"It's possible to mistake Apple Computer's new 12-inch PowerBook G4 for its own manual -- the foam envelope that protects the laptop in the box is only a little longer and wider than the plastic pouch for the documentation. About 11 inches wide, 85/8 inches deep and less than a quarter-inch thick, this PowerBook is the smallest laptop Apple has ever built, and at 4.6 pounds it's almost its lightest." Read the pretty good review at WashingtonPost. Expect my review this week too.

The XDarwin project announces that a hardware-accelerated version 4.3 is on the horizon which contains significant font integration functionality with Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar.

Shellie writes: "If you've ever needed a functional Linux setup that is portable and runs the same way on any hardware, then take a look at this article at IBM's developerWorks Linux Zone. Knoppix packages a specialized and highly useful Linux distribution on a single, bootable CDROM. Whether you're packaging up demo programs or need a consistent hardware test environment that fits in your pocket, Knoppix is a small distribution that solves big problems."

This late December 2002 article compares PalmOS and the PocketPC operating systems and their applications, in the ease of use department. Adding Qtopia-under-Linux to the mix, which PDA have you found to be the easiest to use?

PalmSource, the operating system subsidiary of handheld company Palm, cut 18 percent of its work force this week. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company laid off employees from all divisions within the company, according to Gabi Schindler, PalmSource's senior vice president of marketing. Schindler declined to comment on the specific number of employees let go but OSNews learned that some ex-Be engineers were also among the unlucky ones.

According to Brian Stevens, Red Hat's director of engineering, version 2.4 is limited to 2 terabytes of storage, but the 2.6 Linux kernel will push the envelope much farther. Read the article at NewsFactor.

File systems need to change. Current file systems are horribly out-of-touch with the realities of what users need to effectively find, organize, and modify their vast quantities of files. Unfortunately, no major consumer OS vendor (Microsoft, Apple, various Linux distos, etc.) has had the foresight, the will, and most of all, the cajones to implement anything more elaborate than a small departure from the standard hierarchical name-space which we all grew up on and should rightfully deplore. Worst of all, the best suggestions for changing the current entrenched standard are incredibly toothless, incredibly feeble.

"Redhat released version 8.1 Beta 2 on January 20, 2003 and I have been running it since January 25th. In fact, the SpeedyLinux web site has been running on it for over a week. Based on this beta, I believe that Redhat 8.1 will be an excellent distribution due to its easy installation, comprehensive hardware detection, anticipated stability, high level of maturity, comprehensive documentation, and support options." SpeedyLinux previews Red Hat 8.1b2. The author previewed Yoper a few days ago too.

The eighth issue of the Lycoris Community Newsletter is now available. Included in this issue is an extended look at the all-new Lycoris GamePak and an interview with Brian Masinick, one of Lycoris' Product Support Services personnel, as well as all the latest Lycoris press articles and news.

Over at Unix.se they've published an interview with Dennis Ritchie (inventor of C, co-creator of Unix).

"The launch of the latest edition of the Gnome desktop software for Linux and Unix operating systems marks a new attitude among its developers: Integration is key." BusinessWeek carries the story.

Some programmers see the advantage of combining Python and Objective-C in the same environment, believing that a bridge between the two languages provides tremendous power and advantages to either language. For the Objective-C developer, access to Python provides a rapid application-development solution that's far more efficient than one requiring a compiler. For the Python developer, transparent access to Objective-C would allow the developer's scripts to leverage the full power and elegance of the MacOSX environment. In this article, Bill Bumgarner shows you how to bring these worlds together.

The Free and Open Source Software Developers' Meeting is this weekend in Brussels, and they're published several more interviews with event contributors: Harald Welte about netfilter/iptables, Solar Designer about Openwall GNU/*/Linux, Yoann Vandoorselaere about Prelude IDS, Thomas Vander Stichele about GStreamer, and Damien Sandras about GnomeMeeting.

MandrakeSoft today announced the immediate release of Mandrake Corporate Server 2.1, a Linux solution that provides large accounts with critical business server functions, plus MandrakeSoft's famous "user friendly" touch. The Corporate Server includes MandrakeClustering tools. The new Corporate Server offers all the tools needed to create a full-featured enterprise network, complete with the latest up-to-date software and security updates.