Practical Technology

for practical people.

May 17, 2011
by sjvn01
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Groklaw 2.0: PJ Leaves Groklaw but legal news site to continue under new editor

amela “PJ” Jones, editor and creator of Groklaw, the leading open-source legal news and analysis site, has kept her word. After eight years, PJ is leaving Groklaw. The site though will continue under the guidance of Mark Webbink.

Mark Webbink is also Executive Director of the Center for Patent Innovations, a research and development arm of New York Law School’s Institute for Intellectual Law & Property. Webbink is also a board member of the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC). Before that, he was Red Hat’s Senior Vice President and General Counsel. In short, Webbink knows intellectual property (IP) law and open source about as well as anyone on the planet.

Still, stepping in for PJ won’t be easy. While “only” a paralegal, her unflagging efforts lead to Groklaw becoming the go-to site first for SCO legal news and analysis and then the whole world of IP law and its effects on open-source software.

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May 16, 2011
by sjvn01
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Beyond Skype: VoIP Alternatives

Did Skype’s total failure last holiday season get you worried? Are you tired of Skype’s generally poor quality even at its free price-tag? Afraid of what Microsoft might do with Skype? According to ZDNet’s own unscientific survey, 41% of you are less likely to use MS-Skype.

So, what can you use instead of Skype? Here’s my own personal list of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and video-conferencing favorites. I’ve used all of these at one time or another and I was happy with the results. I also continue to use two of these programs.

What the programs I like all have in common is that they use open-protocols. These are SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) standard and Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP). This means if you have SIP or XMPP client you can use it to talk to anyone using a compatible client; if that is, they’re on the same VoIP network.

For example, Iptel, Ekiga.net, and ippi are all fine SIP networks, but if you’re only on one of them you can’t talk to other SIP VoIP users on the other two and vice-versa. The same is true of XMPP/Jingle networks, and, for that matter all the other VoIP networks.

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May 13, 2011
by sjvn01
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How Skype does, and doesn’t, work

Skype, the voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and video program, is very popular. It’s also pretty bad software. Really, what were you thinking Ballmer when you wrote a check for $8.5-billion for Skype? You do know that not even two years ago Skype was valued at $2.75-billion right?

Here’s the simple truth. Skype has historically had many software problems and late last year the entire Skype network crashed for several days, we can pretty count on these kind of problems showing up on a regular basis.

You see, Skype is a modified peer-to-peer (P2P) network application. Skype started as a variation of the now outdated Kazaa P2P file-sharing program. When you make a Skype call your voice and video is encoded with a 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption key and then passed from one Skype PC to another between you and whomever you’re calling.

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May 12, 2011
by sjvn01
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Few Options Exist for Managing Multiple Mobile Platforms

Fiberlink, an enterprise mobile management company that supports endpoints at companies such as Bank of America, Bayer and Volkswagen, reports that the days when you could support a single mobile platform are history. According to its numbers, only 28 percent of companies support a single mobile operating system, while 22 percent support three and 33 percent support four or more.

Mike Sedehi, senior IT operations manager at Matson Navigation, a major Pacific Rim logistics firm, says the biggest problem with supporting several platforms is “not having a proper device-management tool to effectively secure, monitor and update the devices in a controlled environment. A user can take their device home and update it. Or worse, the service providers simply push updates to the device, bypassing our controls.”

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May 11, 2011
by sjvn01
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Five Reasons why Google’s Linux Chromebook is a Windows killer

When Google first started talking about Chrome OS, I thought it might be turn into a Windows killer. Well, now we know that the first commercial Chromebooks will be available in mid-June and there’s no question: Google is aiming right at the Windows business desktop market.

Can Google do what the Mac was never able to do? What the various desktop Linuxes, even the most popular ones like Ubuntu have never even come close to pulling off? I think it can. Here’s why.

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May 11, 2011
by sjvn01
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Hire a Hooker? There’s an app for that.

Don’t ask me how “Leading sugar dating website, SugarSugar, managed to gets its SugarSugar Dating App through Apple’s Puritan application wall, but the company claims that it’s “an innovative mobile application for locating singles interested in the ’sugar’ lifestyle’” will be out on June 1st.

OK. And, what the heck is a “sugar” lifestyle. I’m glad you asked. According to the site, it’s “for generous men looking to spoil, and dynamic women looking for financial support with bills, or who just need some excitement in life!” Ah., OK, prostitution in other words. Or, I suppose you could look it as a try-out system for would-be mistresses.

There’s nothing new about the world’s oldest profession being online. Sure, over-zealous prosecutors managed to chase Craigslist out of the adult services business. So what? I see that another online classified ad site, Backpage, is now offering adult services ads. Anyone want to bet me that if Backpage is hammered in the same way Craigslist was there will be yet another online general purpose ad site with adult services ads up and running before the day is out?

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