Something very interesting shaping up in the IT world

For somebody like me who has been very critical of Ubuntu and its founder Mark Shuttleworth (I particularly hate Ubuntu's "Unity" desktop environment), it is a huge pleasure to see that the Ubuntu community is doing something extremely interesting which, I really believe, has a huge potential.

Please watch this excellent presentation by Mark Shuttleworth about what Ubuntu will be doing in 2013:



Now I will be honest with you, I am not ditching my Android phone (HTC One S) yet, nor am I going to change my desktop (GNOME 3).  But I will be watching Ubuntu very, very closely from now on.  Most importantly, I hope that the day will come soon when I will be able to recommend Ubuntu as an all-in-one platform to those of my friends who are not GNU/Linux users and who are still stuck in the "Windoze vs iThing" nightmare.

Real geeks and hardcore techies are are unlikely to adopt the all-in-one Ubuntu solution, if only because the Ubuntu stack will probably end up having as much proprietary elements as the current Android stack (for them, the future will probably be the Debian-phone and the FreedomBox).  Besides, the very idea of an all-in-one solution is really aimed at either corporations or at the, shall we say, the "technologically challenged".  Geeks and techies *like* to deeply adapt and configure their tools and folks like that will probably never be attracted to a single platform everywhere.  Still, even geeks and techies could immensely benefit from applications and protocols developed by Ubuntu in the process of their work on their universal platform.  It is really a win-win situation.

To be honest, I consider Windoze. iThing, Maemo, Symbian and probably even MeeGo as either already dead or dying.  Android, however, still has a huge potential and the industry leaders are firmly behind it.  And while I don't see Ubuntu as a real competitor for Android in the foreseeable future, I can be a very useful runner-up or challenger which will keep the folks of Google on their toes.

Finally, and this is a big concern of mine, if Google suddenly does "turn evil", then Ubuntu would provide a far more credible alternative that any other platform.

Bottom line: listening to Shuttleworth's presentation put a very big and happy grin on my face.  At a time when 99% of the news is either disgusting or depressing, or both, it is a real pleasure to share this presentation with you.

The Saker

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has created the Surveillance Self-Defense website

From the EFF's SSD home page:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has created this Surveillance Self-Defense site to educate the American public about the law and technology of government surveillance in the United States, providing the information and tools necessary to evaluate the threat of surveillance and take appropriate steps to defend against it.

Surveillance Self-Defense (SSD) exists to answer two main questions: What can the government legally do to spy on your computer data and communications? And what can you legally do to protect yourself against such spying?

Go to the SSD website (https://ssd.eff.org/home) and read it all for yourself!

I would add a few comments on my own.

First, if you have any reasons to fear a government then you should never use any computers at all, at least none which belong to you. Basically, you need to pretend that ANYTHING that goes on the Internet will become public knowledge. Only use computers which are not traceable to you in any way (usage, contents of transmission, physical location and monitoring, etc.).

Second, you need to assume that ANY computer you have at home, or in your car, or in your office, will be not only electronically penetrated, but physically seized.

Third, do not use encryption for anything not 100% legal and politically correct. You HAVE to assume that Uncle Shmuel can - and will - decrypt all your encrypted communications or stored data. The truth is that Uncle Shmuel can probably not do this, but you have to assume he can. Encrypted data is like a 'red flag', like I beacon of sorts yelling "I am hiding something! I am hiding something!" - at least that is what the bad guys think. So *never* use it for anything illegal or politically incorrect (that can get you blacklisted also), but DO use as much encryption as you can if you do only 100% Uncle Shmuel approved stuff as this overloads their snooping infrastructure.

So, you might ask, is it possible to use the Internet and defeat the government spooks? Yes, of course, but chances are you do not know how - so don't try. You need to understand how networks work, what triggers suspicion, what kind of encryption is really solid, etc. Most of you probably don't, and knowing just a little is even more dangerous than simply operating by the three basic assumptions above.

The main thing: do not attract attention, do not be noticed. Bury yourself deep in the 'background noise' of the Internet.

You cannot built a fortress against the big guys, not a legal one, not a technological one. Once they see you - you are dead. So remain unseen.

But do check out the SSD website. It's a good basic reading.

Good luck!

Iran Makes Mideast’s Best Supercomputer (and it runs on Linux!)

TEHRAN, Aug. 6 --Iran has manufactured the Middle East’s most powerful supercomputer at the Research Center for Ultra High-Speed Processing of Amir Kabir University of Technology.
A researcher with the project’s team, Bahman Javadi, said the project is the result of two years of research, Fars reported.
“The supercomputer has 216 Aptron processing units with two gigahertz frequency that utilizes cluster technology and functions in a parallel manner. This computer has 56 gigabyte memory with a storage capacity of 5,800 gigabyte,“ he said.
Javadi noted that the supercomputer will be used for weather forecast in Iran’s Meteorological Organization and has the processing capacity of 860 billion actions per second.
“According to world trade regulations, supercomputers that perform more than 190 billion acts per second are regarded as strategic products and their sale is subject to international sanctions,“ he said.
Javadi pointed out that Iran has joined the few countries that have access to the technology for manufacturing such a supercomputer.
Noting that the supercomputer uses Linux operating system, he further said the software for monitoring and controlling the system was also designed by researchers of the center.
“Several application software products, including MMS and ARPS used for forecasting weather, have also been installed on the supercomputer,“ he said.
“The Research Center of Ultra High-Speed Processing of Amir Kabir University of Technology gained access to the technology for manufacturing cluster supercomputers after 15 years.“
Javadi pointed out that Iran’s first supercomputer was produced in the center in 2001 and a supercomputer was installed at Iranian Space Organization in 2003 for processing satellite pictures.