November 9, 2011
Use Google Music in Ubuntu without keeping a browser tab open. Google Music Frame lets you run your favorite web-based music software in the background, showing notifications when a new song plays and allowing you to change tracks the way you're used to. Google Music puts all of your music in the cloud, so you can listen to it on any computer.
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November 7, 2011
The official release of Firefox version 8 is actually on Tuesday, but as happens with most Firefox releases, you can actually download the final version a bit early. Fear not, this is not some crazy hack method or anything. You are downloading the files directly from Mozilla's servers, so you can rest assured that it is safe.
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November 7, 2011
If you've been introduced to the world of Linux, it probably didn't take too long to notice that it doesn't have a single "face". Linux can sport all kinds of desktop environments, or none at all. That alone is one of the great benefits of Linux among many more. But while that's impressive, it leaves a very important question for you to decide: What desktop environment should you choose?
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November 5, 2011
Let your computer do the talking. Install eSpeak and you can make your computer say anything, in a wide variety of languages. Looking for a lightweight text to speech program? Whether you want to listen to your favorite blog while doing the dishes, or just make your computer say naughty words to your friends so you can giggle like schoolchildren, eSpeak is a great tool for the job.
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November 5, 2011
One of the major benefits of the Linux desktop is the ability to customize literally every aspect of your computing experience. If you want an ultralight and speedy desktop, you're covered. If you want a flashy, powerful desktop that you can show off to your friends, you're covered. KDE has plenty of customization features but did you know it offers an optimized desktop interface for netbooks?
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November 3, 2011
Do you love Ubuntu, but prefer Gnome Shell to Unity? You're not alone, but you're also in luck. Ubuntu 11.10 makes it easy to install Gnome Shell. Not liking where Gnome was heading, the Ubuntu team decided to build Gnome into a desktop of their own devising - Unity. Simply put, Unity is a different interface, or shell, for Gnome.
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November 1, 2011
BitTorrent is still a reliable and pretty fast way to download large files. It might not be the best method out there, but sometimes it sure is the easiest. The clients are straightforward enough and the files are easy to come by. Today, I will give you a list of the best BitTorrent clients out there right now – each suited for somewhat different needs.
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October 31, 2011
We've had browser wars back when Netscape was still the king. Today, it's Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera all battling it out to see who's top dog. However, sometimes we forget that there are still some other browsers than the Big 5. Today, we'll be looking at one of the fastest and most lightweight browsers outside of the Big 5.
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October 29, 2011
Browse an assortment of amazingly useful commands. Whether you're an veteran system admin or a command-line neophyte striving to discover more, CommandLineFu is a vote-driven collection of commands that serves up thousands of ideas you should have thought of but didn't. Some see the command line as Linux's weak point, the ultimate symbol of a system lacking ease of use.
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October 29, 2011
While one of our MakeUseOf authors wrote a great guide on upgrading Ubuntu to the latest version (which can be found here), we haven't offered one that helped users upgrade their Fedora installation to the latest and greatest. Considering some of the features that have been coming out in recent Fedora releases (such as GNOME 3 for Fedora 15, GRUB 2 for Fedora 16, and possibly Btrfs for Fedora 17), upgrading will give you plenty of benefits. So, how exactly do we do this?
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October 27, 2011
Are you a Linux user with a passion for writing? If so, check out these essential tools for the job. Writing is a key skill in the modern world, whether it's directly how you make your living or not. Whether it's writing memos or emailing clients, most jobs include at least some use of the written word.
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October 27, 2011
Most of you probably already know that WordPress powers a large amount of websites that we look at every day. With the large userbase and support, you can do a lot of cool things with it. While WordPress even offers one-click upgrades to the latest WP versions, some people simply can't use it because their server doesn't support it.
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October 26, 2011
Do you want an immersive, text-only Google Reader? Try going through your reading list in the terminal. It's easy to do with terminal web browser elinks and Google Reader's mobile interface. Google Reader's interface is famously minimalist, but browsers hardly make ideal reading platforms. eLinks is a text-only browser you can run from the command line.
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October 22, 2011
Whatever the reason is, you may at some point want to get a web server going. Whether you want to give yourself remote access to certain pages or services, you want to get a community group going, or anything else, you'll need to have the right software installed and configured for that to happen. So how exactly can you do that? It's actually quite simple.
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October 21, 2011
Websites are now powered by blog platforms like WordPress, or WYSIWYG editors like Kompozer, but the bottom line is that most hardcore web designers will always find it necessary to pop open a text editor to tweak the style a little bit here, or to realign the template a bit more there. I think that text editors are going to be around for a very long time.
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