• Set Up A Headless Deluge Server on Linux

• Contributing to Fedora: Testing Packages

• How to check free disk space in Linux

• Viewing Linux Logs from the Command Line

• How to Monitor Linux Server Security with Osquery

• How to Upgrade to Linux Mint 19 [Step by Step Tutorial]

• 18 Things to Do After Installing Linux Mint 19 Tara

• How To Install GNOME Desktop Environment In Arch Linux

• How to Configure WordPress to use a Remote Database

• Linux chattr Command Tutorial for Beginners (5 Examples)

• CO.LAB alumni shine at Red Hat Summit

• Red Hat Ansible Engine 2.6 extends automation across AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, VMware; delivers capabilities to network and Windows environments

• Red Hat Introduces Red Hat Ansible Engine 2.6

  Red Hat has announced the general availability of Red Hat Ansible Engine 2.6, the latest release of its simple, powerful and agentless open source IT automation solution. Red Hat Ansible Engine 2.6 adds new content for automating across hybrid and multicloud environments, along with simplified connections to network APIs and updates for Ansible deployments overseeing Windows environments.

• Itential Collaborates with Red Hat to Simplify and Accelerate the Journey Toward Automated Networks for the Enterprise

• Open source IT automation solution from Red Hat gets an update

• Ansible exec talks growth 3 years after Red Hat buy

• As Cloud Kings Go, Red Hat Stock Isn’t Looking Very Regal Right Now

• Long-Term Investment or Short-Term, Red Hat, Inc. (RHT), Warrior Met Coal, Inc. (HCC)

There are many steps you can take to harden a computer, and a common recommendation you'll see in hardening guides is to enable disk encryption. Disk encryption also often is referred to as "at rest encryption", especially in security compliance guides, and many compliance regimes, such as PCI, mandate the use of at rest encryption. This term refers to the fact that data is encrypted "at rest" or when the disk is unmounted and not in use. At rest encryption can be an important part of system-hardening, yet many administrators who enable it, whether on workstations or servers, may end up with a false sense of security if they don't understand not only what disk encryption protects you from, but also, and more important, what it doesn't.

Feral Interactive, one of the leading Linux game companies, released a tool they call gamemode for Linux not long ago. Since we want gamers to be first class citizens in Fedora Workstation we ended up going back and forth internally a bit about what to do about it, basically discussing if there was another way to resolve the problem even more seamlessly than gamemode. In the end we concluded that while the ideal solution would be to have the default CPU governor be able to deal with games better, we also realized that the technical challenge games posed to the CPU governor, by having a very uneven workload, is hard to resolve automatically and not something we have the resources currently to take a deep dive into. So in the end we decided that just packaging gamemode was the most reasonable way forward. So the package is lined up for the next batch update in Fedora 28 so you should soon be able to install it and for Fedora Workstation 29 we are looking at including it as part of the default install.

In May, Samsung trademarked the “Galaxy Watch” and “Galaxy Fit” monikers at the USPTO, suggesting its plan to bring its wearables under the Galaxy branding. Now two months later, SamMobile confirms that Samsung’s next smartwatch, the successor to the Gear S3, will indeed be called the Galaxy Watch, and not Gear S4. Furthermore, they add that the upcoming Galaxy Watch will run Tizen 4.0 out of the box.

When it is updated, you can also use the Krita Lime PPA to install Krita 4.1.1 on Ubuntu and derivatives. We are working on an updated snap.

• Qt Creator 4.7.0 released

  We are happy to announce the release of Qt Creator 4.7.0!

• Qt Creator 4.7 Released With Clang Code Model Turned On By Default

  The Qt Company has officially released Qt Creator 4.7 as the newest feature release to this open-source, cross-platform Qt/C++ focused integrated development environment.

  Today's Qt Creator 4.7 IDE release is quite significant in that it finally turns on the Clang code model by default. The Clang code model provides significantly better C++ support over what was offered by their in-house code model and will stay better up-to-date with newer C/C++ standards, etc. The Clang code model in Qt Creator 4.7 is based on LLVM/Clang 6.0.

• Security updates for Wednesday

• PTI Support To Address Meltdown Nearing The Finish Line For x86 32-bit Linux

  While Page Table Isolation (PTI/KPTI) has been available since the Meltdown CPU vulnerability was disclosed at the start of the year, that's been for x86_64 Linux while the x86 32-bit support has remained a work-in-progress and only relatively recently has come together.

  Joerg Roedel sent out the eighth version of the x86-32 PTI patches today, which address feedback following a good round of review. This latest page table isolation work for x86 32-bit address more developer feedback and tidies up some of the code.

• Linux To Better Protect Entropy Sent In From User-Space

  Fedora has begun utilizing a user-space jitter entropy daemon for feeding entropy to the kernel at boot time in case not enough is available for the kernel's random needs. But with that approach not being from a true hardware random number generator, a patch worked out by veteran Linux kernel developer Ted Ts'o will mix in RdRand entropy.

  Fedora has resorted to a user-space jitter entropy daemon to workaround slow boot times on a sub-set of systems/VMs when using recent kernels. A change was made to the kernel earlier this year for addressing CVE-2018-1108, which is about a weakness in the kernel's random seed data whereby early processes in the boot sequence could not have random enough data. But the fix dramatically slows down systems booting by waiting until sufficient entropy is available. This is problematic particularly for VMs where virtio-rng is not present. For some users, they can't get the system(s) booted on affected kernels unless tapping on keyboard keys enough times for generating sufficient entropy.

• Linux 4.17.8

  I'm announcing the release of the 4.17.8 kernel.

  This is to fix the i386 issue that was in the 4.17.7 release.  All should be fine now.

• SPECTRE Variant 1 scanning tool

• When your software is used way after you EOL it.

  One of my first jobs was working on a satellite project called ALEXIS at Los Alamos National Laboratory and had been part of a Congressional plan to explore making space missions faster and cheaper. This meant the project was a mix-mash of whatever computer systems were available at the time. Satellite tracking was planned on I think a Macintosh SE, the main uploads and capture were a combination of off the shelf hardware and a Sparc 10. Other analysis was done on spare Digital and SGI Irix systems. It was here I really learned a lot about system administration as each of those systems had their own 'quirks' and ways of doing things.

  I worked on this for about a year as a Graduate Research Assistant, and learned a lot about how many projects in science and industrial controls get 'frozen' in place way longer than anyone writing the software expects. This is because at a certain point the device becomes cheaper to keep running than replace or even updating. So when I was watching this USGS video this morning,

The Linux 4.19 kernel will be introducing a new "raspberrypi-hwmon" driver capable of reporting under-voltage conditions for Raspberry Pi boards.

This Raspberry Pi Hwmon driver makes it easy to find out if your ARM SBC is suffering from any under-voltage condition: the driver reports the under-voltage sensor state via a mailbox interface with the VC4 firmware. Undervoltage conditions are then written to the kernel log.

• Slime Rancher adds in happy little helper drones

  Slime Rancher is probably one of the sweetest games available on Linux and this latest free content update continues keeping it sweet.

• Chicago 1930, another classic Spellbound game looks like it's coming to Linux

  Chicago 1930, originally released back in 2003 is another classic Spellbound game that looks like it may be coming to Linux.

  Two months ago, we had hints of it happening on SteamDB but not a lot seemed to happen. That was, until yesterday when work seemed to start on the Linux version again.

• Squad-based shoot 'em up 'Lazy Galaxy: Rebel Story' now has a demo out ahead release next month

  Lazy Galaxy: Rebel Story is an interesting take on the shoot 'em up genre, as it mixes it up a little with you rescuing allies who join you in the fight.

• Regular Human Basketball will have you shooting hoops from your giant mechanical death machine

• Some thoughts on Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War

  Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War recently released with same-day Linux support and now I've had some time with it I do have to say I'm pretty happy with it.

• 8-Bit Adventures 2, a retro-inspired RPG that aims to be more than just a throwback will support Linux

  Arriving later this year from developer Critical Games, 8-Bit Adventures 2 [Official Site] will bring a vast and varied world inspired by classics with modern touches.

• Clone Hero is a Guitar Hero clone built with Unity that has a Linux version, it's free too

  For those who love their music, you might want to take a look at Clone Hero (they're working on a better name) which aims to be a cross-platform clone of Guitar Hero.

• Two Point Hospital confirmed to be releasing for Linux next month

  It's now officially confirmed that Two Point Hospital, which is developed by Two Point Studios made up of developers previously from Bullfrog, Muckyfoot and Lionhead and published by SEGA will be released for Linux.

• Google faces record $5 billion EU fine for Android antitrust violations

• Google hit with € 4.3bn Android fine from EU

• EU Hits Google With $5 Billion Fine For Pushing Apps On Android Users

• Google Hit With $5 Billion Fine Over Android in Europe

• Nokia 7 Plus Gets a Android P Beta 3 (Developer Preview 4) Build: How to Install

• Nest is joining the Google Home team, CEO stepping down

• Android's best launcher just jumped the shark

• Biggest Mistakes with CSS Grid

  It’s easy to make lots of mistakes with a new technology, especially something that’s as big of a change from the past as CSS Grid. In this video, I explain the 9 Biggest Mistakes people are making, with advice and tips for avoiding these pitfalls and breaking old habits.

• In loving memory of Abbackar DIOMANDE

  It brings us great sadness to share with you the recent news about one of our dear Rep we will so fondly remember. Abbackar DIOMANDE from Ivory Coast is unfortunately no longer with us.

  Diomande, was a Mozillian from Bouake, Ivory Coast and was contributing in various Mozilla projects including SUMO and L10n.
  He was a local community builder, that helped to build a healthy local community in his country while lately he had also taken the role of a Resources Rep, helping his fellow Mozillians on organizing local initiatives.

• Mozilla Partners with Women Who Tech to Offer Startup Challenge Europe Award for Privacy, Transparency & Accountability

  The Women Startup Challenge Europe will connect women technology innovators from cities across Europe to compete for $60,000 in cash grants. In addition to the funding, all finalists will also receive: pitch coaching, one on one meetings with investors the day after the Women Startup Challenge, and other crucial startup friendly services. The Startup Challenge, co-hosted by the Office of Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, will feature 10 finalists pitching their ventures before a panel of judges on October 25, 2018 at Paris Hôtel de Ville.

  Women Who Tech is a nonprofit organization on a mission to close the funding gap and disrupt a culture and economy that has made it incredibly difficult for women entrepreneurs to raise capital. At Mozilla, we are committed to an internet that catalyzes collaboration among diverse communities working together for the common good. Promoting diversity and inclusion is core to our mission, so working with organizations like Women Who Tech furthers our commitment to create more diversity in innovation.

• This Week in Rust 243

  Always wanted to contribute to open-source projects but didn't know where to start? Every week we highlight some tasks from the Rust community for you to pick and get started!

• Mozilla Responds to European Commission’s Google Android Decision

  For Mozilla, these issues of innovation, openness, and competition speak to our history. Twenty years ago, we made Firefox to combat the vertical integration of Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer. Today, we are again witnessing vertical integration concerns on a larger scale, with powerful players at all parts of the internet ecosystem. Mozilla’s 2018 Internet Health Report identified decentralization as a major goal to promote a healthy internet.

  Targeted, effective interventions can strengthen technology markets and are necessary to advance consumer welfare. Mozilla will continue to build competitive products and to advocate for effective policies and approaches to build a competitive and open technology ecosystem.

• Google Fined A Record $5 Billion For Abusing Its Dominance in Android Ecosystem

  The European regulators have slapped Google with a record-breaking fine of $5 billion for breaking antitrust laws revolving around its Android operating system.

• EU fines Google $5 billion over Android antitrust abuse

  European Union regulators have slapped Alphabet-owned Google with a record 4.34 billion euro ($5 billion) antitrust fine for abusing the dominance of its Android mobile operating system, which is by far the most popular smartphone OS in the world.

It would appear the there was a bug in the previous Linux kernel update for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 and CentOS Linux 7.5 releases, which was released to address the Spectre V4 security vulnerability, making connection tracking information to not function correctly, which could lead to connectivity loss and leaking of configuration properties related to the respective connection tracking into other namespaces.

"Previously, the connection tracking information was not cleared properly for packets forwarded to another network namespace," said Red Hat in an advisory. "Packets that were marked with the "NOTRACK" target in one namespace were excluded from connection tracking even in the new namespace. Consequently, a loss of connectivity occasionally occurred, depending on the packet filtering ruleset of the other network namespaces."

Also: Red Hat Open-Sources Scanner That Checks Linux Binaries For Spectre V1 Potential

Red Hat Continues Driving Wonderful Innovations In Fedora Workstation

People might not think about the Linux kernel all that much when talking about containers, serverless, and other hot technologies, but none of them would be possible without Linux as a solid base to build on, says Greg Kroah-Hartman. He should know. Kroah-Hartman maintains the stable branch of the Linux kernel along with several subsystems. He is also co-author of the Linux Kernel Development Report, a Fellow at The Linux Foundation, and he serves on the program committee for Open Source Summit.

In this article, we talk with Kroah-Hartman about his long involvement with Linux, the importance of community interaction, and the upcoming Open Source Summit.

• The 6th gen Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon on Linux is facing sleep mode issues, unofficial patch available for a while [Ed: typical Lenovo.]

  A problem that has been spotted in early March has resurfaced on Twitter this week, and Lenovo pointed the troubled customer to the official forum. Sadly, the 18-page discussion about the X1 Carbon's inability to use deep sleep on Linux also reveals that Lenovo's machines are unable to use LTE and the fingerprint reader when running this operating system.

• Chrome OS' Files App Redesigned to Support Viewing of Android and Linux Files

  Chromium evangelist at Google François Beaufort announced today that the Files app of the Chrome OS operating system was recently redesigned to accommodate viewing of Android and Linux files.

  Apparently, Google's Chrome OS team is working on redesigning the Files app of the Linux-based Chrome OS operating system for Chromebooks with a new "My Files" section that promises to help you better organize your local files, including those from any Android and Linux apps you might have installed.

  As you can see in the attached screenshot, the new "My Files" section will include the Recent, Takeout, Shortcuts, My Files (Downloads, Google Play/Android Files, and Linux Files), External or Mounted Volumes, Images, Videos, Audio, Google Drive (My Drive, Shared with me, and Offline), as well as Add new services entries.

• Arrcus Launches New Networking Operating System Platform

  "We are taking advantage of legacy, while simultaneously eliminating the superfluous functionality and/or capabilities that are no longer relevant in a modern networking construct," Garg said.

  On the Northbound interfaces, what ArcOS has it an open standard based programmable API, that enables organization sto harmonize different operating conditions. On the south side with the interfaces that connect with the underlying hardware, Garg said taht Arrcus takes advantage of the Linux kernel. Arrcus adds its own Data Plane Adaptation Layer (DPAL), which is an intelligent hardware abstraction layer, which allows ArcOS to interface into the underlying merchant silicon.

  "We are a control plane solution and what that means is our product runs on the microprocessor that is contained in the switch or router hardware," Garg said. "The majority of those processors are Intel based, but our architecture also supports ARM, we're hardware agnostic at the system level we're also hardware agnostic at the component level."

• Slackware turns 25

  On July 16th, 1993, Slackware Linux distribution was officially released. Based entirely on the Softlanding Linux System (SLS) system, it was designed for the machines with a 3.5" boot floppy.

• Slackware, The Oldest Active Linux Distro, Turns 25

  On July 16th, 1993, Slackware Linux distribution was officially released. Based entirely on the Softlanding Linux System (SLS) system, it was designed for the machines with a 3.5” boot floppy. Over the past 25 years, Slackware has turned out to be one of the most influential Linux distros around.

  The very first releases of SUSE Linux and other open source pioneers were based on Slackware; its effect is also seen on other operating systems with “do it yourself” motto.

• PGP Clean Room Beta

  This summer I’m working on the PGP Clean Room Live CD project. The goal of this project is to make it easy to create and maintain an offline GPG key. It creates and backs up your GPG key to USB drives which can be stored in a safe place, and exports subkeys for you to use, either via an export USB or a PGP smartcard. It also allows you to sign other people’s keys, revoke your own keys, and change your keys expiration dates. The live system is built on

• Get productive on the Linux desktop with 7 essential apps

  The Linux desktop is not just for people who like to mess with computers. With a wide range of enterprise class productivity and collaboration tools Linux users can enjoy computing parity with their peers and colleagues running other popular desktop computing platforms. Here are 7 apps that will boost your productivity and you’ll also find an additional 20 bonus apps mentioned throughout this article for you to discover.

• How to Manage Multi-Cloud Services with Juju

  Managing a service with deployments in multi-cloud environments can be a challenge in terms of troubleshooting and scalability due to the complexity of dealing with different public cloud providers. An effective way to manage services deployed cross-cloud is to use tools that allow you to define your service once and deploy anywhere: in the cloud, on bare metal, or locally inside containers. In this blog post I am going to describe how the Canonical SRE team has achieved this, the tools that we use and the way we apply them to manage the Ubuntu Archive Mirror service.

• Dell XPS 13: Windows 10 vs. Linux Distribution Benchmarks

  Recently I have published benchmarks looking at Windows Server and FreeBSD against eight Linux distributions as well as a 9-way Linux desktop OS benchmark comparison while the latest in this string of fresh Linux distribution benchmarks is looking at the Linux laptop performance impact, if any, between these operating systems. Up for this benchmarking dance was Microsoft Windows 10, Windows 10 when running Ubuntu 18.04 via WSL, Ubuntu 18.04 itself, Fedora Workstation 28, openSUSE Tumbleweed, and Clear Linux.

• whowatch – Monitor Linux Users and Processes in Real Time

  whowatch is a simple, easy-to-use interactive who-like command line program for monitoring processes and users on a Linux system. It shows who is logged on to your system and what they are doing, in a similar fashion as the w command in real-time.

  It shows total number of users on the system and number of users per connection type (local, telnet, ssh and others). whowatch also shows system uptime and displays information such as user’s login name, tty, host, processes as well as the type of the connection.

• Notes/Domino is alive! Second beta of version 10 is imminent

  IBM’s effort to make its Notes/Domino platform relevant for the future kicks up a gear this week, as the company prepares a second beta of a new version 10.

  Notes combined messaging and an application development environment, which set hearts a-fluttering in the early-to-mid 1990s. IBM laid out a then-record $3bn to acquire Lotus, which invented Notes, and drove the product to great prominence. IBM re-branded Notes’ back end as Domino and kept the Notes name for the client. But once Microsoft launched Outlook, bound it to Exchange and web-based development took off, both faded.

  And faded and faded until October 2017 when IBM decided it had had enough and did a deal with HCL that saw the latter company pledge to take on future development work.

• Curse of the CSV monster

• Curl Command Examples

• How to Install and Use GIMP 2.10 on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

• What is Hostname in Linux and How Can You Change It?

• How to install Ubuntu Minimal Server

• Five-or-More Modernisation - Progress Report

  Over the course of the past couple of months, I was able to achieve a promising progress in modernising Five or More, although I would have to say there is a fair share of aspects to tackle yet.

  I opted for rewriting the code module by module, without combining C and Vala code. There was was an old attempt to port Five or More to Vala, but I chose not to use it due to the fact that the partial port was 4 years old and it definitely needed an update, which might have taken quite some time, and might have produced some nasty bugs. While doing so, I paid extra attention to keep things nicely separated: all of the currently ported modules separate the game logic from the drawing logic and the UI.

  I also managed to port the app menu and the preferences window. However, due to the new design gudelines, which are currently only in the state of a proposal, the app menu might require future alterations.

• GUADEC18 Developer Center BoF Part 2: Possible Audiences

  This is Part 2 of a blog post series summarizing the Developer Center BoF. See also Part 1: The Developer Experience.

  Hi Again! As promised I will now cover our discussion of possible audiences at the GUADEC Developer Center BoF.

• Optimized Clear Linux Kernel Now Available for Fedora 28 and Fedora Rawhide

  It’s interesting for Fedora developers, as there is a little bit of debate whether or not Clear Linux kernels actually improve performance in any significant way, or if its entirely negligible. For example, when Phoronix tried a Clear Linux kernel for Ubuntu, all they managed to achieve was decreased boot times, but nearly all other tests showed only minuscule gains compared to the stock Ubuntu kernel.

  Thus, its important to remember that finely-tuned kernels are only one small part of the overall puzzle. There are many other tweaks involved, particularly amongst the Intel development team working on Clear Linux, where they apply various packages to the kernel, and some vital components such as Glibc, GCC, and compiler optimizations revolving around LTO, FMV, and PGO.

• Red Hat discusses the road to digital transformation

  Recently at the Red Hat APAC partner conference, I had the opportunity to sit in on several keynotes.

  One of my favourite moments from the talks was when Red Hat discussed the road to digital transformation and why CIOs are often wary of taking the initial leap.

• When will the slump end? Deere & Company (DE), Red Hat, Inc. (RHT)

• Susquehanna International Group Llp Cut Its Red Hat (RHT) Position; News – Class A (NWSA) SI Decreased By 0.54%

• Red Hat’s open source movement gains momentum; adds more vendors for greater predictability in open source licensing

• 14 firms join pact to give GPL violators time to comply

  Fourteen companies have joined a group of 10 others in pledging not to indulge in harsh tactics to enforce open-source licences and adopting a deal known as the GPL Co-operation Commitment.

  The 14 firms, listed by Red Hat in a statement on Monday, are Amazon, Arm, Canonical, GitLab, Intel Corporation, Liferay, Linaro, MariaDB, NEC, Pivotal, Royal Philips, SAS, Toyota and VMware.

  The Commitment was rolled out initially in November 2017, with Red Hat, IBM, Facebook and Google joining up. In March this year, CA Technologies, Cisco, HPE, Microsoft, SAP, and SUSE joined the group.

• The HITMAN: Summer Pack lets you download and play Episode 3 for a limited time

• You can install linux on the new Atari VCS, which will have more powerful specs than originally planned

  The forthcoming Atari VCS got a mixed reception from players, who are wary of a nostalgic cash-grab but hopeful for something more versatile and capable than Nintendo's one-shot classics consoles. A great sign: not only has it received spec bumps to 8GB of RAM and a decent GPU, but owners can install Linux. You probably won't want to, but it's proof of the system's general-purpose performance and open-ness.

• Atari VCS gets 8GB RAM spec bump, will be bootable from USB devices

  The Atari VCS is a work-in-progress game console with a design inspired by the classic Atari 2600. But while the VCS will come with a bunch of 80s-era games pre-loaded, it’s basically designed to be a full-fledged computer with (relatively) modern specs.

• A Look at Google's Project Fi

  Project Fi is a play on the term "WiFi" and is pronounced "Project Fye", as opposed to "Project Fee", which is what I called it at first. Several features set Project Fi apart from other cell-phone plans.

  First, Project Fi uses towers from three carriers: T-Mobile, US Cellular and Sprint. When using supported hardware, Project Fi constantly monitors signal strength and seamlessly transitions between the various towers. Depending on where you live, this can mean constant access to the fastest network or a better chance of having any coverage at all. (I'm in the latter group, as I live in a rural area.)

• OnePlus 5 and 5T's latest OxygenOS Open Beta bring Google Lens support

  While the last OxygenOS Open Beta update for the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T was a significant upgrade bringing support for Project Treble, the latest versions for both devices offer smaller changes.

• Google EU fine over Android likely this week

   

  The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, normally makes such announcements on a Wednesday.

• Moment of truth for Google as record EU antitrust fine looms

   

  It comes just over a year after the Commission slapped a landmark 2.4-billion-euro ($2.8 billion) penalty on Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc, for favoring its shopping service over those of competitors.
   

  The EU penalty is likely to exceed the 2017 fine because of the broader scope of the Android case, sources familiar with the matter have told Reuters.  

• Medellín WordPress User Group Celebrates Open Source CMS Platform’s 15th Anniversary

  Medellín is well known for its innovative technology scene, with many active software and information technology user groups. One of those is the user group centered around open source content management software WordPress. A year ago the user group hosted Colombia’s first Wordcamp function, supported by the global WordPress community, and the user group recently gathered to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the first WordPress open source software release that took place May 27, 2003.

  WordPress is an free, open source software platform that allows amateur and professional users to create websites without writing programming code. Over the years it has grown into a powerful platform robust enough to run enterprise websites in many cases. For example, Finance Colombia runs on WordPress software.

• Training: Embedded Linux and Security training day – Reading

  Providing detailed hands-on training, it is targeted at embedded engineers looking for an introduction to key embedded Linux and Security topics.

• Amazing solar panel device that could change the world goes open source

  An innovative and simple solar panel efficiency device has just gone open source in order to get renewable energy to those who need it most.

  When you picture solar power, you might think of the enormous Ivanpah solar power plant in California (the largest in the world) or huge tracts of land in other sun-drenched parts of the globe.

  But not everyone has access to such enormous grids and particularly in remote villages in developing nations, there is only a need for a single or small group of solar panels that could maintain maximum efficiency to sustain a family or the village itself.

• Meet the man in charge of Arduino

  I went to visit the Interaction Design Institute of Ivrea – a school that was started just six months before I went to visit them – and they asked me if I knew someone who could teach electronics to designers and to ask this question to my colleagues at the Politecnico.

  I went back and they said “No! Teaching electronics to designers? For us?” Those were guys working on highly sophisticated FGPAs, so they didn’t care about designers. I thought about Massimo – he had a real passion for electronics and he worked as a CTO for an internet provider at that point in time. I said, “Massimo, you could be the right person for this type of engagement – they’re designers, you love design, and you know electronics.” I introduced Massimo to the school and they hired him. That’s how the story started. When he was teaching at the Design Institute of Ivrea, they started the Arduino project as a way to standardise the electronics projects the students were doing. I introduced Massimo to the school and they invented Arduino, so I’m sort of the great-grandfather to some extent.

• pinp 0.0.6: Two new options

  A small feature release of our pinp package for snazzier one or two column vignettes get onto CRAN a little earlier.

  It offers two new options. Saghir Bashir addressed a longer-standing help needed! issue and contributed code to select papersize options via the YAML header. And I added support for the collapse option of knitr, also via YAML header selection.

  A screenshot of the package vignette can be seen below. Additional screenshots of are at the pinp page.

• OpenMP 5.0 Public Draft Released

  The public draft of the OpenMP 5.0 SMP programming standard is now available for review ahead of the specification's expected stable release before the end of 2018.

  OpenMP 5.0 is expected to succeed the OpenMP 4.5 parallel programming standard in Q4'2018, but for ironing out any last minute issues and allowing more compiler developers to begin implementing the standard, the public draft is now available.