Wednesday, May 22, 2013

MOOC Provider edX More Than Doubles Its University Partners

Chronicle of Higher Education (05/21/13) Jeffery R. Young 

EdX announced that 15 additional universities have agreed to offer free massive open online courses, bringing the total membership to 27 institutions. The new partners include five universities in the United States, six in Asia, three in Europe, and one in Australia. EdX, a nonprofit provider of MOOCs founded by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, aims to help colleges use technology to rethink campus education and deliver online courses. "What we hope to get out of our partnership with edX is actively learning from and building upon each other’s educational innovations," says Kyoto University professor Toru Iiyoshi. Several professors recently have raised questions about the implications of free online courses, especially as colleges run pilot projects in which they ask students to watch edX video lectures and use edX professors. "It’s a good thing that people are debating and discussing all the issues of this transformational technology," says edX president Anant Agarwal. "The way we look at it is this is increasing choice." Agarwal notes there currently are more than 900,000 people enrolled in edX programs.

Monday, May 20, 2013

What makes #Linux a successful operating system?

@linuxfoundation: What makes #Linux a successful operating system? http://t.co/arJfZ04KiQ @SUSE @TheTechScribe explains
Shared via TweetCaster

Penguins in spa-a-a-ce! ISS dumps Windows for Linux on laptops • The Register

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/10/iss_linux_debian_deployment/

Monday, May 13, 2013

10 reasons why Canonical and Ubuntu could connect the masses with Linux


Could Canonical and Ubuntu give Linux a chance to gain widespread acceptance? Here are 10 reasons why it might play out that way.
When people hear Ubuntu Linux, the reactions vary greatly. Some folks hiss and spit like a cornered cat, some cheer, and some just tilt their head in confusion. But from my perspective as a long-time Linux user and a supporter of what Canonical and Ubuntu are doing, one word comes to mind: Future. What do I mean? Simple. Ubuntu Linux holds the key to mass acceptance of Linux on the desktop.
Of course, Canonical and Ubuntu aren’t perfect. They have made some missteps and isolated a good portion of the Linux community. Even so, the Ubuntu distribution still offers the best chance. Let’s look at why.

1: Mobile platform


2: Unification of devices


3: Developing for the masses


4: An eye for business


5: Beauty and simplicity


6: Partnerships


7: Global thinking


8: Innovation with purpose


9: Smart Scopes


10: Not Richard Stallman’s Linux


Still climbing

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Nokia : sans windows! Symbian n'est pas mort?


Nokia persiste sur la voie du téléphone 2G low cost

Nokia lance un mobile à écran tactile, issu de sa gamme de téléphone 2G Asha, doté du nouveau système d'exploitation éponyme, inauguré avec ce modèle.

Nokia lance sa plateforme Asha

Fort du succès de la gamme Asha, Nokia a annoncé aujourd’hui une initiative mondiale visant à ouvrir le marché du smartphone de moins de 100 dollars aux développeurs grâce au lancement de sa plateforme Nokia Asha.

Le nouveau kit de développement logiciel SDK (Software Development Kit) Nokia Asha est une suite d’outils d’aide au développement, à l’expérimentation, au conditionnement et au déploiement d’applications Java sur la plateforme Nokia Asha.

Nokia a présenté aux développeurs Web ces outils d’applications Web Nokia Asha. Ces outils comprennent un environnement de développement Web WDE (Web Development Environment), une interface IDE pour créer et modifier des applications Web Nokia Asha, un Web Inspector pour aider les développeurs à déboguer et inspecter des éléments dans leurs applications Web et un nouvel outil de conception Web pour la création d’interfaces agréables pour leurs applications Web.


Le plan B en cas d’échec des windows phone? qu'en pensez vous?

Saturday, May 11, 2013

New Activities of the Federal Big Data Initiative

CCC Blog (05/02/13) Shar Steed

The U.S. Federal Big Data Initiative, now in its second year, has launched several new activities with the goal of addressing the challenges and opportunities of big data. Federal agencies also are launching programs that use cutting-edge technologies to analyze and extract useful knowledge from big data for the benefit of society. "As we enter the second year of the Big Data Initiative, the Obama administration is encouraging multiple stakeholders, including federal agencies, private industry, academia, state and local government, nonprofits, and foundations to develop and participate in big data initiatives across the country," according to an Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) blog post. "Of particular interest are partnerships designed to advance core big data technologies; harness the power of big data to advance national goals such as economic growth, education, health, and clean energy; use competitions and challenges; and foster regional innovation." The NITRD Big Data Senior Steering Group and OSTP recently held a big data workshop and the Computing Community Consortium is working with OSTP on future events that will include industry, academia, and government in big data initiatives.
http://www.cccblog.org/2013/05/02/new-activities-of-the-federal-big-data-initiative/

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Release: World Wide Web Consortium takes next step with controversial DRM proposal, Defective by Design condemns decision

World Wide Web Consortium takes next step with controversial DRM proposal, Defective by Design condemns decision

BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Thursday, May 9, 2013 -- The HTML Working Group of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) today released a First Public Working Draft of the controversial Encrypted Media Extension (EME) specification, despite massive opposition from public interest organizations and members of the public. W3C CEO Jeff Jaffe also released a statement justifying the Working Group's decision. The proposal, which is supported by the entertainment industry and giants like Netflix, Google, and Microsoft, would endorse and facilitate use of proprietary Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) in HTML, and would have a dramatic impact on streaming audio and video on the Web.
Defective by Design (a project of the Free Software Foundation devoted to fighting DRM) and a coalition of 26 other organizations publicly opposed the proposal in an April letter to the W3C. Last week, on International Day Against DRM, Defective by Design delivered tens of thousands of signatures opposing the proposal, and continues to collect petition signatures at http://www.defectivebydesign.org/no-drm-in-html5.
Free Software Foundation executive director John Sullivan made the following statement:
"We and the 26,000 concerned individuals who signed Defective by Design's petition so far are extremely disappointed in the W3C's statement today. The situation is actually worse than we thought, because the W3C now appears to be bizarrely insisting that Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) is a necessary component of a free Web. We were under the impression that the standardized Web was meant to be a structure that mitigated against holders of particular proprietary technologies bullying Web users and developers, or extracting royalties from them as preconditions for participation. If companies want to do such bullying, they can do it on their own time and their own dime; the W3C should not help them or endorse them. In this statement, the W3C unfortunately hitches its wagon to the contentious and frankly irrelevant empirical claim that DRM is key to what Microsoft during the Vista launch referred to as a 'next generation content experience.' In adopting the doublespeak of the Hollyweb, the W3C is betraying the interests Web users have in experiencing the amazing universe of human culture enabled by the Internet. Instead, they are backing the desire of Netflix, Google, and Microsoft, to capture those users in media silos with walls enforced by proprietary software and criminal law like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (and similar laws around the world). Despite the W3C's claim to have listened, we do not feel heard. We will step up our efforts to stop them from committing this terrible error, including issuing a comprehensive refutation of this statement's reasoning."

About the Free Software Foundation

The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at http://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.
This release can be viewed online at http://www.fsf.org/news/world-wide-web-consortium-takes-next-step-with-controversial-drm-proposal-defective-by-design-condemns-decision

Media Contacts

John Sullivan
Executive Director
Free Software Foundation
+1 (617) 542 5942
campaigns@fsf.org
Libby Reinish
Campaigns Manager
Free Software Foundation
+1 (617) 542 5942
campaigns@fsf.org
###

Friday, May 3, 2013

For immediate release: "Oscar" awarded to W3C for Best Supporting Role in "The Hollyweb'"

"Oscar" awarded to W3C for Best Supporting Role in "The Hollyweb"

BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Friday, May 3, 2013 -- Today, the Free Software Foundation's Defective by Design (www.defectivebydesign.org) campaign rolled out the red carpet and staged an impromptu awards ceremony during a petition delivery action outside of the W3C's offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The campaign's "DRM Elimination Crew" presented W3C with an award for "Best Supporting Role in "The Hollyweb" and delivered more than 22,500 verified signatures asking the organization not to weave Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) into the fabric of the Web. The action was part of the 5th annual International Day Against DRM. Photos of today's event are available at http://www.defectivebydesign.org/oscar-awarded-w3c-in-the-hollyweb
The petition (which is available to sign at http://www.defectivebydesign.org/no-drm-in-html5) calls on W3C to reject the Encrypted Media Extensions proposal (EME), which would incorporate support for DRM -- the systems used by media and technology companies to restrict watching, sharing, recording, and transforming digital works -- into HTML, the core language of the Web. As the petition explains, "EME would be an irreversible step backward for freedom on the Web. It would endorse and enable business models that unethically restrict users, and it would make subjugation to particular media companies a precondition for full Web citizenship. Just as Flash and Silverlight are finally dying off, we should not replace them with the media giants' latest control fantasy."
"This isn't the award we would like to be giving to W3C this week, as the Web celebrates its 20th anniversary. Ideally, we'd be hailing W3C for its role in protecting Internet freedom. While companies like Netflix, Microsoft, and Google (and their friends in Big Media) are really the stars of the Hollyweb, the W3C's supporting role has been crucial to this attempt to restrict the public's freedom. W3C still has time to do the right thing, but if they don't reject EME, they will be sanctioning the use of proprietary digital restrictions in every interaction we have online," said John Sullivan, executive director of the Free Software Foundation.
"The decision that W3C makes will influence millions of Internet users around the globe. The signatures delivered today represent the overwhelming public opinion that the EME proposal would be harmful to their online freedoms and to the overall health of the World Wide Web. We will continue to keep this proposal in the public eye and work to ensure that people everywhere have an opportunity to make their voices heard," said Libby Reinish, a campaigns manager at the Free Software Foundation.
Public opposition to the proposal is growing. Last week, W3C received a letter condemning the proposal from an international coalition of over 27 organizations, including the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and its sister organizations FSF Europe, Latin America, and India; the Electronic Frontier Foundation; Creative Commons; Fight for the Future; Open Knowledge Foundation; Free Culture Foundation; April; Open Technology Institute; and several Pirate Party groups. The full text of this letter is visible at http://www.defectivebydesign.org/sign-on-against-drm-in-html.
Defective by Design encourages concerned Web users to sign the petition at http://www.defectivebydesign.org/no-drm-in-html5 and to participate directly in W3C's public process by joining their mailing list at http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html-comments.

About the Free Software Foundation

The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to< promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at http://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.
To view this release online, visit http://www.fsf.org/news/oscar-awarded-to-w3c-for-best-supporting-role-in-the-hollyweb.

Media Contacts

Libby Reinish
Campaigns Manager
Free Software Foundation
+1 (617) 542 5942 x30
libby.reinish@gmail.com
###

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Free Software Supporter - Issue 61, April 2013

Free Software Supporter

Issue 61, April 2013
Welcome to the Free Software Supporter, the Free Software Foundation's monthly news digest and action update -- being read by you and 68,579 other activists. That's 686 more than last month!
View this issue online here: http://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2013/free-software-supporter-issue-61-april-2013
Encourage your friends to subscribe and help us build an audience by adding our subscriber widget to your web site.
Miss an issue? You can catch up on back issues at http://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter.

#

El Free Software Supporter está disponible en español.
Para cambiar las preferencias de usuario y recibir los próximos números del Supporter en castellano, haz click aquí: http://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=34&reset=1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • Defective by Design and allies condemn proposal for building Digital Restrictions Management into the Web
  • The FSF is hiring: Seeking a full-time outreach and communication coordinator
  • FSF-certified to Respect Your Freedom: ThinkPenguin USB Wifi adapter with Atheros chip
  • Introducing Saurabh, FSF campaigns intern
  • GNU Press has restocked all of your favorite shirts!
  • Google reinstates federated instant messaging
  • Don't let the myths fool you: the W3C's plan for DRM in HTML5 is a betrayal to all Web users
  • Boston Marathon bombings
  • Friends don't let friends use Windows 8
  • MediaGoblin joins GNOME Outreach Program for Women and Google Summer of Code 2013
  • Photos and numbers from LibrePlanet
  • LibrePlanet featured resource: International Day Against DRM, May 3rd, 2013
  • GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: 35 new GNU releases!
  • GNU Toolchain Update
  • Richard Stallman's speaking schedule and other FSF events
  • Thank GNUs!
  • Take action with the FSF!

Defective by Design and allies condemn proposal for building Digital Restrictions Management into the Web

From April 24th
Today a coalition of twenty-seven organizations released a joint letter to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the Web's standards-setting body, condemning Encrypted Media Extensions (EME). EME is a proposal to incorporate support for Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) -- the systems used by media and technology companies to restrict watching, sharing, recording, and transforming digital works -- into HTML, the core language of the Web.
Sign the petition: http://www.defectivebydesign.org/no-drm-in-html5

The FSF is hiring: Seeking a full-time outreach and communication coordinator

From April 29th
The Free Software Foundation (FSF), a Boston-based 501(c)(3) charity with a worldwide mission to protect freedoms critical to the computer-using public, seeks a motivated and organized tech-friendly Boston-based individual to be its full-time outreach and communication coordinator. This newly created position, reporting to the executive director, will work closely with our campaigns, licensing, and technical staff, as well as our board of directors, to edit, publish, and promote high-quality, effective materials both digital and printed.

FSF-certified to Respect Your Freedom: ThinkPenguin USB Wifi adapter with Atheros chip

From April 29th
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today awarded Respects Your Freedom (RYF) certification to the TPE-N150USB Wireless N USB Adapter, sold by ThinkPenguin. The RYF certification mark means that the product meets the FSF's standards in regard to users' freedom, control over the product, and privacy. The TPE-N150USB can be purchased from http://www.thinkpenguin.com/TPE-N150USB. Software certification focused primarily on the firmware for the Atheros AR9271 chip used on the adapter.

Introducing Saurabh, FSF campaigns intern

From April 24th
Hi, I'm Saurabh. I've been working as an intern with the campaigns team during the spring semester. I worked with Mozilla when I was in college as a Campus Rep and as a Rep later. I'm also a member of Greenpeace and have done a little online activism with DemandProgress, SumOfUs, etc. Since college, I've been working as a professional web developer for the past two years, and I love my job. My areas of interest include accessible technical documentation, standardization, realtime communication technologies and freedom.

GNU Press has restocked all of your favorite shirts!

From April 23rd
If the shop was missing your shirt size, come check it out again! We have restocked a number of our designs: Happy Hacking, GNU Head, Live the Dream, Free Software Free Society, Anti-DRM, ThankGNU, and GPLv3. We also have added a shirt commemorating LibrePlanet 2013.

Google reinstates federated instant messaging

From April 18th
We want to commend Google for doing the right thing. We reported a few weeks ago that Google had started blocking invites sent from non-Google Jabber servers. This was done as a crude anti-spam measure. We are happy to report that Google has since rolled out proper antispam filtering for its Jabber service, and has removed the invite block.

Don't let the myths fool you: the W3C's plan for DRM in HTML5 is a betrayal to all Web users

By Kyra, Free Culture Foundation, from April 23rd
A handful of myths have become common defenses of the W3C's plan for "Encrypted Media Extensions" (EME), a Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) scheme for HTML5, the next version of the markup language upon which the Web is built.

Boston Marathon bombings

From April 16th
Thank you to everyone for thinking of us at the Free Software Foundation office in downtown Boston as yesterday's terrible news unfolded. We appreciate all the concerned emails and queries.

Friends don't let friends use Windows 8

From April 12th
Sometimes, proprietary software actually helps us fight for freedom. Windows 8 is so bad it's almost funny -- it's not only proprietary software full of spyware and security vulnerabilities, but it's also confusing for would-be users. Lucky for us, Microsoft's spectacular failure is the perfect time to help people switch to free software.

MediaGoblin joins GNOME Outreach Program for Women and Google Summer of Code 2013

By Chris Webber, GNU MediaGoblin, from April 9th
I'm extremely proud to announce that MediaGoblin is in for a summer of awesome... we're participating in both GSOC 2013 (under the GNU umbrella) and the GNOME Outreach Program for Women 2013! (Yes, you might notice we're not a GNOME project, but the super awesome people at GNOME have extended the program to other free software projects.) Are you a student looking for a summer job contributing to free software? Or maybe you are a woman interested in contributing to free software, something like MediaGoblin maybe? Then you should apply! (Maybe you are both... we encourage you to apply to both programs then, actually!)

Photos and numbers from LibrePlanet

From April 9th
The involvement and energy of the free software community make LibrePlanet what it is: brilliant and passionate people coming together around software freedom, drinking lots of coffee and forging the future of our movement. This year, we particularly appreciated your contributions to the theme of "Commit Change": a focus on making connections to other movements and building diversity within free software.

Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory

From April 11th
Tens of thousands of people visit directory.fsf.org each month to discover free software. Each entry in the Directory contains a wealth of useful information, from basic category and descriptions to version control, IRC channels, documentation, and licensing. The Free Software Directory has been a great resource to software users over the past decade, but it needs your help staying up-to-date with new and exciting free software projects.
To help, join our weekly IRC meetings on Fridays from 3pm to 6pm EDT (20:00 to 23:00 UTC). Meetings take place in the #fsf channel on irc.gnu.org, and usually include a handful of regulars as well as newcomers. Everyone's welcome.
After this meeting, you can check http://www.fsf.org/events to see the rest of MONTH's weekly meetings as they are scheduled.

LibrePlanet featured resource: International Day Against DRM, May 3rd, 2013

Every month on LibrePlanet, we highlight one resource that is interesting and useful -- often one that could use your help.
For this month, we are highlighting Day Against DRM, May 3rd, 2013, where you can organize and sign up to attend events or online actions. You are invited to adopt, spread and improve this important resource.
Do you have a suggestion for next month's featured resource? Let us know at campaigns@fsf.org.

GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: 35 new GNU releases this month (as of April 30, 2013)

  • archimedes-2.0.1
  • autoconf-archive-2013.04.06
  • autogen-5.17.3
  • barcode-0.99
  • binutils-2.23.2
  • bison-2.7.1
  • dbuskit-0.1.1
  • denemo-1.0.0
  • diffutils-3.3
  • ed-1.8
  • freeipmi-1.2.6
  • gcal-3.6.3
  • gcc-4.7.3
  • gdb-7.6
  • glpk-4.49
  • gnu-linux-libre-3.9-gnu
  • gprolog-1.4.4
  • gsrc-2013.04.06
  • guile-2.0.9
  • guile-ncurses-1.4
  • guile-sdl-0.4.3
  • help2man-1.41.2
  • hyperbole-5.0.4
  • libcdio-paranoia-10.2+0.90+1
  • libmicrohttpd-0.9.26
  • libtasn1-3.3
  • macchanger-1.6.0
  • nettle-2.7
  • parallel-20130422
  • pyconfigure-0.2
  • rcs-5.8.2
  • serveez-0.2.1
  • sharutils-4.13.5
  • shishi-1.0.2
  • smalltalk-3.2.5
To get announcements of most new GNU releases, subscribe to the info-gnu mailing list: http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu. Nearly all GNU software is available from http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/, or preferably one of its mirrors (http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html). You can use the url http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/ to be automatically redirected to a (hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror.
This month, we welcome Arjun E as the new co-maintainer of GNU Ferret, H.S. Rai as the new maintainer of libredwg, and Jeffrin Jose as the author and maintainer of the new package GNU guile-sdl (in addition to already maintaining GNU rcs and GNU alive).
A number of GNU packages, as well as the GNU operating system as a whole, are looking for maintainers and other assistance. Please see http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint if you'd like to help. The general page on how to help GNU is at http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html. To submit new packages to the GNU operating system, see http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html.
As always, please feel free to write to me, karl@gnu.org, with any GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments.

GNU Toolchain update

From April 22nd
The GNU toolchain refers to the part of the GNU system which is used for building programs. These components of GNU are together often on other systems and for compiling programs for other platforms.
This month, there are updates on new options for GCC and Newlib.

Richard Stallman's speaking schedule

For event details, as well as to sign-up to be notified for future events in your area, please visit http://www.fsf.org/events.
So far, Richard Stallman has the following events in May:

Thank GNUs!

We appreciate everyone who donates to the Free Software Foundation, but we'd like to give special recognition to the folks who have donated $500 or more in the last month.
This month, a big Thank GNU to:
  • Peter Olson
  • Neal Pawar
  • Matt Kraai
  • Pariksheet Nanda
  • Jon Erlichman
  • Jonathan Wakely
  • Judicael Courant
  • Julian Graham
  • Kevin J. McCarthy
  • Kimura Masaru
  • Kristian Rickert
  • Li-Cheng Tai
  • Lowell Anderson
  • Luiz Paternostro
  • Mario Lardieri
  • Mark Nelson
  • Mason Smith
  • Michael Makuch
  • Michael Pacey
  • Mikiya Okuno
  • Peter Rock
  • Morten Lind
  • Oleg Lyubimov
  • Pete Batard
  • Phillips Wolf
  • René Kyllingstad
  • Robert Baldy
  • Robert Dionne
  • Robert L. McDonald
  • Rok Jaklič
  • Roland Emile Jacoby
  • Ron McCall
  • Roozbeh Pournader
  • Sencha
  • Sarah Koskie
  • Sebastian Tennant
  • Stefan K. Berg
  • Uday Kale
  • Taku Fujita
  • Steven Miller
  • Sudheera Ruwanthaka Fernando
  • Filip M. Nowak
  • Trevor Spiteri
  • Valerio Poggi
  • Vincent Launchbury
  • Wayne Chapeskie
  • William Pollock
  • Yuji Shinokawa
  • Adel Shalawi
  • Donald E. Knuth
  • Wolfgang Ocker
You can add your name to this list by donating at http://donate.fsf.org.

Take action with the FSF

Contributions from thousands of individual members enable the FSF's work. You can contribute by joining at http://www.fsf.org/join. If you're already a member, you can help refer new members (and earn some rewards) by adding a line with your member number to your email signature like:
I'm an FSF member -- Help us support software freedom! http://www.fsf.org/jf?referrer=2442
The FSF is also always looking for volunteers (http://www.fsf.org/volunteer). From rabble-rousing to hacking, from issue coordination to envelope stuffing -- there's something here for everybody to do. Also, head over to our campaign section (http://www.fsf.org/campaigns) and take action on software patents, DRM, free software adoption, OpenDocument, RIAA and more.