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Two days ago we reported on hybrid graphics coming to Linux in a crude form that allowed switching between graphics processors on notebook computers that utilize dual graphics processors, one that's meant to deliver the best energy efficient performance while the other GPU is for maximizing the graphics performance in demanding environments. Just 24 hours after this kernel patch hit the Internet it already went through four revisions by Red Hat's David Airlie, which delivered better switching and greater notebook compatibility. Since yesterday this patch has already undergone a few more revisions.

"What’s holding it back is people’s love of the Microsoft operating system and that fact that it’s familiar and so on. But actually the trajectory of progress in the Linux world is very, very impressive. I think it’s only a matter of time for ARM to gain market share with or without Microsoft."

The Britain Loves Wikipedia scheme will see UK museums and galleries opening up to the free online encyclopaedia. Throughout February, volunteer authors can take part in special tours to document artworks and natural treasures at a total of 20 institutions.

Days after a hacker broke open the inner multi-touch capabilities of Google's Nexus One, Google announced it is now offering pinch-to-zoom capability on the Android phone via a software update. In other Google news, the company has posted pictures of the Linux-based Chrome OS running on a tablet prototype.

Canonical and the Ubuntu community are busy polishing Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx), a major upgrade set to debut in April 2010. But before the new Linux distribution arrives, the Ubuntu community will host an Ubuntu Global Jam from March 26 to March 28. The big questions: Will customers also join in the Jam? Should they? Here are some thoughts.

Kate Stewart is the manager of the PowerPC team at Freescale. As such, she has a basic customer service problem to solve: people who buy a board from Freescale would like to have some sort of operating system to run on it. That system, of course, will be Linux; satisfying this requirement means that Freescale must operate as a sort of Linux distributor. At her linux.conf.au talk, Kate talked about a new initiative aimed at helping distributors to ensure that they are compliant with the licenses of the software they are shipping.

It happened like this. Recently our online banking authentication procedures changed. For the better I might add. While these security measures are far more secure they also prevented me from accessing our joint bank account whenever I wished. The end result was that I didn't check the account status often enough and an automatic payment didn't go through. Enough was enough I shouted out the window at two o'clock in the morning. After dodging a few smelly shoes and empty beer bottles I decided to set up my wifes phone to enable it to use the new security measures..

Making scripting fun again. Vimscript provides excellent support for operating on collections of data, a cornerstone of programming. In this third article in the series, learn how to use Vimscript's built-in lists to ease everyday operations such as reformatting lists, filtering sequences of filenames, and sorting sets of line numbers. You'll also walk through examples that demonstrate the power of lists to extend and enhance two common uses of Vim: creating a user-defined function to align assignment operators, and improving the built-in text completions mechanism.

Facebook's re-written PHP to transform the dynamic language for fast performance on web-scale server farms without adding additional hardware. The site's engineers have announced HipHop, which turns the popular and dynamic PHP code into highly optimized but static C++ and then compiles it using the GNU C++ compiler, g++. The change has been released to the community under the PHP license, and you can read more here.

Some time back I wrote about creating a number of konsoles automatically using dcop. Although we were at the time well into the KDE4 era I had not yet upgraded since there were still things that weren't quite working with KDE4, most of these have now been fixed so I've upgraded some of my systems to KDE4, which means it's time to update the original code to now use dbus.

With the introduction of Ubuntuzilla repository, it has become even more easier installing latest Firefox updates in Ubuntu. No more command line burn outs, just use the Synaptic instead.

Leeenux Linux is a netbook distribution for the EeePC 701G, and is now available as version 2.0, complete with many new applications. The Linux distribution focuses on ease of use, even on the 8.9 inch display of the EeePC 701G. Leeenux is also perfect for use on other Netbooks, and uses Ubuntu Netbook Remix and Easy Peasy. The distribution contains only free software.

Bugs are a reality of software development, and a pain for both coders and users. Security bugs are a particularly nasty variety, and in an effort to kill as many as possible, Google is now coughing up cash for catching Chrome and Chromium glitches. The new program, modeled on Mozilla's successful Bug Bounty program, will pay rewards to bug-catchers who report "interesting and original vulnerabilities" in the code of either the Open Source Chromium browser, or Google's Chrome implementation. Google's Chris Evans, who announced the program on the official Chromium blog, described it as both a "token of our appreciation" for existing contributors and an incentive for new participation.

One of the key values at Facebook is to move fast. For the past six years, we have been able to accomplish a lot thanks to rapid pace of development that PHP offers. As a programming language, PHP is simple. Simple to learn, simple to write, simple to read, and simple to debug. We are able to get new engineers ramped up at Facebook a lot faster with PHP than with other languages, which allows us to innovate faster.

I've been looking for a lightweight distribution to use on my Dell desktop with older hardware. While searching for a worthy candidate I almost immediately ran across last week's release of PC/OS 10. With a familiar Ubuntu base and new improvements such as Google Chrome and Skype, I thought PC/OS 10 Webstation was worth a look.

Viruses. They happen to almost everyone. If they don’t happen to you, it’ll be your cousin Stan who get joins the malware-of-the-month club, and you’re the only person he knows who can fix a computer. The problem is, things are so screwed up that Windows won’t even start properly. And if it does, the virus has embedded itself so deeply that you can’t access the files and tools you’d need to remove it. Enter Linux. By booting from a Linux Live CD or USB, you can remove the offending programs manually or with a Linux-based anti-virus program. This guide will cover creation of a bootable USB Linux system as well as a comparison of the antivirus software options.

KDE has released the third release candidate of the next version of the KDE (Linux Desktop Environment) Software Compilation.

Ubuntu Tweak is a cute little application meant to make the life of Ubuntu user a lot more easier. It has a number of small workarounds which are really useful especially if you are a newbie Ubuntu user. Some of Compiz animations like "Show Windows" is not at all easy-to-find, if you are not using Ubuntu Tweak.

Open Tech, an open source partner program organized by Tech Data, has gained a new member. Specifically, KnowledgeTree, an enterprise content management company, has joined Open Tech. The VAR Guy welcomes the news but our resident blogger wonders: Are VARs starting to embrace Open Tech and the rival Open Source Channel Alliance? Here are some clues.

The open source legal profession has established the International Free and Open Source Software Law Review (IFOSSLR) to discuss topics including copyrights, licensing, software patents, open standards, case law and statutes in the open source arena. The IFOSSLR now appears in its second issue.