Return of the King: GNOME 2 Is Making Its Way Back

GNOME is a big boy and was the preferred DE for many experienced users, as well as classical GNU/Linux distributions' default DE," said Google+ blogger Gonzalo Velasco C. "So, there must be a compromise between the developers' avant-garde ideas and what power users need and want to use.
'It's About Usability' Google+ blogger Gonzalo Velasco C. had a similar take. "Besides the aesthetic and modernizing point of view, the usability factor must be taken into account by developers," he told Linux Girl. "Users want to keep the 'computer-like' control of our desktop; not everything is a touch-screen, smartphone piece of hardware! "GNOME is a big boy and was the preferred DE for many experienced users, as well as classical GNU/Linux distributions' default DE," Gonzalo Velasco C. added. "So, there must be a compromise between the developers' avant-garde ideas and what power users need and want to use.

"It's not about inertia and fear of change, it's about usability!" he concluded.

'A Household Name'
"GNOME was never my favorite desktop," Google + blogger Alessandro Ebersol began. "It was just ugly, I always preferred KDE."

However, "when KDE made the change to version 4, I could not go on with it," Ebersol added. "Of course, the early days of KDE 4 were terrible, but then, I moved on to other DE and life went smooth."

GNOME, on the other hand, "was a household name," he noted. "It worked. And desktops are not rocket science. GNOME devs tried to emulate what KDE devs had done, but it worked way better for KDE than for GNOME.

"Long story short: Don't fix if ain't broken," Ebersol concluded. "GNOME devs took too much time to realize it."

'Too Little, Too Late?'
Is the latest move enough? Consultant and Slashdot blogger Gerhard Mack wasn't so sure.

"This is a halfhearted attempt at bringing the old desktop back if you are willing to go through the trouble, and it still seems that they don't understand that people hate the new desktop," Mack asserted.

Similarly, "I'll believe it when I see it," agreed Slashdot blogger hairyfeet. "From the way they phrased it, frankly, it sounds more like the GIMPed Win 8 'desktop mode' than a full-fledged GNOME 2."

Not only that, but "is it too little, too late?" hairyfeet wondered. "After all, there is MATE and Unity and LXDE -- does GNOME have enough people that haven't moved on yet to make this a big deal?"

'They Have to Leave Us the Option'
Blogger Robert Pogson hasn't used GNOME much for years "because it and KDE are both resource-hogs," he told Linux Girl. "I have PCs to get my work done, not to make some GUI developers' wet dreams."

A useful user interface "does not have to be heavy and bloated, with a dozen services scurrying underneath to make it all happen," Pogson explained. "I use Xfce 4, which runs like a rocket and does not have dreams of retraining me."

In fact, "I have used the rectangular regions with widgets things for two decades," he said. "I see no reason to change at this stage."

Looking ahead, "GNOME and KDE should both realize no solution suits everyone," Pogson concluded. "We don't all drive Cadillacs, for instance. If either GUI's developers want to take over the world, they have to leave us the option to go GNOME 2ish -- it could be a choice made by the user on first execution or an easily found configuration option."

'I Like Having Choices'
Last but not least, "I love this, as I always like to have more options," Google+ blogger Linux Rants opined.

"I actually really like the current GNOME 3 interface, and I'm a fan of Unity as well," Linux Rants told Linux Girl. "Despite that, I still load up KDE or E sometimes."

In general, "I like having choices, and Linux means that I don't have to stick to just one," he concluded. "We're not talking Windows or OS X here. I just hope that this doesn't stagnate development on UIs that don't resemble the classic GNOME interface."

Samsung’s S Pebble rebranded as Muse, to sell in the US soon for $50

Though we still don’t know what took Samsung so long to put the S Pebble MP3 Player up for grabs, we’re happy to be finally seeing it get a (somewhat) wide release. After hitting South Korea back in October, the music player is ready to start selling in the US too.

However, with almost seven months passing since this little guy’s introduction next to the Galaxy S3, a rebranding was called for. Unfortunately, that has only changed things on the surface while leaving the specs as basic as we knew them.

Now called Samsung Muse, the “perfect companion to your Samsung Galaxy handset” will see the light of day in the States with the same chic clip-on design, 4 GB of internal memory and 17 hour rated battery. The Muse (no relation with the rock band as far as we can tell) will support all the usual music formats, including MP3, WMA, OGG and FLAC, but will not come with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth functionality.

Samsung starts selling the S Pebble in South Korea for $70

That means you’ll need to hook it up to your Galaxy S2, S3, Note or Note 2 with a micro-USB cable, though what’s neat is that you can use the Muse Sync app to transfer songs directly from your phone without having to go through a PC.

Also very neat are Muse’s “measurements”, but be very careful to not drop this little guy around your house – it’s so little that you could well lose sight of it. It’s also light as a feather (only
13.7 grams), so all in all this might be worth the $49.99 Samsung is ready to charge for it.

We still don’t have an exact ETA for the device, but seeing as Amazon is listing it already in both marble white and pebble blue (for an extra 10 bucks), it should not be long now. For real this time. Anyone (still) excited about this? Does the name change make you more or less interested in it?

Sony launches CP-F1L, CP-F2L portable chargers

Sony Tuesday launched its latest series of on-the-go power solutions- CP-F1L and CP-F2L USB chargers that can charge smartphones, tablets and other portable devices. Providing customers a reliable source of emergency power back-up, Sony's powerful USB chargers ensures uninterrupted connectivity across a vast array of gadgets. CP-F1L is 9.4mm thin and 125g in weight and has a battery capacity of 3,500mAh. This powerful charger, with a high output of 1.5A, allows users to charge a typical smartphone 1.5 times . Weighing 198g, CP-F2L boasts a capacity of 7,000 mAh that is capable of charging a typical smartphone up to 3 times. It also possesses dual USB output power ports, giving consumers flexibility in recharging more than one portable device at a time.

The two charges can themselves be charged using an AC adaptor or through USB port on a computer or notebook. The supplied AC adaptor also allows for the simultaneous charging of both the charger and a portable device at the same time. A 50cm micro USB cable is provided with the chargers.

Sony claims that the in-house production Li-ion polymer rechargeable batteries in CP-F1L and CP-F2L are able to retain 80 percent of their charged capacity even after one year, and can be recharged 500 times. The CP-F1L and CP-F2L chargers are also pre-charged by approximately 50 percent with emergency power so that consumers can power up immediately upon purchase.

The CP-F1L and CP-F2L chargers are available for Rs.3000 and Rs.5500 respectively and available across all Sony Center and other major electronic outlets in India.

Apple brings iTunes Store to India; purchase music, buy or rent movies

Apple on Tuesday finally extended the iTunes Store to India, offering consumers the ability to purchase music, buy or rent movies, but like various other international markets, the TV Shows are missing.

The iTunes Store - not to be confused with Apple's App Store that showcases iOS apps - features music and movies from the world's leading music labels, movie studios as well as independent labels. While the App Store is available in over 155 countries worldwide, a much smaller number feature the iTunes Store. As you would expect, the iTunes Store in India prominently features Bollywood content as well.

CONFIRMED: GOOGLE NEXT ANDROID WILL BE NAMED "KEY LIME PIE", COMING ON MAY,2013

Jelly Bean 4.2 was just announced last month with some coll new features, Today, We have a confirmation from Google employee that the Next Android will be version 5.0 and called "Key Lime Pie".