10 Types Of People

First of all, happy new year .

Second of all, you may be reading this thinking “Man alive, this is quite late for the predictions.” and yes, you will be right, the 3rd year running I have done predictions, and its the first that I have posted them after the first few hours of Jan 1st (UTC). I am a failure, I apologise. More than 24 hours late, but ahhh well..

Anyways, last years predictions were, lets say debatable at best. But partly because they were so vague. This year may be better, may be as bad, let us see. I will do my review of last years 1 in a few days, but I wanted to get this years ones out first.

1. There will be at least 1 upgrade to either ps3, 360 or wii at E3. Most likely will be the wii, as I think it is the 1 most needing an upgrade. We haven’t heard any rumours yet, but that makes this one more fun. PS3 will hopefully not, as it should have a long time left in it as we haven’t reached its potential yet (and I’ve only had 1 for a year…) 360 will probably get 1 next year.
2. Google TV will have its Hero moment (arguably the point when android on phones became properly usable for everyday users). It will have a couple of upgrades, and actually start to be usable by normal people. This will then cause people to buy it, and make it useful and fun.
3. We will drown in tablets and e-readers. The first colour e-reader will be released, and this will be kinda rubbish, cause the refresh rate will still be pretty crap. Better devices will not be released until 2012 (probably until after an Apple colour ereader, an i-nk-pad perhaps?).
4. The Notion Ink Adam will be released?
5. New ipad, iphone and ipod touch (pretty obvious…) No macbooks this year though. They seem to be going off macbooks and releasing them with more than 1 year gap. They will slowly be turned into the ipad with a keyboard.
6. Windows 8 will be announced, but will not be released till either the end of 2012, or beginning of 2013, but they will say beginning of 2012. It will look exactly the same, but will have great “security” features. Including, but not limited to, something “unhackable” and also a new “uncrackable” activation code system, that they seem to spend a lot of time on…
7. Commercially available 4K tv. People start to hear about it, forget about 3D. Although, people will continue to say that the number of pixels I have just now is fine, thank you very much. But they will buy one eventually anyways…
8. Android 2.4 and 3.0 will be released within the year.
9. Canonical will continue alienating people and projects, and will continue on its mission to mac-ify the Linux desktop.
10. Hulu will get off their backside and start their UK service. People celebrate…

Feel free to agree, disagree, moan, shout at me, tell me I’m getting boring, whatever. Thats what the comments form is for I think I’ve found a middle ground between outlandishly crazy, and boringly predictable.

First of all, happy new year . Second of all, you may be reading this thinking “Man alive, this is quite late for the predictions.” and yes, you will be...

I was inspired to write a blog post about computer security due to a number of things. The World’s Technology Podcast had a security episode a couple of weeks ago (and I got a mention last week actually because I emailed them about it), and also the news that there has been a piece of malware distributed on gnome-look.

This malware for debian based linux systems, I believe, required admin priviledges because it was distributed as a .deb file. The funny thing was, this isn’t a security flaw in linux. Well, I think it might be partly. Why don’t we have a system to allow .debs to be installed locally? That would get around this partly. It would mean it wouldn’t be installed by root, only by the user. This malware then had a script that ran and I’m not sure exactly what it did.

The point is, however, that it doesn’t matter how secure an operating system is, people will still get around the security really easily. And what is the reason for this? People. Human beings.

Now, I don’t think a computer I have had has EVER had a virus. Even when I was running Windows. Is this because I didn’t have the internet? Nah, don’t be silly…I’m posting to my blog now amn’t I? Was it because I’m such an amazing computer savvy person? Nah, at one point I hardly knew anything about computers. But I do have computer common sence.

There is a very common thing that people say…common sence is not common. Which is even more so true with computers. And so, for this reason, I decided to write a list of things to make your computer safe.

• Run linux – this might sound like a stupid thing to say, but linux does have slightly better ways of dealing with these things, and as of just now there are hardly any viruses, etc on it.
• Run a virus checker – even on linux and mac. It will serve you well. Yes, there aren’t many viruses yet, but there still are some. It only takes one to muck your computer up.
• Only install from the repos of your linux distro – these have been checked by plenty of people and are safe and do not contain viruses, etc.
• If you must run something that isn’t in the repos (very rare for most distros) then check it out properly before you install it. Talk to people, look at reviews. Think about whether it is reputable (the creator and the distributer).
• Don’t download pirated software – not only because it is illegal and stupid, but because many viruses are contained within pirated software.
• Dont just type in your password to give admin priveledges to everything – think about it. If you haven’t opened up your installer, then why are you being asked for a password? If you just opened up a file you downloaded and it wants your admin password, ask yourself why it wants it. Most programs DO NOT need your admin password.
• Update as often as possible – there will often be important updates in these.

If you follow this advice, then your chances of getting viruses will be greatly decreased. Security is partly in the hands of the developers, but it is also hugely down to you. A normal user. If you get a virus, it is probably your fault.

I was inspired to write a blog post about computer security due to a number of things. The World’s Technology Podcast had a security episode a couple of weeks ago...

Ok, this weeks video of the week is not actually called “but…freecell”, but it is my favourite quote from the video. This is a fantastic video. Yeah, ok, I don’t agree with everything in the video, but its still hilarous.

Oh, btw, there is quite a bit of swearing at the end. So, technically NSFW. Its only one word, just repeated quite a few times.

[edit] I forgot to say…don’t let Windows make you feel sorry for it. It had its day [edit]

Enjoy!!!

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube

Ok, this weeks video of the week is not actually called “but…freecell”, but it is my favourite quote from the video. This is a fantastic video. Yeah, ok, I don’t...

Ok, now this issue has been running around the blogosphere for a while, so I’m going to post my thoughts on it. You may have seen my thoughts on other services, and they are part of what I’m thinking, but i didn’t express them very well, so please take this as my official stance on the issue.

Let me first get the facts right. If I don’t have this right, then please let me know. I believe that Ubuntu is dropping the GIMP because it is not needed, and they are keeping f-spot as it is a photo “editor” as well as manager. Ok…

This is how this blog post will be structured…

1. F-spot is rubbish.
2. Mono is huge
3. Gimp is not necessarily needed, but we need a replacement
4. Summary

F-spot is rubbish
Ok, who uses f-spot? Not me. Not my previously-linux-using girlfriend who is a photographer. Not any photographer I know. Not any linux-user that I know. This bit is not an anti-mono rant. I have nothing against mono, I use it myself. This is an f-spot rant.

F-spot is a chunky, horrible looking application, which promises lots of things and then doesn’t deliver a single thing. It messes with photos, where they are stored, their meta-data and in one case actually resized a whole bunch of my gfs photos, and deleted some. We had a backup for some, but not all, of the photos. Yes, I know, we should keep backups, but we didn’t for once, and ended up losing some.

I challenge 1 person to use f-spot for 2 weeks, and then come and tell me it is a good application. It isn’t. It is also not a photo-editor. I mean, seriously, what sort of photo editing would you do with f-spot? I wouldn’t…

Mono is huge

Name 1 application that uses mono in the default Ubuntu install. f-spot. Anymore? No. None. Banshee never ended up in the default install, did it? No. They took it out.

So, my point is…f-spot is a crap application, take it out, and then you have a huge amount of free space on the Ubuntu cd. Is that not the reason they want to take GIMP out? Space saving? Yeah…so get rid of mono.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying mono is rubbish and we shouldn’t use it. I do use mono. Only for one application, but still. I can only think of 1 application that uses mono that is actually any good. Gnome-do. And seeing as Ubuntu won’t include that in the default install, we should get rid of it.

Some people say it can be used for porting apps to linux from .net. But it hasn’t. It would be a fantastic thing to do that, but it hasn’t been used for ANY app to port over yet. So why are we including such a huge thing in the default install?

Gimp is not necessarily needed, but we need a replacement

I’ll be honest with you, I uninstall GIMP as soon as I install Ubuntu. Because I don’t use it. I think it is a fantastic application, it is massively amazing and very important for the FLOSS community.

My question, however, is whether or not it should be in the default install of Ubuntu. I am of the opinion that it is very very complex and far too big and complex for the majority of computer users. Most people won’t really want a huge photo editor in their install, and if someone does, its really not hard to install it.

What I think we need is a replacement for GIMP in the default install, but make it really easy to install it. Well, we don’t need to make it really easy to install…it already it. “sudo apt-get install gimp” or go to the software centre, find gimp and click on install.

So the question is, what should we replace it with? Gthumb? Xpaint? I’ll be honest with you, i’ve never used them. I don’t do photos. If there is no replacement for gimp that is good, then don’t get rid of it. But we need a sort of “paint-style” app for ubuntu that will do simple stuff, like cropping, resizing, rotating, simple drawing (squares, circles) and then everyone is happy.

Conclusion

F-spot is crap. Get rid of it.

Now that f-spot is out, get rid of mono. Its a space hogger.

Get rid of gimp, and replace it with a “paint-style” app.

Ok, now this issue has been running around the blogosphere for a while, so I’m going to post my thoughts on it. You may have seen my thoughts on other...

Installing programs in linux

I mulled over for a long while about whether or not to publicise my feelings about Package Installation. The reason I did this, is I normally don’t just blog about something that everyone is blogging about. (There are a few ones that I do, but only when I am excited about something, or really really wanna say something.) So, I came to the decision that I would, I’m  still not quite sure why.

Ok, so it seems to me that this discussion has been underground for a long long time, and was just grave robbed when this was posted to the FSM website. And now, suddenly everyone is talking about it.

For those of you who are 1. too lazy to read the post, or 2. not able to read the post, I will tell you about the basics of the discussion.

Basically, Tony Mobily wrote this article complaining about how he thinks that software installation is broken in linux, and how we should have a unified system between all the distros, and it should be simpler, with a way to install programs similar to Mac, where you can just copy 1 file between computers, and you have installed it.

Now, obviously he talks about it in a lot more detail than that, but that is the basics of it, go over the jump to see what I think.

(more…)

I mulled over for a long while about whether or not to publicise my feelings about Package Installation. The reason I did this, is I normally don’t just blog about...

I have decided that I am going to go through the whole of Karmic Koala’s development, and will write bugs, and document my problems etc with it.

So, I just upgraded from Alpha 1 (in which nothing was different really…just a debian sync) to Alpha 2.

What happened now? My audio setup has been mucked up. Woop! I had a great pulseaudio setup with pavucontrol, and everything was working fine. Now…its gone back to only 1 output working. Which is kind of annoying. Will try and fix it and see if I can.

I have also notices that firefox 3.5 is in the repo now (although it is called firefox-3.1, even though the version number is 3.5b4).

Gnome 2.27.1 is the version now, but I can’t see anything different with it, and also the kernel has been updated to 2.6.30-5.6.

Apart from these things, I can’t notice anything else really new, but it is only the second alpha, so there should be lots more to come.

***EDIT***

Turns out the problem lies with firefox. I can have more than 1 app using my sound card. Unless one of them is Firefox. If firefox uses my sound card, nothing else can. And if something else is using my sound card, firefox can’t. But, everything else seems fine. Odd.

I have decided that I am going to go through the whole of Karmic Koala’s development, and will write bugs, and document my problems etc with it. So, I just...

You may remember a while ago, Microsoft started to try and sue TomTom for its use of the Linux Kernel and the Fat filesystem (in a big mess of patents that noone totally understands). Well, TomTom then decided to try and sue Microsoft over their mapping system. Supposodly it breaks a TomTom patent. Ok, so noone likes suing and patents, but that is only part of what TomTom has done which has made them into my Good Companies list.

TomTom joined the Open Invention Network. This is a group of companies (such as Red Hat, IBM, Google, etc) who joined together to share patents and fight Microsoft and Apple essentially. By joining the Open Invention Network, TomTom promise to not sue any other companie in the Open Invention Network and to help fight any companies trying to sue another companie in the Network. In return for this, TomTom get the protection of all the other companies in the Network. The only other requirement is they have to have something to do with Linux or Open Source software.

This is a great move, because, by doing this, it stops TomTom being able to make a patent deal with Microsoft, and shows that TomTom are really willing to fight Microsoft. This is great, because now we will see if Microsoft really has anything, or if it is just scaremongering. I think this is fantastic and I am very happy with TomTom, and for this reason, they are now on my Good Companies list. Good on ya TomTom

You may remember a while ago, Microsoft started to try and sue TomTom for its use of the Linux Kernel and the Fat filesystem (in a big mess of patents...

I haven’t done a Video of the Week for a while, so decided to give you another one. Enjoy this super fantastic, amazing, special great video, and get as excited as I am. I sooo can’t wait for this.

They are currently in Private Beta with the Windows version, working on the Mac version, and will start work on the Linux version soon.

Hope you enjoy this.

I haven’t done a Video of the Week for a while, so decided to give you another one. Enjoy this super fantastic, amazing, special great video, and get as excited...

Now, you normally won’t hear me saying good things about any big companies. Its not actually that they have done anything good anyways. Allow me to explain. I, obviously, use...

Just thought I would introduce myself to the Crunchbang Planet.

My name is Alistair McKinlay, I am an Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering student at Strathclyde Uni in Glasgow. I have been using Linux almost exclusively for around 3.5 years, and I am hooked. I was addicted to Gnome with Compiz, but I agreed to a bet to use something else for a month. This was when I heard the Linux Outlaws talking about #!, and thought I would try it.

Since then, I have become obsessed with openbox, and #! in general. I think it is amazing the amount of control you have with openbox, and I just find it sooooo great to just play around with it. I also think that #! in general is the most friendly distro I have come across. Everyone is so welcoming and always keen to help.

In my spare time, I help at a couple of youth clubs at my church, and I try and fit in some guitar-playing and some book-reading in amongst the configuring of my computer, and trying to learn some python.

I am also a Christian, and I may post some things to do with that now and again. I do believe that God exists, and I believe his son, Jesus, came to earth to save us for our sins. Now, you may not believe that, and I am up for any discussions you may have on the issue, but I do not like shouting matches, nor name calling.

I hope that you enjoy my blogging. It is my thoughts, my annoyances, my everyday stuff, my life essentially. If you find it boring, tell me. If you find it funny, tell me. If you agree with me, tell me. If you disagree with me, tell me. If you don’t like me and you wish I wasn’t born…keep that to yourself. Nah, I’m only joking . Tell me whatever you think about them. I want you to.

Just thought I would introduce myself to the Crunchbang Planet. My name is Alistair McKinlay, I am an Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering student at Strathclyde Uni in Glasgow. I...