General
Wednesday, August 20th, 2008
at 10:35pm
15+ Ways to Make Your Linux Box Hip to Web 2.0: ”
The market of applications managing various Internet-related tasks is divided generally into three parts: Windows-based, Mac OS X-compatible, and Linux-friendly. Some function across all platforms, or perhaps the most mainstream and consumer-centric of the two. But it is unquestionably the case that the Linux world holds the least currency where desktop-to-Web and Web-to-desktop communication is concerned.
Well, if you’re a Linux user, or perhaps just curious to know what’s now possible on Linux installations in order to better decide whether to ‘take the leap,’ we’re going to do Tux a solid today and see what’s up in the land of ‘Net apps’ to save you from having to search the open source galaxy yourself.
Now, you’re probably aware of this. It is likely the most popular download for Linux. But what the hey, it’s good to hear once in a while. Mozilla’s well-renowned Firefox 3 browser, an open source fan-fave, is ready for Linux users to download. In every localized language version of the newest build, too. According to the official website, that leaves Firefox for Linux one better than the Mac OS X option. Do you speak Gujarati? Well, then you’ve got just two options: Windows and Linux. Enjoy.
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Saturday, August 9th, 2008
at 6:52pm
All platforms with Adobe AIR: When you follow enough chatty people on Twitter, some days the noise can overwhelm the signal—that’s when you want TweetDeck, a full-featured desktop Twitter client that groups, filters, and searches incoming tweets for you. TweetDeck’s killer feature is its ability to separate the people you follow on Twitter into groups—like ‘Don’t Miss,’ ‘Co-workers,’ and ‘Chatty types.’ That way while tweets by the prolific folks fly by in one pane, infrequent tweets from people you don’t want to miss stay bookmarked on top in another. You can add or remove modules from TweetDeck’s multi-paned interface to show you all tweets, tweets from groups you configure, replies to your tweets, direct messages, search results for a keyword, and more.
The second most useful feature TweetDeck offers is its excellent replies capability. Unlike the Twitter web site, TweetDeck doesn’t only show you replies that start with @yourusername—it shows you any tweet that contains @yourusername anywhere in the body. Similarly, it can show you a constantly updating search for a particular term, like a search for ‘Lifehacker.’ The more modules you add to TweetDeck, the wider it gets. Here’s a screenshot. (Click on the image to pop up a full-size version.)
Of course, you can resize TweetDeck to whatever width you want—a single column, if you’d like.
TweetDeck can also display all the tweets from the last 48 hours, often more than the Twitter web interface can (when the ‘Older’ button’s disabled, anyway). TweetDeck also has TwitScoop built in, which shows you the most popular keywords appearing on Twitter at the moment, a Twitter status indicator for when the service is down (which is often), and a URL shortener available right below the new tweet entry box. TweetDeck is a free download for all platforms running Adobe AIR.
(Via Lifehacker.)
Saturday, August 9th, 2008
at 4:14pm
Did you know that Russian troops are thrusting into the outskirts of Savannah, Georgia? That’s what readers will learn from a Google Maps graphic accompanying a news story about Russian incursions into Georgia — the nation-state in the Caucasus, not the Caucasian-pride-ridden state in the southern United States. Google’s mixup will not help Yahoo Answers user Jessica B., who presciently asked, ‘i herd on the news that rusia has invaded but i dont see them no where wats going on.’ A screenshot of Google’s erroneous invasion map:
(Via Valleywag.)
Saturday, August 2nd, 2008
at 9:42pm
Gary McKinnon, the British hacker who broke into military computers looking for evidence of UFOs in the ‘biggest military hack of all time,’ did so using his home computer and a 56k modem. I think we just lost our rights to complain about not having Japan-fast broadband.
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Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
at 12:52pm
Fans of Knight Rider will definitely find this KITT, er, kit, for trucks to be a must-buy accessory, since it is able to turn a mundane pickup truck into one that emulates your childhood car computer idol (not that there were many to choose from in the first place, but you get the idea). While this kit won’t transform your pickup truck into a semi-intelligent lifeform overnight, it will surely add that cool factor to attract cowgirls at the local saloon.
(Via Ubergizmo.)
Friday, July 25th, 2008
at 11:50am
Hardcore Journey fan Mark Delfs (from the Tuesday Night Tech Show) will be more than willing to part with his cash for this Journey MP3 player. It comes with 1GB of internal memory and boasts 11 of Journey’s new songs in addition to 11 re-recorded classics. Walmart is currently carrying this limited edition $39.88 MP3 player, but I would rather settle for something more mainstream instead.
(Via Ubergizmo.)
