Issue #157 / Dec 2013

HP CEO Meg Whitman just announced that HP employees will no longer be able to telecommute because the company will need “all hands on deck” at the corporate offices. Few details emerged on who these telecommuters were or what they were doing from their homes. The announcement was strangely similar to another by Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer a couple months ago. In both cases, the argument was that colocation would lead to increased productivity through teamwork and enhanced collaboration.

This month's DVD features two terrific distributions, ArtistX 1.5 and Arch Linux 2013.10.01.

Maybe you can't stop the NSA, but you can still take meaningful steps to protect your privacy.

Worried about spies and criminals? Ubuntu Privacy Remix breaks down all the bridges to the Internet and converts the computer into an island of security. If you want to head back to civilization, you'll need a USB stick and plenty of patience.

The recent revelations about NSA spying have sparked renewed interest in data encryption. Encrypting at the file level is quick and easy, but if you're looking for an extra dose of protection, try encrypting the whole block device.

The PHP XHP extension lets you use HTML and XML tags directly in the PHP code.

The controversial Web Cryptography API offers flexible encryption for web applications, but it also lays the groundwork for content providers to implement more powerful access restrictions through DRM.

The Volatility forensic tool helps admins analyze what went wrong on a system. When you need to draw conclusions about malware, or even compromised services, peer into memory with Volatility.

It's really annoying when a disk suddenly dies on you or a typo in a command deletes important data. The free Parted Magic Live distro offers help.

Columnist Charly gives Apache a slick coat of Varnish for better performance.