Archive for the ‘Blurbs’ Category
Opera 10.10 out with MORE feature creep
Come on. I don’t need a browser that has a web server, a BitTorrent client, FTP client, email client, AND chat client. Feature creep much? There’s a reason that Chrome is taking off: it’s a fast light browser with almost no features… except browsing the internet.
Google and the free netbook
Glen Moody makes a really interesting point in a column: what if Google threw ads into the Chrome OS and gave away netbooks? Obviously, this isn’t a new idea (Free PC tried, remember?), but this is Google behind it, and with the total cost at about $20 (plus the Teracent acquisition)… anything can happen.
Edit: Linux Journal’s fans on Facebook make a very interesting point: What’s to stop you from wiping Chrome OS?
Firefox for the iPhone: Safari-based?
Malik is skeptical, mainly because of Apple’s draconian approval policies. Apple has already approved web browsers, but here’s the catch: they’re all based on Mobile Safari. They’re all really just add-ons, rather than full-blown independent browsers. Additionally, Mozilla isn’t stupid: you don’t invest time and energy into a project that you know will just be rejected.
That leads me to an interesting thought. Mozilla CEO John Lilly said that the app “[will] surprise people”. What could be more surprising than a WebKit-based Firefox? It could run on WebKit, but include an awesome bar, Weave, and all the other Fennec features.
Crazy idea? Heck yes. In fact, it probably won’t happen — Mozilla is pretty committed to Gecko. But still… food for thought.
Gnome 3.0 and the new interface
Gnome 3.0 will be a disaster with Shell. KDE 4 caused many disgruntled users (including me, formerly a die-hard KDE fanboy) to switch to Gnome. People don’t like “different”.
I think Byfield is sort of wrong. I seriously doubt that the Shell was hard to install on purpose. But I do agree that, intentionally or not, it will end up with less users testing, which means an even bigger problem than KDE 4.
At the end of the day, most users (even techies like me) don’t want fancy interfaces. Compiz works because it adds both usability and features that don’t get in the way of normal, everyday work. It blends into your daily routine. Gnome Shell will change everything. Change isn’t always a good thing.
Thoughts on creating a successful Linux distro
I came a cross a really interesting article today. Basically, the author’s points boil down to the idea that you need to be cutting edge (old school Mandrake), n00b friendly (easy to use and ultra-stable) , or appeal to a niche (old hardware, graphics users, etc) in order to create a successful Linux distribution.
Cube: A first-person shooter for the iPhone
Last night, I got bored. When I get bored, I search the app store. This time, I wanted something interesting. Something exciting. The Spore demo was getting old. Poker just wouldn’t suffice. I needed to kill something. And I found the solution: Cube (video after the jump).
New theme for iPhone/iTouch users
Ever since I’ve gotten an iPod Touch, I’ve been kind of ticked at something. Why don’t sites look good on Safari? Sure, it loads the full page. But then you have to pinch to zoom in, and then scroll around, and then pinch to zoom out. Why not optimize for Mobile Safari, like, say, TUAW? The main problem is that it’s not really easy to create an iPhone-compatible site with complex tools like WordPress. Luckily, I found a solution: WPtouch.
usb-creator + Linux Mint = awesomeness
Most of you Xubuntu users have probably seen this post mentioning how easy it is to install Ubuntu (or, in this specific case, Xubuntu) on a USB drive with Ubuntu Intrepid’s newest tool, usb-creator. Ubuntu has it preinstalled, but any Debian-based system can run it with the package in the Intrepid repositories.
