Practical Technology

for practical people.

June 15, 2011
by sjvn01
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Linux’s 20th Birthday Party: LinuxCon

Has it really been twenty years? Yes, yes, it has been twenty years since Linus Torvalds announced that he was working on “a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones.” Twenty years of Linux later, The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating Linux’s growth, has announced the program for this year’s LinuxCon North America taking place in Vancouver, B.C. August 17-19, 2011.

According to the Foundation, LinuxCon North America will host the formal celebration of the 20th Anniversary of Linux. Torvalds, himself, who seldom goes out to shows anymore, will be attending and will participate in an interview-style keynote in which he will discuss technical advancements and challenges related to the Linux kernel with kernel developer and maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman.

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June 14, 2011
by sjvn01
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More Google Web Browser goodness: Chrome 12

On the eve of the Chromebooks being released to the public, Google has rolled out the next version of its Chrome Web browser: Chrome 12.

“Wait,” you say, “Didn’t Google just release a new edition of Chrome last month?” Yes, yes they did: Chrome 11 and now they’re back with another one. If you’re a cynic like me, your first thought might have been: “Is there anything new here besides the number? Is there really anything here that demands it be called a major new release?” The answer to those questions is: Yes. Yes, there are sufficient new features in this model for it to be worth given a new number.

The biggest changes have been security improvements. As Ed Bott reported recently, Chrome has had trouble with identifying phishing malware. Now, Chrome has improved its phishing and malware detection so that it does a better job of detecting potential trouble headed your way from the Internet.

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June 13, 2011
by sjvn01
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Strangeloop offers the first Google SPDY Web-site acceleration product

Do you want a really fast Web site? I mean really fast? Then there’s a variety of proxies, Web caching and secure-socket layer (SSL) accelerators you can try. If that’s still not enough, it’s time for you to look into Strangeloop’s implementation of Google’s SPDY into its Site Optimizer product line.

SPDY, pronounced “speedy,”is an experimental replacement protocol for HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol). SPDY works by compressing both the data and HTTP header information n the stream between a Web browsers and Web servers that support it. It also speeds Web sites up by prioritizing data requests. That way the important data, say a video stream, gets priority over JavaScript. In practice, I’ve seen performance boosts of up to 15%.

To do this you need a browser that supports SPDY, like Chrome or a computer that comes with SPDY built in, such as the Samsung Chromebook.

That’s the easy part. The hard part was getting SPDY supported on the Web server side. There’s been some experimental code you could use, but nothing you could really put with confidence on a production site. That’s where Strangeloop comes in.

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June 13, 2011
by sjvn01
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The first Chromebook Review: Samsung Series 5

If you want a Windows laptop, get a Windows laptop. But, if you want an easy-to-use, Web-based laptop, consider getting a Chromebook. So long as you realize that the Samsung Series 5 and its brother from another company, the Acer Chromebook, is not a full-featured Windows or Linux notebook computer you’ll be fine.

So it is that I’m pretty happy with my brand new Samsung Series 5 3G. While neither Chromebook will be generally available until June 15th, I was able to get my hands on one a week early. I’ve been working with mine for several days now and this is what I’ve found.

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June 10, 2011
by sjvn01
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Free Software Foundation favors LibreOffice over OpenOffice

When Oracle, IBM, and the Apache Software Foundation jointly announced last week that OpenOffice.org would become an official Apache project, some open-source developers were not happy. The Document Foundation’s LibreOffice programmers were really not pleased. Now, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) is coming out against the deal.

In a statement that will be released later today, June 10th, 2011, the FSF states that the “OpenOffice.org is an important piece of free software, and many of its supporters suggest that this change will give them more control over the project’s future direction. However, users and contributors should be aware that, as part of this transition, it will become easier for proprietary software developers to distribute OpenOffice.org as non-free software.”

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June 9, 2011
by sjvn01
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Software Patent Blockbuster: Microsoft loses to i4i

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled today against Microsoft in its appeal of a $290 million jury verdict for infringing Canadian software company i4i’s patent. It wasn’t close. SCOTUS unanimously upheld a U.S. appeals court’s ruling against Microsoft.

Microsoft had argued that the courts should adopt a lower burden-of-proof bar for patent violations. Previously, if you’ve been accused of violating a patent you must show “clear and convincing evidence” that the patent is invalid. Microsoft wants the burden of proof to be lowered to “a preponderance of the evidence.” The SCOTUS didn’t buy this argument for one minute.

In the Court’s unanimous decision, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote (PDF Link), “We consider whether [a section of the Patent Act of 1952] requires an invalidity defense to be proved by clear and convincing evidence. We hold that it does.”

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