Password policies often pose practical problems for IT users: they must chose passwords that meet the given complexity requirements, shouldn't be reused and password changes are also suggested or even required. How are IT users expected to actually be compliant with such passwords policies?

Researchers from across Europe are being trained in Genoa, Italy, this month in advance of taking possession of their very own iCub: a robot designed to have the physical and sensory capabilities of a two-and-a-half year old child.

In the past two days, I've read two different articles about the role of Linux in the success of the Eee PC and other low-cost laptops. In one corner, APC Magazine reports that while Linux helped Asus and others drive down the cost of ultraportables, there's a huge demand for the more familiar Windows operating system, which is what most manufacturers will now focus on.

Your own must-have applications will obviously depend on what you use your computers for. My own everyday needs are quite modest – my PC is used for web surfing, emailing, listening to music, watching the occasional movie, writing, photoediting and printing and, last but by no means least, testing Linux distributions...Anyway, here's my list of must-have applications

We here at Make Use Of try to make your switch to Linux as smooth as possible, which includes using simple and common terminology. However there are plenty of terms that are unavoidable or at least impractical to avoid. Some terms we can explain as we go along, but some are so common that they would need explaining in every article.

Tonight I met a systems engineer for a European car company who spent 20 minutes talking my ear off about the virtues of Linux, and how much it had changed — for the better — since his college days.

I’ve been a fan of gOS for a while now. I’ve been running their Rocket release for about a year. It’s based on Ubuntu and has the benefit of pre-installed Enlightenment. It’s solid, runs well on lower-end hardware, and…it’s Enlightenment (what more do you want?)

The stage is set for the biggest annual free and open source software community awards -- and you can help determine the winners.