Old Movie Camera - Credit: thomasclaveirole on Flickr (CC BY-SA)

In an effort to make Internet Archive videos more accessible to XO users, the internet archive will be converting all their videos to OGG Theora.

The other day John Gilmore pointed me towards a very interesting initiative: the Internet Archive is currently working on making all its videos accessible to OLPC XO users by converting them to Ogg Theora. And in this case “all its videos” means 185,000 moving images, including many cartoons and full-length movies that have fallen into the public domain.

Now that’s quite an impressive number I dare say! I’m also pleasantly surprised by the speed – up to a maximum of 1000 videos per hour (!) – with which the Internet Archive is converting its content. To date almost 50% of their videos have been made available as .ogg.

Sweetness!  Go Brewster.

• OLPC News

Ubuntu

Jono Bacon has announced the second Ubuntu Free Culture Showcase.

With this competition we are now not only accepting submissions for audio and video, but also graphic/photo submissions. This opens up the competition to all of you budding photographers and artists. We have a winner to find for each category, and the competition closes on 6th February 2009.

Submit stuff!  (I saw the content last time…it could use some improvement)

• Jono Bacon’s Blog
• Ars Technica

Irving Wladawksy-Berger - Credit: http://irvingwb.typepad.com/

Irving Wladawsky-Berger, a former VP at IBM and currently a visiting professor at MIT, has joined Obama’s Technology, Innovation, and Government Reform group.

Good news: Irving Wladawksy-Berger, the person who essentially steered IBM toward GNU/Linux – with huge knock-on effects – has joined one of that nice Mr Obama’s policy groups:

Technology, Innovation & Government Reform

The Technology, Innovation & Government Reform Policy Working Group will help prepare the incoming Administration to implement the Innovation Agenda, which includes a range of proposals to create a 21st century government that is more open and effective; leverages technology to grow the economy, create jobs, and solve our country’s most pressing problems; respects the integrity of and renews our commitment to science; and catalyzes active citizenship and partnerships in shared governance with civil society institutions. The Working Group is organized into four sub-teams: (1) Innovation and Government, (2) Innovation and National Priorities, (3) Innovation and Science, and (4) Innovation and Civil Society.

Hopefully he will steer the US in that direction too?

• open…

Fedora 10 - Credit: fedoraproject.org

Fedora 10, which has been code named Cambridge, has been released.

The following are major features for Fedora 10:

• Wireless connection sharing enables ad hoc network sharing – http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/ConnectionSharing
• Better setup and use of printers through improved management tools — http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/BetterPrinting
• Virtualization storage provisioning for local and remote connections now simplified — http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/VirtStorage
• SecTool is a new security audit and intrusion detection system — http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/SecurityAudit
• RPM 4.6 is a major update to the powerful, flexible software management libraries — http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/RPM4.6

Some other features in this release include:

• Glitch free audio and better performance is achieved through a rewrite of the PulseAudio sound server to use timer-based audio scheduling — http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/GlitchFreeAudio
• Improved webcam support — http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/BetterWebcamSupport
• Better support for infrared remote controls makes them easier to connect and work with many applications — http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/BetterLIRCSupport
• The paths /usr/local/sbin:/usr/sbin:/sbin have been added to the PATH for normal users, to simplify command-line administration tasks — http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/SbinSanity
• The online account service provides applications with credentials for online accounts listed on http://online.gnome.org or stored in GConf — http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/OnlineAccountsService

They should add this feature: removal of Fluendo.

• Fedora Project
• Ars Technica
• Linux.com

LTO - Credit: http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/

Google has begun working on a module of gcc that will help it optimize over the whole program, not just over single files.  This can already be done, but WHOPR adds scalability for arbitrarily large programs.

At Google, we deal with several massively large applications, so we are working on a scalable alternative to traditional LTO called WHOPR (WHOle Program optimizeR), which introduces parallelism and distribution to be able to handle arbitrarily large programs. The basic observation is that to do many whole program optimizations, the compiler rarely needs to have all the functions loaded in memory, and final code generation can be parallelized by partitioning the program into independent sets.

A vast majority of free software is compiled using GCC, so while not many programs may be able to benefit from WHOPR, anything that keeps GCC ahead is good news.  If you notice, Google even seems to be doing this directly in GCC space, not coding this up in Google Code and bringing it over later.

• Google Open Source Blog
• WHOPR GCC Page

The Link - Credit: neurostechnology.com

Neuros has released a set-top box that runs free software.

Technical specifications

* 1080p H.264 video playback
* HDMI (max resolution 1920×1200, 1080p) output
* High-definition 6-channel Audio output
* Optical S/PDIF audio output
* Gigabit Ethernet
* 802.11 g/b WiFi, up to 54Mbps
* Lots of USB 2.0 High-speed Ports (6 external ones today)
* Housing: 300mm x 90mm x 326mm (11.8″ x 3.5″ x 12.8″)
* Noise: under 27dB
* Controller: 2.4 GHz wireless keyboard trackball controller
* Software:
o Seamless integration with Neuros.TV, a free service that lets you organize and watch Internet TV on your TV
o Neuros distribution of Ubuntu 8.10
o Open-source video players (MPlayer, VLC, Xine). A comprehensive list of formats, containers and media can be found on the above websites.

Nifty. $250.

• Gizmodo
• The Link

Mac Keyboard - Credit: declanjewell on Flickr (CC BY)

Psystar’s anti-trust case against Apple has been dismissed.  They may come back with a better argument.

Psystar’s counterclaims against Apple have been dismissed, which does not in the least surprise me. I told you they were off the wall, in my view. The judge agreed. He curls his lip to add that he found Psystar’s cases “unenlightening”. That’s legalese for “are you kidding??” Here’s the order [PDF], so you can read all about it.

The judge did give them 20 days to try again to get it right, following the map he lays out for them to make improvements:

For all the above-stated reasons, Apple’s motion to dismiss Psystar’s counterclaims is GRANTED. Psystar may move for leave to amend within twenty calendar days of the date of the entry of this order. Any such motion should be accompanied by a proposed pleading and the motion should explain why the foregoing problems are overcome by the proposed pleading. Plaintiff must plead its best case. Failing such a motion, all inadequately pled claims will be dismissed without further leave to amend.

It would be kind of interesting to see how Apple takes the competition if Psystar were allowed to compete.  I wonder if they would lower their prices or be too afraid it would “dilute” their brand.

• Groklaw
• Ars Technica

Sorry! - Credit: myguitarzz on Flickr (CC BY)

Toyota has apologized to DesktopNexus, and has claimed that the ordeal was a result of internal miscommunication.

From: Scott DeYager
Date: Wed, Nov 19, 2008 at 12:52 AM
Subject: Desktopnexus Toyota Wallpapers
To: tips@torrentfreak.com

Dear Torrentfreak.com,

The recent request Toyota made to have certain photos of Toyota vehicles removed from the public wallpaper site, DesktopNexus, was the result of an internal miscommunication.

To protect the legal rights and agreements we have with the photographers we hire, we ask that the photographs not be used for direct consumer advertising, sales brochures and the like.

If people wish to post their own photos of one of their own vehicles, that’s their right. In fact, we’re pleased that people would want to show their Toyota vehicles to the world. So have at it. Consider the wallpapers on DesktopNexus to be fair game for personal use.

Please let your readers know that we offer a sincere apology to the DesktopNexus site and its users for any inconvenience or disruption this miscommunication may have caused.

Thanks for your understanding,

Scott DeYager
Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.
Corporate Communications

Yay!  I’m glad I was able to help out with this.  Here’s a post on the DesktopNexus blog that talks about the internet responce.

• TorrentFreak

Hypocrite - Credit: brettlider on Flickr (CC BY-SA)

An interesting article at Ars Technica states that Article One Partners should try busting their own patents.

Founder and patent attorney Cheryl Milone thought the idea was so good she’s—wait for it—filed an application for a patent on it. The submission to the U.S. Patent Office describes a method for:

a. displaying on a computer network for access by a plurality of information providers, i. an information request, and ii. a description of compensation for at least one of said information providers who provides information responsive to said information request

The application goes on to describe a Byzantine series of variations on how to compensate “information providers” and how to make money off the information provided—by auctioning it off, say, or by investing in the competitors of a company holding an invalid patent.

But there does seem to be a fair amount of “prior art” here. The Patent Office itself runs an online effort called Peer-to-Patent that seeks to crowdsource scrutiny of applications. (One that, it may be worth noting, is likely to fare less well if researchers with relevant expertise are selling their information to Article One.)

…

Oh, and this one’s free, Article One: We’ll take the $50k next time.

I thought a second post would be better than an update to the first.  What are your alls thoughts on this?  This is quite saddening.

• Ars Technica

Article One Partners - Credit: articleonepartners.com

A new organization that seeks to get rid of certain patents has launched.  Article One Partners offers bounties on different patents and through crowd-sourcing, plans on finding prior art.

Strong Patents Drive True Innovation

The Article One Partners community strives to restore the patent system to its original intent of granting exclusive rights for true innovation, while promoting the progress of science and technology through open sharing of invention. To this goal, every patent that can be invalidated should be invalidated.

Through discovering prior art, Article One provides evidence to the market to potentially reduce unfair monopolies and overly broad patents. Patent claims for unique innovations are intrinsically strengthened when our Advisors’ comprehensive global search does not uncover prior art. Stronger patents enable the inventor community to commercialize their inventions with greater confidence. Reducing invalid patents encourages open sharing of the science and technology that drives innovation and new research opportunities.

What a good idea.  I hope they are successful.

• PRNewswire
• Article One Partners
• Slashdot