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Source: DistroWatch.com: News

This week in DistroWatch Weekly: Reviews: Gazing at Scientific Linux News: On first beta of RHEL 6, hidden features in Fedora 13, Edubuntu 10.04 improvements, new SimplyMEPIS USB images, the end of Xandros Desktop Questions and answers: Release cycles Released last week: PCLinuxOS 2010, Macpup Opera 2.0 Upcoming .

Source: DistroWatch.com: News

Anil Gulecha has announced the availability of the third beta release of Nexenta Coe Platform 3.0, an OpenSolaris-based distribution for servers: "On behalf of the Nexenta project, I'd like to announce the availability of the Nexenta Core Platform (NCP) 3.0 Beta 3, the final beta release in the .

Source: Linux Today

Phoronix: "Prior to launching their next-generation graphics processors, NVIDIA dropped their obfuscated open-source driver and have said they will not provide any open-source support at all for their GeForce GTX 400 "Fermi" series "

Source: Linux Today

Ian's Thoughts: "There are times that I would like to open an app as root user without having to use the command line in order to do that. I learned of a nice app in the Fedora repos called beesu "

Source: Linux Today

Diary Of An x264 Developer: "For many years it has been possible to make your own DVDs with free software tools. Over the course of the past decade, DVD creation evolved from the exclusive domain of the media publishing companies to something basically anyone could do on their home computer."

Source: Linux Today

The Register: "Google's roving Street View spycam may blur your face, but it's got your number. The Street View service is under fire in Germany for scanning private WLAN networks, and recording users' unique Mac (Media Access Control) addresses, as the car trundles along."

Source: Linux Today

Howtoforge: "This tutorial shows how you can set up a PCLinuxOS 2010 desktop (with KDE) that is a full-fledged replacement for a Windows desktop, i.e. that has all the software that people need to do the things they do on their Windows desktops."

Source: Linux Today

ZDNet UK: "After all, it has become almost de rigueur in geek circles, especially amongst the non-Windows using Mac and Linux crowd, to blame every security mishap on Microsoft."

Source: Linux Today

eWeek: "News Analysis: Microsoft sometimes gets a raw deal when it comes to security."

Source: Linux Today

Datamation: "Enterprise Linux is the open source Linux operating system used by corporate and SMB clients for servers, desktops, workstations and mobile deployments. Enterprise Linux has become increasingly popular due to cost and customizability factors."

Source: Linux Today

SF Gate: "Police raided Gizmodo editor Jason Chen's home in Fremont, Calif. last week, seizing computers and other gadgets, as detectives probe how the gadget blog obtained an Apple iPhone prototype, which the blog first published photos and videos of last Monday."

Source: Linux Today

Standards Blog: "Good evening. We begin tonight with the shocking story of how the U.S. Government has hidden the threat of global collapse from the American People."

Source: Linux Today

IT World: "DVD playback on Linux is still illegal in many places, but guess what? Users soon won't care."

Source: Linux Today

Tech Broiler: "It was simply a matter of time before Linux became my primary operating system. My most recent malware incident was the final straw that sent me into welcoming and safe haven of Ubuntu"

Source: Linux Today

Network Worldh: "The Linux KVM hypervisor is gaining steam in the cloud computing market, with two major vendors using the virtualization software to create cloud platforms to compete against Amazon's popular EC2 service."

Source: Linux Today

Cyber Cynic: "Google's Android, the increasingly important embedded Linux, has had one major problem. It had been moving slowly away from the Linux mainstream. Now, after the recent Linux Foundation Collaboration Conference, Android and Linux are coming back together."

Source: Linux Today

Tech Source: "Do you want to watch YouTube videos in High-definition format without opening a web browser or without having the need to install Flash Player? If yes, then let me introduce you to a simple but capable YouTube desktop client called Minitube."

Source: Linux Today

Linux.com: "Since then, we've received more than 100 submissions and today, after some grueling decision-making, we are announcing the T-shirt design contest finalists! "

Source: Linux Today

Linux.com: "If you work in an educational or training environment where you instruct users on the ins and outs of using computers, or you need to be able to (for whatever reason) control the PC user's use of a machine, the tools available are often quite expensive or quite difficult to use. Neither is the case in the Linux environment, where tools like iTalc are available."

Source: Linux Today

The Linux Box: "Now there are plenty of sites that have posted their top 10, top 16, top 25, even their top 50 themes for GNOME, but some how their lists always include the same designs over and over. The goal here is to look at some newer and/or forgotten theme "

Source: Linux Today

Technology & Life Integration: "You may not know me as I received your attention from a browser link. This is very important so please continue reading. This letter has the possibility of changing your life. With your help we can realise that dream."

Source: Linux Today

Dissociated Press: "It's only a few more days until Penguicon, North America's finest science fiction and open source software convention. I'm not only psyched to be attending, but I'm flattered beyond words to be one of this year's Guests of Honor"

Source: Linux Today

Datamation: "While I firmly believe that Android will challenge in the enterprise soon, it's just not happening now. The security and configuration features that IT departments demand simply aren't ready yet."

Source: Linux Today

openSUSE Lizards: "I am very happy to announce the new stable version 0.40 of the KDE office software Kraft. After eleven month of porting work, Kraft 0.40 is the first version which is based on the KDE 4 software platform."

Source: Linux Today

Torrent Freak: "The Copyright (Infringement File Sharing) Amendment Bill, which allows for large fines and six month Internet suspensions, has just received its first reading in Parliament, to unanimous support."

Source: Linux Today

Scott Photographics: "A really simple concept and easy to achieve, however the results are great - Colour Gradient Match Photos. This technique can be useful for creating a mood in a photograph taken from another image."

Source: Linux Today

SQL Server Magazine: "Massachusetts recently passed a sweeping new data security law that will have a profound impact on the way the United States, and perhaps the rest of the world, manages and develops data-centric applications. Oddly, most people in the business don't seem to know about it."

Source: Linux Today

Jamie's Random Musings: "I've had a couple of very pleasant surprises with the Netbook Remix of the Lucid Release Candidate this weeendI"

Source: Linux Today

OSOR.EU: "Public administrations that consider using open source software may need advise on how and why public agencies can acquire such software."

Source: Linux Today

Phoronix: "Unfortunately, as of today, Valve has pulled the index file from their server and the related bins_linux.zip and steam_linux.zip (or they have just been updated and due to the lack of the index file we don't know the new checksums)."

Source: Linux Today

Techdirt: ""Particularly ironic is the fact that the director of the movie enjoys the clips himself -- but of course, since the producer holds the copyright to the movie, the director has no real say in the matter."

Source: Linux Today

Phoronix: "Over on the GCC mailing list is a rather lively discussion (especially for being a Friday evening) that only started earlier today A developer is asking why you don't participate in contributing to GCC? "

Source: Security DevCenter

From the creative mind of author, robotics instructor, and frequent NXT Step Blog contributor Laurens Valk, The LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT 2.0 Discovery Book is packed with building and programming instructions for eight innovative robots.

Source: Security DevCenter

Duration: Approximately 60 minutes. Cost: Free This one-hour presentation will separate the hype from the facts regarding ongoing foreign intrusions into government networks and the targeting of government employees. It will also provide practical advice on how to protect yourself and your organization from the actors orchestrating these intrusions. Topics to be covered include: An overview of the variety of attacks and targets that are ongoing today including the Advanced Persistent Threat What types of attacks can and cannot be defended against A three-part defensive strategy that you can implement today A 30-minute presentation will be followed by a 30 minute Q and A session. About Jeffrey Carr Jeffrey Carr is the CEO of GreyLogic.us, the founder and principal investigator of Project Grey Goose, and the author of Inside Cyber Warfare: Mapping the Cyber Underworld (O'Reilly Media, 2009). Mr. Carr regularly consults with agencies of the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) on Russian and Chinese cyber warfare strategy and tactics as well as new and emerging threats to Critical Infrastructure.

Source: Security DevCenter

Duration: Approximately 60 minutes. Cost: Free Every new piece of data an organization receives is something learned. But each new piece of data on its own provides very few clues as to whether it reflects an opportunity or a risk. For a piece of data to be considered relevant, it must first be compared to other related data on hand, i.e., placed into context. Lack of context leads organizations to miss the obvious, become less efficient, and so on. In this one-hour presentation we'll explore-with the overwhelming amount of data out there-how can organizations bring diverse data sets together into context? And what happens when data so specific that opportunities are created for targeted fraud, or spear phishing? A 30-minute presentation will be followed by a 30 minute Q and A session. About Jeff Jonas Jeff Jonas is Chief Scientist, IBM Entity Analytics Group and an IBM Distinguished Engineer. He designs next generation technology that helps organizations better leverage their enterprise-wide information assets. With particular interest in real-time "sensemaking" these innovative systems fundamentally improve enterprise intelligence which makes organizations smarter, more efficient and highly competitive. Jonas is a member of the Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age and a Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He also periodically testifies on privacy and counterterrorism in such venues as the White House before the President's Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, the Department of Homeland Security's Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee, and other federally convened commissions. Jonas will be leading a session on this topic at Gov 2.0 Expo and participating on a panel, No Degrees of Separation: Security Clearance in a Socially Networked World.

Source: Security DevCenter

Duration: Approximately 60 minutes. Cost: Free The shortage of qualified cyber security professionals is a real and immediate concern for all levels of government. Lewis Shepherd of Microsoft Research is right in the thick of this discussion and has been thinking about this problem for a while. Join him in a free 60-minute webcast. A 30-minute presentation will be followed by a 30 minute Q and A session. About Lewis Shepherd Lewis Shepherd is the Chief Technology Officer of Microsoft's Institute for Advanced Technology in Governments, having joined Microsoft in 2007. He has degrees from Stanford University (where he was a Rockefeller Graduate Fellow), the University of Virginia, and the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium). He has also been a guest-lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business for MBA courses on government/business relations. Lewis spent two decades working in and around Silicon Valley, but after the 9/11 attacks he focused on technologies to support the Intelligence Community and in 2003 accepted an offer to become Senior Technology Officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency, where he spent four years participating in a remarkable period of innovation and reform for the intelligence community. Shepherd will be participating on a panel at Gov 2.0 Expo, Open Source Spying: 2010.

Source: Security DevCenter

Duration: Approximately 60 minutes. Cost: Free Security is considered the primary barrier to cloud computing adoption. Therefore, focusing attention toward minimizing security risks offers the potential for increasing cloud computing adoption. This one-hour presentation will offer a framework to analyze security issues, and present a set of best practices toward implementing security in cloud-based applications. A 30-minute presentation will be followed by a 30 minute Q and A session. About Bernard Golden Bernard Golden is called a "cloud guru." He is CEO of HyperStratus, a Silicon Valley cloud consulting firm that helps its clients plan, design, and implement cloud initiatives. HyperStratus clients include the Silicon Valley Education Foundation, HelloWallet, Sun Microsytems, and Hewlett-Packard. Bernard is the Cloud Computing Advisor for CIO Magazine. His widely-read CIO.com blog on cloud computing has been called "brilliant and incisive." His blog's influence was recognized when it was named a "Top 25 Cloud Computing Blog" by CloudTP.

Source: Security DevCenter

It's human nature to look to the past to predict the future. That's why it's unsurprising to see knee-jerk conclusion that Apple iPhone vs Google Android will mirror the PC wars. Here's five reasons why this time, it's different.

Source: Security DevCenter

At a previous point in my career, I benefited from professional development, autonomy in my classroom, and a superb technology infrastructure to become a connected, inspired and effective educator. Now, with the current climate in the field of education in the U.S., I fear that other teachers will lose, or never even experience, similar opportunities. As an education technology advocate interacting with teachers in a variety of settings, I see that our students are receiving vastly different types of education. This divide trickles specifically down to the educational technology experiences our students are receiving in schools, too.

Source: Security DevCenter

Much has been made about HTML5 on the web, particularly concerning what it will do to the future of plug-in-based technologies like Flash. It's been difficult to sort out the truth from the frustration, as people on both sides polarize the issue by calling for the downfall of one technology or another. All of that is pretty standard in these types of transitions I guess, but for the moment I'd like to put all of that aside and just look at this from the perspective of history. You can learn a lot about the future of the web by looking at its past, and I think a lot of the opinions I’ve read about the Flash vs. HTML5 debate either fail to acknowledge this or assume everyone knows it. I want to present a very, very brief history of the relationship between Flash and what has been referred to as "the open web" - a jumble of free web-browsing software and standards-based (sometimes) languages to write content for them that has most recently evolved to include HTML5.

Source: Security DevCenter

Taking a page straight from Mark Coddington's excellent week in review at the Nieman Journalism Lab, my inaugural Radar post looks at government 2.0 news from the past week. If you have news and tips about the government 2.0 space, please let me know at alex@oreilly.com or @digiphile on Twitter.