So Ubuntu Edge it is. That's what the countdown on Ubuntu home page just a week ago was all about. Ubuntu Edge is Canonical's own superphone, with the kind of specs that can make any tech enthusiast drool. But Canonical is approaching this differently. Ubuntu Edge will be produced in limited numbers only and the entire process will be made viable through crowdfunding. And not just any crowdfunding, the biggest of its kind ever seen!

An interesting project recently popped up in indiegogo.com, one of the many KickStarter-like crow-funding alternatives out there. It's called The Minuum Keyboard Project and the promoters are hopeful of reinventing on-screen keyboards of the kind currently available in smartphones. Minuum Keyboard, when released, will be available for Android only initially. 

Ever since Canonical introduced Unity desktop, there was no dearth for user-contributed ideas. Some of them were really good too. But over-time, things have changed so much about Unity that most of those mockups became irrelevant. Now, here's a new one that recently came to our notice. Some very good suggestions to improve Unity launcher further.

NexPhone concept is a new kick-starter like project where the promoters intend to build a smartphone that becomes your tablet, laptop and PC, all at the same time. Might sound familiar since ASUS has a similar project called ASUS PadFone. The interesting thing about NexPhone project is that, they intend to use Ubuntu for Android as their preferred desktop OS. It all looks very promising (video below), but there are some suspicious bits too.

Among other big ticket announcements during recently concluded Ubuntu Developer Summit(UDS) was the news of Ubuntu Unity's foray into Mobile and TV space. This was an exciting development to everyone in the community and user-contributed design mockups have been pouring in ever since. We had featured a bunch of really interesting Unity Mobile mockups before, now it's the turn of Unity TV based design mockups and ideas.

User created ideas and concepts have always been an hallmark of popular Linux based distors like Ubuntu. We have featured such awesome works by loyal users, ranging from awe inspiring Ubuntu Unity mockups to professional looking LibreOffice mockups. Shuttleworth, during the recently concluded Ubuntu Developer Summit(UDS), made it clear that they will be taking Ubuntu to smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs. Inspired from that, some users have already created interesting mockups based on the idea of mobile Ubuntu Unity.

Nokia has always been at the forefront of mobile phone revolution. Even though Nokia's market share has been in a steady decline over the years, Nokia surprised everyone with its MeeGo powered Nokia N9(perhaps the last MeeGo phone, sigh!). N9's hardware was an instant hit and MeeGo OS, without even an ecosystem around it, received wide accolades. Here's a video on Nokia's latest GEM concept mobile phone which looks rather interesting. 

We have featured a number of really good Ubuntu Unity concepts before, here is another one which supposedly deals with the trash button in Unity more efficiently.

Linux desktop is on a roll. First came the revamped KDE 4.0 which took the level of User Interface(UI) fit and finish of Linux desktops to another level. Then came the GNOME Shell and Ubuntu Unity desktop interfaces. But one thing they all lack, especially GNOME Shell and Unity, are good looking and user friendly login screens. And here are some very interesting login screen mockups for GNOME.

Unity is the new improved Ubuntu interface which is all set to debut in another month or so when Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" is officially released. A lot of ideas keeps coming in from users on how to improve Unity interface even further. Tweak Center and Launchpad + Ubuntu Sowftare Center integration mockups set the tone and now here is another one. Idea is to have a Firefox 4.0's Panorama kind of an interface as workspace manager for Ubuntu Unity.

While Tweak-Center mockup was a brilliant idea that stood out from the rest of the crowd, here is another very interesting concept that demands your attention. USC Launchpad Concept integrates Ubuntu Software Center with Launchpad and thereby provide easy access of hundreds of awesome applications hosted at Launchpad to its users.

Tweak-Center is an idea, albeit a brilliant one, to create a marketplace to download themes, icons, tweaks etc. within Ubuntu Software Center. We have featured a number of very unique mockups and ideas before, but Tweak Center is different in a very good way.

LibreOffice is already my default office suite in Ubuntu though there is not much of a difference between OpenOffice and LibreOffice for now. But things are moving fast and LibreOffice is going to have its first official release soon. Meanwhile, you might want to remove all traces of OpenOffice and install LibreOffice in Ubuntu for a change. Trust me, it feels good.

When you look back at the history of Ubuntu through the years, you will see that, Ubuntu Unity is *the* most significant change ever happened to Ubuntu. Ubuntu Unity is a really interesting idea with limitless possibilities. Now, here are some innovative user created Ubuntu Unity UI mockups/ideas you might find interesting.

Mobile Phones are spreading like wild fire and the number of mobile phone platforms keeps on multiplying. It was a world dominated by Nokia's Symbian until recently and all of a sudden things started changing once again with the arrival of iPhone and very recently Google's own Android, which is now the fastest growing smartphone mobile OS in the world. But how about real hardware improvements? Here are a bunch of brilliant mobile phone concepts that's for sure going to take your breath away!

In Linux, a lot of design makeover starts with a mockup. We have already experienced it first hand with the clever redesign of Nautilus called Nautilus Elementary. The following Evolution mockups are so impressive that I really hope someday these changes will be implemented in Evolution partially at least.

Nautilus Elementary simplified Nautilus extensively. If you are wondering how Nautilus can be improved any further, DanRabbit has an answer every single time. Following mockups deals with integrating paths with search/edit entries in the Nautilus location bar.

Ubuntu Tweak is every newbie Ubuntu user's closest companion and we have already seen how Ubuntu Tweak is slowly evolving into one among the must have installation candidates for Ubuntu in our Ubuntu Tweak review. And with the new mockup UI, the next phase of development for Ubuntu Tweak has only started.

We have seen such interesting desktop modification concepts like right click menu alternative mockup, creative button concepts by IZO design etc. Warning themes concept is another interesting idea worth a look. The rationale behind the concept to make it clear to the user that, opening something like a filebrowser as root is not the 'normal' way to do things and such actions could damage their system.

We have featured a number of mobile phone concepts before, Nokia Morph Concept Phone for example. But Seabird concept phone from Mozilla is in a league of its own. Seabird is a community driven mobile phone concept that debuted at Mozilla Labs 'Concepts'.