Congratulations to @Lakshmana who landed a new job and is starting today.

Thanks to @Digium for getting the word out. We just stumbled on this one...

https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/1764325-other-online-it-forums

Also very cool that SW decided to feature it and promote it. Thanks to SW as well!

Softpedia reports on a new open source project that just came to light this past week. UbuntuBSD is an attempt to merge the Ubuntu ecosystem with the FreeBSD kernel, which does not use the much maligned SystemD. This is a very new project but could be very interesting. Use of the BSD kernel means that ZFS is available as a native filesystem (and is used by default) and XFCe is being used as the desktop. Downloads in ISO form are already available for those interested in checking things out.

Scale and Spiceworks are presenting Scale's Can Your Disaster Recovery Plan Cook the Bacon (aka the Waffle House Talk) as a webinar today at noon eastern / 11:00 am central time. @scottalanmiller will be guesting on this webinar to mirror the "jump in" anecdotes from the same Waffle House presentation given in Austin at SpiceWorld back in September.

Sign up and join Scale to find out if your critical data is bacon or sausage.

Congrats to @JeffReady on his new brewery: http://www.townepost.com/indiana/center-grove/centerpoint-brewing/

http://www.townepost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Centerpoint-Brewery-2-768x576.jpg

...It all began five years ago when Jon Robinson invited Argiris to his house to taste his homebrew beer. The fellow Rose-Hulman graduate was intrigued. The pair began crafting their own recipes and entering competitions. They were having fun and learning a lot, but when they took the Blue Ribbon at the Indiana State Fair in 2014 for their category they knew they had something special. They started kicking around the idea of opening a brewery and developed a business plan. That’s where Center Grove resident and fellow Rose-Hulman graduate Jeff Ready joined the team.....

MangoLassi and Unitrends would like to invite you to participate in a Full day all about Unitrends May 12, 2015

• @Minion-Queen and @scottalanmiller will be posting from SpiceWorld London about the launch of the new addition to Unitrends offerings.

• There will be questions posted by a couple Unitrends installation Engineers and they will be here to answer your questions as well

• There will be giveaways!

• Follow @Minion-Queen on twitter @theminionqueen for other pics and hilarity that happens at SpiceWorld!!

In Germany, a Linux kernel author and the Software Freedom Conservancy have sued hypervisor giant VMware over allegations that VMware has used copyrighted and GPL licensed Linux code belonging to Christoph Hellwig without securing a proper license nor meeting its obligations under the GPL (Gnu Public License v2.) This is an extremely serious lawsuit as the players involved are very large and the codebase in question is very valuable. In question is the VMware vmkernel, the company's likely most valuable technological asset. VMware asserts that it has done nothing wrong.

Under the terms of the GPL, if GPL code has been used in another product, that other product is, in turn, automatically licensed under the GPL. That means that VMware faces the potential scenario where the vmkernel, and therefore the majority of ESXi itself, is GPL'd making it open and free to the world and no longer under VMware's control. Linux, KVM and Xen, for example, would have unfettered access to use the code and merge projects.

The question will likely come down to whether or not the two parties can provide that code truly was or was not misappropriated. It is a common statement made about VMware that they have used Linux code in their products, but that claim is based on the misconception that the shell used on ESXi, which has no relationship to Linux, is Linux and therefore ESXi is Linux. That misconception is nothing more than that and is completely unrelated to this question of whether or not VMware has accidentally or intentionally used copyrighted, GPL'd code in their products.

Red Hat's new Fleet Commander system is designed to manage RHEL and Fedora desktops at scale. FC combines Cockpit and FreeIPA to give group policy like control to the RH ecosystem.

https://fleet-commander.org/

IMF warns Afghanistan's economic slump will impact neighbours Published

Afghanistan's economic woes could fuel a refugee crisis impacting neighbouring countries, Turkey and Europe, the International Monetary Fund has said.
The economy will contract by up to 30% this year - which could push millions into poverty and cause a humanitarian crisis, the fund warned. The IMF said Afghanistan's neighbours would be further hit because they rely on its funds for trade. Bordering Tajikistan has said it can't afford to take in many more refugees. With foreign assets frozen and most non-humanitarian aid halted, inflows of cash to Afghanistan have all but dried up. In its regional economic outlook, the fund said: "A large influx of refugees could put a burden on public resources in refugee-hosting countries, fuel labour market pressures, and lead to social tensions, underscoring the need for assistance from the international community."

Google's Pixel 6 processor brings AI photo features

Google has unveiled its latest smartphone, containing the tech giant's first self-designed computer chip.
The Pixel 6 contains Google's "Tensor" processor, which it says enables new phone features powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning. It is also the first phone in the series with a "Pro" model, designed to compete at the high end of the market. "The whole goal when we started was to reach this point," said Rick Osterloh, Google's head of devices. "Really, this is our original vision that we're finally able to get to after building a lot of capabilities both in technology and in product development capabilities," he told the BBC.

Facebook to hire 10,000 in EU to work on metaverse

Facebook is planning to hire 10,000 people in the European Union to develop a so-called metaverse.
A metaverse is an online world where people can game, work and communicate in a virtual environment, often using VR headsets. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been a leading voice on the concept. The announcement comes as Facebook deals with the fallout of a damaging scandal and faces increased calls for regulation to curb its influence. "The metaverse has the potential to help unlock access to new creative, social, and economic opportunities. And Europeans will be shaping it right from the start," Facebook said in a blog post. The new jobs being created over the next five years will include "highly specialised engineers".

Robert Durst: US millionaire sentenced to life for murder

US real estate heir Robert Durst, subject of HBO crime documentary series The Jinx, has been sentenced to life in prison for killing his best friend.
Durst was found guilty of killing Susan Berman in 2000 to stop her talking to police about his wife's disappearance. Then aged 55, she was found shot in the head in her Beverly Hills home. Police believe he killed two others as well. In a victim impact statement in court, Berman's son told Durst "you murdered the person I was" when he killed her. Prosecutors called Durst, 78 - who appeared in the Los Angeles court for his sentencing - a "narcissistic psychopath". Durst has denied killing his friend. His sentence for first-degree murder excludes any possibility of parole, meaning he will now very likely die in prison. The crime carries special circumstances, the jury decided, including murder while lying in wait, and murder of a witness. Durst's lawyers told the judge on Thursday that he intends to appeal his conviction. Durst himself spoke to the judge only once to say "yes" when asked if he was waiving his right to appear at a future hearing.

Passengers couldn’t fly after NHS vaccine passport went offline

Outage lasted approximately 4 hours, causing issues with health app.
England's COVID Pass system went offline for hours on Wednesday, causing British travelers to remain stranded at airports. Some passengers couldn't board their flights, while others suffered delays as both the National Health Service (NHS) website and app experienced issues. An NHS system outage lasting approximately four hours left many British travelers unable to access their vaccination records and present their COVID Pass to the airlines. Prior to letting passengers board, most airlines in the UK require proof of vaccination in printed or digital form. But those without a paper copy were left in limbo as the NHS smartphone app kept throwing up errors.

Walrus counting from space: How many tusked beasts do you see?

A new project aims to get a better idea of the number of walruses on Earth by counting them from space.
Volunteers are being sought to search through thousands of satellite images to see how many of the tusked animals they can spot. Scientists need improved population data as they try to asses how this polar keystone species will be affected by climate change. Walruses are heavily dependent on sea-ice, which has been in sharp retreat. The marine mammals will haul out on to the floes, to use them as a platform on which to rest and raise their young, and as a base from which to launch foraging trips. A walrus will drop to the seabed to hunt in the muds for clams and other invertebrates, such as snails, soft shell crabs and shrimp. All this is being made more difficult as the extent of the seasonal sea-ice declines.

Firms call for help over surging gas prices

Industries hit by soaring energy costs have made another appeal to the government for action.
Talks with ministers will continue on Monday over a crisis that has sparked warnings about some factories. Sectors such as ceramics, paper and steel manufacturing have called for a price cap, though talks with government on Friday failed to reach a solution. The Treasury has denied being in detailed talks with Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng about the crisis. Dave Dalton, chief executive of the British Glass trade body, called that "very alarming". He was part of Friday's talks with Mr Kwarteng, but told the BBC the meeting "was very much an introductory one. We did not get to specifics".

US gov’t will slap contractors with civil lawsuits for hiding breaches

Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative mandates data-breach reporting for gov't contractors.
In a groundbreaking initiative announced by the Department of Justice this week, federal contractors will be sued if they fail to report a cyber attack or data breaches. The newly introduced "Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative" will leverage the existing False Claims Act to pursue contractors and grant recipients involved in what the DOJ calls "cybersecurity fraud." Usually, the False Claims Act is used by the government to tackle civil lawsuits over false claims made in relation to federal funds and property connected with government programs. "For too long, companies have chosen silence under the mistaken belief that it is less risky to hide a breach than to bring it forward and to report it,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco, who is pioneering the initiative. "Well, that changes today. We are announcing today that we will use our civil enforcement tools to pursue companies, those who are government contractors who receive federal funds, when they fail to follow required cybersecurity standards—because we know that puts all of us at risk. This is a tool that we have to ensure that taxpayer dollars are used appropriately and guard the public fisc and public trust."

China's Moon mission returned youngest ever lavas

The rock samples brought back from the Moon in December by China's Chang'e-5 mission were really young.
It's all relative, of course, but the analysis shows the basalt material - the solidified remnants of a lava flow - to be just two billion years old. Compare this with the samples returned by the Apollo astronaut missions. They were all over three billion years of age. The findings are reported in the journal Science. China's robotic Chang'e-5 mission was sent to a site on the lunar nearside called Oceanus Procellarum. It was carefully chosen to add to the sum of knowledge gained from previous sample returns - the last of which was conducted by a Soviet probe in 1976.

Tesla: Elon Musk says company headquarters will move to Texas

Tesla has announced it will move its company headquarters to Texas from California.
Chief executive Elon Musk announced the move at the electric carmaker's annual shareholders' meeting in Austin. Mr Musk had fallen out with local politicians in Alameda county, California, the location of a key Tesla factory, over its Covid response. He gave several reasons for the move, telling shareholders its Californian factory in Fremont was "jammed". California was also a difficult place for his employees to find affordable housing, he told shareholders. "There's a limit to how big you can scale it in the Bay Area. In Austin our factory is like five minutes from the airport, 15 minutes from downtown," he said. The billionaire technology entrepreneur has had an fractious relationship at times with California.