Three Open Source Applications Everyone Should Have

09Feb10

The number one reason people stick to what they know is because they don’t know any better. In my last article, I wrote that most people have no clue what alternatives are available in the software world. It’s hard to go out and look for an alternative that works. While there are tons of great resources to start with such as Lifehacker, many find it too tedious to constantly keep up with emerging technology.

Here is a list of what I think are essential open source applications that everyone should have, with the exception of web browsers. The following three recommendations are available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

OpenOffice.org – One of the most troubling things about purchasing a new computer is that it doesn’t come with the tools that most people need to get real work done. By real work, I mean an office suite that includes a word processor, spreadsheets, and a presentation program. By default, we know these commonly as Microsoft Office, a.k.a. Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. These are brand names, yet we associate them almost entirely with what we expect from an office suite because of how ubiquitous they have become, much in the same way we substitute “Google” for “search”.

How much does Microsoft Office costs these days? Last time I checked, it was roughly $400 for the standard edition, give or take some savings here and there at Amazon or wherever you purchase your software. The student edition isn’t as hard on your wallet as the Standard version, costing only around the suggested retail price of $150.

We are so aware of MS Office because that is what the business and education sectors use for the most part. However, alternatives do exist. Sometimes they match MS Office in features or extend beyond what Office provides. You can buy Apple’s iWorks ‘09 for $80, a savings of $70 over the student version of Office, but how does free sound instead? It sounds a lot cheaper, right? I thought as much. However, the $0 price tag shouldn’t come at the cost of functionality.

OpenOffice is a complete MS Office or iWorks replacement and it costs absolutely nothing. You have your word processor (Writer), spreadsheets (Calc) and presentation maker (Impress). It’s lightweight and versatile, offering just about every major feature included in the MS Office suite.

I highly recommend installing it on a netbook if you own one or plan to. Buying a new copy of MS Office just isn’t worth it for a cheap, limited machine.

Download OpenOffice.org here.

VLC Player – Neither Windows Media Player nor Quicktime can match VLC player. Have a video in a format such as .3gp? VLC Player handles that and just about a million other codecs that are equally as unheard of and obscure. VLC Player keeps it simple for the user. It’s a multimedia player that just works. No freezes or hijinks.

In addition to playing back video and music, VLC Player can also encode multimedia from one format to another.

Here’s a list of codecs VLC Player supports:

Audio: MPEG Layer 1/2, MP3 – MPEG Layer 3, AAC – MPEG-4 part 3, Vorbis, AC3 – A/52 (Dolby Digital), E-AC-3 (Dolby Digital Plus), MLP / TrueHD, DTS, WMA 1/2, WMA 3, FLAC, ALAC, Speex, Musepack / MPC, ATRAC 3, Wavpack, Mod (.s3m, .it, .mod), TrueAudio (TTA), APE (Monkey Audio), Real Audio, Real Audio, Alaw/ µlaw, AMR (3GPP), MIDI, LPCM, ADPCM, QCELP, DV Audio, QDM2/QDMC (Quicktime), MACE

Video: MPEG-1/2, DIVX (1/2/3), MPEG-4 ASP, DivX 4/5/6, Xvid, 3ivX D4, H.261, H.263 / H.263i, H.264 / MPEG-4 AVC, Cinepak, Theora, Dirac / VC-2, MJPEG (A/B), WMV 1/2, WMV 3 / WMV-9 / VC-1, Sorenson 1/3 (Quicktime), DV (Digital Video), On2 VP3/VP5/VP6, Indeo Video v3 (IV32), Indeo Video 4/5 (IV41, IV51), Real Video 1/2, Real Video 3/4.

For the full list of features, check out the VLC website.

VLC Player is also customizable. A vast array of user made skins are available to match your personality or mood.

The last great feature of VLC Player is that it is also a streaming solution. VLC can be set up as a server and as a client to send and receive network streams. I haven’t yet set this one up in my house, but I’ve heard a success stories from a bunch of people who have and they say it is very simple.

Download VLC Player here.

Pidgin – Long gone are the days when we had to install an AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) client to chat with our AIM friends here, a MSN Messenger / Windows Live Messenger (MSN/WLM) client for our buddies over there, and separate ones for ICQ, IRC or QQ (if you live in Asia). With Pidgin you can chat with everyone, all within one instant messenger client.

Pidgin lists the clients it supports right out the gate: AIM, ICQ, Google Talk, Jabber/XMPP, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, QQ, Lotus Sametime, SILC, SIMPLE, MySpaceIM, and Zephyr.

If you have any other clients that aren’t listed, you can download the plugin and install it. The great thing about Pidgin are the plugins. Spell check, a Twitter updater, Last.fm music tracking, and a converter that translates your message to another language when you hit send are among some of the best ones I’ve installed.

All in all, Pidgin beats having two or more applications installed. Trim it all down to this one that has way more functionality thanks to its customizable nature.

The best part about Pidgin and other open source programs are that, in most cases, many languages are supported so virtually no one is left out.

Download Pidgin here.

Filed under: open source, software   |  1 Comment
Tags: applications, free software, instant messaging, linux, mac os x, media player, office suite, open source, OpenOffice, Pidgin, software, VLC player, windows

DSi Toast

09Feb10

This is exactly what I wish I woke up to this morning. A bit of jam or butter and it would be perfect and a cup of tea. Mmm… If anyone knows how this piece of toast was made, please do tell!

Tiny Cartridge

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Tags: nintendo, DSi, nintendo ds, nintendo dsi, video games, bread, toast, toasted bread

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Coming Soon

08Feb10

Ah yes. The age old battle between Mario and Sonic. Whose side were you on? I’m a Mario fan. Sonic never really caught on with me. Don’t get me wrong, I loved waking up at the crack of dawn just to watch the Sonic TV show back in the 90’s and I even bought a Sonic Comic book, but his games never felt better to me. They were just too fast. I don’t like skipping everything in the level just for the sake of reaching the end. Where’s the fun if you just run through everything?

After years of 3-D tarnishing, Sega is bringing the blue hedgehog back to the consoles.

Episode I? Sega is going to charge per level or a pack of level? It better be cheap Sega. But more importantly, the game better be worth it. Otherwise we can all go pick up Sonic Rush 1 and 2 on DS or one of the Sonic Advance games for good old Gameboy Advance for under $20.

In other Mario and Sonic news, Sonic apparently has been working at a pizza parlor:

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

And to end this entire Sega post, Sega reported that the Mario & Sonic Olympic Winter games on Wii and DS sold a total of 5,760,000 copies. Who the hell bought all those? And is this the most successful Olympic video game ever? It’s the friggin Olympics – in a video game, how exciting could that be?

Siliconera

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Tags: microsoft, nintendo, nintendo wii, playstation, playstation network, psn, sega, sonic, sonic team, sonic the hedgehog, sonic the hedgehog 4, sony, Wii, wii ware, xbox 30, xbox 360, xbox live, xbox live arcade

Ditch Internet Explorer 6, 7, and 8

08Feb10

By now, just about everyone and their grandma knows about the whole Google versus China fiasco. News that big can’t be quelled; I’ll bet even the technology averse Amish know all about it.

What a lot of people don’t know is that Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6 (IE 6) played a role in helping hackers attack Google and essentially start up this entire debate on internet freedom. McAfee security experts discovered the attacks on Google, allegedly made from within the Chinese government, were made possible by security vulnerabilities in IE 6. The attacks on Google are now dubbed “Operation Aurora”. The code for the attacks was released to the public on Friday, January 15th.

According to McAfee, the security hole in IE 6 works by tricking a user into visiting a malicious website which then compromises their entire operating system, relinquishing control to an attacker lying in wait. Microsoft was notified and confirmed that the exploit was extremely dangerous.

Since last Thursday, January 21st, Microsoft has issued security patches for all versions of Internet Explorer, but the damage has already been done. In an interesting public relations stunt, they’re advising consumers to upgrade to Windows Vista or 7 as Aurora remains a bigger threat to computers running Windows 2000 or XP. Vista and Windows 7 have security patches that the other two do not. Microsoft has advised users to ditch the ancient IE 6 that is still installed on many machines.

If Microsoft telling you to give up on IE 6 and upgrade to IE 7 or IE 8 doesn’t phase you, then maybe information security organizations in Germany and France will. Officials from both countries have publicly advised all users to ditch IE 6.

Developers for open source web browsers must be cheering because it’s no longer a question of whether IE sucks or not. The answer is an overwhelming “IE SUCKS”.

What’s a person to do when their first instinct is to look for the IE icon on a Windows computer? I asked a whole bunch of friends who are the farthest from being tech savvy and the answers all pointed in one direction: what are the alternatives? It’s no surprise they haven’t a clue because most alternatives don’t have the word “Internet” in their name.

The answer is to get an open source web browser. Why not grab something like Safari? While Safari is a fine web browser, an open source web browser is generally updated to be more secure than one that is not. Within the open source community, there are eyes everywhere. Bugs and fixes can be patched in quicker amounts of time because it doesn’t require going through a million levels of bureaucracy before it gets the OK to get patched. The IE security hole was known to Microsoft since September, yet it didn’t get patched until last week. If Google was never attacked, we may not have seen that update so soon. Not only are open source browsers the fastest browsers (in my opinion, mainly because most run on WebKit), but most would agree they are the safest ones, too.

I won’t even bother wasting your time with browsers that mean nothing to you. Six Revisions has an excellent round up of the 10 browsers you’ve never heard of.  There are really only two open source browsers that really matter: Firefox and Chrome. They are the only ones that matter because they are the most popular and as a result have the largest community support. More support = more updates = better compatibility = safer browsing.

Firefox: With a market share of 24.63%, Firefox (FF) is the second most used browser behind Internet Explorer (all versions including 6, 7 and 8). One of the beginning pioneers for open source web browsers, FF has grown into a fine specimen, giving you lots of bang for your buck (free).

Extensions are vital to FF’s existence. Customization in literally millions of combinations tailor the web browser to your personal needs. From weather widgets to torrent managing – you name it and FF likely has it. If it doesn’t have what you’re looking for and you’re up for some coding, you can create it.

Want to browse the web without anyone knowing where you’ve been? Widely dubbed “porn mode,” Private Browsing within Firefox lets you do just that.

Firefox was the first major browser to actually implement the tabbed browsing experience. Most people can’t even remember a time where tabs weren’t implemented.

Firefox 3.6 was just pushed out last week and it gives you all the goodies you would expect it to. To name a few improvements, speed gains are said to be 20% faster and personas (themes) are finally available.

Download Firefox here.

Chrome: Google’s web browser is finally wreaking havoc on Windows PCs and Macs. Chrome offers lightening fast browsing, not to mention the fastest launch time. Unlike other open source web browsers Chrome treats each tab as a separate process so that if one tab crashes for some reason, it doesn’t cause the entire application to freeze and stop working. Just close that malfunctioning tab.

Aiming to simplify the web browser by reducing all the clutter, the URL bar is also a Google search bar. One bar, two purposes.

Add-ons or extensions are almost mandatory for a modern day browser. Chrome doesn’t slouch in that department either, with some of the most popular Firefox extensions already ported over or in the process of making the jump. Fan favorites such as Adblock Plus and Gmail Checker are already available.

Another similarity with Firefox that Chrome has is the porn mode thingamajig, only it’s called Icognito Mode. Neato!

Edging out Safari to become the number three most used browser, Chrome is one of the best new browsers available with backing by what some would say is the Internet’s most trusted company.

Download Chrome here.

Both Firefox and Chrome have by far the best pop-up blockers and anti-phishing protections built right in, which is always a plus. So there you have it. Get off that Internet Explorer today or China might just hack you.

Filed under: web browser   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Google, microsoft, internet, browser, chrome, open source, mozilla, firefox, internet explorer, google chrome, web browser, china, icognito mode, IE 6, internet explorer 6, operation aurora, private browsing

A Web Browser on BlackBerry That’s Better Than on iPhone and Android?

03Feb10

Come August, my two-year contract to Catherine Zeta Jones and her T-Mobile gang will be up and so will my life in the “dumbphone” world. I’m eying three devices, a Nexus One (maybe Nexus 2 will be out by then?), iPhone, or a BlackBerry.

The iPhone is everyone’s favorite, and who can blame them? It’s got looks and functionality. The Nexus One isn’t as pretty, but is on T-Mobile and lord knows I don’t want to drag my feet back over to AT&T just for an iPhone. The last one is a BlackBerry; mature meets style. The only thing I absolutely can’t stand about BlackBerry’s are their web browsers. RIM’s web browsers are terrible, but there is reason to hope.

Last November, we heard that RIM was hiring WebKit developers. Now it seems that the engineers at RIM may have figured out how to get their WebKit browser to load web pages 30 to 60 percent faster than the iPhone and Android. The browser will supposedly use a method of the “push” technology that makes e-mail on BB’s so awesome, but for web pages, allowing quicker loading.

If this is true, then I may just end up being that kid with the shiny new BB instead of an iPhone.

Electronista

Filed under: RIM, blackberry   |  1 Comment
Tags: apple, Google, iphone, ipod touch, internet, webkit, browser, blackberry, RIM, research in motion, safari, chrome, e-mail

iPad Nachos Comparison

03Feb10

Hook. Line. Sinker. The iPad is the biggest joke on the Internet right now. It’s easy to laugh at the name now, but a lot of pundits have prove that eventually the name will grow on you, just like iPod (all the snow pea jokes), Xbox (sex box jokes), and Wii (penis jokes).

I like this video for two reason. The first – Parry Gripp’s tune is quite catchy. Hell, I almost felt an inkling of desire to want an iPad after listening to the tune and now it’s stuck in my head. The second, it compares the iPad to nachos. How often does that happen? It’s awesome.

Filed under: apple, iPad, tablet   |  1 Comment
Tags: apple, apple iPad, tablet

Olympus Teasing Pen E-P3?

28Jan10

I haven’t even seen the Olympus Pen E-P2 on U.S. shores yet and the company is already teasing a Pen E-P3?

Electronista

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Tags: camera, digital, digital camera, e-p1, e-p2, e-p3, electronic, electronic view finder, eyefinder, lcd, mega pixel, olympus, olympus pen, pen, pixel, rumor, viewfinder

Japanese Norton Antivirus Commercials

28Jan10

Japanese idol Shokotan is at it again. Starring in the latest Norton Antivirus commercials in Japan, they’re quite cute. Does the US even have antivirus commercials? I can’t remember seeing any on TV in the last 10 years. Least not any that are memorable.

Japan Probe

Filed under: antivirus, software   |  2 Comments
Tags: antivirus, commercials, japan, japanese commercials, norton, norton antivirus

iPad is Here and it Disappoints

27Jan10

Today was the day. The very special day that Apple was supposed to transform our lives forever. Re-define tablet computers and print all at once and sell everyone a device unparalleled and unrivaled by others. Did Mr. Steve Jobs deliver the ultimate tablet device we have all been salivating for? The answer is a resounding, “no.”

Perhaps we all expected something truly revolutionary and in the end, it was half baked. So the iPad the name of the infamous Apple tablet and it couldn’t feel any more wrong. iPad? iTablet, iSlate or just Apple Tablet would have worked. iPad feels lacking, uninspired and bland. Too similar to the iPod in name. Hell there were even an iPad joke that resurfaced from an old MTV skit.

Essentially the iPad is a 10″ iPod touch. The iPad is running the same mobile Mac OS that the iPhone and iPod touch operate on. All current apps in the App Store are compatible with the iPad.

To type, a virtual keyboard pops up and you type almost as if you were on a laptop. Now hold on a second, just take a look. Every single mock-up Apple has of the iPod shows the user propping the device on their leg when sitting down or whatnot. Even Jobs himself sat down to demonstrate the device. This makes it very unergonomic

What can the iPad do?

The same functions an iPod touch already does. Web browsing, music, videos (HD), photos and games. All the multi-touch and accelerometers you’ve come to love in the iPhone/iPod touch is intact. Just the whole thing is larger. Games will be able to function in full screen mode without any modification needed; granted the graphics will look a little blurrier because of the scaling. Other than that there’s not anything new it can do that’s really blow-your-mind-i-must-buy-this-now-because-it-changes-everything.

Here’s a breakdown of the pricing:

Wi-Fi Only Models:

16 GB: $499

32 GB: $599

64 GB: $699

3G Models:

16 GB: $629

32 GB: $729

64 GB: $829

I will say that the pricing is unbelievable. Everyone was expecting a $1000 device and Apple is selling it at $500. Great start I’ll give them that. But then you look at the 3G models and it looks terrible. $130 extra for the 3G antenna module? That’s ridiculous.

Verizon was rumored to be the 3G provider for whatever the new device was, but it looks like it won’t happen again. Apple is going with AT&T again for its 3G partnership. So two plans: $15 for 250 MB a month (isn’t that just lousy shit?) and $30/month for unlimited. And no, you won’t be able to swap your iPhone sim into your iPad when you get home from work because the iPad is using a microGSM sim card.

The deal breaker again is AT&T. If their lousy record for 3G service is any indication, it will only worse. People can’t even get true 3G speeds on their iPhones, how will more 3G traffic help?

Tech specs are as follows:

Dimensions :9.56 inches x 7.47 inches x 0.5 inches

Weight: 1.5 lbs (Wi-Fi model), 1.6 lbs for 3G model

Screen: 9.7″ LED-backlit IPS screen wth 178-degree viewing angle

Resolution: 1024 x 768 pixels

Processor: 1GHz A4 custom-designed chip

Storage: 16, 32, and 64 GB

Battery: 25Whr rechargeable lithium-polymer battery; provides up to 10 hours on one charge and over a month on standby

Wireless: 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR

3G: Up to 7.2 Mbps (although most people will never get this speed on….see below)

SIM card: Uses new microGSM Sim card for 3G

Network: AT&T (booooooo!!)

Audio: Built-in speakers, headphone jack and built-in microphone

Connector: 30-pin dock

Material/Design: unibody aluminum

Shown above is the 3G model. Notice the plastic black bar at the top of the tablet. That’s for 3G antenna module. As anyone who remembers owning a first-gen iPhone, cell signal doesn’t exactly go through aluminum very well.

iBooks: Apple’s response to the Amazon Kindle and all the e-readers coming out soon is an app iBooks. You flick to turn the pages, you can enlarge the font and all your books are organized nicely on a bookshelf. It seems very much like the iPhone app “Classics“

iWorks: Pages, Numbers and Keynote have been reworked to run on the iPad. I just don’t see how productive this will be. The virtual keyboard prevents serious work to be done; hampering the device. Each app costs $9.99. Bundling these three apps would have been a smart move if I was in charge.

To add insult to laptops, Apple is even selling a keyboard + dock that you can attach the iPad to. So is it a tablet or a laptop? It’s sometimes a tablet, and sometimes not. How about typing on a screen that is vertical with a keyboard? I was never a big fan of the “tall-screen” iPhone videos that popped up everywhere after the iPhone 3GS came out and video was enabled.

This entire “preview” sounds excessively negative, but it’s not without cause. What purpose is the iPad going to serve that an iPod touch has not already been covering? Yes, 75 million people already know how to use the iPad because of the shared interface with the iPhone, but we want something new and the iPad isn’t it. Why is there no camera? Wouldn’t it have been cool to have a camera on the front of the face for video Skyping? A camera on the back for pictures. The Nintendo DS has two cameras, how come there is none on the iPad? To repeat what everyone on Twitter is saying, there are a lot of gaps that haven’t been filled. It may be better to wait for version 2.

Not to sound pompous, but I guess I was right for the most part when I said that we do not need a tablet.

I’m sure it’s a beautiful product as is everything that comes out of Cupertino and it will make me giddy as chicken when I do see it in person in 60 days when it’s available for sale, but the iPad is disappointing to say the least.

Two more things, first, it appears Safari doesn’t have Adobe Flash AGAIN. This is insulting. Half the web is practically in Flash. No Flash on three models of iPhones and iPod touches. But on the iPad that has 10 hours of battery life on one charge? Inexcusable.

Second, there is no multi-tasking. One app at a time again. FAIL.

Filed under: apple, iPad   |  3 Comments
Tags: apple, apple iPad, iPad, tablet

People of Earth Love Humping USBs, More Variety Now

27Jan10

The first time you see a humping dog USB you’ll probably say, “Hey, that’s pretty cool. It’s damn funny.” The second time you’ll still laugh, but the third time and every time after that, it loses its charm. It becomes almost as funny as the USB pet rock.

Don’t worry. The world has even more useless humping USB toys. Humping dog not your type? How about humping green alien? Or humping Elmo? Yeaaaah, you like that last one don’t ya?

Tokyo Mango

Filed under: usb   |  1 Comment
Tags: dog, humping dog, humping usb, humping elmo, humping, elmo, usb toy, toys