I recently came across a couple good security-related articles that's well worth reading.



The first is an introduction to firewalls and backdoors, describing each type, listing examples, and providing tips. Also contains links to some very useful external resources. http://securityfocus.com/infocus/1701



The second article disusses real-time alerting with snort, the most popular open-source IDS (Intrusion Detection System). http://newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/06/09/1939256. It does not cover installation or initial configuration, however; check out the snort documentation for details on this.

After many years of development, the final draft of the 802.11g standard has been approved. 802.11g specifies wireless data rates of up to 54 Mbps, while maintaining backwards compatability with older (and slower) 802.11b products.



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Researchers at Advanced Micro Design released details on new high-performance transistors that will be used as a building block for future microprocessor designs.



Using a combination of two new technologies, metal gates (made from Nickel Silicide) and fully-depleted silicon-on-insulators (FDSOI), researcher were able to demonstrate up to a 30% performance gain over today's transistors.



Much more information can be found in the Full story.

The Samba Team is proud to announce the availability of the first beta release of the Samba 3.0.0 code base. While we are significantly closer to the final release, I will remind you that this is a non-production release provided for testing only.

Please read the full announcement for more information and changes since the 2.x series.

If you're on the lookout for a new headache-inducing puzzle, then look no further! This four-dimensional version of a Rubik's cube has

1,756,772,880,709,135,843,168,526,079,081,

025,059,614,484,630,149,557,651,477,156,

021,733,236,798,970,168,550,600,274,887,

650,082,354,207,129,600,000,000,000,000

possible combinations, so you can imagine that it'll take quite a while to solve. :-)



For more information, see the project's home page. Linux and Windows versions are available.

This looks pretty interesting:

Dubbed "PSX," the device features a built-in 120 GB hard drive and recordable slot-loading DVD±RW/-R drive, as well as TV tuner and Ethernet port. For expansion, the PSX will include USB 2.0 support and a Memory Stick slot. Sony will also include a connector for its upcoming PSP portable entertainment device.

This also appears to be a separate device from the new revision PS2 already announced. More details (and pictures!) can be found in this PDF.



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C|Net is carrying a story about researchers from the National Center for Supercomputing Applications that have assembled a supercomputer from 70 PlatStation 2 console systems.

The resulting system, with components purchased at retail prices, cost a little more than $50,000. Researchers at the supercomputing center believe the system may be capable of a half trillion operations a second, well within the definition of supercomputer, although it may not rank among the world's 500 fastest supercomputers.

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This reference guide contains a categorized listing of various embedded Linux devices, including PDAs, mobile and IP phones, entertainment devices, tablet PCs, access points, and other devices the defy categorization. It also includes a special do-it-yourself category.

Information about most devices contains pictures, descriptions, and specifications. Check it out.

Embedded Linux Reference Guide

LinuxSecurity.com is featuring an article on Intrusion Detection Systems.



"Intrusion Detection is the process and methodology of inspecting data for malicious, inaccurate or anomalous activity."



This is a good introduction to the process for any security-minded individuals out there.



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Citrix has announced plans to develop a Linux version of its ICA Client to address concerns about Windows security. This client will allow companies to deploy Windows applications (such as MS Office) to any PC running Linux.



Granted, it's not as ideal as a native Linux/FOSS solution, but it does provide an additional foothold for Linux in the corporation, as well as cede even more credibility to Linux as a reliable, secure operating system.



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