Practical Technology

for practical people.

December 6, 2011
by sjvn01
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Finding a Linux Job

So you want a Linux job do you? Well, according to The Linux Foundation, the jobs are out there. Specifically, Linux jobs are divided up almost evenly between developer, 53% and system administrator. 47%, jobs.

Amanda McPherson, the Linux Foundation’s vice president of marketing and developer programs, told me, “The Linux jobs market is booming, and we’re doing a variety of things to understand what skills are most in demand and how we can help address that opportunity for our corporate and individual members and with things like our Linux Training courses. The data we’ve surfaced from our Jobs Board really reflects the importance of common programming languages, as well as areas of great success for Linux–such as Android. Mobile and embedded development skills are extremely valuable in today’s market. If you can work on security, power management and integration at the device level, you’re well prepared for this burgeoning area of Linux development.”

In particular, Android, and Java, the language that goes with it, is in enormous demand.

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December 5, 2011
by sjvn01
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Is Firefox toast?

I remember just how great it was when Firefox first came out. In 2004, when Firefox first appeared, Firefox was a breath of fresh air. Firefox 1.0 was far better and more secure than the already awful Internet Explorer 6. I loved Firefox then. We all did. But, that was then. This is now.

Today, Firefox is getting pummeled from all sides. Its performance is mediocre. Sure, Firefox 8.01 beats the stuffings out of “classic” Firefox 3.6, but that’s not saying much. Compared to Chrome and Internet Explorer 9 Firefox isn’t keeping up.

As features and security go, Firefox no longer really offers anything that the other browsers don’t. At the same time, Google is turning Chrome into not just a Web browser, but an integral part of its software as a service (SaaS) and cloud application stack. Yes, you can run Google Docs and Gmail on Firefox or IE, but the combination of Chrome’s innate speed with Google’s applications makes it the most attractive package.

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December 5, 2011
by sjvn01
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Operating systems don’t matter much anymore

For decades now, we’ve been fussing about operating systems. “Mac OS X is better than Windows!” “Why upgrade to Windows 7 when XP works just fine?” “You’re all wrong. Linux rules.” Such arguments are about to become history.

Thanks to advances in virtualization, cloud technology and the Web, it matters less and less to users which operating system is behind their desktop screens — or, for that matter, their tablet and smartphone displays.

Don’t get me wrong. Operating systems will remain important for as long as we use computers. But for the most part, they are going to matter only to the people behind the scenes.

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December 5, 2011
by sjvn01
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Apple and Oranges: Apple’s tablet design suggestions

I’ve been poking fun at Apple’s intellectual property design claims for some time now. Then, I got a look at Apple’s “suggestions” on how Samsung could avoid Apple’s legal wrath and I realized I hadn’t even scratched the surface of how absurd Apple’s claims are.

In a recently revealed Apple court document (PDF) we see an Apple-paid expert witness explaining why Apple’s designs should be protected under intellectual property law and how Samsung could have avoided Apple’s unique design decisions.

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December 2, 2011
by sjvn01
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Carrier IQ tries to spin its way out of trouble

Carrier IQ, the mobile phone network analysis company at the heart of the smartphone spyware scandal, isn’t talking to me, but it is talking to AllThingsD. To them, Andrew Coward, Carrier IQ’s VP of marketing, explained that “The software receives a huge amount of information from the operating system. But just because it receives it doesn’t mean that it’s being used to gather intelligence about the user or passed along to the carrier.” Tell it to the judge. The class-action lawsuits have already begun.

Besides, thanks to white hat hacker Trevor Eckhart’s video we already knew that Carrier IQ’s rootkit was grabbing an amazing amount of private information. Coward explains though that “What it [Eckhart’s video] doesn’t show is that all information is processed, stored, or forwarded out of the device.”

OK, then why is it being collected if it’s not to be processed, stored, or forwarded? I mean I’m a former network administrator, I get why carriers want to know about why calls are dropped, why a text goes missing into the ether and so on. What I don’t get is why, for example, Carrier IQ or a carrier is collecting a text’s content.

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December 1, 2011
by sjvn01
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Finding and cleaning out your smartphone’s Carrier IQ poison

Isn’t it wonderful? It turns out that a spyware rootkit from a company called Carrier IQ is on hundreds of millions of Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. Only Windows Phone-powered smartphones seems to have avoiding this program that reports on almost everything you do with your phone.

In the case of iPhones, it appears that Apple bakes this snooper into every phone. With other smartphones, the carriers, such as AT&T and Sprint, add it into your phones’ firmware before it gets into your hands.

Carrier IQ and the carriers aren’t talking much about their snooping ways.

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