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Apple's releasing some hot new features in iPhone 3.0 this summer, but will it be better than Google's Android? Let's take a look.

In this edition of the Nouveau Companion, covered is the status of this open-source NVIDIA display driver and what went on at FOSDEM with the Nouveau project status and combining LLVM with Gallium3D. Recently the Nouveau developers have been successful in using EXA acceleration on newer GeForce 9 graphics cards, backlight controls working on more NVIDIA graphics cards, and a port of the Nouveau driver to FreeBSD. Work on kernel mode-setting and proper kernel memory management is also underway.

The U.S. Constitution makes a point of guarding against tyranny through a series of checks and balances. The software market, it turns out, is no different. Or, rather, it could turn out to be that way. Windows has stood alone for over a decade as the dominant operating system for personal computers, and had a growing lock on the server, too. But then Linux happened, and Apple's Mac OS X is increasingly spoiling the Windows party, too (though some recent data suggests that Microsoft's "I'm a PC" marketing may have actually paid off).

Several irate readers asked me to defend Novell after they spotted a blog entry on Linux Planet titled, “SUSE Linux Enterprise Server — the Pointless Linux?” Of course, I don't play favorites. I don't care whether Red Hat or Novell lead the Linux race. But an IT world without Novell and SUSE Linux are somewhat dangerous to imagine.

A paper with code has been released outlining an "invisible exploit" involving Intel SMM cpu cache poisoning. Intel has not yet commented.

Very basic intro to cfengine. If you stick your toe in this pool, you may stub it ;)

One of the strangest mind-benders these days is hearing Linux users going all Barbie and vowing "I will never touch the command line! You'll pry my GUI from my cold dead hands!" Where are these strange people coming from? Why are they using Linux if they don't want to learn anything new?

Despite ongoing wrangles in court with Apple computer, upstart OS X-based computer manufacturer Psystar has introduced a new desktop model. Psystar's the company that, back in April 2008, started selling its own computers with Mac OS X preinstalled. Apple sued in July 2008, arguing that the OS X end-user license forbids its installation by third parties. Psystar has argued that the company acquired its copies of OS X legally and that the license agreement is unenforceable.

This week, we interview Matt Lee from the FSF, talk about Dvorak and Linux, how the French police saved millions with Open Source, CC Zero and Ted Ts’o thoughts on Ext4 data loss. You're all very welcome to come and join us for laughs and Linux geekery.

As Mark Shuttleworth preps a new "Karmic Koala" Ubuntu distro suited to life with its head in the Amazon clouds, Thorsten von Eicken has lent a helping hand. Von Eicken is the CTO and co-founder of RightScale, a Santa Barbara, California outfit offering what it calls "a fully automated cloud-management platform." In other words, it helps you deploy and run your server apps on Amazon Web Services (AWS) and other so-called infrastructure clouds from companies such as Flexiscale and GoGrid.

Lots of governments, businesses and individuals are turning to FOSS during the global recession, according to a recently-released study. But how do you go about it? Do you stick a toe in the water, or dive in head-first to your new FOSS computing environment? This article helps new users think out the steps for migrating to Free Software, and gives a couple of examples.

In my last article on OpenStreetMap I looked at the recent mass imports of public data — everything from British oil wells to the entire road network for the United States. But for those interested in more than an alternative to Google Maps, the ability to extract or add data to the project is what really makes OpenStreetMap shine. Whether you want to get an SVG of a campus map or import a local government's database of every building in the city, Linux users will find plenty of tools that cater to their needs.

IBM's reported interest in buying Sun Microsystems Inc. has Java and open-source community members expressing both hopes and worries about the implications of such a deal for the tools, applications and open-source projects they use every day. IBM is willing to pay at least $6.5 billion for Sun, according to a Wall Street Journal report Wednesday that cited anonymous sources. While analysts said a deal would make strategic sense for both companies -- such as by providing a stronger sales channel for Sun's software and a large installed base of Sun server customers for IBM -- some of the talk in the Java world's trenches is not so sunny.

This two-day introduction to Linux broadens attendees horizons with a detailed overview of the operating system. Attendees learn how to effectively use a Linux system as a valuable tool. They get familiar with the architecture and various components of the operating system, learn both graphical and command line tools, and learn to do basic networking. This class is scheduled for April 9th - April 10th, 2009.

There was a time when having an IT certification was the key to getting a job -- that time may be here again. Back in 1999, when many of my colleagues were out getting MCSE's and CNEs (remember those?), Red Hat launched its Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) program. Ten years later, the program is still kicking, with Red Hat now boasting that it has certified over 38,000 people -- that's a pretty big number. Then again, think of how far Linux has come in the last ten years -- think of how far Red Hat has come too.

Learn how the Squirrel Shell provides an advanced, object-oriented scripting language that works equally well in UNIX, Linux, Mac OS X

A possible IBM acquisition of Sun Microsystems Inc. might have its good points. But users and analysts also have concerns that can be summed up in two words: uncertainty and fear. Sun may be a diminished company these days, but it remains an influential one. Through its open-source products and the massive development communities that have been built up around them, Java and MySQL in particular, Sun has a pull that rivals those of companies with far larger and healthier balance sheets. But with the reported acquisition talks between IBM and Sun, there are questions about what IBM might do with Sun's technologies, especially its open-source ones. For instance, the potential deal is getting mixed reviews from Java users.

Pushed into the Jaunty repository this morning for Ubuntu 9.04 was a new theme for USplash. This Canonical project for providing a splash screen at boot-up on Ubuntu is being replaced by Plymouth with Ubuntu 9.10 (the Karmic Koala release), but there is a new Ubuntu theme as one last hurrah. This new USplash theme has a fixed-size Ubuntu logo centered in the middle of the display and a new progress bar. From our feelings at least, this new theme looks more professional than its predecessor, but it's not exactly a complete overhaul. Below is a video of this newly-pushed theme.

SINGAPORE--Local institute of learning, Republic Polytechnic, has partnered IBM and Red Hat to groom IT professionals with expertise to meet rising adoption of open source software and mainframe virtualization. The institute has launched a new course that provides training on IBM's System z mainframe based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. At a media briefing Wednesday, Eden Liew, RP's deputy principal overseeing corporate services, said up to 150 students and 75 industry professionals are expected to be trained over the next three years.

Once you have a database set up, sooner or later you will want to edit its tables or add a new record. You have four ways to do so. If you created a database using an existing OpenOffice.org Calc or MS Excel spreadsheet, you must edit the spreadsheet itself—in Base, the database will open read-only, and you will be unable to edit it. For other databases, you have three choices: editing the tables directly, using the form wizard to create a form or using the design view to create a form. Whichever way you create a form, you can then use it as a more user-friendly way to edit your database.