Tavis J. Hampton

This news should make KDE users happy. One of the issues with using any non-KDE apps with KDE is that you often get stuck with a GTK file dialog. In my opinion, the GTK file picker just does not measure up to the KDE one. A while back, someone added support for Mozilla Firefox, but [...]

Streaming media has quickly become a significant component of entertainment in many people’s lives. For evidence of that, look no further than the statistics indicating that Netflix accounts for as much as 30 percent of all Internet traffic during peak hours. Streaming from the Internet, however, is only one way to get content to your [...]

A my house, we have a bunch of devices connected to the network: three laptops, the kids’ computer, two desktops, a Blu-ray player, an Xbox 360, and a Nintendo Wii. Some of these devices, like the gaming consoles and laptops, have built-in Wi-Fi. The desktops, however, do not. The only device wired to the network [...]

The KDE software compilation is a complete desktop experience that runs on top of Unix-like operating systems, including Linux distributions. KDE consists of Plasma Workspaces (the desktop environment), KDE Applications, and KDE Platform. Version 4.7.0 of KDE introduces some new features, more stability, and a glimpse of some future innovations. This week, I installed KDE [...]

One of the most basic and important things you will ever do with your computer is launch programs. Typically, operating systems have one or two methods for achieving this, such as opening a menu (Windows) or folder (Mac OS X), or by clicking an icon on your panel, dock, or desktop. KDE is a desktop [...]

Social media has permeated nearly every aspect of the web, and people are more social than ever without seeing their contacts face-to-face. To keep up with this social activity, many people have several devices, including computers, mobile phones, and even gaming consoles. If you happen to have a computer running Linux, there is no reason [...]

If you are like me, you have a love/hate relationship with Google Docs. You love that you can access your documents from anywhere and love that it auto-saves and is easy to use. You might hate, however, how it sometimes disconnects in the middle of the sentence you are typing or how you have to [...]

This has been an ongoing issue for me.  Not all Linux desktop environments respond the same to dual monitor hardware configurations, and not all of them function well when it involves a laptop. For years I have favored KDE’s desktop workspace, partially because of its superior set of options for dual monitors.  You can set [...]

Boxee is an open source media center software alternative to many of the heavily commercialized, codec-light set-top boxes on the market.  In its early stages, Boxee was only available for PC (Windows and Linx) and Mac users.  Apple TV users could also convert their boxes into something useful.  Boxee can play just about any video [...]

As news of Microsoft’s $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype begins to surface, I cannot help but ask the question.  What does this mean for Linux users of Skype?  In the past, Microsoft has gone out of its way to make sure its software was not compatible with Linux, and Steve Ballmer has thrown his fair [...]