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Rabu, 30 September 2009

Google Chrome New Built-In Extension Manager

Google Chrome introduced a new, this time "real" built-in extension manager - for those of you running the developer channel build that is. To access the page, type:
chrome://extensions
in the omnibar and hit enter. Any extension can be disabled, uninstalled, or reloaded.

google chrome extensions

Now, if you could only get some serious extensions for Google Chrome...


[via download squad]

How To Set IMDB Images As Video Thumbnails In Nautilus And Thunar [Linux]

The following post will explain how to replace the video thumbnails for their IMDB images, like so:


imdb thumbnails movies nautilus thunar


Please note that I wasn't able to make this to work, it seems some package on my computer prevents it from working, but I read it on many blogs and it seems to work for almost everyone, so it will probably also work for you. Update: Actually, I got it to work by cleaning my Nautilus thumbnails cache using BleachBit:

nautilus imdb movies

That being said, here's what you need to do:

1. For this trick, we will use imdb-thumbnail, a package available in both rpm (Fedora, Red Hat, etc) and .deb (Ubuntu, Debian, etc) packages. If you don't use one of these distributions, there is also the tar.bz2 package. Download the package suited for your distro from these links and install it.

2. Now, let's configure it. Open a terminal and:

a) If you use Nautilus:
imdb-thumbnailer --set-nautilus

b) If you use Thunar:
imdb-thumbnailer --set-thunar


3. We also need to edit some config files. Run the following command:
gedit ~/.imdb-thumbnailer/config

And change the contents like so:
films_path[1]=/path/to/your/movies


Replacing /path/to/your/movies and so on, with the exact path to the folder where you keep your movies. You can add as many lines as you want, but remember to increase the numbere between the brackets with each line.

4. Finally, the last file we need to edit:

gedit ~/.bashrc

And paste this at the end of the file:
alias imdb-up='find /path/to/your/movies/* -type f | while read -r line ; do imdb-thumbnailer -u "$line" ; done'

Again, replace /path/to/your/movies/ with the exact path to your movies folder.

[Credits: elsoftwarelibre, bitelia]

New OpenShot Version Out, Brings 33 New Video & Audio Effects

Openshot, the great new Linux non-linear video editor (which we covered here, at Web Upd8 a while ago) released a new version, 0.9.42, which includes 33 video & audio effects (30 video and 3 audio) and a preview window ehich allows you to view any changes before applying.


openshot 0.9.42

Also, a new PPA for Ubuntu users has been set up starting today. To add it, run the following commands in a terminal:

-Ubuntu Karmic:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jonoomph/openshot-edge


-Ubuntu Jaunty
sudo sh -c "echo 'deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/jonoomph/openshot-edge/ubuntu jaunty main' >> /etc/apt/sources.list"

Then add the GPG key:
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys EDFBD1F9
Then, if you havent installed Openshot before:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install openshot


Or, if you are upgrading:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade


Alternatively, you can just download the .deb files from OpenShot website.

Download Paragon Partition Manager 10 For Free - Today Only!

Normally $39.95, Paragon Software's Partition Manager 10.0 Personal can be yours absolutely free. Today only. From software-freebie site Giveaway of the Day.

If you haven't visited the site before, here's how it works: You've got until midnight tonight (ET) to download and install the software. Other than that, there are absolutely no strings attached.


New features in Paragon Partition Manager 10:

  • Create Linux/DOS bootable media on a USB flash drive, CD or DVD for fast, reliable maintenance and recovery operations. Fix crashed operating systems, perform partitioning operations, access and copy important documents with the recovery media after a system crash or hardware failure.
  • Improved two-level user interface (Easy/Advanced) to satisfy the needs of every customer.
  • Fast and easy backup creation to CDs or DVDs with the Simple Backup Wizard.
  • Safe defragmentation of your hard disks even in the case of power outages, hardware malfunctions or system failures.
  • And many others

The program runs on Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and 7. There's a special 64-bit version available, which you should definitely choose if you're running a 64-bit OS.



Download Paragon Partition Manager 10: 32bit / 64bit

Mount iPhone / iPod Touch in Ubuntu [How-to]

To mount an Apple iPhone / iPod Touch to your Ubuntu computer, connect the cable via an USB cable to your computer and follow the steps below:

1. Add the following repository

Open a terminal and paste this:
sudo sh -c "echo 'deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/jonabeck/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main' >> /etc/apt/sources.list"

For any other version, simply replace the jaunty by the respective version name (hardy, intrepid or karmic).

Alternatively, Ubuntu Karmic users can run this instead of the command above:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jonabeck


2. Add the PPA key using this command:
sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com F0876AC9

3. Install ifuse:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install ifuse

Once the installation is done, connect your iPhone to your computer via the USB cable.

Open up your Nautilus. You should see the iPhone/iPod entry at the side pane. This show that it is already mounted in your system.

iphone ubuntu

Now you can: view/copy/download photos, create folders, upload/download files. Managing address book/calendar is on it's way (not yet available). Unfortunately, you won't be able to manage your music database because Apple uses a cryptographic signing algorithm to encrypt all the music files. While you can access the music folder, there is no way that you can transfer your music over and get it to work in your iPhone.


Update: you may want to take a look at this also: Mount iPhone On A Fresh Ubuntu Karmic Koala Installation (The Complete Guide)

4 GB Of RAM In Ubuntu 32bit [How-to]

Ubuntu 32bit only supports 3 GB of RAM so if you have 4, only 3 will be used. You can use the 64bit version for all 4GB of RAM memory to work, or follow the instructions in this post to make the 32bit version of Ubuntu to work with 4GB or RAM.

Firstly, please note that to achieve this, you must install the Ubuntu Server Kernel which has Phisical Extencion Address Enabled (PAE) enabled thus allowing Ubuntu to see all 4 GB of RAM. You can also compile the 32 Kernel desktop version yourself, and enable PAE but that's difficult to explain so I'll not cover that :). Once, that was easily done with Kernelcheck, but now kernel.org changed something which made Kernelcheck to stop working. Another solution would be to just install the 64bit Ubuntu.

Installing the Ubuntu Server Kernel is basically for lazy people and should only take 1-2 minutes. If you wish to continue with this solution, follow the steps below:

Open a terminal and paste the following command:
sudo sudo apt-get install linux-headers-server linux-image-server linux-server


Once the installation is completed, restart your computer and boot into the new Kernel. That's basically it.

Note: This is basically a quick "fix". I strongly suggest newbies don't install this Server Kernel! Why? Because the server version will be more stable, but at the expense of performance and compatibility with various hardware (graphics,sound, etc.). The desktop version will likely provide better user interface response and better handle the latest 3D drivers and other "desktop" hardware. More advanced users should be able to tweak the settings for better responsiveness and hardware compatibility.

[via pmabox]

Warmth Gnome Theme Updated (Also Works On Ubuntu Netbook Remix)

Warmth theme, an amazing Gnome theme which was available in the Incoming Karmic Artwork, wasn't in the proposed community theme pack (oddly). The theme was recently updated:

Warmth gnome ubuntu theme


And now also works on the Ubuntu Netbook Remix:

warmth ubuntu netbook remix

You can get the updated Warmth Theme from Gnome-Look.

[via ubuntu life]

New Free Translate Tool For Your Website, From Facebook

Facebook announced Translations for Facebook Connect, a new free tool that will help webmasters to translate their websites and web apps to all the languages supported by Facebook — including, of course, Pirate (check out the complete list here).

The technology is based on the same solution Facebook (Facebook) developed for itself when it decided to make the site available in multiple language.

How it works:

You can start integrating Translations for Facebook Connect into your site with an HTML file and a few lines of JavaScript in less than an hour. Whether you want to translate an application, a social widget, or an entire website, you have complete control over every aspect of the translation process. After you choose what languages you want your site or application to support, you can get help from the Facebook community to translate your site, as we did, or you can do the translation yourself, or make a specific person the administrator of the process. To start translating your site, read the documentation on the Developer Wiki.

For more info, visit the Facebook announcement.

Dropbox Available For iPhone

dropbox iphoneDropbox, one of our favorite cross-platform file-syncing tools, has now made its way to the iPhone and iPod touch, complete with offline file viewing.

With this new iPhone app, users will get access to all their Dropbox documents, PDF’s, pictures, videos and much more. Dropbox also introduced offline viewing in the iPhone app, with “Favorites.” If you add a file to your ‘Favorites’, they’ll be accessible at any time. To do so, just hit the star at the bottom of any file, and it’ll be added. Otherwise, your files stay in the cloud.

One of Dropbox’s core features is sharing your files and folders stored in the cloud with anyone else who has a Dropbox account, and the iPhone is no exception. Users can easily share their Dropbox files and folders from their iPhone to any other Dropbox user by putting in their email address, just like on the web. The app allows users to upload photos for 3G users, and videos if you have an iPhone 3GS.

What’s really cool about Dropbox’s iPhone app is that you can even stream music and movies from your Dropbox straight to your iPhone, without any noticeable delay. Dropbox’s app is also heavily integrated into Apple’s camera API with straight photo and video uploading available too.

Get Dropbox for iPhone

Selasa, 29 September 2009

Images As Folder Icons In Gnome

nautilus folder icons

Windows XP sets an image called folder.jpg as the icon of that folder. We can achieve this in Gnome / Nautilus too, with the use of a Python script, thanks to fifo @ubuntuforums (via Stephen O'Sullivan).

The script basically automates the process of converting a folder icon to, by default, an image in that folder by the name of either folder.jpg or Folder.jpg.

To run the script, navigate to folder you have saved it to (in the terminal, e.g. "cd Desktop"), and type:
python custom_icon.py -R /folder/folder 
(replacing "folder" for the directory you want to convert)

Then, refresh Nautilus:
nautilus -q
nautilus &

The script assumes all the folder images are .jpg in lower case, but if some of your images are .Jpg or .JPG, then simply change the line:
default="[Ff]older.jpg",
to
default="[Ff]older.[Jj][Pp][Gg]",


Download the script

Update: I have found a better way of doing this with a real Nautilus thumbnailer and it also works in Ubuntu Karmic. See HERE.

Install New Tab King 2.1.0 Firefox Addon - Super Powers For Your New Tab Page

New Tab King is a Firefox addon which makes your new tab page somewhat similar to that of Google Chrome. You get instant access to recently closed tabs, personalized suggested sites and even shortcuts to your desktop applications. But the version available at the Mozilla addons website is not the latest version. Take a look at what's different between version 2.0.6b (the default version at addons.mozilla.com) and the latest version, 2.1.0:

* Major look and feel facelift
* 7 built-in themes
* Online sharing of your most used sites
* performance improvements
* better search bar usability
* Most used site + ENTER now gets you to your destination the fastest way
* Lots of bugs fixed

Screenshots with New Tab King 2.1.0 in action:



There is no reason why, these days, your new tab should be empty and bland. With the New Tab King add-on for Firefox, you can make the new tab page and the Firefox browser even more functional than it was before.


Install New Tab King 2.1.0 (don't forget to click the "Let me install this experimental add-on" button)

The New Freeware Anti-Virus From Microsoft: Security Essentials

Security Essentials

Security Essentials is a new anti-virus and anti-malware program from Microsoft that is lightweight and absolutely free as long as you are running a genuine copy of Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 on your computers.

Microsoft warns that MSE should not be installed alongside any other antimalware application. Indeed, MSE's installer disables Windows Defender completely, which makes sense as it is a sort of superset to Windows Defender. It builds upon Windows Defender by offering both real-time protection and on-demand scanning for all types of malware.

After downloading the small installer, installation takes less than a minute and it will immediately start protecting your computer from virus attacks. The software will automatically download new definition from the Internet through Windows Update, and these will be installed on the computer without requiring user intervention.

System requirements:
Operating System: Genuine Windows XP (Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3); Windows Vista (Gold, Service Pack 1, or Service Pack 2); Windows 7
  • For Windows XP, a PC with a CPU clock speed of 500 MHz or higher, and 1 GB RAM or higher.
  • For Windows Vista and Windows 7, a PC with a CPU clock speed of 1.0 GHz or higher, and 1 GB RAM or higher.
  • VGA display of 800 × 600 or higher.
  • 140 MB of available hard disk space.
  • An Internet connection is required for installation and to download the latest virus and spyware definitions for Microsoft Security Essentials.
  • Internet Browser:
    • Windows Internet Explorer 6.0 or later.
    • Mozilla Firefox 2.0 or later.
  • Microsoft Security Essentials also supports Windows XP Mode in Windows 7.

Google Docs Turns Images Into Editable Text (OCR)

Google Docs can now perform OCR to typewritten or printed text, meaning it can turn images into editable text.

Image and video hosting by TinyPicImage and video hosting by TinyPic
Original imageEditable text (result)



The OCR feature in Google Docs is not part of the standard UI yet but you can use this sample form to upload scanned images to your Google Account and the server will automatically try to extract text from these images provided the image resolution is good and that the text inside images is written using Latin character sets.

[via labnol.org]

Another Way Of Disabling Your Recent Documents In Gnome

We wrote about disabling your Recent Documents in Gnome using a little trick but that doesn't work if using BleachBit for instance, because it deletes the .recently-used.xbel folder so the recent documents will be displayed again. So to solve this, here is what to do:

We must edit the .gtkrc-2.0 file:
sudo gedit ~/.gtkrc-2.0

And add the following line:
gtk-recent-file-max-age=0

This will disable your Recent Documents in Gnome:

recent files gnome

[via addictive tips]

Senin, 28 September 2009

Install Amarok 2.2 In Ubuntu Jaunty and Fedora

Amarok 2.2 was released a few days ago. For complete changelog, visit this page.

amarok 2.2 ubuntu

I loved Amarok 1.4 and even used it in Gnome. Then, I really hated all the 2.x series until this 2.2. It's kind of slow, but it finally looks like a real music player and reminds me why I liked Amarok so much. I'm currently using it in Ubuntu Jaunty and since there are only .deb files for Ubuntu Karmic posted on the announcement download link (actually those are for version 2.2 beta), I thought I'd let you know how to install it in Ubuntu Jaunty.


Installing Amarok 2.2 In Ubuntu Jaunty


1. Add the following repository (run the command in a terminal):
sudo sh -c "echo 'deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/project-neon/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main' >> /etc/apt/sources.list"


2. Add the GPG key:
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 0F7992B0

3. Install Amarok 2.2:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install amarok-nightly

This will install Amarok 2.2 separately of any version of Amarok you may have installed. To run it, click the "Amarok Nightly" icon, not "Amarok".


Installing Amarok 2.2 In Fedora


amarok 2.2 fedora

1. Add the KDE RedHat repository:
su -c "wget http://apt.kde-redhat.org/apt/kde-redhat/fedora/kde.repo -O /etc/yum.repos.d/kde.repo"


2. Install Amarok 2.2 in Fedora:
su -c "yum --enablerepo=kde-unstable -y install amarok"


Fedora installation credits: Fedora-ES.com

Update: I updated the post from Amarok 2.2 RC to Amarok 2.2 Final as now the Uubntu PPA contains the final build of Amarok 2.2.

Glest: Real Time Strategy Game For Windows and Linux [FREE]

Glest is a free 3D real-time strategy game for Windows and Linux, where you control the armies of two different factions: Tech, which is mainly composed of warriors and mechanical devices, and Magic, that prefers mages and summoned creatures in the battlefield.

Video & Screenshots:



Glest pantalla ingame screenGlest pantalla ingame screen
Glest pantalla ingame screenGlest pantalla ingame screen


The game is set in a period reminiscent of the Middle Ages and contains two playable and customizable factions, Magic and Tech. Since the release of version 2.0, there have been many changes, including new units, upgrades, and an overall expansion of the game. Version 3.0 added online play over LAN/Internet. In addition, new features are continually added with Glest Advanced Engine, or GAE, a completely separate engine that is also cross-platform. GAE is upwardly compatible with Glest.

System requirements:

* Windows or Linux.
* Pentium 4 / Athlon processor.
* OpenGL 1.3 compatible video card and drivers (ie: geforce, radeon).
* DirectX9/OpenAL compatible sound card and drivers.


Download Glest: Windows | Ubuntu | Other Linux distributions


[via ubuntronics]

Automatic NASA Astronomy Wallpaper [Linux]

nasa wallpaper
(more examples: here, here, here)

If you enjoyed the real-time Earth wallpaper, you're going to like this one too: this is also a script (but a more advanced one) which changes automatically changes your wallpaper with a random picture from NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Archive.

The script automatically downloads the image and sets it as your wallpaper so after running the script, you don't have to do anything else.

For the script to automatically change your wallpaper every time you power-up your computer and boot into Linux, go to System > Administration > Startup Applications, click "Add", in the "Name" field enter whatever you want and in the "Command" field, enter the full path to the downloaded script (link at the end of the post).

Make sure you make the script executable, or else it will not work. For that, use the following command:

chmod +x 112717-random-nasa-wallpaper.pl


If you want to run the script every hour for instance, you can do it using cron. If you're not very comfortable with it, you can use Gnome-Schedule, a graphical user interface for cron:

gnome schedule

Download Random NASA Wallpaper script

Ubuntu Kernel PPA

We've seen an application called KernelCheck to automatically compile and install the latest Kernel in Ubuntu but here is an even easier way to do this.

Go to Ubuntu Kernel PPA and download the .DEB files for the Kernel version you want to upgrade. Yes, it's as simple as that. There is of course, a delay until the Kernel is packed into .DEB packages, but for instance, right now on Kernel.org (off topic: who else thinks the kernel.org website seriously needs a redesign?), the latest stable version is 2.6.31.1 while on the Ubuntu Kernel PPA, the latest stable version is 2.6.31 (the unstable versions are the same).

Why would you want to upgrade the Kernel? Because newer Kernel versions come with lots of fixes and more hardware support thus, if you have problems with let's say your audio or video card, this could be solved in the latest Kernel version.

Convert Any Format to MP3 / AVI With Crazy Media Converter [Windows]

Crazy Media Converter is a simple application which converts basically any type of media (almost) to AVI / MP3. This includes: avi, wma, flv, mp4, wav, ogg, aac and so on. It uses ffmpeg to convert media files, so for details, go here.

crazy media converter icon

The application is very simple to use. Just download and run it, then a floating icon will be displayed on your screen (image above). Right click it to select the format to which you want to convert. Then drag any media file to this floating icon, then click convert and the process begins:

crazy media converter

Download Crazy Media Converter | via addictivetips

Minggu, 27 September 2009

Paint.NET for Linux: Paint.Mono

A lot of people hate Mono, but if you don't... read on!

Paint.NET is one of the best image editing applications for Windows and it has a version for Linux too, called Paint.Mono (or Mono Paint). According to Miguel de Icaza, most of the features in Paint.NET have been ported over to Paint-Mono, with more to come. Apparently, this should also work on Mac OSX, details HERE.

paint.net linux mono

Features


Layers - Usually only found on expensive or complicated professional software, layers form the basis for a rich image composition experience. You may think of them as a stack of transparency slides that, when viewed together at the same time, form one image.

Special Effects - Many special effects are included for enhancing and perfecting your images. Everything from blurring, sharpening, red-eye removal, distortion, noise, and embossing are included.

Powerful tools - simple tools for drawing shapes, including an easy-to-use curve tool for drawing splines or Bezier curves. The Gradient tool, new for 3.0, has been cited as an innovative improvement over similar tools provided by other software. The facilities for creating and working with selections is powerful, yet still simple enough to be picked up quickly. Other powerful tools include the Magic Wand for selecting regions of similar color, and the Clone Stamp for copying or erasing portions of an image. There is also a simple text editor, a tool for zooming, and a Recolor tool.

To install Paint.Mono (Mono Paint) in Ubuntu, download it from the following locations, depending on your Ubuntu version:

-Jaunty: paint-mono_3.0.63-6_all.deb (1.6 MiB) |
-Intrepid: paint-mono_3.0.63-3_all.deb (1.6 MiB)
-Hardy: paint-mono_3.0.57-1_all.deb (1.6 MiB)

And and additional package (no matter which Ubuntu version you run): libmono-mozilla0.1-cil_1.2.6+dfsg-6ubuntu3.1_all.deb

Or you could add the Paint.Mono Launchpad PPA.

To start it, press ALT + F2 and type:
paintdotnet



For Ubuntu Karmic, see THIS new post!

Download BleachBit 0.6.5 Beta [Linux & Windows]

BleachBit, the open-source CCleaner alternative needs your help for testing version 0.6.5. I'm already using it and find it very stable.

About BleachBit

bleachbit 0.6.5 betaBleachBit quickly frees disk space, removes hidden junk, and easily guards your privacy. Erase cache, delete cookies, clear Internet history, remove unused localizations, shred logs, and delete temporary files. Designed for Linux and Windows systems, it wipes clean over 50 applications including Firefox, Internet Explorer, Flash, Google Chrome, Opera, Safari, Adobe Reader, APT, and more.

Beyond simply deleting files, BleachBit includes advanced features such as shredding files to prevent recovery, wiping free disk space to hide traces of files deleted by other applications, and vacuuming Firefox to make it faster.

It works on both Windows and Linux, it's open source and now portable.


Features:

  • Simple operation: read the descriptions, check the boxes you want, click preview, and click delete.
  • Free of adware, spyware, and malware
  • Translated to 32 languages: Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Galician, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Thai and Turkish.
  • Shred files to hide their contents and prevent data recovery
  • Shred any file (such as a spreadsheet on your desktop)
  • Overwrite free disk space to hide previously deleted files
  • Command line interface for scripting and automation
  • CleanerML allows anyone to write a new cleaner using XML
  • Frequent software updates with new features
Download BleachBit 0.6.5 beta containing new features and bug fixes:


More info about BleachBit 0.6.5 beta.

Rotating Ads Using A Simple JavaScript Function

I used an 468 x 60 Adsense banner ad under post titles and wanted to experiment with a large rectangle (336 x 280) to see which one performs better. But page impressions / clicks are not constant so how do you know if one ad or another is actually performing better? Well, you can display each ad on 50% of the pages, randomly and automatically, by using a simple JavaScript trick. The same JavaScript code can also display different ads so you can rotate ads from multiple services. Here is how:

This is the normal JavaScript for an 468x60 Adsense ad:

<script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-5111779714716360";
google_ad_slot = "5012632955";
google_ad_host = "pub-1556223355139109";
google_ad_width = 468;
google_ad_height = 60;
//-->
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script>

Note that the google_ad_host isn't in the script you receive from Adsense and is automatically generated, so copy that from your website code before proceeding to implementing this.

OK, so to display 2 ads randomly, each on 50% of the pages, we are going to use a function called random() that generates a number between 0 and 1 with equal probability so that each ad is displayed the same amount of times. Here is my code for displaying 2 different Adsense ads using this random function:

<script type='text/javascript'>
var google_ads = Math.random();
if (google_ads < .5){
google_ad_width = 468;google_ad_height = 60;
google_ad_client = "pub-5111779714716360";google_ad_host = "pub-1556223355139109";google_ad_slot = "6221737480";
} else {
google_ad_width = 336;google_ad_height = 280;
google_ad_client = "pub-5111779714716360";google_ad_host = "pub-1556223355139109";google_ad_slot = "5019549445";
}

</script>
<script src='http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js' type='text/javascript'>
</script>

Modify the google_ad_width, google_ad_height, google_ad_client, pub-5111779714716360, google_ad_host and google_ad_slot with your values for each of the ads.

Add a channel for each ad so you'll be able to see which one is actually getting more clicks.

Basically this can be used for 3 purposes:

-rotating different ad sizes from Adsense
-alternating ads from different ad networks
-displaying ads from 2 different persons on the same website

And all the ads will be displayed an equal number of times.

NOTE for Blogger blogs: to insert Adsense code into your template (not widget), for the ad to actually show up, you need to convert it using something like this: Blogger Ad Code Converter.

Worried that this is against AdSense program policies, read THIS. Which is actually from where I found out about the random() trick. It's on the Adsense blog ;)

GUI For Configuring Conky

Conky GUI is a graphic editor that aims to quicken the customization of Conky files.

In case you don't know what Conky is, take a look at the "info panel" in the below image:


conky
You can find a lot more Conky screenshots on Google.

Basically, Conky is a free, light-weight system monitor for X, that displays any information on your desktop.

The problem with Conky (for some) is that you have to manually edit the config file with lots of variables, etc. We've seen other ways of easily creating conkyrc files (the Conky configuration file), such as using Conky Colors, but this only allows you to use pre-build Conky configuration files, so if you want to customize everything yourself, you must manually edit the conkyrc file (~/.conkyrc). Here's where Conky GUI comes in.

conky gui

Installing and using Conky GUI in Ubuntu


1. If you don't have conky installed already:
sudo apt-get install conky


2. Download ConkyGUI.jar (extract the archive)

3. Install Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 6:

sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre


4. You can now launch ConkyGUI.jar by just double clicking it. If that doesn't work, try using a terminal:
java -jar conkygui.jar


Then, you can proceed to editing you conky configuration file. You will find all the variables under Help > Variables. Unfortunately, it's not the way I imagined a Conky config GUI to look like, where you have all the variables listed and can edit their values from within the GUI, but it's a nice tool, nevertheless.

Last Week's Top Posts (Week 39, 2009)

  1. Real-Time Earth Wallpaper For Linux
  2. An Easy Way To Install Gnome Shell
  3. Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala Alpha 6 Released, Features The New Ubuntu Software Store
  4. Linux Game Repository With a GUI: DJL
  5. Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala (Almost)Final Artwork [Screenshots]
  6. Change Ctrl + Alt + Delete Behavior To Open System Monitor, in Gnome [ Linux ]
  7. 12 Gnome / Ubuntu Themes [Recently Updated]
  8. 10 Beautiful jQuery Menus w/ Tutorials
  9. Download Files From Megaupload, Rapidshare and Others In Linux, via Command-Line, With Plowshare
  10. Single-Window Confirmed For Gimp 2.8 (And More)

SSH Server With Dynamic IP Address [How to - Linux]

A few days ago, I wrote an article on how to use your home computer to get past internet restrictions with SSH but I didn't cover the aspect of the computer running the SSH sever not having a static IP. So here is how to use DynDNS hostname for your dynamic IP.

The first thing you need to do is create an https://dyndns.com/ account and then go to My account > My hosts > add a dynamic dns and pick some hostname such as myhomepc.homelinux.com or whatever you want. This will point to your current IP but if your IP is dynamic, it will change so we need to update this info in DynDNS automatically.

For this, we'll create a script in your /etc/cron.hourly/ folder:

sudo gedit /etc/cron.hourly/dyndns

There are 2 different versions for this script: bash and python, use whichever you want from below, but make sure the file name is dyndns without extension (no .py) because the scripts in cron.hourly won't run if they have an extension:

1. BASH:
#!/bin/bash
# Set the username and password for the dyndns account
USERNAME=
PASSWORD=
# Set the system being used to either static or dynamic DNS
SYSTEM=dyndns
# Set the hostname for the record to change
DYNHOST=
# Set whether to wildcard the DNS entry, i.e. *.$DYNHOST
WILDCARD=OFF
############################################
## DO NOT EDIT ANYTHING BEYOND THIS POINT ##
############################################
if [ -z "$DYNDNS" ]; then
DYNDNS="$DYNHOST"
fi
if [ -z "$DNSWILD"]; then
DNSWILD="$WILDCARD"
fi
LOOKUP=`host $DYNHOST | awk '{print $4}'`
MYIP=`curl -s http://www.ipchicken.com | awk '/[0-9]*\.[0-9]*\.[0-9]*\.[0-9]*/ {print $1}'`
# Do the work
if [ "$LOOKUP" = "$MYIP" ]; then
echo "No change in DNS entry."
else
echo `lynx -auth=${USERNAME}:${PASSWORD} -source "http://members.dyndns.org:8245/nic/update?system=${SYSTEM}&hostname=${DYNDNS}&myip=${MYIP}&wildcard=${DNSWILD}"`
fi

Next to "USERNAME=" and "PASSWORD=", fill in your DynDNS username and password and save the file.

2. Python:

#!/usr/bin/env python

import os
import socket
import urllib
import urllib2
import re

#Put your own username, password and dynhost name here.
username='your_user_name'
password='your_password'
dynhost='yourdomain.whatever.com'
system='dyndns'
wildcard='OFF'

############################################
## DO NOT EDIT ANYTHING BEYOND THIS POINT ##
############################################

print '\nDyndns.org updater is running!!!\n'

#Find out what dynamic IP is currently set to.
lookup=socket.gethostbyname(dynhost)
print 'DynDNS is set to' , lookup

#Find out what external IP really is.
ipchicken = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.ipchicken.com')
chicken = ipchicken.read(10000000)
ipchicken.close()
rawstr = r"""[0-9]*\.[0-9]*\.[0-9]*\.[0-9]*""" #regex for an IP address
myip_obj = re.search(rawstr, chicken)
myip = myip_obj.group()
print 'Your actual IP is' , myip

#Compare those IPs
if lookup == myip :
print 'No change in DNS entry.'
else:
#change the DNS entry

data = {}
data['system'] = system
data['hostname'] = dynhost
data['wildcard'] = wildcard
data['myip'] = myip
url_values = urllib.urlencode(data)

url = 'http://members.dyndns.org:8245/nic/update'
full_url = url + '?' + url_values

# create a password manager for loging into dyndns.org
password_mgr = urllib2.HTTPPasswordMgrWithDefaultRealm()

# Add the username and password.
password_mgr.add_password(None, url, username, password)

handler = urllib2.HTTPBasicAuthHandler(password_mgr)

# create "opener" (OpenerDirector instance)
opener = urllib2.build_opener(handler)

# use the opener to fetch a URL
opener.open(full_url)

print "DNS updated."


Don't forget to 'your_user_name', 'your_password' and 'yourdomain.whatever.com' with your info.

Doesn't matter which script you choose from above, now you must make the script executable by running the following command:
chmod a+x /etc/cron.hourly/dyndns


From now on you can login to your ssh server with ssh user@myhomepc.homelinux.net (or whatever hostname you choose when you set this up - in the beginning of the post). Even if your ISP changes your IP address while you are away, your IP will be updated to DyDNS hourly.

Credits: celticmonkey user @ubuntuforums.org.

Sabtu, 26 September 2009

Install Inkscape 0.47 Pre3 In Ubuntu Linux

Inkscape is 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.

inkscape 0.47 pre3

Inkscape 0.47 pre release has been available for quite some time, but the repository I wrote about back than seems to be broken now. Also, that repository was only updated to pre-release 2 while Inkscape now reached pre-release 3. There is another repository you can use to install this new pre-release version of Inskape, just follow the steps below to add it:

1. Adding the PPA:
sudo sh -c "echo 'deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/inkscape-nightly/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main' >> /etc/apt/sources.list"

Replace jaunty intrepid, if you use Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex.

Ubuntu Karmic Koala users, just use the following command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:inkscape-nightly


2. Add the GPG key:
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys EC6B3CAD


3. Install Inkscape
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install inkscape-devel

This does not uninstall any installed version of Inkscape, as it installs a development version.

If you wish to uninstall any older version of Inkscape:
sudo apt-get remove inkscape


Please note: this version of Inkscape does not create a menu entry, so to run it, press Alt + F2 and enter:
inkscape-devel


Alternatively, you can right click one of your panels or desktop and select "Create New Launcher" and in the command field, enter "inkscape-devel".

Update: actually, it does create a menu entry under Applications > Graphics, I don't know how I missed it... :)

Later Update: the final version of Inkscape 0.47 is out. Read HERE how to install it.

Create Amazing Panoramic Images with Hugin [ Windows, Linux, Mac OS X ]

Hugin is a cross-platform program to create panoramic images by using multiple photos.

What are panoramic images? Take a look at the images below - pictures created with Hugin:

panoramic imagepanoramic image
panoramic airplanepanoramic beach airplane


(Image credits: ManÏ…, gadl @ flickr)


You can see a huge collection of examples, HERE.

Hugin uses the same open source library used by many other software including shareware like PTMac from Kekus Digital. Hugin is, however, free and you can start making panoramic photos without buying any expensive software or equipment. Unlike many similar software, Hugin considers the shapes of the lens and can adapt to the particular distortion profile of your camera.

For advanced users, Hugin also has many features for making panoramas with special equipment, including two types of fisheye lenses and more.

Versions 0.8 was recently released and among the new features are:
  • Fast Preview window
  • Celeste sky identification
  • New panorama projections
  • Batch Processor
  • Online help
  • Languages
  • Other improvements
  • Control point generators


Hugin is free, open-source and works on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. If you liked those images, proceed to downloading this great application:

Download Hugin | Ubuntu users: download .deb package of Hugin (latest version - 0.8)

(Linux: it should be available in your distribution repositories, but you may want to download the latest version from Hugin website)

Device Doctor: Windows Application Which Scans And Updates All Your Drivers [Freeware]

device doctor windowsDevice Doctor is a freeware Windows application that scans your computer hardware and checks to see if there are new driver updates available for your devices. It also locates drivers for "unidentified devices" in the Windows Device Manager.

Device Doctor mixes update notifications of devices like video cards, sound cards or network cards with internal device driver updates like those for standard dual channel PCI controllers or a plug and play monitor.

To use it, just click on 'Begin Scan' to detect your hardware; Device Doctor queries our manufacturer driver database and immediately fetches the correct driver files for your computer. A really useful feature is that you can use it offline: scan results can be saved and then moved to a computer with an internet connection and download the drivers there.

Device Doctor features:


  • Provides drivers for every major computer hardware and device manufacturer
  • More than 3 terabytes (3,000 GB) of drivers currently in the database
  • Drivers are cached so downloads are quick and work every time
  • Fast hardware scan takes mere seconds
  • Constantly updated to include new driver versions as soon as released
  • Every driver is human reviewed using specialized compatibility tools
  • Learns from other users to recommend better drivers every day
  • Provides device names for unknown devices before updating drivers

Device Doctor is free, works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 both 32 and 64 bit versions.

Download Device Doctor | via ghacks

Highly Customizable Related Posts with Thumbnails for Blogger

Related Posts with Thumbnails for Blogger

Related Posts with Thumbnails for Blogger is a widget very similar to LinkWithin script but very customizable:

  • maximum number of related posts - you can choose how many related posts to be displayed
  • title of the widget - you can change the "Related posts" title to whatever you like
  • JavaScript hosted on Google Code website so it loads very fast
  • change colors and everything else by using CSS

For more info and instructions on how to add this widget to your Blogger template, see the article on BloggerPlugins.

Firefox Tab History Menu Extension

tab history firefox addon

Tab History Menu is a Firefox add-on which gives you access to the history of a tab, by clicking on it. Basically, you get a list with all the pages you've visited within that tab and you can either go back to that page or open it in a new tab, by clicking the middle mouse button (wheel).

I find this Firefox extension very useful, especially because you can remove the back and forward buttons from your toolbar to make some room. This, with some other tweaks would allow you to create the ultimate minimal Firefox window, especially good for laptops and netbooks.

Jumat, 25 September 2009

Karmic Koala News: Pidgin In This Morning Updates, Software Store Finally Renamed

I did an upgrade on my Ubuntu Karmic Koala installation and Pidgin came up in the updates. Something must have happened with Empathy which should have been the defaul. Please note that I never installed pidgin-notify or Pidgin, and this is a fresh install so there would be no reason for Pidgin to be in the updates except if they decided to put it back as default.

Update:

It seems it could be a packaging bug, an Ubuntu developer says:

Pretty sure this is actually a packaging bug. libpurple0 (used in empathy) gained a Recommends for pidgin-libnotify which depends on pidgin. Since we install Recommends by default now...


ubuntu software center screenshot


And the second news: A new name for "Software Store" has been the most discussed 'idea' in Ubuntu Brainstorm, basically because "store" would mean to buy software, while using the "Software Store", you don't buy anything (at least for now, I've heard a few things about a real "Software Store" in the future). Well, Mark Shuttleworth finally accepted to rename the "Software Store" to "Software Center" ("Software Centre" in UK English). You can track the progress, HERE.

Jaangle: Excellent Windows Music Player

JaangleJaangle is a free media/music player for Windows which, besides the normal audio player capabilities, offers online integration (automatically downloads and displays artist information and artwork from the net) as well as integrated audio tag editing for every imaginable audio format. Jaangle and foobar2000 are the only Windows music players that come close to my favourite Linux player, gMusicBrowser and it's my favourite Windows music player, for now anyway!

The application downloads free information from the Internet that music fans will appreciate, including artist photos, album covers, song lyrics, music tablatures, album reviews, and artist biographies. For example, if you right-click on an artist in the library and then select "LastFM - load picture," it will download an additional free artist picture (if available) each time it is clicked, turning the relevant photo into a slide show. Apart from playing most of the common music formats Jaangle will also play some video formats with the possibility that in the future .flv files will be included.

Features

This is a short list of the main features.

Jaangle works on Windows XP/2003, Vista, is freeware and you can download it from HERE. The installer is about 2.2 mb and only uses ~25 mb of RAM.

[via freewaregenius, image credits: jaangle.com, I'm using Linux right now so I couldn't grab a screenshot]

Blood Frontier: New Free First-Person Shooter Game [Open Source, Cross-Platform]

blood frontier

Blood Frontier is a free and open source single and multi-player first-person shooter game built on a complete remake of Cube Engine 2, which lends itself toward a balanced gameplay, completely at the control of map makers, while maintaining a general theme of tactics and low gravity.

The game uses SDL and OpenGL which allows it to be ported to many platforms, therefore it works on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.

The game is still in it's first Beta, therefore you must not expect any graphical wonders from it. Visuals are sufficient, but not mind-blowing. Our main point of interest is – especially in this phase – gameplay.

Although there’s still a long way ahead, Blood Frontier has great ambition. The experience available today is just a fraction of the total envisioned picture. In the future, Blood Frontier has also planned on deepening out other playing modes, as well as a complete single-player campaign.



Blood Frontier Features:
  • Unique, original, and fun gameplay, storyline, theme, artwork, and content. Pushing the boundaries of open source first person gaming.
  • More configurable, providing an extensive range of world variables for mappers and game variables for players/admin to control every aspect.
  • Play plain ol' deathmatch, instagib, ctf, duel, lms, or use the select range of mutators and myriad of variables to create your own.
  • Item domination and dropping, fight for your lives over a great range of weapons, each with its own distinct personality, pros, and cons.
  • Strong artificial intelligence (A.I. or "Bots") capable of participating within all modes of its deathmatch environment, even online.
  • Improved editing displays and capabilities, with automatic map package creation and online transfers completely transparent to the user.
  • Enhanced engine systems, with extra goodies like stereoscopic or anaglyph view modes, and unique mouse settings.


Game plot:



In the distant future, humanity has spread throughout the solar system, to Mars and beyond. A vast communications network bridges from colony to colony, human to machine, and machine to human. This seemingly benign keystone of modern inter-planetary society, however, appears to be the carrier of a mysterious techno-biological plague. Any persons so-connected seem to fall ill and die, only to return as ravenous, sub-human cannibals. You, a machine intelligence, an android, remain unafflicted by this strange phenomenon and have been tasked with destroying the growing hordes of the infected, while, hopefully, locating and stopping the source of the epidemic.



Gameplay


The different game modes are Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Secure the Flag and Edit mode, those can be modified by mutators to enable team play (up to 4 different teams), instant death and even paintball.
Available is also an artificial intelligence (A.I. or "Bots") capable of participating within all modes of its deathmatch environment, even online.

The developers have made game environments extraordinarily flexible – and plan on keeping to do so in future releases. Map-makers have the ability to tweak game-settings (e.g. player vulnerability) to the finest detail, to create a unique experience in every map.

Screenshots and video


blood frontierblood frontier screenshot




Download Blood Frontier:

Windows, Linux/BSD or Mac OSX

[via makeuseof]

[Ubuntu Karmic Koala Artwork Update] New Wallpapers, GDM Theme

Like I told you in the Ubuntu Karmic Koala (Almost) Final Artwork post, there are still updates to come.

The last one: new default wallpaper and lots of new wallpapers (people were complaining about only one new wallpaper - the automatic changing Cosmos wallpaper - well, now they have lots of new wallpapers to choose from).

The default wallpaper:

karmic koala default wallpaper

Which is named warty-final-ubuntu.png. The Ubuntu developers have a reason for that:

The wallpaper is named warty-final-ubuntu because we realized we can't change the users gconf keys so we can't update their wallpaper unless we keep the same name.


And all the other new wallpapers:

new ubuntu karmic koala wallpapersnew ubuntu karmic koala wallpapersnew ubuntu karmic koala wallpapers artwork


You can download all these new wallpapers in high resolution, from HERE.

Other updates may come... so stay tuned.

Update: And we can now see the new GDM theme (login screen):

new ubuntu karmic koala GDM screen

New Linux-Powered Mobile Phone By Samsung

limo linuxSamsung, the world's second largest mobile phones manufacturer, has announced its first LiMo (an open-source, Linux-based OS for mobile devices) Based H1 mobile phone, in association with Vodafone on the Vodafone UK network.

The touchscreen device will be available only in the UK (for now at least), following an agreement between Samsung and mobile operator Vodafone (sorry, no screenshots for now).

The Vodafone 360 H1 by Samsung delivers an ultra brilliant 3.5” WVGA AMOLED display and a wide range of superb features as well as the exclusive Vodafone 360 service. Equipped with fast HSDPA at 7.2 mbps and Wifi connectivity, the phone provides easy access to social network sites through the customized user interface. It also brings advanced multimedia features such as 5 MP camera, HD video capability and media player supporting various codecs for ease-of-use. Moreover, the Vodafone 360 H1 by Samsung offers GPS navigation and 16GB internal memory with micro SD slot (up to 16GB).

The LiMo Platform has a broader focus than does Android, and is intended to offer common middleware for feature phones as well as smartphones. The LiMo Foundation touts its spec as offering more flexibility to carriers and handset vendors that want to customize the Platform with their own branding and UI while still offering basic compatibility with other LiMo phones.

It will be interesting to see what Samsung’s OS brings, and if it will be more user-friendly than Windows Mobile, Symbian, Android, or iPhone’s OS. Even more interesting is: what will happen with the smartphone Operating Systems that Samsung currently uses, after its own OS is ready?

Blaze: The Smartest Application Launcher For Windows [ Open Source ]

blaze

Blaze is an application launcher, like Launchy or Gnome Do, for Windows only, but unlike thouse 2, Blaze is not a common application launcher. Yes, Blaze has the ability to index all your applications so you can easily launch them and it also allows to browse the web and the files on your computer.

But - and here is where the interesting part comes in - Blaze has the power to automate recurrent tasks. Here is how it works: Blaze watches silently in the background, waiting to observe you performing repetitive tasks. When it spots something, Blaze will alert you and offer to create an action to handle the task next time.

File-system Automation

If Blaze comes up with a suggestion which is not what you were looking for exactly, you can tweak the suggestion to your liking before giving Blaze a go ahead to perform it. You can click on the arrows to cycle through the various suggestions that Blaze has to offer, you can increase or decrease the number of repetitions that should be performed, you can control the speed with which the automation is performed allowing you a chance to jump in if something is not right.

Another great Blaze feature is that is able to understand typos therefore, you don't have to be so careful while typing a command:

Launch Firefox

Just like with Launchy or Gnome Do, you cannot fully understand exactly what this application does until you actually use it.

Blaze is free, open-source and works on Microsoft Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7, in both 32 and 64 bits versions. It also comes with a portable version but you still need .NET Framework 3.5.

Download BLAZE

[via makeuseof]