News Linux News for Aug 11, 2008:

Mozilla Calls for a Next-Gen Browser: What's it Look Like?
(2008-08-11 01:04:07)
OStatic: "The Aurora video shows new ideas on how web users might collaborate in the future. In the video, a user is shown looking at web pages while photos and names of friends or colleagues are shown on screen at the same time. Users collaborating can drag hand-like cursors around to show each other things on the web, and can navigate Mac-like docks with icons for various types of information they may share."

Three Things the Linux Desktop Needs to do to Beat Windows
(2008-08-11 05:04:07)
Computerworld: "Number one with a bullet is one that most of you never think of but, trust me, the PC vendors and developers are painfully aware that Linux needs to do a much better job of managing power."

Feeling Zen Yet?
(2008-08-11 09:04:07)
Intramatrix: "I still fumble with xorg.conf and fstab files. Granted, I didn’t even know what those were last year. At least now I know where to go, what to edit, and when to prepare for experimental shutdowns (ie. major screw-ups & reinstallations) “Oh, I meant to copy the files, not the entire directory. Crap..” Navigating through a command line, to me, has the same suspense as jumping from one rock to another with a sea of rabid badgers below."

SplashTop Linux Security Hole Discovered
(2008-08-11 12:04:02)
Phoronix: "Kano, a member of the Phoronix Forums and the mastermind behind the Debian-based Kanotix distribution, has discovered a serious security problem."

How To Set Up A Cisco Lab On Linux (CentOS 5.2)
(2008-08-11 12:04:03)
HowtoForge: "I recently decided to study for the Cisco CSSP certification. My main concern in the beginning was the fact that most of the lab simulation software that I found out there could only run on Windows, this was a problem for me given the fact that I do not own a windows computer. After a quick search I found the wonderful Dynamips project that goes beyond what other simulators do by running actual Cisco IOS images, as well as the PEMU project which allows for running of Cisco PIX images."

The TIOBE List Director vs. the 'Anti-Java' Professor
(2008-08-11 12:34:02)
Datamation: "As noted in this interview – The 'Anti-Java' Professor and the Jobless Programmers – he claims that Java’s classroom prevalence is churning out CS grads who are marginally competent. At worse, they’re easily replaced by offshore programmers."

NFS Enters a Parallel Universe
(2008-08-11 13:04:03)
Enterprise Storage: "Version 4.1 of NFS, developed by a team of veterans from various storage interests, promises to unlock new performance and security capabilities, particularly for enterprise data centers."

Researchers Crack Medeco High-Security Locks With Plastic Keys
(2008-08-11 13:34:03)
Wired: "...plastic used in all of these credit cards can be easily fashioned into simulated keys that open three kinds of M3 high-security locks made by the Virginia-based Medeco Security Locks company -- locks that are used to secure sensitive facilities in places such as the White House, the Pentagon, embassies and other buildings."

Is Microsoft Trying to Kill Apache?
(2008-08-11 14:04:03)
Free Software Magazine: "Thanks to their bloated coffers, funded by the hated Microsoft tax, amongst other things, it was a financial non event for them to stump up the $100,000 per year to become a Platinum sponsor of the Apache Software Foundation. For Microsoft that kind of money is the equivalent of that coin you lost down the back of the sofa last week."

Spread Firefox or Shred Firefox?
(2008-08-11 14:34:03)
blog.angulosolido.pt: "The worst part of it is not acknowledging that this is a problem and just passing the hot potato to the users and distributors. As a consequence users of Ubuntu 7.10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, Mandriva 2006/2007 and many other distributions need backported packages to be able to run Firefox 3."

Canonical Preparing Virtual Ubuntu Linux Server Appliances
(2008-08-11 15:04:03)
The VAR Guy: "The virtual appliance strategy will allow Canonical and its ISVs (independent software vendors) to develop software bundles that are easily installed and configured — with little or no need for integrators to master key hardware configuration steps."

PHP 4 is Dead, Long Live PHP 4
(2008-08-11 15:34:03)
Computerworld: "The 8th of August marked the end of life for PHP 4, which has been in stable release since May, 2000. With no further security patches to come for the technology, what options are there for those who can't or won't upgrade?"

An Introduction to Linux CLI - Tutorial
(2008-08-11 16:04:03)
TuxArea: "A shell is a command interpreter which allows the user to interact with the computer. The way things work is simple: you type in commands, the shell interprets them and performs the tasks you asked it to do, and finally sends the results to the standard output (usually the screen)."

Linux Desktop Odyssey: Don't Stress, Linux is Productive Too
(2008-08-11 16:34:03)
TechWorld: "Last week I copped a bit of flack over my “when Linux has a bad day” blog, which highlighted all the problems I was having trying to just get on with my work. For the purists who think I was misguided by labelling Linux, well Linux, I wasn't. I was merely reporting my own experience with the SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) release 10."

Linux Patent Pool Web Site to Help Inventors File 'Defensive Publications'
(2008-08-11 17:04:03)
Computerworld: "A tech vendor-backed company that buys up patents in an effort to protect the Linux community from intellectual property litigation will soon launch a Web site to help inventors file defensive publication..."

Video: Surf Jacking Gmail demonstration
(2008-08-11 17:34:03)
Help Net Security: "The “Surf Jack” security tool demonstrates a security flaw found in many public sites. The proof of concept tool allows testers to steal session cookies on HTTP and HTTPS sites that do not set the Cookie secure flag."

Linux Install 101, or How I Helped Build Refurbished Linux PCs for Disadvantaged Schoolchildren
(2008-08-11 18:04:03)
Computerworld: "Building and using Linux-based PCs is a rewarding and fullfilling pastime for open source enthusiasts, but spreading the gospel to the masses can be even more satisfying."

Linuxworld Features a Range of New Technologies Built on Embedded Linux
(2008-08-11 18:34:03)
Computerworld: ""We are on the cusp of seeing what Linux did for software repeated on the hardware side," says Thomas. "The difference is that the hardware itself is not free.""

DoJ Beats up Tech Firm For H-1B Only Job Ads
(2008-08-11 19:04:03)
The Register: "A Pittsburgh computer consultancy is paying $45,000 in civil penalties over claims it discriminated against legal US residents by advertising only for developers on H-1B visas."

Make NBCOlympics.com Work on Linux!
(2008-08-11 19:34:03)
Tech Broiler: "It’s not often when a piece of technology impresses me enough that I do the “wow” thing when I’m using it. But the Silverlight streaming video implementation on NBCOlympics.com is truly awesome, even if I am forced into using Internet Explorer to watch it."

Why Lawyers Don't Like Linux
(2008-08-11 20:04:03)
IT Wire: "Professionals who work on the basis of billable hours rarely take the time out to write an article for publication unless they have a valid reason for doing so. That's why I'm generally a bit sceptical when lawyers come out with articles that attempt to make a case against the use of free and open source sofware."

Giving an Old Windows Hand Some Linux Advice
(2008-08-11 20:34:03)
Computerworld: "I see my colleague Preston Gralla is looking for the best Linux for a Windows pro. That's a good question with several good answers."

Interview with Andrew Tanenbaum, Creator of MINIX
(2008-08-11 21:04:03)
PC World: "If Linux's Tux penguin and MINIX's raccoon faced off in a fight to the death, who would win?"
"Raccoons are quite aggressive. Penguins are not. There would be chicken for dinner."

Canonical Tells VARs: 11 Percent of U.S. Businesses Running Ubuntu Linux
(2008-08-11 21:34:03)
The VAR Guy: "Fast forward to the present day, and Canonical’s partner program remains in its infancy. The VAR Guy recently spoke with five solutions providers listed on Canonical’s web site, and three of them conceded they had done no business with Canonical so far in 2008."

Advanced Recoll Setup: Indexing Your Data the Convenient Way
(2008-08-11 22:04:03)
LinuxPlanet: "Recoll is a great full-text indexing search engine for Linux/Unix. It has a Qt-based graphical interface, and is designed to be fast, easy to use, and easy on system resources. A. Lizard shows you how to run Recoll when you have time to let it run, and then have it automatically shut down your system when it is finished."

Open Source and the Poor Man's Supercomputer
(2008-08-11 22:34:03)
OStatic: "IBM made a slew of announcements and predictions on open source topics at this week's LinuxWorld conference, but one of the least talked about and written about announcements was this one (Matt Asay did single it out). IBM released its HPC Open Software Stack as open source, aiming at cheaper-to-deploy, simpler supercomputers."

Linux Today Editorial Policy
(2008-08-11 23:04:03)
Linux Today Blog: "Here come the "This story doesn't belong on Linux Today!" whinges again, so this seems a good time to discuss how I select stories. In any week approximately 170 stories get posted on Linux Today. Some of them are contributed by readers, some are selected by me."

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