Microsoft (and Compaq) Ruins My Sleep

I cannot be anymore annoyed right now. I simply turn my one and only computer, Windows XP loads the desktop as usual, takes 10-15 minutes before you can actually use the computer (as usual), I sync my new iPhone I got yesterday (more on that later), and go on CNETTV, and guess what? It decides to crash! I wasn't to suprised, because I head Molly Wood go "blah blah-ah ah ah," so I assumed Firefox has crashed. But, then I can't move my cursor. Uh. Oh. So I had to force shut off the computer, big deal. Only, I realized, that unusually, the computer itself decides to NOT turn off. Ahhhhh! I realize now, less than 10 minutes later, that maybe the computer broke, because after a while, the frozen Windows screen turns white, and the fans stop working. Against my better judgement, and while I was going to wait for the battery to die (did I mention that this is a laptop?), I took out the battery, WHILE it was running.

All I can say is now... well... is that I am really shaken and frustrated. I feel the need to post this to vent and tell people my problem, but I wrote this whole post on an iPhone keyboard. Does anyone know how difficult it is to get any writing longer than a text message through an iPhone? Believe me. It is taking me forever to type this. It also really hurts your hand.

Now I might have to think about getting a new computer. I mean, I wanted to buy a MacBook, but not because of this. I only made a small backup, now I lost possibly most of my documents, my music, my pictures, and I have to redownload my podcasts. At least I have my iPhone to comfort me...

I'll try to post during this ordeal, but an iPhone just doesn't cut it for posting. I'll hope you'll understand...

Apple Announces Updated MacBook and MacBook Pros

Apple today has announced updated models of their MacBook and MacBook Pro line of notebooks. I happen to be very excited about this as I plan to buy a MacBook, and now I can see that they are getting better as I wait. This is also good for some people who like Linux, strangely enough. Some people, particularly people from the Full Circle Magazine, have said that sticking Ubuntu on a MacBook is actually a great buy than, let's say, a System76 laptop. Now, if I buy I a Mac, I don't plan on sticking Ubuntu on it (or I might, who knows?), but if I get a Mac, I probably stick Ubuntu on my PC again, even though I had trouble getting it to work properly.

Anyway, I am excited that they made the MacBook and MacBook Pro a more attractive deal to consumers.

My Review of Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon

Ubuntu is an extremely popular Linux distribution. As usual, the servers got clogged with traffic from all the users trying to download Ubuntu all at once. After letting my Ubuntu installation sit for a while, I decide to write a review of it now.

The latest release at the time of this post is Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon, released on October 18, 2007. This release introduced some new features. Compiz Fusion was enabled by default, which is a major step up from the previous release, Feisty Fawn, which included these Desktop Effects that were working for the most part fine, but did not perform all that well at times. While you were able to install Beryl, an ancestor of Compiz Fusion, you didn't get that experience out of the box. Now with Ubuntu 7.10, you can enjoy that experience out of the box, provided that you have a capable computer for Compiz Fusion to run on. That brings me to another feature. It will detect what your current computer setup is, and either leave the settings enabled, or disable Compiz Fusion altogether.

Besides that, the usual updated software was available. It included OpenOffice.org 2.3, Firefox 2.0, GNOME 2.20, KDE 3.5.8, and Linux 2.6.22. It featured an integrated desktop search tool that could remotely remind you of Apple's Spotlight search tool in Mac OS X. This new release makes it easier to get proprietary codecs to get your mp3 files working, but they also customize Firefox to allow you to either choose from Adobe's Flash Player for Linux, or Gnash, a free and open source plugin designed to play Flash files, like YouTube videos.

If you like to use the Canonical commercial repositories in previous releases, you'll be happy to know that the commercial repository has been renamed the partner repository. It includes the usual Opera, RealPlayer, etc. However, Canonical recently partnered with Parallels to bring you Parallels Workstation for Linux, at a cost.

However, I did find some downsides when I tried to use it on my laptop. This is really specific to my laptop, a Compaq Presario v3020US, so your results may vary. The Wi-Fi works right out of the box, thanks to my laptop have a Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG wireless card, which works in most of the major distributions. My sound, however, did not work at all out of the box, and to this day, I still don't know why. Other Linux distributions like Fedora, Mandriva, and Arch Linux have no trouble with my sound card, why Ubuntu. Apparently this is a bug with the ALSA sound system, and will hopefully be fixed in the next release, Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron.

All in all, I actually really love Ubuntu. It does a pretty good job with doing stuff I like to do. Your results may vary though. Try it out for yourself. You can get Ubuntu at http://www.ubuntu.com/, however, you must download an ISO file which is about 700MB in size. With my cable connection, the download still took me about 15 to 20 minutes. That will be slower with a DSL connection. If you have a dial-up connection, well, start the download when you go to bed, and hope you have it in the morning. You can also order free Ubuntu CDs from http://shipit.ubuntu.com/, but that will take about 6-10 weeks. If you don't mind paying a little bit (less than $15), you can order it from Amazon. You help the Ubuntu community (and this blog ahem), by purchasing a DVD that contains the Live CD and the alternate installer for you advanced Ubuntu-lovers out there.


Get Ubuntu DVD from Amazon

Get Kubuntu DVD from Amazon

A Great Collaboration Between Microsoft And Novell - And Free USB Flash Drives For Us

http://moreinterop.com/collaboration/

The link above gives you more information about the relationship between Microsoft and Novell. Also is your chance to get a free 2GB USB flash drive bracelet. I am pretty excited as mine will show up in a few days... Cool!

The USB bracelet is supposed to have information about their relationship. Let's see about that when the key arrives by mail!

UPDATE: Fixed title. I misspelled Microsoft. I spelled it as "Microosft."

New iPod Shuffles At A New Price

Apple has today announced that their iPod shuffles, previously at $79 US, are now priced at only $49 US. A new model with 2 GB, as opposed to the 1GB model, is coming soon at a price of, get this, only $69 US. That's pretty amazing. Now the bar of entry has been lowered to an amazing deal. Sure you can probably get other mp3 players for a similar, maybe even less amount, but people who have a limited budget can enjoy the iPod name and the integration with the iTunes software and the iTunes Store. However, if you have bought an iPod shuffle less than 14 days ago, to the best of my knowledge, there is a price protection guarantee at the Apple Retail Store. So bring your receipt to your local Apple Retail Store and ask about it. I have heard that you can get some of your money back, so let's see how that goes...

Their marketing is so good, I even want one now. The thing is, I already have an iPod...

Thunderbird - A Program Which Is Awesome

If you have used Firefox for a time, you may have heard that the same people who make Firefox also make an application called Thunderbird. You may be wondering, "What is Thunderbird?" Thunderbird is an E-Mail client that is on your desktop, similar to Outlook, Outlook Express, or Apple Mail. It is not like web mail clients. What I mean by that is that you do not log on to your GMail account, or whatever email account you have, on your browser, you have a dedicated application that handles your E-Mail, your RSS feeds, and your Contacts. I admit that I was initially a little bit weary of actually handing all of my E-Mail to an application, but I think the benefits outweigh the risks. I actually like the fact that Thunderbird logs on to my GMail account, and downloads my E-Mail to my computer. It was very helpful, especially when I went on a road trip to North Carolina. Obviously I did not have Internet access, but I had my downloaded E-Mails on my computer, ready for my reading.

I also use Thunderbird for RSS feeds, like my blog (hint hint), and some of my favorite blogs. I also use it to check out some podcasts, even though I primarily use iTunes for that. I also use Thunderbird to do some calender stuff with the Lightning extension for Thunderbird. It enables Thunderbird to keep track of calenders and the like. I really enjoy that. Yes, Thunderbird, like Firefox, is customizable with extensions and themes.

Overall, I like Thunderbird. You can get today, for Free by the way, at http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/.

My Frustration With Apple Keyboards

I plan on buying a keyboard from Apple. They make very pretty keyboards. They changed the keyboards a few months ago, and they are really pretty. However, I find something wrong with the wireless version of this keyboard. They insist that if you want a wireless keyboard, then you also want a smaller keyboard. While I can understand the idea, they should have included an option to get a full-size wireless keyboard. The reason? I really like having a numeric keypad, as well as bigger keys. I have a desk that makes it difficult and a little unpractical to use a wired keyboard.

I guess I'll have to buy the older wireless keyboard from Apple, which is full-sized. Or, I will have to buy the Microsoft keyboard for Mac. If you ask me, I think Microsoft makes the best keyboards.

Two Great Extensions For Mozilla Firefox

Firefox is a great web browser. Not only is it free, secure, open-source, and cross-platform, but is also extensible. You can extend its functionality through extensions, or you can change the appearance of themes. I have two extensions for Firefox that I want to share with you. Themes are really a personal opinion. If you ask me, I prefer no theme. So here is the list of two of my favorite extensions for Firefox.

DownThemAll is a great extension for Firefox that adds a download manager capability to your browser. Sure, it comes with downloading capapbilities, but this actually lets you pause some downlods, and even possibly speed up some downloads as well. Keep in mind, though, that using DownThemAll, or any download manager for that matter, may make some severs angry, causing them to not serve the download at all. In that case, use the normal way of downloading. Such a great download manager, built right into Firefox! Amazing...

The Google Toolbar is a neat extension that lets me use Gmail as my default E-Mail provider and lets me use Google Docs to open Word or OpenDocument files from the Internet. There is a lot more features jam-packed into this extension, but you really have to try this out yourself...

Those are my favorite extensions to Firefox, what about you? What are your favorite extensions?

Ubuntu Presentation

Today, I gave ap presentation about Ubuntu, an extremely popular Linux distribution. I inserted a LiveCD into a computer running Windows, and booted it up. Soon after I saw the pretty desktop on all three screens. The three screens consist of the monitor attached to the computer, and two projectors that duplicate whatever is on the monitor.

The presentation did not come without its problems, though. The Ubuntu 7.10 disc decided not to work, but we had a spare 6.10 disc. Even though that release was more than a year old, it still was basically similar for presentation purposes. It turns out everyone liked it, and I had plenty of fun. Maybe I'll have to do it again sometime.

A person I know wanted me to give her the current releases of Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and Xubuntu 7.10. The good thing is that I can burn her some Ubuntu discs and give it to her without worrying about software licensing and piracy. She also borrowed the disc I used in the presentation, but she really needs to try out the current releases. She will be happy when I give those to her.

Maybe you have presented something to a group of people. If you haven't, try doing a presentation about Ubuntu, or something else, like open-source software for Mac or Windows. Or maybe you can talk about something you actually like. It's your choice...

A New 32GB iPod Touch Available!

I received an E-Mail about the new 32GB iPod Touch. It seems like that it would be about time for the new size model. There doesn't seem to be anything else different, though. It costs a mere $499 US. They are now available.

UPDATE: Apple has also released the iPhone in a 16GB model for $499 US.

People at Grand Central Froze!

I was watching this video of people at Grand Central just freezing! Just watch the YouTube video. You'll know what I mean...

A Neat Little Suprise - OpenSolaris Starter Kit

Today, I just got something called the "OpenSolaris Starter Kit." I've been waiting forever to get this kit. I got a warm feeling inside, like getting a present from the mail. If you do not know what OpenSolaris is, I'll give you a brief explanation. OpenSolaris is the result of the company Sun Microsystems, making the bulk of one of their core products open-source. That product was the Solaris operating system, based on Unix System V. OpenSolaris is completely free of charge. You can get it from http://www.opensolaris.org/.

Now, I'll briefly explain to you the starter kit. The starter kit is mainly for developers who want to develop applications for Solaris. The kit is comprised of two DVDs. The first DVD contains Learning Materials, some LiveCDs (a way for you to boot and use an operating system straight from the CD), and the OpenSolaris source code. The second DVD contains something which I still don't quite understand what it is: the Solaris Express Community Edition. I'll check this out as I go along in the coming weeks. You can check it out at http://www.opensolaris.org/.