Tips and Tricks to Make Your Blog Stand Out

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><style>.infox { display: none; } </style> <br /><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0BlUZevFoPzBjVHdTIm5uA9jKB9-fzQzLXMNb4hwSo6HCUj9niOV7Hh0fFRw2F2qSIDnFWkJH0NKHErTefclBx7S1X3cb5DyP1il33BJLMWIBF99EeD6-M5boKknOCIFlxuP5jNJMhtQ/s1600/make+your+blog+stand+out.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Tips and Tricks to Make Your Blog Stand Out" border="0" height="117" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0BlUZevFoPzBjVHdTIm5uA9jKB9-fzQzLXMNb4hwSo6HCUj9niOV7Hh0fFRw2F2qSIDnFWkJH0NKHErTefclBx7S1X3cb5DyP1il33BJLMWIBF99EeD6-M5boKknOCIFlxuP5jNJMhtQ/s200/make+your+blog+stand+out.png" title="Tips and Tricks to Make Your Blog Stand Out" width="200" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It seems like everyone has a blog these days, so it can be really hard to make your blog stand out. For every wildly successful blog with thousands of daily readers, there are dozens of <a href="http://ichibikarin.blogspot.com/search/label/Blogger" target="_blank">blogs</a> that are lucky enough to get a few clicks a week. If you are wondering why no one is reading your blog, these tips can tell you why and help you stand out from the crowd.</span></div><br /><h3>Hone in on Your Target Niche and Audience</h3><br />The blogs with the highest number of visitors all share the same essential characteristics. They focus on writing about a single <a href="http://ichibikarin.blogspot.com/search/label/Templates" target="_blank">theme</a> of topics and they make sure to write content that is in line with their target audience's interests. Your blog is yours to do whatever you want with it, but if you fail to grasp the attention of an audience, how can you expect it to stand out. Making the blog all about what you want and not about what your potential readers want is one of the most common ways that people irritate potential visitors.<br /><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">Say Things Worth Saying</h3><br />The old adage, “content is king” is especially true when it comes to writing a blog. It is not enough just to put a lot of words down on the page and hope people will look at it. You have to focus on writing interesting, informative, and most importantly compelling content if you want to stand out. Establish yourself as an expert in your area and show your readers that you have a lot to teach them. If your content weren’t worth reading, why would visitors bother to stick around?<br /><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">Have a Good Design</h3><br />Your blog design doesn't have to be perfect, but it should be visually interesting, functional and free of flaws. You do not have to build your site from scratch, but you don't want to choose a very limited platform either. WordPress is one of the greatest blogging platforms for new and experienced bloggers alike because it is user-friendly and offers a lot of options for customization. You can purchase affordable <a href="http://themefuse.com/" target="_blank">premium WordPress themes</a>  to add a design flair and organization to your blog. Make sure to keep the design of your blog uncluttered. Keep the number of distracting ads to a minimum, and make sure the content is the most visible part of your blog. Readers aren't too picky when it comes to design, but if your website is hard to navigate or barely functional, readers will not want to stick around.<br /><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">Find Ways To Bring in New Readers</h3><br />Getting initial traffic to your blog is one of the hardest things to do as a blogger. If you aren't getting any visitors to begin with, you won't even have the chance to make your blog stand out from the competition. Focus on drawing new visitors to the site with a few simple marketing strategies, and then keep them coming back for more with your stellar content. Your marketing approaches don't have to be expensive or sophisticated, but you will have to work hard to build a steady stream of traffic.<br /><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">Offer Something of Value</h3><br />It might seem like a counterintuitive idea to give away your good ideas for free on your blog. However, the best blogs are the ones that offer something of value to the readers. If they don't get any benefit from reading the blog, then you aren't doing your job. Your blog posts should at least be either informative or entertaining, and ideally they would be both. You should strive to make a lasting impression on people with your blog post, by offering useful advice or information, or even by giving them a good laugh.<br /><div><br /></div></div><style>#ath { background:#f8f8f8; margin:0 0 1px 0; padding:5px; border: 5px outset #e8e8e8; -moz-border-radius: 10px; border-radius: 10px; overflow:hidden; font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: #1f497d; } .pro { background:#FFF !important; float:left; margin:0 10px 0 0; padding:4px; border: 2px inset #e8e8e8; } </style> <br /><div id="ath"><div><img class="pro" height="60" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtUsxvjBm06s7_TzN1jRyT0xtj3MyhqbQ2lNGINA8ufYsPiw69wFa3Gs8Lpt129PaxYOv2mLV7mUg2nH2yEjQYx_uXGsRkMOgjiB6daEPhIxc9p29hH1rGizMExLzozVYXE0pkro3puN4/s1600/themefuse.jpeg" width="55" /><i><strong style="font-size: 18px;">About author:</strong></i>Anny Solway is a dedicated writer at ThemeFuse – a leader in the <a href="http://themefuse.com/" target="_blank">WordPress premium themes</a> area. She likes to discover new ideas about internet marketing, social media and blogging.</div></div></div>

Tips and Tricks to Make Your Blog Stand Out

It seems like everyone has a blog these days, so it can be really hard to make your blog stand out. For every wildly successful blog with t...

+ Read more »

TrueCrypt With Ubuntu AppIndicator PPA

<div style="text-align: justify;">Ubuntu doesn't support tray icons by default and further more, the <i>systray whitelist,</i> which could be used to get applications to use the systray, has been <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2013/02/unity-notification-area-systray.html">removed</a> with Ubuntu 13.04.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This is pretty bad for <a href="http://www.truecrypt.org/">TrueCrypt</a>, an open source disk encryption application that still uses a tray icon and doesn't come with an Ubuntu AppIndicator, because you can't bring the mount/dismount dialog up once you close the main window unless you kill the application (it closes to the tray which isn't visible).</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3JWlXf0eiq0Nm13wQgVP50vnLMr6lxoTnkMMkYSonimzRYGl32i-RbPIGZm_eOUPNaORmjsCJSKj3sc8hm_Uiget2EkaQllUTry0xev5y_yeq1LiXiLKzIt13750sSqJL3d6l5UZsY0w/s800/truecrypt-ubuntu-appindicator.png"><img alt="TrueCrypt Ubuntu AppIndicator" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3JWlXf0eiq0Nm13wQgVP50vnLMr6lxoTnkMMkYSonimzRYGl32i-RbPIGZm_eOUPNaORmjsCJSKj3sc8hm_Uiget2EkaQllUTry0xev5y_yeq1LiXiLKzIt13750sSqJL3d6l5UZsY0w/s329/truecrypt-ubuntu-appindicator.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">For this reason, Stefan Sundin has created an <b>Ubuntu PPA for TrueCrypt which has been patched to use an Ubuntu AppIndicator instead of a tray icon</b>.</div><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><h2>Install TrueCrypt with AppIndicator instead of tray icon in Ubuntu</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>To install TrueCrypt with Ubuntu AppIndicator support (PPA available for Ubuntu 13.04, 12.10 and 12.04), use the commands below in a terminal:</b></div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stefansundin/truecrypt<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get install truecrypt</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The AppIndicator exits when hiding (closing) the main TrueCrypt window - to fix this, open the TrueCrypt preferences and on the "<i>Background Task</i>" tab, uncheck "<i>Exit when there are no mounted volumes</i>".</div><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><i>Thanks to recover for the tip!</i></div>

TrueCrypt With Ubuntu AppIndicator PPA

Ubuntu doesn't support tray icons by default and further more, the systray whitelist, which could be used to get applications to use th...

+ Read more »

Nuvola Player 2.1 Beta 1 Released [Cloud Music Player With Desktop Integration]

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEdQOe3Tv0G_zqIwcgAgETofsotDb9Proz6SXTM0Bb3qMG2a6Z8iMwUURDxA-DG0Zo9F-dX1H6JcB5XciJu435CZOrx7SixCj6Nm9B8Z3Wquwn7eCa-s9_qFcReZ0JzA9H3VblxlGZJx8/s1600/nuvola-player_1.png"><img alt="Nuvola Player" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEdQOe3Tv0G_zqIwcgAgETofsotDb9Proz6SXTM0Bb3qMG2a6Z8iMwUURDxA-DG0Zo9F-dX1H6JcB5XciJu435CZOrx7SixCj6Nm9B8Z3Wquwn7eCa-s9_qFcReZ0JzA9H3VblxlGZJx8/s320/nuvola-player_1.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="http://nuvolaplayer.fenryxo.cz/">Nuvola Player</a> is a cloud music player that supports services such as Grooveshark, Google Play Music, Amazon Cloud Player, Pandora, Rdio, Hype Machine or 8tracks.</b></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The application integrates tightly with the desktop, providing notifications, multimedia keys support, Unity quicklists, Mpris v2 (Ubuntu Sound Menu / GNOME Shell Media Player extension integration) support and more. Other features include last.fm scrobbling, proxy support, Dock Manager integration (integrates with Docky, AWN or DockBarX) and lyrics fetching.</div><br /><a name='more'></a><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Kkz8Lg_xmXyZFTC-F1nYyEk4ZdJ54NwKNdbOIacLca9Pl5zkj0n59Up2gMHAPgZXdMfnQovWbpyk58tv8n614GGEiNKq4fHwFowdb0BnKHHbzYpVM64JOTSTNbnthEjJqQFMEIJavUI/s1600/nuvola-player_2.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Nuvola Player" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Kkz8Lg_xmXyZFTC-F1nYyEk4ZdJ54NwKNdbOIacLca9Pl5zkj0n59Up2gMHAPgZXdMfnQovWbpyk58tv8n614GGEiNKq4fHwFowdb0BnKHHbzYpVM64JOTSTNbnthEjJqQFMEIJavUI/s320/nuvola-player_2.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nuvola Player plugins - it's now possible to specify which service will scrobble your music to last.fm<u><br /></u></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Nuvola Player 2.1 beta 1 has been <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/110794636546911932554/posts/4eFtmzJZ93E">released</a> today, featuring the following changes:</b></div><ul><li style="text-align: justify;">new supported service: Deezer;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">format support information: when a plugin is missing, Nuvola Player now displays a warning;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">persistent notifications with actions (so you can skip to the next track, pause or go to the previous track from the notifications) - these are supported by GNOME Shell (including the <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/11/gnome-shell-how-to-enable-notifications.html">lock screen</a>) and Xfce;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">it's now possible to specify which service will scrobble your music to Last.fm;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">added a few keyboard shortcuts: Go back <shift><alt>Left and go forward <shift><alt>Right<br />"show only toolbar" and "show both toolbar and menubar" have been removed and the main menu has been reorganized. A context menu (right mouse click) provides quick access to go back/forward, go home and reload actions; </alt></shift></alt></shift></li><li style="text-align: justify;"><shift><alt><shift><alt>it is possible to set preference of a dark GTK+ theme (so for instance, if you're using Adwaita, selecting this will make the application use Adwaita dark);</alt></shift></alt></shift></li><li style="text-align: justify;"><shift><alt><shift><alt>service selector is opened in a separate window and uses native GTK+ widgets instead of web view;</alt></shift></alt></shift></li><li><shift><alt><shift><alt>main view respects text size set in Accesibility preferences;</alt></shift></alt></shift> </li><li>many <a href="http://nuvolaplayer.fenryxo.cz/releases/2.1/bug_fixes.html">bug fixes</a> and more.</li></ul><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoCp-so5n0tio3M5Lubc6gFh6ZVsMiTPW7V8KbVOULLJ4ACgRSNg9OrmpVkr-pXQAt8Dj-EQbX8Lo-bOChgwnhaqnG54GC30IA1JrB3HoVtCrVNQ4Ihz1Nz_PhkIaqgaZVYKK1ivNworw/s1600/nuvola-player_3.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Nuvola Player notification gnome shell" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoCp-so5n0tio3M5Lubc6gFh6ZVsMiTPW7V8KbVOULLJ4ACgRSNg9OrmpVkr-pXQAt8Dj-EQbX8Lo-bOChgwnhaqnG54GC30IA1JrB3HoVtCrVNQ4Ihz1Nz_PhkIaqgaZVYKK1ivNworw/s320/nuvola-player_3.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nuvola Player persistent GNOME Shell notification with actions</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><h2>Install Nuvola Player in Ubuntu</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Ubuntu 13.04, 12.10 and 12.04 users can install the latest Nuvola Player 2.1 beta 1 by using its official beta PPA:</b></div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nuvola-player-builders/beta<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get install nuvolaplayer</code></pre><br />Alternatively, you can also use the <a href="https://launchpad.net/~nuvola-player-builders/+archive/stable">stable</a> or <a href="https://launchpad.net/~nuvola-player-builders/+archive/unstable">unstable</a> PPAs.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>You can download the source or report any bugs you may find @ <a href="https://launchpad.net/nuvola-player">Launchpad</a>.</b></div>

Nuvola Player 2.1 Beta 1 Released [Cloud Music Player With Desktop Integration]

Nuvola Player is a cloud music player that supports services such as Grooveshark, Google Play Music, Amazon Cloud Player, Pandora, Rdio, Hy...

+ Read more »

Easily Download And Install Google Web Fonts In Ubuntu With TypeCatcher

<div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="https://launchpad.net/typecatcher">TypeCatcher</a> is an application that allows to easily browse, search, download and install fonts from the Google Web Fonts collection, which includes hundreds of open source fonts.</b></div><br /><a name='more'></a><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"<a href="http://www.google.com/fonts">Google Fonts</a> makes it quick and easy for everyone to use web fonts, including professional designers and developers. We believe that everyone should be able to bring quality typography to their web pages and applications".</i></blockquote><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQnVZ3tzCwBeNZcL52H0MRG7LX7Y04hreRxupL7NAuAwiN5uueAJIfobdnXsF22FSmv_3owPkx6X6c5fSX2smH3KojWB33iCNm4pNabd3WkeosGfbJWvBX4LjUNdsvbhnY_ZUg8ObXfyI/s1600/typecatcher.png"><img alt="TypeCatcher Google Fonts installer" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQnVZ3tzCwBeNZcL52H0MRG7LX7Y04hreRxupL7NAuAwiN5uueAJIfobdnXsF22FSmv_3owPkx6X6c5fSX2smH3KojWB33iCNm4pNabd3WkeosGfbJWvBX4LjUNdsvbhnY_ZUg8ObXfyI/s320/typecatcher.png" /></a></div><br /><b>TypeCatcher features:</b><br /><ul><li>preview the fonts with adjustable size and text;</li><li>search fonts;</li><li>download and install the fonts on your computer;</li><li>uninstall any fonts you've installed using TypeCatcher;</li><li>for more info about a font, it can open its webpage in your default web browser.</li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">As you can see, the application is pretty simple but it's also very useful since Google doesn't have a direct download link on its Fonts page: clicking the download link offers to "Sync Google fonts to your desktop using <a href="http://www.fonts.com/web-fonts/google">SkyFonts</a>", an application somewhat similar to TypeCatcher but which is only available for Windows and Mac (update: another way of downloading some fonts is to add them to your "collection" and then download your whole collection from Google Fonts).</div><br />The application doesn't support downloading and installing all the fonts at once but for this, you can use a <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2011/01/automatically-install-all-google-web.html" title="Automatically Install All The Google Web Fonts In Ubuntu Using A Script">script</a> we've posted a while back.<br /><br /><br /><br /><h2>Install TypeCatcher in Ubuntu</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">TypeCatcher is available in the official Ubuntu 13.10 repositories so to install it, use the following command:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-get install typecatcher</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>For Ubuntu 13.04, 12.10 and 12.04, you can install TypeCatcher by using its official PPA:</b></div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:andrewsomething/typecatcher<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get install typecatcher</code></pre><br /><b>Arch Linux</b> users can install TypeCatcher from <a href="https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/typecatcher/">AUR</a>.<br /><br />Grab the <b>source code or report</b> any <b>bugs</b> you may find @ <a href="https://launchpad.net/typecatcher">Launchpad</a>.

Easily Download And Install Google Web Fonts In Ubuntu With TypeCatcher

TypeCatcher is an application that allows to easily browse, search, download and install fonts from the Google Web Fonts collection, which ...

+ Read more »

Using Nvidia Graphics Drivers With Initial Optimus Support In Ubuntu 13.10 Got Easier With Nvidia-Prime

<div style="text-align: justify;">As you probably know, the Nvidia graphics drivers have received <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2013/04/nvidia-releases-linux-graphics-drivers.html">initial Optimus support</a> a while back. Currently, the Nvidia GPU can be used to render the desktop, but there's no power saving yet. That means you can for instance play games or watch videos using hardware acceleration.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But to be able to take advantage of this feature in the latest Nvidia drivers, you need up-to-date dependencies (such as Randr 1.4, Xorg 1.13 - that's what the initial Nvidia release notes mention, but it seems you actually need 1.14 -, Linux Kernel 3.9 with some special flags enabled), as well as a custom xorg.conf file and some other bits.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That means that out of the box, the only Ubuntu version that can use this initial <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Optimus">Optimus</a> support in the Nvidia graphics drivers is Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander, but even in Saucy, you need to configure some things to get it to work.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>If you're using Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander, things got a lot easier and you don't need to configure anything to be able to take advantage of this Optimus feature in the Nvidia graphics drivers 319.12+: a package called "<a href="https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nvidia-prime">nvidia-prime</a>", which comes with a set of tools that enable Nvidia's Prime on MUXless systems, has been uploaded to the Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander repositories</b> about a month ago and it has currently reached version 0.4 (released today).</div><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">This package automatically checks if your system supports Nvidia Optimus and the required packages, creates the xorg.conf file and tweaks the LightDM configuration to support this.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In my test, I've installed the Nvidia 319.32 drivers and the "nvidia-prime" package (both from the Ubuntu 13.10 repositories) and after a reboot, the Nvidia card was used on my Optimus laptop (Dell XPS L702X):</div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1JArYwpXaCX1NYDVlzikcXNQaivd53CREv-6HDjafP9VtBAZF9QIkyWDGaFQlzlhRne6aLyF0J0ozWl3Fl64VC2TmHapZZ5yiLmJ2O73dCcnA4xf97RHqzKEKe-8ACApquhEiVTbkUTk/s1600/nvidia-prime-nvsettings.png" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Nvidia settings optimus" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1JArYwpXaCX1NYDVlzikcXNQaivd53CREv-6HDjafP9VtBAZF9QIkyWDGaFQlzlhRne6aLyF0J0ozWl3Fl64VC2TmHapZZ5yiLmJ2O73dCcnA4xf97RHqzKEKe-8ACApquhEiVTbkUTk/s320/nvidia-prime-nvsettings.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;">(Bumblebee was removed and as you can see, I didn't launch "nvidia-settings" using "optirun")</div></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I was also able to play a h264 video using <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2010/10/use-mplayer-with-vaapi-support-hardware.html">Mplayer with VDPAU (hardware acceleration)</a>:</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPUePJI1yhyphenhyphenEX8oD-qTu7WD5Z0zIT5Qmh35IaYfpajEiha5G7RTw9Pg4FBWcuj9sELBjuABMJrIZ6NwgiHR0ITvybkmAUqsON5ht0rfdSj-rzYyV9meXdv_G0Xsis9dTBngOfF3ejpmgE/s1600/nvidia-prime-vdpau.png" rel="image_group"><img alt="Nvidia Optimus Prime VDPAU hardware acceleration mplayer Ubuntu" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPUePJI1yhyphenhyphenEX8oD-qTu7WD5Z0zIT5Qmh35IaYfpajEiha5G7RTw9Pg4FBWcuj9sELBjuABMJrIZ6NwgiHR0ITvybkmAUqsON5ht0rfdSj-rzYyV9meXdv_G0Xsis9dTBngOfF3ejpmgE/s320/nvidia-prime-vdpau.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE3RC8lVq5tU5QfIRkDIgTfGgGWIAQ6nsteDXtV62sb5ff1B65LfFAttab8M9R6n_JMzkmOpBWCdBZjAzXxEXArBpVnp_qhyphenhyphenB7snwOC-4KwkplTSWG5F1a9yG2QRqeMBQlt2qFRg_2Q9k/s1600/nvidia-prime_1.png" rel="image_group"><img alt="Nvidia Optimus VDPAU Ubuntu" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE3RC8lVq5tU5QfIRkDIgTfGgGWIAQ6nsteDXtV62sb5ff1B65LfFAttab8M9R6n_JMzkmOpBWCdBZjAzXxEXArBpVnp_qhyphenhyphenB7snwOC-4KwkplTSWG5F1a9yG2QRqeMBQlt2qFRg_2Q9k/s320/nvidia-prime_1.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>glxspheres</i> reports some insane framerates - this is most probably a bug, but here's a screenshot anyway:</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9xluPW033pwKLAsuu7QIeBYNkdEGTxs53qqecsRPd9UzvLvTrRtmOrI1p6B3Af_M4XAQ9-23c7xenxNCk4m7oF5IJfrx2QIxguovBjuHAPr4ha07-nsP3kBiWQH3HUkSyeHrI2prP750/s1600/nvidia-prime-glxspheres.png" rel="image_group"><img alt="Nvidia Optimus glxspheres" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9xluPW033pwKLAsuu7QIeBYNkdEGTxs53qqecsRPd9UzvLvTrRtmOrI1p6B3Af_M4XAQ9-23c7xenxNCk4m7oF5IJfrx2QIxguovBjuHAPr4ha07-nsP3kBiWQH3HUkSyeHrI2prP750/s320/nvidia-prime-glxspheres.png" /></a></div><br /><br /><b>That's all nice, but there are some important issues I've encountered during my test (</b>the issues are most probably in the Nvidia graphics drivers and not in the nvidia-prime package):<br /><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>my laptop got pretty hot, especially when running <i>glxspheres</i> or playing a video using VDPAU;</li><li>Multiple monitors don't work out of the box; to enable multiple monitors, you need to edit the <i>xorg.conf</i> file, comment <<i>Option "UseDisplayDevice" "none"</i>> and add the devices sections as explained <a href="http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/319.12/README/randr14.html">HERE</a>;</li><li>this only occurred at first and it now seems to have stopped for some reason: changing the theme from Ambiance to some other theme didn't change the GTK theme (only the window borders changes) and GTK2 theming was broken so GTK2 apps used the ugly Windows 98-like fallback theme;</li></ul><br /><br /><h2>Install Nvidia-Prime in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red;"><b>Follow the instructions below only if you know what you're doing and how to revert the changes in case LightDM fails to start, etc.! </b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Note: the  <i>nvidia-prime</i> package only supports the proprietary Nvidia drivers and won't work with Nouveau!<br /><br /><b>If you're using Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander and want to test the Optimus support in the Nvidia Graphics Drivers 319.12+, here's what you need to do:</b></div><br /><b>1.</b> Firstly, purge Bumblebee and bbswitch if you've installed them:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-get purge bumblebee* bbswitch-dkms</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>2.</b> Install the proprietary Nvidia drivers and the Nvidia Prime package:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-get install nvidia-319 nvidia-settings-319 nvidia-prime</code></pre><br /><b>3.</b> Reboot the system.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">That's it, after a reboot, your laptop should be using the Nvidia GPU to render the desktop.</div>

Using Nvidia Graphics Drivers With Initial Optimus Support In Ubuntu 13.10 Got Easier With Nvidia-Prime

As you probably know, the Nvidia graphics drivers have received initial Optimus support a while back. Currently, the Nvidia GPU can be used...

+ Read more »

Tribler BitTorrent Client Sees New Release [Ubuntu PPA]

<div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="http://www.tribler.org/">Tribler</a> is an open source, decentralized peer-to-peer client based on the BitTorrent protocol, available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X.</b><br /><br />Like other BitTorrent clients, Tribler features a search box you can use to find content however, the search results come directly from other peers, without using a central server and this makes it immune to government anti-piracy attacks (the application will continue to work if the torrent trackers are pulled offline), claims an article from <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2098759/Tribler-New-file-sharing-technology-IMMUNE-government-attacks.html">dailymail.co.uk</a>.</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqFbEngX3j1YGd5S4VnoRqYjZcPhydYfgZjET9fon_BvRagagM-z0_6gkHNOUQKH2krORJ_ADEQ4_iwj1qsYb4Ehi6hSEwCF9k7HSyuezQYwPx2gchN-IczQk04jISkFbd8dS1x9bshgw/s1600/tribler-6.2.0.png"><img alt="Tribler bittorrent client" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqFbEngX3j1YGd5S4VnoRqYjZcPhydYfgZjET9fon_BvRagagM-z0_6gkHNOUQKH2krORJ_ADEQ4_iwj1qsYb4Ehi6hSEwCF9k7HSyuezQYwPx2gchN-IczQk04jISkFbd8dS1x9bshgw/s320/tribler-6.2.0.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The application includes features such as wiki-style channels, video-on-demand (<b>watch videos while you download them</b>) and more.</div><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Tribler 6.2.0 was released recently and is now available in the Tribler WebUpd8 PPA</b>. Changes include: </div><ul><li>video streaming is back and it now supports seeking;</li><li>Less disk and CPU consumption;</li><li>improved UI responsiveness;</li><li>various performance improvements;</li><li><a href="https://github.com/Tribler/tribler/issues?labels=&milestone=2&page=1&state=closed">bug fixes</a>.</li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjANKoWT4KX95WCiRcGCCkdEd7HYCk90leFqHp2OI6-vghsY51m6iHl3U_2NOGssGXfQydYdM6anY3aP6f1MtGpqbVZNFqfg5jGoGBIMq88ndZL8UOItxHhlUQoOBYXELdxGSY-FtGnXjs/s1600/tribler-video.png"><img alt="Tribler video streaming" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjANKoWT4KX95WCiRcGCCkdEd7HYCk90leFqHp2OI6-vghsY51m6iHl3U_2NOGssGXfQydYdM6anY3aP6f1MtGpqbVZNFqfg5jGoGBIMq88ndZL8UOItxHhlUQoOBYXELdxGSY-FtGnXjs/s320/tribler-video.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The previous version, 6.1.0, failed to start when built in a PPA and for this reason I didn't upload it to the WebUpd8 Tribler PPA. Tribler 6.1.0 changelog:</div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>faster downloads: Tribler has switched from the old python based bittorrent core to Rasterbar's libtorrent, so expect less resource usage too;</li><li>less disk and CPU consumption used for community synchronization;</li><li>UI improvements (download speed graphs, some new icons, general UI cleanup...);</li><li>throttling (Bandwidth limitation) is working again;</li><li>the "Save as" dialog has been modified to improve usability when downloading from magnet links;</li><li>thumbnails for downloaded media: Now when a new video file gets downloaded, Tribler will automatically create a thumbnail;</li><li>and make it available to the rest of peers to be shown on the search results for all the media you download from your favourite open channels;</li><li>fixed freezing at startup on some machines;</li><li>fixed race conditions and lockups in synchronizations;</li><li>various bug fixes and minor improvements.</li></ul><br /><br /><h2>Install Tribler in Ubuntu via PPA</h2><br /><b>Ubuntu users can install the latest Tribler by using the WebUpd8 Tribler PPA:</b><br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/tribler<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get install tribler</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Tribler debs along with Windows or Mac OS X binaries and source files can be downloaded from its <b><a href="http://www.tribler.org/trac/wiki/Download">downloads page</a></b>.</div>

Tribler BitTorrent Client Sees New Release [Ubuntu PPA]

Tribler is an open source, decentralized peer-to-peer client based on the BitTorrent protocol, available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. L...

+ Read more »

AeroFS Makes Cloudless, Secure File Sync Easy

<div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="https://www.aerofs.com/">AeroFS</a> is a tool </b><b><b>somewhat similar to <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2013/07/bittorrent-sync-beta-adds-file.html">BitTorrent Sync</a>,</b> that allows you to securely synchronize files between computers. The data is synchronized directly between clients, without using a central cloud server. </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The tool is free for personal use (1-3 teammates), with unlimited syncing and 1 collaboration folder or, if you want unlimited collaborators, you must pay a fee of $10 per teammate/month. <b>AeroFS is available for Linux, Windows, Mac OS X and Android.</b></div><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH6gjoVmNo9gwhLZrzXI9gNjMGS7GU5sBVh_JlARZ452EIBb7lRhCWbaScMOwAzzvFEOcPfCafITljT-sW74bt0LXYAvhbu2DQTWlv3Ttv41FjXFMJ8EJxM4HMtSzIQkmr2Wlg-01MLsw/s1600/aerofs-ubuntu.png"><img alt="AeroFS Ubuntu" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH6gjoVmNo9gwhLZrzXI9gNjMGS7GU5sBVh_JlARZ452EIBb7lRhCWbaScMOwAzzvFEOcPfCafITljT-sW74bt0LXYAvhbu2DQTWlv3Ttv41FjXFMJ8EJxM4HMtSzIQkmr2Wlg-01MLsw/s320/aerofs-ubuntu.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Like other file sync tools such as Dropbox or Ubuntu one, AeroFS synchronizes the contents of a folder across all your devices but, unlike these services, it <b>doesn't use a central server * </b>- instead, <b>the files are synced directly between devices</b>. This means that your data is safe, the sync speed doesn't depend on a central server and there are no storage space limitations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>* Optionally, you can install a tool called <a href="https://support.aerofs.com/entries/24141798-What-is-Team-Server-">AeroFS Team Server</a></b>, available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X, which acts as a central repository for all your team's files. Using it, the entire team's files can be backed up either locally or at Amazon S3.</div><br /><b>AeroFS features:</b><br /><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li style="text-align: justify;">Private: your data never resides on the AeroFS servers. Everything you sync using AeroFS is private, and will only be shared with people you explicitly invite;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Unlimited: with AeroFS, you and your team can sync as much data as you need, for free. No caps, no file size limits;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">AeroFS uses AES-256 with 2048-bit RSA to encrypt the data. Because the encryption is end-to-end, even AeroFS can't see your data;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Versioning: files are automatically versioned, allowing team members to retrieve old versions that were accidentally changed or deleted;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Collaboration;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Selective sync;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Remotely wipe stolen or lost devices;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Optional command line interface so you can run it on a server;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Available for Linux, Windows, Mac OS X and Android; </li><li style="text-align: justify;">Ubuntu AppIndicator support.</li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih38d9TyhOZpAQ1coRjouITD1uJL19WQDghJDIm1i_EdVC2zDTVKJGfD2jPgUK95Yw0rSRZifMdU0D_EGlDHt7aYJyp2lth19AZq9E3iEvnnAmdhhBz6Na4yagysx_4OY4kSTWISPEn88/s1600/aerofs-downloads.png"><img alt="AeroFS Ubuntu" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih38d9TyhOZpAQ1coRjouITD1uJL19WQDghJDIm1i_EdVC2zDTVKJGfD2jPgUK95Yw0rSRZifMdU0D_EGlDHt7aYJyp2lth19AZq9E3iEvnnAmdhhBz6Na4yagysx_4OY4kSTWISPEn88/s320/aerofs-downloads.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">AeroFS is great, but not perfect and there are a<b> a few missing features</b> that are worth mentioning: you can't sync folders outside the AeroFS directory (symbolic links don't work either) and you can't get a share link for a file like you can do with Dropbox or Ubuntu One.<br /><br />Also, from what I've <a href="https://support.aerofs.com/entries/23756722-Use-true-P2P-technology-for-faster-synchronization">read</a>, AeroFS doesn't use a "true" peer-to-peer (P2P) technology like <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2013/07/bittorrent-sync-beta-adds-file.html">BitTorrent Sync</a>: the files are downloaded from a single computer and not simultaneously from multiple computers. On the other hand,  AeroFS is easier to use compared to BitTorrent Sync, at least under Linux.</div><br /><br /><h2>Download AeroFS</h2><br /><b><a href="https://www.aerofs.com/download">Download AeroFS for Linux, Windows, Mac OS X or Android</a></b> (Ubuntu .deb available) - you need to register (free for personal) before downloading.<br /><br />Once installed, simply launch AeroFS from the menu / Dash.<br /><br />If you want to use the command line client, run the following command:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>aerofs-cli</code></pre>You can control AeroFS by using the following command:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>aerofs-sh</code></pre>After entering the command above in a terminal, type "help" (without the quotes) to see all the available options.

AeroFS Makes Cloudless, Secure File Sync Easy

AeroFS is a tool somewhat similar to BitTorrent Sync , that allows you to securely synchronize files between computers. The data is synchr...

+ Read more »