Linux kernel developer Jonathan Corbet has just previewed the features of the upcoming Linux Kernel 2.6.29 that includes Btrfs, which he claims is the filesystem of the future.

Google Performance Tools, part of Google's open source projects, is now available in version 1.0. Perf Tools is especially useful for optimizing multi-threaded programs.

The Apache Project announced the latest version of Commons Digester, which comes with less dependency and can validate XML code. Programmers use Digester to convert data from XML into Java objects.

The web based groupware solution Simple Groupware is now available in version 0.500. New in this version is a module for rendering diagrams with another module implemented to allow offline viewing of folders and attachments.

Chris Mason, lead developer of the copy-on-write BtrFS filesystem, has appealed for its inclusion in the Linux kernel.

A few server admins had reported Linux crashes right at the New Year's Eve countdown. Linux developers are currently investigating if they had anything to do with the leap second phenomenon.

The last day of the four-day 25C3 congress in Berlin ended with an edge of suspense. In keeping with the theme of the congress, speakers had "nothing to hide" about well-known and new vulnerabilities in two of the most important Internet security protocols, SSH and SSL.

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.