Free Software News
Personal Finance: Don't let Web scams ruin holiday
'Tis the season for making merry. Or in some cases making mischief, especially on the Web. Whether you're shopping online or just checking your personal e-mail, don't get financially fooled this holiday season. "In this economy, when we're all trying to get the most bang for our buck, we're letting down our guard," said Parry Aftab, a privacy attorney and the new family Internet safety ...Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Debian Developers Vote on Linux Release
Netstat -vat: "Debian is on the verge of its next major release codenamed "Lenny" - but before it gets released, Debian developers will have to vote on it. Debian developers have until 23:59:59 UTC on Saturday, December 21st, 2008 to vote on six key issues collectively titled the Lenny Release General Resolution."Wednesday, December 17, 2008
India's Satyam Ditches Construction Company Buyout
Satyam withdraws plans to invest in construction companies, following investors and analysts protests.Wednesday, December 17, 2008
dot.life
Is it safe to use Internet Explorer if it has security flaw?Wednesday, December 17, 2008
HeliOS founder says sorry to Windows teacher
Nick Farrell the inquirer Wed, 17 Dec 2008 10:19:19 +0000 Update: Didn't mean to throw you to the wolvesWednesday, December 17, 2008
Synology Means Business With New DS209+ NAS Server
Synology America Corporation today kicked off its 2009 model lineup with the announcement of the DS209+ SATA NAS server. The DS209+ is the latest addition to Synology's "Business Class" lineup of NAS servers that offers SMB and corporate customers an unbeatable blend of maximum performance, features, and low cost of ownership, while being earth-friendly.Wednesday, December 17, 2008
RightNow Offers Low-Risk Option for Companies that Want to Use On Demand CRM To Reduce Customer Service Costs
RightNow Technologies (NASDAQ:RNOW - News) announced a program for companies who want a fast, low-risk option for delivering great customer experiences using RightNow’s on demand customer relationship management (CRM) solutions.Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Most Popular Linux Downloads of 2008 [Best Of 2008]
Along with Windows and Mac downloads, this year was chock-full of free software for Linux users. Read on to see what our readers were eager to grab and install on their free desktops. Firefox 3.1...Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Tech Wrap: Goodbye 2008...Hello 2009!
Any day now I expect to slip into that alternative reality consisting of Christmas trees, holiday lights, gift giving, turkey and large splashes of sherry while sitting in front of an open fire.Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Helios Project apologizes to digitally spanked teacher
We reported last week about the Helios Project receiving an e-mail from a teacher requesting they stop their potentially illegal activities of spreading the Linux OS. What followed was a lot of coverage in the online press and Ken Starks, who runs Helios, getting a lot of contact from journalists. Ken has now posted another entry [...]Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Wikia Statement on GNU Free Document License 1.3
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) December 17, 2008 -- Wikia today announced that it is excited the Free Software Foundation has agreed to allow wiki content available under the GNU Free Documentation License (FDL) to be re-licensed under the Creative Commons Share Alike License.Version 1.3 of the FDL gives Wikia's communities incredible flexibility in achieving their mission of developing the largest ...Wednesday, December 17, 2008
FSF sues Cisco over Linksys open source code
The Free Software Foundation has sued Cisco ( PDF ) over the open source code used by its Linksys division. It's essentially a copyright violation case. The FSF says : Most of these programs are licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), and the rest are under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). Both these licenses encourage everyone, including companies like Cisco, to ...Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Be a Maverick -- Destroy Business Data Properly; Network Frontiers Releases Media Disposal Toolkit
The BlackBerry, a technological marvel Senator John McCain was once credited with having helped to create, has suddenly turned into a data mess, one that could have easily been avoided if his staffers understood the importance of removing stored information from technology devices before releasing those devices into the wild.Wednesday, December 17, 2008
The digital home hub is finally happening
When both Steve Jobs and Bill Gates announce something separately but simultaneously, you know it ought to be important. And so it was with the "digital home" and especially the idea that computers would be the "digital hub" of the home, which – weirdly, because I don't think they rang each other up to coordinate it – both Jobs and Gates did in January 2001 at their respective speeches ...Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Digidesign Ships Pro Tools 8 Software
DALY CITY, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 12/17/08 -- Digidesign®, a part of Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID), today announced the immediate availability of Pro Tools 8 software, the company's highly-anticipated, next-generation music creation and audio production software.Wednesday, December 17, 2008
MIVA Direct Launches ALOT Desktop Beta
NEW YORK----MIVA Direct, Inc., the toolbar, homepage and content division of digital media and advertising company, MIVA, Inc. , today announced the beta release of ALOT Desktop, a free software application that enables users to display widgets directly on their computer desktops without having a browser window open.Wednesday, December 17, 2008
MIVA Direct Launches ALOT Desktop Beta
MIVA Direct, Inc., the toolbar, homepage and content division of digital media and advertising company, MIVA, Inc. (NASDAQ:MIVA), today announced the beta release of ALOT Desktop , a free software application that enables users to display widgets directly on their computer desktops without having a browser window open.Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Convert Your PowerPoint Presentation to DVD [Powerpoint]
Weblog FreewareGenius walks through three different methods for burning your PowerPoint presentation to a DVD using free software. Photo by garethjmsaunders. The three methods discussed involve...Wednesday, December 17, 2008
The Reluctant Lawsuit: The FSF Pursues Its Claim Against Cisco
Datamation: "Cisco Systems is a gold member of the Linux Foundation, the non-profit association "dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux." Yet according to a lawsuit for copyright violation filed last week by the Software Freedom Law Center on behalf of the Free Software Foundation (FSF), Cisco has repeatedly infringed on the copyright of core GNU/Linux utilities over the last five years."Thursday, December 18, 2008
Bird watching pays off for children
Backyard bird-watching with children may pay a number of unexpected dividends. That's because the early experiences in children's lives affect how their brains develop and lay the foundation for intelligence, emotional health and moral development, according to the National Association for the Education of Young Children.Thursday, December 18, 2008
Cisco sued by FSF for GPL violations
BOSTON, USA: The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has announced that it has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Cisco.Thursday, December 18, 2008
How to Buy a Netbook
Four months ago, we published a buyers guide for small, lightweight laptops titled, 'How to buy a mini-laptop.'Thursday, December 18, 2008
5 Ways to Take Control of Your Finances in 2009
SAN FRANCISCO----With the economy taking us on the ride of the century and 2009 right around the corner, taking control of your personal finances should be at the top of your list of New Year’s resolutions.Thursday, December 18, 2008
5 Ways to Take Control of Your Finances in 2009
With the economy taking us on the ride of the century and 2009 right around the corner, taking control of your personal finances should be at the top of your list of New Year’s resolutions. Whether you are planning on changing jobs, paying off a loan, buying a new home, starting a business or even just taking a vacation in the next year, it’s essential to have the necessary funds to meet your ...Thursday, December 18, 2008
Catbird Compliance Enforcer
I believe that security is often the last thing IT planners are thinking about when building a virtual environment. It really ought to be higher up on the priority list. by Dan KusnetzkyThursday, December 18, 2008
10 Things for Non-Coders to do With Free Software Over Christmas
Free Software Magazine: "Some of us will find some kind of alleged spare time on our hands over the next few weeks...so here's a few suggestions for the rest of us who might want to try something new over Christmas."Thursday, December 18, 2008
Debian Developer Loses Privileges Due to Offensive Post
IT Wire: "Debian developer Josselin Mouette has had his privileges of posting to the announcement mailing list for developers withdrawn, following an offensive post to the list in November."Thursday, December 18, 2008
How to Setup a VPN in Windows Vista: The Client
Last month in part one of our two-part article on setting up a Virtual Private Network through Windows Vista, we walked you through configuring the VPN host . The Host system is the computer that listens for a remote connection and is either part of the network you need to access or contains the data that you’re looking to retrieve.Thursday, December 18, 2008
Sun releases VirtualBox 2.1
Egan Orion the inquirer Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:33:00 +0000 Major update, new featuresThursday, December 18, 2008
LogMeIn Offers Technology Considerations for 2009
Affordable, Secure and Green IT Ideas for the New YearThursday, December 18, 2008
Linux Foundation Appoints Ted Ts'o to Position of Chief Technology Officer
The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced that Linux kernel developer Theodore Ts'o has been named to the position of Chief Technology Officer at the Foundation.Thursday, December 18, 2008
Review: iZ3D Monitor
The iZ3D monitors have been generating a lot of buzz lately between the custom paint job models they have recently offered, as well as the unique position of being a forefront company developing a true 3D presentation in gaming and movies. Whether that is necessary or desirable will depend entirely on taste and is outside [...]Thursday, December 18, 2008
Facebook paranoia tops tech for 2008
Paranoia again ruled the tech roost in 2008, with nzherald.co.nz's top-rating tech story being last year's round up of the famous Facebook conspiracy - that alleged the social-networking colossus was started by the CIA.Friday, December 19, 2008
2009: Year of the Linux Delusion
Fuzzy Logic: "An article has come out claiming (yet again) that 2009 will be the year of Linux, and bases this prediction on the fact that low power ARM processors will be in netbooks which won't have enough power to run Windows, but then says these new netbooks will be geared to "web only" applications which suits Linux perfectly. And, oh yeah, Palm might save Linux, too."Friday, December 19, 2008
Security Work Secure
HARRISONBURG - With the economy in tatters, companies large and small are looking to trim expenses in just about every area of their business. But there's one thing that most businesses won't skimp on, even in a recession: security.Friday, December 19, 2008
Midgard 8.09.3RC2 released
Midgard News: "The Midgard Project has released a second release candidate for the third maintenance release of Midgard 8.09 Ragnaroek LTS. Ragnaroek LTS is a Long Term Support version of the free software content management framework."Friday, December 19, 2008
10 things Linux does better than OS X
Guest post via TechRepublic's 10 things blog. OS X is heralded for its friendliness, but it falls short in many other respects. Find out why Linux is superior in everything from flexibility to portability to cost. It may sound strange, seeing as how OS X is based on a Linux variant and is widely considered to be the most user-friendly operating system available, but Linux does a number of things ...Friday, December 19, 2008
GiftBerry Rescue Plan Keeps Business Donations Flowing at Steady Rate
www.GiftBerry.org, the national leader in online philanthropy, has introduced an evolutionary Web 2 software application, ExpressGive, enabling all business giving to be transacted without the use of any paper, meeting all corporate green goals.Friday, December 19, 2008
Checklist and Software for Reinstalling Windows [Installation]
The Digital Inspiration blog has a really thorough checklist, with links to relevant, free software to help you back up and get your system back up to a fully-patched, optimized state. Note the tip...Friday, December 19, 2008
Gift Guide: Fitness gadgets to revive motivation
The training regimen - if you can call it that - for my first triathlon included nothing more high-tech than a $35 digital watch and a basic MP3 player. But now that winter is arriving, sapping my motivation to get off the couch, I've started looking at fitness gadgets that could help refresh my workouts. A swimmer, biker, runner or walker on your holiday list might like a high-tech nudge out ...Friday, December 19, 2008
Redmond Grinch Steals Cybercrooks' Christmas, Straight-Talk Express Breaks Down in Cupertino
Looks like Santa visits cybercrooks too. Their present this year was a big, fat security hole in many widely used versions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer. The critical vulnerability allowed remote code execution if an Explorer user visited a specially crafted, malicious Web page. That translated into the potential for big-time credit card fraud and identity theft.Friday, December 19, 2008
The annoyances of proprietary Firefox extensions
As a regular browser of the Firefox Add-ons site, I'm troubled by the apparent proliferation of proprietary extensions in the last year. Maybe I've simply exhausted the free-licensed extensions that interest me, but recently every interesting-looking extension seems to be a proprietary one -- especially in the recommended list. Nothing, of course, in the Mozilla privacy or legal notice prohibits ...Friday, December 19, 2008
Christmas Tech Jokes 2008 Edition
Tech Source From Bohol: "Since it’s holiday season already, let's keep the tech jokes coming with this parody of a famous song entitled "The Twelve Days of Christmas." You can sing along if you like:"Friday, December 19, 2008
What To Do this Holiday Season?
There's an interesting article over at FreeSoftwareMagazine.com about what you can do with the free time the coming holidays will likely present you with. This being an article at the Free Software Magazine, it focusses mainly on - you guessed it - Free software. The suggestions are interesting, but we have a few of our own to add.Friday, December 19, 2008
This Week's Best Posts [Highlights]
Too busy forcing holiday cheer this week to catch our best posts? Here, have a rundown. Most Popular Free Windows Downloads of 2008 "In the past year we've highlighted hundreds of Windows apps aimed...Saturday, December 20, 2008
The App Store is not a free market
In previous installments I've blogged about Craig Hockenberry's (Icon Factory) and David Barnard's (App Cubby) thoughts on the economics of the App Store. Hockenberry bemoaned the proliferation of "crapware" that higher-priced apps are forced to compete with while Barnard posted actual numbers from the App Cubby bank account. In his latest installment, Barnard expresses his frustration with the ...Saturday, December 20, 2008
Windows needs an exorcist at times
What does a Macintosh partisan of more than two decades do when his Windows XP computer becomes unusable due to viruses and malware?Saturday, December 20, 2008
No such thing as a free Linux distro
A few Linux distributions emphasize license freedom as a goal, but Tom "Spot" Callaway says that there's no such thing as a free Linux distro. Callaway, Fedora's engineering manager, writes that "you'd need to do an incredibly thorough audit of every file in the system to be sure that every single file is under a known license," and the evidence says that most distros haven't actually done it. ...Saturday, December 20, 2008
PC as your secretary
Have Mr Grady or CALO or Siri cracked the code in the half-decade-long quest for a software personal assistant? Ordinary computer users will soon have a chance to find out.Saturday, December 20, 2008
Turn left now: ‘sat nav’ finds store bargains
The high street is fighting back with high-tech devices to lure customers away from the internet and back into shops.Saturday, December 20, 2008
