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AMD and ATI weren't fibbing. The graphics company, now part of Advanced Micro Devices, has released high-end Catalyst 7.10 graphics drivers for the Linux desktop. ATI, once AMD bought it, promised to be more friendly to Linux desktop users. While this release still contains some proprietary bits, it does offer advanced 3D features for Linux users who are willing to use proprietary drivers.

A developer can use a tool such as WebSphere Portal Application Integrator and the Portlet Builder for Domino to simply pull information, build a more tightly integrated view using products, create a portlet that retrieves Domino data via a Web Service, or create the portlet from scratch using the Domino Portlet API. This tutorial provides an overview of each of these techniques and their pros and cons. Download the newest Domino clients.

The New York Times likes open source -- so much so that, as it gradually moves more of its print operations online, it is nurturing a Web development team that has released two of its own open source projects. XSL Cache is a PHP extension the Times is using to cache stylesheets on its Web site. DBSlayer is a tool the team developed to overcome LAMP scaling limitations that caused database replication processes to overwhelm the DB connection limits.

The Snap-O-Lantern is a robotic mini-pumpkin. Normally, it just sits there, in disguise as a boring old pumpkin. But, every twenty seconds he comes to life. His LED eyes turn on, his jaw slowly opens, and then SNAPS shut-- and he goes back into stealth mode.

eWeek ran an article yesterday titled Linux Losing Market Share to Windows Server. The article quoted IDC sales figures. There is a real problem counting this way.

Sites like Flikr and YouTube show just the tip of the full potential for media on the Web. This article provides that you can use in your own project.

When I attended my first ToorCon this month, I spoke with David "h1kari" Hulton, founder and chairman of the event, to learn more about its history and intent. Among other things, I learned that his nick "h1kari" is not l33t-sp34k for hickory, as I first thought, but rather for a Japanese word meaning "divine light." I also learned that he and a friend started the San Diego 2600 group when they were 14, and ToorCon followed a year later.

Vixta is a new Linux distribution, first released only last month, based on the not-yet-released Fedora 8. Its main objective is to emulate the visual aspects of Microsoft Vista. Version 095 contains the newest, and sometimes unstable, versions of software. The project's goals include being free in every sense, requiring absolutely no configuration, and being user-friendly, eye-catching, and familiar. Too bad the goals don't include feature-complete and stable.

Here's the key fact: Facebook's users are not its customers. They're the targets to which Facebook's customers aim advertising. In old media this was no big deal. But Facebook isn't just a "medium". It's a vast walled garden where the social activity of members and visitors constantly improves the ability of advertisers to"target" both.This is a Good Thing only if it works for everybody— including both those targeted as well as those doing the targeting. And if users are actually involved, they have some important questions:What happens to my identity-related information?How is it used, and by whom?How much control do I have over my data (or data about myself)— including what Facebook"partners" do with that data?read more

Should we be ready, as Kent Brockman might put it, to "welcome our new Microsoft overlords," or are the IDC Quarterly Server Tracker figures not really reflecting the reality of how servers are used in businesses? I, for one, think that what IDC is measuring and what server operating systems people are really using are two entirely different things.

According to Wikipedia, Texas Hold'em is "the most popular poker variant played in casinos in the United States." With the GPL-licensed multiplatform (Linux, Windows, Mac OS X) PokerTH, you can play Texas Hold'em against up to six computer opponents on your desktop, or you can join an Internet server and play against other real players.

This document describes how to set up the Avant Window Navigator (AWN) on Fedora 7. The result is an eye candy, dock-like bar at the bottom of the screen as a replacement for the standard gnome-panel. The Avant Window Manager provides an easy to use interface where you can configure/customize it to your needs. Launchers, task lists, and third party applets are supported.

This past Sunday we started our first-ever Linux Graphics Survey that looked at the usage of X.Org display drivers, hardware, and the display features being sought after by Linux desktop users. In less than four days, we received over 10,000 survey submissions! This survey will be going on until November 21, so if you haven't yet participated you still have plenty of time to do so. But for those of you that have already taken the survey, what are the results so far? Well, below are the percentages from all of the responses collected before 10:00AM PST today.

The Battle for Wesnoth is not your typical run-of-the-mill TBS game. The genre turn-based strategy, or TBS, is very self-explanatory. It is, simply put, a game where-as the game flow is broken down into turns or rounds and the game plays from there on. Although there are many other fantasy-themed titles floating around the Internet, this one does stand out of the crowd with its many intriguing features. For starters, the game offers nearly 200 forms of units along with 16 variations of races and six factions to choose from. The game allows the users to become creative and embark on their own personalized journeys. From conceiving your own units and characters to forging the worlds you dream of being in, the Battle for Wesnoth is a must-have download for any gamer out there.

This article is for those that are new to Ruby on Rails, or those that have not spent the time learning the various debugging techniques.

While the rest of the world is shying away from Windows Vista and looking to deploy Linux across schools, the Victorian State Government in Australia is behaving like Microsoft's patsy by side-stepping competition and adopting Vista in schools, according to a leading local IT consultant.

While many nations, agencies, cities, U.S. States and other governmental units have considered mandating the use of Open Document Format since Massachusetts announced its intention to do so in August of 2005, comparatively few have actually done so. Now, one of the early and consistent supporters of ODF has taken the plunge, and done so. That nation is the Republic of South Africa.

He's faced with the unenviable task of convincing the world that Microsoft wants to play nicely with competitors - and also convincing the troops and top management that it's worth it. "It's a mixed bag," said Tom Robertson, general manager of interoperability and standards at Microsoft, when asked after his keynote at Interop 2007 in New York how company employees feel about his mission. "Everyone has to recognize … that there is a cultural shift going on."

My colleague over at Microsoft Watch, Joe Wilcox, declared that "Microsoft bowed before the EU and took its whipping." Eh, after a couple of days to look at the decision, I don't think so. At best, I'd say the European Union got the more favorable end of a draw.

Connectologist Tim Gee considers patient safety and HealthVault: Many have criticized HealthVault regarding privacy and security concerns, or perceived limitations of HV as a personal health record (PHR). I suspect that HV is challenged more by the market's perception of Microsoft's long running security issues than with any actual shortcomings of that type in HV. And since HV is not a PHR, but rather a "platform," criticisms about any lack of PHR features is not relevant. One topic I've not seen addressed is the safety and effectiveness of the data within HV - and I don't mean "safety" as in the data is secure from unauthorized access or misuse.