DesktopManager
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KDE 4.10 released with leaner Air theme, more love for mobile devices
There are plenty of Linux desktop environments to choose from, but if KDE has a special place in your heartware, you'll be pleased to know its first 2013 update is out. Making the jump from 4.9 to 4.10 brings various tweaks to Plasma Workspaces, including upped support for high-res displays, a streamlining of the default Air theme, and plenty of behind the scenes adjustments. All running software can now be controlled through a common menu system, search indexes happen faster, and the new Nepomuk Cleaner will help rid those clogged drives of unnecessary data. In addition, printer management has been improved, and the enhanced Dolphin file manager communicates more freely with mobile devices. A thorough, lovingly crafted changelog is available at the source link below, but if you're particularly fond of surprises, then head straight for the download. Happy upgrading!
How-to: Picking a desktop environment in Linux
We've taken you through a tour of Window Managers in Linux, and now it's time to show you the Window Manager's bigger brother: the desktop environment, or DE for short. With a sea of choices out there, we can see where Linux newbies might feel a bit overwhelmed. Catch us after the break and we'll show you some of our favorites, along with a few honorable mentions.
BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac now available, we go hands-on
Today is the day that the BlackBerry-toting Mac faithful have been waiting for. After years of "making do" with less-than-desirable options like PocketMac and Missing Sync, RIM has taken it upon itself to finally release a home-cooked solution for Mac users who simply want to back up their devices without having to install a virtual machine or revert to a Windows PC. Well, it's been a long month and a half since they first announced it was coming, but BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac has finally landed (officially, we mean), and we're glad to say it definitely gets the job done. Check out our full impressions and a quick rundown of the big features after the break.
BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac leaks out in beta form
It's been a long time coming, but there's finally light at the end of the tunnel for Mac-toting BlackBerry fans -- BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac is scheduled for release this month, and a beta version has already leaked out. Unlike a certain scrappy competitor's hacky solution, BBDM lets you sync with iTunes, Address Book, and iCal without any monkey business, and you'll also be able to manage and install applications and other files right from your desktop. We haven't tried the beta (we're not pushing our Snow Leopard luck), but we hear it's stable -- do let us know how things turn out if you're brave enough to install it.[Thanks, bighap]
BlackBerry Desktop Manager beta for Mac leaks out
Let's be honest: BlackBerry users with Macs have led a pretty rough life. You've historically been afterthoughts in RIM's eyes, offered table scraps of first-party software that you usually end up having to combine with third-party stuff to do what you need to do -- and let's not even talk about firmware upgrades. Fortunately, RIM's finally decided to go all-in for Mac, bringing a proper Desktop Manager suite to the platform this month -- but we're not exactly the patient types around here, and we know many of you aren't either, so you might want to go ahead and grab the copy that's leaked recently. It's not a gold release, but with impatience usually comes early adoption and with early adoption usually comes painful bugs, so it's nothing you shouldn't already be used to.
7 apps that Leopard kills
Phill Ryu, a man who must have some sort of direct neural interface with the Mac shareware community, has posted a list of applications which could very likely be killed off by features of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard which were announced yesterday. Seasoned OS X users will have immediately seen parallels between many of the new Leopard features and software that has been available for some time. Most obviously, Spaces are just fancy names for virtual desktops; something that can be easily achieved by VirtueDesktops, DesktopManager, and VirtualDesktop Pro. The new application launching features of Spotlight take aim at popular applications such as LaunchBar, Butler, and my personal favorite of OS X applications, Quicksilver. With iChat, tabs kill off Chax, live presentations kill off ShowMacster, and backgrounds kill of ChatFX.Be sure to click through to the original post for all the other apps now lining up at the unemployment window, and to see what the shareware developers themselves have to say about the announcements.Update: Buddy'o'mine and BarCamp mastermind Chris Messina has a similar post.
Get your own SmackBook Pro
Remember Scott's 'Smack your MacBook Pro' post from yesterday? It looks like Scott got his wish: now you can go a step further and get your own SmackBook Pro. That's right boys and girls, for the low low price of nothing (all code is released under the GPL), you too can have your very own smackable MacBook Pro. If you don't want to deal with the instructions, some commenters have compiled new versions; scroll down for the links.It sounds like this might work on any Apple notebooks with a motion sensor, as I also noticed some commenters were tinkering with getting this to work on a recent 12" PowerBook. Either way, Erling Ellingsen has ushered in a brave new world of computing - a world where you can literally smack your computer to make it do something productive.[via UNEASYsilence]
