And The Joke Of The Day: USA Wants To Respond With War Against Hackers

Image via WikipediaBut hey, wait... according to the Wall Street Journal, this is no joke.

But I couldn't stop a grin on my face. It's so ridiculous, it's like an episode of South Park.

Kyle: "Kenny hacked iwantsex.gov"
Cartman: "Oh man, that can't be. He is poor. Poor people can't hack anything"
Kyle: "Shut up, Cartman. Hey listen, what's that sound?"
Cartman: "Oh fuck, that's the US Air Force!"
Butters: "Listen to the news, they declare war on South Park"
...BOOM! BANG! RUMBLE... CRASH....
Stan: "Oh no, they killed Kenny"
Kyle: "You bastards!"
...

Well apparently, I fear that it's not this funny when totally disoriented politician with no clue what the "internet" is, want to declare war against countries, or individuals, because of a so-called "Hacker-Attack". Whatever this means. Sad, but I think the USA could be very sad to do so.
The last time someone declared "War" on hackers, they were taken down for weeks. That was Sony and their PSN.

Have a lot of fun!

Related articles

• Pentagon Says Cyberattacks Can Count As Act of War (yro.slashdot.org)
• South Park season premiere entitled "HUMANCENTiPAD" (loopinsight.com)
• Using Military Might on Cyber Combatants (bigthink.com)

Scandal: GTA IV Street View Without Blurred Faces!

Awesomeness! Now you can walk through GTA IV Liberty City with a Google Street View like experience.

It's looking great and you can expect a lot of fun, seeing the people on the street doing crazy things. You might even be witnessing a crime o.o ! For all you, who care about privacy, this is bad news. No faces are blurred and it's clearly possible to identify persons. A sad day for data protection of this poor gaming characters. Maybe someone sues in Blurmany against this shameless attack on fantasy chars privacy. ;)

You can try it at gta4.net.

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• 80,000 Screen Shots Later, Grand Theft Auto IV's Liberty City Gets Google Maps Street Views [Neat Things] (kotaku.com)

Oh NOOO! I Missed The Towel Day

Image via WikipediaThat can't be... This is what happens if you don't put everything in your Google Calender!
Now I have to live 1 year in shame. And it's my own fault if the Vogons are coming by and vaporizing the earth. I'm sorry in advanced if everything bad happens to the planet until 25th May 2012 :).

For that miserable failure I have to read the "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" again. As an eBook!

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• Don't panic and carry a towel (flipflipmeheidi.com)

Google Brings People Widget to Gmail

Google just announced the People-Widget in Gmail. Looks like another step into the Google social network.

© by Google. All rights reserved.

Look, I know some of you just don't care about email anymore. But this is where Google sees their central. And why not. Google Buzz is tightly integrated already, now we need some real personal tools to track your friends actions and communicate even easier in a more direct way.
That's part of the Facebook-magic. Now this is a step toward the better interactions. It still seems to need some work, but it's the right way.

And now, Google needs games to be integrated in their social ring. Love it or hate it, it's the engine of success, and what can be more social to play games together?

[via GmailBlog - Introducing the people widget - Official Gmail Blog]

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• New Gmail Widget Tells You All About the People You're Emailing (mashable.com)

Free Playlist #069 - Have a bit music

Here is something for your mind. Trance and House. You're free to listen and dance. Ah, speaking of free, all the music is licensed under a Creative Commons License. Check the songs. And now have fun!

1. Genesis by Neozound

2. Visiones by Neozound

3. 0db - Adelaide (Johaness Gilther Edit) by 2Inventions

4. X Marks The Spot by TBH

5. Rain Hope (Original Mix) by Jonathan Araldi

Ooops... Microsoft's Ballmer Under Attack

Image via WikipediaDavid Einhorn (mind the name, it's unicorn in German :) ), head of hedge fund Greenlight Capitol, say Ballmer must step back.

In the time Ballmer was CEO at Microsoft, the company faced the biggest loss in numbers, share and money, ever. Of course, this isn't Ballmer's fault in the first line. The company was expected to have a hard time, short before Bill Gates stepped back as a CEO.
But now investors are getting nervous. Really nervous. Einhorn brings it to the point what many are already thinking. Ballmers times as a CEO seems to be running out. With Windows Phone 7 failing, the last hope of a instant return to the leading position in future technologies is very dim.
Microsoft has managed several times to make clever moves to prevent this, and everyone believes it will happen again. But apparently not with Steve Ballmer as the CEO.

[via New York Times]

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Pay Per NFC Is Coming Tomorrow By Google

Image via WikipediaYes, it looks like it's happening tomorrow. But before you are all running to the next drink-dispenser and trying to pay with your Nexus S, it's very limited in the beginning.

Only a few cities and only on Sprint will be announced to work. And you need  Android Nexus S phone to use it. It's more like a big test. And I hope it really takes off. We are some 10 years behind Japan on this. The pretty much can pay for their drinks on vending machines, tickets for trains and all kind of small payments, just by swiping their phones over a sensor. And that's for almost a decade. It's so easy.

Now this can happen here, too. Go Google!

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Okay, Let's Face It. The Picasa App For GNU/Linux Is a Mess

I've learned something. The Picasa program (not the web) for GNU/Linux is horrible when it comes to sync with the web albums.

Even after I uploaded anything to Picasa-Web and redownload it via "Import From Web-Album" it keeps making a new Album, uploading everything in it again, when I add a single photo. It's unusable.
Now, I'm uploading anything directly to Picasa Web and just download with Picasa for backup. It's not very satisfying. Can't wait for my Chromebook, where everything integrates seamless.

I'm wondering if this problem only occurs with the GNU/Linux version of Picasa, or is a general problems. I never face so many problems. It's not easy to keep a backup without Picasa. In fact almost impossible. But if you don't change anything within the software, but use Picasa-Web only, you always can import from the web-albums to make an incremental backup. At least this works.

A rough start for the cloud. Now you know why you can't just use your ordinary netbook to use the cloud simple and satisfying.

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Picasa Sync Not As Easy As I Thought

Looks like some little dark "clouds" are coming... :)

At least if you're already used Picasa Web with public albums. Now the folders do not sync as I would like it. I downloaded and synced the web albums, but if I put something from my local hard drive in there it duplicates the album in Picasa Web. Not very elegant.
So that means I have to reorganize everything and upload it. That will be some work.

I better start doing that right now...

I just ditched Rhythmbox for Banshee [Ubuntu]

I just tried the newest version of Banshee, and it instantly got me hooked up. It's great, it's simple, and it works.

That's what I was waiting for in Ubuntu. You have full integration of the Amazon Webstore. Click and it downloads to your library. Podcasts with Miro-Search click and it downloads, Audiobook support, Internet-Archive search and play. Unbelievable. No separate Amazon-Downloader anymore.

I plugged in my Nexus S and it appeared instantly, ready to drag 'n drop files on it, or set auto-sync. So if you set it to auto-sync, you just can plug in your Nexus S or other Android devices and it automatically syncs you music.It never has been so easy, and I almost doubt it, I will ever see such a simple and great program.

Banshee comes default for Ubuntu 11.04, but can be manually installed on older Ubuntu-versions.
Give it a try. It's free...as in beer and as in freedom.

[Banshee Website]

Chromebook Ad Gives You The Idea

Image by andysternberg via FlickrCC BY-NC-SAI wrote before, that's the thing that will replace my laptop. I sounded weird. That's me :). Here you can see the official video-ad from Google, that gives you a very short hint of what this all means.

It's not a computer, it's not a laptop, it's the web in a computer-like object. That's the core of it. But watch it for yourself, and see the possible future of mobile computing working. It's definitely my future of doing things. I waited for such a thing for a long, long time.

See the video after the jump...

Why Writing Under A Free License Is A Good Thing

Copyright... the most discussed topic in our time, when it comes to creativity and freedom. I'm respecting the work of others, but I thnk it's important, to respect the will of someone, not to holf information hostage, too.

I read an article today on Buzz. It was the usual (sorry) call for protecting your work etc. I get used to the fact that many seem to think that it's important to protect their content like "My Kitty just went to the toilet...omg wtf". May it be. What I can't, and never will, understand is that other try to convince you to protect your stuff, even if you don't want to.

Look, I have the damn right to spread everything out for free and make the information usable for the public, or just for another blogger. Why not? I use the Creative Commons License BY-SA, which is imho, a good fusion of protecting your credits you're demanding that you will be named as the original author, and protecting our work from being removed from the public, by demanding to spread this, or derived works, under the same license.

For me it's senseless to hide a possible useful information in my blog, where only a limited number of people will ever read it. I get no use out of it, if I hide my precious like Gollum the ring. He may get infinite life, but you won't get that from a simple blog-post, right? :) No, I can't stay serious, because it's funny to think that prohibiting others to use your content, is somehow profitable, unless you're trying to sell something, or your blog is as big as a newspaper and you don't need any credits anymore. Yes right. The CC-License will assure you get the credits, and possible visitors for your blog or website. The prohibited use of your content will get you nothing.

So you want credit? You want visitors? You want to be a good person? Use a free license that demands attribution when resharing and protect that by demanding to publish it under the same license. That will give you visitors, credit and happy people.

[Info about Creative Commons License BY-SA]
[Info about other free licenses]

Work? Forget About It... Angry Birds For Chrome!

No way! It happened. Companies are on the edge of a disaster. People might stop their work and actually having fun. Who is responsible for this chaos? The union? The government? No, it's Rovio and Google. Angry Birds is now available at the Web-Store for the Chrome-browser.

This is really something. The uber-famous game from  mobile devices, are now available to be played in your Chrome-browser. And it's free. Wow, I didn't see that coming. Now people can stop working completely :). But wait, does it run? It looks like it uses some CPU-power, but even on a dual-core 1.6 Ghz laptop it runs fine.

If you discover problems, you can switch between HD and normal graphic quality. All you need is Google's browser and visit the web-store. There you can search for Angry Birds, or just click the big picture to install it. I'm sure it will feature on the main site of the store for a it of a time.

Now, if you please, I can't blog more for today. I'll have to do more important things to do. There are pigs in my browser that needs my attention...

[Angry Birds on Google web-store]

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• Angry Birds Hits the Web on Google's Chrome Browser (blippitt.com)
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ChromeOS Netbooks Announced: Pulls My Socks Off!

Image by rwentechaney via Flickr
My next laptop, won't be a laptop. It will be a ChromeOS-Netbook.

I saw the demonstration in the keynote of the Google I/O, and it enhanced my thoughts about going more towards the cloud. The arguments are clear. I have almost infinite space, access will be over 3G and Wi-Fi, 8 seconds to boot, because there is almost nothing to boot, no update and patch problems. Just open up the netbook and start using thousands of apps and working with your stuff. Even without a connection, you can work with your data, and it will get synced as soon as a network is available.

Sure, it's easy for me. I'm already having almost all my data in the cloud. I use Google Docs for a long time, Gmail is my command-center, Photos are available in my Picasa-account and so on. Soon my music will be there, too. So it's a little step for me. How will other users feel about it? That's the question. It's easy, sure. But first you'll have to make the switch, if you're not already using such services. No, you don't have to use the Google services. There are plenty of alternatives that works with ChromeOS. But still, you have to bring your data in the cloud and having the strange feeling, you don't have the data on your computer anymore. I know that's kind of uncomfortable at first. Not anymore if you once lost all your data with your computer and having an outdated, or no backup.

Programs? There is everything. Many things for free. Easy usable. No installation and hassle-free. All normal work can be done. Games? Sure. If you saw the Google I/O keynote, you know it will be not only the newly introduced Angry Birds or other casual games, but with the 3D graphic capabilities, full games. Yes, they will cost you :). Audio, video and photo editing? No problem. Social networking paradise guaranteed.

I'm very curious how this is going. The offer is great. A Samsung netbook with ChromeOS, wireless data option included for $429 is awesome. It's really something. The Acer, the second introduced netbook, is even cheaper. It's the step in a new future of computing. A step where the device isn't the most important part, but the Internet is the center. Where you can have more than one device, all accessing your data. Where we could save resources and spare tons of tech-junk. I have the feeling we are on the edge of a new chapter in the computer industry, and it will be amazing to see how this is evolving.

Related articles

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• Meet The New Chromebooks (appreaders.com)
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Google I/O Keynote Day 2 Full Video

And another day of the Google I/O is over. If you missed it, here is the Keynote of that 2nd day.

A monumental event was the availability of... Angry Birds at the Google Web-Store. This will cost companies a lot of money :) How are the people are supposed to work now anyway? And it's free. You just need the Chrome browser. I doubt there is something more important than this. If you think there could be something more interesting, the keynote did cover some other stuff, too :).

See the full keynote of day 2 after the jump...

Google Music Fail For The Rest Of The World

This is what you see, if you trying to get an invite for Google Music, from the rest of the world. It says "We're sorry. Music Beta is currently only available in the United States".
Clearly, as we know from the press, this can't be an issue with some music companies, because Google didn't acquire any rights, not even in the U.S. , because it might not be necessary for such a kind of service. So this is clearly a Google problem, and sorry, I can't understand this.
This will drive people off very quickly. And if Apple starts their music-streaming service world-wide, or at least, in more regions, in the next weeks, Google will lose a lot of people. This is the big thing. Well, at last for people like me, who don't only talk about how cool the cloud is, but really want to USE it, actually. NOW! It all is slowing down.

It's 2011 and we still have no flying cars. But at least I want my music being streamed to my Android phone from the cloud. I want my whole stuff in the cloud. I have no fear. Expect the fear that it will take longer and longer to make this real. And it's 2011, and one of the biggest company can't launch something world-wide. This is disappointing.

Related articles

• Inside Google Music [PICS] (mashable.com)
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Skype Bought By Microsoft

Image via Wikipedia / Skype on GNU/LinuxAfter Twitter bought Tweetdeck, another good software is in danger. Not that it's the same dimension in any way, but I'm asking myself about future support of GNU/Linux and Android for Skype.

Last week, when Tweetdeck was sold to Twitter, I expressed my fear about Twitter abandon Tweetdeck or removes support for Facebook and Google Buzz. This time I fear for GNU/Linux and Android losing a decent Skype-Version. I know, it's not that easy. But I can imagine that versions for those systems are coming even slower, once Microsoft are in full charge of the product.
While GNU/Linux-support is nothing new at Microsoft, Android is the arch-rival in the mobile business. What would be better, to make Skype unavailable for the biggest competitor, and giving an advantage for their own Windows Phone 7 ? You might say, it's about money. So what money? Let's be honest, only a small percentage of users are actually doing more with Skype than free calls. The apps are free, too. So money? The probably lose money for developing. On the other side, it's important to have a wide range of people you can reach with Skype. I'm no enemy of Microsoft (at least no more :) ), but it makes me uncomfortable, just like with that Tweetdeck thing. I'll hope in both cases my fear are without substance.

Time will tell, but in the meantime we may speculate about the future of Skype on those platforms, and possibly get used to one of the many other solutions, that works great. You know GTalk is really good. Or SIP-Standard, or...

Related articles

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Ubuntu Linux 10.04 Quietly Works Again With OpenGL

Some of the last updates, my graphic card wasn't supported in 3D mode any longer. Jumbled screen and garbage graphics forced me to use 2D and disabling the nvidia graphics driver.
Now I checked it again, after some updates, and it works again. I'm back in accelerated graphics mode.

If you wondering, why I have problems at all: My laptop is a 1.6 GHZ dual core with VIA chipset and a nvidia 8400M graphic card. This turned to be a problematic combination several times with Ubuntu. Also the wireless lan adapter was unusable for a long time. Until an update at 9.10 made it work.

However, I'm glad now that I can benefit from the accelerated graphics for video and play some little OpenGL games again.

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Gmail Under Attack: When I Disagree With The FSF

You know, I'm a big fan of free and open software. And the FSF is a great organization, that helps free software so much. But sometimes, I have to strongly disagree with them. And this is the case with an unbelievable email I got today.

In that email, the FSF attacks Gmail. And I got the mail because I use Gmail. That alone is very interesting. It raises the questions what analysis of your data, in this case the email-address, is made at the FSF, while they blame Google to "cocllect" your data. As this would be something other than any server-side service or email-provider. But first let me show you that email:

Important notice to all Gmail users from the Free Software Foundation

Matt Lee ✆ to me
show details 1:09 AM (7 hours ago) 

Did you know that, like you, nearly 50% of the 40,000 subscribers to the FSF's supporter mailing list have an @gmail.com email address? 

JavaScript, once lauded for adding simple visual effects to web pages, is now used by web sites like Gmail to run powerful programs on your computer. These programs, like any other program running on your computer, should be free software. But right now, the vast majority of JavaScript programs do not respect your essential freedoms to run, study, modify and share them. They take control of your computer away from you; the same control we have been working for over 25 years to protect. 

Because of the incredibly high percentage of Gmail-using free software supporters, we're taking action to raise awareness about how to use Gmail without using proprietary software. We'll also be working on longer term solutions, but the most immediate positive step to take is to stop running the proprietary programs. 

Many people suggest that you shouldn't use Gmail at all, because it means losing control over your data and privacy. We agree that this is a very important factor for you to consider when choosing how you will handle your email.

But since you are already using Gmail, please help us build momentum for change by not using the proprietary JavaScript on your system -- and helping others to do the same. 

Yours sincerely,
Matt Lee
Campaigns Manager
Free Software Foundation

In short: FAIL!
I can, somehow, understand that JavaScript is a problem. It's not free as in freedom. So yes, that's something the FSF should pay attention to. What's absolutely over the top is the suggestion you shouldn't use Gmail at all. How do you lose control over your data and privacy more than with any other email-service? Unless you setup your own mail-server and really hope you're a server-wizard, it's all the same! I trust Google more than a small company where 3 people are responsible for my very private stuff. Other than that, if you do your own server and you're not one on the ten-thousand of people that really understand how to make a mail server secure and invest a lot of time updating and improving security every day, you'll end up giving the web another spam-server or botnet HQ.

The FSF missed the target here, and it throws a big shadow on the good work for free software. This is a big mistake, and I'm infuriated about this level of crap, and using my email-address to sent me targeted propaganda. Did I opt-in for targeted propaganda on sign-up? I doubt it. But I did opt-in for targeted ads on Google. At least, they told me in front...

Related articles

• FSF to Google: Free Gmail's JavaScript now! (go.theregister.com)

Xoom Crashed In No Time

Ha,well I wouldn't want to,but it happened.

I tried the Motorola Xoom tablet and it crashed so bad while using File Expert, even the 10 seconds hard reset didn't work. I'm curious how they get this thing start again. You can't pull the battery :)

After PSN And SOE Hack, Sony Can't Stop To Say Sorry

Image via WikipediaAfter the responsible managers apologized last week for the hack of the Playstation Network, yesterday it was time for the Boss Howard Stringer to apologize, after another hack of Sony Online Entertainment.

Customer data and credit card information compromised, Network offline for many days, disastrous PR and terrible situation of information giving out by Sony. That could shortly described what happened. And after my rant about the PSN hack, I couldn't trust my ears. A few days ago another hack hit the SOE, the network in which PC-Games e.g. are on use. Again, data were stolen.

Now Howard Stringer didn't had a good time, and no in an open letter, he apologizes for the hack, and said he will make sure that every resource will be used to find out how this could have been happening.
Well, and while we only can hope that our data won't end up selling on the internet, you should check your credit card balance regularly.
 

Related articles

• The Playstation Network Disaster (ryocentral.info)
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• More Hacks In Store For Sony? (crunchgear.com)

Summer!

Here we go. It's summertime, and geocaching makes more and more fun. Yes, it's on.

Right now, Geocaching.com is down and updating their site. No reason to stop geocaching. Well at least if you already loaded your GPSr with  some caches. Go outside, it's fun.

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Hey, I Almost Missed The 160th Anniversary Of The World Expo

160th years ago the famous World Expo took place for the very first time at London. in the following years, big inventions were presented to the, often speechless, public and other inventors.
One of the milestones were the presentation of the Eiffeltower in Paris 1889. 1926 in Philadelphia, the first real movie with audio was exhibited. The Expo 2000 was held in Hannover, Germany and even had a soundtrack from Kraftwerk.

Google made a Doodle for this 160th anniversary. In 2011 there will be no Expo however. The next one will be 2012 in Yeosu, South Korea.

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Gecaching Makes Little Mailboxes In The Forest

What? Yes, and it could be a geocache.
Like this one. A Harry Potter related geocache. And inside this Mailbox you find hints to reach the next stage.

On this little tour, I made 2 of them. This one was only 2 stages until the final. Unfortunately it wasn't around anymore. Forest workers made their work and the final seems to be axed :). However, the owner let log me a found, and I want to see the final as soon as it is restored. It's part of a whole series.
Another part of that series, I made earlier that day, and after searching a bit, I got it. I left a travelbug and another great day was settled.

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