In Search of the Best Linux for Windows Refugees

Much as we here in the Linux community may wish that everyone could cut their proverbial computing "teeth" on our favorite operating system, the fact remains that the majority of the world starts off on Windows. That, after all, is why the tragedy of "Microsoft Trained Brain Syndrome" has persisted all these years. It only stands to reason, then, that growing the ranks of Linux users will depend in large part on making Windows users as comfortable as possible during their transition to the free and open source way of life.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/223711cb/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C758590Bhtml/story01.htm

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Switched On: Surface damage

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

DNP Switched On surface damage

As Switched On discussed a few weeks ago, and as Microsoft noted in its recent 10-K filing, it is an unavoidable truth that the company getting into the hardware market will cause conflict with its partners. The extent of that conflict, though, depends on many variables and Microsoft can -- and must -- take steps to ameliorate it.

Continue reading Switched On: Surface damage

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Switched On: Surface damage originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Aug 2012 17:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/jqgK6Mm-BEU/

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Protean Echo Is the Last Payment Card You’ll Ever Need

How many debit, credit, loyalty or other magnetic strip cards do you have in your wallet?  The Protean Echo is a concept designed to lighten your  wallet, but in a good way. Due to be put up as a funding project on Kickstarter in Winter, the Echo system allows you to scan all your magnetic data from your cards into your smartphone and then sync any three cards to your Echo. By pressing one of the three buttons on the card, the Echo takes on the “personality” of that card. The Echo can then be swiped just like you would normally with your card. You can easily sync the Echo to your phone to change cards at any time.

To me, there’s still a number of security issues to take in to consideration here, but at an expected cost of between $80 – $100 it certainly looks like an interesting concept.

Filed in categories: Miscellaneous, News, Wallets

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Protean Echo Is the Last Payment Card You’ll Ever Need originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 13, 2012 at 8:00 am.

VMware adds Mozy to its cloud and virtualization empire

mozy vmware
Mozy is one of the most popular cloud backup services around, with more than one million users storing around 70 petabytes of data. Its popularity apparently put it on the acquisition radar of VMware -- which has now made Mozy part of its virtualization empire.

VMware's official blog post makes it clear that the company wasn't so much interested in Mozy as a consumer offering. Rather, it's the inner workings of Mozy which piqued VMware's curiosity. CTO Steve Herrod says, "Over the past 5 years, Mozy has built one of the best examples of a globally distributed, large-scale cloud offering." He adds that the move will allow VMware to "further ramp our own cloud-related learning and accelerate new IP, scale, and capabilities" of its existing offerings.

Existing Mozy customers don't need to worry, of course. VMware has pledged to continue running Mozy's service without interruption.

VMware adds Mozy to its cloud and virtualization empire originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/05/vmware-takes-over-operation-of-mozy/

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Ship Servicing Undersea Telecom Cabling Burns off Namibian Coast

The Chamarel burns in a cloud of smoke. Image: Namib Times

The Chamarel, a ship that’s responsible for laying and servicing undersea fiber-optic cables, caught fire and required evacuation while off of Namibia’s Skeleton Coast in the Atlantic Ocean. The fire started on Wednesday while the ship was returning from repairing a Sat3-Safe cable network that stretches from Portugal and Spain to West Africa, and then to India and finally Malaysia.

The Chamarel is one of six cable ships owned by France-Telecom Orange. It has been erecting and maintaining undersea cables since 1975, laying more than 100,000 kilometers (62,137 miles) of fiber-optic cables across the globe. The cables help form the backbone of international fiber-optic communications, and are used for transmitting internet traffic from continent to continent, and transmitting telephone and cable television signals.

Previously known as the Vercors, the Chamarel laid AT&T’s TAT 6 cables between Rhode Island and France back in 1976, and TAT 7 cables between New Jersey and England in 1983. More recently, the ship laid Sat-3/Safe cables between South Africa, India and Malaysia in 2002.

Since then, the Chamarel has helped to keep several countries connected. The ship has been responsible for repairing any breaks that occur along cables located in the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean. Cable breakages oftentimes occur in shallower waters, due to dropped ship anchors and fishing trawlers.

A fishing vessel approaching the Chamarel. Image: Namib Times

Of France-Telecom Orange’s six ships, four are dedicated to maintenance services in the Atlantic-Indian ocean nexus, as well as the Mediterranean basin. Two other vessels — the Rene Descartes and the Teliri — are responsible for laying down new telecommunications systems worldwide.

Though the Chamarel has suffered damages, none of the crew members suffered injuries. A Namibian fishing vessel was able to safely recover all of the ship’s 56 people on board. The cause of the fire has yet to be determined and is currently under investigation.

“This is a very serious incident, and I would like to express my sincere thanks to the crew members for their courage in managing the situation,” Theirry Bonhomme, the company’s senior executive vice president of networks and carriers and R&D, said in a statement. “The safety of our crew is our primary concern and we will look closely at the results of the investigation.”

So far, the only images available of Chamarel burning are coming from local paper Namib Times’ Facebook page.

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/08/fiber-optic-cable-ship-burns-in-skeleton-coast/

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Scrabble Helper helps you improve your Words With Friends gameplay

scrabblehelper
If you play Scrabble (or a scrabble-like game) from time to time, you may want to check out Scrabble Helper. This simple website is a godsend when you're at a loss for words. Simply enter whatever letters you have, and the word you'd like to connect with. Scrabble helper comes up with a whole bunch of suggestions sorted by score.

The site lets you select one of five dictionaries - Scrabble International/US, Lexulous International/US, and Words With Friends. Some people might say this constitutes cheating -- I think if the other side knows you're doing it, it's definitely not cheating. And it doesn't take the challenge out of the game, because implementing Scrabble Helper's suggestions and deciding which words you'd like to connect with still takes a fair bit of thought.

Very handy, though perhaps not one for the Scrabble puritans in the crowd.

Scrabble Helper helps you improve your Words With Friends gameplay originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/14/scrabble-helper-helps-you-improve-your-words-with-friends-gamepl/

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Apple Retail reportedly price-matching discounted iPhones

Apple is reportedly matching the close to $50 discount carriers and retailers have begun offering on the iPhone 4S. While carriers and retailers typically start discounting the current iPhone as it approaches the 1 year mark, and a next generation iPhone looms on the horizon, Apple matching them is somewhat surprising. Eric Slivka reports for MacRumors

A source has now revealed to MacRumors that Apple's retail stores have been given authorization to match these discounted prices from approved major retailers and carriers. In all cases, Apple will discount iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 models by $49.01 upon request.

Retail only, of course, not online. And bring the proof of the price you want them to match. Given Apple's stellar customer service, the extra hassle in getting the price match is worth it. All other things being equal, especially price, if you can't wait a month for an iPhone 5 and need a new phone now, now, now, go to Apple and save your $50 bucks there.

Anyone pulling the trigger?

Source: MacRumors

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/coaQQSFmL3Y/story01.htm

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Google's Giving YouTube a Pass With Its New Piracy Provisions (Updated) [YouTube]

Google is implementing a new policy that will smack down search results from sites that get a lot of DMCA requests. That must affect Google's own YouTube, which must get slammed with them all the time, right? Not exactly. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/v-8piYQCCzw/googles-giving-youtube-a-pass-with-its-new-piracy-provisions

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People who Drink tea are more fun than People who Drink Coffee

Do I have facts to back up this incredible claim? Ummm… yeah, I do. I know that tea drinkers like myself are way more fun than stodgy coffee drinkers because we can use cute tea infusers like this one from Arta. Designed in Seattle, WA, this tea infuser features a flower pot shaped stainless steel perforated basket that can hold 2 or 3 teaspoons of loose leaf tea. Snap the seedling cap over the basket and you’re ready to brew a cup of your favorite tea. The plant stem serves as a handle when it’s time to remove the infuser from the cup. How’s that for instant fun? The Arta Tea Leaf Infuser is dish washer safe and can be purchased through Amazon for $12.99.

Filed in categories: Kitchen Gadgets, News

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People who Drink tea are more fun than People who Drink Coffee originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 12, 2012 at 10:00 am.

Mozilla publishes name and shame list of slow Firefox add-ons, cracks down on tardy devs

Firefox slow-addons list
Mozilla, continuing its year-long crusade to speed up Firefox startup and shutdown times, has published a name and shame list of the Firefox's slowest add-ons.

The list is just one part of Mozilla's new efforts to highlight slow add-ons, and to help developers make their add-ons more efficient. Over the next two weeks, 'slow performance warnings' will be introduced in the add-on gallery so that users can see, before installation, which add-ons will slow down their browser. If that isn't enough to spur developers into cleaning up their add-ons, Mozilla has also begun reaching out to developers of slow add-ons with tips on how to improve add-on performance. Finally, add-on developers will soon have the ability to perform 'on-demand performance testing,' so that they can test their add-on before it's deployed publicly.

Mozilla reports that the average Firefox add-on slows down Firefox's start-up time by 10% -- which means, if you install 10 add-ons, you will double your start-up time. On fast desktop PCs that kind of slowdown might be negligible, but on older computers, laptops and smartphones, it could be the difference between a 5 and 10 second startup. Mozilla has obviously realized that while massive performance gains might've been made with Firefox 4, the addition of third-party add-ons can destroy any user-perceived improvements.

In other news, Mozilla says that a future build of Firefox will block the installation of add-ons (such as toolbars) by third-party software. Add-ons and toolbars that are bundled in this way will require explicit approval when you next open up Firefox. Hooray!

Mozilla publishes name and shame list of slow Firefox add-ons, cracks down on tardy devs originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 05:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/04/mozilla-publishes-name-and-shame-list-of-slow-firefox-add-ons/

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