Techruminations

Everything you wanted to know about useful Android apps 2014 EDITION

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 23:53:00 -0400

UPDATED: September 23, 2014

USEFUL ANDROID APPS:

APK Downloader (use to pull apk from Google Play Store, works with free apps only)
For more information: APK Downloader Pulls APK files directly from Google Play (Lifehacker)

Google Apps

Google Hangouts
Google Hangouts Dialer
Google Authenticator - generate 2-step verification codes on your phone
Google Search App for Android
Google Voice Alerts for Android 4.2
Google+
Google Chrome Browser
GMail
Google Currents
Google Drive
Google Keep
Google Keyboard (for Android 4.0 and above only)
Google Maps
Google Street View on Google Maps
Google Pinyin Input
Google Translate
Google Voice
Google Now Launcher (for Nexus and Google Play Edition devices only. Needs Android 4.4+)

Web Browsers

Atlas Web Browser
Firefox: Stable / Beta / Nightly Builds (FTP)

Email

Mailbox (combines multiple emails into a convenient mailbox - from Dropbox)
Evomail for Android
SolMail

VOIP, Communication

Google Hangouts
Google Hangouts Dialer
Talkatone
Whatsapp
Skype
The best SMS replacement apps for Android (Android Authority, 18 March 2014)
The best SMS apps for Android (Android Authority, 18 March 2014)

Readers

FB Reader - highly recommended ePUB reader (sideload from official website)
Inkling eBooks
Readmill - ebook reader
APV PDF Viewer (sideload from their google code page)
Flipboard
Pulse
Amazon Kindle
12 Best PDF Readers for Android (Android Authority, 11 April 2014)
See also: 12 best eBook reader Android apps (Android Authority)

Media Players

KMPlayer - highly recommended app for viewing all kinds videos
MX Player (sideload from official website)
VLC for Android Beta
Apollo Music Player (XDA Developers/CyanogenMod)
RealPlayer Cloud

Voice Recorders

Music Apps

Piano for you

Signal scanners, Security, Hotspots, Anonymizers, Lost Phone Tracking

Network Signal Info - find out more about your cellular or wifi connections
Open Signal
Surfeasy VPN
Portable Wifi Hotspot
Lookout - to track down your lost Android Smartphone
Tor on Android (anonymous browsing)

File Managers, Storage, Wifi Access

Dropbox (sideload from Dropbox website)
ES File Explorer - one of the best file manager to access your Android smartphone's file system
Airdroid - easy way to access your Android Smartphone with your PC without USB cables

Offce Productivity Apps

Kingsoft Office
QuickOffice (Google)
Microsoft Office Mobile (the official Microsoft Office suite for Android)
Genius Scan - PDF Scanner
CamScanner - PDF Scanner
Xpensy - expense tracking
See also: 7 best office apps for Android (Android Authority)

Calculators

Calcoid - Scientific Calculator
HoloCalc - Scientific Calculator
Quick Math
Unit Converter
Graphing Calculator PRO/EDU (replacement for TI graphing calculator. Paid app.)

Battery Apps

Battery Doctor
2x Battery Saver
Battery Widget Reborn (BETA)
See also: Top 5 Best Apps to Save Battery Life (Android Authority)

Cleaning Apps

Cleanmaster - to free up space (see review on Makeuseof.com)
Wakelock Detector (to identify and shut down errant apps and processes)

Widgets

Games

26 Best Free Android Games (Android Authority)
The best games for your new Android phone or tablet (Android Central)
Dots
2048
Five: Match Twos and Threes
Threes! (US$1.99)
Angry Birds Star Wars
Angry Birds (the original classic version)
Tetris (Electronic Arts)
CSR Racing
Lego City Fire Hose Frenzy
Lego City Spotlight Robbery
Lego City Rapid Rescue
Lego Star Wars
Lego Pullback Racers

Educational Apps

Coursera
Duolingo - learn languages for free! Limited to Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, and English
Lingua.ly - learn languages through flas
Pleco Chinese Dictionary

For Children

Turbo Kids - racing game for kids
Kids Doodle
Kid Mode - Free Games + Lock - A launcher that locks kids into a walled garden and away from your Google Play account

Camera/Photo-Editing

Aviary - Photoeditor
Snapseed - Photo editing
Cymera - Camera and Photo Editor
Focal (Beta) - previously on CyanogenMod
10 Best Camera Apps for Android (Android Authority)
Top 11 Photo Editor Apps for Android (Android Authority)

Clocks

Utilities - General

Twilight - reduce exposure to bluelight at night
Commandr for Google Now
Easy Uninstaller App Uninstall
LinkBubble
Android 4.3 Permission Manager
Ringtone Maker
Media Converter - easily convert different kinds of media files on your phone
Swiftkey
TeslaLED Flashlight
Tiny Flashlight + LED
Tiny Compass
Barcode Scanner
NFC Taginfo
CPU-Z for Android
MiniTasker

Personalization/Themes

Themer Beta

News and Information Apps

Wikipedia
Android Central - keep up with latest news on all things Android
Android Authority - keep up with latest news on all things Android
BBC News official app
Al Jazeera America News
Al Jazeera News (English) for Tablets
Watch ABC
NBC
CBS

Travel

FlightTrack (free version) - for the traveler looking for a 1-stop site to consolidate all travel info
TripIt
ITA Matrix app - airfare search engine that was bought by Google
SeatGuru - especially useful for finding the best airplane seat in various airlines
Gogobot Travel Guide
Field Trip
Kayak
Expedia
Expensify - manage your expense reports
Tipping Bird - know how much to tip when you are traveling
Hotel Tonight
Airbnb
Uber (private car/cab/taxi)
Moovit - public transit (subway, bus) live info cities globally
CityMapper: Urban Transport (public transit in London, New York City, Paris, Berlin)
Transit App (USA)
iTranslate - now available on Android
XECurrency - great way to track forex when you are traveling
PackPoint - useful app for travel packing

Mapping:

Google Maps
Waze - Social GPS Maps and Traffic
OSMAnd Maps and Navigation - offline mapping and navigation using open source mapping
City Maps 2Go
Around Me
The best GPS app and navigation app options for Android (Android Authority, 2 April 2014)

E-Commerce

Employment

Fiverr

Real Estate

Science/Education

Night Sky Tools - astronomy, star gazing
NASA
Hubble Space Center
Phases of the Moon Free
WebMD
Drugs.com Medication Guide

Weather Apps

Yahoo Weather
Notification Weather
See also: 9 Best Weather Apps for Android (Android Authority)

Payment Apps

Square Cash

APPS THAT REQUIRE ROOTING

TIPS FOR GOOGLE APPS:

Sideload Android apps from Google Play (XDA Developers)
4 Tips To Make The New Gmail v4.5 Android App Easier To Use (Addictive Tips)
Everything You Didn't Know You Could Do with Google's Voice Commands (Lifehacker)
Getting the most out of Google Now Voice Actions (Android Central)
Android Lost Controls Your Stolen Phone, Even After You've Lost It (Lifehacker)

SEE ALSO:

35 of the best free Android apps (Android Authority, 13 September 2014)
30 best Android apps of all time (Android Authority, 2 July 2014)
26 of the best free Android apps (Android Authority, 5 January 2014)
10 Best keyboard for Android apps (Android Authority, 17 March 2014)
17 apps to secure your Android (Android Authority)
10 Best Calendar Apps for Android (Android Authority)
AndroidCentral Editors' Top Apps in 2013: Andrew's Picks / Jerry's Picks / Alex's Picks
18 Must Have Android Productivity Apps (InfoWorld)
25 of the Best Apps for Android (Android Authority)
The 40 Must-Have Android Apps for the Power User (TNW)
Android essentials: The first 12 apps I install on every phone (ComputerWorld Blogs)
Smartphones How to
Android Task Killers Explained: What They Do and Why You Shouldn't Use Them (Lifehacker)
How to get better battery life from your Android phone (Lifehacker)
How to upgrade to a new Android phone and take everything with you (Lifehacker)
How to get (nearly) stock Android on any phone, no rooting required (Lifehacker)
10 Apps all new Android Owners should have (Android Authority)
Find an awesome new launcher for your Android phone (ComputerWorld)
5 fresh Android apps worth adding to your arsenal (ComputerWorld)
The Best Android App for Kids (Android Authority)
The 100 Best Android Apps of 2013 (PC Magazine)

GUIDES:

Setting Up Your Android Smartphone: The Sequel (GSMArena)
Android for Beginners: Setting Up Your Phone (GSMArena)

FROM THE ARCHIVE - OTHER USEFUL POSTS:

See my other blog postings in the "Everything You Want To Know" Series.

Everything You Wanted To Know About Android

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 18:02:00 -0400

UPDATED: September 23, 2014

Everything you wanted to know about Android Phones & Apps:

New Resources

All about your phone's developer options (Android Central)
What is an APN, and how do I change it? (Android Central)

(1) General

How to Pick Your Next Android Phone (Lifehacker)
Five Best Phone Recovery Tools (Lifehacker)

(2) Privacy & Security

(3) Android Tips & Tricks

How to recover your Android Phone (Android Authority)
Master Your Smartphone: The Best Android Tips and Tricks (MaximumPC)
Enhance Your Android Experience with Custom ROMs (MaximumPC)

(4) For More Advanced Users

Sneaky Apps for Suspicious Smartphone Users (PC World)

From the Archive: Other useful posts:

See my other blog postings in the "Everything You Want To Know" Series.

Tweaking Firefox - the 2014 Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 2 May 2014 21:47:00 -0400

Helpful Tips, Tweaks, and Resources for Firefox Users:

From the Archives

Free Programming Resources

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 19 Oct 2013 01:42:00 -0400

Roundup of Free Programming Resources:

Bento Showcases the Best Resources for Learning to Code (Lifehacker)
Bento curates the best resources for learning to code.

Free Programming Books on Github
This GitHub repository is an incredible resource of free programming books. You’ll find books on professional development, specific platforms like Android and Oracle Server and about 80 programming languages.

List of freely available programming books (Stack Overflow)

Six Revisions: 20 Excellent Javascript Navigation Techniques & Examples

Dynamic Drive: DHTML & Javascript Code Library

CSS Creator: CSS Layout Generator

A Beginner's Guide to HTML and CSS
A Beginner’s Guide to HTML & CSS is a simple and comprehensive guide dedicated to helping beginners learn HTML and CSS. Outlining the fundamentals, this guide works through all common elements of front-end design and development.

An Advanced Guide to HTML and CSS
An Advanced Guide to HTML & CSS takes a deeper look at front-end design and development, expanding on what is covered in the beginner’s guide. Studying modern front-end development, this guide teaches the latest for any designer looking to round out their front-end skills.

Useful Youtube Tips and Tricks

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 2 Oct 2013 01:13:00 -0400

Round-up of useful Youtube Tips and Tricks

The Six Best Youtube URL Tricks (Lifehacker)
Youtube HTML 5 Video Player available for beta testing
KeepHD.com: HD YouTube Video Downloader: Downloads HD + standard definition video clips from YouTube, Vimeo, Google Video, etc., to your computer.
14 Websites to Download Videos from YouTube (GeekersMagazine)
Using KickYouTube to download YouTube videos An extremely simple and elegant way to download YouTube videos without the hassle of extra software.

Download and install the new boot animation, Sunbeam Live Wallpaper and Updated Camera from Google Play Device

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 19:41:00 -0400

The new boot animation, Sunbeam live wallpaper and updated stock camera app that debuted on the new Google Play devices are now available for download and installation.

While the new boot animation and Sunbeam live wallpaper are optional eye candy, the new stock camera app has minor but significant improvements. A welcome feature of the new stock camera app is the ability to use the volume button as shutter button and user-friendly navigations in the app.

Instructions and links available below:

Download: Boot Animation, SunBeam Live Wallpaper, And Updated Camera From Google Play Edition Devices (Android Police)

Get Photosphere on non-Nexus devices with the 'Google edition' camera app (Android Central)

Boot animation and live wallpaper for Google Play edition phones available for download (Android Authority)

Photo Sphere for the masses – install the new stock Android camera APK now (Android Authority)

How to install a boot animation on rooted and unrooted phones (XDA Developers)

Resources for Rooting your Android Phone

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 20 May 2013 07:41:00 -0400

1. General Resources:

A Beginner's Guide to Rooting for Android (Android Authority)
Top Ten Reasons to Root Your Android Phone (Lifehacker)
The Always Up-to-date Guide to Rooting the Most Popular Android Phones (Lifehacker)
The Dummy's Guide to Android Rooting: Everything You Need to Know (Gizmodo UK)
A Concise Guide to Android Rooting
How do I fixed my bricked Android phone? (Lifehacker)

2. Google Nexus

How to Root (and Pimp) your Google Nexus 4 (Gizmodo)
Root your Nexus the easy way using Nexus Root Toolkit
See also: Nexus Root Toolkit updated for Android 4.3 (Android Authority)

3. Samsung

How to Root the Samsung Galaxy S4 (Gizmodo)
How to Root the Samsung Galaxy Note II (Gizmodo)
How to Root the Samsung Galaxy S3 (Gizmodo)

4. Moto X and Droid

How to Root Moto X, Droid Ultra, Mini, and Maxx (Android Police)
You can now root the Moto X (all networks), Motorola Droid Ultra, MAXX, and Mini (Android Authority)

5. Root Apps - Apps for Rooted Phones

The 10 Best Root Apps for Android (Android Authority)
The 10 Best Android Apps That Make Rooting Your Phone Worth the Hassle (Lifehacker)

5. Others

Root friendly Android phones
How to choose (and install) the right Android ROM for you (Lifehacker)
Five Best Android ROMs (Lifehacker)

Useful Tips and Resources for Ubuntu - 2013 List

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 3 May 2013 10:57:00 -0400

Useful tips and resources for Ubuntu - 2013 List

How to install Mate Desktop in Ubuntu (NB: Mate is a fork of Gnome 2 for those who want a traditional Gnome desktop in Ubuntu instead of Unity)
Install Oracle JDK 7 on Linux Mint 13 / Ubuntu 12.04

Beginners Guide to Drupal

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 07:21:00 -0400

Beginners Guide to Drupal from Gerald Villorente

Beginner and Advanced Guides to HTML and CSS Programming

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 9 Apr 2013 02:49:00 -0400

A Beginner's Guide to HTML and CSS
A Beginner’s Guide to HTML & CSS is a simple and comprehensive guide dedicated to helping beginners learn HTML and CSS. Outlining the fundamentals, this guide works through all common elements of front-end design and development.

An Advanced Guide to HTML and CSS
An Advanced Guide to HTML & CSS takes a deeper look at front-end design and development, expanding on what is covered in the beginner’s guide. Studying modern front-end development, this guide teaches the latest for any designer looking to round out their front-end skills.

Using Ubuntu Builder to build your own custom Ubuntu distributions

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 9 Apr 2013 02:40:00 -0400

Looking for an easy way to build your own custom Ubuntu distributions?

Ubuntu Builder is a simple tool to build your own distribution. It allows to download, extract, customize in many ways and rebuild your ubuntu images. You can customize i386 and amd64 images

Link: Ubuntu Builder

Free full length movies on Youtube and Vimeo (via Reddit)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 9 Apr 2013 02:29:00 -0400

Reddit listings of free full length movies on:

Indispensable Firefox Add-ons (2013 List)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 9 Apr 2013 02:21:00 -0400

My list of indispensable Firefox add-ons that I am currently using:

NoScript - Allow active content to run only from sites you trust, and protect yourself against XSS and Clickjacking attacks.

HTTPS Everywhere - HTTPS Everywhere is a Firefox and Chrome extension that encrypts your communications with many major websites, making your browsing more secure.

Better Privacy - Remove or manage a new and uncommon kind of cookies such as LSOs and Flash cookies

GUI:Config - This extension provides a nifty GUI frontend to about:config for making advanced configuration tweaks for your Firefox browser

Gmelius - Gmelius is a cross-browser extension that proposes a better and cleaner Gmail inbox.

Hola Unblocker - Hola Unblocker is a browser extension that removes region locks and allows you to watch BBC iPlayer, Netflix, Hula, Pandora, and more regardless of where you live. It doesn't require any set up and works right out of the box.

Shumway - Shumway is Mozilla's HTML5 Flash Player that is intended to be a Flash plugin replacement. See also: TechCrunch's report / Shumway's Github Repository

See also:

Lifehacker Pack for Firefox 2013: Our List of the Best Extensions (Lifehacker)
The Best About:Config Tweaks That Make Firefox Better (Lifehacker)
MozillaZine - About:Config Entries (Mozilla)
The Always Up-to-date Power User's Guide to Firefox (Lifehacker)

Youtube HTML 5 Video Player available for beta testing

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 8 Apr 2013 00:06:00 -0400

Youtube is beta testing a HTML5 video version.

To check out the browser compatibility requirements and sign up, visit: http://www.youtube.com/html5

One practical benefit of Youtube's HTML5 video version is the ability to view clips at 1.5x or 2x the speed.

Resources for Rooting the Nook

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 00:29:00 -0400

Guides to Rooting the Nook:

Rooting the Nook Simple Touch to run Android in four easy steps (Lifehacker)
How I turn my Nook into an E-Reader Monster (Babbling Engineer Blog)
Turn your rooted Nook into the Ultimate E-Reader with these 10 Apps (Lifehacker)

Resources for rooting the Nook from XDA Developers:

Round up of Useful Resources for Google Nexus devices

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 16:35:00 -0500

Round up of useful resources for Google Nexus devices:

Official Guide Books (from Google) [PDF]:

Reviews:

Android Versions:

What's new in Android 4.2 Jelly Bean

Articles:

Android for Beginners (GSM Arena)
Jumping Ship from iPhone to Android: A Switcher's Guide (Lifehacker)
An iPhone Lover's Confession: I Switched to the Nexus 4. Completely (Gizmodo)

For Advanced Users:

How to Enable the Hidden 4G LTE Feature on Your Google Nexus 4 (WonderHowTo)

Other useful software:

SnapPea - manage your Android device from your PC (Windows/Mac)

From the Archive: Other useful posts:

Gnome 3.0: Tricks & Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 7 Jun 2011 16:49:00 -0400

Tricks and tips about Gnome 3.0:

Download Gnome 3.0 (from Gnome3.org)
Four Tweaks to bring back missing functionality in Gnome 3.0 (Ars Technica)
Five Tips for Making Gnome 3 and Ubuntu Unity More Useful (Tech Republic)

How to Play Blu-Ray Discs on Your Computer

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 7 Jun 2011 16:35:00 -0400

How to Play Blu-Ray Discs on Your Computer (Lifehacker)

Excerpt:
Sony's licensing on Blu-ray is obnoxious, and it means it's pretty difficult to play Blu-rays on your computer—in fact, Windows is the only operating system that can play them back natively. However, there are a few workarounds. Here are the best ways we've found for easily playing Blu-ray on a PC. Note that Windows users can use all three methods, while Mac or Linux users will need to go with the more complicated methods two or three.

Link: How to Play Blu-Ray Discs on Your Computer

Everything You Wanted To Know About Nokia, Symbian, Qt

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 02:18:00 -0400

Everything you wanted to know about Nokia, Symbian, Qt:

(1) Nokia Firmware/Apps:

Nokia Device Software Update List: very useful list to check what firmware/software updates are available for your Nokia phone. You can also subscribe to RSS newsfeed
Nokia Beta Labs: lots of cool alpha/beta experimental apps for your Nokia phones.

(2) Symbian

All About Symbian

(3) Qt Resources/Apps/Downloads

(4) Ovi / Nokia Store

Ovi Store App

(5) How To/FAQs

How to Enable text auto-correction on the Nokia N8, C7 and C6-01 (All About Symbian)

(6) For Nokia N8 Users

N8 Geeks

(7) General Blogs

My Nokia Blog
Random, informal Nokia blog for Nokia, Symbian, Maemo, MeeGo and Windows Phone news, reviews, rants, suggestions and applications.
The Nokia Blog
GSM Arena

(8) Resources for Unlocking Nokia Phones

See my other blog postings in the "Everything You Want To Know" Series.

How to Make a Website (LifeHacker)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 01:06:00 -0400

LifeHacker has an excellent 5-part series on creating your own website from scratch, entitled: "How to Make a Website." You can either download all the parts as a single PDF File or click on the following links to explore each of the 5 parts separately:

Also available as a PDF File.

Dropbox & SugarSync: File Sharing in the Cloud

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 7 Mar 2011 17:22:00 -0500

When friends ask me what I recommend for file sharing and syncing in the Cloud, I have no hesitation in recommending both Dropbox and SugarSync. Both are excellent and reliable cloud-based sites for syncing and sharing a variety of files and folders across a variety of platforms.

Here are my thoughts on why I use both services:

Dropbox is the granddaddy of file sharing in the cloud. It's well established and is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. In fact, I use Dropbox as my primary filesharing system because of the availability of a Linux client. Since I am running both Ubuntu and Windows on the various computers that I own, Dropbox allows me to sync files across my Ubuntu and Windows systems. The drawback is that Dropbox only offers a miserly 2 GB free storage and 250 MB per referral. They offer 2 paid plans: 50 GB for $9.99/month or $99/year, and 100 GB for $19.99/month or $199/year. For additional information on Dropbox, please refer to the earlier blog posts I have written about Dropbox in the Additional Links section below.

SugarSync is catching up fast with Dropbox. SugarSync offers multiple folder syncing across multiple platforms and its plans are more generous: a free 5 GB account with 500 MB per referral and paid plans that are significantly cheaper than Dropbox. One major drawback is that SugarSync currently does not offer a Linux-based client. As my main systems are running in Ubuntu, I use SugarSync mainly as a secondary backup for my Windows-based systems.

Interested to sign up for either or both of these services? If you use my referral links, you and I both get bonus storage space:

Dropbox - If you sign up through this this link, you get 250 MB of bonus space and I get 250 MB for the referral.
SugarSync - If you sign up through this link, you get 500 MB bonus space and I get 500 MB for the referral.

ADDITIONAL LINKS ON DROPBOX:

Interested to secure your Dropbox account from prying eyes? Read: How to add a second layer of encryption to Dropbox (LifeHacker)
My original review of DropBox.
15 Hacks Every Dropbox user should know.

How to Stream Al-Jazeera Live In Ubuntu

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 09:13:00 -0500

Al-Jazeera has emerged as an indispensable news source for these turbulence times in the Middle East and North Africa. If you live in the United States, you are limited to watching Al-Jazeera on the web using your browser, unless you happen to live in one of the few areas where the local cable provider carries Al-Jazeera.

However, if you are running Ubuntu, you can also stream Al-Jazeera directly to your desktop via rmtpdump + mplayer, thereby bypassing your browser completely.

Here's how you do it:

Step 1: Fire up Terminal
Step 2: Install rmtpdump by typing
sudo apt-get install rtmpdump
Step 3 (optional): If you are running a firewall, ensure that TCP port 1935 is open for the rtmp service.
Step 4: Copy and paste the following in terminal:
rtmpdump -v -r rtmp://livestfslivefs.fplive.net/livestfslive-live/ -y "aljazeera_en_veryhigh" -a "aljazeeraflashlive-live" -o -| mplayer -
Step 5 (optional): For lower quality use "aljazeera_en_high" or "aljazeera_en_low" - For arabic version use "aljazeera_ar_veryhigh"

Alternatively, you can also create a shell script (.sh) and give it permission to run, as follows:

Step 1: In a text editor, copy-and-paste the following:

#!/bin/sh
rtmpdump -v -r rtmp://livestfslivefs.fplive.net/livestfslive-live/ -y “aljazeera_en_veryhigh” -a “aljazeeraflashlive-live” -o -| mplayer -
Step 2: save it in a file, e.g., aljazeera.sh
Step 3: Start up terminal and change permissions to x:

chmod +x aljazeera.sh
Step 4: Then run the script from the commandline:

./aljazeera.sh

Enjoy watching the live stream of Al-Jazeera to your Ubuntu desktop.

NEWLY ADDED: Other Channels that you can watch using rtmpdump in Ubuntu

Thanks to tip #836999 on gist.github and Harish Pillay.

Recommended Firefox's Privacy Add-ons

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 23:54:00 -0500

Are you tired of ad networks, companies, etc. mining your browsing data? Worried about Flash supercookies, web bugs, etc?

One reason I continue to use Firefox, notwithstanding its memory leak, is its arsenal of powerful add-ons that allow me to control my browsing experience.

Here is what I have installed in my Firefox (on both Ubuntu and Windows platforms):

NoScript - My favorite tool for controlling javascript and protecting against cross-scripting, clickjacking and other exploits.
Better Privacy - Excellent tool to control Flash supercookies
Ghostery - Excellent tool to control web bugs that track page visits for data mining purposes.
HTTPS Everywhere - Forces Firefox to use secure browsing (https) to visit popular websites.
Targeted Advertising Cookie Opt-out (TACO) - Provides granular control over ad networks mining your data. Allows you to block selected or all ad networks, etc.
Click & Clean - An easy-to-use one-click menu to delete private browsing data, internet history, etc. Works for the Windows version of Firefox only (Mac and Linux versions are forthcoming).

Using Ninite To Install Multiple Apps Simultaneously on Windows & Ubuntu

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 21:59:00 -0400

In an earlier blog post, Freeware Maintenance and Antimalware Software for Windows, I recommended freeware maintenance and antimalware software for Windows that I am using on my Windows systems.

It can be a hassle to install these software easily.

Enter Ninite Easy PC Setup for Windows, which allows you to install multiple apps at once without junkware (e.g., toolbars that you have to deselect) and multiple "Click Yes to Continue" screens. Pick the software or app you want from the list of 80+ that is conveniently sorted by category for your easy reference. Then click the "Get Installer" button and you are on your way.

If you are running Ubuntu, Ninite for Linux installs useful apps and software in the same manner as the Windows version. Just select the app(s) you want and click "Get Installer."

To update your Flash player (Windows or Ubuntu) in the same easy manner, visit Ninite's UpdateFlash.org site.

Links:

Using Diskpart on your Windows CD to Zero Out Your Hard Drive

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 21:45:00 -0400

One easy way to zero out your hard drive, i.e., writing zeros to your hard drive to wipe out any data (e.g., before you sell your old computer on EBay, donate it to Goodwill, etc) is to use Diskpart.exe, a utility that is shipped on every Microsoft Windows Installation CD.

Here are the step-by-step instructions on how to use Diskpart:

Insert your Windows CD into the optical drive and boot into a command prompt.
Type diskpart to load the utility.
Type list disk. Diskpart will list all the hard drive(s) on your computer.
Type select disk x (where x=the number of the disk you want to zero out). Diskpart will return "Disk x is now the selected disk."
Type clean all and Diskpart will completely zero out the entire disk.