Category: Technology

The final version of Ubuntu Linux v5.04 is now available for public release. You can either download a copy or have one shipped to you free of charge.

Some of the featured software in Ubuntu v5.04 include Gnome 2.10.1, X.org 6.8.2 and Firefox 1.0.2. You can read about all the changes in the Release Notes for v5.04.

Ubuntu Linux is primarily based around a Gnome desktop environment, but if you prefer KDE, you can take a look at Kubuntu, a project that makes Ubuntu v5.04 available using KDE 3.4 as it’s base.

If you’d like to try both desktop environments, you can simply install Ubuntu and then issue an apt-get install kubuntu-desktop to install the necessary Kubuntu files, allowing you to choose which DE to use at login.

If you’re curious about Ubuntu Linux, but don’t want to install it on top of the operating system you already have, you can download a “Live CD” from the link above, which will allow you to boot from the disc and try a version of the OS that lives completely on the CD-Rom. With this you can try the distribution out on your particular hardware with no changes made to the underlying system.

In the day and age of nearly anything on the Internet being found with a few minutes of search time through Google, corporations are more concerned with their online images than ever, which can be bad news for bloggers who’s posts might reflect badly on that image.

One of the first bits of advice most experienced bloggers will give you is to not post anything in a blog or web forum that you wouldn’t want posted on the front page of the New York Times.

In light of this, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has an article up entitled “How to Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else)“.

In recent years there have been a number of incidents of employees being fired for entries posted in their blogs, such as the Delta Airlines flight attendant or the staff assistant for a Senator.

The EFF article is a good read for those involved with blogging, be it on their own website or through a service like LiveJournal.

BBC News has a piece up that suggests that the overuse of computer “geek speak” in news items and warnings to the public can actually result in a decrease in overall security.

According to the article, the problem is that terms like “phishing” (fake emails designed to defraud someone of valuable information) or “trojans” (malicious programs hidden inside other programs) can confuse average computer users and leave them uninformed of the true nature of the danger described.

The solution is obvious, though made difficult out of habit. When speaking to the general public about a growing risk, technology and computer professionals need to be aware that using industry terms that aren’t obvious in their meaning, such as the term “pharming” to describe the process of redirecting unsuspecting users to fraudulent websites, can be counter-productive for the average computer user and that clear, simple and most importantly, accessible language will do more good than an in-depth technically orientated discussion.

If you’ve been using the increasingly popular Firefox open-source web browser, you’ve probably noticed that ads are getting past the automated pop-up blocking that you can enable within the program.

The problem comes from the increasing use of Macromedia Flash and Java to get around the usual pop-up window techniques that Firefox isn’t currently configured to block on command.

Fortunately, the developers seem to be working on new techniques to address these new issues, according to Mozilla employee Asa Dotzler, who has an entry on his blog regarding their latest experimental Firefox extension designed to test some of these new blocking techniques.