Xmas pressie!

This handsome fellow is going to be my Christmas present to my mum - she's had a bit of a hard time this year, so I figure he might cheer her up a bit! Judging by my colleague's reactions at work, he'll do just that - loads of my female colleagues were picking him up and hugging him, and someone tried to walk off with him!
Having had to cope with looking after my nan, who had vascular dementia, for over six months was really hard on all of us, but my mum had to do the lion's share of the work. If you've never had to cope with an elderly person with dementia, you're very lucky. It's one of the most crushing, soul-destroying things you can ever do - it's like seeing someone turn into a child, but without any of the nice things about children. It is genuinely one of those things that you can't understand how horrible it is without going through it.
So, I figure my mum deserves a really nice present, and I'm sure she'll love him. I've got her something else as well, but hopefully he'll be able to put a smile on her face!

Switching to Linux: Desktop environments vs. Window managers

A very interesting article about desktop environments and window managers. Linux users are lucky to have a choice over these - Windows and Mac users are stuck with the same desktop, but we can choose between GNOMe, KDE, XFCE, Enlightenment and so many others!

read more | digg story

Dell announces Ubuntu 7.10 PCs with DVD playback

Of course, it's quite easy to install DVD playback capability in Ubuntu Gutsy if you know what you're doing - sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras (if using Kubuntu or Xubuntu, replace ubuntu with kubuntu or xubuntu), then sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread3/install-css.sh. But it's still nice to see Dell able to offer it out of the box.

read more | digg story

Eeextremely Eeenticing: a review of the Asus Eee PC

Since its announcement, the Asus Eee PC laptop has drawn attention for its Linux OS, small size, and low price. As we put the EeePC through its paces, we'll also show you some simple hacks for the device.

read more | digg story

Happy birthday blog!

BBC NEWS | Technology | Weblogs rack up a decade of posts

Have a read of this article, it's very interesting. I'd like to wish the blog a happy 10th birthday and look forward to another ten years!

Free Software dull? Never!

Some people might dare to suggest that the cause of Free Software might be ...perhaps... a little dull. Well, these people are wrong, plain and simple.
It's enormously gratifying to know that you're participating in a movement that's helping people around the world have access to high-quality software at low to no cost (after all, just try saying "Get a Mac" to someone who lives in a poor township in Africa). Projects such as Ubuntu offer people all around the world the opportunity to get involved in the wider world via the Internet, by providing them with an operating system that is cheap or free, will run on old hardware that isn't much use elsewhere, and gives them an alternative to pirated copies of Windows. And that's just the "free as in free beer" aspect of it.
The "free as in free speech" aspect is even more important. By giving people the opportunity to make changes to the operating system to make it more suitable for a local audience, they're again giving more people the opportunity to get involved. Rather than waiting for Microsoft to translate Windows into their native language, they have the opportunity to do the work themselves and not have to wait. Also they can make changes to software to make it more suitable. And free software often supports many more different formats than its proprietary counterparts (just look at Open Office compared to MS Office for an example), making it easier for it to interoperate.
That's why I'm proud to be a Linux user. I may not have helped out much to date, but I plan to get involved at some point, whether it's packaging, offering advice in the Ubuntu forums, or writing documentation.
Finally, the programs are just so much better named! Don't believe me? Here's a list of proprietary applications and their free software equivalents:

• Internet Explorer - Firefox
• Photoshop - GIMP (makes a better verb too! To Gimp something sounds a lot better than to Photoshop something!)
• Outlook - Thunderbird
• iTunes - Amarok

I could go on, but these are the best in my opinion. Obviously, the other reasons for using free software are far more worthy, but it just goes to show that free software is a lot more interesting than many people make out.

Blogged with Flock

Remember this...

Here's a picture of me at the Xmas do on Friday (helpfully pointed out by my colleague!). For the first time in nearly eight years, I'm wearing a tie!

Thick people

Here's a favourite sketch of mine - the Thick People Agency in Chris Morris's Jam!

OFFICIAL: Facebook drops 'is'

Mine now reads "Matthew loves the lack of is!"

read more | digg story

eeeXubuntu: Ubuntu for the Asus EeePC

In my opinion, Xubuntu would be the ideal distro for the Asus EeePC. Clearly someone else agrees, as this article illustrates...

read more | digg story

Will It Blend? I don't know, but it won!

Some of you may be familiar with the hilarious Blendtec videos for Will It Blend? Well, apparently it has won the .net 07 Award for Viral Campaign of the Year.

I'm not surprised - it's simple, fun and gripping. You can't go a day on Digg without someone putting the comment "Will It Blend?" somewhere. It's genuinely become a part of the the pop culture of the Web.

To celebrate this success, here's my favourite Will It Blend? - the iPhone! If you've not seen it before, check it out, and follow the link above for more blender mayhem!

Arctic summers ice-free 'by 2013'

If this doesn't hit home with the climate change non-believers, what will?

read more | digg story

Prism

I've heard a lot of buzz lately about Mozilla's new Prism technology, and a blog I read had a link to it, so I decided to try it out.
Wow! is all I can say. This is only the prototype, but it's already looking absolutely staggering. Basically, it's an easy way to use any web-based application in a way that mimics traditional desktop applications. All you do is start up Prism, and you'll be prompted to enter the URL of the server and the name you want to give the application. For instance, I entered blogger.com and Blogger. You're also prompted to say how you'd like the application to be available (in Windows it's available in the Start Menu, Desktop or Quick Launch bar, Linux so far only has Desktop). It then creates the required links. You can then just click them to open whatever application in a cut-down browser.
It's great for things like Google Mail or Google reader. Give it a try if you can. It's fast, powerful and really easy to use.

KDE4 countdown

I'm sure you all saw the Ubuntu Gutsy countdown I had - well now there's one for KDE4, so I've added this as well. However, this is in the form of a bar, so I've added it at the bottom of my blog.

Lime Juice

Re my previous post, I just had to share this link. Lime Juice is a very interesting sounding new startup in the US - essentially it's a mobile-based social network.
Now, if someone can get this kind of thing working, that REALLY will drive the mobile Internet. By allowing the real world and the Internet to interact in the same place, it'll change the whole nature of the Internet. It'll go through a huge paradigm shift, ridding it of the Web 1.0 stereotype of the antisocial loner surfing the Internet in his mother's basement and the (unfair in my opinion) stereotype of friendships on MySpace or Facebook as being people just trying to show off how popular they are. The Web will be integrated completely into our social lives, as it should be.
After all, if you can meet someone, and become friends with them on a social network there and then, how cool would that be? Plus, you can easily find out if someone's single there and then. It'll be absolutely revolutionary when (NOT if, when!) it happens.