New Features in Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex Alpha 6

As many people know, the new version of Ubuntu, 8.10, is being released in October. Some have probably tried the Alphas of it, but my guess is that a lot of people haven’t. I tried the 4th alpha of Intrepid Ibex along with the 5th – both which crashed my computer. This is definitly not the case for most people, I’m just…”special”, I guess. This evening I found a nice article showing the updates coming to the oerating system.

The most notable changes being the option to automatically create a private, encrypted directory within each user’s home directory, screen notifications for changing resolutions for multiple monitors, a limited-permission guest account, a new theme, and the logout panel applet has been completely replaced by the new user-switching agent (see picture above). It offers switching to the new, limited-permission guest account. When Pidgin or Empathy are running, you can also use it to change online status.

If you feel compelled to update to the latest and greatest, simply make sure you have Ubuntu 8.04 and press Alt+F2 and type in “update-manager -d” (without the quotes) into the command box. Update Manager should open up and tell you: New distribution release ‘8.10’ is available. Click Upgrade and follow the on-screen instructions.

[I’ Been to Ubuntu]

How to Get The Latest Version of Wine

Found out a new version of Wine was released? Need to get the updated version? Don’t worry, the process is quite simple.

1. Remove the wine that comes with Ubuntu (if you’ve installed it)(sudo apt-get remove wine)

2. Open a terminal and type:

Quote:

wget -q http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/387EE263.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add –

3. Type:

Quote:

gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

4. Add one of the following to your sources.list

Quote:

## Wine, Ubuntu Hardy Heron (8.04): deb http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt hardy main deb-src http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt hardy main

Quote:

## Wine, Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon (7.10): deb http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt gutsy main deb-src http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt gutsy main

Quote:

## Wine, Ubuntu Feisty Fawn (7.04): deb http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt feisty main deb-src http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt feisty main

Quote:

## Wine, Ubuntu Edgy Eft (6.10) deb http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt edgy main deb-src http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt edgy main

Quote:

## Wine, Ubuntu Dapper Drake (6.06) deb http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt dapper main deb-src http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt dapper main

5. Type the following:

Quote:

sudo apt-get update

6. Type the following:

Quote:

sudo apt-get upgrade

7. To install wine either type:

Quote:

sudo apt-get install wine

Or by using the Synaptic Package Manager under System->Administration.

[Ubuntu Forums]

50+ Text Effect Tutorials

Here’s a link to 50+ amazing different text effects that can be created in Adobe Photoshop. They’re all quite stunning in their own way. I, personally, have tried a couple of them out han have been pleased with the effects. Check them out here.

DropBox Now In Public Beta!

As of today, the once invite-only service DropBox is now available without a special beta code. DropBox provides you with 2Gb of free online storage that syncs with a DropBox folder on your computer. DropBox is available for Windows, OS X and Linux users. Sign up and check it out for yourself here.

Error 13213 with iPod Touch? [Fix]

Yesterday, I downloaded the new version of iTunes along with the update for my iPod touch. In doing so, I got the error message “The iPod “Jahfers iPod” cannot be synced. An unknown error occurred (13213).

My first guess was that something went wrong in the iPod firmware update so I restored it to factory settings. If you have gotten this error too, don’t bother – it doesn’t help. As of yesterday there was nothing on the web but today I found a discussion on Apple’s site that seems to have fixed the issue. Follow the steps below and your ipod should work fine.
1. Unplug your iPod Touch and turn it off. Hold the power button at the top until the red slider appears and power it down completely.
2. Quit iTunes 8
3. Relaunch iTunes 8
4. Plug in Touch – DO NOT TURN IT ON FIRST. Make sure it’s still off completely from step 1.
5. Should sync normally

[Apple Discussions]

Maximizing Your iPod/iPhone’s Battery

Recently, I took a trip down to Ottawa from my hometown of Oakville, Ontario to drop my older sister off at university. The time it takes to get there is roughly around five and a half hours. Naturally on a rip of this caliber I decided to take my trusty iPod touch along for the ride. On the way there I was using regular settings and was able to watch around 20-30 min of video and a couple hours of music – no other applications.

When we arrived at our destination, I got the warning that my iPod had only “10% battery life remaining” and I thought to myself, Oh crap!. And of course, being the great planner I am, I didn’t bring an iPod charger with me so I would have to make do with what I had. And so I set out to achieve a record battery life on 10% juice remaining – 7 and a half hours!

Curious as to how I did this? I am kind of too…but what I can tell you are the settings I used for the trip back to limit my power usage. The first thing I did was to turn off the “Ask to Join Networks” option (Settings>Wi-Fi). That saves a chunk of power because it won’t constantly be looking for new networks to join. The second setting I changed was the brightness (Settings>Brightness). I lowered the slider all the way to the bottom and turned auto-brightness off. Finally I made a personal decision to listen to only to music and to keep it off unless I needed to change a song. In which case I would use the handy double-tap on the home button to bring up the simplified music controls.

That final step may not be everyone’s choice but I have a feeling that it was one of the major reasons that it lasted so long.  Feel free to experiment for yourself and if you have any other battery-life saving tips, feel free to post them below.

Cheers!