Lifehacker Australia

URLInfo Reveals Hidden Web Site Server Details

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 07:00:00 +1000

Webapp URLInfo does something pretty simple—grab data from the header files dished out by web servers, usually hidden from browser view—but it is oddly fascinating to peer into the machines serving up web sites. The Daily Gyan blog did a little digging with URLInfo and found out that a certain tech site you're reading uses an usual name for its publishing system, that Linux.com runs on, erm, Unix servers, and, according to its header, Web Worker Daily hides job referrals in its header files. Note that the site likes when you enter full URLs (http://www.site.com) more than shortened URLs, which it can't always parse.

How Coverville's Brian Ibbott Gets Things Done

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 02:00:00 +1000

Podcaster Brian Ibbott has turned out Coverville, a 40-minute podcast of cover songs and commentary, three times a week since September 2004, with only a few misses here and there. Ibbott works freelance as a web consultant in the mornings, listens to and sorts dozens of requested songs every afternoon, and shuts down his laptop at 5PM to spend time with his wife and child. When he hits 500 episodes of Coverville on August 15, it'll happen at a five-act Las Vegas concert he booked and organised mostly himself. Brian Ibbott, in other words, is a busy man, but his show is a light-hearted breath of fresh air for roughly 15,000 music fans each week. We spoke with the man behind one of the net's earliest and most consistent podcasts about his organisation techniques, working as a true freelancer, and what it's like to manage 108 GB of music as part of your job.

Give Your Ubuntu Desktop the Complete Mac Look

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 01:00:00 +1000

No, you won't actually have a Mac at the end of this transformation tutorial and, yes, it's just a tad bit, well, excessive. But if you're going to go through the effort of turning your Linux desktop into a Leopard clone, you may as well give it the full ride. Going beyond previously-posted guides, Make Tech Easier tackles how to transform your menu bar, add a dock and retractable widgets, create a floating stack over your places menu—even your boot-up screen is given the cold-steel apple and a minimalist progress bar. If you've got the time, it's at least worth the confused faces on your friends' and co-workers' faces.

This Week's Best Posts

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 10:00:00 +1000

If any of Lifehacker's best posts this week passed you by, catch up with a quick recap:

ABC launches free iView online TV service
"ABC iView has now been opened up to all Australian Internet users, offering access to a fair chunk of the national broadcaster's output on full-screen streaming video across six channels."
WorldPurchases gives global access to US stores
" It's a familiar problem: you spot an item you want in an online store, and then discover that it won't deliver to a non-US address or without a US credit card."
Jailbreak iPhone 2.0 with PwnageTool
"When you don't want to depend solely on the official App Store to get your iPhone 2.0 applications, you want to jailbreak your iPhone or iPod touch—and less than two weeks after the iPhone 2.0 launch, it's easier than ever to do with your new device."
The Best Tech Tools and Fitness Plans to Get in Shape
"If there's one thing geeks and non-geeks alike all share, it's an aversion to exercise. No matter how much you'd like to slim your waistline and lose the belly, it's difficult to find a workout routine that not only works, but one that fits your needs and is easy to stick to."
Top 10 Printable Paper Productivity Tools
"There's a reason there's still so much paper around in this hyper-connected, everything-online age: the stuff is cheap, portable, compatible with all your applications, and everyone masters the interface by the time they're out of the first grade."
Would a Prettier Linux Make You Switch?
"Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth (who we interviewed last year) announced that he's out to make Linux a better-looking operating system than Mac OS X—within two years."
DVD Catalyst Rips DVDs to Friendly Formats in One Click
"Windows only: Free application DVD Catalyst Free rips videos from DVDs to device-friendly formats for your iPod, iPhone, PSP, PS3, Xbox, smartphone, and more in one simple click."
Five Best Alternative File Managers
"If you're any sort of power user, you've bumped up against the limitations of your operating system's default file manager on countless occasions."
Outlook vs. Gmail—The Definitive Comparison
"Gmail launched in 2004 and has matured each year, but Microsoft Outlook (with Exchange) is still the most popular tool for accessing email. Comparing the two side by side, is it time to jump ship from either platform?"

Google now indexes more than a trillion pages

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 09:56:33 +1000

Google is normally uber-secretive about the size of its search indexes, but the official Google blog did drop a fascinating hint this week: Google is now indexing more than one trillion unique URLs. Of course, that makes the core database the company stores even larger:

This graph of one trillion URLs is similar to a map made up of one trillion intersections. So multiple times every day, we do the computational equivalent of fully exploring every intersection of every road in the United States. Except it'd be a map about 50,000 times as big as the U.S., with 50,000 times as many roads and intersections.

All of which is good reason to be grateful that Google's doing it, so you don't have to. [The Official Google Blog]

ABC iView draws a big audience

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 09:20:10 +1000

The ABC's excellent iView service is clearly filling a need for Australians keen to access TV on their own schedule. In the first 24 hours following its launch, the service attracted 58,000 visitors, who downloaded 2.3 terabytes of content. Mind you, that amounts to just under 50MB each, which suggests that lots of people aren't doing much more than testing the service. But it's still a great start.

Remember that the value of your house can go down

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 09:05:41 +1000

The Australian addiction to property investment is at least partly fuelled by the belief that while growth rates may vary, the value of a house will never go down. However, as economist Nigel Stapledon points out, while this may have been true since the mid-1960s, there have been points in history where the value of houses in Australia have declined, and current economic woes have seen property prices plummet overseas:

Of course that does not necessarily mean Australian house prices will fall now, but there is no law of nature that says they cannot fall.

None of that's an argument against owning (as opposed) to renting your own house, but it's something to bear in mind if you're thinking about a longer-term investment strategy.
Debunking housing myths [Herald Sun]

Create Shortcuts on a USB Drive

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 09:00:00 +1000

Samer from the FreewareGenius weblog steps away from reviewing software to take a look at how to create shortcuts on your USB drive. The problem: You can't create relative shortcuts in Windows, but since your USB drive letter can change each time you plug it in, shortcuts with full paths can break. Samer details how to use batch files to create shortcuts with relative paths, then goes a step further and converts the batch file to an EXE and gives it the same icon as the program it's launching. In his example, he's making a quick shortcut to Eject the USB drive using previously mentioned EjectUSB. If you're a real thumb drive junky, you can use batch files to quick-launch your USB workspace as soon as you plug in your thumb drive.

ProcessQuickLink Makes It Easy to Find Out What a Process Does

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 08:00:00 +1000

Windows only: Free application ProcessQuickLink adds small icons to the left of every running process in the Windows Task Manager that—when clicked—tell you what that process does. The app looks up its information from ProcessLibrary.com, which provides a description of the process and recommendations for whether or not you should feel comfortable disabling it. When your computer seems slow and bogged down with running processes you can't make heads or tails of, ProcessQuickLink's seamless integration with Task Manager seems like the perfect way to hunt down and eliminate your unnecessary processes. For a full snapshot of all your running processes and their priorities, check out previously mentioned ProcessScanner. ProcessQuickLinks is freeware, Windows only.

Run CCleaner on a Schedule to Keep Your PC Crap-Free

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 07:00:00 +1000

For those of you who prefer automating your computer maintenance on a schedule, the How-To Geek weblog explains how to automatically de-crapify your PC nightly. Setting it up takes little more than creating a scheduled task in the Windows Task Scheduler, but it's a great way to regularly clean out your PC with a set-it-and-forget-it routine. For more automated maintenance, check out how to set up a self-repairing hard drive.

Jing Still Makes Screenshot and Screencast Sharing Easy, Offers More Storage

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 06:00:00 +1000

Windows/Mac OS X only: Free screenshot and screencast sharing application Jing—which we first mentioned a year ago—turned one this week, and to celebrate they've significantly upgraded their free storage and transfer offerings. You now get up to 2GB of screenshot and screencast storage and 2GB of transfer per month on Screencast.com, which is 10 times the space and double the bandwidth. I'm a huge fan of Jing as the easiest cross-platform tool I've used to quickly share screenshots or screencasts (it's great for offering quick tech support). Anything you make with Jing can automatically be saved to Screencast.com, a local folder or network drive, an FTP server, or even Flickr (new since we first covered it) for quick sharing. Jing is freeware, Windows and Mac OS X only.

How 'EOM' Makes Your Email More Efficient

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 05:00:00 +1000

Yesterday, I sent a quick email to let people know what time I was arriving on site. It was something simple like: "Brad will be there at 9:30AM. Thanks! EOM". Within seconds a reply came back "What does EOM mean?" In my smartypants way I responded: "End of message. Used it to save you the time of opening the message and having to reply, which by virtue of you replying has defeated its purpose. Now that I am replying to your reply, it's defeated doubly so." Ultimately, my response was even worse because they thought it was so funny, they forwarded it to half the office. But once your co-workers understand what EOM means, it can save you tons of time and unnecessary email back and forth.

Pageonce is a Personal Assistant in Your iPhone

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 04:00:00 +1000

iPhone/iPod touch only: Free application Pageonce provides iPhone-friendly access to all of the information you have stored on previously mentioned web site Pageonce, an internet start page dedicated to aggregating your online accounts in one location. The app—like the Pageonce web interface—gives you an overview of everything from your Gmail and bank account to your cell phone usage and Netflix queue. Like the web site, the main concern here is trusting your sensitive logins to a third party. Even if you trust Pageonce with your logins, be sure to require a password every time you open the dedicated iPhone app so you're not screwed should you lose your phone. Pageonce is a free download from the iTunes App Store, works with your iPhone or iPod touch running 2.0 software.

Give Tech Support or Grab Files Remotely on any System

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 02:00:00 +1000

Whether you're missing a crucial file at work or home, or you just need to tweak one little setting to get Mom's email working again, having remote control of another desktop can be seriously handy. But not everybody can walk the less-tech-inclined through installing a VNC server and opening up their router ports, or have the time to create their own SingleClick tech support tool (cool as it may be). Today, we're looking at the best solutions for getting into a computer remotely, whether you're helping out Uncle Bif, grabbing files from home, or controlling your media server from the lounger. Photo by miguelb.

Master iTunes Checkboxes for Better Smart Playlists

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 01:30:29 +1000

iTunes users who aren't heavy checkbox users, selecting songs by checking them off is an easy way to make playlists on the fly (by selecting "Match only checked items" in the Smart Playlist dialog). Macworld points out that you can check or uncheck a list of songs (from a search, or in a playlist, or in your entire library) by Cmd+clicking on any song checkbox in the collection (Ctrl+Click for Windows users). Are you an iTunes checkbox checker-offer? How do you put iTunes checkboxes to good use? Let us know in the comments. For more playlist fun, see our top 10 iTunes Smart Playlists.

How Do You Organise Your Pr0n?

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 01:08:22 +1000

Our naughty brother site Fleshbot asks readers how they organise their, uh, adult-only media collection (NSFW) when it grows to over a few gigabytes. (NSFW=Don't click on that link at the office. Really!)

Alt+Enter to Open a Typed URL in a New Tab

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:51:58 +1000

Macworld points out a handy Firefox tabbing keyboard shortcut: Hit Alt+Enter (Opt+Enter for Mac users) to open a URL you've typed into the address bar in a new tab. This way, instead of hitting Ctrl+T to open a new tab, then the address, then Enter, you can skip one step. For more useful Firefox keyboard shortcuts, see our mouse-less Firefox feature.

Gratitude Pays Off When Lay-Offs are Looming

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:04:00 +1000

Career columnist Marci Alboher offers up advice on how to perform a controlled slide out of a lay-off situation and into your next job ASAP, using nothing more complicated than email (or a pen and paper, if you're all about sincerity). While most workers start cutting their ties to the shop that did them wrong, Alboher says focusing on the positives of your employment, while also working your farthest-out contacts, can net results:

While it may feel like an odd time for gratitude, you may make some good impressions by composing a few handwritten thank you notes to those who have helped you in your career. Similarly, if you can craft a graceful departure e-mail thanking colleagues for their support, providing your personal contact information and saying you are open to any leads or introductions, again you may be pleased with the results.

Gmail Offers Always-Secure Option

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 22:30:00 +1000

Gmail just made it easier for the coffee shop set and security-conscious types to always connect through https://. Gmail Mobile app users should note this glitch before doing so. [via]

Zimbra Desktop Takes Yahoo Mail Offline for Free

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 22:00:00 +1000

Windows/Mac/Linux: At the very least, the free, just-released Zimbra Desktop client gives non-paying Yahoo Mail users ~~IMAP-style~~ offline access to their messages. More than that, though, Zimbra adds a few features to Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, or any other POP/IMAP account that could be pretty useful—at least at some point down the road. Message tagging and nested conversation arrows are pretty nice features for any services that don't already have them, but they don't sync back, or work with Gmail's labels. There's also a bare-bones word processor/spreadsheet, a (non-syncing) calendar, and more search options, including attachment filtering. Overall, though, the real benefit is Zimbra's ability to synchronise your outbox and mail folders before you go offline. Zimbra Desktop is a free download for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux systems.

An Early Look at Amarok 2

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 21:00:00 +1000

The second alpha release of the inventive Linux media player Amarok has hit the web, and while there's a new look and some cool new tweaks, there's really two big reasons to take a look—namely, Windows and OS X. You heard right: The next full release of Amarok, one of our readers' favourite media players, will be cross-platform. At the moment, only Linux users can reliably run the testers' release, so I loaded it up and decided to share some early screens to let you all glimpse at the other open source, extensible, innovative app that's coming soon.

Only 10% of us are using mobile email

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:55:53 +1000

According to Sensis' latest e-Business Report, just 10% of Australians have a phone with email access incorporated. (Whether that's because the data plans for them are so expensive is another matter.) Those of us who do have them seem to like them: six out of ten mobile email users never switch their device off, while roughly a fifth of us de-activate them at weekends to get some proper downtime. Doubtless these figures will be used at some point in the near future to argue that the BlackBerry has turned us all into work slaves -- though, as Gina argued recently, such discussions never point out the productivity gains that can come with better access to work resources.

WorldPurchases gives global access to US stores

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:45:40 +1000

It's a familiar problem: you spot an item you want in an online store, and then discover that it won't deliver to a non-US address or without a US credit card. WorldPurchases offers itself as an intermediary, allowing you to order from multiple US retailers. Pretty much every major online store is covered (though sadly no eBay). The service charge is 5% of your total order and shipping from the US, but that still might work out cheaper than buying locally for some items (especially if you take advantage of services like Amazon's Super Saver Shipping to minimise postage). If you've used WorldPurchases or a similar service, let us know how it went in the comments. (Thanks Tony!) [WorldPurchases]

Get Word 2007 to use draft mode as default

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:00:15 +1000

In Office 2007, Word automatically defaults to full print preview mode, which is fine if you're a design obsessive but a big waste of screen real estate if you just want to get some words written. Fortunately, you can make Word default to draft view, though it's a very obscure option. (Proving the point: while Microsoft notes how to fix this in its online support site, somewhat remarkably this information isn't included in Word 2007's own online help.)
To make Draft the default view, select Word Options from the main Office menu (or just type Alt-T then O), and scroll down to the General section. Tick 'Allow opening a document in Draft view' (despite the confusing phrasing, this actually affects new documents as well). In my experience, you need to exit and relaunch Word to make the setting stick. To really maximise your available screen real estate, you can also minimise the Ribbon (an option under the nearly invisible 'Customize Quick Access Toolbar' downward arrow button to the right of the Office button).

MouseImp Pro Makes Scrolling Windows Easier

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:00:00 +1000

Windows only: Free, open-source application MouseImp Pro adds drag-scrolling to your mouse in most popular applications, including Firefox, Microsoft Office apps, and Windows Explorer. That means you can scroll any supported document by clicking and dragging inside the window (like you often can with PDFs), by pressing and holding the right-click button (by default) and then dragging. The application has other features aside from Direct Scroll, but frankly, it's a little confusing. An AutoShrink feature, when enabled, is supposed to collapse windows to just the titlebar when they're not active to keep your desktop decluttered, but I couldn't get it working. Either way, the simple addition of right-click dragging and scrolling is a nice feature if you like it, and the app takes up a paltry 1.5MB of RAM. MouseImp is free, Windows only.
Thanks Prasanth!

Run CCleaner Instantly and Silently with a Keyboard Shortcut

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:00:00 +1000

The How-To Geek weblog details how to create a keyboard shortcut that—when pressed—will automatically run the popular Windows maintenance utility CCleaner with your default settings in the background. The setup is simple, requiring you to create a shortcut and add the /AUTO switch to the end of the target. Then you can just assign a keyboard shortcut through the Properties window. If you already obsessively run CCleaner to keep your computer pristine (judging by the results of our Hive Five best maintenance tools, you probably do), this shortcut will make life that much easier.

Sleeping In on Weekends a No-No

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:40:00 +1000

Popular Science says that sleeping in on the weekend makes it harder to get up on time during the week. The concept may be common knowledge for most, but the article backs it up with science for those who still aren't convinced.

Calgoo Goes Free, Syncs Desktop Calendars with Google Calendar

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 05:30:00 +1000

Windows/Mac OS X only: Online and desktop calendar-syncing application Calgoo Connect—along with all of the other calendar tools available from Calgoo—are now free. Calgoo Connect syncs Outlook on Windows or iCal on OS X with popular online calendars, namely Google Calendar and 30 Boxes. Granted, syncing Gcal with Outlook is pretty well covered with previously mentioned Google Calendar Sync, but Mac users haven't had a free solution for Gcal-to-iCal sync, which makes the free offering from Calgoo a godsend. All Calgoo products are now freeware, Windows and Mac OS X only.

TimeSnapper Tracks Your Computer Activity

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 05:00:00 +1000

Windows only: Computer activity logger TimeSnapper takes screenshots of your computer desktop every few seconds as you work throughout the day. Then, you can play back your computer activity to calculate the amount of time you spent on certain tasks—great for filling out timesheets or just getting the hard numbers on how much of the day you burned reading celebrity gossip or, ahem, productivity blogs. The Pro version of TimeSnapper (which is not free), lets you assign certain a productivity score on apps you work in, and will run reports that show your productivity scorecard. A free version of the software, TimeSnapper Classic has fewer features than TimeSnapper Pro, which costs $US20 for a single licence, with a free trial available. TimeSnapper is available for Windows only.

Jailbreak iPhone 2.0 on Windows with Winpwn

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:45:00 +1000

If you don't feel like you're getting all you can from the iPhone App Store and other perks of the iPhone and iPod touch 2.0 software, then jailbreaking is for you. We've already shown you how to jailbreak your iPhone 2.0 on a Mac, but yesterday the Windows version of the iPhone jailbreak tool—called Winpwn—hit the streets, so now Windows users have a user-friendly way to jailbreak. Let's take a step-by-step look at how to jailbreak your iPhone or iPod touch using Winpwn.

Five Best Alternative File Managers

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 02:00:00 +1000

If you're any sort of power user, you've bumped up against the limitations of your operating system's default file manager on countless occasions. The fact is, for advanced file browsing and manipulation, sometimes the default applications—like Windows Explorer or Mac OS X Finder—just don't cut it. Today we're looking at your choice of the five best alternative file managers.

Avanquest Connection Manager Creates Custom Profiles for Your Net Connecitons

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:11:00 +1000

Windows only: Avanquest Connection Manager, previously a $US30 app, is now a free utility that could be seriously convenient for laptop users. The app lets you create profiles for your different wi-fi or LAN connections, changing email, printer, and network drive defaults depending on where you hook up, along with security settings and other concerns. The app's basic connection-chooser is also more user-friendly than Windows' own somewhat plain built-in version (though that might be what some road warriors like about it). The trade-off for its "free"-ness appears to be ads for other Avanquest software scrolling across the top, but I find them pretty easy to ignore. Avanquest Connection Manager is a free download for Windows systems only.

HDDScan Performs Hard Drive Diagnostics

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:30:00 +1000

Windows only: Free utility HDDScan diagnoses whatever ails your hard drive. HDDScan works on ATA, SATA, and SCSI drives and (with some limitations) on removable drives such as USB and FireWire. Analyse drive temperatures, conduct S.M.A.R.T. tests, export and print reports to document changes in your hard drive's health with HDDScan, which is a free download for Windows only.

Merlin Mann on Why You Should Delete Dead Mail

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:05:00 +1000

Productivity writer and Inbox Zero advocate Merlin Mann shares some of his recent updates to his talk about email-wrangling, including a bit of advanced common sense about why stashing away your emails isn't productive. Acting on them, and then killing 'em off, Mann says, is where you want to be:

The idea here is that you probably don't have a place in your home or office where you store the shells from every peanut you ever ate. If you did, you'd definitely want to organise them by the year in which you ate them, perhaps keeping separate jars per-month or per-location where you ate the nut. You know. For posterity.

Declutter Your Car With The Three-Bag Approach

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:30:00 +1000

At some point nearly everyone has had a collection of empty bottles and fast food containers riding shotgun with them. Take a few tips from Sue Brenner, a new contributor at the organizational blog Unclutterer, and have your car in order in no time. Her tips range from diving the car into quadrants and working systematically through them to sorting all the material you find into three bags.

Along with your trash and recycling bins, bring three grocery bags with you when you clean out your car. Label the first one "Does Not Belong Here." Write on the next one, "Give Away/Return," and label the final one, "Storage." Each bag will serve as a receptacle for the variety of things that found their way into your car. The "Does Not Belong Here" bag, for example, would be good for tossing in the spoons, client folders, and other items you want to keep but don't belong in your vehicle. Return these items to their homes after you've completed your car uncluttering project.

Turn 'View Hidden Files' On and Off in Windows with a Shortcut

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:14:00 +1000

The CyberNet blog has posted a seriously helpful cut-and-paste script that anyone can turn into a shortcut to turn Windows' hidden file showing on and off. Normally, showing hidden files—like folders named with a starting "." and configuration files—is accessed through the options in Windows Explorer windows or shell extension tools, but this Virtual Basic script can be stashed anywhere and accessed from a keyboard shortcut. Great solution for those who alternate between showing and hiding hidden files.

Tomfox Shuttles Web Text into Tomboy Notes

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:30:00 +1000

Linux with Firefox only: Free Firefox extension Tomfox does exactly what a fan of the Tomboy note system might think. Adding a "Create Tomboy note" option to Firefox's right-click menu, it creates a new note from selected text. Even better, it puts the title of the web page at the top, and a link to the page at the bottom of your new note, helping you remember just where you grabbed that text from. Tomfox is a free download, works with Linux/Firefox and the Tomboy note program.

EjectUSB Forces Program to Let Go of Your Thumb Drive

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:00:00 +1000

Windows only: EjectUSB could be considered the nuclear option of USB drives that just won't property eject in Windows, because there's an "application or process" accessing it. Put EjectUSB on your thumb drive and run it, and the program will mercilessly kill every program, process, or anything else touching your drive, letting you safely remove it without any fear of data loss. It's obviously something you don't want to use when you've got important files open, but it's also a lot more convenient than restarting the computer. EjectUSB is a free download for Windows only; hit the via link below for a command line alternative for Linux systems.

Outlook Office Connector offers free sync to Live

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 21:13:51 +1000

Standalone Outlook users suffer a little when it comes to getting their calendars and contacts into the cloud. Google offers a synchronisation tool for its Calendar, but the software is (at least in my experience) far too unstable to use. Now Microsoft itself has entered the fray, launching a beta version of release 12.1 of its Outlook Office Connector, which lets you sync information from Outlook into Live (Hotmail). Microsoft has offered this service before, but used to charge for it; now it's on offer for free. Beta is very much the word; we had trouble getting anything to sync at all. If you've had more success, let us know your experiences in the comments. [Microsoft via Official Outlook Team Blog]

Would a Prettier Linux Make You Switch?

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 21:00:00 +1000

Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth (who we interviewed last year) announced that he's out to make Linux a better-looking operating system than Mac OS X—within two years. An ambitious goal! At O'Reilly's OSCON conference this week, Shuttleworth said:

"I think the great task in front of us in the next two years is to lift the experience of the Linux desktop from something stable and usable and not pretty, to something that's art," Shuttleworth said. "Think of the way the iPhone uses a pure software experience, it abstracts away all the hardware," he said. "You can paint anything on the screen because it's all software."