Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on April 08, 2008 by CyberNet.

Last year Wal-Mart started selling a Linux-powered computer for under $200 called the gPC. After some confusion amongst consumers they decided to boot the budget computers from the store shelves, and offer it solely online. Ever since it looks as though the operating system that powers the low-cost computer, called gOS, has started to go through an identity crisis with Mac OS X.

The most obviously clone is the dock that is the home of your application shortcuts. The gOS has had that ever since it debuted last year, but it’s worked hard to become even more Mac-like in its latest release dubbed gOS Space 2.9. The goal of the new version was to become more appealing to the 100+ million MySpace users, and thanks to the Avant Window Navigator a feature remarkably similar to Mac OS X’s Stacks has been added to the dock. Not to mention that it includes Compiz Fusion for some added eye candy.

And as Crunchgear noticed even the gOS site has become remarkably similar to that of Apple’s:

gOS Website:

Apple’s Mac OS X Website:

So what do you think? Are they smart for trying to grab ideas from an operating system that is often lauded for its great design, or should they be trying to distinguish gOS from the competition?

The gOS Space 2.9 Linux operating system is freely available for download.

Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com

This article was written on December 06, 2007 by CyberNet.

A few weeks back I finally broke down and bought the ESET Smart Security suite (review). I needed two licenses for it, and I decided to just buy the two-year subscription up front so that I could take advantage of the extra savings. In the end my total came out to $103.99, but it was worth it for two licenses and two years of protection from one of the best security companies around. And if the VB100 test is anything to go by it’s one of the best antivirus programs available.

The Smart Security comes with antivirus, antispyware, firewall, and antispam all rolled into one. Out of all the security apps that I’ve used ESET’s products always provide the best performance in addition to exceptional protection.

For those of you who want to jump on the bandwagon I just noticed that Newegg has a relatively good deal on both the Smart Security and standalone NOD32 antivirus apps. They all have free shipping, and that means you will receive a physical boxed product instead of just a username/password and download link. Here are the prices for the different apps:

• Smart Security 3.0 (Retail) – $49.99
• NOD32 Antivirus 3.0 (Retail) – $34.99
• NOD32 Antivirus 3.0 (OEM) – $29.99

Those are actually a pretty good deal if you’re not buying multiple licenses and don’t want to commit to two years. Here’s a price layout if you purchase directly from ESET (remember, you won’t receive a physical copy of the product with these):

Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com

This article was written on December 17, 2007 by CyberNet.

One of the things that the Opera browser does way better than Firefox is skinning. In Opera you can go to their skin site, find a theme that you want to install, and preview it immediately in the browser. No restart is required.

Mozilla looks as though they are experimenting with a similar method via an extension called Personas. With Personas you’ll be able to perform basic skinning operations in Firefox without ever needing to restart the browser.

All of the goodness happens in the bottom-left corner of the Status Bar. That’s where a little icon will appear once you’ve installed the extension, and clicking on that icon will immediately present a list of themes that can be chosen. They’re organized according to the most popular, newest ones, and also broken up into categories. As of right now there are a few dozen different themes available for Personas users.

It’s important to note that these themes are not the same as the ones you download from Mozilla’s add-on site. The Personas themes do not skin any of the buttons or the Control Panel area, and the only changes you’ll really see is a new background image behind the Menus, Address Bar, Bookmarks, Tabs, and Status Bar. Despite being such a basic skinning alternative I did find that the themes give Firefox a refreshing appearance.

Now one can only hope that this will result in full skinning capabilities down the road, and that they’ll apply a similar technology to extension installation. Maybe Mozilla will be able to make restarting the browser a thing of the past!

Get Personas [via CyberNet Forum, Firefox Guru, and Ars]
Thanks to Richard and “S” for the tips!

Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com

This article was written on October 26, 2006 by CyberNet.

The excitement continues with the release of Ubuntu 6.10 today! You know what is really amazing with Ubuntu 6.10 is that they were able to make their scheduled release date without having any setbacks. So what’s new in this release?

• Tomboy, an easy-to-use and efficient note-taking tool
• F-Spot, a photo management tool that enables tagging, photo editing and automatic uploading to on-line web management sites such as Flickr
• GNOME 2.16, which in addition to new features such as enhanced power management, makes the GNOME desktop more secure, faster and more stable
• Upstart, a replacement start-up manager offering a cleaner design, eye-catching effects and a substantially faster boot time
• The latest Firefox web browser, which offers inline spell check support in web forms, easy recovery of crashed sessions, built-in phishing detectors, enhanced search engine management with built in OpenSearch support, and better support for previewing and subscribing to web feeds
• Proactive security features, preventing many common security vulnerabilities even before they are discovered
• Evolution 2.8.0, which brings new features such as vertical message panes

I was really surprised to hear that Firefox 2 made it into this release. We also can’t forget to mention Ubuntu’s counterparts: Kubuntu 6.10 (KDE), Edubuntu 6.10, and Xubuntu 6.10.

The free CD’s for Ubuntu 6.10 are not available so you would still have to get Ubuntu 6.06, unless you don’t mind spending about $4 and waiting two weeks. 🙂

Alright, on to bigger and better things…Ubuntu 7.04 here we come!

Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com

This article was written on June 04, 2006 by CyberNet.

Many people have requested that a version of Portable Firefox be made for the Mac OS just like there is for Windows. While doing some searches on Google I happened to find someone that was creating some portable applications for Mac’s. Among the programs were OpenOffice 2, Firefox 1.5.0.4, Thunderbird 1.5.0.4, and more! I haven’t been able to test these applications because I don’t have access to a Mac but I have found other sites that link to them, so I would think they are reliable.

The best part is that this person is constantly updating the portable versions of the software when new releases come out.

Portable Firefox 1.5.0.4 For Mac (Universal Binary)
Portable Thunderbird 1.5.0.4 For Mac (Universal Binary)
More Portable Applications For Mac OS X

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