Linux.com report’s that the One Laptop per Child (Laptop.org) has begun their “give one get one” program where anyone in the US or Canada can buy two XO laptops, one of which will be donated, for $400. The XO is a $200 Linux-based laptop designed to be used by school children in developing countries.

I could not find anything interesting for Linux “news,” so I decided to post something that is not really “news,” but is fun! Tell me what you think of this.

The Cult of Linux recently posted a list of 20 things that run Linux, but were never made to. Did you know that you can run Linux on Gmail? Or a toaster?

Linux Devices and Engadget report that Bug Labs plans to beginning selling their “Bug” before the end of the year. The bug consists of a base unit and attachment units (such as a camera and GPS) that can be put together and programmed. All of the code is open-source for the hardware and the SDK and people are invited to create their own attachment units.

This is similar to the OpenMoko, but in some ways even more flexible.

ZDNet reports on Google’s announcement of the long rumored “GPhone.” It turns out that the “GPhone,” whose official name is the Android, is not a phone, but an OS and applications to run on many phones. The software is/will be Linux-based and its applications will be written in Java. Google will release a full SDK (software development kit) as soon as next week.

Google seem to be adopting a very “open” way of doing things with the upcoming spectrum auction and now with the Android. In both cases they have stuck up for keeping things open and not locked down.

Linux Insider reports that the OpenDocument Foundation is adopting a new file format, CDF or Compound Document Format developed by W3C (The World Wide Web Consortium), to replace the ISO-approved ODF file format. The OpenDocument Foundation says that the ODF file format was not made to handle some things they would like it to do, so they are adopting the W3C’s CDF.

Although this is not Linux news it is sort of open source news and it is interesting. So you may have heard that thee iPhone was unlocked and then Apple put out a software update that messed the unlocking up. Well, according to this Gizmodo post the hackers have fixed and it is working again.

So you say how is this open source? This sort of thing is common place in the open source world (though still amazing when it happens). Some company puts out a product (hardware or software) that does not work on Linux or is locked down and it hardly takes any time to crack into the product. The lesson? Make something cool that you try to lock down and it will most likely be broken into.