Internet has become an hotbed of innovation. Crowdfunding is one such internet-inspired innovation which could revolutionize how we do business in the near future. It could really be the next big thing. Kickstarter.com is one such hugely popular crowdfunding venture that is creating ripples across the world. Plenty of alternatives keeps rising all across the web and some of them are tailor-made to back open source projects specifically. Here's a list of 5 good Kickstarter-style crowdfunding alternatives for open source software (in no particular order). 

Nobody in their right minds would have imagined this an year ago. An officially supported Steam client for Linux? Are you kidding me? Well it just happened and the official Steam client for Linux is open to public. We should especially thank Microsoft for shooting its own feet with their new App Store style "one marketplace to rule them all" strategy for Windows 8.

Eufloria HD should definitely be one the best games for Android in 2012. It is an incredibly addictive and stylish ambient strategy game. And like most other extremely popular games in Google Play Store,  Eufloria HD is criminally simple with almost zero learning curve involved. 

It is not far-fetched to say, open source and its poster child, Linux, is going through a golden period. The emergence of internet has a lot to do with the popularisation of open source way of thinking. But in the world of Windows and Macs, what makes Linux tick? Redhat was the first to explore Linux's potential. But Redhat had a very enterprise centric approach. And in 2004, Ubuntu came along with the focus firmly back on end-users. This kick started a flurry of activity and a number of new Ubuntu based Linux distros started to sprung up. The latest one being elementary OS Luna. And this brand new OS has a lot going for it.

Ever wondered what happened to all those mind numbing animations and effects in older Ubuntu releases running GNOME 2.x? We used to conduct Linux installation fests during our college days and showing off Compiz Fusion's capabilities was a major highlight during every such event. But with the advent of GNOME 3.0 and Unity, Compiz effects and animations took a back seat. So how do you bring at least some of those eyecandy back in Ubuntu 12.10?

Reditr is a multi-column Reddit client for desktops. It currently supports Ubuntu, Mac, Windows and Google Chrome platforms. When it was first announced few months back, it created a lot of excitement, especially among Linux folks. But the initial Reditr Alpha release disappointed quite a few. Now that there is proper support for Debian based distros like Ubuntu and Linux Mint, Reditr is suddenly starting to feel a whole lot different.

The wait is finally over. Official Gmail for Android app now supports pinch-to-zoom action. This was perhaps one of the most requested feature by users of Gmail app. Apart from that, the new app also brings in features such as swipe to delete/archive action, attaching of photos and videos from within Gmail, larger photo previews, gallery view of photos among others.

More Android growth stories. Google Play Store is growing in numbers. Nearly 900,000 apps and games are already in there and have been downloaded more than 25 billion times. But what about the revenues? App Annie has some interesting statistics.