It was a good year for me and that was not the case for many. I hope the next one will be a good one.
Archive for December, 2009
NPR News available for Android now
Posted 23 Dec 2009 — by Arun
Category Droid
Category Droid
NPR News Apps is now available for Android users. Go to Android Market and search for NPR News. I installed it and it worked great.The app uses open source code which will allow developers and NPR stations to iterate and improve the app in the future.
Here are the highlights of NPR News App:
· Backgrounding. The NPR News app for Android allows backgrounding, so that users can click to listen to audio and then toggle between applications as the audio is playing.
· Listen and Read. Allows users to listen to programs and read news at the same time.
· Extensive Topics Section. News section showcases NPR’s top 10-20 topics of the day ranging from Science to Books to World News.
· NPR Station Listening Choices. Easy to find and bookmark more than 600 favorite NPR stations and hundreds of station on-demand streams. Live station streaming to launch in Spring 2010.
· Playlist. Bookmark favorite programs to play later.
iPod support in Ubuntu 9.10
Posted 22 Dec 2009 — by Arun
Category Ubuntu
Category Ubuntu
I have a weird thing happening in my Ubuntu desktop since the time Ubuntu moved to Brasero as their default CD/DVD writer. I had written about this 8 months back here. I have a Gateway GT5628 Quad core desktop which I bought 8 months back. The desktop has SATA hard drive, but PATA DVD writer (Optiarc AD-7173A). I initially thought it was something to do with the particular DVD drive model, so I added an additional DVD writer (Lite on) I had which was from a different company. Both models are PATA. Whenever I insert a store bought DVD or CD, the system would hang after few seconds or a minute. Home made CDs and DVDs are fine. I have w32codecs, libdvdread4, libdvdcss2 etc installed. If I uninstall Brasero including the libbrasero-media0 file, then everything works fine.
The problem now is, when I uninstall libbrasero-media0 file, it uninstalls Rhythmbox also. Rhythmbox is the only GNOME media player that supports iPod without any issues in Ubuntu 9.10. I tried GTKPod, Banshee and Songbird and iPod doesn’t work with any of them in Ubuntu 9.10. You can get it to work with Banshee with a workaround, but that’s a pain doing it every time you want to update your iPod. I installed Amarok, but I haven’t tried it yet. Does anyone know how to install Rhythmbox without installing the brasero file or any other application that is good and works with iPods in Ubuntu 9.10? Does anyone know why the system hangs if I insert a legal DVD?
Update: The system hangs even after I uninstalled Brasero. I believe the problem has something to do with DVD writer being PATA and hard drive being SATA. I have ordered a new SATA drive which is on it’s way. I’ll let you know once I get the drive.
Technorati Tags: Ubuntu 9.10, Optiarc, Lite on, Rhythmbox, Banshee, GTKPod, Songbird, GNOME, Gateway, GT5628
Read the following stories on 2009-12-21
Posted 21 Dec 2009 — by Arun
Category General
Category General
- Suck up Verizon – http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/19/verizon_snuffs_google_for_bing/ #
- Motorola's Android Tablet – http://www.pcworld.com/article/185197/motorolas_android_tablet_a_peek.html #
Lightning beta 1 available for Thunderbird
Posted 21 Dec 2009 — by Arun
Category Announcement
Category Announcement
Mozilla Calendar team has released the 1st beta version of Thunderbird calendar extension, Lightning 1.0. This version supports Thunderbird 3.0, the latest email client from Mozilla Messaging. You can download the lightning extension and provider for Google calendar extension from here. Click on the respective OS links and the click on en-US and then download. For eg, you can download the Linux build from here.
I downloaded installed both the extension and restarted Thunderbird 3.0. Calendar started working fine now. You will find a small calendar icon at the right corner inline with the folder headers. You will also see an Events and Tasks menu at the top.
Technorati Tags: Mozilla Messaging, Thunderbird 3.0, Lightning 1.0, Provider for Google Calendar
Read the following stories on 2009-12-19
Posted 19 Dec 2009 — by Arun
Category General
Category General
- @krishnan how is it? in reply to krishnan #
- @krishnan better than Wii tennis. in reply to krishnan #
Read the following stories on 2009-12-18
Posted 18 Dec 2009 — by Arun
Category General
Category General
- 15% of all Android devices are Droids – http://www.betanews.com/article/Analytics-15-of-all-Android-devices-are-Motorola-Droids/1261070798 #
- Radiation risk from moonhttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34470642/ns/technology_and_science-space/ #
- Android catching up to iPhone _ http://tinyurl.com/yzcyn6l #
- $25,000 Of Communications Gear In A $500 Car – http://jalopnik.com/5428829/ham-cramwich-25000-of-communications-gear-in-a-500-car #
- Verizon Wireless Prepares for the iPhone – http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2009/tc20091217_788391.htm #
- NASA reveals first-ever photo of liquid on another planet – http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/12/18/saturn.titan.reflection/index.html #
Ubuntu 10.04 will bring panel overhaul, social networking menu
Posted 18 Dec 2009 — by Arun
Category Ubuntu
Category Ubuntu
Mark Shuttleworth steps down as Canonical CEO
Posted 17 Dec 2009 — by Arun
Category Ubuntu
Category Ubuntu
Mark Shuttleworth, the CEO of Canonical, the man behind Ubuntu, is stepping down by end of February next year. Jane Silber, the current Canonical COO and Director of Online Services will take over the CEO duties starting next March. I’m not sure what would be the impact of this, but Mark wants to focus his energy on product design, partnerships and customers for Canonical and Ubuntu. Jane Silber was a former VP at General Dynamics. She joined Canonical in 2004.
Canonical will be hiring a new COO and a new lead for Ubuntu One. Mark said the move won’t change the direction of the company. Mark will continue his role on the Ubuntu Community Council and Ubuntu Technical Board. Mark will continue to fund the Ubuntu project as he’s doing now. We have to wait and watch if this is going to have a positive change for Ubuntu or not.
Technorati Tags: Ubuntu, Ubuntu One, Mark Shuttleworth, Canonical
Read the following stories on 2009-12-16
Posted 16 Dec 2009 — by Arun
Category General
Category General
- http://tinyurl.com/yd56xcd #
- Google's Nexus One hardware list – http://www.thesearethedroids.com/2009/12/14/nexus-one-hardware-running-list/ #