The latest version of Specto* can be used to notify you about events on websites such as Facebook, Google Reader, Twitter, Last.fm and also email accounts including Gmail, any IMAP or POP3 email account, Evolution and even Google Wave and of course, any website you want to watch for changes.

Perl, never afraid of obscure shorthands, has accrued an impressive number of features that help with this use case. I'd like to share some of my favorites that you might not have heard of.

After I published "Wanted: Virtual Personal Email Servers (VPES)" I discussed how to actually build them only out of Free Software with John. He says, for example, that Zimbra gives the best user interface but the system requirements are huge for what it provides and that he investigated how he could make any profit creating an easy VPES setup script with a fairly low monthly price point.

Nautilus Elementary is a more elegant, simple and tight nautilus build. Many features have been added since the builds for Karmic – including some sexy view switching buttons, support for Nautilus’ split pane and and even more sleek toolbar.

Today's review of Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" (doesn't everybody like cute animal names?) is not the first time I've written about the open-source Linux operating system. In fact, it's been about eight years since my first column devoted to the subject.

Boot up MeeGo and you’ll be impressed with the boot time, a very similar experience to Moblin. In fact, if you used Moblin, you’ll find almost everything about Moblin familiar, even if the branding is a touch different.

There is currently a lot of work going on to improve the Ubuntu light themes: Ambiance and Radiance. Unfortunately all these changes are not even available in Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat.

Since the arrival of consumer digital cameras, hard drives have been filling up with images of every social occasion, no matter how boring.