Software

YouTube is a great source for watching an eclectic collection of videos on music, human stupidity and worldly comedy. But I find it much too easy to go far afield as I click on "also watched" videos when viewing a particular topic line. Minitube solves that problem for me. Not only does Minitube bet...

Backing up data and restoring a crashed computer are two of those "I wish I hadda" moments in the life of every computer user. When you maintain a collection of computers for your job or organization, those tasks can be critical. One of the fastest and most reliable ways to restore an afflicted comp...

My interest in desktop eye candy vacillates with the seasons. The added productivity it brings to a particular desktop design is also a factor. Now that GNOME 3 forces a desktop without icons, I took a look at how useful the gDesklets Project might be. When it comes to little desktop applets or widg...

Text editors are usually replacements for full-fledged word processing suites. They can offer very simple one-trick functionality such as Leafpad or multi-functional tabbed writing tools with even some semblance of character enhancements like Gedit. Or they can offer something completely different a...

Linux continues to grow both its reach and credibility among enterprise IT users and customers, bringing competition, price and time-to-market pressure and options to key markets such as cloud computing and mobile software. Looking at the coming year for Linux, these are the key areas to watch: clou...

Small packages can be deceptive, especially when it comes to evaluating desktop note-taking systems. Tomboy Notes can easily fool you into thinking you need a bigger, more powerful note-taking app. But the latest stable version 1.8.3 released on Nov. 14 offers enough heavy-duty features that you wi...

The connected car is on the verge of going where no vehicle has ever gone before. Presently, many cars enable drivers to pair their mobile music and phone devices with their vehicles' sound systems. But cars with telemetry that will connect to cloud-based navigation and entertainment services could ...

A little Wine with your Linux computing session can keep you using your favorite Microsoft Windows programs. What is Wine? Wine is a compatibility layer that's sometimes referred to as an emulator, though it's not "that kind" of emulator, according to the project's wiki. Wine doesn't do any CPU emul...

The Linux community and Linux users are at odds over the transition from GNOME 2 to GNOME 3 as the backbone desktop environment for the OS. Ubuntu's developers muddied the situation with its newcomer Unity desktop alternative. Given the situation, Linux Mint may offer the best solution if you need t...

A new wave of really cool devices will soon do more than simply integrate your mobile gadgets with your automobile. Pairing your smartphone with your car's sound system and on-board navigation platform is already old hat. Car makers are now looking at how to expand that concept to enhance the notion...

Using a fully functional digital audio workstation, or DAW, is a computing necessity only for hard-core audiophiles, musicians and those who package audio and video content. If you fit one of those categories and do not know about Ardour, you could be pleasantly surprised at its power and relative e...

The Linux operating system is a great computing platform when it works. But sooner or later, your computer will fail to boot. When this happens, Super GRUB2 Disk and Rescatux Disk can be powerful allies in jumpstarting your computer. Of course, a failed boot happens in any OS. Your chances increase,...

Cheese is a nifty little application that makes it easy to use your computer's built-in -- or plugged-in -- webcam to take photos and videos. Given today's penchant for populating social media with photo journals, Cheese can be one of your must-have Linux tools. This handy webcam app brings to your ...

Ubuntu is already the leading Linux distribution on desktop PCs, according to DistroWatch, and now it's set its sights on tablets, smartphones and even TVs as well. Calling the move "probably the most significant broadening of scope in Ubuntu's history," Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth told re...

How many times have you accidentally deleted a photo you really needed from a digital camera or attached storage medium? We've all been there and done that! Sure, if you delete most files -- even some standard graphics images -- from the hard drive, the Linux trash can visibly holds the goods. But ...