One of the highlights of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) just ending in Las Vegas is Palm's offering of its WebOS for mobile devices. A fitting name for its coming attraction in mid-2009 that uses this OS is the Palm Pre, to be offered exclusively through Sprint.

Free VoIP platform software FreeSWITCH is now in version 1.0.2. Enhancements include a fax module and new codecs for higher sampling rates.

Debian developers have determined the outcome: proprietary components are acceptable, paving the way for Lenny, the next free distro of Debian GNU/Linux 5.0.

Internet Explorer is losing increasing numbers of users to Firefox. Google has added another blow by announcing the end of official support for IE 6.

The Debian-based distro Sidux will shortly have a new version, code-named Pontos, that will concentrate on getting the Kernel 2.6.27 changes integrated error free.

The Sabayon project has released its version 4.0 of the multimedia friendly Gentoo derivative just in time for the Holidays and calls it the "next big thing."

Newly appointed CTO of the Linux Foundation and kernel developer Ted Ts'o is appealing to the Debian project to adopt a more pragmatic attitude about its Linux distro. The provocation for his advice is the current controversy over Debian's next 5.0 "Lenny" release.

Linus Torvalds has kept his promise and released Kernel 2.6.28 right at the Holidays. The little present shows some doings since Release Candidate 9, especially in the DVB-T area and for PCI hotplug devices.