shell-fm: Last.fm Radio in Terminal

Yo GUI so fat it took 250KB of RAM to run

Well, I have been switching between Windows and Ubuntu for a few weeks by now, and I'd like the functionality of streaming Last.fm radios in both systems. On Windows, I have foobar2000. On Ubuntu, the only working client with a GUI here is Rhythmbox. All because it's using the old Last.fm API.

But I'm not talking about Rhythmbox today. Because Linux users just love the Terminal, don't they? If possible, they might want to run everything in Terminal. Because it's awesome. Also, it baffles those who use Windows, further increasing it's cool factor.

Gentlemen, I present you shell-fm!

Simply put, it's your Last.fm client that runs entirely on your Terminal.

Don't mind the tracks I'm listening

It has most (if not all) the functionalities of the official Last.fm client. And using it is pretty straight forward really. Everything is explained in it's handy help menu.

And it runs on the old Last.fm API, you poorfags.

So yeah, to obtain it, here are the instructions (requires git and some knowledge compiling from source code):
http://nex.scrapping.cc/shell-fm/

Alternatives (with GUI, unfortunately)
Banshee - http://banshee.fm/
Rhythmbox - http://projects.gnome.org/rhythmbox/
Last.fm Scrobbler - http://www.last.fm/download?showplatform=Linux
Vagalume - http://vagalume.igalia.com/

Oh well, what else can I get for Terminal?

Messing Around With Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal Part 1 - Unity

Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal has been out for about a week by now, and it introduced some major changes along the way. Seeing this I decided to give it a spin, right from day one.

When Ubuntu 10.04 LTS was released, the distro dons a new look which is refreshing and elegant, moving from dull brown to more vibrant colors. It is also surprisingly stable for a Linux distro. Now, with 11.04, another big change is applied; the Unity interface. It differs so much compared to the GTK 2.x interface that has been a staple of Ubuntu, the community is split into two distinct groups. Those who love it, and those who don't. I, for one, do love it.

Getting used to the interface really does take time. Initially I'm baffled with the unfamiliar interface, seeing things behave more OSX-like than before. Took me about two days to familiarize. For starters, the top panel in Unity also serves as a menu bar, normally found under the title bar in other OSes other than OSX. Then there was the side dock (called Launcher) which is also like OSX, showing running apps and also serve as the main menu for Ubuntu. It smartly moves out of the way when a window is maximized.

OH SNAP!

Unity also adds a new feature known to Windows users as Aero Snap. Drag a window to the top of the screen and it will maximize. Drag them to the either side of the screen and it fills half the screen. Handy for multitasking or transferring files. Before Unity, Aero Snap can be accomplished in Ubuntu via Compiz, but it's fairly clumsy to work with.

Unity Dislikes Third Party Themes

While Unity can be themed just like GTK 2.x, it appears that buttons are a bit of an issue.

These aren't the buttons we're looking for

This can be fixed, but we got some hacking to do.

Dude, Where's My Scro- Oh.


Not exactly limited to Unity (also applied to the classic GNOME desktop), most of the scrollbars are now reduced to what seems to be a single colored line. Until you put your cursor on it.

Peek-a-boo!

These are called overlay scrollbars, and you can click it to scroll up and down, or just drag it up and down. A nice way to keep things clean on the desktop.

Dashing.

That button on the left side of the top panel opens Dash, which is something Windows users might compare it to the Start menu.

Now with a searchbox!

The guys at Microsoft realized how convenient Googling is, so they applied it into Windows. Now, Canonical was doing the same thing; letting people to type in to search the program they're looking for.

Personally, I wish more customizations are available for Unity Dash, such as adjusting the icon size, changing the number of rows and columns, hide "Apps available to download" section, always let it open fullscreen, and perhaps some other stuff I missed.

I've heard about Unity Lens, which seems interesting but isn't applied by default. Using the exact same interface as above, you can search for *cough*Rebecca Black*cough* on Youtube, without opening Firefox or any other browser. You can see some of the few Lenses in development here.

Finally.

To end my relatively long post today, I'd say that Unity is good enough for daily use, provided you spend enough time to familiarize with it. It still needs some improvements, especially in terms of usability and customizations, so we'll see what Unity matures into.

Also, Unity is very similar to the recently released GNOME 3. Heck, I don't know who copied who, but at least we have options.

How To (Not) Hide Your NSFW Files

People are so predictable.

Quite a few times I figured out where some people try to hide stuff not exactly for anyone else to see. Not exactly intentional though. But fear not, I haven't spread any of them nor do I have any bad intentions with them. So how did I find it?

Suspicious folders in the wrong place
The easiest indicator to see that a certain folder contains NSFW content is that the name of the folder has something to do with the computer system, such as 'system xp' or 'network', sitting somewhere outside C:\Windows or C:\Program Files. I often check these suspicious folders when I see them, mainly because it might also be some malware lurking around the hard disk. Besides, anyone computer-literate enough can tell the content isn't what the folder says.

Leaving NSFW folders/files unencrypted
These files might possibly been left as it is for convenience sake, but this also mean that anyone can stumble into it wide and open. They might have them out of the usual places people will most likely stumble, but mind that Windows have a search utility. This allows people to find your files within minutes. I'm not kidding.

History wasn't forgotten
In case you didn't know, doing anything on a computer will almost always leave some trace behind. Normally, people can just look up the history on a browser, or look into 'Recent Files' in Windows and applications. Then, "Hey, let's see what's in here- OHNOOO CANT UNSEE".

So what to do?
Don't keep them in the first place. Just delete it. It's not important and it takes up hard disk space. It will also risk you being humiliated. Especially if you're a girl.

Still insist on keeping it? Okay... Use CCleaner regularly to wipe out most of the histories, and encrypt your files using utilities like TrueCrypt or WinRAR. Also don't bother faking computer names, using numbers are much more effective.

But seriously, just delete it. Not worth all that trouble.

Retro Love: NES Screensaver

I never had the chance to play a real NES before, during the age where 8-bit graphics were all the rage. I started off with the Sony Playstation instead.

Anyways, if you're feeling nostalgic (or simply having a knack for retro stuff) you can get some NES games as your screensaver. And it's not a simple screensaver showing some NES gameplay; you can actually play NES games in it. Provided you have the ROMs, which you can easily obtain (hint: Google).

You can get it from the UberNES website:

http://www.ubernes.com/nesscreensaver.html

Here's a shot of it in action:

Pretty neat huh?

If you don't want to play in a screensaver, you can download UberNES as a standalone emulator.