Linux Action News 77

Linus is back in charge with the whole world watching, IBM is buying Red Hat, and Pine64 says they’re working on a Plasma phone.

Plus Firefox has a new sales pitch for you, and how HTC's blockchain future is already fizzling out.

• Linus back in charge of the kernel — And with that, Linus, I'm handing the kernel tree back to you. You can have the joy of dealing with the merge window :)
• Pine64 working on a KDE phone — It’s a confirmed news that Pine64 is considering a budget Linux smartphone running KDE Plasma.
• HTC’s blockchain phone is ready for preorder
• Firefox to suggest paid VPN service — A small, random group of US-based Firefox users will be presented with an offer to purchase a monthly subscription to a VPN service that’s been vetted and approved by Mozilla. After signing up for a subscription (billed securely using payment services Stripe and Recurly) they will be able to download and install the VPN software. Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android are all supported.
• IBM to Acquire Red Hat — Red Hat to operate as a distinct unit within IBM’s Hybrid Cloud team