//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/
Click Here to Read More..

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..

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..

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!


Click Here to Read More..

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 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..

FROM LIFEHACKER.COM: Read the hype on every new web browser released or due out this year, and you'll see claims that every one of them is "faster" than all the others. More » Click Here to Read More..