andLinux is a full virtual installation of Ubuntu Linux and comes with a handy system tray icon for access to several default KDE apps like Konqueror (web browser / file manager) and Synaptic (to install more Linux apps.)

Lifehacker already has a full article on installing and setting up andLinux so I’ll just point you to their fine article.

[Found via: Lifehacker]

The Simple TechBlog articles are brought to you by:

• RadioAid.com – Streaming radio from some of the best independent and unsigned musicians out there.
• ArtistServer.com – Music hosting and tools to help musicians promote and distribute their music.
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Check them out… and, if you don’t mind, tell them we sent you.

What Is It?

BitTorrent is a fast, distributed file sharing peer-to-peer system. BitTorrent is not a file sharing program, rather its a protocol used by numerous programs (clients) to download from and share files with other BitTorrent users. BitTorrent works by breaking up files into a large number of very small pieces. These pieces can be shared quickly with other users and allow users who are still in the process of downloading a file, to share the pieces they do have.

How Do I Use It?

BitTorrent files (.torrent) contain the information that links you to other users sharing the same target file… so all you really need is a program (client) to handle BitTorrent files. I recommend the following for each operating system:

• utorrent (Windows)
• Azureas (Linux / Mac / Windows)

Once you install your client, you need to search for some good torrents. I recommend the following:

• isoHunt.com
• The Pirate Bay
• Mininova

Each of these sites will feature a search box. Type some search terms in and scan through the results. Most torrent files names are plain English and give some information about the torrent. What you really need to look for is the number of Seeders and Peers.

Seeders are people who have completed the download and are sharing a full copy of the file. Peers are people, like you, who are in the process of downloading the file and are sharing a partial copy. The more Seeders there are, the faster, generally speaking, your download will be. It is also possible, though rare, to have a large group of Peers who, collectively, have a complete copy of the file.

So now that you’ve searched for a file you want, and found a torrent with a lot of Seeders, download the file. Your browser will probably ask you what to do with a “.torrent” file. Tell it to open the file using the new BitTorrent client you’ve just installed. Your BitTorrent client will start and (possibly) ask you where to save the target file (or files) and… Presto!

Many clients allow you to set default download locations and many other bandwidth specific details in the program’s options. (In utorrent: Options – Preferences )

One of the beautiful aspects of the BitTorrent system is the ability to share complete directories (folders) with a single torrent file. A user may share a folder that contains a large archive of podcasts. Say you were only interested in the last two months worth of podcast episodes… Both the programs I have recommended allow you to choose only the files you want and disregard the rest.

The Baby Name Wizard site recently launched their Name Voyager, a javascript application that shows the popularity of a name from the 1800s to 2006. My name, Christopher, was on it’s way to #2 when I was born in 1979 (my parent’s were so on the cutting edge).

The Name Voyager and its creator were recently featured on NPR’s On Point with Tom Ashbrook. You can also check out the Social Security’s “Popular Baby Names” section for more on the historical popularity of names or TechBlog reader, Guy Davis’ excellent Google Maps mashup, Baby Name Map, that shows US popular names along with other countries.

How trendy were your parents?

From the site:

There are lots of stores out there that offer price protection policies — when the price drops on an item you’ve purchased, they’ll refund you the difference. But there’s a catch… it’s up to you to watch prices. Price Protectr makes it simple to keep track of your purchases and get your money back. It’s free. It’s easy. It’s free and easy money. How often do you get that offer?

The service currently boasts 46 online retailers including Amazon, Best Buy, Circuit City, Costco, Future Shop, Sears and Staples.

By taking the hassle out of searching for price drops, PriceProtectr makes it much easier to focus on what really matters… like that new shiny 16BG iPod Touch.

What services do you use for a better shopping experience?

Since the security key is activated independently for each account, the same device could eventually be used for other VeriSign-owned companies and websites as well.

Leo Laporte and Steve Gibson interviewed Director of Account Protections at PayPal, Michael Vergara in episode 103 of their weekly podcast, Security Now for an in depth look at how the security key works to keep your account safe.

If you use your PayPal or eBay account regularly or are concerned with the security of either of those services, the Security Key is highly recommended. The PayPal Security Key is available for an introductory price of $5.

Picasa also makes it easy to edit and enhance your digital photos with simple and intuitive controls. Picasa includes 12 visual effects as well as many basic fixes.

Picasa’s Basic Fixes are buttons that make it fast and easy to crop, remove red eye, fix the contrast and color, and enhance your digital pictures.

One of my favorite features in Picasa is the screensaver album. Once Picasa is installed, go into your desktop properties and select Picasa as your screensaver. Whenever your screensaver kicks on, Picasa will play a slideshow of the contents of the screensaver album. If you keep lots of family photos on your computer, your idle monitor can become a digital photo frame.

Its easy to share your photos with Picasa too. If you have a CD burner (and who doesn’t anymore), Picasa can burn Gift CDs and DVDs that instantly play photo slideshows on grandma’s computer. Picasa has plenty of print options for your home printer as well as uploading your photos to order professional prints.

Picasa supports jpg, bmp, gif, png, psd and tif images as well as RAW data files, including cameras from Canon, Nikon, Kodak, Minolta and Pentax. Picasa will also recognize and organize your avi, mpg, wmv, asf and mov video formats.

Picasa is a free download from Google.

While Windows XP has Zip Compression built into it, 7-Zip supports many more compression formats including, TAR, RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ and more. 7-Zip integrates with the Windows Shell, so extracting a Zip file is just a right-click away.

7-Zip is an open source, free download for Windows. There is also a pz7ip project at sourceforge for Posix/Linux systems.

A really useful blog I’ve discovered recently is Windows Keyboard Shortcut of the Day and it delivers exactly what you’d expect. Everything from software specific shortcuts like Ctrl+Shift+F to “Select Font” in Microsoft Office applications to Ctrl+A, another second nature shortcut to select all the text in a document, page or text area.

As you might have guessed, the shortcuts on this blog are entirely Windows shortcuts and though some classic shortcuts will work on a Mac (using the Command key instead of Control) some won’t. You have been warned.

GRC also offers many other free tools and software (available here) to test, track and fix your computer’s security. I highly recommend Steve’s tools and software as well as listening to Security Now! every Thurs. on the TWiT Netcast Network.

Snacksby is a different, easier kind of recipe site. You tell us what you’ve got in your fridge or in your pantry and wham!, we let you know what your options are.

Recipes and ingredients are categorized with snacksonomies, which are tags like lowfat or vegetarian that help you find what you might like better and faster. Are you missing something? Snacksby can tell you what to do if you don’t have buttermilk or if you’d like a vegan substitute for eggs.

You can also create lists of favorite recipes and get RSS feeds of those lists. If you find a recipe you don’t have all the fixin’s for, Snacksby will take your Pantry list into account and give you a shopping list.

Snacksby is free to register and use.

DodgeIt.com – DodgeIt is a great service. Just put any email name in front of “@dodgeit.com” and you’ve got an instant, read-only email address. For instance, simppletechblog@dodgeit.com. Then go to dodgeit.com and enter your email name into the field to check for any emails sent to that account.

PookMail.com – Pookmail works exactly the same as dodgeit. Think of an email name, put iit n front of “@pookmail.com” and check for mail in that account at the PookMail.com website.

These services can be great for registering at unknown websites, forums, blogs, or any untrusted place you need to post an email address.

Like their previous incarnation, AllFreeCalls, all users have to do is call an access number in the U.S. and then forward on to an International number for free. The main difference now is, at registration, you’re asked to enter up to 10 phone numbers and assign each a numeric code (1-10). You then dial the access number and enter the code number you want to dial.

This change lowers the overall usability now, but the service can still be very useful for people who call the same international number regularly.

[AllFreeCalls Back From DeadPool, Free Calls Are Here Again - Via: TechCrunch]

By using the FCC approved, industry standard, disconnected number tone sequence (those three tones you hear when you get a bad number) at the beginning of your voice mail or answering machine message, you can trick the auto-dialer computers into thinking they’ve got a bad number and putting you on THEIR “do not call” list. Andy even provides you with a download of the three tones.

Get the full scoop and the download here.

Of course, if you don’t want to change your message, you can always use the Anti-Telemarketing “Counterscript”.