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Ubuntu 12.10 Disc Artwork Available for Download

2012-10-12T10:50:00.001-07:00

The Ubuntu 12.10 is less than a week away from release, and pre-orders for the official Live DVD are now being taken.
But what will the artwork look like?

Ubuntu 12.10 Disc Artwork

The official artwork for Ubuntu 12.10′s sleeve and disc has been added to the Ubuntu Wiki.
There no dramatic departure from the last few sets releases. The same ‘front’ image is used on the ‘disc’ itself, and the back page once again uses the default wallpaper as its backdrop.

If you like the artwork, but don’t fancy buying a copy, it’s freely downloadable from the Ubuntu Wiki for you to print and assemble.

Ubuntu 12.10 Disc Artwork

Ubuntu Website Adds New ‘Donations’ Page

2012-10-12T10:42:00.002-07:00

Canonical have today launched a new ‘contributions’ page through which users can donate money to the Ubuntu project.
They say that the initiative will help people to ’..choose to financially support different aspects of Canonical’s work, from gaming and app, desktop, phone and tablet, to co-ordination of upstreams or supporting Ubuntu flavours.”

Canonical have offered a ‘donate’ page of sorts, though you’d have been hard-pressed to find it. From today, however, you’ll be hard-pressed to miss it!

Funding an OS as large and increasingly complex as Ubuntu doesn’t come cheap. As well as the personal pockets of Ubuntu’s founder, Mark Shuttleworth, Canonical have created several revenue streams over the years – from super expensive enterprise support to corporate customers, to gaining a small slice of percentage every time a track is sold through the Ubuntu One Music Store.

But as a famous supermarket chain in the UK is fond of saying: every little helps.

And for Ubuntu going forward, as it diversifies into new technology markets like TV and mobile, such a statement will have never seemed truer.

Donation – Humble Style

Taking inspiration from the Humble Indie Bundle, the new ‘donate form’ sports sliders through which you can ‘gesture’ what areas you’d like your donation to go to.

This ‘granularity’ will, Canonical say, help them to focus on ‘which favourite features or projects deserve the bulk of our attention’.
So what areas can divy your donation between?

Make the desktop more amazing
Performance optimisation for games and apps
Improve hardware support on more PCs
Phone and tablet versions of Ubuntu
Community participation in Ubuntu development
Better coordination with Debian and upstreams
Better support for flavours like Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu
Tip to Canonical – they help make it happen

As you configure your contribution the pictograms at the bottom of the page change accordingly:

$0 – Nothing. Use Ubuntu for free.
$2 – The price of a grande extra shot mocha latta chino
$5 – The price of pint of Micro-brew Nevada Pale Ale
$7 – The price of a Royale with cheese
$10 – The price of a movie. For one.
$15 – The price of King Kong versus Godzilla on DVD
$20 - The price of Peace, Love and Linux t-shirt
$30 - The price of stainless steel copper-bottom frying pan
$50 - The price of vintage SNES game bundle
$60 - The price of pair of vintage acid wash Levi 501s
$100 - The price of pair of LP Matador bongo drums
$200 - The price of pair of sexed Emu chicks
$500 - The price of flight from New York to London (one way)
$1000 - The price of an eight year-old dromedary camel

Some of the pictograms are quite funny (see Emu chicks at the top of this post) however the choice when selecting ‘$0‘ is a little harsh…

Payment Methods

So far only Paypal is the only accepted form of Payment. Canonical’s Jono Bacon says that this is only temporary and that ‘other payment mechanisms are currently being explored’.

Where the Money Goes

If you dropping some coins in Ubuntu’s pocket it’s only fair that you know specifically what the money will be used for. Community Manager Jono Bacon is clear:

“When a donation occurs, Canonical will act as a steward for the money and ensure it is managed fairly and in accordance of the user’s wishes…ensuring it goes to the part of the project outlined in the form. Importantly, Canonical will not be using the money for any Canonical business-orientated functions; all of the donations will be used to fund the Ubuntu project and continue it’s growth and development.”

Finding It is Easy

As altruistic as donating is it should never be compulsory. And although this ‘change’ means that anyone downloading Ubuntu from the official website from today onwards will be greeted with this form before their download, it is still completely optional.

Personally I find the opt-out text - ‘Not now, take me to the download’ - rather small and as it’s well below the fold of the page I worry that some users will have trouble finding it.

A direct link to the contributions page can be accessed by clicking on the button below.

New Ubuntu 12.10 T-Shirts & Hats Go On Sale

2012-10-12T10:37:00.000-07:00

New Ubuntu merchandise has gone on sale in the Canonical Store ahead of October’s release of Ubuntu 12.10.

‘Quetzal’

Since Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) the mascot of each release has graced the front of the ‘official t-shirt’. As Ubuntu 12.10 is the ‘Quantal Quetzal’ the latest design makes use of the fine long-tailed Quetzal logo we’ve seen a lot of over the last 5 months.

The Quetzal design is available in mens sizes small through XX-large, and female sizes small through X-large for the quantifiable sum of £10.25/$17.39.

Do you think this design is better than past efforts?

“Ubuntu Icons”

Another new design on sale this cycle is features a variety of Ubuntu’s ‘pictogram’ icons (including ‘cloud’, ‘mobile’, ‘tv’, ‘server’ and ‘monitor’) all linked together to an Ubuntu logo in the center.

So far this design is only available in mens sizes small through xx-large, but is marginally cheaper than the Quetzal design, costing £10.23/$17.35 excluding postage and packaging.

Hats

If covering your torso in Ubuntu-branded niceties isn’t enough for you then there are two new hat designs to add to your xmas lists.
The first, a bold orange ‘cap’, is unmistakably Ubuntu and not that expensive either, costing £7.50/$12.72.
The second is a subtly-branded but cosy looking beanie that will set you back £6.80/$11.53.

All of these items, as well as pre-orders for the Ubuntu 12.10 DVD, can be purchased from the Canonical Store.

A Wine Named Ubuntu (No, Really)

2012-08-19T12:24:00.001-07:00

By Joey Sneddon, posted August 12, 2012

We’ve written about Ubuntu Cola, Ubuntu car license plates, and even Ubuntu crop circles as part of our ‘Ubuntu in the Wild‘ strand.
But a wine? That’s new to me
The familiarly-named beverage was produced in 2007, 2008 and 2009 by Portuguese wine makers Niepoort as part of celebrations making the then World Cup host nation of South Africa.
Both this wine and the OS are named after the African philosophy of Ubuntu, whose meaning is commonly distilled into the sentence: ‘I am what I am because of who we all are.
‘Wine’ is also the name of a compatibility layer that allows some Windows apps to run on Linux-based distributions like Ubuntu.

Taste

My palette can’t deduce one wine from another (they all taste foul and sour to me)so I won’t be hunting down a bottle of this (increasingly rare) vintage to sip whilst I work.
So, if you’re curious as to whether the taste matches the label, you’ll have to find a bottle yourself, or rely on the following quote.

…intense red and black fruit aromas with spicy and wet stone notes …and an excellent acidity providing a long lasting after taste.”

For more information on the Ubuntu wine head to the Niepoor Vinhos website @ niepoort-vinhos.

com/en/fabulous/Ubuntu.

Ubuntu Shaped Crop Circles Appear in Italy

2012-07-05T05:29:00.004-07:00

Ever wondered what operating system aliens use? The truth, readers, is out there.

Well ‘out there’ in as far as Carcia, Italy.

It’s here that, over the last few weeks, Ubuntu-shaped impressions have appeared in wheat fields belonging to Joseph Fasciana’s family.

Many of the designs (for there are more than one) span between 600 to 800 square meters.

So what is causing the grain-groping geometry? UFOs? Aliens? Pranksters?

OMG! HQ is a fair distance from Carica so we can – exclusively – reveal that it wasn’t us (scouts honor).

The Italian Police are also keeping their heads firmly out of the clouds too, putting the circles down to pranksters influenced by a recent episode of paranornal show ‘Mystery’ which explained precisely how to make crop circles.

Joshua and his family are less convinced by this explanation however.

“This time of year the wheat [will bend and break] if we walk in the middle,’ he told Italian blog

‘There are [no] signs of people who walk, nor wheels of vehicles; nothing that suggests that they were created by a human hand.’

“We have looked carefully, the designs are so perfect that they seem to be made with a compass and the ears are intertwined.”

You can see and read more on the shapes at ctzen.it (Italian).

But the answer as to what is making them – and why they chose to draw the Ubuntu logo – remains a mystery…

Luca, via Ctzen.it

Press Reaction to Ubuntu 12.04

2012-04-29T23:27:00.001-07:00

It’s been almost 4 whole days since Ubuntu 12.04 was released – but what sort of reaction has it received from the mainstream technology press?
Let’s take a tour through a maze of quotes and reaction from some of the internet’s leading voices..

Engadget were traditionally brief in their nod to the release, but mention that ‘Pangolin does include some rather notable tweaks.’
But reviewer Terrence O’Brien seemed most excited about the ‘…vastly improved performance and power management.’
‘Ubuntu, for all of its finer points has never been particularly battery friendly. But Canonical is promising that is going to change. We’ll have to wait to find out once we get this bad boy installed on some machines of our own.’
Whitson Gordon over at Lifehacker was passionate about the HUD, citing it as being ‘…enough to get us upgrading as soon as possible’.

Patrick Quinn of LXer was eloquent in giving his take, saying that “…with each release the focus on the user becomes more and more evident, culminating with this, Ubuntu’s Unity finally stating to leave that dark tunnel and enter into the warm light of general acceptance.”
Ars Technica‘s Ryan Paul, in one of the tech press’s more in-depth run-downs of the release, was succinct in his summation, calling the release ‘…an incremental update that is fairly reliable, but doesn’t introduce many ambitious changes. Advanced users will benefit from the introduction of the HUD, but most users won’t notice major differences.”

Mike Williams of PC Advisor notes that there are a ‘stack of worthwhile improvements everywhere you look’, and cites ‘significant performance improvements mean the fancy visual effects work smoothly even on systems with basic integrated graphics.’
The ever on-the-level Computer Active were far more enthusiastic in selling the benefits of the OS to their readership, giving the release a full 5/5 stars and billing it as ‘an excellent alternative to Windows.’
Tim Smith, in writing the review, addresses the ‘Unity’ issue from the get go, advising that ‘[Unity is] worth persevering with even if you don’t like it at first.’
‘Ubuntu is a great operating system that …can be used to give a new lease of life to older computers. [It is] is much more convenient when wanting to quickly check some information on the internet.’

Where’s the negative?

So where’s the negative stuff; the list of annoying quirks in Pangolin?
It’s worth remembering that the majority of the mainstream tech press only dip in to Ubuntu twice a year, and then only spending a short time with it to write their posts.
So far the ‘negatives’ have been fairly coy or subtle – Terry Relph-Knight from ZDnet, for example, cites the lack of ‘creative software that’s comparable to the proprietary apps available for Windows and Mac OS X’ as a negative. Something that is hardly Ubuntu-specific.
Fellow ZDnet writer – and it’s fair to say general critic of Ubuntu – J.A. Watson, reports a less than pleasant experience with installing the release on a Samsung netbook.
But overall the general feeling i’ve got from the reviews I’ve read is that Ubuntu 12.04 LTS is a notable success.

[How To] Access Google Drive Via Nautilus in Ubuntu

2012-04-24T21:52:00.002-07:00

Google’s newly-launched ‘Drive’ feature may have failed to give Linux users a client from the get go – but that doesn’t mean we need to go without entirely.

A temporary solution is available for those willing to try it. It’s not as elegant or featured as the clients Google provides for Windows and Mac users, but it may help bide the time for avid Google-users looking to make the most of Drive before something more official arrives.

Google Docs Drive FS:

The package comes courtesy of Luca Invernizzi, and is based on the discontinued ‘google docs fs’ project that ”[allows] you to connect to Google Docs and treat it as a file system.”

Sounds technical, but put simply it means you can access the files and documents in your Google Drive as you would any other folder.

But there are limitations to this approach.

The majority of features billed in the Google Drive clients themselves are not provided in this fix – the most notable of which is the inability to add files, sync files or otherwise access the folder whilst offline; uploading additional files to the Drive also doesn’t seem to function fully.

With the disclaimers out of the way lets see how you get it all set up.

First you need to add the packages provided by Luca and available in his PPA (11.10 only at present): -

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:invernizzi/google-docs-fs
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install google-docs-fs

Once everything that’s needed has been installed log out and back in.

Open Nautilus
Create a new folder in your Home folder titled ‘Drive’
Open a Terminal and run: -

gmount Drive username@gmail.com

Input your password
Your Google Drive is now mounted in the ‘Drive’ folder.

Google Drive Launches, Lacks Linux Client

2012-04-24T11:54:00.002-07:00

Google has finally launched its long-anticipated cloud storage service ‘Drive’.

Offering 5GB of free storage to anyone with a Google Account, the service outdoes similar offerings from Dropbox, and matches that offered by Ubuntu One.
Drive is accessible from any web browser at drive.google.com or one of the dedicated clients it provides for Windows, Mac and Android. An iOS app is to follow ‘in the coming weeks’.
Amongst the features touted by the service: -

Collaborative editing
‘Smart Tagging’ feature
OCR support (inc. for images)
Support for 30 different types of file in the browser – including Photoshop and Illustrator files
Buy up to 16TB of space
99.9% Uptime Promised

Open Platform

But for all the celebration there is something missing: a Linux client.
It was hoped that, based on past software offerings from the search giant, that Linux users would be provided with a desktop client similar to that offered for Windows and Mac users.

The good news is that Google have made Drive an open-platform, with third party developers free to add additional functionality - such as ‘sending faxes, editing videos and create models’ – to the service .
And as Linux users can take full advantage of the web-interface, there is in theory at least, the potential for some form of desktop integration (even if it’s notification support for updated/edited files) to appear down the line.
But there’s still reason to believe that a Linux-client of Drive could yet appear. Google say that today marks only the beginning of Drive, and that there are ‘many developments’ yet to come.
Here’s hoping that one of those ‘many developments’ is a treat for faithful Linux users.
Edit: Commenter Matt Katzenberger suggest using the Google Drive feedback form to let Google know there is a demand for a Linux version.

Will Google Drive Support Linux?

2012-04-18T05:53:00.000-07:00

Word on the winds is that Google will launching their own cloud storage service – called Google Drive - next week.

The service will go head to head with long established titans of the cloud-storage scene such as current market leader Dropbox and Canonical’s ‘Ubuntu One’.

Google Drive – “All your files – everywhere.”

With its release yet to be formerly announced by Google it’s no surprise to learn that official specifics of the Google Drive service are scarce on the ground.

But leaks, hints and rumours point towards Drive offering at least 5GB of free online storage to users. Details on additional storage options beyond that are, as yet, unknown.

In order to compete with Dropbox and similar Google Drive has to offer more than a place to put your files; it needs to provide a way to easily access, edit and upload them too.

To this end a set of applications are expected to launch for use alongside the service, allowing users to sync files to and from their Google Drive directly from their operating system – be it mobile,desktop – or through a browser at drive.google.com.

Mac App

A leaked build of the Mac app has already been uncovered by one leading tech site (although as the service is not yet live it doesn’t do anything).

With Mac users tended to it’s safe to assume that Windows will also be supported with a similar app - but what about Linux?

No official word, but, based on Google’s past products, it’s likely that a Linux version of the Google Drive sync client will be produced – although may not be available at launch (E.g. as with Chrome, Google Music Manager, etc)

But given that Google’s own internal OS is based upon Ubuntu, and that Google Drive is likely to be useful to its employees as it is to Joe User, I would venture as far as to say that a Google Drive sync client for Linux is all but a certainty.

Ubuntu Phone OS Takes A Step Closer?

2012-04-13T20:39:00.000-07:00

A recent job posting from Canonical appears to show that the company is serious about its intentions to enter the mobile OS market.
In a vacancy titled ‘Business Development Manager (Ubuntu Phone OS)‘, the company are calling for ”a business development lead to engage and develop strong relationships with industry partners in the run up to the launch of Ubuntu as a smartphone operating system,” so as to, they say, “establish a commercial ecosystem around Ubuntu as a smartphone OS.”
With recent announcements (and positive reaction) to Ubuntu for Android, you could forgive Canonical for leaving their ambitions there.
But, if the job posting is taken at face value, they haven’t.
By continuing with plans for a bona-fide Ubuntu Phone OS of their own, they company are putting the ‘Can’ into Canonical.
How well would competing against Android with Ubuntu Phone OS on one tack, whilst also complimenting it with Ubuntu for Android on the other work out? That remains to be seen.

Canonical Jobs, via Tips Form

How Linux Is Built

2012-04-07T11:09:00.002-07:00

You use Linux daily – but do you know how it’s built?
The Linux Foundation explain in this slick 3-minute video.

April Fools' Day

2012-03-31T21:16:00.000-07:00

Origins

Precursors of April Fools' Day include the Roman festival of Hilaria, held March 25, and the Medieval Festival of Fools, held December 28, still a day on which pranks are played in Spanish-speaking countries.

In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1392), the "Nun's Priest's Tale" is set Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two. Modern scholars believe that there is a copying error in the extant manuscripts and that Chaucer actually wrote, Syn March was gon. Thus the passage originally meant 32 days after April, i.e. May 2, the anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia, which took place in 1381. Readers apparently misunderstood this line to mean "March 32", i.e. April 1. In Chaucer's tale, the vain cock Chauntecleer is tricked by a fox.

In 1508 French poet Eloy d'Amerval referred to a poisson d’avril (April fool, literally "April fish"), a possible reference to the holiday. In 1539, Flemish poet Eduard de Dene wrote of a nobleman who sent his servants on foolish errands on April 1. In 1686, John Aubrey referred to the holiday as "Fooles holy day", the first British reference. On April 1, 1698, several people were tricked into going to the Tower of London to "see the Lions washed".

In the Middle Ages, New Year's Day was celebrated on March 25 in most European towns.In some areas of France, New Year's was a week-long holiday ending on April 1. Many writers suggest that April Fools originated because those who celebrated on January 1 made fun of those who celebrated on other dates. The use of January 1 as New Year's Day was common in France by the mid-16th century,and this date was adopted officially in 1564 by the Edict of Roussillon.

Other prank days in the world

Iranians play jokes on each other on the 13th day of the Persian new year (Norouz), which falls on April 1 or April 2. This day, celebrated as far back as 536 BC , is called Sizdah Bedar and is the oldest prank-tradition in the world still alive today; this fact has led many to believe that April Fools' Day has its origins in this tradition.

The April 1 tradition in France, Romandy and French-speaking Canada includes poisson d'avril (literally "April's fish"), attempting to attach a paper fish to the victim's back without being noticed. This is also widespread in other nations, such as Italy, where the term Pesce d'aprile (literally "April's fish") is also used to refer to any jokes done during the day. In Spanish-speaking countries, similar pranks are practiced on December 28, día de los Santos Inocentes, the "Day of the Holy Innocents". This custom also exists in certain areas of Belgium, including the province of Antwerp. The Flemish tradition is for children to lock out their parents or teachers, only letting them in if they promise to bring treats the same evening or the next day.
Under the Joseon dynasty of Korea, the royal family and courtiers were allowed to lie and fool each other, regardless of their hierarchy, on the first snowy day of the year. They would stuff snow inside bowls and send it to the victim of the prank with fake excuses. The recipient of the snow was thought to be a loser in the game and had to grant a wish of the sender. Because pranks were not deliberately planned, they were harmless and were often done as benevolence towards royal servants.[citation needed]

In Poland, prima aprilis ("April 1" in Latin) is a day full of jokes; various hoaxes are prepared by people, media (which sometimes cooperate to make the "information" more credible) and even public institutions. Serious activities are usually avoided. This conviction is so strong that the anti-Turkish alliance with Leopold I signed on April 1, 1683, was backdated to March 31.

In Scotland, April Fools' Day is traditionally called Hunt-the-Gowk Day ("gowk" is Scots for a cuckoo or a foolish person), although this name has fallen into disuse. The traditional prank is to ask someone to deliver a sealed message requesting help of some sort. In fact, the message reads "Dinna laugh, dinna smile. Hunt the gowk another mile". The recipient, upon reading it, will explain he can only help if he first contacts another person, and sends the victim to this person with an identical message, with the same result.
In Denmark, May 1 is known as "Maj-kat", meaning "May-cat", and is also a joking day. May 1'st is also celebrated in Sweden as an alternative joking day. When someone has been fooled in Sweden, to disclose that it was a joke, the fooler says the rhyme "April April din dumma sill, jag kan lura dig vart jag vill" (April, April, you stupid herring, I can fool you to wherever I want") for April 1st jokes, or "Maj maj måne, jag kan lura dig till Skåne" (May May moon, I can fool you into Scania) for May 1st jokes. Both Danes and Swedes also celebrate April Fools' Day ("aprilsnar" in Danish). Pranks on May 1, are much less frequent. Most Swedish news media outlets will publish exactly one false story on April 1, for newspapers this will typically be a first-page article but not the top headline.

In Spain and Ibero-America, an equivalent date is December 28, Christian day of celebration of the Massacre of the Innocents. The Christian celebration is a holiday in its own right, a religious one, but the tradition of pranks is not, though the latter is observed yearly. After somebody plays a joke or a prank on somebody else, the joker usually cries out, in some regions of Ibero-America: "Inocente palomita que te dejaste engañar" ("You innocent little dove that let yourself be fooled"). In Spain, it is common to say just "Inocente!" ("Innocent!"). Nevertheless, in the Spanish island of Menorca, "Dia d'enganyar" ("Fooling day") is celebrated on April 1 because Menorca was a British possession during part of the 18th century.[citation needed]

ABOUT EARTH HOUR

2012-03-30T10:24:00.000-07:00

2004 - WWF Australia begins to look at new ways to take climate change mainstream after being confronted with serious scientific data
WWF Australia meets with advertising agency, Leo Burnett Sydney to discuss ideas for engaging Australians on the issue of climate change

2005 - A campaign based on hope not fear, and the idea that everyone can take personal responsibility for the future of the planet we live on, is envisioned
WWF Australia and Leo Burnett Sydney start developing the concept of a large scale switch off. The project has the working title, "The Big Flick"

2006 -Leo Burnett is tasked with the challenge of coming up with a campaign name that represents more than simply flicking off lights –Earth Hour is born. The Earth Hour name allows the campaign to broaden the focus from “lights out” to sustainability WWF Australia and Leo Burnett Sydney take the concept of Earth Hour to Fairfax Media asking Fairfax to back the event – they agree Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP agrees to support Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth movie is released bringing worldwide attention to the issue of climate change The Stern Report, which discusses the effects of climate change and global warming on the world economy, is released in October. Words of warning for what lays ahead from an economist – not from a scientist - sends a warning to governments globally about the cost of ignoring the threat of climate change

31 March 2007
The inaugural Earth Hour is held in Sydney Australia 7.30pm - 8.30pm, 2.2 million Sydneysiders and 2,100 businesses participate The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) releases a report highlighting the risks of rising temperatures, further highlighting the need for urgent solutions

April 2007
Plans are developed to make Earth Hour a national event in Australia, but international interest is high and cities began signing up to the next Earth Hour campaign

29 March 2008
Earth Hour is held in 371 cities and towns in more than 35 countries globally at 8pm-9pm. A highly conservative estimate concludes that 50 million people participate. This number could have been as high as 100 million people

28 March 2009
Earth Hour held on Saturday March 28 at 8.30pm-9.30pm. Hundreds of millions of people in more than 4,000 cities and towns across 88 countries switched off their lights for one hour, creating a visual mandate for action on climate change effectively kick-starting the world’s first global vote.

July 2009
Earth Hour's Vote Earth campaign releases the Vote Earth symbol calling on citizens of the world to show their vote for Earth over Global Warming.

November 2009
Earth Hour’s Vote Earth launches The People’s Orb, a shimmering silver sphere encasing a 350 gigabyte hard drive with video, images and documents representing the hundreds of millions of people who voted Earth to call for action on climate change. A tangible representation of the voice of the world’s people, The People’s Orb relays from Sydney to Copenhagen in the care of a variety of custodians ranging from former heads of state to iconic rock stars.

December 2009
Global awareness of climate change soars to unprecedented levels during an historic meeting of 192 nations at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. Vote Earth campaign culminates on 16th December with Earth Hour Copenhagen. The People’s Orb, is entrusted to UN Chef de Cabinet, Vijay Nambiar to be presented to world leaders. The People’s Orb takes centre stage in the plenary on the final day of the conference alongside UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, in front of President of the United States, Barack Obama, Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, COP President and Climate Minister Connie Hedegaard and over 100 heads of state.

27 March 2010
Earth Hour is held on Saturday March 27 at 8.30pm-9.30pm and succeeds in being a global call to action to stand up, to take responsibility, and lead the global journey to a sustainable future. A record 128 countries and territories take part and iconic buildings and landmarks from Asia Pacific to Europe and Africa to the Americas stand in darkness.

26 March 2011
Earth Hour is held on Saturday March 26 at 8.30pm-9.30pm and continues to break records for participation with 135 countries taking part. Earth Hour 2011 is the first Earth Hour to go beyond the hour, by asking supporters to think about what else they can do to make a difference. Beyondthehour.org is launched to give supporters a place to share stories and pledge to do more.

31 March 2012
Earth Hour 2012 will be held on Saturday March 31 at 8.30pm-9.30pm wherever you are in the world. So save the date and keep coming back to earthhour.org to find out what’s in store.

75% of Ubuntu Users Also Use Windows (And Other Fun Stats)

2012-03-29T07:48:00.000-07:00

Chances are if you’re using Ubuntu you’re a 25-35 year old male living in either the USA or Mexico.
At least, those are the findings from the recently-conducted ‘Ubuntu User Survey 2012′.
With a response rate of over 17,000, the survey will help Ubuntu developers better understand their user base.
For example, people in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries are more interested in buying a pre-loaded Ubuntu device than those in English-speaking countries. Such a stat would be useful to Canonical and/or hardware manufacturers interested in launching Ubuntu-toting hardware.
But what else has the survey revealed?
The ‘average’ age of Ubuntu users is around 25- 35 years old.
And, sticking to the statistics drawn from the survey, are almost certainly male. The number of women who answered the survey was a sub-4% – a figure that looks lower than, in reality, it likely is.
It’s good news for Ubuntu One. Despite the cloud-storage service being in competition with titans like Dropbox, over 40% of Ubuntu users make use of it. Quite how many opt into to a paid plan was not part of the remit.
Age breakdown of responses show that the younger you are the more likely (statistically) you are to use it, too.
From Ubuntu’s line-up of burgeoning multi-device future it was Ubuntu for Android (57.4%) that registered the strongest ‘intention to use’. Ubuntu on tablets a reasonable 49.4%, and Ubuntu TV a sizeable (45.7%).
Sounds good – but is there demand? Only a lowly 0.1% of those filling in the survey had bought Ubuntu pre-installed on a device. That’s a very small slice of users, and one that, on the surface, doesn’t exactly scream ‘money to be made’ at potential manufacturers.
So another question was asked: “how likely are you to buy a new device with Ubuntu on it?”. The results this time are encouraging: -

The question of ‘What Other Operating Systems Do You Use?’ threw up a stat I wasn’t expecting (although i’ve never really thought about it): 75% of Ubuntu users also use Windows.
Before the results I genuinely wouldn’t have expected the stat to be that high – I mean, it’s rare to hear a good word said about Windows in the Linux community – but, in reality, the more I think about it the more reasonable it sounds: people use Windows at work, on other devices, for gaming, family PC, etc.
That, and the majority of Ubuntu’s users don’t care about the mythical and philosophical arguments surrounding Linux Vs. Microsoft.
But there is still bully for the Linux-obsessed: over 50% of ‘buntu users also use Android, compared to a pale 13.5% who use Apple’s iOS – a positive sign for Canonical’s plan to marry Ubuntu with Android on mobile devices.
Only 4.2% of respondents said they use no other OS listed in the question.

You can find the full breakdown of stats from the survey here, here and here.

How To Make A Video Player less than 20 min

2012-03-28T09:03:00.004-07:00

A new episode of Daniel Siegel’s awesome ‘new developer friendly’ series ‘GNOME Screencasts’ is available to watch online.

The series, which has had over 17, 000 views so far, sees Daniel walk users through development on the GNOME Platform.

The latest installment sees Daniel use GTK+, Clutter, GStreamer and Python to create a ‘Snazzy video player’.

Grab The Lubuntu 12.04 Countdown Widget

2012-03-28T08:30:00.008-07:00

We have a lot of ‘L’ (Love) for the other ‘L’ in the Ubuntu family (Lubuntu) here on OMG! Ubuntu!.
And its forthcoming 12.04 release is shaping up to be the best yet, boasting a refreshed theme, WUBI installation support, and a shiny new Software Center amongst a massive amount of ‘under-the-hood’ work.
To help spread the word and drum up some excitement for the release the Lubuntu team have whipped up this neat Lubuntu 12.04 countdown banner for embedding into websites, blogs, etc.

The html-widget is based on original work by Corbin Davenport,

HERE is the widget code for your website

Google Science Fair

2012-02-19T00:53:00.000-08:00

Have you asked a question today? What did you do with it?

Did it take you somewhere new? Did it bring you here?

The Google Science Fair is an online science competition seeking curious minds from the
four corners of the globe. Anybody and everybody between 13 and 18 can enter. All you
need is an idea.

Geniuses are not always A-grade students. We welcome all mavericks, square-pegs and
everybody who likes to ask questions. Simply upload your project here to win some life
changing prizes.

Everyone has a question. What’s yours?

Get involved

Udacity - Educating the 21st Century

2012-01-31T09:17:00.000-08:00

We believe university-level education can be both high quality and low cost. Using the economics of the Internet, we've connected some of the greatest teachers to hundreds of thousands of students in almost every country on Earth. Udacity was founded by three roboticists who believed much of the educational value of their university classes could be offered online for very low cost. A few weeks later, over 160,000 students in more than 190 countries enrolled in our first class, "Introduction to Artificial Intelligence." The class was twice profiled by the New York Times and also by other news media. Now we're a growing team of educators and engineers, on a mission to change the future of education.

Why can’t we create a folder named CON in Windows???

2012-01-30T07:01:00.000-08:00

Nobody can create a FOLDER anywhere on the computer which can be named as “CON”.

This is something pretty cool…and unbelievable… At Microsoft the whole Team, including Bill Gates, couldn’t answer why this happened at first!

TRY IT NOW !!

In MS-DOS, several special “device files” were available to aid in performing certain tasks, such as clearing the screen or deleting extraneous output from a program. In order to maintain backwards-compatibility, all versions of Windows up to and including Windows 7 will refuse to allow you to create a file with these “reserved” device file names. The following file names are reserved:
CON

CON, incidentally, was a device file used to capture whatever was printed onscreen.
let me tell you a small secret you can’t even create a folder named PRN, AUX, NUL and many others like..
PRN

AUX

NUL

COM1

COM2

COM3

COM4

COM5

COM6

COM7

COM8

COM9

LPT1

LPT2

LPT3

LPT4

LPT5

LPT6

LPT7

LPT8

LPT9
If you try creating a folder with any of these names, the name automatically changes back to the default “New Folder”. And this is what has caused the confusion. Instead of automatically renaming the folder, had an explanatory warning message popped up.
You can actually create a folder named CON !!

There is actually a way to create a folder named CON, or any other name from the above list of reserved keywords. This can be done through command prompt. But it is advisable not to do so, as it might result in your system becoming unstable.

US feds shut down one of world's largest file-sharing website

2012-01-20T05:02:00.000-08:00

Megaupload's site.

McLean, Virginia – One of the world's largest file-sharing sites has been shut down, and its founder and several company executives charged with violating piracy laws, US federal prosecutors said.

An indictment accuses Megaupload.com of costing copyright holders more than $US500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content. The indictment was unsealed Thursday, one day after websites including Wikipedia and Craigslist shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to thwart online piracy.

The Justice Department said in a statement that Kim Dotcom, formerly known as Kim Schmitz, and three other executives were arrested in New Zealand at the request of US officials. Two other defendants are at large.

Megaupload was unique not only because of its massive size and the volume of downloaded content, but also because it had high-profile support from celebrities, musicians and other content producers who are most often the victims of copyright infringement and piracy. Before the website was taken down, it contained endorsements from Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and Kanye West, among others.

The Hong Kong-based company listed Swizz Beatz, a musician who married Keys in 2010, as its CEO. He was not named in the indictment and declined to comment through a representative.

Before the site was taken down, it posted a statement saying allegations that it facilitated massive breaches of copyright laws were "grotesquely overblown".

"The fact is that the vast majority of Mega's internet traffic is legitimate, and we are here to stay. If the content industry would like to take advantage of our popularity, we are happy to enter into a dialogue. We have some good ideas. Please get in touch," the statement said.

The site boasted 150 million registered users.

A lawyer who represented the company in a lawsuit last year declined comment Thursday.

Megaupload is considered a "cyberlocker", in which users can upload and transfer files that are too large to send by email. Such sites can have perfectly legitimate uses. But the Motion Picture Association of America, which has campaigned for a crackdown on piracy, estimated that the vast majority of content being shared on Megaupload was in violation of copyright laws.

The website allowed users to download films, TV shows, games, music and other content for free, but made money by charging subscriptions to people who wanted access to faster download speeds or extra content. The website also sold advertising.

The indictment was returned in the Eastern District of Virginia, which claimed jurisdiction in part because some of the alleged pirated materials were hosted on leased servers in Ashburn, Virginia.

Dotcom, a resident of both Hong Kong and New Zealand, and a dual citizen of Finland and Germany, made more than $US42 million from the conspiracy in 2010 alone, according to the indictment.

Dotcom is founder, former CEO and current chief innovation officer of Megaupload.