Qt 4.4 brings lots of goodness. Packages are now entering hardy-backports.

If you want the latest unstable trunk Qt, kdelibs, kdebase and amarok on a regular basis without the hassle of compiling it yourself, project Neon has a Launchpad Personal Package Archive with regular builds.

Lastly, these were left on our doorstep today, free to a good home. Cuteness.

The IRC talks series Ubuntu Open Week is under way now in #ubuntu-classroom. Coming up at 20:00UTC is Kubuntu Development - Richard Johnson. See the timetable for a whole week's worth of talks.

Kubuntu 8.04 is out, upgrade now for rock solid 3.5.9 goodness, or download the CD with a choice of 3.5.9 or cutting edge KDE 4.

New stuff includes printer autoconfiguration (coming to the rest of the world in KDE 4.1), super easy compiz setup, auto-codec install for Kaffeine, Wubi the Windows installer making it easy to install for those first timers, bulletproof X, NTFS Support and User Mountable Hard Disks and the latest versions of everything you can think of.

Kubuntu Release Party Radio is streaming now on http://audio.radioamarok.com, join us on #kubuntu-devel for the party

OpenStreetMap can get addictive once you discover how easy and powerful the flash editor is. But what, my girlfriend asked, is the point when you can get maps at no cost from Google et al. The justification is that unrestricted by copyright you can do interesting things that you would be otherwise unable to do. OpenStreetMap Cycle Map shows all the best routes for a bike. Open Piste Map makes maps for skiing. So this evening I made Open Whitewater Map to create maps for canoeing and other river users showing places to get in and out, rapids and their grades and hazards on the river too. The WikiProject Whitewater Maps page has the info. Only a few river routes done so far, any canoeists out there want to add some more?

It's currently on my ADSL line, so may disappear, offers of hosting welcome.

Kubuntu and variants Release Candidate is due out this week and next week is the final thing, so its solid install testing until then. We need people to download the daily and daily-live CDs and install them. Upgrades and netboots also need testing. See the ISO Tracker for what needs doing, the test case for the all new KDE 4 and the old KDE 3 procedure and join us in #kubuntu-devel and #ubuntu-iso for coordination.

Qt 4.4 RC 1 now available in my PPA https://edge.launchpad.net/~jr/+archive for Hardy.

Don't run a dist-upgrade when you add the PPA, you'll get other random packages which are in there.

4.4 fixes python dbus and QtDbus, yay.

There's also an updated package of webkitkde, just for fun.

FOSSCamp is happening in Prague next month. This is a general free software get together with sessions on whatever participants want (it happens just before the Ubuntu Summit but is otherwise unrelated). A good number of KDE people are expected but more welcome. Jorge explains all.

The Hippy Horse edition yesterday caused much jolity and occational bewilderment. Wasnae me.

Today's Kubuntu Hug Day looks at bugs in Launchpad with comments regarding the KDE bug tracker. Join #kubuntu-devel and #ubuntu-bugs to help out.

With our own beta out the way I got a moment to compile Qt 4.4 beta. It adds QtWebKit packages for those who missed it in my last 4.4 packages.

https://edge.launchpad.net/~jr/+archive

[As general advice, when adding personal repositories such as these don't run dist-upgrade, only install the software you need else you'll get broken software that I've been playing with.]

The beta of Kubuntu 8.04 is available for all testers. The supported version comes with the rock solid KDE 3 while a remix features the cutting edge KDE 4. Download or upgrade. See the release announcement.

Thanks to all those who tested. Pretty release image based on pinheiro's Oxygen artwork and uses Celeste's glasses.