Open source music identification technology launched

A digital company called The Echo Nest has launched a Shazam-style technology that is open source, and can therefore be used by any developers wanting to incorporate audio-based music identification into their product. There’s a tie up with 7Digital, which means the Echoprint system can identify the millions of tracks in their digital catalogue. As an open source technology it’s hoped that catalogue of identifiable tracks will grow as other developers use it.

Who killed the netbook?

June 22, 2011, 9:46 PM — The netbook has been murdered. The concept of an inexpensive computing device with high value for the third world has been sufficiently co-opted so as to make the category meaningless. Some called netbooks a sub-category of "ultra-light" or "sub-notebooks", but netbooks became legitimized by the announcement of the $100 OLPC laptop.

GNOME vs. KDE Apps: Which Are Best For You? :- 2

In many ways, KDE's Dolphin and GNOME's Nautilus are similar in structure, with a directory tree on the left, and a pane for displaying the contents of the current folder beside it. Both, too, have the zooms and icon and details view that you would expect in a file manager, to which Nautilus adds the ability to add an additional emblem as a sort of tag (a feature I have yet to find a use for). Both, too, support tabs and additional panes.
However, Dolphin adds a pane on the right that gives detailed information about the currently selected file. This system is much handier than Nautilus' zoom feature, which gradually displays more information as you zoom in. You can choose in the preferences what files are displayed in this pane, in case the feature uses more memory than your machine can easily handle.

GNOME vs. KDE Apps: Which Are Best For You? -1

A desktop is more than just panels and widgets. It's also an ecosystem of applications specially written to use its resources and to fit its concepts of usability. That means that when you weigh GNOME against KDE, you need to consider their applications as much as the desktops themselves.
Not all software categories vary with the desktop, of course. The time is long gone when KOffice and the only partly realized GNOMEOffice vyed with each other for users -- although KOffice is becoming increasingly mature, and GNOMEOffice's AbiWord, and Gnumeric are all going concerns, most people just use LibreOffice.
Similarly, while some KDE users still favor Konqueror, and GNOME ships withEpiphany, neither web browser is widely used compared to Firefox and Chrome.

GNOME vs. KDE Apps: Which Are Best For You? :- 3

Movie Players: Totem vs. Kaffeine

Considering the simplicity of the interface, Kaffeine could almost be a GNOME app. It opens on buttons for five basic functions -- playing a file, an audio CD, a video CD or DVD, and Digital TV, and a simplified version of the menus on the left side of the window. Things get more detailed when you actually select a function, but, on the whole, the interface is highly usable throughout.
Yet somehow, GNOME's Totem manages to be even simpler, providing basic playback features and an optional sidebar that displays details about the current selection. Totem's only real drawback is a screensaver that runs when audio files are playing, but that can be turned off in the preferences.

50 Must-Have Open Source Apps for Your Home Office:- 3

PDF Tools

34. PDFedit
You don't have to purchase expensive Adobe software in order to make modifications to existing PDF files. PDFedit lets you edit text, delete and renumber pages, add markup and more. Operating System: Windows, Linux.
35. Sumatra
This alternative to Adobe Reader boots up fast and offers a very simple interface. In addition to PDF files, it also reads XPS, DjVu, CBZ and CBR files. Operating System: Windows.

50 Must-Have Open Source Apps for Your Home Office:- 2

Graphics

19. Dia
Similar to Microsoft's Visio, Dia helps you create org charts, network diagrams, flowcharts and similar types of documents. It creates XML files by default, but can also export to EPS, SVG, XFIG, WMF, PNG and some other graphic file formats. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X.
20. Gimp
Similar to Adobe's Photoshop, Gimp is a photo manipulation program that's full-featured enough for professional photographers and graphic designers, but user-friendly enough for amateurs. Key capabilities include a full set of painting tools, sub-pixel sampling, powerful gradient and blend tools, full alpha channel support, layers, quickmask, transformable paths and more. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X.
21. Inkscape

50 Must-Have Open Source Apps for Your Home Office -1

These days, more and more people work at home at least part of the time. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, more than half of the 29.6 million small businesses in the country are home-based.
If you add to those figures the number of people who telecommute to their jobs part of the time, the Telework Research Network estimates that between 20 to 30 million people work from home at least once a week. And WorldatWork claims that approximately 44 million Americans work at home at least one day a year.
Whether they work for themselves, a small business or a large multinational corporation, all of these workers need good software for their home offices. And many of these people who work at home don't have a lot of money to spend on that software -- especially if they work for themselves.