NandoTimes: “Sales of Beanie Babies and Pez dispensers on the eBay Web site were stilled Wednesday as the auction service went down for hours.”

The Linux community may be eagerly awaiting the final release of
the 2.4 kernel, but it is already putting together a wish list for the
next major development kernel — version 2.5. ZDNET.co.uk reports.

CNET reports: “When the mammoth Consumer Electronics Show kicks off Saturday in Las Vegas, household names in the PC world, such as
Microsoft and Intel, will take center stage. To be sure, the biggest consumer electronics names will be there too, but the energy this
year will largely be supplied by PC makers.

PC executives will use the four-day trade show to hawk new products and preview future ones. They will
also dominate the speeches. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and Intel chief executive Craig Barrett will
deliver keynote addresses; Palm and America Online executives are also slated to address the show.”

dave_aiello writes: “Recently, I have been coming up to speed using Linux as my primary desktop operating system. An indication of the success of this process is that I decided I needed to double the disk space on my Dell Inspiron from 12 to 25 gigabytes. This article discusses the stumbling blocks in the upgrade process, including large hard disk partitioning, and PC Card Services configuration. I tried to point out presumptions that are present in most Linux configuration and system administration books. I also discussed some good and bad experiences with parts of the Linux Documentation Project.

“It’s a unique application that has attracted some
impressive investors, including Sun Microsystems and Cox Cable, which
collectively have sunk $30 million into Expertcity. For now, the company won’t
reveal revenues, but Von Blottnitz predicts Expertcity will be profitable within
16 months and has enough cash on hand to hold out longer than that.” BusinessWeek reports.

From MSNBC: “Teenage computer ‘hackers’
will play cyber policemen to help an Indian
panel tackle Internet crimes, a top software
industry official said on Wednesday.”

LWN posts the latest Eazel newsletter: “We hope you enjoy the January edition of the Eazel Newsletter. This
newsletter is our way of keeping you informed about the latest Nautilus
news, the GNOME Project, and community efforts to make computers easier
to use.”

From BusinessWire: “The new features in v6.0 for UNIX as well as the enhancements to Visual SlickEdit’s core features are aimed at increasing development productivity. Visual
SlickEdit provides a common look and feel across platforms and development environments. Developers have a standard coding environment whether they are
programming in UNIX or across multiple platforms.”

LWN reports: “The current development kernel release is 2.4.0-prerelease. Linus announced the prerelease on
Sunday, December 31st, his last official action for the year 2000. This will be the only prerelease; he
promises that the next release will be 2.4.0. There will be a period of time before that release, of course,
both for bug-fixes and to allow non-Intel architectures to “catch up” to all the latest features and fixes.”

Bruce Perens: “Well, it’s been about a year and a half, and unfortunately Technocrat.net has not flourished. I take the
blame, I’ve not had enough time to run the site, and plans to fund a professional staff for the site fell
through. Readership has gone low enough that there’s no longer much reason to keep the site alive.
Thus, I will no longer be accepting new articles or comments, and will take the site down in a week or
so.”