Quick. Click on your Linux desktop menu and scan through the list of installed software. How much of that software is strictly open source? To make matters a bit more complicated, have you installed closed source media codecs (to play the likes of MP3 files perhaps)? Is everything fully open, or do you have a mixture of open and closed source tools?

If you’re a purist, you probably strive to only use open source tools on your desktop. But how do you know, for certain, that your distribution only includes open source software? Fortunately, a few distributions go out of their way to only include applications that are 100% open. One such distro is Freespire.

Does that name sound familiar? It should, as it is closely related to Linspire. Now we’re talking familiarity. Remember back in the early 2000s, when Walmart sold Linux desktop computers? Those computers were powered by the Linspire operating system. Linspire went above and beyond to create an experience that would be similar to that of Windows—even including the tools to install Windows apps on Linux. That experiment failed, mostly because consumers thought they were getting a Windows desktop machine for a dirt cheap price. After that debacle, Linspire went away for a while. It’s now back, thanks to PC/OpenSystems LLC. Their goal isn’t to recreate the past but to offer two different flavors of Linux:

• Linspire—a commercial distribution of Linux that includes proprietary software and does have an associated cost ($39.99 USD for a single license).

• Freespire—a non-commercial distribution of Linux that only includes open source software and is free to download.

We’re here to discuss Freespire and why it is an outstanding addition to the Linux community, especially those who strive to use only free and open source software. This version of Freespire (4.0) was released on August 20, 2018, so it’s fresh and ready to go.

Let’s dig into the operating system and see what makes this a viable candidate for open source fans.

Installation

In keeping with my usual approach, there’s very little reason to even mention the installation of Freespire Linux. There is nothing out of the ordinary here. Download the ISO image, burn it to a USB Drive (or CD/DVD if you’re dealing with older hardware), boot the drive, click the Install icon, answer a few simple questions, and wait for the installation to prompt for a reboot. That’s how far we’ve come with Linux installations… they are simple, and rarely will you have a single issue with the process. In the end, you’ll be presented with a simple (modified) Mate desktop (Figure 1) that makes it easy for any user (of any skill level) to feel right at home.

Software Titles

Once you’ve logged into the desktop, you’ll find a main menu where you can view all of the installed applications. That list of software includes:

• Geary

• Chromium Browser

• Abiword

• Gnumeric

• Calendar

• Audacious

• Totem Video Player

• Software Center

• Synaptic

• G-Debi

Also rolled into the system is support for both Flatpak and Snap applications, so you shouldn’t miss out on any software you need, which brings me to the part when purists might want to look away.

Just because Freespire is marketed as a purely open source distribution, it doesn’t mean users are locked down to only open source software. In fact, if you open the Software Center, you can do a quick search for Spotify (a closed source application with an available Linux desktop client) and there it is! (Figure 2).

Fortunately, for those productive-minded folks, the likes of LibreOffice (which is not installed by default) is open source and can be installed easily from the Software Center. That doesn’t mean you must install other software, but those who need to do serious business-centric work (such as collaborating on documents), will likely want/need to install a more powerful office suite (as Abiword won’t cut it as a business-level word processor).

For those who tend to work long hours on the Linux desktop and want to protect their eyes from extended strain, Freespire does include a nightlight tool that can adjust the color temperature of the interface. To open this tool, click on the main desktop menu and type night in the Search bar (Figure 3).

Once opened, Night Light will automatically adjust the color temperature, based on the time of day. From the notification tray, you can click the icon to suspend Night Light, set it to autostart, and close the service (Figure 4).

Beyond the Mate Desktop

As is, Mate fans might not exactly recognize the Freespire desktop. The developers have clearly given Mate a significant set of tweaks to make it slightly resemble the Mac OS desktop. It’s not quite as elegant as, say, Elementary OS, but this is certainly an outstanding take on the Linux desktop. Whether you’re a fan of Mate or Mac OS, you should feel immediately at home on the desktop. On the top bar, the developers have included an appmenu that changes, based on what application you have open. Start any app and you’ll find that app’s menu appears in the top bar. This active menu makes the desktop quite efficient.

Are you ready for Freespire?

Every piece of the Freespire puzzle is equally as user-friendly as it is intuitive. The developers of Freespire have gone to great lengths to make this pure open source distribution a treat to use. Even if a 100% open source desktop isn’t your thing, Freespire is still a worthy contender in the world of desktop Linux. It’s clean and stable (as it’s based on Ubuntu 18.04) and able to help you be efficient and productive on the desktop.

Learn more about Linux through the free “Introduction to Linux” course from The Linux Foundation and edX.

When it comes to real-time strategy, the mobile marketplace has big shoes to fill. From Age of Empires to Command and Conquer and Starcraft, the frantic blend of actions-per-minute with grand strategy, the macro- and micro-management required to play this genre at peak performance has inspired many a gamer.

The internet is great, but we don’t always have access to it. Here are some of the best strategy games you can play while offline.

It also presents something of a design challenge – the concept of APM needs to be carefully applied to a touch interface so that players don’t get overwhelmed. Even on-the-go offerings need to provide that similar thrill, with various settings, mechanics, play-modes and distinct pacing.

Here are the best RTS games for android, iPhone & iPad.

Autumn Dynasty

Developer: Touch Dimensions
Platforms:  iOS Universal, Android
Price: $1.99, $4.99 

Autumn Dynasty has campaign progression and a bare-bones story to push the action forward with some serviceable if dull reasoning, but what really makes it shine are the battles. Unit types include simple categories like cavalry, pikemen, archers and catapults but this simplicity is complicated by the rock-paper-scissors relationship between them.

In the heat of battle, single moments of positioning and command become crucial, and this constant feeling of decisive command is what makes Autumn Dynasty such a fulfilling RTS title. Its sequel, Autumn Dynasty: Warlords lost some of the pure force and tension of the original in favor of adding map objectives and 4X elements, but the first game is still the best. This one is for all intents and purposes an Android-exclusive, for the developer’s whole portfolio was wiped out with iOS 11 Appocalypse. It works, but only selectively on older Apple hardware.

Auralux: Constellations (Review)

Developer: War Drum Studios
Platforms:  iOS, Android
Price: Free (IAPs)

Auralux is generally brilliant and wickedly simple. Glowing orbs skip across the void of space to do battle over planets, which in turn spawn more orbs for the controlling player. Gestures are dead simple, tapping to select and dragging to assign. There is only one type of ‘unit’ and one objective: take over the entire map. From these givens, Auralux has some intense, hair-pulling and nail-biting levels where the odds are almost ludicrously stacked against the little player that could.

The ‘constellations’ in the title are simply clustered series of levels, each with a gimmick mechanic which must be understood and utilized to power through said levels. The game shows its age a bit, but it also demonstrates how a simple idea with excellent execution can stand the test of time. Another bonus is the variable speed setting, which makes the action go from hyper to sedate, depending on playstyle. Local multiplayer is a nice plus, but the game’s primary draw is solo play.

Mushroom Wars 2 (Review)

Developer: Zillion Whales
Platforms:  iOS, Android
Price: Free (IAPs)

Mushroom Wars 2 has sent its spores far and wide and proliferated grandly for its efforts. (The series has successfully spawned a sequel and premium versions for the PC and Switch, that is). The soldiers in this battle hail from the kingdom ‘Fungi’ and are constantly churned out by villages as players send them out to capture new turf or perhaps take on a boss. The original’s formula was much the same, but this one adds heroes who function as commanders with special abilities to give some tactical oomph to the feel of play. 

The art and story are merely perfunctory, but this is ultimately unimportant, because the game itself has fair, crisp actions and a robust ranked multiplayer mode. Those here just for the single-player campaign will find a challenge but also a fair bit of repetition, so be warned that while solo play will season you in battle, multiplayer is where it’s at.

Dominations

Developer: Nexon M
Platforms:  iOS, Android
Price: Free (IAPs)

Dominations deserves to be loved and known for the quality of play it provides and its relatively tasteful monetization, but unfortunately the quickest way to worm its way into your heart and home screen are comparisons, so let’s get those over with. It’s Civilization meets Clash of Clans, with empires spanning the Iron Age to Space Age, wonders to build, raids to conduct, and all the usual trappings.

So, yes, there is a certain likeness to established powerhouses, but the devil is in the details, and Dominations gets those spot-on. Playing it to a satisfying endgame without shelling out serious dinero will take patience, but Dominations’ emulation of all of recorded human history and conflict is pretty satisfying to stretch out and play in pieces. Of course, human history never before ran on a timer…

Iron Marines (Review)

Developer: Ironhide Studios
Platforms:  iOS, Android
Price: $4.99

The Iron Marines are a space-trotting, world-saving team of elite squads tasked with putting out fires and defeating hostiles wherever needed. The elevator pitch for the game would be Starcraft…in space. There is a home-base which usually has to be fortified and defended, additional refineries to secure more resources, and just a handful of units. 

From these simple, intuitive elements, the game ekes out a good sense of micromanagement and delectable real-time tension. Its enemies have unusual abilities and synergies, and its difficulty is no joke, especially on the higher levels. Yet the game also retains Ironclad Studios sense of long-term planning and strategy present in its tower defense titles. Its next update will introduce a brand-new world, the icy Borealis, on September 27th, but this is just an extra check in its favor.

Subterfuge

Developer: SnappyTouch
Platforms:  iOS, Android
Price: Free (IAPs)

Subterfuge is exactly as advertised: a subtle, long-term game of expedient alliances and stone-cold betrayals, filled with the irrefutable logic of hard numbers and the soft uncertainty of fog of war. A turn just means giving subs and bases a command which will take hours to fulfil, so while it is real-time like warfare is real-time, in Subterfuge the theatre of war sees its stage advance slowly.

Its scale is just grand enough to be deeply satisfying but be warned that it does take some time investment to get a game fired up. The leaders provide asymmetrical player powers, but even these super-units can be captured and bartered. Barring these modifies and special cases,  the bases and subs are more or less identical. The game is simply a question of position, resources and force, but these factors are always shifting because of the partial information and precarious alliances.

Rymdkapsel (Review)

Developer: Grapefrukt Games
Platforms:  iOS, Android
Price: $3.99

Rymdkapsel is about space-base-building and defense, mostly, but also includes some spatial puzzling a la Tetris and ‘exploration’. Its minimalism is more than just stylistic, going instead to the core of every action, options and goal. Perhaps the most satisfying bit is the constant packing problem for expanding the base.

New buildings can be any type and go any spot the player chooses, but also must have predefined dimensions. (all four unit polyominoes) A tightly knit base might come across as more defensible but reaching and researching the far-flung monoliths gives permanent global passive bonuses. The game is a logistics and timing puzzle with a really keen sense of efficiency and management for all its stripped-down design.

Tropical Stormfront

Developer: Noble Master Games
Platforms: iOS, Android
Price: $3.99

Island-hopping Tropical Stormfront pits the United Democratic Alliance against Order, Discipline and Obedience in a faux-historical struggle across the archipelago. The graphics are deliberately dated and the unit mixture, contrary to every other item on the list, is realistic and accurate. Missions scenarios range from the typical conquest to capture the flag and survival mode.

It’s like a real-time Advance Wars with pretty much no hand-holding, just sink-or-swim gameplay. The touch controls mean a bigger screen is practically a must, for while missing a swipe or tap in another genre would be merely inconvenient, in a game like this it is quite the setback. Still, Tropical Stormfront is a smartly realized real-time-strategy game with staying power.

Anomaly 2

Developer: 11 bit studios
Platforms: iOS, Android
Price: $3.99, $4.99

‘Reverse tower defense’ just means normal protect-and-escort missions, but the moniker is an apt way of conveying the claustrophobic battles and quick wits required to succeed. The ‘morph’ mechanic lets players adjust squad composition on the fly. Variable tools and an expanded suite of power and abilities go hand-in-hand with vexing and varied level design. The game’s five years old but made waves on release for its unusual level of visual pizazz, which has aged gracefully. Most compelling of all is the asymmetrical multiplayer, scored on a point system shared between the attackers and defenders. This series set the standard a half-decade ago, and it still shines today.

Plague Inc.

Developer: Ndemic Creations
Platforms: iOS, Android
Price: Free (IAPs) 

You’re a disaster waiting to happen, a plague carefully evolved to swallow the whole globe in the embrace of black-winged death. Starting life as just a twinkle of a mass pandemic, in an undeserving corner of the world, players pick traits and use evolution points to increase their plague’s rate of infection and severity of symptoms. From the beginning, players must balance virulence against lethality. While the ultimate goal is always to make the earth a human-free zone, this usually requires a skosh of subtlety.

Once the plague is detected and rated a danger to humanity, the globe will mobilize research efforts towards a cure. So the game has a doomsday clock within a doomsday clock. Plagues must spread well enough to get a reserve of points and eventually flip the kill switch. The many varieties of plague types and scenarios give the game massive replayability, and the pacing is surprisingly sedate given the stakes. Still a tense and intense pleasure and the number-one way to strike fear into the hearts of the WHO.

What would your list of the best RTS games on mobile look like? Let us know!

PhotoDNA has also enabled content providers to remove millions of illegal photographs from the internet; helped convict child sexual predators; and, in some cases, helped law enforcement rescue potential victims before they were physically harmed.

In the meantime, though, the volume of child sexual exploitation material being shared in videos instead of still images has ballooned. The number of suspected videos reported to the CyberTipline managed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the United States increased tenfold from 312,000 in 2015 to 3.5 million in 2017. As required by federal law, Microsoft reports all instances of known child sexual abuse material to NCMEC.

Microsoft has long been committed to protecting its customers from illegal content on its products and services, and applying technology the company already created to combating this growth in illegal videos was a logical next step.

“Child exploitation video content is a crime scene. After exploring the development of new technology and testing other tools, we determined that the existing, widely used PhotoDNA technology could also be used to effectively address video,” says Courtney Gregoire, Assistant General Counsel with Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit. “We don’t want this illegal content shared on our products and services. And we want to put the PhotoDNA tool in as many hands as possible to help stop the re-victimization of children that occurs every time a video appears again online.”

A recent survey of survivors of child sexual abuse from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection found that the online sharing of images and videos documenting crimes committed against them intensified feelings of shame, humiliation, vulnerability and powerlessness. As one survivor was quoted in the report: “The abuse stops and at some point also the fear for abuse; the fear for the material never ends.”

The original PhotoDNA helps put a stop to this online recirculation by creating a “hash” or digital signature of an image: converting it into a black-and-white format, dividing it into squares and quantifying that shading. It does not employ facial recognition technology, nor can it identify a person or object in the image. It compares an image’s hash against a database of images that watchdog organizations and companies have already identified as illegal. IWF, which has been compiling a reference database of PhotoDNA signatures, now has 300,000 hashes of known child sexual exploitation materials.

PhotoDNA for Video breaks down a video into key frames and essentially creates hashes for those screenshots. In the same way that PhotoDNA can match an image that has been altered to avoid detection, PhotoDNA for Video can find child sexual exploitation content that’s been edited or spliced into a video that might otherwise appear harmless.

“When people embed illegal videos in other videos or try to hide them in other ways, PhotoDNA for Video can still find it. It only takes a hash from a single frame to create a match,” says Katrina Lyon-Smith, senior technical program manager who has implemented the use of PhotoDNA for Video on Microsoft’s own services.

Today’s Deal: Save 66% on Endless Space® 2 and 50% on additional content!*

Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are!

*Offer ends September 13th at 10AM Pacific Time

Save up to 80% in the Made with GameMaker sale during this week’s Midweek Madness*!

GameMaker Studio 2 is the latest and greatest incarnation of GameMaker! It has everything you need to take your idea from concept to finished game. With no barriers to entry and powerful functionality, GameMaker Studio 2 is the ultimate 2D development environment!

Over 40 games made with GameMaker are on discount during this sale as well as GameMaker Studio 2 at its lowest price ever on Steam! Whether you want to play these amazing games or start making games, check out the deals today!

*Offer ends Friday 10am Pacific Time

Starting at 2:00 p.m. PDT today, members of the Xbox One Preview Beta and a subset of Preview Delta will begin receiving the latest Xbox One system update (1810.180828-1920). Learn more about the new features in development for 1810 here, and read on for a list of fixes and known issues in this 1810 system update.

NOTE : Today a subset of Delta Users are receiving the 1810 build.  We are doing the subset of users as we are targeting the upgrade process and will move the remaining set of Delta users in over the next few weeks as we flight new builds to test the upgrade process.

Fixes:

My Games & Apps

• Memberships –  We have resolved the issue in the Membership sections for Games for Gold not showing the correct titles.
• UI Fixes to the collection filter in My Games and Apps – now the drop down is anchored rather than centered.

Oneguide

• Fixes to Oneguide in which some users were seeing an error with the app failing to launch and stating it needs to be re-installed with an error.

Settings – Display

• Fixes to the 4k TV details status page to fix issues with Text being Cut-off.

Known Issues:

Audio

• We are aware that some users are experiencing issues where mics do not work. Please ensure that your controller is running the latest Firmware (Settings – Kinect & Devices – Devices & Accessories) and be sure to file feedback using the “Report a problem” tool when you experience this issue.

Avatars

• We are aware that, in some instances, Avatar limbs (feet & hands) are pointing in unexpected directions and facial hair is appearing where it should not. Please file feedback should you experience this.
• It can take up to 10 seconds to view an Avatar on the profile screen after creating a new Avatar.

My Games & Apps

• EA Access App – We are aware that the EA Access app will crash when navigating in the app and become unresponsive.
• Shudder App – We are aware that the Shudder app may become unresponsive.
• We are aware of the following Media apps crashing and have identified a fix that will be flighted shortly. There is no workaround at present.  The apps we are monitoring are:
  
  • Demand 5
  • Orange
  • CTV Go on Box One
  • SEGO
  • TMN GO
  • Foxtel Play
  • Halo Channel
  • TSN on Xbox One

Microsoft Edge

• Microsoft Edge crashes for some users at random times.
• The cursor may disappear when exiting and re-entering the app.
  
  • Workaround: Press Y when re-entering the app to make the cursor re-appear

OneGuide

• Sometimes users may encounter stuttering when launching straight into Oneguide after the console is turned on from Instant on. Please file feedback when you see this.
• Here is a workaround to resolve temporarily:
  
  • If you have a Kinect sensor connected to the console, try disabling it by going to Settings>Kinect & devices>Kinect and toggling the Kinect sensor off. Then re-launch OneGuide.

Power

• We are tracking an issue in which the console is fully powering off when it is placed into Instant On mode.

Profile Color

• Sometimes users may encounter the incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.

Settings – Network Statistics

• We are aware that the Detailed Network Statistics feature is not showing any data.  This does not impact the consoles networking performance at all it is a UI bug.

Virtual Keyboard

• We are aware that some characters appear incorrectly when using the Virtual Keyboard in conjunction with a chatpad. Workaround: Disconnect the chatpad.

Curve Digital has announced that Velocity 2X will now be releasing on 20th September on Switch.

A direct successor to the 2012 PlayStation hit Velocity, Velocity 2 marks the first time a game in the series has arrived on a Nintendo console. The game follows the story of Lt. Kai Tana, a brave pilot who has found herself stranded a long way from home after getting sucked through a black hole. Discovered and experimented on by an evil alien race called the Vokh, Kai Tana has recently escaped with her ‘Quarp Jet’ and must outrun her captors.

The game has already released on other platforms, scoring highly among critics on systems such as PS4, PS Vita, and Xbox One. Its blend of “pulse-pounding 2D action platforming and fast-paced vertical-scrolling shmup action” has won over the hearts of players, too, gaining ‘very positive’ user reviews on Steam.

FuturLab Managing Director, James Marsden, has said the following:

“This is the ultimate version of Velocity 2X. On Nintendo Switch, players will get the complete, no-compromise home console/PC version with all the graphical bells and whistles, whether playing at home on their TV at 1080p and 60fps, or on the Switch screen at 720p and 60fps.”

The game will be available on Switch on 20th September, with pricing still to be confirmed. If you happen to be attending EGX in Birmingham, UK later this month, you’ll be able to go hands-on with the game to see what all the fuss is about.

Have you been waiting for this one to arrive on Switch? Feel free to share your excitement with us down below.