Packt is pleased to announce details of a new book designed to teach users how to create practical mashups in PHP. Written by experienced programmer Shu-Wai Chow, PHP Web 2.0 Mashup Projects teaches users how to create PHP projects that grab and mix data from the likes of Google Maps, Flickr, Amazon, YouTube, MSN Search, Yahoo!, Last.fm, the Internet UPC Database, and the California Highway Patrol Traffic service!

"Palamida has been tracking the movement of open-source projects from GPLv2 to GPLv3 and estimates that 119 projects have converted (to GPL/LGPLv3), which represents less than 1 percent of projects using the General Public License, or GPL. Nothing to write home about, in other words."

Recently I looked in on the project Web site for a small application I use, only to find the wiki completely filled with spam. The project itself was clearly in disrepair, and the code abandoned for six months or more. I wondered: how many other apps that I use have halted development without my realizing it?

Some projects make it easy for Linux distros to package their software, others not so much. Google Chrome, or rather its Chromium project, is one of those projects that is emphatically not easy for Linux distros to re-package and ship. Tom Callaway of the Fedora project explained this week why he's packaging Chromium for Fedora users, but not as an official Fedora package.

Our database now contains over 2000 projects that are using the GPL v3. This is a large milestone for the license, and seems to still be the beginning of wider adoption. Nine months have passed since the release of the controversial license and it has already gained 2k projects.

"Organizing your tasks into projects can help you plan ahead, track your progress, and stay motivated. Working from a project list allows you to plan your day or week instead of just reacting to other people's requests. Keeping your projects and tasks in Org makes it easier for you to review your completed tasks and plan the next step. If you include some text describing why you want to do the project and what your intended outcome is, this can help you stay motivated throughout a long project.

A few months ago, I posted here a tutorial on downloading or saving Flash/YouTube Videos on Linux the easy way. If the previous instruction is really difficult for you to grasp, then you should read this latest entry very carefully :-) Because now I'm going to show you how in the simplest way possible you can download a YouTube video plus convert it at the same time.

As autumn begins, the nights start drawing in and you're no doubt itching for new things to do with your Linux box. Well, we asked our projects expert to rustle up 7 great things you can do on your penguin-powered machine.

An essay regarding why a big number of projects is better than just a few, as some suggest. "I kept reading opinions regarding the big number of Linux distributions out there, most of them saying that we have a huge number of distros, each one with its own package management system, keeping Linux divided.