maddog explains what's behind his use of particular Linux distributions.

The long anticipated phenomenon of 3D printing, which the futurists have long identified as a potential “disruptive technology,” truly arrived this month with the appearance of the first 3D-printing controversy: 3D printing of cheap hand guns. Pop science prognosticators who have been bleary-eyed over the “promise” of 3D printing seemed caught off guard by the appearance of the first 3D guns. (You mean this wasn’t just for printing heart valves and Ironman exoskeletons?) At last, 3D printing was not just a quirky popular science oddity, but something that could serve as the fodder for moral arguments – by both sides, and a blogosphere seemingly thrilled to have some new material for speech making and hand wringing.

Processing images with a high dynamic range – that is, an image with a wide range of values between its bright and dark areas – is possible with open source Luminance HDR.

The Alfresco collaboration tool lets you track documents, share content, and collaborate with team members – and it integrates nicely with Microsoft SharePoint.