The Magicstick Mobile Charger is a handy little device for keeping a smartphone charged and ready when away from a power source. However, some might…
FOSS Force
If I asked which two aspects of human life helped propel the digital revolution the most, do you think you know the answer? Would you believe me if I told you it’s computer games and the adult industry? Now, for obvious reasons, we will discuss just the former.
Computer games came about in their vast, colorful abundance in the 80s and really shattered the myth that the computer was just a thing for the academy and finance. At that time the PC became affordable. When coupled with DOS it brought about a revolution, spearheaded by a whole generation of people enjoying entertainment at the tips of their fingers. No longer did you have to leave the comfort of your home and head over to the modern equivalent of the arena. You could have all the fun you wanted, with yourself, by yourself, right there.
FOSS Week in Review
Good news & bad on the patent front
This week we received some good news and bad on the continuing patent wars.
First the bad news.
Down in the northeast Texas town of Marshall, an eight person jury has found that online retailer Newegg infringed on a patent held by TQP Development because they mixed the use of SSL and RC4 on their websites. The jury awarded $2.3 million, less than half of the $5.1 million that TQP’s damage expert had thought due.
Even though Newegg had a strong case, it’s not that much of a surprise that they lost, not in Marshall, where juries are infamous for siding with the plaintiffs on patent cases. Often these judgments are overturned on appeal. Make no mistake about it, Newegg’s attorney Lee Cheng plans to appeal. He made that very plain to Joe Mullin who covered the trial for Ars Technica:
I’m smiling right now. I just discovered that FOSS Force has some compassionate and generous readers.
I heard from Ken Starks with the Reglue project yesterday. He has his 12 Geeks of Christmas. This is great! It means that 12 school kids who’ve been trying to keep up with their school work without the benefit of computers will return from winter break with that obstacle overcome. What’s more, they’ll have a leg-up because the computers they’re receiving will be loaded with a special school kids version of Linux.
The Internet has become a neighborhood infested with cockroaches.
On Saturday, the Dutch newspaper NRC reported that the NSA has infected over 50,000 computer networks with malware designed to steal sensitive data. The allegation arises from examination of documents supplied by Edward Snowden and “seen by” NRC reporters.
“The malware can be controlled remotely and be turned on and off at will. The ‘implants’ act as digital ‘sleeper cells’ that can be activated with a single push of a button. According to the Washington Post, the NSA has been carrying out this type of cyber operation since 1998.”
FOSS Week in Review
FBI claims U.S. computers breached by Anonymous
In an exclusive story published Saturday by Reuters, the FBI has claimed Anonymous has managed to hack into U.S. government computers and steal sensitive data. What’s more, they believe these intrusions have been going on for at least a year.
“The hackers exploited a flaw in Adobe Systems Inc’s software to launch a rash of electronic break-ins that began last December, then left “back doors” to return to many of the machines as recently as last month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a memo seen by Reuters.
“The memo, distributed on Thursday, described the attacks as ‘a widespread problem that should be addressed.’ It said the breach affected the U.S. Army, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services, and perhaps many more agencies.
“Investigators are still gathering information on the scope of the cyber campaign, which the authorities believe is continuing. The FBI document tells system administrators what to look for to determine if their systems are compromised.”
When I read on Monday that my friend Ken Starks had come-up with the 12 Geeks of Christmas idea for his Reglue project, my first thought was “what a wonderful idea.”
In case you don’t know, Reglue is a nonprofit run by Starks down in Texas that refurbishes old computers, loads them up with GNU/Linux and the necessary software, then gives them to school age children who’s parents can’t afford a decent computer.
When you think about it, this not only gives kids who can’t afford it a much needed computer for their school work, it also gives them the added advantage of learning to use an operating system other than Windows or OS X while being opened-up to the possibilities of free and open source software. I can’t help but wonder how many of tomorrow’s FOSS developers are being nurtured by Starks and his Reglue project just by dint of learning their way around Linux.
It was like Cooks Source all over again, just without the catchphrase “But honestly Monica.”
It’s been all over the web for the last week or two that the photo imaging program GIMP, a FOSS crown jewel, has dropped SourceForge as a download site. Although the GIMP folks had been a little concerned over some advertisements on SourceForge, the real reason appears to be DevShare, which bundles third party offers with open source downloads for install on Windows machines.
Last Thursday, in an attempt at damage control, the folks at SourceForge explained the DevShare program in some detail:
FOSS Week in Review
Bookstores say “no” to Kindle
What a surprise! Bookstores don’t want to sell Kindles.
It seems that Amazon has come up with a scheme, called Amazon Source, to let independent bookstores sell Kindle e-book readers and get a small commission on e-book sales to those readers for two years. This innitiave is being pushed in the U.S. first and might be offered in other countries at a later date. When announcing the initiative last week, Amazon said, “With Amazon Source, customers don’t have to choose between e-books and their favourite neighbourhood bookstore – they can have both.”
This led Dustin Kurtz, marketing manager with the New York publishing firm Melville House, to proclaim on the company’s website, “Amazon did a good thing on Wednesday: they made me and indie booksellers around the country laugh.”
The lawsuit filed by patent troll Rockstar Consortium Inc. on Halloween against Google and at least five makers of Android handsets is about much more than merely the tons of money that would be reaped if the Rockstar cartel prevails. Mainly, it’s about gaining a competitive edge that could result in increased market share down the road.
It might be a good idea to take a look at the five companies that make up the Rockstar consortium to see what they might have to gain from this suit, other than the collection of damages and licensing fees.