Articles by Jack M. Germain

In theory, all you need is a shiny new router for hassle-free wireless connections in your home or small office. Yet in practice, your wireless reception often will be plagued with interference issues. Interference can cause slow delivery, higher latency than hardwired connections, frequent disconnects and reconnects, and sometimes a complete inab...

Outdated or abandoned open source components are persistent in practically all commercial software, putting enterprise and consumer applications at risk from security issues, license compliance violations, and operational threats, according to the Synopsys 2020 Open Source Security and Risk Analysis Report released Tuesday Synopsys researchers anal...

If you are looking for a well-designed Linux distro that is far from mainstream, loaded with performance features not found elsewhere, check out the 2020 upgrade of the MakuluLinux Core distro. It could change your perspective on what a daily computing driver should offer Developer Jacque Montague Raymer recently released the 2020 edition of Makulu...

In what could be a trial run for more of the same, Red Hat last week held a first-ever virtual technical summit to spread the word about its latest cloud tech offerings CEO Paul Cormier welcomed online viewers to the conference, which attracted more than 80,000 virtual attendees....

The Linux Foundation on Tuesday announced that it would host the Trust over IP Foundation, a cross-industry effort to ensure more secure data handling over the Internet This new foundation is an independent project enabling trustworthy exchange and verification of data between any two parties on the Internet....

EndeavourOS is a rolling release Arch Linux-based distribution with some handy new features that improve the user experience EndeavourOS first appeared last summer. This latest version, the third release, became available on April 11 with graphical install options and preconfigured desktop environments. It introduces several in-house utilities to i...

Cracked or broken mobile device screens can be costly to fix, but a few inexpensive do-it-yourself strategies can eliminate a repair shop visit and salvage your tablet or phone Third-party repair shops typically replace glass on a tablet for about US$100-$200, depending on the model. Replacing the tablet's touchscreen can cost $50-$75 extra....

Consumers and companies worldwide have ramped up online ordering for software products and digital goods as they struggle to improve productivity and security while working remotely and spending more time at home 2Checkout on Monday released a report that indicates a sharp spike in online commerce aligning with the timing of the current global pand...

One of the latest options slated for potential adoption as a sponsored flavor in the Ubuntu family of Linux desktops is UbuntuDDE A beta version, released earlier this month, offers an interesting hands-on experience well outside the norm found with typical Ubuntu platforms. This new Linux distro is based on Ubuntu 20.04 and runs a slightly differe...

Google soon will require all advertisers to prove their legitimacy, regardless of the advertising content All advertisers will have to verify their identity, submit personal IDs and business verification documents, John Canfield, Google's director of product management for ads integrity, announced Thursday....

Canonical, the parent company of Ubuntu, on Thursday announced the general availability of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, codenamed "Focal Fossa." This major upgrade places particular emphasis on security and performance Released once every two years, the new long-term support version provides a platform for enterprise IT infrastructures and workloads across al...

Bodhi Linux, previously called "Bodhi OS," is a novel desktop computing platform for office or home. It offers a radically different desktop environment with a pleasant user experience well worth trying Bodhi is a lightweight, Ubuntu-based distribution featuring the Moksha desktop. The new version, 5.1.0, was released on March 25 and is the first u...

GitHub has lowered its pricing plans drastically and made its core features free for everyone, even for private development GitHub CEO Nat Friedman on Tuesday announced a plan that had been in the works for some time, noting that the changes were not related to the COVID-19 worldwide health crisis....

Software developer Jacgue Montague Raymer released his second Linux distro upgrade of the year on March 31, following the upgrade of LinDoz two months earlier. Lightning-fast MakuluLinux Flash 2020 does not disappoint I have been testing the builds through various stages of the current development cycle. This finished product is literally a speed d...

Retailers around the world are adjusting their business models in the face of COVID-19 social distancing requirements. Two consumer reports on shopping pattern changes during the pandemic offer two main findings: a) It is crucial for merchants to create ways to connect with new and long-term customers; and b) Consumers can not fully solve the empty shelf problem through buying online...

The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook is now available to buy -- but the US$999 price tag for its one-of-a-kind configuration may cause an internal struggle between want and need Samsung introduced its high-end Galaxy Chromebook at CES 2020 in Las Vegas early this year. The company positioned it as the flagship Chromebook to meet potential demand for a mor...

eBay is waiving seller fees and providing other initiatives to help shuttered retailers move online, as the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to wipe out Main Street The e-commerce giant on Thursday announced the launch of its Up & Running accelerator program, designed specifically to help the 70 percent of small businesses that lack any online presence ...

Linux Mint Debian 4, or LMDE4, is now available. Does it really matter whether you run this latest Linux Mint release, based on Debian Linux, instead of Linux Mint 19.3, based on Ubuntu Linux? The answer depends on two things. One is your personal computing philosophy regarding refresh cycles and leading-edge technologies. The other is what you wan...

What do you do with your old Android phones or tablets? That question usually prompts three tired answers. You might trade them in for a new purchase. Or you could resell them on eBay. Probably, though, you will just stuff them in a drawer as emergency backups Better options exist, however, that would let you continue to get value from your aging d...

Abbott will deliver 50,000 COVID-19 tests per day to healthcare workers, starting Wednesday, using its modified ID NOW testing process, it said. Bringing rapid coronavirus testing capacity to the medical front lines is crucial in the battle to flatten the rising death and infection curve worldwide Abbott on Friday announced that the FDA issued emer...