Articles by Jack M. Germain

Longtime Linux kernel developer Sarah Sharp last week published a blog post detailing her reasons for quitting the Linux kernel community. Sharp maintained the USB 3.0 host controller driver until January, when she decided to leave rather than continue to "contribute to a community where I was technically respected, but I could not ask for persona...

Slackel is a Linux distro a step away from the mainstream Debian-based Linux OS line. It is based on Slackware and Salix. Users already familiar with that lineage are more inclined to like Slackel. Slackel offers a few advantages not usually found with the Slackware Linux lineup. Slackel is fully compatible with Slackware and Salix. The main diffe...

Researchers for the Security Intelligence Response Team at Akamai on Tuesday issued a high-risk threat advisory for XOR DDoS proliferation. The XOR DDoS Trojan is used to hijack Linux servers to build a botnet for distributed denial-of-service attacks with SYN and DNS floods, researchers tracking the malware said....

The Linux Foundation on Wednesday released a white paper that puts the estimated value of development R&D costs of its Collaborative Projects at US$5 billion The Linux Foundation has provided independent funding for the collaborative software projects since 2008 to fuel innovation across industries and ecosystems. More than 500 companies and thousa...

The Linux Foundation on Wednesday released a white paper that puts the estimated value of development R&D costs of its Collaborative Projects at US$5 billion The Linux Foundation has provided independent funding for the collaborative software projects since 2008 to fuel innovation across industries and ecosystems. More than 500 companies and thousa...

VectorLinux 7.1 Light Edition targets fans of the IceWM desktop environment who own older computers.VectorLinux released its latest light edition this summer. What makes it new compared with previous editions is the shift to the lightweight IceWM. Yes, IceWM is very old school. Still, it is a handy and functional alternative that serves legacy com...

The Office of Personnel Management on Wednesday revealed that the hackers who penetrated its records system stole 5.6 million fingerprints of federal employees -- five times the 1.1 million originally reported The cyberattack, which came to light this spring, compromised the Social Security numbers and other sensitive information of 21.5 million pe...

LibreOffice 5.0, The Document Foundation's latest open source office suite, deserves to top the list of contenders for best performance in this category.The Document Foundation last month released LibreOffice 5.0 for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. It is the 10th major release since the launch of the project, and the first in the third development cy...

Efforts to increase Internet access worldwide are falling short of targeted goals, according to a United Nations Broadband Commissionreport released earlier this week More than half the world's population is still offline, according to the report, and growth in the number of people with access to the Internet is slowing.

Researchers at XeroxPARC have developed a self-destructing mechanism for microchips embedded on a hardened glass surface The glass can self-destruct upon command and could be used to secure personal data such as health and banking records. It also can be used to destroy encryption keys stored on memory chips in standard consumer, enterprise and gov...

Microsoft on Thursday announced that it is building its own Linux distribution to manage cloud networks Through the Azure Cloud Switch, or ACS, Microsoft aims to help network operators rapidly add the network features they need, while avoiding changes that would increase risk and complexity, said Kamala Subramaniam, principal architect for Azure Ne...

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday announced his computer learning initiative, requiring that every student in the city's public schools be exposed to computer literacy training at every grade level within 10 years The program will cost some US$81 million over the next decade. The mayor expects to receive at least half of that from private ...

The latest release of ExTiX offers a new spin on an old desktop environment and exhibits a passion for speed and ease of use.ExTiX 15.3, a fusion of the LXDE and Razor-qt desktop environments, has the economy of working in the LXQt desktop environment.

Disney researchers last week demonstrated Linux Light Bulbs -- a protocol for a communications system that transmits data using visible light communication, or VLC, technology. Linux Light Bulbs can communicate with each other and with other VLC devices -- such as toys, wearables and clothing -- over the Internet Protocol, according to Disney scie...

Google and Twitter are collaborating on an open source project that focuses on helping publishers bring instant articles to mobile phone subscribers, Re/code reported Friday, citing multiple sources. Facebook launched its Instant Articles feature earlier this year....

Google on Wednesday released a revamped version of Google Wallet to keep the app alive following its imminent transformation into Android Pay. Google Wallet (New) also has a few capabilities that aren't available in the about-to-be-promoted version. ...

The Raspberry Pi Foundation on Tuesday announced the availability of a touchscreen that brings the low-cost tiny computer one step closer to becoming a standalone mobile device. The touchscreen was in development for nearly two years ...

Adblock Browser for Android re-emerged at the Google Play store on Wednesday, after more than two years of banishment. It is also available at the iTunes App Store "The reason we were readmitted to the Play store is that this app is different than the one that was kicked out. This one is a browser. The previous one provided some blocking for in-app...

Sauce Labs on Tuesday announced the release of its automated mobile testing solution for real devices. The new option lets developers test mobile applications directly on the devices that will run them. About 80 percent of software and application testing is performed manually. Automated testing on real mobile devices brings enhanced speed, fideli...

The Linux Foundation's recently published security checklist may draw more attention to best practices for protecting Linux workstations, even if IT pros do not embrace all of its recommendations Konstantin Ryabitsev, the foundation's director of collaborative IT services, developed the list for the use of LF remote sysadmins, to harden their lapto...