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29% of Internet Users Buy from Spam
0 minutes ago
picture Recent Marshal poll results show that 29% of Internet users buy products of whose existence they find out via spam. The percentage is incredibly large if we don't take into account the fact that the Marshall survey included only 622 respondents, a sample that can hardly be held as sufficient. Moreover, the question that stood at the base of the poll was "What purchases have you made from spam?", which implies that those who answer it are very likely to have actually bought something using the method. -
29% of Internet Users Buy from Spam
30 minutes ago
picture Recent Marshal poll results show that 29% of Internet users buy products of whose existence they find out via spam. The percentage is incredibly large if we don't take into account the fact that the Marshall survey included only 622 respondents, a sample that can hardly be held as sufficient. Moreover, the question that stood at the base of the poll was "What purchases have you made from spam?", which implies that those who answer it are very likely to have actually bought something using the method. -
Microsoft Adds $100M to Novell's Linux Payout
1 hour ago
Microsoft plans to pay software maker Novell (NASDAQ: NOVL) up to $100 million in additional subscription fees due to strong demand for Novell's open source Linux software that partners with Microsoft's proprietary Windows software. -
A Merger in Wireless Chips for Ericsson, STMicro
1 hour, 30 minutes ago
Ericsson and STMicroelectronics have agreed to join their wireless chip and software businesses to create a joint venture that will supply four of the world's top five mobile phone makers. -
Regular Linux desktops on the XO
2 hours ago
Me and Bobby Powers have spent a few hours smoothing out the process of getting fully-featured Linux desktops to boot on the XO laptop. On the whole, OLPC developers have been pretty good at getting code upstream, so only a few fixups are needed to get things operational on the XO. -
Intel says it has 'first silicon' for next mobile chip
2 hours, 30 minutes ago
At the Intel Developer Forum, the chipmaker said it has achieved a milestone with its next-generation Moorestown processor, aimed at the smartphone market. -
Why can't Firefox print as well as Internet Explorer?
3 hours ago
What are they thinking at Mozilla? How could they devote time and effort to eye candy like new icons and drastically reworking the address bar when Firefox so often fails at printing. -
Comments on Jacobsen v Katzer
3 hours, 30 minutes ago
The judgement came to the (not entirely surprising) conclusion that conditions in a licence should be treated as conditions. That is to say, they limit the scope of the licence, so that if you do not comply with them you are breaching copyright. The decision of the court is welcome but not unexpected. In this posting Brendan Scott of Open Source Law makes some observations on the reasoning of the court. -
First Ubuntu Netbook Remix Laptop Appears
4 hours ago
Digital Gadgets, the manufacturer and distributor of SYLVANIA brand computers, announced on August 19th that its shipping the SYLVANIA g netbook MESO with Ubuntu 8.04 Netbook Remix inside. -
How to convert PDF files to HTML or XML files in openSUSE
4 hours, 30 minutes ago
Converting a PDF file into an HTML or a XML file has been made easy by a small useful utility called PDFTOHTML. PdftoHTml is a Xpdf based tool which can convert PDF files to HTML or XML format. PDFTOHTML also supports encrypted files and support for images in the PDF file by converting to PNG images files. -
Internet Terrorist: Does Such A Thing Really Exist?
5 hours ago
In this article, a former CISO discusses the notion of worrying about the potential risk of terrorism against his organization and how it seems to be the lowest priority given the choices at hand. Ironically, terrorism today seems to be an emerging concern in the commercial world and many are actively pursuing methods and technology to help combat the problem. As a result, he began to research this trend to determine its drivers and potential implications to information security as we know it today. -
Fedora 10 Takes Shape
5 hours, 30 minutes ago
Red Hat's next-generation Linux distribution shows off some early new features as it preps for release. -
Commercial developers embrace OpenMoko
6 hours ago
Development of the first commercial application for the OpenMoko is apparently getting underway. The application handles automatic logging into commercial Wi-Fi networks (like Starbucks) and is from Devicescape. The application seems like a good fit given the lack of 3G & slow GPRS in the FreeRunner. Are more commercial applications going to move to the OpenMoko platform because of its open platform? Is the restrictiveness of other platforms help push applications to the OpenMoko? -
NGINX instead of Apache?
6 hours, 30 minutes ago
My friend Mario in Costa Rica sent me a short email about NGINX (pronounced engine-X). It is a web server and a bit more written by Igor Sysoev in Russia. Clearly, it isn't for everyone but if you have a very busy site that needs load balancing and some other performance stuff, it looks pretty interesting. -
Music Education With Linux Sound Tools, Redux
7 hours ago
Four years ago I wrote an article for the Linux Journal about my use of Linux software for music instruction. A lot has changed since then, so I thought I should update that article to reflect my current use of Linux in my work as a music teacher. I'll follow the presentation of materials as I organized it in the original article, but first I'll share some observations about the changing nature of my trade. - More News
Linux.com : Features
Help your favorite "public interest" free software project win $10,000
Nominations are now open for the Antonio Pizzigati Prize for Software in the Public Interest. The winner could be someone you know, or someone whose work you admire, but don't mull over your recommendation too long -- entries must be submitted by September 30.
Scheduling jobs based on filesystem activity with incron
There are numerous documents, tutorials and guides detailing the workings and usage of cron, the de facto tool for scheduling jobs on Linux. While traditional cron jobs are executed at set times, inotify cron, or incron, is a cron clone that watches the filesystem for specified changes and executes the relevant commands. You can set incron to monitor a particular file or directory for changes and schedule jobs for when those changes occur.
Foresight Linux: Two out of three's not bad
According to its past and present marketing, Foresight Linux has three claims to fame: Its user-friendliness, its use of the Conary package management system, and its role as a showcase for the latest in GNOME. In practice, its latest 2.0.4 version is not more user-friendly than any other GNOME-based distribution -- if anything, it is slightly less so because of its limited software selection and package management -- but its other claims are enough to make Foresight one of the more distinctive modern distributions.
Find the DVD containing those files with VVV
The Virtual Volumes View (VVV) project lets you index your data DVDs and perform searches to figure out whether a given file is backed up and what disc contains it. If you routinely back up a large amount of data onto DVDs, you can simply number your discs and keep them in numerically sorted order. When it comes time to find an image or digital video you burned to DVD, just use VVV to figure out the disc number and quickly locate the right disc in the pile.
Open options for cloud computing
Some cloud computing vendors, such as 3tera and Nirvani, push their own proprietary platforms and tools, which forces adopters to limit their options and work in a restricted or closed architecture. When these established vendors say cloud, they mean their cloud. As a result, Web developers may believe that, in order to use cloud computing, they must accept limitations in the way they write and build their applications. But that view is a misconception; open standards for cloud computing are already in place and are being tweaked.
XBMC's Linux port lacks impressive features
Linux has no shortage of audio and video players, but if you want to devote you whole system to multimedia use, you need the Xbox Media Center (XBMC). Although initially designed for the Xbox gaming console, XBMC has been ported to other platforms. The Linux port of XBMC that I use is quite usable, especially for video playback, despite the fact that not all XBMC features have yet been ported.
New Scalix open source groupware is competition for Microsoft Exchange
Scalix collaboration platform, with its latest release version 11.4, aims to be a good alternative to Microsoft Exchange. Based on the HP OpenMail platform, discontinued by Hewlett-Packard in 2001, it has been further developed by Scalix and now acts as an enterprise email and group calendar server with the option of integrating systems like ERP, CRM, and billing into the Scalix system using its open API. It is compatible with most LDAP authentication mechanisms, such as those in Windows Active Directory, Novell eDirectory, and Red Hat Directory Server. The most prominent feature of Scalix is its Exchange compatibility; you can use an Outlook client to access the Scalix platform. Scalix also provides an AJAX-based client that is nearly identical to Microsoft Exchange Outlook Web Access (OWA). Aside from Outlook compatibility, Scalix also claims to coexist peacefully with other existing Exchange email systems.
Linutop 2.2: A desktop where smaller is better
A shift from multi-core power-gobbling monsters toward whisper-quiet systems with single-digit power consumption is rippling through the desktop market. This trend plays right into the hands of a Paris-based company called Linutop, which offers a miniature Linux-based desktop system. The latest version of the machine appeals to customers who are in the market for a machine with green credentials and low maintenance costs. After testing one myself, I found the tiny desktop has a lot going for it.
Meet Open Invention Network CEO Keith Bergelt (video)
Linux.com correspondent R. Scott Belford caught up with Open Invention Network CEO Keith Bergelt at the 2008 LinuxWorld Expo and had a pleasant (on-camera) conversation with him.
Rocks clusters make sense for educational environments
Cluster computing has played a pivotal role in the way research is conducted in educational environments. Because the amount of available money and hardware varies between university researchers, often it's necessary to find a clustering solution that can work well on a small scale, but also can be expanded into a large computing cluster. To maximize grants, researchers typically ask for an open source solution to meet their needs. Despite the lack of certain desirable features, Rocks clusters are among the best open source solution for building a computing cluster.
NimbleX 2008 is speedy but flawed
NimbleX, a Slackware-based distribution, advertises itself as "the new wave of Linux." However, what is appealing in NimbleX -- its speed and small footprint and the resulting selection of alternative software choices -- will likely strike veteran GNU/Linux users as being very old school. By contrast, its limitations -- too little attention to such aspects as the installer, packaging, and security -- seem all too modern, being reminiscent of other distros intent on commercialization or emulating Windows, even though NimbleX is a community distribution and largely a labor of love for Romanian developer Bogdan Radulescu.
Three Firefox extensions for Gmail
Gmail, Google's popular Web mail application, is already full of useful features all on its own. But Firefox users can further customize Gmail with a variety of add-ons. Some only change the appearance, while others add functionality that makes Gmail more like a personal planner than just a plain old email application. Let's take a look at three Firefox add-ons for Gmail.
Ask Linux.com: Theft recovery, skeleton files, and boot-looping Eees
This week in our parade through the wide world of the Linux.com forums, what to do with a stolen-then-recovered laptop, how to rescue an Eee PC netbook stuck in an endless boot loop, and how make Likewise Open and /etc/skel play nice together. Plus, competitive bash scripting, unanswered questions, and a world of bad Olympic puns.
Spend your vacation getting started with OpenStreetMap
We have written about the OpenStreetMap (OSM) project many times, but we have yet to explain how to get started with it as a contributor. Since it is the vacation high season in the Northern Hemisphere and many more people will be hitting the maps, this is the perfect time. You can contribute a lot to the project even if you don't own a Global Positioning System (GPS) device -- or even a compass.
China takes lead in Linux education
Since the Chinese government began supporting domestic open source communities in 2005, hundreds of thousands of young people in the world's most populous country have become a part of the open source world.
Using Windows, Xbox, and iPod as alternative MythTV front ends
Digital video recorders (DVR) are becoming more and more mainstream. TiVo, in fact, has passed the truest test of any popular technology -- having its name transformed into a verb. MythTV, a free and open source application that lets you turn a computer into a DVR, burst on the scene a few years ago, and has found fans among Linux users. However, with a little effort, it's possible to run MythTV front ends on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Xbox, and even an Apple iPod Classic.
gOS 3 Gadgets (beta) targets Linux beginners and Google Gadgets lovers
I first heard of gOS when it was chosen to power the $199 Wal-Mart gPC. The third iteration of the OS, gOS 3.0 "Gadgets" Beta, was released last week. It's a great Web-focused desktop, but it doesn't offer much to experienced or current Ubuntu users.
A video tour of gOS Gadgets 3 (beta)
gOS is an interesting Ubuntu GNU/Linux offshoot. We've reviewed it and interviewed gOS founder Daniel Liu. Now, in this video, you can see the distro in action before you decide whether it is something you want to download and play with for yourself. Remember that this video was made with a beta version of gOS Gadgets 3, so some features don't work correctly that will almost certainly be just fine in the final version. That caveat given, here's the video.
Quickly put data from MySQL to the Web with DrasticGrid
With DrasticGrid, you can easily put a MySQL database table or view on a Web page, complete with editing, sorting, and pagination capabilities, and support for adding and deleting records.
Learn about the Open Source Census (video)
The Open Source Census goes way beyond the traditional, too rarely used Linux Counter. It claims to be "the first collaborative, global project to count the number of installations for each open source software package." A lofty (and possibly unobtainable) goal, perhaps, but in this video, shot at LinuxWorld 2008, OpenLogic's Kim Wein explains why OpenLogic, along with more than a dozen other companies and groups, is sponsoring the Open Source Census.
