On 11th June, OperaWatched gave us a hint on Opera’s next 'Big Thing'. And since then I have been desperate to see Opera's idea of how they intend to Reinvent the future of the Web with their legacy of innovation. And finally, today Opera has announced “Opera Unite”, an outstanding, All-Purpose Server at your desktop. They've turned next version of their browser into a zero-config server for files, music, photos and websites. Read more & Download Opera Unit from [unite.opera.com] Click Here to Read More..

Reader Sean's desktop proves that Linux can be bright, colorful, and geeky all at the same time—there's no reason to be stuck with brown.  Hit the link for the full explanation and a link to download all of the Conky configuration files used to generate this theme. Great job, Sean! Want to see your own desktop featured here?

Read up on how to customize Conky for ambient Linux productivity, and then post your productive desktop over in the Lifehacker Desktop Show and Tell Flickr Group complete with a description of the programs and tweaks you used (and preferably links as well!), and we just might feature it here.

via[SeanKelly's Page]via[LifeHacker]


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//EDIT_7:30pm: Just moments ago they have released it (finally). Thank you Ubuntu Team! check out the new features

It’s 23rd April 2009! Promised date for the final release of Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope". It's nearly end of the day for me but so far no sign of the final release. Since last night I have been waiting for the final release to hit the servers. Gotta agree it’s painful waiting for the final release. Next time I would recommend the ubuntu team to set not only the date but the exact time it would be available for download. Been waiting patiently for months, guess I could wait afew more hours, or a day for that matter.

There is going to be a mad rush for downloading the release version since there are millions of users waiting for the final release to hit the servers. However, if you can’t be patient until then, you could start downloading the last daily build. In all probability daily build available now would become the final release (maybe with afew minor modifications).

Daily build are available on: http://cdimage.ubuntulinux.org/
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Time for a fun post. About 90% of my web activity is spent on social networking and reading IT related stuffs. Below is a list of places where I like to waste my time when I need a break. Hope you’ll find it useful.

lifeHacker.com:
An award-winning daily blog that features tips, shortcuts, and downloads that help you get things done smarter and more efficiently. Lifehacker launched in January 2005, and now ranks as one of the top-linked blogs on the internet according to Technorati.



gizmodo.com
Gizmodo is a blog about gadgets and technology. Started in 2002, Gizmodo has grown to be Gawker Media's largest blog, bringing in upwards of 100 million page views a month in traffic. Gizmodo post about a variety of electronics, as well as all sorts of things gadget geeks will enjoy.


tbohiphop.net
The Best Of HipHop - HipHop; Mixtapes CD's, Music Videos, News, RnB, Reggaeton, Huge Community, Rap, Underground. You will find it very interesting if you are a fan of Hipop.


warez-bb.org
The biggest Forum and where the most traffic happens in the Warez world is warez-bb. Reaching the heights that this site has is quite a milestone in the community as a whole. It is unquestionable that WBB is the pinnacle. and just keeps growing. Ranging from latest Apps, upto-date movies, Music, Templates and Scripts, Warez-bb now has over 1 million active users.


enGadget.com
Similarly to the gizmodo, Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics. Engadget was launched in March of 2004 in partnership with the Weblogs, Inc. Network (WIN).



withinWindows.com
Tech blog by Rafael Rivera Jr. who is responsible for a number of technical memes such as patched Uxtheme libraries, which nullify the need for having your Microsoft Windows themes digitally signed, and the Alky for Applications project (previously VAIO), a custom implementation of Microsoft Windows Vista API on older platforms such as Microsoft Windows XP etc.


iStartedSomething.com
It’s more than just a Windows Live blog. Consisting of some of the best stories first, Long Zheng, the self-proclaimed king of istartedsomething.com attracts more educated, young adults, slightly more male than female, more Asian, HH income up to $60k audience and growing.
Click Here to Read More..

What do you think of my new blog design? It was actually completed afew days ago but I had to make sure it works fine with the top web browsers; opera, firefox, chrome and internet explorer. Surely still there are afew minor defects (that I hope you won’t recognize).

While the look has been transformed quite a bit, the idea was to keep the elements I liked from the old cobbled together theme while making the whole thing work and not appear so clumsy. That’s the main reason why I used a pre-coded bloggy (thnxs to falconhive).

Anyways, I guess I must publicize my old blogger theme for free download. So keep in touch folks.

Here's my old bloggy;

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Yesterday I logged on to my deviantART page and was astonished to see loads of unread comments in my inbox. It turns out that I received my first DD on the free-hand icon set. I actually made this icon set for my personal use; to theme up conky on my ubuntu desktop. Anyway I’m glad that it got DD. I'm so thankful to =eos8 for suggesting it and ^yingjunjiu for featuring it as a DD.

Btw, Thanks for all the watches, Favs and comments! Really appreciate it.



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ColorStroked freehand Icon set includes over 22 graphics tailored icons for your personal needs. You may download and use it as you like. This pack includes many social media icons such as Delicious, Digg, Flickr, StumbleUpon, Technorati ,Twitter and WindowsLive. Moreover, universally and OS based icons such Tux, Windows, Terminal, Firefox, OppenOffice, Gimp etc is now available in the Free(ColorStroked) icon pack. Hope you’ll find it useful.

To Download the Icon set, please visit my devianART page here>> Click Here to Read More..

Ubuntu-Desk-Top. This style can be created with afew tweaks to your desktop. To get the exact look-and-feel, you must have the Ubuntu-Desk-Top wallpaper I designed exclusively for my ubuntu desktop. Get the Wallpaper Here..

I have used conky to print out system stats and weather on the notebook Just below that, conky prints out my unread emails on an envolope, following the system date and Calendar. To get the exact look, you'll need the customized conky script here.

Hand watch displays current time (note that its not just an image, I have used MacSlow's cairo-clock to look like a watch).

Use AWN or any other docks, make it's theme transparent. Download and assign Color-Stroked hand drawn icon set I designed for this style. (Photograph, notebook-Links, Coffee-Break Links directs to relevant apps and folders). For this, you can download and edit the PSD files here.

I still haven't got the audio player (zune on Desk-Top) to work. However, if we call in amarok (my fav audio player) using conky, its all done.

stocks, DV and sxc.hu
full view at my devianART>>>
Click Here to Read More..

Get your ideal Blogger templates now with BloggerStyle!Not only they list Blogger templates with nice design, they also do a detail rating base on the functions and usability. BloggerStyles grade them in 4 categories. Templates which score 59% and below get nothing. Score 60%-74% will get a Bronze award. Score 75%-89% will get a Silver award. Score 90%-100% will get a Gold award. For details about BloggerStyles rating system, click here.


Get free template support for templates designed/converted by BloggerStyles.
If you encounter functionality issues of a template designed/converted by BloggerStyles, they will address your problems and get them resolved, absolutely FREE.  

Engage to convert Wordpress theme to Blogger.

If you found a free Wordpress theme and would like to convert it to Blogger, BloggerStyle can do it for you. Due to the sophisticate work they are doing, a conversion fee applies. \

Do a multiple search using the friendly search feature.
BloggerStyle have a powerful search function to speed up finding your best blogger template. Try it in the “Search Templates” section found in the sidebar. You can do a single search by clicking on any of the items. Or you can do a multiple search by checking the items and click “Seach Templates”. For example, if you want to search for all the 3-column templates that are designed/converted by BloggerStyles, just tick the “3 columns” and “By BloggerStyles” button and click “Seach Templates”. The templates will then display on the search results page.

Find Blogger related resources and blogging tips
What should you do next after you have found your ideal template? BloggerStyle also do provide some tips and tricks for you to jump start your new Blog.

[BloggerStyles.com]

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I don't blog very often, but certainly do try my best to b-log and entertain my self as much as possible. According to my blogging history of 2008, I have posted very few about my personal life and blogged mostly about my Art Works and Reviews of interesting new Technologies and it certainly did attract a fine traffic to my blog. So anyway, I'll try my best to post more about my personal life, more Art Works, including Photography in my future posts.

In early 2008, I followed a couple of articles on how to get traffic to personal blogs and websites. Which resulted with a fairly nice amount of traffic. However, for some reason, still 90% of my blog readers doesn't leave any track-backs. This could be due to lack of taste in my posts to them. If so please do leave a comment saying so. And I shall revise it.

Also I would like to mention about an offer I received after my blog post in 2008 about the Thomas Character Designing I did for a client. The Thomas Project was no big deal but with that blog post, I received a project that earned me a fortune, enough to buy my self a Brand New Computer System. So I guess 2008 was not that bad for me.

Updates or not, I always receive emails from many friends and readers asking for help with their blog interfaces, Designing stuffs etc. and yes I do help them with open arms. So if you think I could help you with my rookie talents, please don't hesitate to email me. And of course do subscribe for my blog updates and do leave a comment if you find anything interesting.

Here are my favorite posts of 2008:
Boost your Productivity with a few small tweaks and the right desktop Applications [Reviews, Tutorial]
http://mfayaz.blogspot.com/2008/12/boost-your-productivity-with-few-small.html

3D floral patterned text effect: [Art, Tutorial]
http://mfayaz.blogspot.com/2008/07/3d-floral-patterned-text-effect_04.html

Save your PC’s and other valuable gear from lightning [Misc, Reviews]
http://mfayaz.blogspot.com/2008/06/save-your-pcs-and-other-valuable-gear.html

How to design a cool 3 dimentional Globe with easy 10 steps [Art, Tutorial]
http://mfayaz.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-to-design-cool-3-dimentional-globe.html

Personal website Interface: Dreamy Landscape [Art, Concept Art]
http://mfayaz.blogspot.com/2008/03/web-interface-dreamy-landscape.html

When Nature goes Wild... [Art, Concept Art]
http://mfayaz.blogspot.com/2008/03/when-nature-goes-wild.html



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First of all let me wish all my fellow blog readers a very Happy New Year 2009. I guess many would talk about how horrible 2008 was, but for me, last year was a successful one in many ways; I earned quite something working on small projects, did better in college than the previous year, took a big leap on my love relationship, managed to talk my brother into drug rehabilitation (yes it was a success, he has been a pain in the ass for my parents for like 5 yrs).

Conversely, I did spend more than I earned, will have to continue as an undergraduate for another 2 sems and also i would say it was a less rewarding year than usual. But lets face it, its 2009 and it can only get better. Let us all hope for the best with this new year. I feel blessed to have this opportunity to share my thoughts with the world. :) Once again welcome to 2009.




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Here, I would like to introduce you to two open-source graphics editing programs that are worth taking for a spin.

1. Actually, I have been using the free, open-source graphics editor, Gimp for quite some time and I can tell it’s as good as Photoshop in many ways. The new 2.6 version support for 32 bits per color channel and a new GEGL-based backend, polygonal and sectional selection with the Free Select Tool, docked tools, and menus, and a "brush dynamics" sub-menu that gives creators serious control over their pixel-pushing tools. Try Gimp!




2. Inkscape is another lovely, free, open-source vector editing program that you could use instead of Adobe Illustrator. I’m not a hardcore illustrator but as far as I can tell, all the tools and functions that you would ever need for your designing purposes are available on Inkscape too. Check out the Inkscape gallery at Deviant Art to see how lovable it can be.

GIMP and Inkscape are two free programs that you must take a spin at. Installation Packages are available for Windows, Mac, or Linux platforms. Go give it a try | Gimp 2.6 | Inkscape >>


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Each and every day we start new projects, install new Applications to our computers, cluttering the desktop and often dispatching mysterious Malwares and Adware’s to the system. But not many are concerned about organizing their desktops for productivity. I have seen badly cluttered desktops with like over 90 desktop shortcuts. If you are one of the victims, better take action now than never. With the right Software applications and WebApps, one could easily double his/hers productivity.


Part- 1> Install and keep updated with dependable Programs and Drivers
Most of our daily-use Applications come with the Operating System itself. However, these might not be the best Application for the job as there are better, free Applications a click away. For example, I bet some of you will have probably about 3 instant messaging clients running on your computer. But what if you could use all your instant messaging services (yahoo,msn google talk etc) with just one Application? Fixing small slip-ups like this will help you boost your computers overall performance.

Here are afew Free Software’s that I would recommend for a better computing...

Digsby or Pidgin: Manage all your email and social networking accounts within one window. (Supports AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, ICQ, Google Talk, Jabber and even Facebook Chat).

Opera or Firefox: These are the two best web browsers on the internet. Opera is much faster than firefox, however Opera lacks extensions, addons, compared to firefox. These two browsers are limitlessly customizable.

VLC Media Player: If you are using Windows Media Player, it will ask to install many codec’s to play vague formats. However, if you have the Free, VLC Media Player installed on your PC, you will never suffer of indistinct media formats. VLC Media can play virtually any media file, including DVDs, CDs, and various streaming protocols. Moreover, it can be used to rip your DVD’s too. (Just another reason not to install an extra Application just to rip DVD’s and CD’s)

Open Office: Best Package for all your Office needs. Free, alternative office suite OpenOffice already supports the upcoming OpenDocument Format 1.2, allowing you to save your documents in ODF for a bit of future proofing. It’s lighter than Ms Office and can save your files as PDF’s (again, bye bye documents to PDF converters).

7-Zip: Free, 7-Zip has a higher compression ratio compared to WinRaR or Winzip and can unpack almost any compressing format. Usually, 7-Zip compresses to 7z format 30-70% better than to zip format. And 7-Zip compresses to zip format 2-10% better than most of other zip compatible programs.

Winamp or SongBird: Free, wonderful media players that can be tweaked, customized, and personalized for your music pleasure.

Windows Live Photo Gallery: Google's free desktop software, Picasa used to be my favorite until MS Live Photo Gallery showed up. With the New Free Live Photo Gallery, you could do anything with your photos within the Gallery itself. It automatically organizes your Photos based on date, time, rating, and type. Additionally, you can adjust image details, Fix Red Eye, Adjust image exposure with just one click.

Stay in touch for Part- 2> More Free Desktop Applications that could be used to replace your existing ones.

Click Here to Read More..

Despite the unsuccessful “the Next Big thing of MS 2007– aka windows live”, Microsoft still continues to develop live services and it seems that now MS had learned from their mistakes and finally come up with a Web 2.0 and afew must-have PC and Internet goodies. If you have recently visited Windows live home page, you must have noticed afew cool things worth trying. I like to recommend Photo Galley, Profile and SkyDrive.


Certainly the recent upgrade of live Services will increase Windows Live adoption rates. And moreover, if MS unite with other leading services like Flickr, Photobucket, Twitter, WordPress etc as said by Chris Jones, windows live could be the best service on the internet. However Apple, Google and Yahoo will certainly fight against it and the results are unpredictable. Anyways let hope that this is something worth to bother!


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My Favorite web browser, Opera still continues to be the fastest Internet browser of all time. Although it never seemed to achieve the kind of success it deserved, Opera Developers still ain't gonna stop until they surpass IE and the Mozilla Firefox. Two days back, Opera Developers announced the popular cross-platform web browser's new version, Opera10 alpha and I could say that the new version continues to please me with the Presto 2.2- rendering speed (up to 30% speed boost compared to previous versions).

Most importantly Opera is looking forward to offer stiff competition with the blazing rendering engines of Firefox and the Google Chrome. Moreover, the Opera10 will offer afew new features including inline spell-check, full HTML email support for Opera's built-in email client, and a perfect score on the Acid3 web standards test.

With ever growing amazing features, Opera still continues to stay below MS IE and Mozilla Firefox. I would say that's not because Opera is weaker compared to IE or firefox, However that’s because IE and firefox's adoption rates are higher than the Opera and on the other hand, many users highly depend on some features like Extensions (Fx) which Opera does not have. Moreover, more than 40% of users choose IE since it’s the default browser that comes with the MS Windows.

Opera just needs to get the attention of the above mentioned users and Opera will be the greatest Web Browser of all time. Maybe advertising it would help Opera gain more love it deserves. And yeah, Opera needs to be more versatile with better addon support, Extensions and also streamlining the password prompt and search bar window might be a good change. Let’s hope for Opera10 final with overall standard improvements.

Opera 10 (alpha)
Opera 9.62 (stable)
Click Here to Read More..

I am wondering how you feel about an American Degree compared to any other. It seems many of my friends go after American Degrees because it sounds more pro. Others choose Singaporean, Australian etc to get a cheap degree (depending on the University of course). Or could it be because they don't want to waste their time and energy studying crappy subjects like US Constitution, US History, Psychology and other Subjects that don’t concern ones Degree Major.

I don't know about you guys but I think it’s too much for a person who doesn't intend to live in US. I personally had already completed about 23 Subjects despite only 6 Subjects that really concern my Major.

Actually, all this is about a letter I received from Excelsior College. More than 2 years after enrollment, I have been told by Excelsior that they no longer offer the Degree I applied for. Hence, they want me to choose a different concentration. So before I start my last batch to complete the specialization subjects, I must change my entire course. However I’m still not sure what I’m going to choose. So I’m thinking to talk to the management and let them recommend a concentration that best suits me.

If any of you would like to share your opinion you’re most welcome. Also I look forward to transfer my credits to any other College that accredit all the subjects I had completed already and if only I could get the exact Degree I have always worked for, which is IT Graphics Design (BS in Information Technology with a concentration of Multimedia and Web Development ).

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Lately I have been receiving emails requesting to re-upload some of my stuffs (blogger templates & PSD’s) that have been deleted from the uploaded servers. So after more than a month later, here I am posting on my blog.  Anyways, it’s worth to spend afew minutes checking on my files and re-uploading those which were deleted since there are people visiting and downloading my stuffs at least ones in a while.


Note that all files uploaded by me has been checked, if you have any problems downloading my files please contact me at mfayazatlivedotcom (or just post a comment ;)
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I didn’t expect that quick. Google new Browser is now portable meaning you can carry it with you on an USB stick.

The latest version can also turn “Incognito” mode as default. So you are “Incognito” surfer!

Get it HERE!

i found this article very interesting, u should read it too..
Dr. Frankenstein's Browser: The Strangely Obvious Ancestry of Google Chrome Click Here to Read More..

Facebook® released a new, cleaner and simpler design, along with the opportunity for users to preview and test the next-generation features and functionality. The company is inviting people to use the new design and try out the improved features by navigating back and forth between the new and current versions of the site. Access to the new design will be limited at first and gradually become available to all users. Go to www.new.facebook.com discover the new look. You can still roll back to the previous version by clicking a “Back to Old Facebook” link at the top of the site.


Click Here to Add me to your facebook friends


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Starting as a research project in 1994, Opera has been responsible for some world changing innovations (think tabbed browsing) and yet never seemed to achieve the kind of success it deserved. But this isn’t a history lesson, it’s an article on a few of the killer features of Opera that keep me using it each day. I use Firefox and Flock pretty frequently as well, but Opera, as of version 9.5 has become my favourite.

Download Opera

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