jnadeau.org

Thanks to Apple’s pattens they have stopped the new HTC Evo 4G LTE phones to be delivered to the customers that have paid for them. Is this what we have really comt to? Apple won a case which allowed the banning of importation of HTC phones by the international trade commission. The ITC found that Android’s messaging and browser infringed on patten 594647. Which means when a phone number shows up on your screen you can tap the number and it will call that person. WOW this sounds like ground breaking technology! I can see why Apple would put a stop to people getting their phones that they pre-ordered. This is just proof that there needs to be a end to software pattens and somebody needs to take a hard look at this problem. I urge people to think hard the next time they want to purchase that Apple product and ponder if they want to support actions like this, because if they buy Apple products they approve of this behavior.

The second annual Northeast GNU/Linux fest was a great success! There were a couple of hurdles but we over came them and everything went rather well. One of the things that I learned from this event is Don’t hold an event at Worcester State University. Working with them for this event was nothing short of awful. This is why we will be having the next conference at Harvard University. Yes thats right and we already have started working on next years event. We have already put up the audio of the talks on Frostbitemedia so if you want to hear them they are both in ogg and mp3 format. We should be putting up the videos soon and I will let you know when they are up.

The libre planet conference is coming up on March 24 and 25 2012. This year it will be located at UMass Boston. If you have never come to this conference it is put on by the Free Software Foundation and it is a great event. Go to the libre Planet website and register today. You will hear great talks from industry leaders in the Free software community. This is also a chance to hang out with people in the Free software community and get to know them. I will be giving a talk on Free software and accessibility. I must say I’m a little nervous about giving this talk due to the brilliant people that I’m talking before and after. So if you are in the Boston area or plan on taking a trip to New England you don’t want to miss this conference.

The other day i sent some books to Amazon to sell because I didn’t need them anymore for class. One of the books was never opened because i just needed the digital copy. This meant the book was still wrapped in plastic. When I was emailed that they received the books and they weren’t excepting the book that was never opened I thought that was a little odd. The other day I got the book back and it was opened out of the plastic and there was an activation number for online access to the book that was opened also. So I thought this was really weird. I called in to see what the problem was with the book and also brought to their attention that the book was opened and the access number was missing. When Amazon checked it out while I was on hold they said sorry for the inconvenience and that they were going to credit me the money for the book and i could keep it. This is what customer service is all about. Amazon took care of the problem right away and figured it was worth losing a little money to keep a loyal customer. Great job Amazon and keep it up. Now all you have to do is make your books and Kindle DRM free.

So i went to the movies with my oldest son and we went to go see Starwars in 3D. Even though I couldn’t enjoy the 3D I still came to a conclusion about the later Starwars movies. I know a lot of people hate the storyline and think it is all about the effects. I was one of those people. But after watching it again i realized that the storyline really isn’t that bad. Don’t get me wrong it still is not as good as the older Starwars movies, but it is not as bad as I thought it was before. The one thing that is bad about episode 1 is the acting of the kid who played Anakin Skywalker. His acting was really bad and is what I think is the worst thing about the movie. After watching this at the theater i will have to revisit my dvd’s and watch episode 2 and 3.

I was interviewed on a local broadcast channel about thre Northeast Linux Fest. It was on WACCTV 13 and I had a great time doing it. I never knew that there was this resource in Worcester. More people should take advatage of this ability to record a quality show and then air it on the local Worcester channel. I think therr is a fee but it is small and well worth it. Go to the WACCTV website and check it out. I might look into doing some more things down there after the conference is over.

In the past couple of weeks i was interviewed on a couple of popular Linux podcasts. I was interviewed on TLLTS and I talked about the upcoming Northeast GNU/Linux Fest which is March 17, 2012 please register so we know how many people to expect. I also was interviewed on Linux Outlaws and on this show we talked more about my new venture the Accessible Computing Foundation which if you become a member you will get your own Freedom Mail account. I had a great time on both of these shows and highly recomend that you listen to these shows.

This is great to see Google finally getting solid accessibility into Android. I saw this video on Youtube showing Android 4.0 and it looks great. For Google This is a great step in the right direction for accessibility in mobile devices. The only problem is that even though Google claims that Android is an open platform which in some cases it is, but they don’t work in an open environment which allows work on the outside to be done to accessibility. hopefully they will work on accessibility as much as the new version of the Android operating system. This is an important step for the blind and low vision community now that more and more phones are being built without a keyboard and physical buttons. Check out the video.

Here is an update with the Free software foundation fundraiser. This is a snipit from the latest mailing that they have sent out.

We have raised $198,245 for free software. Help us raise another
$101,755 to reach our goal of $300,000 before January 31st!

Become an associate member for just $120 or $10/month

Over 15,000 individuals joined the Free Software Supporter mailing list in 2011 to follow our progress and to help us do more for free software. Over 22,000 verified signatures were added to our statement opposing Microsoft’s Restricted Boot. Over 130 individuals donated to help us mail 200 cardboard bricks to Nintendo executives in opposition to their terrible Terms of Service and Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) on the Nintendo 3DS. And we joined with thousands of others in the US to oppose Internet blacklist legislation. Time and time again, we managed to make sure the free software message was heard around the world.

Our campaigns managers, Matt Lee and Josh Gay, not only design and carry out our advocacy campaigns — they also do a large share of our public relations, fundraising, web development, and graphic design. In 2011, they answered over 1,500 emails from members, the public, and reporters. They overhauled and relaunched the Free Software Directory. And they worked diligently on campaigns to end software patents, eliminate DRM, promote free document formats, support the GNU Operating System, and promote free audio and video formats.

But, for as many actions as they were able to launch last year, there were also missed opportunities.

Matt wanted to do much more to improve all of our web sites, making them more useful and attractive places for people new to free software to learn about it and for those more experienced to keep up on the latest issues they should be acting on. He wanted to work on some new publications, including case studies of prominent free software users and better handouts explaining the basics of free software and the problems of DRM and software patents. He wanted to attend more events on behalf of the FSF to meet and work with others in the community, and he wanted to blog more frequently and effectively about important free software issues.

Most importantly, he wanted to design a new GNU hat to be sold through shop.fsf.org, because it’s January in Boston and it’s hard to type when our heads are so cold.

Josh wanted to do more too. He wanted to build stronger connections with other organizations whose work overlaps with ours. He wanted to spend more time talking with and writing for major publications to ensure that the free software message is always heard in mainstream discussions of technology. He wanted to spend a few more years turning the Free Software Directory into a fully sentient being powered by Semantic MediaWiki. He wanted to get the history of free software into museums like the Smithsonian, and he wanted to focus more time on promoting free software in educational institutions.

To do even more than last year, to do more for free software, we need to grow. Another campaigns manager would be a huge help and would give us almost enough to field a softball team against the local Microsoft office. Over the last month, we’ve seen some of our peer organizations receive grants in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. There’s a good chance we can also get such funding, but someone needs to have the time to pursue it without neglecting other important work that must be done.

Your donation puts us in a position where we can be successful.

Here is how you can help Josh and Matt:

* Become an associate member. Average donations of members are $169/year, and memberships start at $120 or $10/month. When you donate $500 or more, you can be listed on our Thank GNUs web page.
* Donate any amount
* Add our fundraising widget to your site or blog
* And simply let your friends and co-workers know about our fundraiser!

So this weekend we come upon post season football. I’ve been a Denver Bronco fan for a long time and also am a big fan of Tim Tebow. But I don’t think they will beat the Steelers this weekend. Don’t get me wrong I would love to see Denver run the table all the way, but with the amount of turnovers that Denver has had over the last 3 weeks I don’t think they are ready.

For the AFC championship I think it while come down to either the Steelers VS. the Patriots or the Ravens VS. the Patriots. I don’t want New England to go to the Superbowl that is all. This may shock people but I’m not a fan at all of the New England Patriots even living in New England myself. I can’t really explain why I don’t like them I guess I don’t like the attitude of the team they are just to egotistical for me. I like the underdogs myself.

For the NFC championship I think it will come down to either the Packers VS. the Giants or the Packers VS. the Saints. I think any one of these teams could beat the Patriots if they make it to the Superbowl. I was hoping that the Packers could go undefeated this year and do what New England couldn’t do but they lost to the Chiefs of all teams. Well it goes to show you on any given Sunday.

When I was younger I loved playing sports and football by far was my favorite. I was very active and played football, basketball, baseball and also took Karate. The thing i love most about football is that it is a chess match and every play matters. Over the years i don’t like some of the play calling from some of the teams, for instance passing for a 3 yard gain instead of running the ball. What is that just run the ball that is what football is all about. Take the ball put your head down and pound the other team into the ground. I guess that is why I’m a Denver fan because they never left the running game and they have always been a running team. So looking forward to the next few weeks of football and lets see what happens.