ZDNet UK reports that Cambridge Silicon Radio, a company manufacturing
Bluetooth solutions, received an investment from Sony.

“The investment will be used to develop BlueCore, its single chip
Bluetooth semiconductor based on a commonly-used microchip
technology called CMOS. CSR says that this makes it simple for
manufacturers to include their technology in their products.”

From PR Web: UnxSoft Ltd. announced today a new version of its Webswift Compressing Web Proxy.Version 1.2 of Webswift now includes compression of images in addition to to the
text and HTML compression that was available in previous versions. Webswift can
be installed at ISPs or at web sites, wherever there is a bottleneck.
Evaluation versions for Linux and Solarisare downloadable from the UnxSoft
website at
http://www.unxsoft.com/webswift.

SFGate.com reviews the current state of patent law: “Disturbingly, however, an increasing number of
patents are being issued that seem to stretch the
definition of “unique, specific and non-obvious.”
Amazon.com, for example, claims through its patents
the exclusive right to let customers buy products from
its Web site with a single click. Other sites must require
two clicks or more.”

– by Tina Gasperson –
If you’re into graphic design, image manipulation, photo-retouching, and the like, you already know that the GIMP is a godsend for visually creative Linuxers. It’s got all the best features of Photoshop, and it’s free. Now, you don’t even have to buy a book to learn how to use it, thanks to Carey Bunks, the author of Grokking the GIMP.Grokking the GIMP is a full text, published on real paper and available through Amazon.com or at your local bookstore. But in the spirit of Open Source, the author and friends have graciously published the tome in its entirety at Gimp-savvy. In some ways, the online version of the book is better than the print. Most notably, the ability to click through on hyperlinked cross-references is fabulous whether you’re boning up on a particular topic, or following a train of thought through the text.

“Grokking” goes deep into the subject matter, leaving little to the imagination. If you read the whole thing, you’re going to learn cool stuff, like optimal video RAM, working with layers and “floats,” selection tools, paths, masks, color blending, composites, rendering, and Web-centricity.

To boot, there’s a short section devoted to other GIMP resources, and one containing a full set of keyboard shortcuts in case you’ve an aversion to using the mechanical rodent.

The book by itself makes the site more than worthwhile. But Gimp-savvy doesn’t stop there. Equally as impressive is the reallllly beeg collection of public domain photographic images available for download. I’ve learned not to be immediately impressed by free graphics collections — seems you get what you pay for most of the time. But these images are good enough to pay for — shhh, don’t tell.

They come from places like NASA, NOAA, and the FWS. The images are clear, bright, and interesting. You could really do something with these. Most of them are indexed according to keyword, but there are also quite a few random images that need indexing — and if you feel froggy and have some free time, you can jump in and help with the job by providing keywords for them.

Before you leave, there’s one more great resource. It’s a collection of book recommendations for further learning about GIMP, and about image manipulation in general. There are annotated links to 34 books, including studies of Photoshop, airbrushing techniques, Web page design, and color harmony.

Go check out Gimp-savvy and let me know what you think. I’m always looking for other sites worthy of the weekly spotlight, so send me your suggestions, too, or post them on the discussion page.

NewsForge editors read and respond to comments posted on our discussion page.

At Businesswire: LinuxWizardry Systems, Inc. (OTCBB:LNXWF) is pleased to announce that it has
signed an agreement with EBIZ Enterprises Inc. (OTCBB:EBIZ) to market LinuxWizardry’s Magic Passage line of products through the
www.TheLinuxStore.com, EBIZ’s Linux B2B web resale company.

Our last update was in December, and I would like to thank you for your interest, here is our current status. Our kernel is almost completed, just some minor finishing touches need to be made. If you are interested in helping with the KyroLinux Project please email dolonen@msn.com today! We will need some ftp server space, but any help you can give will be appreciated. If you are interested in KyroLinux, please visit our Web page or email us for more information. – Submitted by the KyroSoft KyroLinux Team

From PR Newswire: SGI (NYSE: SGI), a leading
provider of solutions for the digital media industry, today announced that the
source code for its digital media software development kit (dmSDK) for the
Linux(R) operating environment is now available to the open source community.
The dmSDK toolkit shortens the time required to create digital media
applications across the SGI(TM) product line by allowing SGI software partners
to write to a single application programming interface (API). The dmSDK source
code is now available for download from SGI’s open source developer Web site
at http://www.sgi.com/developers/oss/.

CNet reports on the consumer electronics show coming up in Las Vegas by saying the PC giants are betting on smaller, cheaper devices: “Nokia plans to announce that it is bringing its advanced set-top box, which uses an Intel chip and the Linux operating system, to the United
States. The Nokia Media Terminal, as the set-top is known, receives digital TV and video-on-demand, can play and store MP3 files, and can
connect to a printer as well as other devices such as a digital camera. The device will also offer high-speed Internet access.”

Tustin, California – January 4 2001 – Loki Software, Inc., the
leading publisher of commercial games for the Linux operating system,
announced today an agreement with developer-driven computer and
videogame publisher Gathering of Developers to bring the hit PC games
Rune and Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.2 to Linux early this year.

Rune, developed by Human Head Studios, was recently released for
Windows and Mac OS to rave reviews. In this 3D heroic-fantasy action
game, players assume the role of Ragnar the Viking, a young warrior
about to enter into manhood and take his rightful place next to his
father as a warrior of his village. The game showcases 43
single-player levels, multiplayer deathmatch and team deathmatch
modes, 21 different multiplayer characters, and 5 multiplayer mutator
modes, among other unique and titillating options. Rune uses an
enhanced version of the Unreal Tournament Engine to offer a new
particle effects system and a new melee-combat focused AI. For more
information on Rune, visit www.runegame.com.

Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.2 by developer Ritual Entertainment is an
intense third-person 3D action-adventure game based on Kevin
Eastman’s Heavy Metal 2000 movie, the sequel to the explosive and
groundbreaking animated film Heavy Metal. Players take on the role of
Julie, the legendary F.A.K.K.2 heroine, and battle against Gith
Industries’ army of freakish and deviant characters in an effort to
save Eden, Julie’s homeworld. Powered by an enhanced version of id
Software’s Quake III Engine, the game features detailed renderings of
indoor and outdoor settings with breathtaking realism. For more
information, visit fakk2.godgames.com.

Loki is now accepting beta tester applications for these exciting
titles. Interested participants should review system requirements on
www.lokigames.com and complete an online registration form at
odin.lokigames.com.

About Loki Software, Inc.
Founded in 1998 in Orange County, California, Loki works with leading
publishers and developers to port their best-selling PC products to
Linux. Game titles from Loki include SimCity 3000 Unlimited, Descent
3, and Soldier of Fortune. In addition to this arsenal of games, Loki
has initiated and continues to support several Open Source
development projects, including OpenAL ™, a cross-platform
3D-Audio Library, and SDL MPEG Player Library (SMPEG), a
general-purpose MPEG video/audio player for Linux. For more
information visit www.lokigames.com.
Loki Contact: Kayt Sorhaindo, press@lokigames.com

About Gathering of Developers
Founded in Dallas, TX in January 1998, Gathering of Developers is a
developer-driven computer and video game publishing company, and a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc
(NASDAQ: TTWO). The company’s mission is to be the worldwide leader
in the development and delivery of commercially successful computer
and video game software designed for a range of platforms. The
company’s pioneering partners are industry leaders and proven hit
makers 3D Realms, Epic Games, PopTop Software, Ritual Entertainment,
Terminal Reality Inc and Edge of Reality. For more information visit
Gathering of Developers Web site at http://www.godgames.com.
Gathering of Developers Contact: Andrea Schneider, (212) 696-2000 or
aschneider@tsicomm.com

Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

ACTON, MA — January 4, 2001 — Open Source Development Network
(OSDN.com), a division of VA Linux Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: LNUX), today
announced that SourceForge.net, the world’s largest ASP for Open
Source developers, now supports over 100,000 registered users. Since
its official launch exactly one year ago, SourceForge.net has expanded
its base of supported projects to more than 13,000, including major
projects such as MySQL, Tcl, Python, XFree86, KDE and Squid. (SourceForge and NewsForge are both owned by VA Linux.)To accommodate the rapid expansion of SourceForge.net, OSDN has added
significant resources to the site, including additional personnel,
bandwidth and VA Linux servers and storage systems. SourceForge.net’s
user base has grown at an average rate of more than 30% per month.

Further, SourceForge.net has entered into a collaborative agreement
with University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill’s online library,
ibiblio (www.ibiblio.org), which will serve as a mirror and partial
ftp site for SourceForge.net. With its roots in the former SunSITE
(SunSITE.unc.edu) and MetaLab (MetaLab.unc.edu), ibiblio.org has
historically played a key role in helping to expand and improve the
archiving of information on the Internet, with a significant library
of Linux and Open Source software.

“The rapid growth of SourceForge.net during its first year of service
demonstrates the growing popularity of the Open Source development
model across a wide range of platforms, as well as the popularity of
the SourceForge toolset,” said John “Tiberius” Hall, vice president of
strategic planning, VA Linux Systems. “By working with ibiblio, we
hope to further improve SourceForge.net’s ability to catalog, archive
and distribute Open Source software and documentation.”

“The compatibility of the goals and key directions of SourceForge.net
and ibiblio, as well as complementary research and service interests,
make this relationship a great boost for the Open Source Community,”
said
ibiblio.org director Paul Jones. “Our relationship with
SourceForge.net
will help us bring the state of contributor-run archives and libraries
to a high level very quickly. There are no limits in sight.”

About ibiblio.org
ibiblio.org, the public’s library, is home to one of the largest
“collections of collections” on the Internet. ibiblio is a conservancy
of freely available information, including software, music, literature,
art, history, science, politics and cultural studies. ibiblio.org is
a collaboration of the Center for the Public Domain, a non-profit
foundation, and the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
(www.unc.edu) with institutional support from the School of Information
and Library Science, the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and
the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Information Technology. Founded
in 1992 as sunsite.unc.edu and known more recently as MetaLab.unc.edu,
ibiblio.org was one of the first sites on the World Wide Web. ibiblio.org
is the home of the Linux Documentation Project (www.linuxdoc.org) as
well as a variety of other information sharing projects.

About OSDN
OSDN (Open Source Development Network), a division of VA Linux Systems,
Inc., is the leading Linux and Open Source destination on the Internet.
OSDN is a network and community outreach organization committed to
accelerating Open Source software development, which also serves as a
gateway for individuals and organizations worldwide to understand and
join
this revolution. Serving over 80 million page impressions to more than
3 million users each month, OSDN includes the leading Open Source sites
for news, information and discussion (Slashdot, NewsForge and
Linux.com),
the largest sites for collaborative Open Source development and support
(SourceForge.net and QuestionExchange), the most popular sites for Open
Source software distribution (Freshmeat.net and Themes.org), online
shopping for technical enthusiasts (ThinkGeek), a new print publication
(Open magazine), and community discussion forums and personalized
content
on the beta site for OSDN.com.

Certain statements in this press release, including statements about
future growth related to SourceForge.net, are forward-looking
statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could
cause results to be materially different from expectations. Such
risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the ability
of VA Linux and OSDN to attract and retain qualified personnel to
perform software development; results of SourceForge.net and
ibiblio.org’s collaborative efforts; industry trends related to Open
Source and Linux; and other risks detailed in VA Linux’s filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which may be
accessed through the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov.
Note: VA Linux Systems, “Open Source Development Network (OSDN),”
SourceForge, Slashdot, Freshmeat, QuestionExchange, ThinkGeek and
NewsForge are trademarks of VA Linux Systems, Inc. Linux is a
registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other trademarks are
property of their respective owners.