From ZDNet UK: “Will consumers buy the concept of getting phone calls to
remind them of pizza coupons whenever they’re near a
store? Big Brother is proving to be a tough sell. While location-based
advertising services for wireless devices have a great deal of
potential, the pesky little fact that customers value their
privacy could slow adoption of the technology.”

BizJournals reports: “After taking a beating on Wall Street for most of the last year, VA Linux Systems Inc. may finally be winning over skeptics who have questioned the company’s ability to make money over a product that is essentially free.” VA Linux owns NewsForge.

LinuxPlanet’s Michael Hall takes a look at the next generation of Emacs: “I’ve spent a few days playing around with this release now, and, having struggled to read the change summary past around line
2000, I can only say that the Emacs sitting on my desktop today is different. How different is dependent on the user, but that
incredible customizability is obviously still there, and fairly easy to take advantage of for making some interesting changes to the
way Emacs works.”

The latest version of MySQL is now available. A complete list of changes can be found at LinuxToday; download at MySQL.com.

From BBspot: “A recent survey of Linux users found that the two main factors in their migration to Linux was its stability and that it made them feel intellectually superior. Developers promise that along with USB support there will be increased intellectual superiority in the upcoming 2.4 kernel release AKA the “Hubris” kernels.”

Dr. Dobbs’ latest weekly edition of Tcl news and links is now available at LinuxToday.

Dr Dobb’s latest weekly edition of Python news and links is now available at LinuxToday.

At LinuxToday: Alan Cox has posted the latest notes and patch for Linux kernel 2.4.0-test13-pre3-ac1.

The Register notes that Intel and Rambus are in the process of enlarging their legal staffs: “Now why on Earth would Intel and Rambus both be keen to add more heavyweight legal eagles? Could it be mere coincidence?”

From Anandtech: “…arguably the most important part of your computer has seen very little coverage in terms of Linux testing. In this round, we consider Pentium III chispets saving an Athlon comparison for a future article. The three chipsets are the old, but still potent Intel BX chipset, represented by the Asus CUBX, the modern, on-board video sporting Intel 815 chipset, represented by the popular Asus CUSL2 and the outsider, VIA’s Apollo Pro 133A, represented by QDI’s Advance 10.”