Tech Today

Announcement

Abhishek — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 05:37:57 +0000

This blog is obsolete and I would be deleting it in a few days .If you want to copy the articles/tips/howtos from here then please do so asap.Thank you

Posted in Uncategorized

HowTo:Download youtube and metacafe videos in linux

Abhishek — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 21:41:51 +0000

This guide describes how to download youtube and metacafe videos via command line in linux
Step 1
Install youtube-dl and metacafe-dl
for ubuntu users:
sudo apt-get install youtube-dl
sudo apt-get install metacafe-dl
Users of other distros can download them directly here and here

Step 2
Choose your video and type the following command followed by the url of the video.Say to download this video http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=LnA0gffqpXE type the command
youtube-dl http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=LnA0gffqpXE
For metacafe the same process applies
Say you want this video http://www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-G3OFr6jJ2Ks/bryan_adams_please_forgive_me_studio_mtv/ type the command
metacafe-dl http://www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-G3OFr6jJ2Ks/bryan_adams_please_forgive_me_studio_mtv/

To cancel donwloading press Ctrl+C anytime

Step 3
Done! and the video is downloaded to your present working directory .

Also you can type the commands with -o option to rename them as they are being downloaded
Say
youtube-dl -o whatever.flv "http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=LnA0gffqpXE"
for more info try metacafe-dl -h and same for youtube-dl

Posted in HowTo, Linux Tagged: Linux, videos, youtube

How To : Show Desktop icons in ubuntu after fresh install & hide ntfs drive icons on desktop

Abhishek — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:55:10 +0000

Part 1

You may have noticed that after a fresh ubuntu install there are no desktop icons not even the icon for computer and home folder? There is a simple solution to that problem

Open Applications>Acccessories > Terminal

Type in the following gconf-editor

Now,

You’ll get a window that looks like this

Expand the apps menu by by clicking the arrow on it

Now scroll down to a sub menu by the name nautilus and expand it and click on a sub menu by the name desktop

Check the entries as needed

computer_icon_visible Shows the Computer icon (yeah like My Computer in windows )

home_icon_visible Shows the home icon (Home where your documents & personal files dwell)

network_icon_visible Shows Network icon (similar to network neighbourhood in windows)Part 2

trash_icon_visible Shows Trash icon

Part 2

hiding mounted ntfs drives on desktop

Whenever your ntfs drive is mounted it shows up on desktop which doesn’t look good IMHO

to change that uncheck the entry volumes_visible in the same window in part 1

volumes_visible

HowTo:Configure Mutt For Gmail Imap

Abhishek — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 08:45:43 +0000

Mutt is a command line mail client for linux its very good for people who need quick mail access.

Download Mutt from ubuntu repositories

$sudo apt-get install mutt

Or fedora users can do

$sudo yum install mutt

Or download it from here .

Create a file by the name .muttrc (dont miss the dot there its dot muttrc ) in your home directory and copy the following

set imap_user = ‘youremailid@gmail.com’
set imap_pass = ‘your password’
set spoolfile = imaps://imap.gmail.com:993/INBOX
set folder = imaps://imap.gmail.com:993
set record=”imaps://imap.gmail.com/[Gmail]/Sent Mail”
set postponed=”imaps://imap.gmail.com/[Gmail]/Drafts”
set header_cache=”~/.mutt/cache/headers”
set message_cachedir=”~/.mutt/cache/bodies”
set certificate_file=~/.mutt/certificates

Change the first two values matching your mail account. Then you’re done!

Type the command mutt in terminal to check your mail

Linux Tip : mounting iso files in Linux

Abhishek — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 16:17:00 +0000

Mounting iso files in windows requires you to install Daemon tools,alcohol software etc but things are different and better in linux.Say you have a file called myfile.iso now to mount it on your system all you have to do is make a folder for mounting it say you name it miso.Here are the commands…

**Create a folder called miso **

$mkdir miso

**(assuming both myfile.iso and folder miso are in the same directory) now mount the file called myfile.iso in miso**

$sudo mount -o loop myfile.iso miso

**if miso is in /mnt directory and myfile.iso is in the downloads directory of your home directory**

$sudo mount -o loop ~/Downloads/myfile.iso /mnt/miso

Congrats ! Your iso file is mounted in miso directory

If you don’t have root access that is sudo then you can try this command

$mount -o loop -t iso9660 myfile.iso miso

Enjoy!

Your browser maybe your next OS

Abhishek — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:17:29 +0000

As Web 2.0 ‘s popularity is skyrocketing,people are using the web to do things that they did more often on their desktop.Google plays a major role in this web 2.0 revolution.Earlier people who used mail clients like thunderbird have now found satisfaction in gmail which has keyboard shortcuts,folders and almost all the things you get on a mail client.People who used MS office,Openoffice,koffice etc are slowly moving to the refreshingly dynamic google documents which allows you not only to create your presentations and spreadsheets but also to share them with a click of a button.Google reader also serves as a good replacement for a desktop feed reader.Also there are web-based im-messengers,music players and much more.

So,the browser is the new OS which u can say boots up when u click the browser icon on your desktop and the work begins.With the growing popularity of cloud computing and the plethora of browsers in the race the OS in a browser or rather a web based browser is close to erasing the thin line between the present and the future of next-gen computing.

This also may lead to a new unexpected change in the world of computing that is the OS popularity may go down.The trend of the OS market will change drastically as people will shift to opensource Operating Systems more as an user will think “If my whole work starts and ends within the browser why should I spend 400 $ on an OS?”.Linux again is getting web 2.0 friendly and if it keeps going on the same track the desktop market share stats may turn around.Examples of the same can be seen in the new twitter app in KDE 4 and online desktop in fedora.But you never know with the microsoft.

Microsoft to Add ODF Support to next version of MS Office

Abhishek — Fri, 23 May 2008 12:50:15 +0000

Microsoft on Wednesday quoted that they will be providing ODF support in the next version of MS Office.Which means that without adding any special software to MS Office, users will be able to open documents sent to them in the open source Open Document Format (ODF), the company said. As well, users will be able to edit and save documents in that format.
“Microsoft is going to be providing support for three new file formats directly in the Office product,” said Erich Anderson, vice president and general counsel for Europe, in a telephone interview.Microsoft said it will add support for ODF version 1.1 when it updates its Office 2007 product some time next year with “service pack 2.”In addition to ODF, Microsoft will also support Adobe’s popular PDF fixed format and Microsoft’s competitor to PDF, known as XPS.
Thomas Vinje in Brussels, a lawyer who has represented clients opposed to Microsoft, said the announcement was meaningless unless Microsoft made ODF the default standard when people opened office.If ODF is not the standard its presence “won’t matter because the vast majority will not use it. That was the experience in the U.S. case,” he said, referring to a case which found Microsoft in violation of the Sherman antitrust act.
Carlo Piana, a lawyer in Milan who represents clients who make open source software, called Microsoft’s approach “too little, too late.”

Tags: Microsoft, ODF

Osama owns Wikipedia?

Abhishek — Wed, 07 May 2008 06:16:34 +0000

When I was browsing wikipedia I saw this thing saying osama,osama on wikipage of K & R…God knows how it happened but its surely fun to notice it !!! Clickon the image to get a better view about wat I’m saying !!

Apple distributes Safari 3.1 for windows via Apple update, Mozilla CEO furious

Abhishek — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 09:23:24 +0000

Apple distributed its Safari 3.1 for windows via Apple Software update service which is used for updating iTunes and Quicktime.John Lilly the CEO of Mozilla described this as unethical as Apple provides the software to users without their consent.
The dialog box for installing updates shows two boxes, one showing iTunes and QuickTime together, and the other showing Safari, and at the bottom an option of installing the two items or quitting. The two boxes including Safari,(windows version) are checked by default when the dialog box pops up.
On his blog the mozilla CEO John Lilly said “What Apple is doing now with their Apple Software Update on Windows is wrong. It undermines the trust relationship great companies have with their customers, and that’s bad — not just for Apple, but for the security of the whole Web,” ; “As a software maker we promise to do our very best to keep users safe and will provide the quickest updates possible, with absolutely no other agenda …. Apple has made it incredibly easy — the default, even — for users to install ride along software (Safari) that they didn’t ask for, and maybe didn’t want. This is wrong, and borders on malware distribution practices.”
The blog has caused some mixed reactions.Some are against it and some are for it.Well now the competition for the best browser for windows is gaining more momentum it is to be seen that who will emerge as the true winner.These are just the early signs of a browser war that’s going to happen few months from now as Microsoft gears up for IE8 and Mozilla for Firefox 3.Also Safari 3 ,Opera 10 and newcomer Flock will provide people with a host of choices

Tags: Apple, Browser, Mozilla, Safari3.1, Firefox

Why UMPC enthusiasts still have to wait a while

Abhishek — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 18:48:18 +0000

What is UMPC?

Ultra Mobile PC is a futuristic,ultra portable PC which is expected to take over laptops and desktop computers soon. The ambitious project is jointly developed by Microsoft,Samsung and Intel.The UMPC can run Windows Tablet PC edition,Vista Home Premium or Linux.

What’s so special about UMPC?

A 7-inch touch screen with a minimum resolution of 800 x 480 with 900 Mhz processor ad 256 to 1 GB of RAM and 30 to 160 GB HDDs.Also features like Wi-Fi,Bluetooth and Ethernet,GPS,fingerprint reader,stereo speakers,TV tuners and memory card readers.

Are we there yet?

Well Samsung,Nokia,Acer have already launched different models of UMPCs.

In spite of the models launched by big companies the UMPC is not hitting the market as expected.Here are the reasons

1)Battery Life

The battery life of UMPCs is close to around 7 hours which is nothing as compared to cell phones and laptops.Also the daily usage of the average user is more than 7 hours.

2)Graphics

The user needs television,video and games to be portable but the graphic quality in UMPCs is lower than expected.

3)Connectivity

Wireless networking is very expensive.3G et al are still to take full advantage of the networking market.

Verdict

It will take another 2-3 years till UMPCs start taking a significant share in the market.So just hold on to your laptops and wait till they come up with a better battery.

Notable Products

Samsung Q2 Ultra

Features

7-inch Touchscreen

690 grams 228mm by 124mm by 24 mm ( 16 mm smaller than older Q1 )

1024 x 600 with AERO support

800MHz Intel cpu

60gb hdd

1 GB RAM

Bluetooth 2.0, WiFi (802.11b/g)

and many more

(Product details)

Check out some more devices link

image source:Endgadget.com,Wikipedia