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ASUS plans to develop an educational robot for kids called the EeeBot that uses software based on Google's Android mobile operating system.

I'm reading one of my very favorite FOSS writers, Ars Technica's Ryan Paul, on the changes afoot for Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (codename Lucid ... and I hope so), and this comment leapt right out at me: "I'm looking forward to this release. 9.10 is mostly stable, I could use a good update that breaks my intel video and wireless chips even though they were fine, plus overhauls the USB method so not much works anymore."

Barnes & Noble's Android-based Nook e-reader device was rooted by a site called NookDevs. Meanwhile, Intrinsyc revealed that it led the systems integration of the delayed Nook, which has has suffered from some early negative reviews, and Spring Design's lawsuit against Barnes & Noble over the Nook is moving forward.

OpenLogic, Inc., a provider of enterprise open source software solutions encompassing hundreds of open source packages, today announced Open Source Fulfillment Center, an OpenLogic service that helps companies ensure compliance with open source licenses and avoid lawsuits such as happened with fourteen well known consumer electronics manufacturers this week who are alleged to have violated terms of the GPLv2.

Canonical announced that Mark Shuttleworth will be stepping down as CEO in March to be replaced by Canonical COO Jane Silber, reports eWEEK. Meanwhile, the Ubuntu project has released its first alpha of Ubuntu 10.04 ("Lucid Lynx"), which speeds boot-time while kissing the GIMP editor goodbye.

The initial public release of KaOS (Kernel Attached Operating System) is now available for download. KaOS is an innovative new Linux server platform that embeds the initial base operating system within the kernel image. KaOS can be installed via PXE or by simply upgrading the kernel on an existing Linux system. KaOS has integrated virtualization support with KVM.

The Mono framework compatible with Microsoft's C# .NET is available in version 2.6. Developers also upgraded its associated MonoDevelop environment to version 2.2.

While Google and Apple may both be working the mobile space hard, Google is giving Android away, and even if they sell a Google smart phone, they'll never be hardware company like Apple. Google's ultimate goal is to sell ads, and the more platforms, they have to do that, the better off they will be.

The Novell-backed Moonlight project released the final Moonlight 2, an open source Linux/Unix clone of Microsoft's Silverlight framework that offers improved media streaming. Novell and Microsoft also announced that they will continue their Moonlight collaboration and extend Microsoft's patent covenant to Moonlight distributors other than Novell.

You've made your beautiful custom holiday cards with GIMP, and now you're ready to print them. What's the best way? Your own inkjet printer at home, or farm the work out to someone else?

Thailand-based NorhTec announced a device touted as "the world's most energy-efficient desktop computer," offered for only $99 with the Linux version. Built into a standard-sized keyboard, the "Gecko Surfboard" runs on a 1GHz x86 SoC (system on chip), operates fanlessly, and uses just five Watts, the company says.

Canonical has revealed plans to bring social networking integration and GNOME panel improvements in the next major version of Ubuntu. Notification area icons will be replaced by a new application indicator system. The panel will also feature a new Me Menu for setting messaging status.

The new version of Moonlight is out, and with it, an expanded patent covenant enabling any Linux user to run Novell's open source Silverlight implementation.

The VideoLAN project, developers of the open source VLC multimedia player, is urgently seeking developers to work on the Mac OS X port. According to a posting on the VLX forums "there are now effectively zero active developers for MacOS" which has already led to the 64 bit releases of VLC for the Apple operating being put on hold. The original appeal in May 2009 for developers seems to have had no response.

PostfixAdmin provides a way to manage your virtual accounts, multiple domains, using a web based interface. Once it is set up it is very easy to use. This install process is not easy to do as there are many commands and a lot of configuration that must be done without mistakes.

In April Ubuntu Lucid Lynx will be released. We look at what can be expected. In April the Ubuntu developers will release Lucid Lynx, the next version of the popular Linux operating system. Also known as Ubuntu 10.04, Lucid Lynx will be the third long term support (LTS) release from Ubuntu and is likely to have a strong focus on stability and security and will be geared at appealing to enterprise users and hardware makers. Ubuntu releases new versions every six months with LTS releases supported for five years on servers and three years on desktops.

Earlier this week, the latest round of BusyBox GPL lawsuits were announced by the SFLC. The current offenders are Best Buy, JVC, Samsung, Westinghouse and 10 others. It seems that every few months, there are a new round of violations or lawsuits announced, so it behooves every company that distributes software or products containing software to ensure they aren't ever on the list. We announced our Open Source Fulfillment Center service earlier this week that helps companies ensure they comply with the GPL. Jason Perlow of ZDnet gave a pretty good explanation of the challenges in complying with the GPL. Dana Blankenhorn, his colleague, talks about why those explanations are not an excuse. I want to focus on some concrete steps companies can take to avoid being the next defendants.

[Thought this was interesting considering recent events. - Scott]

WebIssues is one of the rare bug-tracking programs that combines the ease of use of a desktop application and the scalability of a web application…

Announced today the release of GnoMenu2.2, the new version comes with new features and improvements , the big improvement is that GnoMenu now use 60% less Memory.

Reading the recent discussions about GNOME's position in the GNU Project, I'm reminded of Utah Phillip's comment that "a long memory is the most radical notion in history." The way that the discussion has been reported in the media, you would hardly guess that the discussion is the latest round in an ongoing and disquieting dispute -- largely because the origins of the dispute were never widely reported. The current discussion began on the GNOME Foundation mailing list, when Richard Stallman, president and founder of the Free Software Foundation, suggested that Planet GNOME, (http://planet.gnome.org/) the conglomeration of GNOME developers' blogs, should exclude all references to proprietary software.