Zeitgeist Is Finally Getting Options To Blacklist Applications, Files, Folders And Clear History

Zeitgeist is finally getting a long awaited feature: deleting part of the Zeitgeist history (last hour, day or week and so on), blacklisting an application, a file type or a folder. That means you'll be able to blacklist your "highly confidential" (read: porn) files from ever showing up in any application that uses Zeitgeist (Unity, Synapse and so on).

All this will be possible thanks to a new application called "Zeitgeist Global Privacy" which is currently in development - here are some screenshots:

There's no info on when Zeitgeist Global Privacy will be released but we'll let you know when more info will be available. Stay tuned! 

I'm really hoping for at least an experimental version to be released by the time Ubuntu 11.04 is out, or else a lot of users will freak out when some files they don't want other people to see will show up in Dash.

Info and screenshots thanks to cando!

Synapse (Launcher) 0.2.4 Released With New Plugins

Synapse, the cool new semantic launcher for Linux written in Vala and powered by Zeitgeist reached version 0.2.4 codename "Anandamide". This version brings new plugins: calculator, Launchpad plugin (find bugs and branches on Launchpad), Pastebin, Imgur (upload images) and a selection plugin (allows you to execute actions on currently selected text).

The new version also brings multiple fixes to the Zeitgeist searches, copy to clipboard action, UI fixes and speedups and other bug fixes.

Install Synapse 0.2.4 in Ubuntu

These changes were already available for those of you that use the bleeding edge Synapse PPA, but now they are also available in the stable PPA.

To add the stable Synapse PPA and install the latest Synapse in Ubuntu, use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:synapse-core/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install synapse

For the Pastebin plugin, you'll also need to install the following package:

sudo apt-get install pastebinit

Please note that the new upload to Imgur plugin doesn't show up in the plugins list. To use it, switch to the Images tab in Synapse, press the down key and select an image, then press TAB and you should see an option that lets you upload the image to Imgur.

Synapse needs Zeitgeist dataproviders to work properly. See our initial post on Synapse for instructions on installing more Zeitgeist dataproviders.

Like Synapse and want to help? You can write plugin description on the Synapse wiki - click the help button in in Synapse's preferences window (in the plugin tab) and you'll be taken to a wiki page.

[via ~mhr3]

Gnome Activity Journal 0.6.0 Released With Xchat Support, More

Gnome Activity Journal - a semantic file browser based on Zeitgeist - has been updated to version 0.6.0, adding quite a few new features.

Gnome Activity 0.6.0 comes with Xchat and Bazaar version control support, drag and drop for tree view and bookmark/pin area as well as some eyecandy tweaks like a welcome screen, usability tweaks, path's label is now clickable and more.

Here are all the new features / improvements in GAJ 0.6.0:

• Added drag and drop support to the three views
• Added drag and drop support to the bookmark/pin area
• Improved items preview adding information tooltip
• Added tooltip for peeking quickly into categories
• Added preview for Audio items
• Added appindicator/Tray icon support
• Added support for Xchat
• Added support for Bazaar version control system
• Eye candy tweaks:
• Added "welcome screen" showed when the Activity Journal starts and loads the items
• Go to Today button always highlighted
• Path's label clickable in MoreInformation window
• Usability tweaks to the views toolbar
• Item's categories becomes coloured when containing a searched item

Install Gnome Activity Journal 0.6.0 in Ubuntu

As usual, the latest GAJ is available in the Zeitgeist PPA (unfortunately version 0.6.0 is only available for Ubuntu Maverick). Add the PPA and install Gnome Activity Journal using the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:zeitgeist/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gnome-activity-journal

Zeitgeist For Gnome Shell Goes Public [Video]

Seif posted a video with Zeitgeist + Gnome Shell in action, which you can view below:

The code is now available for anyone who wants to try it out - for now there's no GIT branch or such and instead, you must download an archive and replace the ~/gnome-shell/source/gnome-shell/js folder with the js folder from this archive. You can downloaded it from HERE.

[via Seif]

How To Clear The Zeitgeist History [Quick Tip]

I've seen this question asked many times so here's how to clear the Zeitgeist history. To reset the Zeitgeist history, open a terminal and copy/paste the following commands:

rm ~/.local/share/zeitgeist/activity.sqlite
zeitgeist-daemon --replace

That will only clear the history, but will not stop Zeitgeist (so the files you access after running the above commands will still be tracked by Zeitgeist).

Gnome Shell And Zeitgeist

Gnome Shell and Unity may have started on separate paths, but they are definitely heading to the same direction. Seif Lotfy has just posted a screenshot (not mockup!) of his current work: Zeitgeist and Gnome Shell:

For comparison, this is how Unity in Ubuntu 10.10 looks:

[via Seilo @ Geeky Ogre]

Install Gnome Activity Journal 0.5.0 In Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx

GNOME Activity Journal (GAJ) is a tool for easily browsing and finding files on your computer. It keeps a chronological journal of all file activity and supports tagging and establishing relationships between groups of files.

Gnome Activity Journal 0.5.0 was just uploaded to Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat official repositories and since the Zeitgeist PPA still provides Gnome Activity Journal 0.3.4.1, I've built the Maverick GAJ 0.5 for Ubuntu 10.04 so you can use it in Lucid already.

GAJ 0.5.0 brings improved start-up time and responsiveness, better support for Tomboy and websites (you need the Chromium/Firefox dataprovider for this) as well support for more dataproviders: bzr, chrome/chromium, emacs, eog, firefox, geany, gedit, rhythmbox, tomboy and vim. See the bottom of this page for the data providers installation instructions.

Install Gnome Activity Journal 0.5.0 in Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx

1. Add the Zeitgeist PPA and install the latest Zeitgeist 0.5.0:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:zeitgeist/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install zeitgeist zeitgeist-core

2. Now simply download and install Gnome Activity Journal 0.5 Ubuntu .deb file (for both 32bit and 64bit).


Once installed, you'll find it under Applications > Accessories > Activity Journal.

If you're having trouble getting Gnome Activity Journal to start, run the following commands in a terminal:

zeitgeist-daemon --quit
zeitgeist-daemon &

If you're using Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat, simply search for Gnome Activity Journal in the Ubuntu Software Center - version 0.5.0 should be available in a few minutes.

The Sezen Applet Is Ready For Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat [PPA]

The Sezen Applet is finally ready for Ubuntu Maverick! This wasn't possible until now due to a bug, but you can now install the Sezen GNOME panel applet from our Unstable / Unreleased / Backports PPA.

Sezen Applet is the integration of Sezen - the new Unity like activity browser which uses Zeitgeist to browse files based on their last access time -, into the GNOME panel.

To install the Sezen Applet in Ubuntu, use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/unstable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Or you can manually upgrade the gnome-applets and gnome-applets-data packages.

Then you can simply right click the GNOME panel, select "Add" and then add "Sezen". If you get an error the first time you add it to the panel, remove it and add it again and it should work just fine.

The Sezen Applet was the last (I think) package we maintain in the WebUpd8 PPAs (here is a list with all the PPAs we maintain) which was not ready for Ubuntu 10.10 and is not in the Maverick repositories already.

DockBarX 0.39.6 With Easy AWN Integration, AWN Lucido, Sezen Applet, Indicator Keylock Updates [PPA]

I was away for 2 days and there were a lot of updates since then so I decided to make a post which includes them all. Read on!

DockBarX 0.39.6

DockBarX 0.39.6 was released with a new feature: you can now easily edit and add custom launchers. As always, the latest version is available in the DockBarX PPA.

Starting with this version, we've also uploaded the DockBarX AWN plugin for easy installation so you can now use DockBarX in Avant Window Navigator by just installing a package. Many thanks to Hadret for the packaging!

Install DockBarX 0.39.6:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8 && sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install dockbarx

Install DockBarX Avant Window Navigator integration:

sudo apt-get install awn-applet-dockbarx

Install extra DockBarX themes:

sudo apt-get install dockbarx-themes-extra

And finally, add Zeitgeist integration to DockBarX:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:zeitgeist/ppa && sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install zeitgeist libzeitgeist-1.0-0

AWN Lucido

The latest AWN-Lucido with the new 3D mode which you saw in action not so long ago has been merged into AWN trunk and is now available in the AWN PPA.

Install the latest Avant Window Navigator with AWN Lucido from BZR:

sudo apt-get remove avant-window-navigator avant-window-navigator-data awn-settings awn-applets-c-core libawn1 vala-awn && sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:awn-testing/ppa && sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install avant-window-navigator-trunk avant-window-navigator-data-trunk python-awn-trunk awn-settings-trunk awn-applets-python-core-trunk python-awn-extras-trunk awn-applets-python-extras-trunk awn-applets-c-core-trunk awn-applets-c-extras-trunk

Also, you can now submit bugs to AWN Lucido and the 3D style directly on Launchpad (since its now a part of AWN).

Thanks to Alberto for this news!

Sezen Applet

The Sezen Applet got its previews back - the latest version is available in our Unreleased / Git PPA.

Install Sezen Applet using the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/unstable && sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get install libzeitgeist-1.0-0 zeitgeist #just in case

Indicator Keylock

Indicator Keylock 1.2.0 was released and it now features NotifyOSD support, just like you requested. In a future version, the keyboard states (Caps lock, Num lock and Scroll lock) will all be displayed in a single 16x16 px icon. All these were suggestions from our Indicator Keylock post.

Install Indicator Keylock 1.2.0:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tsbarnes/indicator-keylock && sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install indicator-keylock

Install additional icons:

sudo apt-get install indicator-keylock-ubuntu-mono indicator-keylock-humanity indicator-keylock-elementary

The Sezen Applet Finally Starts To Look Like The Firefox Location Bar

Back when we posted about the Sezen applet, we told you it would look like the Firefox location bar at some point. Well, a recent update makes the Sezen applet look just like this. But unfortunately, you cannot install it from the PPA yet because Launchpad estimates it will start building the packages in 2-3 days.

Install Sezen Applet update manually from .deb files (Ubuntu 10.04 - 32bit only)

I've built Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx 32bit .deb files. But before downloading them, you must add the our Git / Unreleased Packages PPA (the PPA comes with some dependencies required by the .deb files!):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/unstable && sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get install libzeitgeist-1.0-0 zeitgeist #just in case

And then you can download and install these .deb files (Ubuntu 10.04 - 32 bit only!):

• gnome-applets_2.30.0-0ubuntu5~webupd8~lucid_i386.deb
• gnome-applets-data_2.30.0-0ubuntu5~webupd8~lucid_all.deb

I'm not sure if the above debs will work as I may have some newer packages than most people. If it doesn't work, you'll have to wait for Launchpad to build the packages in our PPA.

64bit users will have to wait for Launchpad to build the packages. You can however add our Git / Unreleased Packages PPA (which includes the Sezen Applet), do an upgrade and then compile the Sezen applet if you can't wait.

Sezen Applet Updated, Categories Now Displayed Horizontally

Just a small update: I've uploaded a new BZR build of the Sezen Applet to our Unreleased / Git builds PPA. If you install the Sezen Applet from our PPA, all you have to do is run:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

And then restart the GNOME Panel:

killall gnome-panel

If not, see the instructions in our initial post.


New in this Sezen Applet build:

• Sezen Applet will now show up as "Find" on the panel instead of "Library"
• The categories are now displayed horizontally for less ugliness and better usability
• The code has been synced with the stand-alone Sezen app

Latest Avant Window Navigator Gets Zeitgeist, Lucido Updates

Avant Window Navigator in the AWN testing PPA got the Zeitgeist applet demoed a few months back. But only starting today you can finally use the Zeitgeist applet with AWN - through Zeitgeist integration was already available through DockBarX -, but the official Zeitgeist applet is amazing: you activate a window (it doesn't work with all the applications but try a browser, text editor and so on) and then clicking Zeitgeist (called "Related") applet displays the most recently used files as well as frequently used files.

For example, here are the files related to Firefox (Minefield 3.7):

And for Gedit:

Here is an old video with AWN Zeitgeist ("Related") applet (via mhr3):

To install Avant Window Navigator from the AWN testing PPA, see this post (you have to remove AWN from the Ubuntu repositories first).

Once installed, in the AWN Preferences, under "Applets", enable the "Related applet".

In other Avant Window Navigator news, the Lucido branch this time, Alberto made some interesting changes:

- For consistency with other styles (flat, curved, edge, ...), the Lucido behavior was changed - unfortunately this breaks the current Lucido themes (Alberto apologizes for this)

- Border colors are now really border

- Highlight colors now acts on the stripe

- Curves Symmetry now is more flexible, it acts on both Lucido parts

- better handling of icon padding with 3D style when changing thickness and/or 3d angle

A video with the recent AWN Lucido changes:

You can download the AWN Lucido theme in the video from here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2155244/Liucid.tgz

Install AWN Lucido following the same instructions in the link in the beginning of the post (make sure you add both AWN and Lucido PPAs).

Lucido video and screenshot provided by Albert. Zeitgeist tip sent from Manhattan OS developer Kevin McDole - many thanks to both!

Install The Sezen Applet (Zeitgeist Search) From A PPA [Ubuntu]

For all those who had problems compiling the Sezen Applet from source, we have set up the package in a PPA which will from now on hold git / non-released packages for different applications (for now it just holds the Sezen Applet and the required dependencies).

Install the Sezen Applet in Ubuntu Lucid:

1. Firstly go to System > Administration > Software Sources, and on the "Updates" tab, make sure the "Recommended updates (lucid-updates)" box is checked - this is required for the latest libgtk2.0 package.

2. Add the Git / Unreleased WebUpd8 PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/unstable && sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get install libzeitgeist-1.0-0 zeitgeist #just in case

It will probably work with "upgrade" instead of "dist-upgrade" too, but use "dist-upgrade" just to make sure.

3. Restart the GNOME Panel and add Sezen:

sudo killall gnome-panel

Then right click the panel, select "Add to panel" and search for "Sezen", then add it. That's it!

Remove the PPA and all the packages it installed and install back the packages from the official Ubuntu repositories

Since we found out about PPA Purge, reverting every change a PPA makes on your system is a few commands away.

If you want to revert all the changes made by this PPA, simply run the following commands in a terminal:

wget https://launchpad.net/~nilarimogard/+archive/webupd8/+files/ppa-purge_0.2.6~webupd8~lucid_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i ppa-purge_0.2.6~webupd8~lucid_all.deb
sudo ppa-purge ppa:webupd8team/unstable

Done!


You can also install the stand-alone Sezen application from a PPA.


See also: Chrome and Firefox Extensions For Sezen (Zeitgeist)

Chrome Extension For Sezen (Zeitgeist)

If you installed Sezen - either the stand-alone app or the Applet, you definitely noticed the "Websites" option does not work - that's because you need a Firefox or Chrome extension.

I couldn't get the Firefox extension to work (update: for Firefox, see Vadim's comment - but if you're using the Mozilla Daily PPA, it will probably not work), but the Chrome extension is easy to set up. All you have to do is get the zeitgeist-dataproviders branch (of course, make sure you have Sezen with the libzeitgeist dependency installed first!):

sudo apt-get install bzr libzeitgeist-dev
cd
bzr branch lp:zeitgeist-dataproviders
cd zeitgeist-dataproviders/
./autogen.sh
cd chrome/
make
sudo make install

Alternatively you could use "make local-install" instead of "sudo make install" to use the extension in its current location instead of "/opt/google/chrome/resources/zeitgeist_plugin".

At this point the Chrome (I've tested it in the latest Chromium dev build but it should also work in Google Chrome) extension is ready. To use it, in Chrome type "chrome://extensions", enable the developer mode by pressing the "+" sign next to "Developer mode" in the right:

Then click on "Load unpacked extension" and browse for the "/opt/google/chrome/resources/zeitgeist_plugin":

That's it. Now restart Sezen (be it the separate application or the panel applet).

The Firefox extension is also available in the zeitgeist-dataproviders branch you've just downloaded but like I said, I couldn't get it to work. But you can try for yourself...

Sezen To Get GNOME Panel Integration - Install It Already In Ubuntu (Zeitgeist Search In Your Panel)

Update: you can now install the Sezen Applet in Ubuntu from a PPA!

mhr3 has been working on integrating Sezen - the new Unity like activity browser which uses Zeitgeist to browse files based on their last access time, into the GNOME panel. Back when we posted about how to install Sezen, we commented on the fact that a separate application for this is a bit useless and it should be used as an extension for some other application. Well, Sezen is not yet being integrated into Nautilus, but a Gnome panel applet is the next best thing, don't you agree?

Sezen GNOME panel applet doesn't look too great so far, but it should develop into something similar to Firefox location bar:

Also, the Sezen Applet doesn't yet group the files by days like the stand-alone Sezen browser, but it does have the power of Zeitgeist search, including searching inside the files:

If you're comfortable with compiling, you can already install the Sezen Applet (important: only works in Ubuntu Lucid!):

1. Install Zeitgeist and Libzeigeist (-dev too!)

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:zeitgeist/ppa && sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install zeitgeist libzeitgeist-1.0-0 libzeitgeist-dev

You might as well install the stand-alone version of Sezen too, if you already added the PPA:

sudo apt-get install sezen

2. Install other dependencies required to build GNOME Applets

sudo apt-get build-dep gnome-applets
sudo apt-get install libvala-dev valac

3. Get the Sezen GNOME panel applet code

sudo apt-get install bzr
cd
bzr branch lp:~elementaryart/gnome-applets/sezen sezen-applet

4. Compile Sezen Applet

cd
cd sezen-applet/
./autogen.sh
./configure --prefix=/usr
make
sudo make install

5. Almost done

If the Sezen Applet compilation was successful, now all you have to do is restart the GNOME panel and add Sezen Applet to the panel:

sudo killall gnome-panel

Then right click the GNOME panel, select "Add to panel" and add "Sezen".


Update: you can now install the Sezen Applet in Ubuntu from a PPA!

Install Sezen, A New Zeitgeist Based File Browser Inspired By Shell And Unity [Ubuntu PPA]

Sezen is... well, let's call it a file browser, but not in the classic sense. You can use it to browse files by their last access time, type (document, image, music and so on) and has an integrated search. It's heavily inspired by Unity and GNOME Shell and is developed by Seif Lotfy. Sezen makes use of the awesomeness of Zeitgeist and in it's design also contributed DanRabbit (Elementary Project) and Jason Smith (Docky):

It started evolving more after some intense hack + design sessions with DanRabbit (Elementary Project) + Jason Smith (Docky)

Sezen was presented by Seif about 2 weeks ago. Here's is the video he recorded back then:

Install Sezen in Ubuntu

But enough with the introduction! Sezen was just added to the Zeitgeist PPA so it's not just a mockup anymore! You can install it in Ubuntu by using the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:zeitgeist/ppa && sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install zeitgeist sezen

Then simply run "sezen" either via a terminal or by pressing ALT + F2. The package is available for Ubuntu Karmic, Lucid and Maverick.

Thoughts

If you tried out the latest Unity launcher which landed in Ubuntu Netbook Edition 10.10 this week (screenshot above), you will notice Sezen looks very familiar: it's basically the exact same concept as the Files tab in Unity, except it's a stand-alone application.

Although I love the concept and all, I don't get one thing: what's exactly the difference between Sezen and GNOME Activity Journal (other then a different design and less features)?

Your thoughts?

Note: As you can see in the screenshots, the "Websites" tab is not active - it most probably needs a browser extension to work.

Gnome Activity Journal 0.3.4 Available in The Zeitgeist PPA (Linux Activity Browser)

GNOME Activity Journal is an activity browser that uses Zeitgeist to display the recently used files in a smart way. The new version (which was actually released a while back, but only now is available in the PPA) comes with a minimal mode, status icon and blacklist manager - all available through the GNOME Activity Journal preferences.

Other changes in GNOME Activity Journal 0.3.4.1 (since 3.3):

• New timeline view that now based on a gtktreeview.
• Revamped multiple day view
• Better support for Dark themes
• Widgets using themes with pixbuf backgrounds are now drawn correctly
• Added a More Information window which displays a description of the event, its subject, and other events related to the event.
• Context menu now works in all widgets
• Improved rendering in thumbnail view

You can install the latest version of GNOME Activity Journal and Zeitgeist from their official PPA (which was finally updated with the latest GAJ and ZG):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:zeitgeist/ppa
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install zeitgeist gnome-activity-journal

Once installed, you will find Gnome Activity Journal under Applications > Accessories > Activity Journal.

New Nautilus + Zeitgeist Concepts

Well this is fast. Just today we posted about Nautilus (upstream too, not just Elementary) getting Zeitgeist integration and a prototype (already functional) of the "Open file dialog" and "Search dialog" was already created by Seif Lotfy:

For now there's no way to install this prototype, but if the feedback is positive, the code might be released with the next Zeitgeist version. This might not be the way Zeitgeist will be implemented into Nautilus, but who knows, we might see it in Nautilus Elementary (fingers crossed!).

So what do you think? Don't forget to also give feedback to Seif Lotfy.

Nautilus To Get Zeitgeist Integration (Upstream)

Even though Nautilus will include a lot of the features already integrated into Nautilus Elementary, the two development teams will only collaborate on implementing undo / redo functionallty and Zeitgeist integration. The rest of new features will evolve separately in Nautilus and Nautilus Elementary. This includes breadcrumbs, revamped sidebar, zoom slider and the editable toolbar.

It's nice to see the Nautilus Elementary developers will finally be working with the upstream Nautilus but its unfortunate we won't see some more Nautilus Elementary features in the default Nautilus - features which many of us find to be incredibly useful (and eye-candy too); at least not they way they are implemented into NE.

But the great news is Nautilus will be getting Zeitgeist integration upstream. It will be very interesting to see how this is going to be implemented - Zeitgeist can do some really amazing stuff!

Zeitgeist is an event aggregation framework for the user's activities and notifications (files opened, websites visited, conversations hold with other people, etc.) and makes the relevant information available to other applications.

Here is a somewhat old video with Nautilus Elementary + Zeitgeist (via ammonkey):

You can read more about this and the rationale behind not adopting more Nautilus Elementary features into Nautilus, on the Nautilus mailing list.

Improved Docky Zeitgeist Integration Makes You Forget You Have A File Manager

Sure, Docky already had Zeitgeist integration but starting yesterday, the Zeitgeit integration got more cool then ever: the jump lists provide a list with "Most Used Items" which includes items from the last 2 weeks, and also "Other Recently Items".

While this new feature doesn't seem like much at first, use it and you will soon notice that basically almost all of the items you need are just one click away. Seif Lotfy has more info on this new (well, actually not new but upgraded) feature.

The "Most Used Items" and "Other Recently Items" features provided by Zeitgeist are available in the latest Docky build (as of today) from the Docky development PPA. See this post on adding the Docky development PPA (for Ubuntu Karmic and Lucid users).


To enable the Zeitgeist integration, firstly make sure you have Zeitgeist installed, and then simply go to Docky's settings and under the "Helpers" tab, enable "Zeitgeist integration":

But this is not it. The Docky Zeitgeist integration will be improved further in the near future with an option to choose what to have in the "Recently and most used" jump list, as well as a new feature called "Frecency" which combines combines frequency and recency. Stay tuned!