Universal IM Access with Pidgin

In a perfect world, we'd all agree on one instant messenger service, and that would be the end of it. Unfortunately, you'll never convince your college buddy to drop AIM, your grandma is stuck on MSN, your kid sister only uses Facebook IM, and for some godawful reason, your boss insists everyone communicate through Yahoo Messenger.

The good news is that there are a couple of ways to deal with it. First you can get an IM aggregator-- a program that can handle multiple messaging protocols. My favorite is Pidgin. Pidgin (formerly known as Gaim) has an easy to setup and use interface, is extremely customizable, is free, runs on Windows and Linux, and is compatible with tons of protocols. MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Facebook, and tons of others. For Mac users, there's a similar program called Adium that works great as well. This way, you don't have four or five programs sucking up screen space, system resources, and bandwidth.

If Pidgin isn't your thing, you don't message much, or for whatever reason, you can't load Pidgin on your machine, check out Meebo. Meebo is a free web service that provides similar functionality, but in a web browser. Just sign up for an account, and you can be chatting away in an instant.

And, if you're rocking a mobile device, check out Fring. Fring does all of the above on select mobile phones, and has Skype support. Nifty.

Who's afraid of Linus Torvalds?

People talk to me about their computers, they know I'm a good listener if we're talking about anything with an internet connection. "I hate Vista!" they blurt. "It's soooo slow!" "It's always crashing!" I listen, I nod when I feel like I'm supposed to, and wait for them to calm down. They ask me for advice, and without thinking, I say it:

"Have you tried Linux?"

And their demeanor changes instantly. Their eyes scan for exits. They try to change the subject. They look at me like I'm trying to convert their religion, or get them to invest in a Ponzi scheme. They shoot out an excuse, and that's that.

So today, I thought I'd put together responses to reasons that people have given me why they're afraid of the L word.

"Only hacker geeks who smell like Doritos know how to use Linux."
Have a TiVo? You've got Linux. Many mobile phones run on a modified Linux kernel. Heard of the T-Mobile G1? Linux. The system is free, stable, and doesn't require a lot of system resources, so yes, people use it. Many businesses and government agencies trying to save money are being turned on to the free system. Computer companies, including Dell among others, have begun rolling out Linux systems in frustration with Vista compatibility and performance issues.

"Linux is uglier than Windows."
Oh?


"I don't know if my computer can even RUN Linux."
Well, find out. Google's there for a reason. But, chances are, you can run some variant. People run Ubuntu on Pentium II processors.

"I can't run Microsoft Office/iTunes/Photoshop."
True, but there's a great open source software equivalent for most software out there. OpenOffice.org gets better reviews than Office, is compatible with Office, and doesn't cost a dime. Look around; there's a lot of great, free software for Linux that just works.

"I just can't lose Windows."
Don't have to. most distributions of Linux let you boot off of an external drive, meaning nothing has to happen to your main system. If you're handy, you can set your computer to boot Windows and Linux. If you're unsure, you can load a live CD and try the system out without writing anything to your system.

"I don't have time to learn a new OS."
The days of command line are all but gone. You know what the file menu is called in Linux? "File Menu." You know how to open a menu? You click on it. Most Linux window managers keep the functionality as much like Windows as possible; they want it to be easy to use.

"It'll void my warranty/it's bad for the economy/it's communism."
Stop that. You're embarrassing yourself. Nobody likes it when you do that.

"Linux is so hard to set up!"
It sure used to be. Anymore, not so much. A major distribution called Ubuntu takes most of the guesswork out of it. It configures most of the drivers for you, and comes with a comprehensive suite of software. That being said, there are still quirks. Look up your system beforehand to anticipate problems. Worst case scenario, the most you'll have to do is open a terminal and paste a couple of lines of code. It's a small price to pay for actually liking to use your computer again.

Syncing data simply with Dropbox

If you have multiple computers around the house or ever have to copy data from your home machine to work or school computers, it can be a bit of a chore. You can use a flash drive, but they're easy to loose or forget. You can email it to yourself, but if it's a larger file, you'll have to chop it up first. Or you can use Dropbox.

Dropbox is a service that's so simple to use that after you install it, you may forget you got along without it. after you install (the website has downloads for Windows, Mac, and Linux), it creates a folder on your computer. That folder acts exactly like a regular folder except that the contents are constantly synced to Dropbox's server. And since you can log from multiple computers, your data is constantly and automatically being synced throughout all enabled machines. Using a public computer or under IT lockdown? No problem, you can access all of your data from the website as well. Unlike similar services, Dropbox gives you 2 gig free storage space. If you want more than that, you'll have to fork over ten bucks a month. I've been using it for a month or so, and I have to say, it is seamless. If you ever use more than one computer, you must have this!

Trick out Gmail

Lifehacker has probably been my favorite site over the years. They routinely save me hours every week with everything from registry hacks to sweet potato recipes. Yesterday they put up a great article of lesser-known Gmail features. Some of it's newer tweaks, like themes and integrated video conferencing, but some of it's stuff that's been around for years. Check it out here.

Netbooks: What You Need to Know

Some people love 'em, some people hate 'em, some people don't really know what they really are, but the fastest growing computing market right now is the netbook market. After the wildly popular eeePC, other companies have followed suit, and now all the tech sites and blogs alternate between lavishing praise on these little guys and churning out reasons not to buy them. Here's a little bit of straight info.

What is it, again?
A netbook is a teeny-tiny laptop. They're normally about half the size of a standard 13 inch laptop, have around 9 inches of screen and a slightly reduced size keyboard. All have WiFi cards, and some models are coming out with integrated wireless modems.

What's so great about them?
They're small. Having a full computer system about the size and shape of a small hardback novel is pretty handy. If you've lugged a full laptop around, you know that they can get pretty heavy and awkward. Not so with the netbooks.

They're cheap. Unlike a lot of reduced sized electronics, they're cheaper than their larger predecessors. The price range is from $200 to $550, give or take. That makes a lifesaver for those who can't afford a more upper end system, people who want a second computer for the family, and those who want to tinker with hacking their system or loading a new operating system, but are afraid to touch their main box.

They're efficent. Most netbooks coming out run on Intel's Atom processor, which is very energy efficent, and gives 2-3 hours of wifi enabled performance. Most netbooks boot Windows XP or Linux in well under a minute. In addition, netbooks usually have solid state drives (ssd) instead of traditional hard disk drives, which make read times much faster, uses less power, and because there's no moving parts, make the computers more durable.

What's the catch?
They're small. Not everyone can get used to a 7 or 9 inch screen, and the keyboards are often cramped, or situated oddly (especially first generation models).

They've got lightweight capacity. All the convenience of the ssd comes with a price--diminished storage. most netbooks out today have between 4g and 32g ssds, which can get eaten up very quickly with a big itunes account.

What to look for
The market is flooded with these PCs right now, and it can be very confusing. As someone who's had the opportunity to play with some of these, let me tell you that:
1. Definitely grab a nine inch or bigger screen. It's completely worth the extra money.
2. If you're going to run windows, get at least 8g of storage, Linux, half of that.
3. Look for a model with an Atom processor, like the Dell Mini 9; the older Celerons will get a little chuggy.
4. If you're going to use it for more than basic web browsing, consider getting a hard disk instead of an ssd. If you've got 15g in your iTunes collection, a 16g drive isn't going to cut it.

Keep an eye out for netbooks. With a struggling economy and an increasingly connected world, ultra-portable cheap netbooks are going to have a great run.

Load This: Free Music

Itunes is great. Until the credit card bill comes. Converting your CDs to digital is awesome, but takes a weekend. Most music services have annoying or confusing DRM layers, or poor selection. BitTorrent? Sure, and take the risk of the RIAA launching a litigation grenade into your life. Sometimes it feels like music services exist only to frustrate the end user. Here's a few sources of online music that are legal, free or very cheap, and above all, easy.

1. Pandora

Pandora is the simplest way get to music you like on the web. Go to their website, type an artist, song title, or genre, and Pandora whips up a custom radio station for you. The web site is a little bit poky, but the user interface is easy. If you don't mind your browser sitting on a big Jose Cuervo ad, Pandora's a great find.

2. Slacker



Slacker builds on Pandora's custom radio project by adding a more robust menu system, but the free service is similar. Grab a paid service, and you request specific songs and save them to stream any time you want. Oh, and if you're a Windows user, you can download the software player so you don't have to keep your browser open.

3. Last.fm


Last.fm does everything Pandora and Slacker do. What makes it unique is scrobbling. When you load a Last.fm client (and there's one for just about every platform you can connect to the Internet with) and it records (scrobbles) every song you listen to with any media player. Last.fm uses this information to find more music you like. So instead of having to tell it what you want to listen to, it listens to what you're listening to already. It also suggests free mp3s and podcasts, and to be honest, it's got so many features, I need to play with it some more.

4. Lala

Lala is new, and I'm rooting for it. When you load Lala, it searches your computer for music you already own, and lets you stream it from anywhere. Want to buy new music? Fine. Either you can
fork over 50 cents per song (which is half of Itunes rates), or for only 10 cents, you can stream the song anytime you want. It's just getting started, but if their claims of a mobile port are true, this has the potential to be the killer music phone app.