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Microsoft is offering "cold hard cash" to persuade users to shop online using its Live Search engine and help the company catch up to rival Google. The savings range between 2% to 30% on products sold by select retailers through its so called cashback service. Microsoft's new site is seen as an attempt to convince advertisers it can combat Google's increasing share of the online ad market. "2008 is the year that search got competitive," said Bill Gates.

[Not specifically Linux related, but interesting nonetheless - techiem2]

It would appear that Nokia is predicting that Linux will play an increasingly important role within its Internet enabled device line up.

"Can I game on it" is a frequently asked question we hear from Windows users toying with the idea of trying Linux for the first time. Well, the simple answer is yes!

iPodLinux is an open source venture into porting Linux onto the iPod (http://www.apple.com/ipod/). So far, they have successfully ported a customized uClinux (http://www.uclinux.org) kernel to the iPod, and written a simple user interface for it dubbed podzilla. Additional applications and modules have been written, adding many capabilities not found in Apple’s firmware. iPodLinux currently works on all iPod generations with the exception of the 2nd/3rd generation iPod nano, 6th generation iPod classic, all iPod shuffles and the iPod Touch.

I said I was wary, the instructions were detailed but not complete, the process was far from instant, and I killed X for a few minutes when I tried to fill in the blanks, but I eventually was able to upgrade my VIA box's existing OpenBSD 4.2 installation to 4.3, packages and all.

Microsoft was set to announce Thursday that it would make the interchangeable document format of a competitor available in its own market-leading Office 2007 software during the first half of 2009. The company, under pressure from European regulators, national standards organizations and its own government clients, said it planned to give customers the ability to open, edit and save documents in Open Document Format - the main competitor to Word - through a free update. By downloading the update, consumers will be able to save text documents in ODF format and adjust Office 2007 settings to automatically save documents in the rival format.

[Score one for open standards! - Sander]

With this new version 11 it brings free and legal codecs to Windows Media files. One less reason for any Microsoft software I guess.

Torrent is a great way to transfer large files very quickly. However most torrent clients are gui based and have quite some impact on system resources (e.g. Azureus). rTorrent is a lightweight client running from the terminal. Being able to run it in a screen session (also upon boot) makes it ideal to also control it from a remote location.

Analysys say that by 2012, 80 percent or more of all commercial software will include elements of open-source technology. Coverity has announced the availability of a new report detailing the continued improvement in the quality and security of open-source software.

Compared to powerful and feature-rich photo applications like F-Spot and digiKam, Fotox looks decidedly underpowered. But while Fotox is no match to those powerhouses featurewise, this lightweight tool can come in handy when you have to perform basic photo editing fast and with minimum fuss.

Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth has again called for the developers of major open source software programs and Linux distributions to synchronize their development and release cycles. He argues that consistent and universal adherence to a specific time-based release model would promote more collaboration between projects, ensure that users have access to the latest improvements to popular applications, and make the Linux platform a more steady and predictable target for commercial software vendors.

Thanks go out to commenter pcfixitguy for telling me about the update to the OpenSSH-server packages in Ubuntu 6.06 LTS.

When Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the One Laptop Per Child project, said two months ago that the project needed to be managed "more like Microsoft" he was speaking nothing but the truth. The OLPC was set up, initially, to provide laptops as educational tools to children in developing countries. But the shine has all gone from the project now, due to poor take-up, an unseemly row with Intel and infighting that has led to top people quitting. There is also a patent infringement lawsuit over the keyboard.

Hardy Hero, a new version of Ubuntu, was announced a little while ago, and the features for this release of Ubuntu are actually rather compelling to me. Because Gutsy only wowed me on two levels - a better wireless stack and the inclusion of tracker by default, here’s some of what I would like to see with Heron.

Ok, so I kinda liked the latter iterations of the Graywolf look for Amarok 2. Apparently, not many others did though. So Lee Olson ( our main artist at the moment ) and I have been thinking of alternatives for a while. And It would seem we have finally come up with something that has managed to get most of the Amarok team excited. It is still in the initial phase and a lot of work is needed still, but so far it is already a huge improvements to the overall look of Amarok 2, at leasts in my humble opinion. This new look is much more clean, and actually a lot closer to our initial idea of what Amarok 2 should look like.

Discover Distributed Image Management for Linux Clusters, a scalable image management tool that allows blades to run a Linux distribution over the network without a local disk. Furthermore, learn how this tool can be used for fast incremental maintenance of images.

As we discussed earlier in our RSS reader options for Linux article, this platform also has its fair share of solutions for those of us who are looking to subscribe to podcasts as well.

The attacking left forward fakes his body to the left as he gracefully slides to the right around his opponent. Dribbling carefully into position, he sizes up the Australian goalie, who, he recalls, tends to play a little aggressively to one side, especially in that last match against Italy. An opposing fullback closes in and the forward ducks the move, falling back slightly and eyeing the goalie’s stance. Finally he sees his chance as the goalie shifts his weight – the forward takes the shot – he scores! The world championship is won by the challengers! The crowd goes wild…the photographers’ bulbs flash…and the forward returns to the locker room, to find an electrical outlet into which he can plug himself to recharge his power cells.

Yep, hugs and kisses (XOXO) to the OLPC's XO-2 laptop, which was unveiled today by Nicolas Negroponte during the One Laptop Per Child Foundation’s day-long media event at the MIT Media Lab. Not much detail was given regarding the new ULCPC's specs, but the new system has two touch-sensitive displays and no hard keyboard.

Linux is in our computers, our phones, our Wi-Fi equipment, and our TiVos -- why not our cars? Intel Corp. and Wind River have been working with both the embedded and automotive industries to advance in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) with open, Linux-based, standards-based, interoperable hardware and software called Open Infotainment Platforms (OIP).