Ubuntu / Linux news and application reviews.

Nvidia Graphics Drivers 190.42 For Linux Released

After several beta versions, Nvidia has released version 190.42 of their graphics drivers for Linux. This version, in addition to fixing bugs found in previous versions, VDPAU video playback improvements, adds support for GeForce G102M, GeForce GT 220, GeForce G210, Geforce G210M, GeForce 230M GT, Geforce 240M GT, Geforce GTS 250M and 260M. These drivers also support OpenGL 3.2 X.Org xserver 1.6.99.901 (1.7.0 RC1) and Nvidia Quadro SDI Capture.

Also, NVIDIA 190.42 drivers bring support for configuring the NVIDIA GPU's fan - speed, and support for configuring the GPU PowerMizer mode.

Download Nvidia 190.42 graphics drivers for Linux | Ubuntu users: there is a PPA repository for installing these drivers.


Things To Fix / Tweak After Installing Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala

Everybody posts about applications to install after upgrading to Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala. That's interesting, and some applications in those posts are quite useful. But those are just lists of applications like any other "Top 10 Ubuntu applications" list.

I'm not saying they are not interesting, I'll even post some links to such posts from other blogs (look at the bottom of the post) I really liked, but to get there, you must firstly fix everything that's not working for you, tweak some things and so on.

1. You basically can't do anything without an Internet connection. While it might work right out of the box for some, I always had trouble making it work after an upgrade to the latest Ubuntu version. That's mainly because the Network Manager is very buggy. To get the Internet connection working (either if you have a static or dynamic IP (DHCP)), see this post: How To Manually Set Up Your Wired Internet Connection in K / Ubuntu without Network-Manager

2. While tweaking, Ubuntu might freeze. Hitting the reset button it's not the best way to get it up and running again. The Ctrl + Alt + Backspace behavior has been changed and it no longer restarts the X-server. To fix this for Ubuntu Karmic Koala, go to System -> Preferences -> Keyboard settings, then to the Layouts tab and under Keyboard settings, click the "Key sequence to kill the X server" option to expand it, then check "Control + Alt + Backspace" to set it.

Scary Halloween Wallpapers

Integrate Live SkyDrive in Windows Explorer

windows live skydrive wxplorer

Windows Live SkyDrive is a file storage and sharing service that allows users to upload files to the computing cloud, then access them from a web browser. It uses Windows Live ID to control access to the user's files, allowing them to keep the files private, share with contacts, or make the files public. Publicly-shared files do not require a Windows Live ID to access.

The service currently offers 25 GB of free personal storage, with individual files limited to 50 MB, but this can only be accessed through a browser. However, there is an application which integrates with Windows Explorer and displayes the Windows Live SkyDrive as a drive on your computer.

The application is called SkyDrive Explorer and it's a free, easy-to-use extension for Windows Explorer. With SkyDrive Explorer you can make any every-day operations with your documents from Microsoft Live SkyDriv service using Windows Explorer, as if they were on your computer. Moreover you don't need to install and configure any additional programs or ActiveX components. SkyDrive Explorer will organize the interaction with the online storage itself.

Skylight Launcher Application for Windows

Image and video hosting by TinyPic


Skylight is an application launcher for Windows that can be used to launch application, search files, look up meanings of words in online dictionaries, search Google, YouTube etc. For those familiar with this type of applications, Skylight is very similar to Blaze or Gnome-Do.

After installing the application, a small icon will show up in your tray bar. You can run the application either by clicking the icon, or by a hot-key combination (the default one it Alt+Space). It works quite quickly, despite the fact it uses over 70.000K out of the Memory Usage.

aria2: Cross Platform Command Line Tool To Download Files From HTTP, FTP and Bittorrent

aria2 is a command line utility for Windows, Linux and Mac OSX you can use for downloading files, which supports HTTP(S), FTP, BitTorrent, and Metalink. The cli tool can download a file from multiple sources/protocols and tries to utilize your maximum download bandwidth. Really speeds up your download experience. Also, aria2 has all the features you want in a BitTorrent client: DHT, PEX, Encryption, Web-Seeding and Selective Downloads.

Linux: Format Your USB Drive Via Command Line

Formating your USB memory pen / stick via command line is pretty easy. Once you know how to do it, that is.

Just follow these steps to quickly format your USB media in Linux:

UbuntuTweak 0.4.9.2 Released

ubuntu tweak

To celebrate the release of Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala, UbuntuTweak 0.4.9.2 was released, bringing:

-New PPA's:
  • Gartoon Redux icon theme
  • GMPC
  • Mingming’s PPA
  • Rico Tzschichholz’s PPA

Motorola to Launch the New Motorola Droid

Motorola DroidMotorola and Google are about to launch a new product, the new Motorola Droid.
Motorola Droid is a touch-screen (multitouch enabled) device with a huge 3.7 inches capacitive display running on the brand new version of Google's operating system, Google Android 2.0 (Eclair). It also features a sliding full qwerty keyboard, accelerometer for auto screen rotation,proximity sensor for auto turn-off, 16 GB of available storage using the microSD card (card included) and another 16 GB of internal memory.

The processor is an ARM Cortex A8 at 550 MHz. In terms of connectivity, this device has it all. It has GPRS, EDGE, 3G (HSDPA, 10.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps), Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g), Bluetooth 2.0 (with A2DP) and microUSB 2.0 port. It doesn't have IR port but i'm sure no one will miss that.

If you're not much of a talker and you "speak" better using a keyboard, the new Droid offers you SMS, MMS, Email, IM and Push Email support.

Another wonderful feature of this phone is the new Google Maps Navigation system with voice which can be easily used along with the built-in GPS receiver and an Internet connectivity.

Although the new Android device is not a big "musician", it has a 3.5 mm headphones jack so that you can listen to your favorite artist using any kind of regular headphones and supports MP3, eAAC+, WAV, WMA9 music file formats. For video playback it has support for MP4,H.263,H.264, WMV9. The release date for this devices in the US (Verizon) is Friday, November 6th. Hopefully, the Europeans will be able to get their hands on this product by the end of this year or maybe the next one.

ScramDisk for Linux: Truly Open Source On-The-Fly-Encryption Software

scramdisk for linux

Many people believe TrueCrypt is open-source but actually is not because even though the source code is available, it's development is kept secret and it isn't considered Free Software by the FSF nor Open Source by the OSI. A truly open source application for encrypting your partitions is DiskCryptor, but this app only works on Windows.

So if you want an open source application for Linux which works great, you should try ScramDisk.

ScramDisk for Linux (SD4L) is a great OTFE alternative that also supports TrueCrypt containers. Official description:

Google Maps Gets Demoed on the New Motorola Droid


Here is a little demo of Google Maps application running on the new Motorola Droid (Android 2.0 OS).:




More about Google Maps for Android 2.0.

PDF Annotator Software For Windows, Linux and Mac OSX

Whyteboard

Whyteboard is a simple whiteboard and PDF annotator application for Windows, Linux and Mac OSX.

It supports the the annotation of PDF, PostScript documents and various image formats with common drawing tools (pen, rectangles, ellipses, text). Your drawing history is stored, allowing you to replay it.

Whyteboard uses tabbed painting, having multiple sheets, with each sheet having its own live-updating thumbnail. Each sheet has its own *unlimited* undo and redo operations as well as its own history replay list. Closed sheets can also be undone, restoring its data.

Download Whiteboard (.exe, .deb, .rpm and source files available)

How to Add CPU and Memory Meters to Your Windows 7 Taskbar

CPU and memory meters windows 7


You can add CPU and memory meters to your Windows 7, by using Taskbar Meters, a program that includes two applications: one that shows CPU utilization and another that shows memory.

You can also quick access the Task Manager and the Resource Monitor in order to determine what's slowing down your computer.

Huge Collection Of TV Shows / Movies / Anime To Watch Online For Free

So you're somewhere with no TV access, Bittorrent ports blocked or just want to watch some TV shows or movies for free, with no hassle. If so, you'll love Videostic.

http://videostic.com is a website where you don't have to pay and there's even no registration required for watching TV shows such as American Dad, 24, CSI, Desperate Housewives, Doctor Who, Family Guy, Everybody Hates Chris, Friends, Futurama, Geek, Grey's Anatomy, Hannah Montana, House, Jericho, Lost, My Name Is Earl, Prison Break, Scrubs, South Park, Stargate Atlantis, The 4400, Top Gear or The Big Bang Theory, just to name a few. Yes, 'just to name a few', because the list is huge. Take a look for yourself.

But that's not all, there are also thousands of movies, Cartoons / Anime and Bollywood, for free also.

Fore other resources on watching movies / TV shows or online TV for free, look below:

Websites to Watch TV Online for Free
Free: Watch Thousands Of TV Channels On Your Computer [Windows, Linux and Mac OSX]
Application for Watching TV On-line For Free In Linux: Tivion

WebUpd8 New Domain Name

WebUpd8 has finally got it's domain name, and starting today, you can find it at http://www.webupd8.org. Don't worry, the old links will redirect back to the original posts, the feed address remains the same so you don't have to update (or upd8 :-) ) anything.

Nothing else has changed. Well, except the fact that Ireena will be posting here more often (she actually has done that for a couple of days) and a small change to the logo.

Thank you very much for reading Web Upd8. And a special thank you to the subscribers!

25% of All Twitter Users Have LISTS

Image and video hosting by TinyPic



The waiting is over for some Twitter addicts. Twitter employee Nick Kallen has tweeted today, a month after the official announcement has been made, that "25% of all users have lists". Thanks to TechCrunch for pointing it out and for the screenshot!

So yes, some lucky people can now curate lists of Twitter accounts, thus being able to follow only people who are truly interesting for them. We haven't received one yet.

Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala Was Officially Released



Finally! I'm sure most of us were expecting this all day.

Ubuntu 9.10 (9 - the year, 2009; 10 - the month, October) Karmic Koala was officially released just a few moments ago so head over to download your copy from Ubuntu.com until the servers stop responding. This happens because a lot of people will be downloading Ubuntu 9.10 in the next hours. If you cannot download Ubuntu from the official servers, use Bittorrent or THIS link. The best way to get a copy of the final Ubuntu Karmic Koala iso is (if you have previously downloaded an alpha, beta or RC release of Karmic) to use ZSync.

To learn more about Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala, I suggest the following links:

And finally, here are some bugs I encountered and explanations on how I managed to fix them, when upgraded to Ubuntu Karmic Koala beta (some might / should have been fixed).

More Firefox 3.7 And 4.0 Mockups, This Time For Linux Too

We've seen Fireofx 3.7 and 4.0 mockups for Windows, but let's take a look at some more mockups, but this time for Linux and some more info on the future of Firefox.

Firefox 3.7


firefox 3.7 linux

Firstly, there were some changes made to the icons, so now there will be the same icons used on all Linux distributions (and all other platforms too - Windows and Mac OSX). Also, some changes have been made to the tabs appearance which should now incorporate a loading bar.


Besides the appearance, Firefox 3.7 should also provide bookmark sync functionality, optimization for even faster loading web pages and so on. You should be able to install extensions without restarting Firefox.

DockbarX Available for Ubuntu Karmic

dockbarx

DockbarX, a taskbar with grouping and group manipulation with some "experimental" features compared to Docbark - great for replacing a Gnome panel, is now available for Ubuntu Karmic Koala. To install it, simply run the following commands in a terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:dockbar-main
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install dockbarx 


Here is a video with DockbarX in action:

Netvibes Morphing to 'Wasabi' - a Stream Reader That Has It ALL

netvibes wasabi


The next version of Netvibes is morphing into a stream reader which will consolidate news feeds, blogs, Twitter and Facebook streams, e-mail and much more.

This version, dubbed Wasabi, will become available early next week in a private beta, but you can start signing up for it now on the Netvibes Wasabi website.

Trying Out IBM Lotus Symphony Office Suite In Ubuntu Karmic Koala

IBM Lotus Symphony Office Suite

Not so long ago, IBM teamed up with Canonical to create an application which contains an office suite featuring word processing, spreadsheet and presentation applications based on IBM Lotus Symphony, an e-mail client that is based on IBM Lotus Notes, the social networking and collaboration cloud-based tools provided by LotusLive.com and the underlying Ubuntu operating system. Alternatively, companies can opt to use the cloud-based LotusLive iNotes application instead of IBM Lotus Notes.

Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu and Canonical CEO, said that:

"Canonical is proud to partner with IBM to help open up the American corporate desktop through Ubuntu. [...] IBM's smart client package running on Ubuntu will allow U.S. organizations the financial freedom to redistribute the costs of expensive software licenses into IT projects that will innovate and drive critical growth."


[via softpedia]

Because of this, I decided to test the IBM office suite called Lotus Symphony. From what I've understood, Symphony is available in Ubuntu Jaunty repositories, but I couldn't find it in Karmic so I downloaded a copy (comes in Ubuntu .deb package) from the IBM website. You can, however, search for in in Synaptic Package Manager if you use Jaunty or older Ubuntu versions.

NScripts: A Nice Set Of Nautilus Scripts [Linux]

NScripts is a set of Nautilus Scripts, such as:
  • Apt - Perform a set of operations with apt-get
  • Apt Cache - Perform a set of operations with apt-cache
  • Chkmd5 - Check md5sums
  • CopyTo - Copy selected files/folders to a certain folder
  • InstallTheme: Install a Theme to - install themes for: exaile, mplayer, cairo-clock, GTK themes, GDM, Emerald, Grub, icons and so on
  • OpenInGEdit - Open all selected files in GEdit
  • Rootilus - Open the current directory in nautilus, as root
  • RootOpenInGEdit - Open all selected files in GEdit, as root
  • RootTermInCurdir - Open a gnome-terminal with the currentdir as workdir, as root
  • Shredder - Shred (delete using the shred command) seleted files forever
  • TermInCurdir - open a terminal with the currentdir as workdir, as the current user
  • SetAsWallpaper - set the current file as wallpaper
  • SendShortcutTo - send links to a folder or wherever you want
  • SendToMenu - send desktop-launchers to menu ("Other"-Submenu)
  • MkPatch - compare two files [selected via a file-selection]
  • And other distribution related commands / actions

Last.fm to Launch Last.TV Starting January, 2010

last.fm logoCBS, the owner of Last.fm is trying everything to gain some money from the site it acquired in 2007, the next step being Last.TV, a project where they will add a video component to the online service.

The service is set to debut in January and will be FREE for users in the US, the UK and Germany. Users outside the countries will have to pay.

Killer App: Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0

android google maps navigation


Google attacks yet another industry, by introducing a FREE navigation system for Android 2.0 powered mobile phones that offers turn-by-turn directions, 3D views and automatic rerouting.

So that, if you haven't bought an Android phone by now, you should clearly buy one in the near future. Because, of course, Google Maps Navigation is only available for Android 2.0 phones.

The features include easy search, you don't need to know the exact address you want to go, voice search, traffic information (from data sources and crowd sourced from app), and street view close up pictures when you get near your destination. Google Maps Navigation is initially available in the United States, according to the official Google Blog.

More images and video:

Adobe Lightroom 3 Available for Beta Testing For Free

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Adobe lets you download and use the recently released Adobe Lightroom 3 public beta, for FREE! There is however a catch. You can download the beta and use it until the product expires. The current Lightroom 3 public beta will expire on April 30, 2010.

Adobe Lightroom 3 is a digital darkroom and efficient assistant designed for serious amateur and prefessional photographers. With Lightroom, you can organize, enhance, and showcase your images all from one fast and nimble application that’s available on Macintosh and Windows platforms.

For more details on the new functionality in the Lightroom 3 beta you can watch three short videos about what's new.

Bisigi Gnome Themes Updated For Ubuntu Karmic Koala

bisigi project gnome themes

You do remember the 9 (now 12) Gnome themes for Ubuntu which are part of the Bisigi Project, right? The great thing about them (other than the looks) is that they are complete and come with Metacity or Emerlad themes, wallpapers, logon themes, icons and so on.

Well, with Karmic Koala to be released in less than a day, the Bisigi themes have been updated and now work on Ubuntu Karmic Koala. To add the Bisigi project themes repository in Ubuntu Karmic, paste the following command in a terminal:

Integrating Facebook Share Button Into Blogger Blogs

Facebook recently updated it's Share Button, which now includes a share count and analytics. The button is fairly easy to integrate, as long as you don't specify the base URL (meaning that it will not work for the main page of a blog - it will only submit the blog URL, not a post URL), or you manually enter the URL.

facebook share mini button

Configuring the Facebook Share button for Blogger blogs is a bit tricky but achievable. Read on.

The first thing you need to do is decide over what format you want to use for the button. You can find info on this, on the Facebook Wiki. After you decide on this, remember the 'type=', as that will define the type of Facebook share button.

Then, to implement the button into your Blogger template, go to Layout > Edit HTML and use the following code for inserting the button (of course, in the template you need to go to where you want the Facebook Share button to show up):

Stylizer Allows You To Preview CSS Changes In Real-Time

Stylizer

Stylizer is an application which allows you to work with CSS in a much more comfortable way: the changes you make to a website can be previews in real time.

The application is for Windows only, but it works on Linux too, through Wine. The basic version is free and while some more advanced features are missing compared to the Ultimate version, it should be enough to really improve your workflow and allows you to actually see any changes you make to a website. You can see the difference between the two versions, HERE.

Also, a Mac OSX version is on it's way, so if you really like Stylizer, be sure to enter your email to be notified when it will become available.

Download Stylizer

[via linwind]

Official Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala Feature Tour

Official Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala Feature Tour

With 1 day until the Ubuntu Karmic Koala 9.10 release, the official feature tour page is already available.

Take a look: http://www.ubuntu.com/products/whatisubuntu/910features/

More Free CAD / CAE Software

We recently posted about a free AutoCAD alternative called BRL-CAD, which is very advanced and build by the US military in collaboration with NASA. But the application is not that easy to use by normal people, not very much into CAD applications (or the army :-) ). So for something easier to use, I suggest the following two applications:

1. FreeCAD, a free general all-purpose 3D modeling application, focused on mechanical engineering and related areas, such as other engineering specialties or architecture. FreeCAD features tools similar to Catia, SolidWorks or Solid Edge, and therefore also falls into the category of MCAD, PLM, CAx and CAE. FreeCAD works on Windows, Linux and Mac OSX.

freecad

Domain Names Written in Non-Latin Characters Starting with November, 16

non-latin domain name

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is finalizing the last set of rules that will allow Internet addresses to be written in characters not belonging to the Roman alphabet. So, soon we will see domains written in Arabic, Japanese, Chinese and Cyrillic characters.

The proposal was past last year, the final plans will be approved this Friday, on the 30th of October and the first applications will be accepted from the 16th of November.

D2X-XL: Unique 6 Degrees Of Freedom Game (Descent 2 Mod) [Windows, Linux, Mac OSX]

D2X-XL

D2X-XL is an OpenGL mod for the classic 3D game Descent 2. D2X-XL is based on D2X 0.2.6, has all bugs from D2X 0.2.6 fixed and has restored all features from the original D2_3dfx (official Voodoo graphics version). D2X-XL is free and runs on Windows, Linux and Mac OSX.

Descent is a 3D first-person shooter video game which has a strong following due to its unique 6DOF gameplay.


To understand better, take a look at this D2X-XL video:

Mozilla: SeaMonkey 2.0 Released

mozilla seamonkey 2.0

Mozilla has announced the availability of version 2.0 of SeaMonkey, which includes several new features, such as support for HTML 5 tags, improved JavaScript performance and off line data storage for applications. Also, the addition of a new Add-on Manager lets users install, update, disable and remove extensions.

Panda Cloud Antivirus Beta 3 Released [Windows]

panda cloud antivirus beta 3

Panda Cloud Antivirus Beta 3 was released today, bringing lots of improvements, such as:

  • New improved interface.
  • New website design and services.
  • New Collective Intelligence Real-time Activity Monitor.
  • New Technical Support Forums.
  • Fixed slowness of PC after install.
  • Fixed most cases of scan stuck at X% and errors during scan.
  • Fixed “Problems with Internet connectivity” popup message.
  • Fixed BackgroundScan by deactivating many unnecessary operations.
  • Improved performance based on cache optimization (much less CPU utilization).
  • Improved performance based on memory management (less memory consumption).
  • Improved management of Recycle Bin and restoration of disinfected objects.
  • Improved quick scan option.
In addition, Panda also made available a new forum which you can access when signing up for Cloud AV. More info on this, on the Cloud Antivirus blog.

Download Panda Cloud Antivirus Beta 3.

Pktstat Displays Active Connections On Your Network Interface, With Bandwidth Details [Linux]

Pktstat is a top-like utility for network connections usage which displays a real-time list of active connections seen on a network interface, and how much bandwidth is being used by what.

To install pktstat in Ubuntu, simply run the following command:
sudo apt-get install pktstat

If you use another Linux distribution, search for pktstat in your distro repositories.

To run pktstat, use the following command:

ClipMon: Smart Clipboard Application For Windows

clipmonClipboard Monitor (or ClipMon) is one of those smart applications such as Blaze which are build with usability in mind and try to automatically make the action you were about to do yourself.

Smooth Tasks Kubuntu .deb Download

smooth tasks kubuntu

Smooth Tasks (a fork of mbaszczewskis STasks plasmoid) is a taskbar replacement that has window peeking similar to Windows 7 when you use the kwin 'highlite window' effect. Even if this effect is not used you can click the tooltip in order to activate the corresponding window.

Until now you had to compile Smooth Tasks, but thanks to Usoftx, you can use a .deb package for Kubuntu.

Download Smooth Tasks Kubuntu .deb | Smooth Tasks page.

If you are using Gnome, well, you can't use Smooth Tasks but I suggest you try DockBarX which is somewhat similar.

Google Social Search Goes Live

google social search

After the Twitter - Bing deal last week, Google fired back immediately with his own search deal with Twitter and most importantly, Social Search.

Google Social search combines results from your friend’s blogs, Flickr, Twitter, FriendFeed, and a wide variety of other social media sites (so long as your friends have connected their social accounts to their Google profiles) with Google’s regular search results.

The social search needs to be activated in the experimental features of Google Search.

Facebook Adds Share Button With Counter and Analytics

facebook share

Last month we wrote about FBShare, which allows you to use a Facebook share button - Tweetmeme style. But today, Facebook has just launched a new version of Facebook Share, which includes a live counter that tells you how many times an item has been shared.

Try it out:

Share




Along with the improved look of the Share Button, Facebook Share now offers publishers detailed analytics. With new Share analytics, you can now access the information associated with each link shared on Facebook, including how often:

  • Users share the link on Facebook.
  • Users "like" the shared story.
  • Users comment on the shared story on Facebook.
  • Users click back to your site from the story.
More about this, on the Facebook blog.

DVD Authoring Made Easy With Bombono DVD [Linux]

Bombono DVDBombono DVD is an easy to use open-source (Linux only) application for DVD authoring which you can use to create DVDs with menus, chapters, re-auhoring (import from other DVDs), burn the DVD and so on.

The main features of Bombono DVD are:
  • Excellent MPEG viewer: Timeline and Monitor
  • Real WYSIWYG Menu Editor with live thumbnails
  • Comfortable Drag-n-Drop support
  • You can author to folder, make ISO-image or burn directly to DVD
  • Reauthoring: you can import video from DVD discs.

To install Bombono in Ubuntu, paste the following commands in a terminal:

Google Chrome New Wave Theme

New Wave is the theme I use on my Ubuntu (Gnome) desktop for quite a few months. One annoyance is Google Chrome (other may also use Chromium, the open source version of Google Chrome) which is... blue.

Yes, there are lots of themes for Google Chrome (click the links for some previews) but they just don't fit the desktop.

Steve Forde, a video game artist, web designer and developer, has created a New Wave theme for Google Chrome. Finally!

new wave google chrome theme
(image credits: Steve Forde)

You can get the New Wave Google Chrome / Chromium theme via Steve Forde website.

Insert Multiple YouTube Videos Into Your Blog Posts Using JavaScript

multiple youtube videos embedded

I recently came across a blog post on 911-need-code-help which explains how to insert (embed) multiple YouTube Videos into your blog posts. You can find both a demo and code to use, by visiting link above.

If you use Blogger, you can paste the JavaScript code directly into the post, so you won't increase the pageload for all of your blog's pages. But use draft.blogger.com as the normal Blogger doesn't publish JavaScript code correctly.

Alternatively, you could use Embedr to embed multiple videos into your blog posts which works with other websites too (not just YouTube).

GeoCities Closes Down Today

geocities end

Like we wrote some time ago, Geocities closes down today.

A bit about GeoCities:

Founded in 1994 as Beverly Hills Internet, what is now Yahoo GeoCities was one of the first services to offer an easy way for early Internet surfers to publish their own Web pages. Whereas most hosting options of the 1990s were expensive, thus limiting their use to more entrepreneurial pursuits, GeoCities' free hosting space became the home for thousands of sites built around thematically oriented "neighborhoods": conservation, fashion, military, sports, finance, travel, and more.

But that hierarchy proved limiting and then confusing, as neighborhoods expanded into blocks and suburbs. After a Yahoo buyout in 1999, the new management chose to make the URL structure even more complex. This era was quickly followed by both the dot-com bubble burst and the availability of affordable personal hosting, such as Yahoo's own Web hosting. Neither bode well for GeoCities' long-term viability.

Encrypt Files And Folders In Ubuntu Using Seahorse

Seahorse is a Gnome front end for GnuPG - the Gnu Privacy Guard program. It is a tool for secure communications and data storage. Data encryption and digital signature creation can easily be performed through a GUI and Key Management operations can easily be carried out through an intuitive interface.

In addition it includes an agent for storing private passphrases, as well as a GnuPG and OpenSSH key manager.


Using this small application in Ubuntu (Gnome), you can quickly secure confidential files. Here is how.

Install Seahorse:
sudo apt-get install seahorse-plugins

Then restart Nautilus:
killall nautilus && nautilus &


seahorse plugins

Dropbox Repository Finally Available For Ubuntu Karmic

Dropbox was working in Ubuntu Karmic, but you had to compile it. Probably installing the Jaunty files was also an working (?) alternative.

But the Dropbox developers have finally released Dropbox .deb files and added a Dropbox Ubuntu Karmic Koala repository.

Install Docky And Update Gnome Shell From A Repository (Launchpad PPA) [Ubuntu Karmic]

I will firstly post instructions on how to add the PPA repository, and then explain what's up Docky and Gnome Shell.

The following commands (must be run in a terminal) will add the Karmic Testing PPA by Rico Tzschichholz. Obviously, this will only work for Ubuntu Karmic Koala:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ricotz/testing


Then:
sudo apt-get update


That's it. This repository contains the following packages:

-Docky (version 2.0~bzr315-0 at the time of writing this post) - the dock bar part of Gnome Do (read on!)

-Gnome Shell (v. gnome-shell 2.28.1~42-g17c8) with Mutter (v. 2.28.0)

-Clutter (v. 1.0.8) - a highly promising rich graphical interface library designed by OpenedHand that is built with OpenGL and provides a GObject-based API. Clutter is still fairly new but is generating considerable excitement in the GNOME development community because it supplies a lot of much-needed graphics functionality that simply isn't supported natively by GTK+.

-InkScape (v. 0.47 Beta 4 pre) - an Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X, using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format. This repository seems to have the most up to date version of InkScape Ubuntu builds (we've previously written on installing InkScape 0.47 Beta 3 pre, but that repository hasn't been updated. Still, if you don't use Karmic, use that repository for installing InkScape 0.47 beta 3 pre).

-A few other packages. Check them out, HERE.

Separate Docky installation



docky

Last Week's Top Posts (Week 43, 2009)

Ubuntu Karmic: Make The Super Key Bring Down The Applications Menu

applications menu ubuntu karmic koala

In Ubuntu Jaunty, all you had to do was to go to System > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts and edit the appropriate shortcut to be able to bring down the Applications menu using the Super Key (the key between left Alt and Ctrl).

This changed in Ubuntu Karmic Koala and now the Super Key must be used in combination with another key. But if you got used to using the Super Key for opening the Applications menu, there is a really easy work-around.

To modify this, open up a terminal and paste this:
gconftool-2 --set /apps/metacity/global_keybindings/panel_main_menu --type string "Super_L"

"Super_L" means the Super Key on the left. If you have one on the right, you may change the command and use that one instead if you want.

Keybindings: Windows and Linux

Part 1: Built-In System Keyboard Shortcuts



Windows & Linux

Everyone should already know:
Control-Alt-Delete - on Linux, it depends on the distribution. On Ubuntu Jaunty, it brings up the shutdown screen. But you can make it have a similar effect to Windows: open the System Monitor.
Alt + Tab - Switches between opened applications.
Alt + F4 - Closes the window
Alt + PrintScreen (Not all Linux)
I assume everyone knows that the middle mouse button on Linux uses a different 'cut buffer' than Ctrl + C. Glipper http://glipper.sourceforge.net/ is a Gnome applet to share and provide multiple buffers, easier than Microsoft Office.


Windows

Does anybody use the Menu key?
Commands that follow holding the Windows modifier key:
D Shows the Desktop
E Windows Explorer (file manager)
L Login (switch user)
R Run Brings up the Run box. Enter cmd and you'll never need touch the mouse!
F Find

Unix (Linux) and X Window

Ctrl + Alt + D - Show the Desktop
Ctrl + Alt + F1 through F6 Switch to a shell (aka virtual terminal)
Ctrl + Alt F7 Switch back to X Window (Alt F5 on Knoppix)
Ctrl + Alt + Backspace Kill -9 X Window; Linux kernel and system daemons keep running
Ctrl + d = logout of (and close) shell prompt
Ctrl + Alt + L - Lock the screen quickly

Commands that follow holding the Alt + SystemRequest keys:
B Reboot Ubuntu
O Shutdown
K Kill -9 the foremost process
R + E + I + S + U + B - safe restart. Holding Alt + System Request, type REISUB which means:

* R: Switch the keyboard from raw mode to XLATE mode
* E: Send the SIGTERM signal to all processes except init
* I: Send the SIGKILL signal to all processes except init
* S: Sync all mounted filesystems
* U: Remount all mounted filesystems in read-only mode
* B: Immediately reboot the system, without unmounting partitions or syncing

REISUO will do a safe shutdown instead of restart

Ubuntu (Gnome) (other distributions too)

Alt + F1 - Opens the applications menu
Alt + F2 - Run an application by typing its name in the box which appears
Alt + F7 - Moves the current window (can be moved with mouse or keyboard).
Alt + F8 - Resizes current window (again,can be moved with mouse or keyboard).
Alt + F9 - Minimizes current window.
Alt + F10 - Maximizes current window.
Alt + Space - Brings up window menu with with 'Always on Top' and 'Minimize' and 'Maximize' and above commands.
Alt + F5 - Returns window to 'normal' or previous size.
Ctrl + Alt + Plus (numeric keypad) - Rotate through supported screen resolutions
Ctrl + Alt + Minus (numeric keypad) - Rotate backwards through supported screen resolutions

Desktop effects enabled:

Ctrl + Alt + Left/Right - Switch to the next/previous workspace
Shift + Ctrl + Alt + Left/Right Arrow - Move the current window to another workspace
Shift + F10 - Right click effect
Alt + F7 - Move windows with arrow keys
Ctrl + H - Show hidden files.
Alt + Enter - Show file properties without right-clicking the mouse


Terminal commands:

Ctrl + l = clears the terminal.
Ctrl + u = clears the current line. If you are working in a terminal, use this shortcut to clear the current line from the cursor all the way to the beginning of the line.
Ctrl + C - Kill process (Kill the current process in terminal, also used to copy elsewhere)
Ctrl + Z - Send process to background
Ctrl + D - Log out from the current terminal. In X, this may log you out after a shuting down the emulator.
Ctrl + A - Home (Move cursor to beginning of line)
Ctrl + E - End (Move cursor to end of line)
Tab - List available commands from typed letters (Ex: type iw and click tab, output = iwconfig iwevent iwgetid iwlist iwpriv iwspy)
Ctrl + U - Delete current line
Ctrl + K - Delete current line from cursor
Ctrl + W - Delete word before cursor in terminal (Terminal only, also used to close the current document elsewhere)
Arrows up and down = Browse command history
Ctrl + R - History search (Finds the last command matching the letters you type)
Shift + PageUp / PageDown - Scroll terminal output
Ctrl + L - Clears terminal output
Shift + insert - Paste

Build Your Own City In Real-Time Strategy Game Unknown Horizons [Windows & Linux]

Unknown Horizons

Unknown Horizons is a FREE and open-source, real-time 2D strategy game for Windows and Linux. The game emphasis on economy and city building:

Expand your small settlement to a strong and wealthy colony, collect taxes and supply your inhabitants with valuable goods. Increase your power with a well balanced economy and with strategic trade and diplomacy.


Unknown Horizons is loosely oriented on Sunflowers Anno series however not a clone of these comercial games nor an engine to play the original content.

Furius ISO Mount: Application For Mounting Files In Ubuntu Linux

Furius ISO Mount is a user friendly Gtk+ Interface to Mount ISO, IMG, BIN, MDF and NRG Image files without burning to disk.

Furius ISO Mount



Features:

Halloween Personas (Themes) For Firefox

halloween firefox personas

With Halloween getting closer, Mozilla has released 81 Firefox personas. This should really get you in the Halloween mood.

To use these Firefox personas, you must firstly install the Personas Firefox add-on. Or, if you are using Firefox 3.6 (like me), all you have to do is click the "Wear this" button from a persona page.

Then you can start testing some of these 81 Halloween personas.

Skitch for Mac: Probably The Best Screenshot Taking Application [Mac]

Skitch is a Mac-only screenshot taking application. Think of it as an Mac alternative for the popular Windows screenshots (with annotations) application: FSCapture (my personal favourite).

Basically, any application designed for taking screenshots can do that, and the difference is made by the extra options such as easily highlighting some text, adding arrows and so on, and at this, Skitch is the best I've seen. You can even call it a lightweight image editor because it can be used for that too.

Make ./configure Tell You Everything Missing Or Failed [Linux]

When trying to compile something from source in Linux, there may be lots of dependencies missing. Running the ./configure command will only tell you one missing dependency. Then you must run ./configure again, install another missing dependency, run it again and so on.

However, you can make ./configure tell you everything that it's missing or failed, running it only once. For this, use the following command:

./configure -n > config.txt

Then check the config.txt file for all the lines that say no, missing, or failed.

The -n will run configure but nothing will actually be changed. You can also use ./configure -h - it will give you the options.

[thanks to the tip: StanTweedle user @ reddit]

OOoTwitter: Post To Twitter From OpenOffice.org

To post to Twitter from within OpenOffice.org, you'll be needing the following OpenOffice macro: download.

After downloading, in OpenOffice (Spreadsheed or whatever), go to Tools -> Macros -> Organize Macros --> OpenOffice.org Basic and select "My Macros", then select "New". In the newly opened Macros window, go to File > Open and select the OOoTwitter-1.0.0.oxt file you just downloaded.

Google Chrome Extensions Directory

google chrome extensions directory

A Google Chrome extensions directory has been created, similar to the one for Firefox addons (addons.mozilla.org):

http://www.chromeextensions.org/

Each extension has a description and download link and that's about it. The idea is good, but people probably expect Google to take this into it's own hands and make it's own extensions directory. Or just acquire this website and continue the development themselves.

But the important thing is that now, Google Chrome users have a place of their own for searching extensions.

Volery (Single Installer For All Your Favourite Applications) Is Now Open For Everyone, Changes Name To Ninite [Windows]

Volery

Volery, the website which provides a single installer for all your favourite Windows applications used to be an in private beta and people needed an invite code.

Starting today, Volery (now called Ninite) is available for everyone. You don't even need an account, simply go to it's website, select the applications you want to include in your installer and then simply download it.

The basic version is free for personal use and will remain so, but the Ninite developers are planing to add a premium version. Until then, advanced features like caching downloads to save bandwidth are free too. Details about these advanced features, HERE.

Ubuntu Karmic Koala 9.10 Release Candidate Released



Ubuntu Karmic Koala 9.10 RC was released today. I know you were expecting lots of screen shots but there are no big improvements, just bug fixes mostly and minor improvements which include:

-Linux kernel 2.6.31.1
-Some minor tweaks to the login screen and boot splash
-Quickly, a new software which will help developers to build and share applications for Ubuntu.

Download Panda Internet Security For Free - Today Only

Panda Internet Security 2010Panda Internet Security 2010 protects you from viruses, spyware, rootkits, hackers, online fraud, identity theft and all other Internet threats. The anti-spam engine will keep your inbox free from junk mail while the Parental Control feature ensures your children can use the Web safely. And thanks to the new Collective Intelligence technology, the solution is now much faster than previous versions. And obviously, since the giveaway is available for October, 22 (the Windows 7 launch day), Panda Internet Security is fully compatible with Windows 7.

TrueCrypt 6.3 Brings Support For Windows 7 And Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard

TrueCrypt 6.3 has been released yesterday.

TrueCrypt is a free software application used for real-time on-the-fly encryption, for Windows, Linux and Mac OSX.

Version 6.3 brings Windows 7 and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard support, and also the ability to configure selected volumes as "system favourite volumes" in order to, for example, mount them before the system and application services start, or before users start logging on.

Complete changes can be found HERE.

Download TrueCrypt 6.3

Avant Window Navigator (AWN) 0.4 Available - See What's New [Linux]

After a few months of development, AWN (Avant Window Navigator) 0.4 is available for beta testing.

In case you don't know, Avant Window Navigator (Awn) is a dock-like bar which sits at the bottom of the screen (or at least it used to, read on!). It has support for launchers, task lists, and third party applets.



The new AWN 0.4 comes with lots of new features, such as:


1. Finally you can position the dock to the left, top or right side of the screen. You can also adjust the distance from the corner. This also works great with multi-screen.

2. New styles:

-Curved:

avant window navigator curved

-Floaty:

awn volant

-Corner (edgy):

awn edgy


(the element on the left can be any applet you want)

- Extended mode (AWN can be extended to the whole width of the screen). This basically means you can use AWN as a whole gnome panel for instance. Take a look at the following screencast:

Flickr Adds People Tagging

If you use Facebook, you’re surely familiar with the option to tag the people in your photos. The feature both identifies them to viewers of the picture and lets them know a photo that includes them has been posted on the site.

Today, Flickr added a people tagging option as well:

We’ve launched People in Photos, a new feature that will help put a face to the Flickrverse and enable you to highlight members that you’ve photographed in a whole new way. People in Photos lets you add a member to a photo, find photos of people you know, and manage which photos you’re in. Huzzah!


(from the Flickr blog)

flickr people tagging

Google To Integrate Twitter Search Too

Just a few hours after Twitter announced it would be integrated into Microsoft Bing search, Google also announced it will include Twitter status updates into it's search engine.


At Google, our goal is to create the most comprehensive, relevant and fast search in the world. In the past few years, an entirely new type of data has emerged — real-time updates like those on Twitter have appeared not only as a way for people to communicate their thoughts and feelings, but also as an interesting source of data about what is happening right now in regard to a particular topic.

Given this new type of information and its value to search, we are very excited to announce that we have reached an agreement with Twitter to include their updates in our search results. We believe that our search results and user experience will greatly benefit from the inclusion of this up-to-the-minute data, and we look forward to having a product that showcases how tweets can make search better in the coming months. That way, the next time you search for something that can be aided by a real-time observation, say, snow conditions at your favorite ski resort, you'll find tweets from other users who are there and sharing the latest and greatest information.


said Marissa Mayer, Vice President of Search Products and User Experience in a blog post.

New Free Software From Autodesk: Project Cooper [Windows]

From Autodesk, the makers of AutoCAD, comes a new, free application called Project Cooper - a drafting tool for simple architectural drawings.

Project Cooper
(Image credits: download.cnet.com)

Project Cooper is like AutoCAD, stripped down to the bone and then some, and that makes it a lot easier to use. It's also built for Windows 7 touch screen computers, so you can drag and rotate and objects without a mouse or keyboard.

CheckMyTorrentIP Verifies That Your VPN and Proxy Are Always Working [BitTorrent]

checkmytorrentip

CheckMyTorrentIP is new a free service which verifies your anonymity when you download a file using a BitTorrent client. This includes VPNs and proxies:

“Anonymizing services like VPNs and Proxies aren’t always 100% effective so this tool helps users harden their setups.

There are many applications and web based tools that display your IP-address, but there can not always test your BitTorrent connection accurately. With CheckMyTorrentIP you can”


said the CheckMyTorrentIP founder, Danny Carpenter.

Caffeine 1.0 For Linux Released

Caffeine is a Gnome applet which basically prevents your computer's screensaver and power saving to activate. The applet works simple but effective: a coffee-cup will be displayed and when you click it, the coffee-cup fills up and keeps your computer from going to sleep.

Caffeine in activated state


Caffeine in deactivated state