About an year ago, I went to a local retail store and asked about the availability of Android phones. He said they don't have 'Android' phones, but they have LG, Samsung, and Nokia phones (he also referred me to a barrage of local brands like Karbonn, Maxx and what-not). That's right, not only does the guy was unaware of 'Android', he didn't even realized that Android was not some mobile phone brand like Samsung or LG. The same store, like most other mobile stores around here, is now plastered with all sorts of advertisements featuring Android phones. That's how fast changes are happening around here.

Elementary OS Luna is far from a finished product. The final release is going to happen only after the official release of Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin since Luna is supposed to be based on Precise. Just yesterday, I found out that there is a simple script to install latest development version of Elementary OS Luna in Ubuntu 12.04. Let's give it a try.

Let me be clear, VLC for Android has NOT yet been officially released. VLC for Android is an open source project and is licensed under GPLv2 License (like all other VLC projects). This means, you can build VLC from source and use it the way you want. And that's exactly what XDA Forum member adridu59 did. Unofficial build of VLC for Android.

'Which is the most popular Linux distro' is a question that has been raging like for ever. Ubuntu remained on top of the charts ever since its official launch in 2004. But the resurgence of Linux Mint as DistroWatch's most popular distro has stirred up a lot of debates. Redditor TyIzaeL conducted an unofficial Linux Distro survey on r/Linux. Thousands of redditors participated in that survey and results have just been released. Here's how it looks.

I don't think there is anybody here who haven't heard about Reddit before. Founded in June 2005, Reddit gradually won over the tech-savvy internet crowd leaving the once prominent Digg.com in shambles. 2011 was an year of explosive growth for Reddit. In December 2011 alone, reddit served a massive 2.07 billion pageviews. From the day I got my first Android phone, the one thing I was constantly looking for was a nice and simple app to enjoy Reddit. I found quite a number of them and I think following are the best 6 Reddit apps for Android.

CyanogenMod 9 (CM9) is gearing up for its next major release which is supposed to bring the goodness of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich to one of the most popular ROMs out there. Following is the new boot animation for upcoming CM9 and it looks fabulous. 

I had a less than ideal experience with Ubuntu 12.04 Alpha 2. But two recent updates have resolved almost all the issues I had with Ubuntu 12.04. A lot of new features and minor UI improvements keeps on coming in. Let's make of list of them all, shall we? So here is a quick roundup of everything that is new in Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin.

KeepScreen for Android is an incredibly useful application. KeepScreen gives you the ability to block screen timeout when predefined applications are active. It may sound simple to you, but from the perspective of a pretty heavy Android user, I would say this makes the app a serious must-have. I think, KeepScreen should have been a stock Android app, nothing less. 

VLC 2.0 has just released with PPA support for Ubuntu 11.10 and Ubuntu 12.04. VLC 2.0, codenamed "Twoflower", comes with a rewritten video output core and modules, allowing subpicture blending in GPU. VLC 2.0 can be downloaded and installed from official Videolan stable daily PPA. Here is how you install VLC 2.0 in Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot.

Back in the day, downloading YouTube videos (and anything that run on Flash) was simple as anything (at least in Ubuntu). It is not so anymore. But there is this really useful script to download YouTube videos in Ubuntu running Firefox, Google Chrome or Opera without much trouble and in a deeply integrated way. So, here is how it works.

Cerberus may not be a name many have heard of. It is one of those apps that never comes up in searches. But I think, Cerberus seriously is *the* best anti-theft android app available in the Android Market. Features supported by this little app is simply mindblowing. Seriously folks, Cerberus is your best shot at finding your stolen/misplaced Android device. 

If SwipePad proved really useful to you all, here is another unique app for Android that can further simplify and add value to your day-to-day smartphone use. Google Chrome to Phone is an official Google Inc. made app for Android which lets you send links, maps or phone numbers from your Google Chrome browser in your laptop/PC directly to your Android phone.

Canonical recently upped its marketing pitch by releasing a slew of ads featuring Ubuntu. System76 has joined the fray and has just now released a small commercial (more like a teaser video), again featuring an Ubuntu powered desktop from its inventory. If you are not familiar, System76 is one among the very few providers of pre-installed Ubuntu laptops and desktops and they are perhaps the most popular name catering to Ubuntu crowd.

Ubuntu 12.04 "Precise Pangolin" Alpha 2 is here and we are yet another release close to perhaps the most important Ubuntu ever. I have been using Ubuntu 12.04 ever since its first alpha was released and I have been closely following the developments. At the moment, Ubuntu 12.04 is far from stable in my netbook. It seems unusually bug ridden.

Unity redefined Ubuntu over the years. But big changes don't happen overnight and Unity still is a work in progress. Many features introduced in Unity, like Global Menu, is not really a popular functionality, especially among desktop users. Ubuntu 12.04 LTS is coming up and Canonical is doing everything they can to restore the past glory. Anyway, there have been some interesting developments. It seems like Canonical is going to address some of the biggest complaints about Unity by its users.

Good theme combinations are always nice to have. If ANewStart + AwOken GNOME Shell theme combination was a bit flamboyant, this one is more simpler, prefect for everyday use. Boomerang is a beautiful new GTK 3.0 theme made for GNOME 3.2 (Gnome Shell, Gnome Classic Fallback & Unity) and it looks extraordinarily simple and beautiful when used along with Faience icon theme and GNOME Shell theme. Let's see how it works.

Corning Incorporated may not be a familiar name to you, but Gorilla Glass should be. A good majority of today's high-end touch-screen smartphones comes with Gorilla Glass which acts as a scratch resistant and durable cover glass. Phones that comes with it include blockbusters like Samsung Galaxy SII and Galaxy Nexus. Corning Inc. are the makers of this tough, durable protective cover glass for displays that you see in most of those high end Android phones.

Most long term Ubuntu users here must have been familiar with the now defunct Nautilus-Elementary project. The project's lead, nicknamed ammonkey, is now working on a full blown Nautilus-Elementary inspired file browser for Linux called Marlin. Marlin is supposed to become the default file browser of Elementary OS in the near future. Though Marlin is still a work-in-progress, it already looks promising. Let's give Marlin a try in Ubuntu 11.10.

We have featured quiet a huge cache of Unity mockups before but this one is quite unlike anything I have seen so far. This is perhaps the most comprehensive mockup of future Ubuntu Unity I have seen in a while. Without much ado, let's watch the video. 

First of all, this is not a new application. YouTube Remote app is an official Android app by Google and it has been there for sometime now. It is one of the better apps for Android made by Google but not many Android users, especially newbies, know about it. Here's everything you need to know about YouTube Remote Android application.

Mr Legs is a brand new Android game that promises a lot of fun. Gameplay is rather simple but very clever and addictive. Animations, visual style, artworks and everything else about this game is very creative. Though the game itself is rather simplistic by design, it is very well executed. Mr Legs is one of the most original games I have played in my Android in a long time. Mr Legs is non-free but you can always ask for a refund if you don't like it.

This is great news for all hard core Android gamers out there. Humble Indie Bundle has just released their first ever collection of games for Android at the usual pay-what-you-want price. Games include Anomaly: Warzone Earth, Osmos, EDGE, and World of Goo.

Unity 5.2 is released and it brings in some much needed features to Ubuntu's Unity shell. The new upgraded Unity comes with multi-monitor support and there is this tiny little Unity launcher related hack that is going to make the lives of so many Ubuntu users a wee bit easier.