Heard of the AV1 (AOMedia Video 1) codec? Chances are you have, as this open source, royalty-free video compression standard is championed by the likes of Google, Netflix, Amazon, and even Apple. All for a very good reason (beyond the anyone-is-free-to-use-it-no-catches aspect). AV1 produces fantastic quality video at often significantly. smaller file sizes. For major video streaming services you can see the appeal: bandwidth means money, and a video codec that delivers decent quality but is data efficient is a no-brainer, costs-wise. But you might be interested in using it too. If you upload content to video sharing sites, AV1 […]

You're reading Aviator is a Fast, User-Friendly App for AV1 Video Encoding on Linux, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.

23 Aug 2025 3:20am GMT

High Tide, a GTK4/libadawaita app for music streaming service Tidal, has been updated with a bunch of fixes and minor new features. It's also seen a major version bump, jumping from v0.1.8 to v1.0.0. Given the amount of churn between those two versions, such a leap seems fitting. App responsiveness has been improved in High Tide v1.0 through a variety of cache tweaks, reworked page loading, and assorted code cleanups, unused function removals, improvements to some of the widget APIs that are used to fetch content. The net result of all of that work isn't obvious at a glance, but […]

You're reading High Tide (Linux Tidal Client) Adds Gapless Playback, Replay Gain, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.

22 Aug 2025 4:20pm GMT

Azure's Update Manager now shows missing Ubuntu Pro updates for all Ubuntu Long-Term Support (LTS) releases: 18.04, 20.04, 22.04 and 24.04. The feature was first introduced for only 18.04 during its move to Expanded Security Maintenance.

With this addition, Azure highlights where Ubuntu LTS instances would benefit from Expanded Security Maintenance updates if the administrator attaches an Ubuntu Pro license, even for instances running more recent Ubuntu releases.

You will see these alerts in two places: the Updates view of an individual VM and Azure Update Manager for fleet-wide visibility.

This builds on Canonical and Microsoft's ongoing work to integrate Ubuntu into Azure's systems management tools and keep Ubuntu securely maintained on Azure.

Why this matters: comprehensive security beyond the Main repository

Ubuntu LTS provides five years of standard security maintenance from Canonical for packages in the Main repository without any cost or need for a subscription with Canonical.

The Ubuntu Universe repository hosts tens of thousands of additional open source packages maintained by the community and used in many production environments. These additional packages do not normally receive security updates from Canonical as part of the standard security maintenance included with Ubuntu LTS releases.

Ubuntu Pro expands the security maintenance of Ubuntu LTS releases through its Expanded Security Maintenance (ESM) feature. ESM delivers:

• esm-apps: Security patching for thousands of applications in the Universe repository. This is essential for all supported LTS versions.
• esm-infra: Continued security patching for the Main repository after an LTS release has passed its standard support period, providing an extra 5 years of support (beneficial today for Ubuntu 20.04 and earlier)

If you are using Ubuntu 20.04 LTS or earlier, you need to either upgrade these systems to a later Ubuntu release or attach an Ubuntu Pro subscription in order to continue receiving security updates. If you are using packages from the Ubuntu Universe repository on any Ubuntu LTS release, even one released in the last five years, you may still be missing important security updates if you do not have an Ubuntu Pro subscription. The new functionality of Update Manager in the Azure Portal helps you identify these instances that would benefit from an Ubuntu Pro subscription.

See what you're missing in the Azure portal

Azure now simplifies identifying instances that have security updates available through Ubuntu Pro. When checking for updates on any Ubuntu LTS virtual machine (VM), you might see an alert like this:

"Security-ESM update(s) are available for this machine. An Ubuntu Pro subscription is required to remain secure. Learn more."

This alert highlights Universe repository packages with known vulnerabilities that require Ubuntu Pro for patching. This visibility is available in two key locations:

• The Updates section of an individual VM for a detailed view.
• Azure Update Manager for a unified dashboard to monitor your entire fleet.

From Azure Update Manager, you can select multiple VMs and initiate assessments simultaneously.

This provides a quick overview of your security landscape and identifies instances that would gain from Ubuntu Pro's expanded coverage.

Activating Ubuntu Pro: a simple, seamless upgrade

Enabling these additional security updates is straightforward and can be done without service disruption. Perform an in-place upgrade to attach an Ubuntu Pro license to your existing Ubuntu Server VMs with no downtime.

First, update the license type for the VM via the Azure CLI:

az vm update -g myResourceGroup -n myVmName --license-type UBUNTU_PRO

Next, run the following commands on the virtual machine itself. If ubuntu-advantage-tools is not already installed, the first command will handle it.

sudo apt update && sudo apt install ubuntu-advantage-tools

sudo pro auto-attach

Tip: If the auto-attach command fails at first, wait a few minutes for the license change to propagate through Azure's systems and then try the command again.

Finally, you can verify that the ESM services are enabled with:

pro status --all --wait

Do it at scale

Want to apply this across all your VMs? Use this script to perform in-place upgrades on multiple Ubuntu LTS VMs

Verify and apply updates

Attaching Ubuntu Pro only unlocks ESM; it does not install updates. After attaching Pro (per VM or at scale), re-run an assessment, install the available updates in Azure Update Manager (or with apt), then re-run the assessment to confirm the Security-ESM alert and pending counts have cleared.

Azure handles billing for your Ubuntu Pro usage automatically.

For new workloads, or workloads you redeploy frequently, you can launch directly from pre-licensed Ubuntu Pro images in the Azure Marketplace.

Conclusion

This broadened Ubuntu Pro awareness in the Azure portal offers customized and practical security recommendations for all Ubuntu LTS users. This helps you to identify where you would benefit most from the expanded security maintenance offered by Ubuntu Pro, letting you prioritze those instances that would benefit most from its additional security coverage. This ongoing collaboration with Microsoft enhances the security posture of your Ubuntu instances on Azure, helping you stay secure even when using a vast array of open source from across the ecosystem. Please let us know your experiences with this new functionality in our discourse.

22 Aug 2025 12:59pm GMT

Azure's Update Manager now shows missing Ubuntu Pro updates for all Ubuntu Long-Term Support (LTS) releases: 18.04, 20.04, 22.04 and 24.04. The feature was first introduced for only 18.04 during its move to Expanded Security Maintenance. With this addition, Azure highlights where Ubuntu LTS instances would benefit from Expanded Security Maintenance updates if the administrator […]

22 Aug 2025 12:59pm GMT

Kdenlive 25.08 brings improved audio mixing, enhanced Titler, 10-bit H.265 encoding for NVIDIA GPUs, and plenty of bug fixes to this FOSS video editor.

You're reading Kdenlive 25.08 Enhances Audio Mixer, Adds 10-bit H.265 Support, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.

21 Aug 2025 7:26pm GMT

Many business owners in the software development industry are investing a lot into LLM bots, marketed as "generative AI". Some of them go as far as forcing software developers to use such tools under the threat of being fired if they don't comply. After all, why shouldn't they? This technology has a catchy name, it produces very convincing output that sometimes is correct (or close to being correct), and companies producing these tools are very good at downplaying their limitations and at promising that the "next version" will be astonishingly better than the one before.

My day-to-day experience, and scientific research, however show a quite big problem: while senior developers get little or no gain from "generative AI" (1, 2, 3, 4), junior developers get massive boosts in productivity. Why am I describing a boost in productivity as a problem? Well, it's simple: the new generations of software developers (the ones that are just entering the job market, and the ones that are still in school) are relying heavily on these LLM tools for nearly all work-related tasks. And, again, why shouldn't they? The entire world is telling them to do so! And as a result of that, they are advancing without gaining any actual skill.

Me and other (ex-)coworkers have seen it first hand: a junior developer completes a task using an LLM bot. More senior developers find major problems with the result. Junior developers go back to the LLM tool asking for a fix, wasting hours or days without a positive outcome. Junior developers are becoming unable to perform tasks independently.

In addition to that, there's a problem that I feel like is not talked about extensively: these LLM tools can only regurgitate what they've been trained with. They're good at finding patterns and re-applying strategies that have been used in prior work, but by their nature they cannot create or innovate. So, if this trend continues, the new generations of software developers are not just going to be skill-less, they're also going to be incapable of solving new problems that haven't been seen before.

My prediction? Within 10 or 20 years, the older generation of software developers will be asked to come out of retirement to fix the unmaintainable mess created by the newer generations, and to make advancements in the information technology sector. A bit like old COBOL developers are asked to come out of retirement to maintain banking systems, but on a much larger scale. This, unless there will be advancements towards true Artificial Intelligence, or unless the current trend in education is broken.

Now don't get me wrong: I'm not opposed to LLM bots (although I'm against calling them "AI", because they're very far from fulfilling the AI promise), and I think they can be very powerful tools. What I'm worried about is that new generations are being told to rely on them almost exclusively, and this can only lead to an evident skill gap. In fact, I think that if there's a country that in the future will be able to harness the power of the LLM bots and at the same time maintain a good enough level of education, thus addressing the skill gap problem, they will be the dominant economic power of the future, because they will be able to automate tasks that are time/energy-consuming for humans, while at the same time use the human brain to innovate and advance.

20 Aug 2025 5:17pm GMT

Ubuntu is the home of ROS. The very first ROS distribution, Box Turtle, launched on Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, Hardy Heron, and since then, Ubuntu and ROS have grown hand in hand. With every Ubuntu LTS release, a new ROS distribution follows, an intentional alignment that ensures ROS works out of the box on Ubuntu Desktop, Server, and Core, from development to deployment.

Canonical remains committed to the future of ROS. Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and 22.04 LTS are Tier-1 platforms for ROS 2 (including Jazzy and the forthcoming Kilted release), and with each new ROS 2 cycle, we will continue to prepare, validate, and maintain timely packages on Ubuntu. Through initiatives like Expanded Security Maintenance for ROS (ESM for ROS), Canonical has helped lead the way in securing ROS for enterprise use, delivering long-term security updates for ROS releases. Alongside Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Core - a minimal, secure, and strictly confined OS - has supported companies deploying ROS at scale, helping them meet industrial standards in factories and beyond.

Now, we're proud to announce that Canonical has elevated its membership in the Open Source Robotics Alliance (OSRA) to Platinum status.

"Robotics is evolving rapidly, and we are entering a new phase that will define the next era of automation. Open source has been the foundation of this growth, and ROS will remain central to scaling and deploying advanced robotics worldwide," said Olivier Philippe, VP of Engineering at Canonical. "Collaboration is what keeps open source strong. Our deeper engagement with OSRA reflects our continued commitment to securing the future of ROS and empowering robotics companies building on Ubuntu."

Supporting open, community-led governance for ROS

In March 2024, the Open Source Robotics Alliance (OSRA) was launched to ensure the long-term stability, security, and accessibility of open source robotics projects like ROS, Gazebo, and Open-RMF. The OSRA provides a formal governance structure where industry and community leaders share responsibility for maintaining and evolving the software that powers modern robotics.

Beyond governance, the OSRA creates a space for joint investment in critical initiatives - from improving security postures to advancing tooling and making ROS easier to adopt and deploy at scale. It's about building not just open software, but an open, resilient ecosystem that companies, researchers, and developers can trust for the long term.

"Canonical, through its Ubuntu platform, its contributions to ROS, and its work on improving the security of open-source software, is one of the longest continuous contributors to open-source robotics," said Geoffrey Biggs, CTO of Open Robotics. "The choice by Canonical to elevate its membership in the OSRA to the highest level demonstrates that they are serious about supporting open-source robotics in the long term, and are a partner that the OSRF can rely on into the future."

By working closely with OSRA members, Canonical will continue to contribute its unique strengths:

• Out-of-the-box compatibility and stability, and an improved developer experience for ROS on Ubuntu
• Security and long-term maintenance for production deployments with ESM for ROS
• An industrial-compliant pathway to production through Ubuntu Core

Together, these efforts help make ROS a widely accessible, production-ready platform for innovators worldwide.

A shared commitment to the future of ROS

More than 15 years have passed, but Canonical's commitment remains the same: helping the robotics community deliver ROS in a format that's easy to adopt, secure by design, long-term supported, and ready for production on the world's most reliable open-source OS.

Canonical's increased commitment reflects our belief in open, community-led governance and our dedication to strengthening the future of ROS and open source robotics. Together with fellow OSRA members, we are committed to shaping the future of open source robotics through transparent governance, shared responsibility, and long-term security. Collaboration remains the key as we enter a new era where open source robotics will exceed real-world demands and, as always, continue to inspire us, as it always has.

To learn more about Canonical and our engagement in robotics:

• Discover our robotics portfolio
• Power your Ubuntu devices with Ubuntu Pro
• Understand the implications of the CRA for your company

20 Aug 2025 1:48am GMT

Ubuntu is the home of ROS. The very first ROS distribution, Box Turtle, launched on Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, Hardy Heron, and since then, Ubuntu and ROS have grown hand in hand. With every Ubuntu LTS release, a new ROS distribution follows, an intentional alignment that ensures ROS works out of the box on Ubuntu Desktop, […]

20 Aug 2025 1:48am GMT

Ubuntu 25.04 introduces full AMD SEV-SNP host support, making Ubuntu the first production-grade Linux distribution to deliver end-to-end confidential computing , from host to guest , without out-of-tree patches or experimental builds. With this release, enterprises can deploy confidential virtual machines on fully Ubuntu-based stacks in both private and public clouds. SEV-SNP enforces hardware-level isolation by encrypting guest memory with per-VM keys and protecting integrity through secure nest

19 Aug 2025 12:36pm GMT