Mount Amazon S3 Buckets with s3fs

Dec 16, 2011 GMT

There is no lack of third-party tools that allow you to access storage offered by the Amazon S3 service in one way or another. But in case you need to mount an Amazon S3 bucket as a local file system with read/write access, s3fs got you covered. Using this software, you can access an Amazon S3 bucket as if it were a regular directory on your local machine. To compile s3fs, you need to install a handful of dependencies first. On Debian and Ubuntu-based distros, this can be done by running the following command as root: apt-get install build-essential libfuse-dev fuse-utils libcurl4-openssl-dev libxml2-dev mime-supportGrab then the latest release of s3fs from the project's website,...

Midori: Low-fat Browser

Dec 09, 2011 GMT

My recent weekend project involved putting my trusty ASUS Eee PC 900 back in service as my couch and kitchen machine. Despite its modest specs, this little netbook is still capable of performing daily computing tasks with aplomb. But to make Eee PC 900 a decent machine for accessing the web, I had to replace the Chromium browser bundled with the latest version of Lubuntu. After trying several lightweight alternatives, I settled for Midori. Although Midori may not include the advanced features of mainstream browsers, all the essential functionality is there. This includes tabs and a speed dial feature which lets you add shortcuts to often-used Web sites. Unlike Chromium, Midori sports a...

Use Zotero on Android with Zandy

Nov 29, 2011 GMT

Zotero is a genuinely useful tool for research and archiving. It runs on different platforms, and thanks to its built-in synchronization feature, you can keep Zotero data in sync across multiple machines. And now you can view and edit Zotero items on your Android device, courtesy of the Zandy app. The app is not free of charge, but it's available under an open source license. You can install Zandy from the Android Market, and during the first run you have to authorize the app with the Zotero service. This is a rather straightforward procedure, but you have to tweak the default permissions to allow Zandy to access notes as well as add and edit items. Once you've authorized Zandy, press the...

Improve Your Night Sleep with Redshift and F.lux

Nov 28, 2011 GMT

A bad night's sleep can affect your productivity like nothing else. And spending evenings in front of a bright computer screen does absolutely nothing to make you sleep better at night. The bright light emitted by the computer screen tricks your brain into thinking that it's still daytime -- not a good thing at 11 p.m. when your gray matter should be preparing itself for a good night's sleep.Redshift and F.lux provide a simple fix for this problem. The utility adjusts the color temperature of the screen according to the time of the day at your specific geographical location. So as it's getting later (and darker) outside, the color temperature of your screen becomes warmer, making your...

ReText: A Text Editor with Support for reStructuredText and Markdown

Nov 24, 2011 GMT

ReText is a nifty text editor for those who appreciate markup systems like reStructuredText and Markdown. The application allows you to easily create formatted texts using either reStructuredText or Markdown markups, and then output the result in several formats including ODF, PDF, and HTML. In addition to that, you can upload formatted documents to Google Docs directly from within the editor. ReText boasts other handy features, including HTML syntax highlighting, auto save option, and support for CSS styles. The editor sports a tabbed interface, so you can manage multiple text files, while the Preview pane lets you view the formatted output of the currently edited file. The Tags and...

Easy Backup with Backupninja

Nov 23, 2011 GMT

All mainstream Linux distros offer a variety of backup tools designed for specific tasks like backing up MySQL databases or performing incremental backup to a remote server. Backupninja wraps all these nifty tools into a simple graphical interface and give you a helping hand with setting up backup jobs. Backupninja is available in the software repositories of many popular Linux distributions, so you can install it using your distro's package manager. On Ubuntu and Debian-based systems, you can install the utility by running the apt-get install backupninja command as root. To launch Backupninja, run the ninjahelper command as root. Select then the new item, pick the backup type you want,...

Blog with Nibbleblog

Nov 22, 2011 GMT

When it comes to blog software, WordPress rules supreme. But what if this otherwise excellent blog engine is overkill for your needs? In this case, you might want to give Nibbleblog a try. This lightweight blog application is perfectly suited for maintaining personal blogs, and it sports all the essential features you need to publish a blog with a minimum of effort. Nibbleblog features a WYSIWYG editor, so you can access all common formatting options using the dedicated toolbar. The built-in file manager based on elFinder offers a convenient way of working with files and images. In addition to regular blog posts, the blog application lets you quickly publish videos. Nibbleblog's default...