Jacob Appelbaum stands on stage at Linux.conf.au 2012 to deliver the final keynote on Friday morning, patiently waiting for his introduction from the conference organizer. In his hand he holds a smartphone, capturing a photograph of his audience which he later says he uploaded in case his phone is confiscated at the airport on his way back to the United States of America, of which he is ironically a citizen. However this isn't hyperbole - Appelbaum has been detained for questioning at borders many times, in fact so many times that he's "lost count." In July 2010, Appelbaum was detained at Newark airport where his bag was searched, receipts photocopied, laptop inspected, and his three cellphones taken never to be seen again. Jacob Appelbaum was detained not because he's a genuine terrorist suspect, nor because he was trying to smuggle drugs or Kinder Surprises into the USA. Appelbaum was detained because he's fighting for freedom and anonymity on the internet, a cause that's as important as ever in our current society, often overlooked by the media, and under appreciated by most internet users.
A new job listing from Canonical is seeking a Mac Software Developer to join the Ubuntu One engineering team. The opening, titled 'Software Engineer (client applications Mac/Windows)', will require applicants to have at least 5 years experience of developing on OS X, 'including knowledge of low level APIs (Filesystem, shell integration)', as well as experience in 'Python, C and Objective C'.
Australian electronics company Kogan has 'no plans' to re-introduce Ubuntu-based netbooks, laptops or net-tops to their product range, a spokesman has told OMG! Ubuntu!
Welcome back everyone after the holiday break. Since we spoke the last time, there has lots been happening. By now we only have 14 weeks left until Ubuntu 12.04 a.k.a. Precise Pangolin, another LTS release gets out the door.
The user account wallpaper transition feature has landed in Ubuntu 12.04 default login screen. The effect shows the desktop wallpaper of each user as accounts are scrolled through. Although the current implementation is not quite […]
Not a fan of the 8 giant shortcuts in the Unity Dash? Ubuntu 12.04 might just present you with something different... Ubuntu developers are testing a new layout for the Unity 'Home Lens'.
Canonical have reversed their decision to remove Java from Ubuntu users' machines. Oracle, the owners of Sun Java, retired the 'distributor license' that allows operating system vendors to provide the package to users in August of last year. This change in terms forced Ubuntu's security board to announce that it would be removing Sun JDK package from its 'Partner' repository, and 'upgrading' the official Java release on Ubuntu 10.04, 10.10 and 11.04 with an 'empty' package, thus disabling it. as a 'security measure'.
GNOME's work on a revamped and repurposed 'Epiphany' web browser - which seeks to make the browser a core part of the GNOME experience - is coming along nicely. The redesign of Epiphany, which is relabelled 'Web' in the app itself, seeks to to offer GNOME users a 'simple, clean, beautiful view of the [internet].'
If there is one thing that most people agree on about the wallpapers it's that no one likes looking at bad looking wallpaper. "Four Seasons" is a wallpaper pack I created inspired by the diversity of the four seasons of our planet. The pack includes wallpapers for each each season - Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, and a "Four Seasons" wallpaper which represents all of the seasons in a unified image.
In a turn of events not unlike we've seen before, Valve has posted a job listing for a Senior Software Engineer to work on their "highly available digital distribution platform" Steam. However, unlike past job postings which have mentioned Linux and left some ambiguity as to what exactly Valve might be working on in this area, this posting clearly says the word "games" in one of the responsibilities out of the six listed.
With the move to "the cloud", increasing numbers of internet and mobile phone users, renewable resources on the decline, and a focus on green solutions to current problems, server rooms are getting more and more expensive to maintain and run.
Innovative YouTube music player 'Musictube' has a new release out - but is it a hit?