Ubuntu, which has become one of the world's most popular Linux distributions in recent years, launched its latest version on June 1 following months of intense testing. The new release is titled Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Long Term Support), and has a specific emphasis on the needs of large organisations with both desktop and server versions.

Ubuntu 6.06 LTS introduces functionality that simplifies common Linux server deployment processes. For system administrators setting up large numbers of web, mail and related servers, Ubuntu 6.06 LTS offers the fastest and most consistent path to deployment, combined with the availability of global commercial support where needed. "Ubuntu has a reputation for working well out of the box on desktops, and we have worked to bring that same ease of deployment and configuration to the server marketplace" said Mark Shuttleworth, founder of the Ubuntu project. "Based on our analysis of the ways people were already deploying Ubuntu on servers, we have aimed to streamline their experience while expanding the range of software available to people deploying Ubuntu in the data centre."

Ubuntu is freely available, including security updates for five years on servers, with no restrictions on usage and no requirement to purchase support contracts or subscriptions per deployment. Full telephone & online support on commercial terms is available globally from Canonical Ltd and other companies. "The economics of Ubuntu deployment are fundamentally different from those of other leading Linux distributions that offer commercial support" said Jane Silber, COO of Canonical Ltd. "Companies and individuals can deploy Ubuntu widely, and purchase support only for the machines where they need the assurance of a Support Level Agreement. This makes Ubuntu the preferred choice for large scale deployments where support contracts are not essential on every machine."

Sun Microsystems and Canonical also announced this week that Ubuntu 6.06 LTS will support the UltraSPARC T1 processor on Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 servers. These SPARC-based systems join the list of architectures for which Canonical will offer technical support on a paid, commercial basis, starting at $700 USD per year for a single server. For more information, please see the ubuntu support pages.

The Server Edition of Ubuntu 6.06 LTS includes a unique mechanism to set up a standardized, certified, and supported LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) server with a single command. The feature greatly reduces the setup time for companies providing hosted LAMP services, as well as making it easier for organizations to set up and maintain their own LAMP-standardized servers. Canonical Ltd. Also provides technical support for the full suite of components in the LAMP stack.

“This new (LAMP) functionality is the first of several planned fully-certified free software stacks in Ubuntu,” said Fabio Massimo Di Nitto, product manager of Ubuntu Server Edition. The acronym LAMP refers to four ingredients of the world's most widely used framework for dynamic website publishing. While many variations on the LAMP theme exist, these four components are most commonly deployed together. The process of integrating these components will often take several hours per server and leaves room for the introduction of security vulnerabilities or unnecessary variation in configuration between different systems. "LAMP servers were the most popular use of Ubuntu in the data center, so we focused on that stack first" added Adam Conrad, Ubuntu's lead LAMP developer.

Ubuntu 6.06 LTS also has a new mechanism to make commercial software available, enabling businesses and individuals to download select software from Independent Software Vendors (ISVs). There are a variety of solutions available this way already, including data management software from Arkeia, cross-platform development tools from Raining Data, PC sharing from Userful and virtualisation from VMware. Additional software for Ubuntu from ISVs will be added in the coming months.

" Ubuntu and VMware have worked together to incorporate VMware’s industry-leading virtualization capabilities in a freely available and easy to use manner for Ubuntu 6.06 LTS," said Dan Chu, senior director of developer products. "Any Ubuntu user can automatically install VMware Player from the Ubuntu package manager, and join the four million plus users of VMware worldwide for running virtualized servers, desktops, and virtual appliances. Hundreds of thousands of users have already adopted Ubuntu Virtual Appliances using VMware, and the increased integration between Ubuntu and VMware will further enable broad uptake of Ubuntu Virtual Appliances."

Ubuntu is part of the Debian family of distributions. As such it has an extremely wide selection of software that is instantly available to Ubuntu users, and includes some of the world's best-regarded software for the management of software updates and changes. "Debian is integral to the success and popularity of Ubuntu" said Matt Zimmerman, CTO of Ubuntu. "The combined efforts of more than 1,000 developers create a unique platform in Debian, which allows Ubuntu to focus on the specific needs of our users." Ubuntu is believed to be the leading version of the Debian system that includes skills certification from LPI, as well as certifications from hardware and software companies.

A special added bonus of Ubuntu 6.06 LTS is the inclusion of several chapters from “The Official Ubuntu Book”, which Prentice Hall Professional will publish in July 2006, under an Open Content licence. The book represents the collaborative effort of more than a dozen Ubuntu community members from around the world, in addition to the primary authors: Benjamin Mako Hill, Jono Bacon, Corey Burger, Jonathan Jesse, and Ivan Krstic. “We’re thrilled to have been able to develop this book in such close partnership with the Ubuntu community,” said Paul Boger, VP/Publisher for the Pearson Technology Group. “This book is truly by and for the Ubuntu community.” The book can be pre-ordered at http://www.prenhallprofessional.com/ubuntu.

The word "Ubuntu" is a special word in many African languages. It translates loosely as "human-ness" and speaks to the importance of the role each individual plays in their community. In celebration of that, this release of Ubuntu also includes unique video footage of an interview with Nelson Mandela, who speaks on the relevance of this philosophy today.

About Ubuntu

Since its launch in October 2004, Ubuntu has become one of the most highly regarded Linux distributions, with millions distributed and in use around the world. Ubuntu will always be free, and will not have restrictive licenses associated with it. With these goals in mind at all times, Ubuntu aims at being the most widely used of all Linux systems, and is the centre of a global open source software ecosystem. The latest version can be downloaded at here.

By The Love Council for iVillage

If 2005 was the year of the celebrity baby boom, 2006 is shaping up to be the year of the breakup boom — and breakups in Hollywood can get uhh-gly. In fact, Jennifer Aniston's heavily publicized breakup with Brad Pitt has been so emotionally destructive that her new boyfriend, Vince Vaughn, is even playing peacemaker: "Vince told Angelina's manager he's ready to help Jen put the feuding and competition behind them," says a friend. But does Vince have the right idea? Is it healthier for people to keep in touch with exes or to cut ties after a breakup? We asked the Love Council to weigh in.

Cathi Hanauer and Daniel Jones
"Friends are friends, and lovers are lovers"
Cathi: I know Dan disagrees with me on this one (sorry, hon!), but there are plenty of situations where it's fine — and even preferable — to maintain a friendship. In fact, I've stayed friendly with two of my long-time boyfriend exes, both of whom I'm still in touch with two decades later: Their wives know me; they know Dan, the whole thing. But whether or not you can or should be friends afterward depends on how honest you both can be. If either one of you is sticking around with the hope that it could turn romantic, then being friends is simply prolonging the torture, and the sooner you can move on, the sooner you both can be happy again.Dan: Yes, I say cut the ties, rip off the Band-Aid, feel the pain and move on. Don't call, email, Google-stalk, go out on any "platonic" lunches or plan any insane foursome dates with your ex and your respective rebound lovers to prove how "over it" and mature you all are. If you must get back in touch with your ex at some point, give yourself a good, oh, 10 years. But even when she's married to someone else and settled into a new life many states away, you might want to think twice before contacting her. Because, let's face it, even after you have a wife and kids all your own, you'll still probably wonder, "What if I'd married her? Would I be happier? Would she?" Friends are friends, and lovers are lovers. Friends can become lovers, but it doesn't often go the opposite way.

Dr. Sarah Stedman
"Close the door"
As a celebrant, I perform divorce ceremonies that are celebrations of closure and the beginning of a new life. These are joyful occasions, which honor the learnings and personal growth that emerged from the marital experience. What the exes choose to do afterward is always their own decision, but in most divorce ceremonies that I have officiated, the focus has been on making a healthy separation and closing the door.

Michele Weiner-Davis, MSW
"Breaking up is hard to do"
Regardless of what anyone tells you, with only one exception, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Breaking up is hard to do for a variety of reasons. Some people need to make a clean break and leave their past (and ex) behind in order to heal and get on with their lives. Others, despite the pain, are unwilling to allow their years of shared history to fade into a faint memory; maintaining some sort of meaningful connection is important to them. (Interesting factoid: 10 percent of those who divorce actually remarry each other!)But there is one hard and fast rule as to when exes absolutely need to stay in touch: when they have kids. Children are the real victims in these situations. They have no vote in a decision that deeply affects their lives forever. Their parents owe it to them to rise above animosity, resentment and anger to find ways to collaborate, cooperate and, to the best of their abilities, remain cordially connected.

Heather Hunter, aka This Fish
"It's not such a tragedy to let go"
I used to be adamant about remaining friends with my exes. I thought, "Why cut ties with someone who knows you so well?" But after a few times down that bumpy road, I can tell you exactly why: As relationships change from romantic to platonic, expectations can sometimes take a little while to catch up. Feelings get hurt, egos get bruised and when one of you moves on… well, it can be pretty tricky. Sometimes, when it comes to making nice with someone who's seen you naked, there may be too much emotion involved to be reasonable.Twice I've fought hard — and hit some pretty terrible lows — to stay friends with an ex. And over time as I've watched both friendships slowly dissolve into nothing more than friendly acquaintances, I've realized that maybe it's not such a tragedy to let go. 

SWORD, don't forget that name. It's a robot soldier. It's the soldier of the 21st century. It's a genius invention meant to reduce casualties during a war, especially in a snipers/insurgent prone environment. The SWORD can be equipped with some of the deadliest weapons of the world and remotely controlled. Read the article blow to learn more about the SWORD.

—–

Soldiers may have armed robots as battle buddies by early next year, according to industry and military officials attending the biennial Army Science Conference. 

The Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection System, or SWORDS, will be joining Stryker Brigade soldiers in Iraq when it finishes final testing, said Staff Sgt. Santiago Tordillos, a bomb disposal test and evaluation noncommissioned officer in charge with the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Directorate of the Army’s Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J. 

“We’re hoping to have them there by early 2005,” Tordillos said. “The soldiers I’ve talked to want them yesterday.” 

The system consists of a weapons platform mounted on a Talon robot, a product of the engineering and technology development firm Foster-Miller.  

The Talon began helping with military operations in Bosnia in 2000, deployed to Afghanistan in early 2002 and has been in
Iraq since the war started, assisting with improvised explosive device detection and removal.  

Talon robots have been used in about 20,000 missions in Iraq and
Afghanistan, according to Foster-Miller reports. 

“It’s not a new invention, it's just bringing together existing systems,” said Tordillos, who has been involved with the project since its inception about a year and a half ago. 

Different weapons can be interchanged on the system – the M16, the 240, 249 or 50-caliber machine guns, or the M202 –A1 with a 6mm rocket launcher. Soldiers operate it by remote control, from up to 1,000 meters away.            U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Santiago Tordillos operates a Talon robot armed with an M16 rifle on the exhibit hall floor at the 24th Army Science Conference. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Lorie Jewell                     U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Santiago Tordillos operates the armed robotic system by remote control with two joy sticks on a control panel, tracking where it's going on a small screen. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Lorie Jewell                        With a weapons platform mounted to a Talon robot, the SWORDS system allows soldiers to fire small arms weapons by remote control from as far as 1,000 meters away. The system, demonstrated at the 24th Army Science Conference, may soon join soldiers in
Iraq. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Lorie Jewell             

In testing, it hit the bull's-eyes from as far as 2,000 meters away, Tordillos said. The only margin of error has been in sighting, he added. 

“It can engage while on the move, but its not as accurate,” Tordillos said. 

The system runs off AC power, lithium batteries or Singars rechargeable batteries. The control box weighs about 30 pounds, with two joysticks that control the robot platform and the weapon and a daylight viewable screen. 

SWORDS was recently named one of the most amazing inventions of 2004 by Time Magazine. 

There are four SWORDS in existence; 18 have been requested for service in
Iraq, Tordillos said. So far, each system has cost about $230,000 to produce, said Bob Quinn, lead integrator for the project. When they go into production, Quinn estimates the cost per unit will drop to the range of $150,000 to $180,000. 

Quinn credits soldiers with getting the project started. “It’s a classic boot-strap effort,” said Quinn. 

Tordillos fielded a variety of questions while showing off the system in the exhibit hall. Soldiers wanted to know what military occupational speciality they have to sign up for in order to work with the system. There is no specific (military occupational specialty) for it, he said. 

Other questions were more thought provoking. Does he envision a day when armed robots outnumber humans on the battlefield? Tordillos firmly said no. 

“You’ll never eliminate the soldier on the ground,” he said. “There’ll be a mix, but there will always be soldiers out there.”

We went down to New York for the long weekend. Despite the 16-degree weather, we walked down to Times Square – all the bright lights lured us the ten blocks from our hotel. When we got there, we stood like, well, tourists, gaping at all the electronic billboards. And then, across the square, I saw it: the world's largest Windows error message – on a two-story high e-billboard (I guess everything really is bigger in New York). It was the only billboard in the entire square with absolutely no movement – since the PC running it had obviously frozen. …Adja !!!!  That's another reason I luv the *nix. In the *nix world, I can bump into kernel panics when I do kernel hacking but it's nothing compared to this gigantic ERR_MSG displayed on a billboard on Time Square…;) 

And…this posting on the website of networkworld.com has launched a serious and heated discussion. I read it the other day and I was just dead laughing. Please check out the discussion thread here ( http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/4630#comment )

ElectronicsWeekly.com

by Richard Wilson

Friday 12 May 2006

Researchers at Mitsubishi Electric, NEC and the University of Tokyo claim to have made a breakthrough in a new technique for very secure data communications.

The firms have implemented a technique known as quantum cryptography which codes the data optically and have for the first time transmitted information between systems uses this technique.

According to the companies, it is hoped that using this technology it will be possible to realise networks with unbreakable codes within five years.

[ from Newsforge, The Online Newspaper for Linux and Open Source ]

As the Free Software Foundation (FSF) works toward finalizing the next version of the GNU General Public License (GPL), free software developers are still trying to make sure companies are complying with the current version of the GPL.

Violations of free software licenses are usually handled differently than violations of proprietary software licenses. Developers aren't looking for money or to punish competitors, but simply to enforce compliance with a license that requires reciprocity. Though a few violations have been widely reported, many more are settled quietly.

Dan Ravicher, legal director of the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC), says that most companies violating the GPL are "not doing so because they're evil, but because they don't know. The managers and businesspeople don't know that's in there."

Part of the problem may stem from a faulty understanding of the GPL and other free software licenses, rather than a deliberate attempt to rip off free software developers. Corporate types understand licensing code for money, but the reciprocity requirements of the GPL and other free software licenses seem to confuse many corporate and proprietary software types.

Sloppiness and laziness can also be a factor — developers pushing deadlines may cut corners by reusing GPL code in projects without the knowledge or blessing of management. But Ravicher says outright maliciousness is rare, though not unheard of.

According to former BusyBox maintainer Erik Andersen, violations are fairly common. "I get roughly three reports every week of some device or other that is shipping with BusyBox in violation of the license; i.e., the vendor fails to support source, fails to offer source, and in many cases, claims the software is completely proprietary, when in fact it is obviously running Linux and using BusyBox."

Pursuing legal matters

Andersen says that his father, an attorney, has tried to follow up on violations, but Andersen calls it an "overwhelming burden" because his father still needs to pay paralegals, secretaries, and so forth. Andersen says GPL enforcement "has earned nothing to help pay the salaries at my dad's law office. Quite understandably, therefore, GPL enforcement tended to, [out] of necessity, get pushed to the bottom of the priority list."

Current BusyBox maintainer Rob Landley says that GPL violations not only cost BusyBox time and effort, but they've caused at least one developer to abandon the project.

This problem's been festering for a while, and it's cost us. A year ago, we lost a prominent developer, Glenn McGrath, who tried his own license enforcement effort — prying the source code to the router he bought out of the company that made it — and was so burned out by what turned into a nasty legal battle that he completely lost faith in the GPL. Others have had similar experiences and stopped contributing code they thought would just be decommoditized and sucked into proprietary projects regardless of the license they put it out under.

On the other hand, Ravicher says that GPL violations "are not increasing at any alarming rate, if at all." He points out that copyright violations have "almost no statute of limitations" due to copyrights' longevity, and that companies have little incentive to "violate and keep it hush-hush" because violations can always be addressed at a later date. He also says that "no rational business thinks it's a wise thing to rip of GPLed software."

While Ravicher doesn't observe an increase in violations, Andersen, Landley, and gpl-violations.org founder Harald Welte believe the rate is increasing. The reality may be that violations are not increasing overall, but the number being reported in the embedded market is increasing. As Welte states on his blog, "The current rate at which new GPL violations get reported and/or discovered, especially from the appliance/embedded market, is really alarming. For example, I haven't yet seen a single Linux-based NAS product that was even remotely license-compliant when first analyzing it. And I'm not only talking about the SoHo NAS boxes with one or two hard disk drives, but even about enterprise storage systems."

Welte also expresses frustration with the amount of time needed to pursue GPL compliance. "I'm a die-hard technical guy who loves kernel development," he says. "While I have excellent legal contacts who are skilled in both [the] technical and legal worlds, it's still a neverending amount of hours spent in work that doesn't really seem 'productive' to me. I'm constantly spending between 50% and 60% of my time with this."

Part of the problem is that developers are taking on a task that they're not well suited for. Ravicher says that enforcement "without legal representation is difficult; with legal representation, it's not that hard." For one thing, Ravicher says that letters coming from nonlawyers may not be taken as seriously by a company. "Companies get so many letters all the time … it's hard to distinguish [legitimate claims] from people who don't have meritorious claims."

Ravicher also points out that if he were following up on claims, he might simply contact a company's in-house lawyer directly to start talking about bringing the company into compliance with the GPL — something that might be difficult for a developer to do.

Finding violations

It can be difficult to even find and confirm violations. It takes a fair amount of work to confirm that a device or program is in violation, since (by definition) violators usually don't ship source code. This means that, to prove violations in embedded devices or proprietary software, the investigating party needs to obtain — usually at a fair expense — a copy of the software or device, then engage in a great deal of work to confirm that it contains GPLed code. Welte describes some of the efforts in this entry on his blog:

So apart from talking to lawyers, proofreading legal paperwork, negotiating with allegedly infringing companies, and the like, I now also start having trouble doing test purchases. [I] not only refuse some retailers to take orders from me, but also if I actually place an order, it raises new problems.

The last web store I ordered a test purchase from now asked me for a complete, readable copy of both sides of my ID card…. This is totally against any data protection laws. There is absolutely no requirement for them to know my passport photograph, ID card number, size, or eye colour. So as a follow-up, I had to write an official complaint with the Berlin data protection agency — as if I didn't have any other work to do.

Also, for the last months, I find myself giving about EUR 10k in 0% interest loans to GPL infringing companies. That's the amount of money spent for test purchases that I had to do to confirm GPL violations, but which hasn't yet been reimbursed.

One way to make it easier to spot violations is to be proactive about identifying use of GPLed code. For example, Ravicher says that one of his clients developed an interface that, if the user typed in a specific question, would respond with his client's name — providing pretty strong evidence if a company copied his code into their program. He suggests that other free software developers put "fingerprints" in their software to help identify illicit use of their code.

However, Ravicher points out that the "vast community" of free software users and contributors are fairly effective at spotting and reporting possible violations of the GPL. Free software supporters are working in all sorts of companies and organizations, and it's not unlikely that an engineer could spot a violation and report it anonymously.

How to handle violations

If you discover a violation, it's important that the initial reaction is constructive rather than confrontational, according to the GPL Violations FAQ. The violation may or may not be intentional, but it's probably best to give a company or project the benefit of the doubt when making initial contact — and it's probably best to contact the company quietly and privately the first time.

As the GPL Violations FAQ states, "Be polite but firm when dealing with companies and remember that the goal is to ensure a company stops violating the GPL and does not violate it again, rather than to leave a smoking crater at the location of their HQ… at least not on the first offense."

According to Landley, it depends on the company whether a light touch will work. "Some companies simply make an oversight and respond to a polite email. Some companies are too busy to deal with you until they get a cease and desist letter. And some companies laugh at you until an actual lawsuit is filed."

Looking to GPLv3

When talking about enforcing the GPL, it's worthwhile to consider the GPLv3 draft and provisions that would change the termination procedure for violations. The current version of the GPL automatically terminates a licensee's rights to copy, modify, distribute, or sublicense GPLed code from the program. (Note that this doesn't extend to other GPLed applications, so if a party violates the GPL by distributing an application such as Gaim in violation of the terms of the GPL applied to Gaim, the party doesn't lose the right to distribute any GPLed code — just Gaim.)

The GPLv3 draft changes the termination clause to say that the copyright holder may terminate rights under the GPL "after having notified you of the violation by any reasonable means within 60 days of any occurrence." This puts an additional burden on the copyright holder to notify the violator and wait 60 days.

Welte says that the new draft "would make enforcement in the way of gpl-violations.org virtually impossible. There is a ridiculous change where the rights are only revoked after the copyright holders explicitly notify the infringing party of the revocation, and then the copyright holders have to wait … before they could take any legal action."

If the provision remains as is, Welte says he doubts that the provision would help compliance. "Where is the advantage of bringing out a product [that's] GPL-compliant, if the only 'penalty' of noncompliance is that I have to prepare a source code offer within 60 days after being notified by the copyright holders?"

However, Welte says that he expects the wording regarding revocation will be updated in the next draft of the GPLv3.

Eben Moglen, pro bono general counsel for the FSF and chairman of the SFLC, says that the FSF considers it "harmful" to the GPLv3 process to reply "to individual comments or commentators in an informal way." He says that the FSF "has taken a number of steps to clarify the license in ways that FSF believes will reduce the frequency of unintentional violations, and to ease the problems of remedying violations when they do occur. FSF does not believe that the current license draft contains any elements that would impede enforcement of copyright against either willful or inadvertent infringers, but we continue to accept and to study all comments in order to learn from others' experiences and views."

Success rate

Is all this effort actually worthwhile? Though it takes a lot of time and effort, it does seem that enforcement efforts are paying off.

Welte says that the success rate of gpl-violations.org is at about 99%. "There was only one case where we could not obtain source code. And that one was about a product that already has been end-of-life, and the European distributor had no contacts with the real manufacturer anymore. In all other cases, we could obtain source code."

"I very much believe the project is making a difference," says Welte. "I get lots of feedback from both the corporate world and the community, and the awareness within the corporate world definitely increases."

Even if violations of the GPL are increasing, it may not be a negative sign in the long run. Landley says an increase in violations highlights the increased adoption of free software overall. "In a way, this whole thing is a sign of success. The problem isn't that a larger percentage of people are ignoring the license, it's approximately the same percentage of a much larger pool."

1. "gpl-violations.org" – http://gpl-violations.org/
2. "blog" – http://gnumonks.org/~laforge/weblog/2006/02/22/#20060222-buried-alive
3. "in this entry" – http://gnumonks.org/~laforge/weblog/2006/02/16/#20060216-a_gpl_day
4. "GPL Violations FAQ" – http://www.gpl-violations.org/faq/violation-faq.html
5. "GPLv3 draft" – http://gplv3.fsf.org/draft

I lost my cell phone on March 3, 2006 when returning home from work. I lost it on the metrobus. I didn't realize until I got back to my apartment. When I noticed, I came back to downtown DC to check in my office. I couldn't find it on my desk. I, then, used my office phone to call my number. Someone with an African American accent responded. Here is how the conversation went:

- Hello sir ! I lost my phone a few minutes ago and I think you have it. Could you give it back to me please? I say respectfully to the guy who add my phone.

- Oh yeah ! You lost your phone huh? he asked me.

- Yeah, I lost it on my home from work, I added.

Then he said:

- You lost your phone, I have it, f*** it !. He said that and hang up the phone.

Tough luck for me. Two minutes after he hanged up on my, I called again. He was more copperative and offer to return me the phone. He asked me to come to a pool place downtown Silver Spring. It was 11ish. I caught the metro, went back at the place but couldn't find him. It was very disappointing and frustrating but there was nothing I could have done about it. At 1am, I decided to go home. The next day, I called so many times but he never picked up my phone. After that, I came to the conclusion that there was no point wasting my time. I went to my online Cingular acount and suspended my line. He didn't really abuse my minutes. Thank God !

So, I decided to order a new cell phone from Cingular ( Gosh, I'm on that 2 years contract thingy and it's painful to get out! I have one one year left though.). I had the choice between a SLVR phone and a RAZR. I picked a silver color RAZR ( see picture !). I got here yesterday and I so excited by all the cool feature it has. It's awesome and I love it. It's the best cell phone I have seen so far. The design is stunning, slim, light, and perfect. I'm enjoying it now. I'll make sure I don't lose it again. I have one year warranty on it but I just don't want to lose another cell phone. You know what I'm saying? It's a lot of pain when it happens. One is cut off from the rest of the world, the address book is gone, some important text messages are gone, some personal files are also gone,..

Anyway,  I'm just in love with the RAZR. Here is what is written on buy.com about the RAZR V3. Check it out !

"The RAZR V3's design takes the standard clamshell form factor to the next level with an impressive, anodized aluminum construction. A large 176 x 220 color display with 262,000 colors dominates the inside of the top cover. The outside cover of the handset sports a supplementary 96 x 80 full-color display that can display pictures, time, call information, battery and signal strength, and more. The VGA camera lens is housed above this display. Up/down buttons are placed on the left side for volume control while a voice button on the right side of the unit allows you to enter voice memos and create voice dialing profiles.

The RAZR V3's internal phone book can hold up to 1000 contacts while the phone's picture ID system allows you to assign pictures to your most common callers. It also supports polyphonic ringtones as well as MP3 ringers, allowing you to use portions of your favorite songs to alert you to incoming calls. A number of ringtones come preloaded on the phone and more ringtones can be downloaded from Cingular Wireless' MEdia service. There's even an included application, MotoMixer, that lets you mix your own ringtones.

The RAZR V3 is a messaging and wireless Internet powerhouse. Support is built in for sending and receiving pictures, text, graphics, sound and video via messages. When used in combination with the phone's built-in still and video camera, MMS opens up a whole new world of messaging fun. Instant messaging is also supported via AOL Instant Messenger and the phone ships with a built-in email client with support for POP3, IMAP4 and SMTP protocols.

With 5 MB of internal memory storage, the RAZR V3 shines in the entertainment department. The phone's VGA camera features a 4x zoom, image quality options, and an auto-timer so you can be in your pictures, too. Capture stills and then send them to your friends via MMS messaging or email, or to your PC via USB or Bluetooth. The phone is capable of MPEG4 video playback when you receive a video message, or if you upload video to the phone via USB or Bluetooth. The RAZR V3 also supports custom graphics for wallpapers so you can dress up the phone to suit your fancy."

Now, it's up to you to judge. I ain't doing any commercial for Motorolla but truth be told. The RAZR is a killer cell phone !. Oh yeah !Gotta have it in you geek kit !

Shi Tao, a Chinese journalist, is serving a ten-year prison sentence for sending an email to the U.S. Yahoo! helped put him there. They provided information to the Chinese Government, which led to his unjust imprisonment. Yahoo! needs to hear from people like you and me in droves. Corporations like Yahoo! are very sensitive to public outcry. We must tell Yahoo! that we won't stand for violating privacy and ask them to use their influence to secure Shi Tao's release.