Flock: The browser that makes browsing obsolete

,----[ Quote ]
| The way we use the internet is changing. As well as using the web to buy
| books, clothes and CDs, download music, auction junk on eBay, book a holiday,
| and find out what's going on in the world, we're increasingly using it to
| form networks and connections and share our thoughts and media with the rest
| of the world.
`----

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2008/01/05/dlflock105...

Related:

Flock 0.8 Is Looking Pretty Darn Good

,----[ Quote ]
| Now that Firefox 2 is used as the backbone (instead of Firefox 1.5)
| new features like spell checking, anti-phishing, and session restore
| are all part of the browser. Flock is shaping up to be a great
| browser for anyone actively involved in social networks, and when
| the final release hits the Web I'm sure there will be a lot of
| people raving about it.
`----

Secret Crush widget spreads adware on Facebook

,----[ Quote ]
| A "malicious widget" on Facebook is leaving love-hungry social networkers
| feeling crushed.
|
| The widget - which poses as a "Secret Crush" request inviting prospective
| marks to find out which of their friends might have the hots for them - acts
| as a social worm, prompting users to unwittingly download the infamous Zango
| adware application, security appliance firm Fortinet warns.
`----

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/04/facebook_adware/

Contest seeks the most diminutive XSS worm

Ubuntu — Beyond the Hype

,----[ Quote ]
| Since a few years, Ubuntu has been grabbing headlines in the mainstream
| press, sometimes to the point where people are referring to Ubuntu where they
| mean Linux (or GNU/Linux as the case may be)...
|
| [...]
|
| Whenever it's stated/claimed/implied that Ubuntu is finally the one Linux to
| take the world, take over the desktop (entice Windows users to take the
| plunge), where other Linux distributions have failed, I can only say: ehmm,
| no, not as far as I can tell.
`----

http://www.mandrake.tips.4.free.fr/ubuntubeyondthehype.html

Huge review. Other distributions are just as good, according to this person
anyway.

Ubuntu Weekly Report: 16th - 29th December - A Happy New Year to all Ubuntu
users!

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ubuntu-Weekly-Report-16th-29th-December-75020.sht...

RPM Press Release

,----[ Quote ]
| After seven months of comprehensive
| development, the popular Unix software packaging tool RPM Package
| Manager (RPM) was released as stable version 5.0.0. The relaunch of the
| RPM project in spring 2007 and today's following availability of RPM 5
| marks a major milestone for the previously rather Linux-centric RPM. RPM
| now finally evolved into a fully cross-platform and reusable software
| packaging tool.
`----

http://rpm5.org/pressrelease.php

NVClock 0.8 (Beta3) Released

Microsoft sued over Xbox outage

,----[ Quote ]
| The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Houston, claims Microsoft's outages
| represent a breach of contract and negligent misrepresentation for which the
| software maker is liable. The suit doesn't claim specific damages, but notes
| the amount is in excess of $5 million.
`----

http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9840766-56.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3...

As usual, Microsoft tried to give freebies and make the problem go away
unnoticed (but failed). Just a month ago:

,----[ Quote ]
| There was recently an interesting thread where someone harshly criticised
| Microsoft security making some very good points and suddenly a Microsoft rep
| materialized on the mailing list...

Who Says Linux Doesn’t Have an Extraordinary MMORPG Game?

,----[ Quote ]
| Who Says Linux Doesn’t Have an Extraordinary MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer
| Online Role Playing Game) that’s extremely easer to install (yes, like in
| Microsoft Windows)?? I love this game!
`----

http://linuxfud.wordpress.com/2008/01/05/who-says-linux-doesnt-have-an-extraordinary.../

Related:

Free Games for Linux

.----[ Quote ]
| A round-up of fun Linux diversions.
|
| When people talk about computer gaming these days, they
| invariably mean commercial games running on a Windows platform. Few
| people realize that Linux can be more than just a very good Web or
| file server. Even fewer people are aware of the many open-source or
| otherwise freely available games available for Linux.
`----

http://www2.linuxjournal.com/node/1000435

2008 is the year of Linux on the desktop

,----[ Quote ]
| …At least in the Pilgrim family.
|
| Over Christmas break, we did a three-way computer upgrade: my sons got my
| parents’ old Mac, my parents got my old desktop, and I got a new desktop. Of
| course I’m still running Debian Sid (I just moved my old hard drive to the
| new computer), but the big news is that my parents asked me to migrate them
| to Linux. They are now happy users of Ubuntu 7.10 with Firefox, Thunderbird,
| Picasa, OpenOffice.org, Amarok, and gnome-games.
`----

http://diveintomark.org/archives/2008/01/04/my-parents-desktop#comment-11104

Ubuntu on Dell Inspiron 6400

Dependence vs. Independence. That's the choice.

,----[ Quote ]
| Independence is a value that has run like a river, not just through the Open
| Source movement, but through the Independent Developer movement, the Free
| Software movement, and through hacker culture for the duration. Its origins
| are in value systems that recognize the transcendent virtues of personal
| freedom. Including the freedom of assembly that results in social groupings —
| especially those that are inherently elective. To be free is to opt in, not
| just out.
|
| Scoble should be able to take his personal data, his social data, and his
| business, anywhere he likes. Our ability to associate and communicate and
| work out "social networking" should be independent of Facebook, LinkedIn, or
| any company's walled garden.
`----

http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1006009

Also in OSS news:

A Finger on the Pulse of the Mobile Dev Community

Linux phone to Debut upgrade at CES, Google Android looking stupid

,----[ Quote ]
| OpenMoko has announced an upgrade to its Linux-powered mobile phone and plans
| to present the device at CES. That’s a slap in the face for open source
| competitor Google Android, which is still in development.In its announcement,
| OpenMoko writes “. . . at CES we will formally preview GTA02 to the public.
| We are doing this at an invitation-only media event, and not the general show
| floor.”
`----

http://voipstash.com/blog/2008/01/05/linux-phone-to-debut-upgrade-at-ces-google-android.../

Related:

Navigation device uses Linux phone platform

,----[ Quote ]
| A Sunnyvale, Calif.-based start-up announced a WiFi- and GPRS/GSM-equipped
| navigation device based on a newly upgraded Linux-based mobile phone
| platform. Dash Navigation's "Dash Express" borrows both hardware and software
| components from OpenMoko's forthcoming Neo FreeRunner mobile phone, and
| boasts continual two-way Internet communications.    
`----

Destroying the GPL from the inside

,----[ Quote ]
| How do you destroy the GPL? Honestly I don't think it will be done, but there
| is a way. Simply put the GPL is a copyright license, which is it's strength
| and it's achillies heel. For years publishing companies, our friends at the
| RIAA and MPAA among others have pushed for longer and longer copyright terms
| so that they can reap the rewards from other people's work for a longer
| period of time. So why not turn things on their heads a bit? Actually, what
| I'm talking about has already been proposed.
`----

http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/97871/index.html

Is the Tiered Internet upon us already?