Waldmeister writes "The Register has a story from a japanese source, that Sun and Fujitsu are planning to combine their Unix server businesses. Even if Sun doesn't comment on this, they acknowledge that Scott McNealy met Fujitsu's CEO this week. If this will happen, Fujitsu will get the bigger chunk of manufacturing and engineering. With the PrimePower systems outperforming Sun's SunFire systems for some time now, this sounds reasonable, too. And it gives Sun the chance to more resources to extend their Linux and x86 business." There's also a Reuters story.

Shaze asks: "I have been doing a lot of overseas web conferencing lately and have been playing around with my two webcams. I was suddenly intrigued by the idea of being able to 'span' or 'branch' both webcams together to create one device pulling signals from both. I did some quick research on the topic to no avail, however many of my colleagues believe this to be possible. Some even going so far as to say they have seen software or drivers that will turn your webcams into one Twain device. Aside from my own meanderings, I can't seem to find any information on anyone or anything even suggesting this is possible. What do you say Slashdot readers: Is this a new application waiting to be marketed or am I just seeing double?"

otterboy asks: "I am involved with a remote scuba diving operation in Northern British Columbia. The lodge has a regular wired handset, with a wire running up to the top of a nearby mountain. At the top of the mountain sits a little shack, which contains a cell phone, a big antenna, and a black box from Motorola. That box provides an RJ11 jack into which we can plug the 'regular' phone, which allows us to use the cell link from the regular wired phone in the lodge, since the only cell signal we can get is at the top of this mountain. We also use a GSM modem (over the 'regular' phone line, which gets converted to a cell signal up on the mountain), but the best rate we can get is about 4.8kbs. According to Motorola, this is a limitation of their converter. I've looked at Cellsocket, but it deals only with voice. Does anyone know of a converter with better data performance, or are we stuck with Motorola?"

coolmacdude writes "Well it seems that the early estimates were a bit overzealous. According to preliminary test results (in postscript format) on the full range of CPUs at Virginia Tech, the Rmax score on Linpack comes in at around 7.4 TFlops. This puts it at number four on the Top 500 List. It also represents an efficiency of about 44 percent, down from the previous result of 80 achieved on a subset of the computers. Perhaps in light of this, apparantly VT is now planning to devote an additional two months to improve the stability and efficiency of the system before any research can begin. While these numbers will no doubt come as a disappointment for Mac zealots who wanted to blow away all the Intel machines, it should still be noted that this is the best price/performance ratio ever achieved on a supercomputer. In addition, the project was successful at meeting VT's goal of developing an inexpensive top 5 machine. The results have also been posted at Ars Technica's openforum."

Daath writes "It just came to my attention, that LG Electronics announced a SmartPhone with 192MB memory and a built in 1.1 Mpixel CCD camera. It's a slide-down type phone, running on a 400MHz Intel X-Scale processor with a 2.8" 262K color TFT LCD. It runs MS PocketPC 2003. Personally I think it blows the SE P900 away. Ok, time to wipe the drool off the keyboard! ;)"

Roland Piquepaille writes "In this review, Forbes.com looks at the fastest electric vehicle in the world, the tzero roadster built by AC Propulsion Inc. 'The tzero does 0 to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds, according to the company, and it does it on only 200 horsepower.' The company says it starts faster than a Ferrari F355. It also has a limited range of 280 to 300 miles at 60 mph on a single charge. The company expects a price somewhere between a Porsche and a Ferrari, but Forbes says it carries a $220,000 sticker price. This overview contains more details and links. It also includes a rendering of the Tzero. Please note that the Forbes article has a very different focus from the one mentioned in a previous Slashdot reference."

Kyro writes "Apple today upgraded their iBook notebook range across the board to G4 processors, Airport Extreme, bluetooth, USB 2.0, and slot-loading combo drives. All models ship with Mac OS X 10.3, and the 12" model gets a 800Mhz G4 while the 14" models get a choice of 933Mhz or 1Ghz. Prices largely remain the same as the old G3 versions." Mwongozi adds "Although not announced on the front page, the Apple Store was updated just a few minutes ago to show the new iBook."

beuges writes "In one of South Korea's latest efforts to establish itself as a technology trendsetter, the country's three telecom giants, major credit card companies and several banks have been working for a year to enable Koreans to pay for everything from groceries to petrol by cellphone."

infodragon writes "As I was looking for ways to silence my system I ran across this article demonstrating a sandwich approach to silencing and cooling a hard disk. Quite a novel idea compared to other silencing techniques!"

Roland Piquepaille writes "The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) just released its 2003 World Robotics survey. The original press release by UNECE has 15 pages in PDF format, while the full report represents 380 pages. Here are the three essential findings: robot orders in first half of 2003 were up by 26% to the highest level ever recorded; worldwide growth in the period 2003-2006 will reach an average annual rate of 7.4%; and household robots are starting to take off. "It is projected that sales of all types of domestic robots (vacuum cleaning, lawn-mowing, window cleaning and other types) in the period 2003-2006 can reach some 638,000 units." This overview contains more details including a chart showing the growth of domestic robots for the period 2003-2006."

nebulous bee writes "Yahoo is reporting on a new piece of home stereo equipment going on sale in Japan that has an ethernet port that can be linked directly to an online music store. You can purchase new music using the unit's built-in LCD display and hear it 'instantly'. No PC required. There are no plans to sell it yet outside of the land of the rising sun."

wizman asks: "I co-own a small ISP that does a bit of web hosting - probably less than 150 domains. We have been using the Cobalt RAQ product line ever since our beginnings. We are outgrowing our current RAQ and have been planning to purchase a newer one. However, it seems that ever since Sun purchased Cobalt, they have been moving away from the RAQ platform. Because of the incredible slowless in which Sun patches vulnerabilities (just now seeing a new SSH package) on top of a number of other annoyances, I am now seriously considering other options." Current RAQ sysadmins: what are your plans for the near future? What would you do if you owned Cobalt RAQs? Would they stay or would they go?

hanksdc writes "With the proliferation of wireless networking over the past year, it has become easier and easier for even the most budget-minded geeks to afford wireless gear for their homes, offices, and neighborhoods. Rob Flickenger's latest, Wireless Hacks expands upon his previous book on the topic, Building Wireless Community Networks , and takes its reader by the hand on a fast-paced run through a large assortment of hacks related to wireless networking." Read on for the rest of hanksdc's review.

phil-trick writes "The Sony-Ericsson P900 was released today. Here is a detailed P900 Review. Also, to make linux oriented, here is a pice on how it Syncs with Linux"

tukkayoot asks: "I live in a rural area where cable and DSL aren't available. I want some form of broadband Internet access that doesn't require that I move. There is an ISP in my area that offers fixed wireless, but they make no effort to market it to residential users (even though they claim the service is available). Unfortunately, searching the Internet seems to yield more information about starting a WISP than what an ordinary Joe like me should be doing to educate myself about this service, as a customer. I don't have high confidence in the ISP to walk me through the entire process, so is there anybody out there that can direct me to a resource on consumer wireless related issues, like how I should go about receiving a signal when my house is surrounded by lots of fairly tall trees?"

Recoil_42 writes "PC World has an intriguing article about one way to help ease a growing problem: computer waste. Sanyo, with the help of Dow, has created a biodegradeable disc made of corn. The discs take 50-100 years to degrade, well within acceptable limits, and should come to market by the end of this year. The speedbump, of course, is the projected price: 3 times that of a normal plastic disc, but that cost is expected to be reduced to 1.2 times as (if?) the discs become more popular."

Thanks to IGN Pocket for their hands-on preview of Tapwave's Zodiac handheld gaming system. The author suggests: "Whether or not Tapwave has the marketing muscle to steal away important market share from Nintendo remains to be seen, but at the very least the company has made a huge first impression when it comes to handheld system design." This Palm-compatible handheld has custom 3D game titles, including Spy Hunter, which IGN found "...very reminiscent of the PC's early years with the 3DFX Voodoo card", but overall, concerns about lack of "hard partnerships" with big publishers and the fact that the "price [$299-$399] definitely needs to come down" have the previewer worrying that this "great handheld design with incredible technical potential" may ultimately go neglected.

driv3l asks: "This is totally frustrating! I'm trying to write some drivers for my Epia M10000 with a CLE266 chipset (VT8235 southbridge and VT8623 northbridge). The problem is that I can't get datasheets or info on any of the Via chipsets. I have a driver that works on my Intel ICH4 (knock Intel as much as you want... at least they're forthcoming with their technology). The Via datasheets request page does not work, and from what I've heard it's damn near impossible to get datasheets from them. I dislike looking through other people's source code, so looking through Linux drivers is counterproductive for me, especially since the driver I'm developing is not for Linux...or Windows, for that matter. This project is on its last legs due to the frustration I have been experiencing. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can solve this problem or how I can go about obtaining the necessary datasheets?"

ssassen writes "Most computer hardware websites tell you how to get your computer hardware up and running properly and not RMA it after the first boot. Hardware Analysis takes a different approach and tells us exactly how NOT to install computer hardware. They document many of the pitfalls that'll sound familiar to many enthusiasts and have some great pictures of what could go horribly wrong during an upgrade. Very funny, and guaranteed to put a smile on your face!"

An anonymous reader writes "This article at DeviceForge introduces the "PC-bot" -- a new mobile robotics demonstration platform design that is being made available for free download from Roboteq. PC-bot was designed to be highly flexible and extensible so that it can serve as the basis for a wide range of customized mobile robot designs featuring web cameras, motion detection software, and more. Details on the mechanical, electronic, and software design are available at Roboteq's website. Currently the bot runs Windows, but Roboteq expects that one of the first enhancements from the user community will be Linux support." Unfortunately, there's no way to download the RoboteQ motor controller the design requires -- that will cost you about $500.