LinuxChix Los Angeles

Hello all Linux Chix!

First of all, just wanted to remind everyone that the SCALE 8x talks are available to listen to via mp3 downloads from the SCALE 8x Conference Schedule page:

http://www.socallinuxexpo.org/scale8x/conference-schedule-feb-19-2010

Make sure to listen to the WIOS talks with Amber Graner; Rikki Kite; Malakai Wade, Mirano Cafiero, & Saskia Wade Etc. Etc. and many of the other talks at SCALE 8x that you may have missed!  I have been enjoying listening to the talks that I went to a second time as well as those I missed

Second, last week was the Google I/O Developers Conference in San Francisco!  Some very important and exciting announcements about Android Frojo and Google TV where made.  Google gave out two Android smart phones, a Verizon Droid and the Sprint HTC Evo, to whoever attended the keynote speeches!  Make sure to watch Day 2 coverage of Google I/O 2010 on TWIT with Leo Laporte:

http://twit.tv/specials20

Third, I just discovered a wonderful new blog:

http://www.womenwithdroids.com/

In the Women With Droids WWD Profiles section Gina Trapani, Google developer and tech-guru, is highlighted!  Here is a wonderful interview with Gina that is linked from the Women With Droids site:

http://androidandme.com/2010/01/news/interviews/celebrity-android-user-gina-trapani/

I listen to the wonderfully talented and geeky Gina Trapani every week with Leo Leporte on the This Week in Google netcast.  A must listen for every Linux Chix:

http://twit.tv/twig

And, of course, last week TWIG also covered Google I/O:

http://twit.tv/twig43

Either by Tux or by Droid, Linux Rules The World!

/jillix

Wednesday was the second annual Ada Lovelace Day

“Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to celebrate the achievements of women in technology and science.”

http://findingada.com/about/

http://www.ubuntu-user.com/Online/Blogs/Amber-Graner-You-in-Ubuntu/Women-In-Near-and-Around-Ubuntu-Celebrating-Ada-Lovelace-Day-Part-1

I was listening to my favorite Linux podcast streams on my Chumby late last night and whose wonderful voice did I hear, Amber Graner!  Amber, whom of course, we know and love from SCALE and gave a wonderful talk at this years SCALE WIOS etc. was interviewed on FLOSS Weekly in celebration of Ada Lovelace Day!!!!!

FLOSS Weekly 114: Ada Lovelace Day

Hosts: Jono Bacon and Leo Laporte

Ubuntu volunteer, Amber Graner, talks about getting more women involved in Open Source.

FLOSS Weekly is one of my favorite Open Source streams on Leo’s TWIT Netcast Network and on the internet period!  I am so happy that FLOSS Weekly made sure to talk about the achievements of women in technology and science by doing an Ada Lovelace Day celebration!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

/jillix

The main LinuxChix website is hosted by the fine folk at Oregon State University Open Source Lab (OSUOSL), along with a host (pun intended) of other fine opensource communities like Apache, Debian, Gnome, KDE, and the LinuxFoundation. One of these, or any of the other communities helped out by OSUOSL, should give the encouragement you need to give $6 for 6 in honor of OSUOSL’s 6th year anniversary.

MIT. Unlocking Knowledge, Empowering Minds. Free lecture notes, exams, and videos from MIT OpenCourseWare. MIT Education without the MIT cost. I’ve gone through both the Algorithms and Physics courses and just these two are well worth a small donation.

EFF is the leading civil liberties group defending your rights in the digital world. Protecting our digital rights is an ongoing battle and funds are needed especially when the financial belt feels tightest. If possible consider giving yourself the gift of EFF membership, or at least some EFF swag.

Love this! Connecting to community through community. In the words of the Mozilla Foundation,

Mozilla Service Week is all about community – your community. We want you to find a way to use technology to make a difference in your neighborhood, your school, your library, your town, a fellow public benefit organization. We welcome any act of service, no matter how small.

How to participate? Visit the Mozilla Service week page for more information. Find a volunteer opportunity in your town, your city, your state, your country, or your world through the Idealist Mozilla partner listing of volunteer opportunities. You can search by location, field of interest, or desired skill set.

I’m off to see if someone needs a volunteer webmaster. I’ll let you know how it goes.

The Anita Borg Systers Pass-it-on Award applications for a financial stipend of $500-$1000 USD to women either in, or aspiring to be in, the field of computing. From the RFP page some possible uses for the stipend could include

• Small amount to help with studies, job transfers or other transitions in life.
• A broader project that benefits girls and women.
• Projects that seek to inspire more girls and women to go into the computing field.
• Assistance with educational fees and materials.
• Partial funding source for larger scholarship.
• Mentoring and other supportive groups for women in technology or computing.

Applications close November 4, 2009. More information and an application can be had here http://www.anitaborg.org/initiatives/systers/pass-it-on-grants-program

Ooooooooooooooooo. Google tweaks nose of ATT, Comcast, et all by (soon) making available tools which will allow non-technical consumers to see whether their ISP is throttling specific types of traffic. I realize that Google has a self-interest in trying to secure Net neutrality, but a nice side effect is an increase of consumer power.

In a move that’s sure to reignite the smoldering Net neutrality debate, Google has made it possible for Internet users to monitor the way their ISPs manage traffic. Google strongly favors Net neutrality, a principle that requires that no preference be given to one type of traffic over another.

One of the blogs I read regularly is from Matt Cutts, one of the Google Webspam people (some fluff, some stuff, and occasionally some really good tips on SEO).  A recent post delineated the browser stats for his blog visitors, and I was astonished at the almost 60% Firefox share.

Went to check the stats on a non-techy (restaurant) site and, while not in the 60% range, the growth of Firefox as a browser has been very strong and shows a jump from 5% to 27% usage. Are you seeing a similar trend on sites that you webmaster?

2004
MS Internet Explorer – 83.6 %
Safari – 5.5 %
Firefox – 4.6 %

2006
MS Internet Explorer – 66.9 %
Firefox – 17.6 %
Safari – 11.4 %

2008
MS Internet Explorer – 51.3 %
Firefox – 27.2 %
Safari – 18.4 %

I’m also seeing a 10% jump in Macintosh visitors (from 16% to 25%) with a corresponding drop in Windows (from 81% to 71%) in the same time period.

It really isn’t a Windows/IE only world out there anymore.

Email much into Asia? Expect some delays. There is news of a cable cut, actually 3 cables cut, in the Mediterranean as reported by, among others, PC Magazine and Bloomberg. I puzzled a bit that Bloomberg would cover tech news, but then remembered how much business is conducted over the internet.

This afternoon the Internet Traffic Report noted a 100% packet loss into Japan. Wow.