But ours go to eleven…Opera 11

Published by kyleabaker on October 21, 2010 in Applications, Linux, Mac, Multimedia, News, Opera, Operating Systems, Picture, Ubuntu, Web Browsers and Windows. 2 Comments Tags: Opera, skin, Ubuntu, ubuntu 10.10.

Opera 11 has been making a lot of buzz across the Internet today now that an alpha version has been released.

New in Opera 11 is support for the very much requested extensions! While there is currently a very limited selection of extensions available, I suspect this will quickly change.

If you’re using Opera 11 already and you’re also using Ubuntu 10.10 with the Ambiance or Radiance themes, do forget to update you skin with my Ambiance and Radiance skins for Opera.

For those who are curious, you can find brief changelogs in the comments with the latest one being here.

If you’re not using Opera 11 yet and would like to, go get it!

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MacBook Pro

Published by kyleabaker on September 29, 2010 in Apple, Applications, Entertainment, Mac, Multimedia, News, Operating Systems, Picture, Product Review, Twitter and Web. 2 Comments Tags: apple, Mac, mac os x.

In with the new, out with the old. I got my new MacBook Pro 13″ around noon today, but had to wait until noon to start playing around on it.

Here are my phones blurring pictures of the old HP dv4000 (left) and the new MacBook Pro (right).

Notice the HP isn’t running. Thats because it no longer even boots thanks to some internal hardware problems.

This time around I decided that I wanted a smaller, more portable laptop. Since I’ve had plenty of Windows computers and have been running Ubuntu Linux for a few years, I decided it was about time for me to get a Mac.

So far I’ve gotten the basics installed and setup thanks to suggestions from my brother and friends.

Opera
Adium
Skype
Last.fm Scrobbler
Tweetie
Dropbox
Coda
QuickSynergy
Xcode

I’m still testing out Xcode to see how I like it, but my first impression of the 3gb download wasn’t too positive. If it works well then great, but I was hoping to find a good medium between size and features.

I’ve also tweaked my MacBook’s name so it appears a little more customized on the network (using this guide). Now it appears as “kyBook Pro.”

Have some suggested apps or tips for me, or something better than what I’ve listed above? I’d love to hear what you like to install on your Mac!

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Solaris International/Deep Blue Radio Show Podcast

Published by kyleabaker on September 23, 2010 in Apple, Applications, How-To, Linux, Mac, Microsoft, Multimedia, Music, Operating Systems, Ubuntu, Web and Windows. 2 Comments Tags: internet radio, Music, podcast, rhythmbox.

A few years ago, while I was up late working and listening to what was then known as Virgin Radio at the time (and now as Absolute Radio), I happened to catch an episode of the “Deep Blue Radio Show.” Since then, it appears to have been renamed to “Solaris International.”

If you’re unfamiliar with this show, its simply a two hour mix of electronica and trance tunes by Solaris International with Solarstone. You can listen to their previous airings straight from their website, but I’ve finally come across their podcast in iTunes and found that it works perfectly in Linux as well with Rhythmbox!

Their site doesn’t seem to be as intuitive as it could be, which is why it took me so long to stumble across their podcast link. If you’re interested in subscribing, the link is posted immediately below. Copy and past it into your media player. If you’re unsure how, take a look at this excellent guide from GoingLinux.com.

Podcast Link to copy and paste:
http://www.solarstone.co.uk/listenAgain/deepblueradishow-podcast.xml

At the moment, there are over 220 previous podcast episodes available to download, so if you’ve got the time then they’ve got the tunes.

I’m usually not a fan of podcasts, but I have a select few that I frequent. This will easily become my favorite.

If you’re not a fan of electronica or trance music then you can kindly disregard this post or use this as a reminder to search for podcasts featuring music you yourself may enjoy!

If you have podcast recommendations, I would love to hear about them in the comments!

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Making Calls From Gmail

Published by kyleabaker on August 27, 2010 in Apple, Applications, Entertainment, Google, How-To, Linux, Microsoft, Multimedia, News, Operating Systems, Picture, Product Review, Web and Web Browsers. 5 Comments Tags: google, google phone, phone.

If you’ve somehow managed to miss this one in the news then you must be hiding in one deep dark hole.

Here are some pictures for your entertainment. If you’d like to use this, you need to install the Google Voice plugin first and then restart you web browser.

Keep in mind that you need the plugin to do this (and obviously a microphone) and that you’ll be calling friends or family using a number provided to you by Google Voice (so they may not recognize it at first).

The best thing going for Google’s new calling feature (if you ask me) is that its completely free for me to call any phone in the USA. While this pricing may not be permanent, it should at least last through the course of this year (my source for that is linked somewhere up above ).

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Netflix Now For iPhone & iPod touch!

Published by kyleabaker on August 26, 2010 in Apple, Applications, Entertainment, How-To, Multimedia, News, Operating Systems, Picture and Product Review. 0 Comments Tags: app store, apple, entertainment, ipod, ipod touch, Mac, movie, movies, netflix.

Being an iPod touch owner myself, I’ve been highly anticipating the release of this app all summer (thanks to the early rumors and annoucements).

I checked the app store last night just before going to bed for this app and there was no sign of it in sight, so I had decided to write a post along the lines of “Where is the promised (summer) Netflix iPhone/iPod touch App?”. Little did I know that I would wake up to the release headlines (that was much better)!

Without further ado, I bring you a brief gallery of what you can expect to find in this little app..

That’s a rundown of the Sign-in page, Home, Genre, Search, Instant Queue and player screens!

In case you missed these details, hiding the keyboard in the Search screen expands the movie covers into view where there was previously too little room to show them.

In the player screen with controls, you should note the progress bar at the top with a “zoom” button to the right which zooms in just enough to fill the wasted space above and below the video (not pictured zoomed). There is also the play/pause button at the bottom which is accompanied by the 30 second backtrack button and the volume bar.

This design is nearly (if not exactly) identical to the Netflix app design for the iPad which has been released to the public for some time now.

If you’re a Netflix member and own an iPhone or iPod touch then I highly recommend you head straight to the App Store and download this free app for yourself! Enjoy!

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Talks between Steve Jobs & Bill Gates

Published by kyleabaker on July 6, 2010 in Apple, Entertainment, Microsoft, Multimedia, News and Picture. 1 Comment Tags: apple, bill gates, comedy, microsoft, parady, pictures, steve jobs.

This is a collection of epic talks between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. I claim all no credit for these comical pictures, but I’m too lazy to research the original authors so just enjoy..

01 156x300 Talks between Steve Jobs & Bill Gates

I'm being sued.

02 156x300 Talks between Steve Jobs & Bill Gates

Remember when...

03 156x300 Talks between Steve Jobs & Bill Gates

Touch you.

04 300x180 Talks between Steve Jobs & Bill Gates

Loan

05 300x182 Talks between Steve Jobs & Bill Gates

Just to talk...

06 300x181 Talks between Steve Jobs & Bill Gates

Killing Linux.

07 300x182 Talks between Steve Jobs & Bill Gates

Decisions...

08 300x182 Talks between Steve Jobs & Bill Gates

Windows inefficiencies...

09 300x181 Talks between Steve Jobs & Bill Gates

Millionare...

10 300x182 Talks between Steve Jobs & Bill Gates

Antarctica

51f9p 156x300 Talks between Steve Jobs & Bill Gates

Netbooks...

If you have more, paste a link in the comments and I’ll credit you and add them!

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Get Your Last.fm Wallpaper From Wallpaperfm

Published by kyleabaker on July 2, 2010 in Apple, Applications, Entertainment, How-To, Linux, Mac, Microsoft, Multimedia, Music, News, Open Source, Operating Systems, Picture, Product Review, Ubuntu, Web and Windows. 1 Comment Tags: How-To, last.fm, Linux, Mac, python, Ubuntu, Windows.

An example from my Last.fm account in Collage mode.

If you have an active Last.fm account and like to switch up your wallpaper from time to time then you’ll love Wallpaperfm!

kyleabaker 2560x1024 collage 300x120 Get Your Last.fm Wallpaper From Wallpaperfm

Example from my Last.fm account in Collage mode.

This python script, by Koant, has been around since at least 2008, but I’ve only recently stumbled across it. It’s easy to start using and is available for Windows, Mac and Linux users!

I’ll help you get started in Linux since that’s what I’ve set it up on. If you need more help or want more configuration options you should look to the information that Koant has posted on his website.

Install

cd
mkdir wallpaperfm
cd wallpaperfm
wget http://ledazibao.free.fr/wallpaperfm/wallpaperfm.py
chmod a+x wallpaperfm.py

Create Your Wallpaper

./wallpaperfm.py -u YOURLASTFMUSERNAME

That’s the most basic set of options you can use to create your wallpaper (which you will find after running the script in the “wallpaperfm” folder that was created).

There are three options for the type of wallpaper created:

1. Tile

kyleabaker 2560x1024 tile 300x120 Get Your Last.fm Wallpaper From Wallpaperfm

Albums are packed in side by side.

2. Glass

kyleabaker 2560x1024 glass 300x120 Get Your Last.fm Wallpaper From Wallpaperfm

A few albums are highlighted on a glassy surface.

3. Collage

Albums are meshed together in a dreamy design.

To specify one of these modes, simply run the wallpaper script with the mode flag set to your choice.

./wallpaperfm.py -u YOURLASTFMUSERNAME -m collage

There are plenty of other settings you can specify such as size, canvas size, filename, profile period, final opacity, cache, excluded albums, local copy, etc.

Suggestions and Ideas

User Interface and Packaging

I’m sure that this script could be simplified further for Linux users (and more specifically, Debian/Ubuntu users) if a user interface were created. It actually seems like a rather simple task since the parameters for the script are well bounded.

Adding this interface to an installer package would also be a very simple task and would most likely get more attention to such a neat tool!

Cron Jobs, Regularly Updating Your Wallpaper

Another thing, if your music preferences are constantly changing like mine, you may be interested in updating your wallpaper in regular intervals. To do this you can setup a Cron job that runs in the background.

While this may sound difficult and confusing, its really not at all and this helps explain a lot. I can even walk you through the steps.

sudo apt-get install gnome-schedule
Open the application (in Ubuntu) through the Applications menu -> System Tools -> Scheduled tasks.
Click the New button and select the Recurrent task type.
Give the task a description.
Enter the command that runs your script. If you followed the steps above then it should be something similar to:
/home/YOURUBUNTUNAME/wallpaperfm/wallpaperfm.py -u YOURLASTFMUSERNAME -m collage -f /home/YOURUBUNTUNAME/wallpaperfm/wallpaper
Set the Time & Date option to hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly.
Click the “Add” button to add it to your list of Scheduled Tasks and you’re done!

Have any other suggestions or tips? Leave ‘em in the comments!

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Paint Your Mouse Movements with IOGraph!

Published by kyleabaker on June 3, 2010 in Apple, Applications, Entertainment, How-To, Linux, Mac, Microsoft, Multimedia, Open Source, Operating Systems, Picture, Product Review, Ubuntu and Windows. 2 Comments Tags: Linux, Mac, Open Source, Windows.

My IOGraph in a Dual Screen (2.5 hours).

I recently stumbled upon this neat little application that lets you track your mouse movements in a visual way and save the image that is created!

iograph 20100603 from 1601 to 1832 300x120 Paint Your Mouse Movements with IOGraph!

My IOGraph in a Dual Screen (2.5 hours).

As you can see, most of my activity is in my second monitor (right) where my web browser rests, between the tabs and content towards the top. My coding habits and text editor occupy the first monitor (left) and show noticeably less mouse movement and more periods of pausing to work with the keyboard or read.

This application is Java based and runs in Windows, Mac and Linux! I’ll give you a quick run down on how to use this application in Ubuntu..

Make sure that you have Java 6 Runtime installed on your computer. If you don’t, open the Ubuntu Software Center and search for Java. You should find “OpenJDK Java 6 Runtime” near the top of the results. Install that before continuing.
Download IOGraph for Linux and save it where ever you like (I saved mine to the desktop).
Before you can open the Java application (a .Jar file), you will need to set proper executable permissions for it. To do this, simply right click on the file and select Properties. In the Permissions tab, check to enable the option labeled “Allow executing file as program” and click close.
Allow executing file as program
Now to run the application, right click on the file again and select “Opera with OpenJDK Java 6 Runtime”.
Open with OpenJDK Java 6 Runtime

Now that you’ve got the application running, you can minimize it and let it track your every move! If you’re having trouble, you may be able to find more help with .Jar files here.

The circles represent points where the mouse was left motionless for a period of time. The larger the circle, the longer it was left motionless.

Enjoy making art while you work and please share your results!

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Opera Mini Dominates the iPhone App Store

Published by kyleabaker on April 14, 2010 in Apple, Applications, Entertainment, Mac, Opera, Picture and Web Browsers. 0 Comments Tags: app store, apple, iphone, ipod, ipod touch, Mac, Opera, opera mini.

Thanks to @espenao for the link!

opera mini dominates apple store 137x300 Opera Mini Dominates the iPhone App Store

(Click to enlarge)

Now this moment of success in the Apple Store will never be forgotten.

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Short Opera Mini for iPhone Gallery

Published by kyleabaker on April 13, 2010 in Apple, Applications, Multimedia, Opera, Picture, Product Review, Web and Web Browsers. 0 Comments Tags: app store, apple, ipad, iphone, ipod touch, Mac, Opera, opera mini, web browser.

Opera Mini's new permanent home, bye Safari (mostly).

Opera Mini for the iPhone (also iPod touch and iPad) has already replaced Safari’s resting throne on my iPod touch shortly after it became available via the App Store early this morning.

Mobile Photo Apr 13 2010 4 49 34 PM 200x300 Short Opera Mini for iPhone Gallery

Opera Mini's new home.

I was a little disappointed with Opera Link since it never actually synchronized my Bookmarks and my Speed Dial on Opera Mini isn’t configurable up to 12 (or even more or less than 9 for that matter). Aside from these relatively small problems, I’ve been very pleased with Opera Mini!

Probably the most important advantage for me in Opera Mini is the lightening fast back button (like in the Desktop browser). Pressing back in Safari forces a page reload which consumes a great deal of time if you use your mobile device for browsing a lot!

One thing I’m unclear on (and haven’t taken the time yet yo clarify) is the difference between a Bookmarked page and a Saved Page in Opera Mini. Saved Pages seem to load faster, which leads me to believe they may be stored locally for offline viewing, but I’m not completely sure just yet.

After installing Opera Mini, I took a few screenshots and thought I might share some of them below just to give some more exposure. Overall I’ve been rather impressed. Nice work and congratulations to the Opera Teams responsible!