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● 10.08.15

● Links 8/10/2015: Manjaro Linux Releases, Linksys WRT1900ACS, FOSS at NHS

Posted in News Roundup at 9:46 am by Dr. Roy SchestowitzContentsGNU/LinuxGNU/Linux

=> ↺ Linux Security: Lock Down a New System Immediately

• PCWorld recently published an article about Linux botnets launching DDoS attacks. The attackers find and exploit poorly secured Linux systems. Some Linux users have a fairly cavalier attitude about security, assuming the supposedly superior design of the OS somehow protects them. It doesn’t. Now that Chromebooks outsell Windows laptops and Amdroid devices are ubiquitous the days when Linux was a secondary target for malware are long gone. Linux’ prominence in both the server room and on consumer devices make it a prime target.

=> ↺ One Uncle’s gift of Linux

• From those days until today, I have never had a job that didn’t give me the flexibility to run Linux as my operating system. I’ve been fortunate enough to have had managers who were more interested in me being efficient rather than compliant with the company’s policy. Every single one of them when they saw me automating manual processes with Perl, awk, bash, sed, would without hesitation say: “Sure, use Linux! Tell me more about it while you are at it.”

Desktop

=> ↺ Linus Torvalds Says 2016 Will Be the Year of the ARM Laptop

• Linus Torvalds took the stage at the latest LinuxCon 2015 that took place in Dublin, Ireland, and talked about a number of things, including security and the future for Linux on ARM hardware.

Server

=> ↺ A First Look at IBM’s New Linux Servers

• Linux has proven itself to be extremely well-suited for these fields, where high-performance virtualization and secure networking are essential basic requirements. At the same time, the emerging processing requirements of today’s high-end real-time computing tasks are straining the limits of Intel-based commodity servers.

=> ↺ IBM aims Linux OpenPOWER systems at Intel

• IBM on Thursday launched a series of Linux servers based on OpenPOWER with the aim of taking big data workloads away from Intel.

• The OpenPOWER effort revolves around open hardware designs that run on IBM’s POWER processor. The aim of the group, which includes IBM, Nvidia, Mellanox, Canonical and Wistron, is to offer a counterweight to Intel in the data center.

=> ↺ HP and pals release open source switch OS

• OpenSwitch offers the now-familiar, thanks to the likes of Big Switch and Cumulus Networks, chance to buy a white box switch and run your own operating system on it. In a colossal non-surprise, the NOS is Linux-based. HP will happily install it on its own Altoline switches, or you can have a go yourself on Open Compute Project boxen.

=> ↺ HP announces a new open-source NOS and developer community

=> ↺ HP rallies partners around OpenSwitch as Cisco replacement

=> ↺ HP Launches OpenSwitch Community and Linux Based Network OS

=> ↺ HP urges OpenSwitch innovation

=> ↺ Big Switch, Facebook, NTT Demo Integrated Open Source Networking Stack

=> ↺ Open Network Linux Simplifies Open Compute Project Switch Configuration

=> ↺ Facebook, Big Switch Tag Team On Open Switch Stack

=> ↺ Open source switch hardware is coming from Facebook

=> ↺ Facebook, NTT, Big Switch Team on Open Switch Software

=> ↺ Big Switch, Facebook to Demonstrate Open Switch Software

Kernel Space

=> ↺ Looking at the facts: Sarah Sharp’s crusade

• Everyone is free to have his own opinion (sorry, his/her), and I am free to form my own opinion on Sarah Sharp by just simply reading the facts. I am more than happy that one more SJW has left Linux development, as the proliferation of cleaning of speech from any personality has taken too far a grip.

=> ↺ It’s Time to End the War On Stupid People

• On the other hand, it’s little mystery at all: Sarah was the first female kernel contributor I’d ever heard of, and the only one I can readily name now. It’s an uncomfortable answer, because when someone breaks into a space that doesn’t often include their gender or background, we feel we avoid culpability by being nonchalant. No exclusion here, nosiree. Didn’t even notice you were a woman. It’s comforting and dishonest; when someone breaks a boundary of cultural exclusion, regardless of how your reaction may later be judged, the fact is you notice.

• Although apparently nobody noticed when Sarah quietly disappeared over the past year, finally coming out to cite now-familiar complaints about the toxic and hostile atmosphere on LKML and in the kernel community in general.

=> ↺ Unprivileged eBPF Support In The Works For The Linux Kernel

• In the past year or so there’s been a lot to talk about when it comes to eBPF in the Linux kernel as an in-kernel virtual machine. The latest functionality being worked on is supporting eBPF for unprivileged users.

=> ↺ Linux Kernel 3.12.49 LTS Out Now with PowerPC and ARM64 Improvements, More

• Jiri Slaby, the maintainer of the long-term supported Linux 3.12 kernel series, has just announced the release and immediate availability for download of the forty-ninth maintenance version of the Linux 3.12 LTS kernel.

=> ↺ systemd 227 Is a Major Release That Adds a Lot of Awesome New Features

• On October 7, Lennart Poettering had the great pleasure of announcing the release and immediate availability for download of the systemd 227 init system for GNU/Linux operating systems.

=> ↺ Pining for the good ol’ days

• Once again, he’s complaining about how the fun from Debian has been lost because making sexist jokes, or treating other people like shit is not allowed any more. He seems to think the LKML is the ideal environment and that Debian should be more like it.

Graphics Stack

=> ↺ With GL 4.3 AoA Getting Done, Arceri Is Trying A GL 4.4 Extension

• Timothy Arceri is the independent developer that started out doing some crowd-funded Mesa OpenGL extension development that was successful so he did a second crowd-funding campaign to do more Mesa feature work. That second extension, ARB_arrays_of_arrays, finally appears nearly complete so he’s decided to work on another extension.

Applications

=> ↺ Top 5 open source desktop email clients

• In this roundup, we take a quick look at five open source options for desktop email, share a little bit about each, and try to provide you with some options you may want to try out yourself.

=> ↺ 10 Useful Utilities For Linux Users

• In this tutorial, I have collected 10 useful utility tools for Linux users which will include various network monitoring, system auditing or some another random commands which can help users to enhance their productivity. I hope you will enjoy them.

Proprietary

=> ↺ Plex Media Server 0.9.12.13 Arrives with Important Fix for Artwork Download

• Plex Media Server, an application that makes it easy for everyone to stream movies, TV shows, and online content on other devices, like smart TVs, has been upgraded and is now available for download.

=> ↺ DVDStyler 2.9.4 Free DVD Authoring Software Is Out for Linux, Windows, and Mac

• Alex Thüring has announced a new release of his open-source, free and cross-platform DVD authoring software, DVDStyler 2.9.4, which lets users create professional-looking DVDs with just a few clicks.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ PowerTop – Monitors Total Power Usage and Improve Linux Laptop Battery Life

=> ↺ Quick and Dirty intro to Git

=> ↺ Multiple external networks with a single L3 agent testing on RDO Liberty per Lars Kellogg-Stedman

=> ↺ Pro tip: How to solve the dreaded Wi-Fi exclamation point

=> ↺ Install PAC Manager on Linux Mint, Ubuntu & OpenSUSE

=> ↺ Run a Minecraft server using Spigot

=> ↺ Bareos on Arch linux – part II – Managing and monitoring tools

=> ↺ Speeding Ahead with ZFS and VirtualBox

Games

=> ↺ Unvanquished Alpha 44 Brings Many Gameplay Changes

• The latest monthly point release to the Unvanquished open-source first person shooter was released yesterday.

• Unvanquished Alpha 44 brings many gameplay changes: removing the credit system, simplifying the momentum system, anti-camping measures, removal of stamina, and many other changes.

=> ↺ Testers Needed For ‘Quasar’ An Online Bullet Hell Space Shooter, Linux To Be A First Class Citizen Here

• Pretty safe to say Quasar caught my eye, and not just because Linux is going to be a first class citizen, but it looks great and I want to get my hands on it. It looks exactly like the kind of game I might actually beat Samsai on, so maybe we will have to do a livestream together and battle it out.

=> ↺ Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition Looks Set For Release This Month

• Looks like Divinity: Original Sin will finally see the promised Linux version with the Enhanced Edition due on October 27th.

=> ↺ Magicka 2 Looks Like It Will Land On Linux Soon, Having Final Tweaks

• Just a heads up guys, Magicka 2 looks like it could land on Linux this month. A developer mentioned it’s undergoing final bug fixes and performance improvements. Their communication with the community on this has been nothing short of excellent, and it’s really nice to see them being so open about the ports development.

=> ↺ Narrative Game ‘The Beginner’s Guide’ Released On Steam

• The Beginner’s Guide is the new game from The Stanley Parable creator Davey Wreden, and it was released for Linux on Steam last week, along with the Windows and Mac versions.

=> ↺ Cyberpunk Adventure ‘Read Only Memories’ Released DRM Free And On Steam, Has Demo

• The game was funded on Kickstarter in 2013, and in spite of Linux being a stretch goal that wasn’t reached, the game got a day-one release for Linux yesterday.

=> ↺ Team Fortress 2 Gets Big Community Update on Steam for Linux

• Team Fortress 2, a multiplayer game developed by Valve that’s still among the most played titles on Steam, has been upgraded once more for the Linux platform, and it comes with a community-created update named The Invasion Community.

=> ↺ Prison Architect 1.0 Is Finally Here, Lets You Build and Manage the Most Secure Prison

• After being in development for the last three years, British game developer Introversion Software was euphoric to announce the final release of the first ever stable build of the Prison Architect game for all supported platforms.

=> ↺ Steam for Linux Beta Client Gets More Fixes in New Update

=> ↺ Massive Steam Client Update Brings Chromium 45, Big Picture Improvements, FLAC Support

• Hear ye, hear ye! Valve just pushed a few minutes ago a new, massive update to the stable branch of their Steam desktop client for GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows operating systems.

Desktop Environments/WMs

=> ↺ Enlightenment 0.19.12 Desktop Environment Drops Support for Wayland

• The developers of the Enlightenment open-source desktop environment used in numerous GNU/Linux distributions have announced the release and immediate availability of a new maintenance version of the Enlightenment DR 0.19 series.

K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

=> ↺ Calligra Words Port to KDE Frameworks 5 and Qt 5 Now Complete, Here’s How It Looks

• We reported earlier this year that the Calligra developers started work on porting the KDE’s number one open-source office suite to the latest Qt 5 and KDE Frameworks 5 technologies used in the KDE Plasma 5 desktop environment.

=> ↺ September update for Plasma’s Wayland porting

• September was a busy months in the KDE Wayland world. We have worked hard to bring Plasma closer to a workable system and could cross off some very important milestones.

GNOME Desktop/GTK

=> ↺ GNOME 3.20 to Be Dubbed Delhi

• We reported a couple of months ago that the GNOME developers decided to add codenames to upcoming releases of the open source desktop environment, starting with GNOME 3.18.

=> ↺ GNOME.Asia Summit 2016 to be held in Delhi, India

• The GNOME Asia team is pleased to announce that next year’s GNOME.Asia Summit will be held in Delhi, at the Manav Rachna International University (MRIU). This is located in the Faridabad distract just south of the National Capital Territory (New Delhi).

• GNOME.Asia 2016 will be held between the 21st and 24th of April, and will be a great place to celebrate and explore the many new features and enhancements in GNOME.

Distributions

Reviews

=> ↺ Hands-On: KaOS Linux 2015.10

• KaOS Linux calls itself a “lean KDE Distribution”, and it is certainly that, at least in terms of what is actually offered for download. Go to the KaOS Download page and you will find exactly one file (a 1.6GB hybrid Live ISO image) with one desktop (KDE Plasma 5.4) and one architecture (64 bit). No huge ‘all-in’ 4+ GB installer or tiny ‘netinst’ core-only installer, no other desktops (not even community editions), and no 32-bit version. Lean and focused.

New Releases

=> ↺ Puppy Linux-Based Quirky 7.2 Distro for Android Devs Gets Major X11 Update

• Barry Kauler, lead developer and creator of the Puppy Linux distribution, has had the great pleasure of announcing the immediate availability for download of the Quirky 7.2 distrolette.

Arch Family

=> ↺ Manjaro Cinnamon Edition 15.09-1 released

• The Manjaro community is proud to present a new Manjaro Cinnamon Edition installation media.

• With the release 15.09-1 we changed our visual approach on things within Cinnamon. For instance we now use standard Plymouth, the background got changed in LightDM. We took also a spin on our wallpapers and icon-themes. Cinnamon got updated to the latest 2.6 series with all its enhancements.

=> ↺ Manjaro 15.09 Now Has KDE Plasma 5.4.2

• The second major update for Manjaro 15.09 (Bellatrix) has been released, bringing some important updates and a wave of new supported Linux kernels for the new distribution.

=> ↺ Manjaro Linux Cinnamon 15.09 Released with Visual Refinements, Linux Kernel 4.1 LTS

=> ↺ Manjaro Linux Devs Are in Search for a New Logo for the Project

• The Manjaro project is evolving under our eyes with each new release, becoming one of the best, free, open source, powerful, and most user-friendly Arch Linux-based computer operating system on the market.

Ballnux/SUSE

=> ↺ SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications Now Available on Amazon Web Services

Red Hat Family

=> ↺ Red Hat goes Platinum with the Node.js Foundation

• Red Hat today announced that it has joined the Node.js Foundation as a Platinum member, underscoring its commitment to developers, Node.js, and open source collaboration.

=> ↺ Red Hat’s 2016 Innovation Awards Open for Nominations

• As commercial open source companies have proliferated, it’s become a given that there will be multi-billion dollar firms focused exclusively on open source. And, Red Hat has proven to be shining proof of concept in this area. The company has steadily innovated, but is also focused on how other companies and partners are creating innovative solutions that orbit Red Hat’s own products.

=> ↺ Red Hat CEO & Others to Keynote at ‘All Things Open’

• Last week I told you about a few of the more than 130 speakers scheduled for this year’s All Things Open (ATO) conference in Raleigh, to be held October 19-20. Today, we’ll talk about the impressive lineup of keynote speakers who’re on tap this year.

• Actually, it’s something of a miracle that the event is still good-to-go. IT-oLogy, the organization behind ATO, is headquartered in Columbia, S.C., which was subject to massive flooding last week in the wake of hurricane Joaquin. In fact, the organizations headquarters are located only blocks away from the Congaree River, the source of much flooding.

=> ↺ Paul Smith: Red Hat Hosts IT Event on Open Source Tools in Government

• Discussions at the upcoming 2015 Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) Government Symposium will focus on open source software and how it is utilized in agencies to build innovation, GovCon Executive reported Tuesday.

• Red Hat said Oct. 1 Damon Edwards, co-founder at DTO Solutions, will provide the keynote address at the Nov. 10 event to be attended by more than 600 IT professionals from government and industry.

=> ↺ Red Hat Incorporated (NYSE:RHT): Red Hat Incorporated remains continues to be rated at1.47

=> ↺ Open source curriculum for EMEA universities

• The firm said student materials for Red Hat Academy are available online.

Fedora

=> ↺ Track the night sky with Stellarium on Fedora

• Ever looked up at the night sky and tried to identify specific celestial bodies out of the millions you can see? Stellarium is an awesome open source planetarium application available in Fedora to help you identify and track objects in the night sky. Basically, it simulates the night sky and provides labels and other tools to help you know what you are actually looking at.

Debian Family

Derivatives

Canonical/Ubuntu

=> ↺ Microsoft Ubuntu Rumors and Kernel Resignation Opinions

• The Linux Journal today addressed the Microsoft-buying-Canonical rumors saying it’s against Ubuntu’s founding principles. Reactions to the two kernel resignations this week are mixed and we’ll take a look. Elsewhere, KDE signs the User Data Manifesto 2.0 and American Trade Journal looks at the business end of Red Hat lately.

=> ↺ Ubuntu Touch OTA-7 Will Arrive on October 19 for All Ubuntu Phones

• On the day of October 7, Canonical’s Łukasz Zemczak sent in his daily report to inform us all about the latest work done by the Ubuntu Touch developers in preparation for the soon-to-be-released OTA-7 software update for the mobile OS.

=> ↺ Unity 8: All You Need to Know

• Canonical is working on the next generation of the Unity desktop, and it has big plans for it, but it’s not yet ready for this particular environment. Here are some details about the new desktop that users might want to know.

=> ↺ Ubuntu Is Planning To Make The ZFS File-System A “Standard” Offering

• While the ZFS file-system isn’t supported by the mainline Linux kernel due to the Oracle-owned file-system being under the GPL-incompatible CDDL license, Canonical is making plans to offer ZFS on Ubuntu in some standard way.

• Through the wonderful ZFS On Linux project there is a native port of the ZFS file-system driver to Linux natively (unlike the ZFS FUSE implementation) but due to the GPL vs. CDDL licensing issue it can’t be mainlined into the Linux kernel.

Devices/Embedded

=> ↺ Linksys unveils Linux-powered WRT1900ACS router — open source, faster CPU, more RAM

• When it comes to home networking, nothing is more iconic than the classic blue Linksys router. When I worked at CompUSA, I sold a ton of them, and for good reason — they worked well. Over the years, some of the models proved popular for open-source firmware replacements, making them attractive to tinkerers.

• Fast forward to today, and Linksys announces a new open source-friendly router, witch builds upon the existing WRT1900AC. With a faster processor and double the RAM, the new model gets an “S” moniker — reminiscent of Apple’s iPhone naming — as WRT1900ACS. Are you excited for this Linux-powered home router?

=> ↺ Linksys WRT1900ACS Dual-Band Gigabit Wi-Fi Router review

=> ↺ The WRT1900ACS is Linksys’ new best Wi-Fi router to date: First Look

=> ↺ Linksys WRT1900ACS review: The best router for most router enthusiasts

=> ↺ Linksys WRT1900AC Router Gets Faster Processor, More Memory, New Name

=> ↺ Renesas Enables Development of High-Performance Linux and Android

=> ↺ Wind River advances IoT Devices focus with Linux Offering

• Wind River Linux 8 brings together the flexibility and interoperability of open source along with improved user experience and scalability for addressing the opportunities and challenges of IoT.

=> ↺ Raspbian Jessie Lives Up to the Hype

• Keeping in rhythm with using names from Toy Story characters, Raspbian Jessie was released this past week for Raspberry Pi users. This latest release marks many improvements and updates that Raspberry Pi users have been longing for. After using and experimenting with Raspbian Jessie for the past week, I have to say that I’m very pleased with the update.

=> ↺ Zynq-based hacker board has FPGA, BT, and WiFi too

=> ↺ Tiny COM Express Mini module is first to tap Braswell

Phones

Android

=> ↺ Android-x86 5.1-RC1 Is Now Out: Mesa OpenGL ES & UEFI Fun

• While upstream Android 6.0 is available as “Marshmallow”, in the Android-x86 world they just reached their 5.1-RC1 milestone which is also their first release candidate to date based on Android Lollipop.

• Android-x86 5.1-rc1 was released today with 64-bit kernel/user-space support while continuing to support 32-bit netbooks/tablets too, is based on the Linux 4.0.9 kernel, now enables OpenGL ES hardware acceleration for Intel / R600/RadeonSI / Nouveau on Mesa, supports booting from UEFI, can install to a number of different file-systems, supports multi-touch, support for foriegn architectures, and various other changes.

=> ↺ CodeWeavers Promises Windows Apps for Android Mobile Devices via Wine

=> ↺ Android devices will soon run Windows software thanks to CrossOver and Wine

• Android devices will soon be able to run Windows applications thanks to CodeWeavers’ CrossOver for Android, which will debut before the end of 2015.

• Wine for Android was first shown off a few years ago, and work has been ongoing since then. You can run Android apps on Windows, and soon the reverse will be true, too!

=> ↺ ​Android still struggling in Europe, Windows flat, Samsung’s share slips

=> ↺ Microsoft’s Lumia 950 XL looks deceivingly like a flagship Android phone

=> ↺ Android adware wields potent root exploits to gain permanent foothold

=> ↺ Google Swears Android Auto Isn’t Spying On You (That Much)

=> ↺ Artificial intelligence is the next major wave of computing, Android creator says

Free Software/Open Source

=> ↺ Developer creates an open source glucose monitoring and tracking app he can trust

• According to Diabetes.org, in 2012 over 29.1 million Americans (that’s 9.3% of the population) had diabetes. Chances are, you know someone who has diabetes and you can help them by supporting an open source project that they can trust. If you are a developer, contribute to improve the code; you can help with documentation, or language so it can be translated.

• That’s the only way any open source project succeeds – through collaboration and contribution; through people.

=> ↺ Open Source for Log Analytics – Let’s get serious

• “Making machine data accessible, usable, and valuable to everyone” was the main theme at the Splunk .conf2015 last month in Las Vegas. The thousands attending this event are a clear proof of the growing importance and interest in collecting, analyzing and gaining insights from machine data. This interest started years ago mostly with IT related logs but will spread to cover all types of machine generated data. The growing IoT space will make today’s pile of machine data dwarf compared to what else is coming our way in the form of logs and other data generated by machines and sensors.

=> ↺ Fears Grow For Safety of Imprisoned Syrian Open Source Developer, Bassel Khartabil

• Bassel sent his letters from Adra prison, a civilian jail in the northeast outskirts of Damascus. Even representatives of the Assad government admit that conditions in Adra are overcrowded and inhumane. The prison was designed for 2,500 and now houses 9-11,000 prisoners. Single rooms hold fifty to a hundred cellmates. Food rations are minimal and prisoners must often pay bribes for sleeping materials. Nearby, according to reports, anti-regime forces attempted to seize the compound.

=> ↺ SYRIA: Disclose Whereabouts of Detained Freedom of Expression Advocate Bassel Khartabil

=> ↺ Syria: Disclose Whereabouts of Detained Freedom of Expression Advocate

• EFF has joined with organizations around the world in calling for Syria to reveal the whereabouts of detained technologist Bassel Khartabil. Khartabil’s arbitrary detention and treatment by the Syrian authorities have been cause for concern since his initial arrest three and a half years ago. Fears have grown for his safety after he was taken from civil prison to an unknown destination on Saturday. He is one of the five current cases that EFF tracks in our Offline campaign to protect unjustly imprisoned technologists and bloggers.

=> ↺ Google AMP: “Instant Articles”-style mobile news plans unveiled – an open source standard for publishers’ content to be immediately in search

=> ↺ Google (GOOG) Releases Faster Mobile Web Browsing In New Open-Source Initiative With Twitter And 38 News Organizations

• We’re increasingly living in a mobile world, and Google wants to make it a better experience. The search giant on Wednesday announced an initiative called “Accelerated Mobile Pages” (AMP) that makes viewing news articles on a smartphone even faster, the company said at a New York City event.

=> ↺ VoiceNation Releases Revolutionary Open Source Live Answering Software. Georgia CALLS is an Early Adopter

• OpenAnswer is built on familiar open source technology like Asterisk, FreePBX, Apache, Linux, PF Sense, SIP and more.

=> ↺ Open Source Needs Enterprise Developers

• Open source projects have risen in prominence over the past few years and are becoming important assets to enterprises. A recent report indicates that some 78 percent of enterprises use open source, and two-thirds build software for their customers that is based on open source software.

=> ↺ Making B2B Open To Open Source

• The eCommerce software space is a crowded one, with vendors offering any number of ways to track product data. B2C may grab the spotlight with innovation and omnichannel initiatives, and B2B has some catching up to do. But as small businesses recognize the need to adapt quickly to satisfy both their customers and suppliers, flexible software can make all the difference, according to Yoav Kutner.

Events

=> ↺ Coding in a safe place

• The Python Software Foundation’s (PSF) Director Carol Willing is ready for the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women conference to start on October 14. One of the many highlights of her week will most definitely be the Open Source Day Codeathon, where some attendees will be making their very first contributions to open source.

=> ↺ FSF copyright and licensing associate Donald Robertson – “Trading Freedom: The Threat of International Trade Agreements Like TPP, TTIP, and TISA” (SeaGL, Seattle, WA)

Web Browsers

Mozilla

=> ↺ Proposed Principles for Content Blocking

• Content is not inherently good or bad – with some notable exceptions, such as malware. So these principles aren’t about what content is OK to block and what isn’t. They speak to how and why content can be blocked, and how the user can be maintained at the center through that process.

• At Mozilla, our mission is to ensure a Web that is open and trusted and that puts our users in control. For content blocking, here is what we think that means.

=> ↺ Thunderbird 38.3.0 Lands in All Ubuntu OSes

• Details about a number of Thunderbird vulnerabilities in Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, and Ubuntu 12.04 LTS operating systems have been revealed by Canonical in a short security notice.

SaaS/Big Data

=> ↺ Tibco Delivers Solution for Visual Analytics via Spark

• At the recent Strata + Hadoop World, TIBCO Software, focused on data analytics and integration, announced new ways to integrate cloud business intelligence views with Apache Spark. The company is integrating its Spotfire business intelligence software delivered via the cloud to Apache Spark in-memory computing clusters and SparkR, an implementation of Apache Spark that is embedded with the R programming language.

=> ↺ Dell, Cloudera and Intel Deliver Tools to Demystify Using Hadoop

Databases

=> ↺ Industry Outlook: Open-Source Databases and IoT

• This week, Industry Outlook talks with Pierre Fricke about open-source databases and their role in the Internet of Things (IoT). Pierre has a long history in open-source software. He spent 10 years as director of product marketing for JBoss Middleware. He had joined JBoss Inc. just over a year before its acquisition by Red Hat in 2006 and stayed on until he joined EDB. Pierre first became involved in open-source software in 1998 during his 17 years at IBM. He played a critical role in establishing IBM’s Linux and open-source strategy, being one of seven team leaders whose contributions are still used today. He also spent five years as an industry analyst with an emphasis on Java and Microsoft application development and integration software.

• [...]

• PF: No. “Open source” does not equate to “less secure.” Enterprise open-source solutions such as EDB Postgres boast the same level of security as traditional solutions, including enhanced auditing, row-level security, SQL-injection-attack guard and other capabilities. In addition, better-managed open-source solutions also have fewer vulnerabilities than commercial products owing to the strict reviews and testing process that these types of systems must undergo. Furthermore, the inherent nature of open source—in which the code kernel is available to a large community of developers—means more individuals are looking for potential bugs and problems (an open process that is often prohibited in propriety systems).

Healthcare

=> ↺ Taunton and Somerset FT leads the way with open source EPR

• Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust has rolled out the first open source electronic patient record (EPR) in the UK.

• The system – now live in A&E, theatres, outpatients and the hospital’s 30 wards – is pioneering changes in the NHS as trusts have always depended on proprietary software to record and manage patient information.

=> ↺ Taunton and Somerset NHS goes live with open-source electronics patient records

• Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust the first to go live with the openMAXIMS open-source electronic patient record system (EPR) in a landmark deal

=> ↺ Hospital creates new EPR with open source

• Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust has customised openMaxims software for an electronic patient record that could be reused by other organisations

Business

=> ↺ Protecode: Open Source Code Will Power 95 Pct. of Companies by 2017

• Almost all—95 percent, in fact—of companies will be using open source software by 2017 and the adoption of third-party open source code is increasing steadily. Those are among the key findings in a new report from Protecode on open source software.

Semi-Open Source

=> ↺ Nexenta Showcases Disruptive VMware-ready, Industry-leading Open Source-driven Software-Defined Storage Solutions at VMworld Europe 2015

BSD

=> ↺ NetBSD 7.0 Released With New ARM Board Support, Lua Kernel Scripting

• NetBSD 7.0 was quietly released at the end of September.

• NetBSD 7.0 is a big release for this BSD operating system and it features Lua kernel scripting support, GCC 4.8.4 is the default compiler, DRM/KMS graphics support, multi-core support for ARM, Raspberry Pi 2 with SMP support, NPF improvements, and a variety of other enhancements.

Project Releases

=> ↺ PEAR 1.10.0 with PHP7 support is out

• After a year of development, PEAR version 1.10.0 has been released.

Openness/Sharing

=> ↺ Open Source Auto Project Challenges Industry

• A new electric city car is being developed – one that aims to challenge the existing global automotive industry’s business practices, fossil fuel use and so-called “old mechanics.”

Open Hardware

=> ↺ The Eleven 3D Printer by ISG3D is Now Available on Kickstarter

• Also attractive are the printer’s precision, light weight and simple design, making it ideal for first-time 3D printer buyers.

=> ↺ Promising large and open source Eleven 3D printer by ISG3D now live on Kickstarter

• Remember the Eleven 3D printer? In early September, we first reported on a promising and remarkably large desktop 3D printer that is being developed by Canadian startup and 3D printer service provider ISG3D. This interesting machine already looked remarkably good a month ago, but we had to wait for their Kickstarter campaign to start before getting the full story. That moment is today, as the crowdfunding campaign for ISG3D’s Eleven has just gone life, and it’s still looking as good as before.

=> ↺ The Bike Project is Creating the First 3D Printable Open Source Bike called OBI

=> ↺ Gartner: Risk, relentless data center demand, open source and other tech trends IT needs to know

• Open source hardware: Build your own hardware platforms. Take a look at Google and others who have done this. Open source hardware is roughly in the same place open source software was in the mid-1990s. What made open source software acceptable for many businesses was the arrival of support for it, such as Red Hat; something similar may take place with the hardware.

=> ↺ Open source and DIY hardware for DNA nanotechnology labs

• Setting up or upgrading a lab to conduct state-of-the-art DNA nanotechnology is not an inexpensive undertaking. The hardware alone can easily set you back several hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Programming

=> ↺ Perl 6 Unveiled

• Perl 6 was unveiled last night in San Francisco by Larry Wall.

• Those interested in the current development state of Perl 6 can visit the Perl6.org site.

=> ↺ PHP Vendor Zend Acquired by Rogue Wave

Standards/Consortia

=> ↺ EU digital policy moves into public comment phase

• The normal procedural step that the Commission takes after the introduction of such a strategy is to seek specific input and feedback—via a public consultation process—for the general ideas and proposals that they are presenting. A public consultation, as the phrase implies, is an invitation to answer a long list of wide ranging questions on these issues. Although procedural, the information gleaned from the consultation will help shape any formal legislation or other actions and regulations that the Commission deems necessary to achieve the goals of the DSM.

Leftovers

Security

=> ↺ Malware Peddling Vigilantes behind Linux.Wifatch Speak Up

• The group also add that Linux.Wifatch was never intended to be secretive and added that to be “truly ethical, it needs to have a free license.” However, the developers did not go out of their way to make the Wifatch’s presence known in the wider community, to avoid detection by other malware authors.

• The group haven’t revealed their identity and contend that they are “nobody important,” while adding that although they can be trusted not to do “evil things” with users’ devices anybody could steal the key (speaking figuratively), no matter how well the group protects it.

=> ↺ Government Accountability Offices Finds Government Still Mostly Terrible When It Comes To Cybersecurity

• The government has done a spectacularly terrible job at protecting sensitive personal information over the past couple of years. Since 2013, the FDA, US Postal Service, Dept. of Veterans Affairs, the IRS and the Office of Personnel Management have all given up personal information. So, it’s no surprise the Government Accountability Office’s latest report on information security contains little in the way of properly-secured information.

=> ↺ This New ‘Secure’ App for Journalists May Not Be Secure At All

• When I started working as a journalist in Colombia in 2006, “What do I do if I get kidnapped?” was a common topic at parties. In fact in 2007, my brother (not a journalist) got kidnapped in a small town outside of Medellín. The Colombian anti-kidnapping squad (GAULA) rescued him.

• So let’s just say I take an interest in journalist security tools. New apps have the potential to help journalists do their jobs, and stay safe while doing so.

• Unfortunately, Reporta, a new app from the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) billed as “the only comprehensive security app available worldwide created specifically for journalists,” sounds like it may put journalists in danger.

Defence/Police/Secrecy/Aggression

=> ↺ NYT Plays Up Risks to Bomber Pilots, Downplays the Civilians They Kill

• Cooper does her best nevertheless to make the reader empathize with the risks faced by bomber pilots, despite a former flyer’s admission that “if you stay above 10,000 feet, you’re not going to be hit.” Though the mechanical difficulties faced by Yip Yip dominate the story, Cooper asserts that “engine troubles are not the only risk at 25,000 feet.” What else is there? Well, there’s acceleration: “The F/A-18s today require more G-forces than the planes of the Top Gun era, and pilots today pull nine Gs instead of four and five Gs”—so pilots have to make sure they are “not dehydrated or hungover from drinking and crooning the Righteous Brothers to Kelly McGillis at a bar the night before.”

• For comparison purposes, riders on the Shock Wave roller coaster at Six Flags Over Texas experience six Gs–placing the amusement park-goers somewhere between Maverick and Bones on the toughness scale.

PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying

=> ↺ Corporate Press Fails to Trump Bigotry

• The outlandish rhetoric of Republican presidential wildcard Donald Trump has left many journalists at a loss for words—words such as bigotry, xenophobia, racism, sexism and demagoguery.

=> ↺ The Atlantic Explains How Attacks On Spanish Language Isolate A Key Demographic

=> ↺ Varoufakis to Corbyn: ‘Don’t Fear the Media’

Privacy

=> ↺ What’s in a Boarding Pass Barcode? A Lot

• The next time you’re thinking of throwing away a used boarding pass with a barcode on it, consider tossing the boarding pass into a document shredder instead. Two-dimensional barcodes and QR codes can hold a great deal of information, and the codes printed on airline boarding passes may allow someone to discover more about you, your future travel plans, and your frequent flyer account.

=> ↺ US Secret Service Violated Privacy Policy to Embarrass Congressman

• The Secret Service thought we all needed a reminder that databases of personal information will be exploited for political gain. The chair of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, was leading the investigation into one of the recent cases of Secret Service misconduct. Agents within the service accessed records concerning Chaffetz’ application to the Secret Service (which was not acted upon) and then disseminated that information within the agency and talked to the press about it.

=> ↺ Anti-Piracy Activities Get VPNs Banned at Torrent Sites

• This week users of popular torrent sites found that they could no longer access them using their VPN. Speaking with TorrentFreak the operator of one of the affected sites revealed that the IP ranges of a popular VPN provider had been banned after they were used for massive anti-piracy activities. Using a VPN for copyright enforcement is apparently quite common.

=> ↺ In China, Your Credit Score Is Now Affected By Your Political Opinions – And Your Friends’ Political Opinions

• China just introduced a universal credit score, where everybody is measured as a number between 350 and 950. But this credit score isn’t just affected by how well you manage credit – it also reflects how well your political opinions are in line with Chinese official opinions, and whether your friends’ are, too.

=> ↺ Rise of ad-blockers shows advertising does not understand mobile, say experts

• Apple has made ad-blocking mainstream, prompting fears in the $31.9bn mobile ad market. But those grappling with the problem say the user must come first

Civil Rights

=> ↺ Rupert Murdoch hints that Barack Obama isn’t ‘real black president’

• Murdoch was praising Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson and his wife on Twitter Wednesday evening when he wrote: “Ben and Candy Carson terrific. What about a real black President who can properly address the racial divide?”

=> ↺ Saudi husband is caught groping and forcing himself on his maid after his suspicious wife set up a hidden camera… but now SHE faces going to jail

• A Saudi woman may face going to jail after she caught her husband cheating with the family maid and posted it on social media.

• The woman used a hidden camera to catch her husband in the act, but despite his proven infidelity, she may be the one who ends up being punished.

• The video, which she uploaded to YouTube, shows the man forcing himself on one of the family’s members of staff, while the maid appears to attempt to resist his advances.

=> ↺ Tacoma Police Sued Over Heavily-Redacted Stingray Non-Disclosure Agreement

• Despite there being multiple copies of nearly-identical FBI/Stingray non-disclosure agreements in the public domain at this point, the Tacoma (WA) Police Department still refuses to provide FOIA requesters with an unredacted version of its own NDA.

• In late 2014, the Tacoma Police Dept. handed Seattle’s Phil Mocek a copy of its NDA, which, perhaps unsurprisingly, failed to disclose much about the non-disclosure agreement. The only things left unredacted were the two opening paragraphs of the agreement and the signatures at the end of it. In the middle was a solid wall of black ink.

=> ↺ Sweden is shifting to a 6-hour work day

• Despite research telling us it’s a really bad idea, many of us end up working 50-hour weeks or more because we think we’ll get more done and reap the benefits later. And according to a study published last month involving 600,000 people, those of us who clock up a 55-hour week will have a 33 percent greater risk of having a stroke than those who maintain a 35- to 40-hour week.

• With this in mind, Sweden is moving towards a standard 6-hour work day, with businesses across the country having already implemented the change, and a retirement home embarking on a year-long experiment to compare the costs and benefits of a shorter working day.

DRM

=> ↺ TPP Also Locks In Broken Anti-Circumvention Rules That Destroy Your Freedoms

• We already wrote about how New Zealand has released some of the details about the finalized TPP agreement before the official text is released. The one we discussed is forcing participants into a “life plus 70 years” copyright term, even as the US had been exploring going back towards a life plus 50 regime like much of the rest of the world. That won’t be possible any more.

=> ↺ [Apple] What is the “rootless” feature in El Capitan, really?

• I have just learned about the “Rootless” feature in El Capitan, and I am hearing things like “There is no root user”, “Nothing can modify /System” and “The world will end because we can’t get root”.

• What is the “Rootless” feature of El Capitan at a technical level? What does it actually mean for the user experience and the developer experience? Will sudo -s still work, and, if so, how will the experience of using a shell as root change?

Intellectual Monopolies

Copyrights

=> ↺ Comcast User Hit With 112 DMCA Notices in 48 Hours

• According to a lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania this week, a Comcast user was sent a staggering 112 DMCA notices in just 48 hours after downloading and sharing a single torrent. The unlucky user was targeted for sharing the discography of Dog Fashion Disco, a long defunct metal band previously known as Hug the Retard.

=> ↺ New CJEU reference on linking and copyright: is streaming unlawful content an infringement?

• This time at issue there are questions such as: Is selling a product that contains hyperlinks to infringing content a copyright infringement? Are those who stream unlawful content infringers?

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