The KOffice team is extremely pleased to finally announce version 2.0.0 of KOffice. This release marks the end of more than 3 years of work to port KOffice to Qt 4 and the KDE 4 libraries and, in some cases, totally rewrite the engine of the KOffice applications.
Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category
KOffice 2.0 Released
Thursday, May 28th, 2009Web-browser maximiphobia
Thursday, May 21st, 2009One of the weird things I have noticed about myself is that when I maximize my web browser, I feel trapped. Now that I have two monitors, I have been trying to adjust myself to the reality that I can have a maximized browser and still have an entire open desktop space. Baby steps…
Beyond Web 2.0 and the Information Age
Sunday, May 17th, 2009
I can remember turning on my computer, dialing into IndyNet, and opening the World Wide Web inside of a terminal window. My first web experience was through a text browser. At $10 a month, that was all I could afford. Eventually, I learned to hack it and give myself access to the graphical side of the web and my first experience with Netscape Navigator.
Back then, web sites usually consisted of long single pages with mostly text, a few static images scattered about, some horizontal rules, and maybe an animated GIF, if you were lucky. For those of you too young to remember, I am not reminiscing about the 70s or even the 80s. It was not until the 90s when the World Wide Web burst onto the scene, drawing people away from their television sets for the first time in a way that nothing else before it could.
The Best KDE Twitter Client
Saturday, May 16th, 2009
You would be hard-pressed to go anywhere or even watch television without hearing some reference to “Twitter”, “tweets”, or “tweeting”. From your cousin in Iowa to Shaquille O’Neal, all types of people from all walks of life have taking a liking to Twitter.
Whether or not Twitter will become a technological standard as email or just a passing fad, remains to be seen. What is clear, however, is that if you want to use Twitter while it is hot, you will probably want some type of client so that you do not always have to open your web browser and go to Twitter.com.
For KDE there are a few options, but there is one that I have found to be superior to them all. Keep reading, or if Twitter has convinced you that you can only process 140 characters of information at one time, scroll to the end of this article.
How to Get The Most Out Of KDE4’s Folderview Widget
Saturday, May 16th, 2009
One of the most innovative and simultaneously controversial features of KDE 4 is the Plasma widget, Folderview. Simply put, it allows a user to display the contents of a file system folder within a widget on the desktop.
Beyond just displaying files on your computer, Folderview can be used to launch applications, display remote file systems, filter large folders for particular types of files, or serve as a traditional desktop.
Pay for websites? That’s so 1990’s
Friday, May 8th, 2009
Rupert Murdoch has once again made headlines (pun intended) by telling CNN that visitors to the web sites belonging to some of the numerous newspapers that his News Corporation owns will soon have to pay to access certain content. Instead of having free access to the Wall Street Journal or the New York Post, a visitor would have to “pay handsomely”, according Murdoch.
I know the man is old, but is he really that out of touch with technology and the development of new media? Does he really believe that people cannot live without his newspapers?
When a news organization is failing, as many newspapers are, why would it benefit them to make it more difficult to get news to people who could use it? Their goal should be to gain readers, not drive away the few they have left.
If a person has to pay to find out a piece of information on one site, they will simply find it on another site for free. Instead of arrogantly thinking that they can just muscle people into giving them money, they should try earning it. Give people a real reason to come to your web site. Come up with something innovative that makes your site worth their time.
We live in an age where media is interactive, collaborative, and, most importantly, open to all. If News Corporation or any other mega-news conglomerate fails to realize that, it might very well be the last mistake they make. And maybe the world will be a better, more truthful place without them.
KDE 4.2.3 Released
Thursday, May 7th, 2009
May 6th, 2009. The KDE Community today announced the immediate availability of KDE 4.2.3, another bugfix and maintenance update for the latest generation of the most advanced and powerful free desktop. This is a monthly update to KDE 4.2. It ships with desktop workspace and many cross-platform applications such as administration programs, network tools, educational applications, utilities, multimedia software, games, artwork, development tools and more. KDE’s award-winning tools and applications are available in more than 50 languages.
See the full announcement.
Jaunty on Eee PC 900
Friday, May 1st, 2009I tried to upgrade my Eee PC 900 to Ubuntu 9.04, but it introduced a serious problem. Apparently, there is a flaw in the Intel i915 driver that Ubuntu packaged with this version of Linux (the kernel). There is more information at this bug report.
I am about to start trying to fix this now, but in the meantime, consider yourself forewarned. From what I have heard, this bug seems to only affect the 900 model, and the newest array.org kernel is not yet available for Jaunty.
Google Gadgets Integration with Plasma in Kubuntu
Saturday, April 18th, 2009
Hijrah calendar gadget
Kubuntu ships with a modified version of KDE’s plasma that has Google Gadget support disabled. If you care, their justification for it is here. I have wanted to add Google Gadgets seemlessly to my desktop for some time and had hoped that the new version 9.04, Jaunty Jackalope would fulfill my dreams. As of Release Candidate 1, however, it appears it will not.
Nevertheless, hope is not lost. Someone has put together a nice quick and easy guide to getting Google Gadgets into Jaunty’s plasma desktop.
So many things going on
Saturday, April 18th, 2009Here is a quick rundown of all of the things going right now:
1. The semester is closing, and I have two big projects to complete: one cataloging final project and an annotated bibliography for my reference class.
2. In the next few days, I am expecting to receive a contract from the publishing company that is commissioning me to write a book. I will give more detail on that when it is signed and sealed.
3. I am looking for freelance writing jobs and might have found a long-term gig. Again, I will provide more information on that when available.
4. Summer classes start in May. I have already planned out the rest of my master’s program, which concludes a year from May (2010).
5. My kids are growing like weeds and eating like bottomless pits. I will post pictures soon.
6. We are about to push the TV show online in a big way; more on that as it develops.
