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If you are a Kindle user disappointed by the lack of a dedicated desktop application for Linux, there’s good news for you. Amazon.com has just launched their new HTML5-powered cloud-based web app called Amazon Cloud Reader. The webapp runs flawlessly on Linux with support for offline reading and much much more. Here’s what it has to offer.

With KDE 4.7, the KDE team has managed to create one of the most beautiful desktops out there, and to be honest, it’s even more appealing than Windows 7 or Mac OS X. On the usability front, KDE doesn’t seem to cut corners. Trademark features like Activities and Plasmoids (widgets) are polished to near perfection. Also, since the initial KDE 4 release, a lot of quality community-created widgets and plugins have sprung up, making the KDE workspace more than just an alternative to GNOME 3 or Unity. So, if you’ve just installed KDE on your computer, here are some of the best widgets you can drop on to your desktop and make your friends jealous.

The Android market now boasts of more than 200,000 applications, 70 % of which are free. It is clear that there’s an ‘app’ for everyone, even for hardcore book lovers. With the rise in e-reading, more and more people are ditching the paperbacks for this rapidly evolving platform. So, if you’re one of those bibliophiles, here are the 5 best apps that you must install on your Android device.

Facing heavy competition from Google Chrome, the Firefox team seems to have stepped up their game. With a faster development cycle, the award winning open source project has gotten more ambitious than ever. Ubiquity being one of Mozilla’s main goals this year, Firefox will be the first open-source browser to enter the rapidly growing tablet market. If all goes well, we may be able to see Firefox 8, which releases later this year, on Honeycomb tablets everywhere. Here are some early features and their mockups which have been outlined for the release.

Ubuntu, as of now, lacks a dedicated font installer. While this may not be a big problem for seasoned Linux users, but for new users who want to install some font that is not in the repositories, it could be quite an annoyance. Here’s a simple way to install new fonts in Ubuntu without doing a lot of hard work.

When it comes to screenwriting applications, there aren’t that many choices for Linuxiens as there are for Windows and Mac users. However, that doesn’t mean that you’ll have to ditch your beloved penguin to write your next big screenplay. There are a few Linux-based as well as web-based screenwriting tools you can try out that are almost as good as industry-standard softwares like Final Draft and Magic Screenwriter. So, without much ado, here are the best screenwriting tools that are out there for Linux

What if while working on a very important document in Google Docs, you forgot an essential keyboard shortcut? Googling for it only disrupts the workflow. Fortunately, the big G has a very simple solution to that problem.

Tomboy is one of the most powerful notetaking desktop applications out there. Though these days, many people are switching to web-based tools like Evernote and Springpad, Tomboy can still serve as a good alternative for folks who like doing things old school. Tomboy has many interesting features, and knowing even half of them can make you more organized. So, here are 5 tips which will help you get the most out of Tomboy.

Google has been trying out a redesign of Chrome’s famous New Tab page. The new interface is more organized than the previous one as it cleverly categorizes apps and bookmarks into separate screens. The user can slide between the screens by simply grabbing and pushing the mouse in the required direction. Here’s how to enable it.

As a longtime Linux user, I remember hearing about netbooks for the first time. It was an exciting feeling — finally, Linux will be able to beat Microsoft and that too on a completely new platform. However, when Windows-based netbooks started coming out, I was thoroughly disappointed. Microsoft had once again managed to monopolize an emerging market, paling Linux back into insignificance. Furthermore, just when we thought that the netbook market was growing, iPad took the industry by storm, becoming the quintessential secondary device. And, as if all that wasn’t enough, Google announced Chromebooks giving another massive blow to the already-dying netbook market. So, the question remains, is this the end of Linux-based netbooks? Seems like it is.

It might have come as a rude shock to Linux fans everywhere when Adobe decided to drop Adobe AIR for Linux. Well, it wasn’t as if it was popular on Linux but still, no one expected Adobe to do that. The reason they gave was ludicrous, stating that only 0.5 % of AIR users were on Linux platform. But as a longtime Linux user I consider this as good riddance. In fact, I think that the Linux community will actually benefit from this decision. Here’s how.

With Natty Narwhal, Ubuntu underwent a major transformation. Gone was the plain and simple GNOME UI, and in came the shell interface with shiny new features. Though Canonical had high hopes from this release, the response Natty received was hugely disappointing. Many users felt that the release was a half-baked one with too many confusing features. However, a few good features did shine through leaving some users thoroughly impressed by Unity. Good or bad, Unity in its current avatar has plenty of room left for improvement. So, here are a few things we think can make Unity a better interface.

As June 15th nears, the folks at Google must be busy biting their nails off. This is the big G’s first step into the world of operating systems, and they want everything to go just right. With the release of Chromebook, they will be competing with 3 operating systems which have been around for a very long time. Whether Google will manage to topple them or not, only time can tell; however, there are a few reasons that this might work out pretty well for them. Here are ten such reasons why Chromebooks will be a huge hit.

Google Chrome, since its release, has found huge popularity amongst users and developers alike. The Google-owned browser, based on the open source Chromium project is also an integral part of the upcoming Chromebooks. Now, as fast and secure as Google Chrome is, many users are more concerned about their privacy while using this browser. There are articles floating around on the internet criticizing Google for its intrusive privacy policies. Providing a good solution to this problem comes SRWare Iron, a Chromium-based browser that is optimized for privacy and security. Let’s take a look at what SR Ware offers and how it is different from Google Chrome.

There has been a recent trend of minimalist text editing applications like FocusWriter and WriteRoom. Even though they work as you expect them to, they don’t come with the sheer amount of features LibreOffice Writer provides. So, if you’re not willing to switch to another application yet, here’s a quick 3-step process to give the good old LibreOffice a minimalist makeover.

With the introduction of Software Center, Ubuntu made it easier for desktop neophytes to install and remove different applications. However, when you’re moving to a new desktop after a quick format, installing your quintessential set of applications could be quite a bummer. Here are 3 alternate ways in which you can install multiple applications at once on Ubuntu without breaking a sweat.