With the recent announcement of the development of the Google Chrome OS, the possibilities for the end user has opened even wider in terms of choice of operating system for desktops, notebooks and especially netbooks. An OS with the Chrome browser as its centrepiece will certainly open interesting possibilities for the holy grail of ubiquitous availability of data which is the central tenet in the concept of cloud computing. No longer will the user need to carry their data with them, but the data will come to them wherever they could have an internet connection. This will certainly change how we work, in much the same way as working with Microsoft Word compared to working with Google Documents.

I suspect the new OS will be based on one of the pre-existing Linux distro (Ubuntu?) with the Google layer built on top to enable constant synchronising of data when online and caching mode when offline (ala Google Gears?). When it is released, hopefully it will free us all from having to worry what or which computer we are working on at any given time. To a certain extent, I have already implemented some of the ideas of cloud computing by using Google services to synchronise my calendar on my notebooks and phones. I guess the only other thing that I would like with the Google Chrome OS is cheaper data rates. This issue of data charges is what prevent a lot of people from utlising cloud-based services more often on their wireless devices (phones).

2009 · google · Linux · netbook · notebook · open source · Technology · ubuntu · windows

A recent accident in a mine in West Virginia has claimed the lives of at least eleven miners. This has left many of their friends and relatives in anger and disbelief at the total disregard for safety regulations and human lives displayed by both the state government and the company. (more…)

No tags

I switched over to Firefox a while ago, while it was called Firebird (version 0.6). I was immediately drawn by the simple and useful user interface, that I decided to stick with it since then. It was not the first time I had seen a browser with a tabbed interface, but I felt that it was a better experience than Opera. Over the years, I have upgraded faithfully from the first changeover to Firefox to the latest one (version 1.04 is what I have now). I can hardly believe that my favorite web browser has now reached version 1.5! (more…)

No tags

A Waverley Council ranger tells a street musician to move on because the management of Eastgate Shopping Centre (Spring Street, Bondi Junction) does not like people busking in a public area. They called the ranger when they realised that the could not evict a street musician from land that is not theirs. The management representative claimed that shop owners complained of noise, as a lame excuse to victimise a musician serenading the public. In cases like these, usually there is no complaint, just concocted stories emanating from the centre management.

No tags

An exhibition of photographs by Jackson Ellis, a photographer who has lived and worked in Dublin, Sydney and Seoul. The exhibition is opening today at the alpha gallery in Namdaemun, Seoul. Wish I could go there.

No tags

After nearly two weeks of chaos on the agit8.org server, things are finally back to normal. Two weeks ago, due to network disruptions, the agit8.org server had to be physically relocated to another connection, which is a little more stable and less prone to disputes. Having left the server alone for the best part of two years, I could not remember exactly how things were configured or where things were on the filesystem. This had me stumped for a while as Apache just refused to serve the other virtual hosts in its configuration.

It did not help that the server, at the new premises, had to be put behind a router and firewall, which meant more configurations had to be changed. Previously, the server was sitting as the network gateway. I took this opportunity to also reconfigure and update a few things on the server, such as openSSL, etc to the latest versions.

Thank you all for your patience, everything is now back to normal (and running).

No tags

A few weeks since the shooting of Menezes, after the lies coming from the Scotland Yard and London Police have quietened down a bit, some of the truth has come out of the event. It has been revealed that some of the things fed to the hungry media by the police were either misinformed or worse, an outright lie to cover-up the brutal death of an innocent man at the hands of the British security forces. (more…)

No tags

In a media interview (free registration required) recently, Wolfensohn, the departing president of World Bank, has warned that unless the imbalance in wealth in the world is addressed now, the future will only have instability and great suffering for all of us. (more…)

No tags

Retiform.net is the website of Jackson Ellis, a close friend of mine. In the past few years, it has been a site where artists could post their works free of charge, now it has become his personal website showing his photographs.

Titled Daily Observations From Korea, the site contains Ellis’ own observations of Korean society in words and photographs. Why Korea? Ellis, originally from Ireland and a some time resident of Australia, has been living in Seoul for the past few years.

I would like to wish him good luck and congratulation for a site that is uncluttered and regularly updated.

No tags

New images posted on Still Frames this month.

No tags