Productivity Sauce

Back up Your Tweets with Twitter Backup

Mar 11, 2009 GMT

Twitter clients are a dime a dozen these days, but none of them allow you to back up your precious tweets. Fortunately, there is the Twitter Backup tool which can pull tweets from your Twitter account and save them as an XML file. Twitter Backup is written in Java, so the Java Runtime Environment must be installed on your machine for the tool to function properly. Using Twitter Backup couldn't be easier: specify your Twitter credentials, give the backup file a name, and press the Start button. Keep in mind that Twitter API requires a one-minute delay between requests, so the backup procedure may take quite a while if you...

Turn DokuWiki into a Simple RSS Aggregator

Mar 09, 2009 GMT

One of Dokuwiki's less-known features is the ability to parse and display RSS feeds. Using this feature, you can turn your DokuWiki installation into a no-frills RSS feed aggregator. Adding a RSS feed to a DokuWiki page is as easy as specifying the feed's link using the {{rss}} command. For example, the following code displays the headline from the Productivity Sauce feed: {{rss>http://www.linux-magazine.com/rss/feed/productivity_sauce}} The {{rss}} command supports a few parameters which allow you to control the feed's settings. For example, you can decide how many headlines to display by specifying the number you...

Knoppix 6.0: Perfect Distro (also for Netbooks)

Mar 07, 2009 GMT

Knoppix has always been regarded as one of the most versatile Linux distros out there, but the latest version of the venerable Live CD Linux distribution has got yet another trick up its sleeve. Thanks to its excellent hardware detection, blazingly fast boot process, and the lightweight LXDE desktop environment, Knoppix 6.0 makes a perfect distro for netbooks. In fact, it supports all hardware on ASUS Eee PC 701 and 900 as well as Acer Aspire One right out of the box, including the wireless card. That's right, you don't have to fiddle with ndiswrapper or install a custom kernel in order to make your wireless card work. Knoppix 6.0 also detects the graphics card correctly, chooses the...

Installing OpenOffice.org and Extensions Using a Bash Script

Mar 04, 2009 GMT

Is it possible to install the latest version of OpenOffice.org and all your favorite extensions using just a simple command? Yes, it is. All you need is a relatively simple Bash script that does the donkey job for you. As a starting point, you can use the script below which installs OpenOffice.org on a Debian-based Linux distribution along with the Writer's Tools and Sun Report Builder extensions. #!/bin/sh mkdir ~/tmp cd ~/tmp wget ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/unix/X11/apps/openoffice/stable/3.0.1/OOo_3.0.1_LinuxIntel_install_en-US_deb.tar.gz tar -xvf OOo_3.0.1_LinuxIntel_install_en-US_deb.tar.gz cd OOO300_m15_native_packed-1_en-US.9379 cd DEBS sudo dpkg -i *.deb cd...

Extension Watch: Hide Navigation Bar

Mar 01, 2009 GMT

The Hide Navigation Bar extension for Firefox is yet another one-trick pony for users who want to free up a few extra pixels of screen estate. As the name suggests, the extension allows you to hide and show the Navigation bar using a keyboard shortcut (the default one is F2). This can come in particularly handy on netbooks where screen estate is at a premium. Combined with the Personal Menu extension, Hide Navigation Bar lets you reduce Firefox's interface to the absolute minimum.

Extension Watch: WiRWiB

Feb 27, 2009 GMT

WordNet is probably the most valuable reference for professional writers and users striving to improve their writing skills. The official WordNet package comes with a simple graphical front-end, and there is also a no-frills Web-based version of the reference. But if you do most of your writing in OpenOffice.org Writer, switching back and forth between the word processor and the WordNet application or browser can quickly become an annoyance. The WiRWiB extension -- which stands for Write It Right, Write It Better -- provides an elegant solution to the problem. WiRWiB uses a separate window to display WordNet data for the current word, including its definition, usage, and synonyms. More...

Staying Productive while Offline

Feb 25, 2009 GMT

Surviving a long train trip without an Internet connection can be tough, but with a little bit of preparatory work, you can stay productive even when offline. Here are a few ideas that can help you to do some work without Internet access. Install Google Gears and enable it for Web-based services that support this technology. This allows you to manage emails stored on your Gmail account and work on Google Docs files as well as keep tabs on your to-dos if you use the Remember The Milk service as your Web-based task manager. Prune your bookmarks and task list. If you use Firefox to manage your bookmarks, now is a good time to go through them and delete all the cruft. While you're at it, you...