ghacks Technology News

Say “Cheese” with your webcam on Linux

So you went ahead and purchased that System 76 laptop or you decided to finally install Linux on your laptop. You now have a Linux based laptop with a webcam. But how do you take advantage of this hardware? You want to be able to use that web cam to upload photos to facebook (or the like), but are not sure exactly how to use your hardware. It’s simple with a handy little tool called Cheese.

Cheese is not one of those applications that is going to make or break your desktop experience. But it certainly will enhance it. You can take standard pictures and even add effects to those pictures And Cheese doesn’t just do pics, it can do videos as well.

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Categories: Hardware, Linux, Music and Video, Notebooks, Open Source, Tutorials Basic, software

  • Author: Martin
  • Published: May 31st, 2009
  • Comments: 17

Laptop Theft Recovery Software Prey

laptop theftThere are a few things that laptop owners can do to prevent laptop theft. Probably the most important one is to keep an eye on the laptop all the time. Sometimes however that is not enough and the laptop gets stolen or lost. There is little chance of getting the laptop back once it has been stolen.

The laptop theft recovery software Prey tries to increase the chances by collecting and sending a bunch of information over the Internet. It obviously does not help if the thief is clever enough to format the laptop before using it. If the thief boots the operating system and connects the laptop to the Internet then Prey will be able to submit the data.

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Categories: Linux, Mac, Security, Windows, software

  • Author: Martin
  • Published: May 31st, 2009
  • Comments: 12

Multiple Browser Bundling With Windows Is Stupid

microsoft windowsA recent article published at the Wall Street Journal suggests that EU officials are considering forcing Microsoft to include a bunch of web browsers into the operating system to dilute the advantage that Internet Explorer has so far. This could mean forcing Microsoft to add web browsers to the installation of the operating system or to offer the user a choice during installation to download and install another web browser.

This poses some interesting questions. Who decides which web browsers will be included? The list will probably include Firefox, the Google Browser, Safari and Opera. But what about other niche browsers? What if the makers of Lynx, Arachne or Sleipnir want their web browsers included as well? This opens Pandora’s Box and will confuse the average joe more than anything else. Many regular Windows users do not even know which version of the operating system they are running. How are they supposed to make a decision between 5, 10 or 20 of different web browsers that are included in the operating system?

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Categories: Browsing, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, firefox, opera

  • Author: Martin
  • Published: May 31st, 2009
  • Comments: 9

Windows 7 Gmail Notifier

gmailA first batch of third party applications that have been optimized for the Windows 7 operating system have been released in the last weeks. Gmail Notifier Plus is already the second application that is making good use of the new taskbar features of the Windows 7 operating system. The program will display unread email messages and other information and links related to the Gmail account directly in the Windows 7 taskbar.

The two main features are the following: Feature 1 displays previews of each unread email message right in the Windows 7 taskbar. It makes it possible to preview each unread email message right there and go to the Gmail account with the click of the button.

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Categories: Email

Linux tips: Encrypting and decrypting files from command line with gpg

Are you paranoid? Are you afraid that someone is going to get ahold of data they sholdn’t have? I am. And because of that I often encrypt files with a gpg key that was given to no one. With those encrypted files I know they are secure to most of the general public. And because I tend to use lengthy passkeys for gpg, cracking them is a challenge.

Naturally I use gpg for all of this. And when I am using gpg I am using it from the command line. It’s actually quite easy to use. In this article I will show you how to create a gpg key, encrypt, and decrypt a file. You will find this such an easy task you’ll be using it more than you think. (more…)

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Categories: Advice, Linux, Open Source, Security, Tutorials Basic

  • Author: Martin
  • Published: May 30th, 2009
  • Comments: 3

Rip Mount Burn Blu-Ray DVDs

blu ray dvdBlu-Ray has won the high definition wars against HD-DVD. Everyone thought that consumers would start buying Blu-Ray players and DVDs like crazy once that happens but this is apparently not the case. Blu-Ray is struggling, most users seem to be quite happy with their DVD players and computers and cannot see a reason to invest money in a Blu-Ray player.

Still, it is only a matter of time until Blu-Ray (or the next-HD generation) becomes the standard. Users who already have a Blu-Ray player in their computer might want to transfer the movies to their computer system to mount or burn them again.

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Categories: Windows, software

  • Author: Martin
  • Published: May 30th, 2009
  • Comments: 6

Turn Off Computer Hardware With A Single Click

Rarst inspired me to take a closer look at the command line utility devcon which has been created by Microsoft. Devcon is basically a command line version of the Windows Device Manager. We recently published an energy saving article that contained a tip to disable computer hardware to save power which is especially useful for mobile computer systems like laptops or netbooks.

It is possible to write a simple batch script that can turn computer hardware off. Might be a handy for users who connect their mobile computer to a power source and use it on the road as well. They would simply turn off the unnecessary computer hardware on the road and turn it on again once it is connected to a power source again.

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Categories: Windows, software



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