Greg Lennon of Red Arrow Maps has put together LIDAR Links For Mappers, a nice set of links to online resources for LIDAR:
Data: Links to a number of data sources for LIDAR, mostly free. Currently oriented towards US data only.
Software: Both free and commercial software for viewing and analyzing LIDAR data files, many of which were new to me. Two programs not on the list, but which have some LIDAR visualization/analysis capabilities, are the MicroDEM terrain analysis GIS and gvSIG through the SEXTANTE plug-in (using some of the capabilities imported over from SAGA GIS).
Educational: Links to presentations and primers on LIDAR basics.
3DEM can read LiDAR data, and can translate it into a variety of forms. When it comes to LiDAR, 3DEM is my go-to application.
When you are in need of converting raw LIDAR data in XYZ form to raster try GRASS. It has a r.in.xyz module that can be used via GUI for single files or try scripting through shell for batch jobs.
For more info go to GRASS wiki