Slashdot Mirror

Most small company IPOs have at least a little disorganization and hype surrounding them, but Red Hat's was over the edge. We're not even going to try to sort out the claims and counter-claims, the complaints and counter-complaints, and all the rest, just point you to a selection of stories on the subject, not all of which agree 100% about exactly what happened, when it happened -- or to whom.

• Late IPO change left many red-faced at C|Net.
• Red Hat charges up 272 percent in debut from ZDNet
• Geeks Tip Their Caps to Red Hat at Wired News
• Share Price More Than Triples in Red Hat's Public Offering from the New York Times (free registration required to read)
• The Tech Investor column in the Aug. 12 Washington Post talks not only about Red Hat, but other recent IPOs. Good perspective piece.
• Red Hot (with a cute "hat" graphic) headlined Salon's take on the subject.

I found a bunch of other stories too, but they all said pretty much the same as the ones I listed above. If you spot any more good ones (or have any good stories of your own to tell), please post them below.

It seems the US Government is at it again. The first story discusses a bill passed by the US Senate (but not yet the House) to prevent cybersquatting. Apparently, anyone who registers a domain in bad faith can be hit with a hefty fine. The second is an article at Wired about a new law being pushed that would make it a felony to link to websites which contain information about drugs and "where to buy related paraphernalia".

An anonymous reader writes "Wired News has this story about the government of Ontario, Canada endorsing citizens to use encryption. 'While the US Congress recoils in horror at the prospect of a population armed with cryptographic tools, a government department in Ontario wants to make it clear that encryption is good. ' " After this and my recent trip to Ottawa, I think I may need to stop making Canada jokes...It's interesting to compare and contrast the crypto policies of various nations.

Szoup writes "Wired has online a piece (no pun intended) under their culture news about how the sex life of tech employees -- mainly programmers -- suffers due to the demands and amount of time their work takes away from them. Like I needed to be told this?" Update: here's another take on the subject from newtimesla.com.

Szoup writes "Wired has online a piece (no pun intended) under their culture news about how the sex life of tech employees -- mainly programmers -- suffers due to the demands and amount of time their work takes away from them. Like I needed to be told this?" Update: here's another take on the subject from newtimesla.com.

Doug Muth writes "There is an article in Wired about 30 nuclear power plants in the U.S. that still aren't Y2K compliant. The article goes on to explain how the feds have been trying to downplay the severity of the situation, but for some reason the initials TMI seem to come to mind... "

SEWilco writes " NASA suggests keeping extra income from commercial projects. Present laws require that money from commercial projects, such as a satellite launch from the Shuttle, go to the U.S. government rather than allowing NASA to use the money. ". On a tangential note, the Italian government changed their laws regarding income from historical sites, allowing them to keep their profits, rather then just funnel it to the gov't, and it's worked great. I see no reason why NASA wouldn't benefit as well-especially considering their budget cuts.

Doug Muth writes "There's an article in Wired News about some of the perks that companies in Silicon Valley offer their employees. Maybe I should start working at Adaptec so I can get tickets for Episode 2 when it comes out... " Charging bays for electric cars, massages, lactation rooms. Its just a bit scary.

Bowie J. Poag writes "First it was "The eligibility profile will have no bearing on your ability to participate." Then, it was "Sorry! you failed the eligibility profile since you dont have half a million in the bank and 20 years trading experience. Bye." Now we've come full circle, thanks to a great deal of flames from the community.. E-Trade is backing down and letting us in. "

Glothar writes "There is a case currently before the US court system (somewhere) based on one web site linking to content (trailers and other fun stuff) within Universal Pictures' web site. Universal is basically saying it can not be done. There is an article on Wired about it. Basically, they want it to be a copyright infringement. In reality, they are upset because they want everybody to have to look at advertising. However, it may make the URL I just gave you a copyright violation as well. Ironic. " Proof once again that the old school business world has a lot to learn about the Internet.

Ethelred Unraed writes "Wired News has a story about how "older" programmers and engineers--over 35--are having difficulties finding work, even though their skill level is as high or higher than the young guns out there. " We've heard this numerous times before, but it's still an interesting, albeit strange, phenomenon. I would say part of it has to do with the lack of lives that many of the younger folks have (I'm including myself). What do you folks think?

Ethelred Unraed writes "Wired News has a story about how "older" programmers and engineers--over 35--are having difficulties finding work, even though their skill level is as high or higher than the young guns out there. " We've heard this numerous times before, but it's still an interesting, albeit strange, phenomenon. I would say part of it has to do with the lack of lives that many of the younger folks have (I'm including myself). What do you folks think?

razorwire writes "Via HNN: Wired News is reporting that a 1996 law to require Social Security numbers on drivers' licenses may be amended to require digital records of your fingerprints and other personal data to be stored in an embedded chip. Sounds very creepy to me. "

Alex Bischoff writes "According to this article, SAFE (the Security and Freedom through Encryption act) has been rewritten to be more law enforcement friendly. 'The House Armed Services Committee voted 47-6 Wednesday to replace an industry-endorsed encryption bill with substitute legislation drafted by law enforcement advocates.' " And for once, it looked like the US Gov't was going to get a /clue/ about crypto.

Rob sent us linkage to a wired article that talks about Tennis ball sized robots that will zip around working as assistants for astronauts. They are described as being like the training bots in Star Wars. They'd be cool as pets if we lived in zero-g...

According to this Wired news article, IANA has begun to "roll out" IPv6. Though it doesn't go into specifics, one assumes this means that the three major IP registries will begin assigning IPv6 addresses. The article mentions another chicken and the egg problem: no IPv6 software (correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Linux have IPv6 software?), so there is no need for IPv6 addresses, and vice-versa. It also mentions every traffic light on the planet could have its own IP. Update: 07/16 02:48 by J : Dave Whitinger at LinuxToday sent a link to a mail which clarifies the situation a bit.

Number Five writes "Art+Com announces UrbanJunglePack, a wearable Linux computer designed for jounalists that uses a camcorder and microphone to record photos, sound, text, and video, which can then be transmitted back to a base station using a built-in wireless phone. " It's ready for testing-I'm willing to test.

Anguirel writes "Wired has a few stories from the Hill. First up, ICANN gets a hearing before the House to answer questions about proposed fees. Next, House Majority leader Dick Armey denounced the UN e-mail tax saying it's just the UN being greedy and trying to profit from the Internet. Finally, Y2K conspiracy theories gained some credibility as a conference on the President declaring martial law was held by the US Reserve Officers Association. "

Anguirel writes "Wired has a few stories from the Hill. First up, ICANN gets a hearing before the House to answer questions about proposed fees. Next, House Majority leader Dick Armey denounced the UN e-mail tax saying it's just the UN being greedy and trying to profit from the Internet. Finally, Y2K conspiracy theories gained some credibility as a conference on the President declaring martial law was held by the US Reserve Officers Association. "

Anguirel writes "Wired has a few stories from the Hill. First up, ICANN gets a hearing before the House to answer questions about proposed fees. Next, House Majority leader Dick Armey denounced the UN e-mail tax saying it's just the UN being greedy and trying to profit from the Internet. Finally, Y2K conspiracy theories gained some credibility as a conference on the President declaring martial law was held by the US Reserve Officers Association. "

El Jefe writes "No, this isn't an email hoax: The UN has proposed an email tax of roughly 1 cent per 100 emails sent by an individual to help pay for bringing the Internet to developing countries. The only good part in all this is that they have no power to enforce this, and it is "merely a suggestion". " As yuck as it seems, I think that a tax like this will do a lot to curb spammers (suddenly sending out a message to your million addresses costs a hundred bucks. Still a bargain, but it ain't free any more) and it would benefit the countries coming late to the net party. But I suspect it will meet pretty strong resistance.

Ant (and others) sent in a link to this Salon story that talks about grueling overtime hours in Silicon Valley and how the traditional tech-haus 80 hour work week may conflict with assorted labor laws, especially a new bill that made its way through the California Legislature late last week. A more recent Wired piece claims California Governor Grey Davis is expected to sign the legislation into law later this week, and has a link to the full text of the bill. Will this mean fewer high-tech start-ups in California and more in places like Virginia, where there are hardly any labor laws? Or will Silicon Valley people take life a little easier now, and take a few hours each week to spend some of the money they're making? Or will labor lawyers make all the money? Hard to tell.

Ant wrote in to send us an amusing piece running over at wired about domain name hogs selling their domains on eBay and the likes. Not a bad little piece, but its pretty amusing the read some of the domain names that people seem to think will be worth money.

Coleslaw wrote in to send us a link over at Wired which talks about the Caldera/MS Trial. Apparently the latest issue is that a couple versions of Windows might not be admittable as evidence that MS altered Win3.1 to make DR-DOS produce errors, and to encourage the use of MS-DOS. Interesting bit.

Mitchell Baker, Chief Lizard Wrangler for Mozilla, has denied that Mozilla's development model will change. In related news, nullspace wrote in about netomat, a new "non-linear browser". "It bucks the trends of current browsers by mining random visuals and snippets of sentences from the Web and having it float endlessly across a black backdrop, accompanied by clips of sound, if the user desires. Users can specify a topic, then retrieve text, images, and/or audio from the Internet on the subject. They navigate by typing keywords into the browser, not by pointing and clicking."

afabbro writes "Wired has this article about how ASCAP is shaking down webmasters for licensing fees. The key point is that they want fees even if you're only linking to another site. "

Jareth writes "Remember the iMac PC made by Future Power? Apparently Apple didn't like the idea of someone making money off of their design, so they are suing for damages. The story is over at Wired. " Well, they can't win a case based upon "look & feel", but it'll be interesting to see how this turns out. Luckily, whoever invented the beige case isn't suing every computer manufacturer ever.

Wonko42 writes "This is really strange. A British inventor has apparently created a bra that monitors its wearer's heart rate and can tell when she is in danger. Using its built-in wireless phone, the techno-bra calls the police (or the wearer's boyfriend) and, using the built-in GPS locator, it relates the exact position of the wearer. Um...interesting....and there's more in the article. " Unfortunately, I couldn't find any pictures of it, but I wonder how stylish it may be.

Jareth writes "In their revised terms of service, Yahoo is trying to make it clear that they do not own content that you submit. They still haven't taken out the sections about 'modify, adapt, ... create derivative works from'. So while they don't own your web page, they can still do anything they want to it. The story is over at Wired. "

Kodi wrote in to tell us that MozillaZine is holding a vote for the new Mozilla throbber (free membership required). Also the LinuxWorld Expo call for papers deadline is July 6. They're also doing a $25k award for a community program at the show. hzo wrote in to note that you can now hack furby with your Palm V. cpfeifer has noted a Yoda Got Milk parody. rhet sent us a web based jar-jar-gonizer if you aren't overloaded with the wretched beast. Kurt Weinschenker wrote in to tell us that the 99 Darwin Awards nominees are online. S|ack noted that you can now get adminspotting t-shirts. Scorpeye sent us an article about Bachelors in the Silicon Valley and comments about eligible bachelorettes in NY and LA... hmmm... Finally, some articles about the Andover.Net acquisition of Slashdot: Here's Upside, wired (thanks Evro) Salon (thanks Super_Oogie). There were a few more too, but after I've read two I realize I say pretty much the same stuff each time anyway, so its hardly interesting ;)

Doug Muth writes "There's an article in Wired about Yahoo taking over Geocities and how they now claim to own the intellectual rights to all webpages that users have on there. That's scary, since under this contract, anyone who has a page on Geocities no longer has the rights to what they have created. "

phred writes "The music industry is fighting back by finalizing its Secure Digital Music Initiative says this story. The spec is due to be ratified at a meeting on July 7. In the first phase MP3 and other formats would be playable on devices following the SDMI spec. In phase two, a "pirate screening" process will prevent copying a clone of a protected recording, a la the not-lamented SCMS format for CD and DAT. " The RIAA claims that they are trying to protect artists' copyrights, while others, such as the EFF, are stating that the RIAA is merely trying to keep a stranglehold on distribution channels, and hence, their own bucks.

A Big Gnu Thrush writes "This Wired article discusses Presidential candidate Elizabeth Dole's "technology platform," which includes a call to withhold funds from public libraries which don't filter Internet content. Finally someone with the guts to put a lid on these hothouses of porn. " Thanks liz. I'm glad somebody thought of the children *cough cough*

gleam sent us this wired article which talks about more macs on the block an Apple II with serial number 2, and an early apple I. They also comment about the earlier auctioned Apple which Woz confirmed is not really the first Apple.

ptevis writes "There's a story over on Wired News about the DOJ asking the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider their decision in May's landamrk crypto case. It's got some interesting info about where the case may go from here and what the government may try to do. " This stems from the lawsuit from the University of Illinois professor who wanted to post one of his programs online. The DOJ/White House is claiming that this will make broadband listening too difficult, and that "this type of regulation is an executive branch policy decision involving 'extraordinarily sensitive' info that's too secret to disclose publicly." However, it seems unlikely that the court will change its' mind.

ptevis writes "There's a story over on Wired News about the DOJ asking the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider their decision in May's landamrk crypto case. It's got some interesting info about where the case may go from here and what the government may try to do. " This stems from the lawsuit from the University of Illinois professor who wanted to post one of his programs online. The DOJ/White House is claiming that this will make broadband listening too difficult, and that "this type of regulation is an executive branch policy decision involving 'extraordinarily sensitive' info that's too secret to disclose publicly." However, it seems unlikely that the court will change its' mind.

sohp writes "This Wired news story reports that Compaq may be selling off AltaVista, Zip2 and other properties. " and if you happen to have a spare couple billion dollars burning a whole in your mattress you might just wanna take a look.

xeno wrote in to send us a wired article that talks about RF Genetic Damage. Its still a bit fuzzy. The scariest part is that the scary results of this test were actually funded by the cell phone industry. Interesting...

FzZzT writes "This ditty from Wired tells about PBS's move next April, with help from Intel, to digital-only broadcasting. It also tells more about Digital TV, which can now only be seen with a PC and a tuner card. "

Foxman writes "It's got no case and no hard drive. Still, a computer handmade by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs could fetch the most money ever paid for a personal computer. The very first Apple computer is going on the auction block. "

Mintslice was one of the first to write in with the latest major major hole that's been found in Microsoft's IIS4.0. The hole, a nice little number, called remote users can gain root access, using buffer overflow is "being treated" seriously by the corporation. Mmm...Apache.

wanderingstar writes "Bell South owns 10% of Qwest, the US' 4th-largest long-distance carrier and owner of a very high capacity backbone. Qwest has bid $55 billion to acquire US West (another Baby Bell) and Frontier. US West, in turn, is planning on acquiring 9.5% of Global Crossing (a competitor of Qwest's with their own $40+ billion bid in for US West) - a stake that would be included in a potential Qwest purchase. Anyone else need a roadmap to figure out the telecom business? " My big concern with these is that we are seeming to run into the same sort of incestous relationships that have plagued certain countries industries. Am I unfounded in my concern?

Foxman writes "Due to failures in coping with the overwhelming response from volunteers, the SETI@home project has been erroneously sending the same packets of radio data to its 500,000 participants." The scariest comment is the estimate that SETI@Home is using 8 tons of fossil fuel per hour.

PaulB writes "Intel's new Easy PC standard has some prototype systems ready for it, which you can read about on Wired. Very cool looking stuff, finally no more iMac envy. " You can see the photos of the machines on intel's website but they do all have those stupid looking jumpsuit dudes in the way. Update: 06/08 08:45 by H :SurplusBaggage wrote in with the Phillips 42" monitors. Price tag: $15k.

gyges writes "According to the BBC, UK officials have backed down on their encryption-key escrow efforts in order to promote eCommerce within the UK. However they also report "uncertainty as how committed the UK government is to promoting e-commerce. " Wired weighs-in as well. "

Armin writes "Corel says that as of Wednesday, a free version of its WordPerfect 8 for Linux software has surpassed the 1 million download mark, another harbinger of Linux's growing popularity. " Ya know, ever since I graduated, I haven't needed a word processor.. vim seems to be just fine. But apparently a million of ya disagree. Pretty excellent.

jmtpi writes "Hackers at MIT turned the top of the Great Dome in the center of campus into R2D2 yesterday. See story in Yahoo News. " Anyone have more pics? If so, label accordingly and make a submission - I'll be sure to link them. Update: 05/18 07:06 by J : An article at Wired.Update: 05/18 07:42 by J : Shot 1, Shot 2, and Shot 3. Thanks to Aidan Low. More pics from tcs.

Cicero writes "Wired News has an article about the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) plans for killing the mp3 format. It basically involves having the major record labels release music on a yet-to-be-defined, proprietary format called SDMI. The kicker -- require software and hardware companies that license the format to include some sort of kill switch which would prohibit the user from downloading and playing mp3 files. " I'd insert a snide comment here, but...I don't think I need to.

st. augustine writes "Australian astronomers have discovered that some black holes are actually pink. Here's a Wired article, and here's the Australians themselves. I was more excited before I found out they were already expecting the black holes to be blue. "

Ant sent in wired story about geeks taking May 19 off. Not sure why. Is there a movie opening or something? *cough*. Some of us will be at Linux Expo. This is gonna get sticky.