Kinetic Circus

Full-Circle

2011-07-15T10:44:00.001-05:00

Something I have given some consideration to as of late is how a number of years ago we were trying to get away of "Social" ISPs such as AOL or MSN and experience more of what is available on the Internet instead of some ISP-delivered content...think circa mid-'90s. Now (in the recent few years) there is this huge rush back toward what we were in such a hurry to get away from relative to the social aspect of the aforementioned...think Google+, Facebook, etc. Things that make you go "Hmmmm". No pun intended, but we have come full-circle.

The Art of Overcoming Information Deception

2011-05-30T17:37:00.000-05:00

What if I were to tell you that the world is flat, the Earth is the center of the solar system, Newtonian physics is in fact the Grand Unified Theory, or global warming is 100% due to man? I suspect that you might have me sent away for a long holiday in a padded room without a view. As we transition more deeply into the Information Age, our perceptions of what is valid stands a greater chance of becoming distorted. Dissemination of information occurs at a rate staggering to the human mind. Because of this, being able to discern what is valid information, and what is not, is an important developmental requirement of us all if we expect to mitigate informational extinction.

With the prevalence of social networks and wholesale liberal online media outlets, campaigns of agenda promotion are commonplace. Relative to the former, I am reminded of the childhood game where one child whispers a secret to the his/her friend who does the same to another friend; continuing down the line until the last child whispers the secret to the secret's originator. Invariably, the secret has been distorted. This is how valid information can be distorted within the context of social networks.

No longer does one have to read the daily news, that is delivered each morning in hardcopy format, to find out what happened the day before. No longer does one have to rely on the evening television news being beamed into their skulls to find out what is going on in the world. Each subsequent evolution of news delivery increases the rate at which an individual is able to receive their daily injection of blood, sweat, and tears. As Internet enabled devices proliferate, news is delivered as quickly as it can be prepped for human consumption.

One of the problems associated with our online news access, for both social networks and various media sources, is not the rate at which it is received. Instead, the problem is with the promotion of agendas that may or may not coincide with the overall belief system of the individuals being force fed this digital detritus.

Convincing evidence that promotes and supports the reported information comes in the form of fancy graphs, charts, so-called expert narrative, and statistics. The way I see this is that statistics can be made to support any agenda. If you do not believe this, I would suggest that you do a little research into the various Microsoft sponsored studies associated with this or that.

I have been around long enough to remember when eggs were considered part of a healthy diet. Then some study showed that they were bad for you. Then they were good for you. Information and understanding changes. What is the saying "The only constant in the universe is change"? Additionally, often what is solicited as fact by the expert is simply opinion.

A number of years ago I was told that because of the rate at which new information and/or technology is being generated, I would know less of the total information available upon completing my undergraduate degree than when I began my secondary education. This is not difficult to believe. After all, I do remember when Pluto was a planet. There is simply no way to know everything, even though there are those who would have you believe otherwise.

I understand that the pace at which change takes place is not what it once was. Obviously the pace at which the world turns, metaphorically, is significantly greater than 10, 15, or 20 years ago. Even so, what it boils down to is that we need to take some time to think. The following is a list of some things to consider when evaluating information validity, and not to be considered all inclusive:

1. Does the presented information make sense in a logical world?

2. Is the information fact or opinion based?

3. Ask the question, "What information am I missing that is necessary to make an informed decision".

4. Do not propagate information, the validity of which is uncertain.

5. Above all else, do not simply believe something just because I said so. Do not just question authority, question everything.

If it turns out that the information in question is indigestible for whatever reason, call "shenanigans" on the information promoter; individual, group, organization, or otherwise. A fact is simply a piece of information that is assumed valid until proved otherwise. This is a paraphrase of something I remember reading, the source of which I cannot recall.

And with that, I am off to see the wizard...

Ubuntu 11.04 Banshee Issue Overcome

2011-05-03T18:21:00.002-05:00

Upon installation of Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal), I experienced difficulty with the default media player, Banshee. What I experienced was the Banshee UI not rendering text correctly. For me this made Banshee completely useless.

Running Banshee from the command line prompt clued be into the fact that the file, /etc/pango/pango.modules, had not been created. Additionally, this provided insight as to how the file should be properly created. What I found when I attempted to issue the pango-querymodules command (noted below in Step 3) was that permission was denied, even when the command was prefaced with 'sudo'. Subsequently, this is what lead to the enabling of the 'root' account.

The level of detail I provide below assumes a minimum familiarity with GNU/Linux systems and the associated vernacular. Without an further ado, in an effort to overcome the aforementioned issue I performed the following:

1. Enable root account under Ubuntu by opening a terminal (CTRL-ALT-T) and using the commands:

sudo passwd root
sudo passwd -u root

2. Bring up a text terminal (CTRL-ALT-F1) and login as 'root' using the newly established password.

3. Once logged in as root, issue the command:

pango-querymodules > '/etc/pango/pango.modules'

4. Logout of 'root' account in text terminal (type 'exit', without quotes).

5. Return to GUI (CTRL-ALT-F7), and fire up Banshee. If everything went according to plan, you should have a usable media player. That's all, folks.

Messing Around with Enlightenment

2010-05-02T01:45:00.005-05:00

Sometime in the '99 time frame I had used the Enlightenment window manager off and on. After having read an article in the latest issue of Linux Journal, I became curious as to what was new with Enlightenment. Specifically I was interested in E17, as E16 is available from the Ubuntu repositories. Subsequently, I grabbed a snapshot of the associated code via SVN, compiled the source code, and got Enlightenment (E17) up and running. The picture shown above is a screen shot depicting the fruits of my labor relative to my Enlightenment mini project.

Presently I am acclimating myself to the idiosyncrasies of Enlightenment, but like what I see thus far. I am of the opinion that Enlightenment is still one of the most elegant windows managers available for Linux. My understanding is that development continues, albeit at a very slow pace. It should be noted that E17, as it currently exists, is still in a state of flux and may not be stable enough for daily use. Personally I have not had any major problems to report.

And with that, I am off to see the wizard...

Screenshot for 04/17/10

2010-04-17T09:15:00.008-05:00

The following is a screenshot of my current desktop:

The following is a list of the pertinent components associated with this screenshot:

Operating System	Linux
Distribution	Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala)
Window Manager	Openbox
Window Manager Theme	Carbon
Gtk Theme	Dust
Background Image	Bay.jpg
Screenlets	Infopanel
Other	Gnome Panel
	Tint2
	xcompmgr

And with that, I am off to see the wizard...

Social Networking Considered

2010-02-19T09:06:00.004-06:00

From my perspective, the use of social networking services is on the rise. My past experience with such services includes:

Classmates – I no longer use.
MySpace – Minor presence maintained.
Facebook – Maintain contact with friends from the past and family.
Twitter – Keep up with various open source software topics.
FriendFeed – Was just a curiosity.
LinkedIn – Professional / Career contacts.
Buzz – Just started using. The jury is still out on this one.

I believe that a social networking service will evolve over time. During this course of evolution, its sustainability will be dictated by the niche it serves. In my estimation, Classmates and MySpace are as good a defunct. Sure there are still proponents of these services, but they are being replaced by other, newer services, which provide enhanced functionality and overall user experience.

I opine that Twitter is here to stay. Tweets are quick to the point in the sense that one has only 140 characters to say what needs to be said. This affords me the opportunity to discern whether or not a Tweet is worth further investigation, without investing an inordinate amount of time. This aspect of Twitter can be replicated by other social networking services, but not to the same level of efficiency. Additionally, other services are often associated with substantial bloat that does not interest me. This is evidenced by Facebook quite well.

I have only been using Buzz for a short period and have not formed a definite opinion. However, Buzz has the Google name recognition to propel it forward. I see Google Buzz as being very similar to FriendFeed in terms of functionality. This is bad news for FriendFeed, as I expect the use of FriendFeed to decline in the near future…not that I had ever really noticed significant activity that was personally of interest. I certainly look forward to future development of Google Buzz.

My goal has been to keep my personal and professional lives separate. With the preponderance of interconnectivity of social networking services, this is often difficult. Special effort has been made on my part to preclude evidence of my personal life in social networking by using LinkedIn. I use LinkedIn to establish and maintain contacts with others in my professional demographic, nothing more. It is obvious that LinkedIn is superior to other social networking services in this respect.

Overall, social networking services that tend toward openness, such as open API’s, will have their sustainability enhanced (Facebook made major advance in this direction recently by implementing XMPP as its chat protocol). Those services that rely on proprietary code will likely find it difficult to exist within the confines of our informational based society.

I should note that my opinions are based on how I use social networking services and do not necessarily coincide with the methodology employed by others.

And with that, I am off to see the wizard...

Stock up in Guns and Canned Food not Gold Roubini advice | Nouriel Roubin

2010-02-18T20:19:00.002-06:00

As sad as I am to admit it, I suspect that this is solid advice. While on the surface there appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel relative to our economic condition, I am not certain that things are getting better at a rate sufficient to prevent something as succinct as economic Armageddon.

Recent readings indicate that the value of the Euro, relative to that of the U.S. Dollar, is declining. China and U.S. relations are strained. We are continuing our battle with an ever elusive terrorist mechanism. Natural disasters mark the headlines on our media outlets. Simply put, we are existing in a festering cesspool of insanity that does not appear to be getting any better. While I am not a proponent of end-of-the-world theories, I cannot give a good reason to the believers of such that this is not the direction in which society currently travels.

Hopefully this is not the case, however, for the time being I prefer to keep a low profile.

And with that, I am off to see the wizard...

Frisbee Inventor Dies At 90

2010-02-12T09:43:00.003-06:00

From the desk of "Why Didn't I Think of That"

via NPR Topics: News on 2/11/10 Walter Fredrick Morrison, the man credited with inventing the Frisbee, has died. He was 90. "He was an entrepreneur," Morrison's son, Walt, said. He was always looking for something to do." Morrison sold the production and manufacturing rights to his "Pluto Platter" in 1957.

Creepy!

2010-02-12T06:06:00.003-06:00

Quotation Marks by bethany on 2/11/10

Human burgers: now with fewer transfats.

Meet Your Linux Journal Team

2009-12-19T20:38:00.001-06:00

An in-depth look at the folks who put this wonderful periodical together would be nice. However, faces to go with the names is nice too.

Radical Comic Designer 1.0.1 Review

2009-03-16T20:33:00.006-05:00

Last week Radical Comic Book Designer 1.0.1 was released by Radical Breeze (Bryan Lunduke of Jupiter Broadcasting fame). This software is available as Linux and Windows binaries. However, this review will concentrate on the Linux binary solely, which is available as a 2.1 MB .deb, or .gz, download from Radical Breeze.

As the name implies, Radical Comic Designer is used to create comics and comic books quickly and easily. This is accomplished by dragging and dropping various comic elements; such as panels, speech bubbles, and custom captions; onto the comic page. These elements are arranged by dragging and dropping, resizing, and moving up and down relative to other elements.

With the comic layout complete, the logical next step is to add the artwork. Not being an artist, nor having any real preconceived comic notion, I simply used some JPG images I had on my hard drive. I should note that even if I were an artist, Radical Comic Designer is not designed to have the ability to create the artwork, as is explicitly stated on Bryan's blog.

Once dropped into a comic panel, pictures are edited by double clicking on them. Editing entails resizing or adding an effect. The picture editing effects available are: pixelated, oil painting, and sepia tone. Any other editing requires an external program, such as GIMP.

Once the comic is at a saving point, the comic project is saved in the Radical Comic Designer (RCD) format, while the working page can be individually exported to a JPG file. Additionally, the entire comic can be exported to either a series of JPG files or a single CBZ file, the latter of which can be read by the RadicalCodex comic book reader.

Conclusion
After spending a few hours working with this software, I found Radical Comic Designer to be a very cool concept. Also, I found the interface to be concise and intuitive. That is, becoming functional with this software requires neither a 2-inch thick manual, nor a PhD in nuclear physics. Overall, while not perfect at this stage of development, I expect Radical Comic Designer to quickly become a staple of any serious comic developer's arsenal of tools.

Update
During the preparation of this review, Radical Comic Designer 1.1 was released with the following improvements:

1. Use of the keyboard cursor keys to assist in the arrangement the comic elements. This is helpful for fine-tuning the comic layout.

2. Set a default font (including color, size, etc.) for all new text.

3. A number of new picture effects (e.g., water droplets, ripples, etc.) have been added.

4. When quitting, if there are unsaved changes, the user is prompted as to whether or not the file should be saved.

5. Improvement to the rendering of speech bubbles and text.

6. A few other minor user interface tweaks and fixes.

And with that, I am off to see the wizard...

Regnum Online Review

2009-03-09T21:16:00.006-05:00

Earlier this morning I was participating in a live recording of a Linux Outlaws podcast and during a review of listeners' email I noted a Linux game called Regnum Online. Regnum Online is touted as being "The best Realm vs. Realm action available FOR FREE". It is an MMORPG game developed by NGD Studios S.A. and utilizes OpenGL. There is a Windows client that utilizes DirectX, but for this review I will concentrate on the Linux client.

Before I go any further I need to qualify the fact that I am not a hardcore gamer. However, I have recently found that I enjoy Frozen Bubble because of the simplicity of game play. Additionally, I have developed a love for the game, World of Goo. Still I am not a gamer, but I digress.

After the recording of the podcast, I visited the Regnum Online website and promptly downloaded a 428.4 MB binary installation file for 64-bit Linux. On the Regnum download page there was note made to the fact that there is no official support for the Linux client due to its experimental nature. Additionally, the 64-bit version of the Linux client requires the presence of 32-bit libraries to execute the installer properly. The specific 32-bit libraries required were not explicitly noted on the download page, but I must have had them in place because the installation went without a hitch.

Once the Regnum Online software was installed on my System76 Pangolin Performance laptop, I created an account on the website. There was an option on the Linux client startup dialog box to create a new account, but it failed to take me to the appropriate web page because it could not access the default web browser. This was a little disappointing, but certainly something I could work around.

As far as game settings are concerned, I basically left the default settings, utilizing full-screen. However, as I previously mentioned, the Linux client was installed on my laptop which has a 15.4" wide-screen. Subsequently, I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was an option to set the screen resolution at 1280x800.

With the Regnum Online Linux client up and running and a connection made to a Regnum Online server, I began things by selecting the world of which I would become a part. Personally, I selected Horus (International) because I am a native English speaker. However, there are Spanish/English and German worlds from which to choose.

After creating a character, which was simple to complete without explicit instructions. In other words, the process for creating a new character was concise and very intuitive. With this process complete, I found myself transported to a time and place as far away from reality as I could imagine.

Once in the game, it took me approximately 60 seconds to understand what I need to do to communicate with the in-game characters. This is accomplished by selecting the character, with the left mouse button, to whom you wish to communicate, and then left mouse clicking on the character again.

After having communicated with three in-game characters, I was sent on my first training mission which entailed killing five (5) black beetles. This was completed with relative ease and led to my next mission which involved killing five (5) tiny tarantulas. This is where I stopped my mission, leaving it for another day. Almost one hour of game play was all that was available before I was being called for supper.

Experimental clicking on the character interface afforded me the opportunity to learn a little more about what I can expect from future game play. The following is a list of game selling points as was presented on the official game site:

- Regnum offers 3 realms to choose from.
- 9 fully customizable player characters.
- An ever expanding number of quests.
- The ability to capture forts and castles.
- Expansive lands to explore.
- Glorious graphical environments in DirectX and OpenGL.
- Support for Windows and Linux platforms.
- Premium content available for enhanced game play.

I do plan on exploring this game further, but from what I have experienced to this point, I am pleased. It is at this point that I have to give Regnum Online two thumbs up. The game is well done and professionally crafted both in terms of graphics and game play. If you have not had the opportunity to play Regnum Online, or did not even know about it, I recommend that you give it a spin and spend some time in another world of the imagination.

And with that, I am off to see the wizard...

The Spread of Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt Benefits No One in the Long Run

2009-02-27T22:45:00.002-06:00

During this past week the so-called big news revolves around Microsoft's lawsuit against TomTom. A number of prolific Linux pundits are inexplicably able to extrapolate the available information and make giant intellectual leaps, thereby suggesting that this particular law suit is simply the tip of the iceberg relative to an all out legal attack on Linux and/or Open Source Software (OSS). Personally I find that such an extrapolation is at best laughable, and at worst, detrimental to the Open Source struggle.

Generally speaking, the direction of FUD spread is toward the Open Software movement. However, this is a case in which FUD has been flung in the opposite direction, specifically at Microsoft. When individuals in positions of celebrity spread FUD, they more often than not portray in a negative light, not the intended object of the FUD, but rather, themselves and the organizations they represent. This is true no matter the direction of FUD spread.

In the case of Open Software, I am of the opinion that "jumping to conclusions" and spreading FUD portrays the community as a group with something to hide. Have we not conducted our business in an honest, above-the-boards manner? Are we a bunch whiny conspiracy theorists who are afraid of our own shadows? I contend that the answer to both questions is a resounding "No"!

While I am not going to try to detail here my opinion as to whether or not the Microsoft lawsuit is frivolous, I am of the opinion that our community needs to take a step back and try to view ourselves from the eyes of those who do not have the same level of awareness and understanding of our cause. Jim Zemlin and Bryan Lunduke are just two individuals with whom I agree that Microsoft's lawsuit is not against Linux and/or Open Source Software. Instead, the lawsuit, until proven otherwise, is against TomTom.

The following is a The H Open Source news post regarding The Linux Foundation's Opinion on Microsoft Versus TomTom:

Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin said in his blog yesterday (26th February) that the Microsoft patent infringement suite against TomTom, at least at present, does not appear to be a covert attack on Linux. Microsoft have made assurances that their dispute is solely with TomTom and Zemlin says there is no reason to doubt that is the case, or to suspect a move against the Linux ecosystem.

Microsoft say that TomTom infringe on eight Microsoft held patents. Three of those patents concern methods of organising data filing systems and relate to the FAT system. It's this which may cause some concern among the Linux community because Linux does provide support for the FAT filing system. TomTom use an embedded version of Linux inside their portable SatNav devices.

Zemlin says that if the case does result in a threat to Linux then the Foundation is well prepared to defend Linux and that the "Linux ecosystem has enormously sophisticated resources available" for its defence.

The Linux community is perhaps understandably nervous when a possible threat appears, due to the long standing SCO Group lawsuits. Originally, in 2003, the SCO Group filed suit against IBM, claiming that Linux incorporated large segments of code that was proprietary to SCO UNIX. At one point in the legal battle Microsoft appeared to fund the SCO Group by buying licensing for SCO UNIX and by arranging funding from other sources, it was assumed in the hope of seriously damaging Linux. Fortunately for the future of Linux, things did not go at all well for the SCO Group and it has recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection mainly due to the costs of its anti-Linux legal battles.

As Linux grows in influence and market share it is increasingly likely that it will come under patent related attack. However there is growing concern that many patent suits within the computer industry in general, are either strategic or made by patent trolls, purely for commercial gain and are not genuine patent challenges. It seems there will be legislation and patent law reform to curb such attacks.

(trk)

And with that, I am off to see the wizard...

Screenshot for 02/21/09

2009-02-21T02:25:00.002-06:00

I just wanted to take a second a share a screenshot of my current desktop configuration. Please note that clicking on the image below will afford you the opportunity to view the full-size screenshot, which is 1280x800. You may recognize this screen resolution as one that is common to laptops with a widescreen.

The following is a list of the pertinent components associated with this screenshot:

Operating System	Linux
Distribution	Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex)
Environment	GNOME
Gtk Theme	Moomex
Background Image	The Hive
Screenlets	GNOME
	Clock
	ClearWeather
	Sensors
	Diskusage
	Stocks
	ClearCalendar
	Sidebar
	Output
	Trash
Other	Cairo Dock

And with that, I am off to see the wizard...

Bill Would Require ISPs, Wi-Fi Users To Keep Logs

2009-02-20T15:51:00.002-06:00

In a Slashdot post, I found the following blurb associated with legislation that will impact all netizens in one way or another:

CNet is reporting on bills filed in the US House and Senate that would require all ISPs and operators of Wi-Fi hotspots — including home users — to maintain access logs for 2 years to aid in law enforcement. The bills were filed by Republicans, but the article notes that the idea of forcing data retention has been popular on both sides of the aisle over the years.

Republican politicians on Thursday called for a sweeping new federal law that... would impose unprecedented data retention requirements on a broad swath of Internet access providers and is certain to draw fire from businesses and privacy advocates. ... Each [bill] contains the same language: 'A provider of an electronic communication service or remote computing service shall retain for a period of at least two years all records or other information pertaining to the identity of a user of a temporarily assigned network address the service assigns to that user [i.e., DHCP].

Personally I consider myself to be a good citizen/netizen, and have nothing to hide in terms of my online activities. However, I do not like the idea of retaining computer network activity data to aid in law enforcement. The way I see it, there is a significant potential for misuse of this information. I have not given this issue much thought because, as the Slashdot article indicates, this is unprecedented legislation. However, one issue I see boils down to "How do we police the police and prevent the misuse of this power".

Some other issues that come to mind are:

* How will this legislation be enforced? It is one thing to enforce this relative to large ISPs, but to regulate the individual user is ludicrous.

* As an individual user subject to this legislation, what punishment and/or fine might be imposed on me if I do not acquiesce? Will this be a crime considered so heinous as to merit a sentence of life in prison? Or, will failing to comply with this legislation be likened to treason, for which the death penalty will be applicable?

* How in a court of law does the government demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that I have maliciously kept information from law enforcement?

All in all, this legislation seems like a really bad idea in the making. It has all of the underpinnings of the Patriot Act in the sense that by allowing the passage of this legislation we willingly relinquish civil rights in the favor of greater security. Yes, that is exactly where I am going. As Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying "They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty nor security". Perhaps I am being short-sighted on this subject, but I am of the opinion that, like the Patriot Act, this legislation is not worth the paper on which it is written, and as far as I know, I am still afforded First Amendment rights as defined by the United States Bill of Rights...or am I?

And with that, I am off to see the wizard...

Ten Reasons Why Linux Will Triumph Over Windows

2009-02-14T22:59:00.002-06:00

Originally Posted by Jack Wallen in February 14, 2009

Windows 7 may be generating some positive buzz, but Jack Wallen remains skeptical. In fact, he says it’s only a matter of time before Linux takes its rightful spot at the top of the OS heap.

I have an announcement. The error of Microsoft’s ways is finally catching up and will cause the once-invincible juggernaut to kneel before that which is Linux. How is this? Microsoft started a tiny snowball when it released Windows Me. That snowball did nothing but gain momentum. There have been ups and downs along the way (XP being an up, for sure). But for the most part, the court of public opinion has steady lost faith in what once was considered the heart of personal computing.

If you don’t believe me, read on.

Note: This article is also available as a PDF download.

1: Inconsistent Windows releases

One of the things you can always count on from Microsoft is that you can’t count on its new operating systems to be reliable. Let’s take a look at the individual releases:

* Windows 95: Revolutionized personal computing.

* Windows 98: Attempted to improve on Windows 95; failed miserably.

* Windows Me: A joke, plain and simple.

* Windows NT: Attempted to bring enterprise-level seriousness to the operating system; would have succeeded had it not taken Steven Hawking-like intelligence to get it working.

* Windows XP: Brought life back to the failing Windows operating system. It hadn’t been since Windows 95 that the operating system was this simple.

* Windows Vista: See Windows Me.

With this in mind, what do we expect from Windows 7? Myself, not much.

2: Consistent Linux releases

Converse to number 1, you have the far more consistent releases of the various Linux distributions. Yes, there have been a few dips along the way (Fedora 9 being one of them). But for the most part, the climb for Linux has been steadily upward. Nearly every Linux distribution has improved with age. And this improvement isn’t limited to the kernel. Look at how desktops, end-user software, servers, security, admin tools, etc., have all improved over time. Once could easily argue that KDE 4 is an example of a sharp decrease in improvement. However, if you look at how quickly KDE 4 has improved from 4.0 to 4.3 you can see nothing but gains. This holds true with applications and systems across the board with Linux.

3. Continuing Windows price hikes

Recently, I have had a number of long-time Microsoft administrators asking my advice on solid replacements for Exchange. The reason? Microsoft changed its licensing for Exchange to a per-user seat. Now anyone who logs on to an Exchange server must have a license. You have 100 employees (including administrators) who need to log on to Exchange? Pony up! This gets serious when your company starts having to cough up the money for 500+ Exchange licenses. The very idea that Microsoft would make such a bold change to licenses is made even more ridiculous considering the current state of the economy. Companies worldwide are having to scale back. And like Exxon Mobile celebrating record profits amid the catastrophe known as Hurricane Katrina, Microsoft creating such a cost barrier while the globe is facing serious recession is irresponsible and reprehensible.

4. Stable Linux “prices”

Converse to number 3, the prices of open source software licenses have remained the same — $0.00. When those administrators come to me asking for open source replacements for Exchange I point them to eGroupware and Open-X-Change. Both are outstanding groupware tools that offer an even larger feature set than their Microsoft equivalent. Both are reliable, scalable, secure, and free. The only cost you will have with either is the hardware they are installed upon. And with both packages, there is no limit to the amount of users that can be set up. One user, 1,000 users — it’s all good with open source software.

5: Windows hardware incompatibility

Microsoft Vista was a nightmare when it came to hardware compatibility. Not only was Vista incompatible with numerous peripherals, it took supercomputer-level iron to run the operating system! Sure this was a boon to Intel, which stood to make a pretty shiny penny. Intel knew a good amount of the public would be shelling out for new hardware, and the new hardware would cost more because it had to be faster to run Vista in all its Aero glory. But even hardware that would run nearly any other OS with lightening-fast speed was brought to a slow, grinding halt with Vista.

6: Linux hardware compatibility

Converse to number 5, Linux continues to advance in the category of hardware compatibility. Take Xorg, for example. Recent developments with the star of Linux’ graphical desktops have the X Windows server running sans xorg.conf. This was done primarily because the system had grown so good at detecting hardware. And so long as there wasn’t a cheap KVM between your monitor and your PC, Xorg would easily find the mode for your display and run X properly. With new distributions (such as Fedora 10), X configuration is becoming a thing of the past. Most other pieces of hardware are finding the same level of recognition.

7: Windows promises

I wanted to save this for last, but seeing as how it is number 7… We’ve all heard the pundits proclaiming Windows 7 will be the resurrection of the Microsoft operating system. But I recall this same proclamation with nearly every release from Redmond. Windows Vista was going to revolutionize the way the user interfaced with the computer. Vista was going to be the operating system you would never notice. Instead, Vista refused to NOT let you notice. And Windows Me was going to take Windows 98 and make it far more simple for the average user. What did it really do? Remove nearly every actual functioning system in the operating system, leaving little more than a browser and an e-mail client.

Everyone is always fond of saying the next Windows release will redefine the personal computer. But the public has finally reached such a point of apathy for Microsoft’s up and coming, the majority doesn’t even realize something new is coming out. The media can continue to push Windows 7, but the public will continue using XP until Microsoft pries it from its cold, dead fingers. And of course no one really knows when Windows 7 will land. How many dates Microsoft announces vs. how many dates change will probably be a 1:1 ratio.

8: Linux transparency

Converse to 7… The next release of any Linux distribution is never shrouded in mystery. Because of the nature of open source, the release candidates are always available to the public (and not on a limited basis), and the timeline is always made available. Any user can know exactly when a feature-freeze happens for a release of any distribution. And all Linux distributions work under the “full disclosure” model. Because of this, there is little false advertising going on with Linux. And unlike with Microsoft, you will never hear of a distribution claiming that its next release will revolutionize computing. If you go to the Fedora Project Wiki, you can view all the proposed and accepted features that will be included in the next release. You can also view the completed release schedule, where you will see that Fedora 11 has set an alpha release of 02/03/09, a beta release of 03/24/09, and a final release of 05/26/09. These dates are fairly firm and almost always on target.

9: Feature comparison

Let’s compare the feature lists of Windows 7 and Fedora 11.

* Windows 7: OS X-like Doc, Multi-touch screen, mapping application similar to Google Earth, Hyper-Visor virtualization, location-aware apps, User Access Control improvements, Sidebar removal.

* Fedora 11: 20-second boot time, btrfs file system, Better C++ support, Cups PolicyKit integration, DNS Security (DNS SECurity), ext4 default file system, Fingerprint reader integration, IBUS input method replaces SCIM (to overcome limitations), GNOME 2.26, KDE 4.2, Windows cross-compiler inclusion.

If you look at those features in and of themselves, you could easily argue that either one could be the more impressive list (depends upon your bias). But understand that the Fedora 11 features are added on an already outstanding operating system, whereas the Windows 7 features are being added to a lesser operating system. And what Microsoft is proclaiming to be the biggest improvement (multi-touch) doesn’t actually improve the operating system and also requires, surprise, new hardware! To get the most out of Fedora 11, you’ll be good to go with what you already have.

10: Hardware requirements

Vista-lite? Out of the mouths of Microsoft comes the proclamation that Windows 7 will run on any hardware that would run Vista and even slightly less powerful hardware. Slightly less powerful? What exactly does that mean? Well for one, Windows 7 will have no luck in the netbook market. And since XP is dying, the netbook market will be owned by Linux. Netbooks are not gaining enough power to run anything from Windows but the watered-down version of XP. Netbooks are not going anywhere, and consumers (both home and corporate) have their limits on how many hardware upgrades they will make to fulfill an operating systems’ needs. As of Fedora 10, the minimum system requirements look like something out of the mid ’90s.

Jack Wallen was a key player in the introduction of Linux to the original TechRepublic. Beginning with Red Hat 4.2 and a mighty soap box, Jack had found his escape from Windows. It was around Red Hat 6.0 that Jack landed in the hallowed halls of TechRepublic. Read his full bio and profile.

As much as I am in favor of OSS, FOSS, or FLOSS operating systems and/or software, and for as much an optimist as I am, I do not believe that Linux world domination will be as simple as the above opinion might lead one to believe. After all, there is the whole issue of the Microsoft Trained Brain Syndrome with which we have to contend.

And with that, I am off to see the wizard...

World's Greatest Hacker Says Obama's BlackBerry Can Be Breached

2009-02-14T07:24:00.005-06:00

It is certainly interesting to read Kevin Mitnick's comments regarding the issue of the security relative to the President's communication technology. An important point made in the article is that should the President's communication device actually be compromised, what information would actually be made available to the cracker. Please note that there is a distinction between a hacker and a cracker. In any event, I am of the opinion that the media has made too much out of Mr. Obama wanting to continue using his Blackberry.

There's a new "holy grail" for hackers — President Obama's super-secure BlackBerry.

Despite warnings from his advisers, the president insisted on keeping his beloved PDA, which now has specially designed superencrypting security software.

But that just makes cracking into it more challenging — and, yes, it can be done, says the world's most famous hacker.

"It's a long shot, but it's possible," Kevin Mitnick told FOXNews.com. "You'd probably need to be pretty sophisticated, but there's people out there who are."

(read the entire article here...)

And with that, I am off to see the wizard...

Update II: BloGTK v1.1

2009-02-14T03:48:00.003-06:00

Now that I have had a chance to use BloGTK v1.1 quite a bit more, I have formed some definite opinions. This software has the potential to be very good. However, it is felt that this is definitely an unfinished work.

With this said, the following is a list of items that I am either not sure what to do with, or those items that do not appear to be active:

From Figure 1 - "Edit Post" Tab:-

I have tried everything I can think of, but the "Title" field does not appear to be active. For me, the work-around is simply to edit this once the file has been uploaded to the website where the post will be made.

There is a drop down list box with a green arrow to its right. I think this is for applying a "custom tag". However, I have not yet determined how to add a custom tag. Within the menu, under "Edit", there is an entry for editing custom tags. My problem with this is that if I add a custom tag, the next time I run BloGTK, the application will not start because of errors that originate in the custom tag configuration file.

This is another drop down list box labeled "Category" that is not self-explanatory. There is nothing listed here. Subsequently, I am not entirely sure what the function of this drop down list box is.

Figure 1

From Figure 2 - "Advanced Tab:-

The "Extended Entry", "Excerpt", "Keywords", and "TrackBack URLs" do not appear active. I guess I am curious to know whether they can be made active, or if they are simply unfinished programming items. I suspect that the latter is the case.

The checkbox items; "Convert Breaks", "Allow Comments", and "Allow Pings" are also disabled.

Figure 2

Perhaps, if during the setup of the Weblog server were designated as something other than the Blogger type, some of the aforementioned items would be functional. This is something that has not been verified.

And with that, I am off to see the wizard...

I Give Up. Windows Is Proof That People Are Too Stupid To Use Computers.

2009-02-13T20:21:00.003-06:00

Carla Schroder succinctly summarizes past, present, and possibly future Microsoft operating systems and their associated deficiencies. Also noted in this blog post is the way the media does not call a spade a spade because of the influence Microsoft exerts over so many aspects of today's society. As has been noted in previous posts, people in general are often too dumbed down to realize when they have been afflicted with a serious case of Microsoft Trained Brain Syndrome.

By Carla Schroder on February 12, 2009 10:18 PM

And too stupid or dishonest to report Microsoft Windows as the defective disaster that it is. If it were any other type of product it would have banned from every country in the world long ago. The BBC reports the latest Windows Conficker worm outbreak in typical "oh no big deal" fashion, does not identify this as a Windows worm until several paragraphs into the article, quotes industry security vendors as though they were actually worth listening to and not useless weasels, and then blames end users:

(read more...)

And with that, I am off to see the wizard...

Assign Application for Specific Mime Type

2009-02-13T19:41:00.002-06:00

For my multimedia, whether it is audio and/or video, I prefer to use VLC. However, when browsing files using Nautilus under GNOME, I found that the default application associated with a specific multimedia type was not the VLC I desired. This is not a major issue as I can right mouse click on the iconic representation of the file I want to initiate, and then select VLC from the menu (see Figure 1):

Figure 1

In this case I have already made the necessary modification such that when I double-click on the multimedia file in question, VLC is automatically initiated. Suppose however that this was not the case. The next step would be to select the "Properties" menu item. Again, refer to Figure 1.

The result is a dialog box similar to that which is depicted in Figure 2.

Figure 2

Toward the top of the dialog box, select the "Open With" tab. The result will be similar to that depicted in Figure 3. From here, select the appropriate application you wish to use as the default for opening a file of this type.

Figure 3

It should be noted that if the application you wish to use is not listed, you can select the "Add" button near the bottom of the dialog box and provide the required information. Once you are happy with your application selection, click on the "Close button at the bottom right-hand side of the dialog box and you are finished.

Now when you double click on the icon associated with a file of the specific type for which you just defined the default application, the newly selected application will be launched.

And with that, I am off to see the wizard...

Linux 101 Hacks - Download Free eBook

2009-02-12T19:10:00.005-06:00

I have not yet fully reviewed this Free eBook, but it looked to be interesting relative to the contained information as was detailed in the table of contents. Once I make my way through this, I will be sure to convey my overall impression.

I’m happy to announce the release of my first Free eBook — Linux 101 Hacks. There are total of 101 hacks in this book that will help you build a strong foundation in Linux. All the hacks in this book are explained with appropriate Linux command examples that are easy to follow.

This free eBook contains 12 chapters with total of 140 pages. Hacks mentioned in 6 chapters are based on the articles that I’ve already posted on my blog. Hacks mentioned in rest of the 6 chapters are brand new.

Get your copy here.

If anyone stumbling across this has the opportunity to take a look at this eBook before I do, please let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

And with that, I am off to see the wizard...

Linux Versus the Microsoft Trained Brain Syndrome

2009-02-10T21:02:00.003-06:00

The following article is an extention to the previous post, Free software isn't freeware: why Linux and FOSS have a higher standard, where I hypothesize the reasons the general public is hesitant to make the switch to free/open source software. Perhaps I did not experience Microsoft Trained Brain Syndrome because I have always have had an open mind relative to computer software alternatives. As an example, when most folks were dealing with Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups 3.11, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, or Windows 2000, I was either running PC DOS and then IBM's OS/2, the later of which was far suprior to at least Windows 95. It is too bad that OS/2 did not go further than it actually did. In any event, on to the aforementioned article.

Feb 10th, 2009 by Gene.

Recent articles I have read by people complaining about how things on Linux do not work like they do on Microsoft led me to coin the phrase Microsoft Trained Brain Syndrome (MTBS). The problem is that people who have lived, worked, and played in a homogeneous Microsoft computing paradigm are lost and confused when they encounter a different paradigm. These people have only seen the flawed Microsoft ideology for how computing systems should work and so have a difficult time with more elegant systems based on Unix. They see the Linux system with its’ own paradigm and ideology and try to force it into the only paradigm they know, which is Microsoft’s. This will always cause the user problems.

These people may or may not have a problem with an Apple system running OS X since Microsoft’s desktop is at base basically a rip-off of Apple’s desktop. Apple’s desktop is arguably a rip-off of the X windowing system used on Unix and Linux. However, both Apple’s desktop and Microsoft’s desktop diverge significantly from X. Of course underneath the graphical interface Apple OS X now has much more in common with Unix and Linux than it does with Microsoft systems. In any case, because these other platform ideologies are different from Microsoft’s ideology the typical Microsoft Trained Brain Syndrome user can have a rough time trying to adapt.

I have had discussions about this problem with others prior to today. My point in these discussions is that if one took an average child with average intelligence, gave the child a first computer exposure with Linux installed with a graphical interface and a bit of instruction to get started, the child would have no problem using Linux and learning how to do tasks with Linux. The point is that if one starts using Linux based computers from a tabula rasa condition then there are no bad habits to unlearn. The people that have only learned the Microsoft paradigm have bad habits to unlearn and much new information to learn. These people should attempt to approach Linux like a child that knows nothing about a computing paradigm and has never been exposed to another computing ideology.

In regard to computing systems we are all beginners, or “kindergarten children” if you will, at some point. Many computer users progress through a school of knowledge under the Microsoft paradigm to become “seniors” in the Microsoft ideology college. These users then discover they are not satisfied with their only exposure to computing systems under the Microsoft tutelage and attempt to branch out with Linux. It is at this point that the Microsoft Trained Brain Syndrome becomes a problem for many. These users discover there is a totally different Unix school that has a largely different curricula from what they know. For whatever reason they decide to attempt to use the old knowledge from Microsoft training in this new school and are discouraged, shocked and/or angry that it does not work. What these users need to do is ignore almost all they know about computing from their Microsoft Trained Brain and start over.

The bottom line dear reader is, do not attempt to force preconceived notions and knowledge from a totally different computing paradigm onto Linux. Ignore your previous knowledge from your Microsoft Trained Brain and start over with Linux as if you are a child getting a first exposure to computing systems. I guarantee this will help you in the long term. Many of us wait to welcome you to our universe of heterogeneous computing.

And with that, I am off to see the wizard...

Top 10 Responses to Why Should I Use Linux? - A Linux Evangelist's Reference

2009-02-09T22:33:00.003-06:00

Posted by Greg on March 14th, 2008

If you’re a Linux enthusiast like me, you’ve probably tried to convert a few people over to Linux from another operating system. Even though you succeed many times, there are always a few ‘geniuses’ out there who need some real persuading to switch over to Linux.

So here are some quick and simple things about Linux you can point out to your potential convert.

1. Linux helps you get rid of viruses, worms, and other computer infections.

Although it is possible to get infected even with Linux (malware is mainly written for Windows), its system architecture, based on a server-client relationship makes it difficult for a virus to do any damage. See this post.

2. Linux is fast and will stay fast

Vista is a huge resource hog. XP isn’t too humble either. If you use Windows for a longer time and install lots of different programs, your computer becomes bloated with trash data, consequently becoming slower. With Linux, even a major distro won’t demand more than 256 RAM to run passably with all the bling and a maximum of 2 GB of space. And it won’t get slower.

3. Linux is easier to use than Windows. Using the Terminal is not necessary in most cases.

What could be easier than opening a package manager, selecting the software you want, and letting Linux download it for you? I hate it when people complain about how Linux’ hardware support bites. They probably aren’t aware of the fact that Linux supports more devices than Vista. I should know, I had my share of problems with three different versions of Windows with lots of pieces of hardware. Ndiswrapper-gui is fool-proof and you know it! You can’t expect a new user will know how to solve every issue.

4. Linux is free as in free beer AND as in free speech. Cost does NOT define the value of Free Software!

All of the major Linux distributions are free of cost. Yes, that’s zero dollars. Ain’t it great to have a whole operating system and not be afraid you’ll get fined? You can choose from a multitude of great open source apps which come under the GPL license, too. No need to worry about the

5. Your porn collection is safe with Linux

Don’t laugh. I’m not a big fan of porn, but it has a big market share on the Internet. On Linux, (which is trojan, virus etc. free), every user gets a password, and you can see the source code so you know that FBI isn’t checking you out, like on Windows.

6. Thousands of Windows-only applications (even Photoshop CS3) and games work with Linux through WINE just as fast. You can also find good alternative open source software.

The Linux experience may be a bit different for a user who needs some Windows-only software, because there is no good equivalent for it on Linux. There’s always WINE though. It’s a compatibility layer which can install Windows programs on your Linux Box, even games like Call of Duty, Unreal Tournament, Half-Life 2…

Search open source alternatives

Search the Wine application DB

7. Linux looks better than Windows Vista or Mac OS X

It’s a simple as this: Linux has got Compiz Fusion and a very nice default theme, normally. You can imitate ANY effect other operating system boast with. If a Mac user still thinks his Mac OS X or Vista look better, don’t worry. You can make Linux look exactly like it in under 15 minutes.

8. Linux is fun

People always tell me this. And why? Linux users have the power to expand their system for free, they are free to modify the system exactly to their needs. You learn something new this way every day with Linux and if you do things right it can reward you with the desired results.

9. You can help improve Linux

There are lots of jokes made about ‘teh 1337 powerz of communityz’!!! Sadly, they exist mostly because they don’t know any good arguments against community. In open source, you can actually speak to the actual developers, help translate, develop and improve the software you are using right now while not helping others make wads of cash.

10. Linux makes you give your computer a name

It’s possible on every OS, basically, but Linux demands you do it! Sheer coolness.

Additional links:

Get Linux

Things you can do with Linux and can’t do on Windows

And with that, I am off to see the wizard...

Free software isn't freeware: why Linux and FOSS have a higher standard

2009-02-09T21:31:00.003-06:00

Below is an interesting article I just ran across. After some contemplation, it is not difficult to imagine why "the masses" are hesitant to experience FOSS. I am of the opinion that one reason for this hesitation is associated with the fact that people do not like change. However, we all know that the only thing constant in the universe is change. Another reason for shying away from FOSS is that a lot of folks out there are just plain lazy. They do not want to work for/at anything, no matter the potential benefits. However, I think there are those of us out there who realize that anything good is worth working for. I recall my first experience with Linux back in 1999. It took me at least two weeks to get a GUI up and running, but in the end I was better off for my efforts. Looking back in time and comparing what we had to contend with, and comparing it with today's modern distributions, we can easily see that we have come a long way in a very short period of time. Please do not get me wrong. These aforementioned personal characteristics are not evident in all people.

by David M Williams

Sunday, 08 February 2009

Microsoft's recent survey proclaimed nearly half the population believe it is ok to use pirated software for personal use. This diminishes the argument by Linux advocates that you can use their operating system without any cost. Yet, you can't confuse free as in cost with free as in freedom. Here's what FOSS really means.

(read more...)

And with that, I am off to see the wizard...

Three Reasons Windows 7 Will Fail On Netbooks

2009-02-08T09:11:00.003-06:00

The Var Guy reports:

Originally Posted: Sat, 07 Feb 2009 04:21:37 +0000

As it continues to develop and polish Windows 7, Microsoft has made three fatal mistakes that will kill the operating system’s chances for success on Netbooks. Skeptical? Take a look at this reasoning from The VAR Guy.

First, a little applause for Microsoft. The company has done a reasonably good job developing Windows 7, according to early beta testers. There is some concern about security, but what else is new when it comes to a Microsoft operating system?

Now, onto the Netbook topic. Microsoft plans to offer Netbook makers Windows 7 Starter — a basic operating system with a serious (and artificial) limitation. It only runs up to three applications at once. Three applications? One, two, three reasons Windows 7 Starter will fail. Heck, even The VAR Guy’s kids run up to five applications on their Linux-based Asus Eee PC Netbook.

In its infinite wisdom, Microsoft has tried to counter Linux on Netbooks with Windows 7 Starter. But in the end, The VAR Guy predicts, the three application limit will kill all customer interest in Windows 7 Starter. And users who accidentally purchase Windows 7 Starter will be turned off by Microsoft’s artificial limitations.

By the way: WorksWithU — The VAR Guy’s sister site — predicted last week that the mainstream media would start to more aggressively mention Linux as they began to discover Windows 7’s limitations and flaws. Sure enough, that situation occured today when The Wall Street Journal pointed out Windows 7’s three-app limit and spent some ink on Linux.

I suspect that I would be less than happy to be limited to running only three applications at a time on a Netbook (not Notebook/Laptop). It seems that if this is the case, one would be better off getting something like an openmoko, iPhone, G1, Nokia, etc. It certainly would be more convenient to carry in one's pocket, as well as providing what would appear to be comparable functionality.

And with that, I am off to see the wizard...

Ballmer Warns Business to Stop Installing XP, or Employees Will Complain

2009-02-07T18:04:00.002-06:00

This has to be one of the most rediculous things, coming from Steve Ballmer's mouth, I have read in a long time. In fact I am of the opinion that this warning from Mr. Ballmer is certainly a poor example of what is commonly known as FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt). Who does Mr. Ballmer think he is kidding here? Am I expected not to have the mental capacity to realize that Mr. Ballmer is up to his shenanigans again? Am I expected to swallow this warning hook, line, and sinker?

Posted 02/06/09 at 09:08:34 AM | by Paul Lilly

The time has come for businesses to abandon Windows XP and start using Vista, so says Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Failure to do so might result in a discontent work force.

"If you deploy a four or five-year old operating sytem today, most people will ask their boss why the heck they don't have the stuff they have at home," Ballmer said during an interview at a New York City Event.

Whether or not "the stuff they have at home" is Vista or XP, Ballmer has good reason to push the former to business owners. According to the most recent survey results collected by Forrester, Vista is powering slightly less than 10 percent of all PCs within enterprises in North America and Europe.

On the bright side (for Microsoft), Ballmer may not have to do much convincing. Forrester also says that 31 percent of enterprises have begun deploying Vista, even with Windows 7 now on the horizon.

The laptops and desktops I use at both home and work are sufficiently powerful to run Widows Vista with no problem at all. However, all of my home computers run Linux, with a single computer that runs Windows XP Home Edition (dual boot for the wife). I have no inclination to change this in any way shape or form, especially if my option is to use Windows Vista.

The computers I use at work are XP Professional based. This is obviously not my first choice, but I have zero input regarding the hardware, software, or OS I use here. Now that I think about it, I think that I can safely say that I have never felt discontent that my company is not running Linux even though this is my OS preference at home. So, how can Mr. Ballmer make such a statement, regarding switching to Windows Vista, with a straight face?

I seem to recall having read an article that indicated Microsoft was providing a downgrade-to-Windows XP coupon for those users purchasing a new computer with Windows Vista pre-installed. It has been suggested that this was being done because even Microsoft knew they had a turd out there. It is like someone getting in an elevator and cutting a fart just before the elevator stops to pick up another passenger. No matter what the farter starter says to cover his/her tracks, they both know the origin of the stink.

Overall my problem with Microsoft is that, relative to their OSes, they try to take control from the user because they feel they know what is best, which is certainly not always the case. To some extent I have countered this by replacing the Explorer shell with Emerge Desktop and various utilities. This has allowed me to configure the look and feel of my Windows experience. I can not do much about the way the bloated behemouth behaves.

If you ask me, moving to Windows Vista is not an upgrade, and with that, I am off to see the wizard...

open...: Enter the Lizard

2009-02-07T16:02:00.003-06:00

open...: Enter the Lizard A special thanks to Glyn Moody for his insightful commentary on what is currently taking place in the European Union relative to Microsoft; and specifically the Microsoft Internet Explorer. This commentary is not specifically about Microsoft woes so much as it is about a positive response by Mozilla.

And with that, I am off to see the wizard...

Germany Arrests Terrorist Suspected of Supplying Al Qaeda

2009-02-07T12:46:00.005-06:00

Top 10 Cheap or Free Home Theater Upgrades

2009-02-07T11:19:00.004-06:00

via Lifehacker by Kevin Purdy on 2/7/09

You've got a mind-blowing picture, surround sound, and streaming content set up, but it wasn't cheap. Heal your wallet with ten upgrades, fixes, and setup tips that take your system to 11 on the cheap.

Photo by chunkysalsa.

10. Hide away your discs in style

Not everybody wants their CD or DVD collection to be a proud, visible part of their living room. And a lot of people have had old-school, giant-box speakers shoved in their garages, or offered up constantly by parents, aunts, uncles, or anyone else with a formerly hi-fi system. An Instructables user came up with a media cabinet made from broken speakers. If you're still feeling like you've got too many disc boxes to shove in any container, consider clearing out your DVD clutter.

9. Make your own speaker mounts

Once you start buying home theater components, the little high-margin items add up real quick, and speaker mounts are no different. For $2 in materials and an hour's work, you can get your 5.1 components off the ground for better sound and hoist them on your DIY speaker wall mounts. Because, seriously, you're paying at least $20 for a set of brackets that don't have to hold much, and doing it yourself also gives you more flexibility in placement and spacing.

8. Childproof your setup

This is definitely the cheapest hardware hack we whole-heartedly recommend. We know the smell of stretched plastic wrap and the thrill of getting your new gear set up, but the safety anchors that come with most every TV stand are definitely worth revisiting, or buying if you've already tossed them. Even if there's no tykes in the house, you never know who's coming to visit, or which dark and tired night sends your screen to its doom. Hit up the Wired How-To Wiki for more child-proofing suggestions.

7. Get the right antenna (or build your own)

You've probably seen more rabbit ears in electronics stores recently than since the Cosby Show was still airing. That's because stores, and manufacturers, are anticipating a consumer scramble for antennas to pick up the the soon-to-be-all-digital signals. Before you join the herds, find the best antenna type for getting the most reception at your home with AntennaWeb, which can sometimes get down to street level to explain which direction and sizes you'll need to grab your over-the-air channels. Looking for a weekend project? Try building your own antenna to feel like you're truly getting something for nothing.

6. Calibrate your HD TV for free

You paid for those deep blacks, the contrast with real pop, and all those hundreds of vertical and horizontal pixels, but you might not be seeing them. You could pay a professional (or, uh, the Geek Squad) to swing by and stare at your set, or you could follow Popular Mechanics' step-by-step troubleshooting guide, or follow the New York Times' advice and take the DVD route. Many films come with a setup feature, and tinted glasses, dubbed the THX Optimizer—here's the full list of discs—that can get your screen crisp and bright-looking with just a little eye-exam-style testing.

5. Create a multi-room wireless system for one-tenth the price

Controlling all the music playing across your house isn't reserved for people living in the near-futuristic movies or those willing to shell out a grand or more for the Sonos Bundle and other one-brand solutions. If you've got a wireless router, and already own an iPhone or iPod touch, it's just a (relatively) small purchase and some iTunes tweaking to turn your iPhone or iPd touch into a master music remote. Plus, you're getting a lot more control over your tunes than you would with a single-provider setup, and you get control over your multi-room system from your computer as well. And there are a lot of good reasons to invest in an iPod touch, anyways.

4. Turn Your Xbox (or Wii) Into a Media Center

Anyone reading Lifehacker for a while would know we're huge fans of the Xbox Media Center, a free, open-source project that turns your old, first-gen Xbox into a killer media center. That alone puts streaming music, downloaded videos, feed-fed media, and other goodies into your TV and speakers, and there's always plenty of add-ons and goodies to grab. But what if—for the kids, for the fitness aspect, for just the bowling—you own a Wii? Using the free Orb streaming media server from a Windows PC, you can use your Wii as a media center, giving you access to video, music, pictures, and lots more. Just want some remote music playing? Use a similar browser-based tweak to streaming your iTunes library to your Wii.

3. Set up your optimal theater space

You want everyone in your viewing room to be able to see and hear the show, but you don't want feet near heads, direct window glare, covered heating vents—sometimes, in other words, you need a plan. You could take one of our clever reader's tips and template your furniture to get a clear-eyed look at what should go where. For those with better eyes for computer layouts than floor plans, try one of the Charles & Hudson blog's 10 virtual room planning tools. If it's all about the screen—and, let's face it, it probably is—than make sure you're getting the best viewing distance for your investment with CNET's size/distance guide for HD TVs.

2. Skip the DVR fees, roll your own

All it takes is a sub-$100 TV tuner, in plug-in card or USB form, to turn pretty much any PC into a DVR box. Whether that's a computer you've already got, or a new box you grab for that express purpose, it's truly within anyone's reach to build their own DVR. Which app you pick to record and manage your TV is up to your—but our readers, and editor, all prefer Windows' built-in Media Center. It gets the job done, costs nothing (more than a Windows install, anyways), and looks pretty slick sliding around the biggest of screens.

1. Wire your living room over Wi-Fi (wherever your router is)

Most of us get our internet from a cable or DSL connection, and have to put our wireless routers wherever that pipeline happens to be hooked up. But what if you've got devices that want (or benefit from) a hard cable connection—Apple TVs, media center PCs, TiVos, certain Xbox models, and the like? Skip buying the proprietary, huge-margin Wi-Fi adaptors and wire your living room over a Wi-Fi bridge. A bridge is less than $100, but you can also turn a standard $50-ish Wi-Fi router into a bridge with the super-charged DD-WRT or Tomato firmware upgrades. Now you've brought the net into your living room without a 100-foot cable, and the world's your broadband oyster. Just need a fix for your Xbox, old or new? Consider using your laptop as a free Xbox Wi-Fi adapter.

What's the best thing you've done for your home theater with a cheap purchase, or at no cost at all? What makes your living room the ultimate viewing room (other than the 60" plasma, of course)? Swap some shop talk in the comments.

Update: BloGTK v1.1

2009-02-07T10:50:00.002-06:00

As it turns out, BloGTK v1.1 is pretty usable once I figured out the appropriate server in which to connect. Relative to the Kinetic Circus, the following was the appropriate server:

http://www.blogger.com/api/RPC2

As I am sure you can tell, the documentation/help is non-existent. I looked for help within the software, using 'man blogtk', and the website associated with this project. Alas, there was no information immediately available. I did find another Linux related blog that had a link to the fix. However, the URL ended with a 404 HTML error, 'file not found'.

Something else that I have not figured out is how to implement a title in a specific post. I see where the title should logically go, but the text entry field does not appear to be active. Because HTML is implemented, perhaps I will money around with that a bit and see where it lands me. I suspect that I will end up in trouble.

And with that, I am off to see the wizard...

Initial Work with BloGTK v1.1

2009-02-07T09:48:00.002-06:00

In the past I have not really been interested in the whole Weblog (or Blog) thing. As of late, I have really been a news hound, receiving RSS feeds for a large number of sources. Wanting to share what I considered to be what I considered either interesting or important, I resorted to posting on my Facebook account. However, after some contemplation, I felt that not everyone (my friends and family) was interested in the same things as I. Subsequently, I have taken this to another medium, specifically here.

As I run Linux on every functional computer in my home. I thought that I would see what was available in terms of (I hate the term) Blogging software. What I am using for this post is BloGTK 1.1. I have not had the opportunity to explore all of the functionality, as this is my first post since installation of the software. At some point in the future I would like to sort out my overall impression of BloGTK.

Now I am off to see the wizard...

Man killed by cell phone explosion in China

2009-02-06T19:48:00.002-06:00

from Releaselog | RLSLOG.net by Martin It’s being reported that a man has died after putting a new battery in his phone. After the initial charging, he put the phone in his pocket and shortly thereafter it exploded, killing him. This is the ninth such explosion reported since 2002. The Chinese daily Shin Min Daily News reports the accident occurred on January 30 at 7:30pm local time at what may have been a Lenovo shop. A nearby employee heard a loud bang, looked over and saw her co-worker lying on the floor in a pool of blood. While the make and model of cell phone is not yet known or not being reported, police are currently investigating whether or not the phone and/or battery were counterfeit. Authorities have issued warning tips that cell phones and batteries should not be tampered with or replaced with counterfeit parts. In 2007, a 22-yr old welder died from chest wounds when his mobile phone exploded while working at an iron mill. Authorities concluded in that case that the battery had been exposed to sparks and high heat in the iron mill.

Drug From Genetically Altered Goats Approved

2009-02-06T17:46:00.003-06:00

AP WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration made history Friday as it approved the first drug made with materials from genetically engineered animals, clearing the way for a new class of medical therapies. GTC Biotherapeutics said regulators cleared its drug ATryn, which is manufactured using milk from goats that have been scientifically altered to produce extra antithrombin, a protein that acts as a natural blood thinner. The drug's approval may be the first step toward new kinds of medications made not from chemicals, but from living organisms altered by scientists. Similar drugs could be available in the next few years for a range of human ailments, including hemophilia. The FDA cleared the drug to treat patients with a rare hereditary disorder that causes a deficiency of the protein, putting them at higher risk of deadly blood clots. The injectable treatment will be marketed in the U.S. by Deerfield, Ill.-based Ovation Pharmaceuticals About 1 in 5,000 people don't produce enough antithrombin protein, according to Framingham, Mass.-based based GTC. As a result, their blood is more likely to stick together, occasionally causing clots that can travel to the lungs or brain, causing death. Half of patients with the disorder experience their first life-threatening clot before age 25. Pregnant women with the ailment are at higher risk of miscarriage or stillbirth, because of blood clots in the placenta. Patients with hereditary anithrombin deficiency are currently prescribed conventional blood thinners, like Plavix from Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis. That will not change with the new approval. ATryn is only approved for use when patients are undergoing surgery or having a baby, times when the risk of dangerous clots is particularly high. Those patients would receive the drug by intravenous infusion for a limited time before and after their procedures. To make the drug, scientists from GTC put modified DNA, or rDNA, for the human antithrombin protein into single-cell embryos of goats. Goat embryos with the gene were then inserted into the wombs of surrogate mothers who gave birth to baby goats that produce the protein-charged milk. Genetically engineered, or GE, animals are not clones but rather animals that have had their DNA changed to produce a desirable characteristic. "We looked carefully at seven generations of these GE goats," FDA Director for Veterinary Medicine Bernadette Dunham said in a statement. "All of them are healthy and haven't seen any adverse effects from the rDNA construct or its expression." Amid growing questions about GE technology, the FDA last month issued guidelines on how it will regulate products made from the animals. FDA said it will not allow any such products to be sold without first submitting them to scrutiny by independent advisers at a public meeting. The agency's panel of blood product experts recently concluded ATryn was safe and effective. But consumer groups said the FDA's long-awaited policy will not require all genetically engineered foods to be labeled as such. And they said the government has not done enough to examine the potential impact of genetically engineered animals on the environment, particularly if some escape and begin to mate with animals in nature. ATryn should be available for patients in the second quarter of this year, GTC said. The drug received European approval in 2006. Shares of GTC Therapeutics fell 7 cents, or 9 percent, to 75 cents in midday trading.

Flipside Wallet Is a Durable, Streamlined Wallet

2009-02-06T17:18:00.002-06:00

By Adam Pash, 3:00 PM on Fri Feb 6 2009, 416 views

We're big fans of all-things-wallet around here, which is why the Flipside Wallet caught our eye. This interesting new wallet organizes your credit cards and cash in a gadgety, durable hard-shelled case.

The wallet itself has separate compartments for everything, including eight credit card slots and RFID shielding to prevent RFID theft. The video should give you a pretty good idea of how the Flipside works, so give it a play for a closer look.

The biggest catch: a Flipside Wallet will set you back a whopping $45—which seems like a lot for what you're getting. The Flipside is also a little thicker than we'd like (4 1/4" x 2 3/4" x 11/16"), especially since we're so keen on slimmed down wallets. If the price and size is a little too much for you but you'd like a hard-case wallet, check out the previously mentioned Jimi wallet, which retails for a slim $15.

Kinetic Circus

Full-Circle

The Art of Overcoming Information Deception

Ubuntu 11.04 Banshee Issue Overcome

Messing Around with Enlightenment

Screenshot for 04/17/10

Social Networking Considered

Stock up in Guns and Canned Food not Gold Roubini advice | Nouriel Roubin

Frisbee Inventor Dies At 90

Creepy!

Meet Your Linux Journal Team

Radical Comic Designer 1.0.1 Review

Regnum Online Review

The Spread of Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt Benefits No One in the Long Run

Screenshot for 02/21/09

Bill Would Require ISPs, Wi-Fi Users To Keep Logs

Ten Reasons Why Linux Will Triumph Over Windows

World's Greatest Hacker Says Obama's BlackBerry Can Be Breached

Update II: BloGTK v1.1

I Give Up. Windows Is Proof That People Are Too Stupid To Use Computers.

Assign Application for Specific Mime Type

Linux 101 Hacks - Download Free eBook

Linux Versus the Microsoft Trained Brain Syndrome

Top 10 Responses to Why Should I Use Linux? - A Linux Evangelist's Reference

Free software isn't freeware: why Linux and FOSS have a higher standard

Three Reasons Windows 7 Will Fail On Netbooks

Ballmer Warns Business to Stop Installing XP, or Employees Will Complain

open...: Enter the Lizard

Germany Arrests Terrorist Suspected of Supplying Al Qaeda

Top 10 Cheap or Free Home Theater Upgrades

10. Hide away your discs in style

9. Make your own speaker mounts

8. Childproof your setup

7. Get the right antenna (or build your own)

6. Calibrate your HD TV for free

5. Create a multi-room wireless system for one-tenth the price

4. Turn Your Xbox (or Wii) Into a Media Center

3. Set up your optimal theater space

2. Skip the DVR fees, roll your own

1. Wire your living room over Wi-Fi (wherever your router is)

Update: BloGTK v1.1

Initial Work with BloGTK v1.1

Man killed by cell phone explosion in China

Drug From Genetically Altered Goats Approved

Flipside Wallet Is a Durable, Streamlined Wallet

Discussions

Got something to say? There are 3 ways to comment:

SUBSCRIBE TO Lifehacker