Techman's World...in 3D!

So recently I was using Ubuntu on my dad's computer, and decided to load my site on Firefox. You see, if you didn't know, my computer is not so good. It is 6 years old. It has lived its days....

But anyways, I was using Firefox's web inspector, and decided to tour Techman's World in 3D.

Go ahead and soak up the image below :). Click to enlarge it, because is small to fit in the blog post.

 Oh, and this was in Intel Graphics. Cool isn' t it?

Something I really do call funny

Hello all, today I want to show you a really funny TV ad. If you live in the States, you might now a few of the latest DirecTV ads. This one of them. If this does not make you laugh, I don't know what will.


So go ahead and make your self feel better by watching the video below.

WARNING: Funny content below!!!

Windows 8 and Malware Protection

Microsoft's newest upcoming operating system, Windows 8, is said to contain more security features, making it harder for malware to infect the system, says these reports (1) (2).



For instance, one difference between Windows 7 and 8 is including more exploit-mitigation technologies. In that regard, two programs, the Windows Heap Manager and Windows Kernel Pool Allocator will make it far harder for attackers to exploit buffer-overflow vulnerabilities.



A sandbox

There will be a 'security sandbox' for Windows 8. This more restrictive security sandbox will contain the new Windows 8 Apps. This is a mechanism to prevent programs from performing disruptive actions.

App Container
The new App Container provides the operating system with a way to make more fine-grained decisions on what actions certain applications can perform. All apps run with extremely low privileges and have limited access to resources.


Measured Boot

There will be a measured boot. In Windows 8, Microsoft will put in a new boot process signature whereby there is a signature of the entire boot process and stored in the TPM chip in order to prevent malware from infecting the system.



Windows Defender

An update to Windows Defender will be in Windows 8. Instead of it being a spyware/adware program, it is a full-blown anti virus. The interface is questionable, it looks just like Microsoft Security Essentials on Windows XP, Vista, and 7.

Internet Explorer 10

The new version of IE 10 will be put into Windows 8. All tabs and IE processes are isolated from one another. Something in tab 1 couldn’t tamper with tab 2 or capture any of the data.



While these security features do sound good, we won't know how good they are until Windows 8 is under the wrath of malware authors.



Source: Everything-Microsoft

Blogger drops support for Opera Desktop 12

While using Opera, I was looking at my website to test Disqus 2012 compatibility again (which by the way Disqus 2012 support really did improve), and decided to make a new blog post about Linus Torvalds.


After going to my blogger homepage, I got an alert at the top of my browser telling me that Blogger no longer supports Opera, and then provided a link to Google Chrome. It also said that any errors from here on out will not be addressed.


Ah well. I'll try to surf the Blogger help docs and embed a support page if I find one.


In the mean time, here is a screenshot:

Linus Torvalds Speaks on 'Why is Linux not competitive on desktop?'

A few days, when Linus was at a conference in Finland, he did more things then flip off and drop an F-BOMB on NVIDIA, he also answered other questions and gave his opinion on other things.


In the video below, Linus was asked why Linux was not competitive on the desktop. He answers this question below.

600 Posts of Techman's World

Hello all, today Techman's World has reached yet another milestone...the 600th post (this post is actually post 601).

Through this series of posts, Techman's World has gone though many updates, most notable is the nuking of the navbar (my admin tools are at the bottom of the page now), and the removal of the Welcome bar, and replaced with my page bar. I have also added a Techman's World about page, so now everyone can see the history of Techman's World.

Thanks to everyone for visiting Techman's World; I appreciate it.

How to temporarily fix a nasty GStreamer bug in Ubuntu

I do not know if you are facing the same problem, but there is a nasty (but not overly serious, no security risk or anything like that) bug in the GStreamer that is affecting Ubuntu 12.04, but also other Linux distributions.

This bug breaks playback for certain videos with certain encodings.

Don't worry, I found a fix that works, for now.

This fix comes from fellow Linux user Flavio. He initially posted the fix here. Copy and paste everything in the terminal as ONE line, do not break up the code for your system type into two different commands.

For 32 bit (x86) systems:

sudo mv /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/gstreamer-0.10/libgstvideoparsersbad.so /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/gstreamer-0.10/libgstvideoparsersbad.so.bak

For 64 bit (x86-64) systems:
sudo mv /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gstreamer-0.10/libgstvideoparsersbad.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gstreamer-0.10/libgstvideoparsersbad.so.bak

Here is the bug report below Update-iframe is not working, so it is hidden. Click here to see the bug report.

Want to help Bryan Lunduke with donations?

Hello all. If people have been following my blog recently, I have wrote about a man named Brian Lunduke. This man is brave -- he is open sourcing all of his software, and he is going to rely entirely off of donations. There is a small problem, though. Donations are starting to drop off, and quickly. Most are due to failed payments (not enough $$$ in their PayPal accounts).

I wanted to go ahead and post here to help spread the word. Like I said, he is taking a BOLD move by doing what he is doing.

So I ask you to at least take a look at the following pages below. If you can, please donate to him. I have, I bought his Illumination Software Creator visual app development tool before it went open source. You can still buy it at radicalbreeze.com, but you can also grab the source code for free.

So take a look at the following two blog posts below. I really hope you can help this man.

The PS Blog demos their new Racing Wheel

During its E3 press conference, Sony sneaked out news of a racing wheel attachment for the PlayStation Move, which looks like something superstitious aliens would use to find ground water (really, people questioned its looks).


In the below video, SCEA Research and Development's Anton Mikhailov details all the features that aren't necessarily evident from looking at the thing, like a series of additional rumble motors, etc. I don't want to spoil the video, so go ahead and take a look at the video below.

Adobe confirms it won't support Flash on Android 4.1, stops new Flash installs from Google Play on August 15th

Last fall, Adobe announced that it would be dropping support for mobile flash. In fact, they made this very loud and clear. If you didn't know when, or had your doubts, Adobe just drew the line. 


Android 4.1 won't ever get certification for Flash. The company is stopping short of saying that Flash won't run, but it's evident that Adobe won't help you if the web browser plugin doesn't install (or breaks in spectacular fashion) on that new Ice Cream Sandwich 4.1 device.


To spice things up, Adobe is pulling the plug on new downloads of the plugin on August 15th. Don't worry, if you are an existing user, you will continue to get security fixes and bug fixes. From that point forward, though, no one else can get the plugin from the Play store. You'll have to go to Adobe to download the outdated versions of flash (or the one last updated before Adobe pulls the plug on Flash in the Play store).


The company had already said that HTML5 was the way forward on phones and tablets; now we know for sure that they are putting their money where their mouth is (so to speak).

Microsoft reportedly plans Windows 8 upgrades all the way from XP

Microsoft has been promising a cheap-and-cheerful upgrade path to Windows 8 for those who buy new PCs, but what about that five-year-old PC in the basement? Not many people know what is Microsoft is going to do.


Today I hope to answer some of your questions.


If Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet is right, the upgrade path will go further back..all the way to XP SP3. 


Although upgraders will still want Windows 7 if they need to carry over absolutely everything, tipsters claim that settings can transfer from releases as old as Windows Vista SP1. Those with older (XP SP3) machines will be able to bring over personal files, but not settings (which should sorta be expected).


As for Windows 7 folks, the same upgrade rules still apply. You still have to buy the same version of Windows 8 as Windows 7 - meaning that you cannot jump from Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 8 Professional. You also can't jump code base either, so you cannot jump to 32 bit to 64 bit, and vice versa, without doing a full clean install.


The extra-long olive branch will be slightly unusual for Microsoft if it's confirmed, but then the company is also trying to move along a user base that in some cases has clung to XP for more than a decade. Redmond is no doubt eager to get rid of our dependency issues.


(Keep in mind though that what I said about Windows 7 is still true, it was the same thing for Vista to 7 upgrades)

Ubuntu 12.10 Alpha 2 Released

The second alpha has been released in the Ubuntu 12.10 development cycle. People who are wanting some new features implemented are going to disappointed; most changes are under the hood right now.


There are a handful of updated packages – including Firefox, LibreOffice and Ubuntu One – bringing some minor features/UI changes. Like I said before, though, most changes are under the hood.

Before you get happy, let me warn you. Alpha releases should be considered UNSTABLE, and you should not run this on real production hardware. Alpha releases are also intended for developers. Alpha releases should be taken for a spin in a safe virtual machine. Oracle VM VirtualBox is a great virtual machine program to use.

Google sends Chromebooks to some Best Buy and Dixons stores, starting today

Google is getting more serious about spreading around the Chromebooks. At its day two I/O keynote, it just revealed that the Chrome OS laptops are in 100 Best Buy retail stores across the US, effective today. 


People in the UK are also getting Chromebook love at its Dixon stores.


Not much details are out right now. An example is that we don't know what models are going to be shipped, although the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook (latest model) is front and center.


Let me know of your thoughts below.

YouTube Vita App is out Now!

Remember when I said that the YouTube app was coming to the Vita, and you had to wait about a month (I think)? Well that wait is over, in today's PlayStation Store update in the US, the PS Blog wrote about the app now being available in the PS Vita's store.


With the new YouTube app, you can watch millions upon millions of YouTube videos on the stunning 5" OLED screen. This app also takes advantage of 3G, so if you have a 3G Vita with a subscription to AT&T, you can watch videos over mobile 3G as well.

• Here are the key features:
• Recommended Videos: Displays videos recommended from YouTube
• Search: Search for videos by typing a keyword
• Viewing History : Displays the most recent videos you’ve viewed
• Add to Favorites: Displays a list of videos you’ve added to your Favorites list. You must be signed into your account to add a video to your Favorites.

Videos will be viewable in two modes – full screen and small screen. In Full Screen mode, a control panel will be displayed on the screen, which will allow you to easily expand or minimize videos. Additionally, an HD button will appear when playing high definition (up to 720p) videos. Simply tap on the HD button to switch from HD to SD.

In Small Screen mode, you’ll be able to view a video, while having access to the Like or Dislike buttons, Suggested Videos, Comments and Information.

NOTE: Youtube’s Terms of Service, Privacy Policy and Community Guideline will apply when using this application. These terms can be viewed on Youtube’s website or from “Option” > “Settings” > “Terms and Privacy Policy” in the application.

Site Update

Hello everyone. Today I have a sorta mild update to the site. I replaced my clunky welcome bar with a page bar at the top of the page. Here you'll see all of my current pages, before the pages were only accessed via a link. The Home tab is for the blog, the Software page is for my software that I have made and choose to share to the public, the Mobile tab is a link to the mobile version of my site, and the About Techman's World is about Techman's World. That page is still being updated, so right now you'll see no text except (Page still being updated).

I am excited about this. Please let me know of your feedback below.

Update: I have added some info the the About Techman's World page. I have no comments on that page right now, though. I don't think this is a good idea for a page like that. Anyone can tell me otherwise in the comments below :).

Bing Maps gets another 165TB of satellite images

Many people Google has an edge on Bing. I'd be glad to say that Bing is catching up fast, especially on their maps service.


Bing Maps' aerial image library just got another 165TB worth of hi-res data that covers an additional 38 million square kilometers of the globe. To put that in perspective, Microsoft's mapping solution previously had but 129TB worth of such eye-in-the-sky imagery, so this new batch of satellite shots more than doubles your viewing pleasure.


Take a look at the source link for more info. Source: Bing Maps Blog

ASUS Quietly Launches New Ubuntu 12.04 Netbook

A new ASUS eePC netbook has crept its way into the wild, and a little under the radar. This little netbook is going to be powered by Ubuntu.


This isn't all -- it is one of only a handful of devices on the market to use the third generation of Intel’s Atom Processor, codenamed ‘Cedar Trail’.


The 32nm Cedar Trail chip has reduced power consumption, faster memory speeds, and integrated HD decoding (my guess is that it has better Intel graphics).


Below is the specs. This is an in iframe. Update: I had to remove the iframe because the ASUS page made my page page redirect to theirs. This is odd. Click here to see the full, detailed specs.

• 11.6″ screen at 1366 x 768 resolution.
• 1.6Ghz Intel Atom N2600 or 1.86Ghz Intel Atom N2800
• 2GB of RAM
• 320GB or 500GB HDD
• 0.3MP Web cam
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet
• USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports
• VGA and HDMI ports
• Audio jack
• 3 & 6 cell batteries giving up to 9 hours of life
• Ubuntu 12.04

ASUS has offered other Ubuntu PCs/Netbooks before. This is another of their netbook offerings.

Google: Chromebooks now serve web-happy students in over 500 European, US school districts

I don't know what you think about Chromebooks, but school districts in the US and Europe have caught on to the web-centric devices.


Over 500 school districts across Europe and the US are currently deploying the Google-powered laptops for learning the web way. Specialized web app packs and that a leasing model are already keeping the material relevant and the hardware evergreen, but new certification for US ready-for-college criteria will go a long way towards making sure principals everywhere take a shine to Chrome OS in the future. Most school districts are still on the Windows and Mac route, though. I also saw that some districts and governments overseas are adopting Ubuntu, but haven't really seen anything in the US.

The Evolution of Mario

Found this pic attached to an Engadget comment, thought I would share it with you, the community.

I for one loved to play Super Mario Sunshine on the GameCube.

Facebook is changing your email address on your account, here is how to fix it

You might have heard from other sources on the web that Facebook is changing your email address on your account, but it is not as serious or scary as it sounds. I'm going to tell you how to fix it, and give you some backstory/news.


What happened is that the email address(es) displayed on your Facebook are no longer there, replaced by Facebook's in house email address for you.


Your Facebook email address consists of whatever is at the end of your Facebook URL slapped in front of @facebook.com. (An example is facebook.com/{your profile name}.)


This can be quite annoying, as now email sent to that address will show up in your Facebook inbox, and not your normal email's inbox.


Now that you understand the somewhat bad news better, here are two good pieces of news: Facebook didn't alter the default address on your account, meaning that the social network's whacky system only altered what is visible on your profile. And you can change your profile back to normal pretty easily.



All you have to do is open up your profile page (hit the "About" button under your personal info), scroll down to the "Contact Info" box, and hit the "Edit" button. There you can toggle who can see which email address and whether it is displayed on your Timeline or not. 


If you're not a fan of receiving your email in your Facebook inbox, I suggest hiding that address and simply making the one you favor visible.


Why did this happen?
MSNBC reached out to facebook, and this is their response:

As we announced back in April, we’ve been updating addresses on Facebook to make them consistent across our site.

In addition to everyone receiving an address, we’re also rolling out a new setting that gives people the choice to decide which addresses they want to show on their timelines.

Ever since the launch of timeline, people have had the ability to control what posts they want to show or hide on their own timelines, and today we’re extending that to other information they post, starting with the Facebook address.

The spokesperson did not explain why users did not receive any sort of notice when their profiles started displaying a different email address. Of course MSNBC asked that.

Microsoft Blocked Access to Free Software Charity Site, Dub it ‘Gambling’

This one shakes my head. But read on....


Whether this is an error or out of intent, Microsoft have been blocking access to the Free Software Foundation‘s donation form on corporate systems using the company’s Security Networking program.


The ‘block’, which will only have affected a small number of people, was put in place after Microsoft’s Reputation Service judged it to be a ‘gambling site’.


Most people are saying the following: Seriously?!.


I know hiccups do happen, the blocking of a fully registered nonprofit charity that has been around for almost 30 years does seem, in all fairness, to be ridiculous --  to say the least.


On the bright side....

The free software foundation is getting plenty of press about this, and this is spreading their name and their goals. 

PS3 System Software Update (v4.20) coming tomorrow

According to the PS Blog US, a new system software update version 4.20 will be released for the PS3. This update comes after the recently release 4.10 update (that I forgot to cover, it must have been a little under the radar).



4.10 improved performance for the already existing PS3 Wireless Stereo Headphones, specifically the ability to hear your own voice in multiplayer games (sidetone as it is called).



Based on your comments at the PS Blog, system software update (v4.20) will improve sidetone audio performance by giving you the option to select one out of five levels for microphone audio, or turn the feature off completely.


For those of you who use the Wireless Stereo Headset to watch Blu-ray or DVD movies on your PS3, this system software update will also enable virtual surround sound functionality, giving you a superior audio experience.



Also in the coming update is the to to set the amount of time that the system will wait before turning itself off automatically for [Video/TV/Music/Photo] and for [Game/Other Features], and you will now be able to select multiple saved data items and delete or copy them as a group.



I'll post an update tomorrow when the firmware goes live, so stay tuned.

Intel Publishes Ivy Bridge Programming Documentation

Intel has very quietly pushed out their Ivy Bridge graphics programming documentation and register specifications on Friday. This Ivy Bridge graphics core programming documentation spans 17 files spread across three volumes and 2,468 pages of technical details concerning their latest-generation graphics.

While Intel has a large team of developers within their Open-Source Technology Center working on their open-source Linux graphics driver, they continue to produce very detailed programming documentation for the public. These documents cover the key registers for their hardware and other information to benefit anyone wishing to get into low-level graphics driver programming or just wanting to better understand how Intel's latest graphics core works.

Intel is considered to be the best Linux friendly hardware vendor, contributing to open source at every chance they get.

Intel has put out documentation on their graphics chips for several generations now and they just did so for Ivy Bridge. The Ivy Bridge processors have been available since April, and the open-source Linux code for the graphics driver has been available for more than a year, but they finally received permission to do the public drop of their programming documentation.

This Intel HD Graphics Open Source Programmer’s Reference Manual (PRM) describes the architectural behavior and programming environment of the Ivy Bridge chipset family. The Graphics Controller (GC) contains an extensive set of registers and instructions for configuration, 2D, 3D, and video systems. The PRM describes the register, instruction, and memory interfaces, and the device behaviors as controlled and observed through those interfaces. The PRM also describes the registers and instructions, and provides detailed bit/field descriptions.

This documentation appears to be rather complete from the initial look through it this morning. There's just under 2,500 pages of information spanning 17 PDF files. The graphics core is covered including the MMIO registers, memory interface, render engine, blitter engine, and video codec engine command streamer. There's also coverage on the GT interface register, L3 cache and URB, 3D media pipeline, media and general purpose pipeline, multi-format transcoder, VGA registers, PCI registers, north/south display engines, message gateway, and execution unit ISA

Intel's documentation is available for unrestricted download here. Source: Phoronix

Microsoft Surface FAIL during presentation.

Ah, Microsoft, we love you...for your screw ups.

 And what do you know...IE caused the tablet to lock up.

My favorite Techno Artist: 009 Sound System

I am not sure if people remember or not about the posts I first posted when I first founded Techman's World in December of 2011. By the way, I was excited about making this blog, I had been working on getting one a few months before Techman's World was created.


Anyways, I talked about my favorite anti virus, favorite PlayStation podcast, and so on.


I am a geek. Very obvious. I have a technology centered life and website. I do listen to other types of music, such as old school rap (anyone know Slick Rick?), some rock, the 80's (I love the disco era, good music came out of that era), the 90's (in general), and very minor 40's. Bing Crosby's Swinging on a Star ring a bell to anyone?


Those music genres have multiple artists that fill up the genre. There are many artists in Techno/Electronic Music, but I only really listen to one artists (or project if that's the way you look at it) -- the 009 Sound System.


I love every song that has ever come out of the 009 Sound System, a first for me anyways.


009 Sound System was created by Alexander Perls. He has a field/career in music. His Wiki is below. (More content after the iframe)



I am a fan of his old style of 009 Sound System music (the original 009 Sound System album is an example), and his new style singles. I have taken the latest singles and made it into an album, called 009 Sound System New Singles for my personal liking.


One of 009 Sound System's songs "Dreamscape" has even been declared YouTube's national anthem by its community, because that song is in a lot of videos. I suggest you look into 009 Sound System if you are a fan of Electronic music/Techno, or just want to try something new.


By the way, does anyone want me to do more feature's of my personal likings?

Slight Site Change - New WebKit Scroll Bars

Hello readers, if you have not noticed already, a new scroll bar is being added to the site. No longer will you be seeing your systems default scroll bar, it is now replaced with a custom one, just for this site.


How? Through CSS, of course! I am a web developer.


Currently, I am testing it. If you have feature improvements, please let me know.


Like I said, the scroll bars are for Webkit only, and so far tested for Chrome. I'll work on Gecko scroll bars next, and IE and Opera are at the end of my list.


I do not know if a user's installed extensions that give custom scroll bars will override mine that are set using CSS. If they do, then ah well :).


Feel free to post your own CSS below, I will take it and test it in an offline webpage, and if I like it, I'll add it to the site, and make a post featuring you to give you credit :).

Just made some new software: Ubuntu Popular Package Installer

Hello fellow readers. Earlier today (about 1 PM EST) I fired up Illumination Software Creator (made by Brian Lunduke, it just went open source), and decided that I was going to build something today.


Well... I did.


I created the Ubuntu Popular Package Installer. Well, it is not really a installer, per se, but it does initiate shell scripts to install popular packages for Ubuntu. Currently you can install the Ubuntu Restricted Extras, Synaptic, GDebi, WINE (but you have to add the update PPA first, I'll fix this later tonight), and a few desktop environments.


You have to run the software as root, because like I already said it does allow you to install software.


I have more on this in my read me on my Techman's World Software directory. You can click the link to go to the Ubuntu Popular Package Installer, or go to my Techman's World: Software page, where you can see all of my uploaded Python Software.


If it is not already obvious, this is meant for Ubuntu, and does not work on Windows or Mac for obvious reasons. This is only tested using Ubuntu, so I do not know if this works for Debian - I'm not going to find out either (I only use Ubuntu), but a community member can correct me if they wish.


I encourage anyone and everyone to try this out, as I made it for the community, not just for me.


Let me know of your thoughts below, and on the software page as well.

Google Readies Retina Display Support for Chrome

Work on tailoring Google Chrome’s appearance to support the high pixel-density of Apple’s new ‘Retina Display’ MacBook Pro has begun.


Google’s Nico Weber, writing on the Chrome blog, explains that the company are ‘committed to polishing Chrome until it shines on that machine.’ Basic high resolution support in Chrome is already available to users of the Canary channel.


The new high res MacBook became very popular, so orders have been delayed due to demand. This might give the Chrome team a little bit more time. Don't know for sure, though.


Here is a nice little pic showing off the high-res improvements.

Let me know of your thoughts below.

Linus Torvalds (creator of Linux) to NVIDIA: F*ck You!

Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux kernel, as opened up many cans on numerous people and distros, but this one definitely stands out. And for the obvious reasons - obviously.

Linus goes on to say in an event in his native Finland that NVIDIA is "The single worst company" that they work with.

NVIDIA does have a history of Linux. They are most notible for making graphics cards, but they are also in the ARM mobile space, making the Tegra series of processors.

Here is a snippet from Wired. They wrote an excellent article.:

"Late last week, during an event in his native Finland, Torvalds went so far as to hurl an expletive at the chipmaker and flip it the proverbial bird, and when we contacted the company about this on Monday, it could not be reached to comment. But the company has now responded with a brief statement that seeks to explain why it doesn’t work to include its Linux hardware drivers in the core open source code for the OS.
Basically, the company prefers to offer its own proprietary drivers for running its graphics hardware with Linux, rather than rolling driver code into the Linux kernel. “While we understand that some people would prefer us to provide detailed documentation on all of our GPU internals, or be more active in Linux kernel community development discussions, we have made a decision to support Linux on our GPUs by leveraging Nvidia common code, rather than the Linux common infrastructure,” reads a canned statement from Nvidia. “While this may not please everyone, it does allow us to provide the most consistent GPU experience to our customers, regardless of platform or operating system.”

WARNING: Potentially Inappropriate Content Below!!!

This is a video of when Linus dropped the F-BOMB, and the shot the bird at NVIDIA. What is the most funniest is when the rest of the crowd laughed after he said what he said.

I recommend you check out the full Wired article, because it covers this alot more in detail.

UPDATE: And here is nice wallpaper :)

Feel free the post a comment below.

Microsoft confirms no upgrade path to Windows Phone 8, unveils 7.8 for legacy devices

Devices currently running on Windows Phone 7.5 will not be on the receiving end of the long-awaited Windows Phone 8.

Smartphones currently running Mango (7.5) are not at the end of the road, though. There is going to be at least one more release -- Windows Phone 7.8.

It's long been speculated that the reason Microsoft would want to restrict WP8 to new phones is primarily due to improvements in hardware support and the change in platform architecture, and this conjecture appears to be right on the money.

So here's the plan to ensure current Windows Phone users stay happy: a few software benefits will be included in WP8, and a hearty helping of these killer features (such as the new Start screen) will be available to legacy devices in the form of Windows Phone 7.8. There'll be support for three tile sizes, with the smallest being fingertip size (a quarter of the standard square). The update will be delivered directly to users, sidestepping carriers, and can be done over WiFi.

While Microsoft was keen to announce that 7.x apps will run on Windows Phone 8, ZDNet has just confirmed, via a statement from Redmond, that apps built for the new platform won't be backwards compatible:

"New applications compiled specifically for Windows Phone 8 will not be made available for Windows Phone 7.x devices."

What are your thoughts on this?

Source: Engadget

Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified Box Art

A few weeks ago, Sony announced that there was going to be a Call of Duty title coming to the Vita. We now know that it is going to be called "Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified."

Recently, the box art has been released as well as some information.

While this game is still not yet rated, is is most likely going to be M rated, like other COD games.

 Declassified is going to be an original story taking place in the Black Ops world. Built for on-the-go gamers, this Call of Duty will feature both a single player mode and multiplayer, a staple in the series

[Heads up to PS Nation for the information]

Ubuntu Dell Laptops Go on Sale in India

Dell computers preloaded with Ubuntu are being rolled out to 850 retail stores across India.


The move is the latest in a string of retail manoeuvres by Canonical and Dell, having arrived in 220 store across China late last year. That figure has now risen to 350.


Similar to the Chinese roll out, the stores will have Ubuntu branding, training and support to help show the benefits of Ubuntu to the public.


To kick off the arrival, Dell will be offering its Inspiron 14R and 15R laptops, with further models to com later this year. The sales start June 21st.


This incursion into India matches up with Canonical’s expectation that Ubuntu will ship on 5% of all PCs worldwide next year.


Canonical’s CEO, Jane Silber, who’s in New Delhi for  the Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network event, had this to say about the announcement:

"A founding principle of Ubuntu is to make computing more accessible. By working with Dell to bring these machines to market, we’re providing millions of people with the opportunity of an affordable, high-quality computing experience – in some cases, for the first time.”

It’s expected that Ubuntu retail availability will be extended to additional territories before the year is out.

Google Chrome Frame is now enabled on this site.

Hello all. Today I have a slight site change put into effect, and this time it is for Google Chrome Frame. If you do not know what that is, I suggest you go here.

Google Chrome Frame is a plugin for IE6 and up that allows you to use the new web technologies, as well as bring Chrome's speedy rendering engines to Internet Explorer. My site never really shined in IE, it did better in webkit and Gecko browsers. Well now if you have Chrome Frame installed, the site will now render in Chrome Frame. This is real good, as you will now be able to experience this site at its best. If you had some "funky" issues with IE, that is due to it being IE, and its lack of compliant standards. IE9 is a great improvement over IE8, but it is still not there yet. I have seen that IE10 is also getting good, but I'll have to see after Windows 8 comes out and IE10 is released to Windows 7.

The good part about Chrome Frame is that it does not replace IE's rendering engines, it is triggered manually by the site itself. So existing sites made for IE will not break with this plugin installed.

Chrome Frame keeps updated along with Chrome by using its Google Update process.

So if you are a web developer, insert the following meta tag to enable Chrome Frame, replacing the brackets with angle brackets (< and >):
[meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="chrome=1"]

Let me know of your feedback below if you use Google Chrome Frame.

Disqus 2012 Released to the Public!

It is finally here! Disqus 2012 is released to the public. It was in public beta for a month now, but now it is officially out. Disqus did a big post about it on their blog, so here is their blog post below.


I am using Disqus 2012 on my site right now, actually for about 3 weeks now. I have been gathering feedback on it, so far so good. I'm still waiting for media embed support and CSS support.

Here is the post below.

Add Movie Review Search to the Ubuntu Dash

Want to know of a movie is worth watching? A new scope for Ubuntu’s Unity Dash aims to make finding the answer to that question super easy.


If you are looking for reviews for movies, this is for you, as I already have mentioned earlier.


This lens/scope is fresh out of the development press, and is good to get. Its search is powered by Rotten Tomatoes.

Rotten Tomatoes is one of the webs leading movie review sites and is famous overall for delivering a ‘fresh’ or ‘rotten’ rating based on the opinion of leading and professional movie critics.


Oddly, for a scope built around data from Rotten Tomatoes, search results do not display the ‘freshness rating’ for which the site is famed. Instead it offers up the average star rating based on user-submitted reviews.

Usually, user reviews are taken to be more considered by users on the site than the professional reviews. Does this really matter? Not really.

Install Movie Review Scope in Ubuntu 12.04

Since this scope/lens is new, it is not yet in the Ubuntu Software Center. Don't worry, I'll tell you how to get this.

It can be installed, along with the ’Utilities Lens’ is needs so that it can display data in the Dash, from the Scope Packagers PPA.

The PPA be added by entering the following command in a new Terminal window, or by manually adding the part in bold to your Software Sources.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:scopes-packagers/ppa

After adding you can install the Scope and Lens by running:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install unity-lens-utilities unity-scope-rottentomatoes


Once installed, you have to log out and then log back in to refresh the dash with the new lens/scope.


If you give the lens a try be sure to leave your critical opinion of how ‘fresh’ or ‘rotten’ it is in the comment space below.


Via: OMG! Ubuntu!

Opera 12 Released

A new version of the Opera Web Browser has been released. It has a number of new features in tow.


These include a new theming system, support for 64bit processors, and HTML5 drag ‘n’ drop.


In keeping with its competitors the URL bar has also become ‘smarter’. It now displays a drop-down list of search suggestions and snippets of already visited pages when entering a search term. Cool, right?

Image Credit: OMG! Ubuntu!

The new themeing system is a big feature in this release. Unlike Firefox or Google Chrome, themes are applied to the entire Opera window – window border and all. The online theme catalog already boasts some 350 themes -and counting.


Ubuntu users taking advantage of themeing should note that it will result in Opera using right-sided non-system window controls. Better off warning you now if you are thinking of trying the new custom themes.

Image Credit: OMG! Ubuntu!

Hardware accelerating and WebGL support are also in this release, but it is not enabled by default. To enable it, ead into opera:config to enable it.


Here is some additional features:

• Webcam support
• Support for the Do Not Track header
• CSS3 Animations and Transitions
• Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (Cors) Support
• Improved language support

To install Opera, head to their website.

Source: OMG! Ubuntu!

Verizon's Share Everything data plans go live June 28th

Verizon has been talking about shared data plans for a while now, and now it is finally coming. Share Everything, as it's called, starts off with the assumption you'll want unlimited voice and messages and then bolts on shared data along with a maximum of 10 individual devices: a core plan starts at $50 per month for 1GB of data and requires that you tack on $40 a month for every smartphone, $30 for basic phones, $20 for hotspots and $10 for tablets. 


Of course, Verizon will gladly let you pay for more data if you need it, up to $100 for a common pool of 10GB. The price is a bit stiff to say the least, but it also includes tethering or hotspot creation support on any device in the mix. 


The new plans will be ready on June 28th.


What are your thoughts on this?

Metro-style Hotmail turns up in leaked screenshots

Lately, Microsoft has been Metro happy as some people say. Recently, Bing got a metro makeover. You can test it out right now actually. This time around, Hotmail is next in line for a Metro redesign. If a set of leaked screenshots obtained by WinFuture are any indication, however, it looks like the nearly sixteen-year-old email service could soon be getting one of its biggest redesigns to date. As you'd expect, it all looks very Metro, but also very unfinished, with a number of features reportedly still missing or not working properly. Of course, there's no indication when or if it'll actually roll out to the millions of Hotmail users (though the Windows 8 launch would provide a convenient fit), but there's plenty more screenshots where this one came from at the source link below.


Source: WinFuture

Dropbox confirms Galaxy S III on AT&T and Verizon won't include 50GB storage

If that extra Dropbox storage helped swing the Galaxy S III pendulum in your favor, and you happen to be using Verizon or AT&T as your cellular provider, I have some bad news to deliver. Droid Life reports that one such expectant customer was asking Dropbox, via its forums, where their storage was. The cloud-space provider informed them that not all carriers are offering the deal, with those two big hitters being among them. This is further confirmed elsewhere on its support pages.


Source: Droid Life, Dropbox

Fanless Linux Mint PC Goes on Sale

 A few weeks ago, I wrote about a new Linux Mint mini PC coming out. Now it is being officially announced. Two models of the MintBox are available: a basic version with less RAM and a slower CPU/GPU combo, and a faster ‘Pro’ model in a stylized case. Linux Mint has been working with computer manufacturer CompuLab since late last year to bring Linux Mint to market on a range of energy efficient and fanless devices. 

MintBoxes

These little machines are sold from CompuLab, as stated earlier. The MintBox is a rebranded version of CompuLab's Fit-PC3 line.

Standard features across the two models includes:

• 250GB HDD
• 8x USB ports (4 front-facing, 4 rear facing)
• Dual-head display HDMI plus DisplayPort
• Digital audio
• Ethernet
• WiFi and Bluetooth (with dual antennas)
• 2 eSATA ports

  Here are the differences:

Mint Basic:

• APU G-T40N (1.0 GHz dual core + Radeon HD 6290
• 4GB RAM
• Flat metal case

 Mint Pro:

• APU G-T56N (1.65 GHz dual core + Radeon HD 6320
• 8GB RAM
• Ribbed metal case

What Mint Gets out of this

Even though the Mint PCs are not made by Mint, they do get a small cut from every purchase. They get a whopping 10% from every sale.

And this is not disappointing the Linux Mint team either.

“We’re passionate about what we do and for our very first Mint device, we wanted something unique, something special and extraordinary,” says Linux Mint lead Clement Lefebvre in his announcement.

 The Price

The MintBox Basic will set you back a cool $476 (excluding shipping costs, import duty & VAT). The ribbed ‘Pro’ model comes in a bit higher at $549 (excluding shipping costs, import duty & VAT). 

Compulab typically sell the devices direct to industry (hence their super-strong casings) so whilst the MintBox marks a change in target audience and availability, the price, comparatively, doesn’t.

More information, as well as order details, can be found on the Compulab website @ fit-pc.com/web/purchase/order-direct-mintbox/

Source: OMG! Ubuntu!