March 2011

The following articles below were published during the month of March 2011 (times are based on UTC):


Finally, a fix for that Skype nightmare (still not using it though)

Written by Roland Taylor on March 29, 2011, 2:05 p.m.

Are you long time Ubuntu user with a system you've groomed and upgrade for years? Have you also been using Skype, in all its (lack) of glory? Are you running on 64bit awesomeness? Well then you've probably experienced the same kind of turmoil that I have. Apart from being one of the worst pieces of proprietary software I've ever used, Skype gets updates every time we get a new shade of blue moon. Something along the lines of never. Not to mention the hard work they put into it. Skype has approximately 0 developers (I'm stretching it a bit here, might be more like negative 3) working tirelessly on their Linux port (get this! we haven't even reach version 3, ...


Browser Showdown

Written by Roland Taylor on March 28, 2011, 4:56 p.m.

Update! [polldaddy poll=4803536] Vote for your favourite browser! The poll won't close until the reviews are completed ;) Soon to come: I'll be doing a massive, extensive review of multiple browsers. As a web developer, it's generally important to me to know what works and what doesn't, what looks good and what looks like crap, etc. However, for users, many of the things that matter to developers, either don't matter at all, or matter in very different ways. For this, among other reasons, I'm taking a look at a large number of browsers - from both the perspective of a user, and the perspective of a developer. Those browsers will include: Firefox 4, Opera, Chrome, Midori, Konqueror, Rekonq, Seamonkey, and ...


Cool blog with mockups and themes for GNOME

Written by Roland Taylor on March 27, 2011, 10:19 p.m.

I found a cool blog on http://gnomelook.org with mockups and themes for GNOME Desktop. Now I haven't contacted the owner of this blog, but I would guess it's okay to link to it, so, here's a link: http://www.gnomemockups.blogspot.com/.   Now the only problem is, most of these cool themes become useless in GNOME 3. Thankfully, we don't really need to care (ubuntu users), because Ubuntu 11.04 will not be using GTK+ 3.x :)!


Want custom categories in Synapse? Vote!

Written by Roland Taylor on March 25, 2011, 5:08 p.m.

I don't generally like pilfering news/links from other people - but Andrew from Webupd8 posted something I think everyone could look into. Categories in Synapse! Now, it's not a feature (yet), but it might be - and you can make it happen. To vote, just follow this link: http://albyrock87.wordpress.com/2011/03/25/i-want-customizable-categories-do-you/


A bit quiet

Written by Roland Taylor on March 25, 2011, 3:02 p.m.

Sorry that I have been a bit quiet. Been busy customizing firefox and being busy irl :D! I'm going to post on some of my customizations in the coming days. Just wanted to get noscript to stop blocking everything (that's what it's supposed to do but it does it too well).


1000 Words...

Written by Roland Taylor on March 24, 2011, 12:28 p.m.

Says the picture.


Firefox 4 is out (officially) (a bit late from me).

Written by Roland Taylor on March 22, 2011, 5:41 p.m.

Sorry I'm late, but Firefox 4 is out! Now, I could go on and on about the new features, but instead, I suggest you download it and see for yourself.


LibreOffice Idea (not a mockup, yet)

Written by Roland Taylor on March 22, 2011, 12:04 p.m.

The problem: Currently LibreOffice does a wonderful job (out the box) of suggesting complete words that you may have typed before, fixing bad spelling and typos, and underlining text with squiggly red lines. However, it does not do the same out the box with grammar. In fact, it seems quite unaware that "I are an baboon" - is incorrect in every which way, or that "estamos yo bien mucho mas" makes 0% sense. To many of us advanced users that's no problem, we know how to get grammar correction or just don't care cause we're 1337 1!k3 7h47. However, most new and casual users don't have a clue how to get this feature added to their software, and unless they ...


Seeking Skype Alternatives

Written by Roland Taylor on March 21, 2011, 7:24 p.m.

Title says it all. I've already found stuff that works, like Ekiga, Gajim (bit tricky), etc. However, if you have a really good alternative, post it in the comments ^^!


Firefox 4 Released. Well... sorta

Written by Roland Taylor on March 21, 2011, 6:56 p.m.

A new Firefox has left the pen! Looks like a lot of fields will be burning. Since a million and one other blogs have already covered it, I won't go into grand detail - but I will tell you to keep your eyes on firefox.com. Technically Firefox also hasn't actually been released officially, so it makes no sense for me to link to the FTP styled downloads I've seen elsewhere. So, until tomorrow, those of you who haven't been testing... keep biting what's left of your nails ;).