New versions of favorite applications are always a little tricky; you want to keep up with the times without fixing what ain’t broke. With that in mind, I took a look at the newly released Firefox 3 Beta 2 to see what we can look forward to when the final version ships in 2008.

Although the basic look of the browser hasn’t changed, there are actually quite a few new features coming. (For a complete list, you can check out Mozilla’s release notes.)

Some of the new features in Firefox 3 are not immediately obvious — at least, not to the casual user. Among other things, Mozilla is incorporating new graphics- and text-rendering architectures in its browser layout engine (Gecko 1.9) to offer rendering improvements in CSS and SVG; adding a number of security features, including malware protection and version checks of its add-ons; and offline support for suitably coded Web applications.

read more | source: Computerworld

Popularity: 12% [?]

Matt hartley wrote

“Lately, I have been looking into other distributions that, like Ubuntu, are working to make strides to attract new users. I still have Debian Etch burned to a CD, waiting for a test in our lab. Next up is going to be Fedora. In the past, I have never been too impressed with RPM-based distributions, but to be fair, most of this came from nightmare scenarios with Mandriva and SuSE. And the last time I really took Fedora for a solid run was with Fedora 5, so it has been a while since I tested the Red Hat supported distro.”

read more | source: Mad Penguin

Popularity: 7% [?]

Most people lock their doors and windows, use a paper shredder to protect themselves from identity theft, and install antivirus software on their computers. Yet they routinely surf the Internet without giving a second thought to whether their browser is secure and their personal information safe. Unfortunately, it’s easy for someone with nefarious intentions to use a Web site to glean data from — or introduce spyware to — your computer. Even worse, sometimes all you have to do is randomly click on a site to have your data probed in a most unwelcome way.

Mozilla Firefox has several security settings you can adjust via the Preferences pane, but there are also more than 150 privacy and security extensions you can add as well. They are easy to install and take little time to set up; some even work automatically after you restart your browser. Let’s have a look at some of the most popular and most useful.

read more | source: linux.com

Popularity: 12% [?]

What is Trackerd

Trackerd provides both a powerful indexer and an extensible metadata database. It indexes files including the text contents and any available metadata to provide fast search services.

By default, trackerd will index all files in a user’s home directory (with the exception of hidden files). This can be overridden by specifying one or more directories to be indexed instead in the configuration file ($HOME/.config/tracker/tracker.cfg) and/or by using the –include-dir option to specify other directories to be indexed.

The Problem

Many would say it’s a CPU hog, in my experience it is. Others says it should not be a CPU hog, or maybe it’s a bug. Anyways quite a number of users are experiencing negative insight about Trackerd.

Solution

Or a temporary solution. We can disable the service. There are 2 ways to do this.

1. Disable Indexing Options (System –> Preferences –> Indexing Preferences) then uncheck Enable indexing and Enable watching under Generals Tabs.
2. Disable the Service (System–> Preferences–> Sessions) then uncheck Tracker under Startup Programs Tab.

Popularity: 10% [?]

What good is a browser unless you can tweak it, hack it and bend it to your will? No good at all. The more you can hack it, the better it is.

And that means that Firefox must be a great browser. It’s infinitely customizable, via editing a text file called userChrome.css, making changes via a command called about:config, and using free add-ons to extend the features of the browser.

In this article, with those techniques and others, I’ll show you 15 great Firefox tricks, including how to build your own Firefox search engine, how to speed up your browsing, how to hack the interface and plenty more. So launch your favorite browser, and get ready for some great tricks.

read more | source: Computerworld

Popularity: 12% [?]

Linux has so many tools, settings, parameters, and configuration files to learn that administering your box can be a challenge. Webmin, a Web-based comprehensive administration tool for Linux, can help you get on your way.

Webmin presents a Web-based interface that allows you to perform system administration tasks in Unix, Linux, and FreeBSD. If your particular distribution isn’t included in the list of supported systems, some Webmin modules might not work. Distributions use different locations for their various configuration files, and if your particular choice doesn’t keep its files in standard places, Webmin won’t be able to function. This may change over time if and when all distributions embrace the Linux Standard Base (LSB) and comply with a set of standards regarding these matters.

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When building up a server (i prefer centos), i always include webmin, not only it is easy to administer using it, most of the time it’s not time consuming.

read more | source: linux.com

Popularity: 7% [?]

Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon (And many other linux distributions, I’m sure) have only Firefox Alpha packages in their unstable repositories. Here’s how to update to the bleeding edge, latest software on your system, without waiting for the developers to.

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Never tried Firefox 3 beta but I’ve been reading positive reviews thru blogs and forums and I think it will be a great update from Firefox 2

read more | digg story

Popularity: 13% [?]

Amarok is the ultimate music management software, and for a casual music buff like me, it
’s the best you can get out there. What separates amaroK from the other popular players in the market are its features which are targeted to make music management and playback easy, and a pleasing experience. Here, I’ve highlighted some of the key features.

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Amarok is my personal favorite although it is not a Gnome apps. I like it’s interface and ease of use (from my experience). I don’t have a collection of mp3s on my pc so I use it to play music from the web, my personal favorite is SomaFM’s Groove Salad

read more | digg story

Popularity: 9% [?]