Almost ten years ago I was on a roadtrip to Moses Lake, Wa to attend the wedding of my computer guru. On the first morning of a week long trip I awoke in a South Dakota motel room to a the picture of a tower in flames. As I watched a second plane hit the second tower and I as most of the country went into a what is going on mode. As I continued to travel westward the only thing on the car radio was more grim news of the happenings in New York and Washington and in a little town in PA. The news was horrible to say the least. And as you can imagine the rest of the trip was one of many failures as all the planned visits were closed for fear of more attacks,all national parks and landmarks were closed and I ended up in a motel room 5 days earlier than planned.

Now today I awake to the news that the mastermind of these attacks has been killed! Am I over joyed? Doh! I am glad that, that weasel is finally dead. I know that his death will not bring back all the lives that were lost that day, the innocent people from not only this country but many others and the lives of the brave first responders that also gave their lives in a futile attempt to save others. Am I jumping with joy? No I am just sitting here ready to say that chapter of my life is over as it is for many many more of the surviors and their relatives. I thank the US Seals that preformed the mission and for the many others that still today are fighting for us and the world to rid the planet of such people. 

Well it’s been an eventful few weeks here in the Linux blogosphere, what with all the various scandals that have erupted recently over Digg and Ubuntu’s off-and-on romance with Dell, to name just two. Then there was Debian’s birthday on Monday! Happy 17th, Debian! By far the hottest topic in recent days, however, was news that Canonical has begun tracking Ubuntu installations. It’s true! The new “canonical-census” package apparently sends an “I am alive” ping to Canonical each day as a way to help the company track the users of OEM Ubuntu installations.

Yikes so big brother is watching, Baldy

Canonical Teaches Ubuntu to Phone Home Every Day

Linux’ share of the desktop market grew to 1.13 percent, says Net Applications, making Linux the only OS to gain in May. Meanwhile, Linux server revenue share grew to 16.8 percent, says IDC, and Linux is now running on 91 percent of the 500 fastest supercomputers. Linux has soared in recent years in the embedded world, especially with the Linux-based Android giving it a boost in smartphone sales. More fun is on the way, according to ABI Research, which recently projected that Linux-based mobile operating systems, led by Android, will own 33 percent of the global smartphone market by 2015, with a growth rate that is faster than the robust smartphone market at large.

Here is that report Randy, Baldy

Linux inches up on desktop, holds steady on servers

It seems fair to say that the relationship between programmer and platform is in many ways like a romantic one, characterized by mutual respect and a balanced exchange of give and take on both sides. Just as so many of us love and respect Linux, for instance, so it surely loves us back with all its many virtues — no strings or price tags attached! So happy are many in the Linux community with their favorite OS, in fact, that it was difficult not to feel mortally wounded by a recent accusation that Linux does less for programmers than Microsoft does.

Humm this is getting to be a regular subject these days, Baldy

Does Linux Do Enough for Programmers?

Turn on an Android OS phone, and that little yellow robot pops up all over the touchscreen like R2D2 on bionic steroids. A mini-chorus line of them shows up first, then just one robot decides to play hide and seek with you; there he is peeking out from the left side of the screen. Now he’s upside down, waving at you with a tiny cyber-arm. The impression is that this Android sure gets around, and it must have seemed that way to consumers doing their smartphone shopping from January through March of this year, if NPD Group’s data is any indication.

Oh good some one else not happy with Mr Jobs, I’m not sure but there has to be a reason he seems to be the only one that can make everyone mad at once and for different reasons, Baldy

Strategy Wars: Android’s Wide-Open Assault vs. Apple’s Tight Grip

A currently ongoing ransomware campaign is using a novel approach to extort money from end users whose PCs have been locked down.

By pretending to be the fake ICPP Foundation (icpp-online.com), the ransomware locks down the user’s desktop issuing a “Copyright violation: copyrighted content detected” message, which lists torrent files found on the infected PC, and forces the user to pay $400 for the copyright holder’s fine, emphasizing on the fact that “the maximum penalties can be five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines.
[...]
Gullible end users who fall victim to the scam, will then be asked to pay $399.85 for a “Legal license purchase“, “Copyright holder fine“, a “Copyright protection organization fee for the use of software tracking illegal file downloads” and a “Traffic fee“.

Basically, you’ve got a profit margin driven ransomware business model, that’s ironically charging you a fee for the development of ransomware “software” itself.

Pay attention folks this is another attempt by idiots to take advantage of you, Baldy

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Ransomware Taking A Novel Approach To Extortion

Apple’s newly launched iPad may be taking up the majority of consumer mindshare in the tablet category following its launch earlier this month, but Google is furtively working on a device of its own that will be powered exclusively by Android. That’s according to reports of comments made by Google CEO Eric Schmidt at a recent Los Angeles party. Google has been experimenting in stealth mode to explore content delivery options on a tablet device, according to New York Times sources who declined to be named.

Humm looks like Google has decided to chase the Mac Boys for a while, Baldy

Google May Engage Android to Flatten the iPad

I still have my copy of the 1975 issue of Popular Electronics with the Altair on the cover.

H. Edward Roberts died this week at age 68. If you don’t know the story of how Roberts helped launch the personal computing revolution, let us fill you in.
[...]
Even with $250,000 in debt and a collapsing business, Ed. Roberts didn’t waver from his commitment to personal computing. He persevered building the prototype of the first personal computer, the Altair 8800, named unofficially after a planet visited in the Star Trek episode Amok Time.

The Altair 8800 saved the company. Ed. Roberts had brokered a deal with Intel to buy Intel 8080 chips in bulk for $75/chip (normally they were $360/chip). The cheap CPUs allowed the Altair 8800 to retail for $439 ($621 assembled) at the time when Intel’s Intellec-8 Microprocessor Development System, another Intel 8080 based system, sold for $10,000.

The cheap Altair 8800 not only proved a mild commercial hit, but it helped launch the world’s biggest electronics company today, Microsoft. In 1975 Bill Gates and Paul Allen, students at Harvard at the time read about the Altair. They contacted Ed. Roberts telling him they were developing a programming language interpreter and asking if he was interested in purchasing in it.

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R.I.P. Ed Roberts, Personal Computer Pioneer

Okay it has happened I am joining the 21st century if you want to read my tweets, and they are not many I plan to tweet more on my up and coming roadtrip,but if you really want to know here is the addy My twitter feed so there ya go folks.

SourceForge Inc. has announced that it has officially changed its name to Geeknet. According to Scott L. Kauffman, President and CEO “Renaming the company Geeknet is the latest step in our rapid transformation.” The company believes that the new name will be a more accurate articulation of its business. Kauffman said “With Geeknet as our calling card on Madison Avenue, we are now able to clearly define the audience we serve and more effectively capture the business opportunity that we are addressing,”.

Darn now I have to change all my links, Baldy

SourceForge Inc changes its name to Geeknet