Articles by Jack M. Germain

"So simple a child could do it" -- I have heard that expression abused often in advertising. Yet it aptly applies to the Kano computer kit.Kano is a computer and coding kit that is suitable for all ages. Well, to be truthful, Kano's step-by-step instructions in the included booklets and its simplified Linux-based operating system target kids aged ...

Qubes OS is a hybrid computing technology that raises the bar for security. It takes locking down computers to a new level.It has advanced far beyond the primitive proof of concept demonstrated more than four years ago. Release 2 (beta), which arrived in late September, is a powerful desktop OS....

Calculate Linux 14 is a distribution designed with home and SMB users in mind. It is optimized for rapid deployment in corporate environments as well.Calculate gives users something no other Linux distro makes possible. The Xfce desktop session is customized to imitate the look of the KDE desktop environment....

Digital textbooks with open-licensed content -- and sometimes even complete open-source textbooks -- are two publishing models that are starting to change the way students and teachers interact with subject material The budget-busting prices of traditional printed textbooks and the ubiquity of mobile devices in schools have provided textbook author...

Gentoo Linux can be either an experienced Linux user's ideal desktop choice or a new user's worst computing nightmare. I am not talking about being new to the Linux OS. I mean just plain and simple new to Gentoo Linux The Linux OS has many dozens of specialized distributions. Many of them are easy to install and need only a few settings adjustments...

Cylon is a classic Linux distro preconfigured with lots of tweaks -- kind of a Unity-less Ubuntu with bling.Cylon runs the classic GNOME 3 desktop on almost any hardware configuration made since 2007, but it is more suited to seasoned Linux users. Newcomers to Linux may not make an easy transition....

The Food and Drug Administration last week released long-awaited recommendations aimed at better managing cybersecurity risks to protect patient health and information. The new recommendations are included in the final release of a document titled "Content of Premarket Submissions for Management of Cybersecurity in Medical Devices." The new standar...

Evernote CEO Phil Libin announced major expansions of the company's note-taking application at the EC4 Conference on Thursday. The new features are designed to build Evernote's business presence and keep users connected to its services, among other things ...

Elementary OS is a new style Linux distro that wraps its own sophisticated desktop design around a solid Ubuntu core.This distro first appeared in 2011. Its developers released the second major version, Elementary OS Luna, last year. The latest weeks-old beta release of what will be the third major version, called "Freya," shows that Elementary OS...

Data Divination: Big Data StrategiesBy Pam Baker with special contribution by Bob Gourley Cengage LearningAugust 21, 2014, 432 pp.US$25.89 paperbackMost of today's books about Big Data delve into highly technical tools, cloud technology, and high-level computer-assisted math calculations and algorithms. For most people in the business world, this ...

Amazon is ramping up its innovative hardware product testing and beefing up marketing strategies to give its nearly quarter billion customers better ways to buy its wares using Internet-connected devices Amazon will boost staffing at its Silicon Valley hardware unit, Lab126, by at least 27 percent over the next five years, according to reports that...

Scribbleton is a very infant -- as in alpha -- release of an innovative note-taking app for Linux that provides cross-platform access with Windows and Apple computers.It creates a personal wiki for storing everything from quick notes to detailed checklists to outlines. It creates links between pages in Scribbleton. Think of this as an easy-to-use ...

Linux -- the free, open-source operating system for enterprise, small business, and home computing use -- is not used everywhere yet. However, its user base crosses nearly every industry Linux is in many places today. It's in consumer products like TVs and computer networking gear. Linux drives services that users do not even know run Linux. Think ...

FBI Director James Comey on Thursday strongly criticized Apple and Google for hardening information stored in smartphones by encrypting data, making it inaccessible to law enforcement even with a court order The FBI has had conversations with both Apple and Google over the encryption features, Comey told reporters at a media session in Washington, ...

The Pale Moon Web browser project solves a problem that many Mozilla Firefox users would like to solve. It is a fork of Mozilla's official browser developed by Moonchild Productions that provides users with access to all of their favorite Firefox extensions but eliminates the Australis interface, which some dislike Firefox debuted the new user inte...

Researchers on Thursday discovered proof-of-concept code that could take advantage of unpatched computer systems, and found evidence of attacks exploiting the BASH Shellshock bug in the wild. Shellshock, which came to light on Wednesday, could become a major threat to Linux/Unix and Apple operating systems if published patches to BASH are not appl...

One of the essential draws to open-source software should be superior product documentation. Well-written user guidelines are a key strategy that software developers should use to increase an open-source project's growth and user adoption All too often, programmers finish their last line of code and shove the open source software out the door -- or...

Pi-Top, a Raspberry Pi Model B+ powered build-your-own-laptop kit, soon could enable users to learn computer programming, designing and 3D-printing skills The Pi-Top team recently released details on its construction of a prototype computer in a Reddit post....

An unplanned convergence of Android apps and the Chrome OS may be setting the stage for a wide-open cross-platform architecture that combines Android and Chrome Freelance programmer Vlad Filippov, aka "Vladikoff," discovered a way around Google's limitations on its ARC, or App Runtime for Chrome, which is essentially a Chrome extension application ...

Home Depot on Thursday said it had excised the malware demon from its computerized payment system after its recent discovery of a security breach in which thieves stole records of 56 million credit cards Home Depot stopped short of admitting that an ongoing security upgrade may have contributed to the breach. Efforts to harden the system with enhan...