Congratulations to @Lakshmana who landed a new job and is starting today.

Thanks to @Digium for getting the word out. We just stumbled on this one...

https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/1764325-other-online-it-forums

Also very cool that SW decided to feature it and promote it. Thanks to SW as well!

Softpedia reports on a new open source project that just came to light this past week. UbuntuBSD is an attempt to merge the Ubuntu ecosystem with the FreeBSD kernel, which does not use the much maligned SystemD. This is a very new project but could be very interesting. Use of the BSD kernel means that ZFS is available as a native filesystem (and is used by default) and XFCe is being used as the desktop. Downloads in ISO form are already available for those interested in checking things out.

Scale and Spiceworks are presenting Scale's Can Your Disaster Recovery Plan Cook the Bacon (aka the Waffle House Talk) as a webinar today at noon eastern / 11:00 am central time. @scottalanmiller will be guesting on this webinar to mirror the "jump in" anecdotes from the same Waffle House presentation given in Austin at SpiceWorld back in September.

Sign up and join Scale to find out if your critical data is bacon or sausage.

Congrats to @JeffReady on his new brewery: http://www.townepost.com/indiana/center-grove/centerpoint-brewing/

...It all began five years ago when Jon Robinson invited Argiris to his house to taste his homebrew beer. The fellow Rose-Hulman graduate was intrigued. The pair began crafting their own recipes and entering competitions. They were having fun and learning a lot, but when they took the Blue Ribbon at the Indiana State Fair in 2014 for their category they knew they had something special. They started kicking around the idea of opening a brewery and developed a business plan. That’s where Center Grove resident and fellow Rose-Hulman graduate Jeff Ready joined the team.....

MangoLassi and Unitrends would like to invite you to participate in a Full day all about Unitrends May 12, 2015

• @Minion-Queen and @scottalanmiller will be posting from SpiceWorld London about the launch of the new addition to Unitrends offerings.

• There will be questions posted by a couple Unitrends installation Engineers and they will be here to answer your questions as well

• There will be giveaways!

• Follow @Minion-Queen on twitter @theminionqueen for other pics and hilarity that happens at SpiceWorld!!

In Germany, a Linux kernel author and the Software Freedom Conservancy have sued hypervisor giant VMware over allegations that VMware has used copyrighted and GPL licensed Linux code belonging to Christoph Hellwig without securing a proper license nor meeting its obligations under the GPL (Gnu Public License v2.) This is an extremely serious lawsuit as the players involved are very large and the codebase in question is very valuable. In question is the VMware vmkernel, the company's likely most valuable technological asset. VMware asserts that it has done nothing wrong.

Under the terms of the GPL, if GPL code has been used in another product, that other product is, in turn, automatically licensed under the GPL. That means that VMware faces the potential scenario where the vmkernel, and therefore the majority of ESXi itself, is GPL'd making it open and free to the world and no longer under VMware's control. Linux, KVM and Xen, for example, would have unfettered access to use the code and merge projects.

The question will likely come down to whether or not the two parties can provide that code truly was or was not misappropriated. It is a common statement made about VMware that they have used Linux code in their products, but that claim is based on the misconception that the shell used on ESXi, which has no relationship to Linux, is Linux and therefore ESXi is Linux. That misconception is nothing more than that and is completely unrelated to this question of whether or not VMware has accidentally or intentionally used copyrighted, GPL'd code in their products.

Red Hat's new Fleet Commander system is designed to manage RHEL and Fedora desktops at scale. FC combines Cockpit and FreeIPA to give group policy like control to the RH ecosystem.

https://fleet-commander.org/

Ofcom appoints online safety head to take on big tech

Regulator Ofcom has announced Anna-Sophie Harling will be its online safety head, dealing with how the tech giants regulate harmful speech.
She will be in charge of implementing the Online Safety Bill, due to come into effect later this year if approved by Parliament. Ofcom will be able to fine tech firms that fail to remove offending content up to 10% of their global revenue. But one expert said this would require "bold leadership". Ms Harling is currently managing director for Europe at NewsGuard, which audits online publishers for accuracy. "I'm really excited to be joining Ofcom's online-safety team," she said. "Legislation will enable us to introduce meaningful transparency where it has been lacking and empower Ofcom to hold platforms to account. "I can't wait to get started."

Instagram makes under-16s' accounts private by default

Instagram has made new under-16s' accounts private by default so only approved followers can see posts and "like" or comment.
Tests showed only one in five opted for a public account when the private setting was the default, it said. And existing account holders would be sent a notification "highlighting the benefits" of switching to private. But Instagram also said it was pushing ahead with new apps for under-13s, despite a backlash from some groups. "The reality is that they are already online and, with no foolproof way to stop people from misrepresenting their age, we want to build experiences designed specifically for them, managed by parents and guardians," parent company Facebook said.

UK worries Starlink and OneWeb may interfere with each other, plans new rules

Ofcom says complexity of giant satellite networks raises interference concerns.
A UK government agency is worried that OneWeb, SpaceX's Starlink, and similar low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite-broadband systems could block each others' signals. Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator, proposed new rules today in a report that details its interference concerns. Ofcom also said it intends to amend satellite licenses already issued to SpaceX and OneWeb to require coordination of frequency use. Without new requirements, the risk of interference could prevent competition by shutting new players out of the market, Ofcom said.

Over-60s with only virtual contact 'more lonely'

Over-60s who relied on only telephone and online contact felt more lonely during the pandemic, a study suggests.
"Virtual contact on its own is not beneficial to older adults' mental health," researcher Dr Yang Hu of Lancaster University told the BBC. However, when used to supplement face-to-face contact, it was associated with "enhanced mental wellbeing". But researchers stress their findings reveal an association, not causation - and more research is needed. The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Sociology, was conducted by Dr Yang Hu and Dr Yue Qian, at the University of British Columbia in Canada. The researchers used data collected from 5,148 older people aged 60 or over in the UK and 1,391 in the US, surveyed both before and during the pandemic.

Tokyo Olympics: 2020 Games begin as Naomi Osaka lights Olympic flame in poignant ceremony

The honour fell to Naomi Osaka to light the flame, the beacon of hope the Olympics attempts to be.
It marked the official opening of Tokyo 2020, a year later than planned, and in the midst of a global pandemic. Perhaps as expected, Friday's opening ceremony was not of the usual ilk. No carnival like Rio, no skydiving monarchs like London, but a more sombre tone, a sobering reminder that this is a Games taking place in a world still facing its toughest challenge. "Today is a moment of hope," said Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). "Yes, it is very different from what all of us had imagined. But let us cherish this moment because finally we are all here together." This Games is going to be different, dampened by masks, positive tests and the absence of fans. But it is still the Olympics; still the greatest show on Earth, still faster, higher, stronger and now together.

Zuckerberg wants Facebook to become online 'metaverse'

Mark Zuckerberg has laid out his vision to transform Facebook from a social media network into a “metaverse company” in the next five years.
A metaverse is an online world where people can game, work and communicate in a virtual environment, often using VR headsets. The Facebook CEO described it as “an embodied internet where instead of just viewing content - you are in it”. He told The Verge people shouldn't live through “small, glowing rectangles”. “That’s not really how people are made to interact,” he said, speaking of reliance on mobile phones. “A lot of the meetings that we have today, you’re looking at a grid of faces on a screen. That’s not how we process things either.”

Kaseya gets master decryptor to help customers still suffering from REvil attack

REvil ransomware struck as many as 1,500 networks, but a master key is now available.
Kaseya—the remote management software seller at the center of a ransomware operation that struck as many as 1,500 downstream networks—said it has obtained a decryptor that should successfully restore data encrypted during the Fourth of July weekend attack. Affiliates of REvil, one of the Internet’s most cutthroat ransomware groups, exploited a critical zero-day vulnerability in Miami, Florida-based Kaseya’s VSA remote management product. The vulnerability—which Kaseya was days away from patching—allowed the ransomware operators to compromise the networks of about 60 customers. From there, the extortionists infected as many as 1,500 networks that relied on the 60 customers for services.

Akamai Edge DNS outage brings down Playstation Network, Steam, others

Contrary to popular belief, it's not always DNS... but it is today.
A massive Internet outage today has downdetector.com covered in warnings for popular websites and services such as the PlayStation Network, Steam, Fidelity Investments, Airbnb, FedEx, LastPass, UPS, Amazon, and others. The root cause of the outage appears to be a failure in Akamai's Edge DNS Service. Its system status page reports that Akamai is aware of "an emerging issue with the Edge DNS service"—one downgraded to "Minor Service Outage" with no further explanation as of press time.

Covid: China rejects WHO plan for second phase of virus origin probe

China has rejected the next stage of a World Health Organization (WHO) plan to investigate the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
The WHO wants to audit laboratories in the area the virus was first identified. But Zeng Yixin, deputy health minister, said this showed "disrespect for common sense and arrogance toward science". WHO experts said it was very unlikely the virus escaped from a Chinese lab, but the theory has endured. Investigators were able to visit Wuhan - the city where the virus was first detected in December 2019 - in January this year. But earlier this month WHO head Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus outlined the terms of the inquiry's next phase. This included looking at certain science research institutions.

California sues Activision Blizzard over alleged harassment

One of the world's largest game companies is being taken to court over an alleged "frat boy" culture that discriminates against women.
Activision Blizzard is accused of unequal pay, promoting men over women, and widespread sexual harassment. California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) is taking legal action against the company, following a two-year investigation. ctivision called the action "disgraceful and unprofessional". And it called the DFEH "unaccountable state bureaucrats".