“Darik’s Boot and Nuke (“DBAN”) is a self-contained boot floppy [or, optionally, a CD-ROM] that securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect, which makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or emergency data destruction.”
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Darik's Boot and Nuke: Safe Erase a Hard Disk
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G2P Beta: Using Google to locate MP3s
“Why would we want to use Google to find MP3s instead of using P2P apps? -P2P/BT is being monitored — Using Google we can download a lot more safely[.]”
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DUI defense lawyers challenging widely used breath test machine
“Timothy Muldowny’s lawyers decided on an unconventional approach to fight his drunken driving case: They sought computer programming information for the Intoxilyzer alcohol breath analysis machine that determined he was drunk to see whether the test was accurate. […]
The company that makes the Intoxilyzer refused to reveal the computer source code for its machine because it was a trade secret. A Seminole County judge tossed out Muldowny’s alcohol breath test – a crucial piece of evidence in a DUI case – and the ruling was upheld by an appeals court in 2004.”
St. Petersburg Times Online via The Inquirer via IRC-URLs.net
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Novell Targets Enterprise Desktops with New Linux Distribution
“At the CeBIT computer show being held this week in Germany, Novell unveiled a new Linux distribution that is designed to lure corporate customers away from Microsoft Windows.
Called SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED), the new distribution offers improved power-management capabilities, better desktop-search features, a better user interface, and across-the-board application improvements, according to Novell.”
Yahoo! via BlogsNow
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Forbes: Linus on GPLv3
“The new version of the GNU General Public License, or GPLv3 as it is known, was authored by Free Software Foundation founder Richard Stallman and adds new restrictions to the license. Torvalds isn’t crazy about the new rules but says he still might sign on if changes are made.
In an interview via e-mail with Forbes, Torvalds discusses GPLv3, digital rights management and sharks with laser beams.”
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Desktop Earth 2.0
“Desktop Earth is a wallpaper generator for Windows. It runs whenever you’re logged on and updates your wallpaper with an accurate representation of the Earth as it would be seen from space at that precise moment.”
Anka claims this is free software but it isn’t; he explicitly denies redistribution.
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Beyond Quartz
“In a decade, your wristwatch will be thousands of times as accurate as it is today.”