Firefox 4.0 is probably going to be one among the most important release Mozilla team has ever made. Competition is breathing down its neck like never before. Even IE, in its latest avatar(read IE9) is fast becoming a better piece of software. Mozilla's answer to all this lies in upcoming Firefox 4.0. Already a lot of improvements have been made. But the biggest change is going to be the the new JavaScript engine called “JaegerMonkey”.

Think you all knew this already, the c-korn/vlc ppa has been removed by the author himself. You can't live without PPAs in Ubuntu especially for most downloaded apps like VLC. Guys at LFFL have made a dedicated PPA for VLC. I just gave it a try and it worked awesome.

"Your mother was right, it's better to share", that's the tagline of one of those awesome RedHat commercials that we featured some time ago. The idea of sharing is infectious and is fast spreading. Take Apertus for example, a project aimed at building an Cinema Camera based on the idea of sharing and mutual respect(read Open Source).

Ubuntu Software Center is something we all overlooked for long. Even while writing tutorials about installing different applications in this blog, I prefer to provide command line instructions only. But a lot of Ubuntu users are new comers and Software Center means a lot to them. Ubuntu is gradually waking up to this fact and have finally started focusing on bringing a lot of polish and usability to Software Center.

After browsing through LinApp website for sometime, I was awed by the sheer number of commercial applications available for Linux. Never in my wildest of imaginations did I thought that, this many number of commercial applications ever existed for Linux. And I think thats exactly the point. Thats why LinApp is here.

Ubuntu 10.10 'Maverick Meerkat' keeps changing. The latest updates include a brand new default wallpaper which I think looks horrible. The new changes also brings in a select number of wallpapers contributed by community which unlike their 'default' counterpart, looks beautiful. Meanwhile, you may also want to check out our collection of 10 handpicked Ubuntu 10.10 wallpapers from Ubuntu Artwork Pool.

Ubuntu For Humans is a beautiful Collection of Ubuntu Wallpapers made by deviant art user Felipi. Those wallpapers feels even more polished and beautiful when used along with Equinox GTK theme in my opinion.

I hope you guys do remember the awesome little preview application called Globus Preview. Here is another beautiful application from the same team. It's called CoverGloobus. It displays cover art and lyrics in your desktop and it supports almost all popular linux media players. Also, the supported themes are really good in my opinion.

As I have said before, I started searching for top 10 xkcd comics initially but ended up with nearly 20 of them. So here is the part-2 of my favorite 10 xkcd comics. Between, don't miss top 10 xkcd comics part-1.

Our feedburner subscribers just crossed the magical 1000 mark. What makes it even sweeter is that, we were able to achieve this feet in less than 6 months from the date on which our domain got registered. A million thanks to our dear readers.

Ubuntu is already the most popular Linux distribution and probably the first ever Linux distro to overshoot popularity of Linux itself. Now, what Ubuntu needs is a lot of promotional activism from the community. Here is a few Ubuntu adverts from YouTube that I hope will inspire designers among you to get up and start working.

MeeGo is a Linux based open source mobile operating system project which was announced at Mobile World Congress in February 2010 by Intel and Nokia in a joint press conference. And according to arstechnica, Nokia's N9 could just be the first ever MeeGo powered mobile phone to hit the market.

GNOME Shell is a component of GNOME 3.0, the next generation of the GNOME desktop environment scheduled for release in March 2011. We did introduced Sonar, Elementary and Ambiance GNOME Shell themes before and we have one more to showcase, Equinox GNOME Shell theme.

According to Fortune, Open Source is slowly gaining acceptance in the corporate world. More and more corporates are beginning to see the merits of Open Source and have started embracing it. But all these changes didn't happened overnight. It was rather a painful journey. 'Sharing' was never a good thing for Corporates until recently. These changes were largely brought about by a string of Open Source success stories that happened over the years.

GNU/Linux

We introduced to you guys probably the best combination of gtk theme and icon set for Ubuntu/Gnome[Equinox gtk theme + Faenza icon theme]. Now take a look at Awoken icon theme. I won't say it is better than Faenza icon theme, but it is almost as good.

Xkcd needs no introduction especially if you are a geek(whatever that means). It's among my favorite pastime along with those super silly games we introduced to you before. To find the best out of xkcd is hard work, I mean, they are all damn good. I started searching for top 10 xkcd comics and eventually ended up with nearly 20 of them. So I will name this as Part-1 and Part-2 is on its way. Part-2 is here.

After 2 long years, Google finally releases Google Voice and Video Chat for Linux err.. not entirely though. Only a DEB package is available now. And hence only Debian based distros like Ubuntu can enjoy the merits of these changes for now.

Radio Tray is the probably the simplest of radio streaming application I have ever seen. It is so minimal that it occupies only a tiny little space in your system tray.

Microsoft Windows comes pre installed with hardware in most of the cases and hence a vast majority of Windows users probably have't ever seen Windows installer. But that is not the case with Ubuntu. Only a handful of manufacturers sell pre installed Ubuntu hardware and hence the need for down to earth simple and eyecandy Installer. Take a look at the proposed changes with Ubuntu 10.10 'Maverick Meerkat' Installer.

Boxee is an Open Source cross platform media center application which is again based on another Open Source media center application called XBMC. The latest boxee comes with live news support via Livestation.

Do you remember 'Stop using Windows, Use Ubuntu instead' article by TimesOnline. Here is another example of how mainstream media slowly but steadily adopting GNU/Linux and the idea behind it, Open Source.

Busyhot is a nice little Gnome panel applet for showing real time CPU load time and temperature from click of a mouse in your desktop.

The idea called Open Source is fast spreading into non-computer sectors as well. For long, Open Source was equated to GNU and Linux basically and the idea behind Open Source was never really understood properly by many. Its all changing. The idea of sharing, collaborating and having community involvement is no more a bad thing.

For serious gamer folks in Linux, there is more good news. "Amnesia", which many reviewed  as one that is going to be among the scariest game ever and "And Yet It Moves", a physics-based platform game, are going to have native Linux clients. Meanwhile, you may also want to check our listing of games for non-gamers in Linux.

Debian is 17 years old now. I have been a Ubuntu user for a long time now and I know how much Ubuntu owes to Debian. Quite literally, there is no Ubuntu without Debian. Million thanks to everyone behind this one of its kind Open Source project.

Ubuntu Studio is a multimedia enhanced Ubuntu variant packed with custom wallpapers, themes, screensavers, system sounds and more. With Canonical in the lookout for a new System Sounds theme for upcoming Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat, all those who want to contribute may want to check out the original Ubuntu Studio sound theme for inspiration. They are pretty darn good IMO.

HTML is basically a standard for structuring and presenting content in the internet and HTML5 is the newest incarnation of HTML. HTML5 is supposed to have features like video playback which currently depends upon third-party(and proprietary) browser plug-ins like Adobe Flash. And please do keep in mind that, HTML5 itself is still a work in progress and hence these 15 demos are far from perfect. But they are all you need to get inspired and start learning more about HTML5(I hope).

HTML5 Demo

Ubuntu Artwork Pool in Flickr is buzzing with activity once again. With the release date of Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick getting nearer everyday, the submissions onto Ubuntu Artwork Pool in Flickr keeps piling on. Here are a few of those wallpapers that I think, are worth mentioning. Click on the links provided to get wallpapers with different resolutions.
Update : Ubuntu 10.10 Gets New Default Wallpaper Collection, Upgraded Light Themes

GNOME Shell is all over the place this week I guess. First it was the full blown GNOME Shell Review, then we introduced some super cool GNOME Shell themes and now lets take a quick peek into GNOME Shell's future.

We saw the quiet evolution of GNOME Shell aka the next generation GNOME desktop environment. Now lets do some GNOME Shell theming. Hope you guys are familiar with Elementary and Ambiance GTK themes. Now they have these stunning GNOME Shell variants which are absolutely beautiful.  First of all you need to download these themes.
[GNOME Shell Themes Now Have an Equinox Variant Too]

"Bug 626593 - Gnome ate my boyfriend! Help!" Yeah, you read it right. It is not a random mistake, its and actual bug submitted to GNOME bugtracker!

I am not a serious gamer at all. If you want to see me totally disoriented, play an FPS game in front of me. But then there are always these silly games for people like me. Here is a quick list of my favorite time wasters or puzzle games or whatever you want to call them.

Pingus

Ubuntu Light themes were introduced as part of the larger Ubuntu branding overhaul that took place just before the release of Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx. Now for the first time, major changes are happening to Ubuntu Light themes prior to the next major release, Ubuntu 10.10 'Maverick Meerkat' ie.

Here is yet another small hack that a lot of you might find really useful. This hack adds a useful 'Open in Terminal' option in the right click menu in GNOME/Nautilus.

GNOME Shell is a new completely revamped user interface for GNOME. GNOME Shell brings a new window manager called Mutter which is a combination of Metacity and Clutter. This reportedly makes Compiz unnecessary(and incompatible too).

Update: Latest GNOME Shell Review
Update: Top 6 GNOME Shell Themes Ever!

According to Phoronix, Canonical have started tracking Ubuntu installations. So, you are probably going to have an accurate statistics on the number in active Ubuntu installations worldwide sooner than you think.

This may not be a big deal for a vast majority of you. But keyboards shortcuts are very essential for my mere 'existence'. And those of you who have similar addiction with keybord shortcuts, here are a few of them which I think are really useful for everyday use.

Update: 31 Useful Ubuntu 11.04 Unity Keyboard Shortcuts

Faenza icon theme is probably the best ever icon theme I have downloaded from third party sources. And when used along with Equinox GTK theme, this is by far one among the best themes for Ubuntu yet.

I don't know if that is a good news or bad news, but Ubuntu is going to be more popular than Linux itself according to some statistics via Google Trends and Google Insight.

To be frank, though we had posts about Ubuntu Tweak and similar app like Ailurus before, I never liked the idea of 'application to control other applications'(over simplification may be). This time I decided to give a good neat try at Ubuntu Tweak 0.5.5. And I have to say, I was quite literally blown away.

I was vaguely browsing through different Linux related videos in YouTube when I found out these incredible RedHat commercials. They are not just hard core RedHat commercials, they are more like advertisements for Free Software and Open Source in general. More over, these videos gives a glimpse of the kind of knowledge and expertise RedHat have on everything Linux and Open Source.

Nautilus is the default file browser for Gnome. Most of us are familiar with Nautilus and its features. But there are a number of small hacks and some third party improvements which are not so common. Here is a list of top 8 nautilus hacks and improvements you need to know.

How to display size of files underneath them in Nautilus

Last month, we featured some of the best collection of wallpapers made using Inkscape, now lets take a peek into some stunning works of art created using GIMP and also the tutorials on how to get them done!

Stunning Conky Ubuntu Lucid Theme
Conky is an extremely lightweight system monitor application for Linux. Conky can be extensively modified and we have already featured some of the best Conky customizations in our previous post showcasing awesome Linux desktop customizations.

If you are an Ubuntu 10.04 'Lucid Lynx' user, you must have already noticed the annoying white border around thumbnails of pictures and videos. I mean, for some thats fine, but  I always liked more of a transparent 3D kind of a look for the thumbnail border(Even the blog template I am currently using had this white border around pictures which made them look totally out of place).

Gloobus Preview is a beautiful file preview application for Linux. Select a file and click space bar to have a quick preview of the file, as simple as that. And when I say file, they include music, videos, images, documents and everything else!