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A new development build of Elive, a Debian-based distribution featuring the latest Enlightenment 17 desktop, is available for testing: "The Elive team is proud to announce the release of development version 1.8.4. This version has some important fixes: fast boot mode removed - it is not really useful....

Christoph Thiel has announced the second alpha release of openSUSE 11.1, in the form of installation DVD images: "openSUSE 11.1 Alpha 2 is available and ready for testing. This time it is actually installable and bootable, but you'll need to be quick and select the right boot option....

Adam Williamson has announced the availability of the second beta release of Mandriva Linux 2009: "Mandriva is proud to announce the release of Mandriva Linux 2009 Beta 2 'okapi'. This beta includes a completely new installer for the Free (and, in the final release, Powerpack) edition, and is....

Guardian Digital has announced the release of EnGarde Secure Linux 3.0.20: "Guardian Digital is happy to announce the release of EnGarde Secure Linux Community 3.0.20. This release includes many updated packages and bug fixes and some feature enhancements to the EnGarde Secure Linux installer and the SELinux policy.....

This week in DistroWatch Weekly: Reviews: Mandriva Flash 2008.1 on ASUS Eee PC 900 News: Slackware tests KDE 4.1, Fedora suffers from update outage, attackers crack LinuxMint.com, interviews with Ubuntu's Scott Remnant and gOS's David Liu, Zypper tips and tricks Released last week: Scientific Linux 5.2 "Live CD/DVD",....

The first alpha release of Mythbuntu 8.10, a project developing an easy-to-use MythTV system based on Ubuntu, is out: "Today we are introducing the first Mythbuntu 'Intrepid Ibex' alpha release: Mythbuntu 8.10 alpha 4. It is very important to note that this release is not compatible with Mythbuntu....

Jürg Billeter has announced the release of paldo GNU/Linux, a hybrid (source and binary) distribution for the desktop with a custom package management system: "We are pleased to announce the release of paldo 1.15 with many bug fixes and updates. It features the latest stable GNOME 2.22.3 desktop,....

Urs Beyerle has announced the release of the Live CD/DVD edition of Scientific Linux 5.2, a Red Hat-based distribution enhanced with scientific and educational software: "Scientific Linux Live CD/DVD 5.2 has been released for i386 and x86_64 architectures. New feature: changes can be stored persistently on a storage....

With the 2008 Olympic Games now in full swing in Beijing, China's most prominent Linux vendor, Red Flag, has announced the availability of a special "Olympic" edition of Red Flag Linux. This is a preview of the upcoming stable release 7.0. The product is an installable live CD....

The fourth alpha release of Ubuntu 8.10 "Intrepid Ibex" is ready for testing: "New features: X.Org server 1.5 brings much better support for hot-pluggable input devices such as tablets, keyboards, or mice; Linux kernel 2.6.26; encrypted private directory; guest session - the GNOME user switching applet now provides....

The current stable Ubuntu combined with the latest Enlightenment 17 - that's OpenGEU 8.04, whose first beta was announced yesterday: "The i386 beta live CD of OpenGEU 8.04 'Luna Crescente' is here. Download it, seed it, spread it and install it if you don't have OpenGEU yet. Or....

SEATTLE (Reuters) - As the world's best athletes compete in Beijing, the summer Olympic games are setting the stage for a battle between Microsoft Corp and Adobe Systems Inc over the Internet's next big competition.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission has put on hold a plan to revise the rules governing the right of small wireless phone carriers to "roam" on the networks of larger rivals.

Johnny 5 is alive!

(Credit: Lynxmotion)

Via Technologies' EPIA-P700 Pico-ITX is an x86 embedded board that measures 10 cm x 7.2 cm, uses a 1GHz Via C7 CPU, and thanks to its low power consumption, is an ideal fit to process small little cute robots that will soon be our lords and masters. Well, maybe not soon, but one day, you'll see.

With robotics development representing the cutting edge of technological progress, Via's commitment to extremely compact designs, robust performance, extensive feature sets, and extremely low power consumption means that the company's off-the-shelf EPIA boards are becoming an essential component for academic, hobbyist, and commercial robot developers.

Via plans to be at the forefront of the eventual robot takeover as it has been a major supporter of robotics development for academics, hobbyists, and military applications. Friday in Taiwan--which is probably Thursday by now--Via showed off its EPIA Pico-ITX-based robots at the Taipei International Robot Show (TIROS), taking place August 21 to 24.

At the Via booth will be three compact robots provided by PlayRobot, a Taiwan-based robot developer and distributor of educational, scientific, and entertainment robots for government, academic, and research institutes, as well as robot kits for enthusiasts.

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MOSCOW (Reuters) - Apple expects to sell 3.5 million iPhones in Russia in the next two years, according to market sources familiar with new deals being struck by Russian carriers.

(Reuters) - Mobile service provider Verizon Communications Inc. is nearing an agreement with Google Inc. on a wide-ranging partnership, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York should ditch a $2 billion plan for a statewide wireless network for emergency workers unless a Tyco Electronics Ltd unit can fix the already-delayed system's problems, State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said on Thursday.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Apple Inc.'s hugely popular 3G iPhone made its debut in India on Friday, but with a price tag of $700 there was none of the mass hysteria that marked its launch in the United States, Europe and parts of Asia last month.

QUERETARO, Mexico (Reuters) - Affluent Mexicans, terrified of soaring kidnapping rates, are spending thousands of dollars to implant tiny transmitters under their skin so satellites can help find them tied up in a safe house or stuffed in the trunk of a car.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comedian Jerry Seinfeld will star in a $300 million marketing campaign for Microsoft Corp aimed at burnishing the image of its computer operating system, a person familiar with the effort said on Thursday.