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http://www.everythingliveon.com/facebook-does-collect-the-text-you-decided-against-posting/

Facebook DOES collect the text you decided against posting

Facebook collects all content that is typed into its website, even if it is not posted, a tech consultant has discovered.

In December 2013, it was reported that Facebook plants code in browsers that returns metadata every time somebody types out a status update or comment but deletes it before posting.

At the time, Facebook maintained that it only received information indicating whether somebody had deleted an update or comment before posting it, and not exactly what the text said.

However, Príomh Ó hÚigínn, a tech consultant based in Ireland, has claimed this is not the case after inspecting Facebook’s network traffic through a developer tool and screencasting software.

‘I realised that any text I put into the status update box was sent to Facebook’s servers, even if I did not click the post button,’ he wrote on his blog yesterday.

Referring to the GIF he created below, he found that a HTTP post request was sent to Facebook each time he wrote out a status, containing the exact text he entered.

‘This is outright Orwellian, and inconvenient,’ he said. ‘Since I am now aware of this, I am more cautious about what I enter into the text area.

‘However I can’t help but notice the adverse effect of my new found awareness ― am I experiencing the censorship of my own thoughts because of a faceless entity such as Facebook that doesn’t care about you? I very much believe that is the case.’

There is nothing in Facebook’s Data Policy that directly alludes to the fact that it collects content that is written but not posted.

However, the general ambiguity under the heading ‘What kinds of information do we collect?’ makes it unclear, such as: ‘We collect the content and other information you provide when you…create or share. This can include information in or about the content you provide.’

One thing is certain: most Facebook users do not expect the company to collect the text they decided against sharing.

The company faced a backlash in 2009 when it removed part of a clause that promised to expire the license it has to a user’s ‘name, likeness and image’, which it uses for external advertising, if they remove content from the site.

Following a protest campaign, it returned to the previous terms of use. However, it’s unclear what rights Facebook has over content that is not posted.

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http://www.everythingliveon.com/ubuntus-vivid-vervet-makes-snappy-entrance/

Ubuntu's Vivid Vervet Makes Snappy Entrance

Canonical on Tuesday announced the release of Ubuntu 15.04, aka “Vivid Vervet,” as in East African monkey. It will be available for download on Thursday.

The new OS offers tools for cloud, device, client and Internet of Things development. The Ubuntu desktop release includes mostly maintenance and bug fixes, along with new integrated menus and dashboard usability improvements.

Ubuntu 15.04 for cloud and servers comes at a critical time to attract companies adopting cloud technologies. It brings a host of improvements and enhancements designed to help business users better deploy and manage successful cloud projects.

Ubuntu Core, dubbed “Snappy,” is the smallest Ubuntu OS available. It is designed for security and efficiency in devices or in the cloud. It is a lean, transactionally updated version of the Ubuntu OS designed to power drones, robots, network switches, mobile base stations, industrial gateways and IoT home hubs.

Ubuntu 15.04 also is the base for the Ubuntu phone currently shipping on the BQ Aquaris E4.5 and soon on the Meizu MX4. The latest 15.04 updates will be delivered over the air in coming weeks.

Canonical’s latest enterprise release coincides with growing adoption of OpenStack.

Enterprise IT departments are expected to increase spending on cloud computing this year. The cloud is the new platform to achieve elastically scalable, self-service computing, according to Gartner.

“The big thing that is new in Ubuntu 15.04 is the inclusion of Ubuntu Core,” said Jon Melamut, vice president for professional and engineering services at Canonical.

“This is the evolution of being a small, lightweight solution for devices that need high levels of maintainability to the use of the cloud state,” he told LinuxInsider.

Core Concept

The glue that binds the Ubuntu OS family together is not Ubuntu Core, however. It is the commonality of the Ubuntu ecosystem.

“What you will see over time is all of the products leverage the same technology with common attributes,” noted Melamut. “Over the last two-and-a-half to three years, we created a new way of presenting the maintenance of Ubuntu.”

It will not limit users of any flavor of Ubuntu on any device with partial updates. This is particularly important with the Ubuntu phone, he explained.

Snappy Send-Off

The release of Ubuntu 15.04 rings in a new way to deploy Linux, spawned by the Ubuntu phone’s OS. It is also an essential component of improvements made to cloud servers and IOT devices.

It breaks the very traditional way of using and deploying Ubuntu, based on its Debian roots, noted Dustin Kirkland, Ubuntu cloud solutions product manager and strategist at Canonical. That system involves Canonical’s Debian packages and vast repository of software.

“We have curated a lot of that software. We have adapted some of the best open source and created our own open source. In doing so, we created an operating system that is generally useful in the cloud, on physical servers, and on desktops and laptops,” Kirkland told LinuxInsider.

The modern evolution of technology, though, is demanding something a little bit different, which led Canonical’s development team to come up with Snappy, he added.

What It Is

Snappy packages apps securely for delivery to devices and cloud hosts. The new process isolates application data and guarantees that an update can be rolled back.

This first version of Ubuntu Core features secure app containment and Docker 1.5. It is available on major public clouds and for ARM and x86 devices on a range of popular boards for IoT. Ubuntu Core is already running on the next-generation of network switches, home routers, smart drones and robots.

Snappy’s Core Concept is well suited for updating and maintaning the Ubuntu phone. The phone’s ever-changing state of going into sleep mode and exchanging packets of information in small chunks over busy networks at changing intervals is not conducive to traditional methods of updating Ubuntu. The traditional approach of using apt-get just does not work on a phone, Kirkland pointed out.

“Two major technology shifts have occurred in the 10 years Canonical has been developing Ubuntu — cloud and IoT devices,” he said.

“In both cases, the industry is demanding something a bit different than the traditional way of installing and deploying packages. Canonical’s answer to that is Snappy,” said Kirkland. “Think of it as yet another flavor of Ubuntu.”

New Enterprise Tools

Ubuntu 15.04 for cloud and servers includes a prerelease version of the next scheduled release of OpenStack, dubbed “Kilo.” Ubuntu is the first OpenStack distribution to make the newest Kilo release available to users. Kilo becomes available on April 30 for non-Ubuntu users. Canonical will update its Kilo package upon final release.

Canonical packed a number of innovations into its Enterprise Ubuntu platform. One is an update to Neutron, OpenStack’s networking and IP Address management system. It now includes distributed virtual routing, or DVR. This enables Neutron to scale more efficiently using multiple nodes.

Also included with Ubuntu OpenStack is ZeroMQ, or 0MQ, a brokerless messaging system to eliminate bottlenecks in messaging as the cloud infrastructure scales. ZeroMQ is an intelligent transport layer for distributed applications.

Simplifying OpenStack Use

A third feature enhancement for cloud and servers is Keystone federation in Kilo’s integration into Ubuntu 15.04. Keystone allows shared identity across cloud regions, which will enable enterprises with multiple OpenStack implementations to manage identity much more efficiently. It simplifies the path to hybrid cloud computing with OpenStack on-premises and public clouds.

Key improvements and innovations in the Docker container components of Ubuntu 15.04:

Live migration of LXC containers between hosts;

Improved security model for containers through AppArmor profiles; and

Docker updated to 1.5.

Ubuntu 15.04 OpenStack includes a new OpenStack Nova driver for LXD (next-generation hypervisor for containers). Nova-compute-LXD is an enhancement to Ubuntu OpenStack that lets end users deploy workloads on OpenStack into containers based on LXD. This brings the benefits of high performance and density, compared to KVM-based workloads, while maintaining the security isolation and flexibility offered by traditional virtual machines.

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http://www.everythingliveon.com/devs-rev-up-for-a-weekend-of-galactic-problem-solving/

Devs Rev Up for a Weekend of Galactic Problem-Solving

More than 10,000 software and hardware developers, scientists and space fans will spend this weekend huddling in rooms in 136 cities around the world to participate in NASA’s fourth annual International Space Apps Challenge — a hackathon for space wonks.

Using IBM’s Bluemix Platform as a Service, they will develop apps, software, hardware, data visualization and platform solutions to help space exploration missions and to improve life on Earth.

The participants will leverage publicly available data from more than 200 NASA sources, including datasets, services and tools from real-life NASA missions and technology.

They will use them to design solutions to 35 challenges in four categories — outer space, Earth, humans and robotics.

Two projects from each city will advance to global judging, and a panel of NASA judges will select one winner in each of the finalist categories: best mission concept; best user of hardware; best use of data; most inspiring; and galactic impact.

Further, IBM will present up to 30 awards at local Space Apps events for the most innovative use of Bluemix, with prizes of to one year’s free access to Bluemix, and up to 80 hours’ tech support and assistance from senior IBM devs over a six-month period.

What NASA Needs?

The challenges represent NASA mission priorities in four areas — Earth studies, space exploration, human health research and robotics.

Many of the challenges focus on the Earth theme to support NASA’s missions to monitor the planet’s vital signs from land, air and space.

“This is a great way to get more academic and community involvement, as well as free coding services,” enthused Jim McGregor, principal at Tirias Research.

On the other hand, the code “will only be useful for the platforms that it’s being developed for,” he told TechNewsWorld. “The most critical applications will require detailed knowledge of very customized hardware platforms, such as those used for launch vehicles and landers.”

The exploration of space is a unified international effort, NASA pointed out, adding that it wants to make the hackathon valuable to and accessible to the international community.

However, it appears that most of the hackathon participants are based in the United States and Western Europe. There seem to be a few in Latin America; some in India, Japan and Russia; and just one in Australia, based on a Space Apps Challenge map.

What’s a Bluemix?

Bluemix is a cloud-based service built in just 18 months by a team of people in widely dispersed locations.

It is based on open source Cloud Foundry technology and runs on a SoftLayer infrastructure.

Bluemix supports Java, Node.js, Go, PHP, Python, Ruby and other languages, and it can be extended to support still more.

The hackathon “is a great opportunity for IBM to showcase its Bluemix developer capabilities, which have evolved considerably in recent months,” remarked Al Hilwa, program director for software research at IDC.

“I can’t think of a more challenging set of applications for any PaaS environment than what these developers are going to dream up,” he told TechNewsWorld.

IBM Gives a Little, Takes a Little

The hackathon “is basically a community set up to help train Watson to address some of the broad needs of NASA,” said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

“If it takes a village to grow a child into a productive adult, it takes an AI community to properly train [Watson] to become fully productive,” he told TechNewsWorld.