Today I am asking for some help, my facebook profile is becoming riddled with notes, there is no app approved to post notes. So I am wondering is there a way to stop this? Some app must be getting around facebook's app control panel. And yes I have changed my password so whatever it is isn't gaining access that way.

In this post I will be doing sort of a review/praise of the wonderful people at TWiT.

TWiT is a company that puts out netcasts for pretty much anything imaginable, from HAM radio to Android phones they cover it all. They are always broadcasting at live.twit.tv (which can be viewed on your desktop or mobile device) via video or audio only streams. All of their netcasts are recorded and are avalible for download on their website or through iTunes. The audio and video quality are excellent, and the shows are very informative.

The thing that makes TWiT so much then anything else is the hosts. They talk about serious matters and are very informative and on top of the latest news and gadgets etc. but they do everything with a sense of humor. In fact earlier today I was mowing the lawn while listening to the live audio stream on my iPhone and I found myself laughing out loud at some of the jokes that were being made.

So, please check TWiT out at http://twit.tv/

They are always broadcasting live at http://live.twit.tv/

Menu > System > Administration > Login Screen > Click Unlock, enter your password when prompted >  Select Ubuntu Classic as the default session

Restart then your good to go!

Let the battle commence!!

Irssi

Good: CLI only, perl script support, alias support, SSL certificate verification support

Bad: takes time to learn controls, logs are by default one continuous text file

Summary: Irssi is a great CLI IRC client. It has support for aliases (eg. “/csop” can be set to run “/msg ChanServ op”) and Perl scripts many are listed at scripts.irssi.org. Irssi can run in screen and over SSH. The only issues I see with Irssi are that the controls are very different from any other IRC client and it takes time to learn them (and even after using it for almost a year I still refer to the help files from time to time). One issue (it is possible that this could be a lack of research on my part on how to change the way Irssi keeps logs) is the logs, by default Irssi continuously writes to the same text file (the log file I have for #ubuntu is over 80mb).

WeeChat

Good: CLI only, similar to Irssi, perl script support, python script support

Bad: commands are confusing

Summary: WeeChat is alot like Irssi in some areas, it can run perl scripts, but with one major difference, Weechat is much more complicated then Irssi, so much so I gave up trying to figure them out, eg. a setting isn’t just “/set min_lag_show 0” it’s “/set weechat.lag.min.show”. This is a pain when you are searching the settings as you can’t just use tab to auto complete.

Konversation

Good: GUI based, KDE theme, shows when nicks are away

Bad: doesn't show mode letters

Summary: Konversation is a very nice KDE IRC client. It has support for SSL and shows when nicks are away. It dosn’t show mode letters though (+o +s etc.), it instead prints what they do (eg. *** hitchcock.freenode.net sets the channel mode to 'no messages from outside'. When in reality the server had set mode +n) this is good for new users who may not know what the mode letters mean.

Quassel

Good: setup wizard when first opening, GUI based

Bad: it almost has too many GUI controls

Summary: Quassel is another very good beginner client. It has all controls needed in a GUI layout, however, I personally think that it has an excess of GUI controls, there are GUI controls to join, leave, quit, change the topic etc.. There is no need to use any commands, and text commands make IRC fun!

XChat

Good: simple, GUI based, SSL certificate verification support, changes color of nicks when away

Bad: Uses more resources then a CLI client (for those using older hardware), cant be run from multiple machines without the use of a bouncer

Summary: XChat is a very good beginner IRC client and it provides everything the user would need in a nice GUI interface. It will change to color of nicks to indicate when they are away so this means you don’t have to run whois to find out if the person is marked away.

This is a short video of some friends and I ripping it up on our snowmobiles this past winter.

Let the battle commence!!

KsCD

Good: very easy

Bad: can only play audio files, basic controls

Summary: KsCD is a very basic player. It has play/pause, rewind, fast forward and a volume control.

RhythmBox

Good: can keep a list of all music files, like iTunes

Bad: Can only play audio files, cant play as many files as others

Summary: RhythmBox (Branded as Music Player in Ubuntu) is similar in nature to iTunes (it can even sync with iOS devices). It provides access to music stores and podcast feeds, and you can also create playlists. If you have ever used iTunes then RhythmBox will not be much of a change for you.

MPlayer

Good: CLI only, advanced controls, can play video

Bad: ????

Summary: MPlayer is CLI only and is very fast loading audio files and gives you access to advanced controls. It can be run over SSH. It can even play video! (If a video file is detected it opens a new window to play the video.)

Totem

Good: easy, clean interface

Bad: can’t play as many files as others, no advanced controls

Summary: Totem (branded as Movie Player in Ubuntu) is shipped by default with Ubuntu. It is a easy to understand player. It has basic controls such as fast forward, rewind and play. I can see why it was chosen to ship with Ubuntu because it is easy to understand and can play many media files.

VLC

Good: can play virtually any type of media file, fast to open the files, many advanced controls

Bad: some settings even in “simple” mode can be confusing

Summary: VLC is one of the best players I have used. It can play anything I could throw at it, it has a lot of advanced control such as networkstreaming and capturing a web stream. the only thing I don’t like about VLC is some of the controls can be confusing even in “simple” mode.

Let the battle commence!

Brasero

Good: easy yet powerful, can burn various types of CD/DVD media, can burn an ISO image

Bad: ?????

Summary: Brasero is a very good recorder. It can burn anything you could need, Audio CDs, Video CDs/DVDs etc. There are controls such as disc burn speed and different burning modes for the advanced user, yet it is also very simple so the beginner could burn discs without much trouble.

cdrdao

Good: CLI only

Bad: can only burn CDs

Summary: cdrdao is really a CD burner for the advanced user. Once you get it setup correctly you can very quickly and with much control burn CDs, such as the delay between audio tracks. It is CLI only so that makes it very light.

GnomeBaker

Good: very easy, lots of control

Bad: I never knew about this program until I did this comparison!

Summary: GnomeBaker is great it is another program that combines ease of use with advanced control, you can burn data, audio and video discs. This program will even convert your audio file to a WAV file so it can be burned. This program is going to replaces Brasero as my default burner.

K3B

Good: Beginner friendly but also has a great deal of control

Bad: ????

Summary: K3B is a great choice if you’re a KDE user and looking for a CD Burner. It combines ease of use with advanced controls. In fact when you first open K3B it tells you “if you don’t know what the settings mean, let us handle that for you”. The only disappointment I have is that it is KDE only but if you do use another desktop environment the packages needed are installed for you.

Xfburn

Good: simple, lightweight

Bad: can only burn data, ISO and Audio

Summary: Xfburn is a very basic recorder. You navigate to what directory you want and then select if you want to burn a data disc or make an audio disc with that file etc.. The only outstanding issue with Xfburn is that you can not burn anything other then an audio CD its just audio and data.