Thanks to chromatic, who has returned with another book review. This time around it's O'Reilly's Programming Web Graphics with Perl & GNU Software. Excellent book for prospective Webmasters - give it a look.

In the last week I have read (literally) over 1000 online attacks aimed at an alleged attempt by Unisys to make everyone who uses GIFs on a Web site pay $5000 in royalties. A story posted here on Slashdot Sunday helped fan those flames. But nowhere, in any of the many "Unisys is evil" posts I read, here or elsewhere, did I see a single official statement from anyone at Unisys, so I decided to call Unisys and get their take on the matter. (More below)

The return of SEGV brings with it a review of Michael J. Hammel's The Artists' Guide to the GIMP. This is an interesting book for those artists and wanna-be artists using the GIMP, and wanting to learn more what you/they can do-click below for more information.

We got a bunch of questions for Illiad (of User Friendly fame) Monday, let the Moderators (you know who you are) decide which of them were worthy, and sent the chosen ones off to the wilds of British Columbia. Here are Illiad's answers...

Kurt Gray sent a review of Beginning Linux Programming, by Neil Matthew & Richard Stones. Click here to learn how to contribute more code.

[Zander] asks: "Graphics cards seem to be racing for better and better 3D performance. But, what about 2D? What is considdered to be the ultimate card for 2D Graphics professionals? People still use Gimp / Photoshop you know!"

In a frenzy of porting, Be.com has unveiled that both the GIMP and Civilization:Call to Power will be ported to BeOS. With the news of a new low cost Be system, I'm gonna have to look closely at getting one. Update: 06/22 11:14 by J : flaggz writes "We've posted a screenshot of the GIMP toolbox for BeOS. "

Lunglet writes "There's a nice preview of the features Gimp 1.2 is probably going to contain over at TheGimp.com. " So many things to compile and segfault... so little time. The new path stuff especially looks sweet as hell.

GiMP and 200 others wrote "C|Net has this story about the difficulty of getting ADSL from Bell South for linux machines, and the protest from users in the afflicted areas. " This story has been coming up a lot today. Hopefully the negative coverage will force BellSouth to relent.

Ellen Spertus writes "Interactive Pictures Corporation (IPIX) has been threatening anyone who distributes software to create 360 degree panorama images, including free software developer Helmut Dersch. While Dersch's free tools (including a Gimp plug-in) are back online, he has had to remove information about creating high-quality panoramas. Meanwhile, IPIX, which charges $25 per panorama created, is preparing for its IPO. Read all about it. If you haven't seen 360 degree panoramas (outside of RL), take a look at Virtual Parks (requires free plug-in) or Sydney Olympics 2000 panoramas (requires free plug-in or Java). "

weink writes "Debian is in the process of getting their logo in order. The vote will take place in about a week. After the logo contest at GIMP, here are the options. " I am so happy that I have my Debian box running again. apt is so good for lazy sysadmins. Oh, and I vote for Raul's design. Super smooth.

r3drun sent us pictures of the first production empeg (the Linux based car MP3 player). Tom Porter hooked us up with interesting essay by Neal Stephenson that is pretty interesting. Worth a read. emad sent us a link to a Vote for your favorite RFC page. Cracked me up: You vote by number. wall sent us what appears to be the new SGI Logo. Next, I've been waiting for an excuse to link Space Ghost for awhile, and Visoblast sent one that I think us amusing as hell: Naked Pictures of Keith Richards do not affect wildlife. I'm probably only posting it because I listened to Some Girls and Beggers Banquet today. In other music news, RedOregon sent us amusing parody lyrics, Welcome to Berkeley California (you can guess the tune) And finally, GiMP wrote in to say that someone created the Slashdot dance. Hemos has never looked lovelier.

Eric Harlow, author of Developing Linux Applications with GTK+ and GDK has written a book well worth reading. A good first round of things, click below to find out how to write more of applications/widgets/whatever. Thanks to A.M. Kuchling for the review.

Greg Roelofs, author of PNG: The Definitive Guide, has written a feature on the PNG graphic format. The format has many technical advantages, yet it still isn't gaining acceptance. Personally, I just want a real alpha channel on web pages (well, and anti-aliased fonts, but lets cross one bridge at a time), Anyway, read what Greg has to say on the subject of PNG:

fl0at writes "Looks like TheGimp.Com has opened. This is a companion site to the "Artists' Guide to the Gimp". The site has tutorials, tips-and-tricks and a "Featured artist of the Month" section. Enjoy. "

President John F. Kennedy wrote in to say that Propaganda 5 is out. Another outstanding series of background images. RPoet wrote in to say that The Gimp had a 1.1.3 developer release come out. Bill the Cat sent us another strange eBay Auction Item. Les VanBrunt sent me a picture from LWCE that should be destroyed. netweasel sent us a link to Jesus Action Figures! Collect All 12 Apostles! Jesus! With Super Healing Grip! I bet Boba Fett would win. Bowie J. Poag wrote in to say that CopyLeft now has Themes.org shirts for sale. unitron sent us a link to Phone Spell which converts ph#s to words. I found some cute ones for mine- wish my area code didn't have a 1 in it. Lastly, another reminder to go to the User Account page and edit your preferences. Slashdot article filtering should be working. More coming tomorrow, assuming this stuff works as advertised.

Jeremy Dinsel writes "Web Review covers Open Source Software as an option for web development. They include several articles including topics such as the Apache, the GIMP and Linux. "

An anonymous reader pointed us to this linux today bit that points to Varkon which has GPLd their Linux CAD software. We definitely need some CAD round these parts. Drawing wireframes in the Gimp doesn't work nearly as well as you'd think.

Drizzt sent us a link to a little blurb over at ZDNet that talks about Adobe Trying to Take over Corel. Interesting little bits there basically saying that Corel is trying to stall things. What would Adobe do with Corel? Would they continue to support Corel Apps on Linux? What of the Netwinder? Is Adobe afraid of The Gimp?

Adrian Ziemkowski sent us a link to a BeNews article where you can read an interview with Richard Hess (the man in charge of the BeZilla project). He discusses porting GTK and the Gimp to BeOs. Several interesting comments in this one. Its worth reading.