Moblin is based largely on Fedora, and it's still a work in progress, but its main goal is to optimize performance for Atom and Core 2 processors running on smaller machines. The alpha Intel just released alread has an innovative network connection manager and fast optimized boot times, and it's confirmed to work well with Dell's Mini 9, the Acer Aspire One, and the Eee PC 901 (although right now wi-fi on the Eee is iffy).

Performance is all well and good, but what I'm most interested personally is finding the perfect graphical UI for a netbooks' smaller screen. Right now Moblin is using the Xfce desktop, which is pretty bread and butter. Later in the development they'll switch to a more gussied up UI based on Clutter, which Intel owns.

Last week we saw Jolicloud, a fantastic looking netbook OS that has definitely focused on innovating a new UI for the small screen beyond the ol' desktop-and-icons paradigm. That's what we're waiting for. [Mobilin: Download via Ars Technica]

The decision to use the name Windows 7 is about simplicity. Over the years, we have taken different approaches to naming Windows. We've used version numbers like Windows 3.11, or dates like Windows 98, or "aspirational" monikers like Windows XP or Windows Vista. And since we do not ship new versions of Windows every year, using a date did not make sense. Likewise, coming up with an all-new "aspirational" name does not do justice to what we are trying to achieve, which is to stay firmly rooted in our aspirations for Windows Vista, while evolving and refining the substantial investments in platform technology in Windows Vista into the next generation of Windows.

In the end, though, names are just names. Remember the outrage over Wii? Now who even gives that a second thought? I've also thought the cat-based naming of OS X was always a little hoaky; I still like the Secret Service-inspired code names better. What would you have called the next Windows? [Windows Developer Blog]

The lower court had claimed that Jacobsen's "Artistic License" (CC, dude!) was too broad to claim a copyright violation, which is more powerful than the breach of contract compliant the lower court judge did allow. But the feds have stepped in to call shenanigans, allowing for a dinky little license like the "Artistic" used for model train software to hold up in court as a copyright case, which bodes well for beefier GPL and Creative Commons licenses. The open source world has been starving for notable test cases, and it just may have found one here. [WSJ - photo by Brent and Marilyn]

• Robotic critters, from the insectothopter of the 1970s to the robofish of today

• Cigars developed to kill, confuse or humiliate Fidel Castro—not surprisingly, one would have made his beard fall out.

• The beloved skyhook—yes, the thing that yanks people from the ground up into airplanes. Learn of its origins, early animal test runs and its one successful on-record mission.

• The Soviet's most amazing spy gadget, dubbed "The Thing" by befuddled CIA agents who didn't know how on earth it worked. It was built by Theremin, inventor of that wacky musical thingy, himself a part-time Soviet agent and researcher.

• Spies, spying and spy talk. Yes, the book may be focused on hardware, but man it's full of crazy stories about spies. The most interesting tales are about the Russians who were leaking info to the US, often upon pain of death. Stories of American traitors are pretty familiar, but you rarely get to hear about what went on over on the other side of the Curtain.

Meanwhile, here's a recap of what I did cover, in case you missed it:
• My interview with the authors
• Blow-up Sex Toys as In-Car Decoys
• A Speedboat Disguised as a Junk
• Hide and Seek, CIA Style
• The Inflatable Rescue Plane
• Animal Agents, Live and Dead
• A Gallery of CIA Spy Cameras

Anyway, I enjoyed the book and the authors, and I highly recommend it for a Father's Day gift. Needless to say, I've not received anything in return for this endorsement except a copy of the book itself, which they can have back when they pry it from my cold dead hands. [CIA Spycraft; Amazon Sales Page]

The Firefly was a "pocketable" explosive cylinder that came with its own time delay fuse, designed for dropping into gas tanks. (If used improperly, it would have given new meaning to the word "hotpants.") The Limpet was a submersible explosive that latched onto the hull of a boat and blew a 25-square-foot hole. Best of all, its timer could be set for not just hours, but days.

The OSS .22 caliber cigarette pistol above was for close ranges and single uses. One of Spycraft's authors, Keith Melton, explains that it might have been best used as a distraction, if not a lethal weapon. "Say you're caught by Gestapo," he says. Engage the weapon and "there's a deafening noise in a confined space—disorder, confusion. Remember, any chance you might escape is better than no chance."As a guy who's baked a loaf of bread or two in his day, my favorite resistance weapon was the edible explosive flour dubbed "Aunt Jemima." You could eat it. Let me repeat that: You could eat it. It tasted a little gritty, but hey, there was a war on. Baking wasn't a big deal, because, according to Melton, it needed an accelerant and a small detonator before it would go boom.

The OSS had a different mission than the CIA, as Spytech's authors tell us. Back then during WWII, it was imperative to disrupt the enemy in any possible way, and covert weaponry was paramount. After a bit of organizational confusion in the 1940s and early 1950s, the CIA realized that its primary goal was to steal information alone, without leaving a trace—or any dead bodies. Hence the disappearance of cigarette guns, and the appearance of Zippo cameras. [Spytech Book Review]