Joe Gregorio
Essentials are tools that you pick up and then ask yourself how you ever lived without. I have several of those, including rsync, subversion, and libxml2.
GNU screen is another one of those programs that changes you forever. Here is a great introduction to screen on Kuro5hin.
Zeroconf (Zero Configuration Networking) looks fascinating. From the abstract of the requirements:
Many common TCP/IP protocols such as DHCP [RFC2131], DNS [RFC1034][RFC1035], MADCAP [RFC2730], and LDAP [RFC2251] must be configured and maintained by an administrative staff. This is unacceptable for emerging networks such as home networks, automobile networks, airplane networks, or ad hoc networks at conferences, emergency relief stations, and many others. Such networks may be nothing more than two isolated laptop PCs connected via a wireless LAN. For all these networks, an administrative staff will not exist and the users of these networks neither have the time nor inclination to learn network administration skills. Instead, these networks need protocols that require zero user configuration and administration. This document is part of an effort to define such zero configuration (zeroconf) protocols.
Digi has introduced their Wi-ME module. I love that name. This is a slick little module you can drop on your printed ciruit board to add 802.11b (Wi-Fi) to your system. It contains a 32bit ARM with 2MB Flash and 8MB RAM, and talks to your base system via serial port.
It looks like after much arguing, haggling and deep thought, the Atom community has came up with the same basic pieces of information that the Dublin Core people did. So what to do about it? I don't know.
Oh, 3 people give up blogging, film at eleven. For some previously here-to-fore unknown definition of term 'self-indulgent'.
And finally, Mena Trott, a Persian cat and a monocle away from a James Bond villain.