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In the week ending 12 January - Systemd 197, Open webOS ported to the Nexus 7, NASA open source project slowed by commercial vendor, VMware stakes IP claim on Vert.x and Compiz lead developer sees no future under Wayland

Microsoft's Open Technologies company has put together a "VM Depot" of preprepared virtual machines for the Microsoft Azure cloud, composed of free and open source software

OUYA and Kill Screen have announced a programming competition with prizes totalling $45,000; they are hoping it will interest game developers in the new console

Many old-school IT guys scoff that consumerization is the flavor of the month, but in truth, the way we use computers has fundamentally changed -- and IT needs to embrace that or get left behind.

Watson, IBM's Jeopardy-contestant supercomputer, showed the world that, with the right programming, any puny human could be bested in a mildly snooty game show that handed out answers and asked for questions. However, the quest for true artificial intelligence is still ongoing.

So, in the interest of science, the whole of human knowledge (Internet Edition™) was dropped into Watson's brain and then... the problems began.

The specs say it’s packed with power, but has CompuLab truly delivered an intense product in such a small package?

So far from being a full review I decided to talk to you a little about Organ Trail a recently release Indie Game from Hats Productions now that I have been able to get some hands on time with it.

Is a Linux-powered rifle the first step to developing truly safer firearms?

The week we look at the ABCs of enterprise SaaS, why open source documentation sucks and top 10 IT influencers.

The year started with an exciting and technically sophisticated title - Oil Rush. Unigine, a Russian software company behind the game, has been a big supporter of the Linux platform for a long time now. With Oil Rush the company has published the first game based on its own cross-platform engine. Originally, the company was specialized in complex 3D benchmark software. Maybe the most comprehensive Unigine's benchmark is Heaven - a beautiful and very demanding graphics benchmark that supports OpenGL 4.0.

It looks like just about everyone is seeing the light (and the return on investment) when it comes to OpenStack, the open source cloud platform. Mirantis, one of the largest systems integrators focused on OpenStack, just announced it has raised $10 million in growth capital financing from Dell Ventures, Intel Capital and WestSummit Capital. The influx of cash is intended to help Mirantis accelerate its growth in its OpenStack cloud business.

Amid the virtualization war between VMware and Microsoft, The VAR Guy continues to wonder: Can Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization, based on the KVM open source platform, battle its way into a leadership position? The question is especially timely as Red Hat partners gather in San Diego for a major conference.

There is more interest in Linux than ever, and it's not always obvious to new users where to get started. Using Linux is just like using Mac or Windows-- with a pointy-clicky graphical interface. No big deal there, and Linux supplies the added bonus of an extremely powerful command-line interface, which is far more sophisticated and capable than the CLI in Max OS X and Microsoft Windows. You don't have to use it, it's there for anyone who wants it, and it isn't a big deal to learn it.

Earlier this week, reports surfaced that the Windows RT operating system had been jailbroken to allow for the execution of unsigned ARM desktop applications. Microsoft quickly issued a statement saying it does not consider the findings to be part of a security vulnerability, and applauded the hacker for his ingenuity. Now, an enthusiast over at XDA Developers by the name of netham45 has released a Windows RT Jailbreak tool.

When the Homeland Security folks get into the mix and urge all computer users to disable Java in their browsers, you know it’s serious. Indeed, the exploit announced yesterday seems to affect all operating systems, including Linux, and it’s already being exploited. According to Trend Micro the flaw is already being used by blackhat toolkits mainly to distribute ransomware. In a blog posted yesterday, the company advises all users to disable or uninstall Java:

A Google Chromebook has arrived at my doorstep. Starting now, I will live on the cloud-centric notebook (running Google’s Chrome OS) for 30 days. Why should Google partners, businesses and consumers care about this niche (but promising) form factor? Here are 10 points I hope to cover during his real-world, month-long review.

Rather, it’s main purpose is as a control and informational device, kinda like a modern-day remote control, aside from also being a traditional, but cooler wrist watch. I said “cooler,” because Pebble is a thing of beauty, both from a geek’s and end-user’s standpoint.

I was at LISA to present a paper I had written as part of my Ph.D. studies, but LISA is not really what one would consider an "academic" conference. In fact, many of the folks representing universities were from their IT departments, not their faculty. The main focus of the conference is instead on the training sessions and workshops held throughout the week. I was rather concerned that I would have a hard time connecting with anyone at the conference, since I am most definitely an academic, and even lean more towards the developer side than a system administrator.

For years, Jeremy Allison has been one of the better known names in free software development. The lead developer of Samba's implementation of the SMB file server protocol, he is also generally credited as the project's co-creator. True, he jokes that description means that "Tridg [Andrew Tridgell] did all the hard bits, but I was there," and claims not to be current with all aspects of the project -- yet, all the same, few have more of an overview of Samba. Recently, Allison took time to give his personal view of the challenges involved in the recent Samba 4.0 release, and of the directions in which Samba might be heading next.

New year and new challenges. One of them I just realized :) SparkyLinux 2.1 rc “Eris” Ultra Edition has been released. It’s well known SparkyLinux 2.0 “Eris” but with new, ultra lightweight two desktops: Fluxbox and Openbox. SparkyLinux e17/LXDE is light for sure, but the “Ultra” Edition is even lighter.