Tomorrow morning, I'm giving a talk/tutorial at the IT360 Conference in Toronto. The subject is getting a Linux notebook (or laptop, if you prefer) to do it all

MPlayer is a pretty powerful tool for processing video files. It has a built-in command line option that will export specified movie frames to a GIF. Such a feature seems like it would make the guide I'm presenting here obsolete, but the problem with the feature is that the resultant GIF looks terrible: too few colors.

In GNOME 2.22, included in Ubuntu 8.04, the default Metacity window manager has compositing built in. This means that you can get your eye candy effects without switching window managers!

Ubuntu users, Firefox 3 beta 5 (3b5) has reached Hardy’s repositories.
To be able to install the extensions that are not supported by this version of firefox, here’s what you must do to bypass it:

Imagine the next time you are trying reading a great list of Ubuntu programs. One of them catches your eye, and you want to try it. Instead of either using Add/Remove or opening a terminal to install the program, you simply click a link. A message box pops up asking you if you want to install the program, and then you enter your password.

"I am happy to report, that the 0.8 release of Lightning and Sunbird has been completed and is now available via AMO and the Calendar Project website. Five months after the 0.7 release we are again one step closer to our 1.0 release, which we hope to release at the end of 2008..."

During Clinton’s successful 1992 campaign James Carville hung a sign in in their headquarters with the following three points: 1. Change vs. more of the same; 2. The economy, stupid; 3. Don’t forget health care. He was attempting to counter Clinton’s inclination to offer solutions to any and every topic he encountered.