OStatic

Last week, Moodlerooms announced that it had teamed with Google to integrate the Google Apps for Education service into Moodle.

This allows students and faculty using the open source Moodle learning platform to access all of Google's educational tools and applications, as well as the Moodle system, with a single sign on. Even more significantly, it simplifies managing and maintaining network collaboration tools, and allows students to access the system and get working on any computer that has a browser.

There are some phrases that come up repeatedly, especially in one's professional life: It's all about who you know. I need to put in some face time. Focus on developing your networking skills.

Traditionally these sorts of things were said in relation to attending conferences and conventions -- live and in-person. Now, however, it's more common to meet and collaborate with others online. Meet the social networking services, which, as the name implies, are as much social as work related. Just like face-to-face conventions, social networks unite people to collaborate on and discuss ideas, and, at least occasionally, goof off.

Whether you're using your social networking time for honest to goodness work, or as a diversion cleverly disguised as work, it's good to use it effectively. You'll end up getting your work done faster, or at least pack as much playtime into your day as possible.

Using this time effectively (for whatever reason) is difficult due to the sheer number of networking services. Linux users have a native gem for keeping on top of it all -- Gwibber.

Digital Arts Online has a thorough break down of some of the snags the Firefox development team has encountered as it continues work on the browser's 3.1 release. TraceMonkey, the JavaScript engine that's responsible for the browser's performance boost, seems to be what's holding its actual release back.

According to the forum posts the article points to, both Firefox developers and those focusing specifically on TraceMonkey agree that a decision has to be made -- but whether it's better to release Firefox 3.1 without TraceMonkey, release Firefox with TraceMonkey disabled by default, or give the developers a set amount of time before making the decision at all -- might be a sticking point.

Though 2009 has only just begun, it looks like this year's going to be a busy one for Chumby Industries. The makers of the hackable, completely open, Linux-based, internet-enabled, so-much-more-than-an-alarm-clock -- well, alarm clock -- have announced a number of partnerships since January's Consumer Electronics Show.

The first two partnerships, with Samsung and Marvell, bring the widget-based Chumby platform to digital photo frames and similar embedded devices. The latest partnership, with Broadcom Corporation, aims to bring the Chumby platform to internet-enabled televisions, set top boxes, and Blu-Ray players.

Open source collaboration software and support provider Open-Xchange announced today that it would offer its webmail module free of charge to qualifying partners. The Webmail4Free promotion is open to companies in the telecommunication industry (web hosting providers and ISPs) as well as non-profit and educational institutions (universities, government agencies, and other organizations granted non-profit status). Additional qualifications and terms depend on the number of accounts required by the interested organization.

While choosing software simply because it's low-cost (or no cost) isn't recommended, and the promotion is (naturally) designed to be a mutually beneficial arrangement, companies and non-profits interested in deploying open source mail, groupware and information management solutions might want to take a closer look at Open-Xchange's offer.