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Amazon Web Services has introduced Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS), a web service intended to make it easy to set up, operate, and scale relational databases in the cloud. According to AWS, Amazon RDS provides cost-efficient and resizable capacity while automating time-consuming database administration tasks, freeing users to focus on their application and their business. There are no up-front investments required, and you pay only for the resources you use.

On October 9 through 11, a dozen developers gathered in the Nokia Offices in Munich to bring the vision outlined in Dan Leinir's blog about the "Future of Game Development in KDE" to life. After three days of hard work, the developers joined hundreds of other Qt developers for the Qt Developer Days 2009 (thanks to free tickets provided by Nokia). Read on for more!

The case known as "In re bilski" has the potential to go some way towards righting some of the wrongs of the patent industry, while coincidently, transforming the prospects for innovation in the information and software industries. During the last few years, the United States has witnessed a proliferation of patents in industries that are central to the information economy, despite a wide belief that the rush to patents and business models based on 'Intellectual Property Rights' has the effect of restricting the flow of information and inhibiting innovation.

The Debian / Ubuntu upgrade mechanism is a wonderful piece of software. When the new release comes out, just follow the instructions given by the update manager and the upgrade will be done almost automatically. Sometimes Ubuntu asks for your help when you made other changes than the upgrade program itself wants to make. This howto gives a few tips on how to make your Ubuntu installation more upgrade-friendly. I tested it on Ubuntu installations, but the mechanisms in this howto should not be different for Debian.

Last week we looked at the Ubuntu 9.10 netbook performance with two Atom-powered netbooks comparing the Karmic Koala numbers against that of Ubuntu 9.04. For the most part, Ubuntu 9.10 offered better performance over its predecessor, but there were a few performance drops in different areas. With our netbook results out of the way, next up we looked at how Ubuntu 9.10 is running with older PC hardware. For the testing in this article we pulled out an aging laptop and ran a set of tests across Ubuntu 8.04.3 LTS, Ubuntu 8.10, Ubuntu 9.04, and the latest Ubuntu 9.10 snapshot.

This article lists five make Kubuntu deserves a try. find out about Plasma Netbook Technical Preview, Message Indicator and Userconfig.

Sequoia Voting Systems plans to publicly release the source code for its new optical scan voting system, the company announced Tuesday — a remarkable reversal for a voting machine maker long criticized for resisting public examination of its proprietary systems.

Surprisingly, running hard disks warmer rather than colder makes them last longer, and putting new disks in a nursery makes all of them happier. Paul Rubens shares these other simple tips for getting the most out of your hard disks.

Red Hat Inc. has invested an unspecified amount in open-source database vendor EnterpriseDB Inc., a sign that the Linux vendor may be worried about the implications of Oracle Corp.'s takeover of MySQL through its pending acquisition of Sun Microsystems Inc. The announcement was made in a statement posted Tuesday by the Westford, Mass. database vendor. Neither EnterpriseDB nor Red Hat immediately responded to requests for comment.

In a move that is likely to be seen as an attack on yet another industry, Google on Wednesday introduced a free navigation system for mobile phones that offers turn-by-turn directions. Analysts said that Google’s free service, if successful, could erode the sales of GPS navigation devices made by companies like Garmin and TomTom and of navigation services offered by cellphone carriers. “There’s no doubt that those guys are going to be disrupted,” said Greg Sterling, an analyst with Opus Research.

This tutorial shows how you can enable networking in Xen guests (domU) on Hetzner's new EQ servers. With the new EQ servers, you can get up to three additional IPs that are in the same subnet as the server's main IP. The problem is that these additional IPs are bound to the MAC address of the host system (dom0) - Hetzner's routers will dump IP packets if they come from an unknown MAC address. This means we cannot use Xen's bridged mode, but must switch to Xen's routed mode where the host system (dom0) acts as the gateway for the guests.

As Canonical prepares for Ubuntu 9.10’s October 29 launch, the company’s channel and partner management team is developing an Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud training course for technology managers, customers and partners. Here’s the scoop.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has just released "Clarifying Guidance Regarding Open Source Software (OSS)", a new official memo about open source software (OSS). This 2009 memo is important for anyone who works with the DoD (including contractors) on software and systems that include software... and I suspect it will influence many other organizations as well. The new memo tries to eliminate "misconceptions and misinterpretations" that inhibit use of OSS, and clear the way for wider use and development of OSS.

It is official! As of the 16th of October 2009, the United States Department of Defense recognizes Open Source software at Commodity, Off the Shelf (COTS) software, eligible for purchase, read implementation, under the purchasing rules of the Department.

Every one is waiting for the Final edition coming next days, but some links are already leaked. Koala will change your linux mind. and will give you the power of the opensource, and will give your the speed and the stability of your system. Please follow the links to download it now.

[It's not the final iso, just a daily build. Better wait for the official final release. - Sander]

As always, high hopes and expectations combined with the suspense of eager waiting inspire some creativity. Here are five interesting Chrome OS fakes that have come out in recent times.

Web application development reached a new paradigm with the release of Ruby on Rails back in 2004. Ruby on Rails creator David Heinemeier Hansson has since been at the helm of one of the most successful and popular open source software development projects. Ruby on Rails, or just Rails, has allowed thousands of developers to create complex applications rapidly in a consistent manner. This level of consistency and re-use of code Rails helped pioneer has also given rise to the concept of a Web application framework, where components are used for common tasks like database connectivity.

"Almost Live Comedy Show" was announced earlier this month as part of a major marketing partnership Microsoft had sealed with a wide range of News Corp. properties to promote the launch of the computer giant's Windows 7 operating system. As part of the deal, "Almost Live Comedy Show" was set to run commercial-free, with Microsoft marketing messages built into the special instead. But that was before Microsoft execs attended the special's taping Oct. 16. The program included MacFarlane and Alex Borstein -- the voice of "Family Guy" matriarch Lois -- pitching Windows 7.

Mobile WiMAX provider Clearwire Communications has announced plans to offer service in eight additional U.S. cities during the fourth quarter, for a total of more than 25 markets by year's end. In related news, Clearwire demonstrated international roaming via Aicent's WRX (WiMAX roaming exchange), and the Maravedis analyst firm said WiMAX subscriptions are increasing 74 percent year-over-year.

Microsoft has announced that it is offering documentation on the format of Outlook data files, known as PST files, under its Open Specification Promise, making the format free to use without licence or patent issues. In the past the file format, which is used to contain the email, calendar, contacts and other Outlook generated data, had to be reverse engineered to gain access to the information.