“Sir Ian Blair captured the febrile nature of this climate, giddy on nightmares, when he said that de Menezes was killed in the ‘fog of war’. Given that this fog engulfed those giving the orders, little wonder officers stopped behaving rationally.” Tim Black reflects on what the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes tells us about the institutions of the British state.
spiked-online.com
edafe.org
16/12/2008
Welcome to the Police Academy state
14/11/2008
Still sending naked email?
“In a world of repressive governments and a growing reliance on insecure networks, there’s no way anyone can be sure their most sensitive messages aren’t intercepted by the forces of darkness. But you can make it mathematically improbable that all but the most well-funded snoops could ever make heads or tales of your communications.” Use Dan Goodin’s step-by-step guide to email encryption and keep your communications private.
www.theregister.co.uk
05/11/2008
A new dawn for us all?
“To all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world—our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.”
President-Elect Barack Obama
30/10/2008
Ubuntu Linux is for everyone
Ubuntu is a relatively new flavour of Linux. Since the release of ‘Warty Warthog’ in October 2004, it has become the most popular Linux distribution worldwide. Similar to its parent, Debian GNU/Linux, Ubuntu is based entirely on free software. It inherits outstanding package management and provides one-click access to thousands of downloadable applications.
Ubuntu can be installed as an application inside an existing Windows installation. This provides new users with a great opportunity to try Ubuntu at no risk to their existing setup. Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) is the latest version and available for download from today.
www.unbuntu.com
26/10/2008
Linux Outlaws
“Linux Outlaws is a podcast about Linux and free and open source software. We are normal users like yourself rather than part of the in-crowd of community leaders and hardcore kernel hackers.” Dan Lynch and Fabian Scherschel present this weekly podcast for current and future users of the Linux operating system.
linuxoutlaws.com
26/10/2008
Play with spider
I am not a great fan of spiders, but would really like you to have a look at this fascinating animation by Tomas Eriksson.
22/10/2008
Switch to Ubuntu Linux not Apple Mac OS
“Umpteen number of reports have been published telling people why they should consider switching to the Mac OS now that Vista has failed.” Prosenjit Bhattacharyya suggests Ubuntu as another alternative.
prosenjit23.wordpress.com
14/10/2008
OpenOffice.org 3.0
“OpenOffice.org has an impressive feature set, a generally lucid interface, pure open-source credentials, and the decisive advantage of being absolutely free.” Edward Mendelson reviews OpenOffice.org 3.0.
www.pcmag.com
13/10/2008
OpenOffice.org becomes an even better alternative
“If you are considering buying a commercial office suite, don’t do it until you have given OpenOffice.org a shot. That’s particularly true of the new version, which was released today.” Dwight Silverman summarises what’s new in OpenOffice.org 3.0.
blogs.chron.com
05/10/2008
The spectral memorials that haunt our roads
“It would be unfortunate if the proliferation of ghost bikes frightened off nervous waverers, because there is quite a lot of evidence that the more cyclists there are, the safer cycling becomes. But if white bikes grab the attention of motorists, give them pause and remind them to take care, they will mark the past and help safeguard the future.” Geraldine Bedell reports on the phenomenon of the white bike reaching the UK.
www.guardian.co.uk
04/10/2008
The roots of the crisis
“It is the intersection of several underlying trends that have brought us to this point, not a breakdown in any specific part of the financial sector.” Michael Flynn looks at the underlying reasons for the current Wall Street crisis.
www.reason.com
03/10/2008
The Legacy
“It would have been nice to let Bush’s two terms marinate a while before invoking Herbert Hoover and James Buchanan from the cellar of worst presidents. But then—over the last two weeks—he completed the trilogy of national disasters that will be with us for a generation or more.” Timothy Egan assesses the Bush Presidency.
egan.blogs.nytimes.com
23/09/2008
Street smarts
“The only things that will keep you alive in traffic are your skills, your awareness of your environment, and always having a tremendous respect for the danger involved.” Richard Katz outlines his approach to riding in traffic.
www.urbanvelo.org
31/08/2008
Moment designs
“Even though they are serious competitors I try to make this feel like you are watching a local buddies video.”
Andrew Tonkery
vimeo.com
10/07/2008
Office 2007 to gain native ODF support early next year
“Users will be able to set ODF as their default file formats under Office 2007, and Microsoft plans to continue support of the OOXML-ODF translator for those using older versions of Office.” Jacqui Cheng details Microsoft’s recent announcement to make Office 2007 compatible with OpenOffice.org.
Personally, I remain sceptical about Microsoft delivering on these promises. But genuine interoperability has to start from somewhere…
arstechnica.com
Users of Microsoft Office may also want to consider the Sun ODF Plugin for Microsoft Office as an alternative solution.
07/05/2008
Hardy Heron makes Linux worth another look
“If you’ve flirted with the idea of switching your desktop operating system to Linux but never took the leap, the time is now.” Kevin Purdy highlights key features of the latest Ubuntu Long Term Support (LTS) release.
lifehacker.com
04/05/2008
Voice over Internet Protocol
“Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a general term for a family of transmission technologies for delivery of voice communications over IP networks such as the Internet or other packet-switched networks.”
wikipedia.org