Slashdot Mirror

Tee Emm writes "Sven Latham reports on his Yet Another Blog that Yahoo is (probably) experimenting with its blog services for its general users. The test bench is in Korea and may be followed by an international service on yahoo.com. On the main Yahoo site, blogs.yahoo.com as well as blog.yahoo.com both are active though they take you to yahoo groups interface."

Tee Emm writes "Sven Latham reports on his Yet Another Blog that Yahoo is (probably) experimenting with its blog services for its general users. The test bench is in Korea and may be followed by an international service on yahoo.com. On the main Yahoo site, blogs.yahoo.com as well as blog.yahoo.com both are active though they take you to yahoo groups interface."

Tee Emm writes "Sven Latham reports on his Yet Another Blog that Yahoo is (probably) experimenting with its blog services for its general users. The test bench is in Korea and may be followed by an international service on yahoo.com. On the main Yahoo site, blogs.yahoo.com as well as blog.yahoo.com both are active though they take you to yahoo groups interface."

Squiffy writes "Yahoo is running a story from the New York Times about an interesting new find in the study of aging. It is thought that Resveratrol, a compound found in red wine, might explain why "the French live as long as anyone else despite eating fatty foods deemed threatening to the heart." Resveratrol's exact effect in humans is not yet certain, but it has been shown to extend lifespan in yeast and fruit flies, and humans "have counterpart genes that are assumed to work in a similar way." Some of the scientists involved in the study have even started with their "red wine a day". This raises the question, if a red wine a day keeps the doctor away, and you are a doctor, what happens when you start your daily regimen? Does it just keep other doctors away? Do you explode? Anyway, maybe it's time to stock up on the Pinot Noir."

Squiffy writes "Yahoo is running a story from the New York Times about an interesting new find in the study of aging. It is thought that Resveratrol, a compound found in red wine, might explain why "the French live as long as anyone else despite eating fatty foods deemed threatening to the heart." Resveratrol's exact effect in humans is not yet certain, but it has been shown to extend lifespan in yeast and fruit flies, and humans "have counterpart genes that are assumed to work in a similar way." Some of the scientists involved in the study have even started with their "red wine a day". This raises the question, if a red wine a day keeps the doctor away, and you are a doctor, what happens when you start your daily regimen? Does it just keep other doctors away? Do you explode? Anyway, maybe it's time to stock up on the Pinot Noir."

prostoalex writes "Ottawa-based Corel, known for its CorelDRAW, WordPerfect, Painter and Bryce products, has been acquired by Vector Capital Corp. for $124 mln. with the intent to get de-listed from Nasdaq and Toronto stock markets and go private. 80% of shareholders approved the deal, according to the story. At certain points of its corporate history Corel was a Linux vendor and even partially owned by Microsoft. Microsoft paid $135M for 25% of the shares, so Vector Capital paying $124M for 100% stake looks like a pretty good deal." It's been over a month since this was first announced, but it's actually come to pass now.

adrienlamothe writes "Practical C++ Programming is dedicated to teaching the reader how to program in the C++ programming language. The book actually has four goals: 1) Teach the reader C++. 2) Instill good programming style and practice (indeed, the book's subtitle is 'Programming Style Guidelines.') 3) Teach the programmer basic software development concepts. 4) Introduce the reader to debuggers and the make utility. 4) The author encourages the reader to use a computer to enter, run and debug the book's programming examples. I concur with this advice, though it isn't absolutely necessary." To see how well the book meets its own goals, read on for the rest of Lamothe's review. Practical C++ Programming, Second Edition author Steve Oulline pages 549 publisher O'Reilly & Associates rating 7 reviewer Adrien Lamothe ISBN 0596004192 summary Guide to learning C++ and programming style.

Practical C++ Programming is a fairly large book: 549 pages organized into six parts containing 30 chapters and 5 appendixes. The parts are as follows:

1. The Basics
2. Simple Programming
3. Advanced Types and Classes
4. Advanced Programming Concepts
5. Other Language Features
6. Appendixes.

You will have to read most of the book in order to learn C++, although there are a number of chapters you can avoid if your goal is to learn only the language's mechanics.

I must start by saying that I like the book -- I think it has value. There are a number of things I really appreciate about the book. There are also some problems that adversely impact one segment of the book's intended audience (more about those later.)

The book discusses all the essential elements of C++. Areas covered include: Class definition, namespaces, scope definition and resolution, operator and function overloading, object memory allocation (i.e. new and delete,) type casting, exceptions, inheritance, templates (including an introduction to the Standard Template Library,) the Input/Output system (including the C I/O library), and pointers. All language operators are discussed (i.e. relational, assignment, etc.) Also covered are language elements that C++ has in common with C. The other areas of instruction (programming style, software development concepts, programming tools) are intertwined with the primary topic throughout the course of the book.

One of the book's strong points is the author's excellent conversational writing style. It's hard to find books that combine good technical information with clear expository writing (O'Reilly seems to publish most of them.) Practical C++ Programming definitely succeeds in this area. The author frequently references his own experience to reinforce concepts on programming style, design and debugging. I found his anecdotes useful and occasionally humorous. The book also contains small sections of text that serve to warn the reader of pitfalls (these are marked with a bear trap icon) and areas where caution should be exercised (marked with bear paw tracks). Also, some of the source code examples contain intentional bugs, which the author explains at the end of each chapter. Diagrams, tables and source code examples are found on almost every page of the book, and these are used to keep the reader engaged with the textual discourse. My favorite diagram is Figure 7-1. "Software life cycle," on page 88; I emphasize with the dinosaur.

The book contains some interesting programming examples. The chapters on operator overloading and floating-point math contain source code illustrating how to deal with the numeric precision problems that plague all computers and computer languages. The chapter on the Standard Template Library contains a program showing how to create and use objects that manage a simple roster for enrollment and grading of students. The book also contains several examples of linked-lists and trees, for the purpose of teaching the reader how to use pointers, and to also show the reader the power and usefulness of the Standard Template Library.

Now to speak about the book's shortcomings. First, although the book does a good job of covering the important C++ topics of classes, inheritance, and templates, I think it falls a bit short in these areas (especially the coverage of inheritance). Also, the terms instantiation, polymorphism and encapsulation are not used in the book. The book could have provided a bit more insight into object-oriented concepts. Also, these areas of the book are sparsely diagrammed. Second, source code errors and typos appear regularly enough to frustrate an inexperienced reader. I also found a couple of diagrams to be confusing. Third, there are occasional misleading statements that a beginner probably won't recognize as such. Because of these problems, I cannot recommend the book to people with no previous programming experience. I'm surprised that these problems made it into a second edition.

I think that despite these problems, the book has value to experienced programmers who want to learn C++. C programmers in particular will have an easier time dealing with the source code errors. Also, I think that the book can be used by beginning programmers in a classroom environment, providing the instructor understands the book's problems and is prepared to guide students around them. The book should be particularly useful when read in conjunction with a good C++ reference guide.

Practical C++ Programming is an ambitious work in its breadth and depth. It covers more areas of software development than other C++ books. It takes an interesting approach that some readers will appreciate and others may not.

I would like to have seen a more detailed and complete explanation of the object-oriented aspects of C++ (including more diagrams). A table showing all functions for Standard Template Library containers would have been nice (the book does make reference to two STL web sites). Some mention of third-party object libraries (such as Rogue Wave, Qt, etc.) and their uses would have been helpful.

The lack of a detailed explanation of inheritance may not be bad. I'm one of those who believe that heavy reliance on inheritance causes serious maintainability problems. However, I think the book should have covered this topic more fully, so the reader would understand this issue.

In summary, Practical C++ Programming is a good book that really shines in some aspects and falls short in others. With some improvement, it could be a great book.

You can purchase Practical C++ Programming, Second Edition from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

FoeNyx writes "The AFP is reporting that 30 Tokyo firms have planned to set up a joint-venture in next spring to market an 'exo-skeleton type power assist system' named HAL (Hybrid Assistive Leg) developed by Yoshiyuki Sankai, professor and engineer at the Sankai Lab, a Cybernetics specialized Laboratory of the Tsukuba University. When will the next generation be available?" The elderly with their exoskeletons and the bionic nurses will make quite a sight at Japanese nursing homes.

Thanks to HomeLanFed for their initial report on the official unveiling of EA/Origin's new PC MMORPG, Ultima X: Odyssey. They say that the previously rumored title is "...a massively multiplayer game that was described as a 'sister' game to Ultima Online. The dev team promised that players will not have to worry about using macros in the game or beating up on tiny rats just to level up at the beginning." It's also confirmed that the game is "powered by Epic's Unreal engine", and "very action oriented", and much new information is expected as the EA-X Event continues on Friday. Update: 08/22 15:26 GMT by S : There's now an official press release, screenshots courtesy GameSpyDaily, and a 21mb trailer downloadable from Gamershell, Worthplaying, and via BitTorrent courtesy GameTab.

RobotRunAmok writes "Plutinos, Centaurs, Cubewanos - the names Detroit has given some of their next gen SUVs? Nope. They are among the many colorful, and, some complain, confusing names which astronomers have given to celestial objects in the last decade. Ever wonder about the system of organization which astronomers use to name new space rocks? Apparently, so have many astronomers, because, according a Yahoo!/Space.com article, it's neither very systematic nor organized. Fear not: some clever star-minded chaps from Oxford and Cambridge have a plan to wring some order from the damp dishrag of astro-nomenclature chaos."

valluvar9000 asks: "I recently was able to talk a local secondary school (public) into letting me convert their existing computer systems (not in use and in storage) into a LTSP based setup. They are OK with it as long as it does not cost them money. However the whole solution needs to be deployed in the local language (Tamil) as the medium of instruction is not English. Fortunately Tamil (TSCII & Unicode) support is widely available and quite mature on KDE and GNOME. Can Slashdot help with the selection of good educational tools (Maths, Science, General problem solving and any other topic of interest) that are GUI based (KDE preferably) and internationalizable (this is important)? The target ages are between 6 years to 12 years."

Mark Cantrell writes "An interesting bit on AP through Yahoo today. Seems that ham radio (which recently had a bit of backlash here on Slashdot from a few people thinking it was useless, outdated technology), really shined through during the blackouts. When the power went, ham radio operators, using battery backup power, were able to help coordinate emergency workers while the cell phone networks were overloaded. For anyone wondering why interference due to power line broadband is considered a bad thing, well, there ya go."

Thanks to Yahoo!/Daily Deal for revealing the final bidding prices for 3DO's assets, totalling a mere $4.6 million, following the company's bankruptcy auction last week. The article indicates the main winning bidders were "...UbiSoft Holdings Inc. for the fantasy games 'Might and Magic' and 'Heroes of Might and Magic,' for $1.3 million; Namco Hometek Inc. for 'Street Racing Syndicate' at $1.515 million; JoWooD Productions Software AG for the 'Jacked' motorcycle game for $90,000; Crave Entertainment Inc. for 'Army Men' for $750,000; and Microsoft Corp. which paid $450,000 for the intellectual property for 'High Heat Baseball'." 3DO founder Trip Hawkins also bought an Internet patent and much of 3DO's back-catalog for $400,000. 3DO's lawyers claimed that the SEC investigation of games companies launched last month made possible suitors back off, saying: "It probably cost us $10 million easily."

Thanks to Yahoo!/Reuters for their story describing Sony's amended PlayStation 2 hardware bundle, explaining :"...the $199 PS2, with a network adapter that allows users to play games online... [will now be] bundled with the game 'ATV Offroad Fury 2'." Sony also said "it would continue to sell the PS2 without the online hardware for $179", although it had expected to phase out this deal. However, "...demand is currently running about 20 percent for the online bundle and 80 percent for the stand-alone unit", and GameStop executives quoted in the article "... noted that they thought the $199 PS2 online package had not been selling as well as they believed Sony had planned" - seems Sony are trying to sweeten the online bundle deal.

Edward Dao writes "After the embarassment of last week's blaster worm, Microsoft is weighing the possibility of automatic update. Microsoft not only wants to upload the latest patch on to users' computer but also installing it for them." This will work out really well for everyone I'm sure. Yikes! Can I at least press 'Ok' first?

FueledByRamen asks: "While trying to run a new power line for a large Sun mass-storage cabinet (located nowhere near a 220 outlet of course), I had the misfortune of needing to pop the lid on my main power distribution panel (previously opened in the late 80s). The whole thing is a rats nest and probably a fire hazard - old-style wiring with broken-down cloth/plastic insulation strewn everywhere, and the utility's incoming power cables have some sort of junction in them that's the size of a 1-liter bottle (on each wire) and is covered in layers of electrical tape. Even (gently) putting the panel back on jiggled something important, and there was a nasty cracking noise and half the breakers blew (all breakers in one of the 2 columns). I've worked with mains voltage in the past (wiring new rooms, installing lighting), but nothing on this scale, both in terms of complexity and potential for death. How do you industrious Slashdot readers go about fixing a mess like this (on a tight budget, no less) without getting a mains-induced glimpse at the great beyond?"

An Anonymous Coward asks: "I work at a company with a large number of Linux servers in the data center. We're currently evaluating what distribution we want to use moving forward. Upgrading to Red Hat Enterprise from 7.2 would cost ~$350k just for the systems we already have deployed. Due to the change in Red Hat's release policy, we either have to move to Enterprise, or change distributions. Also, we don't have Oracle on any of these systems, but we will need it in the future. This leaves us with rather limited options. I'm interested hearing what other Slashdot readers are running, and planning?"

Steve Shewchuk writes "3DO, the publisher known for its Might and Magic, Army Men, and High Heat Baseball franchises, has successfully auctioned off a number of its assets after its transition into bankruptcy protection. High Heat Baseball has been purchased by Microsoft, while the Might and Magic series went to Ubisoft. Street Racing Syndicate sold to Namco Hometek, but there's no word on Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, one of the biggest 'in production' games before 3DO went bankrupt."

Steve Shewchuk writes "3DO, the publisher known for its Might and Magic, Army Men, and High Heat Baseball franchises, has successfully auctioned off a number of its assets after its transition into bankruptcy protection. High Heat Baseball has been purchased by Microsoft, while the Might and Magic series went to Ubisoft. Street Racing Syndicate sold to Namco Hometek, but there's no word on Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, one of the biggest 'in production' games before 3DO went bankrupt."

JMullins writes "According to Kaspersky Labs the LovSan virus has been re-released in a new form that has changed the appearance of the worm. It looks like the outbreak continues to get worse and worse, with no real end in sight until people can patch their systems. Net slowdowns are expected over the weekend when both versions of the virus start their attack."

Thanks to Yahoo!/Hollywood Reporter for the news that a new videogame will incorporate exclusive raw video shot by U.S. troops stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Liberia, and elsewhere. The PC action title, called Kuma:War, launches next February (there are screenshots available via Blue's News), and intends to allow you to "play the news" with a CNN-style filmed introduction to each real-life themed game level - the article explains: "players could get a first-person perspective experience of what it was like to rescue Army Pvt. Jessica Lynch or participate in the raid that killed Uday and Qusay Hussein - staged authentically, right down to such details as the type of grenades that were used in the mission and the exact location of the snipers."

useosx writes "Reuters is reporting that 'Microsoft Corp. announced on Thursday a pact with Europe's biggest digital music outfit, OD2, to form the continent's first major a la carte online download service. ... The move marks the first time European consumers can purchase song downloads off the Internet for under one euro ($1.13), and without requiring a monthly subscription, bringing the fee in line with the popular Apple Computer iTunes service, which is not yet available in Europe.'" Other stories: the Guardian, BBC.

cwolfsheep writes "Tonight, Yahoo & AFP news are reporting on a study, further backing up a previous report, that suggests the North Pole will be ice-free in the summer by the next century. Oddly enough, they say the melting will not add to the sea-level of the ocean (since the ice is already in the ocean) and that the extra water will help absorb more greenhouse gases. Maybe we need to start using more aerosols."

gbell asks: "Stories about reconstructing shredded documents and horrific tales of rampant identity theft (at least 750K victims/year) have me scared and wondering if I'm being careful enough. What are savvy Slashdot readers doing to protect their financial identity? I already have fraud alerts on my credit reports, which make sure I'm contacted if any requests for additional credit happen. I've called 800-5-OPT-OUT and stopped all the credit card offers. I use unique passwords on all of my online financial accounts. I shred and pulp-ify all documents. I order periodic copies of my credit reports (although I'm irked that I have to pay for them - they're only free if you've been recently denied credit). Is there anything else I should be doing? People spend years sorting out ID theft, and I'm wondering when credit-abusers will start crying 'fraud' just to get out of debt... making things even harder for the true victims. Cops don't have time to do anything, even if you find the perp yourself. The situation looks like it's going to get much worse, and I'm willing to take steps now to increase my security at the cost of convenience. Suggestions?"

Theatetus writes "Yahoo! News is running a story from USA Today that Otzi the iceman's murder is more complicated than we thought. It seems Otzi had blood on his clothes and knife from four different people in patterns that suggested he took out two with his bow and carried a wounded or dead person over his shoulder. I sense an action movie in the making..." If you don't remember Otzi, read the original story.

limbo_14 writes "Mike Gancarz takes his oft'-quoted original book, The Unix Philosophy and spruces it up for the Brave New World of Linux with Linux and the Unix Philosophy. Since The Unix Philosophy was written, Unix has undergone many changes and evolutions. Now with Linux emerging as the new face of Unix, he has updated his book with the same philosophy and tenets that were in the first, but updated the book to include considerations for the Open Source community and the new world of Operating Systems in which we live." Even the old version of The Unix Philosophy is worth finding; it may remind you of Neil Stephenson's In the Beginning Was the Command Line. Read on for the rest of limbo_14's review. Linux and the Unix Philosophy author Mike Gancarz pages 200 publisher Butterworth-Heinemann rating Recommended reviewer limbo_14 ISBN 1555582737 summary An updated and expanded version of Gancarz's original book, The Unix Philosophy.

The good stuff... I enjoyed Mike Gancarz' first book The Unix Philosophy greatly when I was first getting into the Unix world, and was hoping for an updated version. The thing that makes this book stand out in the shelves full of How-To, Dummy, and Administrator guides is the fact that it covers the What and Why of Unix/Linux rather than the How's. I am constantly amazed at Unix books that are mostly printed man files, and things that can easily be googled. This book explains with great precision why Unix is the way it is, and what separates it from other OS paradigms.

I realized the importance of this book after reading it, and being forced to do interviews for a Unix Engineer at my office. Of the 7 candidates, 6 of them seemed to know the textbook stuff. They knew the commands, they knew vi and a handful of scripting languages to a degree of proficiency. Alas, this is what it takes to become a Unix Administrator, not an Engineer that needs to see the whole picture. In this world of "puppy mill" Unix admins who have certifications and know one or two flavors of Unix/Linux, this book really teaches people the core of why Unix/Linux is the way it is, and why it is so attractive to those who really care about which OS to use.

The last chapter -- "Brave New (Unix) World)" -- is the real kicker. Gancarz really drives it home, and shows how the Unix/Linux philosophy has made it into other aspects of technology, and in the world we live in.

The not-so-good stuff ... With every good book, there must be some bad, although this one's errors are quite forgivable. Although I appreciate any book that loosens the RFC style nature of so many technical books, sometimes it can go a little too far. This, however, is for each reader to judge. Some of the puns made me squirm, but for the most part they added a nice touch of levity to the book. So, depending on your threshold for python-esque puns or corny Elvis jokes, the book may not be for you, but knowing the /. Crowd, I don't think it will cause anything more than some groans and giggles. All in All... This is a quality book. It is one that should be re-read every now and then to make sure you do not stray from the Tenets that Gancarz drives home throughout the book via anecdotal evidence.This book can and should be read by anyone from a newbie hacker to a Corporate CEO. It is just technical enough not to make one feel patronized, and eases you into it with general concepts just enough to make it not feel like reading IETF standards. Here are the chapters, which give a good overview of what each is about:

• Table of Contents
• The Unix Philosophy: A Cast of Thousand
• One Small Step for Humankind
• Rapid Prototyping for Fun and Profit
• The Portability Priority
• Now THAT'S Leverage!
• The Perils of Interactive Programs
• More Unix Philosophy: Ten Lesser Tenets
• Making Unix Do One Thing Well
• Unix and Other Operating System Philosophies
• Through the Glass Darkly: Linux vs. Windows
• A Cathedral? How Bizarre!
• Brave New (Unix) World

Although this is not the cheapest book in the rack, it packs more of a punch than half of the books on my shelf, so I think it is worth it. I found it a great read on the metro on the way to work in the morning, and found myself finishing it well within a week. With 200 pages, and by making it fun to read, Linux and the Unix Philosophy breezes by and makes for a great read.

You can purchase Linux and the Unix Philosophy from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

morcheeba writes "Yet another wireless protocol for personal computers! In addition to existing 802.11 variants, bluetooth, and ultra-low-power newcomer zigbee, Cypress semiconductor is releasing a simple low latency, low cost (<$2), medium speed (200kbit/sec) protocol with USB human interface devices (HID) compatibility. Partners include Saitek (game controllers) and NMB (keyboards & mice). EETimes has an informative article."

An anonymous reader writes "It was just announced that Microsoft lost the case where it was accused of violating Eolas' patent on embedded applications in the Internet Explorer browser. They have been fined $521 million in damages."

Thanks to Adrenaline Vault for their hands-on preview of Final Fantasy XI for PC. This cross-platform MMORPG is due for PC this October in the U.S., several months ahead of the PlayStation 2 version, and features many features to excite the average Final Fantasy fan: "Each player is granted their own Mog house complete with a yellow cherubic Moogle servant... To travel great distances quickly... [a] favorite method of transportation is at near hand: the many splendored horse/chicken hybrid, the Chocobo." Another hands-on preview at Frictionless Insight brings up the interesting problem of control methods that work for both PS2 and PC: "What won't be familiar to PC gamers is the user interface. The system of menus... ties in with the need to be accessible to gamepad-type controllers. With a moderately button-intensive gamepad in hand, PC gamers will zip through menus with a flutter of finger twitching and d-pad action."

GillBates0 writes "Yahoo/Reuters is reporting that Linux seems to be gaining over Microsoft in India. According to Red Hat, about 10 percent of India's personal computers will be sold with Linux rather than Microsoft operating systems by March, 2004, up from nothing in January. Linux already drives India's National Stock Exchange, and the Government of India has been promoting open source lately."

Thanks to Reuters/Yahoo for their report indicating that retail advertisements for video games in newspapers rose almost 77 percent in the second quarter compared to a year earlier. Interestingly, the survey also found that "...more than 40 percent of game ads in the quarter were for games costing $49.99, the usual price for top titles, compared with about 33 percent in the prior quarter. At the same time, the number of ads for discount $19.99 titles declined." Does this show companies are concentrating more on full-price wannabe blockbusters, as opposed to cut-price shovelware? In another intriguing finding, the survey also revealed average GameCube software prices at $26, compared to more than $33 for both PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

dacarr writes "Yahoo currently hosts a press release from SCO that basically calls for IBM to "move away from the GPL"." Lycoris tries to dodge the flood of idiocy from Utah. Another non-programmer has seen SCO's presentation, and without attempting to verify the facts through his own research, reported on it. One reader buys a SCO license. SCO justifies their continuing illegal distribution of the Linux kernel.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a Reuters/Yahoo report revealing that seven video game companies have qualified to bid in the auction for the assets of bankrupt publisher 3DO Co. The assets of the recently defunct developer/publisher are being displayed at the 3DOinfo.com website, and the article indicates that "In a notice filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Francisco, 3DO's attorneys said Microsoft, Eidos, Ubi Soft, JoWooD Productions Software AG, Namco Hometek Inc., Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. and Crave Entertainment filed by Wednesday's deadline to bid in the Aug. 14 auction." Their specific targets weren't revealed, but it's easy to speculate that companies such as Turbine might be interested in the Heroes Of Might And Magic license - other assets up for sale include High Heat Baseball and Army Men.

mr.crutch writes "Few details are available, but CNet is reporting that IBM has filed counterclaims against SCO. CNet also has an interview with Red Hat CEO Matthew Szulik..." Jizzbug writes "Thanks to the folks of K5, we can all obtain our rights to use the Linux kernel from SCO, and without paying up to SCO's extortion. If kernel.org kernels aren't safe, sco.com kernels certainly ought to be." LWN has a copy of SCO's Linux License for your perusal. Bruce Perens is speaking of the dangers of patent portfolios to open source software, notable because IBM's counterclaims include patent infringement. And finally, a company is selling SCO Check, a tool to de-SCOify your Linux system, if SCO ever presents any evidence whatsoever of infringing code in Linux. Update: 08/08 00:16 GMT by T : SCO's public response to IBM's counterclaim is short and to the point. Among other things, it says "If IBM were serious about addressing the real problems with Linux, it would offer full customer indemnification and move away from the GPL license." Given the other links in this story, perhaps SCO should go first on that count.

Carpoolio writes "TechTV is continuing its good coverage of the RIAA attack on file swappers, and now they've gone to Australia to interview Nikki Hemming, CEO of Sharman Networks (Kazaa). It's supposedly one of the only TV interviews she's ever done, and Hemming has some interesting things to say about Hilary Rosen and the RIAA, and the future of Kazaa, but without revealing too much. In TechTV's story (part of a three-part series), they've pitted the two against each other, using a recent interview they did with Rosen. Streaming video of the Rosen interview is included on the site."

devn2k writes "At the first annual WiFi Shootout at DefCon in Las Vegas, Adversarial Science Lab won the contest to shoot a wireless signal across the Nevada desert, with a distance of 35.2196 miles. The antenna was built from metal poles, window screen mesh, cardboard, duct tape, and aluminum foil! According to the official contest page, the antenna was designed the night before the contest, its component parts were purchased for $98 at Home Depot, and the next day it was built completely from scratch in the desert, on the side of the mountain, in the rain."

Thanks to several readers for pointing out the Yahoo-hosted press release announcing a development relationship between BioWare Corp. and Obsidian Entertainment, notable because Obsidian is headed by Feargus Urquhart, ex-head of Interplay's Black Isle Studios, and someone who helped bring Icewind Dale and Planetscape:Torment to life, as well as working with BioWare to publish the Baldur's Gate series. Urquhart commented that "A collaboration with BioWare gives Obsidian the opportunity to explore development projects on established game franchises with proven technology and brand loyalty from the fan community."

An anonymous reader writes "A long time ago, in what feels like a different universe, Cyrix created the first sub-$1000 PC based on a 2 chip solution called the Media-GX. Soon after National Semiconductor bought Cyrix, keeping the Media-GX team and selling the 686MX team to VIA. In the meantime, the Media-GX team have created the a series of single chip PCs, and a totally new CPU, the GX2. Now National Semiconductor is selling the division to AMD, which should give it a higher profile and better fab technology again." Reader jlouderb reminds us of National Semiconductor's Device Girls promotion, "a lame take-off on the Spice Girls," and points to coverage at eWeek of the purchase.

The Night Watchman writes "Italian scientists have produced the world's first horse clone, according to Yahoo News. Racing is likely to become slightly more interesting in the coming years..."

walterbyrd quotes: "'We believe it is necessary for Linux customers to properly license SCO's IP if they are running Linux 2.4 kernel and later versions for commercial purposes. The license insures that customers can continue their use of binary deployments of Linux without violating SCO's intellectual property rights.' SCO will be offering an introductory license price of $699 for a single CPU system through October 15th, 2003." Update: 08/05 18:24 GMT by M : After October 15, SCO says they'll want $1399. Better buy now!

Nimey writes "IBM has gotten Linux certified under the Common Criteria specification. " What this means is that government can consider Linux when making purchasing decisions. Linux got the highest rating possible.

Boone^ writes "The New York Times has an article (free reg. req.) talking about Cray Inc.'s recent resurgence in the realm of supercomputing. It discusses a bit of Cray's decline when the Cold War ended, "the occupation" under SGI, and the rebirth of the company after the Tera (now Cray Inc.) purchase. Recently Cray Inc. has been shipping their vector-based Cray X1 machine, designing ASCI Red Storm, and recently was one of 3 (also Sun, IBM) to win a large DARPA contract (PDF link) to design and develop a PetaFlops machine by 2010. Could Cray Inc. be poised for a comeback? Wall Street seems to think so."

An anonymous reader writes "Red Hat has released a PR Newswire article stating that it intends to sue SCO Group to prove that it doesn't infringe any of SCO's intellectual property regarding the Red Hat Linux platform, and to hold it accountable for its actions and smear campaign. They've also announced the creation of a legal fund, to which they've pledged $1M US dollars to fight complaints such as these, called the 'Open Source Now' fund."

Quite a number of people have been submitting the news that Ximian has been purchased by Novell. All I've found so far is the press release linked to above; more links as they come in. Looks like Nat & Miguel will be remaining around, and Novell's continuing to expand its Open Source commitments. Update: 08/04 17:30 GMT by S : viewstyle writes "According to an interview with Ximian's CTO Miguel de Icaza at Eweek.com, Ximian won't be affected at all by Novell's buyout, and will be shipping a PowerPC version of Mono (preview release in Sept)."

MindNumbingOblivion writes "Wireless technology has revolutionized access to local area networks when one can't always be close to an ethernet jack. But a recent research paper from the French Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique tells how one slow user accessing a hot point can hurt the whole group. Apparently the very nature of CSMA/CD guarantees such anomalies. Here's the story, and here's the release from CNRS (in French)."

tjones2 writes "Seems like Microsoft isn't content with sad state of email these days. They now want to "make engaging with communities easier and friendlier". This means extending their reach into Usenet." Fortunately most of Usenet is such a cespool that really they can only make it better. And after cornering the market on email worms, imagine the benefits they can bring to NNTP!

steelem writes "The Washington Post is running a story about how the F-22 Raptor's software requires in-flight reboots. Apparently the 2 million line software project is 93% done. Knowing most projects I've been on, it'll stay that way for another few years."

Richard Finney writes "Yahoo News is reporting that the Chinese government is supporting an effort to develop a homegrown standard, called 'AVS,' for compressing digital audio and video in order to avoid paying royalties on proprietary compression schemes. The AVS groups website is online but in Chinese."

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to an Eidos press release discussing major changes to the Tomb Raider franchise. Following the recent resignation of the managing director of Tomb Raider developers Core Design, seemingly due to the disappointing reception for Tomb Raider:Angel Of Darkness, Eidos has announced that "...in recognition of the Company's need continually to enhance the value and maximize the commercial opportunity of one of its key franchises, for which all intellectual property rights belong to Eidos, the Board has concluded that it will transfer development of the franchise to its Crystal Dynamics studio in the U.S." Crystal Dynamics are probably best known for the recent titles in the Legacy Of Kain series, so it'll be interesting to see what they make of the latterly lackluster Tomb Raider franchise.

ctrimble writes "A bunch of folks on the pragprog Yahoo! Group have banded together to design and implement a 'pragmatic' programming language. Ostensibly, the language is informed by the principles in Hunt and Thomas's well-received book, The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master but the purpose of the language is to help ease some of the pain of development and bridge the impedance mismatch between the academic aspects of a programming language and the discipline of software engineering. The design is still very much in flux. If you're a programmer, this might be a language you'll be using in a few years (or earlier). This is your chance to get in on the ground floor. What kind of features do you want the language to have? What are your PL pain points? Where could this language do better than existing languages?"