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 4.7 and decided to share my first impressions and overall verdict on this latest iteration.

Continue reading »

Web traffic continues to increase daily. With almost 250 million American users alone, plus quickly expanding Internet accessibility in foreign countries, a huge target market exists for any website. Whether for a business, a hobby, a professional resume, or anything else, the Internet has resources to help. However, one of the biggest hurdles is giving your webpage something unique. The first step is to have unique content that can be updated regularly and retains an audience. The second step is to format that information in a way that people can quickly and easily read and navigate.

Continue reading »

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 environment that runs on Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. Linux is a versatile OS that runs on servers, such as those offered by server host 34SP.com, desktops, laptops, netbooks, mobile phones, and other devices. With KDE there are several ways to launch programs, and we will highlight seven of those in this article.

Continue reading »

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 to be left out of the social loop. Linux has a number of social tools to help you stay connected.

Continue reading »

HP’s TouchPad is a latecomer to the tablet computing party. Some tech-watchers are wondering if it’s too late. By now, most of the early adopters have found their tablet of choice, and it’s hard to say if HP’s version offers enough original goodies to lure anyone away from say, an iPad2. I got a chance to look one over and try it out, and here’s what I found:

Continue reading »

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 run it inside a browser tab or window, sometimes getting it mixed up with your websites and accidentally closing the window.

Continue reading »

My old dual-screen desktop from 2009

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 the primary monitor, tell KDE to follow the mouse when starting an app so that it opens on the right screen, and even configure separate desktops and widgets for each screen.

Continue reading »

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 you download or create, as well as a large collection of online streaming content from Netflix, VUDU, and several TV networks.

Continue reading »

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 share of insults at free and open source software in general.  Does this mean Linux support for Skype will soon end?

Continue reading »

On a given day, I may use three different browsers for various reasons.  Sometimes one browser just gets the job done better than another.  Having said that, the following results are only from one test (SunSpider), on one computer (mine), on one operating system (Kubuntu).  Results may vary for you, but the point of it is to demonstrate that the browser wars are getting very competitive.  On a given day, one build of Chrome may be faster than Firefox, and on another day, the opposite may be true.

Continue reading »