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  • Red Hat: 2014:0255-01: subversion: Moderate Advisory
    LinuxSecurity.com: Updated subversion packages that fix three security issues are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and 6. The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having Moderate [More...]


  • Red Hat: 2014:0254-01: activemq: Important Advisory
    LinuxSecurity.com: An updated activemq package that fixes multiple security issues is now available for Red Hat OpenShift Enterprise 1.2.7. The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having [More...]






  • Red Hat: 2014:0232-01: openstack-swift: Moderate Advisory
    LinuxSecurity.com: Updated openstack-swift packages that fix one security issue are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform 4.0. The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having Moderate [More...]


  • Linux Foundation teams up with edX to build free online Linux course
    The Linux Foundation has announced that it is building a massive open online course (MOOC) with edX, the non-profit learning platform created by Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). "The Linux Foundation and edX are partnering to develop a MOOC program that will help address this issue by making basic Linux training materials available to all for free. Previously a $2,400 course, Introduction to Linux will be the first class available as a MOOC and will be free to anyone, anywhere. The Linux Foundation is among a new group of member organizations edX announced today who will contribute courses to the platform.EdX’s MOOC’s are an increasingly popular way to provide for unlimited participation and open access to learning material to people anywhere in the world via the web. These programs also provide interactive users forums where students and professors can build communities, similar to the way in which the Linux community collaborates. MOOCs have recently generated enrollments for individual classes of 60,000 or more students."


  • Calligra 2.8 released
    The Calligra office suite has announced its 2.8 release. In addition to the Krita painting program's 2.8 release (which we reviewed in the March 6 edition of LWN), other components have new features and bug fixes as well. Words and Author gained support for document comments, Kexi (visual database tool) has many fixes and improvements based on user feedback, Sheets now has pivot tables, and so on. "There are also some general improvements in all apps. It is now possible to copy and paste any shape between any documents in Calligra applications. Moreover, copying and pasting of images and rich text is now more advanced."


  • Security updates for Thursday
    CentOS has updated subversion (C6; C5:multiple vulnerabilities).
    Fedora has updated gnutls (F20; F19:certificate validation botch) and kernel(F20: three vulnerabilities).
    Mageia has updated libssh(private key leak).
    openSUSE has updated gnutls(12.3: certificate validation botch), percona-toolkit, xtrabackup (13.1: codeexecution), rubygems (13.1, 12.3: gems notgetting security updates), and subversion(12.3: denial of service).
    Oracle has updated subversion (OL6; OL5:multiple vulnerabilities).
    Red Hat has updated activemq (RHOpenShift Enterprise: multiple vulnerabilities) and subversion (multiple vulnerabilities).
    Scientific Linux has updated subversion (multiple vulnerabilities).
    Slackware has updated sudo(privilege escalation).
    Ubuntu has updated EC2 kernel(10.04: multiple vulnerabilities), icedtea-web (13.10, 12.10, 12.04: insecuretmpfile usage), kernel (10.04: multiplevulnerabilities), and tomcat6, tomcat7(multiple vulnerabilities).



  • [$] A thumbnail sketch of Krita 2.8
    Version 2.8 of the digital-painting application Krita has been released.The project recently formed its own backing foundation and hasundertaken a concerted effort to fund development through (among otherthings) the sale of training materials, so a natural question might bewhether or not this new release shows any substantial gains that couldbe attributed to the more formal project management. It is hard tosay for sure, of course, but the change does look like a win—thenew release includes a series of technical improvements as well aspractical contributions from Krita-using artists.


  • Security updates for Wednesday
    CentOS has updated gnutls (C6; C5:certificate verification issue) and postgresql (C5: multiple vulnerabilities).
    Fedora has updated perl-CGI-Application (F20; F19: information leak).
    Gentoo has updated chromium (multiple vulnerabilities).
    openSUSE has updated chromium(13.1, 12.3: multiple vulnerabilities), gnutls (13.1: certificate verification issue),and pidgin (11.4: multiple vulnerabilities).
    Oracle has updated postgresql(OL5: multiple vulnerabilities).
    Red Hat has updated mongodb(denial of service), openstack-glance(information leak), openstack-nova(multiple vulnerabilities), openstack-packstack (insecure networkconnections), openstack-swift (timingside-channel attack), and postgresql(RHEL5: multiple vulnerabilities).
    Scientific Linux has updated postgresql (SL5: multiple vulnerabilities).
    SUSE has updated gnutls(SUSE CORE 9: certificate verification issue).


  • [$] A longstanding GnuTLS certificate validation botch
    Something rather reminiscent of Apple's "goto fail;" bug has been found, but thistime it hits rather closer to home for the free software community since itlives in GnuTLS. Certificate validation forSSL/TLS has been under some scrutiny lately, evidently to good effect. But this bug isarguably much worse than Apple's, as it has allowed crafted certificates toevade validation checks for all versions of GnuTLS ever released since that projectgot started in late 2000.


  • Krita 2.8.0 released
    Version 2.8.0 ofthe Krita painting application is out. New features include improvedtablet support, high-quality scaling, integration with the "Gemini" sketchapplication, a new wrap-around mode, and much more.


  • Critical crypto bug leaves Linux, hundreds of apps open to eavesdropping (ars technica)
    According to thisars technica article, the GnuTLS library has a certificate validationvulnerability that looks awfully similar to the recently patched Applehole. "This time, instead of a single misplaced 'goto fail' command,the mistakes involve errors with several 'goto cleanup' calls. The GnuTLSprogram, in turn, prematurely terminates code sections that are supposed toestablish secure TLS connections only after the other side presents a validX509 certificate signed by a trusted source. Attackers can exploit theerror by presenting vulnerable systems with a fraudulent certificate thatis never rejected, despite its failure to pass routine securitychecks."


  • SUSE Labs Director Talks Live Kernel Patching with kGraft (Linux.com)
    Libby Clark talkswith Vojtech Pavlik, Director of SUSE Labs, about kGraft. "In this Q&A, Pavlik goes into more detail on SUSE's live kernel patching project; how the kGraft patch integrates with the Linux kernel; how it compares with other live-patching solutions; how developers will be able to use the upcoming release; and the project's interaction with the kernel community for upstream acceptance."



  • Red Hat's dynamic kernel patching project
    It seems that Red Hat, too, has a project working on patching running kernels. "kpatch allows you to patch a Linux kernel without rebooting or restarting any processes. This enables sysadmins to apply critical security patches to the kernel immediately, without having to wait for long-running tasks to complete, users to log off, or scheduled reboot windows. It gives more control over uptime without sacrificing security or stability." It looks closer to ksplice than to SUSE's kGraft in that it patches out entire functions at a time.


  • FSF, SFLC and OSI to fight software patents in U.S. Supreme Court
    The Free Software Foundation has joined forces with the Software FreedomLaw Center and the Open Source Initiative in filing an amicusbrief in software patent case *Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank*before the United States Supreme Court. "The jointly filed briefargues that the "machine or transformation" inquiry employed by the Courtin *Bilski v. Kappos* is the correct, and exclusive, bright line test forpatent eligibility of computer-implemented inventions. It says that notonly do software idea patents fail established tests for patentability;they also violate the First Amendment."


  • Second Debian init system vote concludes
    The second vote by the Debian technical committee addressed init systemcoupling. Bdale Garbee has announcedthe results of that vote. "With all 8 votes cast, this CFV onthe init system coupling issue has ended in a tie between options "L" and"N". Given my vote on this issue, it should be no surprise that I use mycasting vote to declare option "N" is the winner." (Thanks to Josh Triplett)
    Option N: "The TC chooses to not pass a resolution at thecurrent time about whether software may require specific initsystems."


  • What is good video editing software on Linux? (Xmodulo)
    Xmodulo presentsa brief overview of ten video editing applications available for Linux. "I will not cover subjective merits such as usability or interface design, but instead highlight notable features of each video editor."





  • Fedora 20 Runs Great On The Intel Bay Trail NUC
    Last month I wrote about Intel's Bay Trail NUC Kit on Linux and shared some early Intel Bay Trail Linux benchmarks. That earlier testing was done from Ubuntu 13.10 but this DN2820FYKH NUC can also be made to work quite well with Fedora 20. Here's the experience on setting up Fedora 20 for the Intel Bay Trail NUC Kit and some Ubuntu vs. Fedora benchmarks from this low-power, mini Intel system.


  • Sobell Compiles Top-Notch Practical Linux Guide
    Not everyone who dabbles in the realm of the Linux OS needs all the enterprise-specific tutelage this guidebook offers. However, it certainly has chapters to enlighten even casual readers interested in learning really useful stuff. Sobell assembles in one spot his accumulated experience as a Linux expert and his keen insights about succeeding with two enterprise workhorse distributions.





  • What Kinds of Computers Do You Use?
    Not so long ago all of us pretty much did our computing either on a desktop or a laptop. Those were pretty much our only choices, unless servers are included and they’re pretty much desktops without…well, a desktop.


  • Rugged PCIe/104 SBC offers ARM or x86 CPUs
    Diamond tipped a conduction-cooled Quantum SBC for data acquisition, available with either AMD or i.MX6 CPUs and featuring a tiny stackable PCI Express bus. The Qseven standard is gradually bringing together the worlds of embedded ARM and x86 development.


  • Red Hat Courts Government Cloud Customers
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux is now available in the Amazon Web Services GovCloud (US) Region, where government agencies can deploy it to meet compliance and regulatory standards.


  • Puppy Arcade - Retro Gaming Live CD
    Puppy Arcade is a FREE retro gaming operating system, with many emulators included for different systems & consoles, plus the multi-system rom browser 'Rom-Loader', and many other exclusive tools.



  • Three open source markdown editors put to the test
    Very much inspired by my interview with Bryan Behrenshausen, I’ve been spending a lot more time working with Markdown. Day-to-day, at work and at home, I usually work with either HTML or word processed documents. Markdown is simple enough, but there is a learning curve....., so while one of the advantages of it is that it doesn’t require any kind of special editor, I went through a few Markdown editors, trying to find the one I like best. I eventually narrowed my list to three: ReText, UberWriter, and gedit-markdown.



  • The Internet is not a value tree
    Now anyone is entitled to their own opinion and views of the world, but it is alarming to see that the very people who are in charge of formulating the rules that will shape our use of the digital environment for years to come are basing their ideas on a rather simplistic model of the Internet, that looks at the Internet as if it was yet another push medium in the the line of newspapers, radio, CDs or television.





  • Broadcom's New Open-Source GPU Stack Earns Praise
    Last week we talked about Broadcom finally open-sourcing their VideoCore IV 3D Graphics Stack and it is indeed the real McCoy, but the $10,000 Quake III bounty has yet to be claimed for getting it to work on the Raspberry Pi.



Linux Insider

  • Evernote for Android Could Make the Pen Mighty Again
    Evernote this week launched handwriting capabilities in its app for Android, offering a long-awaited extension of some of the functionality it brought to iOS when it acquired Penultimate back in 2012. "Sometimes there's no better way to capture an idea than to write it down or sketch it out," wrote Andrew Sinkov of Evernote's marketing team in a Wednesday blog post.


  • Sobell Compiles Top-Notch Practical Linux Guide
    Not everyone who dabbles in the realm of the Linux OS needs all the enterprise-specific tutelage this guidebook offers. However, it certainly has chapters to enlighten even casual readers interested in learning really useful stuff. Sobell assembles in one spot his accumulated experience as a Linux expert and his keen insights about succeeding with two enterprise workhorse distributions.


  • Red Hat Launches a 3-fer for Enterprise BPM Users
    Red Hat on Tuesday unveiled Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite 6, an open source business process management suite that combines business process management, business rules management and complex event processing technologies in a single product offering. JBoss BPM Suite 6 includes all the capabilities of the next version of Red Hat's business rules platform, JBoss BRMS 6.


  • When Friends Tell Friends to Use Linux
    It's a natural human tendency to want to share a good thing with the people you care about, and Linux is certainly no exception. It can be downright painful, in fact, for FOSS fans to sit by and watch their friends and loved ones suffer in the clutches of other OSes. Even so, is it always a good idea to recommend Linux? One longtime Linux aficionado and blogger isn't so sure.


  • Wiliest Ways to Keep the NSA at Bay
    The death of online privacy had already been proclaimed long before Edward Snowden landed in the international spotlight, but if it wasn't confirmed back then, Snowden's NSA revelations surely must have extinguished the last vestiges of hope in even the most die-hard optimists. "We're in a predicament," said Phil Zimmermann, Pretty Good Privacy creator and cofounder and president of Silent Circle.


  • App Converter Bridges Tizen-Android Divide
    The first Tizen phones may still be on the horizon, but at least one software provider is already planning ahead. Infraware Technology debuted software that can port Android apps to the Tizen mobile OS without additional development or customization. Both Android and Tizen are based on Linux, of course, but that doesn't mean their native apps are compatible.


  • Bruce Momjian: PostgreSQL Prefers the Scenic Route
    Bruce Momjian years ago salvaged a nearly abandoned open source database project: PostgreSQL. Now he heads an international group helping to keep its community growing. He also is a key architect for a commercial database company that supports his advisory group and the Postgres open source community. PostreSQL, or "Postgres," is a popular open source object-relational database management system.


  • Google Issues Clarion Call for Project Ara Devs
    Google is ramping up its plans to bring the Project Ara modular smartphone to market by scheduling its first developer conference. The company will hold the conference on April 15-16 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. A limited number of developers will be able to attend the conference in person, but anyone can participate online through a live stream and interactive Q&A.


  • The Rise of the Ethical Hacktivist
    When Saul Alinsky wrote Rules for Radicals more than four decades ago, the world was a very different place than it is today. Protests and demonstrations were among the most common tactics for bringing about social change, and they were used on such a broad scale that they helped define the Vietnam War era and counterculture movement of the 1960s and 1970s.


  • News Flash from Redmond: FOSS Causes Dissatisfaction!
    Here in the Linux community, we're all familiar with the many benefits that come with using open source software -- customizability, interoperability, and freedom from vendor lock-in, to name just a few examples. Well, Linux Girl has shocking news to report. It turns out there's also a BIG PROBLEM associated with open source software that we've all apparently overlooked: dissatisfaction!


  • Nokia Mixes It Up With New Android X Family
    Nokia on Monday confirmed months of speculation with the unveiling of its X family of smartphones running Android. The X, X+ and XL are priced at $123, $136 and $150, respectively. Like Nokia's low-end Asha line, the X devices come in bright colors. They borrow some of Asha's other well-received features as well. Unlike Asha, however, the X series will not be available in the U.S.


  • Linux Distros Gone Today, Here Tomorrow
    It's long been the case that the world of Linux distributions offers at least one compelling choice for virtually every taste and purpose, but -- much like those dissatisfied with the weather in New England -- users who don't see a distro they like need only wait a few minutes. You win a few, you lose a few -- but the overall pool of choices remains rich and diverse.



  • Drone Pilot Wins Case Against FAA
    schwit1 writes "In a David vs. Goliath battle that pitted the Federal Aviation Administration against the operator of a small model airplane, a federal administrative judge has sided with the aircraft's pilot. The judge has dismissed a proposed $10,000 fine against businessman Raphael Pirker, who used a remotely operated 56-inch foam glider to take aerial video for an advertisement for the University of Virginia Medical Center"


    Read more of this story at Slashdot.







  • Estimate: Academic Labs 11 Times More Dangerous Than Industrial Counterparts
    Jim_Austin writes "Academic science labs are generally far less safe than labs in industry; one estimate says that people working in academic labs are 11x more likely to be hurt than their industrial counterparts. A group of grad students and postdocs in Minnesota decided to address the issue had-on. With encouragement and funding from DOW, and some leadership from their department chairs, they're in the process of totally remaking their departments' safety cultures."


    Read more of this story at Slashdot.







  • Should Newsweek Have Outed Satoshi Nakamoto's Personal Details?
    Nerval's Lobster writes "Newsweek's Leah McGrath Goodman spent months tracking down the mysterious founder of Bitcoin, "Satoshi Nakamoto," a name that everybody seemed to believe was a pseudonym for either a single individual or a shadowy collective of programmers. If Satoshi Nakamoto, former government contractor and model-train enthusiast, is actually "Satoshi Nakamoto," Bitcoin founder, then he's sitting atop hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto-currency. Does the article's exhaustive listing of Nakamoto's personal details place his security at risk? Many in the Bitcoin community think so, and poured onto the Web to express that opinion. The Newsweek article has raised some interesting questions about the need for thorough journalism versus peoples' right to privacy. For example, should Goodman have posted an image of Nakamoto's house and car, even though information about both would probably be relatively simple to find online, anyway?"


    Read more of this story at Slashdot.







  • Stanford Team Tries For Better Wi-Fi In Crowded Buildings
    alphadogg writes "Having lots of Wi-Fi networks packed into a condominium or apartment building can hurt everyone's wireless performance, but Stanford University researchers say they've found a way to turn crowding into an advantage. In a dorm on the Stanford campus, they're building a single, dense Wi-Fi infrastructure that each resident can use and manage like their own private network. That means the shared system, called BeHop, can be centrally managed for maximum performance and efficiency while users still assign their own SSIDs, passwords and other settings. The Stanford project is making this happen with inexpensive, consumer-grade access points and SDN (software-defined networking)."


    Read more of this story at Slashdot.







  • Computer Program Allows the Blind To "See" With Sound
    sciencehabit writes "Scientists have developed an algorithm that converts simple grayscale images into musical soundscapes. Even people blind from birth can use the technology to 'see' their surroundings and navigate around a room. Equally intriguing, the part of the subject's brain responsible for vision was active during these tasks, suggesting our thinking about how the brain works may be wrong. Instead of a 'vision center' of the brain, for example, we may actually have a region that helps us 'see', whether that input comes from sight or sound."


    Read more of this story at Slashdot.







  • New Tool Makes Android Malware Easier To Create
    itwbennett writes "A new commercial tool designed to allow cybercriminals to easily transform legitimate Android applications into malicious software has hit the underground market, paving the way for cheap and easy development of sophisticated Android malware. Security researchers from Symantec said Wednesday in a blog post that the tool, called Dendroid, is marketed by its creators as an Android remote administration tool (RAT) and is being sold for $300."


    Read more of this story at Slashdot.







  • Hubble Witnesses Mysterious Breakup of Asteroid
    astroengine writes "Hubble has observed some weird things since it was launched in 1990, but this is probably one of the strangest. In September 2013, the Catalina and Pan-STARRS sky surveys spotted a mysterious object in the asteroid belt, a region of rocky debris that occupy the space between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Follow-up observations by the Keck Observatory in Hawaii resolved three separate objects within the fuzzy cloud. It was so strange that Hubble mission managers decided to use the space telescope to get a closer look. And what they saw has baffled and thrilled astronomers in equal measure. 'This is a really bizarre thing to observe — we've never seen anything like it before,' said co-author Jessica Agarwal of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Germany. 'The break-up could have many different causes, but the Hubble observations are detailed enough that we can actually pinpoint the process responsible.'"


    Read more of this story at Slashdot.







  • Samsung Galaxy Glass Patent Plans To Turn Fingers Into a Keyboard
    rjmarvin writes "Samsung looks to have found a way around voice commands for smart glasses by projecting an augmented reality keyboard onto users' hands. Galaxy Glass wearers' thumbs are used as input devices, tapping different areas of their fingers where various keys are virtually mapped. According to the August 2013 patent filing with the WIPO and South Korea's Intellectual Property Office, Samsung states that voice controls are too imprecise a technology, which are too heavily impacted by the noise levels of the surrounding environment."


    Read more of this story at Slashdot.







  • Massachusetts Court Says 'Upskirt' Photos Are Legal
    cold fjord writes with this CNN report: "Massachusetts' highest court ruled Wednesday that it is not illegal to secretly photograph underneath a person's clothing — a practice known as "upskirting" — prompting one prosecutor to call for a revision of state law. The high court ruled that the practice did not violate the law because the women who were photographed while riding Boston public transportation were not nude or partially nude."


    Read more of this story at Slashdot.







  • Microsoft Confirms DirectX 12 Is Alive and Well, Demo Coming At GDC
    MojoKid writes "Buzz has been building for the last week that Microsoft would soon unveil the next version of DirectX at the upcoming Games Developer Conference (GDC). Microsoft has now confirmed that its discussion forums at the show won't just be to discuss updates to DX11, but that the company is putting a full court press behind DirectX 12. The company responded sharply over a year ago, when an AMD executive claimed that future versions of the API were essentially dead, but it has been over four years since DX11 debuted. To date, Microsoft has only revealed a few details of the next-generation API. Like AMD's Mantle, it will focus on giving developers "close-to-metal" GPU resource access and reducing CPU overhead. Like Mantle, the goal of DirectX 12 is to give programmers more control over performance tuning, with an eye towards better multi-threading and multi-GPU scaling. Unlike Mantle, DirectX 12 will undoubtedly support a full range of GPUs from AMD, Intel, Nvidia and Qualcomm. Qualcomm's presence is interesting. With Windows RT all but moribund, Qualcomm's interest in that market may have seemed incidental. However, the fact that the company is involved with the DX12 standard could mean that the handset and tablet developer is serious about the Windows market in the long term."


    Read more of this story at Slashdot.







  • Is Traffic Congestion Growing Three Times As Fast As Economy?
    cartechboy writes "Math watch time: For many traffic analysts, INRIX is considered the gold-standard. This week the company says traffic congestion surged in 2013 and grew over three times as fast as the American economy. The bad news: If true, this reverses two consecutive years of traffic declines with a six percent increase in 2013. (GDP, by comparison, grew 1.9 percent last year.) The analysts then theorize links between economic growth and traffic congestion, which makes sense on the surface. (As the economy improves, more jobs are created, so more commuters on the roads) But INRIX's theory creates as many questions as it answers. For example, the U.S. GDP has been steadily growing since 2009. So why did congestion decline in 2011 and 2012?"


    Read more of this story at Slashdot.







  • It's True: Some People Just Don't Like Music
    sciencehabit writes "Researchers have found that between 1 and 3% of people don't like music of any kind. These people aren't tone deaf or incapable of grasping the emotional meaning of a song—their brains simply didn’t find listening to music rewarding. While some psychiatric disorders are associated with the loss of the ability to feel pleasure, called anhedonia, the music-haters represent the first evidence for not feeling pleasure from only one specific pleasing stimulant, a condition that has been dubbed music-specific anhedonia. Curious where you fall on the music reward spectrum? The researchers have an online quiz." I know I actively prefer silence to most music, but what I like, I like intensely. Update: 03/06 21:48 GMT by T : Sorry for the garbled submission; now fixed.


    Read more of this story at Slashdot.







  • Pwnie Express Rides Again at RSA 2014 (Video)
    The intro to our first video interview with Pwnie Express 'Founder and CEO and everything else' Dave Porcello back in 2012 started with this sentence: 'Pwnie Express is a cute name for this tiny (and easily hidden) group of Pen Test devices.' They have more tools now, including some they've released since we mentioned them and their (then) new Pwn Pad back in March, 2013. Now they're working with Kali Linux, a distro built especially for penetration testing (and formerly known as BackTrack). In this video we have Tim Lord chatting with Dave Porcello about recent Pwnie Express happenings at RSA 2014. (If you don't see the video below, please use this link.)


    Read more of this story at Slashdot.







  • A Tech Entrepreneur's Guide To Visiting Shenzhen
    Freetronics is Australia's answer to a lot of electronic tinkerers' needs, selling items like Arduino compatible boards, cables, and specialized tools. Founder Jonathan Oxer is a (serious) electronics hobbyist himself; he talked with Slashdot last year about making ArduSats, which were then launched to the International Space Station. Now, Oxer has written an excellent guide for hobbyists who might get the chance to travel to Shenzhen, where so many of the world's electronic bits and bobs are made. As travel writing goes, it's fascinating for the sheer novelty of the place. If you actually have the chance to go, some of the advice here might save you money and time. For those of you who have been to Shenzhen, what else should visitors know?


    Read more of this story at Slashdot.







  • Ask Slashdot: How Do I Change Tech Careers At 30?
    First time accepted submitter possiblybored writes "I'm 30, and I am a technology teacher and the school's technology coordinator. I like my job, but I have been having thoughts about switching careers and focusing more on technology in the private sector. I like Microsoft products and would head in that direction, probably. Is it too late for me to think about this? What is the best way to get started on this path? I'm not so much interested in programming (though I'd like to learn a language some day) as much as I am intrigued by topics like setting up e-mail servers, reading about cloud stuff like Office 365, and looking at information on collaborative technology. I'm a good teacher and excel at explaining things as well. Any advice the community could offer would be greatly appreciated!"


    Read more of this story at Slashdot.







  • Getty Images Makes 35 Million Images Free For Non-Commercial Use
    kc123 writes "In an effort to deal with copyright infringement Getty Images is launching a new embedding feature that will make more than 35 million images freely available to anyone for non-commercial usage. Anyone will be able to visit Getty Images' library of content, select an image and copy an embed HTML code to use that image on their own websites. Getty Images will serve the image in an embedded player – very much like YouTube currently does with its videos – which will include the full copyright information and a link back to the image's dedicated licensing page on the Getty Images website."


    Read more of this story at Slashdot.







  • Fedora To Have a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" For Contributors
    An anonymous reader writes "The Fedora Project is now going to enforce a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for contributors. What the project's engineering committee is asking their members to conceal is a contributor's nationality, country of origin, or area of residence. There's growing concern about software development contributions coming from export restricted countries by the US (Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria) with Red Hat being based out of North Carolina, but should these governmental restrictions apply to an open-source software project?"


    Read more of this story at Slashdot.







  • Police Say No Foul Play In Death of Bitcoin Exchange CEO Autumn Radtke
    An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt: "The CEO of a virtual-currency exchange was found dead near her home in Singapore. A police spokesman said Thursday that initial investigations indicated there was no suspicion of 'foul play' in the Feb. 26 death, meaning officers do not suspect murder. The spokesman said police found 28-year-old Autumn Radtke, an American, lying motionless near the apartment tower where she lived. Police have so far classified the death as 'unnatural,' which can mean an accident, misadventure, or suicide." Hat tip to Jamie McCarthy for Slate's thoughtful take on Radtke's death, and the way it's been reported (notably, several sources have speculated that her death was a suicide, with little support).


    Read more of this story at Slashdot.







  • New Mozilla Encoder Improves JPEG Compression
    jlp2097 writes "As reported by Heise, Mozilla has introduced a new JPEG encoder (German [Google-translated to English]) called mozjpeg. Mozjpeg promises to be a 'production-quality JPEG encoder that improves compression while maintaining compatibility with the vast majority of deployed decoders.' The Mozilla Research blog states that Mozjpeg is based on libjpeg-turbo with functionality added from jpgcrush. They claim an average of 2-6% of additional compression for files encoded with libjpeg and 10% additional compression for a sample of 1500 jpegs from Wikipedia — while maintaining the same image quality."


    Read more of this story at Slashdot.







  • Bitcoin Inventor Satoshi Nakamoto Outed By Newsweek
    DoctorBit writes "According to today's Newsweek article, Satoshi Nakamoto is ... Satoshi Nakamoto — a 64-year-old Japanese-American former defense contractor living with his mother in a modest Temple City, California suburban home. According to the article, 'He is someone with a penchant for collecting model trains and a career shrouded in secrecy, having done classified work for major corporations and the U.S. military.' and 'Nakamoto's family describe him as extremely intelligent, moody and obsessively private, a man of few words who screens his phone calls, anonymizes his emails and, for most of his life, has been preoccupied with the two things for which Bitcoin has now become known: money and secrecy.' The article quotes him as responding when asked about bitcoin, 'I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss it, ... It's been turned over to other people. They are in charge of it now. I no longer have any connection.' I imagine that he will now have to move and hire round-the-clock security for his own protection."


    Read more of this story at Slashdot.







  • Target Rich Environment: Mobile Malware in China
    An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from Help-Net Security (based on the linked Trend Micro report): "Every country's cybercriminal underground market has distinct characteristics, and with 500 million national mobile Internet users and the number continuously rising, the Chinese underground market is awash with cyber crooks buying and selling services and devices aimed at taking advantage of them. Trend Micro's senior threat researchers Lion Gu has been scouring forums, online shops and QQ chats to give us a sense of what is actually going on on this burgeoning mobile underground. Mobile apps that stealthily subscribe users to premium services are, naturally, very popular with cyber crooks in China as in the rest of the world. Premium service numbers can also be bought on underground markets. Network carriers usually assign premium service numbers to qualified service providers, but obviously some of them are not [averse to] selling them on to criminals."


    Read more of this story at Slashdot.







  • How Ireland Got Apple's $9 Billion Australian Profit
    elphie007 writes "An investigation by The Australian Financial Review has discovered how from 2002 to 2013, Apple has shifted approximately $AU8.9 billion of revenue generated in Australia to Ireland, via Singapore. The article states that last year alone, Apple Australia paid only $AU88.5 million in tax, or 0.044% of estimated potential tax liabilities. What's more, the Australian Tax Office has agreed that this arrangement is acceptable under Australian law."


    Read more of this story at Slashdot.







  • NASA Wants To Go To Europa
    MightyMartian writes "'NASA and the White House are asking Congress to bankroll a new intrastellar road trip to a destination that's sort of like the extraterrestrial Atlantis of our solar system — Jupiter's intriguing moon, Europa.' Since Europa seems one of the most likely worlds in the Solar System other than Earth where we have some hope of finding extant life, let's hope Congress gives the green light to this project."


    Read more of this story at Slashdot.







  • Krita 2.8 Released
    JDG1980 writes "Krita, an open-source graphics editor, has been around since 2005, but no stable version existed for Windows users — until today. With the release of Krita 2.8, full and stable support for Windows users is finally a reality, thanks to input from KO GmbH and Intel. Krita brings some things to the table that GIMP does not: 16 bit per channel color support, adjustment layers, and a name that won't set off red flags at HR, just to list a few. You can download the Windows version here. Might be worth looking into, if you're tired of the lack of progress on GIMP and don't want to pay monthly "cloud" fees to Adobe."


    Read more of this story at Slashdot.







  • Jewish School Removes Evolution Questions From Exams
    Alain Williams writes "Religious sponsored ignorance is not just in the USA, a school in Hackney, England is trying to hide the idea of evolution from its pupils. Maybe they fear that their creation story will be seen for what it is if pupils get to learn ideas supported evidence. The girls are also disadvantaged since they can't answer the redacted questions, thus making it harder to get good marks."


    Read more of this story at Slashdot.









  • Why can’t I walk past Maplin without buying stuff I don’t need?
    Blow me a fuse, darlin’, I got 499 more where that came from
    Something for the Weekend, Sir? Good news – after weeks of slaving over a seemingly interminable office refurb, occupying seven days a week and painstakingly documented in this column ad nauseam, I finally found some time to get some chores done.…



  • Bugger the jetpack, where's my 21st-century Psion?
    Forgotten form factors #2: The handheld PC
    Way back in 2011 we covered a handy category of portable computer that has completely disappeared. The early A4 portables were a specialist item, much beloved of journalists but not a big hit with the wider world. It took a different design to win those hearts.…




  • Crowdfunding sites are JUST LIKE BANKS, say financial regulators
    Even loans are now subject to regulation under new Financial Conduct Authority rules
    Loan-based crowdfunding platforms will be required to hold a certain amount of capital in reserve to mitigate against the risk of their business failing and leaving lenders out of pocket, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has said.…


  • Avere gets edgy, speeds up flash flier filer
    FXT 4800 also enlarged to 4.8TB SSD capacity
    Avere produces clusterable FXT filer accelerators using tiering across RAM, Flash/SSD, fast SAS disk, and nearline SATA/SAS disks to accelerate access to file data from a filer behind it.…


  • China bans TXTing and Tweeting in Parliament
    No cameras, either: The People must not know how posh their pollies have become
    Delegates at China’s largely ceremonial parliament, the National People’s Congress, have been warned to keep their smartmobes firmly in their pockets during the annual ten-day snoozefest meeting.…


  • comiXology's Phantom Zone breached by villainous Haxxor
    Use of password change Kryptonite urged for all e-comics readers
    E-comics outfit comiXology has written to customers advising them to change their passwords after “recent review and upgrade of our security infrastructure … determined that an unauthorized individual accessed a database of ours that contained usernames, email addresses, and cryptographically protected passwords.”…



  • Zaphod Beeblebrox style third arm cyborg prosthesis unveiled
    'A lot of metal drummers would be jealous of me' says first recipient
    Yet another development ripped from the pages of that great work, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, has moved a large step closer to reality this week as a professor in the US reveals a special prosthetic arm which - rather than being intended solely to replace missing limbs - could be used instead to create "a three-armed cyborg".…


  • Twelve million hit as Korea suffers ANOTHER massive data breach
    KT Corp caught with its passwords down for third time in two years
    The South Korean government was forced to launch an inquiry today after another massive data breach rocked the country, time the theft of account information belonging to 12 million customers of telco KT Corp.…


  • China to blow away smog with DRONES
    The Party declares war on pollution, before the unwashed declare war on it
    China is set to unleash a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles to clear the smog from its skies as part of Beijing’s newly declared “war on pollution”.…


  • Om Nom Nom Nom: AWS to eat Windows Server 2012 VMs
    Hybrid cloud competition rolls on as Azure offers Active Directory extensions
    Amazon Web Services' has added yet another feature, this time unveiling the ability to import and export Windows Server 2012 images to EC2.…




  • Wanted: Virtual Steve Jobs to tell us one more thing about VSAN
    Without prices for VSAN nodes comparison between traditional and virtual SAN costs is tough
    It's a shame that VMware's VSAN launch didn't use Steve Jobs' trick of revealing “one more thing”, because there's one important detail missing from yesterday's event.…




  • Hubble snaps SPACE CRUMBLE enigma 'roid
    Was it a cosmic murder? Break-up baffles boffins
    Video The Hubble space telescope has photographed weird asteroid P/2013 R3 disintegrating chunk by chunk as it screams around our Sun.…


  • So long, Samsung! TSMC is fabbing Apple's A8 chip, insiders claim
    Cupertino's hated rival booted from future iPhone supply chain, paper reports
    The next generation of Apple's custom system on a chip (SoC) for mobile devices will be manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) rather than Samsung, and so will several other chips to be used in the forthcoming iPhone 6, a report has claimed.…









  • Bloke rattles tin for giant 3D two-headed beast
    Another day, another Kickstarter 3D printer pitch
    We suspect that the Kickstarter-funded 3D printer bubble is fast approaching burst point, as hopefuls queue up to rattle their tins and get their necks in the DIY-extruded trough.…









  • PayPal mudslingfest TELEVISED: Icahn and Donahoe go on telly
    Investor: eBay has 'worst governance ever'. CEO: It's just Carl's usual 'antics'
    The fight between activist investor Carl Icahn and eBay over the fate of PayPal has hit the media, after Icahn claimed that he'd "never seen worse corporate governance" at another firm.…






  • Roll up, roll up for the Commentards' Ball
    At last, the 'Pint' icon assumes some meatspace reality
    Commentards' Ball We here at El Reg have much love for our vociferous, knowledgeable, occasionally somewhat foam-flecked commentards - even if they/you don't absolutely always love us.…




  • Vulture wraps claws around Elgato Thunderbolt Drive+ portable SSD
    Speedy storage that burns a hole in your pocket
    Review It took a bit of persuading to be convinced that Elgato’s Thunderbolt Drive+ drive should end up on the test bench for review. The company had released the, er, "non-plussed" version a couple of years ago and it didn’t quite set the world on fire.…


  • Happy 75th birthday, Adam Osborne
    Remembering a personal computing pioneer
    Dig through enough archives, old texts, magazine ads or historical archives and you're bound to see one: a bulky plastic oddity that looks vaguely like a portable sewing machine, save for a detachable keyboard and miniscule display sticking out of the front.…


  • Blimey! ANOTHER Bitcoin bleed brouhaha
    Poloniex loses TEN PER CENT of depositors' funny money
    A cryptocurrency exchange called Poloniex has lost more than ten per cent of its entire stash of Bitcoin after allegedly being hacked.…


  • Review of UK data protection: Should fines go OVER HALF A MIL?
    It's not like it's taxpayers' money or anything. Oh wait...
    The UK government should consider raising the level of fines that the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) can impose on organisations that breach the Data Protection Act (DPA), an expert has said.…



Linux.com offline for now

  • 30-Way Graphics Card Comparison On Ubuntu Linux 14.04 LTS
    After this week already seeing how the open-source graphics drivers supplied by Ubuntu 14.04 LTS allow Radeon Gallium3D to run at ~80% of the Catalyst Linux driver and how open-source graphics still struggle with older hardware, our latest testing of the Ubuntu 14.04 LTS development version that will be released next month leads us to benchmarking 30 different AMD Radeon and NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards under this popular desktop Linux distribution.



  • DRM Kernel Log Renderer Proposed For Linux
    One of the long-standing proclaimed benefits of Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) graphics drivers for the Linux kernel was that it would be possible to have "Blue Screen of Death"-like error messages in cases of kernel issues. That feature is now closer to being realized while also advancing another goal of disabling VT support within the Linux kernel...









  • OpenELEC 4.0 Beta Brings Changes, Based On XBMC 13
    The OpenELEC HTPC/multimedia Linux distribution is out today with their first beta release of the upcoming 4.0 series. OpenELEC 4.0 will bring many front-end and back-end changes to this distribution centered around XBMC...


  • Fedora 20 Runs Great On The Intel Bay Trail NUC
    Last month I wrote about Intel's Bay Trail NUC Kit on Linux and shared some early Intel Bay Trail Linux benchmarks. That earlier testing was done from Ubuntu 13.10 but this DN2820FYKH NUC can also be made to work quite well with Fedora 20. Here's the experience on setting up Fedora 20 for the Intel Bay Trail NUC Kit and some Ubuntu vs. Fedora benchmarks from this low-power, mini Intel system.







  • Samsung Laptops Will Soon See Better Linux Performance, Less Bugs
    The performance of several different Samsung laptop models will soon improve under Linux thanks to an important kernel fix that will appear in the Linux 3.15 kernel. This important patch addresses some ACPI issues and system performance issues for multiple Samsung laptops that have plagued Linux for at least two years...


  • Red Hat Makes A Suid Root Wrapper For Xorg
    Thanks to recent work on systemd's logind, it's now possible to install the X.Org Server binary without suid root rights while having everything work correctly, assuming you are using KMS drivers...


  • Broadcom's New Open-Source GPU Stack Earns Praise
    Last week we talked about Broadcom finally open-sourcing their VideoCore IV 3D Graphics Stack and it is indeed the real McCoy, but the $10,000 Quake III bounty has yet to be claimed for getting it to work on the Raspberry Pi...


  • Mesa 10.1 Released With Many Open-Source Driver Improvements
    Mesa 10.1 was released this morning as the latest three-month update to this 3D library and graphics driver stack used throughout the Linux desktop ecosystem. With Mesa 10.1 there are tons of improvements, while one of the big highlights is OpenGL 3.3 support for the open-source Radeon and Nouveau drivers.




  • Radeon Open-Source Performance Over Three Years, Compared To Catalyst
    Yesterday on Phoronix I published results showing the Radeon Gallium3D performance getting close to Catalyst for the Radeon HD 5000 series and newer GPUs that are supported by the mainline Catalyst driver. On the open-source side the hardware is supported by the R600 and RadeonSI (for the GCN hardware) Gallium3D drivers. Yesterday's results showed that on Ubuntu 14.04 for many OpenGL workloads the R600/RadeonSI Gallium3D drivers were now ~80% the speed of the proprietary Catalyst driver in many instances. While this is a great feat, how does it stand for older generations of AMD Radeon hardware? In this article are Radeon HD 4870 benchmarks looking at the performance of the open-source AMD Linux driver over three years of Ubuntu Linux releases and compared to the legacy Catalyst driver from 2011.






  • KDE 4.12.3 Brings 30+ Bug-Fixes
    On the same day as announcing KDE Frameworks 5 Alpha 2 with improved Wayland support, the KDE development community has gone ahead and announced KDE 4.12.3 as their latest monthly point release...



  • More Radeon DRM Improvements Queued For Linux 3.15
    We've already seen some Radeon DRM graphics driver code queued up for merging into the Linux 3.15 kernel in a few weeks time. Arriving this morning were another batch of exciting Radeon changes that will target the Linux 3.15 merge window...






  • Video Acceleration Takes The Backseat On Chrome For Linux
    Due to notorious Linux graphics drivers, Google developers working on Chrome/Chromium aren't looking to enable hardware video acceleration by default anytime soon. The problem ultimately comes down to poor Linux graphics drivers...



Engadget

  • HP quietly launches an 8-inch Android tablet for $170


    Hewlett Packard is trying to pull off a flanking maneuver on the Android market, through low-profile launches of low-cost devices. We recently came across the company's VoiceTab phablets during a side-show at Mobile World Congress, and now we're looking at a more traditional 7.85-inch tablet called the HP 8. In return for $170, you'll get a plain-looking device that, aesthetically, has more in common with last year's Slate 7 than with the faux-metal VoiceTabs. However, since we're making comparisons, we should also point out that the HP 8 has a worse display than both the Slate 7 and Dell's rival Venue 8, with fewer pixels (1,024 x 768) spread out over a larger area. The software and internals seem functional enough, though: Android 4.2.2 running on a quad-core ARM chip made by the Chinese company Allwinner, with 1GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable storage, stereo speakers, and a just-about-okay 3,800mAh battery that promises up to seven hours of use.

    Filed under: Tablets, Mobile, HP

    Comments

    Via: PhoneArena

    Source: HP


  • Judge rules that flying commercial drones is legal, for now

    The Federal Aviation Administration may want to go through some rigorous testing before it allows commercial drone flights on a broader basis, but the National Transportation Safety Board isn't willing to wait that long. One of the Board's judges has determined that the FAA currently has no authority to regulate drones; the move effectively makes drones legal, and it spares a pilot from a $10,000 fine for shooting a commercial with his unmanned aircraft. The Administration has no rules on the books for such vehicles, according to the judge, and the 2007 policy notice it has been using to ban drones isn't binding. There's still a possibility that the FAA will create enforceable rules down the line. For now, though, Amazon and UPS don't have to worry about legal threats to their delivery drone plans.

    Filed under: Robots

    Comments

    Source: Vice



  • Vine bans pornographic material, says artistic nudity is okay

    Consider it an unspoken, but universally true rule: if it can be used forporn, it will be. Texting, Snapchat, Skype and video streaming technology have all fallen to mankind's more base desires, and now, Vine has too. According to a post on the Vine blog, the company has determined that a small percentage of its users are posting videos that "are not a good fit" for its community. In response, Twitter has changed its terms of service to ban sexually explicit Vines, specifically prohibiting videos of sexually provocative nudity, obviously aroused genitalia, sexually graphic art or animation and clips of sex toys being used erm.. as intended.

    That said, the company doesn't want you to think it prudish -- nudity in natural, artistic or documentary context (such as unclothed models in an art class or nude protesters) are A-OK, as are the swaying hips of any fully clothed erotic dancer. "We don't have a problem with explicit sexual content on the internet," the company wrote. "We just prefer not to be the source of it." Fair enough, but if we were to guess, we'd say the move has more to do with upsetting App Store policies than maintaining a squeaky clean community.

    Filed under: Cellphones

    Comments

    Source: Vine Blog


  • Sharp's near-4K TVs are now available, starting at $2,500

    Even though CES 2014 is long gone, some of the stuff announced there is just now starting to become available for purchase. Case in point: Sharp's Quattron+ lineup, a series of 2014 AQUOS televisions featuring the latest and greatest, including a revamped SmartCentral platform. But that's not what's interesting here. Instead, it's the Quattron+ technology, one that Sharp describes as being able to "accept a 4K signal and play it back at near-4K resolution, with an effective resolution of 3,840 x 2,160."

    The company says this is possible thanks to its Revelation Upscaler, which takes HD content and "optimizes it for the higher resolution screen, so that it's sharper and more vivid." By building Q+ TVs on 1080p panels, Sharp claims it's then capable of pricing these lower than some of its would-be competitors. Now, is that enough to get you to buy into it? If so, you'll have quite a few options to choose from -- they're up for grabs now in 60-, 70- and 80-inch flavors, with prices ranging from $2,500 all the way to a cool $6,000.

    Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment, HD

    Comments

    Source: Sharp


  • EdX expands range of institutions that can offer free online courses

    EdX's open online education system has drawn a lot of interest -- enough interest that the non-profit has just loosened up its membership structure to allow for more participants. The revamp lets 12 additional organizations offer free internet-based courses, including schools as well as non-academic outlets like the International Monetary Fund, the Linux Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution. Details of the new programs aren't available beyond the Linux Foundation's plans for an introductory Linux course, but edX's move is bound to improve the diversity of things you can learn without spending a dime on tuition.

    [Image credit: TU Delft, Flickr]

    Filed under: Internet

    Comments

    Source: EdX



  • Leak reveals the Nokia Lumia 630's colorful backside

    There have been leaks showing the front of the Nokia Lumia 630 (aka Moneypenny), but a complete view of the Windows Phone 8.1 hardware has been elusive... until now. Frequent tipster @evleaks has posted an apparent press shot revealing the back of the bright-hued device, and it suggests that the 630 will represent a sharp break from the designs of the Lumia 620 and 625. There's no camera key or flash, for a start -- mobile photography fans may want to give this phone a pass. We also see hints of a flatter, more X-like body. There aren't any fresh clues as to when the 630 might launch, although we're not expecting to see it until sometime after the official unveiling of Windows Phone 8.1, which may take place in April.

    Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Nokia

    Comments

    Source: @evleaks (Twitter)



  • Mercedes wants to bring CarPlay to older vehicles this year

    The biggest catch of Apple's CarPlay (aside from platform support) is its limitation to newer vehicles; at last check, most people won't buy a new car just to get better smartphone integration. Mercifully, Mercedes-Benz tells 9to5 Mac that it's planning to deliver an "after market solution" for older cars by the end of 2014. The automaker isn't providing many details, although there's a good chance that its solution involves more than a simple software upgrade. Other brands haven't outlined their plans for aftermarket CarPlay support, but it's early days -- don't be surprised if there are more announcements once manufacturers are ready to show their cards.

    Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation, Mobile, Apple

    Comments

    Via: Pocket-lint

    Source: 9to5 Mac


  • Verizon and DirecTV's internet TV hopes perk up thanks to Dish, Disney


    Rumors that existing satellite and cable TV providers would launch full internet streaming services have circled for years, but the new agreement between Dish Network and Disney has suddenly stirred the pot. Between a deal that could actually put ESPN on an internet-only TV service, Verizon buying Intel's abandoned OnCue effort plus live TV streaming to Xbox One (pictured above) and Sony's plan for an IPTV package it seems like we'll actually see something arrive in 2014. Reuters reports Verizon and DirecTV are negotiating with content providers for similar access, as Verizon CEO Lowell C. McAdam told investors he would "love to partner with (content providers) to see how we can take FiOS contact mobilely across the country." Meanwhile, last year, as well as Charter and Time Warner Cable, although Cox's Flarewatch beta seems to have ended without any wider rollout on the horizon. Comcast's shift to cloud-based services for its X1 platform has raised the possibility it could expand service outside its footprint, and it's already offering IPTV services at several colleges with Xfinity on Campus. Whatever offers arise, it seems like they'll still resemble current cable TV-style bundles of channels for now. Bloomberg sources indicate what many expected, that Disney's streaming deal still means if Dish offers one of its channels, it has to include others as well. That news won't necessarily satisfy a la carte seeking cord cutters, but lower entry prices without tying service to outdated set-top boxes would be a start.
    Filed under: Desktops, Home Entertainment, HD

    Comments

    Source: Reuters (1), (2), Bloomberg



  • HereO's GPS kid's watch isn't the first of its kind, it's just cuter and cheaper

    GPS leashes trackers for kids are hardly new, but damn if this isn't the cutest we've seen so far. Like other trackers of this sort, the HereO watch allows parents to create so-called safe zones around schools, et cetera, and then receive alerts should the child leave or enter the area. Additionally, parents can broadcast messages using an app, or send kids directions to help them reunite with a family member. On the surface, though, it's quite a bit cheaper than competing trackers: $99 on Indiegogo, compared with $200 for the Filip. It's also smaller than most kid's watches, not to mention better-designed, though we'll admit cuteness is in the eye of the beholder.
    The catch? Because this won't be sold through a carrier, like AT&T, you'll instead need to pay a monthly fee for the GPS service. Specifically, if you buy on Indiegogo you'll at least get the first six months free, but it's still $5 a month thereafter. (If you purchase it at retail once it comes out, you'll pay $149 with presumably no free service.) Should you buy in, the watch will work with a free app for either iOS or Android (Windows Phone and BlackBerry are coming soon, says the company).
    Comments

    Source: Indiegogo


  • PlayStation US head Jack Tretton parts ways with Sony


    Or at least, he will have done so come April 1st, no foolin'. Sony just announced that the long time SCEA executive will be making way for his replacement Shawn Layden, current EVP and COO of Sony Network Entertainment International. According to the company, Tretton's parting is the result of a "mutual agreement," but naturally, neither side's saying how that agreement was reached. The move certainly comes as a surprise, as Tretton had been with SCEA for almost 20 years, and was a part of the PlayStation team from the very beginning -- most recently overseeing the successful launch of Sony's newest console, the PS4. Evidently, that wasn't enough to keep him around... time will tell if Layden's a worthy successor.

    Image Credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

    Filed under: Gaming, HD, Sony

    Comments

    Source: Sony Computer Entertainment





  • Facebook redesigns its news feed -- again


    In a never-ending bid to make its news feed easier to use, Facebook has changed its look yet again. For one thing, the font will now be in Helvetica for Macs and Arial for PCs, which will make it look a lot like the fonts already in use elsewhere on your computer. Further, different shared stories will no longer have indentations when a friend leaves a comment, and will instead be separated out into its own post for the sake of a less messy interface. The left-hand column, previously cluttered with icons, is now much lighter and cleaner. Lastly, shared photos will now be in full-width, while multiple photos will be presented in a collage. The roll out begins today, so keep hitting refresh -- hopefully you'll get to see it before Facebook's next round of redesigns.

    Update: As Re/code explains it, this latest redesign is a result of poor testing of the design it showed off last March. That particular look was only rolled out to a small percentage of users, almost all of whom disliked it, which prompted a complete UI rethink. Therefore if the left-hand column above doesn't look all that different to you, it's because you never received last year's redesign in the first place. The primary difference that you'll see in the latest redesign is that the photos on your news feed will be much bigger.

    Filed under: Facebook

    Comments

    Source: TechCrunch, Re/code





  • Emotient's Google Glass app tells you how others are feeling

    It's not always easy to read someone's emotions -- and that's a problem for retailers, which can't easily tell if their products intrigue you or simply confuse you. They may not have to guess for much longer, though, as Emotient has launched the private beta for a Google Glass app that identifies feelings using the device's camera. The software scans faces for emotional cues that reflect an overall sentiment, even if it's subtle; the app can tell if you're mildly pleased, for instance. Privacy shouldn't be an issue, since the app is only saving anonymous data, not images.

    Emotient is testing its app with just a handful of companies right now, but the finished app should help stores please customers in the future. There's also a chance you'll see the underlying technology in something you can try for yourself. The company tells The Next Web that its emotion detection will reach Intel's RealSense platform, so don't be surprised if your next webcam can tell that you're in a good mood.

    Filed under: Wearables, Google, Intel

    Comments

    Via: The Next Web

    Source: Emotient


  • Mad Catz Android game console first to get OUYA content

    When OUYA announced it was expanding its gaming platform beyond its own hardware, it also said it'd share its first deal with a hardware manufacturer within two weeks. Well, it turns out that we only had to wait a couple of days, after accessory maker Mad Catz confirmed it's signed a deal to bring OUYA's software to its M.O.J.O. Android game console. The company says it's already working to incorporate its new partner's content and expects to roll out an update "later this spring," giving die-hard Android gamers access to exclusive OUYA titles on top of regular Google Play and Amazon app store downloads. If this unexpected Android union leaves you pining for some dedicated console action, Mad Catz has slashed $50 off the price of the M.O.J.O. in the US, although the new $199.99 price tag is still pretty hard to swallow.

    Filed under: Gaming

    Comments

    Source: Mad Catz (Businesswire)



  • Spotify just bought the company that powers most online radio (update)


    Spotify now owns The Echo Nest, better known as "the company that powers the vast majority of internet radio." That includes competing services like Twitter #Music, Rdio and more. But today's news doesn't necessarily mean that those services will lose support from Echo Nest's API, as Spotify's news announce today says, "The Echo Nest API will remain free and open to support its robust developer ecosystem." The Echo Nest is staying in Somerville, Mass., with employees assuredly making Revolutionary War jokes every now and again to their Spotify counterparts in England. It's not clear just yet what this will mean for Spotify Radio, but there's this one oblique line about the acquisition's potential impact: "The addition of The Echo Nest to Spotify will also strengthen Spotify's ability to help brands and partners build amazing music experiences for their audiences." Sure! Anyway, Spotify now owns the company that powers most of your internet radio. Take that as you will.

    Update: A Spotify rep gave us a few more details on the acquisition. First, Echo Nest is a "wholly owned subsidiary" of Spotify, and will operate relatively autonomously as such. Second, it looks like relationships with the competition may not last forever. "In the few cases where The Echo Nest does work with direct competitors we will work with them to understand these relationships and determine the next business steps. The Echo Nest will meet all contractual obligations to all customers," we were told.

    In other Spotify news, there's a new iOS SDK as well, available today, that's been "written from the ground up" to go even faster. It's apparently missing some functionality comparatively with the existing iOS SDK, but it's able to access search, playlists, metadata lookup, audio playback "and more" much faster, according to Spotify. Should that pique your interest, there's a Github page right here to get you started.

    Correction: This piece previously stated that Pandora is powered by Echo Nest tech, which is incorrect. Our apologies!

    Filed under: Software, Mobile

    Comments

    Source: Spotify, Spotify (2)


  • Windows 8.1 Update 1 download leaked early by Microsoft
    Microsoft finalized its upcoming Windows 8.1 Update recently, but the company appears to be sharing it a little early today. While the software maker is expected to release the update officially in April, Microsoft has only detailed a few of the features in the update and has not yet provided an official release date. Links to download a final version of the Windows 8.1 Update, thanks to Microsoft’s Windows Update service, have been discovered. A series of patches are required to obtain the full update, but once installed the new desktop-friendly features are enabled.The update can be downloaded via a registry change, or through direct links, but we recommend waiting for Microsoft to officially release it through the normal Windows Update channels in April.  Don't try this on a production machine.


  • Dell charges $27 to install Firefox on its new PCs
    The Mozilla Foundation has begun an investigation after tech juggernaut Dell appeared to be asking customers to pay GBP 16.25 ($27) to install its free web browser Firefox on newly purchased Dell kit.  What.


  • Microsoft's Nadella manages legacy of Ballmer-board split
    Nadella, who succeeded Ballmer one month ago, took a step this week by unraveling part of a restructuring his predecessor put in place in one of his last acts as chief executive officer. Nadella appointed onetime Democratic political operative Mark Penn to the just-invented post of strategy chief and shuffled other executives to resolve an unwieldy setup Ballmer had established in the marketing department.  Interesting look at the goings-on surround Ballmer's end.


  • Only Windows gets mobile multitasking right
    What's missing on all non-Microsoft platforms, as it turns out, is a formalized way to view at least two mobile apps side-by-side on screen. This is a feature that Microsoft added to Windows 8 and then improved dramatically in Windows 8.1, and while many desktop users scoff at its simplicity, it remains a key differentiator. Windows, as I've noted before, is unparalleled when it comes to productivity, even in the mobile world.  Pretty sure Google will introduce windowing support soon in Android, possibly within the next 18-24 months (Android 5.0, perhaps?). It seems inevitable. iOS, on the other hand - we'll see.


  • Apple CarPlay infotainment system powered by QNX
    Connectivity to smartphones and other mobile devices is a key strength of QNX Software Systems’ platform for car infotainment systems, and many automakers and tier one automotive suppliers use our platform to implement smartphone/head-unit integration in their vehicles. We have a long-standing partnership with Apple to ensure high-quality connectivity with their devices, and this partnership extends to support for Apple CarPlay.  Yes, Apple CarPlay runs on QNX. Makes sense - I'm guessing (?) in-car software needs a lot of certification and testing, which QNX' in-car platforms all already have.


  • CDE 2.2.1 released
    CDE 2.2.1 has been released on March 1. The release includes various bugfixes, a NetBSD port and improvement for UTF-8 locales with a new Greek UTF-8 translation.


  • Nokia X gets rooted, runs Google apps with no fuss
    The inevitable happened. Google apps got installed on the freshly announced Nokia X after a crafty member of XDA Developers rooted the Android handset. The root was achieved via the Framaroot app. The bootloader of the device is unsurprisingly locked, so instead of flashing a single zip file, users need to copy the apk files for Google apps via a root explorer application. After the root, Nokia X also runs Google Now Launcher without breaking a sweat.  And with that Frankenlauncher out of the way, the Nokia X suddenly became worth buying.


  • Karbonn to launch Android-Windows Phone dual-boot smartphones
    Homegrown mobile phone-maker Karbonn Mobiles is all set to launch dual-OS (operating system) devices, which will support both Android and Windows, by June.  The company has just signed the licence agreement with Microsoft to make Windows-based phones and will put this along with its existing Android system to bring out the dual-OS phones in about six months, the company's chairman Sudhir Hasija said.  I wonder what will happen if Google were to resort to the same illegal tactics that Microsoft used to force OEMs into not dual-booting BeOS back in the day.  In the end, I'm just filing this one under 'poetic justice'. Shoe's on the other foot now, Redmond.


  • Android grabs top spot from iPad with 62% share
    A new tipping point in the world of tablets: today the analysts at Gartner have released their tablet sales numbers for 2013, and Android has topped the list for the most popular platform for the first time, outselling Apple’s range of iPad tablets nearly twofold. Of the 195 million tablets sold in 2013, Android took nearly 62% of sales on 121 million tablets, while Apple sold 70 million iPad tablets for a 36% share.  In comparison, last year, Apple led the tablet category with nearly 53% of sales on 61 million units, compared to Android at nearly 46% with 53 million tablets sold.  This was always inevitable. Apple won't mind though - they're still raking in the profits.


  • Genode 14.02 runs VirtualBox, supports NetBSD's file systems
    With the release of version 14.02, the Genode project has added two major features to the OS-construction framework: Using VirtualBox on top of Genode/NOVA, a wide range of unmodified guest OSes can now be integrated as components into Genode-based systems. The second feature is the addition of the file systems of the NetBSD kernel as rump kernels. The release documentation covers plenty of further improvements.  With storage and virtualization, the new release addresses two topics that are fundamental for using Genode as general-purpose OS, and both topics have been approached in a pretty holistic manner.  When it comes to storage, the project has significantly advanced over the past year but a few key pieces were still missing, namely mature file systems and a block cache. After having investigated FUSE-based file systems in the previous release, the project started exploring so-called rump kernels, which enable the execution of subsystems of the NetBSD kernel at user level. Originally, the rump kernel project was created to ease the development of drivers on NetBSD. The basic idea behind them is to link a driver to a stripped-down version of the NetBSD kernel that does not contain any privileged instruction. Hence, it can be executed in user mode. To interact with the outside world, a rump kernel uses a small so-called "hypercall" interface. By implementing this interface on top of the Genode API, rump kernels have become usable on Genode now. The immediate benefit is the availability of the time-tested file systems of the NetBSD kernel. But in the future, other NetBSD subsystem such as the TCP/IP stack or device drivers could be considered just as well.  At block level, the project took the chance to redesign the internal interfaces of the existing block-level components to support fully asynchronous operation. This step enables the effective use of modern disk-controller features such as native command queuing, and even the out-of-order processing of block requests. As the cherry on top of this line of work, there is a new block-cache component.  Over the past 5 years, virtualization has always played a role for the project. It started with running the paravirtualized OKLinux on top of the OKL4 microkernel. Later L4Linux was made available to Genode running on the Fiasco.OC kernel. Once the NOVA hypervisor found its way to the framework, the project embraced the use of the Vancouver virtual machine monitor, which enabled the use of unmodified Linux kernels. However, none of these solutions appealed well for a large user base, mainly because they were difficult to use or lacked features. By adding support for VirtualBox on top of NOVA, the project has finally found an answer to the question for product-grade virtualization on top of the framework. The integration of VirtualBox with Genode was no ordinary porting work but quite an engineering feat, which turns the architecture of VirtualBox pretty much upside down. In contrast to the host operating systems already supported by VirtualBox, Genode's version does not extend the host kernel in any way. VirtualBox leverages hardware-based virtualization (VT-x) but lives as a plain user-level program with no special privileges.  As with each new version, there are numerous smaller improvements and new features. For example, a new pseudo file system called trace-fs makes it possible to interactively use Genode's event tracing mechanism via Unix tools such as cat, grep, and echo.  All the changes are covered in detail in the release documentation of version 14.02.


  • Sundar Pichai on Android security
    Google's Android head, Sundar Pichai, on security (original in French):  We cannot guarantee that Android is designed to be safe, the format was designed to give more freedom. When people talk about 90% of malware for Android, they must of course take into account the fact that it is the most popular operating system in the world. If I had a company dedicated to malware, I would also be addressing my attacks on Android.  Malware authors may be writing a lot of malware for Android, but they're not very good at it - less than 0.001% of all application installations on Android (in and outside of Google Play) penetrate Android's security.  In other words, this is a complete non-issue - no matter how often antivirus companies and certain bloggers drum it up.


  • What to expect from the first generation of Ubuntu smartphones
    The Ubuntu Touch smartphone OS has come a long way, but it still has further to plod before it's ready for market - all Canonical will tell us that it hopes to see an Ubuntu phone before the end of this year. Nevertheless, now that some phone manufacturers are on board with the project, we've been able to play with a couple of prototypes: One was just a non-functioning handset from a Spanish company called BQ, showing off plain but solid build quality reflective of a mid-tier device. The other was more interesting - a re-purposed Android handset from a second Ubuntu partner, Meizu, which makes light work of the operating system and interface.  It looks a bit choppy to me, but alas, it's a development build.


  • UK spy agency intercepted webcam images
    Britain's surveillance agency GCHQ, with aid from the National Security Agency, intercepted and stored the webcam images of millions of internet users not suspected of wrongdoing, secret documents reveal.  GCHQ files dating between 2008 and 2010 explicitly state that a surveillance program codenamed Optic Nerve collected still images of Yahoo webcam chats in bulk and saved them to agency databases, regardless of whether individual users were an intelligence target or not.  High Chancellor Cameron will not be pleased this information is out.


  • Google announces Project Ara developers' conferences
    We're excited to announce the first Ara Developers' Conference, to be held April 15-16, 2014. The Developers' Conference will be held online, with a live webstream and interactive Q&A capability. A limited number of participants will be able to attend in person at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.  We plan a series of three Ara Developers' Conferences throughout 2014. The first of these will focus on the alpha release of the Ara Module Developers' Kit (MDK). The MDK, which we expect to release online in early April, is a free and open platform specification and reference implementation that contains everything you need to develop an Ara module.  Project Ara is that modular smartphone concept Google/Motorola unveiled last year. I'm excited to see that it's actually moving beyond concept to arrive in developers' hands. I love crazy, pie-in-the-sky innovation like this. Google is really getting all PARC-y lately.


  • Hands-on with Samsung's Tizen OS
    Samsung has such a large presence at Mobile World Congress that it doesn't just have one giant booth; there are also several smaller ones scattered around the show halls. While the main booth exclusively shows Android phones and the biggest product of the show was the Android-based Galaxy S5, one of the most important areas for Samsung is a small booth tucked away in the last hall of MWC: a Tizen booth. Here, in the "App Planet" section of Mobile World Congress, Samsung has actual Tizen phones on display - phones with an OS that is fully under Samsung's control. Samsung's choice between Android and Tizen is one of the more interesting stories in tech right now, so when we stumbled upon this booth, we immediately grabbed our cameras and started snapping.  Two things stand out while reading the linked article and watching the video. First, just how unremarkable it all looks and functions. It could easily be mistaken for a Samsung Android device if you squint a bit. This is, perhaps, not surprising, considering the TouchWiz influences. Second, and perhaps more surprisingly, just how snappy, complete, and ready-to-go it all seems to be. Despite the obviously sparse application store, this could easily be sold to consumers right now.  I wonder what the future will hold for Tizen. I'm sure the recent agreements between Google and Samsung preclude the operating system from actually shipping on prominent devices, but I wonder if such a moratorium also applies to limited availability phones and tablets in specific markets.




  • Our Assignment
         
    We need to protect the freedoms in which Linux was born and grew up. 
       



  • Have Resume - Will Travel
         
    If you have Linux Skills...and if you're reading this we presume you do, you should be making MORE money!! 
       


  • Talking to Twitter
         
    Integrating Twitter into your application is easy, fun and useful. 
       


  • Web Administration Scripts—Redux
         
    It's been months, and I'm still dealing with a DDOS (distributed denial of service) attack on my server—an attack that I can see is coming from China, but there's not really much I can do about it other than try to tweak firewall settings and so on. 
       


  • DNSSEC Part I: the Concepts
         
    Like IPv6, DNSSEC is one of those great forward-looking protocols that unfortunately hasn't seen wide adoption yet. Before I implemented it myself, I could see why. Although some people think BIND itself is difficult to set up, DNSSEC adds an extra layer of keys, key management and a slew of additional DNS records.
       


  • Wanted - Free Software Enthusiasts in Puerto Rico
         
    Imagine what Puerto Rico would be like, if free software could become a movement for social justice on the island. Well, on Tuesday, February 11th, 2014, the Institute for a Free Puerto Rico planted the seed for this movement.
       


  • Okay, Google
         
    My favorite scene in Star Trek IV is when Scotty tries to use the computer in the 1980s. When he's told he must use the mouse, he responds, "how quaint", and then proceeds to try speaking into the mouse for the computer to respond.
       


  • It's about the User: Applying Usability in Open-Source Software
         
    Open-source software developers have created an array of amazing programs that provide a great working environment with rich functionality. At work and at home, I routinely run Linux on my desktop, using Firefox and LibreOffice for most of my daily tasks. I prefer to run open-source software tools, and I think most Linux Journal readers do too.
       


  • Full SteamOS Ahead!
         
    Although its timetable may not always be ideal, Valve has come through for Linux users lately. Not only has it released a native Linux version of Steam (with many native games!), it also has expanded its Linux support as the basis for its standalone SteamBox. The first step toward a Steam-powered console is the operating system.
       


  • Free cloud access to IBM Power servers for Linux Developers
         
    Free IBM Cloud Platform for developers…yeah, that’s a big deal. That platform being based on the   latest IBM POWER7 and POWER7+ processor-based servers running Linux, AIX and IBM i operating   systems…very big deal indeed! 
       


  • Linux Help for Neuroscientists
         
    In past articles, I have looked at distributions that were built with some scientific discipline in mind. In this article, I take a look at yet another one. In this case, I cover what is provided by NeuroDebian. 
       


  • A Look at Warzone 2100
         
    I'm not really much of a computer gamer. That said, I'm both ashamed and oddly proud of the hours (probably thousands!) I spent playing Dune 2000 back when it was cutting-edge gaming technology. There's just something about real-time strategy games that appeals to those of us lacking the reflexes for the more action-packed first-person shooters.
       





  • Extended File Attributes Rock!
    Worldwide, data is growing at a tremendous rate. However, one recent study has pointed out that the size of files is not necessarily growing at the same rate; meaning the number of files is growing rapidly. How do we manage all of this data and files? While the answer to that question is complex, one place we can start is with Extended File Attributes. Continue reading ’


  • Checksumming Files to Find Bit-Rot
    In a previous article extended file attributes were presented. These are additional bits of metadata that are tied to the file and can be used in a variety of ways. One of these ways is to add checksums to the file so that corrupted data can be detected. Let's take a look at how we can do this including some simple Python examples. Continue reading ’



  • What’s an inode?
    As you might have noticed, we love talking about file systems. In these discussions the term "inode" is often thrown about. But what is an inode and how does it relate to a file system? Glad you asked. Continue reading ’




  • Emailing HPC
    Email is not unlike MPI. The similarities may help non-geeks understand parallel computers a little better. Continue reading ’



  • iotop: Per Process I/O Usage
    Based on a reader comment, we take iotop for a spin to see if it can be used for monitoring the IO usage of individual processes on a system. The result? It has some interesting capability that we haven't found in other tools. Continue reading ’





  • SandForce 1222 SSD Testing, Part 3: Detailed Throughput Analysis
    Our last two articles have presented an initial performance examination of a consumer SandForce based SSD from a throughput and IOPS perspective. In this article we dive deeper into the throughput performance of the drive, along with a comparison to an Intel X-25E SSD. I think you will be surprised at what is discovered. Continue reading ’


  • Putting Drupal to Work
    Drupal is a simple but powerful CMS. However, you'll probably want to configure it. Learn how to tweak Drupal's settings to your liking. Continue reading ’


  • SandForce 1222 SSD Testing – Part 2: Initial IOPS Results
    SandForce has developed a very interesting and unique SSD controller that uses real-time data compression. This affects data throughput and SSD longevity. In this article, we perform an initial examination of the IOPS performance of a SandForce 1222-based SSD. The results can be pretty amazing. Continue reading ’


  • Drupal at Warp Speed
    Need to setup Drupal CMS but don't have the time to learn how? Try this 30 minute quick start guide. Continue reading ’


  • Chasing The Number
    The Top500 list is a valuable measure of HPC progress, but the race it has spawned maybe over for many organizations Continue reading ’


  • Stick a Fork in Flock: Why it Failed
    This probably won't come as a surprise to many, but the "social Web browser" has thrown in the towel. Don't cry for the Flock team - they're flying the coop for Zynga to go make Facebook games or something. But Flock's loyal fans are out in the cold. Why'd Flock fail? There's a few lessons to be learned. Continue reading ’


Page last modified on October 08, 2013, at 02:08 PM