Month: October 2010

Free Software Conference 2010 in Limassol, Cyprus

Here is an announcement from my friends at UbuntuCy.org forum, who are organizing yet another event to promote Free and Open Source Software.

The Ubuntu Linux Cyprus Local Community in cooperation with the Information Systems and Technology Service of Cyprus University of Technology and the New Technologies Club of CUT, invite you to the Free Software Conference which will be held at the Andreas Themistokleous Building (Old Cadastre) of CUT on the 6th of October. The agenda follows:

Presentations (Pefkios Georgiades Amphitheater) :
6:00 – 6:30 pm: Introduction to Free Software (in Greek)
6:30 – 7:00 pm: Linux Clusters (in Greek)
7:00 – 7:30 pm: Free software: past, present, and the future (in English)
7:30 – 7:45 pm: Projection of the Creative Commons epic short film “Sintel”

Workshops (KXE1 Computer Lab):
8:00 – 8:30 pm: Presentation of the Ubuntu 10.04 Desktop
8:30 – 9:00 pm: Academic Applications for Math, Physics, Chemistry, Engineering.

An installation workshop will be running in parallel with the above, where can practice on how to install Ubuntu and its applications.

There will be free Ubuntu CDs with Free Software for everyone! You can also bring you laptop to test them.

Just so that you don’t get confused – this is tomorrow, October 6th, 2010.  It’s going to be in Limassol, on campus of Cyprus University of Technology.  And in case you’ll be running late, make sure you get there before 7 o’clock.  Yes, I’m going to deliver a speech in English on the subject of past, present, and future of the Free and Open Source Software.  Maybe we can talk more and catch a beer afterwards. Don’t miss it!  Here is a leaflet for you if you need something printed.

Google TV is coming along

Google TV website is launched.  As is the official Google TV blog.  Not too much to see there yet, but it’s good to know things are moving along.

I am excited!  An open source television platform based on Android, with its own application store – these are just great news.  Not to mention partnerships with HBO, Universal, Amazon, and Netflix.  It sounds like there is going to be a lot of content and plenty of new interesting ideas on what to do with it and how to process it.

The only thing that worries me is access to this content for us, outsiders.  As in people who live outside of the United States of America.  Until now we’ve been quite limited with the exception of Apple TV.  I wonder what’s going to happen with Google.  But given company’s global strategy, I have my hopes.

Via Download Squad.

What is Yahoo?

I came across a somewhat old question by TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington: What is Yahoo?

For me personally, Yahoo is, first of all, the company that bought most of the web services that I was using – Flickr, Delicious, and Upcoming back in the days when I was using it.  Secondly, Yahoo for me is a company no here, no there.  I appreciate how old they are and all.  But it never seemed to be serving any specific purpose.  It used to be a bookmark website, which I used for a bit, until it got overly complicated with categories, and SPAM.  Then it became a web mail and a search engine.  Then it an instant messaging provider.  Then a purchaser of some cool web applications.  Then a web developer resource.  And then I don’t know anymore.

It’s been a long while since I went to Yahoo.com and something tells me that I won’t be visiting it any time soon.  What about you?