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AdamWill writes “The Mandriva Linux 2009 Spring Alpha 2, marking the first public pre-release of the upcoming Mandriva Linux 2009. This alpha introduces several significant changes, most obviously the inclusion of KDE 4 — 4.1 beta 2, specifically — as the default version of KDE, and the latest development version of GNOME, 2.23.4. The kernel has also been updated to release 2.6.26rc7. Another feature of interest to many users will be the addition of orphan package tracking (and optional automatic removal) to the urpmi package manager. Of course, many applications have been updated (although the default version of Mozilla Firefox is still currently 2.0.x), and most of the distribution has been rebuilt with a new GCC version, 4.3. Mandriva warns that this is a true alpha, likely to contain many bugs related to the new version of KDE. Please install it only in a test environment, and especially do not use it as an upgrade from any earlier Mandriva Linux release.”

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sammydee writes “Phoronix reports that GPU based video decoding acceleration will be implemented in Gallium3d sometime this year. Drivers currently using Gallium3d include the open source nouveau driver for NVIDIA cards and experimental Intel GMA drivers. This is definitely good news for anybody who has ever tried to play high definition 1080p content on any CPU older than about a year. “

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When the iPhone 3G went on sale on Friday, July 11, more than 500 native applications became available on the revolutionary new App Store — including more than 125 free applications. And when they find applications they want, customers can wirelessly download them directly to iPhone and begin using them immediately.

benuski writes “Today at GUADEC, the Gnome User and Developer European Conference, the gtk+ team announced their plans for gtk+ 3.0; immediately after, the Gnome release team announced their plans for Gnome 2.30 to be changed into Gnome 3.0. This would mean a release date a year and a half to a year in the future. Details are short at the moment, but the Gnome team seems to be following in KDE’s footsteps, but hopefully will avoid the problems that plagued KDE 4.0’s release.”

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DVD Catalyst has released a new free version of their popular DVD to mobile video converter. DVD Catalyst Free is now available for Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista. The application allows you to convert your DVD’s with one click for just about every type of video capable device including Palm, iPod’s and other mobile devices. It can convert DVDs (movies and TV episodes), as well as all common video file formats (avi, mpeg, divx, xvid, mp4, mkv, flv (youtube), etc) without the need of any additional software.

The free version of course lacks many of the advanced features and customization options available in the companies other products, DVD Catalyst 3 and DVD Catalyst GT.

While little more than an interesting footnote in the minds of most Palm OS followers in the west, Group Sense Ltd. (aka GSPDA) released a handful of uniquely-styled GSM handsets running Palm OS 4.1.x and Garnet 5.x over the past several years under the Xplore moniker. Now the Inquirer is reporting (via TamsPalm) that all traces of any remaining legacy Palm OS-based products have been wiped from GSPDA’s website. A sole Linux-based handset in decidedly dumbphone guise is the company’s sole smartphone offering, a far cry from the large field of large-screened Palm OS-based smartphones it was fielding as recently as 2005/2006.

After years of dormancy, it appears that the “MyPalm” URL curse has returned with a vengeance (long-time Palm OS users may recall the past turmoil surrounding the MyPalm trademark and domain).

Palm has now just announced rather quietly that its MyPalm online portal resource for Treo and Centro owners will be closing on September 1st, 2008. No details as far as why the service failed to catch on or ever leave its lengthy beta status are given. However, the main benefit of the service, members-only telephone support, is being discontinued with no alternative offered, so it’s likely just another cost-cutting move facing the beleaguered Palm in light of several consecutive quarters of losses. Additionally, with Palm’s near-exclusive product portfolio of smartphones, Palm’s carrier partners can be expected to shoulder a majority of the issues arising with new and/or in-warranty devices.