Slashdot teams with Quios for wireless distribution

Slashdot, the "news for nerds" Web site popular among Linux fans and programmers, is going wireless.

Through an agreement between wireless information transmitter Quios and Slashdot's parent company, Andover.Net, headlines from the site will be sent to the cell phones of Quios network members, said Derek Carroll, vice president of new business development at Andover.Net.

The wireless realm has become an increasingly significant real estate as more people use portable devices such as cell phones, pagers and Palm Pilots that can tap into the Internet. The agreement between Quios and Andover.Net is a step in the gradual increase of information available over wireless networks, augmenting services such as stock quotes and sports scores.

Although readers won't currently be able to read the commentary at Slashdot, Andover.Net plans the feature in the future when portable gadgets get more powerful and their screens are bigger, Carroll said. Those improvements also will allow Andover.Net to extend its business model to the wireless realm, creating space for ads and promotion of Andover.Net's own collection of programmer-oriented Web sites.

"We have a push to make as much content as possible available to the wireless device," Carroll said.

The companies didn't discuss the terms of the deal, but the Slashdot information will be available for free, Carroll said.

Andover.Net went public in December largely on the popularity of two sites used frequently by Linux fans, the Slashdot news and discussion site and the Freshmeat software announcement site. The popularity of Linux among investors also carried Red Hat, Cobalt Networks, VA Linux Systems and Caldera Systems to strong initial public offerings despite being unprofitable.

VA, operator of the Linux.com Web site and maker of Linux computers, announced a deal to acquire Andover.Net in February, part of a strategy to become the leading Linux company. However, the move is forcing VA to meld two different Web site philosophies: VA sites have focused on securing the goodwill of the Linux community, whereas Andover.Net has made advertising revenue a priority.