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The latest 4.4 release of the KDE Software Compilation (KDE SC) offers far more than just stability and bug fixes: The developers have added a special new desktop for netbooks, as well as more program options. They have also made major structural changes. While stability and fine tuning the Plasma desktop shell were the focus in KDE 4.3, the current version has afforded developers the opportunity to add new features. They have integrated a total of 1,433 user requests into KDE SC 4.4. However, this was not done at the expense of bug fixing: The KDE team lists 7,293 fixed bugs.

One of the spinoffs from the emails and documents that were leaked from the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia is the light that was shone on the role of program code in climate research. There is a particularly revealing set of "README" documents that were produced by a programmer at UEA apparently known as "Harry". The documents indicate someone struggling with undocumented, baroque code and missing data – this, in something which forms part of one of the three major climate databases used by researchers throughout the world. Many climate scientists have refused to publish their computer programs. I suggest is that this is both unscientific behaviour and, equally importantly, ignores a major problem: that scientific software has got a poor reputation for error.

Google has taken the wraps off its latest social network known as Buzz. The service - integrated directly with its e-mail service Gmail - allows users to post status updates, share content and read and comment on friends' posts. The site pitches Google directly against rival networks such as Facebook, which has amassed nearly 400 million users since its launch in 2004. Buzz will try to capitalise on the number of regular Gmail users, which is currently around 170 million people.

The latest KDE4 desktop release sports thousands of new features and bugfixes, and includes the best integration yet of semantic technology.

The Linux Mint team announced the final release of Linux Mint 8 "Helena" KDE Community Edition. Based on Kubuntu 9.10, Linux 2.6.31, KDE 4.3.4 and Xorg 7.4, Linux Mint 8 KDE CE boasts improved OEM installation, as well as "ignore updates" and multiple software selection features. The first (RC1) release candidate of the Ubuntu 9.10-based Linux Mint 8 arrived in November. Like the RC1 release, the final KDE-desktop version is based on Kubuntu 9.10, a version of Ubuntu 9.10 ("Karmic Koala").

"What operating system are you running?" "Linux." "Odds are that is the issue, do you have access to a computer with a Windows-based operating system?"

After lot of time spent to learn the cinelerra code, I want to move an other step on the opensource contribute. I'm started from tangolerra project made by Franco Iacomella and after an hard job with svg I made my personal mochup of Cinelerra called Cutiehd. But when I started to work on the mochup of Cinelerra 2.1cv I tryed to enable again the support of font antialias (xft), write a draft of Utf-8 support, rewrite some parts of titler code and adapt the svg plugin from the Cinelerrasv by "Simeon Völkel". I know that these features can generate instability, so I decided to make a new package with it's name and icon called Cinecutie, that can be consider more as "mochup" than a real "fork". In order to make possible the installation with cinelerra I had to rename not only name but also libraries and settings dir (from ~/.bcast to ~/.ccutie).

As the economy is headed (hopefully) for recovery, I'd expect that the market for Linux jobs will also pick up momentum. While experience is always the key, some employers (you know who you are) like certifications. Now thanks to a new partnership between Novell Inc. and The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) getting those certifications might be a bit easier. The new partnership means that people that have obtained their LPIC-1 ( Linux Professional Institute Certification) now also will be qualified for the Novell CLA (Certified Linux Administrator) certification without the need to take an extra Novell exam

On the 20th of February which is a Saturday, The HeliOS Project will be hosting their first official Organization Day. We will be gathering volunteers to meet at our facility in Lakeway and try to bring some order to the chaos I have created. You've been warned. Oh...there will be free food as an incentive. We will also be filming parts of the event so wear something you'd want to be seen in. I've sent personal invitations to Angelina Jolie and Moon Bloodgood and I have every confidence that they will show up. I mean, they'll show up somewhere...just probably not in Lakeway.

Lantronix announced a design contest based on its recently introduced XPort Pro, touted as the "world's smallest Linux networking server." Lantronix will award prizes of $6,000 and $3,000 to the two top entries for Best Linux Design, plus a separate $3,000 prize for the Best Student Linux Design, says the company.

A vulnerability in the creation of symbolic links (symlinks) in the free Samba file and printer server can be exploited to attain access to files outside of predefined paths. Attackers can even get access to the system's root directory (/). To exploit the flaw (directory traversing), attackers first have to have an account on the Samba server that includes write access to at least one share. However, if a share is defined as writeable for guests, the hole can even be exploited remotely without such an account on the server. Under standard settings, no shares are writeable for guests.

LinuxCertified,Inc. a leading provider of Linux training, will offer weekend Linux system administration bootcamp on February 27th - 28th, 2010 in South Bay (CA). This workshop is designed for busy information technology professionals and is designed to cover the most important Linux administration areas.

Cuteness aside, the hexapod bot has gotten some attention from high places. Two days after Bunting, a University of Arizona electrical-engineering senior, posted a YouTube video of his bot, Intel ordered two of them to promote its Atom processors at trade shows and engineering meetings. The robot uses Intel's 1.60GHz Atom Z530 and US15W chipset. It runs on the Ubuntu open-source operating system.

In separate moves, Canonical and Novell are taking steps to bolster their respective Linux training and certification efforts. Here’s a look at the moves, and the implications for partners and customers.

Linux's adaptability is serving netbooks and smartphones well, as a multitude of adaptations for the small screen are flowing into user's hands. Anjal is a sleek, modern interface for Evolution that is well-suited to the small screen.

If you're a Google Nexus One user, you experienced a bit of magic last week. In one click of an over-the-air update, your Nexus One became an iPhone--offering the ability to pinch and expand the screen to zoom in or out. Just one click, with little to no user intervention. That's what operating systems look like in the 21st century, a future more clearly playing out in mobile than in the more traditional realms of personal computers and servers.

Terracotta and Eucalyptus Systems, both open source startups, have announced a new joint partnership. According to the companies, which specialise in scalability for Java applications and the private cloud platform, the partnership will "provide enterprises with an open source solution that maximizes data scalability and application performance in a private cloud environment". With the new agreement, the companies will reportedly combine their sales and marketing efforts and improve integration between their products. Woody Rollins, CEO and co-founder of Eucalyptus Systems said that, "Together we are making private clouds a viable option for managing critical applications and processes at even the highest workloads"

I woke up this morning to Joe Brockmeier's blog and the happy news that SourceForge has decided to lift it's block against the various nations the United States has placed on its embargo list. I had blogged on the original ban announcment and we pleased to see further action had been taken. Actually, the entire matter is not quite as clear cut as it may seem.

MariaDB 5.1.42, a new branch of the MySQL database which includes all major open source storage engines, myriad bug fixes, and many community patches, has been released. We are very proud to have made our first final release, and we encourage you to test it out and use it on your systems.

The polls are closed and the results for the 2009 LinuxQuestions.org Members Choice Awards are in. Ubuntu, Debian, MySQL, Firefox, Wordpress, VirtualBox and Gnome are among the winners. The Members Choice Awards allow members of the Linux community to choose their favorite products in a variety of categories including Server Distribution of the Year, Desktop Distribution of the Year, Office Suite of the Year and Web Browser of the Year. The total number of categories this year was 27.