NixMashup for February 2, 2015

Ubuntu Invades the Internet of Things

From GigaOm, “Ubuntu is about to invade the internet of things with a minimal version of the Linux distribution that it hopes will provide a standardized platform for connected devices from drones to home hubs.” A detailed treatment of Canonical’s Snappy Ubuntu Core and the role it could play in the emerging IoT space.

#ubuntu, #iot

Staying Positive Through Running

Eight approaches to using running to stay positive and have a better day. Running in the middle of the day as an stress diffuser, “giving a surge of endorphins right when you need them.” Liked the advice on getting out there in bad weather. “The weather looks worse from inside. Once you get out, you’ll find that it’s not so bad. By running in bad weather conditions, harsh winter months become less dreary.”

#running, #fitness

Daily Life with an Android Wear Smartwatch

ArsTechnica writers chronicle 30 days using Android Wear 5.0 on a variety of smartwatches with the focus on how useful they were in daily activities. The general conclusion can be summed up with “literally anyone can find something to do with a smartphone—even if it’s just e-mail and looking up directions—and that’s emphatically not true for smartwatches.” But if you read some of the 98 comments you’ll discover many examples of how people are finding value in their smartwatches. As new generations of smartwatches become available and the Android OS and Wear apps evolve, that value will certainly increase. Then again, as one commenter said, “Something as innovative as the Microsoft HoloLens and small as Google Glass could replace all wearable tech.”

#androidwear, #androidl, #smartwatches

LibreOffice Gets Prettier with Version 4.4

I use both LibreOffice Calc and Writer quite a bit and they’re great. In fact I tweeted the other day how easy it was to define a Print Range in LibreOffice Calc on an imported Excel XLSX file. Apparently the upcoming 4.4 Release of LibreOffice will have a boatload of UI improvements that we can look forward to. I’ve said it before and will probably say it again, given the quality of LibreOffice, why businesses continue to pay for Microsoft Office is beyond me.

#windowstolinux, #linux

Queuing Innovation

This Twitpic was intended to be humorous, but there’s something brilliant here from a Systems Design perspective.

#fun, #ux

Launch of a Falcon Heavy

This is an exciting video of what the launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will look like, depicting how the rocket’s booster stages use hydraulics after separation to push themselves into the right position for re-entry. I’m going to watch it again since I have it up. Back in 2 minutes.

#futuretech, #spacex, #video

Include Your Dogs In Your Official Astronaut Photo Cool

The full tweet, “You might be cool, but you’ll never be ‘include your dogs in your official astronaut photo’ cool.” No, guess not.

#fun

Official Google Drive Linux Client Coming

Great news for fellow Linux users, screenshots of a Google Drive folder and menu running on a Linux desktop were found among documentation bundled with the latest Google Drive Mac client. It probably means that Google is testing Drive for Linux internally and that we might actually see an official release pretty soon.

#linux

Drone Delivery Obstacles

Thomas Frey lists 37 critical problems that need to be solved for drone delivery to become viable. Issues you might not have considered are on the list, like drones having black boxes like airplanes do, the creation of drone and cargo classification systems, drone and drone cargo insurance, vehicle and pilot licensing, rules for “drone hate crimes” and “drone bullying.” Wild.

#drones, #futuretech, #trends

Driving Forces in the IoT Era

Excellent infographic comparing the PC, Internet, Mobile and IoT Eras in uses, types of processes, enablers, value points, and most importantly, the number of users and devices. The point of the infographic is that “the shift to the IoT Era is radical because for the first time the primary users of technology will not be humans.”

#iot, #trends, #infographic