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May 6th, 2011. Today, KDE has released a series of updates to the Plasma Desktop and Netbook workspaces, the KDE Applications and the KDE Frameworks. This update is the second in a series of monthly stabilization updates to the 4.6 series. 4.6.3 brings many bugfixes and translation updates on top of the latest edition in the 4.6 series and is a recommended update for everyone running 4.6.2 or earlier versions. As the release only contains bugfixes and translation updates, it will be a safe and pleasant update for everyone. KDE's software is already translated into more than 55 languages, with more to come.

The ability to scale out to third-party vendors without worrying about vendor lock-in, as well as the ability to move virtual workloads between different environments, are benefits of open application programming interfaces (APIs) that Red Hat has been espousing for a while now.

It has been almost a week since the final release of new Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal happened. I have been using Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal ever since it's first alpha release came out and I am really impressed with the end product. So, is it a bit of overstretch to give Ubuntu 11.04 the "favorite Ubuntu ever" title already? Let's explore.

Braben has developed a tiny USB stick PC that has a HDMI port in one end and a USB port on the other. You plug it into a HDMI socket and then connect a keyboard via the USB port giving you a fully functioning machine running a version of Linux. The cost? $25.

GNU Denemo is a free music notation program for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows that allows users to create notations for the text-based LilyPond sheet music printer. Composition, transcription, arrangement and playback functions can be controlled using a keyboard, MIDI keyboard or microphone. Among the new features of version 0.9 are unlimited undo and redo capabilities, a MIDI input feature for chords, MIDI shortcuts, mouse-controlled playback speeds, the support of numerous additional LilyPond functions, an import feature for LilyPond files as well as various composition tools such as components for shuffling notes or reversing or mirroring a selection.

The release of the first beta of version 9.1 of the open source PostgreSQL database has opened a new era in enterprise-class reliability and data integrity that can compete with the big names, say its developers. CIO Australia interviewed Josh Berkus, Kevin Grittner, Dimitri Fontaine and Robert Haas about PostgreSQL 9.1 and its future.

Well, it's just about that time again, Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) was just released and the developers over at Linux Mint are readying for the subsequent release of their flagship Main Edition, Linux Mint 11 (Katya). To kick things off, Clem, the founder and lead developer of Linux Mint, released a preview this morning over at their blog. Since then, a private 32-bit testing release has dropped in for the tester's group over at the community site. For those wanting to keep tabs on the progress of the Linux Mint 11 development process and status this will be an ideal place to do so.

It's been this way ever since I began using Debian in the Etch days (circa 2007) -- GNOME is generally pretty fast in a distro like Debian, and you can get a lot done with the tools provided by the desktop environment.

According to Spafford, security experts monitoring open Internet forums learned months ago that Sony was using outdated versions of the Apache Web server software, which "was unpatched and had no firewall installed." The issue was "reported in an open forum monitored by Sony employees" two to three months prior to the recent security breaches, said Spafford.

Less than a minute in the #fedora channel was enough to remind me why Fedora 13 was the last Fedora revision I had burned.

For many years we have heard warnings that software patents pose a threat to the free software community. Repeated warnings have a tendency to fade into the noise if they are not followed by real problems; to many, the patent threat may have seemed like one of those problems we often hear about but never experience. The recent ruling in the US that Google is guilty of infringing a software patent held by a patent troll named "Bedrock Computer Technologies" serves as a reminder that the threat is real, and that solutions will not be easy to come by.

Cross-platform malware is still a rare occurrence, so when it's detected, it usually attracts more attention than the malware engineered to affect only one particular platform. A recent one, detected by McAfee and "named" IncognitoRAT attacks both Windows and Mac OS users. So, how does it manage to do it?

I’ve been busy tonight spamming mailing lists and otherwise getting the word out: the LSB workgroup is preparing to update the FHS. This update has been a long time in coming; FHS 2.3 (the current version) was released back in 2004. Since then, a lot has happened, and it’s starting to look like the FHS is holding things back due to the lack of updates.

Mozilla officials have refused a US government request to ban a Firefox add-on that helps people to access sites that use internet domain names confiscated in an unprecedented seizure earlier this year.

With Red Hat on the verge of becoming the first billion-dollar company focused exclusively on open source software, it has attracted quite a bit of attention -- from lawyers waving patents.

Ubuntu and Fedora are arguably the most popular Linux distros out there today. They both make a huge impact on the Linux community release after release, but are somewhat opposite philosphies at times. Fedora, the RedHat-sponsored community project is adamant of RPM packages, while Ubuntu is based on Debian and therefore uses DEB packages. Fedora maintains that RedHat corporate environment vibe to it, more like a specialised distro, the perfect choice for developers. Ubuntu, on the other hand, based its strategy around creating "Linux for human beings", a friendly desktop environment that is accessible to all kinds of users.

I said months ago that Ubuntu 11.04 wouldn't be the same old Ubuntu, and boy was I right. With its new Unity interface, Ubuntu doesn't look or act like any other desktop Linux you've ever seen. And, since I've seen almost all of them, I know what I'm talking about! The basics are the same as you'll find in many Linux distributions. It's still based on Debian Linux; it uses the 2.6.28 Linux kernel; it still uses most of the same familiar applications; and its desktop is built on top of GNOME 2.32.1, but with the Unity desktop I couldn't blame you if you didn't recognize anything but the apps.

Evernote for Android has been steadily improving ever since it was released in 2009. But the latest Evernote for Android 3.0 update dwarfs them all in terms of the sheer amount of features it brings with it. Evernote is basically a simple note taking application that lets you create notes online easily and sync it with several devices.

Lots of people are determined to abandon Ubuntu 11.04 in favour of other operating systems only because they hate Unity. But do you know that Ubuntu 11.04 comes with 2 (two!) desktop environments? It also includes GNOME. To be precise, GNOME 2.32.1. Let me show you how to easy switch from Unity to GNOME...

Salih Emin proudly announced earlier today, May 5th, the immediate availability for download of the iQunix OS 11.04 operating system, based on the recently released Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) Linux distribution.