Tweaking Ubuntu 11.04 easily with Ubuntu Tweak

Ubuntu Tweak is an open source tool licensed with GPL v2, designed to make easy to configure your Ubuntu Linux system and desktop settings using its user friendly GUI interface.

It is developed by Tualatrix Chou (周鼎), a 24 years old Chinese guy who also founded HZLUG (Hangzhou Linux User Group).

Features of Ubuntu Tweak includes:

• Display Basic System Information (Distribution, Kernel, CPU, Memory, etc.)
• GNOME Session Control
• Auto Start Program Control
• Quick installer for popular applications
• Lots of 3rd-party sources to keep applications up-to-date
• Clean unneeded packages or cache to free disk space
• Show/Hide and Change Splash screen
• Show/Hide desktop icons or Mounted Volumes
• Show/Hide/Rename Computer, Home, Trash or Network icon
• Tweak Metacity Window Manager's style and behaviour
• Compiz Fusion settings, Screen Edge Settings, Window Effect Settings, Menu Effect Settings
• Set the Shortcuts to archive quicker access your favourite applications
• GNOME Panel Settings
• Nautilus Settings
• Advanced Power Management Settings
• System Security Settings
• and many more...

For example, many of us prefer to have the Window Titlebar buttons on the right instead of on the left. You can easily set this with Window Manager Settings in Ubuntu Tweak.

You can download the DEB installation package of Ubuntu Tweak from its website. To install it after download, just double click on the DEB file.

After installation, you can find Ubuntu Tweak inside the System category of Applications. Click the Applications launcher on the side bar of Ubuntu 11.04 Unity Desktop, drop down the search selector which default to All Applications and select System. Alternatively, you can search for "Ubuntu Tweak" by key-in its name in the application search box.

Deloitte Technology Trends 2011 Report - The natural convergence of business and IT

Deloitte has released their annual Technology Trends report for 2011, taglined "The natural convergence of business and IT".

This report examines the ever-evolving landscape of technology put to business use. Although it is written from the perspective of the CIO, it also informs business executives on exciting new possibilities to apply technology to address their most pressing business challenges.

10 important trends were identified in this report, clustered in 2 categories.

1. (Re)Emerging Enablers are trends that many CIOs and technology executives have spent time, thought and resources on in the past.

They are:

• Visualization
• "Almost-Enterprise" Applications
• Cyber Intelligence
• CIOs as Revolutionaries
• The End of the "Death of ERP"

2. Disruptive Deployments are trends that present significant new opportunities to improve business processes, rethink operations or even enter into new business models. The technologies themselves are not necessarily disruptive, but when when deployed, could disrupt the cost, capabilities, or even the core operating model of IT and the business.

They are:

• Real Analytics
• Social Computing
• User Engagement
• Applied Mobility
• Capability Clouds

Among the list, the convergence of Social and Mobile computing plays significantly.

Click here to download the 68 pages Deloitte Technology Trends 2011 Report.

How to switch from the new Ubuntu 11.04 Unity Desktop to the classic GNOME Desktop

The newly released Ubuntu Linux 11.04 has a new default Unity Desktop interface, which brings different experience from the classic GNOME Desktop in all its previous releases which you are already familiar with.

If you dislike this new Unity Desktop for whatever reason, here is the easy way for you to revert back to the Ubuntu classic desktop.

When you are at the Ubuntu login screen, click on the user to login, and you will be able to see the taskbar at the bottom of the screen as shown below. One of the item on the taskbar is the session selector.

Change the session from the default "Ubuntu" to "Ubuntu Classic" and proceed with the login, your desktop will now changed from the new Unity Desktop to the traditional Ubuntu GNOME Desktop. You just need to apply this setting once, and it will be the default for all subsequence login.

If your Ubuntu is set to automatically login the default user, you can get to the login screen by logout the user.