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Educational. (via Darkwing Freefall)

The real purpose of gNewSense

The real purpose of gNewSense

gNewSense is a derivative of Ubuntu Linux, which seeks to leave out absolutely everything that’s not Free Software. Now, Ubuntu already aims to use Free Software when possible, but when it comes down to it they’ll still offer a proprietary solution if it’s the only one available.

When gNewSense was announced, I joined much of the Linux crowd in shaking my head asking ‘why?’ - it may be nice philosophically, but it results in a lot of difficulties (read: things that don’t work), and hence is very much less useful, pragmatically speaking.

And lo, here is the answer to my question, which I only just stumbled upon:

[gNewSense is] like a reference implementation for Free Software. Standards often (alas, not often enough) ship with a reference implementation which focuses on correctness at the expense of everything else (including performance, scalability, and backward compatibility). You’re not actually supposed to use reference implementations in the real world; you’re supposed to test against them. gNewSense is the reference implementation of software freedom …

If you use Linux, knowing that your hardware works with it now is good; knowing that your hardware will always work with Linux is better. Again, this is from my purely pragmatic approach to software, as I try not to get caught up in the silly holy wars that abound.

It looks like gNewSense is going to be spun back into yet another ‘flavour’ (third paragraph) of Ubuntu, and supported by the latter community.

Battlestar Galactica to end with season 4. No, really.

Battlestar Galactica to end with season 4. No, really.

Well okay then. (via /.)

Last.fm - official Facebook application

Last.fm - official Facebook application

It sucks compared to the unofficial one that was out first.

… it’s currently very difficult to put “real-time” information on profile pages without requiring a click. (This is why we have to put your recently-played tracks in a tab for now, sigh.) We know this is less than ideal, and hopefully this situation will improve soon.

It sounds like they’re just going to wait for it to fix itself. Meanwhile, the unoffical app, while not perfect, copes admirably. (Some blame for this must rest with Facebook - displaying an up-to-date RSS feed isn’t exactly brain surgery these days.)

Not to mention that the thing is a huge ugly advertisement for last.fm that sticks out like a sore thumb.

The current official Twitter app is much the same, both in being obnoxiously gaudy and failing to update reliably.

Need for Speed: ProStreet announced

Need for Speed: ProStreet announced

I remember when this series used to be good. Every time a new one comes out, I still hope, just a little bit… but no, not this time, it looks like.

Democracy video player

Democracy video player

This is kind of neat. Downloads video podcasts, even has built-in BitTorrent if necessary. Plays any type of video. Has a directory of feeds. Does video a heck of a lot better than iTunes. You can even download stuff from YouTube, and save a YouTube search as an automatically-updating feed.

Ubuntu 7.04 SiS mouse bug fixed

Ubuntu 7.04 SiS mouse bug fixed

I figured it’s only fair to note that they fixed the problem I complained about earlier. I finally upgraded from 6.10 to 7.04, and it works fine now.

iTunes Plus (256kbps, no DRM) now available

iTunes Plus (256kbps, no DRM) now available

I still think the bitrate upgrade is stupid. No-one can tell the difference between 128kbps AAC and the original CD. It’s a waste of bandwidth and disk space.

Update: iTunes 7.2 has much faster scroll speed when showing cover art for me (Mac/Intel).

Google Maps: new 'street view' feature

Google Maps: new ‘street view’ feature

Wow. Major cities only, which is unfortunate but to be expected. Still really cool. (via Penny Arcade)

CBS buys Last.fm

CBS buys Last.fm

M’eh.

(Update: different link.)