Last year, we compiled the most popular Linux downloads of 2008 and the most popular Linux posts. The most popular Linux downloads, however, tend to also be released for Windows and Mac systems, and we'd rather not repeat ourselves.

So! This year, we ran through our archives and pulled out the posts most directly related to Linux: informational, how-to, Linux-focused downloads, and the like. For good measure, though, we'll list the most popular cross-platform downloads at the end, which will look very familiar to those posted in our Most Popular Free Mac Downloads of 2009 and Most Popular Free Windows Downloads of 2009 posts.

Portable Ubuntu Runs Ubuntu Inside Windows

And it really does, too, after a bit of command line tweaking. It's a close relative of the andLinux system that lets you seamlessly run Linux apps on your Windows desktop. This one doesn't require any installation, however, and you can even take it with you on a thumb drive. This holiday season, feel free to show Uncle Steve just how open and free Linux can be.

Linux Puts the Lie to WEP "Security"

Using a BackTrack 3 Live CD (which we previously profiled, Gina showed us how easy it was to crack a Wi-Fi network's WEP password, offering a sound reason to upgrade your age-old router, and providing a kind of last-ditch solution for those in need of emergency connectivity. She also provided more WEP-cracking tools and tips, including some sound reasoning on why anyone would still use a fallible encryption scheme (or use something much stronger).

Looking Ahead to Ubuntu Releases

Every year, at least two versions of Ubuntu are released in six-month lockstep. This year gave us Keir Thomas' peek at the 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" release, and our own screenshot tour. That release was more about subtle changes and improvements. Ubuntu 9.10, Karmic Koala, brought a whole new look to the free OS, along with some major decisions on default applications and immediate improvements like faster, slicker boot-ups and a universal software store. We are, as ever, eager to see what crops up in April.

VirtualBox Makes Linux Life Easier

Sun Microsystems' free VirtualBox software is free, offers an open-source edition, and is generally easy enough for beginners to get into. Not coincidentally, it solves a big problem for Linux users who just occasionally need access to one or another Windows apps or features. It also keeps adding on new features, like support for Windows' gaming graphics, and making life generally better for those running one system inside another.

Features We Wanted to See from Ubuntu (and a Response)

"If every Ubuntu developer were assembled at one place, here are five things we'd ask them to accomplish." That's the grand daydream that launched our list of five features we want to see in Ubuntu, including strong sticking points like a decent video editor and a design-centric look. Not all of that is under of the Ubuntu team's purview, but Community Manager Jono Bacon still took the time to respond to our wishlist, noting the progress on many of the fronts we wrote on. That was a very nice moment.

Dual-Boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu in Perfect Harmony

Simply installing Windows 7 and Ubuntu together isn't all that hard—just do Windows before Ubuntu, and leave a little room for the Linux. Fine-tuning it for convenience, access, and general usability, though—that's something we spent a lot of time thinking on. We wrote it all down, step by step, in this post.

Build a Cheap But Powerful Boxee Media Center

Following up on Adam's guide to building a small, silent XBMC media center on the cheap, Lifehacker's resident Linux nerd (Howdy!) wrote up an alternative guide to getting a more powerful, Linux-backed, Boxee-centered HTPC running. Seeing as how the upcoming Boxee beta and pre-built Boxee Box will include sped-up support for this very kind of NVIDIA-powered, Linux-based system, this Boxee setup will actually hit its real peak in 2010.

Nine Must-Have Features We Want to See in a Google OS

Now that we've actually seen what Chrome OS will look like, and even taken it on an open-source test drive, we can run through our initial wish list for the Linux-based netbook OS and do the tally: Three yays (speed, syncing, and blurred desktop/browser experience), two nays ("All kinds of hardware" and native Linux apps), and four shoulder shrugs (integrated Quicksilver-like app launcher, powerful keyboard shortcuts, user privacy, and enterprise-friendly setup). There's a lot more bound to come in 2010, though, including the first official release, so stay tuned.

GNOME Do and Docky Are Slick Linux Interfaces

We dig GNOME Do as a Quicksilver-like application launcher that knows your system better than you do. When it rolled in a dock interface, it got a bit more unstable, but even more helpful—and notably more smooth and eye-pleasing than the standard GNOME interface. The two projects have since gone their separate ways, but, installed side by side, they still make for a better Linux experience.

Presto Loads a Streamlined Desktop in 15 Seconds

Well, we thought Presto looked like a pretty neat quick-boot alternative for Windows users, at least while it was free, and promising boot-ups in mere seconds. Then we tried it out and clocked it at a more human 15 seconds, found it to be kind of a simplified Xfce desktop, and, oh, right, this other operating system from some search company was announced. Not to say Presto is a dead option, but, at this point, it might need an overhaul (Chrome installed, maybe?) to grab much more than a glance.

Install Firefox 3.5 on Ubuntu with One Command

Even released every six months, Ubuntu still manages to make its users wait on some newly-released apps getting official support—like Firefox, most importantly. This little Python script makes short work of bringing your built-in Firefox up to the bleeding edge.

Ubuntu Pocket Guide Available as a Free Download

Author Keir Thomas did the freely-licensed thing with his pocket guide, and we were all very glad to have it.

Elisa is a Simple, Streamlined Media Center

Looking for something that just plays your music, shows your videos and pictures, and doesn't get in your way or bog you down with flashy features? That's what Elisa is, and it looks pretty nice while doing so.

Mac4Lin Gives Linux Desktops the Complete Mac Look

It really, really does. If you don't mind the obvious break in your your free-as-in-speech fidelity, it's a pretty nice setup.

Jolicloud Netbook OS Is a Bit Like Chrome OS with Awesome Desktop Applications

Adam's headline pretty much says it all—you get most of the benefits of a fast-loading, small-screen-oriented OS, but with far more adaptability and a wide range of awesome Linux apps you can install.

Popular Cross-Platform Apps

Google Chrome, Alpha and Beta Releases

Google Chrome, which just barely turned one, has actually been up and running on many Linux systems since its earliest days, due to the hard work of Chromium open-source hackers. You could grab the alpha in May, try out a CrossOver-built release in September, and grab the official beta last week. Been holding off on your Chromium and just now trying Chrome? Check out our power user's guide to Google Chrome to get acquainted.

Namebench Helps You Find the Fastest DNS Server for Your Computer

Google came out with a free DNS service, but many folks are learning, with the help of namebench or the also-excellent DNS Name Server Benchmark, that what the big G does isn't always the best. Test out all the popular, public DNS systems to see what's your own network's best bet.

Google Earth 5.0 Released, Looks Incredible

Google Earth 5 is one of those lucky Linux products that Google still intends to keep up to date, unlike its sad cousin Picasa. So being able to put historical imagery, ocean maps, and improved world touring on a Linux desktop is A-OK with many readers.

Firefox (Of Course)

Firefox seemed to have met its first real challenge for the Best Alternative Browser this year, but it kept up with the modern web at its own pace. This year saw a big Firefox 3.5 release and a bunch of Firefox 3.6 betas (1, 2, 3, and 4). It'll be interesting to see if Linux distributions consider Chrome as their default in 2010, but we expect Firefox to stick around for quite some time.

Thunderbird 3 Officially Released with New Features, Improved Look

A lot has changed since Thunderbird 2.0 release, but 3.0 brought enough savvy features—awesome search, smart syncing, and tabbed content—to make it an ultimate online/offline message hub.

HandBrake Updates to 0.9.4 with Over 1,000 Changes, 64-Bit Support

Yeah, Mac and Windows users probably find HandBrake really helpful. But Linux is where encoding to non-restricted formats can be crucial, so seeing regular development is a very nice thing. On any platform, Handbrake remains a favorite video encoder—even after developers dropped AVI/XviD support.

So yes, we know that Bada means "ocean" in Korean, but what about the phones? For starters, each handset will be 3G enabled, with Wi-Fi, GPS and multitouch WVGA screens. Bada's SDK will be released shortly, enabling developers and operators to create and customize for it. It will replace Symbian, which is used on their mid-to-low end handsets traditionally.

The TouchWiz interface, which we've seen on handsets like the Omnia and Behold, will be ported onto Bada, and will offer the following jargon:

"flash control, web control, motion sensing, fine-tuned vibration control, and face detection. Also, it supports sensor-based, context-aware applications. By using various sensors such as accelerometers, tilt, weather, proximity, and activity sensors, application developers can easily implement context-aware interactive applications"

Samsung's hoping to see an influx of applications thanks to the $2.7 million prize that's been put up for grabs, and so far, EA and Gameloft have been signed up to develop games for Bada.

We'll see Bada handsets trickling in in the first half of 2010, with Europe and Asia receiving them first, followed by the US and other corners of the globe.

It's a tantalizing prospect, but we're still eager to see exactly what Bada looks and feels like. With Samsung promising to deliver a full open source experience for users and developers, it could do a lot more for creativity than Symbian ever did. SDK users will apparently have full access to the contact, messaging and phone functions, which could see these "mid to low end" handsets actually offering something iPhone and Android users haven't even seen yet. [Samsung Bada]

The GEOS-5 atmospheric model was developed by NASA Goddard's scientists. It's based on the Earth System Modeling Framework, an open source project "for building climate, numerical weather prediction, data assimilation, and other Earth science software applications."

To really appreciate its beauty, you can watch the 1080p high definition video at NASA. [NASA via @NASAGoddard]

Beautiful, isn't it? Art, whether in the form of graffiti or coffee, is an individual's contribution to humanity. And the incredible people behind the EyeWriter Initiative are making sure that not even paralysis, like Tony's, stops someone from making such a creative contribution.The project is an open-source collaboration which seeks to continue building on their low-cost eye-tracking system and they've even got instructions for a DIY version of the EyeWriter. [Eyewriter via Infosthetics]

This week, Gizmodo is exploring the enhanced human future in a segment we call This Cyborg Life. It's about what happens when we treat our body less as a sacred object and more as what it is: Nature's ultimate machine.

We gather around the group in a circle, about 8 or 10 feet away from the Tesla coils as the band performs. This is not some "don't want to dance in front of the stage" kind of teenage awkwardness—if you stand too close when the band plays, you might actually get electrocuted.

When the lights go down, a loud buzz generates, followed by streaks of lighting into the air. Then the music begins, followed by the sound of drums that are precise as can be. What follows is an overload of light and sound that is pure amazing, a melange of familiar melodies from our favorite video games (Mario and Zelda themes), TV shows (Airwolf) and pop songs ("Sexyback").

Once the band stops playing, we still can't roam freely. First, they must discharge the coils, ridding them of any stray lightning bolts that might be trapped inside.

/

Consisting of a pair of Tesla coils—plus a pair of LED-equipped robotic drums and an Open Labs sound console—the ArcAttack experience is largely automated, suggestive of a future era when a musical performance isn't about the people playing the instruments, but rather the technology involved.

ArcAttack hails from Austin, Texas and certainly don't fit the mold of what most consider a band should be. But that's a good thing.

John Di Prima is the man behind the boards, responsible for the execution of the live show. He controls the coils and drums, plus mixing in a few new sounds during the set. He's also responsible for most of the songwriting and drum programming.

Patrick Brown, aka Parsec, is the master of ceremonies, decked out in steampunk-esque attire consisting of a Faraday Suit with a string of lights that react with the Tesla coils, plus the requisite lightning-proof goggles. He's the link between the crowd and the show. He found the Di Prima brothers at an Austin Burning Man event and jokes that he's managed to not get kicked out yet.

Joe Di Prima designs, builds and maintains everything for the group, serving as the technician when the show is on the road. When they're composing and recording, he plays guitar. With a background in electronics repair, Joe eventually linked up with the engineering department at the University of Texas, where he first learned about the magic of Tesla coils.

I took a few minutes to interview ArcAttack—what makes them who they are—besides the Tesla coils, of course...

——-

Gizmodo: What does your setup consist of?

Joe: It would be two DRSSTC (Dual Resident Solid State Tesla Coil) units which are MIDI controlled. There's a fiber optic cable running to some digital logic boards that are in the Tesla coils.

John: The Open Labs MiKO MIDI console hosts the PC Software (Fruity Loops) that we use to actually sequence the music.

The MiKO is just a Windows machine with a bunch of nice MIDI interfaces, cased in metal—which is nice because we have a lot of EMF emitted from the coils. I actually used to run it off my laptop, but it would crash all the time.

Patrick: The drum machine has a solenoid for every drum, and they're MIDI controlled also...from the MiKO.

Gizmodo: How did you get the idea to create a musical show using Tesla coils? Had it been done before this?

Joe: When we did it originally, it was the first time it had been done in this manner. There are a few ways that you can audio modulate a Tesla coil—this way is known as PRM modulation. Now there are a few dozen people that picked up on it, but nobody does it to the scale that we do. It's still fairly new, and surprisingly still fairly unknown.

When I first saw a solid state Tesla coil in operation, I understood how it worked. After a few minutes of playing with it, I got the idea that, many years later, I put into practice.

Gizmodo: Who are some of your musical and tech influences?

John: Well obviously Nikola Tesla. For music, we all have pretty different tastes. But the cool thing with our project is that we can do anything from Pantera to the Chicken Dance and people would dig it. I listen to electronic rock, Kraftwerk, Daft Punk...if I could do a show with Daft Punk, you could shoot me afterward.

Joe: I didn't know what music was until three years ago. For tech influences, hard to say, but Faraday, all my mentors at all the repair shops, my dad (who was a biomedical engineer) and Steve Ward, the father of the DRSSTC, who I met at the University of Texas.

Gizmodo: What are some of the weirdest/favorite/disastrous shows you've played?

John: Joe had to tackle a cop once.

Joe: Yeah the cops had come shut down this rave we were playing at, and the Tesla coils were still running. He was coming over to shut our stuff off, not knowing exactly what it was, and he was walking straight into the Tesla coils. So I grabbed him and pushed him back. Amazingly he did not Tase me. He was actually kinda grateful. Funniest part is, after they kicked everyone out, they walked around and asked if we could turn the stuff back on.

Patrick: My favorite show so far was when we played DragonCon in Atlanta a few weeks ago. We did the Mad Scientist Ball. We had our big Tesla coils and a Faraday cage, and revealed our new stage show, which assisted people in transforming themselves into true joy...by being bathed in the Tesla coil rays.

During our stage performance, there were about 15 people that we put into the cage, and this one guy named Dr. Satan had big metal wings that he put onto his back. We get him up there, but the cage is kinda small, and he has metal sticking out all over his body. So we tell him "don't move." Soon the entire crowd started chanting along. That was pretty cool. [And obviously Dr. Satan lived through it.]

John: We were in the Netherlands for two weeks, and we played a heavy metal fest where they put us in front of this church that was lit all demonic looking. On our stage, there were these big glass viewing areas where you could see the deceased founders of the town. I think that's pretty much the most epic thing ever. Heavy metal music through lightning over visible graves.

Q: What is the one gadget you can't live without?

Joe: My iPhone.

Patrick: My Dell laptop.

John: The Open Labs MiKO console. If it was human, I'd marry it.

Gizmodo Gallery 2009
Groupe
267 Elizabeth Street
New York, NY 10012

Gallery Dates:
September 23rd-27th

Times:

9/22 Tuesday
Media Day by appointment only. For info please contact gallery@gizmodo.com.

9/23 Wednesday
12-8

9/24 Thursday
12-8

9/25 Friday
12-8

9/26 Saturday
11-8
9-? - Live Musical Performance

9/27 Sunday
11-6

Read more about our Giz Gallery 09 here, follow @gizgallery on Twitter and see what else we'll be playing with at the event.And special thanks to Toyota's Prius — without their sponsorship, there would be no Gizmodo Gallery.

The Chrome Frame allows IE to use HTML5 and other open source technologies, including high performance JavaScript enhancements, that Internet Explorer's Trident Engine is unable to render. One of the largest barriers to the mass utilization of HTML5 was IE's lack of support for the standard. When people install the plug-in, and developers add a X-UA compatible tag, websites can have HTML5 elements without sacrificing losing a large segment of the potential user base. Without the X-UA tag, pages render normally using the Trident engine instead of the WebKit Chrome renderer.

One of the major advantages for Google in issuing the plug-in is ensuring IE compatibility for Google Wave. Users with the plug-in will also have the benefits of offline storage and utilization of the canvas tag. It's no secret that Google believes that the traditional desktop base is going the way of the dinosaur—making HTML5 and enhanced JavaScript a ubiquitous standard is the first step to emulating desktop environment via the web.

OK, great. Now let's see how many of the IT departments that refuse to upgrade from IE6 allow their users to install some crazy Google plug-in. [Ars Technica and Google Chrome Blog]

The formal name for this MakerBot is the Cupcake CNC, and is able to rapidly prototype anything. It consists of a series of belts and pulleys, laser cutter, a wood cabinet, and a stepper motor. And really, it's hard to complain about anything that plays "Television Rules the Nation" as a pure aside. The guys from MakerBot will be around to give away free items made with the printer as well. So come by and check it out.You might see a few other things you like.

Gizmodo Gallery 2009
Groupe
267 Elizabeth Street
New York, NY 10012

Gallery Dates:
September 23rd-27th

Times:

9/22 Tuesday
Media Day by appointment only. For info please contact gallery@gizmodo.com.

9/23 Wednesday
12-8

9/24 Thursday
12-8

9/25 Friday
12-8

9/26 Saturday
11-8
9-? - Live Musical Performance

9/27 Sunday
11-6

Read more about our Giz Gallery 09 here, follow @gizgallery on Twitter and see what else we'll be playing with at the event. And special thanks to Toyota's Prius — without their sponsorship, there would be no Gizmodo Gallery.

Features:

•Cool glowing blue tube with 8 digits and alarm on/off dot
•Adjustable brightness
•Alarm with volume adjust
•Precision watch crystal keeps time with 0.002% accuracy!
•Clear plastic enclosure protects clock from you and you from clock
•Battery backup will let the clock keep the time for up to 2 weeks without power
•Selectable 12h or 24h display
•Displays day and date
•10 minute snoozer
•Integrated boost converter so it can run off of standard DC wall adapters, works in any country regardless of mains power
•Great for desk or night table use, the clock measures 4.9" x 2.9" x 1.3" (12.5cm x 7.4cm x 3.3cm)
•Completely open source hardware and software, ready to be hacked and modded!

Again, the design is completely open source, so if you prefer to build from scratch you can hit up the project page for the full schematics, source codes and files. [Ladyada via Slashdot]

The inaugural book essentially mimics the video, but also happens to come complete with functioning QR code trickery and a SIM reader that you can use for fun (maybe profit?). The set costs $35 (purchasable here), but if you like, you can also print it out yourself. The downside is that you might not get the same, high quality look and you definitely won't get a SIM reader. But then again you save $35. [Citizen Engineer]

Google says the OS is open source and lightweight, allowing users super quick access to the web. They claim the OS will be virus free (the security architecture is entirely new), and run a newly-designed windowing system on top of a Linux kernel that will be compatible with x86 and ARM processors alike. Though they were quick to mention this was separate from Android, they also conceded there would be some overlap in concept and functionality between the two platforms.

While the discussion of specific apps (and how they will work) was vague, Google made reference to a developer ecosystem that will be heavily web-based, and apps would be compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux (obviously). In a nutshell, it looks like Google Chrome OS is about simplicity, speed, safety, and cloud computing.

The announcement of Google Chrome OS is a big step forward for a company who slowly and subtly wedged their way into web app development. Google says that Chrome OS is intended for "power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems." So what does this mean for Google, and more importantly, what does this mean for Microsoft and Apple?

I think that Google has primed themselves to take a big chunk out of the mainstream computing market. That's not to say that you or I will be exclusively using Chrome OS, but with the internet becoming more and more accessible from ANYWHERE, our parents, grandparents and technophobic siblings probably will be converts. Most of them are already familiar with Google as a brand, and frustrated in trying to learn the intricacies of current operating systems.

And even for those of us who consider ourselves technologically advanced, how much of the desktop experience have Google's web apps already replaced? We'll still have our main computers, but what will be running on our netbooks or old laptops that sit in the living room?

More and more, I find myself working almost exclusively with apps that exist entirely on the web, or with clients that connect to web services. The only apps I use that aren't cloud-happy are either utilities, media players or photo/video editors. And even then, those are heading in that web-centric direction. Cloud computing has been bringing us closer and closer to the mainframe days of yore. Google wants to be the only backbone working behind the scenes. By saying they're keeping Chrome OS app development web-centric and platform-agnostic, they're slowly luring us techies into their web.

Still, Windows and OSX will always have a spacious home in the computer world, undoubtedly. Some apps will always require native architecture, and the businessmen, code-monkeys, graphic designers, video editors and other connoisseurs of nuanced computing would be foolhardy to try and work strictly in the cloud.

But the final hurdle for Google to overcome is easy, accessible online storage. Will they be able to go after Amazon's S3 cloud servers? And perhaps more importantly, will they be able to offer the service for free? If they can let us really extend our hard drives into the cloud, look out. Chrome OS will be a force to be reckoned with.

But do we really have to wait a year to get our hands on this thing? [Ars Technica and Google]

Instead of creating a proprietary copy of these pieces of infrastructure, Powerset decided instead to turn to Hadoop, a Lucene subproject that is a framework for running data-intensive applications on large clusters of commodity hardware...Unfortunately, there was no Hadoop equivalent to Google's BigTable storage engine.

Because we have benefited greatly by leveraging the available Hadoop technology, Powerset decided to give back to the community by developing an open-source analog to BigTable that is built on top of HDFS (Hadoop Distributed File System). After all, we need to develop it, anyway, it isn't part of the Powerset "secret sauce," and we, in turn, could benefit from contributions from other members of the community.

In other news, Satan called. He said the snow in hell is great but it's freezing down there, so bring your skis and a big coat. [Cnet]

Gamepark is currently developing the SDK and plans to have the store up and running by August 2009. At that point, anyone interested in making games for the platorm can do so—although a pricing structure has not been announced. However, they do compare the experience to what Apple has done and they expect both free and paid apps to be part of their offerings.

Open source or not, I don't think the Wiz stands much of a chance (the name certainly doesn't help matters) given all of the stiff competition, but interested parties can pre-order the basic unit now for around $190 (without Wi-Fi—lame). [GP2X via TechRadar]

In his time as Washington D.C.'s CTO, Kundra used Google's web apps to not only develop intranets, but also content production systems. And according to cnet, he believes in a platform-independent, open source method of software development. Kundra is also a big proponent of transparency and the offering of information online, helping to shape the U.S. Government's updated tech policy.

Chalk up another net neutrality win for the good guys. And let's not forget, the CTO is still to be announced. [cnet via Electronista]

DoubleTwist was created by the famous DVD copy-protection reverse-engineer who calls himself DVD Jon, so you know it's friendly to the budget-minded poweruser. So far, it's been a joy to use, but it's still in beta and has some flaws. Here's what it does now, and what it should do:

What doubleTwist Does:

Manages Photos, Music and Video on Your Computer
It watches your Music, Photos and Movies folders, and lets you drag and drop any other folders into its media browser. There's also a Spotlight-esque search function to check your folders. Music is organized in sortable list form, while photos and videos are displayed as tiles.

Lets You Maintain an Online "Feed" and Send/Receive Media To/From Other doubleTwist Users
DoubleTwist has a built in social-networking aspect that lets you create an account, add friends and shoot files back and forth. You can post video, photos and music to a "feed," which is basically a media-rich version of the Facebook wall, and it gets syndicated to all your friends.

They say you can send any type of file back and forth on doubleTwist, which seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen. We haven't yet had the chance to fully test this feature, but they remain pretty vague on its limits . And for those who aren't signed up, you can send them an email link to the doubleTwist servers, where they can view/watch/hear the content you want them to receive.

Connects to a Variety of Phones and Devices
DoubleTwist is really touting its ability to connect with devices here, especially BlackBerry and Android phones. (Not surprisingly, you can't yet sync with Apple products.) When you plug in your device, it shows up under its model name, and doubleTwist organizes media files in the same way it does for your computer. You can drag and drop freely between the two devices. (see top photo)

Auto-Converts Files to Provide Compatibility With Your Device
Because it only works with devices it knows, doubleTwist autoconverts media files as necessary. So if you have a .mp4 video file that your phone doesn't support, doubleTwist will detect this before uploading and convert appropriately. (We'll be testing this to see how long a movie in the wrong format might take.)

Connects to Your iTunes Library for Access to Playlists and Other Stuff
Like other media devices and apps, doubleTwist can read your iTunes Library XML file, which provides access to playlists and podcasts, in addition to the the rest of your library. Most of the crap that pops up in the left column of iTunes will show up here.

Uploads Photos and Videos to Online Services
With Flickr and Facebook integration, you can drag, drop and tag your photos, then upload them with a click, and without exiting doubleTwist. The same thing goes for sending videos to YouTube.

WHAT DOUBLETWIST SHOULD DO
iPhone and iPod Support
As we mentioned, there's not a lot of love for iPhone and iPod yet, but the doubleTwist team says this functionality will actually appear in future versions.

AirTunes Support
One of my favorite features of using iTunes with an Airport Express is the AirTunes streaming feature. There are 3rd-party apps, such as AirFoil, that take advantage of this feature, so it shouldn't be too hard to work this into future versions.

Native Playlist Support and Streaming Libraries
For now, there is no way to import or create music playlists, aside from what's already in iTunes. You also can't connect to other people's libraries or an iTunes Music Server on your network. This means you'll still be using iTunes for some stuff.

Advanced File Categorization/Organization
Right now, the categorization and organization of media files are a bit rudimentary. Music shows up in a list view, but the only sortable categories are Title, Artist, and Time. Photos and Videos only show up as tiles, with no other view or sort options, except adjusting thumbnail size.

For people with tons of files, this doesn't quite cut it.

I also don't really like that when you play a song, it launches a second window which compiles the list of songs played while the app has been open. But there's no way to remove songs from the list aside from closing the app, nor can you keep playback all in one window. It's not major, but kinda bleh.

BOTTOM LINE
DoubleTwist is an extremely promising app that really could become the de facto standard for media players if they continue to develop and improve on this beta. The idea of not having to use iPhoto ever again (I hate it), or getting more functionality than what VLC offers for videos is pretty exciting.g. [doubleTwist via MacRumors]

The Cuban government feels that Windows is not only a symbol of U.S. hegemonic rule, but they think the U.S. government has access to Windows' source code, and could use it against the Caribbean island. And it's difficult for Cubans to obtain and update their Windows software since there's like, you know, that whole trade embargo nonsense makes it really, really difficult to BUY it.

But it is impressive that 20% of the Cuba's computer users are already running some form of Linux on their computers. Bravo, I say. Bravo. [Reuters]

The news was delivered by OLPC frontman Nicholas Negroponte himself, during remarks at this week's TED 2009 conference.

Blogger Ethan Zuckerman, reporting from TED, said Negroponte hopes the new open source hardware design will be "something that everyone copies."

"Commercial markets will go to no end to stop you. It's sort of a tragedy," Negroponte said. "So the future of One Laptop Per Child is to go 'from uppercase to lower case,' to 'build something that everyone copies.'"

According to Negroponte, the open design will lead to companies worldwide creating 5 to 6 million machines, per month, in three years time. That's a lot of little mean green machines with those weird alien wifi antennas.

And while this technically sounds like more of a licensing deal than true "open source," it will be interesting to see what companies cook up using the OLPC design over the next few years. If it catches on, that is. [Ethan Zuckerman via CNET]

They've posted a survey on their blog to test the waters. They say that getting Boxee embedded on a specialized Apple-TV-like box will take "a long time" but it sounds like they're certainly considering it. As of now, Boxee's revenue model is pretty non-existant.

Right now, you can only use Boxee on a computer (which you can of course hook up to your TV), or on an Apple TV (if you haven't played with Boxee on Apple TV, hit up our guide this instant. It's awesome). I personally would love to see a Boxee box, as it pipes in just about every streaming video service one could think of wanting (Hulu, Netflix, etc) while it serves up your downloaded and ripped video very competently with no restrictions. [Boxee Blog]