● 02.20.13

● Links 20/2/2013: Linux 3.8

Posted in News Roundup at 1:33 pm by Dr. Roy SchestowitzContentsGNU/LinuxGNU/Linux

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

• A new report shows Linux experience is in greater demand — and, hiring managers say, harder to find — than in past years.

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

Desktop

Server

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

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

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

Kernel Space

• Some Linux kernel releases have more colorful names than others. Linux creator Linus Torvalds released the Linux 3.8 kernel on Monday, giving it the codename Unicycling Gorilla.

• There is more to a hard drive than its size. While the amount of disk space is all you see marketed about a hard drive on a sales page, there is actually an extensive amount of coding that goes into making a hard drive capable of handling your applications and data in the first place. Most Linux distributions currently default to using the ext4 file system, but the future for many of them lies with the B-tree file system, better known as Btrfs.

Applications

• The FlightGear project has released version 2.10 of the open source flight simulator. The most obvious improvements are in the simulation of the environment, weather and computer-controlled aircraft, but the developers have also put a lot of work into the rendering engine, the main results of which are more natural rendering of dazzle effects, restricted fields of view during night flights, and shadows.

• The powerful, lightweight and extremely popular Transmission BitTorrent client for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows operating system reached version 2.77 a few minutes ago.

Proprietary

• Someone at the paper must have seen the irony here and decided to change it; most readers saw instead “Ecuador’s President Shows Confidence About Re-election, Too Much for Some.”

• But the first headline more accurately summarized the article–and the worldview of outlets like the New York Times, which take a far more critical approach towards political leaders on the left.

Instructionals/Technical

Games

• Here’s another reason for computer users to make the switch to Linux: popular gaming service Steam has arrived on the platform.

• At least 60 supported games come bundled with Steam for Linux, along with other features like online play, achievements and friend lists, according to a report on PC World.

Desktop Environments/WMs

K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

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

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

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

Distributions

New Releases

PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandrake/Mandriva Family

• Is this beta for one of the best community run distros around a good indicator for the full release, or a serious work in progress like last year?

Red Hat Family

Fedora

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

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

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

Debian Family

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

Derivatives

Canonical/Ubuntu

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

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

• After today’s announcement that Canonical has created a tablet interface for Ubuntu Linux, company founder Mark Shuttleworth described his ambitions and answered questions from reporters in a conference call.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Devices/Embedded

Phones

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

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

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

Ballnux

Android

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Free Software/Open Source

Events

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

Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

CMS

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

Education

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

Public Services/Government

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

Standards/Consortia

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

Leftovers

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

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

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

Defence/Police/Secrecy/Aggression

• The Instagram photo posted by an Israeli soldier, of a Palestinian boy’s head in crosshairs, has now become an international scandal, thanks to Ali Abunimah’s discovery of it. We are surely jaded by seeing evidence of this dehumanization all the time; but this image has demonstrated a power that other reports have lacked; and the optics of the Israeli miracle are changing before our eyes. Is this startup nation or the child-targeting nation?

• A band member’s hospitalization offers a harrowing glimpse into Russia’s brutal prison system.

Cablegate

• Quito – Whilst celebrating his re-election in Ecuador yesterday, President Rafael Correa called for a resolution to the issue of political asylum in that country for Julian Assange. An interview with President Correa gives more details on the situation.

• Digital Journal reported on Monday on the call by President Correa for Europe and the UK to resolve the problems over the political asylum of Assange in Ecuador.

• Repressive regimes know how to use Facebook too. You know what your government wants you to know.

• Jemima Goldsmith married Imran Khan, the famous Pakistani cricketer, now politician. Jemima is opposed to war and campaigned against the Iraq War in particular and, more recently, the use of drones. She is reputedly worth £20 million and when Julian Assange needed bail money to avoid extradition to Sweden, Jemima Khan was one of those who nobly obliged.

Environment/Energy/Wildlife

• With the Keystone climate protests in Washington bringing climate change back into the media, we’re hearing a lot about how the Keystone pipeline will, at the very least, mean that we’ll be getting our oil from a nice country.

Finance

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

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

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

Privacy

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

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

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

Civil Rights

• Not only have leaders from Ecuador to Venezuela delivered huge social gains – they keep winning elections too

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

DRM

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

Intellectual Monopolies

Trademarks

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

Copyrights

• The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has decided that a wholesale censorship of Google Sites in Turkey violates the European Convention of Human Rights, and orders Turkey to cease the censorship and pay damages. The court concludes that any wholesale web censorship is an interference with fundamental human rights, and therefore must be prescribed by law. This has direct consequences for other, similar wholesale censorship – such as that of The Pirate Bay.

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