Voyager Offers a Mostly Smooth-Sailing Linux Adventure

Voyager Live 16.04 is a Linux distro that could be an ideal choice for everyday computing tasks -- but first it has to step away from its branding with Xubuntu. The once-per-year release of Voyager Live, which hit servers last month, is an Xubuntu-based distribution showcasing the Xfce 4.12.2 desktop environment. Its features include the Avant Window Navigator, a limited Conky desktop display of basic system information, and more than 300 photographs and animations that can be used as desktop backgrounds.

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Myspace Crowned King of Mega Breaches, With More Likely to Come

Myspace and Tumblr this week emerged as the latest in a string of mega breaches that resulted in the theft of millions of user IDs -- not just recently but years ago. "Over the period of this month, we've seen an interesting trend of data breaches," wrote security researcher Troy Hunt, operator of the Have I Been Pwned website. "Any one of these four I'm going to talk about on their own would be notable, but to see a cluster of them appear together is quite intriguing."

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Silicon Valley Debates Thiel's Money Man Role in Gawker Suit

The digital media world was abuzz last week when news surfaced that billionaire Peter Thiel had provided financial backing for a defamation lawsuit against Gawker Media. The suit stemmed from Gawker's publication of a sex tape involving ex-WWE superstar Terry Bollea, better known as "Hulk Hogan." A Florida jury awarded Bollea $140 million in March. Thiel, a Facebook board member and longtime financial supporter of the Committee to Protect Journalists, confirmed that he backed the Hogan case in part due to his concerns about Gawker's tactics.

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The Rise of Drone Racing, Part 2

With lucrative broadcast deals and cup competitions now crowding calendars, the sport of drone racing has become one of the primary factors driving the surge in demand for consumer drones. Mountain Dew and DR1 Racing earlier this month announced a special DR1 Invitational presented by Mountain Dew. The one-hour broadcast will air on Discovery Communication's Discovery and Science channels this August. That's just one example of the forces driving a consumer drone market that's expected to be worth $4.19 billion by 2024.

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What Will HPE Sell Next?

I joined a bunch of analysts in discussing Hewlett Packard Enterprise's next move at a secret conclave last week. The company had just announced the sale of its IT services, which basically undid much of Mark Hurd's work as CEO. It already had sold off PCs and printers, more than undoing Carly Fiorina's earlier efforts. Granted, HPE spun it like it was an acquisition, but this move leaves the firm even more crippled, suggesting there's more to come. To hear Meg Whitman speak, it was like she had completely lost touch with reality.

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Gadget Ogling: A Homier Google, Flicking Lamps, and Busy Earbuds

Not quite content with Nest controlling how warm your domicile is and Chromecast taking charge of what you watch, Google is moving further into your physical world with its connected home hub, the creatively named "Home." Taking a page or 10 out of Amazon Echo's book, Home is a blend of a smart speaker and a personal assistant, which you control using your voice. It can handle the types of queries Google Now and its successor, Google Assistant, can take on -- from questions like what's on your schedule for the day to trivia about your favorite sports team.

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Tiny HopperGo Neatly Stashes Loads of Mobile Entertainment

Dish Network continues to change the way we view recorded TV. The company made location-shifting as easy as time-shifting via its Sling technology, and its Hopper let users transfer recordings to a mobile device, which has allowed for offline viewing of content. Now the company has introduced yet another option for taking recorded content just about anywhere: the Dish HopperGO, a compact DVR hard disk drive that allows users to transfer content from a Dish Hopper 2 or Hopper 3 set-top box to the portable unit.

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