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Writing in the NY Times, Dennis Overbye covers the birthing pangs and the prospects for CERN's Large Hadron Collider (which we have discussed numerous times). 'The biggest, most expensive physics machine in the world is riddled with thousands of bad electrical connections. [And] many of the magnets meant to whiz high-energy subatomic particles around a 17-mile underground racetrack have mysteriously lost their ability to operate at high energies. Some physicists are deserting the European project, at least temporarily, to work at a smaller, rival machine [Fermilab's Tevatron] across the ocean. ... Technicians have spent most of the last year cleaning up and inspecting thousands of splices in the collider. About 5,000 will have to be redone... Retraining magnets is costly and time consuming, experts say, and it might not be worth the wait to get all the way to the original target energy [of 7 TeV]. Many physicists say they would be perfectly happy if the collider never got above five tr

Jos Poortvliet writes 'After another 6 months of hard work by over 700 people, after fixing over 10,000 bugs and granting 2,000 wishes, KDE 4.3, or 'Caizen,' is here (the release takes its nickname from the Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement). The KDE Desktop Workspace introduces, besides the usual stability and speed improvements, new widgets, the ability to 'peek' in a folder with folderview, and activities tied to virtual desktops. The KDE Application Suites feature improvements in the utilities like a more formats supported in Ark and the return of the Linux Infrared Remote Control system. Instant messenger Kopete introduces an improved contact list and KOrganizer can sync with Google Calendar. Kmail supports inserting inline images into email and the Alarm notifier has gained export functionality, drag and drop, and has an improved configuration. The KDE Application Development platform has seen work on integrating the Social Desktop and the new system tray protocol fro

The Linux Foundation (LF) now has an affinity Visa Platinum credit card emblazoned with a cute-as-the-dickens picture of Tux, Linux' penguin mascot, for people who want to contribute to advancing the operating system through Foundation initiatives. The non-profit operation has teamed with CardPartner Inc to offer the card through UMB Bank. LF will get $50 for every activated card as well as a percentage of every purchase made with it.read more

A powerful new type of Internet attack works like a telephone tap, but it operates between computers and Web sites they trust.

High Tech computer (HTC), the Taiwan smartphone maker known for its popular devices running the Google Android operating system, such as the T-Mobile G1 and myTouch, has significantly lowered its revenue forecast for 2009. The only manufacturer immune to the current economy, it seems, is Apple. - Smartphone maker HTC lowered its 2009 revenue forecast for the year, after the Taiwan stock market closed for the day on July 31. Instead of growth of about 10 percent, the Taiwan-based company is now predicting a ?low to mid-single digit? fall in revenue, according to a report from Reuters. ...

Update: Nat Friedman has written two great blog posts on SUSE Studio, check them out here: Today Novell announced the release of Nat's latest project: SUSE Studio .

JoeLinux writes 'I am soon to marry my true love (a girl! yes! they do exist!). She is a literary geek, whereas I am a gaming/Linux geek. Being the RTFM-style geeks that we are, we have been reading up on marriage, making things work, etc. Unfortunately, all of the references seem to be based around an alpha-male jock and a submissive cheerleader-style wife. A lot of the references to incompatibility in the books don't apply to us (neglect due to interest in sports, etc.). What are some of the pitfalls and successes learned in the course of a more geek-oriented marriage?' of this story at Slashdot.