Our data, our property...

The data we produce everyday, can turn out to be much more valuable than we imagine on our hyper connected world. Data is at the core of who we are, and could be used in our favor or against us.

Everything we do on daily basis, generates data that defines us in some way or another. In way, data can be seen as a way that could be used as a lens
through which others can build an impression of who we are.

It shows who we are, what motivates us to act a certain way, what are our philias and phobias. When put in context, that data can be used to reveal things that otherwise we wouldn't share. That's why is of upmost importance to protect it, since it can be used in ways that we don't intend to or are against our interests.

We should be able to decide what data we share, with who, and for what purposes. So it goes with who the data we shared can be forwarded to third parties, and for what purpose.

Even though our data is not something tangible, it should be considered as private property and treated as such. It has to be our right to choose to who we share data, what data we share and for what purpose. Any use of our data without our consent has to be prevented, and it's misused punished.

It should be a given that our data should be dealt with privately, only shared with third parties with our permission. Even how that data is shared should be in a way that we feel comfortable with, and for uses that we agree with.

At the end of the day, that data is an integral part of our identity. Because of this, it should be treated with utmost confidentiality.

A era comes to a close...

The first week of 2017, and Yahoo! decline seems to finally coming to it's end. Verizon is closing Yahoo as we know it, transforming it into an investment company called Altaba.

Yahoo! was acquired by Verizon last year, and it kind of makes sense for Verizon to make such a move. While in the 90's and some fo the 00's Yahoo was a force to be recon with the Internet, it has become rather irrelevant now.

People has moved on to other places, like Google, Facebook, or Twitter. Even the way people interact with the Internet has changed drastically, with many using a smartphone as their main, if not only, way to access it. We even use TV's and tablets to access some of the content on the Internet.

While Yahoo will become Altaba, it does mark an end of an era for some of us who have been around for a while. My second e-mail account was a Yahoo! one, which became my primary one since I didn't wanted to keep using my hotmail one.

I've mixed feeling about Yahoo's demise, since I've some fond memories of my experience using it's services. Yet, I've moved on to other services that better suit my need, like Gmail for my e-mail.

So, it seems time to bid farewell to Yahoo! and move to other things.

Spotify, DRM, and other musings...

This year my music listening habits have changed to listening to my music library and to Spotify.

I found that I really like Spotify, since it gives me the right balance of the music I like while letting me discover new music based on my tastes. It also has the plus that the artist get paid for their work.

There is only one thing that I don't like about Spotify, and it's use of digital rights management(DRM). I can't agree on the use of DRM, since it restricts users right to control the software that runs on their devices.

DRM is not the way to help artists make a living, since efforts should be concentrated on making it easier for user to support their favorites artists. Adding artificial restrictions like DRM doesn't do much for help artists, and harm the user in more than one way.

Instead of restricting users, ways to make easier to support artists should be made available. In some ways, artists, producers and content creators should realize that once their creations are made public, they lose some of the control over it. People will use their work for their own purposes, and there isn't much they can do to stop this from happening.

The business model of the music industry has changes, and thus the way of making money has to change as well. The relationship between artists and their fans has changed as well, as such artists have to adapt.

For better or worse, artists and producers don't have as much control over their creations as they did before. New channels need to be found in order for them to be able to make a living.

Electronic payment for public trasportation...

There has been a lot of talk in Guadalajara about using smart cards on buses of the public transportation system, the only step taken toward this has been that a norm has been approved by the local congress a few years back.

So far, only the light rail system and the Macrobus use smart cards. The problem being that they are incompatible, which is at least problematic for riders that use both systems on regular basis.

The ideal would be that the smart card system for all three systems would be integrated, allowing riders use one card for the three systems. That would facilitate things for everyone involved, which is one of the main reasons to adopt the smart card to begin with.

Personally, I'd go one step beyond and allow users to pay with their smartphones. That would facilitate things a lot more, since a large portion of riders already use smartphones to begin with.

I rather use a smart card, specially if it allows me to use it on the three systems. I already use it for the light rail system, and the buses that it uses, and I really find it to be a lot more practical that having to worry about having the spare change to pay for the ride.

The public transportation system is a dire need of modernization, and the payment system is one for those things that would benefit the most. Both the light rail system and the Macrobus have proven that the smart card works, so there is no reason for the buses not to adopt it.

The more I use the Android/MOBO combination, the more I love it...

After a couple of year using Nokia's E63 using Symbian's S60 platform and a year using a Blackberry Bold 9650, I made the jump to Android via an independent manufacturer called MOBO(page is in Spanish since its a Mexican brand).

To be honest, I was really a fan of Nokia's smartphones and of Symbian as an OS. For me it was sad to see Symbian being ditched, and worse when it's place was taken by Windows Phone OS. I've rather seen Nokia move to Android, since I believe that it would have made a much better match.

Since I've being using Android, it has taken Symbian's place as my favorite mobile OS. As devices go, MOBO has become my go to brand since it sells unlocked smartphones at a decent prices that have good quality. And while the specs are not premium, they are more than good enough for most people.

I'm also really conscious about the design of the devices I use, and MOBO's devices have the design I like. The only thing I miss is to have a physical keyboard, but that is more of personal preference.

Another thing that I've come to realize, is that my smartphone hasn't completely replaced the way I use my laptop. As a matter of fact, the laptop/smartphone combination is the one for me. They give me the freedom of movement I want for my lifestyle, since each pro's cancel out each other con's. I don't think I could replace my laptop with a desktop, or my smartphone with a feature phone.

The more I use the Android/MOBO combination, the more it becomes cemented as my favorite. I'm really comfortable with how it works, since it allows me configure my device in a way that better suits my needs and tastes.

Copyleft is growing and gaining relevance...

Many times when I talk about open-source software, the question of why the concept behind it hasn't been applied else ware if its so good come around often. It turns out it has, in the form of Copyleft, and there are many artists actually using it to license their work.

The fact that Copyleft is expanding beyond software development speaks volumes. It tells that Copyleft works, and that its beneficial to creators and users alike. It might not be perfect, but it actually could mean that there be viable alternative to Copyright that benefits both artists and their fans.

In more than one way, it could shift how artists relate to their fans and how their work spreads. It also means that their source of income is going to change even more, and it ways that aren't all that clear at the moment.

The advent of the Internet, smartphones, and tablets has changed the dynamics of how people shares things and what owning ideas or art means. In a way, it has become ever harder to control how people share things around. It seems that all attempts to prevent people to share are simply made to say that something is done.

In that light, Copyleft could be the key to help artist the credit and the income they deserve, while giving people a way to share what they love with others legally.

October comes, and with it Ubuntu 16.10...

October has come, and with it Ubuntu 16.10. Codenamed Yakkety Yak, it isn't that big an update over Ubuntu 16.04 LTS though it has some interesting updates like Linux kernel 4.8, Unity 7.5 and Nautilus 3.20.

In general, so far Ubuntu 16.10 has been worth the upgrade. I haven't come to any problems or serious bug. Performance on my system has been better on some aspects, while on others it has remained the same. Though I'd like to have seen an upgrade to Unity 8, the improvements that came with the 7.5 are really nice.

As it has been the trend for the last couple of years, each new Ubuntu release come with improvements not revolutionary changes. That's good for most of the people that use the OS, and why I really love Ubuntu.

While I can expect some changes, I can also expect that those changes won't be at the expense of braking my system. That is something really valuable for the average user, that wants her or his computer to work as expected after an upgrade. And the changes that come with each upgrade have to add value in order to be worthwhile.

As it is, Yakkety Yak has hit the sweet spot for me yet again. It keeps Ubuntu as my go to distro, and along with Linux Mint one that I can recommend for other to use.

I sure hope Blackberry survives...

Blackberry has become a shadow fo what it was a few years ago, in large part because of Apple's iPhone and Google's Android devices. I can remember a time when the smartphone to get was a Blackberry one, now most consumers wouldn't even consider one.

Personally, my first smartphone was a Nokia E63, which I selected because at the time I was a big Nokia fan. That device really made me a fan of the QWERTY keyboard on smartphones and of the Symbian OS. When time came to replace the Nokia E63 I briefly considered the Nokia N8, in a way to see how having a smartphone without a QWERTY keyboard would work for me.

At the time, Nokia made Symbian open-source for a time before making it proprietary some time later. To be honest, I really was rooting for Nokia and Symbian to be able to make themselves strong players along Google's Android on the smartphone arena. But that didn't come to pass since Nokia went and made a deal with Microsoft, and later sell its mobile division all together to Microsoft to manufacture Windows Phones. That was a big disappointment, since I'd love to see Nokia move to make Android powered devices if Symbian didn't take off.

Blackberry has suffered the same as Nokia, but it seems that it will just stop manufacturing devices itself. Instead it will license it's brand to others to manufacture devices and on the software side of things. On the software side, it seems that it will license it's Blackberry 10 and it's security software to harden Android devices security. For the time being, it seems that it will not disappear, and at least it will keep their relevance on the mind of people looking for secure smartphones.

To be honest, if Blackberry had started manufacturing Android smartphones earlier I'd move to it when Nokia moved to making Windows Phones. Not only that, it could have actually taken a big share of the market of the premium Android phones from Samsung has with it's Galaxy series of smartphones.

While I agree with this Wired article that states the Blackberry won't disappear, I'm just sure of it on the medium term. On the long run, Blackberry's survival depends on it actually finding costumers for it's offerings. And while it has a good odds, it's not something all that certain.

Each distro is a solution to a different problem...

This article on Linux Journal, called "The Many Paths to a Solution", really gave an idea to explain to people who don't know much about Linux why are the so many distros out there.

Many seem to believe that the main reason that there are so many reason for there being more than 50 actively maintained distros, is that Linux must not be really that good. That's not really the case, since the users of most of those distros could easily make a point for why their distro is great for them.

Each distro represents a path to a solution to a problem that a group of users have to solve. That's why not every distro is a fit for every user, and also why many become disenchanted with Linux. In many of those cases, the user wasn't matched to the right distro to begin with. While in other times, the expectations weren't meet to what the distro offered.

That's why its vital to match new users to the distro that better suits their needs, not to the distro that we like best or we currently use.

There is no distro that will fit every user out there, while distros like Ubuntu and Linux Mint will be a great fit for most users, there are some others that would need something else. For example, big companies needs are better meet by Red Hat Enterprise Linux or CentOS. There is even a distro focused on science laboratories called Scientific Linux.

As such, before recommending a distro its vital to know that the user need and expects from it. Otherwise you can be doomed to fail to give the best solution to that user's needs.

It's time to take a better way to match user to the distro they need. Only that way Linux, and FLOSS in general, can have the level of usage and good will they deserve.

When something doesn't go as it should...

Last Monday the SAP server got busted by a virus, and all hell broke out. It took the better part of three days to set it back up, and by the fourth day it wasn't up to speed.

Until this happened, nobody really gave a second thought to the fact that we all are dependent on central server to get the info we all need to do our jobs. SAP is vital for every department pass the information needed for all departments work smoothly. And while some of us use local storage to actually work some of the info in a more detailed way, our main source of information is centralized at a single server.

At least in my case, and of my coworkers at my department, my work didn't come to a complete halt. Some of the info I work with, isn't dependent on SAP. As such, it means that I still could go ahead with some of my work. The same goes some of the other departments, though having access to the info on SAP sure does makes thing a lot easier.

Yet, this event highlights the dangers of having just one point of access to info, and an app, that's vital for things to work smoothly. There is no way to guarantee a 100% up time, so there should be always a plan B for when things go wrong.

In a way, this is why I'm for a hybrid approach between cloud computing and computing locally. Its the best way to have the pro's of each paradigm, while mitigating the con's that each have.

Cloud computing has a place to take, but its not a solution for every need out there.

The 3.5 mm headphone jack seems to have it's days numbered...

Its official, Apple ditched the 3.5 mm headphone jack in favor of it's Lightning connector on the iPhone 7. Now, Intel says that the 3.5 mm headphone jack should be replaced with a USB-C connector port.

The main problem with the change, is the potential for users to get locked into an ecosystem because of compatibility issues. At this point, if you buy an iPhone 7 you'll need an adapter to use your current headphones. No doubt it the near future headphones using the Lightning connector will hit the market.

The main issue here, is if Android smartphones will go with the Lighting connector or with the USB-C connector. The odds are that they go with the USB-C connector since Android already has support for it and they won't have to have to pay license fees to Apple to use it's Lightning connector.

To be honest, USB-C connector is becoming ever more common. As such it has better odd of being able to replace the 3.5 mm headphone jack, and has better odds of becoming the de facto standard for headphones and other peripherals to interact with our smartphones.

Though the 3.5 mm headphone jack is far from dead, it seems that it can be replaced sooner rather than later. Even thought that personally I don't want see it going away, I'll rather see it replaced by the USB-C connector.

Let's face it, we all knew that the 3.5 mm headphone jack would be replaced someday. We just didn't when and with what, and now we are seeing the first steps toward finding what connector will become the replacement.