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Extensions Look Imminent for Google Chrome

Bart Salisbury — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:48:06 -0600

Google looks to be opening up the potential of Chrome with the addition of extension support. According to HG Siegler of TechCrunch, the new builds for Chromium, the open-source project behind Google Chrome, contain not as yet turned on links to an extensions gallery.

Apparently, two extensions already exist: Google Mail Checker and BuildBot Monitor. Mail Checker keeps an eye on your Google Mail, displaying the number of messages in your inbox on the Google Chrome toolbar. BuildBot keeps track of the current status of the Chromium build, and notifies you when a newer build is available for download.

According to Siegler, installation is a breeze: “Installing these extensions is a breeze. You click the “Install” link, the file downloads, you click to run it, it asks if you’re sure you want to install the extension, you say “yes”, and you’re done. There is no need to restart Chrome/Chromium, they work right away.” Unlike Firefox it’s load and go. And Siegler reports that Chrome extensions don’t, yet, slow down the browser, like they do in Firefox.

Image Credit: Adobe

Freeware Files: Five Mozilla Jetpack Add-ons to Fuel Your Firefox

David Murphy — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:30:00 -0600

What, you ask, is Jetpack?

Right now, it's just an add-on for Mozilla Firefox. But it could also represent the future of browser-based extensions as we know it, depending on how much developers can twist and craft this new open framework to their advantage. Unlike normal Firefox add-ons, which require a decently skilled knowledge of Javascript and XUL, Jetpack add-ons use a combination of HTML, CSS, and Javascript to deliver new features and functionality directly through the browser. According to Mozilla, one could theoretically write an easy-to-use Jetpack add-on in "under a dozen lines of code." And the benefit for the casual Web browser? Jetpack add-ons promise universal compatibility with different versions of Firefox and, the kicker, require no browser restart to function.

Mozilla just launched the official gallery for this new framework last week. As you might expect, there aren't a ton of browser add-ons to play with. However, I'm going to take a look at five of the more innovative, interesting, and downright install-worthy of the Jetpack add-ons that are currently available in this week's freeware roundup. And remember--you can install and uninstall these add-ons without mucking up your browser session whatsoever, so feel free to be a Firefox Rocketeer and grab as many as you want to try out!

Thumbtabs

One of the fussier points of Firefox is that you can't natively get a thumbnail view of a site when you hover your mouse over its tab in your browser. Thumbtabs adds this functionality into your Web surfing experience by building a little, clickable arrow on the left-hand side of your tab toolbar. When you jam it with your mouse, a sidebar pops open to show you exactly what the pages represented by your various tabs look like. It's not quite as slick as, say, a mouseover window popping up, but Thumbtabs certainly gets the job done.

Download it here!

JetWave

If you're one of the many who use some variant of the Firefox Gmail Manager add-on to show you when you have new messages in your Inbox, you'll love JetWave. In short, it borrows the same functionality from Gmail Manager and pops a little Google Wave icon in the lower-right corner of your browser. When someone adds a message to one of your Google Waves, a little window pops up and lets you know. Clicking on the icon itself will take you right to the Google Wave home page, giving you a quick, easy way to add a reply. You can also access individual waves via a handy little sidebar on the left side of your screen.

Download it here!

Jetstatus

That didn't take long. Of course, Jetstatus is the Twitter tie-in of Jetpack add-ons. Just like JetWave, little pop-up windows appear in the lower-right hand corner of your browser whenever one of your Twitter followers posts a link. If you're popular like Associate Editor Nathan Edwards, then your browser should be a flurry of activity each time you open the window. Although you can't reply or otherwise engage your "Tweeps" via these Jetstatus pop-ups, you can at least use the add-on's built-in sidebar window to jump to the homepage of any of your followers, as well as any links they've posted in their Tweets.

Download it here!

ClicktoFlash

Are you ever bothered by Web sites that just bombard you with Flash content when all you really want to do is navigate a page? Yeah. ClicktoFlash is perhaps the world's easiest method for turning Flash on and off at your leisure. When you toggle the little button on the lower-right corner of your Firefox window to "off," or the big "F" with a circle and a line through it, then no Flash content will load on any page you surf to. If you change your mind and really want to see what a site looks like with the Flash content going crazy, then just click on the "Flash" button that now appears where Flash content used to be. Presto--up it loads!

Download it here!

Image Editor

This add-on is, in a word, crazy. All it really does is add a little menu option, "Edit Image," to the right-click context menu whenever you click an image on a Web page. From there, Image Editor loads said picture into a Lightbox of Pixlr. It's no Adobe Photoshop, but Pixlr is nevertheless a great way to accomplish a number of editing tasks--from drawing, to resizing, to screwing-up-with-lots-of-filters--straight out of your browser window. When you're done playing around, you can save the image directly out of Pixlr to your desktop just as if you were doing it in a standard, installed program. Awesome.

Download it here!

David Murphy (@ Acererak) is a technology journalist and former Maximum PC editor. He writes weekly columns about the wide world of open-source as well as weekly roundups of awesome, freebie software. Befriend him on Twitter, especially if you have an awesome app or game you're dying to recommend!

Murphy's Law: Gaming? Open? Ha!

David Murphy — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0600

Everyone wants a piece of the direct-download pie. With apologies to Mr. Grayson for inching onto his beat just a tad, I think that some intrepid gamer - or, better, an intrepid gamer-businessman - needs to put his finger in the swelling dike of direct download services before it bursts all over the Web and ruins us all.

Dramatic? Perhaps. The description is no less dramatic than my growing frustration at the inability to manage my downloads, multiplayer experience, and cash across the many platforms that exist on the modern-day "Gamer's Internet." In a perfect world, the various game publishers would band together and come up with a common solution-a universal iTunes, if you will-by which all could contribute core content, extras, add-ons, and share the costs of bandwidth, UI development, and communal matchmaking.

This dream of an open framework is made of pipes because everyone, in a word, is greedy. Or lazy. Some companies are worse than others, some companies are better. But when I ask, "Why must it be this way," I don't say that expecting any kind of change in the way this evolution is progressing. The gaming companies just aren't doing enough to talk to each other. And with every company seemingly having its own independent distribution platform, the question becomes all too clear: Why would I optimize my product for that guy's service?

The Download

It's nice to see publishers, for the most part, sticking to Valve's Steam as the service-of-choice for digital distribution of gaming titles. And to Valve's credit, Steam isn't just a run-of-the-mill download manager. When you purchase a game, you purchase the full rights to install that game on as many platforms as you see fit.

The problem therein is that Valve might be the Tyrannosaurus Rex, but that doesn't mean that it's the only dinosaur in the theme park. Suppose I like downloading games from Good Old Games because I appreciate being able to play classic titles on a modern machine sans problems (if you're reading this, Gog, I will pay you 30 hamburgers to bring TIE Fighter to your service). If I pick up Unreal Tournament because it's on sale, that's great and all... but I'm locked into using that service (or in the case of GoG, the lack thereof).

You can replace Good Old Games with any gaming platform on the Web - the EA store, Gamersgate, Direct2Drive, Stardock's Impulse, et cetera. Purchasing a game on one doesn't extend you the right to activate the game on others. Nor can you often take a box copy of a game from a retail store and unlock a direct-download version of the game on an accompanying service of your choosing.

Keeping the idea of open architectures in mind, why can't there be a way to unlock a game universally using a manner akin to an API key? So long as a manufacturer has your product key tied to a particular account, it can pass along authorization for any direct download platform. Said platform can either than serve as a gateway between you and the full game hosted on the manufacturer's site, let you download the title for free off the service, or charge you a nominal (< $5) fee for the bandwidth you eat up.

The Matchmaking

I thought this one was a done deal, as I don't often run across Steam-based games that supply their own matchmaking functionality in place of the Steam client's built-in services. In the case of the recently released PC title Borderlands, I'm not sure who to blame: Valve or Gearbox Software. Here's the deal. When you purchase Borderlands on Steam, you would think that it would be as easy to join up with your friends as any other Steam title-see your buddy playing the game in your friend window, click "join game," and there you have it.

Wrong!

Not only is Steam's matchmaking not built into Borderlands in the slightest, but you actually have to register the game with GameSpy, create a new account, develop a new online persona, and then invite your Steam friends-who have all done the same tedious process-to be your new friends via GameSpy, via Borderlands, via Steam. Ugh.

If Steam is at fault for making its matchmaking too difficult to integrate into games, then boo. If Gearbox Software is at fault for not taking advantage of the Steamworks SDK, then double-boo. There's no reason why gamers should have to suffer through multiple platforms on a single title if a better, free-to-use alternative exists. And boy would it be nice to deliver some kind of high-level login platform for multiplayer matchmaking a la a Facebook Connect for gaming: one universal login, one universal friend list, and an easy-to-access method for joining games across a variety of platforms.

The Money

This one's easy: Anyone who offers up a crude money-for-points system for downloading games or add-ons should be scorned and boycotted by the community. Microsoft points, Bioware points, Cryptic points... these are all horrible microtransaction services that force gamers to keep strange balances of alternate currency in accounts scattered across the Internet. Stop it. Just stop.

The companies won't stop, of course, as it's a perfect way to force Joe Gamer and his 285-point balance to pick up the next $15 allotment of 1,000 MurphPoints in order to buy a 300-point add-on. And, thus, with a balance of MurphPoints remaining, Joe is inspired to keep on coming back to the service to spend more money, and refill more points, and spend more money, et cetera.

Here's a hint: There's already a perfect, open platform for exchanging one's worth for services or products. It's called the dollar bill. Too bad the joy of this single, universal architecture seems to be what's stalling the adoption of better systems for gamers of all shapes, sizes, and downloading services.

Freeware Files: Five Apps for a Windows 7 Desktop Makeover!

David Murphy — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:30:00 -0600

There's nothing wrong with the Windows 7 desktop per se. But for freeware developers, that's no excuse not to tweak, hack, and otherwise modify every possible piece of your screen. And it's not that difficult to add new functionality to your desktop that doesn't otherwise exist in the operating system. The hardest part is finding software that makes a substantive change to what you already have. After all, the last thing you want to do is install a ton of different freeware apps and find your desktop in even worse shape than it was before (if you do, take a quick trip to Revo Uninstaller).

The intensity of the following five free applications ranges from apps that completely revamp your desktop's look and feel to programs that add new ways for accessing common apps and folders straight off your desktop. How far you want to go with your tweaking is entirely up to you--these are just some of the more interesting tools I've come across that should go a long way toward raising your "Windows Power User" level a few notches.

Desktop Media

Here's an easy one. Desktop Media emulates one of OSX's most basic and useful features. Whenever you stick a new CD in the drive, connect a portable USB storage device to your system, or fire up a network drive (amongst other options), Desktop Media slaps a shortcut to said device right on your desktop. Remove the device (or take the CD out), and the shortcut automatically disappears. Fire this one up in front of your friends and they'll swear that you've built some crazy Mac/Windows hybrid--you'll be the life of the Windows 7 party.

Download it here!

StandaloneStack 2

I've always enjoyed how Windows 7 has managed to simultaneously de-clutter and improve the usefulness of the default Windows Vista and Windows XP taskbars. However, every icon on the bar at the little bottom of your screen still only represents one program. Sure, you can get some added contextual items to select if you click on an application's arrow icon on the Start Menu, but this isn't a universal feature for all applications--and you're still only interacting with a single program.

StandaloneStack 2 allows you to move one step beyond these features and create program "stacks," or graphical lists, based off of a single icon. When you click on this icon, you can use the ensuing menu of items to launch new programs, folders, or settings options. It's like having a number of different Start buttons that you can customize as much as you'd like.

Download it here!

7 Taskbar Tweaker

This app might be limited in its prettiness, but it more than makes up for it with its usefulness. As you might expect, 7 Taskbar Tweaker is a simple utility for adding additional functionality into your default Windows 7 taskbar. For example, you can switch between either a default jump list or standard window menu when you right-click an icon, toggle application grouping on and off, and make use of new middle-click functionality that either opens a new instance of a taskbar program, closes the window, or focuses the window. You can also disable thumbnail previews, should you so choose. It's not a weighty list of items to play around with, but 7 Taskbar Tweaker's modifications aren't normally customizable options in the Windows 7 OS.

Download it here!

MenuApp

Speaking of the Start Menu, let's suppose you have a ton of different files, programs, favorites, and shortcuts that you want to be able to access from a single location. Let's call this set of objects "work." Normally, you'd have to make a folder somewhere on your system or desktop and dump all of your pertinent files in there, as well as all of your bookmarked Web sites, shortcuts to all the programs you need to access, et cetera. To organize this folder, you'd have to use subfolders related to the items you intend to store. Fun.

MenuApp removes the ugliness from this organization by allowing you to create Start Menu-like hierarchies based off of a single icon on your desktop. Now, you can simply click on your newly created "work" icon and pull up all of your files, shortcuts, and other objects of interest via an easy-to-access system of menus without having to move a single piece of data around your PC. Just tell MenuApp where the documents you want to access are located on your computer and it'll automatically create menus based on the contents of those folders--from there, you can shuffle and create organized pathways through your data at your leisure.

Download it here!

Rainmeter

For the ultimate in desktop skinning without a ton of crazy configuration files to wade through, Rainmeter is an excellent tool for changing the look of your entire desktop without sacrificing a large amount of system resources. A recent update to the application adds a little feature called RainBrowser, which lets you run through the different skins you've installed for the application and tweak their settings or preview their look before you start changing up your desktop en masse. The Rainmeter developers do the best job of summarizing the coolness of this free app: "Every inch of a skin is completely customizable."

Or, in other words, the sky's the limit. Ha-ha!

Download it here!

How to Build Your Own Custom Linux Distro

Will Kraft — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0600

Although most Linux users rely on pre-built Linux distros and customize their software configuration after installation, there is nothing quite like having a Linux distro that was custom-designed to your specifications. This allows you to get whatever you want out of the box, but in the past it was difficult to create such a distro since it involved compiling the entire operating system from source. (something firmly in the realm of advanced-to-expert-level users)

In more recent years, it has become possible to create your own Linux distro through various easy-to-use online interfaces. The most well-known distro customization tool is Slax (which we recently discussed) but Novell has a tool called SuSE Studio in closed beta which allows you to assemble your own custom SuSE-based distro from pre-compiled packages. Right now, SuSE Studio is still invite-only since Novell gives you storage space on their servers and bandwidth to both store and download your creations.

Read on to learn how we built our own Maximum PC-themed Linux distro!

Planning the System

Before you can create a distro, you must first plan what you are going to use it for. Our intention was to create a customized yet well-rounded desktop distro based on openSuSE 11. However, you also have the option of creating a desktop or server variant of OpenSuSE or SuSE Enterprise Linux for 32 or 64-bit x86 architecture. If you plan to redistribute your creation, you will need to use OpenSuSE as a base since SuSE Enterprise Linux is not free for download whereas OpenSuSE is. Redistribution also requires the removal of all SuSE-related artwork and branding as per the Novell requirements.

Many distros are meant to be one-size-fits-all and can be a little bit bloated since they must appeal to a wide audience. Since you know what you need better than anyone else, building your own distro gives you unparalleled opportunities to maximize efficiency. Ideally, Linux distros should be as small and compact as possible while still being feature-complete, so try to plan ahead and come up with an inventory of the exact software you are going to need. It often helps to get out some paper or a spreadsheet to make a list: break down the required software ecosystem for your distro into categories like development, Internet, multimedia, graphics, office, etc. and then populate each category with the programs you think you will need.

When you go hiking, it pays to travel light since it is seldom worth it to carry a bunch of equipment you don't need over long distances. The same rule applies to distro planning. You should avoid including software that introduces redundant functionality; you don't need more than one desktop environment, raster editor, or office suite on your system. For instance, don't install both Openoffice.org and Koffice or both GNOME and KDE in the same distro.

The only exception to the rule is with GUI vs. CLI utilities; you should make sure you have a CLI alternative for important utilities if applicable. For instance, you might choose a robust tool like Kate or Gedit as your primary text editor, but you should also include a CLI-friendly tool like Vim or Nano to fall back on during the times you may not have GUI functionality. Alternatively, you could also get away with just using Vim as your all-purpose text editor in both a GUI and CLI setting if you are so inclined. While it is possible to mix and match programs from both GNOME and KDE in SuSe Studio, this will inevitably create bloat because of the extra dependencies that will also have to be installed to make everything work.

Building the Distro

Now that planning is out of the way, we can get to the really fun part. The first step to building a custom distro with SuSE Studio is creating the base configuration. This includes choosing the core operating system, (various OpenSuSE or SuSE Enterprise Linux templates are available in preset desktop, server, and minimalistic configurations) the primary desktop environment, the primary system architecture, (x86 or x86-64) and the name of the distro. The core operating system doesn't include very much, just a kernel, desktop environment, and a few basic utilities. For our demonstration, we chose to create a 64-bit variant of OpenSuSE 11 that utilizes the GNOME desktop environment. We chose to call our creation “Maximum PC Linux.”

Once the distro's base configuration has been created, you will be taken to the start page, which is the gateway to the rest of the tools you will need to create your distro. The next step is to configure your distro's software ecosystem. Although choosing a base configuration will already have added a bunch of software to your distro, you are still able to add any other individual programs you may want to use. This is where the list you should have made before starting this part of the process will come in handy.

SuSE Studio automatically ties in the default repositories for your distro, so you will have full access to the same packages you would normally be able to work with through the package manager in conventional SuSe Enterprise Linux or OpenSuSE. You can also add additional repositories if the default ones do not have what you are looking for; SuSE studio will integrate them and make their packages available to you if the repository is valid. You also have the option of loading individual RPM files, useful for those rare times when you have no choice but to spoon-feed packages into the operating system.

The package list in SuSE Studio is divided into several categories that will probably correspond to the categories on your preparation list: multimedia, graphics, office, etc. By browsing each category, you will be able to add additional programs to the project. Remember that while most software dependencies are handled automatically, this is not the case for system services; if you want sound to work you will need to add a sound engine like ALSA or PulseAudio. Likewise, you will also need to add any necessary codec packages for the various media frameworks (like Gstreamer or Xine) that most media players rely on.

Of course, you (or your other users) could always install these packages after installation, but a primary incentive of using a custom distro is to have most services work out of the box. Unfortunately, US patent law and the DMCA prohibited us from including MP3 codecs or a DVD decrypter with Maximum PC Linux, even though we really wanted to. To get these types of media working, you will need to add the necessary plugins yourself. (you will need the Fluendo MP3 decoder for Gstreamer and the libdvdcss2 plugin; Fluendo can be acquired as an RPM here.

Depending on the size of the installation media you are planning to use, be sure to keep an eye on the package count to prevent the distro footprint from getting too big. SuSE Studio estimates the current size of the distro for your convenience but keep in mind that the final image is slightly larger than the value provided during the software selection process because dependencies are not factored into the estimate. Therefore, if you want your distro to fit on a 700 MB CD, you should generally not exceed more than 610 MB of additional software packages although the actual safety margin will vary depending on what you install.

After all the additional software you wanted has been added to the mix, you can customize the appearance and behavior of your distro by switching to the Configuration tab:

General Settings

General Settings allow you to set the default configuration of your location, time zone, firewall, and network settings. For Maximum PC Linux, we chose to have NetworkManager handle the network configuration since it allows far greater flexibility (such as the ability to choose between wired and wireless connections) than standard DHCP. If you go this route, be sure to include the NetworkManager package and the appropriate frontend for NetworkManager that would allow it to interface with your desktop environment. We also configured the firewall to allow inbound SSH through port 22. If you do not need or want remote access functionality, be sure to disable it when you build your custom distro.

Personalization

The Personalize tab allows you to choose a logo and wallpaper for your distro. The wallpaper image is especially prominent, since it is also shown during the boot process and is a great way to brand your custom distro to make it truly yours. The default settings are rather limited and are identical to what can be found in generic OpenSuSE. We took this opportunity to customize Maximum PC Linux with one of the official Maximum PC wallpaper images. The logo functionality allows you to use the SuSE iguana symbol, a generic Tux image, a custom image, or no logo at all.

Startup

The Startup tab allows you to choose the default runlevel of your distro. The default level is set to graphical login; you should leave this alone unless you know what you are doing and don't want the GUI to start automatically at boot. You should know that the runlevel settings in this section correspond with the general Linux runlevels, some of which do not feature a GUI and/or disallow networking. The Startup section also allows you to define a EULA for your distro. Since the LiveCD installation utility built into the distro will complain (but will still work) if there is no EULA, it is advisable to use something generic if you do not have your own special licensing terms.

Server

The Server tab allows you to configure specific services (like MySQL) that would normally run in a server-type environment. If you choose to build a desktop distro, you will typically not need to enable any services.

Desktop

The Desktop tab allows you to further configure runtime options like automated login and automated startup programs. Since a typical SuSe Studio desktop distro is automatically set up to be a LiveCD, it helps to enable automated login since security is not as important in that situation. If you choose to install the distro, you will be able to set up a more secure environment at that time.

Storage and Memory

The Storage and Memory tab allows you to declare virtual memory allocation if your distro is going to be a VMware or Xen image. If you plan to create a conventional ISO image, you do not need to make any changes in this section.

Scripts

The scripts section allows you to create and run a shell script at the end of the SuSE Studio build process or at the distro's boot time. Most SuSE Studio projects will work properly without additional scripting, so you should generally leave this feature alone unless you know what you are doing.

Putting Everything Together

Once you have configured your distro to be the way you want it, SuSE studio must assemble everything before it will work. This is not a compile process (like Gentoo and similar distros would be) but is instead a very elegant assembly and configuration process where all individual packages you have chosen are brought together and configured to work with each other. You have the option of creating an ISO image for an installation CD, Vmware/Virtualbox hard disk image, (which you can then plug into a new virtual machine) Xen image, or a generic disk image you can clone onto a USB stick or hard drive.

To start this process, switch to the build tab, choose the format you want your distro to be created in, set the version, and then click the Build button. After that, all you have to do is relax and wait as SuSE Studio does all the hard work behind the scenes and creates your custom distro for you based on your specifications. Depending on the size and complexity of your distro, the build process can take awhile; creating a 700 MB build of Maximum PC Linux took about 24 minutes on average.

The versioning feature is very important since it can take several adjustments (each requiring a separate build) to get everything working properly. To facilitate easy debugging, SuSE Studio has an incredibly useful tool called TestDrive, which is essentially an Adobe Flash-based virtualization tool. Using TestDrive, you can run your distro in an hour-long test session without having to download it. However, truly comprehensive testing and debugging often requires you to download and run the distro on a virtual machine or a real test system.

Once the build is finished, you can download your distro. SuSE Studio will save your builds for about a week, after which they may be deleted to free up space for other users. (however, you can always re-build them later if you have to)

SuSE Studio generally worked well for us, (all programs we chose worked properly) but there were some minor problems. On the first build, we did not expect to have to manually add packages like ALSA to get sound support, so it took more debugging than we initally anticipated to get everything working. Although using SuSE Studio is far easier than manually configuring a distro from scratch, it is still not something you are able to breeze through in five minutes without careful planning and a fairly good knowledge of Linux systems.

Also, the builds that SuSE Studio produces have problems with auto-mounting media; after plugging in a USB flash drive, nothing would happen so we had to mount those devices manually through the console. (after which they worked perfectly) We tried installing udev and any other package we could find that dealt with USB devices, but no solution presented itself. Since we concluded that this problem is caused by the HAL (hardware abstraction layer) not properly recognizing new media, we feel that this (and other essential stuff like sound support) is something that should be automatically set up in the base configuration instead of being something that users should be expected to figure out for themselves.

Murphy's Law: What is Skype Up To?

David Murphy — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0600

The recent announcement of Skype turning quote-unquote open source has me twirling a finger with delicious glee. It's not that I dislike Skype. And it's not that I'm about to get into one of my 1,500-word debates on the differences between the definition of "free" and "open-source," I promise. This is nevertheless an important premise of Skype's entire move, as some Internet commenters are crying foul that Skype is only half-opening its popular application to the crowd. The GUI code will be yours to play with as you please. The underlying Skype protocol... nope!

To them I say: Duh.

I don't want to put words where they don't exist, but I'm willing to bet that Skype's sudden shift toward open-source waters has more to do with applying a giant, universal band-aid to staggered Linux development. It's not quite an altruistic gift to the community so much as it is a package and a bow with the phrase, "you fix it" written on the label. And that's fine. Let the community create the functional GUIs for Skype. It would be suicide for the company to release its heavily encrypted voice protocols for common use.

So what, then, is Skype up to?

Stronger Integration

Linux isn't just for geeks in the basement anymore. The open-source operating system powers an innumerable amount of devices, including super-small netbook PCs, equally small tablet PCs, mobile phones, et cetera. While opening up the Linux GUI still requires the underlying architecture of the Skype client in order to have any semblance of functionality, this is at least a first step toward smoothing the integration of Skype into Linux-based devices of all shapes and sizes. Developers could freely embed the Skype client and skin it to match the look and feel of a particular device--surely a boon versus, say, waiting for Skype to come into the app center of-sorts for each and every permutation of product.

Third-Party Takeover

And we now venture into the realm of the hypothetical. Imagine, if you will, that Skype's opening of the Linux GUI is but the first step in a gradual elimination of the Skype Client as a whole. Sure, this downloadable application would still exist for those that care to use it, but what if Skype was looking to offload the client's functionality into any software platform that wants to take it? Skype would still control the underlying protocol (depending on how the legal battle sorts out), yet this "naked GUI" approach, as it's been dubbed, would allow one to perform the same call functions using an application like Pidgin, for example.

For consumers, this approach would be a marvelous way to integrate Skype into existing "favorite applications." But there's also a fairly large flaw surrounding this plan. Skype would need to come up with some ingenious way to keep its services relevant, because you can bet that I'd want to add more VoIP services than just Skype to my communications app of choice. I'd love to be able to receive calls on Skype and call other people for free on Skype... but if there was a way to use a cheaper provider for outbound calls, I'd cast off the Skype experience like a boot on the end of a fishing line. Integration with third-party apps is truly a double-edged sword.

Skype as a Service?

Suppose Skype opts for option two and extends its service into third-party applications. What if this is not a measure of altruism, but rather, an investment? With countless developers around the world working on their own programming variants that somehow tie back into the underlying Skype protocol, what's to stop this mass intelligence from coming up with The Next Best Thing for Skype integration?

Both TechCrunch and I envision a future where even the desktop client has been rendered useless by the Skype service. No more installations; no more new applications to load up. Skype would be as permanent and unobtrusive a fixture in your operating system as Windows Contacts. Or, better still, you'd be able to dial up Skype directly through a Web application. As soon as you were to click on a phone number, the call would launch right in your browser of choice.

These are all far-off ideas. Some could even be ideas that only exist in a dreamy haze. Skype is promising a "larger offering" to come centered on its open-source Linux GUI announcement. When that big thing happens, do give me a ring.

Freeware Files: ASCII Zombie Games, Nethack Doom, and Huge Space Adventures!

David Murphy — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:00:00 -0600

There's one thing I think of when Daylight Savings Time hits: zombies. Seriously. All that extra time in the dark just fuels the undead flames for an eventual takeover by our semi-bulletproof, plant-hating masters. It only makes sense, then, that I use this weekly freeware roundup column to provide you with some kind of effective training for fending off the gruesome hordes. And beyond that, you'll also find a few more fun freeware games to busy yourself with as the angry, moaning masses slowly overwhelm your pitiful human defenses.

Now that we've established the plot, let's check out the titles!

DoomRL

It's no secret that Nethack is one of the greatest roguelike games of all time. Roguelike, for those not in the know, is a word that's used to describe this particular gaming genre of ASCII-based dungeon crawls. The "rogue" part of the description is actually a game--a 1980s graphical adventure title that's widely regarded as being one of the first of its kind. In this interesting little mashup, we have a combination of Nethack-style gameplay with plot elements from the popular Doom game, which is itself widely regarded as being one of the biggest catalysts for the first-person genre style of gameplay.

Like Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, these two titans are meeting in an epic battle of text-based dungeon stomping. And yes, this game even comes with achievements of-sorts.

Download it here!

Darkwind

Fans of the MMO genre will surely remember that one failed attempt at a vehicle-based shooter that pretty much went from launch to death in short order. I believe the name of the game was Auto Assault, a far more alliterative title than "Darkwind." Still, this turn-based title is what you'll have to work with if you want to relive the glory days of driving around and killing stuff. And if that's not your bag, be sure to check out the game's economic functions as well. Hey, someone has to drive the truck.

Download it here!

Bombie Zombie

I know, I know--this is the game you were waiting for this whole time. Well don't let me take any more lengthy paragraphs to explain the subtle nuances of this zombie-killing game. In Bombie Zombie, there are a ton of zombies running around. Your job is to kill them, only... you have but one weapon to use: land mines. If only classic Atari games were this cool.

Download it here!

Strange Adventures in Infinite Space

This space exploration game is a bit of a misnomer, because it's not quite as infinite as the title might have you believe. Actually--for better or worse--the game is designed to take only 15 minutes or so to make it through each playthrough. Like a Diablo dungeon, every new adventure you take starts with randomized variables, making no two space explorations entirely alike. More than 21 ship types and 70+ weapons, gadgets, and other ship add-ons await you!

Download it here!

Magnello

Lead a ball into a hole. It's the classic theme behind any number of puzzles you can find in the real world today. But here's a twist I bet you don't come across as often. In Magnello, the ball is magnetic and the hole is electric. And did I mention that the levels are far more challenging than you might except from such a simple concept? Yeah. Grab your nearest stress-busting device and give Magnello a whirl.

Download it here!

Murphy's Law: C-Y-A on the WWW

David Murphy — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:15:44 -0500

What a wonderful world that open and closed platforms have created on the World Wide Web. I can have an untold number of features and applications inserted into my Web browser without having to lift much more than a finger to access them. I can take my favorite Web platforms and expand their usefulness by linking them to other Web-based services. I can even download a variant of my Web browser of choice that bridges the best of two worlds under one new roof: new innovations mixed with standard familiarity.

So, what happens when these architectures fight back?

It's a stupid thing to say on its face, because I don't believe that it's up to a particular program or application to breach your defenses and fight its way into your cyber-life. Most, if not all instances of malware, spoofing, and hijacking (to name a few) can be directly traced to user stupidity in some fashion. Either a person leaves the ol' back door unlocked, fails to frisk the guests as they enter the home, or actively invites a heap of trouble to come on over for a party.

Simplified examples, perhaps, but the underlying fact remains a constant: You are the gatekeeper for your PC. Unfortunately, as we begin to adopt an "everyone's allowed" mindset for Web integration, we're only making it easier for the bad guys to do what they do best. Unfriendly, if not downright hostile bits of malware can be pushed back with but a few simple changes in behavior--are you as security-focused as you should be in today's cross-platform world?

Who Is Your Daddy; What Does He Do?

There's an online network for everything nowadays. And with these online networks come a flurry of registration requests and data exchanges that you feel compelled to answer. I can't count the number of Twitter invites I receive on a daily basis--just for reference, I'm not @veronica or something, but I definitely get enough email to make for a bout of mindless follower-accepting during my lunch break. That's just one platform.

It almost seems silly to type this, as it should come as Web 101 for all but the most inexperienced of users, but I'll say it anyway: Do you always know what you're clicking on? There's a reason why most programs come with a little status bar or helpful pop-up whenever you mouse over a hyperlink. One of the easiest ways to detect a potential link spoof--like, say, one that's been placed in a seemingly innocuousTwitter invite--is to hover your mouse over the link.

If the hyperlink doesn't match up with the actual site in question (like http://208.348.142.555/takin/ur/password.html versus http://www.twitter.com), then you probably shouldn't click on that link. And if you can't detect that I'm being sarcastic, and you really shouldn't click on the link, then it's too late--you've probably already clicked on the link.

Of course, if you're lazy, you could try using a helpful utility to try and make this judgment for you. Firefox's LinkExtend extension aims to do just that--protect you from sites that are trying to steal data they shouldn't. You can also check out TrendProtect for a similar safeguard. Still, nothing is as foolproof as the ol' brain-box. Don't just click accept or ignore on everything that comes in your inbox. Look before you leap, as it were.

On Page Two: The API Skeleton Key to Your Front Door and Third-Party Malware on Your Favorite Web Sites!

Giving the Guard Dog a Bone

For all the successful, engaging Web communities and platforms out there, it seems that there are nearly ten times the third-party applications that tie into said original platforms via some authentication method or API. And that's awesome, right? With but the click of a mouse button, you can expand the functionality of a service you find useful with even more bells, whistles, and AJAX-themed applications. Provided you can still log into the service, that is, considering you've just given up your name and password to a complete stranger.

Huh? How do we make the jump from Facebook to #fail so quickly? It's all in the authentication--or lack thereof. Consider a site called TwitViewer. According to a number of Tweeted messages late this July, signing up for the third-party Twitviewer service would allow you to generate a photo-based graphic of the last 200 people to click on your Twitter feed. Sounds inocuous, if not downright fun, eh?

Wrong. The site's sole purpose was to yoink the name and password of your account, which you'd type into the site under the mistaken belief that you were signing up for a service. Twitviewer would then use your account to spam your followers with the "sign up for us!" message, and the entire process would start again with a new batch of suckers.

Every platform is different in the way it allows third-party applications to access its services. Once again, however, it's up to you and your juicy brain to separate the good from the bad. In the case of Twitviewer, there were a few warning flags to watch out for.

First up is the obvious issue that it's currently impossible for a third party to be able to provide you with a picture-themed list of the last 200 people that have checked out your Twitter page. That would require some kind of callback or script built into the core of the page itself, which isn't something that can be done via the Twitter API. Ask thyself--have you ever heard of any other third-party service that can perform this function?

But supposed you wanted to give Twitviewer the benefit of the doubt. That's fine. The larger, glaring red flag is the actual authentication method that's used to "give" Twitviewer access to your account. Twitter authenticates third-party API requests using OAuth, a protocol that keeps your actual login and password out of the equation by instead assigning specialized keys, or permissions, to these external services.

It's the best of both worlds: Your user name and password stays safe with Twitter, yet other sites can make use of all the different Twitter features surrounding your account. That in mind, a third-party site shouldn't give you a prompt to type in your name and password. It should feed you a link to the main Twitter domain itself, where you'll log in (or use your already logged-in account) to approve or deny the authentication request.

It's a sad world when one has to be reminded to not give out a user name and password to anyone who asks, but the Twitviewer issue fooled many a user and tech journalist--even those decently well-versed in common security practices.

But I Didn't Do Anything!

Here goes my paycheck. If you're running a modern Web browser, you should really be doing everything in your power to prohibit third-party plugins from pushing content to your system sans permission. For Firefox users, that means running some kind of Adblock or Noscript plugin, which gives you the ability to select certain types of Flash and JavaScript content to allow or deny.

Why is this a big deal? Just look at the recent Gawker issue, where users across Gawker's many Web sites were served up with malware via a hosted advertisement that flew under the parent company's ad-ops radar. Or, for that matter, check out the New York Times--same deal.

But even these extensions can only deliver so much peace of mind for Firefox users. If you're a fan of a particular site, say, Maximum PC, and you decide to add it to your white list, then you'll get hit with any malicious content hosted on the site--and it's no real fault of your own. Aside from keeping your system software fully patched and accepting any unwanted or strange-looking file download, there's not much else you can do on the protection side of things.

What's important from this entire exchange, however, is your changing mindset. And that's really what this entire article is about. Web platforms and associated sites push content at you from all different directions and sources. It's up to you to do what it takes to make sure that this transaction takes place because you want it to happen--you're giving permission for an action to occur. You're not just sitting back and accepting someone else's malicious invite.

This control can come in many forms: scanning Web links for legitimacy; ensuring that third-parties are only allowed to access your data using safe, prescribed methods; or locking the door to everyone before you let people in, as opposed to throwing a party for all and trying to boot out unwanted guests after-the-fact. These are all important techniques to keep in your pocket as you traverse the Web's many platforms. And as our data slowly becomes interconnected between these sites, it's even more critical to keep one weak link from opening up your entire Web world for disaster.

After all, malware can ruin anyone's day.