Axel does the same thing any other accelerator does: It opens more than one HTTP/FTP connection per download and each connection transfers its own, separate, part of the file. It may sound weird, but it works very well in practice. For example, some FTP sites limit the speed of each connection, therefore opening more than one connection at a time multiplies the allowable bandwidth. Be forewarned that some FTP operators don’t like it when you do this.

The Debian project has updated the stable distribution Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 (codename sarge). This update mainly adds security updates to the stable release, along with a few corrections to serious problems. Those who frequently update from security.debian.org won't have to update many packages and most updates from security.debian.org are included in this update.

Since Linuxlookup news isn't updated over the weekends, here is the weekly wrap-up to hold you over till Monday. Some top stories this week were:

- GIMP vs. Photoshop - What still needs to be done?
- Microsoft offers support to Mozilla
- Google Webmaster Central Launched
- What If Windows Went Open Source?
- New Features and other interesting stuff in Debian 4.0 "Etch"
- Linux will get buried?
- Gentoo Linux 2006.1 Released
- How Microsoft is losing to GNU/Linux
- Linux version of Adobe’s Flash Player 9 - NOT this year!
- IE For Linux?

The latest beta version of Mozilla Firefox 2 has just been released! Beta 2 is available for download now from the Firefox 2 Beta 2 milestone releases page, which contains information related to the release. Alternatively, you can go directly to the downloads page if you don't want to see any of the releases notes.

You're on a bus traveling at 70mph. You need to maintain a constant wireless connection of 100Mbps, or your boss's presentation will be ruined. What do you do, hot shot? What do you do?

Well, if you were in Jeju Island, Korea yesterday, you could have hopped on board a specially designed bus at Samsung's 4G Forum, in which the company was slated to present the world premier of 4G WiBro (Wireless Broadband) technology. Granted, the bus was traveling at around 60kmph (or about 37mph).

Building upon the company's commitment to help clients transform businesses, IBM rolled out its next generation blueprint and roadmap to advance key Linux development priorities and support for open source business models.

Rockbox is a replacement firmware for various audio players, that opens up new features and fixes devices shortcomings. We don't think of these devices as personal computers, but they are; and Rockbox is an alternative operating system. This review focuses on Rockbox as a replacement "OS" for the iRiver player.

Trolltech today released the second technology preview of Qt Jambi to its commercial customers and the open source community for testing and feedback. Qt Jambi is a prototype technology that enables Java developers to utilize Qt: the leading framework for high-performance, cross-platform applications.