Linux Tips And Tricks That You Can Use

(1)To load new files in separate windows

     If you have a file named ‘first.txt’ loaded already in VIM, then use ‘:split second.txt’ to load another   file named ‘second.txt’ in a separate window—IM will split the screen horizontally and load the second file. You can use ‘:vsplit’ to split the screen vertically. ‘Ctrl+w’ can be used to switch between the windows.

(2)Check your processor and OS architecture

     Here is how to find out whether the installed OS as well as the CPU are of 64-bit or 32-bit.

Given below is the command that will output the details of the OS installed:

      $ uname -m

      output: - x86_64 [if 64-bit]

                   - i686

     To know about the processor, run the following command:

      $ lshw -class processor | grep width

      output: - width: 64 bits

                    - width: 32 bits

Note: install lshw if it is not already installed on your system.

(3)Let your Linux system welcome you

Issue the following script and name it "welcome.sh "

echo “Hi Savan you are welcome today is “ | festival --tts date| cut -d” “ -f 1-3 | festival --tts 

Now put the command sh welcome.sh at start-up. This will allow the script to run every time you log in to your system. Once done, restart your system to hear the message that is written in the Echo command. 

The festival command is used to change the text to voice. You can use this command in many ways according to your creativity. Do remember to check that you have festival installed before trying this tip.

Google I/O: Google Outs Android Studio SDK

Google has released an early access preview of Android Studio, which is the upcoming iteration of the Android SDK. The latest version comes with a host of changes which are being added and while the project is about to be completed, users are being told to prolong using the current version till the official word is out. The official release was made during the key note session at Google I/O 2013. 

So what changes can we look forward to? The SDK leaves Eclipse behind and the entire development environment is being moved over to IntelliJ. This change could attract wide amount of interest from developers, which in-turn improves the entire production process for Android. 

Eclipse has been criticised for its features and in comparison, the changes are being openly welcomed. Features also included are Google Analytics powered referral tracking, app translation, multiple layout tools, real-time code simulator, five new features for the developer console and many more that are have not come under the notice. 

The Android Studio SDK will represent exciting times ahead for developers working on Android and this could lead to new things in the coming years. 

This Is What Unity 8 On Ubuntu 13.10 Looks Like!

Ubuntu 13.04 may not have struck the right note with Ubuntu users globally, but that has not dithered Canonical to work on the next version 13.10, which will be released in October this year. The most notable feature in Ubuntu 13.10 is expected to be the inclusion of Unity 8 interface.

Although the official release is still more than five months away but most of the new features that has been planned for Unity in Ubuntu 13.10 has already been spoken and written about. 

Canonical has stated that Ubuntu 13.10 will be focused on incorporating Ubuntu Touch, which is the mobile version of Unity aimed at mobile and tablet devices. The same Unity version will eventually make its way to the desktop in the form of Unity 8, but sadly the version will not be the finished article in time to make the release. So, many experts have taken the current version of Ubuntu’s desktop Unity 7 as the basis for the next release with further polishing, new features added and plenty of bug-fixes.

Features planned for Unity in Saucy include: Smart Scopes Service/100 Scopes, In-Dash Payments, New ‘Unity Indicators’ and Newer Compiz with performance improvements.

Some folks have managed to show us how the Unity 8 interface will look on Ubuntu 13.10. 

7 Linux Tools To Improve Productivity

A list of 7 helpful Linux applications to help you increase productivity.

1. Application Launcher: Launchy

Launchy is a highly helpful application launcher. It saves a lot of your time as it enables you to run any frequently used application just by typing a few keystrokes. It then helps you avoid the application menu or even lets you ignore the icons on the desktop. Just a few keystrokes and your application starts! Isn't that blissful!

2. Synchronization Application: Conduit

Conduit is a quite amazing syncing application for GNOME users. It helps you synchronize your information and data like photos, files, notes, contacts, calendar, emails and a lot of other things. Conduit can be used to synchronize data with gadgets, computer or online services as well. It also helps to convert data into other formats.

3. File Search Tool: Recoll

Recoll is a super helpful search tool that helps you find your files quickly even by searching the content inside the file other than location or filenames. Just type in a few keywords to find your results displayed in a list of documents on the basis of relevance.

4. Personal Information Manager: Osmo

Osmo GTK+ based light productivity tool can be used to keep a track of your daily tasks and appointments. One can also store and manage their contacts using its address book. Its user interface is simple, easy to understand and clear that lets the application respond quickly. You can access a full years calender in just one click. It also helps you calculate number of days between two dates.

5. Desktop Wiki: Zim

Zim is a desktop wiki, which is simple and easy to use. It helps you create notes and track information in a wiki style format. You can make use of its markups in order to highlight and distinguish your content. The application stores the user's data in text files and auto saves the data.

6. Notes Manager: Basket

Basket is an interesting notes manager that helps in taking notes and help mark pages to be referred later. Standing true to its name it is indeed a basket that gathers all the information that you wanna store. The application handle images and webpage snippets. It also allows to store URLs and anything that the user comes across to access later. It also help you to organize and share you data quickly.

7. Image Viewer: GimageView

GImageview is a light weight image viewer which helps you quickly display many images and lets the user scan through and pick the ones they want. It also has an inbuilt slide-show viewer and multiple layouts to view your album folders. 

Mozilla Giving Free Firefox OS Smartphones To Developers

Mozilla is effortlessly working on its Firefox operating system for smartphone and now the company is prepping to hit the market with its app store in place, which is why the initiative to give phones to app developer makes perfect sense. The deal is straight; you give us apps, we give you phones. 

The initiative dubbed as 'Phones for apps for Firefox OS' is being used to ensure the execution stage of Firefox apps reaches viable position. 

“If you can show you've got a great app idea and the skill to build it, we'd love to see your apps in the Marketplace when the Firefox OS launch begins later this summer. And to sweeten the deal, we'll send a Firefox OS Developer Preview device for you to work with now,” Havi Hoffman noted in a Mozilla blog . 

The incentive of offering hardware to developers will quicken up the app development process and enable Mozilla to get hands-on feedback about the platform and its app store. 

The entry-level smartphones running Firefox OS are raw at the moment, which is why Mozilla is keen to make sure that the apps work well on the entry-level hardware devices. 

The blog carries a form where developers need to register for the phone for apps scheme from Mozilla. One would have to say that Mozilla is leaving no stone unturned to make Firefox OS an immediate success.

Six Interesting Facebook Tricks That You Might Not Know

Almost everyone of us have now been using Facebook since years, but there are a lot of things that we still are unaware of. Here are 6 interesting tricks that you might not know about Facebook. 

1.Trick to update blank status:

Simply enter @[3:3: ] in your status update box. To update your blank status as a long statement, paste the code one below another as showed below:

@[3:3: ]

@[3:3: ]

@[3:3: ]

2. Download Full Facebook Album in a single click:

Now you can download a full Facebook album in a single click. Just visit this app called Facebook2zip.

3. Go offline for a particular person:

Instead of going offline for all of your friends, now you can go OFFLINE for a particular person. Just open that person's chat pane and click on the settings button. You'll find a button saying 'Turn off chat for xyz', just click and you are done.

4. Facebook status update from Desired Device (via iPhone without an iPhone):

Login to your Facebook account and update your status, just visit and search for your desired device on top right corner of the page: http://statusvia.org/apps/Facebook/

5. Update Facebook status with symbols:

Facebook status symbols do not have to use the inbuilt facility. But we're cool with the status message through the use of symbols is a Facebook trick. Just visit: Site

Then double click copy and paste the desired symbol in your status.

6. Post Facebook update in blue

Paste the below mentioned code in your status update box and write your text in place of 'your text':

@@[1:[0:1: your text]] 

Ubuntu To Bring A New Linux Application Installer

Though there are already a whole lot of packing and installation systems for Linux software application but the latest addition will be made by Ubuntu very soon. Ubuntu’s parent company Canonical is doing this as Ubuntu is looking forward to become a popular smartphone and tablet operating system. And for this reason, Ubuntu is looking for a faster and easier method for independent software developers to deliver their programs to customers. 

Colin Watson, who is a long-time software engineer at Canonical and has worked on both Debian and Ubuntu Linux says in an e-mail message, which was floated to the Ubuntu developers. that the goal is "to make it quicker and easier for app developers to get their software into Ubuntu. There are several pieces … but it seems clear that one of those is some kind of simplified packaging format which we can offer to third-party application developers."

This no way means that Ubuntu is going to dump its current DEB method. Watson wrote, "This is not aimed at changing packages that are already part of the Ubuntu archive; for the most part our existing system works well for those, and they tend to have non-trivial dependency structures. We'll continue to use dpkg and apt for building the Ubuntu operating system, syncing with Debian, and so on."

Instead, Watson is working on a package management setup for applications created on a fixed base system, which is also targeted to be a part of the Ubuntu SDK (Software Developer Kit) of the initial Ubuntu phones and Tablets. 

So hopefully the new Linux program packaging by Ubuntu will provide the individual developers with a quick and simple method to share their applications with Ubuntu touch device users. And we are looking forward to application rich smart devices by Ubuntu.

Now Google Dumps Custom Linux In Favour Of Debian

Debian is surely going places! First it captured the NASA’s PCs in space and now Google has decided to ditch its custom version of Linux for Debian! The search giant will be moving the default software for its rentable cloud servers to Debian. 

The company announced the decision of making Debian the default image type for its Compute Engine on Thursday. So now Linux OS GCEL (Google Compute Engine Linux) will be replaced by Debian 6.0 and 7.0.

Commenting on the move, Jimmy Kaplowitz, Google site reliability engineer wrote, "We are continually evaluating other operating systems that we can enable with Compute Engine. However, going forward, Debian will be the default image type for Compute Engine."

Google has asked all developers to switch to Debian images instead of GCEL, which as per Google FAQs is “a Linux distribution using Debian packages found in typical minimal Ubuntu distributions.”

Both the versions of Debian, Debian 6.0 "squeeze" and 7.0 "wheezy" have some differences, besides the process of having module loading and direct memory access disabled for security purposes, The Register reported.

As per Debian wiki, "Google is interested in working with Debian to make the images even more standard and achieve official Debian image status. In the meantime, Debian has indicated that it's okay with these images being labeled as Debian instead of Debian-based." Debian is considered a fairly stable Linux distribution and Version 7 was released just a week back.

Commenting on the reason for change, Google spokesperson told Register, "We feel that customers will get a great experience having a Linux distribution that is maintained by the Debian community. Debian and derivatives thereof (such as Mint and Ubuntu) are among the most popular on the Internet, and Google itself is a heavy contributor to the Debian code base. We will also continue to offer CentOS, and are actively exploring other operating system options based on feedback from our customers." 

From GNOME Linux Desktop to OpenStack Cloud

Red Hat's Mark McLoughlin, the top OpenStack developer in the world by volume of code commits, wasn't always a cloud guy. He started out a key figure in the GNOME Linux desktop.

The open source OpenStack cloud platform is being built by a diverse and large group of vendors and developers. Among those vendors is Linux leader Red Hat, a company that is no stranger to being part of a multi-stakeholder open source effort, like the GNOME Linux desktop, for example.

Helping to lead Red Hat's OpenStack efforts is Senior Principal Software Engineer, Mark McLoughlin. McLoughlin isn't just a leader at Red Hat, he was also the leading contributor by code commits to the recent OpenStack Grizzly release. In an exclusive video interview with Datamation (see below), McLoughlin explains how his years of experience in the GNOME desktop community prepared him and Red Hat to help OpenStack to succeed.

McLoughlin joined Red Hat nine years ago, working on the GNOME desktop and has also worked on Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV). From an OpenStack contribution perspective, McLoughlin is a bit embarrassed to be identified as the top comitter to the project. He explained that his time spend on OpenStack is not specifically directed by Red Hat's CTO. His responsibilities including helping both the project as well as Red Hat's own effort around OpenStack.

"I'm trying to help make the upstream project a success by what I see as cross-project issues," McLoughlin said. "The other half of my job is to help with the internal direction of what we're doing with OpenStack."

GNOME

As to why McLoughlin sees himself as being successful within the OpenStack community, it has a lot to do with his experience in the GNOME community.

"I put down a lot of my success in OpenStack to the fact that I've been through this before with GNOME and I know the dynamics of working with lots of developers with different interests and priorities," McLoughlin said.

His experience with GNOME taught him how to enable consensus across developers and how futile flame wars could be. The OpenStack community is as diverse as the GNOME community and is also filled with passionate developers.

One of the biggest controversies in recent years with GNOME was the move to the GNOME Shell with GNOME 3. GNOME Shell replaces the GNOME Panel, which is a technology that McLoughlin was very involved with. The change to GNOME 3 is something that McLoughlin noted the GNOME project went through in the transition to GNOME 2 as well.

OpenStack has been through one major transition so far, in the rewrite of the Keystone authentication engine.

"In another community that might have extremely painful, but in OpenStack, controversies tend not to lead to the same out of proportion flame war discussions," McLoughlin said.

Watch the video interview with Mark McLoughlin below:

Know What Makes Windows 8 An Easy Target For Hackers!

We've become accustomed to the fact that open source platforms are prone to high-level vulnerabilities but it seems the highly complex Windows 8 platform is as vulnerable as its open-source counterparts.

According to security firm, Kaspersky Labs, the complexity of the Windows 8 operating system has increased its vulnerability. The complex nature of the latest Windows version is the result of the three forms of operating systems running Windows 8 i.e. Windows desktop, Windows RT, and Windows RT running on ARM-based systems, the report added. 

The three-way approach from Microsoft with Windows 8 has resulted in increased vulnerability, which offers hackers more room to find vulnerabilities and exploit the same. "Because it contains three platforms, it leaves the gateway open for a much broader opening for ways into the system," Wayne Kirby was quoted as saying in the report. 

Apart from the different versions, Kirby added that simple sign-on feature could also result in more hacking attacks. "With one Web console, you can now log in and have local administrative rights on a remote computer, go as far as manipulate registry on computers," he added.

The next bigger concern highlighted by Kirby is with reference to Microsoft's cloud storage service, SkyDrive. He believes that Windows 8 integration with SkyDrive could leave the system vulnerable to data theft by anyone who has the right expertise.

The in-built integration of Windows 8 with SkyDrive may attract developers but it does leave a big security hole that needs quick rectification. Otherwise, the slow growth of Windows 8 adoption could lead to more discouragement amongst users.