06.Apple, Linux, not Windows, most vulnerable operating systems in 2014

OS X, iOS, and Linux were the top three most vulnerable operating systems in 2014, but Internet Explorer was the most vulnerable app.

A whopping average of 19 security vulnerabilities were reported every day in 2014. The number of vulnerabilities discovered each year in operating systems, applications, and hardware has skyrocketed in a nasty trend, according to analysis by GFI Software.

Operating systems with most security vulnerabilities in 2014

The top spot for vulnerabilities in operating systems no longer goes to Microsoft Windows; in fact, Windows isn't even listed in the top three. Instead, the most vulnerable OS was Apple Mac OS X, followed by Apple iOS and Linux kernel. As you can see in the list below, Mac OS X had 147 vulnerabilities, with 64 being rated as high-severity bugs. There were 127 in iOS, 32 of those rated as high. Linux kernel had a rough year, with 119 security vulnerabilities and 24 being rated as high-severity. The flip-side is that none of the security holes in Windows versions were rated as low severity.









More@
http://www.networkworld.com/article/2887240/microsoft-subnet/apple-linux-not-windows-most-vulnerable-operating-systems-in-2014-ie-wins-worst-app.html

Why Evolve OS could win you over to Linux and me away from Ubuntu

Jack Wallen has found the one take on Linux that could possibly move him away from his distribution of choice since 2006. 
There are so many Linux distributions, each one claiming that they are the one flavor best designed for the new user in mind. Ubuntu, Linux Mint, PCLinuxOS -- all outstanding distributions and very much ready for users who want a platform built on the premise that Linux isn't nearly as challenging as many people assume.

In 2014, a new distribution appeared out of nowhere, one that cut straight to the heart of the matter and promised to deliver a Linux distribution like no other. That distribution is Evolve OS. For the longest time, the distribution was in a state of limbo, and the best you could do was download an alpha and hoped it would run. I tried a number of times and finally opted to just install the Budgie desktop on a Ubuntu distribution. That attempt gave me an idea of how Evolve OS would look, but not much more.

SAMSUNG NX1 REVIEW

If you’re looking for Samsung’s digital imaging flagship, the search simply ends with the NX1 ($1,500 MSRP, body only). This is the company’s top mirrorless interchangeable lens camera (ILC) – by far – and is loaded to the gills with just about everything Samsung could put into a camera other than a complete Galaxy smartphone. This camera is terrific and very impressive – something to look at if you want to shoot 4K content – and demonstrates how far Samsung has come in camera manufacturing.
Features and design






One of the top-line features of the new NX1 is a 28.2-megapixel APS-C sensor. The backside-illuminated (BSI) chip is the most pixel-packed of any in this category. The next step up is a camera with a full-frame sensor like the still available Sony A7, which is a bit cheaper at $1,299 (body only) but is a year older. But one area the NX1 beats the A7 is in video quality. Here, you can capture Cinema 4K and 4K Ultra High Definition (UHD) to the memory card, as well as Full HD 1080/60p footage. To get 4K with Sony, you need the $2,499 A7S or Panasonic’s DMC-GH4 ($1,499), among other 4K-capable cameras. In other words, the NX1 is priced right – at least on paper.


Full article:
http://www.digitaltrends.com/digital-camera-reviews/samsung-nx1-review/

China's Internet users soar as mobile drives growth

China had 649 million people online at the end of 2014, up by 31 million people from a year earlier. Mobile Internet users grew by 57 million people.

The number of Internet users in China continues to skyrocket.

China added 31 million Internet users for a total of 649 million, the country's China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) reported Tuesday, according to Reuters, which obtained a copy of the report. The country's total number of mobile Internet users jumped by 57 million to 557 million, CNNIC reported.






China's Internet growth over the last several years has been nothing short of staggering. The country adds tens of millions of people to the Web each year. But with a total population of over 1 billion, China still has a long way to go. China's Internet penetration rate at the end of 2014 was 47.9 percent. By contrast, more than 40 nations have at least a 70 percent penetration rate, according to an Internet Society report released last year.


Source:
http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/chinas-internet-user-base-continues-to-soar-as-mobile-drives-growth/

LG Electronics says 2014 profit up 46 percent, meets estimates

(Reuters) - South Korea's LG Electronics Inc (066570.KS) on Wednesday said its 2014 operating profit rose 46 percent to 1.8 trillion (1 billion pounds), buoyed by strong demand for television sets as well as a turnaround in its smartphone business.

The result was largely in line with analysts' estimates for a 1.9 trillion won profit. LG said it had made a 1.2 trillion won profit for 2013.






For the October-December quarter alone, LG booked a profit of 257 billion won, according to Thomson Reuters calculations based on the electronic goods maker's prior disclosures.

That was slightly below the average forecast of 299 billion won made in a Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S survey of 35 analysts. Earnings for the previous three quarters are subject to revision, however, meaning that LG Electronics could report a different quarterly profit figure.


Source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/28/us-lg-elec-results-idUSKBN0L10UN20150128

The best Android apps of 2014

Your phone just isn't complete if you haven't tried out these apps yet.






Android phones come bundled with some of the best apps ever to grace a touchscreen, but what really makes them “smart” is the ecosystem of third-party apps. The Play Store is overflowing with apps—there’s no approval process to slow them down, either. That means a little digging to find the really good stuff, but 2014 had plenty of that. Here is the best of the best from the last year of apps.




Source:
http://www.greenbot.com/article/2859483/the-best-android-apps-of-2014.html

The best Android games of 2014

Free or premium, breezy or in-depth—these are the essential games from this year.






Simply the best
It was an excellent year to be an Android gamer in 2014. More developers embraced the platform—which means not only more games, but also timelier releases. And the selection gets better and better by the week, with an array of excellent cheap titles and deeper-dive premium games that justify the added expense. Even the free-to-play market generated some serious winners this year.




Threes!
If you developed a raging Threes! obsession this year, know that you're not alone. This magnificent mobile creation put a fresh mathematical spin on puzzlers, challenging you to continue building larger and larger number tiles by sliding and adding together matched pairs on a cramped board.

Source:
http://www.greenbot.com/article/2859164/the-best-android-games-of-2014.html

Updated Debian 7: 7.8 released

The Debian project is pleased to announce the eighth update of its stable distribution Debian 7 (codename wheezy). This update mainly adds corrections for security problems to the stable release, along with a few adjustments for serious problems. Security advisories were already published separately and are referenced where available.

Please note that this update does not constitute a new version of Debian 7 but only updates some of the packages included. There is no need to throw away old wheezy CDs or DVDs but only to update via an up-to-date Debian mirror after an installation, to cause any out of date packages to be updated.

Those who frequently install updates from security.debian.org won't have to update many packages and most updates from security.debian.org are included in this update.

New installation media and CD and DVD images containing updated packages will be available soon at the regular locations.

Upgrading to this revision online is usually done by pointing the aptitude (or apt) package tool (see the sources.list(5) manual page) to one of Debian's many FTP or HTTP mirrors. A comprehensive list of mirrors is available at:

https://www.debian.org/mirror/list

Source:

https://www.debian.org/News/2015/20150110

Open source and Linux in 2014

In today's open source roundup: Looking back at open source and Linux in 2014. Plus: Switching from Apple laptops to Chromebooks, and the best gaming mouse for Linux?

Since we've reached the very end of the year, it's always fun to look back and review what's happened in open source and Linux. 2014 was certainly an eventful year, with more than its share of controversy and drama.

SJVN at ZDNet ruminates on what happened in 2014 with Linux and open source:

Image credit: Unixmen

Taken together, it's been a good year for Linux and open-source software. Next year will be even better. Don't mistake me. 2014 also had more than its share of problems, but with everyone now backing Linux and open-source, 2015 really is the year that these two twin technologies will dominate all of IT. There may never be a year of the Linux desktop, but the year of Linux IT is almost upon us.

Source: http://www.itworld.com/article/2863876/open-source-and-linux-in-2014.html 

2014 Highlights

Its been both an exciting and challenging year for us, this post includes some of the highlights.

Early in the spring Karen Sandler announced her departure* as the Executive Director of the foundation.

The GNOME Asia Summit, an event with a strong community building focus, was this year hosted in Beijing, China. In the end of July the GNOME community gathered for GUADEC in the beautiful city of Strasbourg, France for a week of talks, discussions and hacking.

Several Hackfest’s took place around the world including the first edition of the West Coast Summit where the growing number of GNOME contributors living in Silicon Valley got together. GNOME was also present at great conferences such as FOSDEM and FSCONS.

We saw two stable GNOME releases, 3.12 & 3.14 where the developer experience took leaps forward with many improvements to GTK+ and the introduction of the inspector while the user experience continued to evolve.

Source:
http://www.gnome.org/news/2014/12/2014-highlights/