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Category Archives: International IT News

News from around the world

New FSFE stickers explain cloud computing, simply

As with all other fields of human activity, IT is not immune from fads and fashion. One of the recent fads has been for so-called cloud computing. Wikipedia describes cloud computing (often truncated to just the cloud. Ed.) as follows: Cloud computing is a recently evolved computing terminology or metaphor based on utility and consumption […]

The City of Munich joins The Document Foundation Advisory Board

It’s been announced that the City of Munich has joined the Advisory Board of The Document Foundation (TDF) the non-profit foundation steering the development of LibreOffice, the leading free and open source office productivity suite. On the TDF’s Advisory Board, Munich’s city council will be represented by Florian Haftmann. Back in 2003, the city of […]

Introducing the Tegra K1 Linux mini PC

Liliputing reports that leading Hong Kong electronics manufacturer PC Partner has introduced a small form-factor computer with a fanless case that measures 5″ x 5″ x 1.8″. Its model number is the N2581N1-F and it is powered by NVIDIA’s Tegra K1 quad-core processor with 192-core Kepler graphics. It’s currently on sale in Japan and may […]

FSF releases User Liberation video

Most people interact with free software every day, but many of those people don’t know what free software is or why they should go out of their way to use it. The Free Software Foundation (FSF) wants to remedy that so it commissioned a short video that makes free software easy for everyone to understand. […]

Ubuntu and Asimo

Honda’s Asimo, the world’s most advanced humanoid robot, is apparently programmed using Ubuntu Linux, according a report on IT news website Softpedia. A sharp-eyed Softpedia reader pointed out that the Ubuntu OS has been spotted in a YouTube video on recent advances in robotics. The Linux terminal and the characteristic Ubuntu Gnome terminal maximise, minimise […]

WiFi coming to French TGV trains soon?

After years testing, the French state railway operator SNCF is going to launch an invitation to tender to equip its TGV (high-speed train) rolling stock with WiFi, Le Monde Informatique reports. There’s light at the end of the tunnel for the French travelling public. On Friday’s France Inter breakfast programme, Axelle Lemaire, the French Secretary […]

China trials free WiFi service on train

Passengers on board Train No. T809 from Guangzhou, China’s third largest city, to Hong Kong enjoyed free wireless network access today (Friday), according to ChinaDaily Europe, marking the inauguration of the first WiFi access service on the Chinese railway network. The other 23 trains serving the route will also be fitted with the equipment to […]

Software licensing practices questioned in Dutch parliament

The licensing practices of proprietary software companies such as Microsoft have been questioned this week in the lower house (Tweede Kamer) of the Dutch parliament. The questions were triggered by the case of the Municipality of Arnhem, which wanted to switch from the ubiquitous MS Office suite to a free and open source alternative such […]

Groupon abandons its Gnome trademark applications

Yesterday we reported on the threat to the GNOME Foundation’s GNOME trademark from Gnome trademark applications made by Groupon (news passim). Groupon has now withdrawn its Gnome trademark applications and issued the following statement. Groupon is a strong and consistent supporter of the open source community, and our developers are active contributors to a number […]

Introducing the Pi-Top

A group of developers has developed a DIY laptop kit, heise reports. All components can be assembled in a way that’s friendly for beginners and without soldering. With the Pi-Top you’ll be learning DIY both for hardware and software. Jesse Lonzano and Ryan Dunwoody had the idea of developing the Raspberry Pi-based Pi-Top DIY laptop […]

Help the GNOME Foundation defend the GNOME trademark against Groupon!

The GNOME Foundation is a non-profit organisation promoting the goals of the GNOME Project, helping it to create a free software computing platform for the general public that is designed to be elegant, efficient and easy to use. The Foundation is currently facing a threat to its GNOME trademark from global deal-of-the-day website merchants Groupon, […]

Hamburg’s Greens want city to get rid of Microsoft

Hamburg’s Green want to wean the city off its Microsoft dependency and are pointing to Munich’s use of Linux, German IT news website heise reports. On the occasion of the impending 2014 Open IT Summit Hamburg’s Greens demanded the liberation of the city council from dependency on Microsoft. For Green Party Hamburg Parliament member Farid […]

“Women deserve to be part of the IT crowd,” comments Bristol 24/7

Ada Lovelace Day, that annual celebration of women in science, technology, engineering and medicine, may be gone for another year (news passim), but that doesn’t mean it’s forgotten. Earlier today local news site Bristol 24/7 carried a comment piece by Ujima Radio presenter Cheryl Morgan entitled “Women deserve to be part of the IT crowd“. […]

Munich sticks with LiMux and free software

On Tuesday, Munich’s first mayor finally responded to an inquiry by the Green Party (PDF, German) about rumours regarding a possible reversion to a Windows-based desktop environment from its current Linux-based LiMux system (news passim). The response shows that there is no factual basis for the claims made by first mayor and second mayor. An […]

Nominations open for Women in Open Source award

Opensource.com reports that Linux purveyor Red Hat is now accepting nominations for the Women in Open Source Award. Created to highlight the achievements women making major contributions to an open source project, to the open source community or through the use of open source methodology, this award is the first of its kind. The award […]

Free public lecture at Bristol Uni for Ada Lovelace Day

Tomorrow, 14th October, is Ada Lovelace Day, an annual an international celebration of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths. As part of the celebrations, Bristol University is organising a free public lecture focussing on Ada Lovelace’s life and pioneering work. Ada Lovelace – the first programmer’ by Professor Philipp Welch from […]

Open Knowledge Foundation defines open

The Open Knowledge Foundation is doing marvellous work in the fields of open data and open content. The Foundation has just published version 2 of its Open Definition. This definition is released under a Creative Commons Attribution licence and is reproduced verbatim below (complete with US spellings and punctuation throughout. Ed.). Open Definition Version 2.0 […]