Category: Foss Arabia

A compact, hackable AI assistant designed for privacy-conscious users is now drawing attention as the latest challenger to Big Tech’s voice assistants. Built around the Raspberry Pi, Ubo Pod aims to give users full control over their data, local compute, and software customization.Ubo Pod’s lead designer, Mehrdad Majzoobi, positions it as a protest against closed-box “smart” assistants whose voice and camera data typically funnel through cloud servers. The device runs on Raspberry Pi 4 or 5, and users can host

The state of Schleswig-Holstein has successfully migrated its entire public administration email infrastructure from Microsoft Exchange and Outlook to open source platforms. Over the course of six months, more than 40,000 mailboxes—holding in excess of 100 million emails and calendar entries—were transferred to Open-Xchange and Thunderbird, covering roughly 30,000 employees across ministries, judiciary, police and other agencies.Dirk Schröder, the state’s minister for digital affairs, framed the move as a pivotal step toward “digital sovereignty”, arguing that it reduces dependence on

Xogot has extended its reach: the full Godot engine can now run natively on iPhone, allowing developers to build, edit, test and export games entirely from their pocket.Xogot, developed by Xibbon Inc., launched for iPad earlier in 2025, and its iPhone version is built upon Godot 4.4 with a rewritten user interface in SwiftUI, tailored for touch and smaller screens. The app supports both 2D and 3D development, integrating the Godot runtime so projects remain compatible with desktop workflows.This

Wikimedia Deutschland has introduced a new vector database designed to make Wikidata’s knowledge graph directly usable by AI systems. The initiative, known as the Wikidata Embedding Project, aims to convert structured facts into vector representations so that large language models and related AI tools can conduct semantic queries grounded in verified data.Under this system, the 119 million or more entries of Wikidata are embedded into high-dimensional vectors using a model developed in collaboration with Jina. AI. Those vector embeddings

openSUSE Project has rolled out the beta of Leap 16, marking a substantial shift in its Linux distribution strategy by extending community support to 24 months and introducing core architectural changes. The transition signals a deliberate move toward modernization and longer-term stability for users.Leap 16’s codebase is now aligned with SUSE Linux Enterprise 16 and built atop the SUSE Linux Framework One. The beta ships with the 6.12 kernel, GNOME 48, KDE Plasma 6.3.4, and default SELinux enforcement, while maintaining

Eric S. Raymond, one of the foundational figures behind the Open Source Initiative, has called for a wholesale rejection of codes of conduct in open-source communities, characterising them as counterproductive. His outspoken position has revived a heated debate over governance, community norms and enforcement in open software ecosystems.Raymond argues that codes of conduct, designed to promote civil discourse and inclusion, have become tools for disruption and “power plays” by what he terms “shit-stirrers.” He urges developers to refuse adoption of

Calibre version 8.11.1 now includes an “Ask AI” tab inside its e-book viewer, enabling users to highlight text and query artificial intelligence models for summaries, context or explanations of the selected passage. The feature remains entirely optional — no AI modules are loaded unless a user configures a provider.The new capability supports a broad spectrum of AI models, including cloud services and locally hosted models via frameworks like Ollama. Developers emphasise that the integration is modular: the

A compact secondary display called WebScreen is being promoted as a hacker-friendly add-on for gaming and creator setups, with crowdfunding underway. It is designed to perch atop a primary monitor and display notifications, stats or reminders without distracting the user from full-screen work.WebScreen emerges from HW Media Lab, conceived by Pedro Martin and Eleo Basili. It features a 1.9–2.1 inch AMOLED panel at 240×536 resolution, powered by an ESP32-S3 microcontroller, with USB-C for power/data, and both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity.

Proton has rolled out a sweeping revamp of its mobile email application for Android and iOS, boosting performance significantly while introducing full offline functionality and unifying the user experience across platforms. The redesign aims to position Proton Mail as a more competitive and responsive alternative in encrypted email.Under the update, the apps now allow users to read, compose and organise emails without network connectivity, syncing changes automatically when a connection is reestablished. The move toward full offline mode marks a

IceWhale’s ZimaOS has rolled out version 1.5 with a new “Plus” edition behind a one-time $29 licence, while retaining a free Community edition with limited allowances. The upgrade also introduces expanded hardware support, mobile access improvements, and a freshly integrated backup app.The Plus edition removes caps on users, disks, and apps, whereas the CE edition continues to offer core features but restricts usage to 10 apps, 4 disks, and 3 users. All officially supported Zima hardware—ZimaBoard1, ZimaBoard2, ZimaBlade, ZimaCube—automatically

OBS Studio version 32.0 has been unveiled, introducing a built-in plugin manager, expanded NVIDIA RTX audio enhancements, and hybrid MOV recording support across platforms. The update also brings performance tweaks for Apple Silicon and improvements to Linux video capture.The plugin manager included in version 32.0 allows users to view, enable or disable installed plugins from within OBS itself, eliminating much of the manual file-based management previously required. While currently limited in scope—it lacks plugin search or update functionality—this constitutes a

The inaugural Open Source Summit Korea is set to take place in Seoul on 4–5 November, gathering developers, community leaders, corporate adopters and policy advocates under one roof. Organisers expect a high-powered two-day event blending technical deep dives, cross-domain dialogue and community building across open source’s diverse ecosystems.The summit will host seven major tracks: Cloud & Containers, Embedded Linux, Linux, Open AI + Data, Open Source Leadership, Operations Management, and Safety-Critical Software. Co-located with it is the OpenSSF Community Day

Debian’s Advanced Package Tool is being enhanced with built-in history commands designed to log and expose package transaction details. The proposal, led by Ubuntu and Canonical developer Simon Johnsson, introduces two new subcommands—apt history-list and apt history-info—which will allow users to list past operations and inspect individual changes by transaction ID.This change aims to remove the need for manual parsing of log files under directories such as /var/log/apt, a process administrators and users have used to trace installs, upgrades or

Git’s maintainer team is considering making Rust a mandatory part of its build infrastructure by version 3.0, after submitting a request for comments proposing the change.The proposal, authored by Patrick Steinhardt, outlines a phased approach. First, Git has already introduced optional support for Rust through its foreign function interface in version 2.49. In one of the earliest experiments under this proposal, the varint. c subsystem has been rewritten in Rust as a small, standalone test case to

Zorin OS has launched the beta version of its forthcoming Zorin OS 18, delivering a redesigned user interface, enhanced app integration, and tools aimed at easing migration for users moving away from Windows. The update introduces features intended to offer familiarity alongside modern Linux capabilities, with support lined up through April 2029 under the Ubuntu LTS foundation.The new release includes a cleaner visual design with a floating rounded panel, lighter colour themes, and updated core applications such as Files,

Godot Engine version 4.5 launched on 15 September 2025, delivering multiple features aimed at improving rendering capabilities, accessibility, workflow and performance. Key additions include stencil buffer support, experimental screen reader integration, a “shader baker” to pre-compile shaders during export, and refinements to physics and internationalisation tools.Stencil buffers now allow developers to control rendering of geometry more precisely, enabling effects like portals, masking, and selective cutouts without inefficient workarounds. The implementation works across multiple render backends, including Vulkan. Physics with tilemaps

 Cloudflare has determined that a bug in its dashboard software triggered an overload of its own backend systems on 12 September 2025, knocking its Tenant Service API offline and disrupting many of its public APIs and its dashboard interface.Engineers traced the failure to a React useEffect hook in the dashboard code which was supplied with a dependency array containing a mutable object. Because that object was recreated on every render, React treated it as constantly changing. That caused the hook

CNCF has formalised a partnership with Docker that grants all projects hosted under its umbrella full access to Docker’s Sponsored Open Source programme. The move promises enhanced registry features, advanced security tools and engagement insights for developers and maintainers alike.Under this agreement, CNCF-hosted projects will receive unlimited image pulls from Docker Hub, alleviating past constraints experienced under strict pull policies. They will also earn a Sponsored OSS badge on Docker Hub, boosting visibility and trust for their users.

Readest delivers a feature-rich eBook reader experience that works on Linux, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android and via the Web, emphasising a seamless, immersive interface for avid readers.Developed as an open-source revival of Foliate, Readest is built using Next. js and Tauri to offer consistent performance across devices. It supports a wide array of formats including EPUB, MOBI, AZW3, FB2 and CBZ; PDF support is marked as experimental. Users can switch between paging and scrolling reading modes. Annotation, highlighting, bookmarks and

SUSE has rolled out Agama 17, the next-generation installer set to accompany SUSE Linux Enterprise 16.0, bringing a raft of improvements to storage configuration, security module options, network setup and unattended installs.The upgrade overhauls how wired interfaces are presented in the UI, especially when multiple devices share the same connection. Users now see clearer distinctions and can manage such setups more intuitively. The storage section has been restructured: installations can now target an entire disk or existing RAID device without

The Apache Software Foundation has introduced a redesigned brand identity, replacing its long-standing feather motif with a new oak leaf logo and shifting emphasis toward the shorthand “The ASF”, while retaining its full legal name.The oak leaf has been selected to represent resilience, endurance and the collaborative nature of the open source community that the Foundation supports. The symbolism draws on the imagery of a mature oak in a forest—its canopy sustaining life, connecting with other trees, and enduring across

Microsoft has released the source code for its 6502-based BASIC interpreter—BASIC for 6502 Microprocessor Version 1.1—under the MIT licence, inviting developers, historians and retro-enthusiasts to explore one of the earliest instances of personal computer software. The 6,955 lines of assembly code, originally written by Bill Gates and Ric Weiland in 1976 and later refined in 1978 with garbage-collector fixes by John Feagans and Gates, can now be downloaded, modified and redistributed via GitHub.This version powered the BASIC interpreters in pioneering

Kazeta restores the joy of plug-and-play gaming by turning SD cards into physical game cartridges. Powered by a lightweight Linux OS derived from ChimeraOS, it lets users load any DRM-free title onto an SD card, insert it into a dedicated mini-PC and press power to start gaming—no launchers, accounts or internet connection required. Save files remain on the host PC while the cards stay strictly read-only. If no card is inserted, the system boots into a retro BIOS-style menu to

Warp has unveiled Warp Code, a new AI-powered coding suite that brings agent-generated code from prompt to production inside its terminal environment. Users can now see every change made by AI as it happens, review diffs in real time, edit code inline and manage agent profiles—all without leaving Warp’s interface. This approach, described internally as “agent steering”, aims to give developers tighter control over AI-generated outputs.Founded by former Google engineer Zach Lloyd, Warp has built its offering on reasoning models