July 18, 2012
by sjvn01
0 comments

A first look at Dell’s ‘Sputnik’ Ubuntu Linux developer laptop

Portland, OR: Sputnik started, Barton George, Dell’s project Sputnik lead and director of web vertical marketing, told me at OSCon as a six-month exploratory pilot to create an Ubuntu Linux-based developer laptop, It’s not just an idea now. Dell is taking Project Sputnik from pilot to product this fall.

This official developer laptop is based on the Dell XPS 13 with Ubuntu 12.04 Long Term Support (LTS) This PC will offer developers a complete client-to-cloud solution. The Sputnik will allow developers to create “microclouds” on their laptops, simulating a proper, at-scale environment, and then deploy that environment seamlessly to the cloud. George explained it would use LXC virtual environments containers for the microclouds. These cloud applications can then be deployed to Ubuntu instances running on the Amazon, OpenStack, bare-metal with Management as a Service (MAAS), and, eventually, Microsoft Azure clouds.

A first look at Ubuntu 12.04 (Gallery)

The Sputnik won’t be just for cloud developers. George said that there has been an incredible amount of interest in the project. “When I first put the word out I thought it would be a success if I got 4,000 hits on the proposal. It’s now over 50,000 hits.” Since then developers have been telling Dell in great detail what they want from a developer’s laptop and Dell has been listening.
A first look at Dell’s ‘Sputnik’ Ubuntu Linux developer laptop. More >

July 16, 2012
by sjvn01
0 comments

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
0 comments

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
0 comments

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
0 comments

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
0 comments

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 >

Practical Technology

for practical people.