An unnamed reader writes, “Alex Young talks about Jabber, an open and free messenger to put an end to AOL/ICQ’s hegemony at binaryfreedom.com.” The article’s here.

Avatar writes “Hello! Just wanted to drop you a line and let you know that Evil3D has posted a review of DragonLinux. DragonLinux is a Slackware based distribution which runs on your Windows FAT, in more ways than one.

The full review is available right here“

PCWorld reports that Bluetooth for the consumer has arrived. Rather, it will arrive in February. In Japan. Called the i-Point, the device will ship with new notebook computers as a remote control unit for checking e-mail, and more importantly, cranking up the volume on your MP3 connection without having to touch your computer.

LWN.net: “A security bug in wu-ftpd can permit remote users, even without
an account, to gain root access. The new version closes the hole.”

Update now via LWN.net to fix a problem with the rpc.statd daemon in earlier versions.

LPRng has a string format bug in use_syslog that could create local and/or remote root vulnerability issue. Details at LWN.net.

From InfoWorld: “Last November, SuSE released its Linux 7.0 for the PowerPC platform, a high-quality distribution that earned a score of Very Good in our testing. In fact, we found the product to be superior in some ways to SuSE’s parallel offering for Intel platforms.”

ZDNet’s Bob Currier talks about the unique IT situation of a single university, and how they were able to use Linux and an inexpensive traffic monitor to take a closer look at bandwidth usage.

When they’re not busy handing out certificates for single mouse clicks, the patent office manages to squeeze in time for something that’s new and original. A company in San Francisco has devised a way to make electronics smaller without sacrificing battery life or generating additional heat in the process. MSNBC reports.

“Independent technology consultant” Cory W. Matthews says ” I hope the “demise of Windows” soothsayers are talking about the server market and not the desktop, because Linux has a long way to go on this one.” Check the bottom of the page for the usual comments from the friendly and thoughtful Linux faithful.