracy legislation and lawyers going after alleged file-sharers, the party has become necessity.

• Distributions
• Devices/Embedded

The Command Line in Linux, Mac OSX and Windows

This is the first in a series of posts on just what the title says: The command line. The main point will be this: Stop worrying about the command line.

Marketing Linux

If I were Novell, Red Hat, the Linux Foundation, or Canonical, I would be pushing the idea of Linux as a “green” alternative to Microsoft and Macintosh. I would also push the idea that “green” means saving money while saving the environment. This claim is not without merit. There have been many advances in Linux power consumption technologies.

Softpedia Linux Weekly, Issue 57

The weekly starts with a first look at the brand-new KDE 4.3.0 desktop environment, followed by the Linux distributions announced last week: Linux Mint 7 KDE Edition, PTS Desktop Live 2009.3, Slackware 13.0 RC2, Arch Linux 2009.08 and Trisquel 2.2.

Events

• The nitty gritty

  Text versions of the presentations given at the Linux Symposium 2009 are now available as a PDF file. They provide wide-ranging information on current and future Linux kernel-related developments. The spectrum ranges from profiling using Ftrace, through recent changes to the PCI subsystem intended to make suspend and standby more robust, to the latest developments, such as topology patches, in 2.6.31 and the Kernel Shared Memory infrastructure planned for 2.6.32.

• Linux geeks, New Zealand beckons

  The Ruthvens have been regulars at LCA – as it is better known – since 2006, when it was first held in New Zealand, with Dunedin playing host.

Google

• An Operating System for the Cloud

  Microsoft’s troubles make the company’s OS doubly vulnerable. Vista, its current version, has been roundly criticized, and it has never caught on as widely as the company anticipated; many Microsoft customers continue to use the previous version of Windows, XP. A new version being released this fall, Windows 7, promises to remedy the worst problems of Vista. But even 7 may not address a set of technical issues that both galvanize Microsoft’s critics and stoke the appetites of Brin and Page to create a more pleasing alternative. In their view, the Microsoft OS takes too long to boot up, and it slows down even the newest hardware. It is too prone to viral attacks and too complicated.

• Server side Android, a Google version of Amazon’s EC2

  While everyone contemplates the place that Android will hold on the mobile device, in home entertainment and on the netbook, there is another interesting use-case for Android that’s not yet been talked about. There’s no reason that Android, as a complete OS, application stack and ecosystem (including the app market), has to be run on the client side. In environments where multiple users might want to use the same client hardware (monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc), such as at the office, the thin-client model could be a very useful way to access any given user’s Android session. This way, the Android session can be displayed at any end-point, be it a desktop, notebook, meeting-room projector, or even smartphone device. Using a VPN or even SSL protected web browser session from home, a user could also bring up their work Android session.

Desktop

• System76 Refreshes, Expands Ubuntu Netbook and Desktop Lineup

  Back in July, System76 said it was having trouble keeping up with Ubuntu netbook demand. And more recently, another Ubuntu PC specialist told me they plan to introduce an Ubuntu netbook (potentially in August 2009) to fulfill growing customer inquiries.

Server

• Riken Next-Generation Supercomputer

  This Linux cluster, being interconnected by Infiniband, is one of the largest cluster systems in the world and is the core system of the RIKEN Supercomputer System. In addition, one of the clusters is equipped with accelerator boards designed specifically for molecular dynamics simulation. The cluster provides very unique service to users.

• Verizon Business, Symark Craft Government Bundle

  PowerSeries focuses on password management and provisioning within heterogeneous UNIX and Linux environments. It also helps extend ActiveDirectory access control into Unix and Linux environments in order to create a single sign-on infrastructure across Windows, Unix and Linux servers.

• Penguin Offers Cloud Computing for HPC

  Linux cluster vendor Penguin Computing has created a cloud computing environment aimed at the HPC space. Penguin’s POD service is built on the vendor’s Intel-powered Linux clusters, high-speed interconnect technologies like InfiniBand, NetApp SANs, Nvidia graphics chips and Penguin’s Scyld ClusterWare management software, all important technologies for highly parallel, memory-intensive HPC applications. Penguin also is not using virtualization technologies on its server clusters, which officials said will improve server and I/O performance.

• Penguin puts Linux supercomputer in sky

  Today, the San Francisco-based outfit announced the debut of what it calls Penguin on Demand – POD, for short – a service that offers remote access to high-performance computing (HPC) Linux clusters. The idea is to provide researchers, engineers, and simulation scientists with the sort of number-crunching power they can’t get from something along the lines of Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).

Kernel Space

• Intel Kernel Mode-Setting Overlay Support

  While the Intel kernel mode-setting graphics driver entered the mainline Linux 2.6.29 kernel, and is beginning to become the default driver in various desktop Linux distributions, the KMS driver does not yet have a feature parity with the traditional DDX xf86-video-intel driver. However, announced on the DRI development list today is one more feature that has now been introduced into the kernel mode-setting driver and generic DRM mode-setting code. This is video overlay support for Intel hardware.

• When Open Source Is Not Enough

  Linux.com: What are some of the challenges you believe Linux will need to address in the days ahead?

  Bdale Garbee: The biggest challenge for Linux itself may be just that it works so well in so many places that it’s becoming easier to take it for granted and let most of our attention be drawn elsewhere. But Linux itself, the kernel and common core of software packages around it that are at the heart of every distribution, are critical components that we can’t afford to let get lost in the swirl of announcements about new technologies above and around us.

Applications

• Five gui hex editors for ubuntu

  I downloaded several programs (GUI as well as console) and poked around a bit with each. Here are five gui hex editors you can use on ubuntu 9.04.

• Google Chrome 3.0.197.x fixes Linux plugins

  There still isn’t a stable release of Google’s Chrome browser for either Linux or Mac users, but Google is getting closer with the Chrome 3.0.197.x dev-channel release.

• Shutter – Powerful Screenshot Tool for Linux

  GNOME has a basic screenshot application called gnome-screenshot, KDE has an advanced one called KSnapshot, which includes options to take screenshots of selected regions, fullscreen, or window under cursor, with or without a time delay (for taking screenshots of menus for example). But neither one of them compares to Shutter, a complex screenshot tool with many features, and the possibility to edit and apply effects directly from within it.

• Avant Window Navigator for Ubuntu Linux

  Avant Window Navigator (AWN) is an application launcher and dock which would redefine your Linux experience. The good part is it’s highly customizable and hence will fit perfectly well with your Ubuntu theme. Let’s see how to install and customize AWN on your Ubuntu machine.

• Scribus 1.3.5 desktop publishing application released

  More details about the release can be found in the 1.3.x Roadmap and in the change log. A “Get Started with Scribus” guide is provided. Scribus 1.3.5 requires Qt 4.4.0 or later and is available to download from SourceForge.net. Scribus is released under version 2 of the GNU General Public License (GPLv2).

• The Linux screensaver xscreensaver

  There are over 200 collected screensavers in the collected xscreensaver packages. You will most likely find a screensaver that suites your needs here. No, you can not install that latest piece of work from the SyFy channel or from E! magazine, but you can find plenty to use and they will do their job well.

• 1 Year Ago: Amarok 1.4.10 Review [Oldies but Goldies]

  Almost one year ago, on August 13, 2008, the last version of Amarok 1.4 for KDE3 was released. Since Amarok 2 for KDE4 was launched, bringing a completely redesigned interface and changing mostly all the major design concepts, users of this great player divided into two groups, the ones who still like 1.4 better and the ones who look forward for a complete Amarok 2.x (which still lacks many features from the old 1.4).

Distributions

• GigaTux offers full Turnkey Linux suite, with half price VPSs

  GigaTux is proud to announce that we now support all versions of Turnkey Linux on our standard Virtual Private Server packages. Automatic installs and reinstalls of any Turnkey Operating System can be performed through the provided web interface, and basic support is provided.

• Slack*

  • NO SLACKER

    With its novel package manager, Slax makes it simple to install new software and easy to build your own distributions.

  • Slack Mini Server 1.4.5 Released, Turns 2 Years Old

    The Slack Mini Server (SMS) Project team announced yesterday, August 10th, the release of Slack Mini Server 1.4.5, which celebrates 2 full years of activity. The new release is based on Slackware Linux 13.0 RC2 and it brings Asterisk PBX, Samba 3.4.0, PHP 5.3.0 and many updated packages (see below for details).

• PCLinuxOS

  • REVIEW: PCLinuxOS 2009.2

    This might actually be the very best distro available for new users, and has features that make it a great distro for the rest of us as well. Another distro that is similar to PCLinuxOS, are Mepis even though its Debian based. Really, I can’t say I liked this distro, but I would say I loved it, that it exceeded what I thought possible that a Linux could do. I would recommend PCLinuxOS to anyone, its made me a fan. Now, on a negative note, what did I find that was wrong with PCLinuxOS? You know I have to find something, even if its picky. So don’t take it wrong PCLinuxOS community, but the number one thing I found wrong, is no 64 bit version. Other than that its truly an outstanding job folks, please continue the hard work! The polish and attention to detail in this distro is the best I have ever seen.

  • PCLinuxOS 2009.2 Review

    The only hurdle in mastering this operating system involves you familiarising yourself with the PCLinuxOS Control Center. Fortunately, the menus are organised and lots of practice can be done on the Live CD mode anyway. It is completely easy to setup from the start and all the applications mentioned earlier are all ready for launch. The overall environment makes it very appealing to Windows users that never used Linux before thanks to the friendly environment that the KDE 3.5 brings.

  • SAM Linux 2009, the Last Release Based on PCLinuxOS

    A member of the SAM Linux Team announced a few hours ago the release of SAM Linux 2009. This distribution is based on PCLinuxOS 2009.1 and is fully compatible with its packages, but later releases will be based on another distribution, unspecified at this moment.

• Red Hat Family

  • Red Hat celebrates its 10-year IPO anniversary

    Ten years ago today, on August 11, 1999, Red Hat saw its shares triple in an initial public offering that ushered in a new era of commercial open-source prosperity.

  • Red Hat (RHT) Bullish Technical Alert – Trend Up 34.8%

    Red Hat (NYSE:RHT) is trading 0.8% higher (up $0.18 to $22.02) today on volume of 423,696 shares. The stock is trading near its 52-week high of $23.72. We are watching for a close above that level.

  • Financial Analysis Review – new market report just published

    Red Hat, Inc. (Red Hat) is principally engaged in the provision of enterprise-ready open source operating system platforms. It offers a wide range of open source software solutions including core enterprise operating system platform, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, enterprise middleware platform, JBoss Enterprise Middleware and other related Red Hat enterprise technologies. These enterprise solutions are designed to address the requirements

  • OL&T Migrates To Red Hat Enterprise Linux

  • Global Transportation Provider Migrates Its Mission-Critical Systems to Red Hat Enterprise Linux

  • Red Hat to Supply Govt-Led Cloud Computing Center

    North Carolina-based Linux and open source technology provider Red Hat (NYSE:RHT) has become a technology provider for China’s first government-led cloud computing center, reports eNet.com.cn quoting Red Hat’s August 5 announcement.

• Debian Family

  • Debian Etch and Ubuntu Feisty: a comparison

  • The Web Cycle: The faster you pedal, the faster your porn downloads

    The cycle was created by Matt Gray and Tom Scott and uses a janky exercise bike and an Arduino board. The input from the cycle connects to a laptop running Ubuntu and wondershaper.

  • Karmic’s New Boot & Login Screen

    The Ubuntu design team have published mock-ups of the proposed Ubuntu 9.10 Boot and GDM screens.

  • Artwork Incoming Karmic Boot Demo

Devices/Embedded

• Nokia

  • Nokia RX-51 Tablet Captured in the Wild

    The N900, as we are calling it now, can be termed an upgrade over the N97. The device features a full QWERTY keyboard and a huge 3.5-inch touch screen capable of WVGA resolution (800×480). It is expected to run the upcoming Maeomo5 OS, the latest version of the Linux based smartphone OS that Nokia uses for its lineup of tablet devices. That, we believe, would be the major difference between this one and the N97 which runs on the more “mass market” Series 60 Fifth Edition OS.

  • Maemo-powered Nokia N900 spotted!

  • Nokia to drop Symbian for Maemo?

    Nokia could be set to ditch Symbian as its main smartphone OS in favour of Maemo Linux. At least that’s the gist of a report in the German edition of the Financial Times (aka the FTD). Read on for all the details.

  • Nokia adjusts Qt brand, website

    Now Qt Software is being renamed as Qt Development Frameworks and the web address will change to http://qt.nokia.com.

• LiMo

  • Panasonic, NEC unveil 9 Linux phones

    Panasonic Corp and NEC Corp unveiled nine new cellphone models on Tuesday that run the open-source LiMo operating system, wireless Linux group LiMo said.

    The focus of the cellphone market has been shifting to software development since Google Inc and Apple Inc entered the mobile market in the past two years, with phone vendors and operators increasingly looking for open source alternatives such as LiMo to cut costs.

  • Panasonic and NEC announce 9 new Linux phones

  • NEC and Panasonic launch Linux mobile phones

    Limo Foundation, the Linux-based open systems development group for mobile phones, yesterday launched nine new phones from NEC and Panasonic for Japanese telco NTT Docomo, bringing the Limo-compliant range to 42.

• Android

  • Dell and Motorola Android specs hit the blogs

    The device blogosphere is working overtime ahead of the flurry of handset launches for the holiday season, with its focus firmly on Linux. As well as the Nokia N900, this week has seen newly leaked details of Motorola’s make-or-break Android phones, and Dell is finally expected to unveil the smartphone it has been promising all year.

  • Two Motorola Android Phones Arriving Soon?

    For anyone reading the tea leaves, it should come as no surprise that Motorola will be offering a few Android handsets this year. Om spoke with Moto CEO, Dr. Sanjay Jha, and generally confirmed that the handset maker is focusing on Google’s Android instead of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile for smartphones.

  • iPhone, Android apps development for new R&D centre

    Mobile content retailer, Mobile Streams, today opened a Center of Excellence for smartphone research and development in Hong Kong which it says will work on the development of new applications for the Apple iPhone and Google’s Android.

• Sub-notebooks

  • Sony Ericsson preparing netbook launch?

    Sony Ericsson appears set to launch a netbook. Sorry, smartbook – the phone firm’s micro laptop seems likely to be as much phone as portable PC.

  • My XO For All Oddessey with OLPC – Part 1

    Now I love technology, especially liberating ones, especially for kids (the next generation of humanity), and especially with new GUIs. I love the lost science-art called interface design, and this seems to progress (and sometimes seemingly regress) so slowly that it is wonderful when something new comes along– not to mention it is based on Linux and wholesomely Open Source. It is not difficult to see why one would be so enthusiastic about this project from the get-go.

  • Ubuntu Netbook Remix gets an interface overhaul

    The folks at Canonical are in the process of redesigning the user interface for Ubuntu Netbook Remix. UNR is basically a custom version of Ubuntu that includes optimizations for netbooks with Intel Atom processors as well as a desktop environment and program launcher designed for computers with small, low resolution displays.

    The first version of Ubuntu Netbook Remix introduced a few key concepts. By default, all program windows opened up in full screen. And instead of a typical desktop and start menu approach, you had a list of application categories on the right side of the screen, program shortcuts with big icons in the middle, and a list of places on the right side.

PC-BSD 7.1.1 Quick Review

The default desktop environment is KDE. In Linux/UNIX circles concerning the desktop you’re either a GNOME or KDE type of user (or a super-lightweight environment like Fluxbox). I personally prefer GNOME, but I’m not turned off by the way KDE does things; it’s just a different type of environment compared to GNOME.

Digitization’s tectonic shift in software value

Sure, Microsoft got away with creating two massive businesses (Windows and Office) by copying its competitors and out-executing, but even Microsoft doesn’t get a free pass anymore. Have you seen how its me-too offerings on the Web have fared? Weak.

This digital upheaval is having a widespread impact beyond software. Record labels, newspapers, health care, and other industries are being overrun by digitization. At some point, we’ll get past this in-between phase and a new era of digital prosperity will ensue. As with Vanderbilt, however, we’ll need to be careful that our exuberance for income doesn’t get carried away into monopoly.

U.C. Berkeley Creating Large-Scale Open Source Software Project

Researchers and developers at the University of California, Berkeley are working on open source software to help distribute audio and video files of classroom lectures to media services like iTunes and YouTube. The university already publishes full-length videos of classroom sessions on YouTube, but recording, editing, and posting these videos is an costly undertaking. Now, new grant money will pay those expenses and help expand video distribution worldwide.

British Local Authorities Hesitant on Open Source

The 15-page report, “Open or Closed? A Survey of Open Source Software in Local Government,” is available from the UKGovOSS.org website, an online network sponsored by Bull and One Point Consulting since April 2009. The project is an initiative of the Public Sector Forums originally dedicated in the U.K. to being a public information source on digital television and its use as an e-Gov channel, but having expanding its reach to Internet and open source activist issues.

Firefox 3.6 Alpha 1 Blows Version 3.5 Out Of The Water

Using SunSpider, a JavaScript benchmark, the score for 3.6 Alpha 1 improved significantly over 3.5.; version 3.6 benchmarked at 1107.2 ms vs. the 1517.4 ms Firefox 3.5 benchmarked. SunSpider tests the core JavaScript language, and with this benchmark test, a lower score is better.

Business

• Building a business selling open-source software

  In other words, provided that open-source companies can fill the revenue hole with premium features or some other value-added service that compels payment, then the other advantages of open source trump that of proprietary products.

• On Open Source, the Services Model, and Long-Term Software Quality

  That’s why I think my conversation with my friend will come full circle in the long run. He doesn’t see open source platforms as all that competitive right now, but he likes the Red Hat model. The catch is, though, that the Red Hat model focused on service and support ends being a rising tide that lifts many boats–where the quality of the software directly benefits.

• Drupal 7 Targets the Enterprise

  Fresh off a new round of financing, open source content management (CMS) vendor Acquia is putting its new funds to work in taking the Drupal open source CMS to new heights in the enterprise.

Government

• Ideas sought for open government

  A DIY guide to becoming an MP and a database of the connections between the powerful could soon be created online.

  The two ideas are among those being considered by MySociety – a charitable group that helps construct civic tools.

Standards/Consortia

• Dailymotion’s support for Ogg is a big deal Dailymotion’s support for Ogg is a big deal

  With video streaming site Dailymotion offering the free Ogg Theora video format, FSF urges other video sites to follow.

Once Again, Established Businesses Get Angry At ‘Free’ Competition

It’s no secret that established businesses or organizations get upset when they see any form of “free” competition — even when it’s utilizing a new or different business model or social model.

Oprah can relax, $1 trillion lawsuit is dismissed

Then the National Enquirer reported that a poet named Damon Lloyd Goffe had filed an audacious complaint claiming copyright infringement. Only problem was that Goffe never registered the copyright on his poems, and more than a week before many news outlets were reporting the $1 trillion lawsuit, a judge had already dismissed the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

Censorship/Web Abuse

• Websense yanks censorware from Yemen

  Websense has blocked two ISPs in Yemen from receiving updates after it emerged that they were using its filtering technology in a government-mandated censorship scheme.

Intellectual Monopolies

• Godzilla Takes On Comcast Over Trademark

  Comcast, for its part, denies that the character is Godzilla, though Toho doesn’t buy it. Of course, you might ask where’s the actual “harm” here, as it would seem to only help advertise Godzilla and Godzilla movies — though, Toho would likely argue that the harm is in Comcast not licensing the character (or the potential idea that this makes Godzilla “generic”).