Open Source Ecology Network

Open Source Ecology is a network of farmers, engineers, and supporters that has been imagining and creating the Global Village Construction Set, an open source, low-cost, high performance technological platform. These DIY-fabricated industrial machines can be used to build a sustainable civilization with modern comforts. The GVCS lowers the barriers to entry into farming, building, and manufacturing. It is a life-size lego-like set of modular tools that can create entire economies

New In iTunes

iTunes in the Cloud beta gives you new ways to get your music, TV shows, apps, and books from one device to another — wirelessly and without syncing. And the iBookstore comes to iTunes on your Mac or PC for an unabridged browsing and shopping experience. With iTunes, even getting your entertainment is entertaining.

Say your coworker just recommended a new song. You download it on your computer at work, but on the ride home, you’re wishing you had that song on your iPod touch, too. Regardless of where you click or tap Buy, iTunes can automatically download your new songs, apps, and books to all your other devices over Wi-Fi or 3G. It even works with the new iBookstore on your Mac or PC. So you can browse and purchase books on the big screen and start reading them right away on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

When you buy a song, TV show, app, or book, iTunes lets you access your purchase history so you can download what you want, from any device you want. That way, if you don’t want your iPad to automatically download everything you buy on your iPhone, just choose the things you do want to download — song by song, episode by episode, app by app, or book by book.

Open Source FlexMonkey Testing Tool

The open source FlexMonkey is the most widely used tool for testing Adobe Air and Flex applications. It has become the de facto standard in the market.  It is good to see an open source tool stake claim to this standard.

FlexMonkey is just one of the tools in the testing suite which Gorilla Logic brings to market as open source.  Along with FlexMonkey they have recently released version 5 of FoneMonkey which provides similar testing tools for iPhone and iPad development.

FlexMonkey 5 has a long list of major improvements over previous versions. Among them are:

• A new console interface
• A new test execution model based on FlexUnit 4
• New SetProperty, StoreValue, and CallFunction commands providing increased power and expressiveness without modifying Actionscript
• A new test-code generation model, friendlier to customization of generated code
• Plus hundreds of other changes driven by real-world feedback from the FlexMonkey community and Gorilla Logic’s customers

Libreoffice 3.4.2 Open Source Office Suite Released

The Document Foundation (TDF) has announced LibreOffice 3.4.2, the third version of its 3.4 family, targeting both private individuals and enterprises. LibreOffice 3.4.2 fixes the majority of the most-important bugs identified by users in the previous version, and TDF says it can be deployed for production needs by most enterprises.

LibreOffice is a comprehensive, professional-quality productivity suite that you can download and install for free. There is a large base of satisfied LibreOffice users worldwide, and it is available in more than 30 languages and for all major operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux (Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Mandriva, Suse, …). You can download, install and distribute LibreOffice freely, with no fear of copyright infringement.
LibreOffice is a feature-packed and mature desktop productivity package with some really great advantages:
• It’s free – no worry about license costs or annual fees.
• No language barriers – it’s available in a large number of languages, with more being added continually.
• LGPL public license – you can use it, customize it, hack it and copy it with free user support and developer support from our active worldwide community and our large and experienced developer team.
• LibreOffice is an Open Source community-driven project: development is open to new talent and new ideas, and our software is tested and used daily by a large and devoted user community; you, too, can get involved and influence its future development.
LibreOffice gives you high quality:
• The roots of LibreOffice go back 20 years. This long history means it’s a stable and functional product.
• Thousands of users worldwide regularly take part in beta testing of new LibreOffice versions.
• Because the development process is completely open, LibreOffice has been extensively tested by security experts, giving you security and peace of mind.
LibreOffice is user-friendly:
• You get a simple-to-use yet powerful interface that is easy to personalize – Microsoft Office users will find the switch easy and painless, with a familiar look and feel.
• Compatible with all major competitors’ file formats. You can easily import files from Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint and many other formats, and can easily save to Microsoft Office and other formats when needed.
• LibreOffice is supported by a big worldwide community: volunteers help newcomers, and advanced users and developers can collaborate with you to find solutions to complex issues.