Google Chrome 21 stable release adds Retina MacBook Pro support, webcam use without plugins

The latest Chrome release is now out for grabs. This release is an important one, especially for Mac users. This release finally brings the long awaited (6 weeks) Retina display support, because the old Chrome with its normal resolution looked terrible (you could actually see the pixels).

How to restore Unity's notification system after installing XFCE 4 on Ubuntu 12.04

If you install XFCE 4 (apt-get install xfce4) on Ubuntu 12.04, you might notice that XFCE replaces Unity/GNOME's notification system with one of their own. The change is system wide, so this change also happens when you are in Unity or in a GNOME desktop environment.

Stallman Calls Valve Games on Linux ‘Unethical’

We know it was coming. When Valve said that they were coming to Linux, everyone was waiting for one of the founding fathers of the free software movement to weigh in.

Apple rumoured to be “turning the screws on operators”

Apple, who is currently being beat by Android in the mobile space, might be fighting back, but in a somewhat dirty way.


It is now being rumored that Apple is pressuring carriers that provide the iPhone to do more things on their part, instead of Apple doing all the work.



According to MobileToday, Apple is asking carriers to provide greater financial support for advertising the next iPhone. One carrier said: ‘It wants to put the onus on operators to support the iPhone.’

Has the Ubuntu 12.04 GRUB2 Background Image changed?

If you are a user of Ubuntu, maybe you can help me here. Yesterday after installing updates for Ubuntu 12.04 32 bit, I got a new splash screen image for GRUB2. Now if you usually pay attention to GRUB, you would know that the usually splash screen is purple, like the purple is when the splash screen loads (shown above).

Science Rules! Bill Nye hints at possible ‘Science Guy’ return

Here is a picture of Bill Nye
himself

If you are a "science guy" like I am, you probably know about the 90's television series "Bill Nye the Science Guy." If you were ever hoping for a possible revival of the very popular tv series, you just might be in luck. Nye is giving his fans a hint of a possible revival of the show.



Answering questions on Friday in a Reddit forum, Nye was asked if he would ever consider doing new episodes of the show.

System76 Back to School Offer

Popular Ubuntu computer company System76 has just some out with a new deal for people looking for a good deal on a computer when going back to school.

If you are looking into their laptops, then you are in luck. Right now they are offering a FREE upgrade to a 500GB 7200 RPM Hybrid Drive (with 4 GB SSD), OR a free upgrade to the 750 GB 7200 RPM hard drive.

For now, I do not know how long this is going to last, but I suggest you jump in on this if you can.

700 Posts of Techman's World

Once again, Techman's World has reached another milestone -- the 700th post. Over these series of articles, my logo got a nice change (not the one above in the article, the one at the very top of the page), done by a very generous community member (who used GIMP -- which is open source!). I also have added my own Reddit (which you can use to submit new articles/sources that are talking about news that I didn't talk about at my website), and I even now have my own IRC Chat Room, where you can chat with other geeks like you, or just hang in there and watch any conversations (though I must warn you, there is not very many users using this).

I don't know how long I have been investing time in this by the hour, but I would surely say it is a lot. This site was started back in December of 2011, and it has matured since then.

If you didn't already know, I wish to turn this site into a company of some sort one day. Feedback that was given to me has helped me greatly; and feedback has really changed this site for the better.

So, what I mean is that I am giving each and every one of you a big thank you. If it wasn't for all of you, I don't know how my site would be today.

And again, you can always be a good friend and get the word out for my site. I always have my arms open to welcome new visitors...and potential community regulars. As Techman's World grows (still rather slowly) bigger, I always keep in my head how all of you have helped to make it as good as it is today.

So once again, thank you for visiting Techman's World!

SnapChick Releases Two New Videos Talking about Shotwell and GIMP

Professional photographer SnapChick has released two new videos talking about Ubuntu. More recently, she has been talking about the software part of the Gazelle Professional (Ubuntu), and going over some of her most popular apps that she uses.

In the videos below, she gives her thoughts on both GIMP, and Shotwell. Shotwell is installed by default with Ubuntu, and GIMP is just a one click download from the Ubuntu Software Center.

For more videos of SnapChick going over the Gazelle Professional, go over to this page I did a few weeks earlier. That page I did will also be updated for these videos, as it seems that that page is now the hub for all of this.

So without taking up more of your reading power, the two videos are below. I know I was kinda late on this (the videos came out two days ago), but as they say "better late then never," right?

SnapChick uses GIMP on Ubuntu



SnapChick uses Shotwell on Ubuntu 

 If you can, please let me know of your thoughts below.

Windows 8 is not awesome either according to a Blizzard Exec

It seems that everyone is not very happy at Windows 8 right now. Previously Valve had their own things to say about Windows 8, and today Blizzard Exec Rob Pardo has some thoughts as well.

 

So far it seems that not everyone is as excited as Microsoft is on its new operating system. Of course, we'll have to see how the launch and adoption rates go.

Ubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3 Arrives

The third alpha release of Ubuntu 12.10 is now ready for download. There is some bug fixes, along with some visual improvements.

Various user-visible changes are present, including a new Session Menu, refined Software Updater and 3rd party driver installer. Ubuntu 12.10 final is scheduled for release on October 18th. The first beta is expected on September 6th.

MIcrosoft Releasing New Office Web Apps Preview

If you are a user of Microsoft's Office Web Apps, you might have noticed a little alert asking you if you want to join the preview of the new versions of the Office Web Apps.

Well for the sake of telling you, I went ahead and opted in. Let me go ahead and talk about it.

First off, the new apps have a very metro look. You can see by the look at this document I uploaded about a year and a half ago. Just about every aspect of the interface is Metro like, from the options panel to the left, to the top bar and bottom bars on the top and bottom of the screen.

 Below is the same image, with the settings out.

 You can also opt in and out of the preview, all you have to do is visit this page. A screenshot of the image is below if you want to take a look.

The same metro tastes are in all of the other web apps. The whole new set of web apps will most likely have the same metro tastes of their desktop counterparts in Office 2013. For now, the apps are still in beta. There is some bugs in the code still, as you can see below. My PowerPoint on Verbs had some sound introduced in a few slides, and it could not play automatically like it does in PowerPoint for desktop (or for me, I mostly just use LibreOffice).

Editing documents in the new web apps are pretty simple. You can do the same edits from the browser as the old ones. Although I'm pretty sure some new features are going to be added, the biggest part of this while switch is getting used to this new interface; it might take some time to get used to if you do not use metro a lot or don't know about it very well.

If you do not know what Metro is, it is the new mobile/desktop interface Microsoft is putting into Windows 8. As a result, many Microsoft apps are also being redesigned to incorporate this new interface.

You can submit feedback on these new web apps if you like; you can do that from the file menu. If you have any thoughts, let me know of them in the comments section below.

Bryan Lunduke's RadicalBreeze.com website got hacked, your personal info might have leaked out

If you know who Bryan Lunduke is, or know about Illumination Software Creator and bought it recently, your info might have leaked out. His website, radicalbreeze.com, has been hacked via code injection.

New Share Options Coming to You!

Everyone knows that sharing is caring, right? Well, Blogger's native system for sharing posts was very limited, and only offered you to share 5 ways. For two days now, I have added a new share widget to the area after every article, where the "Something wrong with article?" widget is. Currently the widget has 20's of 30's of ways to share, so I hope you all like it.

Blogger still has its old interface, but it is going away in the coming months

While loading up the Blogger Dashboard (to make a new post, which turned out to be this one), I decided to revert back to the old interface, just to see how it was like, because I upgraded to the new interface and never looked back.

Well when I did, the old interface was still intact. Previously Blogger stated that the old interface was going away in April, but apparently they extended it for a lot longer.

More info on the Nuketown 2025 bonus map

Users of Call of Duty: Black Ops have been seeing some notifications in the bottom left corner of their screens while playing multiplayer online, and it was talking about a bonus map for those who pre-ordered Black Ops 2. That map folks was Nuketown 2025.

'Terminal' Map coming to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

An old fan-favorite map, Terminal from MW2, will be coming to MW3 in August.

MotorStorm, SOCOM, Eye of Judgment Legends servers going away in October

Users of MotorStorm: Pacific Rift and Arctic Edge, and SOCOM Fireteam Bravo 3 will have some bad news. Servers that provide online play for these games will be going away soon, according to the PlayStation UK website.

Google Fiber gets formal launch, Fiber TV is also now launced

Does any one remember that Google project to get fiber internet to Kansas City? Well it is there, and now there is a formal launch, which also includes Google Fiber TV.

Valve's Gabe Newell says 'Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone', and more

Big daddy at Valve, Gabe Newell, had some very interesting points to say at Casual Connect conference, including the the quote above in the title.


He made a rare appearance at the conference actually.


Newell has spent 13 years working on Windows, and besides video games he is not know that much.



Valve is not only a game developer, producing megahits like Portal 2, it owns and operates Steam, which is the largest consumer-focused digital games distribution platform in the industry. By some measures, it may be valued at $3 billion.


Last night, at a dinner sponsored by Covert & Co., Google Ventures and Perkins Coie, Newell unveiled some of his most quirky and secretive projects in an interview onstage with Ed Fries, former VP of game publishing at Microsoft.


Newell, who has a desk on wheels to check out all of the companies projects, had a hard time putting what he thought about Microsoft and Apple moving into their closed ecosystems. At one point, he even lamented that his presentation skills aren't up to speed because Valve isn’t a public company.


Below are some responses Newell had on some of the questions/topics that were asked.



Open vs Closed Source Platforms

“In order for innovation to happen, a bunch of things that aren’t happening on closed platforms need to occur. Valve wouldn’t exist today without the PC, or Epic, or Zynga, or Google. They all wouldn’t have existed without the openness of the platform. There’s a strong tempation to close the platform, because they look at what they can accomplish when they limit the competitors’ access to the platform, and they say ‘That’s really exciting.’”
“We are looking at the platform and saying, ‘We’ve been a free rider, and we’ve been able to benefit from everything that went into PCs and the Internet, and we have to continue to figure out how there will be open platforms."


Valve and Linux

“The big problem that is holding back Linux is games. People don’t realize how critical games are in driving consumer purchasing behavior.


We want to make it as easy as possible for the 2,500 games on Steam to run on Linux as well. It’s a hedging strategy. I think Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space. I think we’ll lose some of the top-tier PC/OEMs, who will exit the market. I think margins will be destroyed for a bunch of people. If that’s true, then it will be good to have alternatives to hedge against that eventuality."


If you didn't know already, Valve is in the plans of porting Steam over to Ubuntu, giving Linux a taste of mainstream gaming. When this happens, Windows users will no longer be required to use that platform, because now they would have choices. Steam for Linux is already in the works, with Valve hiring some Linux engineers and people along those lines.

How To: Gather Details About Your Browser Real Quickly

The Support Details Logo when you are not
hovered and hovered over the logo.

Sometimes you need to gather info about your web browser. Normally, people would have to manually try to find out their IP, JavaScript status, Adobe Flash status, and so on. These details might not seem much for some people, but they do mean something for web developers and people who make products that are based to run in most web browsers, such as commenting systems.

Microsoft Account Changes Arrive for Windows Live Users

While logging into Windows Live (to use the awesome Unity web apps integration), I ran into something really interesting. Remember a few months ago when Microsoft announced it was merging all of its account systems into one unified system -- the Microsoft Account?

Well it is finally coming for Windows Live users. When you visit a login page for Windows Live (I just used mail.live.com as an example), you will now get a refreshed screen. In addition, you will get some new metro like styling to the login page, probably to fit into its upcoming Windows 8 operating system.

A New Anti -Virus Using Linux to Wipe Off Windows Malware is Raising Thousands of Dollars on Kickstarter

On KickStarter is a new project aimed at helping with the removal of viruses. This new project is called JumpShot. With this software, you can remove viruses while they are inactive and just sitting on the hard disk/solid state drive/(insert storage medium here).


One of the main reasons why this project is getting so much love is that it secretly uses Linux as the backend. It actually uses a specialized version of the Linux kernel.


Jumpshot is currently on Kickstarter, as stated before. While initial goal was $25k, it has raised over $75k and 49 days are still left in campaign.

Firefox 15 beta boasts support for Opus audio format, reduces add-on memory leaks

If you love your browser extensions, but can't stand the memory it takes up (referring to memory leaks)? Well, Firefox users will have something to look forward to in the next upcoming Firefox release.

According to Mozilla's Hacks blog, the browser's latest beta should patch up the majority of memory leaks gushing from Firefox add-ons.

In addition is the beta's support for Opus, a free audio format partially supported by Mozilla. The firm hopes competing browsers will pick up the format as well, calling it "as good or better than basically all existing lossy codecs." The blog makes quite a case for the format, citing tests and bitrate information, going as far as giving instructions on embedding Opus players in web pages.

You can find out more information at the source links.

Source: Mozilla Hacks (1) (2) 

UCLA creates transparent solar cell

Are you not a fan of Solar Panels because they are eyesores and can take up a large amount of space? Well, meet the new transparent solar panel.

Illumination Software Creator 5.0 Beta 2 has arrived

Illumination Software Creator, Bryan Lunduke's visual app development tool, has hit 5.0 beta 2. Beta 2 has a few bug fixes, and some hints to some new features.

Samsung denied a second time, Galaxy Tab ban stands

You can blame Samsung for trying, but once again Samsung has been denied the appeal of the pending ban on of its Galaxy Tab products.

How To: Install Ubuntu's New Web Apps Integration (and more info about it)

If you didn't know, Ubuntu 12.10 is going to have a new Web Apps feature that allows web apps to integrate with the Ubuntu desktop, such as notifications. This is already going to be a feature in 12.10, but right now you can install this on 12.10 (still in Alpha stages I believe), and in 12.04 LTS.

Microsoft code contains the phrase 'big boobs' ... Yes, really

This picture is just for laughs. In real life,
kids should never even come near this
magazine. This is one way kids turn out
bad when they grow up. 

As professional as Microsoft is, you wouldn't expect to see this. Well, it wan't Microsoft as a whole, but you should get what I mean.


A engineer working for Microsoft thought it would be funny to slip (most likely) sexist remark -- "big boobs" -- into software code that connects the Linux kernel to Microsoft's HyperV virtualization product. Some found that his mishap was totally inappropriate in the world of business, and on the flip side, people found this seriously funny.

DirecTV and Viacom make a deal, brings MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and the rest back on air

Users of DirecTV satellite TV service will be able to breath a sign of relief today, because a deal between Viacom and DirecTV has been reached.


For the past week or so, Viacom and DirecTV have been in a "disagreement" to say the least; Viacom was demanding more money (1 billion) for the exact same channels, and DirecTV just wasn't going to take sitting down. What happened is that DirecTV didn't agree, and so Viacom's channels were pulled off of DirecTV's lineup. Most users were not upset at this, and instead were supporting DirecTV's move.

Microsoft Windows 8 will be available on October 26th

Its official: Microsoft has announced when Windows 8 will be released to the public. Microsoft’s Windows head Steven Sinofsky just announced that Windows 8 will officially be available on October 26th, 2012.


CEO Sinofsky made the announcement at Microsoft’s annual sales meeting today. Microsoft previously hinted that Windows 8 would be released in late October, but it’s good to finally have a specific time frame.


Current Windows users will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 for just $40 with a digital download, or $70 in a boxed update available in stores. In a sign that Microsoft is aiming for clarity with Windows 8, it’s rumored that Microsoft is dropping the confusing “full retail” box version of the OS.

---

In recent Windows 8 news, Intel CEO Paul Otellini said there are currently 20 Windows 8 tablets in the works, and we reported on how common sense (imagine that) is the key to Microsoft’s Windows 8 keyboard design.

Paul Maritz steps down as CEO of VMware

Its official: CEO of VMware Paul Manitz has stepped down as the CEO of popular visualization company VMware. He has been the leader of that company for 4 years.

He’ll be replaced by Pat Gelsinger, president and chief operating officer of EMC Infrastructure Products.

Blogger Adds Custom Permalink Support

Blogger has slipped in a (somewhat) quite feature, something that has been long-awaited...custom permalink support. Before you get too happy, let me explain because it might not seem like what it sounds (trust me, I got it wrong the first time too).

Mozilla Firefox 14 Released

Thanks to Mozilla's new rapid release schedule, Mozilla has outed a new version of Firefox, and has some new features in tow. There is not to many big features though, but still good otherwise.

Site Update - Updated Logo...again

The other day, I made a post about having an updated logo. I pretty much removed the background, and swapped in a white one...I didn't know how to make things transparent, so I just made it white because the area where I put it was white.

The New Facepalm -- the Deskpalm (or really, a facedesk)

If you follow most of the comments around the tech world, you'll see the term *facepalm* used a lot. Some dude decided to take it a little farther, with the "Deskpalm."


While it is clearly a facedesk, I still wanted to share this with you all. Enjoy the fun in this animated gif, and please let me know of your thoughts below.

The Ubuntu Countdown HTML5 Widget is back!

Hello all. If you have noticed the past few weeks, There was no HTML5 Ubuntu Countdown widget. It was gone because its host site was down, and there was almost no way of knowing if it was ever going to come back.

Office 2013: Is It Promising?

Microsoft's latest upcoming update for its office suite has many new interesting features in tow, but will it be promising? It will require users to upgrade to Windows 7 or 8, that's for starters. It ought to be worth it for a upgrade to Windows 7 or 8, right?

Office 2013 drops support for Windows XP and Windows Vista

If you are a user of Windows XP or Vista, I have some bad news to deliver. Office 2013, the next upgrade to the Microsoft Office brand of Office products, will not offer support for Windows XP or Windows Vista.

SnapChick adds a new Gazelle Professional video: Gazelle Professional Software Tour

Fellow photography pro SnapChick has released another video focused on the Gazelle Professional laptop. In this video, she goes over a bit of the software she is going to use. She talks a bit about Unity, talks about the Ubuntu Software, etc.

Ratchet & Clank Collection Hits August 28th

A Ratchet and Clank Avatar, available from the PSN. Copyright  their respective owners

Ever since the announcement of Ratchet & Clank's 10 year anniversary, the PS Blog received  a flood of emails and social media messages asking about when people can get their hands on the Ratchet and Clank Collection in North America.

System76 updates its Laptops with new keyboard options

Popular Ubuntu computer company System76 has just made a minor, but noticeable update to its line of small but powerful Ubuntu laptops.


This one is for the people who live in the UK/European countries.

MSNBC is no more, now NBC News

NBCNews.com Logo. Copyright NBC.

In the latest news, NBC has expressed interest in buying Microsoft's stake in their partnership in creating the MSNBC news franchise (not sure about the cable network). Now, NBC has now bought Microsoft's stake in the franchise, and now all URL entries to msnbc.com will now redirect to nbcnews.com. MSNBC has written a final article about the move, available here.

Site Update: Improved Logo!

Hello all. Today Techman's World has a slightly improved logo, getting rid of that rather nasty pink background color. I removed it for a few reasons:

• I recieved feedback saying it "sticks out like a sore thumb."
• Nothing on this site has a pink color to it, so it made no sense to have a pink background to it.
• The green and blue colors actually do work good in a white background, so it is now white

XChat-WDK updated to a new name...HexChat!

If you are a user of XChat-WDK on Windows, you might notice something strange for when you installed the last XChat update. Don't worry, I'll explain.

How to stop plugins (like flash, Silverlight) from auto loading on a webpage in Chrome

Many people in this world use Google Chrome. Opera has a feature that is enabled by default to ask you to click to load a plugin on a page that has an embed requesting a plugin.


Google Chrome has a feature similar, but it is not enabled by default. Today I am going to show you how to enable this in Chrome.

Site Update: Techman's World now has a chat room

Hey all, I now have a chat room. You can use this to chat with other tech geeks like myself. I'm not going to explain it in detail in this post, because I already did on the About Techman's World page. So go ahead and go there to see more info about it. If you want to go directly to the chat page, go here.

Acer Offering Free Windows 8 Pro Upgrades

If you are a fan of Acer, then I have some news for you. Acer is offering a free upgrade to Windows 8 Professional if people buy their ultra books right now.

Microsoft updates SkyDrive for Windows app

Image Credit: Engadget. SkyDrive Logo/Trademark Copyright Microsoft Corporation.

A few months ago, Microsoft released a SkyDrive for Windows App. Today it has been updated, and it has some new features in tow. Most of them will be under the hood, though. Those under hood improvements include "performance, reliability, and compatibility improvements."

Merriam-Webster announces Dictionary API for developers

If you love words, and dictionary's, I have some good news for you.

How is SnapChick turning out with the System76 Gazelle Professional (UPDATE: More videos added)

If you are a fan of Ubuntu (or Linux), you should have already known that fellow model and photographer SnapChick has been offered a challenge to try to use Ubuntu, as well as the Gazelle Professional's awesome power, to process her workflow. That workflow includes editing pictures and video, running her website, and doing other various things.

Maker of recaptcha has some Linux love (and a love for food)

Hey everyone, I was touring reddit again and found this picture. If you are a Linux fan, or familiar with food, you might be able to understand this one. The image is below.

New Session Menu coming to Ubuntu 12.10

Image Credit: Omg Ubuntu
The "Switch Off" option will most likely be shut
down on other systems, Joey is in the UK.

Coming to Ubuntu 12.10 is a new session indicator. It is refined and compact. Currently in Ubuntu, you have the power button menu, and then you have that menu with your username on it. Now, your username menu is being migrated into the power button menu.

ChromeOS version 20 hits stable release channel, brings Google Drive and Aura UI to all ChromeOS computers

A Picture of the Aura Desktop. Image Credit: Engadet

If you have a ChromeOS machine, and you don't live on the beta release channel, you will now have an update that now brings the Aura desktop environment and Google Drive support.