Zeb is the developer of PxLinux, a port of Alexander Noé's PxScan/PxView. Recently both developers received cease-and-desist letters by lawyers representing the Japanese parent company of Plextor. In this interview Zeb gives us more information about this story. Read more

Alexander Noé is the developer of PxScan/PxView, two open source utilities for Plextor DVD drives. Recently he received a cease-and-desist letter by lawyers representing the Japanese parent company of Plextor. Read more

PxLinux, the open-source software released under the GPL which allows owners of Plextor DVD recorders to use the extra features of these drives under GNU/Linux (they normally can be used only via special software on Windows), as well as the similar utilities PxScan and PxView for Windows, may be in danger after its developers were accused by Shinano Kenshi's lawyers for "unfair commercial practices" and harming the company's "good name and fame". Shinano Kenshi is the Japanese company which controls the Plextor brand and develops Plextools for Windows. Read more.

A native Hindi-speaking journalist moved from India to Wales and discovered that Welsh and Hindi have similar words and pronunciation. A professional linguist ascribed the similarities to Proto-Indoeuropean: A reconstructed ancient language considered by researchers to be the common ancestor of many modern tongues, including Welsh, Hindi, English, Spanish, Greek, German and many others. Today most people in Europe, Americas and Australia, as well as many from Africa and Asia, speak Indoeuropean languages which have similar grammar and word roots. If you have ever travelled and noticed similarities between geographically distant tongues, you may have re-discovered their common Indoeuropean heritage... Read the full article

By analysing data in open repositories of genetic data, researchers identified new Wolbachia species that live inside fruit flies. Although the data were generally available, they still held many secrets, and the discovery demonstrates how little we know about the genetic data we collect. It an important example of how an "open source" philosophy can help biologists to improve our understanding of the natural world.

For more information, please Read the full article.

On 15 February 1965, Canada introduced its own flag to symbolise its independence and unity. The flag of Canada, known as the Maple Leaf Flag, is unique from many standpoints: It is the only flag tested under various wind velocities in a wind tunnel, the only flag with a Canadian Pale, it features a maple leaf and it is instantly recognisable by most people around the world because of its unique characteristics.

Read the article to learn more about the national flag of Canada and how it was introduced.

On this day 196 years ago a great scientist was born: Charles Darwin!

Darwin made a very important contribution to science by discovering the process of evolution and developing the theory of natural selection, which he described in his famous book The Origin of Species.

Lest we forget the importance of Darwin and evolution, the nonprofit charitable corporation Darwin Day Celebration encourages everyone to hold events and celebrate science and humanity on or around 12 February every year.

Read this article to learn about the life of Charles Darwin and get details about the Darwin Day Celebration.

This screenshot shows Banner, the first software application that has been successfully executed on the Hurd/L4! (The screenshot was found at marcus-brinkmann.org - click on the image to see the full-size version. The window is the QEMU)

After hard development work and numerous code contributions, Marcus Brinkmann implemented process initialisation, the important internal functionality in the Hurd/L4 project that allows programs to be invoked through the activation of a process and the subsequent execution of software code by the computer. This means that the Hurd/L4 developers are now free to focus on implementing further features that will be directly visible to the end user, like executing more complex applications.

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) will probably die before 2010 due to insufficient financial resources to service it. There is no official announcement by NASA yet, but it is expected for 7 February 2005 during the presentation of the 2006 budget. (Sources: BBC, Space.com).

The photo shows Hubble after the third servicing mission (SM3B, STS109). Photo courtesy of NASA.

The fourth and final servicing mission was scheduled to take place in 2006. However, the White House eliminated the necessary funding (over US$1 billion) and as a result several components of Hubble, most probably its batteries, are expected to stop operating in the next 2-4 years, while the whole telescope will be directed towards the Earth oceans soon after. "It will be a great loss for science", American astronomer Holland C. Ford said. (Source: Space.com).

According to Financial Times and other news sources, the Intelsat Americas-7 satellite was lost today due to an electrical malfunction. (Click to continue...)

On 25 November 2004 the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) announced that it was granted observer status in the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). (Click Read More to continue)