Practical Technology

for practical people.

April 25, 2011
by sjvn01
0 comments

Review: Barnes & Nobles’ Nook Color goes Android Tablet

If you must have a great tablet, and you’re willing to pay the price for it, Apple’s iPad 2 is still the one to get. But, if you’d like a good tablet at half-the-price, the newly firmware renovated Barnes & Noble Nook Color may be all the tablet you need.

Today, April 25th, as has long been expected, the Nook Color got its 1.2 update. This transforms the Nook Color from being an e-reader to being a low-end Android tablet by replacing its operating system with Android 2.2 (Froyo) and adding an App Store.

Since I’ve been waiting for the Nook Color update for weeks, I immediately downloaded the firmware, which for now you must do to make the jump and put it to work. If you’d rather not jump in where non-computer savvy users fear to tread you can wait for the download and upgrade to be made automatically.

More >

April 25, 2011
by sjvn01
0 comments

Big Apple, Big Google, Big Brother

In some ways, all the uproar about Apple saving location data on its iOS device users is old news. Guess what? Big Brother, or Big Google, also collects geo-location information from its mobile, Android-powered devices. It’s like anything else in computing: geo-location can provide great services and resources, but it can also be abused.

Take, for example, a woman who was recently robbed in Texas. Using her stolen iPhone, police officers were able to quickly find not only her stolen phone, but her wedding ring as well. Yea!

On the other hand, say another woman is in an abusive relationship and goes to a friend’s house or to a “safe-house” shelter. Her husband tracks her down using her smartphone and literally drags her back “home.”

More >

April 21, 2011
by sjvn01
0 comments

Idiotic Anti-Linux & Google Patent Decision

All good patent trolls know that you sue in the U.S. Court for the Eastern District of Texas (EDTX). It’s known for its pro-patent judges that speed patent cases along their docket to the patent holders’ victory. That’s not just me and my anti-patent buddies speaking. No less a figure than Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has described the EDTX as a “renegade jurisdiction.” It’s no wonder than that patent troll Bedrock chose the EDTX as its battlefield for its attack on Google, and a host of other companies, over a violation of its patent, which appears to be used in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

In the case, the EDTX jury on Bedrock Computer Technologies, LLC vs. Google, Inc., awarded Bedrock $5 million. That’s chump change by patent troll standards, but Bedrock has also sued, among others, Yahoo!, MySpace, Amazon, PayPal, Match.com and AOL There’s money in those companies and Bedrock wants it!

More >

April 21, 2011
by sjvn01
0 comments

Who has, and who doesn’t have, IPv6 Support

First things first. If you work in a small office/home office (SOHO) or are just interested in IPv6 at home, you don’t need to start switching over yet. Big businesses and large organizations are the ones that really need to get on the stick with IPv6. That said, I know many of you don’t want to wait to get your feet wet in IPv6 so here’s what’s what with IPv6 support in common SOHO server and desktop operating systems and network devices.

More >

April 21, 2011
by sjvn01
0 comments

Ubuntu Linux 11.04’s Target Audience: Casual Windows Users

Do you use Windows not because you like it or there’s some specific Windows-only application that you must use but because it’s what came on your PC? If that’s you, Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, wants you to try their soon to be out Ubuntu 11.04 Linux desktop.

When I talked with Canonical marketing manager Gerry Carr, I hadn’t expected him to say that. Over the last few years, Linux desktop vendors haven’t really tried to take on Windows head-on. Oh, to be certain, I think the Linux desktop is great. I’m writing this story on Mint 10, an Ubuntu variant, and I use openSUSE 11.4, Fedora 14, and MEPIS 8.0 on other PCs and laptops. But, I know most people are content to use Windows because that’s what comes on their PCs. Carr thinks though that with Ubuntu 11.04’s new desktop interface and a few other tricks up Canonical’s sleeve, Ubuntu can win over “casual Windows users.”

More >

April 20, 2011
by sjvn01
0 comments

Microsoft gets Novell’s Patents rights but must share them with Open-Source Software

Well, this is almost certainly not the Novell patent deal that Microsoft and its CPTN Holding Partners-Apple, EMC and Oracle-wanted . The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) announced today, April 20th, that in order to proceed with the first phase of their acquisition of certain patents and patent applications from Novell, CPTN Holdings has altered their original agreements to address the department’s antitrust concerns. In particular, “The department said that, as originally proposed, the deal would jeopardize the ability of open source software, such as Linux, to continue to innovate and compete in the development and distribution of server, desktop, and mobile operating systems, middleware, and virtualization products. Although the department will allow the transaction to proceed, it will continue investigating the distribution of the Novell patent to the CPTN owners.”

More >