Chief scribe
In honour of the 20th anniversary of the release of libwww into the public domain (news passim), CERN has resurrected the first ever website at http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html As screenshot of the front page of this historic site is shown below, as seen by the text-based lynx web browser. This very first website at CERN – and […]
The Centre for Machine Vision (CMV), part of the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, is one of only a handful of centres in the world dedicated to exploring the potential of machine vision. It is conducting some interesting research at present into enabling computers to detect human emotions, as well as detecting threats to health and possible […]
The H Online reminds us that 20 years ago CERN in Geneva gave Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau official permission to release the libwww library free of charge, according to Berners-Lee, “to create a server or a browser, to give it away or sell it, without any royalty or other constraint”. Since then this act […]
As reported yesterday, Bristol Wireless is a signatory of the letter below that was submitted to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) on 24th April 2013 (news passim). Dear Sir Berners-Lee [sic], We write to implore the World Wide Web Consortium and its member organizations to reject the Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) proposal. As prominent […]
A student from Bath University’s Department of Computer Science has been shortlisted in the 2013 ‘.Net Awards‘ as one of the top ten ‘brilliant young web developers’ to watch. Jack Franklin is a 3rd year BSc Computer Science student who is currently on his placement year with Kainos in London as a Software Engineer. He […]
If one believes the words of politicians, the Snooper’s Charter (news passim) is dead. Earlier this morning Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg appeared on a phone-in programme on London radio station LBC. When questioned by a caller on the Communications Data Bill (aka the Snooper’s Charter), he is reported to have answered: What people dub […]
The University of Bath has an interesting research project on the books at present, investigating the relationship between attention and internet use and is looking for volunteers. This study consists of two phases. In phase I, participants will be asked to complete an online questionnaire measuring their internet use, different aspects of personality traits and […]
Along with many prominent organisations around the world dedicated to defending internet and computing freedom, such as the Free Software Foundation, Free Software Foundation Europe, Bristol Wireless will be signing a letter to be sent to the W3C, the web standards consortium, to protest against proposals to include Digital Rights Management (DRM) – in the […]
Today the Open Rights Group, Big Brother Watch and https://www.privacyinternational.org/ sent an open letter to the UK’s major ISPs – BT, Sky, Virgin and TalkTalk – and others, asking them to stand up for their customers against the excessive surveillance of UK citizens proposed under the government’s illiberal Communications Data Bill (news passim). We reproduce […]
Germany’s Bundestag (Parliament) has adopted a joint motion against software patents, urging the German government to take steps to limit the granting of patents on computer programs. In the resolution (German, PDF), the Parliament says software patents restrict developers from exercising their copyright privileges, including the right to distribute their programs as free software. Patents […]
Last June FirstBus introduced free wifi on its X1 bus service between Bristol and Weston Super Mare (news passim). In the last couple of days, our sharp-eyed volunteers have noticed that First’s no. 9 service now have large ‘Free Wifi’ stickers in their windows. For those unfamiliar with Bristol, the no. 9 service is a […]
The pressure is continuing to mount on the UK government’s proposals to monitor all of the UK’s internet and telecommunications usage and store users’ communications data under Home Secretary Theresa May’s proposed Communications Data Bill, also know as the Snooper’s Charter. On Saturday, the Daily Telegraph reported that the Home Office is facing legal action […]
Ben Hammersley, an adviser to 10 Downing Street on the Tech City (aka Silicon Roundabout. Ed.) project, has emerged as the latest critic of the government’s proposed Communciations Data Bill or Snooper’s Charter (news passim). Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Hammersley is quoted today as saying: As a society, it would be stupid to build […]
Are you looking for a temporary job? Do you enjoy editing Wikipedia and can you teach others to do it too? If the answer to these questions is yes, a current vacancy at the National Library of Scotland may interest you. The National Library of Scotland and Wikimedia UK are joining forces to support and […]
In conjunction with both Fossbox and Flossie, BCSWomen, the British Computer Society’s specialist women’s group, is organising 3 open source career taster days for women in London next month. The days involved are 13th, 20th and 28th May and the sessions will run from 10.00 am to 5.00pm. All the taster days will be held […]
Even before the Home Office has even finished consulting on the revised version the Communications Data Bill (news passim), let alone redrafted the Bill, it seems that the associated mission creep long predicted by its opponents has already begun. Saturday’s Daily Telegraph carried a report entitled “Town halls join rush to use the snoopers’ charter”, […]
Joinup, the EU’s public sector open source news website, reports that the Croatian government is establishing open source and open standards working group. The working group will provide advice to government ministries and other public sector organisations wishing to adopt open source software and open file formats. The group will offer guidance for the procurement […]
Regular readers will realise that Bristol Wireless has grave concerns about the Communications Data Bill, otherwise known as the Snooper’s Charter (news passim). As an organisation we contacted the Home Office urging for proper consultation on the Bill, which is currently being redrafted. However, it now appears that the Home Office is not interested in […]
According to Ellak, a Greek open source advocacy organisation founded by 25 universities and research centres, Greek regional administrations should consider using open technologies, including free software and open data, when drafting their next regional management plans, EU open source public sector website Joinup reports. Last week Ellak sent a letter explaining the advantages of […]
The GNOME Foundation started the Free & Open Source Software Outreach Programme for Women, otherwise known as OPW, in 2010. Many other FOSS organisations joined the programme in the January-April 2013 round. Bits from Debian, the official blog of the Debian Project, announced earlier today that Debian will also be joining in the next round […]