The TechNow

I have been a long time Windows user. For my whole life, I’ve used Windows; from 95 to XP, XP to Vista. I even forked up some extra cash to get my own copy of Vista Ultimate for my laptop. But recently, I’ve found something better. Linux, specifically a distribution called Linux Mint.

Windows versus Mint

Linux Mint is a modification of the very popular Ubuntu distro (which is actually a descendant of Debian), and is very awesome. It comes preloaded with some well-known applications, like Firefox, Thunderbird and GIMP. It also has some apps that I myself had never used (but I’m now in love with), like Rythmbox and OpenOffice. These are all open-source and completely free, but that doesn’t make them any worse than programs on Windows. All the utilities I’ve found on Linux (for free) are just as good, if not better, than Windows equivalents.

Some people are afraid to switch to Linux because of the apparent lack of built applications, the need to use the CLI, or command line interface, for regular tasks, and the lack of support. The first issue is easily solved through Synaptic, a package manager that gives you everything you need- in one place. Far easier than scouring the internet for the installer files (that will just end up using extra space) like you need to do in Windows. The second myth is also completely untrue, copying and pasting, deleting, and all other file operations are easily done through the GUI. The CLI, however, makes these tasks simple and quick, and with a little practice, you won’t fear the terminal so much as you will enjoy using it! The last problem is also completely untrue. The countless forums, IRC channels, and websites you’ll find are full of people who know Linux well enough to help you with just about any problem you could have!

All of this, plus the facts that viruses are virtually nonexistent and essentially all programs are free, make Linux far more likeable than Windows.

Ubuntu versus Mint

After I’d used Mint for awhile, I thought it appropriate to test out its big brother, Ubuntu. I decided to get the Alpha release of the Lucid Lynx release, and installed it on my laptop. I have to say, Linux Mint blows it out of the water. The GUI of Mint is set up far simpler than Ubuntu’s, not to mention Mint comes with preinstalled support for DVD’s, MP3’s, etc., something you have to add manually in Ubuntu.

I have to say, Linux Mint is quite amazing. Snappy interface, helpful people, awesome programs, and all in a free, open-source package. Simply wonderful.

This post was written by BMatt, and he/she may not represent the opinions of this website or it's owner.

Happy new year from all of us here at TTN, to you, our readers! Thanks for a great year; we hope for many more!

This post was written by BMatt, and he/she may not represent the opinions of this website or it's owner.

I was looking through my bookmarks toolbar the other day, and saw a few interesting things I’d forgotten about. I thought I might share a few with you all!

LOLCODE: An interesting find I stumbled across awhile ago, LOLCODE is a coding language playing off of the popular (and sometimes funny) “lolspeak” and “l33tspeak” found often on the interwebz we call home. With some extra tools, such as working implementations of other languages and a few compilers, you can put this laugh out loud language to work.

Textfiles.com: A simply amazing site, featuring an archive of awesome text files from days of old. With topics ranging from phone phreaking to LSD, to lock picking to Apple II’s, and many, many, many, many more (did I mention there’s a lot more?).

Kuler: A helpful little tool from Adobe to help you find some great looking color combos for a variety of uses, including (but not limited to) websites, desktops, other various themes, and (although I shudder to say it) MySpace profiles (*shudder*).

LOTR Dwarf Rune Translator: I originally had to use this for a school project, but this is a helpful little tool for any fans of the Lord of the Rings series.

Free Media Software Suite: A free compilation of a huge number of very useful programs, from a YouTube video downloader to Audio/Video converters to DVD converters/burners, and more!

Hope you enjoyed this! Please leave some comments showing your happiness or (more likely) your disgust!

This post was written by BMatt, and he/she may not represent the opinions of this website or it's owner.

Hey there! I just got a Zune HD a few days ago! You may be thinking, “Ew, who wants a Zune?”, but after using this for a few days I’ve grown to love it more than my iPod touch (2G). Anyway, let’s get to business. (This will not be biased, promise.)

Screen

The first thing you notice when you compare the two is the screen. Yes, the Zune HD’s screen IS .2 inches smaller than the iPod’s, but it’s OLED, so it’s brighter, crisper, and more power-efficient. The iPod touch’s is LED, 3.5″, and not too bright

So I gotta give it to the Zune. Sorry, Apple.

Sound

After listening to music for a while, you start to notice the bad quality in the file. Not with the Zune HD, the sound is so much clearer, even with the standard earbuds. BUT, the iPod touch does have an internal speaker, which the Zune does not.

So it’s basically a tie. Need an internal speaker? iPod. Better quality? Zune HD.

Apps

This is a big one. Yes, there are only 10 apps on the Zune HD’s “app store”, but they are all of mostly good quality. If you want more, moderate quality apps, then the iPod is for you. But the games and apps on the Zune HD are phenomenal. Your choice. But, I’d give it to the iPod for this one.

iPod’s app store is better for the most part.

Side note: You CAN add and make your own homebrew apps without doing ANY hacking or jailbreaking. See here and here.

Software

With the Zune Pass, you can get unlimited legal music for only $15 USD/mo. Awesome right? But if you stop paying, your music expires except for the 10 DRM free songs you get a month with it. iTunes offers no such thing. Plus we all know how Apple codes things bad for Windows. So for $15/mo, unlimited music, that’s a win for the Zune HD all the way.

Overall

Simple: Buy a Zune HD. Detailed: Your choice. It really depends on what you want and need in a PMP.

This post was written by britishtaco, and he/she may not represent the opinions of this website or it's owner.

Many gamers enjoy the complexity and the aesthetic value of console games, any of which titles include BioShock and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. While these games are fun to play and are pleasing to the eye, they run at a price of ~$50 a game. Many folks can afford to cough up the bucks, but others either can’t or won’t. Omgpop promises to change the decision of buying a game once and for all, but still have fun in the process.

Omgpop offers free multiplayer online gaming, with their spinoffs of feature games Balloono and Hover Kart, based on Bomberman and Mario Kart, respectively. Omgpop offers all kinds of entertainment, all free of charge. The site will appeal greatly to people whom own low end computers, or just don’t feel like coughing up the extra money for a retail “mainstream” game.

While for some, the free features of the site is enough. But for others, they are not. If you’re in for a fully featured Omgpop experience, Omgpop offers a paid subscription service, called “Star”. Benefits of Star include features such as new beta games released exclusively for Star subscribers, or 50% more experience points, resulting in faster leveling of the user’s Omgpop account.
Does it not sound as good as it seem? Go try it out yourself!

http://www.omgpop.com/

This post was written by j.dhanani, and he/she may not represent the opinions of this website or it's owner.

I recently stumbled upon a post bringing this and this to my attention. “3G4″, the world’s first working Nintendo 64 emulator for the iPhone OS. NWorksDev, apparently only 14 years old, appears to have worked out one of the most oft requested apps for jailbroken iPhones and iPod touch’s. I guess we’ll see, early 2010.

This post was written by BMatt, and he/she may not represent the opinions of this website or it's owner.

That other list is nice and all, but screw public opinion and the dark days of the early App Store. Here is a rudimentary list of the Top 10 BEST iPhone games, in order.

Touch Pets Dogs
Eliminate
Rolando 2
Canabalt
Real Racing
Minigore
Harbor Master
Bejeweled
Sway
Doodle Jump

Not the greatest list ever, but sure beats the heck out of the most popular. Public opinion from people in the early days doesn’t matter, the amazing options today make the App Store a viable place to find games, and these are 10 that you can’t miss.

This post was written by brewstermax, and he/she may not represent the opinions of this website or it's owner.

1. Eliminate Pro

Bring it — anytime, anywhere — in the first online FPS that fits in your pocket.

Engage in multiplayer first-person combat against real players from around the world. Your goal is simple: put the most advanced weapons systems to the ultimate test against real player combatants. Earn credits based on your performance, buy upgrades and better gear and compete to be the warrior in the ELIMINATE weapons research program.

Playable over 3G or Wi-Fi, ELIMINATE invites you to join ranked competitions against other players in a variety of high fidelity arenas through the Plus+ Network. Send challenges to your friends using Push Notification and they can join your game with a press of a button — whether they’re currently in the game or not.

2. Tap Tap Revenge 2.6

Tap and shake to the beats of 100+ awesome free tracks. Tap Tap Revenge is the most popular game on the App Store. Lots of new features, tons of themes, points and battles, an all-new catalog of more than 100 free tracks, and three awesome ways to play with your friends.

Frequent tournaments and contests, and weekly new songs by top artists mean that there is always something new to greet you when you boot up Tap Tap Revenge 2.

Want even more great music?
- Get Lady Gaga Revenge, Tap Tap Coldplay, Dave Matthews Band Revenge, Nine Inch Nails Revenge, Tap Tap Dance, and Christmas With Weezer. You can import the tracks and themes from these premium editions into the free game!

3. Paper Toss

Have you ever been bored at work, crumpled up a piece of paper and counted how many times you can make it in a small trash can? Has your boss ever gone out for a quick bite while you and your co-workers see how far you can move the trash can away and still make the paper shot? Have you ever brought in electric fans to make the shot even harder? Backflip Studios is happy to announce that we have brought this amazing and hilarious experience to the iPhone.

This game is oddly satisfying . . . much like tossing a real ball of crumpled paper into a metal trash basket. So realistic, you will think you are stuck in an office killing time.

4. Labyrinth (Editor’s Pick)

The classic labyrinth game where you control a steel ball by tilting a wooden labyrinth (being your iPhone). This game uses the iPhone/iPod touch accelerometer with very high accuracy. This is the paid version of the Labyrinth game which comes with over 500 levels. Features include:
- Download over 500 leves directly from within the game.
- 60 FPS (Frames Per Second) gameplay.
- Shadows.
- Physics simulation when falling into holes. Makes it possible to slide on a hole edge without fallig.
- A carpenter level with calibration.
- Autosaving of completed levels.
- Easy starting levels for newbie players.
- For level creators: Per level adjustable ball “friction” factor, controllable from level file “factorFriction”.
- For level creators: per level adjustable ball “bounce” factor, controllable from level file “factorBounce”.
- For level creators: Optional time limit, controllable from level file.

5. Sully’s Flight

This is ‘Sully’s Flight’, a realistic simulation of Chesley Sullenberger’s interesting flight of January 15, 2009, from LaGuardia to the Hudson River.

Based on the popular flight-sim X-Plane, ‘Sully’s Flight’ starts you on runway 4 at LaGuardia in an Airbus A-320, at similar time, weather, and weight conditions to that fateful flight. YOU will fly the plane yourself, following hoops plotted in the sky showing Captain Sullenberger’s approximate ACTUAL flight-path… This will let YOU fly the same profile Sully did, from take-off right through to landing… all with realistic physics and accurate land and river placement.

As well as the actual location, airplane, time, weather, and flight-path, the ACTUAL radio transmissions are played at the right time, giving a full immersion into the actual 5-minute flight… and with flight physics that are accurate enough to make it very similar to the real plane.

Touch down below 120 knots, at less than 250 feet per minute rate of descent to score a successful outcome. You may need to lower the flaps a bit, or trim up a bit, to achieve this!

6. RealRacing

RACE IT YOUR WAY
Race the way you want to, with 5 different game modes. Challenge friends in local multiplayer and leave them in your dust! Work your way up from rookie to world champion in Career mode. Slice off another split second in Time Trial and upload your personal best. Join an online league and battle your way through ranks of players from all over the world to advance to the next division. Only got a minute? Get behind the wheel for a Quick Race. Firemint Real Racing provides authentic pack racing action like no other iPhone(TM) game. Take to the circuit in a six car grid and jostle your way to the lead.

7. PAC-MAN

PAC-MAN, the world famous arcade classic, returns in this faithful rendition for your iPhone! Who can forget the countless hours and quarters spent avoiding pesky ghosts while chompin’ on dots and gobbling up the fruit for bonus points? Relive the retro arcade action! Play Original, Normal or Easy Mode and guide PAC-MAN with three new control modes. Dodge pesky ghosts by tilting or rotating your iPhone in Accelerometer Mode. Navigate through the mazes by touching the onscreen Directional Pad in D-Pad Mode. Chomp on dots with the swipe of a finger in Swipe Mode. Munch fruits and other items for big points! Chomp all of the dots to advance to the next stage. Go for high scores and high levels! Gain an extra life at 10,000 points!

8. Sol Free Solitare

Sol Free™ is Smallware’s free handheld solitaire, now on iPhone and iPod Touch. Get 6 free games from our Solebon pro solitaire: Klondike Deal 1, Klondike Deal 3, Baker’s Game, Baker’s Game Easy, Demon and Spiderette. Play the game enjoyed by millions of players worldwide!

9. reMovem

See how high you can score by removing colored balls from the screen. Tapping on clusters of the same colored ball removes them. The more balls in the cluster, the more points you receive. Sound easy? Give it a try! Once you start playing you’ll be convinced that you can do better next time!

10. TapDefense

Defend the Gates of Heaven from the enemies of Hell with an incredibly fun mobile TOWER DEFENSE game on your iPhone or iPod Touch. TapJoy is proud to bring you TapDefense — a new TOWER DEFENSE strategy game that you can take you with you all day long. Play for hours or salvage snippets of time on the go.

This post was written by j.dhanani, and he/she may not represent the opinions of this website or it's owner.

Gizmodo points out that with the iPod nano’s introduction of a camera, the iPod touch’s may be similar to that one. Let’s take a look at the original article:

Just when you thought you could forget about the elusive bugger, rumors about an iPod Touch with a built-in camera start up again. The latest report points to a Spring 2010 refresh that will finally include a video camera.

The latest rumor reads like it’s August all over again, but it does have one particularly disappointing aspect. According to the source, the iPod touch camera will match the not-so-hot quality of the nano’s.

Here’s to hoping the engineers can somehow stuff the iPhone’s camera into an iPod Touch. Sure, there’s not much space to work with in the Touch, but we can believe

This post was written by j.dhanani, and he/she may not represent the opinions of this website or it's owner.

Have you ever wished to run some cool, new operating system, but couldn’t go through the trouble of switching from PC to Mac (or vice versa), and didn’t want to mess around with Linux? Well say no more! eyeOS is an “operating system” that can run right in your web browser!

It’s got a full suite of nice applications installed from the start, and community-made applications for anything else you could need. There’s even a built-in package manager, so you don’t have to go messing around with FTP to get new programs on!

You can read more about it, plus download it for your own server here. You can see a demo of it running here.

Now, it’s obviously not a replacement for your main OS, but it’s pretty damn cool!

This post was written by BMatt, and he/she may not represent the opinions of this website or it's owner.