Tag: bitcoin

January is almost over, and it’s already been an interesting ride this year.  2014 is turning out to be an interesting year.

New ideas are emerging as well as a changing geopolitical landscape.  While this isn’t the change many were supposed to “believe in,” things are definitely not going to be stagnant.

Unix

• Bridge Linux:  Every now and then, a new Unix-like OS enters town.  This distro uses Arch as its base and comes in a variety of desktop environments.  There is a 32 and 64-bit edition.  Dalton Miller, the founder of the project was recently interviewed by DistroWatch.
• Bitcoin and TigerDirect: The online electronics retailer is now accepting Bitcoin as payment.  As mention of the digital currency goes more mainstream, it will be interesting to see what happens next.
• David Gerwitz recommends Chromebooks: Gerwitz of ZDNet has recently started recommending Chromebooks for everyday users.  The big reasoning according to him is that, “For people who don’t need all that Windows has to offer, for those who live in their browsers, Gmail, Facebook, and such, for those who write simple documents and need simple spreadsheets or presentations, for those who just need to get something done quickly and easily, the Chromebook is an ideal choice.”

Overlooked Pop Culture

• CNN US Edition Covers Bieber instead of Ukraine: During the unrest in the Ukraine, a Reddit user caught the front page of CNN’s website (U.S. Edition), where Justin Bieber was front and center.  There seems to be a trend of people getting tired of celebrity “scandals.”
• GMO Tobacco Virus Killing Bees?: This article from InfoWars links to a study from the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, Maryland and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science in Bejing.  It will be interesting to see how science finds a way to overcome a virus that allegedly jumps from plants to animals.
• From the Fuck the Police Files: The Smoking Gun recently reported on a Pizza Hut Manger who spit on the food of a deputy who had busted her for riding in a car with someone who might have been drinking.  In Tennessee, it’s an automatic DUI.  She lost her job, and the cop probably lost some of his faith in fast food chains.

As the holiday sales season kicks into high gear, we learn about some cool things in the technology sphere as well as an update in regards to an earlier podcast episode.

Hopefully, this week’s links will help blast things off for the most intense part of the year.  For those who are studying for finals in college and/or going through finals week, we at The *Nixed Report wish you all the best of luck.  Happy studies.

Unix

• iBuyPower plans to put out their own Steam Machine (The Verge):  The current prototype has a 500 GB hard drive, multicore AMD CPU, a discrete Radeon R9 270 graphics card, Wifi, Bluetooth, and Valve’s Steam Controller.
• The City of Munich Has Walked Away From Microsoft (TechRepublic): An entire German city has walked away from Microsoft and is relying on free and open source software instead.  In the process, the city discovered that their IT infrastructure also needed an overhaul.
• Malware can spread via rogue networks utilizing the sound system of an OS for transmission, but Linux-based systems may already have a defense against it (Journal of Communications): Research done by Michael Hanspach and Michael Goetz indicates that creating a rogue mesh network may serve as an opportunity to spread malware in unexpected ways.  As it turns out, the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) and Linux Audio Developer’s Simple Audio Plugin API (LADSPA) may already have the ability to defend against such attacks via configuration of audio filters.  Yet another reason why Linux-based systems may be more secure than solutions from Microsoft.

Overlooked Pop Culture

• Bitcoin theft occurs in the dark web yet again (Layfield Report): Stephen Kelley talks about Sheep Marketplace and how bitcoins have been stolen from individual participants.  Though the marketplace has claimed that emergency procedures were in place to return the remainder of bitcoins to users, Kelley speculates as to whether it was a ruse by the site operators.
• Government chemist tampered with evidence in 40,000 cases (Filming Cops): Though this item of news isn’t entirely new, it’s here to serve as a reminder that though the justice system in the U.S. is by far among the most sophisticated, it doesn’t guarantee that cases will be 100% accurate, especially when evidence is altered.
• Dragon Con co-founder Ed Kramer Avoids Prison (The Atlanta-Journal Constitution): He will serve the remainder of five years confinement under house arrest.  For the remainder of his 20 year sentence, he’ll be on probation and must register as a sex offender for life.  He also has to pay $100,000 USD in restitution to the three individuals who claimed he molested and abused.  Furthermore, it appears that he will no longer profit from the Dragon Con convention.