If you're using a free or open source piece of software that's really the place to start - you shouldn't have to google very much to find out information about a project that you could join up with, just look at what you use. Look for something that wouldn't be too overwhelming for you to start out with.
Once you have that, the best way to find out about what's going on from there is to join the developer mailing list for the project, and to check out their IRC channel. Usually it's best to lurk for a bit before just jumping in stating that you'll do X, Y, and Z for them - that way you get a sense for the current status of the project and what they need.
A couple of other tips that might be helpful:
- Take a look at the mailing list archives from the past few months and look for threads that interest you.
- Take some time to report a few bugs in the program, or to try and triage a bug that someone else has reported.
- Join an IRC "meeting" of a group that you're interested in to see what they are doing and what their goals are
As a rule of thumb, most projects will be glad to have you if you're polite and actually do some work. If you are doing some work, and are polite, and they aren't happy to have you . . . Feel free to move elsewhere.:)
Looks like Google is just re-classifying these jobs as non-exempt under fair labor standards act regulations. It's likely that Google did an audit of job duties and responsibilities, and found that these jobs should be classified as non-exempt under the law, and are making that adjustment. HR groups have to do that all the time, and California has some of the most stringent labor laws of any state, so Google HR is just doing what they need to do.
Having your job classified as exempt from FLSA laws carries with it a certain status, though. Employees like to be "salaried," and not have to fill out an hourly timesheet, even if filling out a timesheet means the occasional opportunity for overtime.
What is the touch screen made of? My guess is that it's going to get pretty scratched up in people's pockets . . . Keys, pocketchange . . .:(
Either that, or you're going to have a $20.00 Apple iPhone cover for it (made of leather and plastic, which cost $0.58 to put together), and then have to take the cover off every time you want to use the phone/ipod/videoplayer/os x thingee.:(
As an avid Slashdot reader, I know that cell phones will not just die without cell phone "killers." Given that possible killers at this time include slivers and razors, I expect either a very slow and irritatingly painful death, or a quick and bloody one.
that the government won't try to appeal this ruling, but will just turn to getting their personal information on the U.S. populace from AOL's research group.;-)
14 Gigabytes of unread mail = 14,680,064 kilobytes of unread mail.
To roughly translate this, an average message in my inbox (without attachments) is about 22k, so that's about 667,275 unread mail messages that are now off in the ether.
If the U.S. were to cede control of ICANN, would this in any way affect any of the net-neutrality hullabaloo going on in the U.S., or would these be entirely unrelated?
It's only my opinion, but it seems to me that Google is better off contributing to an OS than producing and marketing one themselves. We already see this in their Summer of Code (contributing to a number of open source projects) and the porting of their applications to run on Linux.
Why deal with the overhead and responsibility of making your own OS when you can simply devote staff time to improving the Open Source open source projects and operating systems that already exist? Does Google really want to get into certifying drivers for obscure video and wireless cards? Why not create applications and search tools that can run on ANY operating system, while devoting some resources to improving operating systems that compete with Microsoft.
FWIW, that just seems like a better PR (i.e., less evil) move to me.
And they can count me as one of the people who doesn't want to depend on the internet to have access to all of my e-mail, tax documents, and family photos. Internet connections go down, and (in case of some big disaster) would stay down.
Besides, doesn't the NSA see enough of my internet traffic without them perusing all of my files, too?;-)
I say thanks but no thanks to a network OS. I think google may, too.
While I wouldn't get too excited about being able to just search the web through a browser within a media-player, I think that there's more to Songbird than just that.
On the Linux front, Songbird will give us a media player with an attractive front end, all of the standard rip-organize-burn capabilities, plus the ability to purchase music from online music stores. Not to knock the current Linux offerings (I'm currently an Amarok user), but the UI's aren't as attractive as Songbird's UI (yes, XMMS is slick-looking, but those buttons are so small . . . ), and AFAIK, the ability to buy music from online music stores through a Linux app is slim to none.
As for iTunes and Windows Media Player, they each lock you into their own music stores (the iTunes Music Store and the MTV-powered Urge, respectively). Songbird is going to allow you to purchase music from a wider array of online music stores from the outset, and online music stores will be able to write plugins to make them searchable from within Songbird. From the website . . . "Web page authors will be able to publish playlists and transfer MP3s into Songbird to build digital music stores like eMusic, music subscription services like Yahoo! Music Unlimited, virtual jamming services like Ninjam, playlist sharing services like WebJay and more."
And, of course, neither iTunes nor WMP plays natively under Linux. All in all, a strong cross-platform app like this just makes Linux that much more viable for everyday desktop users.
I have http://www.google.com/unclesam bookmarked in my del.icio.us bookmarks, which now redirects to this new search page. Seems to me like they've been offering this specialized search for at least a little while (not sure when they may have started it), but now they've just refined it - adding som U.S. government news content to the search page. (It used to be just a straight-forward specialized search ala the Google Linux search page.)
For starters, it's just another step in a good direction for would-be Linux desktop users. After all, it's easier to switch over from Windows to Linux if it runs the same software that you're used to running in Windows.
And this isn't just software that runs under both Windows and Linux . . . This is best-in-class software. Some people just won't be happy with Linux until it runs Photoshop, even though the Gimp is an excellent graphics program.
Ok, so now we've got Ubuntu Dapper Drake 6.06 (among other excellent distros), FireFox, Thunderbird, and now Picasa and Google Earth. In the foreseeable future we'll have an OpenOffice suite that runs a little faster and we'll have a legitimate iTunes competitor, Songbird.
Things are looking up for the Linux desktop, and for best-in-class software that runs on it. It's an exciting time to be a Linux fan, no?:-)
Though it's in it's earlier development stages (currently version 0.1.1), song bird looks promising as an open-source alternative to Windows Media Player or iTunes. It's being built off of the Mozilla Firefox codebase, and from their website they suggest that it will allow you to, "Play any MP3 on the Web without leaving the page. Songbird can view Web pages as dynamic playlists that it can play, save, or automatically download every day. . . . Songbird has all the features you expect in a desktop media player. And Songbird constantly improves. Like Firefox, Songbird's features may be improved with user installed and contributed cross-platform extensions."
FWIW, the builds just look attractive, too.
Slashdot Mirror
i, for one, welcome our new google overlords who will allow us to use google sky to view the approach of our new alien overlords.
Once you have that, the best way to find out about what's going on from there is to join the developer mailing list for the project, and to check out their IRC channel. Usually it's best to lurk for a bit before just jumping in stating that you'll do X, Y, and Z for them - that way you get a sense for the current status of the project and what they need.
A couple of other tips that might be helpful:
:)
- Take a look at the mailing list archives from the past few months and look for threads that interest you.
- Take some time to report a few bugs in the program, or to try and triage a bug that someone else has reported. - Join an IRC "meeting" of a group that you're interested in to see what they are doing and what their goals are
As a rule of thumb, most projects will be glad to have you if you're polite and actually do some work. If you are doing some work, and are polite, and they aren't happy to have you . . . Feel free to move elsewhere.
Here are the torrents for Xubuntu: http://torrent.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/feisty/ release/
All of the versions of ubuntu were released at the same time.
Jim
. . . I knew there was a reason why I read slashdot . . .
Having your job classified as exempt from FLSA laws carries with it a certain status, though. Employees like to be "salaried," and not have to fill out an hourly timesheet, even if filling out a timesheet means the occasional opportunity for overtime.
I originally read it as "open office xml," which is probably what microsoft wants me to think . . .
Either that, or you're going to have a $20.00 Apple iPhone cover for it (made of leather and plastic, which cost $0.58 to put together), and then have to take the cover off every time you want to use the phone/ipod/videoplayer/os x thingee. :(
I say that we worry about this after we get human rights figured out. Thanks!!
As an avid Slashdot reader, I know that cell phones will not just die without cell phone "killers." Given that possible killers at this time include slivers and razors, I expect either a very slow and irritatingly painful death, or a quick and bloody one.
Death by chocolate remains a remote possibililty.
I use MashMap to check movie showtimes in my area . . .
that the government won't try to appeal this ruling, but will just turn to getting their personal information on the U.S. populace from AOL's research group. ;-)
14 Gigabytes of unread mail = 14,680,064 kilobytes of unread mail.
To roughly translate this, an average message in my inbox (without attachments) is about 22k, so that's about 667,275 unread mail messages that are now off in the ether.
Ooops . . .
If the U.S. were to cede control of ICANN, would this in any way affect any of the net-neutrality hullabaloo going on in the U.S., or would these be entirely unrelated?
It's only my opinion, but it seems to me that Google is better off contributing to an OS than producing and marketing one themselves. We already see this in their Summer of Code (contributing to a number of open source projects) and the porting of their applications to run on Linux.
;-)
Why deal with the overhead and responsibility of making your own OS when you can simply devote staff time to improving the Open Source open source projects and operating systems that already exist? Does Google really want to get into certifying drivers for obscure video and wireless cards? Why not create applications and search tools that can run on ANY operating system, while devoting some resources to improving operating systems that compete with Microsoft.
FWIW, that just seems like a better PR (i.e., less evil) move to me.
And they can count me as one of the people who doesn't want to depend on the internet to have access to all of my e-mail, tax documents, and family photos. Internet connections go down, and (in case of some big disaster) would stay down.
Besides, doesn't the NSA see enough of my internet traffic without them perusing all of my files, too?
I say thanks but no thanks to a network OS. I think google may, too.
On the Linux front, Songbird will give us a media player with an attractive front end, all of the standard rip-organize-burn capabilities, plus the ability to purchase music from online music stores. Not to knock the current Linux offerings (I'm currently an Amarok user), but the UI's aren't as attractive as Songbird's UI (yes, XMMS is slick-looking, but those buttons are so small . . . ), and AFAIK, the ability to buy music from online music stores through a Linux app is slim to none.
As for iTunes and Windows Media Player, they each lock you into their own music stores (the iTunes Music Store and the MTV-powered Urge, respectively). Songbird is going to allow you to purchase music from a wider array of online music stores from the outset, and online music stores will be able to write plugins to make them searchable from within Songbird. From the website . . . "Web page authors will be able to publish playlists and transfer MP3s into Songbird to build digital music stores like eMusic, music subscription services like Yahoo! Music Unlimited, virtual jamming services like Ninjam, playlist sharing services like WebJay and more."
And, of course, neither iTunes nor WMP plays natively under Linux. All in all, a strong cross-platform app like this just makes Linux that much more viable for everyday desktop users.
Wait, so this shelled version of IE exploits security holes??
I have http://www.google.com/unclesam bookmarked in my del.icio.us bookmarks, which now redirects to this new search page. Seems to me like they've been offering this specialized search for at least a little while (not sure when they may have started it), but now they've just refined it - adding som U.S. government news content to the search page. (It used to be just a straight-forward specialized search ala the Google Linux search page.)
And this isn't just software that runs under both Windows and Linux . . . This is best-in-class software. Some people just won't be happy with Linux until it runs Photoshop, even though the Gimp is an excellent graphics program.
Ok, so now we've got Ubuntu Dapper Drake 6.06 (among other excellent distros), FireFox, Thunderbird, and now Picasa and Google Earth. In the foreseeable future we'll have an OpenOffice suite that runs a little faster and we'll have a legitimate iTunes competitor, Songbird.
:-)
Things are looking up for the Linux desktop, and for best-in-class software that runs on it. It's an exciting time to be a Linux fan, no?
Though it's in it's earlier development stages (currently version 0.1.1), song bird looks promising as an open-source alternative to Windows Media Player or iTunes. It's being built off of the Mozilla Firefox codebase, and from their website they suggest that it will allow you to, "Play any MP3 on the Web without leaving the page. Songbird can view Web pages as dynamic playlists that it can play, save, or automatically download every day. . . . Songbird has all the features you expect in a desktop media player. And Songbird constantly improves. Like Firefox, Songbird's features may be improved with user installed and contributed cross-platform extensions." FWIW, the builds just look attractive, too.
Yes, it appears as though this site has been h4x0r3d.