It is now official! Guinness officials announced that Firefox holds the record for the largest number of software downloads in 24 hours with 8,002,530 number of Firefox 3 downloads beginning 18:16 +UTC on June 17, 2008 to 18:16 +UTC on June 18, 2008.

Firefox community now has 180 million users in 230 countries all around the world. The best part of it is I am part of the event! And of course you are too, if you downloaded Firefox 3 on that date. And to celebrate this joyous event, you can get your personalized Firefox Download Day certificate here.

Congratulations, Firefox team!

Popularity: 10% [?]

You read it right. Mythbusters just served us painkillers for those tech problems that makes our heads ache. This article in popularmechanics.com was written by Jamie Hyneman from the oh-so-cool Discovery Channel show Mythbusters.

From the article:

Computer operating systems loaded with stuff I don’t want and will never use.

In the tech world this phenomenon is known as “software bloat” or “feature bloat.” It’s a well-documented problem and a frequent complaint about Windows OSs—Vista in particular. In addition to being buggy, the extra features tend to bog down your system by demanding more processing power and memory. Computer-makers: Don’t load up operating systems with features and then make us sweat to figure out how to get rid of the fat.

Most features can be set up as options. Why not start with a computer loaded with basic stuff that works 100 percent of the time? Then, give us the option of adding the bells and whistles. There’s another solution available to consumers: Switch to a Linux-based OS such as Ubuntu. Since most Linux OSs are free, there’s no business reason to bloat up the system with feature frills.

And high-tech companies—stop messing with us on your treadmill of upgrades while making the old stuff obsolete. It may be that any software company that didn’t routinely upgrade its product would go out of business. But what if the rest of the world worked this way? Oh, I lost a sock. I need to get a whole new wardrobe because the replacement sock is version 2.0.1, and the stores now only sell version 2.0.3.

And I so totally agree with him. The only reason I want to upgrade my software is if there are any vulnerabilities that need fixing. If not, wise men say don’t fix it if it ain’t broken. That’s why I love Linux. You do not have put in what you don’t need. You wouldn’t want food shoven down your throat, do you?

Popularity: 17% [?]

www.networkworld.com writes:

Microsoft’s aggressive defense of its intellectual property, which includes claims that Linux violates a number of its patents, is nothing more than “a marketing thing,” according to Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux kernel.

“They have been sued for patents by other people, but I don’t think they’ve — not that I’ve gone through any huge amount of law cases — but I don’t think they’ve generally used patents as a weapon,” Torvalds said. “But they’re perfectly happy to use anything at all as fear, uncertainty and doubt in the marketplace, and patents is just one thing where they say, ‘Hey, isn’t this convenient? We can use this as a PR force.’”

Torvalds made the comments during the second half of an interview conducted by the Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin on Oct. 16. The foundation is expected to make the rest of the interview publicly available on its Web site Monday. The foundation released the initial portion of the interview in January.

“Another reason why I don’t think Microsoft really seriously would go after patents is when you’re a convicted monopolist in the marketplace you really should not be suing your competitors over patents,” Torvalds continued. “I think that most Microsoft lawyers would say, ‘You know, let’s not do that; that sounds insane’.”

Popularity: 12% [?]

Still looking for a backup program for your Linux files? Finally, FlyBack is available to Linux users to backup our stuff and save our a$$es from humiliating and headache-producing data loss.

FlyBack is a snapshot-based backup tool based on rsync It creates successive backup directories mirroring the files you wish to backup, but hard-links unchanged files to the previous backup. This prevents wasting disk space while providing you with full access to all your files without any sort of recovery program. If your machine crashes, just move your external drive to your new machine and copy the latest backup using whatever file browser you normally use.

Bernaz’s Weblog writes about FlyBack and you can continue reading here.

Popularity: 23% [?]

Senator Ed Angara passed Bill 880: “AN ACT AMENDING CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8293 OR THE “THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES” AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES” (the bill’s short title: “AMENDING R.A. NO. 8293, TO INCLUDE INTERNET PIRACY”).

The bill mostly changes some minor laws about copyright laws, fair use, personal importation of copyrighted works, registration of copyright, copyright infringement, and related procedural matters. Infoweapons writes that Bill 880, however, also introduces new concepts and a new chapter, numbered XXI, which gives legal protection to DRM measures and prohibits means to circumvent them. DRM seems to be effectively included in the bill with the following definitions stated at the beginning of Bill 880:

171.12 “EFFECTIVE TECHNOLOGICAL MEASURE” MEANS ANY TECHNOLOGY, DEVICE OR COMPONENT THAT, IN THE NORMAL COURSE OF ITS OPERATION, CONTROLS ACCESS TO A PROTECTED WORK, SOUND RECORDING, OR OTHER SUBJECT MATTER, OR PROTECTS ANY COPYRIGHT OR ANY RIGHTS RELATED TO COPYRIGHT AS PROVIDED BY THIS ACT.

171.13 “RIGHTS MANAGEMENT INFORMATION” MEANS INFORMATION WHICH IDENTIFIES THE WORK, SOUND RECORDING OR PERFORMANCE; THE AUTHOR OF THE WORK, PRODUCER OF THE SOUND RECORDING OR PERFORMER OF THE PERFORMANCE; THE OWNER OF ANY RIGHT IN THE WORK, SOUND RECORDING OR PERFORMANCE; OR INFORMATION ABOUT THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE USE OF THE WORK, SOUND RECORDING OR PERFORMANCE; AND ANY NUMBERS OR CODES THAT REPRESENT SUCH INFORMATION, WHEN ANY OF THESE ITEMS IS ATTACHED TO A COPY OF THE SOUND RECORDING OR FIXATION OF WORK, PERFORMANCE OR APPEARS IN CONNECTION WITH THE COMMUNICATION TO THE PUBLIC OF A WORK, SOUND RECORDING OR PERFORMANCE. NOTHING IN THIS ACT REQUIRES THE OWNER OF ANY R IGHT IN THE WORK, SOUND RECORDING, OR PERFORMANCE TO ATTACH RIGHTS MANAGEMENT INFORMATION TO COPIES OF IT OR TO CAUSE RIGHTS MANAGEMENT INFORMATION TO APPEAR IN CONNECTION WITH A COMMUNICATION OF THE WORK, SOUND RECORDING OR PERFORMANCE TO THE PUBLIC.

Chapter XXI, on the other hand reads as follows:

CHAPTER XXI. TECHNOLOGICAL PROTECTION MEASURES AND RIGHTS MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

SECTION 229A TECHNOLOGICAL PROTECTION MEASURES

229A.1. ANY PERSON WHO DOES EITHER OF THE FOLLOWING SHALL BE GUILTY OF A CRIME, PUNISHABLE TO THE SAME EXTENT AS PROVIDED IN SECTION 217.1(B) OF THIS ACT FOR THE FIRST OFFENSE, AND TO THE SAME EXTENT AS PROVIDED IN SECTION 217.1(C) FOR THE SECOND OR SUBSEQUENT OFFENSE, AND SHALL ALSO BE LIABLE UPON THE SUIT OF ANY INJURED PARTY, TO A RELIEF, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES, INJUNCTION, IMPOUNDMENT, AND DESTRUCTION. THE REMEDIES PROVIDED IN SECTION 216 SHALL APPLY, MUTATIS MUTANDIS, TO VIOLATIONS OF THIS SECTION:

(a) KNOWINGLY, OR HAVING REASONABLE GROUNDS TO KNOW, CIRCUMVENTS WITHOUT AUTHORITY ANY EFFECTIVE TECHNOLOGICAL MEASURE;

(b) OR MANUFACTURES, IMPORTS, EXPORTS, THE PUBLIC, DISTRIBUTES, OFFERS TO PROVIDES, OR OTHERWISE TRAFFICS IN DEVICES, PRODUCTS OR COMPONENTS OR OFFERS TO THE PUBLIC OR PROVIDES SERVICES:

(i) THAT ARE PROMOTED, ADVERTISED OR MARKETED FOR THE PURPOSE OF CIRCUMVENTION OF ANY EFFECTIVE TECHNOLOGICAL MEASURE;

(ii) OR THAT HAVE ONLY A LIMITED COMMERCIALLY SIGNIFICANT PURPOSE OR USE OTHER THAN TO CIRCUMVENT ANY EFFECTIVE TECHNOLOGICAL MEASURE: OR

(iii) THAT ARE PRIMARILY DESIGNED, PRODUCED, ADAPTED OR PERFORMED FOR THE PURPOSE OF ENABLING OR FACILITATING THE CIRCUMVENTION OF ANY EFFECTIVE TECHNOLOGICAL MEASURE.

229A.2. THIS SECTION PROHIBITS CIRCUMVENTION OF TECHNOLOGICAL MEASURES, AND DOES NOT REQUIRE AN AFFIRMATIVE RESPONSE TO SUCH MEASURES. THIS SECTION DOES NOT REQUIRE THAT THE DESIGN OF, OR THE DESIGN AND SELECTION OF PARTS AND COMPONENTS FOR A CONSUMER ELECTRONICS, TELECOMMUNICATIONS OR COMPUTING PRODUCT PROVIDE FOR A RESPONSE TO ANY PARTICULAR TECHNOLOGICAL MEASURE. THIS PARAGRAPH DOES NOT PROVIDE A DEFENSE TO A CLAIM OF VIOLATION OF PARAGRAPH (1)(B).

229A.3. A VIOLATION OF THIS SECTION IS INDEPENDENT OF ANY INFRINGEMENT THAT MIGHT OCCUR UNDER THIS ACT.

SECTION 229B INTEGRITY OF RIGHTS MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

ANY PERSON WHO DOES EITHER BE FOLLOWING SHALL BE GUILTY OF A CRIME, PUNISHABLE TO THE SAME EXTENT AS PROVIDED IN SECTION 217.1 OF THIS ACT, AND SHALL ALSO BE LIABLE UPON THE SUIT OF ANY INJURED PARTY, TO RELIEF BY WAY OF DAMAGES, INJUNCTION, IMPOUNDMENT, DESTRUCTION OR OTHERWISE, AND THE REMEDIES PROVIDED IN SECTION 216 SHALL APPLY, MUTATIS MUTANDIS, TO VIOLATIONS OF THIS SECTION.

(a) KNOWINGLY AND WITHOUT AUTHORITY REMOVES ALTERS ANY ELECTRONIC RIGHTS OR MANAGEMENT INFORMATION FROM A COPY OF A WORK, SOUND RECORDING, OR FIXATION OF A PERFORMANCE, OR KNOWINGLY AND WITHOUT AUTHORITY DISTRIBUTES, IMPORTS FOR DISTRIBUTION, BROADCASTS, COMMUNICATES OR MAKES AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC COPIES OF WORKS, SOUND RECORDINGS, OR FIXATIONS OF PERFORMANCES FROM WHICH ELECTRONIC RIGHTS MANAGEMENT INFORMATION HAS BEEN REMOVED; OR

(b) ALTERS ELECTRONIC RIGHTS MANAGEMENT INFORMATION WITHOUT AUTHORITY, KNOWING OR (WITH RESPECT TO CIVIL REMEDIES) HAVING REASONABLE GROUNDS TO KNOW THAT SUCH ACTIVITY WILL ENABLE OR FACILITATE AN INFRINGEMENT OF ANY RIGHT PROTECTED UNDER THIS LAW.

More information on this bill is available here.

Popularity: 21% [?]

Southeastern College, a school in Pasay, recently filed a civil case against software giant Microsoft Corporation and its local office Microsoft Philippines for copyright infringement. Microsoft is well known for going after software piracy violators but in a turn of tides, became the violators themselves. The case is filed at Makati City Regional Trial court to the tune of Php 100M.

Allegedly, Southeastern College produced a manual called ‘The SEC Microsoft Office XP Manual’, a manual for Microsoft Office XP exclusively for the teachers and students of the said school. The material was allegedly reproduced by Microsoft under the new name ‘Innovate: A Mentor’s Guide to ICT Foundation Competencies’ in PDF format, and was later allegedly distributed as corporate giveaways in CD forms. Southeastern College allowed Microsoft to reproduce the said material for 10,000 copies. However, a digital version of the material and its copying and distribution violates the copyright of the material.

Microsoft is yet to announce their side of the story regarding two violations that were filed against them: unauthorized reproduction of copyrighted content and public communication of said content.

Source: Inq7.net

Popularity: 14% [?]

There are few gadgets emerging every now and then, some has changed the history of technology, some well, got stuck in the bottom of the barrel. I found a nice article in http://crave.cnet.co.uk that describes the top ten terrible tech products according to their reviews and I find the article interesting. Here is a breakdown of their list:

• Windows Vista. CNET describes Windows Vista as the worst tech product for its incompatibility with hardware and downgrade-to-previous-version option. I think hardware manufacturers will definitely release hardware drivers for Vista sometime in the future but I am not really into “sacrifice your precious RAM for squiggly app windows” person.

• Sony Rootkit CDs. Sony has apparently released a software with a purpose of protection against piracy programmed into their audio cds. The bad thing, according to CNET, is after you load their software, it will leave your computer vulnerable to hackers over the internet. I am personally not aware of this. This is bad for Sony who has been around providing us with breakthroughs in technology. If you have a personal experience with this root-kit CD, share it here.

• Amstrad E-m@iler Telephone. This is an equipment that allows you to send emails using your phone and I have seen a product similar to this but I have not used or tried it. This product might have been an ass-kicker had not it arrived so late. During its release, computers and internet are common so spending a huge sum of money for something that does what your computer can do plus more is a total waste.

• Atari Jaguar. In 1993, Atari released Jaguar meant to rival Sega and Nintendo consoles. But software has been diffcult to write for the Jaguar console, according to CNET, and because of this, less titles came around and meant death to Jaguar. This is the last console that Atari released.

• Apple Puck Mouse. CNET writes that this mouse was difficult to use because of its round interface, however, it is the first mouse to use the USB to connect to the PC. I think it looks cute though.

• Tamagotchi. I doubt nobody remembers what Tamagotchi is. This is the coolest toy ever! No matter what CNET says about this toy, I lo-o-o-o-ve it!

• Gizmondo. CNET describes Gizmondo as a hand-gaming console with rubbish games. Looks like Gizmondo never left UK to spread its wings is US and Asia.

• The Squircle. The Squircle is an MP3 player that uses an SD card for storage because it does not have internal memory to begin with, writes CNET. But I think its cute and the name is unique.

• Barcode Battler. CNET describes Barcode Battler as a hand-held game device that uses barcodes for your games. Don’t ask me, I don’t get it either.

• Sinclair C5. An battery-operated tricycle running at 15mph “just twice the speed of one of those electric mobility scooters for old people”, CNET says. Aside from being expensive, the seat-to-pedal distance was unchangeable, there were no gears and it overheated going up hills.

If you think there is something out there that is considered a terrible tech product, share it here.

Popularity: 15% [?]