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There's news out of Canonical today that the release of Ubuntu 9.10 Server Edition -- codenamed Karmic Koala -- is just around the corner. It's the greenest release yet, with a heavy emphasis on power management and cloud computing tools.

Ubuntu 9.10 includes Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC), a system designed to help users build and support private clouds. It's underlying technology relies on Eucalyptus, an open source infrastructure for implementing cloud computing on clusters.

Attendees at Atlanta Linux Fest's breakout session Ubuntucon were among the first to hear straight from Mark Shuttleworth that the popular Linux distribution Ubuntu's next release -- version 9.10 10.04 -- will be named Lucid Lynx.

This codename in the next in a long line of clever choices that designate versions of Ubuntu releases. Past names include Hardy Heron, Dapper Drake, Breezy Badger, and the most recent, Karmic Koala. According to Shutteworth, the idea for the odd naming scheme originated quite by accident.

UPDATE: As our eagle-eyed readers correctly point out, the next version number will be 10.04 not 9.10.

While the native screenshot applications found in most Linux distributions are fine for quick screengrabs, you need something heftier if you plan to highlight, annotate, resize or otherwise tinker with images. Shutter is a great little open source app that lets you take quick snapshots of your computer screen and dress them up all sorts of ways.

Use Shutter to take a timed or instant screenshot of your entire desktop, a single window, or a particular area of your screen. You can even dispatch it onto the Internet to take a snapshot of a Web site and bring you back the results.

While the native screenshot applications found in most Linux distributions are fine for quick screengrabs, you need something heftier if you plan to highlight, annotate, resize or otherwise tinker with images. Shutter is a great little open source app that lets you take quick snapshots of your computer screen and dress them up all sorts of ways.

Use Shutter to take a timed or instant screenshot of your entire desktop, a single window, or a particular area of your screen. You can even dispatch it onto the Internet to take a snapshot of a Web site and bring you back the results.

Ubuntu has once again opened up a call for submissions to anyone interested in being a part of the Ubuntu Free Culture Showcase. If you're a musician, artist, photographer, or all-around creative genius and would like to enter your work in the current competition, you've got until February 9, 2009 to submit something to the judges.

Most people who attend an open source conference typically walk away with t-shirts, stickers and other accessories branded with the logo of their favorite distro or open source project. If you don't go to those events, you can still buy cool stuff to show your support or to give as gifts this holiday season.

Here are some Web sites to check out:

Anxious to go to the Ubuntu Developer Summit in Mountain View, CA this December but lack the funds to get there? Canonical is accepting requests for sponsorship and a lucky few will receive travel, entrance, and accommodations at no cost. It's not a free ride, though. Event organizers will definitely put the winners to work.

Plans are in the works for next month's Ubuntu Developer Week, and organizers are looking for presenters and topic ideas. Specifically, they're looking for people to oversee Masters of the Universe (MOTU) School sessions, so get in touch if you think you can help. Although the organizers are open to a range of session ideas, there are a couple of topics they're definitely hoping people will want to tackle.

For a community distribution, Ubuntu sure knows how to preen itself to look good for the business world. Canonical hasn't exactly kept its plans to get on IT managers' radar a secret, but the number of enterprise-ready applications for Ubuntu 8.04 LTS that are slowly becoming available in the Ubuntu Partner repository is getting hard to ignore.

The Ubuntu community hit the ground running at OSCON this week. Scarcely a couple of days into the event, there's already a new version of the distro to peruse and updates to the code hosting platform Launchpad to talk about. In the meantime, the project's founder, Mark Shuttleworth, still found time to deliver a presentation at the event and meet with a local tech group to talk about his vision for the future of Linux.