Geek Stuff category archive

The XScreenSaver Hydrostat screen saver on Ubuntu MATE.

El Reg reports on the con (more at the link).

Fed up with the DRM in a General Electric refrigerator that pushed the owner to buy expensive manufacturer-approved replacement water filters, an anonymous hacker went to the trouble of buying a domain name and setting up a website at gefiltergate.com to pen a screed about appliance digital rights restriction management (DRM) and how to bypass it.

The fridge in question required a GE RPWFE refrigerator water filter. It has an RFID chip, which the fridge uses to verify the authenticity of the part. The RPWFE filter costs much more than unapproved filters: about $50 compared to $13.

Aside:

The “smart home” trade off is a simple one.

You no longer have to walk across the room to turn on the lights. In return, big data strips you nekkid.

The xscreensaver Hopalong screensaver on Mageia v. 7 under the Fluxbox window manager.

This article may make you grumpy, but don’t sneezy at it, because it makes a singularity point.

Mageia v. 7 with the Fluxbox window manager, the GKrellM system monitor, QMMP, and Xclock. Claws-mail and Firefox are shaded in a tabbed window.

I’ve removed a post that I mistakenly posted earlier today because it was out of sequence (hard as it may be to believe, sometimes a little planning–not much, but some–goes into this thing). It will reappear later in sequence.

Mageia v. 7 with the QMMP media player with the Chinese Beauty skin playing music that swings, Claws-Mail and Firefox tabbed and shaded, Konsole (also shaded), GKrellM, and xclock. The Fluxbox window manager is using the sunlense theme.

The background is from my collection.

El Reg reports on Microsoft’s relabeling its Office 360 (that’s the one in the cloud on somebody else’s computer) update routines. It’s like American cars in the 1950s and 1960s–rearranging the chrome on the same old same old.

The original “Monthly Channel” will now be known as the “Current Channel,” and will lob out updates as and when (at least monthly, and probably more frequently). The “Semi-Annual Channel” becomes the “Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel” and will drop feature updates twice a year, in January and February.

Follow the link for the full box of brand aids.

Ubuntu MATE with the Fluxbox window manager using the zimek-darkblue theme, xclock, and GKrellM. The wallpaper is from my collection.

If anyone can tell me what the building in the picture is, I would be most grateful. It seems clearly to be in Germany or possibly Austria . . . .

Ubuntu MATE with the Fluxbox window manager using the Ubuntu Dark theme on a Zareason media box. The background is from my collection.

If you are a regular visitor, you have probably noticed that Fluxbox is my preferred GUI interface. It is capable of all the eye candy you could want, without the overhead of a desktop environment.

The Fluxbox window manager on Ubuntu MATE with GKrellM, xclock, and the QMMP media player playing The Bishop’s Secret by Fergus Hume. Thunderbird and Firefox are shaded in a tabbed window (and, no, you can’t do that on Windows).

The Fluxbox window manager on Mageia v. 7 with xclock and GKrellM. The background (that’s Linux for “wallpaper”) is from my collection and shows Red Square and the GUM department store.

Ubuntu MATE with the Fluxbox window manager using the “mussel” style running the QMMP media player (playing The Bishop’s Secret by Fergus Hume), GKrellM, and Xclock. The wallpaper is from my collection.