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● 02.16.11

● Links 16/2/2011: Google Claims 350,000 Daily Activations of Android/Linux, Firefox 4 Release Imminent

Posted in News Roundup at 2:39 am by Dr. Roy SchestowitzContentsGNU/LinuxGNU/Linux

=> ↺ 10 ways to e-publish with Linux

• As a writer, I always am looking at new and better ways to get my words to the public. And since I write fiction as well as technology pieces, it’s in my best interest to know how to get my books into the hands of readers. In today’s market, the publishing industry is in a serious swing away from the traditional routes. With the major improvements in e-readers, more and more users are migrating away from the old standard hardcover/paperback books to digital formats. This has been a boon for new writers. With the ability to easily self-publish for various e-readers, it no longer requires an agent or a publisher to see your brilliance.

• But does that mean everyone should be submitting their books? Well, if everyone can properly format, design, and create -yes. If not, no. For those with the necessary skills, it is important to have the right tools and/or procedures for getting your books into the Amazon, Barnes & Noble’s, and Apple systems. Linux can help you do that. Let’s take a look at 10 Linux tools that can help your get your book into the market.

=> ↺ As Linux becomes easier it can be more dangerous.

• Over the last several years I have seen great leaps and bounds in terms of ease of use for Linux based operating systems (have to keep the purists happy which I will refer to as simply Linux. Because I am lazy and don’t want to write Linux based operating system all the time.

Ballnux

=> ↺ LG Puts 3D on Optimus Smartphone, World Waits to See Why

• The world’s first three-dimensional smartphone, LG’s Optimus 3D runs the Android operating system on a 4.3-inch LCD glasses-free screen. Images don’t jump out at users, but live on the screen with depth. The Optimus can convert files into its own format, access games and display YouTube 3D. Other unusual features include dual rear cameras that can record 3D video that will require glasses to be properly viewed during playback.

=> ↺ MetroPCS preps LTE-ready Samsung Indulge phone for sale this week

• MetroPCS, the nation’s fifth-largest wireless carrier, has introduced what may be the first commercially available 4G LTE (Long-Term Evolution) Android smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Indulge. According to a Feb. 9 statement from the carrier, the Indulge will go on sale this week.

=> ↺ Samsung readies dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 SoC with GPS

• Samsung Electronics says it will begin producing a dual-core ARM Cortex A9-based system-on-chip (SoC) next month. Aimed at both smartphones and tablets, the Exynos 4210 offers dual 1GHz cores, 1MB L2 cache, a 1080p HD video accelerator, improved 3D graphics performance, dual-display support, and even a GPS receiver, according to the company.

=> ↺ Samsung joins Honeycomb club with Galaxy Tab 10.1

=> ↺ Next-gen Galaxy S phones offer dual-core CPU, super-thin profile

Applications

=> ↺ Evernote For Linux: Nevernote

• Evernote is an service/application you can use to store notes, images and all kind of information (like audio, handwritten or video notes) for retrieving later. It supports search and tagging and most importantly: you can sync everything between computers – further more, Evernote supports mobile devices too like iPhone, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry or Android and there’s a web interface too and a clipping bookmarklet to pull anything into your netbook. But unfortunately there’s no official Evernote application for Linux.

=> ↺ Minus Desktop App for Linux Lets You Drag-N-Drop Photos Into Taskbar for Instant Upload

• Minus desktop application was something which I had never heard about before and it even had a Linux version. Minus desktop application lets you drag-n-drop photos and files into the Minus taskbar and instantly upload onto Minus. Those of you who use free image/file hosting websites other than min.us extensively might want to consider using min.us instead solely because of this very interesting desktop application.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ The Perfect Desktop – Debian Squeeze

=> ↺ Advanced IP subnet calculator sipcalc

=> ↺ The 10 Days of awk

=> ↺ Nine traits of the veteran Unix admin

• Veteran Unix admin trait No. 1: We don’t use sudo Much like caps lock is cruise control for cool, sudo is a crutch for the timid. If we need to do something as root, we su to root, none of this sudo nonsense. In fact, for Unix-like operating systems that force sudo upon all users, the first thing we do is sudo su – and change the root password so that we can comfortably su – forever more. Using sudo exclusively is like bowling with only the inflatable bumpers in the gutters — it’s safer, but also causes you to not think through your actions fully.

=> ↺ How to organize your stuff

• What I say here applies to those using a GNU/Linux like operating system, but these suggestion will work in Windows or on a Mac. If you use Windows, however, some of the tools that make my approach work will not be available to you by default but can be easily installed.

Desktop Environments

K Desktop Environment/KDE SC)

=> ↺ conf.kde.in Announces Talks, Keynotes and Registration

• There is only a month to go before the first KDE and Qt conference in India opens. The event will be headlined by three keynotes speakers talking on the effects of technology on culture, the law and what makes our community tick. Talks and workshops have been announced and registration is open for anyone planning to attend. Read on for details.

Distributions

=> ↺ Why I Use Gentoo: Conclusion

• The distribution that, in my mind, shows the most promise, however, is Exherbo.

New Releases

=> ↺ Canaima 3.0-vc1

=> ↺ Openwall Current-20110212

=> ↺ 8.1 Untangle Community Webinar

=> ↺ Pinguy 10.04.2

=> ↺ IPFire 2.9 – Core 46

• This is the 46th update of the IPFire distribution.

• IPFire 2.9 Core 46 is a bugfix release and fixes a security issue in the openssl package (more details below). This is why we strongly recommend you to do the update as soon as possible.

=> ↺ Frugalware 1.4 (Nexon) released

• The Frugalware Developer Team is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Frugalware 1.4, our fourteenth stable release.

=> ↺ Welcome to Tiny Core Linux

• Tiny Core Linux is a very small (10 MB) minimal Linux GUI Desktop. It is based on Linux 2.6 kernel, Busybox, Tiny X, and Fltk. The core runs entirely in ram and boots very quickly. Also offered is Micro Core a 6 MB image that is the console based engine of Tiny Core. CLI versions of Tiny Core’s program allows the same functionality of Tiny Core’s extensions only starting with a console based system.

• [...]

• v3.5

• Improved system boot times with optimization of startup code. Administration improved with deletes of uninstalled ondemand without reboot. Many user interface improvements and additional supported options in: appsaduit, wbar, services, tce-audit, and fluff, the integrated file manager. Key system programs updated to latest release: busybox and zsync

=> ↺ 2011-02-15: CRUX PPC 2.7 released!

• CRUX PPC 2.7 is now available. It works on Apple 32bit “NewWorld” G3/G4 and Apple 64bit G5, Genesi PegasosII and Efika, Acube Sam440ep, YDL Powerstation, IBM Intellistation POWER and IBM Power Systems servers. CRUX PPC 2.7 is, as usual, released via two different installation ISO: 32bit and 64bit. The 32bit version is based on a single lib toolchain instead the 64bit one comes with a multilib toolchain. These two versions share the same ports tree. See the download page!

Red Hat Family

=> ↺ Red Hat Moving Above Resistance

• Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE:RHT) develops and provides open source software and services, including the Red Hat Linux operating system.

=> ↺ SHARES OF WAVE SYSTEMS POTENTIALLY OVERVALUED IN TERMS OF ITS PRICE TO LAST QUARTER ANNUALIZED SALES RATIO (WAVX, VMW, ROVI, N, RHT)

=> ↺ AFTER YESTERDAY’S RALLY OF 1.52%, RED HAT SHARES COULD POTENTIALLY PULLBACK (RHT)

=> ↺ Executive Spotlight: Paul Smith of Red Hat

• As general manager for Red Hat‘s Public Sector, Paul Smith oversees all aspects of sales, business development, marketing, consulting and the channel partners focused on federal, state and local agencies and educational institutions. He recently talked to ExecutiveBiz about his excitement for the company and open source solutions, as well as cloud computing and the professional milestones he achieved in 2010.

=> ↺ Red Hat Linux 6.2

• I remember like if it was today the first time I installed Linux in my computer. I was 12 years ago and I bought a magazine, from Spain, that came with the CD of Red Hat 6.1.

Debian Family

=> ↺ Debian volatile replaced by new updates suite

• The Debian Volatile archive is discontinued starting from the upcoming Debian release 6.0 (“Squeeze”). It is replaced by the suite squeeze-updates on the official mirrors. Its management will move to the Debian Release Team, who already manage regular updates to Debian stable and oldstable.

• [...]

• These updates will also be included in the next stable point release after the announcement. Regular updates not fitting the criteria above will be pushed through point releases according to the rules of the Stable Release Management.

Canonical/Ubuntu

=> ↺ Ubuntu Netbook Edition review

• For many users looking beyond the worlds of Windows and Macintosh, Ubuntu Linux is the go-to choice. It’s not hard to see why: Ubuntu’s commercial parent Canonical has arguably done more than any other Linux distributor to popularise open-source operating systems to the public, with its free Ubuntu Desktop Edition OS. It’s arguably the most accessible, easiest-to-install and easiest-to-operate operating system you’ll find at the price.

=> ↺ Man seeks used laptops to refurbish, give to students

• But the students who benefit form his just launched project will have to add a new word to their vocabulary, Ubuntu,’ and learn to get along without some of the familiar computer programs they may already know.

• Cloyd’s project, which is just getting underway, aims to take unused, donated laptop computers, refurbish them with the Ubuntu free, open source operating system and other free programs and give them to students who aren’t able to afford their own computer.

=> ↺ Ubuntu Developer Week 2011: February 28th – March 4th

• Canonical, through Daniel Holbach, announced the schedule of this year’s first Ubuntu Developer Week.

Flavours and Variants

=> ↺ One Should Look for What Is (Not What One Thinks Should Be)

• Continuing previous discussion about Ubuntu Studio improvements for Natty and beginning a new section of discussion. But first, more Ubuntu Studio Fun Facts!

Devices/Embedded

=> ↺ Wind River Android tools add Honeycomb, tablet support

• Wind River has updated its Wind River Platform for Android and Wind River Framework for Automated Software Testing (FAST) for Android, and will demonstrate a new tablet user experience for MeeGo. Wind River Platform for Android adds upgrade paths for Gingerbread and Honeycomb, multi-windowing features, plus support for Ethernet, USB On-the-Go, the Nvidia Tegra 2, and DLNA Digital Media Server (DMS).

=> ↺ Marvell tips UMTS/TD-SCDMA combo chip, new open source dev platform

• Marvell announced a 1.2GHz processor for mobile devices claimed to be the first to combine 3G UMTS and TD-SCDMA cellular technology. In addition to unveiling the PXA978 processor, which is also touted for its advanced 3D graphics and 1080p multimedia playback, Marvell announced an open source mobile development platform called Kinoma.

Phones

=> ↺ HP’s WebOS takes on Android and iOS

• It’s taken a while but now HP has joined the mobile fray with its WebOS devices.

• While everyone at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is watching the Nokia-Microsoft partnership kick off there is other news worth watching: HP’s WebOS strategy.

Nokia/MeeGo/Maemo

=> ↺ Nokia shareholders start rebellion and plan a company coup

• In the wake of last week’s news that Nokia has entered a partnership with Microsoft, a group of nine Nokia Shareholders has published “Nokia Plan B”, a manifesto “to challenge the company’s strategy and partnership with Microsoft”.

• On their website, the currently anonymous nine shareholders outline an agenda and a series of actions, which include ousting current CEO and President of Nokia Stephen Elop.

=> ↺ MeeGo After Nokia: ‘I Will Survive’ or ‘Where Did Our Love Go’?

• Intel has reaffirmed its commitment to the MeeGo platform following Nokia’s announcement that it will partner with Microsoft and its Windows Phone platform for future handsets. Can MeeGo survive without one of its biggest corporate backers? As a phone and tablet OS, MeeGo’s certainly lost some momentum, but those aren’t the only kinds of devices the platform is targeting.

Android

=> ↺ Android has 150k apps, 350k daily activations, and more notes from Eric Schmidt’s MWC keynote

• Android is the biggest thing on the planet, the fastest thing smoking, the hottest thing burning, and whatever other cliche you can think to affix to it. Google CEO-turned-other-executive-guy Eric Schmidt confirmed as much when he updated the Android stats in his keynote address at Mobile World Congress.

• Schmidt confirmed that the Android Market app total has reached 150,000 apps, which is three times what it was less than a year ago. No one was surprised to hear that these apps helped push the Android device total to 350,000 per day. Or is this an egg before the chicken situation and the app totals grew because developers saw the increasing number of devices being activated and realized that they had to invest more in supporting what has become the “fastest growing” mobile operating system around?

=> ↺ Broadcom spins single- and dual-core A9 SoCs for Android

• In the handset arena, Broadcom previously focused on modem-oriented baseband processors or specialty PND chips and Wi-Fi chipsets. But now, it’s aggressively moving into developing processors for Android devices.

=> ↺ Android-based Cloud handsets focus on Facebook

=> ↺ Sony Ericsson launches Android phone with slide-out gamepad

• Sony Ericsson announced a 1GHz Snapdragon-based Android 2.3 phone that doubles as a handheld game-playing device. The Xperia Play offers a slide-out Sony PS3-style gamepad instead of a keyboard, a four-inch 854 x 480 pixel display, 8GB of memory with expansion, a five-megapixel camera, and all the usual wireless features.

Tablets

=> ↺ Honeycomb Hysteria: Pad Madness Strikes MWC

• The tablet market just got a lot more crowded as vendors like Samsung, LG and Acer pushed their new pads at Mobile World Congress. Each will use Google’s new Honeycomb version of Android. “It’s hard to call the eventual winners beyond iOS and Android, but 2011 may well end up seeing fewer battling mobile application platforms than it started with,” said IDC’s Al Hilwa.

=> ↺ Android Sharpens Its NFC Chops With Gingerbread Bump

• Google posted a new feature release for its upcoming Gingerbread version of Android that boosts the mobile OS’s abilities in regard to near-field communications technologies, otherwise known as “NFC.” One of NFC’s main attractions is the ability to use one’s cellphone to make point-of-sale payments at retail locations, and the feature could be a hot point of competition between Android and iPhone.

=> ↺ Qualcomm spins a Snapdragon for video-savvy tablets

• Some chipmakers overwhelm with data sheets, block diagrams, and other minutiae about their new processors. Not Qualcomm. However, yesterday’s high-profile launch of the WebOS-powered HP TouchPad tablet PC (right) inspired a press release providing a few tidbits of information about the dual-core, ARM-based CPU that’s inside.

=> ↺ Industry debates HP’s desktop ambitions for WebOS

• HP’s WebOS-based TouchPad tablet has received a surprisingly favorable response, but what really has pundits blogging is HP’s suggestion that WebOS will head for desktop PCs. Meanwhile, more details are emerging on the new WebOS 3.0 release that runs on the Touchpad, including an updated Synergy engine that HP intends to integrate a growing ecosystem of devices based on WebOS.

=> ↺ HTC’s Flyer tablet features pen interface, Android 2.4

• HTC announced a seven-inch, 1.5GHz tablet that features pen support and links to online video and gaming services. The HTC Flyer features a new version of HTC’s Sense UI layer atop a hybrid version of Android 2.4, and offers 1GB RAM, 32GB of flash, microSD expansion, five-megapixel and 1.3-megapixel cameras, plus HSPA+, 802.11n, GPS, and Bluetooth 3.0.

=> ↺ Acer reveals seven- and 10.1-inch tablets plus Iconia Smart phone

• Acer formally announced two previously tipped Android tablets, as well as an Android smartphone. The 10.1-inch Iconia Tab A500 and the seven-inch Iconia Tab A100 run Android 3.0 on a dual-core 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, and feature a five-megapixel and two-megapixel camera, while the 4.8-inch Iconia Smart phone runs Android 2.3 on a Qualcomm Snapdragon.

=> ↺ Intel showcases industry support for MeeGo, demos new tablet version

• Intel made loud overtures in support of MeeGo at Mobile World Congress, getting Toshiba, Fujitsu, Asus, and Acer to stand behind the Linux-based OS, despite Nokia’s defection. The MeeGo project also demonstrated the long-awaited MeeGo Tablet User Experience (UX).

Free Software/Open Source

=> ↺ Christchurch IT scene: Free and open source

• For Lane the open source model allows people to get credit for their work without stifling the creativity of others. He is against software patents, which he believes compromises personal freedom.

• His mobile device is a ‘rooted’ HTC Hero that he parallel imported from Australia. “Android phones are free and open source, but the carriers lock them down so they effectively prevent their users from gaining full access to the phones unless they achieve so-called root access, they root the phone,” he says.

• “A lot of people are buying phones that come with a badly outdated version of Android, because the phone has been sitting in a warehouse for the past six months and software moves so quickly that six months is an eternity in the mobile environment.”

=> ↺ 53 Open Source Replacements to Spice Up Your Desktop

• We’ve collected 53 different open source projects that can make your desktop environment faster, prettier, easier to use or just a little different. They run the gamut from small utilities that do just one thing to open source operating systems that can replace Windows. We’ve included a number of tools for Linux users that can help you customize your desktop to meet your unique needs and tastes.

Web Browsers

Chrome

=> ↺ 21 Must Try Chrome Extensions!

Mozilla

=> ↺ Ready for Firefox 4

• I LOOK forward to the day when the folks at Mozilla decide that Firefox 4 is ready to launch without the word “beta” attached to it.

• Boasting significant speed improvements and an overhauled interface, Firefox 4 is a vast improvement over the current stable release, Firefox 3.6.

Government

=> ↺ Open Source Finds a Friend in Big Government

• Major federal agencies in the U.S. are gradually getting the hang of dealing with open source technology — a situation that bodes well for commercial open source providers.

• In a recently released “report card,” Open Source for America (OSFA) says that a handful of top level cabinet departments have achieved a high level of success in adopting the technology, and that other departments have at least committed themselves to pursuing appropriate open source options.

Standards/Consortia

=> ↺ HTML5 kicked into 2014

• HTML5 won’t be finished for another three years, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has warned.

• On Monday, the standards body said that it has extended the charter of its group hammering out HTML5, with plans to advance the proposed spec to last-call status in May. Then we wait – for three years.

Leftovers

=> ↺ Accuracy of search engine results called into question

• Even more disturbing is a story in last Saturday’s New York Times, which suggested that for several months, when you entered searches such as ‘skinny jeans’, ‘dresses’ or ‘area rugs’ into Google, JC Penney was consistently showing up at the top of the results. The article explained this was the result of some Search Engine Optimization tricks including buying oodles of paid links to the JC Penney site to enhance its place in the results (a violation of Google rules, which JC Penney denied being involved in).

Defence/Police/Aggression

=> ↺ Firing range owner sounds off

• An owner of a local firing range Tuesday called a Zoning Board of appeals decision to restrict the use of his range “idiocy.”

• Robert C. Hodgkins III, one of the owners, said that he disagrees with the board’s ruling and plans to get the National Rifle Association involved in the issue.

• “Let the NRA take care of these knuckleheads,” he said. “I think it’s about time.”

• After hearing from the public last week, the board voted Monday to limit activity at 74 Village Hill Road to the level of use in 2003, when the current zoning laws went into effect.

=> ↺ This time, the people of Haiti may win

• In 1915, the US Marines invaded Haiti, occupying the country until 1934. US officials rewrote the Haitian constitution, and when the Haitian national assembly refused to ratify it, they dissolved the assembly. They then held a “referendum” in which about 5% of the electorate voted and approved the new constitution – which conveniently changed Haitian law to allow foreigners to own land – with 99.9% voting for approval.

=> ↺ Pentagon budget largest ever as security threat list grows

• Despite calls on Capitol Hill for major defense budget cuts, the Pentagon next week will unveil the largest budget in its history — driven by an expanding list of what defines national security.

• Defense Secretary Robert Gates said his proposed $553 billion budget “represents, in my view, the minimum level of defense spending that is necessary, given the complex and unpredictable array of security challenges the United States faces around the globe.”

=> ↺ The Eleventh Annual Herzliya Conference: The Balance of Israel’s National Security

• From the speeches by Israeli politicians, that answer is a loud, frustrated, angry YES. In her keynote, opposition leader Tzipi Livni ripped into Bibi’s government, accusing it of everything from ignoring Iran, purposely stalling on committing to serious negotiations with the Palestinians, alienating Obama by refusing to extend the settlement freeze, to furthering the rampant culture of corruption.

=> ↺ Panel Review Questions FBI Theory in Anthrax Attacks After 9/11

• Today, the National Academy of Science raised more questions.

• A review panel said that the FBI overstated the scientific evidence that linked the anthrax flask controlled by Dr. Bruce E. Ivins to the anthrax used in the 2001 attack letters. Dr. Ivins, a researcher at Ft. Detrick, MD., was identified by the FBI as the primary suspect in the case. He maintained his innocence until his suicide in 2008.

=> ↺ Government tough-on-crime policies worsening prison conditions, guards say

• Double-bunked inmates are attacking each other in the night, Canada’s prison guards say, warning that the Harper government’s tough-on-crime laws are creating dangerous conditions in jam-packed corrections centres.

• Members of Parliament looking for answers on the impact of recent justice bills got an earful Tuesday when they heard from the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers.

=> ↺ Pentagon Faces Class Action Suit Exposing Military Sexual Abuse Crisis

• The lawsuit, brought on behalf of seventeen plaintiffs, including two men, was filed in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District in Virginia by Susan L. Burke, and announced at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. No stranger to controversy, Burke is also litigating another major lawsuit against Blackwater, LLC, in a whistleblower case on behalf of the U.S. government. Burke was joined today by Bhagwati, Ellie Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Fund, and some of the plaintiffs participating in the lawsuit, including twenty-five year-old Kori Cioca (video) who said she was hit in her face by a superior in 2005 and later raped by the same man while serving in the Coast Guard.

Cablegate

=> ↺ WikiLeaks Backers Fight Twitter Data Demand in Probe

• Three WikiLeaks backers will seek to block the U.S. from reviewing their Twitter account data at a hearing today in federal court in Virginia, arguing that the government’s demands violate their constitutional rights. Bloomberg’s Lizzie O’Leary reports.

=> ↺ The Forgotten Man: Bradley Manning (2011) 3/3

• The inside story of the security breach that enraged the American Government, and a profile of the man who made it all possible.

• While WikiLeaks boss Julian Assange has been cast as a heroic champion of free speech, his ongoing expose of US foreign policy would not have been possible without the work of Private Bradley Manning. It was Manning who allegedly stole the classified documents published by WikiLeaks. It is Manning who now languishes in a US military prison.

• Now reporter Quentin McDermott tells the inside story of Bradley Manning and his daring intelligence heist. David House is one of the few civilians allowed to visit Bradley Manning in jail. He describes the young soldier’s mental deterioration and his struggle to deal with long hours of confinement.

• He tells the program: “…the US Government is just trying to put immense pressure on him in order to get him to crack open.”

• In Monday’s Four Corners we hear the only recording of Bradley Manning’s voice and we listen to the logs of alleged conversations with the man who ultimately betrayed him.

Environment/Energy/Wildlife

=> ↺ English forest sell-off put on hold

• The government has taken 40,000 hectares of public forest off the market, in the latest twist in the furore over the proposed sell-off of England’s woodland.

• About 15% of England’s public forests had been slated for sale, with the aim of raising £100m for government coffers, but on Friday morning the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it would hold on to the forest until the fate of the rest of the Forestry Commission’s land had been decided.

=> ↺ Taking Climate Denial to New Extremes

• The spending plan the House GOP was supposed to roll out on Thursday included a number of cuts meant to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from doing anything about climate change. But Republicans had to take that plan back to the drawing board Thursday night after tea party members claimed the package of cuts didn’t go deep enough. And if a trio of House members get their way, we won’t ever have to worry about the climate—since we won’t know what’s happening with it, anyway.

=> ↺ Climate change forces UK rare fish reintroduction further north

• Plans to reintroduce one of England’s rarest and most ancient fish to a key site in the Lake District have been abandoned because of climate change.

• The vendace, Coregonus albulaa, a species of freshwater whitefish that can be traced back to the ice age, became extinct at Bassenthwaite in 1991 as a result of agricultural pollution, increased sediment and the illegal introduction of new fish species. It is one of only two lakes in England where the fish had survived.

=> ↺ Chevron Runs From Judgment in Ecuador

• “He went swimming, then began vomiting blood.” Then he died.

Finance

=> ↺ State of Michigan settles with Goldman Sachs

• Goldman Sachs gives Michigan investors access to $32 million in capital, pays state over $90,000

• The State of Michigan has reached an Auction Rate Securities (ARS) settlement with Goldman, Sachs and Co., the Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation (OFIR) reported Thursday. The settlement requires Goldman Sachs to offer full buybacks of up to approximately $32 million to any eligible Michigan customer who purchased an ARS from the brokerage firm.

=> ↺ Former F.D.I.C. Deal Maker Joins Goldman Sachs

• Joseph Jiampietro, one of the government’s top deal makers during the financial crisis, has joined Goldman Sachs as a senior investment banker covering the financial services industry.

• Mr. Jiampietro was previously a senior adviser to Sheila C. Bair, the chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, during the throes of the financial crisis, where he helped coordinate more than 100 government-assisted bank deals.

=> ↺ When Factories Vanish, So Can Innovators

• No one paid much attention beyond the people in the town itself, even though the closing represented the demise of an industry that had flourished in this country for generations. Paul Revere, in fact, was a flatware craftsman.

=> ↺ Imagining Life Without Fannie and Freddie

• The report, entitled “Reforming America’s Housing Finance Market,” zeros in on the perverse incentives created by the nation’s mortgage complex during the years leading up to the panic of 2008. The Treasury’s recommendation that we wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and let the private mortgage market step in is spot on.

=> ↺ At Last, Bernie Madoff Gives Back

• His evil deeds, in their afterlife, are now serving as a recurring wave of financial body scans. Each new Madoff revelation sheds light on an entire culture that allowed far loftier flimflams than his to succeed — though the loftier culprits, unlike him, usually escaped with the proceeds. That financial culture largely remains in place today.

=> ↺ JPMorgan to Start Social Media Fund

• Hoping to seize upon investor excitement over social networking companies like Facebook, JPMorgan Chase is planning to start a new fund to invest in an array of Internet and new media companies, people briefed on the matter told DealBook on Sunday.

• The proposed fund, which will be run by JPMorgan’s asset-management unit, is seeking to raise between $500 million and $750 million from wealthy investors to put into privately held technology companies like Twitter and Groupon, these people said.

=> ↺ Housing: For many cities “another season of pain”

• Watching existing home inventory will be very important this year. Areas with high levels of inventory will probably see more price declines. It is hard to tell about inventory right now – usually inventory is pretty low in December and January, and then increases sharply from February into the early summer – so we will know more about inventory soon.

=> ↺ Who’s Unemployed?

• Larry Mishel emails me to second my concern about Charles Plosser’s blithe assertion that unemployment is about shifting workers out of construction. As Larry points out, the BLS provides data on the previous employment of the unemployed. There were 7.7 million more unemployed workers in 2010 than there were in 2007; of those extra 7.7 million, only 1.1 million had previously been employed in construction.

=> ↺ Ron Paul, opponent of the Fed and fan of the gold standard, a lone wolf no more

• But if you tilt at windmills long enough, sometimes you hit. And Wednesday, Paul did: He held his first hearing as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee’s subcommittee on monetary policy, inviting two Austrian-school economists and one lonely representative from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute to debate how Fed policy affects the unemployment rate.

• This may be Ron Paul’s moment. The question now is what he does with it.

=> ↺ Federal investigators expose vast web of insider trading

PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying

=> ↺ Protect Honesty in Canadian Journalism

• Fair and balanced news in Canada is about to be a thing of the past. The CRTC is about to pass a huge “loophole” to the rule prevents the media from telling blatant lies to Canadian public.

• Surprise, surprise, this loophole comes just in time for the launch of Prime Minister Harper’s Fox News North (Sun TV).

• Fox News has made its living spreading lies and conservative propaganda in the United States. But Canada’s broadcast journalism rules would have prevented it from using the same strategy to pump up ratings and push it’s right-wing agenda.

Censorship

=> ↺ Man arrested after Crawley fan ‘mocks Munich air crash’

• A man has been arrested following a complaint that Crawley Town’s FA Cup song featured a supporter mocking the victims of the Munich air crash.

• The non-league side and musician Mike Dobie recorded The Specials’ A Message To You Rudy as A Message To You Rooney, ahead of their Manchester United match.

• A United fan complained that the video, posted on YouTube, featured a supporter making aircraft gestures.

• The 1958 air crash left 23 people dead, including eight United players.

• Manchester United were returning from a European Cup tie against Red Star Belgrade when their plane crashed on a runway in Munich.

Internet/Net Neutrality/UBB

=> ↺ The Fourth-Stupidest Thing the CRTC Has Done this Month (So Far)

• Whatever the exact opposite of being on a roll is, the CRTC has spent the last month doing just that. Proposing to lower the standards which prohibit false or misleading news didn’t get as much attention as their plan to let Bell and Rogers impose usage-based billing (a plan so noxious and so blatantly favouring big business that even the Conservative Party balked at such a corporate-friendly move), but it was arguably even worse.

DRM

=> ↺ The Modified Preliminary Injunction Order in SCEA v. Hotz

Intellectual Monopolies

=> ↺ The Death of (Analogue) Patents

• But by copying itself and using the replicated machines to make more RepRaps together with that lonely comb, the 3D printers collectively would outpace the traditional injection moulding machine in just 19 days (Bowyer also pointed out that after a month everyone on the planet would have their own RepRap machine – and comb….)

• So that’s a glimpse at the future of personal manufacturing, which is about scaling. The other fascinating aspect of RepRap involves making copies of analogue objects. There’s a site dedicated to doing just that for original 3D artefacts created from digital files. It’s called Thingiverse, and many of its files use the GNU GPL or Creative Commons licences.

• But what about copies of pre-existing objects? That’s already possible to a certain extent, using a 3D scanner to produce a digital file. It’s true that only a limited number of materials can be printed using RepRap and similar systems, but the range is being expanded all the time. It’s not unreasonable to assume that over time it will be possible to scan and print more and more everyday objects.

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