Microsoft to block other Operating Systems from booting

Apparently Microsoft wants to make the same move as Apple. If you want to have Windows 8 then that's all you can have. They want to prevent their users from booting into an OS that is not Windows.


Apple brands their hardware, though. So they can put just about anything in their BIOS (if they are to keep end users as slaves to OS X). Fine, you are not legally allowed to run another OS that is not Mac OS X Lion/Tiger/ Chimpanzee. Likewise you are not allowed to run Mac OS X on a system that is not Apple branded.


Such nonsense. Let people but your flashy hardware. Even if they have to get parts from the manufacturer and no generics are exist. Now let's focus on Microsoft. I read that they want to 'ask' manufacturers to block operating systems based on a black list. In a few words. You might not be able to boot an OS that is not Windows.


This is really bad news for the people that like to use Linux and other open source OS's. I mean, come on, when I bought my current laptop the first thing I did was install Ubuntu 10.04. A few days later I wiped out the "factory" partition. I don't care that it may void its warranty. What I do care about is having those binary files created by MS.


Click here to sign a petition asking computer manufacturers to allow free software operating systems to be allowed to boot.



Fight for your rights (unless your current system will never need replacing).

Allow websites access to webcam on Ubuntu

In this social-media world of the Internet, being able to snap picture with your cellphone, or digital camera is convenient but what if you simply want to use your laptop's built-in webcam. "Keep it simple" you may say but some things just don't work out of the box when it comes to Ubuntu.

I was updating my status on Facebook by adding a picture using my laptop's web-cam . The circle thing kept moving but nothing happened. No camera controls showed up. So I tried something that I had never thought about.

My specs:

Firefox 10.0.2
Ubuntu 10.04 LTS kernel 2.6.32-38-generic
Adobe Flash Player: 
Laptop: 

• Gateway ID49C07u 
• i3 processor
• 1.3 mp camera

Here is what you have to do to grant websites access to you camera.

1) Switch to picture mode.
2) Right click on the flash uploader / preview.
3) Click 'Global Settings'.

4) Go to "Camera and mic" tab.
5) Click the "Camera and Microphone Settings by Site..." button.
6) Add/ edit the website which you would like to grant access to.
7) From the dropdown select Allow.

Close both dialog boxes and retry to capture your picture.

Enjoy your status updates.

As I was wrapping up this post, I tested video capture and it works fine.



For much better quality consider this camera.
 
I have the LifeCam that records at 720p; very nice camera.