As I mentioned on the podcast, my test order of Linux Outlaws merchandise recently arrived and it looks great. I have uploaded some photos of it for you to check out because I know that it’s always better to see stuff like that on “real” photographs (ie. not from the manufacturer’s site). Both the apparel and the mugs are amazing quality and look very professional. Some more photos that Aussie listener Mick graciously provided can be seen in his Flickr stream.

I also have to say that Cafépress’ customer support is amazing. When I told them my order hadn’t arrived yet they send another one free of charge and said I could keep the original. Dan has also made similarly positive experiences with them. Bottom line: I am very happy with this stuff and can totally recommend it. If you want to get your hands on some cool Linux Outlaws swag, head over to our merchandise store and knock yourself out. Remember: $2 from every article sold go towards bandwith and upkeep costs of the podcast, so it’s a great way to help us out and get something for yourself in return.

I recently created a simple, white Linux Outlaws wallpaper for my desktop because I wanted something LO-themed but more appropriate to the winter months. The design I came up with is nothing fancy but it ties nicely into the holiday mood, I think. It also goes well with any of those ultra clean & crisp glassy-looking themes that seem to be so popular right now. In fact, it is so simple, that it kinda fits any theme I could think of (it certainly goes well with the stock Ubuntu paintjob).

Since I have been enjoying this wallpaper so much the last couple of days, I have decided to release it to the public in the wallpaper section of the site for all of you to enjoy. Take it as a small Xmas present from your favourite Linux Podcast. Enjoy!

On a side note, Dan and I will record the last episode for this year tomorrow and release it on thursday night. We will then take a break over the holidays as I will absent myself to an isolated cottage on the windswept southern isles of the Netherlands that has no Internet connection whatsoever (I intend to bring loads of good, old-fashioned books). As I like to do from time to time, I am looking forward to spending a few days completely out of touch with the technology side of the world so that we can pick up the show fully refreshed in the first week of 2008. We will only miss one week, and I think that is legitimate over Xmas.

As I had promised earlier and was requested by several listeners, I’ve come up with some designs for merchandise for the show. Several shirts for both men and women and a Linux Outlaws themed mug can now be purchased at our new store at Cafépress. I encourage you to go over there and check them out. We will make exactly $2 on every item sold through the store and I will use these proceeds only to pay for hosting and bandwith fees and hardware for the show. That is a reasonable arrangement, I think.

I have ordered samples of the items and will get back to you here on the blog about the quality once they arrive. I have ordered stuff from Cafépress previously, though, and both the items themselves as well as the print job have always been very high quality. In my experience, they are the best at this kind of thing. Nonetheless, I am pursuing alternative vendors, especially for us Europeans. If you have any ideas on this or if you would like additional products in the store, please let me know via the contact form. I would also really enjoy pictures of listeners with our products, so if you order some, feel free to send me shots of the gear in action. I really hope you enjoy these as much as I will!

Unfortunately, there will be a slight delay in the release of this weeks show. Dan and I recorded it on wednesday, but I got hit with a pretty nasty cold soon after and stayed at home for the last couple of days to get over it. Since Dan has had a similar problem, neither of us was fit enough to edit the show on thursday or friday. Luckily, I feel much better today and I’m actually in the process of editing episode 12 right now — I will therefore release it ASAP. Just thought, I’d let you know…

On the upside, I managed to work on the designs for some Linux Outlaws t-shirts while I was recovering, so you can look forward to seeing those soon. As per popular demand, I am also looking into designing some coffee mugs to go with those. All of this will most likely be available through Cafépress soon. I’ll announce it here as soon as everything is finalised.

The other day, I suddenly felt like doing some design work and on a whim whipped up a wallpaper to promote the show. It's based on our beloved Outlaw Tux and the album art of the podcast. I basically took a photo from my trip around Australia earlier this year that has a nice outback feel to it, used my GIMP-fu to create some nice colour and lighting effects and then added Tux and the captions.

If you would like to show your allegiance to our podcast on your desktop, you can download the wallpaper (in several different resolutions from 800x600 up to 1920x1200) from our new wallpaper page. I would also be very happy if you'd take a picture of the wallpaper on your computer and send it to us, that way we could build up a listener gallery or something like that. I think that would be very cool! If you want to get in touch with me to do that, just use the Contact button at the top of the page and write me a short note; you could also use our regular feedback address that I mention every week on the show.

I hope you enjoy this little freebie and share it with your friends according to the corresponding license.

As you may have noticed, I recently added a “digg this” button to the sidebar, which means you now can vote for our little podcast on digg.com by clicking on that. If you haven’t already done so, I would be much obliged if you supported us and by doing so spread the word about the show a bit. I basically have to beg here, since Dan strictly refuses to use digg.com, even if it is to help us out…

In other news, this site is now also available under the .net, .org & .de variations of the domain name, enabling me to pull a Dvorak and plug it as “linuxoutlaws-dot-org-slash-blog” when I feel like it. Well, that’s about as much features as I can come up with today — stay tuned for the release of episode 4 later this week, though.

Linux Outlaws is now officially listed on iTunes. You can subscribe via that service by clicking the link on the right hand side under the heading “Podcast Feed” and we should also turn up when you search for us from within iTunes. Furthermore, I added the podcast to the Podcast Alley directory and I would appreciate it very much if you voted for us on our page over there.

I sincerely hope you enjoyed the first two episodes we put out. I am really looking forward to recording the third one later this week and Dan has also just told me that he is nearly finished with the improved version of my theme tune, so maybe you’ll hear it on the next episode.