Archive for the 'from the editors' category

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The sci-fi and fantasy worlds must have been busy on the web this week, because that’s what’s been catching our eyes. » Read more

Hello, Red Hat Network Satellite users! We hope you’re excited about the recent release of Red Hat Network Satellite 5.1. Earlier, we gave you some details about the new Satellite exporter tool that allows you to easily populate content on disconnected RHN Satellites.

Another new feature introduced by Satellite 5.1 is multiple organization support. This feature allows you to partition your Satellite into different organizations, each with their own subscriptions, systems, and content. It provides Satellite administrators with a new way to control user and system access to resources on a Satellite server. For more details on multiple organization support, please refer to our whitepaper: RHN Satellite 5.1 Best Practices for Multiple Organizations (PDF download, ~700KB).

The Satellite Team would like to learn how we can improve this feature to better suit your needs–and we need your help. » Read more

Shadowman on your shoulder?
Fedora on your forearm?
Tux on your tush?

We’re looking for people with Red Hat, Fedora, Creative Commons, and other awesome open source and related tattoos to feature in the magazine.

Even better, have you been thinking about getting some new geek ink but haven’t yet? Have a friend videotape it and send us the footage.

If you’re interested in showing off your ink, drop us a line.

Thanks!

• An interesting development in intellectual property law, the Superman comics copyright case, is in the news again. The heirs of the original creators of Superman were given rights to Action Comics #1, a decision that splits ownership of the Superman universe. Who owns large-scale works created over time? How are they divided? In this case, some characters are owned by one entity and others by another. What are the implications for “written works” like software and applications? Interesting questions to ponder…
• Is there such a thing as technological terrorism? You might scoff, since it’s true that most dire warnings about the dangers of the internet seem silly. But the recent Wired piece about an epilepsy discussion board hit with griefers posting flashing graphics is a bit alarming.
• Of interest: a piece from Linux Journal on the popularity of blogs as promotional media. With a catchy title: Blogging vs flogging.
• The PaperWorld 3D source is now open. PaperWorld lets you create 3D massively multiplayer online gaming (MMOG) environments that run in Flash.

1. First delete the password lists for all profiles on the machine.

del c:\windows\*.pwl

2. From the command line:

REGEDIT /s \\MY_PDC\netlogon\nocache.reg

This will run regedit with no program output and a registry input file named nocache.reg, which looks like this:

REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Network]
"DisablePwdCaching"=dword:00000001

3. Save that as plain text and name it nocache.reg.

Following these steps will greatly increase the security of your Windows 9x machines.

(Ed. note 4/4/08: This was posted for April Fool’s Day.)

Today’s OOXML vote isn’t complete yet, but while you’re waiting for the news, here’s what we’ve been looking at on the web this week:

• Wired has a great photo-essay of places where people had world-changing eureka moments.
• This week Adobe launched the long-awaited Photoshop Express, which they’re calling “hosted Photoshop.” That’s a bit of a stretch, since you only get a handful of basic functions. But you do get 2 GB of free photo storage and the ability to do the basic things most people want for their photos, like red-eye removal. And because it’s web-based, it’s Linux-friendly.
• The LA Times wrote about the latest Internet meme known as “Rickrolling” with the inspiration for the meme, Rick Astley. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, he was popular in the late 80s for the song “Never Gonna Give You Up.” And of course now you’re going to go listen to it on YouTube and have it in your head all weekend. Sorry.
• Stop-motion TRON. If just those words aren’t enough to make you want to watch it, what else could we say?

As we’re off for a much-deserved long weekend here in the US, we’re bringing you the Friday round-up… a day early. Not much going on this week, but a couple of things we thought we’d leave you with:

• We didn’t make it to SXSW this year, but we’ve been trying to keep up. This piece on Nerdcore, from Wired, caught our attention. We love geeky music (ahem, Jonathan Coulton) and just had to share.
• Ever wondered how safe your web-based email really is? Check out this post, and keep it in mind next time you travel and check mail on unfamiliar wireless: Keep your GMail safe.
• And in the category of entirely unrelated but quite interesting finds, check out this beautiful but disturbing photoseries on the spread of malaria from National Geographic. (May be a bit much for those who are squeamish, but an important issue beautifully illustrated.)

Ever see something you think we should include in our weekly round-up? Let us know. We’re always looking for the most interesting bits.

Welcome to Friday, our favorite day of the week. And here’s our handful of recent news we couldn’t resist sharing, to send you on your way into the weekend:

• Don’t miss the New York Times piece on the passing of Gary Gygax (The flowchart is what really makes the article. We want the poster. Badly.)
• The One Laptop is making waves in the Philippines.

Charles Chen has been in meetings with the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) to evaluate the XO, and comments:

“This is to inform all the members of OLPC PH that I had met two weeks ago with the officials of the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), the country’s largest NGO in working in partnership in establishing an OLPC pilot to be done with the primary school level of the Don Bosco Technical College in Mandaluyong.”

“PBSP can support OLPC PH by developing the needed governance practices we need to implement this program. At the moment, PBSP is currently evaluating the project requirements of this pilot as well as the possible use of the XO for its own educational program. Their program initially aims to provide about 20,000 laptops and will be a big boost to OLPC PH if they find XO suitable for their needs.”

• Microsoft finally relents–IE8 will use web standards (like the rest of the world’s broswers, about time!)
• Rumors have been flying around the virtual world for weeks that Linden Labs CEO Phillip Rosedale would soon resign, and today’s Second Life newswire confirmed it. There was no comment on associated rumors of an eventual IPO for the social networking/gaming platform.
• And so far, NIN’s open release of their latest work is being considered a success, insofar as $1.6 million in profit is considered successful. Considering the cost to release through the digital channel was $38? Not bad. Not bad at all.

It’s been a while since we posted a good round-up, and there’s so much we’ve come across lately that we really wanted to tell you about. In no particular order, here’s a list of things that have piqued our interest in the last few weeks:

• Thomas Chung’s photo essay from SCALE 6X.
• Here is another SCALE 6X trip report from Fedora Engineering Manager Tom “Spot” Callaway
• Mary Lou Jepsen’s (the former CTO of the One Laptop per Child project) keynote at the Greener Gadgets conference: How green is the XO?
• Top 10 Linux distributions for audio
• Check out Gobby on fedoraproject.org. For those not in the know, Gobby is “a free collaborative editor supporting multiple documents in one session and a multi-user chat. It runs on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and other Unix-like platforms.”
• More One Laptop in the news: A comparison of sub-$300 laptops
• Dave Eggers, winner of a 2008 TED prize, wants 1,000 people to engage with their local public schools through onceuponaschool.org. They need domain hosting, developers, and non-technical people. A perfect opportunity to combine open source’s benefits with education…
• Love. As in the love of game development. Check out the amazing graphics in this multiplayer first-person shooter game that was created entirely by one person.
• You’re going to have to pull yourself away from the screen sooner or later. When you’re looking for something to eat this weekend, may we recommend bacon cups? (Because here at Red Hat Magazine? We like bacon.)
• Neil Gaiman’s giving away books and name-checking Cory Doctorow. Trent Reznor’s up to much of the same with NIN’s new album, Ghosts. Yay for major artists getting on the sharing bandwagon.
• And speaking of Cory Doctorow, check out this list of 20 science fiction novels that will change your life. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is a particular favorite and shouldn’t be missed. But what’s your favorite that didn’t make the cut? For us? Madeline L’Engle’s transformative series about the Wallace family, starting with A Wrinkle in Time.

This week we’ve got DJ Spooky, Linux-friendly gaming, and animated explosions. That should be enough to fill your weekend. See you Monday! » Read more