From IBM: “IBM is pleased to invite students to participate in the Linux
Scholar Challenge contest, where they can solve real-world
issues and learn how to improve today’s open source
environments.

For this contest, students will select a Linux project; describe
their objectives, methodology, research and results in a
three-page paper; and submit it for evaluation.”

Jan-Oliver Wagner writes “In August 2001 the FreeGIS web portal presents itself
as a modern and comprehensive information platform.
It was started by Intevation in 1999 to promote
Free Software in the field of geographic information
systems. At freegis.org visitors can now search over 125
entries with keywords or browse them by categories.
Information on the evolution of the
projects is tracked and can be inspected.
More: full press release.”

Anonymous Reader writes “Embedded Linux is currently the third most popular embedded operating system — behind Wind River’s VxWorks and Microsoft’s MS-DOS — and may leap-frog into the #1 position as soon as next year, according to a new report on embedded software trends published last month by software market analyst Evans Data Corporation. Read about it and take a look at the trend graphs at LinuxDevices.com…”

LinuxNews Team writes: “Tfuj.slack project has released unofficial Ximian GNOME 1.4 packages for Slackware. Contents of this set of packages is almost 100% the same as for other linux distributions. You can find there Nautilus file manager, Abi Word word processor, Gnumeric spreadsheet, GIMP and lot more… It stands to reason that Ximian RedCarpet is not included, because it still doesn’t handle with tgz packages. More on linuxnews.pl“

LogError writes: “This paper describes how some HTML browsers can be tricked through the use of HTML forms into sending more or less arbitrary data to any TCP port. This can be used to send commands to servers using ASCII based protocols like SMTP, NNTP, POP3, IMAP, IRC, and others. By sending HTML email to unsuspecting users or using a trojan HTML page, an attacker might be able to send mail or post Usenet News through servers normally not accessible to him. In special cases an attacker might be able to do other harm, e.g. deleting mail from a POP3 mailbox.

Read more” (ed. note: this article is only available in a .pdf file.)

Anonymous Reader writes: “UK webserver company pushes 3 Gbit/Sec from a single box !!

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/5/21098.html“

The Register: “Heart Attack?” The PFY asks, naming the number one killer of IT managers.

“Yep, Apparently the old ticker gave out when he overexerted himself.”

“Refilling the paper tray on the printer?” The PFY asks, trying to find an explanation for our Boss’s inability to perform such a simple task (outside of the obvious – he’s a lazy bastard).

“No, even more exertion than that!” I respond. “

CNET: “Already contending with a weak advertising market, Web publishers have another beast to worry about: Gator.

The software company, known for hawking pop-up ads that let companies advertise on rival sites, is working a new variation on the theme–selling ads designed to block banners on sites such as Yahoo with pop-ups of the exact same dimensions, completely obscuring the original ad. The pop-ups hover over the banners even when the Web visitor scrolls down the page, making it even more difficult to discern that the visible ad is a substitute.”

BBC: “Mr Zuckerman, 28, founded Geekcorps in 2000 after he sold his brainchild internet business, Tripod, to Lycos in 1998 for $58m. Sporting cowboy boots and long blond hair, he looks every part the counterculture techie associated with dot.com businesses. “

The Register: “The US government has activated ASCI White, the world’s fastest supercomputer.

This IBM machine costs $110m and simulates the effects of nuclear detonations. Shouldn’t taxpayers be concerned: surely it’s cheaper to blow up the occasional Pacific atoll? What with global warming, and rising sea levels, they’re all doomed, anyhow.”