10.02.15

Contents

• GNU/Linux
  • Distributions
  • Devices/Embedded
• Free Software/Open Source
• Leftovers

GNU/Linux

• Desktop

  • Why your Linux PC isn’t vulnerable to the devastating XOR DDoS malware

    Linux isn’t perfectly secure, but there’s no big Linux exploit story here. The real problem is how many poorly configured Linux systems exist in the real world. Linux isn’t a magic bullet that will make a system secure—it has to be locked down properly, too.

  • Google Chromebooks: The most popular classroom computing device

    In Apple’s place, Google with its Chromebooks have stepped in. Chromebooks are cheaper, easier to manage, and easy to share between students. The low upfront price is a big factor, but there’s far more.

    For example, Google offers programs just for schools, Google Apps for Education Suite; class-specific ChromeOS and Android apps, and Google Play for Education. Chromebooks that come with Google Play for Education range at prices from $199 to $227.

  • Kali Linux: Why Aren’t We Arguing More about Mr Robot?

    In episode 0 of Mr Robot, we’re introduced to our hiro protagonist [Elliot], played by [Rami Malek], a tech at the security firm AllSafe. We are also introduced to the show’s Macbeth, [Tyrell Wellick], played by Martin Wallström]. When these characters are introduced to each other, [Tyrell] notices [Elliot] is using the Gnome desktop on his work computer while [Tyrell] says he’s, “actually on KDE myself. I know [Gnome] is supposed to be better, but you know what they say, old habits, they die hard.”

• Server

  • Google and NASA are getting a new quantum computer

    The famous Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab is getting some powerful new hardware. A joint project between Google, NASA, and the Universities Space Research Association, the Quantum AI Lab today announced a multiyear agreement to install a D-Wave 2X, a state-of-the-art quantum processor released earlier this year. With over 1,000 qubits, the machine is the most powerful computer of its kind, and will be put to work tackling difficult optimization problems for both Google and NASA.

• Kernel Space

  • The Linux Kernel to Celebrate Its 24th Birthday

    The Linux kernel project is about to celebrate its 24th birthday and it looks like it’s stronger than ever. Almost a quarter of a century after version 0.01 was made available, Linux is almost running the world and its expansion is not stopping.

  • Anniversary of First Linux Kernel Release: A Look at Collaborative Value

    The Linux community often recognizes two anniversaries for Linux: August 25th is the day Linus Torvalds first posted that he was working on Linux and said “Hello, everybody out there…” and October 5th is the day he released the first kernel.

    To mark the anniversary of the first kernel release in 1991, we look at some facts and consider the progress that has been made since that early version.

  • ​$5 Billion worth of open-source code and counting

    It took a while, but IT companies finally figured out the basic math of open-source software. You can either 1) Do all the work yourself, the proprietary way or 2) Do all the work with all the interested parties, the open-source method. Guess which one is more cost efficient?

  • How Much is Open Source “Worth?” Our New Report.

  • The Linux Foundation Releases First-Ever Value of Collaborative Development Report [Ed: original press release in the original site]

  • Linux 3.14.54

    I’m announcing the release of the 3.14.54 kernel.

    All users of the 3.14 kernel series must upgrade.

  • Linux 3.10.90

  • Linux Kernel 3.14.54 LTS Released, Adds Networking Improvements, ARM64 Fixes

    Earlier today, October 1, renowned kernel developer Greg Kroah-Hartman announced the release of two new kernel versions, Linux kernel 3.10.90 LTS and Linux kernel 3.14.54 LTS.

  • Linux Kernel 3.10.90 LTS Is Out with IPv6, ARM64, and PowerPC Improvements

    After announcing the release of the Linux kernel 3.14.54 LTS on the first day of October, developer Greg Kroah-Hartman comes now with news about the ninetieth maintenance version of the long-term supported Linux 3.10 kernel branch.

  • Graphics Stack

    • Mesa 11.0.2 Is an Emergency Release That Patches the dEQP Regressions

      Just a few moments ago, Emil Velikov of Collabora announced the immediate availability for download of the second maintenance release of the Mesa 3D Graphics Library 11.0.

• Applications

  • VirtualBox 5.0.6 Released with Support for Linux Kernel 4.3, systemd, and El Capitan

    Today, October 2, Oracle announced the release of the sixth maintenance version of their popular and cross-platform VirtualBox 5.0 virtualization software for GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows operating systems.

  • SMPlayer 15.09 Arrives with MPV and 3D Support

    SMPlayer, a complete media player for Linux that is based on Mplayer and that uses its own set of codecs, has been upgraded to version 15.9.0 and is now available for download.

  • Calibre eBook Converter Now Has Support for the New KFX Format from Amazon

    The Calibre eBook editor and reader has been upgraded once more and the developer has just added the much-needed support for the new KFX format that is used by Amazon.

  • Handbrake 0.10.2 (but only for slackware-current)

    Nearly a year after my rant about Handbrake’s switch from GTK+2 to a bleeding edge version of GTK+3, I am about to give up on my attempts to build the required GTK+3 static libraries into the handbrake package. Unlike the situation with applications that use Qt or WxWidgets for their GUI, creating a private run-time for GTK is like wading through the pools of hell. GTK wants caches, configuration files and stuff all over the place. My handbrake with private GTK+3 crashes because it might still be trying to use the older GTK+3 libraries on my Slackware 14.1 computer.

    So I said to myself: “fuck it” and build Handbrake 0.10.2 for Slackware-current exclusively. The development version of Slackware does have a GTK+3 which is contemporary enough and with some tweaks, I was able to compile a (hopefully) working handbrake GUI.

  • Kid3 3.3 Open Source Audio Tag Editor Released for Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X

    The developers of the Kid3 open-source audio tag editor software were proud to announce the release of Kid3 3.3.0 for all supported operating systems, including GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows.

  • Kid3 Gets Some New Cool Features in the Latest Release

    Kid3 is an audio tag editor for KDE with support for editing tags in files such as MP3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, MPC, MP4/AAC, MP2, Speex, TrueAudio, WavPack, WMA, AIFF and WAV. The latest version, 3.3.0, brings some new features, including support for lyrics.wikia.com, chapter and table of contents audiobook frames, and a new ‘defaults’ button in the Settings window.

  • Proprietary

    • Opera 33 Web Browser Enters Beta with Native Linux Notifications, Vibrancy in OS X

      On October 1, Opera Software, through Kornelia Mielczarczyk, announced the promotion of the Opera 33 web browser for computers to the Beta channel, available now for GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows operating systems.

  • Instructionals/Technical

    • Updates for OSX 10.11 El Capitan: cjk-gs-integrate and jfontmaps 20151002.0

    • How To Upgrade To Ubuntu 15.10 From Ubuntu 15.04

    • Powerline – Adds Powerful Statuslines and Prompts to Vim Editor and Bash Terminal

    • Getting started with Visual Studio Code (VSC) on Linux

    • Install WebSVN for Apache Subversion(SVN) on CentOS 7 & RHEL 7

    • RDO Kilo DVR Deployment (Controller/Network)+Compute+Compute (ML2&OVS&VXLAN) on CentOS 7.1

    • Linux mount command reveals storage device access path

  • Wine or Emulation

    • Wine Announcement

      The Wine development release 1.7.52 is now available.

    • The Wine Development Release 1.7.52 Is Now Available

    • Wine 1.7.52 Gets Direct3D 11 Improvements

      Wine developers have just announced that a new version of the application has been made available, bringing a number of improvements and various fixes for apps and games.

  • Games

    • A New BATTLETECH Game From Harebrained Schemes Is On Kickstarter, Funded Already

      We don’t often cover crowdfunding, especially not a single project by itself, but Harebrained Schemes have done great with their Linux support. BATTLETECH has a Linux version offered straight up, with no stretch goal either, so I consider this a pretty safe bet.

    • FLOSS Reimplementation For BioWare Aurora Engine ‘Xoreos’ Updated

      xoreos is a FLOSS project aiming to reimplement BioWare’s Aurora engine (and derivatives), covering their games starting with Neverwinter Nights and potentially up to Dragon Age II. This post gives a short update on the current progress.

    • 1500 Games on Steam for Linux and Almost 1% of the User Base

      A new Steam Hardware & Software Survey has been released for the month of September, and it looks like Linux is still getting more users, although it’s doing that in a much slower pace.

    • Scraps: Modular Vehicle Combat is Now On Mac and Linux

    • Epic Games Releases Unreal Engine 4.9.2 Hotfix to Patch over 20 Issues

      On the last day of September, Epic Games announced the release and immediate availability for download of the second hotfix build for its more recent Unreal Engine software, version 4.9, announced exactly one month ago.

    • Recalbox Raspberry Pi Retro Gaming

      I’ll be first to admit that I’ve been putting off setting up a Raspberry Pi for my wife to use for retro gaming. I knew there were a few games she missed but Mario Kart 64 was the big one. I’ll also be first to point out that setting up a RetroPi isn’t difficult with the correct setup guide. I will, however, point out that configuration can be time-consuming…unless you have all of your ducks in a row. This means you’re remembering to configure Bluetooth if you’re using Bluetooth controllers, you’ve verified you’re setup to add games wirelessly via your LAN and other minor considerations that are easy to overlook. Basically, you need to make sure your have all of your hardware handy and the ROMs ready to go.

    • A look at Battle for Wesnoth’s current game development strategy

      I had my first run-in with the turn-based, Linux strategy game Battle for Wesnoth a few years ago. It was not long after discovering open source software, and I was incredibly impressed that a small group of developers could create such an excellent game for free. Discovering this along with Linux and the numerous GNU packages is what really piqued my interest in the world of open source.

• Desktop Environments/WMs

  • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

    • Kubuntu: Plasma 5.4.2 Ready testing! Come join the fun.

      Today we have the latest Plasma 5.4.2 ready for Wily (backports will not be made until this one has been tested and released)

    • The Future of Kontact

      Supplemental to what we reported previously about the work in Randa [1, 2] there was a session on the future of Kontact, KDE’s personal information manager (PIM). Over the years this tool has evolved into a monster making both development as well as usage sometimes tricky. It’s time to cut hydra’s arms.

• Distributions

  • New Releases

    • SparkyLinux 4.1

      Sparky 4 is based on and fully compatible with Debian testing “Stretch”.

    • SparkyLinux 4.1 Brings LibreOffice 5.0.1 and KDE Plasma 5.4.1, Based on Debian 9

      The developers of the SparkyLinux distribution were proud to announce today, October 2, the immediate availability for download of the final release of SparkyLinux 4.1.

    • Qubes 3.0

      About 5 months after the initial release of Qubes 3.0-rc1, we’re now releasing the final 3.0 today!

      Let me quickly recap the main “killer features” of Qubes OS 3.0 compared to the Release 2.

    • Qubes 3.0 Linux OS Ships with Killer Features, Qubes 3.1 to Bring a Live USB Edition

      On the first day of October, Joanna Rutkowska comes with news about the release and immediate availability for download of the final build of the Qubes 3.0 Linux kernel-based computer operating system.

    • Antivirus Live CD Now Based on ClamAV 0.98.7

      Linux users are not usually bothered by viruses and there is rarely need for any kind of Antivirus software, but it doesn’t mean that such solutions are not available anyway. Antivirus Live CD is one such software that actually works from outside your OS.

  • Arch Family

    • Manjaro 15.09 “Bellatrix” Gets Its First Update with Lots of New Packages

      The Manjaro developers have been quick to release the first update pack for Manjaro 15.09, which was released less than a week ago.

  • Red Hat Family

    • Active Stocks Alert: Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP), Red Hat Inc (NYSE:RHT)

    • Fedora

      • Work sprints with a Pomodoro timer

        Time management is important for everyone. When we get our tasks done efficiently, we leave more time for other things we’re passionate about. There are numerous tools on your Fedora system to help you manage your time effectively. One of them is a Pomodoro timer.

      • Fedora 24 Release Schedule Published, the Distro Could Arrive on May 17, 2016

        After announcing the proposal to update the Python stack to version 3.5 for the Fedora 24 GNU/Linux operating system, Jan Kurik comes on the first day of October with news about the initial release schedule of the upcoming distribution.

      • HTCondor 8.3.8 in Fedora repos

        It’s only been a month-plus since HTCondor 8.3.8 was released, but I finally have the Fedora packages updated. Along the way, I fixed a couple of outstanding bugs in the Fedora package. The builds are in the updates-testing repo, so test away!

  • Debian Family

    • Debian dropping the Linux Standard Base

      The Linux Standard Base (LSB) is a specification that purports to define the services and application-level ABIs that a Linux distribution will provide for use by third-party programs. But some in the Debian project are questioning the value of maintaining LSB compliance—it has become, they say, a considerable amount of work for little measurable benefit.

    • Derivatives

      • RaspEX Brings Debian 8 and Ubuntu 15.04 to Raspberry Pi 2, Now with SSH and Samba

        Just a few moments ago, Arne Exton, the creator of numerous GNU/Linux and Android-x86 distributions, sent us an email to inform us about the release of a new build for his RaspEX Ubuntu- and Debian-based distro for Raspberry Pi 2 devices.

      • Canonical/Ubuntu

        • Sources Claim Microsoft Is Buying Canonical-Ubuntu; Is There Logic Behind The Rumors?

          We already know that Microsoft has developed its own version of Linux named “Azure Cloud Switch” and we know that Microsoft is calling it quits with patent lawsuits against competitors. We also are aware that Canonical has been seeking funding to continue with its Linux project. With these three publicly known pieces of information our sources claim Microsoft is buying Canonical-Ubuntu. Some key sources in the Linux community have stated this as a great possibility, and we have yet to get confirmation from any Microsoft sources but given the course of things lately, the possibility seems feasible. Microsoft has also just released its first major server application on Ubuntu Linux making it possible to run HDInsight Ubuntu.

        • Canonical’s Ubuntu Edge Spawned the Current Ubuntu Phone

          Every Ubuntu fan remembers the Ubuntu Edge, the super phone that galvanized the community and almost changed the paradigm in the mobile world. Unfortunately, the crowdfunding effort for Ubuntu Edge failed, but it opened up the games for what we have today, Ubuntu for phones.

        • Ubuntu Touch to Get Unity 8 and QtMir Updates, VPN Indicator, and OTA Identification

          On October 1, Canonical’s Łukasz Zemczak sent in his daily report to inform us all about the new features that landed for the upcoming OTA-7 software update for the Ubuntu Touch mobile operating system.

        • Users Can Now Help Test and Improve Ubuntu Touch with a Simple App

          The Ubuntu developers have just released a new tool named Pilot for the mobile operating system and they are looking to crowdsource a very important aspect, testing the applications on the phone.

        • “No Background Processing for Apps” in Ubuntu Touch Is Being Debated

          One of the issues that’s been bothering some Ubuntu Touch developers and users is the fact that background processing for apps is now really permitted on this platform. A discussion has been started on the official mailing list, and it looks like there are a lot of supporters of the idea that “no background processing for apps” policy needs to change.

        • Canonical Patches Three Critical Linux Kernel Vulnerabilities in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

          Today, October 1, Canonical announced the general availability of a new kernel update for its long-term supported Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) computer operating system, patching three critical Linux kernel vulnerabilities.

        • Ubuntu Touch OTA-7 Receives New Unity 8, Feature Freeze Is Now in Effect

          On September 29, Canonical’s Łukasz Zemczak sent in his daily report about the work done by the Ubuntu Touch developers in preparation for the upcoming OTA-7 software update, due for release on October 19, 2015.

        • Ubuntu’s Mir Display Server Reaches Version 0.16 with Mir-on-X Refinements, More

          The Ubuntu developers behind the next-generation Mir display server used in the current version of the Ubuntu Touch mobile operating system and Ubuntu Desktop Next computer OS have announced the release of Mir 0.16.0.

        • New Linux Kernel Vulnerabilities Fixed in Ubuntu 15.04, Users Urged to Update Now

          After announcing the release of a new kernel update for Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Trusty Tahr), Canonical announced on September 29 that it patched two kernel vulnerabilities in the Ubuntu 15.04 (Vivid Vervet) operating system.

        • Simple Streams Vulnerability Closed in Ubuntu 15.04 and Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

          A new vulnerability that affected the Simple Streams packages has been found and corrected in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and Ubuntu 15.04 by developers.

          The issue that affected the simplestreams library has been corrected. From the looks of it, the applications that were using Simple Streams could have been made to crash or run programs if they received specially crafted network traffic. It’s not a huge problem, but as usual, it’s a good idea to upgrade.

        • What’s LXD?

          The infographic below introduces the basic facts about LXD, provides figures on LXD performance, explains how LXD and Docker work together and offers applications of LXD in your business.

        • Watch: Canonical Showing Off the Latest Unity 8 Interface for Ubuntu Phone

          Earlier today, October 2, Canonical’s Michael Hall posted a very nice video on his YouTube page to demonstrate the latest Unity 8 user interface for the Ubuntu Touch mobile operating system.

        • Flavours and Variants

          • CompuLab’s Mintbox 2 and Mintbox Mini PCs Now Ship with Linux Mint 17.2 Cinnamon

            Clement Lefebvre, the leader of the Linux Mint project, sent in his monthly report for September 2015 to inform all Linux Mint users about the most important milestone of the project.

          • Wood Kubb Is a Small and Powerful PC Made from Wood and with Linux Mint

            Wood Kubb is one of those things that you can’t quite put in a category, but it’s still fascinating. It’s basically a small and powerful PC in a cube-shaped case that looks amazing.

• Devices/Embedded

  • Compact, low power IoT gateway runs Linux on i.MX6

    VIA’s 30mm tall “Artigo A820” IoT gateway runs Linux on an i.MX6 DualLite, and offers optional WiFi and 3G in addition to Fast and GbE Ethernet ports.

    Like last year’s Artigo A900 mini-PC, the Artigo A820 runs Linux on a dual-core, 1GHz Cortex-A9 SoC. This time, however, VIA Technologies has turned to Freescale’s i.MX6 DualLite SoC instead of its own Via Elite E1000.

  • Phones

    • Fairphone launches v2 of it conflict-free, upgradeable smartphone

      There’s a company offering a repairable and upgradable smartphone out there and Jack Wallen believe it is just what the world needs. Read on to see if you agree.

    • Android

      • Facebook gives Android a kick in the byte code

        To improve the mobile performance of its social network, Facebook is enhancing Java bytecode on the Android platform with its Redex project, providing a pipeline for optimizing Android DEX (Dalvik Executable) files.

      • 13 of the best Android apps from September

        Coming off the back of the summer holidays always make September a busy month and this year it was no different.

        From useful spam fighting options arriving for Gmail to movie tracking and the launch of a huge repository of online tutorials across a range of subjects.

        We’ve sorted the wheat from the chaff and what follows is the best new and updated apps from September.

        All you need to do is clear a few minutes in your schedule and click your way through the list.

      • Google reveals new Chromecast and Chromecast Audio devices

        Google’s Chromecast streaming media player has proven to be a popular item on Amazon, getting four star ratings and lots of positive comments from Amazon customers. Now Google has announced a brand new Chromecast, and also the new Chromecast Audio device.

      • Hands on: Google Pixel C convertible tablet

        It’s difficult to tell if the new Google Pixel C is a great idea, or an awful one. It feels like a greatest hits list of Windows 8 convertible failures. It’s a clamshell, and the tablet is connected to the keyboard via magnets. But to open it or close it, you have to pull it apart and reconnect it. You can also flip the tablet upright and stick the keyboard to the back of it, though it makes the tablet thicker and heavier than you may like. The entire converting process is messy. Google tries to cover it all up with a beautiful aluminum design and smooth hinges that adjust angle easily. But will it be fun to use every day? I’m not so sure.

      • Google announces the LG Nexus 5X and Huawei Nexus 6P; pre-orders start today

        Google has officially taken the wraps off its new flagship smartphone lineup. In keeping with the current smartphone release trends, Google is announcing two devices today: the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P. The 5X is made by LG, and the 6P is made by Huawei. The Nexus 5X starts at $379, and the 6P starts at $499, and both phones will ship later this month. Pricing for other territories is starting to dribble in—the Nexus 5X and 6P will begin at £339 and £449 respectively in the UK—but we’ll update the article with more complete information as it’s made available.

      • Google announces the new Chromecast and Chromecast Audio

        The new Chromecast has a disk-like design, a departure from the original’s dongle construction. Its improved internals should also make streaming easier and faster. Now featuring three antennas, it supports 5GHz 802.11ac Wi-Fi for faster connectivity and heavier formats like 1080p. While the new Chromecast handles video and game streaming, the Chromecast Audio device will handle streaming music or podcasts. The new Chromecast plugs into a device with HDMI; Audio uses both optical and headphone jacks to plug into speakers.

      • Huawei’s first Android Wear watch is a beautiful yet basic timepiece

        Huawei isn’t exactly the first company that comes to mind when you think of stylish connected devices. The Chinese manufacturer has delved into wearables with its TalkBand series, but those were slow to come to the US and their fitness tracker-meets-Bluetooth-headset capabilities were peculiar. Now Huawei wants to test the waters of Google’s wearable OS with its new smartwatch, simply dubbed the Huawei Watch, and it’s a solid first attempt at Android Wear.

Free Software/Open Source

• Apache Foundation retains informal vibe to manage $1m of open-source projects

  The Apache open-source community gathered at its annual conference in Europe this week to collaborate on new projects to drive the future of the web and cloud ecosystems, with a handful of new projects under incubation.

• Seize the opportunity to explain open source

  Kids have an insatiable appetite for knowledge. I would estimate that all of us with children have had them go through a phase of asking “Why?” constantly. In truth, it often comes at the most inconvenient moment for a parent; like when the world is literally going to explode unless your child puts down the green marker pen, and instead of doing it, they just look up at you and ask “Why?” I was no different. I went through the “Why?” phase. My daughter has been through it and my nephew is going through it right now.

• AWS launches a managed Elasticsearch service

• Amazon launches managed Elasticsearch service

• AWS debuts Elasticsearch Search, its distributed search and analytics engine

• Amazon flings open source Elasticsearch at Big Data’s cloud

• New Amazon Elasticsearch service eases setup, with exceptions

• Amazon Adds Open Source Elasticsearch Platform to AWS Cloud

  Elasticsearch is a Java-based open source framework for searching textual documents on a massive scale. It is designed to be highly scalable and compatible with cluster-based distributed-computing infrastructure.

• IBM and EMC team up: There’s no “I” in open source

  Sometimes when you are distracting the signal from the noise, you get an exclusive. Today theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, got the full story on the EMC and IBM partnership to work in an open-source environment to make Hadoop more accessible to the enterprise.

• Web Browsers

  • Mozilla

    • Firefox Is Much Better than Any Other Browser and Here’s Why

      We often read about comparative tests between browsers and we see that Google Chrome or Opera are extremely fast, or that some other browser gets really good scores in rendering, and so on. The truth is that none of that really matters when you are using browsers in the real world, and in the real world Firefox shines and it’s head and shoulders above everything else.

• SaaS/Big Data

  • The return of TryStack, life as a PTL, and more OpenStack news

    Interested in keeping track of what’s happening in the open source cloud?

  • A Brief Comparison of Mesos and Kubernetes

    The recent announcement of Mesos on Windows means developers and organizations that work between Linux and Windows platforms may use their own tools without requiring heavy resource management. Those working with the Google Cloud Engine may prefer working with Kubernetes, while people accustomed to Microsoft Azure may enjoy the Mesosphere workflow pipeline. Each has their own strengths and shortcomings, though the gap between stack management services lessens as more technology is brought to other platforms.

  • MapR Technologies Unveils In-Hadoop Document Database

    MapR integrates Web-scale enterprise storage and real-time database management and adds native JSON support to MapR-DB, its NoSQL database.

• Databases

  • Pivotal Aims at Oracle Database Business with Open Source Tech

    Software company Pivotal is taking on Oracle’s traditional database business with its latest effort to advance open source. The company is contributing both HAWQ advanced SQL on Hortonworks’ Hadoop analytics and MADlib machine learning technologies to The Apache Software Foundation (ASF).

• Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

  • LibreOffice Online Development Advances, Gains Image Manipulation, Advanced Toolbar

    Just in case you thought for a second that the world forgot about the LibreOffice Online project announced by The Document Foundation a while ago, its developers announce new features developed during the LibreOffice Conference 2015 event that took place last week between September 22-25.

  • Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2 Coming Soon with Better Microsoft Office Interoperability

    Apache Software Foundation has announced recently that the second point release of their Apache OpenOffice 4.1 open-source office suite for GNU/Linux, Microsoft Windows, and Mac OS X operating system is coming soon.

• CMS

  • If Drupal were a band it would be Rush

    Getting my clients’ developers and sysadmins to stick to all of the documented processes I’ve set up for them.

    I have years of experience implementing Drupal-based solutions, so I have a rather solid understanding of what works and what doesn’t. But some folks without any experience with Drupal try to shoehorn it into incompatible environments. I do my best to explain all of this and why to ensure that, when I’m gone, folks can take all of my wiki documentation and run with it (use it and update it as necessary).

• Business

  • Semi-Open Source

    • Pentaho 6 Blends Virtual and Physical Data for Business Intelligence

      Pentaho is set to debut its new Pentaho 6 Enterprise 6 and community editions, providing users with new business intelligence capabilities. Pentaho formally announced the Penthao 6 release on September 30, though general availability is not scheduled until October 14.

• BSD

  • Open source FreeNAS makes inroads in enterprise data storage

    The FreeNAS Project by server vendor iXsystems is attracting attention from customers as far away as outer space who are considering open source NAS storage with commodity hardware.

• FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

  • What do you have to say? Share it at LibrePlanet 2016

    LibrePlanet 2016 is coming! Next year’s conference will be held **March 19-20, 2016 in the Boston area**. The call for proposals is open now, until November 16th. General registration and exhibitor registration will open later in October.

  • Chicago GNU/Linux talk on Guix retrospective

    Friends… friends! I gave a talk on Guix last night in Chicago, and it went amazingly well. That feels like an undersell actually; it went remarkably well. There were 25 people, and apparently there was quite the waitlist, but I was really happy with the set of people who were in the room. I haven’t talked about Guix in front of an audience before and I was afraid it would be a dud, but it’s hard to explain the reaction I got. It felt like there was a general consensus in the room: Guix is taking the right approach to things.

• Public Services/Government

  • EC to increase open source for software development

    The European Commission aims to primarily use open source tools for developing software that is distributed publicly, shows an overview on open source adoption that was presented last week by the EC’s Directorate General of Informatics (DIGIT) at a conference in Tampere (Finland). Already much of the EC’s own software is developed using open source. However, over the next 3 years, DIGIT will push to make ‘open source first’ the target for all the new EC software development projects.

• Openness/Sharing

  • Open Budget 2015: Norway leads the way in Europe

    Norway is the European country with the highest ranking in the 5th Open Budget Survey, a worldwide survey which examines the current state of budget transparency. Sweden is in second place in Europe and France is 3rd.

  • OGP is ready to open up to local governments

    The Open Government Partnership is thinking about opening its membership to large cities, provinces and local governments “where many public services are delivered to citizens, allowing for somewhat tighter forms of accountability and feedback loops”, the global organisation stated on its blog.

  • Here’s What Open-Source Government Looks Like

    Seamus Kraft was running on minimal sleep through the days of furious Congressional debate surrounding the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), when he had his “aha!” moment. The digital director of communications for House Oversight and Government Reform chairman, Darrell Issa, was looking for a better way to get citizen input on a bill that had become a flashpoint across the internet community.

  • Open Data

    • Stock Update (NASDAQ:ILMN): Illumina, Inc. Expands World’s Largest Genomics Analysis Platform and Adds to Open Source Initiative

    • Illumina Expands World’s Largest Genomics Analysis Platform and Adds to Open Source Initiative

      BaseSpace is the only genomics platform that integrates sample set-up, instrument and sequencing run monitoring along with storage, analysis and sharing of large volumes of genomic data. The analysis platform is currently processing data from more than 4,000 sequencing systems worldwide, including Illumina’s population-scale sequencing system, HiSeq X™ Ten, and providing push-button analytics with over 60 apps to more than 30,000 registered users.

  • Open Access/Content

    • Paywalls and Robin Hoods: the tale of Elsevier and Sci-Hub.org

      This Kat sometimes wonders whether every big copyright dispute these days seems to have a major political or philosophical subtext to it — an example of which can be found below. From guest contributor Emma Perot comes this appraisal of a dispute (reported on TorrentFreak here) between a giant publisher of valuable and useful scholarly material on the one hand, and those who seek access to that same information on the other.

  • Art

    • Mural Arts’ Open Source offers a month of events on art and social change

    • Philadelphia public spaces are canvas for Open Source art exhibit

• Programming

  • Most Popular Programming Languages In The IT industry

    Programmers are always in high demand these days for jobs, especially if they have fluency in coding language. Learning programming in various languages for engineers is a no-brainer, but some basic understanding of the languages can be invaluable to anyone, even if you’re not looking forward to becoming a master coder.

  • PHPUnit 5.0

  • PHP version 5.5.30 and 5.6.14

    RPM of PHP version 5.6.14 are available in remi repository for Fedora ≥ 21 and remi-php56 repository for Fedora ≤ 20 and Enterprise Linux (RHEL, CentOS).

Leftovers

• FIFA sponsors Coca-Cola, McDonald’s call on Blatter to resign

  Coca-Cola Co and McDonald’s, on Friday called for the immediate resignation of FIFA president Sepp Blatter a week after Swiss authorities said they were opening a criminal investigation into the head of the world soccer body.

• Startups, burnout, and the path to happy employees

  Leah Silber is CEO and co-founder of Tilde, a training and consulting startup with a focus on open source led by alumni and current leaders of projects like Ruby on Rails, jQuery, and Ember. Tilde is also the company behind Skylight, a Rails performance tool.

• Science

  • Gender gap widens in cyber security field long dominated by men

    Women account for just one out of 10 cyber security professionals, as the gender gap widened over two years in a male-dominated field with a drastic workforce shortage, a survey showed.

  • A new kind of school tackles the software engineering talent shortage

    Specifically, Barbier, formerly a senior director at Docker, continued, “Students have to solve increasingly difficult programming challenges, with minimal initial directions about how to solve them. As a consequence, students naturally look for the theory and tools they need, understand them, use them, work together, and help each other. And, by the way, they love it — I know because I am a graduate of the same system.”

  • $2 billion startup GitHub’s next mission: Turn you into a programmer

    The San Francisco startup GitHub, which has been called the Facebook for programmers, seems to have it all.

• Security

  • Friday’s security updates

  • GitHub Improves Two-Factor Security With U2F

    GitHub has emerged in recent years to become the de facto standard location for developers to launch new code projects and engage with potential contributors. With all that code in one place, GitHub is also an attractive target for attackers, with password security often being the weak link. In an effort to secure itself and its users, GitHub today is announcing its support of the FIDO (Fast Identity Online) Universal 2nd Factor standard and is engaging with U2F hardware vendor Yubico to help make keys more easily accessible and available.

  • Internet of Things (IoT) Devices Infected by Over-Protective Malware

  • Linux.Wifatch: Vigilante Hacker Infects Routers with Malware to Fight Bad Malware

  • IoT vigilante Linux.Wifatch ‘malware’ may be patching up security flaws

  • This vigilante virus protects you against malware attacks, quotes Richard Stallman

  • Could the Wifatch computer virus be good for your router?

  • Someone Has Hacked 10000 Home Routers To Make Them More Secure

  • A newly discovered router virus actually fights off malware

  • Home routers ‘vaccinated’ by benign virus

  • Routers ‘vaccinated’ by benign virus

  • Wifatch malware may be force for good, Symantec

  • Internet of Things vigilante malware strikes tens of thousands of devices – to protect them

  • And Now A Malware Tool That Has Your Back

  • Is there an Internet-of-Things vigilante out there?

  • Vigilante VXer FIXES SOHOpeless routers

  • Router Virus Seemingly Fights the Good Fight

  • Is this IoT malware acting for the greater good?

  • ‘Vigilante’ Malware Protects Routers Against Security Threats

  • Linux.Wifatch: Routers hacked by ‘white hat’ virus that makes them more secure against malware

  • New vigilante malware protects your computer from the bad guys

  • Vigilante Hacker(s?) Commandeer 10,000+ Home Routers to Provide Security Assistance

• Defence/Police/Secrecy/Aggression

  • No ISIS Where Russia Is Bombing–Except Last Week, When ISIS Was Killing Gay Men There?

    President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia suddenly escalated the stakes in his contest with the West over influence in the Middle East on Wednesday, as Russian pilots carried out their first airstrikes in Syria….

  • Corbyn under fire from Labour and Tories for admitting he would not push nuclear button

    The MSP urged Labour members in Scotland to support the UK leader’s staunchly anti-nuclear weapons stance, as the issue plunged the party into chaos at the end of its conference in Brighton.

  • How important is the nuclear deterrent?

    As far as the Conservative government is concerned, the Royal Navy’s four Vanguard class ballistic missile-carrying submarines will be replaced by an improved system that will enter service between 2028 and 2035.

    No parliamentary decision has yet been taken but the government is pressing ahead, for example, by announcing last month around £500m worth of investment at the submarine base at Faslane on the Clyde.

    But other political forces do not share this view. The Scottish National Party has an important voice – Faslane, after all, is in Scotland.

    It cannot derail any decision to modernise the deterrent but it does not like it.

  • UCC shooting: Did shooter Chris Harper Mercer post a warning on 4chan?

    At least 10 people are dead and another sevn injured following a shooting at a rural community college campus in Oregon on 1 October. Umpqua Community College in Roseburg. Oregon was in a state of chaos as law enforcement officers evacuated the campus and shot Chris Harper Mercer dead.

  • UCC SHOOTING RAMPAGE: At least 10 reported dead including shooter (VIDEO)

    There are unconfirmed reports that the shooter had either been shot or had shot himself. An official confirmed that the shooter had been “neutralized.”

• Finance

  • Washington Post Won’t Let Journalistic Integrity Stand in the Way of Scaring You Away From Sanders

    The Washington Post‘s difficulties in separating its news and opinion pages showed up again in a piece by David Fahrenthold that warned the public against Sen. Bernie Sanders’ agenda in his presidential campaign. The piece is headlined “How Bernie Sanders Would Transform the Nation.”

    [...]

    On the other hand, the government hands out tens of billions a year in tax breaks to homeowners on their mortgage interest and imposes virtually no controls. It gave big companies subsidized loans through the Export-Import Bank and also imposed almost no controls. And it gives drug companies patent monopolies—threatening to arrest competitors—again with no controls.

• PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying

  • Rush Limbaugh Says His Remarks About Mars Were Taken Out Of Context, But His Own Transcript Betrays Him

    Rush Limbaugh criticized Politico and other media outlets for reporting on his remarks that NASA’s discovery of water of Mars was part of a “left-wing agenda,” claiming the remarks were taken out of context. However, when asked by Politico to explain how, a Limbaugh spokesman refused to explain.

  • Action Alert: New York Post Gets Ethel Rosenberg History Wrong

    That’s just wrong, and deserves a correction; the Rosenbergs were not charged with treason, but with conspiracy to violate the Espionage Act. A treason charge would have been difficult because the Soviet Union was an ally of the United States, not an enemy, at the time that Rosenberg’s husband Julius passed along low-level atomic secrets.

    [...]

    The phrasing suggests that Ethel Rosenberg’s helping with espionage is uncontested fact, with the debate being over whether she was rightfully executed for it. In fact, there is considerable doubt whether she had any overt involvement with her husband’s intelligence activities. Her brother David Greenglass, whose testimony that Ethel had typed up information to be given to Julius’ Soviet handler was critical to her conviction, later admitted that he had lied on the witness stand (Guardian, 7/15/15).

  • Guest Post by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg

    Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior former Labour Prime Minister told me “I predicted the Labour Party would fall off a cliff and they ignored me. Corbyn will be out by Christmas.” It does seem that the unelectable Corbyn, who refused to answer questions on alphabet balance, has no answers to these key questions.

  • Selective Indignation

    For his first nine years as Prime Minister, Tony Blair appointed NO women to any of the “Great offices of state” over which Corbyn is under such concerted media fire. And he had many less women in his shadow cabinet and cabinet. Yet there was virtually no media comment at all, and none of this line of right wing “feminists” lambasting him.

  • Dreams of Catalonia

    There is one interesting side issue in Catalonia. The astroturf anti-independence organisation Ciutadans (Ciudadanos in the rest of Spain) is a classic creation of Western security services. Its purpose is to counter both Catalan Independence and still more, Podemos, and maintain a secure right wing Spain in NATO. But unusually it is not the CIA that has been in the lead, but the BND, the German overseas security service. This is an outlier for a newly assertive policy by the BND, so the results will be watched particularly closely in the more obscured corridors of Berlin.

• Privacy

  • French Intelligence: the mad race to international mass surveillance

    The review of the bill related to international electronic communications surveillance measures will insidiously start on the 1st October 2015. It can already expect a bright future, made of flash reviews and hurried debates. After the censorship by the French Constitutional Council, which cut off its general approach on international intelligence, this text claims to fill the void and provide “key progress”: the regulation of foreign intelligence activities.

  • Surveillance: Legislative parody from French MP, Patrica Adam at the Defence Commisson

    …not even trying to hide her interest to silence any eventual discussion on the regulation of international surveillance…

• Civil Rights

  • U.S. Senators Hem and Haw on Saudi Arabia’s Human Rights Abuses

    Leading American politicians of both major parties appear to share an extreme reluctance to openly criticize the human rights abuses of Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally that has ramped up executions of its own citizens, led a coalition bombing effort in Yemen that has killed thousands of civilians, and supported Sunni extremist groups throughout war-torn Syria.

    Given the news this week that Saudi-led forces bombed a wedding party in Yemen, killing scores of civilians, as well as the decision by the Saudi government to behead and then crucify Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, the teenage son of a government critic, I attempted to talk about the Saudi Arabian human rights record to a number of politicians at the Washington Ideas Forum, an event hosted by The Atlantic and the Aspen Institute to discuss “this year’s most pressing issues and ideas of consequence.”

• Internet/Net Neutrality

  • How I Ended Up Purchasing & Owning Google.com via Google Domains

• Intellectual Monopolies

  • Canada Wants To Cut Price Of ‘World’s Most Expensive Drug’; US Manufacturer Sues To Stop It

    That means that Alexion had to spend less than usual to develop and bring the drug to market. It also means that, once more, a pharma company gets to build on the work funded by the public, but without any sense of obligation to pay that back in the form of lower prices — on the contrary.

  • How pharmaceutical company Alexion set the price of the world’s most expensive drug

    What if your life depended on a drug that cost half a million dollars a year, every year, for the foreseeable future?

    That’s the price of Soliris, one of the world’s most expensive drugs.

    It is the only medicine available for people suffering from two ultra-rare diseases: paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) and atypical haemolytic uremic syndrome (AHUS).

    In both cases, the body attacks and destroys red blood cells, causing anemia, organ failure and ultimately death.

  • ‘We Could Have All These Drugs Available at Generic Prices’ – CounterSpin interview with Dean Baker about why medicine costs so much