A'N'F SOFTWARE

Things have been busy here at Freekrai.net over the past couple of months, and will continue to be for the next couple. We have been busy working on some new projects, revamping some existing projects and basically, getting ready for an exciting 2008. Look for DBStract to undergo some major new changes coming up shortly, as well as a few other new sites getting launched.

Ok, so today we updated the look of freekrai.net, and we are also in the middle of a few other updates. Some new sites are in the works as well as new version of sites and over all, the next six months should be pretty exciting :)

All right, we've launched a new site this week. It's called Business Builder News, and it's full of business tips and tools to help you and your business.

Hey everyone, It's been a while since our last post, but I thought it was time to update everybody again. So, first off, we're in the middle of some restructuring of our main website and offering new services. Our first new service, is Domain Registration Servics. We're also going to be offering webhosting packages coming up shortly. Also, this week, we've launched our newest site, DBStract. This site has been in the works since December 2005, and has finally seen the light of day after months of planning and development. Users of this site are able to create virtual databases to store all of their data online. We have free and subscription packages. Also, we will be adding more features to the site as we go, with several new features planned for this month alone.

Today we launched our latest site, What's Cooking Today. This new cooking site is a followup to our webvolve site, but going along a new path. We will be featuring new recipes each week and also doing a tips section for those who want tips on things like garnishing, choosing the right wine, eating heathier, etc. Expect new recipes and a soon to be launched podcast as well to give you hints and tips for cooking today.

Gnumeric is one of the computer tools I most frequently use. But the version I'm using is 1.2.1, which is some two years old. Why have I not upgraded, to take advantage of the sweet new features the Gnumeric team has been developing? I hope my answer to that question will be of some interest to my GNOME project friends.

When I was active in the GNOME project, it was routine to spend an hour or two a day of my free time working on whatever - writing user docs, helping manage bug reports, chatting on IRC with my pals, compiling the latest whatever in the background. I loved the people (still do!) and I loved the work. And I loved the software, too. I believe in the political and ethical notions of freedom and sharing that free software embodies. And I also prefer the freedom and flexibility to control your own data and computational destiny that you get with the Linux platform and the software stack that rides on top of it.

When I decided a couple of years ago to step down from my formal GNOME obligations so I could use my free time to start working on a book project, I expected that I would still be able to kick in a bit of free time to update user docs, triage bug reports, and help with some of the grunt work. But I quickly reallized that if you can't spare the minimum amount of time and effort required to keep the latest versions of the software stack built, there's no way to make useful contributions to the development effort. That bar is quite high - too high for me given my new self-imposed obligations.

As a user, I remained (and remain) enthusiastic. But as the time I was actively hacking recedes, the distance between the software stack on my computer and the latest interesting development work grows. The solution, of course, is simple - upgrade! Between Fedora and Ubuntu, this ought to be a relatively straightforward proposition. But at this point you have to remember that I am not a really a hacker. To make the contributions I did, I had to learn some modicum of command line skills. But every time during my active days I had to do a serious system upgrade, I faced a chore and a crap shoot. When it went smoothly, great. When it didn't, I had to spend hours Googling and IRC'ing how to manually change the ".frabinator_conf" file, and get the "gurglebarger" module to load before the "bergenhafter" module, and why won't it talk to my printer? Or worse, why won't it boot? So when I stopped hacking, I stopped doing full system upgrades, because I'm supposed to be writing now, not hacking config files by hand.

For the way that I write, Emacs is still a beloved tool, and Gnumeric even frozen in time in 2003 still meets pretty much all my number-crunching needs. Libxml - god love Daniel Veillard, one of my heroes - always builds no matter what the calcified state of my stack. Increasingly, thought, all the cool new software is out of my reach as the kernel and the stack advance away from me. Occasionally I'll see some cool new gadget I want to try. I'll download it and try to compile it and it'll tell me that I need to upgrade the frabinator. Sorry, no go. Gotta get back to writing.

The purpose of this screed is not to plead for y'all to stop working on the stack. That would miss the whole point of the power and joy of free software. The people who own the pieces of the stack love it, and want to make it better, and are doing amazing things with it that benefit the users who get the latest version. But people like me are always going to be left behind.

Jeff Waugh on the importance of sharing.

Is this really true, or just some amazing joke: "a made-for-TV movie about Miguel aired on prime-time Mexican television." Miguel's embarassed? Fool. This is pop culture superstardom, lain at his feet! I don't know if chicks dig free software hackers, but a made-for-TV movie?

In fine lazyweb tradition, several alert and helpful readers pointed me to Six Degrees of Wikipedia, a tool that finds the shortest path within Wikipedia linking one idea to another.

Here's my test: Global warming->1750->September 30->Hoover Dam->Colorado River Compact.

(Note that you seem to need to enter the precise URL string from the Wikipedia entry, i.e. "Kevin_Bacon".)

Daughter Nora suggests what I think is a fabulous idea.

Someone needs to do a Kevin Bacon-style analysis of the linkages within Wikipedia as a body of knowledge: how many links separating any two given ideas within Wikipedia? And what sort of idea/knowledge clusters emerge?

The Mae Shi's work is typically marked by an obsessive urge to create and destroy: It crams many catchy riffs into a single, painfully short song, but then also adds carefully timed choral screams on top of the guitar-strewn snippets, turning the mess into a frantic, joyous post-punk collage.

DeVotchKa's sound is a surprisingly potent potpourri of cabaret, spaghetti Western, and Eastern European Gypsy songs. In "Head Honcho," Nick Urata's gorgeous voice holds the melting pot together as a lone accordion intrudes upon his reverie, insistent and beautiful.

Transgender singer-songwriter Baby Dee has a rich, captivating, otherworldly voice. It soars majestically over mournful, sustained piano chords in "Safe Inside the Day" before retreating and returning, boldly and forcefully. Her voice is a force of nature, marked by dramatic outbursts and an unmistakable air of sadness.

"Hot Kathy," a unique bit of flamboyant space opera from the New York band Apes & Androids, blends classic-rock influences (David Bowie, Queen) with the blips and bleeps of 8-bit video games, resulting in a giddy collage of sound.

Propelled by strummed guitars, quietly brushed drums and dulcet chimes, The Winston Jazz Routine's "Through the Snow" provides a ready-made soundtrack to a stroll through snowy landscapes. Nathan Phillips' hushed vocals are well-suited for year-end introspection.