project developing a free Linux distribution for x86-based network appliances has achieved a new release with some intriguing wireless access point features. Zeroshell 1.0.beta8 lets one physical radio support multiple logical SSIDs, each with a different encryption and authentication scheme, VLAN, and function (client/AP).

Free router distro gains wild WiFi features

The Simpsons has been dropped from morning TV in Venezuela after being deemed unsuitable for children - and has been replaced by Baywatch.

duh!

Simpsons ditched by Venezuelan TV

This is the RFL remote based on the Nordic nRF24L01 2.4GHz chipset. This remote uses a PIC18F2321 to read all the buttons and joystick and has a transmission distance of over 40m. The remote can be completely reprogrammed and modified. The exposed connector brings out the programming pins and the UART on the PIC! Remote is fully FCC certified and uses four AAA batteries. A perfect remote for your next wireless control project!

Ok this is driving me nuts... I have so many ideas for PIC projects it is driving me nuts...

RFL remote based on the Nordic nRF24L01 2.4GHz chipset...

The recent report by Gartner, the State of Open Source 2008 (http://www.gartner.com/; report G00156659), as summarized on their site provides some very interesting conclusions:

1. By 2013, a majority of Linux deployments will have no real software TCO advantage over other operating systems.

2. By 2012, 90% of enterprises will use open source either direct or embedded.

3. By 2011, open source will dominate software infrastructure for cloud-based providers.

4. By 2012, software as a service (SaaS) will eclipse open source as the preferred enterprise IT cost cutting method.

The State of Open Source 2008

OOXML needs to die. It's clear that OOXML is a faux standard -- not because it's a vendor standard. There are lots of vendor-created standards which are real standards (e.g. PostScript). No, OOXML is a botch because it's expressed in terms of an undocumented Microsoft graphics library. OOXML is all "and then a miracle occurs". You've seen that cartoon, right? Where the left and right sides of the blackboard are filled with equations, and the blank space in the middle says "and then a miracle occurs". Well, when there's a miracle required, there's no science even if the miracle is surrounded by scientific-seeming accoutrement. A standard which is expressed in terms of miracles is still a miracle and not a standard.

Any standards body that approves OOXML needs to blush. Any company which submits OOXML as a standard needs to blush.

Microsoft needs to blush

The Navy will acquire only systems based on open technologies and standards.

Vice Adm. Mark Edwards, deputy chief of naval operations for communications, broke the news March 5 to a Navy IT Day audience in Vienna, Va., sponsored by AFCEA International.

“The days of proprietary technology must come to an end,” he said. “We will no longer accept systems that couple hardware, software and data

Listen up Sam... Fed take note!

Navy to focus only on open systems

I suspect an Apple-Google partnership could outfox the Microsoft-Yahoo hairball, and that the Safari-iTunes-Android trifecta looks pretty interesting as the new client platform. What do you think?

iPhone: Are iPhone and Air the Beginning of the End?

Congressional Quarterly (03/09/08); Harkness, Peter

Governing magazine Editor and Publisher Peter Harkness reports there is concern that the federal government is attempting to dictate what policies states, counties, and cities must follow to meet national challenges rather than letting lower-level governments pursue such goals independently. "The White House intergovernmental office is a sham--a purely political operation manned by junior aides whose sole interest is promoting the administration's policies, and not at all about working with state or local officials to solve problems," Harkness writes. "Washington lobbyists now are working for more centralization, with the idea that their industries can cut a better deal at the federal level and avoid a patchwork of statutes and regulations." National League of Cities Director Don Borut calls this trend a move toward "coercive federalism," while the federal government also desires more authority but less responsibility for covering the bill. But Harkness says states are fighting back, and federal officials have been yielding on many key issues mainly because the states have the political imperative. For example, the U.S. Education Department has become more flexible in dealing with the No Child Left Behind law because a lawsuit from school districts claiming that states cannot be forced to do all the required testing unless Washington pays for it has been revived by a federal appeals court, and also because more and more of the Republican suburban base is unfavorably disposed toward the law. (www.cq.com)

States and Localities: 'Shift-and-Shaft' Federalism

CQ MoneyLine reports a 17 percentage point decline on average in donations by the top 10 corporate PACs to Republican candidates during the first 11 months of 2007 from the two years prior to the 2004 presidential election. During the previous election cycle, these PACs donated most of their money to Republican candidates. Despite the decline in funding to Republicans, the report indicates that concerns about business issues have prevented most of them from shifting their donations entirely to the Democrats. Only Bank of America Corp., Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc., and General Electric Co.'s PACs have made such a move.(www.cq.com)
This story appeared in a recent issue of Public Affairs News Monitor. Click here to read the entire issue.

REPS get less in '07 ...

Each month a new molecule will be added to the list on this page. The links will take you to a page at one of the Web sites at a University Chemistry Department or commercial site in the UK, the US, or anywhere in the world, where useful (and hopefully entertaining!), information can be found about a particularly interesting molecule.

Molecule of the Month