Richard W.M. Jones writes "mod_caml is a set of bindings between Objective Caml and the full Apache API. mod_caml 0.6 has bindings for the Apache API and a full Perl-like CGI and templating library. There's only two things you need to know about Objective Caml: it's a modern, fully-featured and highly-optimised language, and it has a good tutorial so Perl/Java/C/C++ programmers can join in the fun."

securitas submits this painfully well-linked piece: "eWEEK reviews the RIM BlackBerry 7230 color handheld, Research In Motion's latest combination wireless e-mail/phone/PDA, and the first BlackBerry to feature a full-color display. The tri-band GSM/GPRS J2ME device features a 240-by-160-pixel, 65,000-color display, 16 MB flash +2 MB SRAM, an Intel 386 32-bit chip, SMS, an HTML browser (missing from the preceding BlackBerry 5810), a claimed 4 hours talk/10 days standby removable/rechargeable lithium-ion battery, POP3/IMAP/Exchange/Notes wireless e-mail for up to 10 accounts with file attachment management, security via Triple DES encryption, USB sync/recharging and the usual organizer functions. RIM squeezes it all into a 4.8 oz/136g, 4.4x2.9x0.8 inch/11.3x7.4x2.0 cm package (tech specs at RIM). The BlackBerry 7230 is exclusive to T-Mobile USA until 2004 and costs about $400. With this release, RIM is moving the BlackBerry into the prosumer/consumer market to expand its customer base beyond enterprise users. The release comes amid speculation of BlackBerry doom following RIM's recent patent ruling loss and ahead of the highly anticipated Handspring Treo 600, its direct competition (which includes the MS Pocket PC Phone Edition Smartphone and the Palm Tungsten W). More at Wired News, E-Commerce Times, InfoWorld and Forbes/Reuters."

Eric Stats writes "Working as a Network Engineer for web-hosting company that prides itself on uptime and network availability, and moonlighting as a part-time Linux administrator, my managers and clients are starting to expect a level of information security knowledge from me. I decided that if I wanted to take my career to the next level, I needed to develop some security-specific skills. I heard a lot about the open source Intrusion Detection System (IDS), Snort from friends and co-workers (mostly that it was a pain to get running, and an even bigger pain to understand what it was doing)." To get past those frustrations, Eric looked at two more books on Snort (and compares them to the already-reviewed Intrusion Detection with Snort ); read on below for his take on what each offers.

uninet writes "The SCO Group, Inc. today released a statement concerning the lawsuit filed against it yesterday by Red Hat, Inc. The release quotes Darl McBride, SCO's President and CEO, as being 'disappointed' with Red Hat CEO Matthew Szulik for not being 'forthcoming' about Red Hat's intentions in a previous discussion." Reader psykocrime adds "According to this SuSE press release, SuSE has publically announced their support for RedHat's actions against SCO. Quoting from the press release: 'SCO has already been halted in Germany and we applaud Red Hat's actions to help end their activities in the US -- and beyond. We applaud their efforts to restrict the rhetoric of the SCO group -- and the FUD they are trying to instill -- and will determine quickly what actions SuSE can take to support Red Hat in their efforts.'" Read on for a few more links.

honestpuck writes "In the world of Perl there was once only the 'camel book,' held in perhaps as much reverence as 'K & R' among C programmers. It certainly appealed to roughly the same audience, those who wanted a short, sharp introduction to a programming language. It was with a problem that needed solving and a copy of the camel book that I started as a Perl programmer." Read on for honestpuck's review of another book he regards at least as highly.

James A. A. Joyce writes "The title says it all. There's a tiny blurb over at dev.perl.org. Download Perl 1.0 here, for all of those nostalgics in the Slashdot audience! It's only 263KB, so why not give this piece of 1980s computing history a try?"

objectboy writes with a review of Chris Fehily's SQL: Visual QuickStart Guide, writing "This book teaches ANSI SQL-92 programming to database beginners and intermediates. The publisher, Peachpit Press, publishes mostly end-user and novice titles that usually go unnoticed by professional programmers. Its Perl and PHP books, for example, are of little practical or tutorial use to an experienced developer. In fact, I noticed this SQL book only because a junior developer was using it for a course. The book's table of contents, index, and a sample chapter are posted on Amazon.com. The book's official web site contains errata and other information." Objectboy's review continues below.

chromatic writes "Perl.com has just published Damian Conway's Exegesis 6 which gives practical examples demonstrating how to use the new subroutine and method semantics in Perl 6. This is the companion to Larry Wall's Apocalypse 6 which discussed the changes planned for subroutines in Perl 6."

honestpuck writes " I am a big fan of the written word on dead trees, but sometimes I like to have the written word where I can easily search it, or cut and paste from it. That's why I like PHP.net and why I decided to get a copy of O'Reilly's Web Programming CD Bookshelf. And I am pleased with it, though not ecstatic." Read on to see what honestpuck liked about this collection, and what drawbacks it may have for you.

mark_wilkins writes "This morning the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a district court's dismissal of his claims against Network Solutions as a part of Kremen v. Cohen, Et Al.. This is the case in which Gary Kremen, the original owner of sex.com, sued Stephen Cohen and Network Solutions for transferring the sex.com domain to Cohen in response to Cohen's obviously fraudulent letter. While Cohen has fled the country, Network Solutions is still very much here and available to offer up any damages that might be rewarded. The case is going back to the district court for further hearings."

prostoalex writes "Peter Seebach decided to build his own Linux-based 802.11b wireless access point. The article on IBM DeveloperWorks talks about the hardware and software requirements, implementing the operating system on the CompactFlash card, loading Apache and Perl onto the server. The build-it-yourself wireless point is not going to be cheaper than commercially available products, but its educational value is immense." And HaeMaker writes "We have all seen the 802.11b/g booster made from a Pringles can. Well, these guys have taken the idea, put some math behind it to find the optimal can size and have turned it in to a cool product."

Vito asks: "I'd like to use WebDAV over SSL (with [preferably digest] authentication against Unix accounts) to provide a few hundred Windows users with secure, easy, and free access to their Linux home directories. WebDAV is supported as Web Folders in Windows, meaning there is no need to download and install SFTP, SCP, FTPS, and other clients. It's also supported natively in Mac OS X, and Linux users can install davfs. But this setup doesn't seem to be possible (safely) using Apache. Do I have alternatives?"

JayBonci writes "It may come as a surprise that within the pages of 'Perl 6 Essentials' lies what could be two books, despite its length. If not for lack of cover space, it could easily bear the names "Perl6 for Perl5 programmers" and "Parrot in a Nutshell". Both topics are concise and clearly covered, despite their relatively different audience." Read on for the rest of Jay's review.

chromatic writes "One of the highlights of every OSCON is Larry Wall's annual State of the Onion address, covering Perl, philosophy, linguistics, music, theology, science, and usually a few other things thrown in for good measure. His talk from OSCON 2003, State of the Onion 7, is now online."

securitas writes "eWEEK has two related articles on the growth of open source software. The first article is about the growth of desktop Linux, featuring Lotus and the Open Source Applications Foundation (OSAF) founder Mitch Kapor, who says (among other things) that call centers will be where the next wave of growth for desktop Linux happens and that 10 percent of global desktops will be Linux in a few years. He bases his statements on a report by Eazel and GNOME Foundation co-founder Bart Decrem entitled 'Desktop Linux Technology and Market Overview' (PDF) mentioned last week. The second story is about open source software growth in the government sector where government agencies like the U.S. Census Bureau have embraced OS software for projects like the State and County QuickFacts site. Based on Perl, Apache, MySQL and Linux, the site gets 200,000 page views a day."

Greg Erway writes "There's a story at Twin Galaxies about my recent record-beating Tapper high score. It took almost 16 straight hours to rack up 9,100,125 points and beat the previous arcade game record, set back in 1986 by Mike Ward." Many of you probably remember Midway's Budweiser-sponsored Tapper arcade machine, and the story estimates that Greg filled over 75,000 virtual beer glasses, as well as having to kill off 79 bartenders at the end of the game to actually get the game over screen.

Krellis writes "Over $4,500 was raised Thursday night at the DynDNS.org/OnyxNeon party here at O'Reilly's Open Source Convention 2003. A large part of this was $1025 in a heated contest about the primary color for search.cpan.org. London.pm fought hard to make the change to orange, but Graham Barr's group managed to win out, and the color will remain as "web-safe teal." Graham is no sore winner though, and London.pm will be given their color for one month. See the DynDNS Press Release for more information, and thanks to everyone who contributed!"

moksliukas writes "Perl 5.8.1 RC1 has been released. A major change is that due to security reasons, the "random ordering" of hashes has been made even more random. As always, there are other numerous changes, including some improved utf-8 handling support, deprecation of 5.005 style threads, $* magic variable, pseudo-hashes and a number of other improvements. As usual, perldelta summarises all changes."

caseywest writes "Today at his State of the Onion speech during the 2003 O'Reilly Open Source Convention, Larry Wall announced the Ponie project (somewhere within his legendary humorous presentation). Ponie involves rewriting central parts of the Perl 5 interpreter to run on Parrot, the Perl 6 virtual machine, including a C API emulation layer to make existing XS code work. Arthur 'sky' Bergman is sponsored by his employer Fotango to develop Ponie. Currently, a press release and a FAQ are available. More details will be available in due time."

Officially, the theme of this year's Open Source Software Convention (OSCON) 2003 is "Embracing and Extending Proprietary Software," and to that end approximately 1,500 attendees (and companies including Apple, Active State, online book-seller Powells.com and MySQL) are sharing space in three floors of Portland's downtown Marriott, and will until the conference's close on Friday. (Representatives from Microsoft are along for the ride, too. Lunch on Wednesday is Microsoft's treat.) An unoffical theme of ubiquitious connectivity and creative collaborative in much in evidence as well: besides the conference-furnished wireless access points throughout the classroom area, numerous other base stations (like the one I'm connected to right now) have popped up. What do you expect with more than a thousand laptop-toting programmers in one hotel? There's also a "semi-unofficial" wiki (applauded by Tim O'Reilly), an ongoing web log of the conference, and an irc channel filled with conference attendees. Read on for more.