Last Wednesday, FXI announced that Cotton Candy was now available for pre-order at $199. “What is Cotton Candy”, you ask? It’s a complete computer that’s the size of a thumbdrive! It has a USB plug on one side for its power and an HDMI plug on the other for display output. It has a built-in bluetooth adapter for connecting your mouse and keyboard. Alternately, you can control it with your smartphone using an app. And under its rather small hood is a dual-core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A9 CPU with 1GB of RAM and a Mali 400MP GPU that can play high-definition video! It can run either Android Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich, or Ubuntu!

Another tiny form-factor PC called the Raspberry Pi was already experiencing server outages last Tuesday due to the clamor of people wanting to order it. Unlike the Cotton Candy, the Raspberry Pi is more targeted for the developer market; the computer the size of a deck of cards will be delivered to customers as a board that will run Linux and is ideal for building things with. It’s similar to the Arduino or Teensy, but has more features like the HDMI port and HD playback, RCA Video out, USB and LAN connectors, and an SD Card slot, all powered by a 700MHz ARM11 CPU with 256MB of RAM!

At a price of $35 for the Model B, it’s manufacturing and distribution partners Farnell and RS Components websites have already gone down a couple of days ago but are already back up and running. Although both sites have run out of stock and you can only order 1 unit per person as of the moment due to the demand. You can pre-order through their websites here: from Farnell or RS Components.

Lastly, I know some of you already know about Ubuntu for Android. But for those who don’t, here’s a quick rundown. You know that smart phone in your hands or in your pocket? Well, the technology is progressing relatively fast and dual-core phones and tables will be more and more widespread this 2012. And that’s a lot of power, but its potential is never truly met when it comes to productivity, due in part because it’s not exactly easy to work on spreadsheets with Android (read: non-desktop) applications. So Ubuntu for Android is here to the rescue!

When you’re walking around, your smartphone acts just as it usually has. But plug it into an HDMI screen and the interface becomes Ubuntu running Unity. You still have access to your android apps, which appear in a window, and you can access your phonebook, make calls and send text messages. But now, you can also run desktop applications natively. It’s the flexibility of a smartphone with the power of the desktop! And it doesn’t tax your smartphone too much as the kernel of Android and Ubuntu are the same, allowing a high-level of integration. And the Unity interface is perfect, which makes me think that they had this intricate long-term plan all along!

Now, if these three aren’t Linux killer apps, I don’t know what is!

For now, I leave you with this hands-on video of Ubuntu for Android in action:

This time around, I have a simpler, easier solution that won’t get your shutter fingers dirty using OpenShot Video Editor.

So what is OpenShot? Video producer Neil Chappell’s has this to say:

“Before OpenShot burst onto the scene, video editing in Linux was really missing an easy to use, full featured editor that could save and convert to nearly any format and had a decent set of transitions. Yes KDEnlive has been around for a good while and is up there with the best of them in the proprietary world, even if it is a little buggy, but it is simply too complex for a lot of people to use.”

Installing The Software

So let’s install the software we need! Open up Ubuntu Software Center, search and install the following programs:

• OpenShot Video Editor
• FFMPEG (If you haven’t already since the first timelapse tutorial)
• Thunar

Note: If you’re using an Ubuntu OLDER than Oneiric, follow these instructions first.

Note2: For those of you who want a quick command-line way of installing, type:
sudo apt-get install thunar ffmpeg openshot

Preparing Our Files

First, copy all of your files into a convenient work directory and keep the originals somewhere safe.

Next, we’re gonna run Thunar. Thunar is a file manager for the XFCE desktop, but it has a really nice Bulk Renamer.

Click Add (the big green plus-sign) and select all of the pictures we’re gonna use.

For the settings, just follow the settings on the example image on the left and click Rename Files.

Notes: FFMPEG (which OpenShot uses) requires that the sequence starts with 0, and also that the filenames contain a text string in the beginning; you can change “img” to whatever you want, but you can’t omit it.

Importing into OpenShot

Run OpenShot and click on File > Import Image Sequence.

A dialog box like the one on the left will pop up. The filename pattern should match your filenames. The %03d says that there are 3 digits in the filename pattern, so img%03d.jpg takes anything with a filename of “imgXXX.jpg”

Now you can change the Frames Per Image setting to your liking. If you want to create a smooth time-lapse like The Mountain, you’d want to set this to something low, like 1. In my case, I just wanted to create a video slide-show from pictures I took using the Continuous mode on my camera.

Click Import Image Sequence when you’re done.

Moving Our Clip Onto The Timeline

When the Import Image Sequence completes, you’ll see a single item in your Project Files tab. Drag this clip onto your timeline.

At this point, you can choose to add music, add other clips before, after, or over your time-lapse clip, or add effects. Otherwise, let’s move on the final step!

Export Video

Click on File > Export Video to bring up the Export Video dialog box. On top you can change the file name and target folder of your video.

In the Simple tab, you can choose what kind of video format you want to export to. So far, I’ve used the Youtube-HD profile, but it’s pretty easy to tweak the settings in the Advanced tab. I use the Youtube-HD profile as a base and then change the Profile to HD 1080p.

Note: It will prompt you to install libmp3lame if you haven’t installed the Lame MP3 codec library yet, but it’s helpful enough to teach you how. Plus points for that!

So there you have it! I hope this guide is useful to you. For now, I leave you a time-lapse video of people splashing in the mud! Enjoy!:D

Anyway, this is too nice not to share.

An animation that Microsoft made to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Linux kernel was shown this morning during Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin’s opening keynote at LinuxCon. The video comically depicts the rivalry between Linux and Windows, but concludes with the suggestion that peaceful coexistence is possible.

In the animation, a cartoon penguin throws rocks at the Windows logo after being frightened by Bill Gates wearing a pumpkin on his head, a reference to the now-infamous Halloween Documents in which Microsoft laid out an aggressive plan for destroying Linux. Later in the animation, a cartoon representation of Bill Gates brings a birthday cake to the penguin’s igloo.

Microsoft’s relationship with Linux was one of several topics that Zemlin discussed during his keynote. He showed a classic quote from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who infamously described Linux as a “cancer” in 2001. Joking that Ballmer’s hostile characterization of Linux was only partly accurate, Zemlin pointed out that Microsoft is one of the largest contributors to version 3.0 of the Linux kernel by code volume.

Microsoft’s code contributions largely revolve round enabling improved support for running Linux instances in the company’s Hyper-V virtualization software. This reflects the growing importance of mixed-platform deployments among Microsoft’s own customers. It’s increasingly clear that Microsoft needs to support Linux and open source software in order to remain competitive in the server space.

Over the past few years, Microsoft has built ties with the Apache Software Foundation and other key communities that play a role in the open source server stack. It’s not surprising that the company is looking to improve its relationship with Linux. Will the old caustic rivalry turn into friendly competition? As Zemlin discussed during his keynote, Microsoft’s aggressive posture towards Linux vendors on patent issues still poses an impediment to closer collaboration…

Original article from Ars Technica.

A kid wears a computer with a Blue Screen of Death. Classic!:)

A List of People Who Need to Stop Writing Software

Thank God I’m no longer using MS Windows and Internet Explorer.:)

I’ve considered modding some of my old laptops before, maybe adding stickers or sport a new custom paint job. But this guy DRILLED through his laptop case with a sanding bit, installed a couple of LEDs, and then covered it up with the clear acrylic from a CD jewel case before gluing it all together with silicon glue!

Taking things further, here’s a steampunk laptop mod from Datamancer.

The brass key turns on the laptop. Awesome!

This got me inspired to live a little and try modding some of my own stuff. The Ubuntu logo sure would like nice on Koji, and it would look extra big for that netbook too! What do you think? What mod should I do? Hit the comments.:)

When WinFF is all set up, it works like a charm. However when installing it for the first time, or in my case setting it up again after a long period of time, problems revolving around codecs usually come up.

The problem isn’t particularly difficult, it’s just frustrating.

When you get an “unknown encoder libmp3lame” error for example, what is the normal course of action? Look for it in Ubuntu Software Center and install libmp3lame of course!

Wrong! Ubuntu has most of the codecs in the repository, but FFMPEG needs its codecs to be compiled in. So having installed libmp3lame from the Software Center doesn’t automatically mean FFMPEG can use them.

WinFF uses FFMPEG to work on your media files. In Ubuntu, the FFMPEG version in the repositories are quite lean, with many of the non-free codecs like XVid and MP3 not compiled-in by default because of Ubuntu’s legal philosophy. So we now have two options:

1. Install a fuller-featured FFMPEG from Medibuntu
2. Install libavcodec-extra-XX from the repository. This will replace the normal libavcodec-XX with an unrestricted FFMPEG library.

As much as possible, I prefer working with whatever’s already existing in the repository, so #2 is fine with me. However, I will make an exception for programs with slow Ubuntu updates. An example is Blender. It’s a great 3D modelling and animation program but I often prefer the more bleeding-edge development versions or betas for its features over the much more stable versions in the repository.

Well, I’ve written this mostly like a “note to self” kind of post, but I hope it helps someone out there as well.

Happy converting!

People play it with their iPhones or Androids or PSPs on the streets, in cars or buses or trains, while waiting for their turn at a reception area, and another handful more play with it on their Windows PC at work and at home.

So it got me thinking, what does someone without an iPhone or a Droid who was an Ubuntu user like me need to do to get their hands on this phenomenal time-waster?

Step 1. Get a copy of Angry Birds for the PC

Step 2. Install Wine

Click here to install Wine automagically (see Installing Programs in Ubuntu and Installing Programs with your Browser)

Step 3. Run Wine > Configure Wine. The defaults should be ok, just make sure everything’s dandy. In my case I had to go into the Audio tab for Wine to recommend a driver. I just said, “you bet!”

Step 4. Download the MSVCP90.dll file and place it in your Angry Birds folder.

Step 5. Right click the AngryBirds.exe and select Open with Wine Windows Program Loader

If you don’t want to play Angry Birds full screen like in my screenshots (useful when you’re playing in the office and you need a way to quickly hide it from your boss), open up the config.lua file in the AngryBirds folder and change fullscreen to “false”

Easy as scrambled eggs!

Tested on Lucid Lynx and Maverick Meerkat with default Wine (from repository) v1.2.2

Right now, that couldn’t be farther from the truth, as Firefox is now leading the browser market in Europe. What’s interesting though is how I came about this info. I haven’t been observing the browser market for years, but while I was looking at Shutterstock’s new upcoming features, I read this:

Darkroom features have not been optimized for all web browsers, so we recommend using the latest versions of Firefox, Chrome or Safari.

What, no Internet Explorer?

It could be that Internet Explorer’s history of deliberately creating their own standards to maintain monopoly, thereby making it a pain in the a** for developers to maintain cross-compatible websites, has backfired on them (finally!). I haven’t used IE for years now, and it seems like it’s gonna stay that way.

Don’t get fooled by the marketing; you don’t need to buy a new laptop to use this feature. On an Ubuntu laptop, this feature is turned off by default but can easily be turned on without any additional software.

Here are the steps to enable two-finger scrolling in Ubuntu:

1. Go to System > Preferences
2. Open up Mouse settings
3. From there, go to the Touchpad tab.
4. Select Two-finger scrolling
5. You may also want to check Enable horizontal scrolling

This works from Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx onwards. If you have an older version, you can follow this tutorial to enable it on Ubuntu 8.10 onwards, but be prepared to edit some config files manually.