Rumors, rumors, rumors.

The Internet is full of rumors that Google will be releasing its Chrome Operating System pretty soon. Supposedly in the next couple of weeks. This is great news for the techies like us that want to tinker and try out new software. Chrome OS will probably be in beta and will not be ready for production machines but nevertheless I am excited to see what Google will come up with. Google has huge financing behind them and it is nice to see such a large company supporting Linux and creating their own operating system based on it. This puts Google in direct competition with Microsoft Windows. Google Chrome will initially be for netbooks but the potential here is amazing. If they create a great product desktop computers will be running Google Chrome OS too. The question is if Google will be able to create something great. The Linux community already has successful distributions such as Fedora, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Mandriva, Sabayon etc. Will Google be able to create a better product? I hope so and can't wait to try out Google Chrome OS soon.

Motorola's Droid

The iPhone is definitely a very good and hugely successful smartphone but Apple is a very protective company. A lot of individuals who create apps for the iPhone have complained about Apple's restrictive policies. Apple is also not very friendly to Linux users and is very monopolistic in its practices. A good alternative to the iPhone if you want a more open platform are Android phones. Android is based on Linux and has a lot of potential. Lately it has been popping up in several smartphones and continues to grow. Motorola's Droid has been getting a lot of attention lately. It might not be an iPhone killer but it is a viable alternative. It has a nice and large screen, a physical keyboard for easier texting, flash camera which is 5 mega pixel and can record video. The Motorola's Droid is definitely a decent smartphone and much more open than the Iphone with its restrictive policies. The Droid still has some improvements to focus on but already it is a great choice for people who are looking for an alternative to the Iphone.

Here is a nice in-depth video review of the Motorola Droid.

Keep up with the many distros.

Distrowatch is a great site to keep up with the many distributions of Linux that are available. They are nicely organized and you can see which ones are becoming popular. Each Linux distro has different strengths and it is important to choose the one that suits your needs the most. It is nice to have a website that keeps track of various distributions that you can install and learn more about. Check out Distrowatch.com and put the fun back into computing.


Distrowatch website.

Bill Gates or Hitler, LOL!

Gizmo5 sold to Google

Google is still buying up companies. Yesterday, an announcement was made that Google purchased Gizmo5. Gizmo5 is a voice over internet protocol application. Google might integrate their google voice service with Gizmo5 and become a very strong competitor to Skype. Only time will tell what Google is up to and if they can become your next telecommunication provider. VOIP is a very lucrative market and has revolutionized how people place calls around the world. Look for future developments on their site.

They know our weakness.

Free and Open Source video editor

Kdenlive is a free and open source video editor for Linux. Its goal is flexibility and ease of use. Kdenlive supports major video formats and 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratios. It is licensed under the GNU general public license version 2. The latest stable release is 0.76 as of October 8, 2009. There are many audio and video effects ranging from volume adjustment to video blurring. Check out Kdenlive for yourself at their website.

Free movies and TV shows

Great site to stream videos of the latest movies and TV shows out there. Each day there is a line up of shows that you can watch from the previous night. Nice and relatively easy site to navigate but has advertising. Categories include Movies, TV Shows, Documentaries, Cartoons and others. Check out Ninjavideo.net.

Ubuntu 9.10 is here

Ubuntu 9.10 came out a couple of days ago. It is a great distribution that makes Ubuntu perform a lot smoother. The boot up time is quick and things seem to be well integrated together. The overall installation is also very easy and I like the fact that it has a quick tour to introduce new people to the Ubuntu linux distribution and what it has to offer. The Software center takes some time to adjust to but I think it has a lot of potential in the future. Another nice thing is the downloads folder. Now, you can keep things a little bit more organized and off your desktop by placing your files in this directory. Small changes overall but a nice improvement to the evolution of Ubuntu. This distribution is great for people who want to switch over from Windows and give linux a try. Go ahead and download one of the most popular open source operating systems out there.

Ubuntu.com