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OpenSUSE 12.3 Released (Part 3)

7/8/2013 2:10:38 PM

Twitter for Android gets 'Top Tweet' search update

Twitter, the social networking service, has released a minor update for its official Android version. The update, dubbed as 3.8, is available for download via Google Play. It offers a new feature called ‘Top Tweets’, which shows popular past tweets in search format.

“We recently introduced the ability to see older Tweets in search results. Now when you search for important Twitter moments, you may see a Top Tweet separate from the rest of the results. This Tweet is the best match for your query based on relevance and engagement. To see additional Tweets from this time period, tap on ‘View more from this time’. Try searching for ‘Four more years’ or ‘Deep challenge’ on your phone to see an example”, Nick Takayama, software engineer, Twitter, was quoted as saying in a blog post.

Linus Torvalds moves back to GNOME 3.x Desktop

If you are a GNOME 3 lover, this news is for you. Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, has reported back to the GNOME 3.x desktop, of course, after making the desired changes he wanted in the desktop. Torvalds has switched back to GNOME 3.x stating that the desktop's shortcomings can be fixed via the use of extensions.

If you are a GNOME 3 lover, this news is for you.

If you are a GNOME 3 lover, this news is for you.

GNOME 3.x provides a graphical user interface and a desktop environment, which can be used with various GNU/Linux distros. Torvalds had abandoned the GNOME 3 desktop for Xfce in 2011 but shifted to KDE only last year. He has criticized GNOME 3 heavily for its design choices and for removing certain features from GNOME 2. He went on to term GNOME 2.4 as a “…total UX (user experience design) failure”.

Though he has not stopped criticizing the desktop, he has made the shift to GNOME 3.x as the issues can be fixed with the use of extensions like Gnome Tweak Tool and Frippery.

Hadoop moves beyond Linux, onto Windows too!

If you thought Hadoop was just confined to Linux, think again! Hortonworks, the creators of the Apache Hadoop Linux distribution, is now entering Windows territory. Shaun Connolly, vice president of corporate strategy, Hortonworks, said in a report, “This is an enterprise-ready, 100 per cent open source Apache Hadoop platform for the broader Windows environment. We have been spending a lot of time integrating with Microsoft's SQL Server franchise and its business intelligence tools”.

Hadoop moves beyond Linux, onto Windows too!

Hadoop moves beyond Linux, onto Windows too!

Commenting on the move, Herain Oberoi, director of product marketing, Microsoft said, “When we first set out on this partnership about 18 months ago, our joint objective was to make Hadoop available to the broadest set of users possible”. Oberoi further said that with this joint effort, Microsoft did not want to make this a proprietary port. “We're committed to putting our effort back into the community and the Apache Hadoop project”, he said.

Two days before the launch of Windows 8, Microsoft had announced its partnership with Hortonworks, which is one of the companies playing a leading role in the open source Apache Hadoop project. In addition, the company unveiled the latest previews of a cloud-based solution and an on-premise solution for deploying and managing Hadoop. The previews showed customers how they could use Excel, PowerPivot for Excel and Power View for business intelligence (BI) and data visualization, on the data in Hadoop.

An open source tool to find the author of any document!

Now authors will never feel lost, even if they wish to because of an open source tool that can determine the author of any document. A team of Adelaide researchers released this tool that compares texts, to judge who the author of a text is.

The documents that the researchers used to develop the software on Github were a series of US essays called The Federalist Papers, and the Letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament. The report states, “The Federalist Paper essays were written in the lead-up to the drafting of the US Constitution, by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. Of the 85 essays, the authorship of 12 is disputed and one has generally been attributed to Jay.”

A Linux version for the visually challenged

Now, even the visually challenged can enjoy the benefits that Linux offers. A unique initiative by C-DAC, Mumbai, offers an open source platform to the visually challenged in the country. It is called Accessible Linux for the Visually Challenged (ALViC).

ALViC, an all-round desktop platform is a GNU/Linux distribution that is based on Ubuntu 10.04 and uses the Orca 3.2.0 desktop screen reader that the visually challenged currently work with. The platform comes enabled with features that aid blind users to read, by default.

This product has been released under the project 'Enhancing Accessibility for FOSS Desktops' at C-DAC, Mumbai. It is aimed at developing software-based assistive technology as well as solutions for the differently-abled.

PHP 5.5 to include open source Zend Optimizer+

If you wish to know what's doing the rounds in the PHP circuit, here's some news for you. Zeev Suraski, CTO and co-founder of Zend Technologies, announced that PHP logo Zend Optimizer+ will be integrated into PHP 5.5. The opcode cache and code optimizer was recently open sourced; previously it was only available as part of the proprietary Zend Server. According to sources, it enhances the performance of the interpreter by optimizing the bytecode generated from PHP source files. It also stores pre-compiled byte code in shared memory, instead of reloading and recompiling source code from the hard disk when needed.

PHP 5.5 to include open source Zend Optimizer+

PHP 5.5 to include open source Zend Optimizer+

When it was opening sourced, Suraski hoped it would open the way for Zend Optimizer+ to be integrated into the core of PHP 5.5 and filed an RFC to propose that.

Drupal Commons 3.0 released

Developers who are in love with Drupal, the open source content management system, should take note of this. In an effort to boost digital communities and social applications, Acquia, the leading open cloud platform for integrated digital experiences, has released Drupal Commons 3.0.

Most importantly, Drupal Commons is open at its core. It can be easily integrated into every component of the digital marketing ecosystem. Built on Drupal 7, Drupal Commons 3.0 enables digital businesses to achieve breakthrough results with social applications for customer communities, brand advocacy, social commerce and employee collaboration.

Here comes the free desktop OS Trisquel GNU/Linux 6.0

The most common perception about Linux is that it is a free and open source operating system. However, most of the Linux distributions are not completely free. One can use them for free, but the proprietary firmware, drivers and other applications come at some cost.

However, out of some distros/flavors, some are approved by the Free Software Foundation as fully free. One of these is Trisquel, which has just had its first major update since last April.

Here comes the free desktop OS Trisquel GNU/Linux 6.0

Here comes the free desktop OS Trisquel GNU/Linux 6.0

The official announcement reads, “Trisquel 6.0 LTS ‘Toutatis’ has arrived”. What makes it even more appealing is the fact that it comes with Long Term Support (LTS), while also offering bug fixes and security updates until 2017. The project team offered more details, “We have decided to change our release schedule from this point on: we will no longer publish short term support versions every six months, but focus on giving the best possible support to the LTS release, providing back-ported improvements to core packages like the kernel, the browser, and the X.org Server, among others”. Trisquel 6.0 is based on Ubuntu 12.04 (Precise Pangolin) and GNOME 3.4, thereby offering a smooth desktop experience, which is a respite from the mobile-inspired interfaces that are currently seen in the market.

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