Linux

We first heard about Splashtop back in October, when the instant-on Linux desktop was announced. At the time it was a really exciting concept–and it still is–but Asus only rolled out the technology on high-end motherboards like the P5E3 Deluxe/WiFi-AP. So if you wanted to drop $300 on a motherboard you could get Express Gate (Asus-branded Splashtop), but everyone else was left out in the cold. Despite lots of initial interest, we have not heard a lot about Splashtop since then.

Public networks like the Internet are dangerous places. Anyone who has a computer attached to the Internet (even transiently) understands these dangers. Attackers can exploit insecurities to gain access to a system, to obtain unauthorized access to information, or to repurpose a computer in order to send spam or participate in attacks on other high-profile systems (using SYN floods, as part of a Distributed Denial of Service attacks).

Apple may open up its iPhone and iPod touch devices to third-party apps next month, but the chances that Linux users will get invited to the party are slim at best. That hasn't stopped some intrepid hackers from coming up with a better music-syncing solution than the one Mac and Windows users have—a two-way wireless transfer, from almost any music organizing app you like, no wait for iTunes or USB cable required. Linux users, let's take a look at how to set up your iPhone or iPod touch for any-time wireless access after the jump.

The ever-contentious Linux Security Modules (LSM) API is being debated once again on linux-kernel, not its removal, which Linus Torvalds came down firmly against, but whether it should allow security modules to be loaded dynamically. As part of 2.6.24, Torvalds merged a patch to convert LSM into a static interface, but has indicated a willingness to revert it. The key sticking point is whether there are real security modules that require the ability to be runtime-loaded.

In the last couple of years, desktop-friendly Linux distributions have taken enormous leaps -- they're easier to install, better maintained, and more powerful than ever before. There's also that many more of them -- which means that many more possibilities to sift through.

Open Kernel Labs (OK Labs) has upgraded its microkernel operating system (OS) and Linux-friendly virtual machine environment for embedded devices. OKL4 version 2.0 adds technology aimed at protecting a phone's call-making capabilities despite attacks, malware, or faults within OSes, applications, and drivers.

Speaking of soap operas, there's one soap opera in the technology world that has been going on for so long that nobody really seems to know why it was ever started, whatever all the different moves have been over the years, or whoever lost or won which battle. Just like a true soap opera, you can just jump right in the middle of it and feel like you've always been part of the regular audience. The SCO saga is such a case.

When they're released in final form on April 24, the new server and desktop variants of Ubuntu Linux Version 8.04 will include features aimed at making the open-source operating system easier to deploy and use.

Available as beta versions since March 20, the new Ubuntu 8.04 versions, code-named Hardy Heron, are scheduled to include a first-time Windows installation option called Wubi, which allows users to install Ubuntu 8.04 on a machine like they would install any Windows application, rather than requiring a separate hard drive partition for a full install.

People shouldn't read anything into the fact that of the three laptops set up for last week's "PWN to OWN" hack challenge, the only one left standing was running Linux, said the security expert who oversaw the contest.

"There was just no interest in Ubuntu," said Terri Forslof, manager of security response at 3Com Corp.'s TippingPoint subsidiary, which put up the cash prizes awarded at the contest last week at CanSecWest. "A contest such as this is not a measure of relative security between operating systems. It's not an accurate barometer."

The U.S. National Security Agency has released its own version of the open-source computer operating system Linux, which offers enhanced security for users.

The new software was rolled out earlier this month to an e-mail list for users of Linux -- an operating system that many experts believe provides a more secure alternative to the ubiquitous Microsoft Windows. Linux is open-source, which means the core code is available to programmers to improve, as the NSA has done with its latest version of the so-called Security-Enhanced Linux, or SELinux.