Skip to content

Technology

Summer of Code

Welcome to Google’s Summer of Code.

In an effort to give back to the Open Source community, Google is sponsoring up to 200 students $4500 each to those who write code for an Open Source group.

Groups include Ubuntu Linux, the Gnome Foundation, , Python, Mono and many more.

Read the FAQ for more questions.

Students have to work with a mentoring organization, have their code approved and signed off on to qualify for the monies.

Very, very cool program Google has put together. It helps out the Open Source communities and helps teach students computer science, and how to contribute to Open Source. Props to Google and the Open Source groups involved (for listing out the specific bounty ideas and supplying a mentor).

HP dv1000

I received a HP dv1000 as a gift from the Company last week, and quickly threw Ubuntu 5.04 on it.

It’s a gorgeous laptop – Centrino based, with an Intel 54g built in, built in 5 in 1 card reader, firewire, USB everywhere, and widescreen 1280×768 monitor. It’s pretty sexy for a notebook too, with a silver finish on the outside, and a shiny, glossy black finish on the inside.

Ubuntu worked great on it, other than the Centrino wireless, but Intel is starting to make a push in supporting Linux with their wireless cards. Following the How-To on the Ubuntu Forums helped, but it didn’t work until I changed my kernel from 2.6.10-5-386 to 2.6.10-5-686, and bam, everything worked.

Ubuntu works great on it, the card reader is supported, installation defaulted to the correct widescreen, DVD-RW, Synaptic touchpad worked, and battery life is excellent.

Need to throw some other applications on it before the weekend, including Tomboy, Bluefish, MP3, DVD playing, and Muine, and I’ll work on the blog layout while visiting the in-laws this weekend.

If you want to read a decent review and see pictures, click here.

Playstation3 Unveiled

Trumping Microsoft in the aesthetics department, the Playstation3 was unveiled tonight.

Gorgeous, sleek design (with the exception of the controller, blech), in 3 colors, with more connectivity than you’d ever think you need: 6 USB, 3 Ethernet, 6 Bluetooth, Wi-Fi (for PSP!) and best of all…2 HD outputs.

Check it:

Speaking of video, Sony Computer Entertainment’s Chief Technical Officer Masa Chatani was on hand to show off the PS3’s panoramic video functions. Since the console has two HD outputs, it is can be hooked up to two side-by-side HDTVs to projecting video in a 32:9 extra-widescreen format (think Cinemascope in your living room). Like a gigantic version of the Nitnendo DS, the dual digital outputs also allow for an extended game display, with the action on one screen and either game information or video chat on the second.

With just a little less system memory than X-Box 360, and launching 4-6 months later, it will be interesting to see the big bad mega-corporations duke it out.

More theme stuff

I came across a new theme yesterday, Relaxation, that adds a 3rd row as a Flickr badge of your latest photo’s.

I’ve decided to give up IE compatibility, and focus on Firefox. This theme, as well as a number of others I’ve played with, works fine in Firefox (go go standards) but not in IE.

I’m traveling later in the week, and getting a new laptop as well. Memorial Day I’ll be home in Wisconsin, and plan on coding the new theme’s CSS then.

The Future of Gnome

There is a brouhaha stirring on Planet Gnome, the aggregator web site for the blogs of Gnome developers.

First of all, I’d like to say, I am not a programmer, I am only a user, and I choose to use Gnome as my desktop.

I will save for another post why I choose to use Gnome on Linux, but suffice to say, I’ve been using Linux and Gnome on and off for almost 8 years, and this last year or two, almost exclusively on my personal desktop, and longer than that on the my productivity box for email, IRC, IM and storage.

A little background: Edd Dumbill kicked off the conversation a few weeks ago when he said his Gnome hacking had slowed because of lack of fun, and lack of direction of what language to code in within Gnome.

Everyone, including the big names like Havoc and Miguel have weighed in, and there have been some really good points made about the different development languages (mostly Java vs Python vs Mono/C#).

Alex summed up what the major vendors will do:

  • Novell will continue to ship Mono because it has a vested interest in its perpetuation.
  • RedHat will continue to not ship it for the foreseeable future, because they have a vested interest in not being sued.
  • Ubuntu and everyone else will eventually include Mono because users want the apps. And no matter what, the handful of apps I’ve half-started writing are all in C#.

And Paul Drain summed it up the best:

but in the end:

  • the end-user will eventually demand quality applications written in both of these languages on the desktop. And that’s the key for me. I’m just as freaked out about the Microsoft patent issue in Mono / C# that could raise it’s ugly head some day. With that said, most of the coolest and innovative applications that are being written right now for the Gnome Desktop are in Mono / C#. From Tomboy for notes taking (and let me tell you: keeping track via Tomboy as I rip my CD collection with one note on missing discs, another note on scratched discs has been a lifesaver) to Muine for listening to music (It blows Rhythmbox away in my opinion) to F-Spot for managing and tagging photos. All of these applications are applications I use daily, and just work. (Thank you Ubuntu Universe repository). I look forward to using Beagle in the future for desktop searching. In fact it was Beagle & Dashboard a few years ago when Nat was first brainstorming around Beagle that really grabbed me and sucked me back in to Linux.

I want innovation in the desktop, and applications that just work. Those, combined with Gnome’s remote desktop features, (and my passion for free software development) keep me using Gnome every day.

Google Acquires Dodgeball

Ya know, I post this morning about the cool things Yahoo is doing in connecting their users, and how I think Google is doing more around services, and web services than around user inter-connection.

And then Google goes and acquires a company like Dodgeball just to prove me wrong. Ok, they’re not out to prove me wrong, but Dodgeball is the definition of a service that connects users.

If you haven’t heard of Dodgeball (they were getting a ton of press late last year) you need to check the link above and follow it to it’s home page. It’s all about using text messaging via cell phones to connect with friends, and more imporantly, friends of your friends to meet new people. Cool stuff.

Yahoo Music Service Launches

Via Slashdot:

Betanews has the story that Yahoo has launched their music service to compete with Napster & iTunes. Yahoo has quite an interesting strategy in the music business. With pricing 60% less than Napster & Rhapsody ($4.99 / mo with an annual fee), 79 cent downloads (99 cents if you’re not a monthly subscriber) (and at 192k WMA!), a media player that integrates with other Yahoo services with support for other formats, and support for Janus portable players just like Napster2Go.

The first user post on the Betanews story, is a link to one of the developers’ blog, who has a ton of information on the Yahoo service and player.

What’s interesting to me about Yahoo right now is their focus on their users. Including their acquisition of Flickr, the launch of Yahoo 360, and now music, they’re very focused on tying these services together, and user communication between members (look at your friends music list for suggestions, or Flickr tags and friends lists). While Google is focusing on web and desktop services applications, Yahoo is going in a different direction in creating communities, and tools for these communities to share and grow closer together.

Now if only their music engine / services worked on Linux…dammit, I’d buy music online if I could.

Broadcast Flag Struck Down

On Fri., May 6th, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled the FCC overstepped it’s bounds when it created the Broadcast Flag.

The EFF has the story, as well as CNet’s News.com.

This is big, very big. It was unexpected, especially a unanimous decision by the Court. Congress needs to legislate, not the FCC.

My favorite quote from the judges:

“You’re out there in the whole world, regulating. Are washing machines next?” asked Judge Harry Edwards. Quipped Judge David Sentelle: “You can’t regulate washing machines. You can’t rule the world.”

Here’s to all the groups that opposed the travesty that was the Broadcast Flag, from the EFF article:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) joined Washington DC-based advocacy group Public Knowledge in fighting the rule in the courts, together with Consumers Union, the Consumer Federation of America, the American Library Association, the Association of Research Libraries, the American Association of Law Libraries, the Medical Library Association, and the Special Libraries Association. The coalition argued that the rule would interfere with the legitimate activities of technology innovators, librarians, archivists, and academics, and that the FCC exceeded its regulatory authority by imposing technological restrictions on what consumers can do with television shows after they receive them.

Receiver down, receiver down

My center channel on my receiver has stopped working for no apparent reason. I’ve swapped out speakers, cable, checked the connections and the settings, and all I get is warbly static out of my center.

No idea why it picked now to stop working. It’s 6 years old, and with the basement on the horizon, I really don’t feel like buying a new one for the living room.

Dammit.