Practical Technology

for practical people.

July 16, 2012
by sjvn01
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Five reasons why Marissa Mayer’s move to Yahoo is great

You could have knocked me over with a feather. Marissa Mayer, Google’s employee #20, one of Google’s public faces, and VP in charge of Google’s Maps, among other projects,, is now Yahoo’s CEO. Good for her and good for Yahoo!

I think this will be a good move for both her and the long beleaguered Yahoo.

First, for Yahoo:

1) Innovative Leadership: Mayer wasn’t just Google’s first woman engineer and developer. She’s the person who’s largely responsible for Google’s best known and well-regarded looks: such as the unadorned Google search page. Mayer isn’t just another suit, she’s an innovative ideas person and Yahoo is a company that has been sadly lacking in ideas for the last few years.

2) Respectable Leadership: When the last CEO, Scott Thompson, resigned after it was revealed that he had lied on his resume, Yahoo had become a joke. One CEO after another had come, cut jobs, made bad deals, and then been kicked out the door. Mayer is well-known and respected in the industry. She’s not the  “improve the bottom line for the next quarter by firing staffers” kind of executive that Yahoo has had in recent years.

Five reasons why Marissa Mayer’s move to Yahoo is great. More >

July 16, 2012
by sjvn01
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Windows 8 moves to IPv6 Internet

Like it or lump it, we’re moving to IPv6 for our Internet connections. For now, less than 2% of the world’s Internet population is using IPv6, but as the last IPv4 addresses grains of sands run out (http://www.zdnet.com/ipv6-when-do-you-really-need-to-switch-3040155336/), Microsoft knows that its Windows users need to start switching over. That’s why, starting in Windows 8, “Windows prefers native IPv6 connectivity over IPv4 connectivity, if both connection modes are available.”

In a blog posting, Steve Sinofsky, Microsoft’s president of Windows, explained the basics of why we have no choice but to move from IPv4 to IPv6: IPv4 only provided around 4 billion IP addresses. That seemed like a lot in the 1970s. But by 2015, an estimated 15 billion devices will be connected (PCs, phones, household appliances, cars, even furniture!). IPv4 simply does not have the addresses necessary to connect this many devices to the Internet.”

He’s right of course.

Windows 8 moves to IPv6 Internet. More >

July 15, 2012
by sjvn01
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Linux developers working on Windows UEFI secure boot problem

We all know that Windows 8 PCs will come locked up tight Microsoft’s UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) secure boot on. This will prevent <a href=”http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/microsoft-to-stop-linux-older-windows-from-running-on-windows-8-pcs/9589″>you from easily installing  Linux or any other operating system, such as Windows 7 or XP, on a Windows 8 system</a>. What we don’t know is exactly how original equipment manufacturers (OEM)s will be implementing UEFI, never mind secure boot, on these new machines. To address this problem, James Bottomley, chair of the Linux Foundation’s Technical Advisory Board, has released a version of the Intel Tianocore UEFI boot image and some code that Linux programmers can use to get around Windows 8’s  Secure Boot restrictions.

Intel Tianocore is an open-source image of Intel’s UEFI. Until recently this image didn’t have the Authenticode that Microsoft uses for Secure Boot (PDF Link) but now Tinocore includes this functionality as well.

Bottomley’s work is important because, as Bottomley says, it will “widen the pool of people who are playing with UEFI Secure boot.

Linux developers working on Windows UEFI secure boot problem. More >

July 12, 2012
by sjvn01
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Another way around Linux’s Windows SecureBoot problem

Here’s the problem: A Windows 8 PC must be locked down with the UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) set with Microsoft’s secure boot on. In turn, that means you won’t be able to easily install Linux or any other operating system, such as Windows 7 or XP, on a Windows 8 system. Since the vast majority of desktop Linux installations start with a PC running Windows that’s going to be a real headache. So, what can you do about it?

Another way around Linux’s Windows SecureBoot problem. More >

July 12, 2012
by sjvn01
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Viacom vs. DirecTV fight expands to Internet video

Viacom, a major TV content provider, and DirecTV, a major satellite TV distributor, are fighting it out over how much DirecTV has to pay Viacom. The result is that Viacom turned off 26 of its channels including MTV, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon, that’s it’s been providing DirecTV. That’s bad news for DirecTV customers. Then, it got worse. Viacom started blocking some of its most popular shows content to Internet TV watchers as well.

For example, you can no longer watch full episodes of The Daily Show from the Comedy Central Web sites. Instead, when you try to watch say the latest full episode of The Colbert Report, you’re presented with a Flash ad blaming DirecTV for dropping the channels and telling viewers to call DirecTV and demand that they settle with Viacom.

Really Viacom? Really?

Viacom vs. DirecTV fight expands to Internet video, More >

July 11, 2012
by sjvn01
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The Linux shell will always be with us

Over at TuxRadar, a Linux site as you could guess from the name, they’ve been debating for some time the question of whether or not the Linux shell is obsolete. The argument really got kicked off with this comment: “The command line is a crusty, old-fashioned way to interact with a computer, made obsolete by GUIs, but a small hardcore of people who refuse to move on still use it to perform arcane tasks that the majority of more enlightened users never need to perform. Mostly these tasks need to be performed in this way because of defects and omissions in current GUIs.”

Oh please. For most users most of the time you’ll no more need to use Linux shell commands, than you’ll need to know how to change your oil to drive your car. But, sometimes, and here’s the point, sometimes, you do need to change your oil.

The Linux shell will always be with us. More >