Linux News for Feb 25, 2011

• Editor's Note: Sony, Slayer of Progress (Feb 25, 2011, 23:03)
  I was working on a piece similar to this, but Make author Phillip Torrone wroter a better, calmer, and more complete article. Enjoy! "This week I'm going to switch gears a little and declare an enemy for all makers, hackers, and innovators -- it's in a very different space: the consumer electronics industry. And who is this slayer of progress? Sony."


• Scripting the Linux desktop, Part 2: Scripting Nautilus (Feb 25, 2011, 22:33)
  IBM Developerworks: "This series of articles explores how to use Python to create scripts for the GNOME desktop, the screenlets framework, and Nautilus to deliver a highly productive environment. Scripts on the desktop enable drag-and-drop functionality and quick access to the information and services you commonly use. In this installment, learn how to use Python to add functionality to extend Nautilus on your desktop."


• FreeBSD 8.2-RELEASE Announcement (Feb 25, 2011, 22:03)
  FreeBSD: "The FreeBSD Release Engineering Team is pleased to announce the availability of FreeBSD 8.2-RELEASE. This is the third release from the 8-STABLE branch which improves on the functionality of FreeBSD 8.1 and introduces some new features"


• Canonical calls original proposal a "mistake" and overrides Banshee team's decision (Feb 25, 2011, 21:41)
  Networkworld: "Canonical revises Banshee deal: Pray it doesn't alter it further"


• Senate Dems Voice Opposition to House Net Neutrality Repeal (Feb 25, 2011, 21:33)
  Datamation: "Unfortunately, the House has decided that it knows better what is good for the Internet than the people who use, fund, and work on it"


• Ubuntu Linux for beginners: Tips for getting started (Feb 25, 2011, 21:03)
  IT World: "Answers to all your Ubuntu setup questions -- and some you didn't think to ask."


• U.K. Comes out for Royalty-Free Standards for Government Procurement (Feb 25, 2011, 20:33)
  Standards Blog: "The U.K. has become the latest country to conclude that for information and communications technology (ICT) procurement purposes, "open standards" means "royalty free standards.""


• What are you doing on Friday? (Feb 25, 2011, 20:03)
  Zenoss blog: "What are you doing Friday? We're Building a Cloud with Cloud.com, Openstack, and Opscode"


• Installing nfdump and nfsen Netflow tools in Linux (Feb 25, 2011, 19:33)
  Linux * Screw: "Using nfsen it is possible to view IP traffic statistics on Linux interfaces including the graphs showing data sent and received (see the screenshot to the right) as well as historical information about all data transfers."


• Tech Comics: "Tech Dinosaurs" (Feb 25, 2011, 19:03)
  Datamation: "Some of today's tech companies are quite large, but does that mean they'll be around long term?"


• How to Sync Firefox Add-ons, Bookmarks, Preferences, History (Feb 25, 2011, 18:33)
  Softpedia: "Do you have lots of Firefox add-ons installed? Ever wondered if there's an easy way to backup and restore your Firefox's add-ons, preferences, history, passwords, bookmarks, and even the opened tabs?"


• Debate on Ubuntu Linux's Banshee $$ grab gets nasty (Feb 25, 2011, 18:03)
  Netstat -vat: "There are a lot of 'touchy' issues in the open source world - none are perhaps more controversial than those involving money."


• Kernel Log: Coming in 2.6.38 (Part 3) � Network drivers and infrastructure (Feb 25, 2011, 17:33)
  The H Open: "Kernel version 38 will offer a new meshing implementation, loads of new and improved LAN and Wi-Fi drivers, plus various minor changes that promise to improve the network subsystem's performance."


• London Stock Exchange hauled offline after major data problem (Feb 25, 2011, 17:03)
  Computerworld UK: "The London Stock Exchange stopped trading this morning immediately after the opening auction, which experienced a major technical glitch."


• Intel's BIOS Implementation Test Suite, based on GRUB2 (Feb 25, 2011, 16:33)
  BIOSbits: "The Intel BIOS Implementation Test Suite (BITS) provides a bootable pre-OS environment for testing BIOSes and in particular their initialization of Intel processors, hardware, and technologies."


• PayPal restores Bradley Manning donations (Feb 25, 2011, 16:03)
  P2Pnet: "eBay's PayPal decided to stop donations made to Bradley Manning, the US soldier allegedly behind the original Cablegate WikiLeaks leaks, to help towards his defence costs. But PayPal has now backed down."


• Debian 6 Has A Few Rough Spots: Review (Feb 25, 2011, 15:33)
  eWeek: "This latest release from the Debian project will play well in server deployments that draw on open-source components"


• OpenSim used in project to help Asperger's kids (Feb 25, 2011, 15:03)
  IT Wire: "Researchers from Victoria University plan to aid kids with Asperger syndrome by helping them learn through interaction with professional programmers and designers."


• Nokia and open source - A trial by fire (Feb 25, 2011, 14:33)
  The H Open: "Richard Hillesley has a look at Nokia's curious relationship with open source, finds out where it all went wrong and has a conversation with a survivor of its effects."


• OpenStreetMap: open data that create services and jobs for everybody (Feb 25, 2011, 14:03)
  Stop: "OpenStreetMap (OSM) is the Wikipedia applied to mapping: a digital map of the whole world that everybody can contribute to draw. The results is maps that you can print, use with several GPS navigation systems or customize at will."


• Ubuntu is the 4th Most Popular Linux Distribution on Web Servers (Feb 25, 2011, 13:33)
  Tech Drive-in: "Ubuntu has been the most popular Linux distribution on desktop systems for sometime now and according to Google Trends data, Ubuntu probably is the first ever Linux distro to overshoot popularity of Linux itself."


• Quick Look at Exaile & Installation in Ubuntu and Debian (Feb 25, 2011, 13:03)
  TuxArena: "Exaile is a pretty decent music player for GNOME written in PyGTK which comes with features like tabbed playlists, lyrics fetching, radio support, file browser, support for dynamic and smart playlists, cover support, 10-band equalizer and more. The latest version was released a few days ago and comes with several bug fixes and minor issue fixes."


• Disney, Viacom Lose Bid to Hold Internet Provider Liable For Users' Piracy (Feb 25, 2011, 11:03)
  Bloomberg: "Walt Disney Co. and Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures are among Hollywood's biggest movie studios that lost a piracy lawsuit in Australia as an appeals court upheld a ruling that a local internet provider wasn't responsible for customers illegally downloading films."


• The Ada Initiative Announces Advisory Board (Feb 25, 2011, 09:03)
  The Ada Initiative press release: The Ada Initiative, a non-profit promoting women in open technology and culture, announced the members of its advisory board today.


• Realtime Collaboration with Gobby and Kobby on Linux (Feb 25, 2011, 07:03)
  Linux.com: "Gobby and Kobby are both outstanding real-time collaborative text editors for the GNOME and KDE desktops (respectively). Both are easy to install, easy to use, and are two of the most efficient means of collaboration you will find"


• An Interview with Jane Silber (Feb 25, 2011, 05:03)
  Silver Fox's Space: "I'm Jane Silber, CEO of Canonical. I live in London and hold dual American/British citizenship. I spell like a Brit, speak like an American, and wave my hands about like an Italian."


• It's Time to Rethink Chinese Tech Manufacturing (Feb 25, 2011, 03:03)
  Datamation: "But after reading a recent report by Apple, I started thinking about the workers who make the gadgets and computers in our lives. Were they children coerced into lying about their age by their own schools? Were the workers poisoned with illegal industrial chemicals?"


• My favorite Linux desktop: Mint 10 (Feb 25, 2011, 01:33)
  ZDNet: "Over the years, I've seen more Linux distributions than anyone this side of the Distrowatch editors. "


• The Security Mirage of the Browser Padlock (Feb 25, 2011, 00:03)
  Security Week: "After Your Secure SSL Session Ends, Merchants can Theoretically Keep your Entire Customer Profile in Clear Text. Attackers love to Exploit Vulnerabilities in Online Stores to Steal that Data."