Tech Drive-in

Nuvola Player Might Just be the Perfect Replacement for Banshee in Ubuntu

noreply@blogger.com (Manuel Jose) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:34:00 +0000

Nuvola Player is so unlike any of the music players for Linux we have featured here so far. What Nuvola Player does is, it runs web interface of cloud music service in its own window and provides deep integration with the Linux desktop (system tray, Ubuntu sound menu, dock menu and notifications). Nuvola Player's currently supported services include Google Music, Grooveshark, Hype Machine and 8tracks.

Why Nuvola?

When I said Nuvola is the perfect replacement for Banshee in Ubuntu, I didn't mean that Nuvola beats Banshee in terms of features it offer, far from it. But if you are someone who stream music from one of the many popular cloud based music services like Google Music or Grooveshark (which a lot of people these days do), then Nuvola Player is all you need.

That is what Nuvola Player's basic interface looks like in Ubuntu 11.10. Nuvola Player is lightweight and integrates really well with your Unity based Ubuntu desktop. Nuvola has Unity quicklists support and it neatly jells with Ubuntu sound indicator menu.

More elaborate list of features across different platforms can be found here.

How to Install Nuvola Player Stable in Ubuntu 11.10, Ubuntu 11.04?

Just do the following in Terminal.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nuvola-player-builders/stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nuvolaplayer

And you are done.

Beta and Unstable builds of Nuvola Player also available for download.

Random Screenshots of Nuvola Player Running Grooveshark

Click on the images to see them in full size. Will you use Nuvola as a replacement for your preferred music player in Linux? Share your thoughts. Meanwhile, if you are an Android user, check out our collection of top music player apps for Android.

4 New Professionally Done Ubuntu Adverts[Official]

noreply@blogger.com (Manuel Jose) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:01:00 +0000

Canonical is slowly stepping up its marketing pitch. When you look back at the history of Ubuntu, you will see that Canonical has invested almost nothing into any sort of serious Ubuntu promotional activities yet. But that is changing. Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin release, which is only a few months away, is perhaps the most important Ubuntu release to date and Canonical is doing everything they possibly can to make it big this time around.

Introducing Ubuntu Ad

Choose Ubuntu Ad

And a Few Words About Ubuntu 11.10

Ubuntu TV Intro Ad

Those Ubuntu promotional videos are super-awesome and they are pretty popular too. Subscribe to Celebrate Ubuntu at YouTube for more interesting Ubuntu stuff. You might also want to check out our compilation of top RedHat commercials as well. Thanks for reading.

Temple Run for Android Arriving on Feb 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Manuel Jose) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:53:00 +0000

Temple Run is a hugely popular endless-running game which was released for iPhone and iPad in August 2011. Temple Run has already been downloaded more than 20 million times now and there are about 7 million daily active users. It is now the number one free app for iOS platform. Imangi Studios, the dev team behind Temple Run, has recently announced the imminent launch of Temple Run for Android platform.

Temple Run for Android Will be Released on Feb 2012

Mobile game developer Imangi Studios has revealed that its endless-running smartphone game Temple Run has been downloaded more than 20 million times since it was launched for iOS platform in 2011. In an interview with TechCrunch, Imangi Studios co-founder Natalia Luckyanova explained that the game now sees 7 million daily active users, with 1 percent of users paying for in-app purchases.

"On a (Samsung) Galaxy not-so-far away. Temple Run Android coming February 2012. We're so excited to announce this and appreciate all of our fans' support across both platforms!"- read one the recent status updates of Temple Run facebook page. Arrival of popular games and apps from all sorts of platforms and consoles is a testament to the stupendous growth Android platform has managed to achieve in such a short span of time.

PS: Don't miss our post featuring top android games for 2011.

3 Nice Blender Made Games for Linux

noreply@blogger.com (Manuel Jose) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 01:28:00 +0000

Blender is known for its 3D creation capabilities worldwide and is widely used for creating animated films, visual effects, interactive 3D applications and games with cutting edge computer graphics. Quite a number of videos and animated movies have already been created using Blender and we have featured the very best of them before. But they are not alone, games are there too. Let's find out the best games available for Linux made using Blender.

Yo Frankie!, like the official Blender made movies, is an open video game made by the Blender Foundation. Game is created entirely using free and open source software and supports Linux, Mac and Windows platforms. As with the open movie projects, the game is partly designed to promote the open source modeling and animation tool Blender.

Download Yo Frankie! for Windows, Mac and Linux

Dead Cyborg is a free to play, donation based, sci-fi adventure game for Windows and Linux(Mac support on its way). The game uses free and open source Blender game engine.

Download Dead Cyborg for Windows, Linux

Steel Storm is an independent video game series developed by Kot-in-Action Creative Artel. The games are divided into two episodes, with Episode One being available at no charge and Episode Two (titled as Steel Storm: Burning Retribution) being a commercial product. If you can remember, Humble Indie Bundle 3 did feature Steel Storm: Burning Retribution episode. Though this game use DarkPlaces game engine, Blender 3D software suite is extensively used for modelling and texturing. Steel Storm is available in Ubuntu Software Center.

Steel Storm Official Website

Hope you liked them. Now, if you would like to put your creativity skills to test, check out these useful Blender tutorials and give some of them a first hand try.

Android 4.0 ICS Inspired GNOME Shell Theme

noreply@blogger.com (Manuel Jose) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:20:00 +0000

More GNOME Shell themes for ya. Following is one of the most distinctive GNOME Shell theme I have seen so far. This particular GNOME Shell theme, aptly named as Ice Cream Shell, is inspired from the latest version of Android OS called Android 4.0 codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich. To put it lightly, Ice Cream Shell is a job well done.

Ice Cream Shell: Android 4.0 Inspired GNOME Shell Theme

Before getting started with the theme, Download Android 4.0's Roboto Font.

Extract it and double-click each of its contents to install ICS Roboto Font in Ubuntu.

Download Ice Cream Shell GNOME Shell theme

Install GNOME Shell Themes Extension for Faster GNOME Shell Theme Installation

Install GNOME Tweak Tool first of all, if you haven't already.

Now install User-Theme GNOME Shell extension from PPA. For that, simply copy-paste the following commands into Terminal.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/gnome3
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-user-theme

Done. Now, hit ALT + F2 and type 'r' and then press ENTER. Alternatively, you could simply log out and log back in.

Afterwards, launch GNOME Tweak Tool and browse to Shell Extensions.

There you will see User Themes Extension set to OFF. Change mode to ON.

Download ICS GNOME Shell Theme and Manage them Using User-Theme Extension

Extract the downloaded ICS GNOME Shell theme. Copy-paste the extracted folder to /home/USERNAME/.themes directory(create the directory if there isn't one).

Theme directory you just copied should be of the form THEME_NAME/gnome-shell. This is very important because, User-Theme GNOME Shell Extension loads themes from ~/.themes/THEME_NAME/gnome-shell directory.

Finally, launch GNOME Tweak Tool and browse to 'Theme' menu.

And choose Ice Cream Shell GNOME Shell theme. Done.

Speaking of themes, ANewStart GNOME Shell Theme + AwOken Icons Theme seems like a perfect GNOME Shell theme combination to me. Try it out if you are interested.

[Thanks to Ivan for the tip!]

Samsung's Profits Soar Powered by its Arsenal of Android Smartphones

noreply@blogger.com (Manuel Jose) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 21:24:00 +0000

Asia's largest consumer electronics company, Samsung Electronics, is on a roll. Beating all estimates, Samsung reported a record quarterly profit, primarily on back of surging sales of its Galaxy line of Android smartphones. Smartphone shipments were so massive that it completely masked Samsung's declining earnings in Chips and LCD Panel business.

Samsung Reports Record Quarterly Profits

Samsung's smartphone shipments surpassed a record 300 million units last year as its Galaxy range of smartphones became a rage all over the world. Samsung has reportedly shipped more than 10 million units of its recently launched high-end Galaxy S2 smartphone since May 2011, which also became Samsung's fastest selling smartphone to date.

According to Bloomberg, Samsung's operating profit increased 73 percent to 5.2 trillion won ($4.5 billion) in the three months that ended in December, company said in a statement today. That beat the 4.6 trillion-won average of 29 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales rose 12 percent to 47 trillion won.

But things are not all hunky dory for Samsung Electronics. Samsung, which bought out Sony Corp.'s stake in their LCD-making venture last month(which was formed in 2004), is introducing more high-end smartphones and tablets to cushion the slump in its computer chips and TV panel sales. Profits from its semiconductor division fell by around 11 percent to 1.6 trillion won on sales of 9.65 trillion won while the average selling price of Samsung’s flat-screen panels dropped 21 percent in 2011 amid stagnating TV sales, according to Bloomberg.

10 Greatest Android Games for 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Manuel Jose) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:02:00 +0000

It's 2012 already and the impact Android had on the overall mobile eco system in the year 2011 was nothing short of spectacular. Nearly 700,000 Android activations are happening everyday(which doesn't include Amazon, Nook tablets apparently) and Android Market is teeming with some 400,000 applications. I have never been a good PC gamer of sorts, but I'm really enjoying many Android games. Here are my favorite 10 Android games for 2011.

If you think Angry Birds is the most addictive game for Android, think again. Where's My Water by Disney is astonishingly simple and incredibly addictive game for Android that works on devices of all shapes and sizes. To put things in perspective, I have never ever played a game in my Android so passionately. Where's My Water is a lot fun. Period. And there is this Where's My Water free version to experience this little gem first hand.

Install Where's My Water from Android Market

Asphalt 6: Adrenaline HD is unequivocally my favorite Android racing game to date. It's a lot of fun and visualizations are brilliant. The only downside is that, this game is pretty heavy(some 700MB download) and might not work properly in lower end Android devices. Well, that is quite understandable too given the kind of visual effects this pretty game has got. And it works darn good in my Android 2.3.3 powered, dual core, Galaxy S2.

Install Asphalt 6: Adrenaline HD from Android Market

If you are a regular here, you probably know how much I like this game, long before it even debuted on Android platform. World of Goo is creative little game for young and adults alike. World of Goo for Android was released only recently and it became an instant hit. It is rated 4.9 in Android Market, which alone speaks volumes about the quality of this cute little game for Android. World of Good Demo available.

Install World of Goo from Android Market

Great Little War Game(GLWG) is a 3D turn-based strategy game for Android with a unique comical style animations and characters. Very addictive and sometimes a little bit frustrating too since its not really an easy game to play and win. Highly recommended.

Install Great Little War Game from Android Market

Yet another masterpiece from Disney. Like Where's My Water, Puffle Launch is an entirely new game and you won't be able to find anything even closely similar to this in the Android Market, which is quite a rare phenomenon. This is my second most favorite game from Disney and I play it almost every day. No free demo version available though.

Install Puffle Launch from Android market

Reckless Getaway is one of a kind. Even though not as eyecandy as Asphalt 6 racing game, Reckless Getaway is just as fun to play, especially the chapter where you get the truck to play. Reckless Getaway is not a racing game per se. It is more about tackling incoming vehicles and cop cars. Controls are very accurate and the game never hangs or lags at all.

Install Reckless Getaway from Android Market

Unlike the other games featured here, Heavy Gunner 3D is not a highly rated game in the Android Market. But I found this game worth every penny. One thing that really stands out is its dark sound score. I feel a bit exhausted every time I play this game, not because of any inadequacies of the game but because of the fact that this is a pretty engaging game that demands your full attention. Totally worth it.

Install Heavy Gunner 3D from Android Market

Flick Golf is perhaps the most addictive Golf game I have played in my Android. It is not very sophisticated n' all, but a neatly implemented, lightweight game. This is definitely going to kill a lot of time for you. Game itself is non-free and no demo version is available.

Install Flick Golf from Android Market

Don't get fooled by the apparent simplicity of Train Conductor 2: USA game for Android. This is a solid game with an excellent game play that will test your multitasking capabilities to the core. Must have. Free demo version called Train Conductor 2 Lite also available.

Install Train Conductor 2: USA from Android Market

Dead Space is a newcomer to Android Market and it is already creating ripples. I have just started playing it and I have to say this looks like one of the most polished games I have ever played on Android. Very resource hungry and battery hog, but that is expected from a heavy game like this. If nothing else, animations and effects alone are a treat to watch. But before buying, read a lot of reviews and make sure that Dead Space works properly in your device.

Install Dead Space from Android Market

If you thought Asphalt 6: Adrenaline HD was the only good game by Gameloft, then you are wrong. 9mm HD is their best game to date in my opinion. As with every other Gameloft game, 9mmHD is also pretty resource hungry and it also requires more than 1GB of download initially. But with all that graphics and effects, 9mmHD totally worth that price.

Install 9mmHD from Android Market

Note: I have deliberately excluded many Android games to avoid repetition, since we had already featured many of them in a previous article(which were also pretty lightweight). If you would like to check them out, here is it: 15 best games for Android. Thanks for reading.

Ubuntu One Files for iOS App Released

noreply@blogger.com (Manuel Jose) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:19:00 +0000

Canonical kicked off the new year in style. Ubuntu One client for Android and Windows platforms were released some months ago and finally the iOS version is also here. Ubuntu One is now a truly multi-platform cloud storage service like Dropbox for example.

Ubuntu One Files for iOS

Long awaited Ubuntu One Files app for iOS is now ready for download in the iTunes app store. Ubuntu One Files Android app has been downloaded hundreds and thousands of times already from Android Market and still enjoys a 4.4 rating. Hope the Ubuntu One Files iOS app also fares well in terms of quality and usefulness.

Download Ubuntu One Files for iOS from App Store

There is more. Ubuntu will be officially present at CES 2012, the world's largest consumer technology tradeshow, and will showcase Ubuntu One along with Ubuntu OS. All in all, it seems like 2012 is going to be a pretty busy year for Canonical and Ubuntu, for good.

Wikipedia Raises $20M, Will Continue to be the Only Major Website Funded by its Users

noreply@blogger.com (Manuel Jose) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:21:00 +0000

Remember those huge fundraising banners atop every Wikipedia page? Well, now it's gone, thanks to its loyal users from all across the globe who pitched in with whatever they can. Wikimedia Foundation has raised some 20 million USD during the fundraising drive, enough to meet most of its requirements for the year ahead.

Wikipedia Will Remain as the Only Major Website Entirely Supported by its Users

"We've taken down our fundraising banners, because we’ve hit our target", wrote Sue Gardner, Wikimedia Foundation's Executive Director, in a recent blog post.

"Over the past few months, more than one million people have come together from all over the world to keep Wikipedia and its sister sites alive and flourishing for another year." And that one million donations came from almost every country on the planet.

Wikimedia Foundation’s communications chief, Jay Walsh, wrote, "it is our most successful campaign ever, continuing an unbroken streak in which donations have risen every year since the campaigns began in 2003." The number of Wikimedia Foundation donors has increased ten-fold since 2008 and the total dollar amount raised in the campaign has risen to over $20 million from $4.5 million.

Funds raised in this campaign will be used to buy and install servers and other hardware, to develop new site functionality, expand mobile services, provide legal defense for the projects, and support the large global community of Wikimedia volunteers. The Wikimedia Foundation’s total 2011-12 planned spending is 28.3 million USD. The bulk of that is raised during the annual campaign and the remainder comes throughout the year in the form of grants from institutions (such as the Sloan Foundation) and many other small donations year round.

Wikimedia Foundation websites serve more than 470 million people every month. It is the only major website supported not by advertising, but by donations from readers, wrote Walsh.

ANewStart GNOME Shell Theme + AwOken Icons Theme = Pure Art!

noreply@blogger.com (Manuel Jose) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:49:00 +0000

GNOME Shell is a fast evolving platform and like Unity, it is both loved and loathed by its vast user base. But one thing I am so excited about GNOME Shell is its ever improving theme-ing capabilities. Third party GNOME Shell themes are pouring in and one such theme grabbed my attention like no other. ANewStart theme pack consists of both GTK 3.0 theme and GNOME Shell theme which makes it even more desirable. ANewStart GNOME Shell theme when used along with highly customizable Awoken icons theme is pure joy.

ANewStart GNOME Shell Theme + AwOken Icons Theme

Before getting started, here are some of the things you should have:

GNOME Tweak Tool is a must with User-Theme GNOME Shell extension installed.

GNOME Tweak Tool is in default Ubuntu repositories, just search for it in Ubuntu Software Center. Now, to install User-Theme GNOME Shell Extension, see instructions.

After installing both, launch GNOME Tweak Tool and goto Shell Extensions and set User Themes Extension you just installed to ON.

Done. Now lets get started with installation of themes.

How to Install ANewStart GNOME Shell Theme in Ubuntu 11.10?

Download ANewStart GNOME Shell theme.

Extarct the ZIP file and copy the extracted directory to /home/USERNAME/.themes directory. [Replace USERNAME with you-know-what]

Now, launch GNOME Tweak Tool and browse to Theme and choose ANewStart from Shell theme's drop down menu(as in the screenshot below).

Done. ANewStart GNOME Shell theme is now your default GNOME Shell Theme.

How to Install ANewStart GTK 3.0 Theme in Ubuntu 11.10?

Download ANewStart GNOME 3.0 theme pack.

Extract it and you will see that the extracted directory contains a whole lot of stuff ranging from Unity tweaks to Old version theme. But we don't need all that. Initially, select the first folder in that group whose file name starts with a "1" (without quotes).

You will see another directory with filename "ANewStart" (without quotes).

We need to copy this directory to /usr/share/themes/ folder (minus the "gnome-shell" directory since we already have installed ANewStart GNOME Shell theme using instructions above). And you have to open Nautilus as root to do that(Hit ALT + F2, type 'gksu nautilus' and give password when prompted).

After copying, /usr/share/themes/ANewStart/ directory should look like this.

Done. Now launch GNOME Tweak Tool and browse to Theme tab.

Do as illustrated in screenshot above.

How to Install AwOken Icons Theme in Ubuntu 11.10?

AwOken PPA is available. Simply do the following in Terminal to install AwOken.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:alecive/antigone
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install awoken-icon-theme

Done. AwOken Icons consists of 3 themes: AwOken, AwOken Dark & AwOken White. Use GNOME Tweak Tool yet again to choose the right one for you. I prefer customized AwOken Dark over the other two.

You can further use the AwOken customization script to unlock a whole gamut of options like different types of folders and colors. As you can see in our screenshots, I have been using a different folder type called 'Classy' with Ocean Blue color scheme.

Instructions on how to use AwOken customization script and other info.

Random Screenshots of my GNOME Shell Desktop in Ubuntu 11.10

Click on the images to see it in full size. Thanks for reading.

Aeon Nox 2.0 XBMC Theme Released, Looks Fantastic!

noreply@blogger.com (Manuel Jose) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 23:11:00 +0000

Many consider XBMC as one the finest, if not the best, media center application out there, which is also open source. Starting from the previous XBMC 10 'Dharma' release, XBMC started supporting add-ons officially which made it super easy to install third-party developed skins and apps for XBMC. Aeon Nox 2.0 was one such long awaited theme for XBMC and it is now available with the default XBMC 11 repositories.

Aeon Nox 2.0 XBMC Skin Released

Aeon Nox is one of the most popular XBMC skins out there and its version 2.0 was keenly awaited. Now that it is released and available in XBMC repositories, installing and testing of Aeon Nox 2.0 XBMC theme is a breeze.

Some of the listed changes include:

Everything in the main menu can now be customized through "Customize Main Menu" in the Home Window Options.

All sub-menu items can now be disabled or enabled.

Added custom sub-menu items for custom main menu items.

Added tooltip to indicate that there is a media menu on the left side of the screen. New home menu style 'Aura' added.

Redesigned Weather window and Next Aired window.

How to Install Latest XBMC 11.0 Eden Beta 1 in Ubuntu 11.10?

To install latest Aeon Nox 2.0 XBMC skin, you need to have latest XBMC 11.0 Eden beta 1 installed. Aeon Nox 2.0 is available in the default repositories of XBMC 11.0 Eden Beta.

Do the following in Terminal to install XBMC 11.0 Eden Beta 1 in Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc/unstable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xbmc

Done. Now launch XBMC 11.0 Beta.

How to Install Aeon Nox 2.0 Theme in XBMC?

Installation is rather easy since it is available in default XBMC repositories. Launch XBMC 11 and goto System - Settings.

Choose Addons from the sidebar menu.

And search for Aeon Nox.

You will be given an option to download Aeon Nox 2.0.

That's it. Now just choose the theme when downloading is finished.

Random Screenshots of XBMC 11 Running Aeon Nox 2.0

Thanks for reading and have a nice day.

Install Latest GNOME Shell 3.3.2 in Ubuntu 11.10 via PPA

noreply@blogger.com (Manuel Jose) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:55:00 +0000

Back in the old GNOME 2.0 days, Ricotz testing PPA was one of the first bastions of those who wanted to try out very early versions of GNOME Shell. Now that GNOME 3.0 is what Ubuntu 11.10 is based on makes Ricotz testing PPA even more useful. It lets you install bleeding edge snapshots of GNOME Shell in your Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot without much trouble. Learn how to install latest GNOME 3.3.2 in Ubuntu 11.10 via PPA.

IMPORTANT EDIT: It seems like a lot of you are finding issues while trying to follow the instructions. Just received a mail a Ricotz PPA owner briefing on the need for adding the following PPA as well for the proper working of it - ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3. Also, it is recommended that you read the full PPA description before getting started.

I still wonder why everything worked so smooth for me, even though I haven't added the gnome3-team PPA to my sources.list file. In fact, I did an entire post on GNOME Shell theming after upgrading to GNOME Shell 3.3.2 using Ricotz PPA. I am deeply sorry for the troubles, if any, this post might have caused.

GNOME Shell 3.3.2 in Ubuntu 11.10

Warning: What you get from Ricotz testing PPA are bleeding edge versions of GNOME Shell and it can become unstable at times.

My experience so far with GNOME Shell 3.3.2 in Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric has been really good. Every GNOME Shell extension I use and every GNOME Shell theme I ever installed are all working great.

But that doesn't guarantee anything. It might act weird on other hardwares. Simply speaking, you should know what you are doing.

How to Install GNOME Shell 3.3.2 in Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric via PPA?

Install GNOME Shell first(if you haven't already). Just search for GNOME Shell package in Ubuntu Software Center and install it.

OR Click here to install GNOME Shell in Ubuntu 11.10.

Now, simply copy-paste the following commands into Terminal.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ricotz/testing
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Done. Your GNOME Shell desktop in Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric will now be upgraded to latest GNOME Shell 3.3.2 version.

Having said that, upgrading to GNOME Shell 3.3.2 was not all smooth for me. After doing sudo apt-get upgrade in Terminal, I had to do a partial upgrade using Update Manager in Ubuntu since many updates were kept back.

How to Undo Everything You Just Did?

One word: PPA-Purge. Install PPA-Purge first and then Purge the Ricotz testing PPA for GNOME Shell using PPA-Purge. Just follow the commands below. [Warning: PPA-Purge may or may not work 100% satisfactorily. Do it at your own risk].

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge
sudo ppa-purge ppa:ricotz/testing

Done. Now that you have the latest GNOME Shell 3.3.2, learn the basic things to do after installing GNOME Shell in Ubuntu 11.10.

Top 10 Android Live Wallpapers for 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Manuel Jose) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 23:29:00 +0000

2011 has been an eventful year as far as Google's Android OS is concerned. Android is the fastest growing mobile phone platform right now adding some 700,000 new activations every single day. Following that trend is the exploding growth of apps for Android. Nearly 400,000 apps are already available in the Android Market which have been downloaded more than a billion times. Let's try and find out the best Android live wallpapers for 2011 among them.

Snowfall Live Wallpaper has been by default since this December. What makes it different from the rest is its simplicity and its compatibility with even the lower end Android devices. And of course, Snowfall Live Wallpaper looks pretty darn beautiful. A mush have for every Live Wallpaper enthusiast among you. Free version(with limited set of features) also available.

Install Snowfall Live Wallpaper from Android Market

Sun Rise Wallpaper has been a long time favorite of mine and it still remains so. This live wallpaper for Android features tree silhouette, on top of a morning sky background with soft cloud moving, birds flying, and rainbow appearing occasionally. With the full paid version, you can choose to have the rainbow appear while you receive an SMS. You can also choose how the birds can flock together to display a Good Morning message in the morning, which is a true delight to the eyes and senses. Free version also available.

Install Sun Rise Live Wallpaper from Android Market

Light Grid Pro is a simple live wallpaper which displays a grid of lights fading in and out. That 'fading in and out' effect gives your display an apparent 3D depth, which looks really pretty especially in dark light conditions. Free version live wallpaper available.

Install Light Grid Pro Live Wallpaper from Android Market

Season Zen HD live wallpaper has got perhaps the most stunning visuals among all the above featured live wallpapers. What makes it even more unique is its ability to automatically pan the camera back and forth. Free version Season Zen available albeit with a lot less features.

Install Season Zen HD Live Wallpaper from Android Market

Buggies! Live Wallpaper is a new comer to the Android Market with only a few thousand downloads. But its simple looks and interesting concept is already winning many hearts and minds. Don't under estimate this cute little live wallpaper based on the numbers. And of course the whole package is completely free, unlike all the top live wallpapers featured here so far.

Install Buggies! Live Wallpaper from Android Market

And then there is Koi Live Wallpaper. It was perhaps the first live wallpaper I ever installed in my Android device and it looked drop dead gorgeous at the time. The HD quality of this 3D live wallpaper still amazes me, so is its responsiveness. Koi Live Wallpaper is one Android app you just can't miss. Period. Koi free version available from the Android Market.

Install Koi Live Wallpaper from Android Market

Developed by the same people behind Koi live wallpaper, City at Night Live Wallpaper is a real stand out. It features moving clouds and streaks from the traffic enhance this beautiful long-exposure image of a city at night. No free version available unfortunately.

Install City at Night Live Wallpaper from Android Market

Celtic Garden live wallpaper is a real treat to your eyes. Animations are all smooth and it doesn't gobble up a sizable amount of resources either to work. Celtic Garden live wallpaper features a verdant animated Irish forest with a charming fountain in the center. The three-dimensional dynamic scene includes animated water, shamrocks, cascading sunlight etc. Not really tuned for landscape mode though(and hence the screenshot). Free version available.

Install Celtic Garden HD Live Wallpaper from Android Market

Mystic Halo is a cool Android 3.0 honeycomb-inspired live wallpaper that makes good use of abstract art. It is one of those wallpapers you wouldn't mind using on a daily basis. Again, not really tuned for landscape mode. Mystic Halo Free version available.

Install Mystic Halo Live Wallpaper from Android Market

Neon Gears Live Wallpaper is another promising new comer to Android Market. It looks very futuristic yet so simple at the same time. Neon Gears Free version is available but with very limited set of features(not even that Neon clock).

Install Neon Gears Live Wallpaper from Android Market

These are some of my favorite live wallpapers for Android. Of course there are plenty more out there. If you are not able to find your favorite Android live wallpaper in the above list, feel free to leave a comment. Phone used: Samsung Galaxy S2, Homescreen Launcher: LauncherPro, Version: Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread. New year wishes is advance to all of you!

MyUnity vs. Ubuntu Tweak 0.6: Two of the Finest Unity Tweak Tools Compared

noreply@blogger.com (Manuel Jose) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 13:47:00 +0000

One of the biggest complaints about both Unity and GNOME Shell desktop environments is the lack of easy customization options. Many third party apps are trying to fill that gap. MyUnity and the just released Ubuntu Tweak 0.6 are two of the finest tweak tools of Ubuntu Unity. But how does they fare against each other? Which one of them looks better integrated with Unity desktop? Let's find out. MyUnity vs Ubuntu Tweak 0.6, a comparison.

MyUnity - Unofficial Ubuntu Unity Configurator

One of the first things you notice about MyUnity tweak tool for Ubuntu is the fact that it looks and feels very much like a native Ubuntu application. It is designed to look like the slider you see when you install Ubuntu where you are taken for a quick tour through various Ubuntu features and applications while OS installation is going on.

Most elaborate Unity launcher related settings, all in one slide.

Dash is one of the highlights of Unity. Basic settings for Unity Dash included.

To install MyUnity in Ubuntu 11.10 via PPA, simply copy-paste the following commands into Terminal, one by one.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:myunity/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install myunity

Done. MyUnity is installed and ready to go.

Some other settings included in MyUnity tweak tool are the ones meant for setting panel transparency, selecting icons that should be shown on desktop, selecting fonts etc. Good bits apart, MyUnity is a fairly new application and has its fair share of rough edges. For example, in the Unity launcher settings slide, when I tried to change the 'behavior' of launcher to 'Avoid Window', it keeps resetting to 'Hidden' mode when I restart MyUnity. This happened more than once. Hope tiny bugs like these get squashed soon.

Ubuntu Tweak 0.6 Released

Unlike MyUnity, Ubuntu Tweak is a very popular Ubuntu application for many years now. Ubuntu Tweak 0.6 was just released and it is now better tuned for Ubuntu 11.10's Unity interface. Many of the tweaks I did for Ubuntu 11.10 can now be done easily using Ubuntu Tweak 0.6. As you can see above, Ubuntu Tweak's home screen displays all the essential hardware and software information you'll ever need.

Unity Settings is introduced in Ubuntu Tweak 0.6 for the first time. With Unity Settings, you can change the behavior of Launcher, the size of Launcher, the size of Dash, even the blur type of Dash in a few clicks. You don't need CCSM anymore to do any of these. Under the 'Desktop' menu, there is another 'Compiz Settings' option which lets you manage many of the Compiz tweaks for Ubuntu Unity that we featured sometime ago.

With Theme Settings, you can easily change the default theme of Ubuntu. You can manually choose the right GTK Theme, Icon Theme, Cursor theme, Window theme etc. Fonts settings is also there, if you want a larger or smaller sized format of the font.

Janitor is welcome addition to the latest iteration of Ubuntu Tweak. It lets you liberate tons of free disk space which otherwise might not have caught your attention.

And the best part is, Ubuntu Tweak is now well integrated with Unity Launcher.

To install latest Ubuntu Tweak 0.6, just do the following in Terminal.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tualatrix/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-tweak

Done. Ubuntu Tweak 0.6 is now installed in your Ubuntu.

It seems to me as clear as daylight that, MyUnity in its current form is not near as good or functional as Ubuntu Tweak 0.6. MyUnity covers only a subset of features that is currently offered in Ubuntu Tweak. Clearly, Ubuntu Tweak 0.6 is the Unity tweak tool to beat.

TSF Shell Pro 3D Android Launcher - Could This be the App That Sets Charts on Fire?

noreply@blogger.com (Manuel Jose) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 23:32:00 +0000

TSF Shell Pro 3D is an Android launcher still under construction. From the initial looks of it, TSF Shell Pro 3D could just be the most awesome Android Launcher to date. In our earlier review featuring top launchers for Android, we saw simple, lightweight launchers like Launcher Pro to high profile, flamboyant ones like SPB Shell 3D. But from what I have seen so far, nothing comes anywhere near to what TSF Shell 3D launcher has to offer.

TSF Shell Pro 3D Android Launcher Demo Video

Want to know why I am so excited about TSF Shell Pro 3D Launcher? Watch this.

And that's TSF Shell for you. If that ain't 'launcher on steroids', what is? And it's reportedly running on HTC Desire HD, not a very high end Android device when compared to peers like Samsung Galaxy S2, Galaxy Nexus or HTC Sensation. If it can run that smooth in an HTC Desire HD, TSF Shell 3D might not be that resource hungry after all. I just hope that TSF Shell 3D launcher see the light of the day soon enough. Good luck to the devs.

[Source: TSF Shell website, thanks to our reader Jason for the tip!]

Aakash: World's Cheapest Android Tablet Goes on Sale, Sold Out in No Time!

noreply@blogger.com (Manuel Jose) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Aakash is no iPad. It is cheap and specifications are not over the roof. But the kind of interest this little Android tablet has generated all over the world is nothing short of spectacular. With all the hype around, the most important thing as far as the Aakash Tablet manufacturers were concerned was the timely launch of the device. And they have delivered. Just around 2 months after the official announcement, Aakash tablet is now up for sale.

Aakash Tablet up for Sale!
India's ultra low-cost tablet has finally arrived. The 7" Android tablet was co-developed by Datawind and Indian Institute of Technology Rajasthan to aid the adoption of technology in rural India. Aakash tablet is an integral part of India's aim to link 25,000 colleges and 400 universities in an e-learning program with an ultimate production goal of millions of units.

Datawind has kept its promise and has launched Ubislate7 in India, and the student version is it named as the Aakash tablet. Following is what makes the launch even more interesting. The team of engineers at Datawind has come up with the upgraded version of the Aakash tablet. This upgraded version of Aakash is called Ubislate 7. See specifications below.

As you can see, UbiSlate 7 is a pretty huge upgrade from basic Aakash tablet. It sports a Cortex A8 700Mhz processor(about twice as much processing power), larger 3200 mAh battery and runs a hugely improved Android 2.3 Gingerbread version. UbiSlate 7 tablet can also work as a normal mobile phone with added SIM and GPRS functionality.

How Much Does it Cost?
Now the key question is, with all the added features and specifications how much does both these tablets cost? The base version of Aakash tablet cost Rs.2500 while the upgraded UbiSlate 7 tablet cost just Rs.2999. At current exchange rates, the respective prices will be something like US$47.63 and US$57.14 in dollar terms. So you are paying a little extra for a whole lot more. One hell of a deal in my opinion.

Moreover, the base version of Aakash tablet was sold out immediately after its launch, quite understandable given the kind of hype and attention this device received. Then there is the upgraded UbiSlate 7 tablet available for pre-order worldwide right now. Ubislate 7 is expected to be launched in late January 2012. You can check the availability of both these Android tablets at the official Aakash Tablet website.

Chrome 15 is Now the World's Most Popular Web Browser!

noreply@blogger.com (Manuel Jose) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:24:00 +0000

Stupendous rate of Google Chrome adoption is not news anymore. But this is a defining moment. According to latest StatCounter statistics, 23.6 percent of the browsers tracked by StatCounter were Chrome 15 during the last weeks of November. Microsoft's IE 8 accounted for 23.5 percent of web browser market share in the same period, which means, Google Chrome 15 overtook IE 8 to become world's most popular browser for the very first time.

Chrome 15 Beats IE 8 to Become World's Most Popular Browser
During the last few weeks of November, market share of Google Chrome 15 web browser inched towards the top for the very first time. According to StatCounter statistics, Google Chrome 15 accounted for 23.6 percent of web browser market share compared to IE 8's 23.5 percent share. Even though it is just a 0.1 percentage difference, this event marks a remarkable shift in the end-user preferences in terms of web browsers they use.

But when you add up all versions of IE and Chrome, IE is still the browser to beat with over 40 percent of the market share. Overall, Google Chrome's market share stands at 26.31 percent while that of Firefox's stood at 25.07. Even that is a remarkable feat when you consider the fact that Microsoft's IE held almost 90 percentage of the web browser market share till mid-2000s and Google Chrome was non-existent before 2008.

Country specific statistics is quite different though. In the US IE 8 continues to be the most popular browser version with 27.0 percent market share for week commencing 5th December compared to 18.1 percentage share of Chrome 15. However, in the UK Chrome 15 overtook IE8 in the week commencing November 7th. Last week (commencing 5th December) Chrome 15 had 24.7 percent share in the UK compared to IE8's 21.1 percent.

6 Best BURG Themes and How to Install BURG Themes in Ubuntu 11.10?

noreply@blogger.com (Manuel Jose) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:17:00 +0000

BURG is basically a boot loader for Linux based on GRUB. Burg has a highly configurable menu system which works in both text and graphic mode. Simply put, BURG can be extensively customized and there are a number of good quality BURG themes available all over the web for free. Lets find out the best among them and also see how to install BURG and the following BURG themes in Ubuntu 11.10.

Lightness BURG Theme by SWOriginal

Dark Shine BURG Theme by SWOriginal

Autumn BURG Theme

Abstract BURG Theme

Radiance BURG Theme by Shafin

Fortune BURG Theme by OrphanShadow

Super Boot Manager Lets You Install/Manage all the Above BURG Themes & More!

Many BURG themes listed above has specific scripts to install it as your default BURG theme. But Super Boot Manager has all the above themes listed in it and it is quite easy to install and change BURG themes in your Ubuntu 11.10 using Super Boot Manager.

Warning: Playing around with GRUB bootloader can be tricky and can sometimes cause irrecoverable damages, you should know what you are doing.

Lets install BURG in Ubuntu 11.10 first of all. Do the following in Terminal.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:n-muench/burg 
sudo apt-get update 
sudo apt-get install burg burg-themes

Done. Now install BURG to your MBR(Master Boot Record). Substitute 'hd0' with appropriate drive information in the following command if needed(you don't have to do that under normal circumstances).

sudo burg-install "(hd0)"

Now, update BURG.

sudo update-burg

There are some pre-installed BURG themes that comes with the package, you can test them and install them using the following command.

sudo burg-emu

F2 to browse through themes and F1 to see full list of options. Done.

Install Super Boot Manager in Ubuntu 11.10, Linux Mint 12

Do the following in Terminal.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ingalex/super-boot-manager 
sudo apt-get update 
sudo apt-get install super-boot-manager

Done. Now launch Super Boot Manager and select Burg Manager - Themes.

Select the theme you like and double click on it. That particular BURG theme will be automatically downloaded now. Apply the changes and you are done.

Theoretically speaking, this should work. But unfortunately, I had to use 'sudo burg-emu' command (from above) every time to change to the theme just downloaded using Super Boot Manager app. Good luck and thanks for reading.

Nightingale 1.8 - Preview of Highly Anticipated Songbird Fork Released!

noreply@blogger.com (Manuel Jose) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 21:25:00 +0000

Not so long ago, Songbird was one of the most loved music player app among Linux users. It all changed when Songbird developers decided to stop supporting Linux and concentrate on Mac and Windows platforms. But some hardcore Songbird users were not ready to give up yet. They forked the project and after more than an year of hard work, they have now released the first preview of Songbird fork named Nightingale music player.

Nightangale 1.8 Preview Release

In a recent blog post, Nightingale developers have announced the very first release of Nightingale music player for Linux and Windows platforms. Nightingale 1.8 is a developer preview release and is primarily meant for testing purposes.

Nightingale is here to first provide a solid, Mozilla based media player for Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X users, all under Open Source licenses.

Feature nascent but growing add-ons support.

Download Nightingale 1.8 Preview.

We wish all the very best to the project and people behind Nightingale music player. And we sincerely hope that the project will be able to garner support and wide spread adoption like Clementine Music Player did, which was a fork of much loved Amarok 1.4 music player.

2 Informative Linux Wallpapers You Should Have

noreply@blogger.com (Manuel Jose) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 12:10:00 +0000

Well, they are not really wallpapers in the stricter sense but anyway. While first image deals with an elaborate collection of useful Linux commands for beginners and experts alike, the second image gives you an idea on what Linux file structure looks like.

Wallpapers Depicting Useful Linux Commands and File Structure

Click on the image to see it in full size. Need more tools to educate yourself about the nitty gritties of Linux command line? Check out CLI Companion and Linux Bash Shell Cheat Sheet.

How to Put Files on Android Home Screen?

noreply@blogger.com (Manuel Jose) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:40:00 +0000

A friend of mine asked this question few days ago which I thought was just basic stuff(both of us were using Android 2.3.3 powered Samsung Galaxy S2 smartphone). I eventually came to realize that there is no easy way to do this. Following is what I did to put files on Android homescreen without much hiccup. Read on.

Put PDF Files, Images etc. in Android Homescreen

Install Astro File Manager from Android Market

Long press on home screen and browse to Shortcuts - ASTRO

Now, simply browse through your files and pick the file/files you want to display in your Android's homescreen.

For demonstration purposes, I have put two files on Android homescreen. One is a PDF file while the other one is an image. You can add folder to your homescreen(again by long pressing on homescreen and choosing the option Folders) and then drag-drop these files into it if you prefer an uncluttered homescreen.

Thanks to Android forums for the tip. If you happen to find an easier method to do this, please do let us know. Thanks for reading and have a nice day.

7 Music Player Apps for Android That Rock

noreply@blogger.com (Manuel Jose) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 09:37:00 +0000

Android Market is all over the news for the stupendous growth it managed to achieve in such a short span of time. Searching for the right applications in Android Market, with over 600,000+ apps already, is a classic needle-in-a-haystack problem. We have already pitched in to help you choose the right set of Siri alternatives and top launchers for Android from that burgeoning list of apps, now let's take a sneak peek into the best music player apps available for Android.

PowerAmp is undoubtedly my favorite music player app for Android so far. Nice and simple music player app that just works. Equalizer available with widest range of presets possible. Sound quality of my headphones and car audio(via AUX connection ie.) are remarkably better now, thanks to PowerAmp. Moreover, PowerAmp is available for free download and use for a 14 day trial period so that you can get a feel of fully functional PowerAmp before deciding on whether to buy it or not. An offer too hard to ignore I believe.

Install PowerAmp from Android Market

You probably must have heard about DeaDBeeF for Ubuntu by Alexey Yakovenko before. DeadBeeF music player for Android is his latest creation. Like its desktop counterpart, DeadBeeF for Android is simple, lightweight and fast and can play music formats of all kind, can play online radio(shoutcast) too. Free version of DeadBeeF is ad supported.

Install DeaDBeeF Player Pro from Android Market

PlayerPro music player is perhaps one of the most popular music player app for Android with over a million downloads already. It boasts of features like Mixable audio effects for Android 2.3 devices, Dolby and SRS sound effects for HTC devices equipped with HTC sound enhancement, home screen widgets, 14 stunning skins, lock screen widgets with a number of customization options and so on. Like PowerAmp, PlayerPro music player trial version is available for a 10 day free use. PlayerPro paid version is a standalone music player and hence you have to uninstall trial version if you intend to purchase it.

Install PlayerPro Trial version from Android Market

What makes Neutron Music Player different from the rest is its uniquely designed UI and 32-bit audio decoding/processing capability. Neutron is a comparatively new player in the market and is already getting wide accolades for its sound quality and several nice and intuitive UI design choices. Some of its features include lock screen/home screen widgets, clock mode, sleep timer, night UI mode with colorful audio visualization etc. Try Neutron trial version first.

Install Neutron Music Player from Android Market

With over half a million downloads, NRG Player is yet another popular music player for Android. Features include graphical equalizer with preset saving function, Last.fm scrobbling, App Widgets and lock screen etc. 10 day trial version of NRG Player is available.

Install NRG Player trial version from Android Market

UberMusic is a beautiful, highly skinnable music player for Android. It is designed by Federico Carnales, the same developer who created my favorite homescreen launcher for Android, LauncherPro. Free live wallpaper included that shows album art from your music collection. Some other interesting features include true shuffling that avoids playing the same song twice, minimalistic status bar that you can still swipe down to see your notifications, 6 different widget sizes(fully skinnable) and so on. No trial version available unfortunately.

Install UberMusic Player from Android Market

Mixzing might just be the most familiar name after PowerAmp when it comes to third party music player apps for Android. It has been downloaded more that 50 million times already which still is lower than PowerAmp's download estimates. Mixzing can display lyrics for millions of songs, automatically save playlist and can help you discover new music with spot-on recommendations. Mixzing has graphic equalizer for MP3, AAC/M4A and OGG files and lock-screen widget to control player while phone is locked as well.

Install Mixzing Music Player from Android Market

On a side note, if you are thinking about purchasing any of the music player apps listed above, as a matter of fact any app from Android Market, I will recommend you to wait for 2 more days. Applications from Android Market have been downloaded more than 10 billion times and Google is celebrating the occasion with a massive sale of popular applications at a pittance. Two more days to go and the application you intend to purchase might just appear for $0.10 sale in Android Market. Good luck and thanks for reading.

Android Market Celebrates 10 Billion App Downloads With $0.10 Sale of Top Apps

noreply@blogger.com (Manuel Jose) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 22:53:00 +0000

"One billion is a pretty big number by any measurement. However, when it’s describing the speed at which something is growing, it’s simply amazing," wrote Eric Chu, director of Android Developer Ecosystem, in a recent blog post. According to official Google statistics, 1 billion apps are being downloaded from Android Market every single month and the total tally now stands at a staggering 10 billion application downloads.

Android Market Crosses 10B Application Downloads
After almost 3 years since it was officially unveiled, applications downloads from Android Market crossed 10 billion mark for the very first time. To celebrate this event, Google has partnered with Android developers to give away top selling applications for a pittance for the next 10 days! The first set of apps for sale at 10 Cents each included Asphalt 6 HD, Color & Draw for Kids, Endomondo Sports Tracker Pro, Fieldrunners HD, Great Little War Game, Minecraft, Paper Camera, Sketchbook Mobile, Soundhound Infinity & Swiftkey X.

Second set of applications is already up and they include even more popular applications such as Fruit Ninja, Reckless Racing, Beautiful Widgets, Flick Golf, Read It Later Pro and so on. If you are an Android user, visit Android Market right now and get the apps you always wanted for an unbelievably low price of just $0.10.

Some of the applications I installed so far include Endomondo Sports Tracker Pro, Minecraft, Fieldrunners HD, Paper Camera among others. And I am already looking forward to installing Fruit Ninja, Beautiful Widgets, Read it Later Pro etc. from the second set of apps for Android on sale. Really good times to be an Android user, I guess.

Creative Ubuntu Unity TV Mockups You Must See

noreply@blogger.com (Manuel Jose) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:34:00 +0000

Among other big ticket announcements during recently concluded Ubuntu Developer Summit(UDS) was the news of Ubuntu Unity's foray into Mobile and TV space. This was an exciting development to everyone in the community and user-contributed design mockups have been pouring in ever since. We had featured a bunch of really interesting Unity Mobile mockups before, now it's the turn of Unity TV based design mockups and ideas.

Creative Ubuntu Unity TV Mockups by Ian Santopietro

Following Unity TV mockups were created by Ian Santopietro. His own descriptions for each one of those mockups have also also been included underneath respective images.

Just a simple login screen to let the system know which Ubuntu One account you want to use.

PINs would be completely optional, and off by default.

The Default home lens. It shows the last four things you watched/listened to, for quick access.

An example of a third-party lens; Netflix in this case. Here, it's showing me my Queue, but that would be up to the developer. Note the hint at additional content on the right.

You press a button on the remote, in which case you get some basic playback controls, as well as access to the dash.

Switching to the Apps lens, we see what apps would look like. Switching between apps isn't really necessary on a TV, so you can only have one app open at a time. BUT, but can have content playing (Music for instance).

Browse and comment on Ian's Unity TV Mockup photo album at Google+

World of Goo for Android Phones, Tablets Released!

noreply@blogger.com (Manuel Jose) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 22:31:00 +0000

We had informed you about the imminent arrival of award winning World of Goo puzzle game for Android based smartphones and tablets few weeks back. Now it's here and it is already getting some rave reviews from users and reviewers alike.

World of Goo for Android is Here!

World of Goo had been available in Ubuntu Software Center for a long time now and it is undoubtedly one of my favorite games to date.

Free demo version of World of Goo is available in Android Market so that you can test the game in your Android device before making the actual buy.

Check out this World of Goo preview video too, it's pretty awesome.

"Drag and drop living, squirming, talking, globs of goo to build structures, bridges, cannonballs, zeppelins, and giant tongues." Feel curious? Go ahead and try it out. World is Goo is definitely one among the must have games for Android.

Download World of Goo for Android

Install World of Goo from Android Market

Recommended Read:

Top 10 FPS Games for Linux

GO Ubuntu Unity Launcher Theme for Android