Apple has updated the iBook/Mini product lines, increasing standard RAM to 512MB on all models. Contrary to many rumors, the new iBooks do not sport widescreen. All iBooks and two of the now three Mac Minis contain AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth. My take: Not a word on better harddrives in the Mini Macs, which is something I personally hoped for.

Everyone wants a quick boot time, from the beginner user to the advanced user, this is a issue that bothers us all. As Linux has advanced it has increasingly become slower to boot. So I decided to look into reducing the time it takes to boot my current setup, which is Fedora 4. In doing so I was able to reduce the boot time of my Fedora 4 installation to less than 25 seconds.

The first release of BSD divert sockets for Linux 2.6 kernels has been completed and may be downloaded here.

A blog entry by Jure Repinc tells us about some of the new features in KDE 3.5 which according to this schedule isn't quite finished yet. Amongs other things, there will be a Storage Media Notification dialog and some more eye candy in Kicker.

Dave Solomon of Sysinternals was experimenting about how many services are necessary for at least basic funtionality of Windows. What he discovered, however is that Windows can be perfectly used for almost all basic use, such as web browsing or running aplications, without any services running. In his article he explains how to achieve this. Apparently even Microsoft's own vice president of the Core Operating Systems Division was surprised about this.

The iPod, more than any other single product from Apple, has changed the company and the world. Before its introduction MP3 players were the realm of small companies with limited budgets and no content. After the iPod the entire industry has evolved and grown to the point where the largest computer companies in the world have major interests in the digital music industry. Read the history of the iPod at Braeburn.

Network stack developer Andre Opperman appeals to the FreeBSD community to support three months of full time work. The primary focus will be to optimize the IP network stack and estimates a potential perfomance increase of 40-50%.

If you're interested in PBX systems or Virtual Private Servers, there's an interesting article on using Virtual Private Servers to secure and even run multiple instances of Asterisk (open source PBX software) on one machine. It's like running a small telco in a box!

IBMs Eclipse based Agent Building and Learning Environment (ABLE) enables developers to build intelligent Java agents on Linux using machine reasoning and implement their own AbleBeans and AbleAgents and plug them into ABLE’s Agent Editor. Version 2.3 includes a new Eclipse plug-in administration console for distributed agent platform, an updated Eclipse rule and agent editors, a new PetriNet agent, and an updated example project.

Read this article to learn how to use UTIs effectively in your application, to manage file types and take advantage of key Mac OS X technologies. Also, read this article to learn how building Automator actions and workflows can create new sales opportunities.

"I invite everyone interested to join the Utnubu Team. Utnubu stands for doing what Ubuntu does, just the other way around: We want to take the things Ubuntu does and that are missing in Debian, and - where appliciable - put them in Debian."

Readers of The Reg have found disturbing evidence that Apple's HQ in Cupertino might soon disappear from the face of the earth. They also found strong evidence that London will vanish too, while the Twin Towers are supposed to reappear shortly.

Yahoo has acquired software "widget" engine Konfabulator in a move to spur third-party developers to devise new applications for the Internet giant's services. Yahoo plans to run the widgets via XML feeds.

The Indigo and Avalon Beta1 "RC" enables developers to continue experimenting with early builds of these technologies, get acquainted with the development experience, and provide Microsoft with feedback.