Not for nothing is Jonathan Oxer known as Australia's geekiest man. Practically every aspect of his life at home is controlled by software - he even uses an RFID chip implanted in his arm to open his door... Now he has turned his attention to cars

Palm announced its WebOS Linux platform yesterday, along with a smartphone to run it. To be sold by Sprint in the first half of 2009, the 3G-enabled Palm Pre features a slide-out keyboard, WiFi, GPS, 3-megapixel camera, 3.1-inch touchscreen, and Palm's homegrown "WebOS" Linux phone stack.

I wrote last year about how 2008 would be the ‘Year of Non-desktop Linux’. As we embark on 2009, I have a similar view, but in keeping with all of the turkey and ham and leftovers from the holidays and to present a more appetizing analogy, I envision the ‘2009 Linux Sandwich.’

Linux grows up less than Mac OS, Why? It is free, secure, portable and (relatively) easy of use (Ubuntu). The most important reasons are: Mac still offers a better user experience (as Mark Shuttleworth admits) and not enought commercial software are avalaible for Linux. So, what is this "user experience" that Mac has and Linux lacks?

Netbooks are exploding. This isn’t really up for discussion; they’re simply a cheap alternative to traditional laptops that meet about 90% of our needs, both in the educational sector and beyond.

The gOS (”good OS”) project has issued an SP1 release of gOS 3.1 Gadgets. This latest gOS release implements numerous package updates, bug fixes, and configuration enhancements, and continues gOS’s strong dependence on Google’s web-based applications.

With the new year under way and all of the problems in the old year still largely unsolved, people in the IT sector are looking around for a little good news and some prospects for growth. There are a lot of clouds out there right now, and Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, thinks the rain is going to be good, particularly for Linux.