Monthly Archives: August 2011

Samsung Telecommunications America has announced it will launch its latest Android smartphone, the Galaxy S II, on AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile in the U.S. this fall. The device apparently has won consumers’ hearts and minds, with 5 million units having been snapped up in 85 days in Europe and Korea, Samsung claims.

Linux users are blessed with a collection of file encryption tools. But chances are, whatever application you use for that task lacks the efficiency, speed and functionality of TrueCrypt. TrueCrypt does what any file encryption application is supposed to: It locks down access to your data so no one without a password or keyfile can grab it.

If you thought the hacks by Anonymous and AntiSec were bad, boy, are you in for a revelation. This past week brings news that the Apache Web server — the one that powers the majority of the Internet and most websites — has a vulnerability that can be exploited with relatively little effort.

Smartphones and tablets might be the current hot technology, but history says it’s all just another fad. Twenty years from now, almost nobody will own either device. Seems unbelievable, but the same technology that makes them hot today will make them not tomorrow. Consider what happened to another "must-have" technology: the fax machine.

There may not be enough tequila in this world to see the tech community all the way through to the end of August 2011. We’ve had Googlerola; we’ve had the ever-escalating software patent storm. We’ve had HP’s lily-livered maneuvers regarding webOS and PCs. Did we need more than that? No, we did not. Yet more is just what we got.

There may be life yet for the seemingly defunct HP TouchPad. The company has discontinued its development of all webOS devices, leading retailers to drastically mark down prices on the TouchPads they have in stock. Some buyers have been able to score one for as little as $100 — that’s $400 off the initial asking price when the device entered the market a couple of months ago.

Birthdays and anniversaries are a natural time for reflection on what has been and what is yet to come. When they mark major milestones such as 20 years, however, there’s a considerable temptation to think bigger. So it’s been in the Linux blogosphere, where our favorite operating system officially turns 20 today. Happy Birthday, Linux!

Sure, we all know that making regular file backups is an essential survival task for frustration-free computing. But backing up data and backing up computer systemfiles are not entirely the same things. Doing one without the other is like having an uninterrupted power supply that’s not connected. For instance, you no doubt have multiple copies of your critical data. But how many copies do you have of your Linux desktop home folder?

If you had the option to pick your own price for a computer game that only runs on your Linux rig, would you pay to play? Not if you are a typical Linux gamer. At least, that’s the popular perception of fans of free and open source software. Linux is available freely. So why pay for a game — or any other Linux app — when the FOSS mantra is based on a no-cost buy-in?

Life tends to be pretty exciting even in an ordinary week here in the Linux blogosphere, but few can be compared with the one we just endured. Not only did we learn of Google’s Motorola Mobility purchase plans on Monday, but later in the week came word of HP’s mother-of-all-face-palm-inspiring acts in the form of its decision to dump pretty much everything relating to webOS.