Linux and free/open source software are the best computing environments for children because they can get under the hood and learn to control and shape the technology, rather than be trained like lab rats to click buttons and be good little unquestioning consumers. Here is a batch of excellent educational and creative software for children, and for beginners of any age.

Workers today are more mobile than ever, so providing a secure link to your network for remote workers is crucial. Luckily, it’s also free and easy with OpenVPN. I’ll walk you through the process of setting up an OpenVPN server to authenticate and encrypt multiple client connections in just slightly more time than it takes to read this article.

In last week's Weekend Project, we learned what the Arduino platform is for, and what supplies and skills we need on our journey to becoming Arduino aces. Today we'll hook up an Arduino board and program it to do stuff without even having to know how to write code.

In last week's Weekend Project, we learned what the Arduino platform is for, and what supplies and skills we need on our journey to becoming Arduino aces. Today we'll hook up an Arduino board and program it to do stuff without even having to know how to write code.