An anonymous reader writes: “LinuxDevices.com has just published an update to their popular guide to smart devices and embedded widgets with linux inside. It’s got over 30 devices in five categories. Check it out! Pictures, ‘under the hood’ details, lots of great info. Find it here: The Embedded Linux “Cool Devices” Quick Reference Guide. Oh, and while you’re there, you might also want to read the: Linux-PDA and PDA-Linux Quick Reference Guide.”

Wired: “Java? Easy. Perl? Even easier. That’s the verdict from kids at Longfellow Middle School in Berkeley, California, who are learning to program. Reporter Katie Dean and Multimedia Producer Jeremy Barna pay a visit to one of the top middle school computer science programs in the country.”

AP at Yahoo: “The bursting of the Internet bubble knocked a number of billionaires
down a peg or two, or off the list entirely. Nevertheless Gates – with
a net worth of $58.7 billion, down from last year’s $60 billion – easily
retained his No. 1 position on Forbes magazine’s 15th annual list of
the world’s billionaires.”

– by Tina Gasperson –
In a terse statement at his Web site, the founder of ArsDigita lets the world know that its really over.The statement reads: “ArsDigita Corporation and Philip Greenspun have amicably settled all of their disputes to the mutual best interests of the parties involved. As a result of
the settlement, Greenspun has resigned from ArsDigita’s Board of Directors and will exercise no ongoing management or stockholder control. The
Company and Greenspun have entered into a confidentiality agreement with respect to the terms of the settlement.”

Greenspun was forced out of the company when venture capitalists took control of the organization and Greenspun disagreed with the direction in which they were taking ArsDigita.

Greenspun wrote an extremely long account of his side of the story followed by copies of sympathetic emails, (cached here for a limited time) which was replaced by the statement sometime in the last week.

highlander writes: “A server is design and constructed differently from a PC. The main considerations for server design are the need to handle sustained loads for long periods of time and to monitor and manage the machine.”

LinuxSecurity: “This week, advisories were released for Apache, fetchmail, xinetd, gnupg, rxvt, kdelibs, exim, ispell, webmin,
and w3m. The vendors include Conectiva, Debian, Immunix, Mandrake, Red Hat, and TurboLinux. There are
many buffer overflow type vulnerabilites this week. Keeping the most current packages installed is a good way
to reduce the risk of being vulnerable.”

An anonymous reader writes: “Boasting a staggering speed of 16x, the PlexWriter PX-W1610TA is a far cry from yo momma’s first generation 2X CD-RW optical devices. Plextor has once again done it. Read the full review at: http://www.linuxlookup.com/html/reviews/drives/ple xtor-16_10_40.html“

highlander writes “The application server marketplace is teeming with multiple brands offering a range of features. Selecting the right one that will suit your organization best can be a tricky issue. So, how do you tackle this?”

Kelly McNeill writes “Apple has a treasure trove of canceled products buried in its backyard and doesn’t even realize it. The company that “thinks different” has created a lot of worthwhile products that have been discontinued or abandoned for unknown or unstated reasons. The Mac users who enjoyed these products have sometimes petitioned Apple to revive them — only to be disappointed. Apple apparently sees no reason why these products should be revived.”

The Globe and Mail reports that Bill Gates is back on top of Forbe’s list of the world’s wealthiest people, and this time he’s well ahead.