Considerations for an Apple and Samsung Smart Watch Part II

Category: Techtoday

Continued from Considerations for an Apple and Samsung Smart Watch Part 1

7.Secure payments, passkeys, access. Implementing mobile payments, logins, and passkeys are the strongest argument for watch computing, but the technology has been around for awhile and although people commute with Octopus cards (Hong Kong), RFID chips, and EZCards (Shanghai) on a daily basis, there are still places which still use printed out tickets (tourist spots for instance). Moreover, there have been promises for digital on-the-go payments that would replace credit cards for years but somehow it hasn't taken off. With Microsoft, Sony, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Apple getting security breaches recently, do we really want to depend on a device on your wrist for security and payments? I don't crack security systems as a hobby, but anyone with a search engine can find people who can break into accounts without even trying. Unless the watch computer has some sort of biometric scanning system (say sweat, bio-rhythm, pulse), enforcing security with a device with such small processing power is tough.

8. Do you really need a companion/accessory to a smartphone? I don't own a smartphone (And I leave my poor Nokia E63 at home) and I leave my iPad 2 and Sony ereader on my couch when I go to work, but even I feel suffocated with the number of devices in my satchel. I'll probably get around to finally buying an Android smartphone just because it's dirt cheap but do I need all that power? Between my iPod and my Linux netbook, an Android smartphone makes a crowd. The smartphone was supposed to complement the laptop and the tablet was supposed to be a second PC. Now a watch? I thought the excesses of the 90s were over?

"In the future, everyone will have an iWatch and Samsung Galaxy Note shoulder pads plus an Android tablet integrated in their ass, with a detachable laptop on your hip. Take it from me - I was there!" Cable art from Spider-Man #16 (1991)

9. Information all the time. Notifications, notifications, and yes, more notifications. I understand that professionals and the Internet generation want to be hooked online all the time. A watch customized with the appropriate app (say for news, RSS, SMS, iMessage, Twitter, chat etc.) can feed you the data you need with a quick glance to your bony wrist (ala the Pebble). Isn't it enough that I spend nine hours a day facing three monitors at work and then head home to a tablet, ereader, and laptop for entertainment? Others have it worst, with a vibrating devil in his or her pocket that insists you have to update your Facebook account. I love technology, Linux, and digital devices I can afford, but I spend at least several hours a week untethered to the Internet or to a device. I'd cry if I went to Bali for vacation and was forced to wear an "iWatch" just to keep track of my machines and servers.

"I already have Ubuntu and a digital watch that tells time!"
Moss from IT Crowd Season 4 Episode 3

10. A conscience? In this violent gun-crazy, egocentric, greed-filled world we live in, a highly sophisticated watch would only be useful if it had the virtual intelligence to serve as a conscience - a Kantian imperative-powered impartial Jiminy Cricket to remind, advice, and assist when the user is in moral peril. Unfortunately, Apple is developing the device so no way that's going to happen.

On a final note, I'm going to get a pair of Google Glass only if it's dirt cheap and expendable just like Tom Cruise's exploding glasses in MI-2.

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Considerations for an Apple and Samsung Smart Watch Part 1

Category: Techtoday

With rumblings of watch computing just around the corner, what possible benefits can another computing device/accessory have for the consumer? Although I'm perfectly happy with the current mobile devices available on the market, I have to admit it's an intriguing albeit superfluous product to release these days.

1. Addressing a need. As far back as 2002, I already knew I wanted a tablet. Even before the first generation Amazon Kindle and the debut of the original iPad, I knew I would someday own a device that will allow me to read years of notes, magazines, clippings, ebooks, and comic books I scanned and archived over the years. Industry "experts" originally dismissed tablets as just consumption devices with no real use. Who would have thought apps and wireless broadband Internet would make tablets the must-have device on everyone's birthday and Christmas list? The tablet (and ereader) addressed my needs as a reader and researcher. The iPod addressed the need for music on-the-go without a cassette tape. But a watch? I guess we'll wait and see. In the meantime, I'm perfectly happy with my cheap, glow-in-the-dark Fossil on my wrist.

2. Interplanetary Spy. Back in the 80s, there was a "game book" called Be an Interplanetary Spy. It was superior to the overrated Choose Your Own Adventure series and was the sci-fi counterpart to the excellent Wizards, Warriors, and You series. The multi-ended series of books had a strong continuity (a hundred times better than Marvel's ridiculous storylines today). The game book consisted of fractals, mazes, and clever puzzles that the Spy figured out using his wrist scanner. His wrist device could interpret symbols, project x-rays to see through objects, scan for life forms, analyze matter and energy, and in some books could even be used as a weapon. If Apple and Samsung could figure out how to integrate that to their wrist devices, I'm sold on the idea.


Scan from Be an Interplanetary Spy: Planet Hunters (1985)



Scan from Be an Interplanetary Spy: Red Rocket (1985)


3. Dick Tracy. Everyone who has written about wrist computing adds a JPEG and PNG of Dick Tracy. All I can say is that with hands-free Bluetooth and really small phones, you'd look like a Dick talking to your wrist.

4. Projected Interactive touchscreen. Miniaturizing the Minority Report interface components to a wristwatch would be revolutionary. Think about what would happen if everyone riding the "D" train in New York  was holding one wrist up while dragging screens with the other. Cool and surreal but no one would talk to anyone any more. Casual conversation would become extinct. If they can develop a scalable 3D virtual desktop like Jihna Lee's design then we're looking at a totally new way of mobile computing.


"Yeah, but can it shoot webs like mine? (with matching utility belt, too!)"
Spider-Man screencap from The Amazing Spider-Man (1977) TV series.

5. Pre-Daniel Craig James Bond functional watch - I don't mind removing the watch just to swing across enemies while being shot at (The World is Not Enough - 1999). I'm also sure an integrated geiger counter would be very useful as a technical writer. And yes, I can certainly imagine commuting with a watch that can double as a taser or fire steel cables. I have my iPod and iPad for apps. I want a device with practical, integrated functions built-in, not stuff I have to download.

7. Game and watch awesome? Uhm. No. Have you seen the games available on Google Play, Steam, and Sony Playstation 4? I'm not a gamer and even I'm impressed. Why the heck would anyone break an arm playing with one hand while stabbing buttons on his wrist (or worst, both wrists)? I'd rather use the old-school NES controller.

Continued in Considerations for an Apple and Samsung Smart Watch Part 2

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CorelDraw Basics: Exporting to SVG for HTML5 web pages

Category: Techwriter

There are advantages to using SVG over the more popular PNG or JPEG when working with technical documents online. SVG retains the clarity of the original drawing and can be inserted easily into an HTML5-compliant web page. CorelDraw (my preferred vector-editing program) has long been able to export to SVG. This brief tutorial will focus on exporting a simple CorelDraw technical diagram to SVG and inserting the code using the svg tag.

To export a drawing to SVG in CorelDraw X3:

1. Select a grouped drawing using the Pick Tool. The example below is a vector drawn MP3 player with callouts.

*Illustration drawn and designed by the author.

2. Click File then Export.

3. In the Save as type: list, select SVG-Scalable Vector Graphics

4. Select the Selected only check box. Click Export.

5. In the SVG Export window, CorelDraw will have an Issue tab to inform you of any problems exporting to SVG. The most common issues are the Non-RGB colors present in the drawing and bitmap images in the illustration.

The MP3 player illustration actually doesn't have any bitmap images even though CorelDraw issued a warning so the only concern in this example should be the use of CMYK colors.

6. In the SVG Export General tab, use UTF-8 and Internal Style Sheet for the Encoding Method and Styling Options items respectively.

To keep the SVG file to a single file, select As Curves in the Export Text box. Otherwise, fonts would have to be embedded and would increase file size. The only text in the MP3 drawing are the number callouts so it's unnecessary to include a character subset.

Since the MP3 player drawing in this example is completely vector-based, there shouldn't be any bitmaps included or linked with the SVG file. However, if the Corel Draw illustration does have a bitmap included in the design, select Link Image or Embed Images as needed.

Click OK to export illustration.

7. To preview the SVG file in a browser, open the SVG file using an updated version of Google Chrome. Chrome supports SVG rendering natively. If there are parts of the drawing missing, check if you selected all the parts of the illustration before exporting. Depending on the design, ungroup or group the objects.

To add an SVG file to an HTML5 web-page:

1. There are several ways to place the SVG into a web page, such as using a div or section tag or linking the file. However, non-designers (like me) just want the SVG placed into the code and positioned using CSS3.

2. A simple way to add the SVG is to open the SVG file using a text editor. In the example below, Notepad++ for Windows is used to edit the markup. Note that this earlier version of Notepad++ doesn't highlight the svg tag in the code.

3. In the SVG file, copy the code beginning from the note "Creator: CorelDraw" down to the svg close tag. The essential code is just below the XML declaration.

4. Paste the SVG code into the HTML file. Save the HTML file and preview in a supported browser. Note that Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 does not support the svg tag. The screenshots below show Mozilla Firefox 10.x and Google Chrome version 24.x.

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Tips on Writing a Manual or Guide using LyX Part 2

Category: Techwriter

Continued from the article "Tips on Writing a Manual or Guide using LyX Part 1"

9. Use the Outline pane
Using the Outline panel is especially important if you're exporting to PDF. Use the provided controls on the Outline pane to adjust the hierarchy of the document parts and get an idea if you've used the wrong Environment for a particular section of text. There are buttons to increase/decrease nesting depth and/or moving text sections. Pressing the "Move selected item by one" moves not only the text entry in the Table of Contents but the corresponding text block in the LyX document. In the screenshot below, the left window is LyX's Outline pane and the right is the output PDF contents.




10. Use your system's character map utility
If you're working with a document written in a foreign language, use your operating system's character input system. LyX will accept the characters without any issues whether you're using Linux or Windows. In the screenshot below, characters are inserted using Lubuntu's Gnome Character Map utility.




11. Format text after writing the document
Due to the somewhat roundabout and unorthodox way font is formatted in LyX, it's often more useful to finish writing the document first and then using the Text Style menu to customize specific selections of text. Changing color, size, and underlining text can be frustrating and distracting if you format text on the fly.




12. Change the Default Output format
Changing the default output format will also automatically change the format used when you click Preview on the toolbar. To change the default output format in the Document Settings window, click the Output item in the left pane. If the final output is for PDF, select PDF (pdflatex).

13. Adjust paragraph and line spacing
Users who want to adjust paragraph, indents, and line spacing can find the settings under Text Layout in the Document Settings window. As noted previously, change these settings before you begin writing your manual or guide.




14. Page margins
When you export a LyX document to PDF, the margins are often too big. Adjust the margins in the Document Settings window Margins item. Unfortunately, you will have to try several values to see what works for your document's final output.

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QuickFix: Transmission or Deluge (in China)?

Category: Linux

Torrent downloading has more to do with the quality of the peers and trackers and your own broadband speed than the torrent application itself. Even optimized settings in uTorrent can't overcome dodgy broadband services. However, recent experience overseas has made me realize that some clients inexplicably perform better in different parts of the world.


Always set up Deluge properly if you're downloading torrents while overseas

I've been using Deluge in openSUSE for the last few years (along with Transmission in my Debian-based machines). I've had better luck with Deluge in Linux over KTorrent (KDE's native bit torrent client) or a browser-based torrent client such as Opera or a Firefox/Google Chrome extension. Deluge performed as well as Transmission in locations with fast broadband (Nova Scotia and Buffalo) or average Internet speed (Manila and Bangkok). In Shanghai, China, however, Deluge performed poorly despite my efforts to circumvent China's notorious bandwidth limitations and restrictions. Despite various changes to the settings, Deluge is noticeably much slower than Transmission in China. uTorrent in Windows 7 and Transmission in Ubuntu surprisingly fared much, much better, matching that of downloading speeds in other countries without Internet restrictions. Transmission was extremely dependable and was able to download a FreeBSD ISO, Linux Mint 64-bit DVD, and a few Asian movies four times the speed of Deluge, which trickled to 0.5 kb/s at certain times of the day.


Downloading torrents in places like China isn't fast, but it's not as bad as some might think if you're patient.

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Tips on Writing a Manual or Guide using LyX Part 1

Category: Techwriter

Writing a document using LyX can be a frustrating experience if you're accustomed to a traditional word processor like Abiword, Microsoft Word, or LibreOffice Write. However, there's a lot to like about using the WYSIWYM LyX. As mentioned in a previous blogpost about using CherryTree for quickly writing online manuals, there are many ways to write a structured document without having to use markup such as Docbook or XML. As much as I like HTML5, Docbook, and DITA, I must admit it's a bit too much if you're going to write a manual that won't have reusable sections, won't access extensible data, or won't be repurposed for different mediums. For technical writers who are currently using WYSIWYG page layout applications like Adobe PageMaker, Adobe InDesign, or even Microsoft Publisher and CorelDraw, there's a definite advantage to using LyX's approach. For one thing, I find it frustrating having to constantly think about spacing, typography, and layout with those applications as opposed to rattling off text (with or without markup). That said, LyX does have its limitations from a design perspective even when compared to the basic word processors such as Corel WordPerfect and Microsoft Word 2010.

Before attempting to use LyX to write a document, make sure you're aware of its primary function - clean and straightforward typesetting (This is actually laborious to pull of when using XSLT). Think of LyX as a distraction-free text editor with the ability to export a structured PDF. I really like LyX, but with the cornucopia of fantastic open source full-featured word processors out there, I only use it for special cases such as textbooks or scholarly documents requiring mathematical symbols. For my part, the most useful feature for LyX is exporting a clean PDF with a navigable TOC without much effort. LyX also exports to a pretty clean single page XML1.0 compliant HTML file though I prefer using Cherrytree because of the collapsible navigation tree it automatically adds.

1. Change all the Document Settings you need before you start writing.
To avoid any frustrating global document changes midway, do all the customizations before you start writing. Everything from fonts, to indents, page size, default bullet symbols, and PDF export options are all available in the Document Settings window. Click Document and then Settings and make sure everything is set. Document Class is arguably the most important setting though in my case, I find TOC and numbering to be the most important configuration to edit particularly since my output is primarily PDF documents with a TOC.




2. Select and use images carefully.
Like Docbook, the quality of images inserted into LyX varies depending on the output. A high-quality PNG on a LyX document exported to PDFLateX looks blurred and small. However, it's huge and clear if you exported the manual to an HTML file and exporting to DVI in LyX is especially terrible for images. I find it useful to keep separate copies of the same LyX file for an HTML manual and PDF one.

3. Use Vertical Space and Page Breaks (no carriage returns!)
For WYSIWYG page layout applications like Scribus and InDesign, you just drag and place graphics and objects wherever you want, using guides to approximate distance and alignment. In LyX, you can't press the RETURN key to add space between paragraphs and inserted objects and images. Add Vertical Space by clicking Insert then Formatting. Click Vertical Space ... to adjust breathing room between objects. Add Page Breaks by clicking Page Break under the same Formatting menu. If you're having a tough time visualizing how a document would look like use the View (CTRL+R) regularly.




4. Don't change Environments if you can change Text Style - and vice versa
Environments such as Part, Section, and Itemize have a corresponding spacing and text style. Depending on the TOC and numbering preference for the document, it also affects the PDF TOC. Use the Standard Environment and click Edit and then Text Style if you just want to change the appearance of the text but don't want that text to appear on the TOC. Otherwise, use the correct Environment. It's helpful to click the Toggle Outline pane to get an idea how your document will appear on the TOC.




5. Save the .lyx file in one folder
Save the .lyx file in one folder so that whenever you export to DVI or HTML, everything appears in one place. It may seem like a no-brainer but LyX doesn't exactly give you a dialog box asking for the save destination when you export a document.

6. Insert Hyperlinks
If the eventual output is to PDF or HTML, use the Hyperlinks feature. Click Insert then Hyperlinks and select either URL, web, or File.




7. Use Box not Note
Note is very useful for just plain LyX documents but if the end result is PDF, use the Vertical Space, Box, and Indent to create the effect of Docbook-like Notes, Warnings, and Messages. Click Insert then Box and select the type of box you want to use for your text.

8. Looking for Size, Bold, and Italics?
Some users may get frustrated about changing standard text properties in LyX because options for different sizes, underline, and bold properties are found under the Edit menu. Click Text Style then Customized.

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QuickFix: Eject a USB storage device even with iTunes running

In Windows 7 and Windows 8, you may find out that you can't disconnect your external USB storage device if you have iTunes running. This is especially true if you used iTunes to manually upload files such as videos or ebooks into an app such as Cloudreader, Adobe Reader, or iMedia Player.




To disconnect an external drive while iTunes is running:

1. If you're done using your external USB hard drive or flash drive with iTunes, run Task Manager by clicking CTRL+ALT+DELETE and selecting Start Task Manager.
2. Click the Processes tab.
3. Select AppleMobileDeviceHelper.exe *32



4. Click End Process.
5. Click the notification tray and remove connected storage drive like normal.

The steps won't work if another application linked to your storage, such as a torrent utility, is still running.

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Virtual Relationships and Social Networking

I was busily washing dishes while listening to BBC's Daily Commute on my iPod a few days ago when Dan Damon's next segment consisted of an interview with Sophie, a Brit who has been providing virtual girlfriend services in Facebook for 2 years now. She candidly admitted she did it for the money, downplaying the activities of being a pseudo-girlfriend in Facebook by flirting online, posting pictures, and changing her status. Now, this is nothing new considering that I live in Shanghai, where young professionals rent boyfriends and girlfriends during the Chinese New Year to avoid parental pressures. Moreover, movies and TV shows in Asia have long made use of the fake online boyfriend/girlfriend plot to charm lonely and online addicted audiences.  

With all due respect to people who use or provide services similar to this on Craigslist, Twitter, and the aforementioned Facebook, please go out and mix it up rather than stay home and clog Internet bandwidth. Andrew Garfield's painfully awkward scene with Emma Stone in The Amazing Spider-Man (and a similar scene with Stone again in 2007's Superbad) may have been all too real, but that's the charming point of interacting and asking someone out. The Internet's handhold over smartphones, SMS text messaging, real-time chat, and "social" sites has made avoiding encounters easy (and superficial encounters too easy). Technology, which is supposed to improve life, has become a crutch to one of the more fundamental human skills.


Peter struggles for words.
Screencap from The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)


Media for men such as Askmen.com, FHM, and Maxim would have you believe that 99% of the single men out there have no problems meeting a young lady and making like James Bond and shagging the Living Daylights out of her. If that's the case, why are there so many online dating sites up and virtual girlfriends like Sophie making a killing out there?

Obviously, meeting people in real life is never as simple as in the old movies and TV shows. Women like Dorothy Boyd in Jerry Maguire (1996) actually never quit their jobs for you and you don't meet damsels in distress in the market who turn out to be a princess as Jasmine turned out to be in Aladdin (1992). The 80s TV icon MacGyver (1985-1992) never got it on with 90% of his leading ladies in the 7 seasons he was on the tube, but he at least charmed the hell out of them. Like most people who spent most of their time alone with their books and/or computer hardware, my social skills aren't nearly as effective but I don't exactly sign up online just to desperately meet people or acquire "virtual" relationships.


"Who needs social networking?"
Screencap from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

In the third season of the British comedy series, The IT Crowd, which was aired in late 2008, an episode lampoons social networking through a fictional site called "Friendface" (a portmanteau of Facebook which started services in 2004 and the once-popular Asian site Friendster which was launched in 2002). Jen, the inept IT manager in the series, finds herself succumbing to the hazards of social networking addiction.


Jen obsesses about Friendface.
Screencap from The IT Crowd episode "Friendface"

The behavior she exhibits in the episode "Friendface", from answering messages till morning to meeting up with old friends and lying about her life, is played for laughs. I don't pretend to understand the complexities of social networking since I'm not exactly a social networking user (I actually understand the Hadoop servers and server boards that run the backend more than Facebook itself). However, within 15 minutes into the show, The IT Crowd episode accurately forecasted the negative effects of social networking, which include crippling social skills, online addiction, and habitual prevarication. Four years after the episode has aired, the spread of Internet broadband is accompanied with the spread of sites like Facebook and Twitter, which have deeply penetrated society and affected how people date and socialize with each other.

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QuickFix: Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 6000

Computer Mice are generally resilient devices even if you regularly toss them carelessly into your laptop bag or use in multiple settings. I've had poor luck with Logitech mice, but have had a long-running relationship with my Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000, which I purchased in Best Buy back in 2008 for my Linux-powered laptops.

More recently, however, the tracking "red" laser light doesn't power on when I plug the receiver into an available USB port in my Windows 7 machine and the mouse didn't work. In contrast, there didn't seem to be any functionality issues when the mouse is plugged in to my Lubuntu-powered EEEPC 1000H or openSUSE Ideapad. Microsoft actually provides an updated driver through its Windows Online Update for all their wireless mice. The update doesn't really resolve this issue but a quick press of a button can get your tired wireless mouse up and running.

Underneath the MS Wireless Laser Mouse is a small indentation that switches off the tracking laser whenever the wireless dongle is snapped on for convenient storage. It works in the same way as a refrigerator's light bulb. If your optical mouse refuses to work properly, press this button with your finger. The mouse's RF transceiver will send a signal to the wireless dongle for instructions. The mouse's laser should work properly after this nudge. The same type of button is also found in other laser mice, particularly models that also allow the wireless dongle to snap on to the mouse itself. If after pressing the button the mouse still refuses to function, reseat the battery. Sometimes, it's just a contact point issue especially if you're using an AAA rechargeable battery.




For Linux users, if you're not sure if your system was able to detect the wireless mouse, open a terminal and type lsusb. The Microsoft mouse should be displayed in the results. Otherwise, unplug the USB wireless dongle and plug it into a different USB port or bypass a USB hub if you're using one.

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BYOD, network security, James Bond, and MacGyver

Category: Techtoday

The pre-Daniel Craig James Bond was the ultimate BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) guy with his rocket cigarettes (You Only Live Twice) and fully-equipped shoe heel (Goldfinger). Today, the typical Android or iOS phone a young professional straight out of college owns has more power and capabilities than Pierce Brosnan's Ericsson phone in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997).

Back when I first joined the workforce, the idea of "Bringing Your Own Device" was not only unheard of, but restricted and discouraged by company policy. My idea of subterfuge consisted of bringing my own screwdriver and pen flashlight. When I finally achieved some sort of authority within the company, I graduated to a pathetic 256MB Samsung Yepp MP3 player that doubled as a USB Flash drive and my Swiss Army Knife (which I ended up leaving home post-911). Later responsibilities as a trainer and instructor in various confidential projects made me realize that network/data security was not something to be trifled with and I had to enforce it with as much power as I could muster with my trainees. Back in 2005, a lax training officer actually allowed an external hard drive in his training room to be used by a trainee to siphon off proprietary information for studying at a later time. I promised myself I'd be damned if I would ever let anyone enter my training room with a USB cable, much less a cellphone.


"There's an app for that!"
Screen caps for James Bond's  Ericsson phone from Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)


Honestly, however, it was much harder to enforce the dress code of collared shirts and leather shoes than prevent the use of electronic devices back then since most of the employees way back when thought Linux was a fruit and that knowing how to use Adobe Photoshop was being "technical". However, a few years later, I found myself complaining to my company's network administrator buddy about workstation security. I pressed that locking the USB ports via the BIOS was not enough and that shutting down open ports such as Telnet in the Windows XP systems in the training room should be mandatory. Some of the training classes I was conducting by then with various clients now involved client-requested rooms in lockdown with magnetic card locks and a strict policy regarding bringing in any electronic device. I myself made it a habit to leave my Knoppix LiveUSB in my locker before starting off for the day. Before my very eyes,however, the landscape of technical aptitude began to change as the years went by. It may have been overlooked by everyone else, but it was frighteningly fast and furious in the eyes of corporate trainers everywhere. Everyone began to own a cellphone and although most of the employees really didn't know how to leverage Symbian, Blackberry, or O2 OS, their comfort with portable devices became increasingly obvious. People actually learned to find technical solutions on a search engine!

And then the iPod arrived and next came the iPhone, and Android. Today, there's the affordable and powerful tablets and hybrids. I've long left the training rooms but I could imagine the difficulty of preventing employees from bringing in smartphones and devices into the classroom. Even non-jailbroken iOS and Android devices can make use of extremely powerful apps (free or paid) that can access a company's wireless service, break into the corporate e-mail server, and even download torrents without detection. All anyone really needs is iTunes or access to Google Play to get sophisticated and very user friendly Wi-Fi sniffers, decryption utilities, VPN, remote access, file server functionality, and security tools that can circumvent company network security (especially when they're maintained by a bunch of IT guys fresh out of their Cisco courses with nary any experience). I was more surprised by the audacity of that jerk who outsourced his work to China while watching cat videos than his ability to actually do what he did for months on end.

I like to think I'm as non-Luddite as the next guy (though a futurist like Tony Stark is going too far). Issuing out Thinkpads, Macbook Pros, iPads, MS Surface hybrids, and Lenovo Yoga's to employees seems like a generous and forward-thinking approach that could benefit a company but until companies get their security protocols straight and hire thoroughly skilled and trustworthy IT staff that can protect a company's data assets I recommend managers and corporate suits to go old school and go without BYOD. The dependability of both consumers and the IT industry in the cloud makes everyone dependent on their mobile devices - and this is where the hole is and where disaster can strike. Unlike the good old days of the 80s, you don't need years of training and enthusiasm to wreak havok, steal confidential data, and destroy a company's network and credibility. All you need is the Internet and less than $200.00 of hardware or apps.


Screen caps for James Bond's  Ericsson phone from Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)


The solution? Go MacGyver and not James Bond. James Bond was around since the 60s but there were half a dozen traitors breaching his company's security in the franchise even before Daniel Craig pulled out his Sony phone to try to figure out where the traitors were in Quantum of Solace (2008). MacGyver, on the other hand, was the quintessential antithesis of BYOD. Despite the ongoing myth about Richard Dean Anderson's popular 80s hero, he hardly ever used his Swiss Army Knife or ducktape in the seven seasons of his TV show (Believe me, I was an obsessed fan who loved even the preachy and public service announcement episodes). Despite the ongoing myth of "MacGyverisms" (a term hated by fans who grew up in the 80s), it wasn't any device that made MacGyver awesome - it was the fact that even if he did tote fancy devices like James Bond, you can trust MacGyver with the security of your network and confidential data. The guy, after all, was a veritable saint. Unfortunately, employees these days armed with smartphones and mobile devices are far, far, far, from being anywhere close to trustworthy.


"Who needs to go BYOD?"
MacGyver pin-up circa 1988

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Linux on Video: "The Linux Action Show!"

Category: Linux

One thing that surprises non-Linux users is the number of Linux websites, videos, and multimedia available online apart from the Linux communities devoted to a particular Linux distributions (for example, the openSUSE community). Some of the recent ones that have surfaced regularly on Bing and Google are Linux User, OMGUbuntu, and Phoronix. Even casual sites like Lifehacker and Makeuseof, though dealing with less technical and fairly pedestrian topics, contribute to the Linux ecosystem existing online.




"The Linux Action Show!" from Jupiter Broadcasting is a long running streaming video talk show devoted to topics related to Linux and even touches on current mainstream technology. The show is currently helmed by bubbly industry professional Chris Fisher and Linux veteran Matt Hartley. The show is very friendly to new Linux users though it does vacillate between heavy jargon and more well-known Linux terms. The tone and approach of the show is very casual, however, and it's very easy to jump on board and get in the swing of industry trends and the history of Linux even if you're not particularly interested in the events occurring behind the scenes. The effusive duo has a regular mixed bag per episode but in general includes the following segments:

• Android App pick
• News
• Linux Distribution Review
• E-mail
• Linux tips
  

On occasion, there's the odd hardware review and a bit of Linux evangelism by reporting about places or companies where Linux is widely used over other operating systems. The hosts are constantly in touch with the community via chat as the show rolls along. "The Linux Action Show!" proudly proclaims it's community driven and often tackles subjects put forward by the Linux users who patronize the show regularly on Reddit and through Jupiter Broadcasting. The high-quality show is sponsored by Go Daddy and Ubuntu hardware provider, System76, and the regular shout out to Go Daddy endorser Danica Patrick (plus the Linux discount code) has become a signature part of the show.




The Linux distribution reviews on "The Linux Action Show!" are fair and it's always great to see their take on projects such as Enlightenment 17, the latest Fedora, and other new releases. The reviews on the desktops can be superficial, however, but only because the show really doesn't allow the luxury of an extensive review (and the fact that both hosts are exceptionally skilled with any Linux system anyway). The more interesting segments involve industry news, which benefit from their unique perspective. Mr. Hartley is often encouraging and optimistic with any current event that benefits the community but can be especially extremely opinionated and harsh at times. Mr. Fisher, on the other hand, provides a more balanced and sometimes more complex viewpoint. Thankfully, unlike TED Talks and other video podcasts where the hosts often ramble aimlessly, Chris and Matt only rant and rave to a point.




Although the best way to watch the series is via its weekly live video stream on the Jupiter site, I prefer downloading the HD videos via iTunes to my iPad for viewing at a later time. As a regular listener of BBC podcasts on my iPod, it's refreshing to watch a high-quality educational video podcast discussing Linux.

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Linux on Film: Criminal Minds - Season 8

Category: Linux

From the onset, Criminal Minds often displayed brief views of non-Windows operating systems. Thankfully, their resident "computer analyst" Penelope (played by pseudo-geek Kirsten Vangsness) makes use of a fairly interesting desktop. For Season 8, viewers get to watch a skinned Linux/FreeBSD desktop access a remote desktop running Windows XP (recognizable by its default blue Luna theme).




The desktop used by Penelope is a toss up between an Xfce 3.x environment release or a uniquely skinned LXDE using an Openbox Window Manager. Modifying Xfce and customizing Openbox is so easy, the production team regularly switches the colors or maintains a plain black background. Surprisingly, there's even a possibility it's a KDE desktop with a "cashew" on the upper-right hand corner for adding KDE widgets.

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Brief Thoughts on Fedora 18 DVD install and Gnome 3.6

Category: Linux

Fedora 18 DVD installation

The installation process of most Linux distributions is refined and as simple as can be for the majority of Linux users (unless you were setting up Archlinux, Debian, or Gentoo from scratch). Fedora 18, once viewed as an unstable and ungainly distribution for the casual desktop user, has now progressed to a very friendly system and you can easily get this impression from running the DVD install. There were a few changes to the Fedora 18 DVD setup process that are clearly visible from the get-go (I'm sure the developers worked hard under the hood to make this possible). Setup is faster than ever with judicious setup options offered during the DVD install.  The process has received a few scathing reviews from the Linux community, but I personally didn't find anything wrong with the new approach.

Software Selection page

One of the Fedora 18 setup screens which I was extremely pleased with was the Software Selection options. As before, users can choose from the different desktop environments and select add-ons as needed.  I'd love to set up a Fedora web server one of these days if I had an extra machine (and cash) lying around.

Xfce, LXDE, and the Sugar Desktop Environment is always a welcome sight. Users can also select prepackaged configurations for Web Server, Development, and Creative Workstations. I was tempted to install the Design Suite, but opted for the Fedora Eclipse setup although I'm not really a developer. I'm glad they kept LibreOffice  as an add-on rather than a mandatory install unlike other distributions. Although the the release announcements included Cinnamon as a desktop environment option, I wasn't surprised it was excluded from the DVD install options. The Cinnamon project after all is constantly undergoing revisions so including an unstable version with the Fedora DVD probably wasn't a good idea. 

It's true that selecting a predefined desktop/package set can add unnecessary utilities and applications to your system, but it also allows you to discover quality applications available and speeds up post-installation configurations. The Fedora Eclipse desktop was extremely powerful and was clearly superfluous for my needs but I did note down a few applications I might want to try in the future. Advanced Fedora and Red Hat users may want to opt for the Minimal Install setup.

It occurred to me that Fedora's installation approach is very professional and complete without breaching its coda of free, non-proprietary software. Recent openSUSE  releases actually allow Adobe Flash to be installed through an online update while Ubuntu  has long offered the option to install codecs and proprietary applications during the initial setup. Fedora has evolved but kept to its OSS ideals, however, while making access to ugly gstreamer codecs and VLC fairly easy thanks to services like RPM Fusion.

Additions

Two applications I found that deserve notice after running the DVD install and installing the Gnome 3.x (with Eclipse) are Box for creating virtual machines and Vinagre Remote Desktop Viewer. As a VirtualBox user in openSUSE, I'd certainly like to see if Box is much easier to setup in Linux than Oracle's virtualization software. There's also Gnome Document access to SkyDrive accounts. I had discussed the SkyDrive support using the Gnome Online accounts in a previous article. Although advertised in the release announcement, I was severely disappointed. The project has potential but not yet ready for production use.

Gnome 3.6 Today

I respect the Gnome developers for sticking to their guns even after the bitter reception they received when they released Gnome 3.x. The issues surrounding Gnome 3.x have been so intense, it scored its own Wikipedia entry. The development of Cinnamon, Unity, and MATE notwithstanding, they've forged on with the same design principles albeit with refinements in response to the Linux community's criticisms.




It's been awhile since I've ran Gnome 3.x mostly because I was so put off with the usability when I first tried it (I had a 6 month run with Fedora 15 and 16 Gnome 3.x on a netbook in 2011).  I'm generally more forgiving now that I had to slug through a year of Unity (which included the equally controversial Amazon lens).

Gnome 3.x has always been aesthetically pleasing and Fedora 18's Gnome desktop is great to look at. There have been changes since I last tried it and they are, for the most part, welcome. The Gnome Shell is less annoying and the command window through ALT+F2 is back. The improved Nautilus, which uses a MacOSX-esque icon theme, still looks a lot better than Dolphin(KDE), PCMANFM(LXDE), and Thunar(Xfce). Even Window management (snap feature and resize) is smoother and more functional.




The Activities overview allows you to drag applications to virtual desktops which is a great idea once you get used to it. No complaints there. However, any environment where you can't right-click on the desktop and the top panel feels off to me. Moreover, I can't shake the feeling that Gnome 3.x works best on a large screen. The Activities overview feels suffocatingly huge and feels too busy for my taste. Activities not only manages virtual desktops, it also has a launcher, bottom messaging tray, and is supposed to replace the classic applications menu. If you have tons of applications, the huge icons (while nice and attractive) forces you to scroll across the list of utilities even if you used the categories on the right. There are applications and direct ways users can use to "tweak" these settings (such as the Gnome Tweak Tool), but the default settings are just too similar to Android and iOS - an interface meant for the smartphone.

Of course, you can ignore Gnome 3.x's desktop eccentricities altogether and just install Guake (a drop-down Terminal), a separate launcher, or a dock like Cairo dock. However, it sort of defeats the purpose of selecting a Gnome 3.x desktop environment in the first place.

With use, I'm fairly sure I would get used to using Gnome 3.x, but in an unfair comparison, I pretty much got used to Windows 8's Start Menu (the previously named Metro screen) after awhile too. Furthermore, with Xfce and Cinnamon developers doing a great job making a functional and beautiful desktop, Gnome 3.x feels like a step backward and an alternative rather than a default choice. It's hard to take it seriously as a production desktop environment unlike KDE and minimalist LXDE.




Fedora, long considered a "Gnome" desktop, doesn't suffer from Gnome 3.x shortcomings. It's a great operating system and I've begun to use it regularly albeit using an Xfce desktop. I delayed writing my impressions on the Fedora 18 Gnome 3.x mainstream release because I knew I'd struggle with Gnome 3.x's desktop. Has it improved as a desktop environment? Yes. However, in the months when I ignored Gnome 3.x, Cinnamon and Xfce have gained more relevant improvements. I'm sympathetic to the Gnome 3.x project considering the vitriol leveraged against the changes, but neither can I deny that KDE and LXDE, which have had little refinements in the last six months, are better desktop environments for my needs.

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QuickFix: Write a Multi-Language Online manual using CherryTree

Category: Linux

There are dozens of ways to write technical documents for print and web. The Fedora Developers use MediaWiki, Publican, and Docbook. The openSUSE team uses the software package Daps (which uses different XML tools to produce PDF and XHTML). Serious technical writers use a combination of HTML5, XHTML, XML, Docbook, and DITA using an XML editor, IDE, or plain text editor. Meanwhile, some companies still use WYSIWYG applications like old-school Adobe products such as RoboHelp, InDesign, and FrameMaker. In short, there really is no one way of getting a document out into the world, technical or otherwise. Moreover, it's definitely easier with hundreds of open source applications such as Bluefish, Kate, LyX, and XML Copy Editor available for Linux. All you need is to choose one method and one application and you're good to go.

CherryTree is a hierarchical note-taking Linux application that can export to HTML, XML, and PDF. If you need to quickly create a simple and organized HTML technical document with a navigational tree then CherryTree is a great option. In the fictional multi-language product manual below, CherryTree's formatting and "cherry" nodes are used to make a logical easy-to-use quick start guide. The PNG image of the product is inserted into the document along with normal HTML objects such as horizontal lines, bullets, numbering, table of contents, anchors, navigational links, and text formatting. You can even add a code box if you're writing a manual for programming languages or markup. All of the above are added using CherryTree's toolbar without the need to modify XML or add any markup. In this example, the Spanish and French translations of the user guide are placed in separate nodes (I'm not a native speaker so the translations are extremely dodgy).

By default, CherryTree uses small cherries to identify nodes. To change them to standard bullet points, click Edit and then Preferences in the menu. Select Use bullets as Nodes icons. Once you export the CherryTree to HTML, it's also a simple matter to replace the images with your own.

Once you're done with your multi-language guide, click Export then Export to HTML. In the Involved Nodes window, select All the Tree and create a folder where the HTML files will be stored.

CherryTree will create an index.html file, separate HTML files for each page, and an Images folder. The resulting online manual has a well-written collapsible navigational tree to the left by default while retaining all markup and hyperlinks. Although the resulting HTML pages aren't as organized as hand-coded HTML, anyone with even rudimentary HTML experience can make modifications as needed and link a CSS file for additional formatting. You can even import the whole site to a website application such as Dreamweaver or Microsoft Expressions. Total work time? Less than an hour to write and layout the document and export to HTML then attach a basic CSS3 file.

Although CherryTree's Export to PDF isn't recommended due to its obvious limitations (links aren't retained and very little adjustments like page breaks can be made), the Export to HTML is more than adequate to get a quick online manual task done. Moreover, the resulting set of HTML files can easily be converted to PDF using other open source tools.

CherryTree is available on most Linux distribution software repositories and package managers including Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and Mageia. The fictional manual was made using CherryTree on Lubuntu with drawings created using Corel Draw X by the author.

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SkyDrive on Fedora 18 Gnome 3.x

Category: Linux

Accessing SkyDrive using Google Chrome on a Fedora 18 box is odd enough but native support for Microsoft's popular online storage service was a surprise when I saw it in the Fedora 18 release announcement. Admittedly, I'm a regular user of SkyDrive on my Windows 7 machines, so I was curious how good the support would be. As it turned out, all you need to do to setup the service was go through the Online Accounts option in System Settings in Gnome 3.x and just fill out your Outlook or Hotmail account. Curiously enough, the account appears as Windows Live even though Microsoft has long dispensed with the name and switched to the product names Outlook and SkyDrive. There's currently very little documentation on accessing SkyDrive from Gnome and with good reason. Just launch the Documents application (not the Documents folder) and ideally it should display your SkyDrive files. Since I was running Fedora 18 through virtualization it took awhile for Gnome to "sync" all my SkyDrive files into the Documents application.

I had never used the Documents application in Fedora Gnome 3 so I was initially surprised it was tagged as a "Document Manager". You also have to run the application using the Gnome Shell or clicking it from Activities since clicking Alt+F2 and typing "Documents" will open the Documents folder in Nautilus. Once you run Document the application, there's an integrated search function which can be accessed by clicking the magnifying glass in the upper-right hand corner. If you click the Select button just next to it, options will be displayed for opening the file in SkyDrive (useful if you plan to use MS Web Apps), printing the document, moving the file to a different folder (labeled as Organize), and displaying document properties. Clicking once on a document will open the file with options to zoom in/out, rotate left/right using the settings control marked by the gear icon. Right-click to select a document manually.

Caveats

Gnome Documents has some pretty curious interface and functionality quirks. For one thing, you don't use the application as a file manager although it's supposed to function as a "Document Manager". Considering Gnome 3's atrocious window management, clicking and dragging to Nautilus is a chore - a single-click to a document will automatically launch it (you have to use Select if you don't want to accidentally open it).

I also assumed that Document manager downloaded the files from my SkyDrive account from the onset since the "syncing" took awhile but in actuality, the application only indexed it. The file is only downloaded when you launch it or drag it outside Gnome documents. In short, your SkyDrive files aren't stored locally. While in virtualization, I never got to open a document using the application because of bandwidth issues.

Moreover, considering the number of file views and filters Gnome Nautilus provides, Gnome Documents only provide two: List and Grid with no option to resize the icons.

Promises

Integration with SkyDrive is an excellent concept for a Linux application, but the Gnome Documents approach seemed half-hearted. It does look good and would impress users accustomed to a Windows or MacOSX desktop. However, it doesn't really fit in anyone's workflow. If the user ends up clicking the "Open with SkyDrive" option anyway, then why bother "syncing" it with the Gnome desktop? With Dropbox providing a working Gnome application that provides real file syncing to Nautilus, then adding a crippled SkyDrive access seems pointless.

There's a lot to praise about Fedora 18's newest release but I wish they hadn't prominently listed SkyDrive integration in the release announcement. Like most new features, perhaps it will get better in time but in the meantime, SkyDrive access is best opened through an updated browser such as Google Chrome or Chromium in Fedora 18 Gnome 3.

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