LinuxDevices offers a sneak preview of IBM’s TechMobile, a Ford Explorer outfitted with two computers that will demonstrate the advanced capabilities of Big Blue’s Linux and Java technologies. The public will be able to get a closer look at the TechMobile next week, at LinuxWorld Expo in San Francisco.

ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/alan/2.4/ — Intermediate diffs are available from http://www.bzimage.org.

o       Update ISDN cvs idents                          (Kai Germaschewski)
o       Update isdn experimental idents                 (Kai Germaschewski)
o       Add Compaq Phoenix 4.06 to irqsafe APM          (Arjan van de Ven)
o       Remove rockridge printk generating too much     (Mikael Pettersson)
        debug output
o       Add a needed include of delay.h                 (Arjan van de Ven)
o       Revert access DAC change                        (me)
        | Breaks in some cases
o       ARM documentation, credits, maintainer updates  (Russell King)
o       Atyfb build fixups                              (Stelian Pop)
o       Configure.help merges                           (Steven Cole)
o       Initial merge of dpt_i2o.c              (Deanna Bonds, Bob Pasteur, 
                                                 Karen White, Mark Salyzyn)
o       Teach i2o_core to skip dpt cards                (me)
o       Sony Pi driver update                           (Stelian Pop)

“Many readers started their objections with the premise that migrating to Linux would mean
giving up Microsoft Office and running 100 percent native Linux applications. There are a
variety of tools you can use to run Windows applications on Linux, but for the sake of
argument, I’d like to accept this premise: Total commitment to Linux is really the best way to
go in the long run.” More at InfoWorld.com.

From Interactive Week: “The world’s first unmanned plane intended as a telecom tower in the sky is
attracting interest as a new way to get broadband Internet connections to
businesses.

Helios, an aircraft resembling a giant wing, was built with funding and research
help from NASA, and has flown successfully. Backers claim its transmission
services will be far cheaper than satellites and more efficient than wireless towers.”

“It may be true that one swallow doesn’t make a summer. But equally, sometimes, the first swallow
doesn’t appear until summer is well under way. The 5% gain in Microsoft’s webserver market share
at the expense of Apache is distressing, but if anything, overdue. Apache is like the cartoon
character that has walked off the edge of a cliff a while ago, and has just looked down.” More at LinuxToday.

LinuxPR: “The LinuxFreak Staff are pleased to announce the re-launch of the
popular X Desktops Section, a section of LinuxFreak which collects and
archives X-Desktop Screenshots contributed by users.”

BBC: “The first thing you notice about Windows XP is how
bright everything is. The dull tones familiar from previous
incarnations of Windows have been replaced with a
bright blue that makes a jarring contrast with the green
start button.

The second thing you notice is how empty the desktop,
or main screen, has become.”

The Register: “The famous Rand Organization, a putatively non-partisan think tank, has come out
in favor of using face-scanning technology to violate the privacy of the innocent
masses in search of — you guessed it — terrorists and pedophiles, the two most
detested fringe-groups on the planet.”

An anonymous reader writes: “Some info about the two latest P2P programs to emerge in the wake of Napster’s shutdown.

http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/2001/newp2p.htm l“

BBC: “The bill was quietly passed by South Africa’s Cabinet
last month, largely catching the public unawares.

It provides for state monitoring of all telecommunications
systems, including mobile phones, internet and e-mail,
once permission has been granted by relevant
authorities.”