More KDE goodness with the introduction of Plasma (source)

lasma is an exciting project in progress, which will enrich the Linux desktop environment even further. Mac OS X is still ahead of Linux in terms of eye candy, yet KDE is close to catching up with the foreseeable release of KDE 3.5.

Similar items with screenshots: Next Generation of X, Operating Systems Eye Candy

Maui Beach under KDE (click to enlarge)

have recently come to grips with my slight wallpapers obsession. I currently have 370 megabytes of wallpapers that suit dual-head (two-monitor) displays. I get most of them using keyword-based searches in Webshots and PBase. Older sources which I made good use of are mentioned in my Utilities Section.

KDE has many powerful features built-in and they are relatively well-integrated. Among these many features, it allows users to specify a random cycle of wallpapers and applies colour blending on-the-fly. Maui is shown above with a hue shift applied (the colours are not manipulated off-line, only when loaded). Background pictures get shuffled every 2 minutes and similar third-party applications offer these features to Windows users.

Even on a rainy day you can get absorbed in this illusion that your surroundings are as peaceful as you choose for them to be. The variety and choice of wallpapers is endless. Moreover, the frequent change of wallpapers requires no user intervention. I use KDE under SuSE (one of the best Linux distributions). Unfortunately, Gnome which is yet another desktop environment that I happen to use at work, does not provide me with similar, much-needed options (under Ubuntu Warty Warthog).

Related item: comparison between KDE and Gnome.

LinuxDevices.com have put together a detailed review of the Aeronix Zipit instant messenger appliance which runs atop Linux and in many senses is a fully-functional PDA with WiFi built-in. The extremely low cost of $99 proves how advantageous free operating systems can be in terms of affordability. Hackers are already in the process of manipulting this device for other, more general purposes.

…priced at $99, in colors that include white, silver, blue, red, and pink. It includes an 802.11b WiFi radio, 16-color greyscale LCD with QVGA (320×240) resolution, and a thumb keyboard with rubber buttons. Also included is a stereo DAC (digital audio converter) connected to a speaker and headphone jack.

There is a growing trend which involves installing Linux on mobile devices, Palm handhelds included. It has already been determined that Palm O/S will migrate to sit in tandem with Linux if not be replaced by Linux.

Cited by: PalmAddict

An example of a poor appearance model of the brain

IPMI, an international conference on medical imaging, has come to its end. Worth pointing out is the fact that our presentation was delivered first among hundreds in this conference, which began last Monday. I am not the first author; Carole Twining is.

If you take interest in my research, have a look at project MARS, AART or the comprehensive research index. I also maintain the Computer Vision Digest, which is much broader in terms of scope.

t is relatively simple to incorporate valid printer-friendly versions into WordPress (see above for example). I coded up the feature early this morning; it did not require much time or effort. This involved little more than stripping of styles as well as other heavy features which contributed to clutter. More details and code at the hacks and themes page.

Contextually-related: PDF version of WordPress posts

s anybody else familiar the popular TV comedy called “Third Rock from the Sun” (the third planet — namely Earth — in our solar system)? The producers might wish to rename it “Third Sun from the Rock“. Third Rock from the Sun was a favourite television show in my late teen years though it did not equate to some all-time favourites.

Returning to the main subject, the following snippets cover the astronomical story sufficiently well and were delivered by CNN:

Astronomers have detected a planet outside our solar system with not one, but three suns, a finding that challenges astronomers’ theories of planetary formation.

…

If you stood on the planet’s surface, you would see three suns in sky, although its orbit centers around the main yellow star among the trio. The larger of the other two suns would be orange and the smaller would be red…

uch a suggestion will be best addressed to everyone in possession of a single mail account. It is nothing beyond a trivial E-mail management tip. The problem in question: When an E-mail account gets checked frequently in order to detect important incoming messages, false alarms or recurring E-mail distractions lead to disturbance and interfere with persistent work.

This is where the Urgent E-mail Account becomes of great value. By creating a new account, which is designated solely for important mail, notifications about urgent messages can be raised within just minutes. If the urgent account resides on the same domain as the normal/casual mail account, a filter can easily be created. This filter can be based on the name of sender/s or rely on a special word like ‘urgent‘ embedded in the subject line. Whenever such a filter test passes for a given messages, the message should automatically be re-directed to the Urgent E-mail Account.

Using a mail checker program, E-mail accounts which contain important messages can also be checked without consuming much computer power. By setting up a vocal/musical alarm, important messages can be configured to wake up their recipient. This type of solution is valuable if, for example, server problems occur late at night. Computer systems can automatically generate an urgent E-mail message once catastrophic events get detected. Unlike human, they are unable to make a telephone call.

Separating boxes to discern important message from the mundane