preview on oxygen widget style for kde 4.0

Some updates and a mock of the work being done in the oxygen widget style for kde 4.0



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It is accomplished...

I've finally installed Linux! For those of you who don't know, I've chosen openSUSE, partly because of the GUI (the "K" button is almost an exact replica of the Vista Start Menu).

The installation process went mostly without hassles, although the DVD I borrowed from a friend was SUSE (the commercial version), so I had to order a $20 DVD from EverythingLinux.com.au and re-install. Since I had exceeded the measly 500MB web download allowance for the month already, I had to contend with dialup speeds for the update, which took 3 nights of constant downloading. After that, I finally had a functioning Linux installation!

The 2.6Ghz Celeron, 750MB RAM, 80G HDD computer I am running it on seems to work reasonably with just KDE apps, but when I try to run Lincity-ng it falls over, as I have yet to purchase a graphics card!

Anyway, I'm out of time now, but I'll try to provide regular updates about what I'm doing with Linux.

David

Google Acquires Feedburner - Cheers all round!

It's official! After much speculation Google has acquired FeedBurner, the Chicago-based online feed syndication company. With it's user base of over 400,000 "burners" and an already developed advertising network, FeedBurner will be a formidable addition to Google's already-strong web services arsenal.

The benefits of this deal will extend to the users as well. Although Google has not yet announced their plans for integrating, Feedburner is sure to benefit from Google's superior financial backing and extensive coverage. According to the official FeedBurner blog, the FeedBurner staff have three main goals they wish to achieve from the acquisition:

a) continue to provide our customers with the best feed analytics,
b) begin to provide a more comprehensive 360-degree view of audience and reach, and
c) enable publishers to most efficiently determine the best ways to distribute and monetize their content.

Basically what this means is that content providers will be able to access greater audience analysis and income-generation tools, while advertisers will be able to reach a greater user base with less effort and expense. Most likely, we will soon see Adsense for Feeds come out of testing and be incorporated with FeedBurner's advertising network to move towards this goal.

Why is everyone so excited about FeedBurner's acquisition? This is the big break for FeedBurner. Just like Blogger, Feedburner will continue to grow, and, with the help of Google, provide increased service, integration, and income for web publishers and advertisers. Just when this level of integration will be achieved is uncertain, but one this is for sure:

Google + Feedburner = ∞!

Testing...

This is a test of the blogging tool in SuSE Linux.

David Webb's Nature Photography Gallery

Nancy's Art Gallery

OnePointFive - The Acreage Lifestyle

Google Moves towards "Universal Search"

At the Google "Searchology" Press conference this weekend, Google announced a number of new innovations in it's search interface that will be unrolled this week. One of the major changes will be the new integration between Google's different search types.

Google has announced that they will be merging the results from Google Book, Blog, Image, Local News, and Video Searches into the organic search results. According to the official press release, Google's vision for universal search is to "ultimately search across all its content sources, compare and rank all the information in real time, and deliver a single, integrated set of search results that offers users precisely what they are looking for".

It's going to be interesting to see exactly how Google fulfils that goal in the future. We can already see an aggressive stance taken to update it's services recently, and we can look forward to more integrated and informative searches in the future.

To be continued....

Google Directions - Are those Google Guys really such good swimmers?

Google Maps - obviously an excellent and accurate service

Try this one.......

Follow the instructions below..

Google will probably find this out and fix it pretty quickly.

Follow these steps [in order of course]

1. 1. go to www.google.co.uk
2. 2. click on maps
3. 3. click on get directions
4. 4. go from "new york" to "london, england "
5. 5. scroll down in the directions to number 24
6. 6. laugh and then re-post this ASAP so other people can enjoy

Hitachi announces 1000GB Blu-ray Recorder

WOW! A 1 TB Blu-ray disc. That's bigger than most peoples hard drives! (and some 1TB HDDs do exist). Check this out - it might just be a step towards the end of the Blu-ray/HD-DVD standards battle.



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A Great Blog to Visit

Hi all,

Just telling you that I'm very busy right now, so I might not get to post anything for a while. Meanwhile, why not visit my other blog: David's Nature Photography Gallery

I should be back posting again soon.

David

Finally! A total switch to Linux

Previously, I haven't been able to rely totally on Linux because the only computers available to run it on have been old (Pentium II or earlier!), and therefore haven't been able to run KDE (or GNOME) smoothly. But now we have bought a new computer with Windows Vista installed, so that can be the only WIndows machine, and I can now install Linux on the old (Celeron 2.6Ghz, 750MB RAM, 80GB HDD) computer!

I'm going to be using SUSE running KDE as that is the best integrated and supported version (except for Ubuntu, the "beginners OS' in my point of view). I'm waiting in great anticipation for KDE4 to be released October this year (more about that one of these days), and using SUSE should guarantee a smooth upgrade process. So, stay posted, I'll be relating my experiences living in a Linux world as soon as I get it installed (a few days time hopefully).

Long Live Tux!

Links:
SUSE Linux
KDE Home
David's Nature Photography Gallery

Get Opera-like 'Speed Dial' Feature in Firefox

What's Speed Dial? Basically, Opera 9.2 provides you with screenshots for up to 9 websites when you load the browser. It's kind of like having 9 different homepages, which you can quick faster than you can pull up a bookmark toolbar. You can also refresh the screenshots.



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New Version of Google Analytics a huge improvement!

Today Google announced the new look of their popular Google Analytics tool for webmasters. The tour shows many improvements - the whole site design has been re-done to provide maximum usability and flexability. Check out the tour below - when Google activates the new look on your account later this week, I'm sure you'll like it!


Google Analytics Blog: New Version of Google Analytics!
Take the tour!

Dell sending mixed message by backing Microsoft-Novell alliance

Hardware vendor Dell has purchased SUSE Linux Enterprise Server license certificates from Microsoft. The certificates, which are one facet of a controversial deal between Microsoft and Novell, are intended to be used by customers who run mixed software environments with both Windows and Linux.



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Firefox CEO speaks out

A fascinating interview with Mozilla CEO Mitchell Baker about where Firefox came from and where it’s going. Baker talks about putting Firefox on mobile phones; how it will take on Flash and Silverlight and how Firefox makes $US55million a year!



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Vote for Dell to offer Linux worldwide!

Tell Dell that the rest of the world wants freedom too! At the moment, Dell only plans to release Ubuntu on US computers. This ideastorm post allows you to vote for freedom and equality for all! ;)



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Google's new design

Google is testing a new look for their search results page designed to increase functionality, as well as add some "eye candy". The major change that is immediately visible to users is the new "navigation bar" at the top of the screen. By default, this has links to Google Web, Image, and Video searches, as well as Google News, Mail and a "More" button. The standard account management links are still at the top right, although "Search History" has changed to "Web History" because of Google's recently implemented web tracking.

There are also other minor changes, such as the change from "center" alignment to "left justified" in some sections, and the search results number + speed indicator moving to the bottom of the page.

These new changes, althought they add little loading time to the page, increase the visiblity of the various Google services. They also genuinely help users to find the information they are searching for by presenting more of the available options on the screen. Let's hope Google continues to make changes for the better like this with it's other products.