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● 04.06.15

● Links 6/4/2015: Krita 3.0 Plans, Intel’s PC-on-a-stick With Linux

Posted in News Roundup at 6:33 pm by Dr. Roy SchestowitzContentsGNU/LinuxGNU/Linux

=> ↺ Linux Group Tests – Page 1

• The original objective in starting the compilation was to dispel the FUD that Linux does not have the necessary software to compete with Windows. Over time, the aim of the compilation was to enable Linux users, whatever their level of computing experience, to identify software of all types that is worth exploring. With the huge range of open source software available, there is simply not enough time for users to evaluate every application even within a single category of software.

=> ↺ Linux Australia Hacked

• Thus far, no member of Linux Australia has expressed outrage or otherwise negative feelings about the organization’s handling of the matter. In fact, they lauded the president for transparency and disclosure. Let this be a lesson in server administration, then: sometimes even when you think you’ve covered all your bases, you haven’t.

=> ↺ Linux Australia Hit With Server Breach

Desktop

=> ↺ Windows Last Stand

• So today I pulled the cables from my main Linux desktop, plugged them into the Windows machine and hit the power button, just to see if it would still boot for a few days — long enough for me to prepare a couple of returns. Because the machine is old and hadn’t been started for a year, I fully expected the hard drive to fail during boot. Unfortunately, it booted, and in a few minutes I was greeted by the Windows splash screen.

Server

=> ↺ CoreOS is bringing Google’s Kubernetes to the enterprise

• CoreOS’s first plan was to bring container-enabled Linux to the cloud. The company is still working on that, but with its new program Tectonic, it’s upped its game. The company is working on bringing Google’s container management system, Kubernetes, to the enterprise.

=> ↺ CoreOS Lands $12M from Google, Unveils Enterprise Platform

=> ↺ CoreOS And Google Make Their Defensive Plays, Is Docker The Victim?

=> ↺ CoreOS Raises $12M for Container Tech, Launches Tectonic

=> ↺ CoreOS bags $12m, touts Tectonic – a DIY Google cloud for big biz

=> ↺ Google bets big on this little tech startup

=> ↺ CoreOS Raises $12M Funding Round Led By Google Ventures To Bring Kubernetes To The Enterprise

=> ↺ CoreOS raises $12M and introduces its Tectonic platform, featuring Kubernetes

=> ↺ CoreOS Includes Kubernetes in Tectonic Linux Platform

=> ↺ CoreOS Launches Container Management On Google’s Kubernetes Project

=> ↺ CoreOS’s Tectonic shift: Enterprise-grade container management

=> ↺ Tectonic Set To Shake Up Google Style Containers

=> ↺ CoreOS Platform Looks to Scale Containers

=> ↺ CoreOS Launches Tectonic; Receives $12 Million Investment Led By Google Ventures to Bring Kubernetes to the Enterprise

Kernel Space

=> ↺ Features Expected For The Linux 4.1 Kernel

• While the Linux 4.0 kernel hasn’t even been released yet, there’s already a number of items we’re looking forward to seeing with Linux 4.1.

=> ↺ 10 Years of Git: An Interview with Git Creator Linus Torvalds

• Ten years ago this week, the Linux kernel community faced a daunting challenge: They could no longer use their revision control system BitKeeper and no other Software Configuration Management (SCMs) met their needs for a distributed system. Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, took the challenge into his own hands and disappeared over the weekend to emerge the following week with Git. Today Git is used for thousands of projects and has ushered in a new level of social coding among programmers.

• To celebrate this milestone, we asked Linus to share the behind-the-scenes story of Git and tell us what he thinks of the project and its impact on software development. You’ll find his comments in the story below. We’ll follow this Q&A with a week of Git in which we profile a different project each day that is using the revision control system. Look for the stories behind KVM, Qt, Drupal, Puppet and Wine, among others.

=> ↺ Systemd Works On More Btrfs Functionality

• With the systemd developers pursuing their vision for how distributions/software should be distributed, more Btrfs specific functionality is being added to the init manager.

• As systemd’s grand plans involve the use of the Btrfs file-system for having per-user and per-app Btrfs sub-volumes and take advantage of other features (like snapshots) presented by this next-generation Linux file-system, systemd is starting to see more code specifically for handling Btrfs features.

=> ↺ Hack lets you run Linux kernel on Canon EOS DSLRs

• Of the well known operating systems in the world, Linux has had the distinct reputation of being installed almost anywhere there is a processor to be found. Of course, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should, but running Linux on any computer possible has always been an exercise in skill and a cause for bragging. While Canon’s digital cameras are not exactly as esoteric as refrigerators and washing machines, getting Linux to run on these more often than not very closed devices can open up a world of possibilities.

=> ↺ How Early Adopters Are Using Unikernels – With and Without Containers

• Early adopters are using unikernel technology to run websites, critical systems infrastructure, cutting-edge research or to operate as a network appliance. MirageOS, for example, is serving as a successful testbed for cutting-edge research at the University of Cambridge and other academic groups, while Galois’ clients use The Haskell Lightweight Virtual Machine (HaLVM) for a number of network services and functions.

Graphics Stack

=> ↺ Intel’s Mesa Driver Now Supports OpenGL 4.5′s ARB_clip_control

• While the Radeon, Nouveau, and LLVMpipe/Softpipe drivers have already supported the OpenGL ARB_clip_control extension, the Intel (i965) driver now finally supports this OpenGL 4.5 extension too.

=> ↺ Freedreno Gallium3D Adds NIR Compiler Support

• Following Intel’s development of NIR as the new intermediate representation for Mesa and the Raspberry Pi graphics driver switching to NIR, the Freedreno Gallum3D driver as the open-source user-space GPU driver for Qualcomm Adreno now has NIR support too.

Benchmarks

=> ↺ Squashfs Performance Testing

• Last week I discovered The Fan Club’s Experiments page. It reminds me of the Debian Experiments community on Google+. I like the concept of trying out all kinds of different things and reporting back to the community on how it works. I’ve been meaning to do more of that myself so this is me jumping in and reporting back on something I’ve been poking at this weekend.

Applications

=> ↺ Color_Coded: Bringing LibClang Highlighting To Vim

• For users of the vim text editor interested in new syntax highlighting options, meet color_coded.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ How to secure BGP sessions using authentication on Quagga

=> ↺ How to Install vnStat and vnStati to Monitor Network Traffic in RHEL/CentOS 7

=> ↺ A Step By Step Guide To Installing openSUSE Linux

=> ↺ HOWTO: Dnsmasq server for network booting using TFTP and DHCP

=> ↺ Correct keyboard layout (QWERTZ) with Logitech K400 attached to an Android HDMI stick

=> ↺ Motion picture capturing: Debian + motion + Logitech C910

=> ↺ Set Up an IPv6 LAN with Linux

=> ↺ Create and Extend XFS filesystem based on LVM

=> ↺ On Load Balancers and Kerberos

• I’ve recently witnessed a lot of discussions around using load balancers and FreeIPA on the user’s mailing list, and I realized there is a lot of confusion around how to use load balancers when Kerberos is used for authentication.

Wine or Emulation

=> ↺ Wine-Staging Brings Emulated EAX, Better .NET Executables Support

• Following Friday’s release of Wine 1.7.40, the equivalent Wine-Staging update is now out with a few extra changes.

Games

=> ↺ Freedom Planet Quirky Action Platformer Now On Linux

• Freedom Planet is a rather quirky looking platformer with tons of action, motorcycles, cats, and lots of other random junk.

=> ↺ BioWare Opens Up The “Orbit” Project

• Making the rounds on the Internet this weekend is that BioWare — which is owned by EA Games — has released their first open-source project.

=> ↺ Unvanquished FPS Alpha 38 Is Out with Plenty of New Features – Video

• The Unvanquished development team had the pleasure of announcing today, April 6, the immediate availability for download of a new Alpha build of their FPS (First-person shooter) game for GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows operating systems.

Desktop Environments/WMs

=> ↺ MATE Desktop 1.10 Has GObject Introspection, Other Changes

• For those still living in the GNOME 2 days, the MATE Desktop 1.10 has arrived for Easter.

• The MATE Desktop 1.10 release has more work on porting to GTK3, adds GObject introspection support, provides many RandR fixes, adds a new org.mate.desktop GSettings schema, and has numerous other changes.

K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

=> ↺ Plasma 5 live images for openSUSE and on the default openSUSE desktop

• A lot has been happening on the KDE side of openSUSE… this post summarizes what’s been going on so far.

=> ↺ Testing Plasma 5 On openSUSE, KDE Switching Plans

• Talked about recently were the KDE Plasma 5 transition plans for openSUSE and coming out today are more details on the planned switch.

• [...]

• In terms of the Plasma 5 upgrade in openSUSE Tumbleweed, the developers feel that with the upcoming KDE Plasma 5.3 release there is “the level of quality expected from the default openSUSE desktop” and so for this milestone is when they plan on making the switch.

=> ↺ Krita 3.0

• Krita 3.0 is going to be the first Qt 5.x-based Krita. April 13th, 2006, we ported Krita to Qt 4. Seventeen days after porting started, I could publish Krita 2.0 runs!”

=> ↺ Porting Krita To Qt5 Will Take Some Time, But Is Being Done Right

• For users of KDE’s Krita digital painting / raster graphics editor, the Qt5 port of the program won’t be fully ready for at least another half-year, but it’s being done right.

Distributions

=> ↺ 10 Linux Distros You Need To Know

• Linux, originally developed as a free-to-use operating system, is growing more powerful, capable, and user-friendly by day. Currently there are a large number of Linux versions, called distributions or “distros” for short, available in the market, each followed by a large group of users and developers who are working to further enhance the product. To identify the best fit for your organization, it’s important to know the capabilities and limitations of these distros.

• The Linux operating system is basically a kernel or a wrapper over the physical hardware that enables applications to interact with the underlying processing machinery. Since it is open source, organizations are free to use its core elements to build and release their own distros. A large number of organizations have already developed several flavors of Linux distros targeting different audiences and adding flexibility and choices based on their requirements.

New Releases

=> ↺ The First MakuluLinux Distro with the Unity Desktop Is Here, Based on Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS

• Jacque Montague Raymer had the pleasure of announcing the immediate availability for download of the MakuluLinux Unity 8 computer operating system. This is the first ever edition of the MakuluLinux distribution to use the Unity desktop environment from the upstream Ubuntu Linux OS.

=> ↺ 4MParted 12.0 Beta Is a Small Tool for Disk Partitioning

• 4MParted, a Linux distribution based on the 4MLinux and GParted, has been upgraded and is now ready for download and testing.

Screenshots

=> ↺ PoliArch 15.04 Screencast

=> ↺ MakuluLinux 8 Unity Screenshot Tour

=> ↺ LXLE 14.04.2 Screenshot Tour

=> ↺ MakuluLinux 8 Unity Desktop Screencast

=> ↺ MakuluLinux 8 Unity Desktop Screencast

Arch Family

=> ↺ Manjaro Linux 0.8.13 Will Bring an Updated Installer with LUKS Encryption

• The Manjaro development team, through Philip Müller, was proud to announce recently that the upcoming Manjaro Linux 0.8.13 operating system would ditch the regular Calamares installer in favor of the another one called Thus, which will boast a wide range of improvements.

Red Hat Family

=> ↺ OpenStack needs more than cheerleaders

• According to Matt Asay, it’s time for Red Hat to step up and make OpenStack work for the enterprise. Do you agree?

• [...]

• For example, CEO Jim Whitehurst explained that half of its OpenStack sales were six-figure deals (though how he answered the question implied that a significant chunk of every deal involved professional services to make OpenStack work), and CFO Charlie Peters called out that several of Red Hat’s top-30 deals included an OpenStack component.

Debian Family

=> ↺ Debian Wiki “WhyTheName” Explains the Names of Linux Packges, Don’t Check Caca-Utils

• WhyTheName is a very useful Debian wiki that explains the name of most packages found in the operating system and teaches readers some cool new facts.

Derivatives

Canonical/Ubuntu

=> ↺ Watch Mir and Unity 8 Running GTK+ Apps Natively – Video

• Canonical is almost ready to offer the next generation of its Unity environment for the desktop, and it will be accompanied by Mir, their brand-new display server. One of the community’s biggest worries was that GTK apps will have a problem running on the new desktop, but that issue won’t be a problem.

=> ↺ Ubuntu Touch Is Probably the Only Mobile OS Shipping with a Firewall by Default

• Ubuntu for phones has been officially released and it’s running on Bq phone in the wild, not to mention the thousands of Nexus 4 devices, but not many people know that it also comes with an integrated default firewall.

=> ↺ 11.6-inch HD tablet runs Ubuntu Touch on Intel Core M

• Cube’s $399, Ubuntu-based “i7-CM” tablet has an Intel Core M CPU and an 11.6-inch HD display. Meanwhile, an Ubuntu-driven “MJ Tech” tablet has broken cover.

• A Chinese company called Cube, owned by Ele Technology, has begun selling an Ubuntu Linux-based version of its Windows-based i7 tablet. The Cube i7-CM appears to be one of the first tablets to run the Ubuntu Touch UI extensions.

• As first reported by CNGadget, and picked up by Liliputing, the i7-CM starts at just $399 at AliExpress, compared to $581 for the Windows version. The 11.6-inch tablet is notable for running on one of Intel’s new 14-nm fabricated Core M processors. Meanwhile, at least two other Ubuntu tablets are also in the works, including a model from MJ Technology.

=> ↺ Ubuntu MATE 15.04 to Provide First Class Compiz Integration – Video

• The Ubuntu MATE developers are preparing for the launch of the latest 15.04 branch of the operating system. One of the features to be present in Ubuntu MATE 15.04 is Compiz integration, and one of the developers has put together a video showing all the cool stuff to be available.

=> ↺ Cube i7-CM Intel Core M Powered Ubuntu Tablet

• If iOS, Windows and Android tablets are not to your liking you might be interested in a new Ubuntu tablet in the form of the Cube i7-CM that launches in China this week priced at around $399.

• Even though the Ubuntu tablet is launching in China international shipping is available, but be warned the $399 price is limited to launch and is expected to rise to an as yet unspecified higher price later on its been revealed.

=> ↺ What’s new in Ubuntu 15.04

• We’re not far from the final release of Ubuntu 15.04. So it’s a good time to take a peek at the changes and new features in Canonical’s latest version of Ubuntu. Unfortunately, Ubuntu 15.04 might be somewhat underwhelming for those expecting tons of new features. There are some important changes, but most of them won’t be apparent to desktop users.

=> ↺ Unity 8 Won’t Be Very Different Visually from Unity 7

• Unity 8 is not ready for regular use, but Canonical is improving it all the time. Users need to know that despite all the important changes and improvements announced for the Unity 8, it won’t be terribly different from the current implementation.

=> ↺ Ubuntu Touch Update with Battery Life Improvements and Indicator Overhaul Coming Soon

• Ubuntu developers are working hard to improve the battery life the Ubuntu Touch operating systems, and they are preparing for the launch of a new major update that should provide better performance in this regard.

Flavours and Variants

=> ↺ nOS Infinity Linux April 2015 Update Brings Performance and Stability Improvements

• A new update has been announced for the nOS Ubuntu-based Linux operating system that uses the KDE4 desktop environment. nOS is a rolling-release distribution, but new ISO images are being released by the nOS development team at the beginning of each month for those who want to install the operating system on new computers.

Devices/Embedded

=> ↺ First Look at OSMC RC on the Raspberry Pi 2

• OSMC is the successor of Raspbmc and Crystalbuntu, created and maintained by Sam Nazarko. It is licensed under the GNU GPL v2 license. It aims to be simple and easy to use, with no knowledge of Linux needed. This is because the system is managed through the OSMC interface. If you want to experiment, there are the complete Debian repositories available containing more than 30,000 packages.

=> ↺ Intel Compute Stick, world’s smallest PC, will cost $150 with Windows, $110 with Linux

• It look a little longer than expected, but Intel’s Compute Stick PC is up for pre-order through some online stores.

• The stick-sized computer is available from Newegg with Windows 8.1 on board. If you’re the type that always spells “Microsoft” with a dollar sign, Newegg is also selling the Linux version for $110. Liliputing reports that it comes with Ubuntu 14.04. The price for the Linux Compute Stick was supposed to be $89, but we’ve yet to see it anywhere for that cheap.

=> ↺ Intel’s PC-on-a-stick Device to be Available on April 24, 2015

• The palm-sized device will be available in both Windows and Linux flavors, both of which will come with an Intel Atom Z3735F processor (Core M version in the cards), HDMI output, full-size USB 2.0 port, microSD card reader, microUSB port (for power), Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, and Bluetooth 4.0.

=> ↺ Intel Compute Stick Mini PC with Ubuntu and Windows 8.1 Now Available for Pre-Order

• A Softpedia user has brought to our attention that the Intel Compute Stick mini computer, which was unveiled by Intel at CES 2015 back in January, is now available for pre-order on several retail websites, including Amazon, Newegg, and Zones.

=> ↺ Intel Compute Stick mini PC now available for pre-order

=> ↺ Intel HDMI Compute Stick can soon be yours, pre-orders are up

=> ↺ Intel’s PC-on-a-stick dongle now available for preorder

=> ↺ You can finally order the Intel USB stick that turns any monitor into a full PC

=> ↺ Intel’s Compute Stick available for pre-order at $150

=> ↺ Intel Compute Stick now available for pre-order; starts at $110

Phones

=> ↺ HOWTO: Install Sailfish OS on the Nexus 4

• My wife recently got a new phone which left the Nexus 4 she had been using previously up for grabs. I had been itching to give Sailfish OS a try on a piece of modern hardware for some time now so I took this as an opportunity to load it up on the now extra phone.

Android

=> ↺ Android 5.0: How to fix issues and problems on Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Note 3, Galaxy S5 and S4

=> ↺ Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 LTE to get Android 5.0 Lollipop update next

• Android 5.0 Lollipop has so far been rolling out for smartphones but it seems that Samsung is expanding that now to tablets.

• Samsung has apparently started seeding the Android 5.0 Lollipop OS to Samsung Galaxy Tab S10.5 LTE units though it may be for a select number of regions only.

=> ↺ 10 free and incredibly useful Android apps that you can’t get on the iPhone

• But since Android lets app makers do certain things that Apple prohibits, there are a few exclusive options that stand out.

=> ↺ AutoMate Turns Your Phone into an Android Auto-Style Dashboard

• Android: The rollout of Android Auto is one of Google’s slowest, and unless you have a Lollipop phone and an expensive aftermarket head unit, you can’t use it. If you’d rather skip the expensive car modifications, AutoMate can give you a similar dashboard experience with just your phone.

• Inexplicably, Android Auto has not officially been released in a simple app form that any old phone in landscape mode could use. While AutoMate is not official in any way, it does many of the same things, including controlling your music player, getting directions, and reading your texts aloud.

=> ↺ (Unofficial) Xposed Framework Alpha released for Android 5.1

• Up until recently, Xposed only supported devices running Android 4.4 or earlier, but in February Xposed developer Rovo89 released Xposed Framework for Android 5.0. Now there’s an unofficial build that works with (some) devices running Android 5.1.

=> ↺ OnePlus releases OxygenOS based on Android Lollipop

• OnePlus launched the OnePlus One last year, a high end smartphone that offered an excellent value to the consumer. A couple of days ago OnePlus announced OxygenOS, an operating system based on Android Lollipop 5.0.2, available for OnePlus One owners.

=> ↺ Android Security Improved in 2014, yet Risks Remain

• Google made strides in 2014 to improve Android security, but a large number of legacy users might not see the full benefit.

=> ↺ Despite Enterprise Concerns, Android is an Ultra-Safe Platform

• The fact is, though, hard data now shows that Android is not a target of hackers, and even in the case of the security vulnerability that PaloAlto Networks identified, no reports of actual hacks arrived. In a new report released by Google, the remarkable news has emerged that fewer than one percent of Android devices had a potentially harmful application installed last year.

=> ↺ Verizon’s Galaxy Note 4 gets Android 5.0 Lollipop with VoLTE

• Verizon has begun rolling out the latest Android 5.0 update for the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, and in addition to all of the features and improvements you would expect to get with a Lollipop upgrade, it also adds support for VoLTE.

• This Lollipop upgrade includes Samsung’s latest TouchWiz software for the Note 4, which has been redesigned slightly to better match Google’s Material Design guidelines.

=> ↺ Amazon Prime Instant Video finally supports Android tablets

• Amazon Prime Instant Video finally supports Android-powered tablets, almost 7 months after making its Android debut. The service, which offers thousands of movies and TV shows to Prime subscribers, is available through the Amazon Appstore.

=> ↺ Run Android 5.1 Lollipop on Your Raspberry Pi 2 with RaspAnd

• Arne Exton, the creator of numerous distributions of Linux that are available for download on Softpedia, was happy to inform us about his latest creation, RaspAnd, a custom OS that allows you to run the Android 5.1 Lollipop mobile operating system on a Raspberry Pi 2 computer board.

=> ↺ 20 best Android apps and games this week

• Welcome to this week’s best Android apps roundup. As ever, prices are correct at the time of writing, and (Free + IAP) means the app is freemium and uses in-app purchases.

=> ↺ iOS 8 hate

• The problems with iOS 8 have stretched on for months. Come on, Apple!

=> ↺ Sony Xperia Z3 and Z2: Android 5.0 Lollipop to release worldwide ‘soon’

• Sony Mobile already started rolling out the Android 5.0 Lollipop update for the Sony Xperia Z2 and Sony Xperia Z3 series in the Baltic and Nordic regions mid-March, but the mobile manufacturer has not sent out the updates to other countries yet.

=> ↺ Best new Android widgets (April 2015)

• Although iOS scored widget support last year, Android is still the undisputed king of widgets. Naturally, those who swear by Google and Android have tinkered with these; in the meantime, those heavily investing into customization are certainly always searching high and low for a new widget that will give a whole new flavor to their Android screens.

=> ↺ OnePlus launches its own OxygenOS version of Android Lollipop

• We knew it was coming, and over the weekend it finally arrived: OnePlus has officially released the custom-made OxygenOS flavour of Android that will be powering the company’s handsets and devices in the future.

=> ↺ Android 5.1 Lollipop vs. Android 5.0 Lollipop: Everything You Need To Know

• When Android 5.0 Lollipop was released last year, it was filled with bugs and customer complaints started to pour in. Google rolled out Android 5.0.1 Lollipop and Android 5.0.2 Lollipop to try to fix the issues, but those were not enough.

• Google started rolling out Android 5.1 Lollipop in March, as a bigger maintenance update that looks to address the several issues that plagued the initial release of Google’s latest mobile operating system.

• Android 5.1 Lollipop improves the overall stability, battery life and performance of Android devices compared to the previous release. Most of these changes are under the hood, but there are also several new features that Android 5.1 Lollipop brings.

=> ↺ 12 reasons to buy the best Android Wear smartwatch you’ve never heard of

• The unexpected Huawei Watch appears to be the best Android Wear device ever made. To further build up hype around the device ahead the Apple Watch launch, the company published 12 things “you need to know” about the Huawei Watch on its community pages.

Free Software/Open Source

=> ↺ Getting an inside track on open source

• Michael Bryzek saw open source playing a big role in his company’s IT infrastructure, right from the start.

• The CTO and co-founder of online retailer Gilt Groupe, Bryzek built the eight-year-old members-only shopping site using the Web framework Ruby on Rails, the Linux operating system and the object-relational database system PostgreSQL — all open-source tools.

• He says open source doesn’t have the “friction” — that is, sticking points like contractual limits — that typically come with commercial products. He also says his engineers can be more creative and innovative with open source.

=> ↺ Jay: A Decentralized and Open-Source Web Wallet for NXT

• Jay, a javascript wallet framework developed for NXT, has just released their open-source, trustless web wallet, which may be the easiest way to make NXT transactions yet.

Events

=> ↺ Spark ignites at ApacheCon

• ApacheCon is coming up, and within that massive conference there will be a glimmering gem: a forum dedicated to Spark.

=> ↺ ​Apache Spark’s success: Overhyped or preordained?

• But one change that has become especially noteworthy is the degree to which Apache Spark has captured the attention and excitement of the industry.

SaaS/Big Data

=> ↺ Piston Unveils Piston CloudOS 4.0, focused on “the Modern Data Center”

• Piston Cloud Computing, Inc. has announced the availability of Piston CloudOS 4.0, which is billed as “an operating system for the modern data center that transforms clusters of commodity servers into a single unified environment.” The platform can purportedly deploy OpenStack in minutes, and CloudOS 4.0 also lets users deploy Hadoop and Spark on bare metal, with forthcoming support for container orchestration tools such as Kubernetes, Mesos and Docker Swarm.

=> ↺ Piston Cloud’s Smart Move to Build a Fungible Platform

• Piston Cloud Computing has announced a move beyond OpenStack for its Piston CloudOS 4.0, an operating system for the data center that transforms clusters of commodity servers into a single unified environment.

=> ↺ Nebula, OpenStack cloud vendor, just shut down with no notice

• The company was founded in 2011 by Chris Kemp, who had been chief technology officer for IT at NASA where he helped create OpenStack. Kemp left NASA to push OpenStack forward. As Kemp explained to Tech Republic in the fall of 2014, “I wanted the project to live on beyond the work we were doing … I knew that if we could open-source this work under a very flexible open-source framework, and really get a community gathered around contributing to it, the project could live on.”

Business

Semi-Open Source

=> ↺ Open Source Human Transformation: Hinduism’s gift to mankind

• At the outset, one needs to appreciate that the word “Religion” is related to the Abrahamic faiths more. Eastern spiritual traditions, which find their beginnings in Hinduism, are neither faiths nor religions. Hinduism is an amalgam of various spiritual traditions. The ways are different, the goals are different and the very way of looking at man, divine and life is different. Open Source, personal, subjective, experiential and not fixed in history via a person or event. Now, let us look at what is on offer from Hinduism. Something that is fundamental to human well being.

BSD

=> ↺ OpenBSD 5.7 Is Less Than One Month Out & Finally Has USB 3.0

• OpenBSD 5.7 is planned for release in less than one month and it will be presenting a number of new features for this security-minded BSD operating system.

FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

=> ↺ GNU remotecontrol

• Whatever you do…..don’t get beat up over your Energy Management strategy. GNU remotecontrol is here to help simplify your life, not make it more complicated. Talk to us if you are stuck or cannot figure out the best option for your GNU remotecontrol framework. The chances are the answer you need is something we have already worked through. We would be happy to help you by discussing your situation with you.

=> ↺ GCC 5 Is Coming This Month With OpenMP 4.0, Offloading, Cilk Plus & More

• GCC 5 is expected to be formally released later this month and it by far is looking to be the most exciting GNU Compiler Collection update yet! GCC 5 has amassed a ton of exciting open-source compiler features over the past year.

=> ↺ XKCD’s Comic About OSes Is Hilarious, Predicts Launch Date of GNU Hurd 1.0

• The XKCD webcomics are funny because they are usually right on the money, with just a side dish of ridiculousness. The latest one is called Operating Systems and encompasses everything that is done wrong in this world, with just a single drawing and small, smart text about Richard Stallman.

Public Services/Government

=> ↺ Govt makes a pitch for open source software in IT tenders

• With an aim to reduce project costs, the government has decided to give preference to open source software (OSS) over proprietary in e-governance procurements.

=> ↺ India backs open source software for e-governance projects

• Federal and state agencies must make it mandatory for suppliers to give OSS a preference over proprietary or closed source software while responding to requests for proposals. “Suppliers shall provide justification for exclusion of OSS in their response,” according to the policy statement posted to the website of the Ministry for Communication & Information Technology.

Openness/Sharing

=> ↺ An OpenStack code sprint, preparing for the Vancouver summit, and more

Programming

=> ↺ Students compete for a chance to have their Raspberry Pi code run in space

• As part of the mission’s education outreach program, children in UK schools will get the chance to write code to run their own applications in space. The Pis will each have a specially made sensor board attached in order to access data on the space station’s atmosphere. Schools will get the chance to run experiments in their own classroom and compare the results from space, or just make interesting applications to run on the space station. We’re really excited to see what the young minds of Britain come up with, and what they can learn from turning their ideas to a reality by programming the boards.

Leftovers

=> ↺ On Armenia centennial, US rockers hope music raises pressure

• One hundred years after the mass killings of Armenians, US band System of a Down is taking the fight for remembrance beyond politicians to the world’s music fans.

• The Los Angeles-area hard rockers, who have sold more than 40 million albums since the mid-1990s, are of Armenian descent and are preparing a European tour to culminate in a public concert on April 23 in Yerevan, the band’s first performance in Armenia.

Defence/Police/Secrecy/Aggression

=> ↺ The Pentagon’s $10-billion bet gone bad

• Leaders of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency were effusive about the new technology.

• It was the most powerful radar of its kind in the world, they told Congress. So powerful it could detect a baseball over San Francisco from the other side of the country.

• If North Korea launched a sneak attack, the Sea-Based X-Band Radar — SBX for short — would spot the incoming missiles, track them through space and guide U.S. rocket-interceptors to destroy them.

=> ↺ Apparent Saudi Strike Kills at Least Nine in Yemeni Family

• At least nine people from a single family were killed when what appeared to be an airstrike by the Saudi-led military coalition struck a home in a village outside Sana, Yemen’s capital, officials said Saturday.

• Village residents gave a higher toll, saying that as many as 11 members of the Okaish family, including five children, were killed in the bombing on Friday. The airstrike may have been intended for an air defense base about a mile and half away, a Yemen Interior Ministry official said.

• Bombings attributed to the coalition have killed dozens of civilians since the start of the Saudi-led air offensive intended to cripple the Houthis, a Yemeni militia that has gained control of Sana and other parts of Yemen in the past eight months.

=> ↺ Manufacturing a ‘Good Adversary’ in Tehran

• The real story behind America’s 30-year Cold War with Iran

• [...]

• The real reason the Bush White House had abandoned the opening to Iran was that the CIA and the Pentagon desperately needed to replace the Soviet threat as justification for continuing Cold War levels of appropriations.

• To head off deep cuts in the CIA budget, the agency’s new director, Robert M. Gates, had identified Iran and the proliferation of nuclear weapons as a new threat. Just two weeks after Gates became director in November 1991, a “senior administration official” was quoted by the Los Angeles Times as saying that relations with Iran would remain in the “deep freeze,” because of Iran’s “continued support for international terrorism” and its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.

• That comment dovetailed with the argument Gates made in pubic testimony to fend off deep budget cuts. Testifying before the Defense Policy Panel in early December, just two days after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Gates said the “accelerating proliferation” of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems were “probably the gravest concern” among post-Cold War threats.

Transparency Reporting

=> ↺ Judge Shoots Down ‘FOIA Terrorist’ Jason Leopold; Says ‘Panetta Review’ Documents Can Be Withheld In Full

• The CIA’s internal document designations seem to bear some resemblance to the NYPD’s use of its “SECRET” stamp — which is deployed arbitrarily and without oversight to declare certain documents out of the reach of Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests. If the CIA feels exemption b(5) gives it the best chance to keep documents out of the hands of journalists like Jason Leopold. it can slap these designations on as many papers as possible and mention its predetermination in FOIA lawsuit declarations.

• Second, Boasberg’s refusal to challenge even a single exemption assertion by the CIA isn’t particularly good news, considering his recent appointment to the FISA court. While he has pushed back on government secrecy in the past, he’s also been just as likely to grant its wishes. Considering he’s replacing FISA Judge Reggie Walton — one of the few FISA judges to openly question surveillance tactics and hold the NSA accountable for its abuses — this latest decision seems to indicate his appointment is a downgrade in terms of government accountability.

Finance

=> ↺ George Will Revives Tired Canard That Reagan Created One Million Jobs In One Month

• But Will’s claim about Reagan’s job creation record is disingenuous. As Business Insider pointed out, Reagan’s so-called million job month in September 1983 was simply an outlier inflated due to nearly 675,000 striking communication workers returning to work…

=> ↺ The Real Reason College Tuition Costs So Much

• ONCE upon a time in America, baby boomers paid for college with the money they made from their summer jobs. Then, over the course of the next few decades, public funding for higher education was slashed. These radical cuts forced universities to raise tuition year after year, which in turn forced the millennial generation to take on crushing educational debt loads, and everyone lived unhappily ever after.

Censorship

=> ↺ Turkey reportedly blocks Twitter and YouTube

• Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is calling for a ban on social media once again.

• A spokesperson for this office said on Monday that a prosecutor has ordered Internet providers to block sites that include YouTube and Twitter, which is extremely popular in the country.

• The request comes after photos spread online showing militants holding a prosecutor hostage at gunpoint last week during a takeover of this courthouse office. Prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz, who investigated the death of a teenager who was hit by a police gas canister fired during nationwide anti-government protests in 2013, died last week in a shootout between police and the Marxist militants.

=> ↺ Turkish Censorship Order Targets Single Blog Post, Ends Up Blocking Access To 60 Million WordPress Sites

• A lawyer and Turkish Pirate Party member tracked down the root of the sudden ban on all of WordPress: a court order seeking to block a single blog post written by a professor accusing another professor of plagiarism. This post apparently led to several defamation lawsuits and the lawsuits led to a court order basically saying that if blocking the single post proved too difficult, fuck it, block the entire domain.

=> ↺ Turkey Blocks Twitter, YouTube, Scores of Websites After Prosecutor’s Killing

• Twitter and YouTube are blocked once again in Turkey as of today, April 6, following the mass circulation of photos of a hostage crisis that ended with the death of a government prosecutor. According to Hurriyet Daily News, authorities have also blocked 166 websites that posted the photos.

• Although Facebook was initially blocked for the same reason, the block was lifted after the company complied with Turkish officials’ orders to remove the offending images.

Privacy

=> ↺ Blocking The Fields

• You now need an army of spies, analysts and police to watch the security cameras, check on the spies and watch for people jumping fences. This is not about the bad thing you first objected to any more. It’s now about jumping fences to get to places that have been made unreachable by them, checking on spies for telling lies, dealing with corruption among your informers, suppressing all the “SJW”s who whine about the loss of freedom and undermining your political opposition who are equally clueless about blocking fields but can see that what you are doing is hugely unpopular.

• Congratulations! Your attempt to stop something your supporters disapprove of by mandating the impossible has created a police state. It doesn’t matter how bad the thing you were trying to stop is; people probably agree that it’s a bad thing.

• By mandating the impossible, you caused collateral damage that outweighed any benefits, and by associating it with a thing no-one dares defend in public you were able to accidentally destroy society without opposition. And you didn’t notice because you never do for walks in the fields.

=> ↺ Why John Oliver Can’t Find Americans Who Know Edward Snowden’s Name (It’s Not About Snowden)

• On his HBO program last night, John Oliver devoted 30 minutes to a discussion of U.S. surveillance programs, advocating a much more substantive debate as the June 1 deadline for renewing the Patriot Act approaches (the full segment can be seen here). As part of that segment, Oliver broadcast an interview he conducted with Edward Snowden in Moscow, and to illustrate the point that an insufficient surveillance debate has been conducted, showed video of numerous people in Times Square saying they had no idea who Snowden is (or giving inaccurate answers about him). Oliver assured Snowden off-camera that they did not cherry-pick those “on the street” interviews but showed a representative sample.

=> ↺ Microsoft drops ‘do not track’ browser default to reflect ‘evolving industry standards’

• Microsoft has updated its ‘Do Not Track’ policy, which will no longer be a default setting in its browser, thus giving third parties like advertisers a free hand in deciding whether to track the user or not, unless the option has been turned on manually.

• The ‘Do Not Track’ (DNT) setting in browsers specifies whether the user wants his or her browsing information to be available to third parties such as content providers and advertisers, who gather it so they can learn about a person’s interests and habits.

=> ↺ Exclusive: TSA ‘Behavior Detection’ Program Targeting Undocumented Immigrants, Not Terrorists

• A controversial Transportation Security Administration program that uses “behavior indicators” to identify potential terrorists is instead primarily targeting undocumented immigrants, according to a document obtained by The Intercept and interviews with current and former government officials.

• The $900 million program, Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques, or SPOT, employs behavior detection officers trained to identify passengers who exhibit behaviors that TSA believes could be linked to would-be terrorists. But in one five-week period at a major international airport in the United States in 2007, the year the program started, only about 4 percent of the passengers who were referred to secondary screening or law enforcement by behavior detection officers were arrested, and nearly 90 percent of those arrests were for being in the country illegally, according to a TSA document obtained by The Intercept.

=> ↺ Artists secretly install Edward Snowden statue in Brooklyn park

• Dressed in reflective yellow construction gear while working under the cover of darkness early Monday, a small group of artists installed a tribute to NSA-leaker Edward Snowden in a Brooklyn park.

• The Snowden bust stands atop a column at the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument in Fort Greene Park, a site built to honor more than 11,000 American prisoners of war who died aboard British ships during the American Revolutionary War.

=> ↺ Artists secretly install Snowden monument

• A group of artists secretly installed a 100-pound sculpture of government leaker Edward Snowden in a New York City park early on Monday morning, though it was taken down by city officials later in the day.

• The handful of people wearing yellow reflector vests and hard hats snuck into the park and, in the predawn hours, attached the massive bust of a neatly coiffed Snowden wearing his trademark square-rimmed glassed onto the Prison Ship Martyrs’ Monument in Brooklyn, which honors soldiers imprisoned in the Revolutionary War. In a statement provided to city blog Animal, which also produced a short video about the installation, the activists said that the effort was meant to reinvigorate the focus on the leaker and the massive government surveillance that he exposed.

• “We have updated this monument to highlight those who sacrifice their safety in the fight against modern-day tyrannies,” they told the website.

=> ↺ Edward Snowden statue appears in Brooklyn overnight

• A trio of anonymous artists and helpers installed a bust of Edward Snowden in Brooklyn Monday morning.

• The 100-pound statue was hauled into Fort Greene Park just before dawn, according to ANIMALNewYork, which originally reported the story.

• The idea for the statue came from two artists and was made by a West Coast sculptor. Snowden leaked classified information from the National Security Agency to mainstream media in June 2013. He was charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with two counts of violating the Espionage Act and theft of government property and currently lives in Russia.

=> ↺ New York City Takes Down Edward Snowden Statue Erected By Guerilla Artists

• NYPD says the art prank is under investigation

• New York City has removed a statue of former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden erected by a group of artists in a Brooklyn park.

=> ↺ John Oliver Asks Edward Snowden If The American Government Is Spying On Your Naked Photos

• “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” viewers got a surprise during Sunday’s show when the British satirist interviewed a man he described as “the most famous hero and/or traitor in recent American history:” NSA leaker Edward Snowden.

Civil Rights

=> ↺ Eight San Francisco police officers expected to be fired over racist, homophobic texts

• Eight San Francisco police officers implicated in sending and receiving racist and homophobic text messages have been suspended and are expected to be fired, according to news reports.

=> ↺ Barrett Brown, John Kiriakou & the Bureau of Prisons’ Deep Contempt for First Amendment

• The Bureau of Prisons’ contempt for the First Amendment has been on full display this week.

• Journalist and activist Barrett Brown pled guilty to offenses stemming from YouTube videos he uploaded containing a threat directed at the FBI, emails from hackers he redacted and laptops found in a kitchen cabinet that he hid from authorities. He was sentenced to five years and three months in jail on January 22.

=> ↺ Barrett Brown’s account of the arbitrary suspension of his e-mail

• On Tuesday March 31, I used the inmate computer system to send an email to a journalist of my acquaintance in which I inquired about getting him in touch with another inmate who was interested in talking to the press about potentially illegal conduct by BOP officials. When I tried to log in to the system one hour afterwards, I received a message reading: “Denied: You do not have access to this service.” I asked our Counselor Towchik about this and he called another office, from which he apparently received a vague explanation to the effect that they were “working on it”, which we took to understand that this was a system maintenance issue; he told me to return to his office later that afternoon. I did so, and he told me that several people were having issues with the system and that he would make further inquiries, and that if necessary he would bring the technical staff over to our unit the next day to discuss it with us, assuming the problem had still not been fixed. The next morning I reached my mother by phone and learned that apparently everyone on my message contact list had received an automatic email to the effect that my messaging privileges had been temporarily suspended, but I reassured her that it was merely a mistake. When I met again with Towchik, however, he conceded that the problem didn’t seem to be technical after all and that I should ask Trust Fund Manager Coleman about it at lunch. Failing to find Mr. Coleman, I met that afternoon with Unit Manger Ivory, who checked my files but could find no reason why my access should have suddenly been suspended and also advised me to meet with Mr. Coleman. At some point that day, my attempts to log in started to prompt a different message stating: “This account is on suspension until 4/1/2016 11:59:59 pm (from portal 16)”. At the next lunch period on Thursday, April 2nd, I was unable to locate Mr. Coleman, but laid out my problem to the associate warden who told me to return in five minutes, when Mr. Coleman would be present.

=> ↺ The Persian Paradox: Iran Is Much More Modern Than You Think

• People in the West tend to have a monolithic view of Iran. But there’s a lot more to the country than the mullah-led theocracy, and it often gets ignored. And national pride is alive and well.

=> ↺ Petition Against Obama Decree on Venezuela Tops 8m Signatures

• A petition launched in Venezuela opposing President Barack Obama’s latest sanctions and the labelling of Venezuela as a national security threat has topped 8 million signatures, it was announced Sunday.

• President Obama issued an executive order March 9 declaring a “national emergency with respect to the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States posed by the situation in Venezuela.”

• Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro thanked the supporters who backed the call for Obama to “repeal the decree” through his Twitter account.

• The signatures will be handed in during the Summit of the Americas which starts later this week in Panama and will be attended by all the nations in the hemishphere.

=> ↺ Two Court Rulings Completely Disagree With Each Other Over Whether Websites Need To Comply With Americans With Disabilities Act

• On March 19th, there was a ruling [pdf] in a case in a federal district court in Vermont, brought by the National Federation for the Blind against Scribd, saying that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applied to the internet, and thus Scribd had to comply with the ADA. The specific concern is whether or not a website is a “place of public accommodation.” Three years ago there was a similar ruling against Netflix (also brought by the National Federation for the Blind), which we noted had some troubling aspects to it. Since then, there have been a number of cases that have gone the other way. And, indeed, just this week the 9th Circuit appeals court upheld a lower court ruling [pdf] saying that Netflix does not need to comply with the ADA.

=> ↺ Willie McRae

• The Scotsman claims that the police had first removed the vehicle and then replaced it, and this explains the mystery of why the gun was so far from the car after McRae’s remarkable two shot “suicide”. For me, that adds just another level of improbability to so very many. How, inside a car, you shoot yourself in the head in such a way that the gun falls out of the window, seems problematic. The car was crashed over a burn; how you order that with the suicide is peculiar.

=> ↺ A Non-Conspiracy of Douthat’s

• The “difficult and personal” decision of whether folks like these can decide if you can shop at a store or not.

=> ↺ School Teachers With Valid Work Authorization Labeled As “Illegals” By Fox News

• Fox News misleadingly slurred immigrants with legal permission to work in the United States as “illegals” during a segment highlighting attempts by disadvantaged school districts around the country to boost bilingual education initiatives.

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