The wallpaper contest for Ubuntu 12.04 has kicked off. The contest runs an open submission process that allows anyone to submit their own photographic and illustrated wallpapers to a public pool on social networking Flickr. Of the submissions received by the deadline a dozen or so will be selected to form Ubuntu's default wallpaper pack and ship on the Ubuntu CD.
If you're one of the 14,000 or so marvellous mobile folks who use our Android app then you might be wondering where the hell we've gone. For almost a week now our dedicated Android app has not been loading new articles. Whilst we're figuring out of the cause of the issue (rather aptly it broke on SOPA strike day) we've pulled the app from the Android Market.
Lubuntu are switching back to the elementary-esque 'Ozone' theme for their 12.04 release. The switchback means there's lot of work to be down on the theme to get it ready in time, including switching it over to GTK3. But progress is coming along nicely - so much so that it's now available to test.
The desktop client digital game distribution service Desura has been open-sourced. The developer behind the move hopes that the initiative, which sees the project code named 'Desurium' and licensed under GPL v3, will 'allow the community to ...implement features and bug fixes faster and contribute this back into the [official] client to benefit all users.'
A new release of visually slick application launcher GNOME Pie has been made available to download. Notable new fillings making up version 0.4 are a GTK3 port and improved settings dialog.
The controversial SOPA and PIPA bills are dead - at least in name. The 'death' of PIPA (Protect IP Act) (at least in its current form) was announced in a statement by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Tex).
A new job listing from Canonical is seeking a Mac Software Developer to join the Ubuntu One engineering team. The opening, titled 'Software Engineer (client applications Mac/Windows)', will require applicants to have at least 5 years experience of developing on OS X, 'including knowledge of low level APIs (Filesystem, shell integration)', as well as experience in 'Python, C and Objective C'.
Australian electronics company Kogan has 'no plans' to re-introduce Ubuntu-based netbooks, laptops or net-tops to their product range, a spokesman has told OMG! Ubuntu!
Not a fan of the 8 giant shortcuts in the Unity Dash? Ubuntu 12.04 might just present you with something different... Ubuntu developers are testing a new layout for the Unity 'Home Lens'.
Canonical have reversed their decision to remove Java from Ubuntu users' machines. Oracle, the owners of Sun Java, retired the 'distributor license' that allows operating system vendors to provide the package to users in August of last year. This change in terms forced Ubuntu's security board to announce that it would be removing Sun JDK package from its 'Partner' repository, and 'upgrading' the official Java release on Ubuntu 10.04, 10.10 and 11.04 with an 'empty' package, thus disabling it. as a 'security measure'.
GNOME's work on a revamped and repurposed 'Epiphany' web browser - which seeks to make the browser a core part of the GNOME experience - is coming along nicely. The redesign of Epiphany, which is relabelled 'Web' in the app itself, seeks to to offer GNOME users a 'simple, clean, beautiful view of the [internet].'
In a turn of events not unlike we've seen before, Valve has posted a job listing for a Senior Software Engineer to work on their "highly available digital distribution platform" Steam. However, unlike past job postings which have mentioned Linux and left some ambiguity as to what exactly Valve might be working on in this area, this posting clearly says the word "games" in one of the responsibilities out of the six listed.