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They like it fast in Asia

Author: JT Smith

Wired: “While most mobile phone users in the world don’t have 3G services, 1.2 million Koreans have been enjoying it for a year.”

Defend your Mac from remote attacks

Author: JT Smith

SeattleTimes: “This column covers remote attacks in which
someone elsewhere on the Internet tries to break into your machine. The next column will discuss
how to secure data in transit.

Mac OS 9 and earlier systems have remained impregnable to all direct forms of attack, and so far,
Mac OS X remains intact. OS X relies on a traditional Unix installation as its base, but Apple wisely
puttied shut the openings in OS X where the worst offenders in the Unix operating system tend to
attack.”

Category:

  • Unix

OpenUNIX 8 & Unixware possible local root

Author: JT Smith

Net-Security.org: “Another dt series bug…”

Category:

  • Linux

SAIR Linux and GNU demonstrate their commitment to the open source community

Author: JT Smith

LinuxPR: “For the third consecutive show, SAIR Linux and GNU’s partnership
with IDG was a huge success. As the leading developer of vendor neutral training curriculum and
certification materials for open source software, SAIR Linux and GNU offered free Linux review
sessions and free certification testing at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo event which took
place at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. SAIR Linux and GNU served as the official Certification
Sponsor for the August 27 thru August 30 event, which welcomed more than 18,000 attendees
and 180 exhibitors.”

A cold look at chilled speech

Author: JT Smith

Wired: The author of a new book on copyright legislation warns, “It’s very clear that reckless copyright enforcement can chill speech. The message of my book is that we’ve gone too far.”‘

Category:

  • Linux

We’ll fork the web to keep it Free – Perens

Author: JT Smith

The Register: “Free software developers are ready and willing to take up the challenge of creating open web
standards, if the W3C implements royalty-bearing licenses.

So says open source leader Bruce Perens, in one of the first responses to our Q and A with the man
steering the W3C’s patent policy, Danny Weitzner, where the issue of a forked WWW was raised.”

Changes to the NetBSD packages collection in August

Author: JT Smith

BSDToday: “The Package of the Month award goes to ipw (pkgsrc/net/ipw), nominated by David Brownlee, it being the tool you’ve always needed when trying
to resolve hostnames (either backwards or forwards). I totally agree with David on this one. Honourable mention goes to dict-client, nominated by
Bill Squier, part of a client-server dictionary suite, which can access DICT servers from the command line.”

Category:

  • Unix

Open Source broadcaster calls for political action

Author: JT Smith

LinuxPR: “Jeff Gerhardt co-host of The Linux Show stated the position of the organization, “In the past, here
at The Linux Show we have been very bothered by the apparent lack of political acumen by
members of our own community. We often talked a good fight, but when push comes to shove, it
seems we were more willing to complain than stand our ground and fight for a political principle.
During the last month our country experienced a great tragedy. One of the outcomes of that
tragedy appears to be an overall maturing of the nation (and our community), and a desire to
express political will.”

Word to the wise: gwp

Author: JT Smith

LinuxPlanet: “I will be honest with you: when it comes right down to it, I hate compiling applications in Linux.

Yes, yes, I know that the ability to compile our own applications on our own operating system is one of the Greatest Things Ever. And that I
would be an idiot to decry this unique ability found in Linux and its UNIX cousins. Compiling an application is, pound for pound, the best way of
installing an application on your PC because of the wonderful stability gained from an application customized to your environment.”

Category:

  • Linux

iPAQ on Linux

Author: JT Smith

LinuxJournal: “James Gettys, co-inventor of the X Window System, who now works on the iPAQ handheld system and maintains the handhelds.org site, emphasizes the power of the tiny machine.

“Our view is that the iPAQ is just a computer that happens to have a touch-screen and stylus. We shouldn’t think of it as a little thing on the end of a dongle. You have serious compute capability, significant
amounts of memory. For the first time you don’t have to view this thing as something that is divorced and different”, he said. “It’s a full-fledged computer that happens to fit in your hand.”