SmartBlogs for AdvaMed SmartBrief
Landmark study unlocks stem cell, DNA secrets to speed therapies
Science Blog | 23 hours 21 minutes ago
In a groundbreaking study led by an eminent molecular biologist at Florida State University, researchers have discovered that as embryonic stem cells turn into different cell types, there are dramatic corresponding changes to the order in which DNA is replicated and reorganized.read more
Americans and the economy: Angry feelings, fear exceeds terrorism risk
Science Blog | 23 hours 21 minutes ago
In the first three days of the country's economic meltdown that began Sept. 29, 81 percent of Americans surveyed in a national poll agreed or strongly agreed that the financial crisis "poses a greater threat to the quality of my life than does the threat of terrorism." And researchers found little trust in the government and even less in business leaders.read more
My XO sour graping
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
The Give One, Get One program of the One-Laptop-Per-Child (OLPC) is about to end tomorrow and I have yet to get my hands on one. My main contention is WHY is it only available in North America? I mean, I may be living in a developing country (aka third world) but there are some people here who can afford to buy one and give one to a child here. Why can't the OLPC devise a way to let those who can afford buying one from the Philippines to give one to a child in the same country? I know ...
Linux on your Macbook - what works and what doesn't
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
A friend of mine just got an office-issued black Macbook and he mentioned dual-booting it with Mac OS X and Ubuntu via ReFiT. Whilst there is nothing wrong doing it, I just do not see the point unless you really hate using the BSD-based Mac OS X and its eye-candy. Ironic, but Linux is being beefed up with more eye-candy as well. Anyway, if you have a Macbook and wish to run Ubuntu natively, you might want to check out these two documents. Remember that not all features are natively support...
How to add shine to your boot sequence
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
By default, most Linux distributions still retain its uber-geekiness by showing each and every detail of the boot process, e.g., what hardware are detected, services that are started, etc. Frankly, I think this is only necessary on first boot, right after you install it or when you first run the installer, so you know that every hardware is detected properly and every service is started. Subsequent boot, however, should be as simple and as elegant as viewing a photo whilst waiting for the sys...
gOS: internet-powered Linux
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
If you have not heard of the news about Google using Linux, where have you been? ha-ha-ha. Anyway, it was rumoured that Google will be releasing its own Ubuntu-based Linux distribution and when gOS was previewed, everyone thought that was it. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), it is in no way associated with Google. So what is this gOS and what makes it different? See full article. Related Entries: Google + Ubuntu = Goobuntu - 31 Januar 2006 A New Way of ...
Linux as a BT conversation snooper
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
There is no denying the fact that open source software are the prime tools for hacking (and cracking). In this example, see how you can use Linux to eavesdrop on a conversation between someone using a Bluetooth headset and another person. I wonder how you can make this more secure considering that almost all Bluetooth hands-free headsets use a default PIN. I have a Jabra headset but I rarely use it anymore since I look like a dork whenever I use one. Besides, my wife hates it! :) How abo...
Who Watches What?
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
When I first started using Linux, I was fond of invoking the 'who' and 'w' commands to find out information about users who are logged in the server. Sometimes I'll send them a message across the network or issue a 'talk' or 'ytalk' request. These was pre-Instant Messaging. :) Anyhow, now you can use an enhanced tool that not only lists who are logged in but also displays what applications they are running. To do this, you need to install 'whowatch'...
How to share your music collection with your Mac using buddies
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
Not too long ago, I featured Elisa, the open source media center that connects to iTunes shared libraries. This time, we feature Firefly, previously known as mt-daapd, the media server that allows you to share your library with iTunes users. Yes, you heard that right, iTunes users can now connect to your Firefly media server. Installing it is not difficult and UbuntuGeek provides a step-by-step guide on how to do it. So what are you waiting for? Start sharing your music legally by strea...
Is Solaris better than Linux?
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
I know that this is not a HackItSolaris blog but it pays to monitor the friend or foe of our preferred operating system. Well, just a disclaimer, I do have Solaris and Linux as guest operating systems on my Macbook Pro and I do advocate both equally. :) Anyway, I am hoping that someone can give me a run-down of the advantages of Linux over Solaris considering that Sun already blogged about Solaris's advantages. :) See full article. Related Entries: Solaris cluster code to become ...
Open-sourced iPhone
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
Last week's CES featured quite a number of new devices running on Linux. It is unfortunate that I could not make it to Las Vegas to personally check out the cool gadgets so I rely on others to feature it. For the interest of our readers, I decided to consolidate Linux-related gadgets here but only those that interests me. :) One such device is the iRiver GSM Phone, a Linux-based iPhone clone but its specs is fuzzy. However, the video below reveals a touchscreen interface. Several ques...
Picasa for Linux
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
Back in 2006, I wished for a Linux port of Google's Picasa for photo editing and sharing. Google answered my prayer and gave us a Linux port. Whilst it is not entirely a native Linux application (runs on top of WINE) nor is it open-sourced, this will do for the moment. I will put it through its paces and see if it runs on my Eee PC. Image from Google Picasa. See full article. Related Entries: Google's Picasa Web Albums Upgrade Link Vanishing - 06 July 2006 Picasa Web Albums ...
How to add color to your web-apps
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
Who here does not regularly use a web-based service? I reckon that we all do - in my case, I use Twitter's web interface when I am not using a Mac. I also use Meebo for my instant messaging when I am connected behind a firewall. These work on your browser but sometimes you just need a container for that particular web app and nothing else. This is where Mozilla's Prism comes in. (more after the jump) See full article. Related Entries: Mozilla-Based Browser for the Nokia N800 i...
Automator for Linux
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
One of the Mac's features is Automator, a tool that allows you to record user actions to make often repeated tasks automated. This is one of the features that is often ignored but proves to be very powerful. In Linux, there is now a tool that gives us with the same feature and it is called GNU Xnee. It is "a suite of programs that can record, replay and distribute user actions under the X11 environment." I have yet to test this but it seems very promising. Now, if only there is a way...
Cloning your Linux installation
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
If scientists can now clone sheep, I am sure that we Linux geek can clone our own drives. Just in case you do not know how, well, here is ArsGeek's how-to. You will need a Linux LiveCD and a HDD with at least the same size as your original installed copy. This is useful specially when you want to make it easier to recover your system quickly. Image from Flickr:Dave-F. See full article. Related Entries: cloning - sci-fi becomes reality - 15 September 2004 Jason Bourne Shows the E...
Configuring your dial-up modem
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
Today's geeks might have missed the wave when getting online means hearing those tones, beeps and hisses and not to forget hogging that phone line for hours when you download files. Whilst today's connections are mostly broadband, either wired or wireless, there are still some areas where having a dial-up connection is the only to go. So, how do you go about configuring your system for dial-up connection? Being such an ancient technology, the resources (tutorials, how-to, tips, etc...
Running Mac OS X on non-Apple hardware
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
Yesterday, a friend of mine mentioned his friend installing Mac OS X on non-Apple hardware and after a week of using it, ending up getting a Mac. Whilst this clearly violates the Mac OS X EULA but if you are in education, I think (don't quote me) you can hide behind Fair Use. :) So how do you install Mac OS X on non-Apple hardware without hacking? Lifehacker just featured the how-to a few days ago and if I did not have a Mac, I would have tried it just to have a feel of what I am miss...
Restricting SSH access
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
It is common knowledge that we use ssh for remote access as well as the underlying transport for some other services, e.g., VNC over SSH, FTP over SSH, etc. One you have SSH installed, you can also omit FTP along with Telnet. However, if you give access to file transfer via SSH, you are required to provide shell access, too. Well, not anymore. UnixCraft outlines how you can use the restricted shell (rssh) to provide SCP and SFTP without shell access. Not only that, you can also use rsync, ...
SLAX on USB how to
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
The very first Linux distribution that I have tried as a full install for a server was Slackware. I still have some preference to Slackware but given the improvements and features from Ubuntu made it difficult for me to tinker with Slackware again. However, this tutorial on how to install Slax on a USB thumbdrive will surely make it easier for me to try it again. Unfortunately, this only works if you have a machine that allows booting off of your USB port! At least the Asus Eee PC can do t...
Let's DO it!
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
Not too long ago, I wrote about Gnome Launch Box, a Quicksilver-like app on the Mac OS X, for Linux. Whilst Gnome Launch Box is promising, the new Gnome DO seems to have improved on the features beyond what I have expected. GNOME Do allows you to quickly search for many items present in your GNOME desktop environment (applications, Evolution contacts, Firefox bookmarks, files, artists and albums in Rhythmbox, Pidgin buddies, etc.) and perform commonly used actions on those items (Run,...
Wine-Doors starting to look good
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
With WINdows Emulation (WINE) getting more and more mature, an easier way to manage bottles is needed. Here is where WINE-Doors come in - a GUI-based WINE manager. Now on version 0.2, the application shows a lot of promise. See how it works with Internet Explorer after the jump. See full article. Related Entries: WINE 0.9.29 - 10 January 2007 Wine updated to 0.9.30 - 26 January 2007 Wine updated to 0.9.31 - 17 February 2007 Vinturi Helps Wines to Breathe Faster, Taste Better! - 03 Oct...
How to configure IPv6
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
With the major DNS backbones being upgraded to support IPv6, it will not be that long before the shift will officially start. Now is the time to play with it and make sure that you are familiar with how it works so you will not be left behind scouring the internet for resources on how to configure it should the time come. I have played with IPv6 on the Mac for quite sometime already and with the new Airport Extreme base station natively supporting IPv6, it is very easy to setup - just enable...
Who needs Gimpshop if you can afford Photoshop?
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
I wrote about the open source version of "Photoshop" called Gimpshop. Whilst it is a free alternative to the commercial Adobe Photoshop tool, what if you already have a copy of Photoshop CS2 and wish to switch to Linux but simply can't because of that app? Good news! Now you can. With the latest version of WINE, you can now "natively" install Photoshop CS2 without pulling your hairs out! Want to see some proof? Head to Softpedia and see for yourself! Now, if only WINE can run the more ...
Limiting SSH Access
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
Remote access are enabled by using SSH. Whilst this surely makes it more secure than telnet, there are times when you want to have finer-grained control over what SSH commands can be executed from remote. Right now, there is no built-in facility to accomplish this so a perl-based script, authprogs, can do this for you. For a more detailed how-to, check out this article. Image from Flickr:haynes. See full article. Related Entries: Fivefold Increase in Remote Internet Access via Wi-Fi i...
Booting Linux even faster
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
System boot-up, specially with Linux, is often spent whilst making coffee. More often than not, it takes a minute to have the system up and running, i.e., ready for abuse. So, any tip on how to speed up the boot sequence short of keeping your computer in hibernate mode and not shutting it down is always welcome. We have published a tip on how to do this not too long ago but I have found another tip to squeeze the boot-up sequence to even a shorter period. I am wondering when can we have a...
How to start a firewall with Firestarter
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
I have talked about firewalls and how it is configured to secure your computer from malicious access but it seems that I have failed to even mention the one that comes bundled with Ubuntu, Firestarter. Firestarter is an easy to use firewall with the following key features: Open Source software, available free of chargeEasy to use graphical interfaceSuitable for use on desktops, servers and gatewaysEnables Internet connection sharingAllows you to define both inbound and outbound access poli...
Is this the One?
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
The ultra-affordable portable market is booming! The Asus Eee PC, Everex Cloudbook, Intel Classmate PC and the XO Laptop are joined by another player from across the pond, the Elonex "One". Just like the other players, Elonex decided to use Linux as its operating system to cut on the cost. Priced at UKP99, this 1kg wonder packs a 7" 800x480 screen, 300MHz processor, 128MB (upgradeable to 256MB) RAM, 1GB (upgradeable to 2GB) storage, IEEE 802.11b/g, 100Mbps Ethernet, 2 USB2.0 ports, mic and ...
KRename: Batch File Renamer
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
We all know that files, specially from digital cameras, are named in a specific format that have no information whatsoever about its contents. There are other files that behave the same way, i.e., no intelligible or descriptive filenames. So what do we do, we rename it but if there are dozens of these files, we often write a script to process it so we will not be manually renaming the files individually (yeah, crazy, huh?). See full article. Related Entries: The Rise of DarkNets in Res...
Speeding it up using preloading
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
Who doesn't like a speedy computer? Whilst there are quite a number of hacks to speed up your computer, here is *another* one that has a different approach. The tool is called preload, a daemon that does magic with your system. Well, magic is pushing it but what exactly does preload do? See full article. Related Entries: Mac Hack: The Story Continues... - 05 September 2006 Need for Speed - 03 January 2007 2007 Goodwood Festival of Speed, the Speed Fest We'd Most Like to See in Pers...
Getting rid of stowaway packages
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
Whilst it is true that apt-get and synaptic (or insert your favorite package manager here) make it easy to install and upgrade applications. However, uninstalling is still quite tricky specially if the application has lots of dependencies. I have been victim to getting my system borked because of an error in uninstallation - removed an app and all associated libraries accidentally. Charged it to experience and re-installed the entire OS. Good thing it is not that difficult. However, how do y...
Milax: the tiny Solaris
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
Who would have thought of a Solaris LiveCD being developed? This is exactly that the folks in Russia did - develop a Live-CD version of Solaris (Nevada b81) and name it MilaX. The small (less than 100MB) package includes Beaver, Vim, Dillo, Midnight Commander, emelFM, XMMS, Xpdf, VNC viewer, Rdesktop, AxyFTP and Irssi. In addition, you also can the Solaris-exclusive (right now) features such as DTrace, ZFS and brandZ. I wish I still have my Eee to test it on but what the hey, will ask my f...
Amazon DRM-free MP3 Downloads now supports Linux
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
Not too long ago, Amazon launched its music store and started selling DRM-free MP3s. Competing against iTunes, Amazon's MP3 music store provides higher quality music but a slightly cheaper price. Not bad, I must say. I have tried it and saved around USD2 per album (USD7.99 vs USD9.99 at iTunes). Unfortunately, the downloader was only available for Windows and Mac OS X users... until today. Amazon now has four versions for Linux, in addition to the Windows and Mac OS X versions, supporti...
Sharing between Linux and Mac OS X
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
Sharing data between Mac OS X and Linux is easy if you are using Parallels Desktop or VMWare Fusion or any other virtualization software. However, if you prefer pushing the pedal to the metal, so to speak, there is no other option but to multi-boot your computer. Unfortunately, sharing a partition between systems is quite tricky and more often than not, the default file system for the partition is FAT16/FAT32. Yeah, I know it sucks but hey, at least it is more universal. :) See full arti...
How to automount FUSE systems
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
I have featured FUSE, the open source file system in user space project, several times already. However, this is the first time I have found a way to automount FUSE file systems. For this to work, you need to get afuse, "an automounting file system implemented in user-space using FUSE." Now I wonder how this works with the Mac. :) See full article. Related Entries: Einfach nur cool: Scion Fuse - 13 April 2006 Scion Fuse - cool concept - 13 April 2006 Encrypting your File System - 16 ...
BackerUpper, yet another TimeMachine clone for Linux
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
I have featured back-up utilities that try to mimic the ease of use of the Mac's Time Machine. This time, I am giving you yet another Time Machine clone called BackerUpper, "a simple program for backing up selected directories over a local network. Its main intended purpose is backing up a user's personal data." For a step-by-step instruction on how to install, configure and use BackerUpper, check out HowToForge's tutorial. See full article. Related Entries: How to Add the...
Second Life Beta for Linux now available
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
If you are a citizen of Second Life and miss using it when you shifted to Linux, then don't despair. The beta version of the Second Life Linux client is now available for download. At close to 53MB download, this client now allows users to have 3D voice support and multi-media playback along with improvements and bug fixes. As with other beta software, this is not close to production. However, testers like you are encouraged to use it and report bugs so it will be fixed before the fina...
Gnash
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
We all know that YouTube and other popular video-sites use Flash as their multimedia file format. Whilst Adobe provides versions of their Flash Player for Linux, the player is in no way open source. We Linux-users prefer using open source alternatives over proprietary, closed software, so the community has embarked on an open source Flash Player and named it Gnash. Gnash provides both a stand-alone player as well as a web-browser plug-in. At its current version, it can now play YouTube vide...
How the BBC uses Linux for its TV production
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
The BBC is known to have strong support for Linux. When its iPlayer software was released, it did not take them long to release the Linux version. Compared to US TV networks, the BBC seems bent on using Linux in their own TV production. Their use of ingex, a suite of software applications designed to enable low-cost flexible tapeless television production, just proves that the BBC eats their own dog food, so to speak. So next time to see an episode of the BBC's EastEnders, you'll be...
Who says there is no undelete in Linux?
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
by mindcircus Well, not if you are using ext3! Whilst everyone is expected (yes, now I expect everyone to have back-ups of their data after featuring several back-up utilities already) to have backed-up their data, there are times when the file or folder you have accidentally deleted is more useful than your back-up. Yeah, it happens so instead of being left with a 10K back-up document instead of 200KB, undeleting seems to be the next best thing - or the ONLY thing. This is what Carlo Wood ...
Skype 2.0 for Linux officially released
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
by Sebastian Bergmann I have been playing with the beta version of Skype for Linux on the Asus Eee PC before and I must say that it is stable and awesome. Video support is a welcome addition to this version. The beta phase has ended and now we have the official Skype 2.0 for Linux. With the video-support now on versions of Skype in all major platforms, Linux, Windows and Mac OS X, it brings Skype closer to being the de-facto VoIP and video-calling tool. Now, if only Skype can make sure that...
MonoDevelop 1.0 Released
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
If you are a developer who prefers using Linux as your platform but is required to churn out applications on .Net or some other non-Linux platforms OR if you are a Mac user who needs to release .Net applications, then MonoDevelop is for you. In a nutshell, MonoDevelop is "is a GNOME IDE primarily designed for C# and other .NET languages. " Whilst it is geared towards .Net application development, MonoDevelop also has support for several languages, with C#, VB.NET and C/C++ support included,...
Cloning with Clonezilla
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
If you are the type who manages multiple Linux computers in a laboratory, then you are familiar with HDD cloning. In my days as admin, I used to use Norton Ghost to do this with the Partition Image as the open source alternative. Today, there is another tool that is even better than Partition Image and it is called Clonezilla. What makes it better is its support for both unicasting and multicasting solutions. Clonezilla supports the following filesystems: "ext2, ext3, reiserfs, xfs, jfs of ...
Ubuntu Stands Tall
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
abardwell At the recent CanSecWest Applied Security Conference that was held in Canada, three computers running Mac OS X, Vista and Ubuntu Linux respectively were offered for hacking. None of the three were compromised remotely, i.e., via network access, on the first day. The second day, with rules relaxed a bit by allowing hackers access to all applications that come bundled with the OS, the Mac OS X fell via a Safari web-browser vulnerability. The hacker setup a malicious web site and w...
Adobe AIR for Linux now available
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
Whilst I am not exactly a fan of Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR), it is best to inform you that it is now available on the Linux platform. You can get it from Adobe's site. So, try at your own risk. hehe. Frankly, I stay away from Silverlight and AIR, simply because I do not trust how they manage my resources. See full article. Related Entries: MAX 2006: Adobe dreht voll auf - 25 Oktober 2006 Tipp: pdf-Office 6.0 Pro die Adobe Alternative - 26 März 2007 Adobe Apollo Adobe I...
More tweets from you
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
I featured a couple of Twitter applications last year. Twelve months after, we have more Twitter applications for Linux users. A blog article from Fsckin.com features a total of twelve Twitter clients! Twitter is a micro-blogging site that is fast becoming THE site for quick dissemination of news and other information. Heck, with its public API, more and more web mash-ups are made available that adds power to the Twitter platform. Now, if you are into Twitter, add me so you'd know what...
Nokia's N810 WiMax
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
Ars Technica released a 4-page review of the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet. Nokia's Internet Tablet device series can be considered as one of the most popular Linux-based devices to date. I was able to snag one of the N770s but since it wouldn't sync with my Mac, I have decided to give it to my brother but that is another story. :) Every new iteration means more or better features. What is more interesting is the N810's model that supports WiMax. This one will definitely make the d...
Control your Linux Lab with iTALC
BioTech Weblog, The | 23 hours 46 minutes ago
Extra Ketchup If you are like me, an educator, then you know what I am talking about when faced with students learning computer skills in the classroom. There are times when you'd want to check if the student is actually doing the work s/he is supposed to do rather than checking out Facebook or chatting with friends. The "boss key" is easy to do since students know when you are on to them - when you approach their terminal, boss key activated and you're left with no clue as to what...
Expedition 18 Crew To Launch from Baikonur
Science Blog | 23 hours 58 minutes ago
Commander Edward Michael "Mike" Fincke and Flight Engineer Yury Valentinovich Lonchakov of the 18th International Space Station crew are scheduled to launch in their Soyuz TMA-13 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan about 3 a.m. EDT Sunday to begin a six-month stay in space.read more
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The field of neurotechnology, the focus of this blog, encompasses advances in brain science (neurons), information technology (bits) and bioengineering (genes). Up for discussion and analysis: the political, economic, ethical, and social forces that will shape the future of what will be one of the most important and fascinating stories of the coming decades.
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