British Police Don’t Know Difference Between MP3 Player and Gun

[Normally, I stay away from politics on this blog, but this one is just over the top]

It seems that the British were taking notes when they invaded Germany in the 1940s — it’s time to throw civil liberties to the wind and throw people in jail for nothing, just in case they might try something later.  A man was arrested, fingerprinted, and DNA tested because the police are too blind to tell the difference between a gun and an MP3 player.  Additionally, once they realized they had made fools of themselves, they couldn’t even offer a proper apology.  Oh, and in case anyone was missing it, they tracked him on CCTV cameras the whole way.  It wouldn’t quite be a police state if we couldn’t watch everyone at every second, now would it?

A Case of the Mondays

It seems like I have been hit with a case of the mondays.  My job (end user tech support at my school) sucks.  I don’t mind helping people — I love it in fact — but I feel like a trained monkey sometimes.  90% of my time is spent resetting passwords.

In any case,  I am usually able to combat this with some of my entertainment sites (see below for the curious), but lately I’ve been looking more for a project to work on.  My learning process is heavily tied to getting something done — I can read a book on Python (or whatever), but for me to understand it, I need a real-world project using it to work on.  No “hello world” application can grab my interest enough.  Perhaps it’s some form of ADD.

So what does this all mean?  I’m becoming restless.  I need a project.  I’ve tried looking into becoming a MOTU, but I’m not sure I fully understand the process (and it’s hard to fix bugs in apps I don’t even use).  Something practical and useful, but not so large as to stretch into months or years.  (At least, I’d like something I can make progress on before months or years.)

Any ideas on ways to combat this crappy boredom?

Mythbusters: Yes to Ubuntu, No to Vista

Jamie Hyneman of Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters (an awesome show) occasionally writes a bit for Popular Mechanics.  This time he’s talking about Technology Headaches.  One of those headaches, as most of the IT world has seen, is Windows Vista.  His solution? Ubuntu Linux.  Pretty awesome that one of the guys that can build ANYTHING chooses Ubuntu.  Now if only we could get a Ubuntu-powered robot out of him. 

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/upgrade/4243994.html?page=1

FCC Comments on Network Neutrality

I just wanted to reiterate Michael Trausch’s request that anyone concerned with their ability to use the internet freely should file a comment with the FCC on Network Neutrality (and Comcast’s filtering, etc.)  See his post for directions on submitting a comment.

Here’s what I had to say to the FCC:

Comments on FCC Docket 07-52:

Network neutrality has been a key part of the internet since its invention. Many technologies have originated from the ability to experiment and try new things on the internet. The most successful economic boom in our country’s history directly derived from the ability to use the internet as one saw fit. Would we have had the economic growth of the late 90s without the ability to innovate new technologies like streaming media, web conferences, and open software development?

The idea that an Internet Service Provider can select what we, as consumers, are allowed to do without our consent is both harmful and insulting to the American spirit of exploration and innovation. ISPs are expected to provide end-to-end connectivity of a certain bandwidth without interference. Having an ISP perform filtering is akin to having roads that are only usable by people traveling to some destinations. Such filtering limits the ability of the individual to communicate and sets a precedent similar to the Internet filtering in countries like Iran and China.

The Internet was built on an open platform based on information exchange and sharing. It is important that the user be able to reap every possible benefit, especially since ISPs rely on the user for their economic lifeblood. In no other industry would such interference with the customer be permissible. The FCC must continue to uphold America’s freedom to innovate, and the consumer’s freedom of expression.

Sincerely,

David Tomaschik

 

Insulting Microsoft: Why we’re just insulting ourselves.

Melissa Draper has recently posted about the damage done to the FOSS community by the use of terms such as “Micro$oft” and “MicroShaft”.  I’ve probably been guilty of this a time or two, but I have tried to avoid it in recent use, as it does make the Open Source Community look, well, stupid.

The community needs to put on a better image.  We should not sink to the FUD levels that Microsoft uses, and should certainly not draw more attention to Microsoft with “clever” names.  Just think about the reaction from the open source community if a Microsoft blogger called Linux “Lusernux” or something similar.

Open Source Developers have spent a lot of time trying to demonstrate the professionalism of the software and content produced by the community.  Those with a narrow mind who insult our competition undermine that work.   Seriously consider the image that you are presenting when you write.  Closed communications have a way of becoming public.

January LoCo F2F: Success!

Well, I was finally able to make it to the LoCo (Local Community) F2F (Face to Face) meeting yesterday.  To me, it seemed to be a quite successful event.  About 16-18 people made it, which meant that we pretty much took over that entire wing of Mellow Mushroom.  The food was definitely top notch as well — I had a great calzone.  It was really great to get a chance to know some of the people from the IRC, even if I didn’t get a match between name and IRC nick in all cases.

In the future I (and some of the others) would also like to see meetings with activities or presentations.  One idea that was tossed around was an open-source LAN party.  We could break out games like openarena, tremulous, and others.  Hopefully some of these ideas will come together.

Linux wins at CES

In case anyone missed it, Engadget is reporting that the EeePC is Asus’s most successful product ever. This comes along with Everex’s announcement of their EeePC competitor, the CloudBook, which will run a Ubuntu-based distribution. That’s the same Everex that has been producing sub-$200 computers running gOS (Ubuntu-based) that sell out at Wal-Mart.

CES also brings us Linux’s foray into the handheld gaming market in the form of the GP2X. As LinuxJournal predicted, this year’s CES is turning out to be a big one for Linux.

Addendum: Shuttle has announced a $200PC to also run Linux.  Nothing fancy here: no optical drive, no PCI-Express, etc.  But should make a nice machine if you just need internet access, especially for those with space limitations.  Looks like it’ll be a relatively low power consumer as well.

Curing Boredom

Lately I’ve been rather bored and looking for a project of some sort to work on.  Anyone have any suggestions/ideas/input?  I’d love to find some small utility I could put together and GPL, if there’s need for it.

Why Windows Vista Content Protection, well, sucks.

Peter Gutmann has done an amazing analysis of the costs and issues involved with the “Content Protection” scheme in Microsoft’s Windows Vista (slides).  Essentially, if you want to use multimedia, you can only use it how the movie industry says you can.  NetFlix has given in to that, producing (along with Microsoft) a tool that effectively strips your fair use rights.  It’s amazing how we’ve all become criminals of the information age.  I guess it’s only the information age for those who are willing to spend the money.

A Linux Conference in Atlanta?

From 1996 to 2001, Atlanta played home to the Atlanta Linux Showcase.  Linux has certainly gained a substantial following since 2001, and I think it’s about time that we bring a conference back to the Southeast.  LinuxWorld Expo has made several appearances in Boston, San Francisco, and elsewhere, but the Southeastern US has been overlooked.  Sure, we have PhreakNIC (Tennessee), CarolinaCon (NC), and others, but none of them focus on Linux or Open Source, and they all miss Atlanta, a hotbed of business and IT in the Southeast.

I’m interested in forming a new conference here in Atlanta to focus on Linux and Open Source software.  I’d like to make it user-oriented with a focus on home and small/medium business (corporate users probably look for bigger events like LWE).  I’d like to see involvement from local LUGs and other organizations.  Mostly I’d like to see the exposure for all aspects of this.

Students for Open Source at Georgia State can help in arranging the use of GSU facilities to organize the event.  Additionally, cross-promotion within our departments can help to get speakers and equipment needed for the event.

If anyone else is interested in seeing something like this, let me know.  Either leave a comment here or email me at david -at- webgroup (dot) org.