Google Cloud Print enables any application (web, desktop, mobile) on any device to print to any printer.

Applications submit print jobs to the service via the web-based common print dialog or API offered by the service. Google Cloud Print then sends the print job to the selected printer which the user has previously registered with the service. A new class of cloud-aware printers connects directly to the service and offers the best user experience. Legacy printers connect to the service via a proxy.

An interesting spinoff of the CloudPrint concept is that leveraging OpenID (Google adopted OpenID some time ago) a user could potentially go to any printer at any location and use their Gmail account, Facebook account or Flickr account to send a print job.  The potential is quite staggering.

There are obvious security considerations but since the printers need to be registered with the Google CloudPrint service to work, you are enabling this functionality at your discretion and undoubtedly ACL’s will be built into the solution.

You can read more at;

http://code.google.com/apis/cloudprint/

This release puts pressure on existing browsers for Mac OS X, Mozilla, Safari and Opera to implement their own versions of the Google Gears application space in order to compete with Google.

Also a simultaneous release of Linux version of Chrome is a welcome sign of Google focusing on all operating systems, rather than sticking to the most used and popular ones.

Even though still in beta, Chrome promises to become a fresh and innovative way to use the Internet on Mac OS X.

Get it Here

UNetbootin allows you to create bootable Live USB drives for a variety of Linux distributions from Windows or Linux, without requiring you to burn a CD. You can either let it download one of the many distributions supported out-of-the-box for you, or supply your own Linux .iso file if you’ve already downloaded one or your preferred distribution isn’t on the list.

Requirements

• Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/Vista, or Linux. If you are having trouble with the Linux version, try the Windows version, it usually works better.
• A broadband internet connection to download the distribution’s .iso file (unless you’re using pre-downloaded files)

Features

UNetbootin can create a bootable Live USB drive, or it can make a “frugal install” on your local hard disk if you don’t have a USB drive. It can load distributions by automatically downloading their ISO (CD image) files, or by using existing ISO files, floppy/hard disk images, or kernel/initrd files, for installing other distributions.

unetbootin

The current version has built-in support for automatically downloading and loading the following distributions, though installing other distributions is also supported:

• Ubuntu (and official derivatives)
  • 6.06 LTS
  • 6.10
  • 7.04
  • 7.10
  • 8.04 LTS
  • 8.10
  • 9.04
  • Daily CD Images
• Debian
  • Stable/Etch
  • Testing/Lenny
  • Unstable/Sid
• Linux Mint
  • 3.1
  • 4.0
  • 5-r1
  • 6
• openSUSE
  • 10.2
  • 10.3
  • 11.0
  • 11.1
  • Factory
• Arch Linux
  • 2007.08
• Damn Small Linux
  • 4.4
• SliTaz
  • Stable
  • Cooking
• Puppy Linux
  • 4.00
• gNewSense
  • deltah-2.1
• FreeBSD
  • 6.3
  • 7.0
• NetBSD
  • 4.0

• Fedora
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • Rawhide
• PCLinuxOS
  • 2007
  • 2008
• Sabayon Linux
  • 4-LiteMCE
• Gentoo
  • 2007.0
  • 2008.0
• MEPIS
  • SimplyMEPIS 8
  • AntiX 8
• Zenwalk
  • 5.2
• Slax
  • 6
• Dreamlinux
  • 3.2
• Elive
  • Development
• CentOS
  • 4
  • 5
• Mandriva
  • 2007.1
  • 2008.0
  • 2008.1
• FaunOS
  • 0.5.4
• Frugalware Linux
  • Stable
  • Testing
  • Current
• xPUD
  • 0.8.9

UNetbootin can also be used to load various system utilities, including:

• Parted Magic, a partition manager that can resize, repair, backup, and restore partitions.
• SystemRescueCD, a system repair, backup and recovery tool.
• Super Grub Disk, a boot utility that can restore and repair overwritten and misconfigured GRUB installs or directly boot various operating systems
• Dr.Web Antivirus, F-Secure Rescue CD, and Kaspersky Rescue Disk, which remove malware from Windows installs.
• Backtrack, a utility used for network analysis and penetration testing.
• Ophcrack, a utility which can recover Windows passwords.
• NTPasswd, a utility which can reset Windows passwords and edit the registry.
• Gujin, a graphical bootloader that can also be used to boot various operating systems and media.
• Smart Boot Manager (SBM), which can boot off CD-ROM and floppy drives on computers with a faulty BIOS.
• FreeDOS, which can run BIOS flash and other legacy DOS utilities.

Installation & Screenshots

If you are using Windows, run the file, select a distribution (which will download for you automatically), floppy/hard disk image (an image that you have already downloaded from www.ubuntu.com let’s say), or kernel/initrd to load, select a target drive (USB Drive or Hard Disk), then reboot once and you are done.

If using Linux, make the file executable (using either the command

chmod +x ./unetbootin-linux

or going to Properties->Permissions and checking “Execute”), then start the application, you will be prompted for your password to grant the application administrative rights, then the main dialog will appear, where you select a distribution and install target (USB Drive or Hard Disk), then reboot when prompted.

After rebooting, if you created a Live USB drive by selecting “USB Drive” as your install target, press the appropriate button (usually F1, F2, F12, ESC, or backspace) while your computer is starting up to get to your BIOS boot menu and select USB drive as the startup target; otherwise if there’s no boot selection option, go to the BIOS setup menu and change the startup order to boot USB by default. Otherwise, if you did a “frugal install” by selecting “Hard Disk” as your install target, select the UNetbootin entry from the Windows Boot Menu as the system boots up.

Installing Other Distributions Using UNetbootin

Download and run UNetbootin, then supply it with the appropriate ISO (CD image) file, floppy/hard disk image, or kernel and initrd files when prompted (see screenshot). Check your distribution’s download page to find the appropriate file; if in doubt use the ISO file.

If you’re loading an ISO file or floppy/hard disk image, that’s all that’s required (just press “OK” to start installing); otherwise if you’re manually specifying kernel and initrd files and you’d like to specify special booting options, check the distribution’s boot configuration files (usually after the “kernel” line in either isolinux.cfg, syslinux.cfg, menu.lst, or grub.conf) and supply them on the “Option” line.

And this is how you can install linux from usb. After completing this tutorial you will be able to boot and run linux from a USB drive.

This guide shows you how to map your /home/Music folder in Ubuntu, to your Windows iTunes folder. Doing this means only one folder needs to be maintained and any music program you installed on Ubuntu will load your Windows music library.

The same technique can be used for other folders to accomplish the same thing.

You first need to mount your Windows partition mounted. Next open up terminal and type the following;

cd /home

rm -r Music

ln -s /media/WINDOWSDRIVENAME/Users/USERNAME/Music/iTunes/iTunes\ Music/ Music

From this point forward, an application that uses your /home/Music folder, the application will be using your Windows iTunes music folder.

We’ll start from the assumption that you actually installed Version Cue. To use a Version Cue Server, you’ll need to turn it on and configure initial settings. Once you’ve configured initial settings, you can configure additional Version Cue Server settings in the Version Cue preferences and specify advanced server settings (such as enabling SSL) in Version Cue Server Administration.

For a video on setting up the Version Cue server, see Version Cue Video.

1. Do either of the following:

Click Start My Server in the Adobe dialog box or in Adobe Bridge.

Open the Control Panel and double-click Adobe Version Cue CS3 (Windows) or click Adobe Version Cue CS3 in System Preferences (Mac OS), and then click Start.

Version Cue starts Version Cue Server Administration and displays the Initial Configuration window.

2. In the Initial Configuration window, specify a system administrator password in the Password text box.
Note: Be sure to note the password you specify. If you forget the system administrator password, you’ll need to reinstall the Version Cue Server.

3. Specify a name for the server in the Server Name text box.

4. Choose an option from the Server Visibility menu:

To prevent other users in your network from seeing the server, choose Private. Private Version Cue Servers can be accessed only from your local computer.

To make the server visible to other users in your network, choose Visible To Others. (You must configure the server to be visible to grant others access to projects on the server.)

Note: If Version Cue is installed on a Windows computer that uses a firewall and you want to share the server with others, make sure that TCP ports 3703 and 5353 are left open. If you’ve enabled SSL for the Version Cue Server, also leave port 3704 open. If Version Cue CS2 is installed on the same computer, also leave port 50900 open (and 50901 if you’ve enabled SSL).

5. Choose an option from the User Accounts menu:

To enable users to access the server without an existing user account, choose Automatic User Creation. If you select this option, Version Cue creates a new user account without a password when a new user accesses the server.
If you enable automatic user account creation and then subsequently enable LDAP support, LDAP users are automatically imported when they access the server with their LDAP account name. Users imported in this fashion are added to the Everyone group, given a user access level of None, and are not able to log into Version Cue Server Administration. Use this technique to automatically assign LDAP users default access rights to projects on a Version Cue server without having to explicitly import users.

To specify that only named users, defined in Version Cue Server Administration, can access the server, choose Manual User Creation.

6. Click Save & Continue to log in to Version Cue Server Administration and specify advanced server settings.

Set Version Cue Server preferences

You can configure many Version Cue Server settings in Version Cue preferences, such as the amount of RAM available to Version Cue and the location of the Data folder. To configure advanced settings, such as enabling SSL, changing the name of the Version Cue Server, specifying server log options, resetting user locks, or backing up the server, you must use Version Cue Server Administration.

Access Version Cue Server preferences

1. Do one of the following to access Version Cue preferences:

Open the Control Panel and double-click Adobe Version Cue CS3 (Windows) or click Adobe Version Cue CS3 in System Preferences (Mac OS).

In Windows, double-click the Version Cue icon  in the system tray at the lower-right of the screen.

In Mac OS, click the Version Cue icon  in the menu bar at the top of the screen, and choose Version Cue CS3 Preferences from the menu.
Note: The Version Cue icon is hidden by default. To make it visible, select Show Version Cue CS3 Tray Icon (Windows) or Show Version Cue CS3 Status In Menu Bar (Mac OS) in Version Cue Server preferences.

2. Click the Settings tab in the Adobe Version Cue CS3 dialog box.

Make the Version Cue Server visible

1. To grant others access to shared Version Cue projects on the server, choose Visible To Others from the Server Visibility menu. To hide the Version Cue Server from other users, choose Private.

Note: If Version Cue is installed on a Windows computer that uses a firewall and you want to share the server with others, make sure that TCP ports 3703 and 5353 are left open. If you’ve enabled SSL for the Version Cue Server, also leave port 3704 open. If Version Cue CS2 is installed on the same computer, also leave port 50900 open (and 50901 if you’ve enabled SSL). For instructions, see Windows Help.

2. Click Apply.

Specify a workgroup size

1. From the Workgroup Size menu, choose the number of people who use the Version Cue Server on a typical day. This setting controls how the Version Cue Server handles the potential load.

2. Click Apply.

Keep the Version Cue icon visible

1. Select Show Version Cue CS3 Tray Icon (Windows) or Show Version Cue CS3 Status in Menu Bar (Mac OS) to keep the Version Cue icon visible.

2. Click Apply.

Turn Version Cue on when the computer starts

1. Select Turn Version Cue CS3 On When The Computer Starts.

2. Click Apply.

Connect to remote servers

Note: You can perform this task only if you have access to the full Version Cue feature set. See Accessing Version Cue features.

When you need to work on Version Cue projects that are located on a different subnet, you can use the IP address of the computer to access the remote Version Cue Server, as long as it is configured to be visible to other users. Version Cue Servers within your subnet that are configured to be visible are visible automatically.

1. Do one of the following:

In Acrobat, Flash, Illustrator, InCopy, InDesign, or Photoshop, choose File > Open. If you’re using the OS Dialog box, click Use Adobe Dialog. Click Version Cue in the Favorites panel, and choose Connect To Server from the Tools menu or Connect To from the Project Tools (Acrobat) menu .

In Bridge, choose Tools > Version Cue > Connect To Server.

2. In the Connect To Server dialog box, type the IP or DNS address and port of the Version Cue Server (for example, http://153.32.235.230). If you’re connecting to a server that is on the same system as a Version Cue CS2 workspace, append the port number 50900 to the end of the Version Cue URL (for example, http://153.32.235.230:50900).
Display the Version Cue Server Administration login page to identify the Version Cue URLs that remote users and WebDAV applications need to access the server. Alternatively, view the URLs in the Inspector in Bridge.

3. Click OK.

A shortcut to the remote server is automatically included in your list of available Version Cue Servers.

Connect to a Version Cue Server using WebDAV

Adobe recommends managing non‑Adobe files with Adobe Bridge. However, if you’re collaborating with other users who don’t have access to Adobe Bridge, they can use the Version Cue WebDAV Server URL to access projects on a Version Cue Server.

You can access a Version Cue Server by using a WebDAV-enabled application, such as a Microsoft Office application. In Windows, specify a project on a Version Cue Server as a network place by specifying the project’s WebDAV URL. In Mac OS, specify the project’s WebDAV URL by using the Connect To Server Command from the Finder. Before attempting to connect, refer to your application’s documentation on using its WebDAV features.
Enter the Version Cue WebDAV URL, the port number (3703, or 50900 if you’re connecting to a server that is running on the same system as a Version Cue CS2 workspace), webdav, and the project name. For example: http://153.32.235.230:3703/webdav/ project_name

It’s a breeze to install VLC in Windows, and fortunately VLC has now been included in the repositories and is a breeze to install in Ubuntu as well.

The easy way to install VLC is to use Synaptic.  Fire up Synaptic and click Search and type VLC.

When you are prompted to install additional packages select  Mark.

Alternatively, you can install VLC from the command line.  Open Terminal and type;

sudo apt-get update

and then

sudo apt-get install vlc vlc-plugin-esd mozilla-plugin-vlc

The first step is to get Firefox as your browser and then to get the VideoDownloadHelper Add-On to Firefox.  This little utility is worth its weight in gold!  To install Video Download Helper, launch Firefox and click Tools – Add-ons.

Video Downloader is a free program for p2p accelerating, downloading and transcoding video stream from all video websites, such as Youtube, Dailymotion, Metacafe, MySpace, Yahoo, etc. It has some tremendous features including;

1. P2P Accelerating?With P2SP (peer-to-server-and-peer), it speeds up downloading of video streaming. Its better algorithms have accelerated video downloading by more than 3–5 times.

2. Downloading: With automatically flash stream detection, video contents on many websites can be downloaded easily and free.

3. Transcoding: Videos can be transcoded into many formats supporting any mobile phones and PDAs, such as Nokia, iPhone, SamSung, iPad, iPod, and PSP. Would you please try it and recommend it in your blog?

You can see full details at http://www.bywifi.com.

Click in the search box and type downloadhelper.  Then click on Add to Firefox to install.

To download videos, when a video is being played in Firefox, there will be a rotating image by the search box.  If you click on the icon you will be able to download the video that is playing.  In this case it is an FLV file.

Foxmarks has been offering a synchronization solution for quite a while, now with password synchronization included their service, Foxmarks has entered the big leagues.

Foxmarks works by taking your Firefox personal data, encrypting it with a 256bit encryption algorithm using a PIN-code that only you will know and then uploading the content to the Foxmark server. 

Once you setup Foxmarks on another Firefox client, you will be prompted whether to merge the bookmarks and passwords, use the server data, or use the client data. It then keeps track of changes in the clients and synchronizes them with the server. The server also acts as a backup of your browser data in case you have a system crash.

You can download Foxmarks.com on their website.

wget mysqltuner.pl

chmod 0700 mysqltuner.pl

./mysqltuner.pl

Download the latest version in plain  text to your server with wget: 

# wget mysqltuner.pl 

Or, you can download the gzipped version:

# wget mysqltuner.pl/mysqltuner.pl.gz

To run the script, simply make it executable and run it:

# chmod +x mysqltuner.pl

# ./mysqltuner.pl

MySQLTuner Features
* Memory Usage: Calculates MySQL memory usage at max load and makes recommendations for  increasing or decreasing the MySQL memory footprint. Per-thread and server-wide buffer data is calculated
separately for an accurate snapshot of the server’s configuration.
* Slow Queries: Reviews the amount of slow queries relative to the total queries. Slow query time limits are also analyzed and recommendations are made.
* Connections: Current and historical connection counts are reviewed.
* Key Buffer: Takes configuration data and compares it to the actual indexes found in MyISAM tables. Key cache hit rates are calculated and variable adjustments are suggested.
* Query Cache: Query cache hit rates and usage percentages are used to make recommendations for the query cache configuration variables.
* Sorting & Joins: Per-thread buffers that affect sorts and joins are reviewed along with the statistics from the queries run against the server.
* Temporary Tables: Variable recommendations are made to reduce temporary tables that are written to the disk.
* Table Cache: Compares total tables opened to the currently open tables. Calculates the table cache hit rate in order to make suggestions.
* Open Files: Determines if the server will approach or run into the open file limit set by the operating system or the MySQL server itself.
* Table Locks: Finds table locking that forces queries to wait and makes suggestions for reducing locks that require a wait.
* Thread Cache: Calculates how many times MySQL must create a new thread to respond to a query.
* Aborted Connections: Finds applications that are not closing connections to MySQL properly.
* Read/Write Ratios: Calculates the percentage of read and write operations on your MySQL installation.

The program is called Crossover Linux from Codeweavers.  It’s a neat little app that will allow you to run the most common Windows programs within Linux easily and efficiently as well as be able to install and use shareware ad no so common programs as well.  Crossover calls these programs Unsupported Software, but it basically means any program that is not from a well known, brand name vendor.

If you are using Ubuntu you can just download the .deb package from www.codeweavers.com.  They also have Mac packages.  Once you download the file just double-click the .deb file to get the install started.

Click Install Package.

This is the trial version, so if you ever want to buy the full version just select Applications – Crossover – Register and unlock this Demo.  You will be prompted for your account info to unlock the program.

To install a Windows program, go to Applications – Crossover – Install Windows Software.  You will see the following screen;

If the application you wish to install is on the list, just click on it to highlight and click Next.  Just follow the on screen instructions to finish the installation of the application.

If the application you wish to install is not in the list, just place a check mark in the Install unsupported software box.  Then follow the on-screen instructions.
Menu items will be created for the installs, and you can access the programs from the Applications menu.

You can do some pretty sophisticated things with this software, so play around with it and see what you can do!