Embedding Tweets

Tweeting is so common these days that people wanted their Twitter micro blogs to apear everywhere. What all we had to do! It meant taking screengrabs, cropping them and then uploading them. A lot of things to do to get particular tweets on our blogs and websites.


But gone are those days and Twitter has now got a cool tool to embed tweets and it's called Blackbird Pie. It's message embedding tool, that makes static HTML tweets for blog posts and news articles. The best part of embedding the Tweets is that all the #tags remains hyperlinked and searchable. This tool from Twitter allows users to easily embed and also shows a preview of how a tweet would look like.

Wanna know how to Do it?

Well! Here's how:

1. Take the mouse near the date of the tweet and right click to copy the link adress

2. Go to Go to the Site Blackbird Pie

  3. Paste the tweet URL in the blank space and hit Bake it

4. Copy and paste the code on to your blog or website to embed a tweet like this

Just love the way #SnowLeopard has changed my MacBook! It is fast and a really streamlined #OSless than a minute ago via MGTwitterEngineDhurjati
Dhurjoti

A Plen Android

When I was browsing for android apps a couple days back I found out that there is an app that can control a desktop hobby robot.  It's a cute little robot that can perform a lot of complex movements  and is easily controlled by an Android App.

A Plen action :)

Made by Akazawa from Japan, this Robot is called Plen, an obvious pun on the English word plain. But a simple demo made me feel that it's anything but plain. The official website declares that it has 20 adorable motions pre-installed. And by the looks of it, it is surely adorable.


Plen can be remotely-controlled via a Bluetooth connection with an Android smartphone (Preferably Nexus One) and it'll walk, dance and skate. Not that it can do a lot of useful things, but I guess it's good entertainment and fun to see a robot dancing for you (Reminds me a Walle).


Well! I would have bought this, if I had $3000 to throw away....


If any of you readers have this money go for it. Here is the official Website: http://www.plen.jp/index_en.html


And in case you are broke like me enjoy these videos :)


Plen instructions



Plen and simple skating

My Chromium Attempt

For a long time I had a question in my mind - "what is google chrome OS?" Is this the much rumoured ghost OS of google? Well, all these thing sought wings of my imagination and I thought that may be we will finally have a low cost solution to the problems we face while operating Windows (The best solution is obviously a Mac, but it's costly). Well! I was wrong Google finally announced the arrival of the Chrome OS and they came up with a video which tells us what exactly Google chrome OS is going to be.

Seriously, this was not a real pleasure to know that a browser is going to replace our trusted Operating System. In-fact, it was hard to believe. Then, I thought may be it is my inertia that stops me to accept something which is new. I come from a suburban town near Kolkata and I realized that if I go home, I won't be able to use my computer. Computer is not synonymous with internet. Yes, we do spend a lot of time on the net, but thats not all. I mean I do some photoshop, I play games (high quality games) and I trust Microsoft Office for all my office suite needs... I know google docs is great, but it is nowhere near, MS office or iWorks or even open office. Also, lets face it... we don't have great broadband connection here in India.

Yes! I knew that Google's Chrome OS is not going to a great thing... not yet... may be it will be the next big thing... but not yet.  But when I came to know that Google has announced the availability of the Chrome OS source code, I decided that I got to have it. I searched youtube for their chrome demo so that I get a feel of the new thing... (So what even if I don't have it I can still see it )

 After seeing it, I decided that I have got to have it. So all I did was a search of Chrome OS and I got a link to download a version. Some geeks have already compiled the chromium source code and got a version of Chrome OS running. I immediately downloaded a vmware image and tried to run in in virtual box. But, luckily enough I already had a copy of VMware Fusion 2. Installing was easy! All I had to do was to use that .vmdk file as an existing virtual machine. 

And thats it! Chrome started running... here is the first screengrab:

Chrome OS uses Google username and password. But I thought why take a chance!... this might have been built by some random hacker... so, I created a new gmail ID just to test this chromium OS. I had to set up my computer just as I am used to do in Windows or Mac or Linux (Ubuntu). 

Google has added few good apps to this OS:

Overall, this OS is not bad (especially keeping in mind that it is just a developer preview and not even from Google) and in fact, it is a pretty good OS for a netbook. But I will never let go of my mac for this chrome os (because it is nowhere near). I will rather like to run it virtually as a collection of apps (the feel is just like my iTouch running inside my Mac). But, I will run it for sure... and I am also eagerly  waiting for the finished product come out.

P.S. It is not that fast when you run it virtually (don't expect a 7 secs boot as promised) and the speed they talked about also depends on the kind internet connection you have. 

This was originally posted in The Products of a Rustic Mind

Jaunty Jackalope

Ubuntu, a community developed, Linux-based operating system has released its new platform for laptops, desktops and servers. It features all the applications that one may need in day to day computing needs. It comes with a web browser, presentation, word processor and spreadsheet software, instant messaging and much more.

Ubuntu is a Debian based linux distribution and is released every six months after a considerable amount of tweaking. So Hardy Heron of April 2008 gave to October release - Intrepid Ibex and finally in April 2009 Ubuntu has come up with Jaunty Jackalope (Ubuntu 9.04).

When OS like Windows asks for more money with every release to upgrade the systems (which also slows down your computer instead), Ubuntu not only believes in distributing the OS for free, it also provides the user with a lot of applications.

E-Mail:

The OS comes with a default E-mail client called Evolution. It supports a lot of types of email programs both for personal use and for business. Popular webmail applications like Gmail or Yahoo mail can be easily synced. Evolution comes with a fully-featured email calendar, task and contact sharing program that even integrates with your on-desktop clock to make sure you don't miss any must attend meetings.

Instant Messaging:



It comes with Pidgin IM, an open source messaging tool. Pidgin IM has all the basic functions along with a growing list of plug-ins to make it the most efficient IMer around. This has become increasingly important business tool. Pidgin also allows the user to integrate with private IM channels so that the user can keep in contact with the people who really matter.


Web Browsing:



The default web browser for Ubuntu is Morzila's latest browser Firefox 3. Firefox is not only universally accepted but it is safe and fast. The best part about Firefox 3 is its gallery full of add-ons available freely over the net which extends as well as customize the users browsing experience. Users often have specific requirements depending on how they use their browser. The autocomplete list also appears when letters are entered in the location bar and it is no longer restricted to web addresses but also looks into bookmark and history page titles and tags which make it more comprehensive.

Mozilla has also added adaptive learning to this function so that the more it is used the better it will become at learning what the user is looking for and displays the relevant information quickly.



Photos:



Ubuntu comes with F-Spot Manager, a photo manager, to manage all the photos. Phone or camera can be directly connected to the desktop and the user can real easily tag, manage, display, organise, edit and share photos with friends. The photos can also be directly uploaded to a gallery as wel.

Ubuntu Studio

Ubuntu Studio is an officially recognized of the Ubuntu Linux distribution, which is explicitly geared to general multimedia production.

The first version was based on Ubuntu 7.04, Gusty Gibbion, and was released on May 10, 2007.

There is currently no live version available of Ubuntu Studio, and consequently, no graphical installer. In addition, the disk image is 1.28 GB, too large to fit on a standard CD, and as a result, Ubuntu Studio is often installed from a DVD or USB flash drive. Ubuntu Studio can also be installed via the Internet from an existing Ubuntu installation with the help of the terminal.

Fresh Installation:

An image can be downloaded as Iso from Ubuntu Studio and burned onto a dvd or a copy can be obtained free of charge from Cannonical. Like any other Ubuntu flavour, Ubuntu Studio can also be installed within Windows with the help Wubi one can install and uninstall Ubuntu like any other Windows application.


All you have to do is to click install windows.

Otherwise one has to boot the machine from the DVD and install the OS.

Getting ubuntu Studio is fairly easy, here is the link: http://ubuntustudio.org/