Chief scribe
The passing into law of the controversial Digital Economy Act 2010 in the dying days of the last Labour Government focussed plenty of attention on peer-to-peer software (P2P), such as Ktorrent, which is built for the Linux KDE desktop. Indeed as torrent software can be used to download material that infringes copyright (such as illegal […]
Late yesterday evening, the Financial Times (the sporting pink for the casino economy. Ed. 😉 ) reported that search engine giant Google is phasing out the use of Microsoft’s Windows platform for its employees. The policy has been gradually implemented since January, when Google’s Chinese operations were hacked, which Google blames on the lack of […]
Today is the last day to sign up for BarnCamp 2010, which will be staged in the beautiful Wye Valley from 11th to 13th June 2010, courtesy of Hacktionlab, a regular convergence space where activists interested and/or working in the areas of alternative media, renewable energy, online video distribution, free software or any other form […]
On 19th and 20th June this year, Bletchley Park, former home of Blighty’s World War 2 code breakers (when it was known as Station X. Ed.) and now the home of the National Museum of Computing, will be hosting Britain’s first ever Vintage Computer Festival (VCF). The event is being billed as a unique gathering […]
The Open Source Observatory and Repository reports that the government of Malta started the Government of Malta Open Source End User Group (Moseug) in April. The group is meant to become a major driving force behind open source initiatives in the country. According to a Times of Malta article on the new user group, written […]
The European Commission has officially published its long-awaited Digital Agenda, outlining its policy plans for the next five years. “While it includes some important building blocks for Free Software, the omission of Open Standards rips a gaping hole in this agenda,” says Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) President Karsten Gerloff. The FSFE welcomes the Commission’s […]
Yer ‘umble scribe, wearing his company secretary’s hat, has just emailed the members the following notice: NOTICE OF AGM The Annual General Meeting of Bristol Wireless for 2009 will be held at 6.00 pm on Tuesday 1st June 2010 in the Lab, Hamilton House, Stokes Croft, Bristol, BS1 3QY. It will be followed by our […]
It’s been a while (almost 2 years to the day. Ed.) since we last looked at Gnucash, the personal and small-business software that’s available for free under the GPL for Linux, BSD, Solaris, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows (news passim). Yesterday in the lab, Jules, our treasurer, announced that he’d migrated the Bristol Wireless […]
From Friday 14th to Sunday 16th May 2010, Wikimedia UK will host Wikimedia delegates from around the world who will be meeting in Bristol. This meeting is a three-day summit to discuss technical and strategic issues that cover the work the global Wikimedia Foundation and its national chapters do in relation to the worldwide fundraising […]
Knowle West Media Centre (KWMC) is a busy place these days. This morning your scribe’s inbox received a cunning invitation to an event they’re organising from 4 pm to 6 pm on Friday 21 May, otherwise known as Silver Surfers’ Day 2010, a national series of events to promote the use of digital technologies by […]
Some people may think Twitter trivial (after all, can you say anything meaningful in 140 characters? Ed.), but I find it a great source of news, particularly news I would not otherwise get to hear of, let alone see. One of these is the recent release of Granola, formerly known as Miserware. According to its […]
Georg Greve, founding president of the Free Software Foundation Europe, has received the Cross of Merit on ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany (Verdienstkreuz am Bande). Georg received this high award from the German President for his work on Free Software and Open Standards. “FSFE is very proud to have a ‘knight’ among its […]
Yesterday John Honniball emailed a reminder for the Bristol Dorkbot (tagline: “People doing strange things with electricity”. Ed.) event, taking place this coming Tuesday, 20th April. John writes: A reminder about the next Dorkbot Bristol meeting at the Pervasive Media Studio (map). It’ll be on the 20th April at 7pm until about 10pm. It’s a […]
A brief email dropped into my inbox earlier this week pointing me in the direction of the blog of Joss Winn of Lincoln University. Joss relates his experiences over 10 years of running a Linux desktop on a Mac (several actually. Ed.). At the start of his experiences Joss relates: The first time I installed […]
News arrives in your correspondent’s inbox and via the South Bristol Digital Neighbourhoods (SBDN) blog that a series of WordPress workshops has just got underway. Both SBDN and ourselves run WordPress (“both free and priceless at the same time“) to publish our news and a free WordPress blog from WordPress.com is an easy route for […]
Not to be confused with tomorrow, April Fools’ Day, today, 31st March 2010 is Document Freedom Day – that time of year when those of us in the open source movement highlight the use of open standards for documents, that lifeblood of any organisation. One thought that strikes me when thinking about open formats is […]
My inbox today contained the an appeal from 38degrees, who have been helping fight the Government’s Digital Economy Bill. The Bill would present a major threat to the survival of open public wifi services (such as provided by Bristol Wireless and many other small outfits and operators). In addition, it introduces draconian copyright protection/infringement measures […]
Earlier this week on Monday, Bristol’s Watershed (“home of the laptoperati” – event quote. Ed.) played host on Monday evening to Connecting Bristol‘s Green Open & Social event. The event was so well attended there was a waiting list for tickets due to over-subscription. As with many Connecting Bristol events, it was also streamed live […]
Our friends at Connecting Bristol have asked for our assistance in publicising their Green, Open and Social event being held at 6 pm on Monday, 22nd March 2010. Connecting Bristol’s Kevin O’Malley writes: Connecting Bristol are hosting a free event on 22nd March exploring the way that the principles of Green, Open and Social Computing […]
Yet more happenings over Knowle West way. On Tuesday 23rd February, a Community & Technology event is being held from 10.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. at the Knowle West Media Centre on Leinster Avenue in Knowle West (map). The event is being billed as an opportunity for those with interest or experience in working with […]