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Intel Still MeeGos, Apple Loses Again, Yahoo Presents ‘The Charlie Sheen Show’

By Christine Hall on September 9, 2011 |

Business, Distros, Hardware, Mobile, News and Patents

Friday FOSS Week in Review

What a wacky week for tech news this has been! I couldn’t make much of this stuff up if I tried – and if I did, you wouldn’t believe it. That’s one of the nice things about the Internet, I can provide you with links so you can see for yourself that these stories really happened…

Apple Loses Another iPhone Prototype in Bar

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Less than a year and a half after an Apple employee lost a top secret prototype of an iPhone 4 in a bar, it’s happened again. This time the prototype of an iPhone 5 was lost at Cava 22, a bar located in San Francisco’s mission district. Although every tech site on the planet is covering this story, I think it’s only fitting to turn to Gizmodo for a quote, given their connection with the first lost prototype:

Continue readingIntel Still MeeGos, Apple Loses Again, Yahoo Presents ‘The Charlie Sheen Show’

Happy Birthday Tux, Android Number One in Malware & Kubrick to the Rescue

By Christine Hall on August 26, 2011 |

Business, Mobile, News, Patents and Security

Friday FOSS Week in Review

I’m back from vacation and raring to go. Of course, when I decided to take time off, all heck broke out in the tech world – isn’t that the way it always goes. Now that I’m back, things will probably slow down and I’ll find myself begging for things to write about. Of course, the biggest story this week has little direct connection with FOSS, but has to do with Apple…

Steve Jobs Resigns as Apple’s CEO

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By now, I assume everyone’s heard the news about Steve Jobs’ resignation as CEO of Apple, presumably due to health reasons. For the time being he’ll be staying on as board chairman and will continue in some undefined role as an “employee.” He’ll be replaced as CEO by chief operating officer Tim Cook, who’s worked closely with Jobs for thirteen years. By all accounts Cook is capable and is credited with solving the company’s supply problems early in his tenure at Apple. To my thinking, it’s much too soon to tell how Jobs departure will affect Apple, though it’s certain his absence will be felt.

Christine Hall

Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux

FOSSForce.com
Continue readingHappy Birthday Tux, Android Number One in Malware & Kubrick to the Rescue

Congress Considers Stepping on Rights, Windows Mobile Share Nil & Whose DNA Is It Anyway?

By Christine Hall on August 5, 2011 |

Browsers, Business, Distros, Internet, Mobile, News, Patents, Politics, Security and Software

Friday FOSS Week in Review

With the Black Hat Conference going on in Las Vegas, and with Congress messing around where they shouldn’t, this has been a busy week in the FOSS world. Some of the news is good; some of the news is not so good. I’ll start with a rant…

Proposed Data Retention Bill Would Chill Free Speech

** If you value this kind of coverage, please consider supporting our work through our FOSS Force Independence 2026 fundraiser. **

The House will soon be considering a bill that will require ISP’s to maintain logs of their customers Internet use for a 12 month period. As I understand it, the law would include a customer’s browsing history, credit card numbers, etc. The stated purpose of the proposed law is to catch pedophiles visiting child porn sites, but everybody who knows anything about the Internet agrees it won’t be very effective at doing that. What it will do, if enacted, is bring Orwell’s “Big Brother” vision a little closer to home and make your network connected devices look even more like telescreens than they do now.

Christine Hall

Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux

FOSSForce.com
Continue readingCongress Considers Stepping on Rights, Windows Mobile Share Nil & Whose DNA Is It Anyway?

Finnix Finishes First, MS Wants to Own Cloud, Google Beefs Portfolio & More…

By Christine Hall on July 29, 2011 |

Business, Distros, Hardware, Mobile, News and Patents

Friday FOSS Week in Review

Cool beans, it’s Friday! Time to get out of the office and enjoy! Trouble is, here at FOSS Force the temps and humidity are so high there won’t be anything to do but stay inside and hug the air conditioning. Anyway, this week’s Friday review is mostly good news for a change, and that’s good news, no?

And the Winner Is …Finnix!

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On Monday, Linus Torvalds announced the official release of the new 3.0 Linux kernel and on Tuesday Softpedia announced the first distro to use the new kernel as the default install:

Christine Hall

Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux

FOSSForce.com
Continue readingFinnix Finishes First, MS Wants to Own Cloud, Google Beefs Portfolio & More…

SUSE & Patent FUD: Who Do We Boycott Now?

By Christine Hall on July 27, 2011 |

Business, News and Patents

Now that Microsoft and SUSE have announced they plan to continue sleeping together, I wonder if the folks at Techrights are rethinking their plans to pull the plug on Boycott Novell?

** If our coverage matters to you, please consider supporting our work through our FOSS Force Independence 2026 fundraiser. **

In case you don’t know, Boycott Novell is a project started by Techrights in response to Microsoft’s and Novell’s announcement, in 2006, that they would be collaborating on Windows and Linux interoperability and support. The deal had Redmond shoveling money to Novell’s Linux distro SUSE in $100 million increments, and included an agreement that Novell’s customers wouldn’t be sued by Microsoft for patent infringements.

Christine Hall

Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux

FOSSForce.com
Continue readingSUSE & Patent FUD: Who Do We Boycott Now?

Grocklaw: Schwartz Publicly Praised Android as Java Platform

By Christine Hall on July 26, 2011 |

Business, Distros, Mobile, News, Patents and Software

Yesterday’s column on Android’s Patent Wars was written on Friday and scheduled for publication on Monday. Over the weekend, the folks at Groklaw dug-up an old page from the Wayback Machine that would seem to bode well for Google in their patent fight with Oracle concerning Android and Java.

** If you value this kind of coverage, please consider supporting our work through our FOSS Force Independence 2026 fundraiser. **

Christine Hall

Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux

FOSSForce.com
Continue readingGrocklaw: Schwartz Publicly Praised Android as Java Platform

Android’s Patent Wars – A Checklist

By Christine Hall on July 25, 2011 |

Business, Distros, Mobile, News and Patents

It’s not looking good for Android. Congress could fix this in a heartbeat by doing away with software patents, the only solution that makes sense, but they’re otherwise engaged right now and not likely to be much help. In the meantime, Android is involved in so many patent disputes it’s hard to keep count. Oracle’s suing Google, Apple’s suing HTC, and Microsoft is suing, or threatening to sue, anyone who makes a handset with the Android brand. Even with Groklaw doing their best to supply legal ammunition for Android’s defenders, it’s not looking like Android is going to get out of this unscathed, which will only cost consumers and enrich the trolls

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Here’s a quick rundown on Android’s patent ills, just to help you sort out the players. The game is changing daily, so I may have left something or someone out. If so, please forgive me.

Christine Hall

Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux

FOSSForce.com
Continue readingAndroid’s Patent Wars – A Checklist

Google’s Problems with Android Apps, Webmaster Tools and Oracle – RMS Says “Don’t Go There”

By Christine Hall on July 22, 2011 |

Mobile, News, Patents and Security

Friday FOSS Week in Review

Google’s been everywhere in the news this week, so much so that I’ve considered calling this week’s column “Friday Google Week in Review.” It’s not all Google, however, but it is all interesting – at least to me.

8% of Android Apps Leak Data

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On Tuesday, security site Dark Reading reported that Neil Daswani, CTO for security firm Dasient has found that about 8% of Android apps leak user data. In a study that will be released in full at next month’s Black Hat conference in Las Vegas, Daswani found that 800 out of 10,000 applications tested were found to be leaking personal data. Eleven of the apps were sending mobile spam, SMS messages, to other smartphones.

Christine Hall

Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux

FOSSForce.com
Continue readingGoogle’s Problems with Android Apps, Webmaster Tools and Oracle – RMS Says “Don’t Go There”

IBM Backs OOo, Evil Empire in Decline & Apple Bakes Patent Pie

By Christine Hall on July 16, 2011 |

Business, Internet, News, Patents and Software

Friday FOSS Week in Review

Lots of interesting news this week as we reboot Friday FOSS Week in Review – so let’s get going.

IBM Lines-up Behind OpenOffice.org

** If you value this kind of coverage, please consider supporting our work through our FOSS Force Independence 2026 fundraiser. **

Is it really a news story that IBM has decided to support OpenOffice.org? Considering the fact that Oracle’s move to push the project over to Apache was at Big Blue’s prodding, I’d say not. Still, at least now the players are clearly defined. In addition to lending moral support and giving Larry Ellison a shoulder to cry on, IBM is also donating the code from IBM Lotus Symphony.

Christine Hall

Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux

FOSSForce.com
Continue readingIBM Backs OOo, Evil Empire in Decline & Apple Bakes Patent Pie

Microsoft Tax on Linux Devices

By Christine Hall on July 11, 2011 |

Business, Mobile, News and Patents

Not long ago, penguinistas were bemoaning the fact that the purchase of a new computer almost always came with a built-in “Microsoft tax,” since all major OEMs wouldn’t sell a computer without Windows pre-installed. Now that things have changed and it’s relatively easy to purchase a new PC or laptop either with no operating system installed or already preloaded with Linux, that issue should be far behind us.

** If you're finding this article useful, please consider supporting our work through our FOSS Force Independence 2026 fundraiser. **

Guess again.

Christine Hall

Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux

FOSSForce.com
Continue readingMicrosoft Tax on Linux Devices