Select Google I/O sessions to be posted online

I won't be able to attend Google I/O (It's a bit expensive on short notice for me) bit it's a relieve that some of the sessions are going to be posted online after the conference.

Added a tag cloud

I haven't been to crazy about how Blogger's default tag/label list looks lately. On some of my shorter posts it was taking up most of the vertical space on the page. I looked around to see if I could find a more traditional tag cloud. I found a pretty good (and very easy) tutorial and just installed it. I have to play with the colors a bit but I like the way it looks.

Distributing Ubuntu

... is much better then Windows ;-)

In other news: I requested my Hardy Heron dvd =)

Limit Google Search Results by Date

Tech Recipes goes into how how to restrict Google search results by date: Appending "&as_qdr=d" to a search will display a drop down that lets you choose how far back in time to search.

A Greasemonkey script will also do this for you. Pretty useful if you are searching about a brand new issue. This would have helped me a lot when I was having a problem with Hardy

Fixing Nvidia 8600 GT on Hardy Heron

After updating to Hardy I got a white screen of death upon rebooting. After some research it turned out that this was more of an Nvidia driver issue rather then Ubuntu. This may not have been the most correct way to fix it, but it worked for me.

1. Completely remove nvidia-glx-new
   
   
2. Remove nvidia-kernel-common (this also removes linux-restricted-modules), (I am not sure if step 2 is required)
   
   
3. install build-essentials
   
   
4. Download the Nvidia beta driver that came out on April 10. You can get it here
   
   
5. hit ctrl + alt + f1 to break out of gnome
   
   
6. "sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop" to shutdown the X server
   
   
7. sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-173.08-pkg1.run to install the driver. If it asks you to update you're xorg.conf file, let it.
   
   
8. Reboot. ("sudo reboot") You should now be able to enable Desktop effects. YAY FISH!
   
   

This issue has also been addressed on the Ubuntu Forums and on launchpad

Note: I have a Dell XPS M1530

Google Code Blog: Google App Engine Hack-a-thon coming to your coast!

I'm going to the NYC one, anyone else?

But Daddy! I want and Andoid phone NOW!

A Microsoft Office editor should be available at launch and based on these screenshots, its going to be pretty useful.

I'll have to fire up the Android emulator this weekend and see how this stacks up against mobile Google Docs and Spreadsheets.




Veruca Salt: Hey, Daddy, I want an Oompa Loompa. I want you to get me an Oompa Loompa right away.
Mr. Salt: All right, Veruca, all right. I'll get you one before the day is out.
Veruca Salt: I want an Oompa Loompa now!
Violet Beauregarde: Can it, you nit!
(Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory)

Upgrade Ubuntu to 8.04 Hardy Heron

Hardy Heron came out this morning and ubuntu.com is very much down for the count

You can Still update though, click here for the Google Cache version.

Happy Updating!

New Features in this release:

Install on an existing filesystem without overwriting /home
When I moved from feisty to gutsy, I decided to do a fresh install. One of the things I had to do was back up my home folder, and when I finished installing gutsy I just copied it back onto my computer. This new feature will allow people to install the new version of Ubuntu without it overwriting their home folder.I'm sure this will come in very handy for people who like trying out different distro's.

Hardy Hardware Detection
This is more of a bug fix than a new feature. Gutsy already has excellent hardware support and the plan for hardy is even better and more robust detection of hardware. Sounds good to me.

GDM Face Browser
One of the changes I made to my gutsy is the GDM. I replaced the old one with something that allows me to just click on a picture of my username and login. This will hopefully be the default for hardy.

Auto Detection of Monitor Frequency
While I was testing gutsy beta I had to manually configure xorg.conf to get it to the right resolution. It wasn't fun. This should be a thing of the past with hardy as it will automatically detect everything for you. Huzzah!

Apt Authentication Reliability
Have you ever had an update fail for no reason? Well it actually fails because of 'transient network failures'. The aim is to make hardy more robust against these errors.

Redesign Restricted-Manager Code
They want to expand the role of the restricted manager and change it so that other distro's can share the joy.

Handling Full Disks
I've never had this problem with Ubuntu, but if your disk gets full, things can get quite ugly. They plan to add a notification and disk clean-up tool when your running low on space.

Desktop Effects
Make compiz fusion more robust and easier to use.

New Theme
Hardy Heron will be getting a shiny new theme, I hope they move away from the brown theme and choose something lighter and more fresh.

Easy File Sharing
To allow people to easily share files over a network. Not more I can say about this.

Dual/Multi Monitor Support
Currently you have to manually tweak Ubuntu if you want to use more than one monitor. They want to fix this for hardy.

Integrate Prefetch into Ubuntu
I noticed a slightly increased start up time in gutsy compared to feisty. Hardy will use file prefetch and other optimisations to speed up boot time.

Automatix-Ubuntu Team Collaboration
Automatix was extremely helpful for me in feisty. Although I don't use it in gutsy, its good that they are collaborating with the automatix team.

Single Click Install
Installing software is already pretty straightforward in Ubuntu. They want to make it even easier to install third party applications. I'm not complaining.

Apparmor Integration
This is already a part of gutsy, the plan is to increase integration to make Ubuntu even safer.

Firewall
Make it easier for users to configure their firewall.

Third Party Apt
Now when you install third party apps, you have to manually add the software repository to the sources.list. This spec makes it easy for users to install third party software and have it update automatically.

Revamped Logout Screen
They want to streamline the options you have when you click that big red button, to make things less confusing.

Better Integrated Wine
Better Wine will make it easier for Windows users to convert, thus helping to solve bug #1.

Xorg 7.3
This is one of the features that missed the gutsy deadline. This should make manual configuration of xorg.conf obsolete. Another much anticipated feature is Bullet Proof X, which will go into a graphical safe mode if anything goes wrong with X.

Slick Boot
To improve the boot and shutdown process and also make the things look nicer.

Almost time for a new Ubuntu

Ubuntu 8.04, Hardy Heron comes out in two days

Be ready for it.






(Or install it now)

Google Website Optimizer is out of beta

Google's Website Optimizer is out of beta. I'll be running the blog portion of gPowered through it to see what it thinks of a blogger generated page ;) Results to follow.

Everyone have a good weekend! I know I need it!

Non Google AppEngine hosting

If you are like me, and are waiting to get in on the action, check it out: http://appdrop.com/

Best Android quote

Android handsets are poised to spread like wildfire across the open source and developer communities upon release.

I can't wait. Verizon better have Android

test from my blackberry

If you are reading this. I was able to post from my work blackberry, neat (Waiting for a baby shower, I mean meeting, to start. Currently guarding the cake) Mmmmm cake

Blogger adds bloggroll

Blogger in draft added 2 new features today: a blogroll page element, and post scheduling. Post scheduling is pretty useful, you can write up your post, set the time (in the future) that you want it to post, and Blogger will do it automatically. The second feature, a blogroll, I would like a lot more if it was done better. The main thing I like about it is that it integrates with Google Reader so if I'm linking to my friend's blogs, I just scroll to my 'Friends' Tag and add them. The thing I don't like however is that it does not support XFN or FOAF therefore not getting picked up by the SocialGraph API. For example, if I linked to my girlfriend's blog, the blogroll just lists this as

Maybe-Not

A better link, for example from a wordpress blogroll would look something like

Maybe-Not<

...and get picked up but the SocialGraph as having a relationship to me. Blogger is great and I love using it, but the features of wordpress are blowing it out of the water.