Vertical Workstation??

Did you know you could lose as much as 66 pounds by sweating on you PC? Well using the Mayo Clinic's vertical workstation, that just might be the weightloss wave of the future.

The vertical workstation is basically a desk mounted over a treadmill that lets office workers to kill two birds with one stone - send emails, check invoices and write reports and burn calories at the same time, say Professors James Levine and Jennifer Miller of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who came up with the machine/desk.

A study conducted at the Mayo Clinic and published in the British Journal of Sports medicine found the average obese person burned 100 calories an hour while walking about one mile an hour while working. The treadmill desks cost about $1,600.

The desk isn't exactly a new idea. The Mayo Clinic has been working on such a prototype as part of its Office of the Future research.In fact in a Network World article from 2005 Levine said that instead of sitting on conventional desk chairs, workers in the Mayo Clinic's prototype environment stand at their desks with a moving treadmill surface underfoot.

Firewall Check List

It’s fairly easy to misconfigure your firewall if you don’t have strong technology expertise among your staff. Though with Linux (and BSD) deployed it does indeed get’s easier to protect your computers hooked to internet, it is still something you should seriously care about.

1. If you have a network and don’t have it firewalled, get it done as soon as possible.

2. Use a firewall device or software to provide your firewall service. Don’t use some other device that may provide some hint of security. The capability can be built into a server or a router or something else, but make sure what you are getting is a firewall.

3. Protect each individual device in your network, or that might be used on your network, with device level security tools.

4. Make sure you properly “wall off” applications from unintended external and internal use.

5. Think of security is an ongoing process, not something you do once and can forget about. Make sure you are installing patches for your network as they are made available. Consider investing in an annual security assessment from a reputable IT consultant or solution provider.

6. Look to an IT consultant, or solution provider, to help you with your implementation. They have the expertise to guide you through the process and ensure that you are able to protect yourself and balance that with making sure you have the ability to run your business.
For desktop users: some Linux distributions do not have firewall installed by default, or activated, so make sure that there is one. For example openSUSE uses iptables as it’s firewall application with Yast Firewall frontend which makes it easier to manage your firewall settings.

No matter which OS you are using on your servers (and desktops/notebooks) the above list is to be followed if you want to be sure that you are safe and secure 99.99% (0.01% - there is a always a key to any lock.

Novell's regret in Microsoft deal

If Novell's chief executive has any regrets about slipping between the sheets with Microsoft, it's around Microsoft's push for IP protection.

Ron Hovsepian's alliance with Microsoft, announced last November, saw Microsoft agree to sell SuSE Enterprise Linux (SLES) coupons, while the companies worked on interoperability between SLES and Windows on virtualization, directories and file formats between Office and Open Office. Coupons apply specifically to SLES running as a virtual guest in a host Windows operating system or vice versa.

However, it was Novell's tacit recognition of the existence of intellectual property in Linux - by accepting Microsoft's promise not to prosecute developers whose open source code is used by Novell - that really rankled the community.

According to Hovsepian in eWeek, the IP covenant was a Microsoft - not a Novell - idea, and the companies' original proposal did not include a covenant not to sue. "That was one of the business things [Microsoft] wanted out of it," Hovsepian said.

And you can see why. It put Microsoft's chief executive Steve Ballmer back on form in the weeks following the deal, claiming Linux infringes Microsoft IP and that Microsoft wanted to "get the appropriate economic return for our shareholders from our innovation." Novell agreed to pay Microsoft $40m in protection.

Which brings us onto Hovsepian's only genuine - public at least - regret: his delay in responding to a storm of community criticism through an open letter. Hovsepian believes a timelier letter would have cleared up concerns.

That letter said Novell's agreement with Microsoft was "in no way an acknowledgment that Linux infringes upon any Microsoft intellectual property." Rather than clarify, though, Hovsepian's letter left people baffled over why Novell signed the covenant, given both companies held diametrically opposed views

Red Hat in the agencies.

Red Hat has sealed a potentially lucrative marketing and technology deal that could see its open source and Linux software land in more government and defense locations.

The company is partnering with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), an $8.3bn systems and solutions provider that lists NATO and the Department of Homeland Security (DHC) among its roster of clients.

Red Hat and SAIC have agreed to partner on development of technology and marketing to promote Red Hat and open source code to defense, federal and commercial users.

SAIC expects to bring its experience in systems integration, software development, database architecture and management of large projects to Red Hat Linux and middleware deployments. Red Hat said it expects the deal will help speed-up the move to open source by the US military, intelligence community, homeland security and other federal agencies.

Hi, im Linux

If you are a linux user, you will definatly enjoy these videos. And if your not, then take this as a learning experience. Video