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● 08.19.15

● Links 19/8/2015: LinuxCon Everywhere

Posted in News Roundup at 11:32 am by Dr. Roy SchestowitzContentsGNU/LinuxGNU/Linux

Desktop

=> ↺ Open Source vs. Chromebooks

• From patent claims to license violations, free and open source software has weathered one threat to its existence after another. However, with Chromebooks recently outselling both Apple and Windows computers, I suspect that open source software’s chances with consumers are becoming remoter than ever — and all because of the advantages of open source software in development.

=> ↺ Why did you start using Linux?

• Linux has become quite popular over the years, with many users defecting to it from OS X or Windows. But have you ever wondered what got people started with Linux? A redditor asked that question and got some very interesting answers.

=> ↺ Different User Types in LVFS

• I’ve been working with two large (still un-named) vendors about their required features for the Linux Vendor Firmware Service. One of the new features I’ve landed this week in the test instance are the different user modes.

=> ↺ Back to school on a budget: Choosing a cheap laptop to fit your needs

• 1. If you can spring for a $750 laptop, do so. We took a look at some laptops in that range also, and the difference is palpable. A $500 laptop is all about trading off one important feature for another. You tend to get one standout feature amidst a bunch of compromises. We’ve found that $750 laptops are generally more well-rounded.

• 2. On the other hand, you can get a surprisingly competent laptop for $500. These machines aren’t going to make a power user swoon. For basic web browsing, office work, and movie streaming, however, a $500 machine nowadays is a much better proposition than it was ten years ago.

Server

=> ↺ IBM Meets Growing Linux Demand With New Mainframe

=> ↺ Marist partners with IBM, Linux Foundation

• Marist College will partner with IBM and the Seattle-based Linux Foundation to support Linux on the mainframe, according to a college news release.

• IBM chose the Poughkeepsie-based Marist “to host clouds that will provide developers access to a virtual IBM LinuxONE at no cost,” Marist said.

=> ↺ IBM Looks to Linux for Mainframe Growth

• International Business Machines’ mainframe computer, first introduced more than 50 years ago, remains an integral part of many companies’ IT infrastructures.

=> ↺ IBM launches Linux-only mainframes, offers pay-as-you-go pricing

=> ↺ IBM Bets Big on Linux Mainframes

=> ↺ IBM Creates Linux Without Limits

• Linux is the fastest growing operating system in the industry with significant drivers expanding it in mission critical applications in the industry. The causes for this trend are speed, agility, a unified development environment, and cost. The quality of Linux has advanced over the years significantly. Mobile is driving an increased focus on this platform which is closely tied to the mobile revolution. IBM is all in on this trend and is pushing their z Systems platform to take advantage of this wave and provide their strongest large scale offering in this space. IBM believes that they can expand their capability by taking Linux to the next level and is announcing the expansion of their coverage. Customers are demanding that IBM take Linux and give it the same focus as their most capable systems and IBM is stepping up.

=> ↺ IBM’s crazy LinuxONE servers pitch open-source to mainstream

=> ↺ The Open Mainframe Project

Kernel Space

=> ↺ Core Infrastructure Initiative Launches Open Source Security Badge Program

• The Core Infrastructure Initiative (CII), a consortium of technology companies guided by The Linux Foundation, has thrown good money at solving the security woes of open source software. Since its inception last year, it has provided funding for the OpenSSL project allowing it to hire full-time help and audit and clean its codebase. It has also helped support the Open Crypto Audit Project (OCAP) which was behind the TrueCrypt audit, as well as GnuPG, Frama-C, and the Fuzzing Project.

=> ↺ Linux Kernel 3.10.87 LTS Released with ARM, MIPS, and SPARC Improvements

• After announcing the release of the Linux kernel 4.1.6 LTS, renowned developer Greg Kroah-Hartman published details about the eighty-seven maintenance release of the Linux 3.10 kernel series, urging all users to update as soon as possible.

=> ↺ A Look at What’s Next for the Linux Kernel

• The Linux 4.2 kernel is still under development, with general availability expected on Aug. 23. Corbet noted that 1,569 developers have contributed code for the Linux 4.2 kernel. Of those, 277 developers made their first contribution ever, during the Linux 4.2 development cycle.

=> ↺ Linux Foundation Announces 2015 Linux Training Scholarship Recipients

=> ↺ Linux Foundation Launches Open Mainframe Project to Advance Linux on the Mainframe

=> ↺ LinuxCon North America: Day 1 highlights

=> ↺ Linux Foundation Brings Together Industry Leaders To Advance Cloud Object Storage Technologies

=> ↺ Huawei Deepens Its Investment In Linux And Open Source Software With Linux Foundation Platinum Membership

=> ↺ PLUMgrid teams up with Linux Foundation to head open network virtualization project

=> ↺ PlumGrid, Cisco, Others Launch Open Network Virtualization Project

=> ↺ Linux Foundation Launches IO Visor to Speed Network Functions Performance

=> ↺ Who, or What, Controls the Software-Defined Data Center?

=> ↺ Linux Effort Targets Secure Code Development

=> ↺ Linux Foundation’s Core Infrastructure Initiative Seeks Community Input On New Security-Focused Badge Program

=> ↺ Core Infrastructure Initiative Launches Open Source Security Badge Program

=> ↺ Linux Foundation to Create Open Object Storage Spec

=> ↺ Linux Core Infrastructure Initiative launches security badge scheme

=> ↺ PLUMgrid Partners With Linux Foundation To Open-Source Its IO Visor Project

=> ↺ Linux Foundation Proposes Open Source Best-Practices Badge

=> ↺ Open Source Becomes Shared R&D Vehicle for Vendors

=> ↺ Linux Foundation wants open source projects to show you their steenking badges

=> ↺ Linux Foundation Expands Mainframe, Network and Storage Initiatives

• The Linux Foundation kicked off its LinuxCon event with the announcement of new efforts that will build on the promise of open-source collaboration.

=> ↺ BTRFS Training

• Some years ago Barwon South Water gave LUV 3 old 1RU Sun servers for any use related to free software. We gave one of those servers to the Canberra makerlab and another is used as the server for the LUV mailing lists and web site and the 3rd server was put aside for training. The servers have hot-swap 15,000rpm SAS disks – IE disks that have a replacement cost greater than the budget we have for hardware. As we were given a spare 70G disk (and a 140G disk can replace a 70G disk) the LUV server has 2*70G disks and the 140G disks (which can’t be replaced) are in the server for training.

=> ↺ The Linux Foundation Announces Winners of Linux Training Scholarship Program

Graphics Stack

=> ↺ DisplayLink Announces Support for Ubuntu Linux and a Solution for Wider Linux Distributions

Benchmarks

=> ↺ GTX 760 Vs R7 370 4GB In Dirt Showdown

Applications

=> ↺ A logo for Taskotron

• My second informative blog post is going to be about creation of a logo using open source tools, namely Inkscape.

=> ↺ Thanking Oh-My-Vagrant contributors for version 1.0.0

• It would be easy to take most of the credit for taking the project this far, as I’ve been responsible for about 87% of the commits, but as is common, the numbers don’t tell the whole story. It is also a bug (but hopefully just an artifact) that I’ve had such a large percentage of commits. It’s quite common for a new project to start this way, but for Free Software to succeed long-term, it’s essential that the users become the contributors. Let’s try to change that going forward.

=> ↺ RcppArmadillo 0.5.400.2.0

=> ↺ backport 1.32

=> ↺ git-pbuilder 1.35

=> ↺ Net::Duo 1.01

Proprietary

=> ↺ PrinterLogic Introduces the Ability to Eliminate Print Servers in Linux Environments

=> ↺ IncrediBuild Launches Industry’s First Plug & Play Linux and Android Software Development Acceleration Suite

=> ↺ Opera 32 Beta for Linux Features Bookmark Tree View and Password Sync

• Opera developers have released the next 32 Beta upgrade for the Opera web browser, and it marks the beginning of another development cycle. Now that all the platforms have reached feature parity, we expect to see the new version land on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ Serial console support in Grub2

=> ↺ Install And Configure Spacewalk In CentOS 7

=> ↺ Logging With Journald In RHEL7/CentOS7

=> ↺ Writing a custom spinner

=> ↺ Distributing Secrets with Custodia

=> ↺ Automatic Workflows in Org-Mode

=> ↺ Send Nagios Alert Notification Using WhatsApp

=> ↺ On the cost analysis of dependencies

=> ↺ Adding a list view to Boxes

=> ↺ Build a “Virtual SuperComputer” with Process Virtualization

=> ↺ How to install Linux on a Chromebook using Crouton

=> ↺ How to Enable 1080p YouTube Support in Firefox 40 for Linux

Games

=> ↺ Remember ‘The Flock’? The Limited Lives For Everyone Game Will See A Delayed Linux Release

=> ↺ Linux issues kill Steam Machine sleep function

• One of the less remembered but welcome features of the recent consoles has been their ability to enter a sleep state. Like a hibernating PC, this meant that instead of sitting through the boot process every time you returned to a dormant system, it would be ready much more quickly. Unfortunately this isn’t a function that Steam Machines will be able to have, as problems with the way Linux operates have stumped Valve engineers.

=> ↺ Steam Machines suspend/resume feature pulled due to reliability problems

=> ↺ Valve Forced To Drop Suspend Resume Feature For Steam Machines

=> ↺ Steam Machines won’t have suspend and resume functionality

=> ↺ There Is No Suspend Feature for Steam Machines

=> ↺ Steam Machines Won’t Have Suspend/Resume Feature

=> ↺ Linux issues kill Steam Machine sleep function

=> ↺ Steam Machines no longer support Suspend/Resume feature due to reliability issues

=> ↺ Steam Machines will not have a suspend/resume function

=> ↺ Steam Machines Won’t Have Suspend/Resume

=> ↺ Steam Machines won’t have a “suspend” function

=> ↺ Steam Has 1,400 Linux Ready Games, Two Months Before Steam Machines’ Launch

• In less than a month, Linux has seen the number of compatible games rise from 1,300 to 1,400 games. Among the recent editions are Shadow of Mordor, DiRT Showdown, Terraria, and Don’t Be Patchman, the first Steam game that launched on Linux first.

=> ↺ DiRT Showdown Released For Linux Thanks To Virtual Programming, Some Thoughts

• Linux finally has a another decent racing game. It’s not a traditional racer by any measure, but still good. Performance is top quality too.

• I say “another” because I class Distance as an awesome survival racer, but DiRT Showdown is much closer to a real racing game for us.

=> ↺ Company Of Heroes 2 Launches For Linux On August 27th

• Their PR email sent out later has confirmed multiplayer is Linux to Linux only.

=> ↺ Planetary Annihilation: TITANS, A Standalone Expansion For Planetary Annihilation

=> ↺ Major Team Fortress 2 Update Lands on Steam for Linux

• The Team Fortress 2 multiplayer online shooter from Valve has been updated, and lots of fixes and balancing changes have been implemented in the game.

=> ↺ Company of Heroes 2 Coming to Mac and Linux This Month, Video Unveiled

• Developed by Relic Entertainment and published by SEGA for PC, Company of Heroes 2 will be released for Mac and Linux via Steam on August 27th, with the Mac App Store version to follow shortly afterwards. DLC for the Steam version of Company of Heroes 2, including the Theater of War mission packs as well as additional Commanders and Skins, will also be available on August 27th via in-store purchase. The Steam version of Company of Heroes 2 will support Mac-Mac and Linux-Linux multiplayer using Steamworks.

=> ↺ Company of Heroes 2 for Linux to Launch on August 27

• Company of Heroes 2, a real-time strategy developed by Relic Entertainment and ported for the Linux platforms by Feral Interaction, will land for Linux users on August 27.

=> ↺ Company of Heroes 2 Advancing on Mac and Linux August 27th

Desktop Environments/WMs

K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

=> ↺ Free Multi-Track Video Editor Kdenlive 15.08 Announced

• Kdenlive, a free multi-track video editor for Linux that supports DV, AVCHD and HDV editing, has been upgraded to version 15.08 and is now ready for download.

GNOME Desktop/GTK

=> ↺ GNOME Boxes 3.18 Beta Adds Tests for Express Installations of Fedora 21 and 22

• The GNOME Project announced the release of the first Beta build for the upcoming GNOME Boxes 3.18 open-source virtual manager software, which will be distributed as part of the anticipated GNOME 3.18 desktop environment.

=> ↺ The save icon needs an update

• Do an image search for “save icon” or “save button” and you’ll quickly be presented with floppy disk images. The floppy disk has become that ubiquitous.

• But what is my problem with the floppy disk icon? No one under 30 recognizes it as a floppy disk. It is just some funny-looking square that means “Save.” Users have been forced to learn the meaning of an icon. But the icon is supposed to be obvious in its meaning.

• The “Save” icon needs an update. We need to change the “Save” icon to be meaningful to a variety of users, not just those that grew up with the older technology.

=> ↺ Third Step of GSoC 2015

• Being busy preparing for the GUADEC 2015 and also busy enjoying GUADEC 2015. I came back to Beijing in 15th, August and suddenly found I have a lot of blogs to finish. Here I’d like to spend some time to write a brief summary of the third step of my work.

Distributions

=> ↺ Best Linux Desktop: Top 10 Candidates

• When it comes to selecting the best Linux desktop experience, there are many factors to consider. I’ll explore 10 Linux distributions, for newbies and advanced users, that I personally believe are the best all around desktop options.

Arch Family

=> ↺ Manjaro 0.8.13 Users Now Have Access to Linux Kernel 4.2 RC6

• The Manjaro 0.8.13 operating system has been upgraded a lot in this cycle and developers have just released the ninth update for it, bring support for some new Linux kernels and a few other packages.

Slackware Family

=> ↺ Citrix, Red Hat Boost Startup Culture in Raleigh, N.C.

Red Hat Family

=> ↺ Everyone changes lightbulbs in an open organization

• One final thought: open organizations like Red Hat understand how important finding one’s “sweet spot” can be. I love the fact that if associates are not happy in their roles, then Red Hat does its level best find somewhere for them to be happy. Other organizations can seem entirely uncompromising, like places where people are treated as cookie cutter resources. There, if you’re a gingerbread baker who doesn’t like baking anymore—well, then, tough cookies (pun intended)!

Fedora

=> ↺ Flock 2015 thoughts.

• Like everyone on the Fedora Engineering team, I was in Rochester for the Flock conference last week. After several flight delays on our direct flight from DCA to Rochester, Justin Forbes, Ricky Elrod, and I finally arrived a little after 9:00pm — about four hours late. Thankfully Josh Boyer came to pick us up at the airport.

=> ↺ My semi serious stand up comedy notes

• But what if you want a little more power over the sound on your system? The PulseAudio system that handles audio in Fedora can do a lot. Although the Sound panel doesn’t expose all this power, other utilities do. One of these is the PulseAudio Volume Control, also known as pavucontrol.

=> ↺ Fedora Localization test tomorrow (18th Aug 2015)

• I always wonder how fast Fedora keeps on moving. I am going to Aurangabad, India for Fedora 22 release event coming Friday and at other end Fedora Alpha 23 released last week and we are going to execute Fedora 23 L10n test day tomorrow.

Debian Family

=> ↺ Debian Puts Out New APT 1.1 Pre-Release “Supercow Powers”

• This latest APT 1.1 pre-release is accessible to Debian experimental users and has changes to how it retrieves files, the pinning algorithm with apt_preferences has been redone, the syntax of “apt install package.deb” now resolves correctly as well as its dependencies, and there are a variety of other usability improvements coming for APT 1.1.

=> ↺ My semi serious stand up comedy notes

• Anarchism has but one infallible, unchangeable motto, ‘Freedom.’ Freedom to discover any truth, freedom to develop, to live naturally and fully.

=> ↺ First steps: Debian on an Asus t100, and some negative experience with Gnome

• The Asus t100 tablet is this amazing and odd little thing: it sells for under $200, yet has a full-featured Atom 64-bit CPU, 2GB RAM, 32 or 64GB SSD, etc. By default, it ships with Windows 8.1. It has a detachable keyboard, so it can be used as a tablet or a very small 10″ laptop.

Derivatives

Canonical/Ubuntu

=> ↺ Ubuntu 15.10 (Wily Werewolf) Finally Transitions to GCC 5.x

• Ubuntu 15.10 (Wily Werewolf) has finally moved to GCC 5.x, and it looks like it’s been a rather smooth transition, and things should remain calm for the time being.

=> ↺ Net-SNMP Vulnerabilities Fixes in Ubuntu 15.04

• Canonical has announced that a couple of Net-SNMP vulnerabilities were found and fixed for Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, and Ubuntu 12.04 LTS operating systems.

=> ↺ Improved Unity 8, Messaging App, Networking Manager Land in Ubuntu Touch OTA-6

• Canonical’s Łukasz Zemczak sent in his daily reports, on August 17 and August 18, informing us all about the latest work done by the Ubuntu Touch developers, especially related to the upcoming OTA-6 software update.

=> ↺ Ubuntu phone in South Africa: Aquaris E5 HD unboxing

• BQ recently launched its Ubuntu global store, which sells and ships the Aquaris E5 HD and Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu smartphones to countries like South Africa.

• While you are required to pay in Euros, no shipping fees or taxes are levied at checkout. You must just pay the relevant duties and taxes over to SARS when the device lands in South Africa.

=> ↺ How Ubuntu’s making it easier for Linux gamers to get the latest graphics drivers

• Gaming’s not all about rocking the biggest, beefiest graphics card. Serious PC gamers know it’s important to have the latest graphics drivers from Nvidia or AMD , which can dramatically improve performance with newer games.

=> ↺ Canonical’s deliberately obfuscated IP policy

• Why do I keep talking about this? Because Canonical are deliberately making it difficult to create derivative works, and that’s one of the core tenets of the definition of free software. Their IP policy is fundamentally incompatible with our community norms, and that’s something we should care about rather than ignoring.

Flavours and Variants

=> ↺ CinnXP Makes Cinnamon Look Like Windows XP, Says Clement Lefebvre

• It looks like people are still trying to make their Linux installations to look like a Windows XP version, even if that OS is now buried and gone. Some desktop environments are easier to transform than others and it looks like Cinnamon is a good candidate.

=> ↺ Linux AIO Now Lets You Have All the Linux Mint 17.2 Flavors in a Single ISO Image

• The Linux AIO team, through Željko Popivoda, was happy to inform Softpedia about the immediate availability for download of an updated version of their Linux AIO Linux Mint Live DVD, now based on the recently released Linux Mint 17.2 distribution.

Devices/Embedded

=> ↺ Official 5MP Camera Module Connects to All Available Raspberry Pi Models

• Not too many people know that the Raspberry Pi 2 mini PC has a very good and powerful camera module that can be used to take high-definition video.

=> ↺ The Egg, a handheld Tizen webserver, emerges at IDF

• Eggcyte is demoing its redesigned, handheld “The Egg” personal server device, which runs Tizen Linux on a quad-core Atom, and offers up to 256GB of storage.

• On Oct. 29, 2014, Eggcyte cancelled its Kickstarter project for its somewhat ovoid shaped personal server device, dubbed The Egg. The project had only nipped at the edges of its half million dollar funding goal. When we contacted the company for our Dec. 31 checkup on the fate of crowdfunded gizmos in 2014, the company told us it was planning to re-launch a campaign in mid-January.

=> ↺ Google’s WiFi router runs Linux, offers home automation hooks

• Google and TP-Link unveiled a Gentoo Linux based “OnHub” WiFi-ac router for consumers with 13 antennas, Bluetooth, and ZigBee, controlled by a mobile app.

• Google’s embedded and IoT horizons appear to be expanding beyond its own Nest subsidiary. The company, which is now technically just another company in the new Alphabet umbrella organization, has partnered with router-maker TP-Link to launch a $200 WiFi router, and potentially, a home automation router. Later this year, Google says it will announce other OnHub branded devices, including an Asus-made device.

=> ↺ Accelerated Announces New Embedded Linux Distribution for the Internet of Things

=> ↺ Google launches Wi-Fi router for home use

=> ↺ Google launches OnHub WiFi router for homes, priced at $199

=> ↺ Google making its own $199 Wi-Fi router in latest bid to provide better Internet connections

=> ↺ Google Announces Smart, Linux-Powered OnHub Router for Next-Gen Wi-Fi

Phones

Android

=> ↺ Motorola might have accidentally revealed their new Android watch

• Motorola might have accidentally unveiled their newest Moto 360 Android Wear smartwatch in a promotional tweet, according to an observation by 9to5Google.

• In a tweet under the Motorola Mobility account that has since been deleted – which adds fuel to the rumor-fire – a picture shows a Moto 360 with a higher crown position on the side and new lugs was used as part of the company’s marketing efforts.

• Did Motorola just accidentally reveal the new Moto 360?

=> ↺ BlackBerry ‘Venice’ Android Smartphone Image Leaked

• Rumours and leaks about BlackBerry’s anticipated Android smartphone, Venice, have once again gained momentum with a new image claimed to showcase the on-screen keyboard of the device hitting the Internet.

=> ↺ Asus launches flagship ZenPad S 8.0 Z580CA Android tablet for $299

• Cheap Android tablets are everywhere, and premium tablets can cost hundreds of dollars. Asus looks to turn this around with the ZenPad S 8.0 Z580CA for $299. The new tablet features a configuration normally found with more expensive slates.

=> ↺ Android apps are flooding on to jailbroken Win10 phones

• A job posting suggested full binary compatibility was an official Astoria goal last month – and now here’s the proof.

=> ↺ Smartphone giants have lost 15,000 jobs to cheap Android phones this year

=> ↺ Tips on how to use Google Maps Street View on Android

=> ↺ Android M release news: Could be named Marshmallow, hints teaser video by Google

=> ↺ Oppo R7 review: Android in iOS clothing

=> ↺ Best new widgets for Android (August 2015) #2

=> ↺ Sandbox bypass in Android Google Admin console revealed

=> ↺ Android M news: LG skipping Android 5.1.1 update for G series for new M Android OS?

=> ↺ How to get the Moto X’s shake-activated flashlight on any Android phone

=> ↺ Google Teases Possible Names of Android M

=> ↺ New Android-Flavored ‘BlackBerry Venice’ Slider Phone Photo Surfaces Online

=> ↺ Android M for Milkshake or Mango Lassi? What name will Google pick

=> ↺ Android M for Milkshake or Mango Lassi? What name will Google pick

=> ↺ Moto 360 2 could solve Android Wear’s size problem

=> ↺ Next version of Android will be called ‘Marshmallow’

=> ↺ [Video] The System UI Tuner Is Alive And Well In Android 6.0 Preview 3, But There’s A New Way To Activate (Or Deactivate) It

=> ↺ Android Has a New Name, ‘Marshmallow,’ but the Same Old Security Problem

=> ↺ The best free Android apps for going back to school

=> ↺ 5 apps that detect and protect your Android device against Stagefright attacks

=> ↺ OnePlus 2: Is the most hyped Android phone really a ‘flagship killer’?

=> ↺ Android 6.0 M ”Marshmallow” vs. iOS 9 — FIGHT!

=> ↺ Android SDK tutorial for beginners

=> ↺ Mozilla’s multi-lingual content creation app for Android exits beta

=> ↺ This app can solve your Android device’s lag by “trimming” NAND storage [root]

=> ↺ Dragon Anywhere brings Nuance dictation to iPhone and Android

=> ↺ Another serious vulnerability found in Android’s media processing service

=> ↺ Download Nine New Wallpapers From The Latest Android Marshmallow Developer Previewa

=> ↺ Android for Windows Mobile tools leaked on web

=> ↺ While my iPhone was away, I fell for an android

=> ↺ Android M’s official name is… Marshmallow [Update: Version 6.0]

=> ↺ With ‘Marshmallow,’ Android 6.0 Matures Anew

=> ↺ Humble PC And Android Bundle 13 Includes 7 Games (3 Android Debuts) And More On The Way

=> ↺ http://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/humble-bundle-pc-android-13-launches-good-selection.5830

=> ↺ Intel Tango phone hands-on: Android RealSense

• Intel’s RealSense 3D camera technology always seemed like a natural bedfellow with Google’s Project Tango, and sure enough they’ve met up at IDF 2015. The Android phablet isn’t expected to ship for developers until the end of the year, but Intel brought along a handful of prototypes – along with some apps to make use of them – to its annual event, which is where I caught up with the smartphones to see what’s new.

=> ↺ Google Pushes Android One To Africa

• Google is ramping up its Android One affordable smartphone program with a push into Africa. The first Android One smartphone for the region is being made by OEM Infinix, and is launching in Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya and Morocco today.

=> ↺ Google delays Project Ara modular smartphone pilot til 2016

• Google had lined up Android device maker Yezz as one of its Ara partners. Yezz was to deliver around 20 to 30 modules for the now-scrapped Puerto Rico launch.

• The project may also give Google a different answer to one the nuts its Android One initiative is yet to crack: creating appealing and high quality smartphones in the $50 to $100 price range. A Google exec in India announced last week that Android One will be revamped in the coming months alongside other big investments to improve connectivity in the country.

=> ↺ This is Fossil’s Android Wear smartwatch

• Fossil, the watchmaker that’s carved out a home at Macy’s, JCPenney, and other retailers, is getting into the smartwatch game. The company previously signaled plans to release an Android Wear device, and today Fossil showed off its upcoming products. Yes, “products” because there’s more than just a smartwatch headed to retail; Fossil is also working on a connected band and another, connected watch that’s not quite as high functioning as a full-on smartwatch.

=> ↺ A review of every Android phone from the past, present, and future

• If you read a lot of Android phone reviews, you’ve probably started to see the patterns between them. By carefully analyzing these patterns and running them through highly accurate formulas, I’ve been able to determine what every Android phone review ever written will say. Don’t wait around for next year’s model.

Free Software/Open Source

=> ↺ CIO Insight: British Gas IT boss on open source, smart meters, cloud and digital skills

• Cooper said that using open source meant that British Gas did not need to build database systems and big data clusters completely from scratch, thereby cutting down the cost and resources of handling vast amounts of data.

=> ↺ How open source helped one woman break into the tech industry

• Open source communities have been paving the way for innovation for years, and recently they’ve been paving the way for diversity in the IT fields, too. For some women, the way into technology was clear and well-lit. Others faced harsh criticism from their families, friends, and society. Thankfully, open source communities are creating a level playing field, enabling women from all over the world to learn, contribute, and make their mark in technology.

=> ↺ Stephen Hawking’s Speech Software Is Now Open Source

• Intel has decided to release the software under a free software license, meaning that it is basically open source and developers can go ahead and check it out. Dubbed ACAT (Assistive Context-Aware Toolkit), Intel has described it as “an open source platform developed at Intel Labs to enable people with motor neuron diseases and other disabilities to have full access to the capabilities and applications of their computers through very constrained interfaces suitable for their condition.”

=> ↺ ProtonMail Open Sources Its Encrypted Webmail Interface

• The startup was founded last year to capitalize on post-Snowden paranoia by offering client-side encryption and host servers that live far from the NSA’s prying eyes (if not the Swiss equivalent). And while it open sourced its cryptography code from the get-go, it’s now letting outsiders parse its webmail client too — at the same time as launching v2 of the client. ProtonMail is hosting the source code for v2 on Github.

=> ↺ What’s the biggest barrier to participation in open source?

=> ↺ How to talk to your company about FOSS

• Convincing the lawyers, and the firms employing them, requires education according to Andrea Casillas and Deb Nicholson of the Open Invention Network. At this year’s LinuxCon North America, Andrea and Deb are giving a talk titled Use More Free and Open Source Software at Work—How to Approach the Legal Department. Ahead of their talk, Andrea and Deb took some time to answer a few questions about the issues surrounding FOSS in the enterprise.

=> ↺ Calling 1959 from your Web code: A COBOL bridge for Node.js

• Have you ever wanted to just cut and paste some of that legacy COBOL code from mainframe applications into your latest Web application? No? Well, Romanian Web developer Bizău Ionică has developed a way to do just that, creating a COBOL bridge for Node.js, the JavaScript-based cross-platform runtime environment that has become a go-to technology for server-side Web development. The plugin is an attempt to breathe new life into the programming language derived from the work of computing pioneer Admiral Grace Hopper.

=> ↺ What you missed in Cloud: Open-source greatness

• and Red Hat Inc. intends to keep it that way. Its ambitions came to the fore once again last week following a strategic investment in an obscure partner called Tesora Inc. that is working to make OpenStack, the community-developed infrastructure-as-a-service platform, more scalable.

=> ↺ Joan Touzet on CouchDB and the Apache way

• Joan is a committer and PMC member for Apache CouchDB, and acts as an independent consultant.

=> ↺ Stephen Hawking’s speech software is now available for free

=> ↺ The software Stephen Hawking uses to talk to the world is now free

=> ↺ Intel Releases The Technology That Gives Stephen Hawking A Voice

=> ↺ Intel makes communication software used by Stephen Hawking free for all

=> ↺ Intel releases Stephen Hawking’s speech software to the public for free

=> ↺ Talk Like Stephen Hawking With Intel’s Open Source Software

=> ↺ Stephen Hawking’s speech software is now open source

=> ↺ You Can Now Use Stephen Hawking’s Speech Software for Free

=> ↺ Stephen Hawking’s Voice Now Available As Open Source Software

=> ↺ Hawking’s Voice; Google in Africa; Bitcoin Split?

=> ↺ Intel publicly releases code behind Stephen Hawking’s voice

=> ↺ Stephen Hawking’s speech synthesizer now free/open software

=> ↺ Stephen Hawking’s Speech Software Is Now Available To Download

=> ↺ Stephen Hawking’s Intel speech system is now open source

=> ↺ The speech system used by Stephen Hawking is now free for everyone

=> ↺ Stephen Hawking’s Speech Software Is Available, for Free

Web Browsers

Mozilla

=> ↺ Mozilla’s Android Webmaker app launches out of beta to help anyone create content for the Web

• Mozilla has officially launched its Android Webmaker app, two months after it first rolled out in beta.

• First launched as a web-based program more than three years ago, Webmaker is all about promoting the building blocks that go into making the Web what it is. As such, the Android app is designed to make it easy for anyone to create content that is accessible on any device with a browser.

SaaS/Big Data

=> ↺ Upstream training, a commitment to interoperability, and more OpenStack news

Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

=> ↺ Apache should deprecate OpenOffice and send users to LibreOffice instead

• LibreOffice is the default version shipped with leading versions of GNU/Linux, but Schaller thinks many ordinary users still don’t realise things have changed. His anecdata: he found his own mother used OpenOffice, and upgraded her to LibreOffice.

Business

Semi-Open Source

=> ↺ Hadoop veteran Ted Dunning: When open source is anything but open

• Some projects observe the letter of the open-source movement but neglect its spirit, according to MapR expert Ted Dunning.

BSD

=> ↺ NetBSD 7.0-RC3 Brings Fixes, Enables SMP For The Raspberry Pi 2

• For those that haven’t been monitoring NetBSD 7 development, it’s going to be a huge release. Highlights for NetBSD 7.0 include Intel and Radeon graphics support via the ported Linux DRM/KMS kernel driver code, ARM multi-processor support, support for a number of new ARM boards, GPT support in SysVinit, Lua kernel scripting support, GCC 4.8.4 is the default compiler, and hundreds of other updates and improvements.

FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

=> ↺ [IceCat] 31.8.0 with vulnerability fixes

• The packaging release #5 of IceCat-31.8.0 includes various vulnerability fixes (waiting for IceCat-38) backported from the branch 38 of Firefox.

=> ↺ Voice of the Masses: Should we pay more attention to Richard Stallman?

• Some people dismiss Richard Stallman as a kook, an old hacker who’s out of touch with the computing industry today. Conversely, many of us in the Linux and Free Software community have huge respect for the man, but sometimes have trouble reconciling our computing habits with his hardline views on proprietary software.

=> ↺ Make your site LibreJS-friendly and HTML5-valid with rel=jslicense attribute

• With Microformats.org listing the jslicense rel attribute value as a proposed HTML5 link type extension, sites can now have LibreJS-friendly links to JavaScript License Web Labels pages without throwing HTML5 validation errors.

Public Services/Government

=> ↺ Wye Valley NHS Trust to get open-source EPR

• He said the decision to go with an open-source system was partly due to being able to tailor the software for the trust’s specific requirements and “share or access developments in the code with other healthcare providers”.

=> ↺ Calls for city that ditched Microsoft for Linux to switch laptops to Windows

• Two influential politicians in a German city that ditched Microsoft in favour of Linux are agitating for a switch back to Windows.

• The councillors from Munich’s conservative CSU party have called the custom version of Ubuntu installed on their laptops “cumbersome to use” and “of very limited use”.

• The letter from the two senior members of the city’s IT committee asks mayor Dieter Reiter to consider removing the Linux-based OS and to install Windows with Microsoft Office.

Openness/Sharing

=> ↺ Seagate, Toshiba, Scality And Others Launch Kinetic Open Storage Platform For Smart, Low-Overhead Cloud Object Storage

• Two years ago, Seagate debuted a new technology for hard drives that essentially gives applications direct access to some of its drives over an Ethernet connection to store objects using key-value pairs. This reduces the overhead that comes with traditional file systems and file servers and allows vendors to pack more drives into their racks. Seagate made drivers for this technology available for OpenStack’s Swift object storage and Riak, and Toshiba also recently launched some drives built on the same technology.

Open Data

=> ↺ Here’s an open source transport and planning map of Greater Manchester to play with

• Open planning maps are all the rage these days. London’s transport authorities have developed a nifty tool which you can use to work out how well connected any point in the city is to any other city. In Bangalore, the government is crowd-sourcing ideas to redevelop their neighbourhoods.

=> ↺ This map shows quite how little land London has left to build housing on

Open Hardware

=> ↺ LulzBot Teams with bq To Offer Open Source Ciclop 3D Scanner to US Market

• Early this year we covered the announcement of the launch of bq’s open source 3D scanner, the Ciclop. The device, which has since become one of the higher rated stationary 3D scanners on the market, uses laser triangulation technology and a compact rotating table to scan objects as large as a volleyball. The company, at the time, called it the ‘first DIY 3D scanner’ on the market.

Programming

=> ↺ Please Help to Port python-debianbts to Python3

• I’m currently trying to find a way to port python-debianbts to Python3. Debian’s standard bugreport tool reportbug depends on python-debianbts and can thus not convert to Python3 if python-debianbts does not as well. Unfortunately python-debianbts depends on SoapPy for parsing the Debian bugtracker’s responses, and that library is not ported to Python3 yet, and probably never will.

Leftovers

=> ↺ News Corp.’s Amplify education experiment: What went wrong?

• That write-down comes nearly five years after it purchased Wireless Generation for $360 million in 2010 and renamed it Amplify. At the time, News Corp. was going to bet about $500 million on Amplify to dominate the market. Amplify was led by Joel Klein, the former head of the New York City Department of Education.

=> ↺ Avoiding Amazon? The 5 best alternatives to the online bookseller giants

=> ↺ You probably don’t want to work for Amazon

• ‘Amazon is where overachievers go to feel bad about themselves.’

=> ↺ The Missing ‘Leadership Principle’ at Amazon

=> ↺ Amazon’s 24/7 Hell Is the Future of Work

• Working at Amazon may be hell, but so is working everywhere else. Or at least it will be soon. The blockbuster New York Times report documenting Amazon’s “bruising” white collar culture is a fine piece of labor reporting, yet its revelations shouldn’t be too surprising. Amazon is revealed to be a more efficient and more unpleasant formulation of the standard modern workplace; one shaped by globalization, digitalization, and increasingly limitless expectations placed on the plugged-in worker.

Health/Nutrition

=> ↺ Hepatitis C patients in England denied lifesaving liver drug

• Thousands of people in England with a chronic form of liver disease are being denied access to life-saving drugs that are available to patients in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Security

=> ↺ Security updates for Monday

=> ↺ Security advisories for Tuesday

=> ↺ DDoS attacks on the rise as Akamai warns that ‘mega attacks’ are coming

• THIS IS THE DAWN of the mega denial-of-service (DoS) attack, according to security firm Akamai and its second quarter threat report.

• We wait every three months for the Akamai State of the Internet report, and we are never disappointed. Its content is pretty good too, and allows for a summary of the past quarter and a reminder about things like Shellshock and web perennials like Flash, WordPress themes and application attacks.

=> ↺ Ransomware goes open source

• Turkish security bod Utku Sen has published what seems to be the first open source ransomware that anyone can download and spread. The ‘Hidden Tear’ ransomware, available at GitHub, is a working version of the malware the world has come to hate. It uses AES encryption to lock down files and could display a scare warning or ransom message to get users to pay.

Transparency Reporting

=> ↺ Julian Assange and the Value of WikiLeaks: Subverting Illusions

• Above and beyond Assange’s personal freedom, what’s at stake includes the impunity of the United States and its allies to relegate transparency to a mythical concept, with democracy more rhetoric than reality. From the Vietnam War era to today — from aerial bombing and torture to ecological disasters and financial scams moving billions of dollars into private pockets — the high-up secrecy hiding key realities from the public has done vast damage. No wonder economic and political elites despise WikiLeaks for its disclosures.

Finance

=> ↺ Richard D. Wolff | Déjà Vu: Germany Tightens Its Economic Power Over Europe

• Germany’s leaders herded their European counterparts into imposing harsh austerity on Greece. It was the price, they insisted, that Greece had to pay to receive bailout credits from the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Europeans required those bailout credits to be used mostly to pay back loans the Greek government had gotten earlier from private banks (chiefly German, French and Greek). Those credits could not be used to get Greece out of the 2008 crash that afflicted all of Europe.

PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying

=> ↺ Scott Walker’s False Promise of Racial Unity

• When asked about race relations on the first anniversary of Michael Brown’s killing at the hands of a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, Walker replied:

• “I think in general if anyone focuses on racial discord we’re going to get more,” he said. “If we focus on unity we’re going to get more of that.”

• In other words, acknowledging systemic problems like the documented wave of police killings of unarmed black men, or the racial wealth gap, or disparities in sentencing and incarceration, creates “discord.” During the GOP debate, he similarly dodged a question about the Black Lives Matter movement, which even Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly called “the biggest civil rights issue of our time.”

=> ↺ 70 Awful Displays Of Sexism On Fox News

• On the 95th anniversary of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, Media Matters looks back at Fox News’ many displays of sexism, ranging from hosts suggesting young women should not exercise civic duties like participating in jury duty because they “don’t get it,” to Erick Erickson’s claim that “the male typically is the dominant role.”

=> ↺ Who Is Intimidating Who?

• The cheerful cheddarheads who showed up at the Iowa State Fair “Soapbox” to razz Scott Walker got a rude reception. The Soapbox is a Des Moines Register tradition and peaceful protesters have long been a part of this exercise in free speech. But after Walker was punked by two young people with a fake $900 million Koch check weeks ago, Team Walker seems a bit tense. At the Soapbox, Walker supporters ripped a sign out of one protester’s hand which read “WARNING Don’t let him do to America what he did to Wisconsin.” Another protester told CNN ”I got pushed into a disabled woman. I fell on her wheelchair. She started screaming at me.”

=> ↺ Donald Trump Praises Bill O’Reilly For His Focus On Immigrant “Crime Wave”

Censorship

=> ↺ MPAA Ducks Censorship Battle With Google, Twitter and Facebook

• The MPAA has dropped its request for a preliminary injunction that would require search engines, ISPs and hosting companies to stop linking or offering services to MovieTube. The decision comes a few days after prominent tech firms including Google, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Yahoo branded the request as a broad censorship attempt.

=> ↺ U.S. Government Grabbed Dotcom’s Millions “As a Last Resort”

• The U.S. Government has informed the Court of Appeals that the civil forfeiture case against Megaupload and Kim Dotcom was launched as a last resort. The authorities feared that Dotcom and his colleagues would regain possession of the millions in seized assets and argue that they are properly labeled as “fugitives.”

Privacy

=> ↺ Warrantless airport laptop search dooms Iran arms sales prosecution

• Federal prosecutors asked a federal judge in Washington on Tuesday to dismiss the government’s prosecution of a South Korean businessman accused of illegally selling technology used in aircraft and missiles to Iran.

• The move comes three months after a judge ruled that the government unlawfully seized and searched the suspect’s computer at Los Angeles International Airport as Jae Shik Kim was to catch a flight home in 2012. The government decided not to appeal and said it was “unable to continue prosecuting this matter.”

Intellectual Monopolies

Copyrights

=> ↺ Desperate Rightscorp Burns Through More Piracy Millions

• Piracy monetization company Rightscorp has published its results for Q2 2015 and it’s yet another three months of misery for the company. At the same time as paying out just $117K to its copyright holder clients, Rightscorp managed to run up $1.95m in expenses, leaving the company with operating losses in excess of $1.72m.

=> ↺ Universal Music and Kim Dotcom Prepared a Deal to Tax Google

• A recording of Kim Dotcom and several Universal Music executives captured two days before the Megaupload raids has revealed the label planning to do a deal with the entrepreneur. Amid discussion of ‘taxing’ Google by diverting its ad revenue to the label, the execs offered to downgrade Dotcom from “evil” to “neutral” in return for dropping legal action over the “Mega Song”.

=> ↺ Hollywood Keeps Breaking Box Office Records… While Still Insisting That The Internet Is Killing Movies

• Hollywood is still 100% focused on trying to blame the internet for any of its woes, mostly with bogus attacks on internet companies it doesn’t like. And yet… it seems to keep on setting box office records. The latest is that Universal Pictures has broken a new record in bringing in $2 billion in box office revenue faster than any other studio in history, pushed over the top by the successful opening weekend of “Straight Outta Compton” (a movie that seems to have some big fans in Silicon Valley).

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