The solution is to remove sun-java6 and its associated components and reinstall (You can also downgrade in Synaptic by using "force version" and selecting the Karmic version).

When will computer manufacturers finally get it right? For a serious computer user, four or even six USB ports is just not enough. In this day and age, I should not have to attach a HUB just so I can have all of my devices connected at once. Everyone is different, but let me give you an example of everything I need plugged in at once:

1. keyboard

2. mouse

3. graphics tablet

4. external hard drive

5. printer

6. game controller 1

7. game controller 2

Then, I need at least one free port for card readers and/or flash drives that I might attach. Is that really too much to ask? 8 to 10 ports on every desktop PC should be standard. A laptop should at least have four (I’m looking at you, Apple, with a disappointed expression on my face). It’s time to get it right. My computer should have more ports than an island nation, more ports than a submarine, more ports than…you get the idea. Four in the front and six in the back. That’s all I need.

As a writer, I have long wished for tabbed word processing (outside of Google Docs), and now that will be possible with this KWin feature.

Some hardware vendors, such as Dell, now sell Linux desktop computers, although you have to page through their online catalog to find it, and their promotion of it seems spotty at best. The netbook craze has also seen the rise of several Linux offerings, but even the company that arguably started the netbook craze with its Eee PCs, Asus, still proudly displays “Better with Windows” on their website.

According to some estimates, there are now more Linux desktop computers in the world than Apple computers running Mac OS X. Most of them are in countries outside the United States, however, where some countries have issued large scale adoption for their government offices. Still, the recognition of Apple’s product line is better known, and services and software vendors are still more inclined to support Apple before they support Linux (take Netflix’s Watch Now service as an example).

Despite all of those setbacks, Linux has begun to ascend in an entirely different arena: the mobile phone market. The number of Linux-based phones has not only surpassed the “handful” mark, some of them are now becoming serious contenders. Google shifted the playing field when it released Android, an open-source Linux-based mobile operating system. Android-based phones (including their MyTouch G3) are featured prominently on mobile carrier websites (see T-Mobile’s website).

The world was rocked yet again when Palm released its long anticipated Palm Pre. Just when people had all but left Palm for dead, the Palm Pre has become highly competitive in mobile sales. Its WebOS is a revolutionary Linux-based operating system that has drawn gawking even from iPhone users.

Now, another major vendor is entering the Linux fold in a big way. Nokia, which is still the world’s leading smartphone seller, has invested years of research and financial backing into development of the open source Maemo operating system. It powered the Nokia 770, N800, and N810, all of which were not phones. The release of the N900, however, could very well solidify Linux’s position in the mobile market.

Rather than a Linux whim, like that of Asus or Dell, Nokia seems poised to make Maemo their OS of choice. Their recent acquisition of Trolltech highlights this. Trolltech was responsible for the QT graphical user interface and framework that powers KDE (a Linux desktop environment) and the Opera web browser, among other software. Nokia is in it for the long-haul, and the N900 will most likely be the first of many maemo-based mobile phones.  Furthermore, Nokia’s acquisition of Symbian, which makes the most prominent mobile operating system, has committed to releasing Symbian OS under an open source license.

Will Android, WebOS, and Maemo surpass other operating systems in the cellphone market? Will other smartphone manufactures follow? (Motorola is now shipping Linux-based phones, among others). The writing seems to be on the wall, so I am calling it. 2009 will be the year of the Linux mobile phone. There…I said it. I don’t even know what it really means, but I do know the game has changed.

Three popular services that Digikam can handle are Flickr, PicasaWeb, and Facebook. The first two are social photo sites, and the last is a social networking site. All three support photo plugins used by Digikam. This makes uploading photos quick, easy, and painless.

I am operating under the assumption that you already have accounts on the services you want to use. If not, you will need to register and activate whichever accounts you want before you proceed.

Read the rest

The Web is buzzing about Nokia’s announcement of the next in the Nokia Nxxx series, the N900.  I found it odd that Nokia had chosen to make this version a phone when the previous three versions, the 770, N800, and N810 were all “internet tablets”.  The only reason I even believed this one would be a phone is because of all of the buzzing, with numerous tech news sources reporting it as Nokia’s new phone.

After looking at the website for the device for a few minutes this morning, however, I found absolutely no mention of it being a phone.  They have pictures of its interface but never show a dialing pad.  The specs mention mobile broadband but not mobile voice.

It does run the new Linux-based version of Nokia’s Maemo operating system, which will probably not be compatible with previous versions of the tablet, since this tablet will finally introduce a 3D graphics chip with iphone-ish effects (as if that’s important).

But no, it is not a phone, unless Nokia just really wants to minimize the significance of it being a phone.  According to Nokia’s own website, it is the “Nokia N900 mobile computer”.

UPDATE (2009-08-27): The features site now mentions “phone” as one of the features.  It actually looks pretty cool.  Let’s just hope they don’t tie customers to a 2-year contract with a crappy service provider like a certain other company who shall remain a nameless red fruit.

There have been numerous reports lately about employers checking up on employees or potential employees on Facebook, MySpace, and other forms of social media.  I do not have a problem with this in principle.  I am one who has always believed that you should be real wherever you are.  If the real you is a crazy, backbiting, vendetta-seeking drunk, it is going to catch up with you.

Being denied employment because someone found out ahead of time instead of firing you later might actually do you a favor.  It might just give a person the motivation he needs to get his life together.  What bothers me more than extreme cases like that is, in most instances, the information that people provide about themselves on Facebook and other social media sites is personal information.

It is already difficult enough for people to get jobs because of personal matters that an employer might be able to see.  A pregnant woman will never know if she did not get that job because she tanked the interview or because the employer saw the bulge in her belly.  The Muslim woman never really knows if it was because of her hijab or her CV.  And of course, despite what some affirmative action opponents may think, a black man never knows if he failed to get a job because of his skill set or because of the color of his skin.

Those are the apparent issues.  Now throw in all of the other personal issues that are not apparent.  For example, maybe an employer is fine with the pregnant woman and her interview, but then he goes on MySpace and sees an entry she wrote about abortion.  She might be for or against it, but suddenly that woman’s personal views are under the scrutiny of someone who might have the power to hire or fire her.

Perhaps that Muslim woman was all set to get the job until her interviewer read her blog post about supporting Palestinians’ right of return.  Maybe he could overlook her hijab but not her views on Israel.  The possibilities for discrimination are multiplied tenfold.

You can learn a lot about a person on such sites: political views, religious views, sexual orientation, personal plans, lifestyle, even information about their family members.  All of it is personal, and despite the fact that it might be readily available on the Internet, none of it should affect employment.  Companies should set policies against social media snooping or at least establish stringent guidelines over what is and is not fair game.  After all, your love for shooting people in Grand Theft Auto IV and then bragging about it on Twitter, might just cost you your job, and you will never know.

What makes KDE unique is that there are over 50 KIO slaves available for use. These include everything from basic file management (file:/directoryname) to remote network management (remote:/). I have selected a few notable KIO slaves to demonstrate how they are used and have also included a list of useful ones at the end of this post.

Read the rest at MakeTechEasier

KWin

Read the rest at MakeTechEasier

Part 1 (if you missed it)

Part 2

Part 3