1. Regina 3D Launcher

Regina 3D Launcher is a great looking replacement for your home screen. You have access to a new set of widgets that match the layout of the launcher. You can also download different wallpapers and themes if you don’t like the default wood grained look.

There is a really cool feature with Regina 3D. It is called Secret Workspace. To access the Secret Workspace, you need to tap a code you create using the 4 corners of the screen. It is a whole different set of screens where you can load different icons onto the pages. In the Secret Workspace, settings, you are given the choice to hide applications. Yes, this means it hides them from the app drawer when you do not have the Secret Workspace open. Wrap your head around the possibilities.

2. Zeam Launcher

Zeam Launcher is a very minimalist launcher. After you have installed it and activated it, all you see is the background picture you had. There is are no apps or widgets on the screen other than in a task bar at the bottom. Even then, there are only 4 app icons and an app drawer icon. You get 3 home screens to do with as you please.

In the settings, there are a few settings like Action bindings. These are gestures like swiping up on the screen or double tapping a blank spot on the screen.

3. Launcher 7

Launcher 7 gives your Android the tiles and the app drawer the look of a Windows 7 Phone. Personally I like the tiled menu on the Windows 7 Phones. It is very functional and lets you make adjustments to the color of the tiles, background and aspects of the app drawer. You can add widgets as tiles too.

4. [SSKIN] Butterfly+ launcher

Probably the coolest feature of Butterfly+ launcher is the option to transfer the settings from your previous launcher. Granted, it may not keep everything, but in my opinion, adding all of the apps and widgets to your screens again has kept me from trying new launchers.

Butterfly+ comes with its own set of widgets. Aside from being able to change the wallpaper and add and remove home screens, there are not many adjustments.

5. MXHome Launcher

MXHome Launcher is a pretty simple launcher. You start with 5 screens but can change that number from 1 – 7. There is a screen all the way to the left that is a cool looking analog clock with the gears showing. There are spots on it to get to your mail, contacts or the Internet. There is also a battery gauge along with options to put your phone on vibrate and turn both your Wi-Fi and your Bluetooth on and off.

The app drawer is really neat if you are an app’o’haulic. You can sort the apps by date, alphabetical order or even by category. You get the applications in the categories, you can drag the app into the appropriate folder.

6. ICS Launcher

ICS launcher is the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich look-a-like launcher. It gives you the look and feel of Ice Cream Sandwich on your older OS. There are different widgets and the font is different. You will gain gestures so you can swipe up and open the app drawer if you set it to do that. You can add a banner too. This may not seem like anything special, but most launchers do not have this feature.

Conclusion

In the end, your Android home screen needs to be pleasing to the eye, but still needs to be functional. It make take some time to find the right launcher. I have personally tried several on my newest phone and haven’t found the right one to balance fun and functional.

What is your Android home screen launcher of choice?

Unfortunately, development was suddenly dropped for Quicksilver and as the project stagnated, its popularity faded. However, a new software team has taken over recently and injects the keyboard launcher with a new vigour, promising regular updates and new features. Let’s take a renewed look at Quicksilver and see if it can still offer users a compelling reason to make it a key part of their OS X computing experience.

Setting Up Quicksilver

To get up and running with Quicksilver, first head over to the Quicksilver download page and choose the relevant release for your Mac – Quicksilver is supported on all iterations of OS X from Panther onwards.

Once installed, the first-run of Quicksilver is relatively painless and one must choose which plugins to activate. If you’re not sure which plugins you would like yet, you can always return later but a few which I’d recommend are the iTunes, Safari, Mail and Address Book plugins.

Finally, Quicksilver must be allotted a keyboard shortcut. I choose to use the default Spotlight shortcut and move Spotlight to Option & Spacebar, but any such combination should suffice.

Searching and Launching

Hitting Quicksilver’s keyboard prompt will bring up the above pane and, like Spotlight, as you begin to type, search results will be thrown up. Where it differs from Spotlight however, is that Quicksilver allows you to control key aspects of OS X right from Quicksilver’s interface – with the correct combination, users can email a contact, listen to iTunes and more.

Triggers

By configuring Quicksilver’s Triggers feature, you may assign certain combinations of keys to specific tasks. This may not sound all that revolutionary in itself but Quicksilver allows some really great tweaking which brings this feature alive. For example, I have the following combinations set to open specific applications and bookmarks:

Applications

Ctrl + M = Mail
Ctrl + P = Pages
Ctrl + S = Safari

Bookmarks

Ctrl + Shift + G = Google Search
Ctrl + Shift + S = Soundcloud
Ctrl + Shift + M = Make Tech Easier

In order to set up some similar Triggers of your own, navigate to Quicksilver’s preferences and click on the “Triggers” pane. It should look something like the above screenshot, albeit without all my own Triggers inserted.

To add a custom Trigger, click on the + icon located on the bottom taskbar and then “HotKey” and a search prompt shall appear. Begin typing what you would like to set as a trigger (for example “Saf” will quickly bring up Safari) and then if you’re happy with it, hit Save.

Next we need to assign a keyboard combination to our Trigger, so make sure that your previously made Trigger is highlighted and click on the small information pane icon, which is located toward the bottom of the screen and looks like a small ‘i’. You should see something similar to that shown below:

As you can see, for the command to open the URL for Make Tech Easier, I have allotted the keyboard combination:

Control + Command + Shift + M

Pressing these keys anywhere while Safari is activated will launch a new window with Make Tech Easier in it. Other commands can be added in a similar manner.

More Basic Quicksilver Commands

To send an email quickly while using Quicksilver, one can launch QS’s interface as normal and type in the name of the person you would like to email. I’d like to email my friend Hannah so after typing in “han”, her name was brought up and then a hit of the tab key took me to the right hand column. From there, just select “Compose Email”.

In the same way, iTunes can be controlled from Quicksilver. Once again bringing up iTunes, hit tab and then move down to select Pause/Play, Skip Track, etc.

Final Thoughts

I’ve really only covered the very basics of Quicksilver here but hopefully it’ll be enough to pique your interest and in future articles I’ll set out some of the more complex tasks you can carry out at lightning speed with the tips of your fingers.

If you like the idea of a launcher like Quicksilver but find it too complex, another similar application is Alfred. The core application of Alfred is free to use but a Powerpack must be purchased in order to unlock its full potential. That said, once the Powerpack is indeed bought, Alfred is a powerful, flexible and perhaps easier to use application than Quicksilver.

1. How to Add/Remove Applications to/from the Launcher Bar

The launcher bar comes with a set of default launchers that you may not have use for. To remove application from the launcher bar, simply right-click on its icon and uncheck “Keep in launcher”.

To add application to the launcher bar, first open the application, then right-click on its icon and select “Keep in launcher”. You can drag and rearrange the icons to the order of your preferences.

2. How to open an application in Unity desktop

Unlike the old Gnome desktop, there is no Applications menu at the top panel where you can click to launch the application you want. To open an application in Unity desktop, you have to search for it.

The default method:

Click on the first icon on the launcher bar (or press “Super” button) to access the Dash. Search for your application by typing its name in the search field. Select the application and Press Enter.

Alternatively, you can click on the Application icon at the bottom of the Dash (second from left) and scroll through the list of application until you found the app you want.

Alternative method 1: Install Classicmenu indicator

The ClassicMenu Indicator is a third-party appindicator that brings the classic Gnome menu back. To install:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:diesch/testing
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install classicmenu-indicator

Run ClassicMenu indicator from Dash. You should be able to access your applications from the system tray now.

Alternative method 2: use quick launcher app like Gnome Do or Synapse

Quick Launcher app like Gnome Do or Synapse allows you to open your application very quickly. You just have to press a hotkey (Ctrl + Space) to activate the search box and you can quickly search for the app you want.

3. How to Add Quicklist to the Launcher in the Launcher Bar

Quicklists are the list of options when you right-click on an icon in the Launcher Bar. For example, when you right-click on the folder icon, you can quickly access your Home, Documents, Music and various folders that you have added to bookmarks.

Follow the instructions here to add quicklist to the launcher.

4. How to Configure the Unity Desktop

The default installation of Ubuntu Oneiric doesn’t come with any option to configure the Unity desktop. You can, however, install CompizConfig Settings Manager to access the configuration menu.

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

Once installed, run the app and scroll down the list till you see the Ubuntu Unity Plugin. Click on it. From here, you can configure the behaviour of the launcher, the shortcut key, the switcher and some experimental features.

If you are using an old computer that doesn’t support Compiz, most probably you are running Unity 2D instead of the usual Unity desktop. To configure Unity 2D, you have to install dconf-tools by clicking here or use the following command in the terminal:

sudo apt-get install dconf-tools

Next, in the terminal, type:

dconf-editor

Navigate to Desktop -> Unity. You can find several configuration options here.

5. How to Restore Synaptic package Manager

The useful and popular Synaptic Package Manager was removed from Ubuntu Oneiric in favour of Ubuntu Software Center. Luckily you can easily restore it by installing the Synaptic application. Click here to install Synaptic Package Manager or type the following command in the terminal:

sudo apt-get install synaptic

6. How to install .deb File Without Using Ubuntu Software Center

Ubuntu Natty and Oneiric open the Ubuntu Software Center when you double-click to install any .deb file. As USC is quite resource-intensive, the whole installation process is often very slow. A faster and quicker way is to use the gdebi package to manage your deb file. Click here to install or type the following command in the terminal:

sudo apt-get install gdebi

Once installed, right-click on any deb file and select Properties. Go to the “Open With” tab and select gdebi as the default application. That’s it. Whenever you double-click to install a deb file, the gdebi package installer will open up instead of Ubuntu Software Center.

7. How to Change Login Screen Background

To change the background of the login screen (LightDM), open a terminal and type:

sudo nano /etc/lightdm/unity-greeter.conf

At the field starting with “background=…“, change the background path to your favourite wallpaper. Leave everything else untouched.

Once done, press “Ctrl + O” follow by Enter. Lastly, press “Ctrl + X” to exit.

Log out. You should see your new login background in action.

8. How to Restart Ubuntu Oneiric

If you have noticed, there is no “Restart” option at the Power menu. You can only Logout, Shut Down, Suspend or Hibernate. What if you need to Restart your PC? Fret not, the “Restart” option is integrated with the Shut Down option. Click the Shut Down option and you will be able to select between Restart or Shut Down in the popup window.

9. How to Restore Gnome Classic

If you don’t like the Unity desktop, you can switch back to the classic Gnome desktop.

sudo apt-get install gnome-session-fallback

Log out and choose “Gnome Classic” in the login screen.

Note: The Gnome Classic is running on the Gnome 3 platform, so don’t expect everything to be the same as the old Gnom

Folders

See through folders are one of the coolest parts of Nemus Launcher. Here is how they work.

Most Android devices have the option of adding apps to a folder. If you have never used a folder, you can usually create a folder by holding the screen and selecting Folders from the pop up. You are usually given a choice of things like Starred contacts, New folder, All contacts, Bluetooth received, etc to automatically populate the folder.

You can create a folder, by simply dragging and dropping the apps into the folder. This way you can group the apps in a way that makes sense to you.

One problem you have with a standard Android folder is, once you start a new generic folder and put a few apps in there, you may forget what applications are in there because you can’t see them without opening the folder.

With the Nemus Launcher, the folders are clear. You can see a smaller version of the app icons inside the folder so you exactly what is inside. The folders can be re-sized to better see what is inside. You can make them 4 icon blocks wide.

To access the apps, just click on the folder and the folder will expand letting you access all of the contents.

App dock

Like a few launchers we have talked about here on Make Tech Easier, Nemus has an app dock at the bottom of the screen. You can remove and add 12 of your preferred applications to the dock.

Change the applications by dragging the app out of the dock to move it to the home screen or press and hold the icon to delete the shortcut. To add an app, drag it to the empty location where you want it to be.

Screens

To adjust the number of screens, press the menu button on your phone and select Edit. In the edit menu, you will see all of the home screens currently available to use.

By pressing the plus sign (+) you can add up to 7 home screens. By pressing the minus icon, you can remove the highlighted home screen. If you have a hard time telling which home screen you are deleting, you can also press and hold the one you want to delete. In the little popup, select delete.

While you are adding or subtracting home screens, you can choose which one you want to be you main home screen. If you’d like the screens to appear in a different order, you can also drag and drop them into the position you want.

Settings

There are very few options to modify the way Nemus Launcher works. You can change how the Auto rotate works, optimize the launcher for performance or graphics quality, and a couple other things, but that’s it. If you had much more you could change, the simplicity and ease of use would be lost.

Conclusion

In the couple weeks I have been using Nemus Launcher, I have grown really fond of it. I like the simplicity and the added functionality of it. Having the transparent folders helped me whittle down the number of home screens I use to 1. That’s right, I only use 1 home screen.

If you are looking for a simple looking easy to use home screen launcher, Nemus Launcher is definitely worth the installation.

If you’d like a little more powerful Android home screen launcher, take a look at some of the other home screen replacements we have talked about.

As we all know, Ubuntu Natty comes with the Unity Launcher that many people love to hate. While it comes with the autohide and quicklist feature, it is unlike AWN or Cairo dock that is fully customizable or configurable. For those who have turned off Unity Launcher (by switching to Ubuntu classic) but wish to enjoy the benefit of the Unity Launcher, DockBarX is a great alternative.

We have previously mentioned DockBarX as a useful tools to customize Ubuntu Netbook Remix (no longer exist). Back then, it exists only as a panel applet. The latest version now comes as a standalone panel and plenty of other useful features.

Install DockbarX

Open a terminal and type the following:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:dockbar-main/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install dockbarx

Note: If you are not using Ubuntu, you can download the DockBarX source file from Gnome-look.org

To run DockbarX, press Alt + F2 and type “dockx” (without the quotes)

Configuring DockbarX

To configure DockbarX, you can open the Preferences window via the application menu (Applications -> Accessories -> DockBarX Preference) or right-click on the DockBarX and select “Properties”.

Themes

DockBarX allows you to style up its appearance. You can change the theme or change the color and background of each component. The default installation only comes with 4 themes that you can switch between. However, you can install the “dockbarx-themes-extra” package to get more themes.

Dock location

As a standalone dock, you can configure where it is located in your desktop. Under the Dock tab, you can change the mode to corner, panel or centered. The panel mode is a full panel that stretches across the desktop while the corner and centered mode shows only the active applications. You can also change the position to left, top, right or bottom. One thing though, DockBarX does not support autohide (at this moment), so you might want to reduce the icon size (the default is 48px, I changed it to 24px) to prevent it from taking too much of your screen estate.

Supports Unity quicklists and number shortcut

Another useful features of DockBarX is that it supports Unity quicklists and number shortcut. First of all, you need to activate the feature under the Plugins tab. Check the box beside “Use Unity quicklists” and the “use Unity style number shortcuts” under the Advanced tab.

Simply right-click on the app and the quicklist will pop up.

Window preview

DockBarX also supports preview of application windows, however I am not able to get it working in Ubuntu Natty (seems to be a conflict with Compiz). If you can’t get it working, but really love this feature, you can install compizconfig-setting-manager and enable the “Windows Preview” feature.

Locklist

If you have more than one window of the same application opened, you can enable the locklist, which will permanently pin the window group to the desktop.

Other means of using DockBarX

Other than the standalone panel, DockBarX can also be used as a Gnome applet (only Gnome 2.x) and AWN applet. if you are using the classic Gnome setting in Ubuntu Natty (Ubuntu Classic), you can add the dockbarx applet to your top panel and use it like any other applet.

Conclusion

One killer feature that DockBarX is missing now is the autohide feature. Once that feature is available, this will be the perfect dock and launcher app. What do you think?

Update: The autohide feature is now available in version 0.45 of DocBarX

Unity Launcher Editor (ULE) is a python script that allows you to edit your Unity launcher. It allows you to add and remove applications to and from the launcher and also create/edit the quicklist items for each application. Compared to the previous way where you have to manually edit the config file, this is definitely a much better way.

Installation

Unity Launcher Editor is currently not available in the Ubuntu repository, nor is there a PPA or deb file (as of this post). To install ULE, we have to download the source code from LaunchPad.

sudo apt-get install bzr
bzr branch lp:unity-launcher-editor

Once you have downloaded the source code, you should find a “unity-launcher-editor” folder in your Home directory. In your Nautilus, navigate to the “unity-launcher-editor -> unitylaunchereditor” folder and double-click the main.py file. A prompt will show up:

Click Run.

Using Unity Launcher Editor

There are three parts to the ULE. The panel on the left shows the existing applications that are in the launcher. You can select on any app and its details will show up on the right panel.

The top section of the right panel shows the launcher app details while the bottom section shows its quicklist items.

To add quicklist item to an existing application in the launcher, for example Firefox:

1. Select the app (Firefox) icon on the left panel.

2. Under the Quicklist Group, click the + button.

3. Add the quicklist group name and the command you want it to execute. For example, I want to add a Private mode quicklist so I can quickly open a private session in Firefox.

4. Click Save.

Your quicklist item should appear in the launcher. If not, log out and log in again, or restart Unity (unity --replace).

Adding application to the launcher

ULE also allows you to add new application to the launcher. This is a two steps process.

1. Click the + button at the bottom of the left panel. Enter the launcher name.

2. Select the newly added launcher. Edit the info at the top section of the right panel.

Note: Please note that this is not the easiest way to add applications to the launcher. The easiest way is to first run the application that you want to add, then right click its icon on the launcher and select “Keep in launcher”.

Do you have an easier way to add quicklist items to the launcher?

How to add Unity Quicklists?

Ubuntu came out with an API for the Unity launcher and anyone can create their own quicklists with a different modification of the configuration file. Currently there is no easy way to add a quicklist item. The following is the summary of the steps required to add a quicklist item:

1. Copy the desktop configuration file to your home folder.
2. Open the desktop configuration file with gedit.
3. Add the quicklist code to the file. The syntax is as follow:

#adapted from Ubuntu wiki. Example is for gnome-screenshot
 X-Ayatana-Desktop-Shortcuts=Screen;Window
 
[Screen Shortcut Group]
Name=Take a screenshot of the whole screen
Exec=gnome-screenshot
TargetEnvironment=Unity
 
[Window Shortcut Group]
Name=Take a screenshot of the current window
Exec=gnome-screenshot -w
TargetEnvironment=Unity

The X-Ayatana-Desktop-Shortcuts code refers to the entries that appear when you right click on the app icon. The following [XXX shortcut Group] is the action for each entry.

Some of the most useful Unity Quicklists

1. Add Private/Safe mode, Profile Manager and your frequently accessed site to Firefox icon.

Copy the Firefox desktop configuration file to your home folder.

sudo cp /usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop ~/.local/share/applications

Open the file with gedit.

gedit ~/.local/share/applications/firefox.desktop

Replace the line

X-Ayatana-Desktop-Shortcuts=NewWindow;

with

X-Ayatana-Desktop-Shortcuts=NewWindow;Private;Safe;ProfileManager;MakeTechEasier
#feel free to change the name of your frequently accessed site

Next, add the following code to the end of the file:

[Private Shortcut Group]
Name=Private Mode
Exec=firefox -private-toggle
TargetEnvironment=Unity
 
[Safe Shortcut Group]
Name=Safe Mode
Exec=firefox -safe-mode
TargetEnvironment=Unity
 
[ProfileManager Shortcut Group]
Name=Start Profile Manager
Exec=firefox -ProfileManager
TargetEnvironment=Unity
 
[MakeTechEasier Shortcut Group]
Name=Launch MakeTechEasier
Exec=firefox "maketecheasier.com"
TargetEnvironment=Unity

Save and close the file. Lastly, restart Unity

unity --replace

2. Add New Window and Incognito Mode to Google Chrome

This is assuming that you have installed Google Chrome in your Ubuntu.

Run the command:

sudo cp /usr/share/applications/google-chrome.desktop ~/.local/share/applications
gedit ~/.local/share/applications/google-chrome.desktop

Add the following code to the end of the file:

X-Ayatana-Desktop-Shortcuts=NewWindow;Incognito
 
[NewWindow Shortcut Group]
Name=Open New Window
Exec=google-chrome
TargetEnvironment=Unity
 
[Incognito Shortcut Group]
Name=Incognito Mode
Exec=google-chrome --incognito
TargetEnvironment=Unity

Save and close the file. Restart Unity

unity --replace

3. Add Favorite and Bookmarks to Home Folder

This will allow you to access the various folders directly from the launcher.

Run the command:

sudo cp /usr/share/applications/nautilus-home.desktop ~/.local/share/applications
gedit ~/.local/share/applications/nautilus-home.desktop

Scroll down the file and replace the line:

OnlyShowIn=GNOME;

with

OnlyShowIn=GNOME;Unity;

Add the following code to the end of the file:

X-Ayatana-Desktop-Shortcuts=Videos;Documents;Music;Pictures;Downloads;Dropbox
[Videos Shortcut Group]
Name=Videos
Exec=nautilus Videos
TargetEnvironment=Unity
 
[Documents Shortcut Group]
Name=Documents
Exec=nautilus Documents
TargetEnvironment=Unity
 
[Music Shortcut Group]
Name=Music
Exec=nautilus Music
TargetEnvironment=Unity
 
[Pictures Shortcut Group]
Name=Pictures
Exec=nautilus Pictures
TargetEnvironment=Unity
 
[Downloads Shortcut Group]
Name=Downloads
Exec=nautilus Downloads
TargetEnvironment=Unity
 
[Dropbox Shortcut Group]
Name=Dropbox
Exec=nautilus Dropbox
TargetEnvironment=Unity

Save and close the file. Restart Unity

unity --replace

4. Make the LibreOffice Start Center More Useful

Run the command:

sudo cp /usr/share/applications/libreoffice-startcenter.desktop ~/.local/share/applications
gedit ~/.local/share/applications/libreoffice-startcenter.desktop

Add the following code to the end of the file:

X-Ayatana-Desktop-Shortcuts=Writer;Impress;Calc;Math;Draw
 
[Writer Shortcut Group]
Name=Writer
Exec=libreoffice -writer %U
TargetEnvironment=Unity
 
[Impress Shortcut Group]
Name=Impress
Exec=libreoffice -impress %U
TargetEnvironment=Unity
 
[Calc Shortcut Group]
Name=Calc
Exec=libreoffice -calc %U
TargetEnvironment=Unity
 
[Math Shortcut Group]
Name=Math
Exec=libreoffice -math %U
TargetEnvironment=Unity
 
[Draw Shortcut Group]
Name=Draw
Exec=libreoffice -draw %U
TargetEnvironment=Unity

Save and close the file. Restart Unity

unity --replace

5. Add Custom Commands to the Terminal

The terminal is not an application that you will use frequently, but if you do, there will always be a few commands that you use regularly. You can add these commands to the quicklist for quick access.

Run the command:

sudo cp /usr/share/applications/gnome-terminal.desktop ~/.local/share/applications
gedit ~/.local/share/applications/gnome-terminal.desktop

Scroll down the file and replace the line:

OnlyShowIn=GNOME;

with

OnlyShowIn=GNOME;Unity;

Next, add the following code to the end of the file:

X-Ayatana-Desktop-Shortcuts=UpdateUpgrade;XamppStart;XamppStop;
 
[UpdateUpgrade Shortcut Group]
Name=Update and Upgrade System
Exec=gnome-terminal --command "sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade"
TargetEnvironment=Unity
 
[XamppStart Shortcut Group]
Name=Xampp Start
Exec=gnome-terminal --command "sudo /opt/lampp/lampp start"
TargetEnvironment=Unity
 
[XamppStop Shortcut Group]
Name=Xampp Stop
Exec=gnome-terminal --command "sudo /opt/lampp/lampp stop"
TargetEnvironment=Unity

Save and close the file. Restart Unity

unity --replace

6. Create a Google Services Center

If you use Google services as much as I do, this is going to be very useful to you.

Open a text editor and copy/paste the following code:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=Google Services
Exec=/opt/google/chrome/google-chrome
Icon=/filepath/to/google-icon.png #change this filepath to the actual icon filepath
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Network;WebBrowser;
 
X-Ayatana-Desktop-Shortcuts=Gmail;Contacts;Calendar;Docs;Reader;
 
[Gmail Shortcut Group]
Name=Gmail
Exec=xdg-open https://gmail.com
TargetEnvironment=Unity
 
[Contacts Shortcut Group]
Name=Gmail Contacts
Exec=xdg-open https://www.google.com/contacts
TargetEnvironment=Unity
 
[Calendar Shortcut Group]
Name=Google Calendar
Exec=xdg-open https://calendar.google.com
TargetEnvironment=Unity
 
[Docs Shortcut Group]
Name=Google Docs
Exec=xdg-open https://docs.google.com
TargetEnvironment=Unity
 
[Reader Shortcut Group]
Name=Google Reader
Exec=xdg-open https://google.com/reader
TargetEnvironment=Unity

Remember to change the icon file path (You can download the Google icon that I used here.) The code above uses Google Chrome. You can change it to use Firefox or your favorite browser.

Save the file with the name “google-services.desktop” in the folder “/home/username/.local/share/applications folder”

Next, drag this file to the launcher.

7. Add Google Shortcut

Instead of accessing the Google services, if what you want is to have quick access to the various tasks in Google, like composing new email, adding a calendar, open a new doc etc, this is how you can do it.

Open a text editor and copy/paste the following code:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=Google Shortcuts
Exec=/opt/google/chrome/google-chrome
Icon=/filepath/to/google-icon.png #change this filepath to the actual icon filepath
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Network;WebBrowser;
 
X-Ayatana-Desktop-Shortcuts=Gmail;Calendar;Docs;Spreadsheet;Presentation;
 
[Gmail Shortcut Group]
Name=Compose New Mail
Exec=xdg-open https://mail.google.com/mail/?shva=1#compose
TargetEnvironment=Unity
 
[Calendar Shortcut Group]
Name=Create New Event
Exec=xdg-open https://www.google.com/calendar/event?action=TEMPLATE
TargetEnvironment=Unity
 
[Docs Shortcut Group]
Name=Create New Document 
Exec=xdg-open https://docs.google.com/document/create?hl=en
TargetEnvironment=Unity
 
[Spreadsheet Shortcut Group]
Name=Create New Spreadsheet
Exec=xdg-open https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?new&hl=en
TargetEnvironment=Unity
 
[Presentation Shortcut Group]
Name=Create New Presentation
Exec=xdg-open https://docs.google.com/present/create?hl=en
TargetEnvironment=Unity

Remember to change the icon file path.

Save the file with the name “google-shortcuts.desktop” in the folder “/home/username/.local/share/applications folder”

Next, drag this file to the launcher.

8. Quick Add PPA in Ubuntu Software Center

Our usual method of adding PPA is via the terminal, but this could be a more efficient way.

Run the command:

sudo cp /usr/share/applications/ubuntu-software-center.desktop ~/.local/share/applications
gedit ~/.local/share/applications/ubuntu-software-center.desktop

Add the following code to the end of the file.

X-Ayatana-Desktop-Shortcuts=SoftwareProperties;SoftwareSources;
 
[SoftwareProperties Shortcut Group]
Name=Update Manager
Exec=update-manager -c %u
TargetEnvironment=Unity
 
[SoftwareSources Shortcut Group]
Name=Add/Edit PPAs
Exec=gksu software-properties-gtk
TargetEnvironment=Unity

Save and close the file. Restart Unity

unity --replace

The above are only a small fraction of what you can do with the Unity quicklists. You can also checkout AskUbuntu for more quicklists.

Note: If after adding the quicklist code and it causes problems to your system, you can easily restore your system by deleting the respective .desktop file from /home/username/.local/share/applications folder and restart unity.

2. Once installed, press “Alt + F2″ and type “ccsm“.

3. Scroll down the list until you see the icon “Ubuntu Unity Plugin”. Click on it.

4. Under the “Reveal Mode” section. You should be able to see the option to hide launcher. You can select “Never”, “Autohide”, “Dodge Windows” or “Dodge Active Windows”.

5. The default option is “Dodge Windows”, but you can change it to “Autohide”, or “Never” if you want the launcher to be always there. There is no confirmation button. Once you have made the change, just click the Back button, or close the Compiz app.

That’s it. Your Unity Launcher bar should autohide itself when not in use. To retrieve it, simply move your mouse cursor to the left corner of the screen. It will take about 1 second for the launcher to appear again.

Alfred for Mac kind of takes on a very similar function. It manages the details, and provides you with the information that you need in order to rock.

Alfred, like any good assistant, runs quietly in the background. Instead of finding him on your dock, you see him hiding up top, near Time machine backup and Internet connectivity indicators. When you want Alfred, all you have to do is click on the hat, and then the worlds “Toggle Alfred”. Then, poof, he is there: ready, willing, and able to get you what you need.

Let’s say that you want to find a lost folder, or documents, or the contact information on the client that you haven’t seen in six months, but suddenly need to contact. All you have to do is start typing and Alfred will give you related results with a fair amount of accuracy. Alfred will, by default, search your programs, Web bookmarks, and files to see if they can find you what you need. If you spend some time in the preferences, it can even be made to search your documents, images, and even your AppleScript’s, making it fairly comprehensive search tool for most users.

If you can’t find you what you need, Alfred will still try to please you, giving you extended search options through sites like Google and Amazon, because any good butler wants to get it right.

Aside from functionality, Alfred has its own fashion sense too. Two styles to be exact. You can change between the light Alfred, and the dark Alfred, depending on which style suits you better. This is a nice change from a lot of productivity apps, and system utilities, that do their job well but are aesthetically less than pleasing.

Another nice option is that if you feel your results aren’t accurate, you can rebuild the index that the program is searching from. Basically, this is meant for times when Alfred can’t find it, but spotlight can. Think of it as the ultimate in flexibility for search software. While you’re in this menu, you will notice a button with the tantalizing words, “Do not press this button,” written on it. Let me save you a little trouble, when you press the button, something funny but not harmful to your system happens.

On the whole, Alfred is really one of your best productivity options in the Mac App store. It doesn’t look to change how you work, it simply looks to make it easier for you to get what you need.

Alfred (iTunes link)

Synapse and Zeitgeist Engine

Some of you might not have heard of the Zeitgeist Engine. In short, it is a service that logs the users’s activities and events (files opened, websites visites, conversations hold with other people, etc.) and makes relevant information available to other applications. Applications can plug in to this engine to gain access to your recent activities and do wonder with it. Synapse is one such application. It allows you to search your recently opened files/folders/applications quickly and easily.

If you are using a new computer, a freshly installed Ubuntu or your distro doesn’t have zeitgeist pre-installed, the first time you use Synapse, you will find that it returns limited search result. This is because very few events have been logged by Zeitgeist yet. The good thing is, the longer you use your computer, the better Synapse will be.

To install in Ubuntu:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:synapse-core/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade #lucid only

sudo apt-get install synapse

Once installed, you can activate the application in Applications -> Accessories -> Synapse.

The usage is exactly the same as Gnome-Do. Press “Ctrl + Space” to activate the launcher. Type in the search term and press Enter to execute the commands.

You can also scroll left/right to define the nature of the search, such as Actions, Applications, Documents, Audio, Internet etc.

Pressing up/down button will show more results for the current search.

In the backend, you can change the keyboard activation shortcut and the theme.

Synapse also supports plugins. You can use Synapse to search for applications, play songs in Banshee/Rhythmbox, check words in dictionary, run terminal commands, lock screen etc. One thing though, there is no means for you to install new plugins at the moment.

Conclusion

Synapse uses Zeitgeist which is a completely different approach from Gnome-Do. It will take some time, especially Gnome-do lovers, to get used to it. The functionality is also quite limited at the moment, but taking into account the amount of data that zeitgeist logs and the different permutations of tips/tricks that can be done with it, given time, I am sure Synapse will become a very useful and powerful tool. This is provided the developer of Synapse continues to grow the product. What do you think?

Synapse @ Launchpad | Synapse homepage

Installation

Glx-Dock (Cairo Dock) is available in the Ubuntu repository and you can easily install it via the Ubuntu Software Center (or Synaptic Package Manager). However, unless you are using Ubuntu Maverick, you will need to update your repository with the Cairo’s weekly PPA to enjoy the latest features. Here’s how you can do so:

Open a terminal and type the following:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cairo-dock-team/weekly

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install cairo-dock cairo-dock-plug-ins

Once you have installed the application, you can launch it via Applications -> System Tools -> Cairo Dock.

What’s new in Glx-Dock?

If you have used Glx-Dock before, or are still using it now, the user interface is pretty much the same. What’s changed is the functionality.

Panel mode

Glx-Dock now comes with a panel mode that allows you to replace your gnome-panel (or any other panels in your desktop manager) completely. Go to the Glx-Dock configuration panel and click on the Appearance tab. In the Views section, change the option to “Panel”.

When you click Apply, you will see your dock transform into a panel.

For those who long wanted to get rid of their panel in favor of a more customizable dock, this is what you have been waiting for.

More applets and improved functionality

You can’t replace a panel based on the design itself, you still need the functionality of the applets. The latest version of Glx-Dock comes with several useful new applets, including the Me-Menu and Messaging Menu indicator applets. What is even better is that these applets come with more functionality and user interaction. For example, it is now possible to manage tasks in the Clock’s calendar, left click to lock the screen in the Logout applet, use tiny URLs in the Drop-and-Share applet, the Dustbin applet handles all the drives etc.

Intellihide

One of the major complaint of any dock application is the overlapping of the dock and the active window, making it unusable at times. In Glx-dock, there are two new display mode “hide whenever the dock overlaps the active window” and “hide whenever the dock overlaps any window” to ensure that it will not interrupt your workflow.

Multiple instances of Glx-dock

The beauty of Glx-dock lies in the ability to create multiple instances of dock. Each dock functions independently. You can use only one dock to dump all the application launchers together, or two docks where one is used as the top panel replacement and another as the application launcher. Whatever it is, you are free to add as many docks as you want and customize it to your liking.

Support for old graphics card

This is what I like about Glx-dock – the ability to work even without a compositing manager. If you have a old graphics card, you can still be sure that glx-dock will work in your system. (You will have to select the Cairo-Dock (no OpenGL) from the Application menu).

Have you tried out Glx-dock (Cairo dock) yet?

Sure you may have a nice UI for your home screens (eg. HTC sense), but if it is lagging, functionally crippled or take up plenty of resources, it is definitely not a good experience for the end users. Previously, we have covered 5 free home replacement apps that you can use, however that was before Froyo, LauncherPro and QuickDesk even existed, so some of the mentioned apps are already outdated. If you are still looking for a great home replacement app, LauncherPro + QuickDesk are the one to go for.

LauncherPro

Market link | Appbrain link

There are several home replacement apps in the market and LauncherPro is one of the best out there. Not only is it fast and speedily, it also comes with plenty of improvement over the Froyo’s default launcher.

Customizable Dock

There are several useful features in LauncherPro and one of them is the customizable dock. The dock was first introduced in Froyo, but it came with 2 preset shortcuts that you can’t change. LauncherPro better that by giving you up to three rows of scrollable dock and customizable shortcuts.

Just like the app icons, you can trash and load what ever you’d like in its place by pressing and holding the shortcut. A screen will pop up asking what you’d like to do. You have 15 shortcuts to create, so go wild.

The benefit to having the shortcut bar is so you can have less clutter on your home screens. Having these shortcuts will free up at least one screen if you’d like to use a larger widget.

Up to 7 home screens

LauncherPro allows you to set up to 7 home screens. Depending on your needs, you can change the number of home screens to suit your preferences. In addition, it comes with the Mac’s Expose effect. Just tap the Home button and you can see all your home screens fly out.

Other features

Other useful features include scrollable widgets, creation of LauncherPro Shortcuts and support HTC sense widgets (only for premium users).

QuickDesk

Market link | Appbrain link

QuickDesk is more of a complementary home replacement app. This means that it works as a complement to your existing home launcher.

The most useful thing about QuickDesk (and the only thing that it does) is that you can access shortcuts and widgets without exiting the currently running application. In a nutshell, when you double tap the Home button, you bring up a translucent layer of canvas on top of your existing app. This canvas contains your frequently access apps/favorite apps and you can easily tap on any app to activate it.

QuickDesk supports both widgets and app shortcuts. Any apps/shortcuts/widgets that can be placed on the home screen will work in QuickDesk. If you find yourself frequently needing to look up contact info while typing an email, or needing to make a quick call, you will want Quickdesk.

The apps I chose to add to QuickDesk are:

• Advanced Task Killer
• Phone
• Barcode Scanner
• Calculator
• Contacts
• Gtasks

You could be more creative than me though.

Conclusion

To sum things up, there are many different ways to personalize your device. The average consumer doesn’t go hunting for application launchers and productivity applications. However, using LauncherPro + QuickDesk will definitely enhance your device’s performance and increase your productivity.

What do you say?

image credit: secretlondon123

Application launchers provide quick and convenient access to installed applications within one system using only few keystrokes. For a keyboard guy like me, this kind of apps are the dreams come true.

Quick But Not QuickSilver

The term “application launcher” always associated with Quicksilver, the app that popularized the usage. Even though the development process is not as “hot” as it used to be, QuickSilver keeps its reputation intact until today.

But that doesn’t mean that there are no alternatives. There are many launchers available for Mac and I’ve tried and used many of them. Some are good and others are great, some are free and others are not. Here are five of the free alternatives of application launchers for Mac.

1. Spotlight

I believe most Mac users take the OS X built in Spotlight feature for granted. It’s actually a very capable application launcher. Just use the assigned shortcut key to summon it, type the application name, select the result, and hit enter.

You can access the settings from System Preferences. Arrange the order according to which group should appear first. If you want to use Spotlight as an application launcher, put “Applications” at the top.

You could also set the key combination that you’d like to use.

2. Google Quick Search Box

If you keep yourself updated to the human stories behind the computer technology, you’ll know that one of QuickSilver main creator leave the project to build QSB (the short for Google Quick Search Box). Some says this is the improved version of QuickSilver, others disagree with the statement.

3. Alfred

Alfred is one of the latest to enter the battlefield. People are saying that this baby has potential. Aside from the simplicity in the interface, the functionality is also top notch.

4. Launchy

This app started as a Windows app, and then expanded its reach to the Mac world. So it’s only natural that most documentations about this app are on the Windows side.

The basic functionalities are the same with other launchers, but what makes this app different is its wide choices of unique skins.

5. Namely

This little app maybe one of the simplest Mac launcher alternatives available out there. It just a launcher without extra bells and whistles. You just call it forth – it will appear under the menu bar, type a couple of first letters of the applications that you want to launch, and hit enter.

As time goes by, the app will learn your habit, and put the apps that you launch most at the top of the list.

There are some customization that you can do from the Preferences (Command + Comma): the shortcut keys combination, the choice to start Namely with your system, and the window color and style.

If you want to, you can also choose to exclude classic applications, and make a blacklist of applications that you don’t want to include in the Namely list.

Which One Should You Choose?

Well, that’s the unavoidable question that goes along with comparison list like this. The standard answer is that you should try them all and decide it by yourself. But here are some friendly tips:

• If you don’t want to add extra application, go with Spotlight.
• If you are living in two worlds and want to have familiar face from Windows, you can choose Launchy.
• Those who want more features can try QSB.
• Alfred comes with less features than QSB but also uses less system resources.
• If simple and extra light is your keyword, go with Namely.
• On the other hand, if you have much spare time to learn all the features, why not put your hand on the one that start it all: Quicksilver.

And for those indecisive people, nobody says that you must choose only one.

Do you know other alternatives to free application launcher for Mac? If you do, share them using the comment below.

Image credit: Eric Kilby

Kupfer

Visually, this is the most basic of the three. There’s little in the way of fancy graphics, but it’s still a capable launcher, and quite a bit more.

As you would expect, you can begin typing application names to launch them, but Kupfer can handle several other kinds of input such as web addresses and dictionary lookups. Kupfer comes with a full collection of plugins to greatly expand what you can do with it.

Kupfer has arguably the best plugin collection of the bunch. Particularly useful to me was the fact that it was the only one with Chromium support.

To decide which action is taken on your input, you begin by entering the text such as a program name or web address. Hit Tab to move to the second panel, and the down arrow will let you scroll between the options implied by your text.

The main problem I had with Kupfer is that while I’m sure the plugins are quite useful, it’s not often clear exactly how to USE them. There’s very little documentation available for Kupfer, so you’ve mostly got to figure it out though trial and error.

Launchy

Next on our list is Launchy. It’s more visually polished than Kupfer and also includes several alternate skins. One of the most interesting aspects of Launchy is that unlike Gnome Do and Kupfer, it can also run on Windows.

Launchy comes with much more configuration than Kupfer, however it does not include as large a collection of plugins built in. More plugins can still be found at their website if you’d like to move beyond what’s provided.

The Weby plugin is particularly useful, allowing access to customizable web searches for many of the most popular sites such as Google, Wikipedia, and IMDB. Usage of these plugins is similar to Kupfer. You begin by typing the keyword (such as google or imdb), then hit Tab to get the prompt for your search term.

While this makes sense once you get used to it, it seems less likely that a user would think to hit Tab in these cases than with the 2-pane horizontal approach taken by Kupfer and GNOME Do.

Launchy did seem to hit a snag on my Lucid test machine when switching skins. After pulling up the Mercury skin, Launchy’s graphics bugged out and required a manual deletion of the config files to get working again.

GNOME Do

The most well known of this bunch is GNOME Do. It’s probably the first name that comes to mind for most Linux users when they think of an application launcher, and for good reason. We’ve covered GNOME Do on MakeTechEasier once or twice because it’s always been a useful and well designed application.

Regarding configuration, GNOME Do is right up there with Launchy and also includes a good plugin suite.

Much like the other two, the Tab and arrow keys are used to choose options in both panes. GNOME Do can intelligently choose actions based on the the context of your query. In this example, I’ve entered “gimp” into the text area, and GNOME Do has realized that it’s already running, so the options presented are related to what I might want to do with a running program.

The biggest down side to GNOME Do is that there do no appear to be any additional plugin or theme packs outside the ones in the base install.

Conclusion

Kupfer is mostly very simple and flexible, but it lacks visual appeal. Also, the lack of documentation makes it difficult to learn to move beyond the basics. Launchy has the benefits of being is highly configurable and multi-platform capable, but the lack of useful plugins in the default install left it less capable than both the other alternatives. Ultimately, GNOME Do still stands on top and gives the best overall capability on a Linux desktop. It’s flexible, intuitive, and offers a fair amount of room for customization. That’s not to say that Kupfer and Launchy don’t have their place. This is Linux, choice is good.

For those of you who like to keep their installations lean and swift, installing software can be a problem at times. There’s lots of useful software out there, but some can be really bloated and slow, while others are small themselves, but have large or many dependencies.

This is especially true for Gnome-Do. When you install Gnome-Do, Evolution get installed along as a dependency. If you are using Ubuntu (or GNOME), where Evolution is already pre-installed, this is not an issue. However, if you are using other distro, like Linux Mint, or other desktop managers, then you won’t want to install the bulky Evolution just to use Gnome-Do.

Luckily, there is a solution for this. The trick is to install an empty Evolution package and make Gnome-Do think that Evolution is already installed on your computer.

Note: Please keep in mind that if you already have Gnome-do and/or Evolution installed, there’s no need to follow this set of instructions. Also, by using this dependency you will break anything that relies on the real dependency. There is nothing to worry about if you’re not using Evolution in the first place though.

Download the .deb file that will serve as the substitute and place it on your desktop.

Double click on the deb file to install.

If for some reason that double-clicking of the deb file doesn’t work, open a terminal and type the following:

cd /~Desktop
sudo dpkg -i libevolution5.0-cil_2.2.2-2_i386.deb

After that, just follow the instructions here to install Gnome-do normally.

Don’t forget to change the lines you need to paste into /etc/apt/sources.list if you’re using Ubuntu 9.10.

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/do-core/ppa/ubuntu karmic main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/do-core/ppa/ubuntu karmic main

Or if you’re using Ubuntu 9.04:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/do-core/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/do-core/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

As you can see, you can save quite some space by using a substitute dependency.

Installation of Gnome-Do with full Evolution package:

Installation of Gnome-Do with substitute Evolution package:

Credit for the substitute dependency: Juan Frias

Many KDE 3 users depended on Krun, a simple yet effective application used to execute commands. Executed simply by pressing “Alt-F2″, it was much easier to start applications using it, rather than navigating through a launch menu or opening a terminal window. The only catch with Krun was that you had to know the exact name of the command you intended to launch.  With the advent of KDE 4, that has all changed.

Krunner operates independently of the Plasma desktop system as a standalone application. It includes a ton of features that make it useful beyond simple command launching.  It has retained many of the features present in KDE 3 and greatly expanded them. We would fail to do it justice if we did not give it a top ten list.

10. Calculator

Do you need to figure out how much money you have left for groceries after subscribing to three MMORPGs?  Just press “Alt-F2″ or right click on the desktop and press “run command”. To use Krunner as a calculator, type the = sign and then enter the equation.  For example, type “=890*12″, and it will output a calculator icon and the answer: “10680″. Simply select the answer to calculate the next equation with it. KDE 3 had a similar calculating feature that automatically opened Google’s calculator.  With this you can calculate multiple times without leaving the Krunner window.

9. Spellchecker

If you are anything like me, you are obsessed with spelling things correctly and yet could not spell to save your life.  If you happen to be typing a blog post in OpenOffice.org or using Firefox’s spellcheck feature, you will be safe. But if you are in the middle of one of those MMORPGs and need to spell “elemental” correctly, hop into windowed mode and press “Alt-F2″. Then type “spell:” followed by  your best attempt at spelling the word you need. Krunner will offer suggestions.

8. Unit converter

Are you planning to visit any country outside of the U.S. and cannot understand why people “don’t speak American”?  KDE will rescue you again. Open Krunner and enter a number and any unit you can imagine. By default, it will convert that unit to meters. Add “in” or “as” followed by another unit, and it will immediately output the conversion. For example, type “5 miles in cm” and it will output: “804672 centimeters”.

7. Contact finder

Whenever you need to shoot off a quick email, just type in the name of a person in your address book (You must use Kaddressbook for this work). Krunner will pull up any names close to what you type and display: “Mail to so-and-so”.

6. Website launcher

Krunner can launch any website you type in your default browser. It will also use konqueror shortcuts. For example, to search Google Images, enter: “images: pandas”. It will display its function before you press enter: “Search Google Image Search for pandas”. It can also launch bookmarks and browser history.

5. Location launch

Are you tired of navigating through file folders? Just type in the folder you want to reach in Krunner. If you want to open your Music folder, just type “Music”. It is really that simple.

4. Desktop search

You know you typed a paper two years ago on tectonic plate shifting, but you just cannot find it. If you are using Strigi, KDE’s desktop search system, Krunner can find it. Type in any search terms you want and let the desktop searching do the rest.

3. Task manager

A slimmed down version of ksysguard, KDE’s task manager is available as a component within Krunner. Users can access it by clicking on the second icon from the left in the Krunner window or by pressing Ctrl-Esc anywhere within KDE. It is quick and easy, allowing you to monitor CPU and Memory usage. You can also kill applications at will. Use with care.

2. Application search

Suppose you want to launch a card game but cannot remember the name. Just type in “card” into Krunner, and your card game applications will appear. You can also begin typing the name of an application, and Krunner will display all the applications that start with those letters while you are typing.

1. Command launcher

Even with all of the new features, nothing beats the original. Krunner is still a command launcher and still keeps a history of commands you have launched, which you can display either by beginning to retype them or opening the drop-down menu. Therefore, you only have to type “kdesudo kate /etc/X11/xorg.conf” once, and Krunner will remember it the next 20 times you want to tweak your X server.

Perhaps the greatest thing about Krunner is that it is extensible. Many of the plugins mentioned above were authored by users who were not on the original Krunner development team. Anyone can write a plugin, making the possibilities endless. Any plugins you do not like can be disabled, so KDE 3 purists can return it to command-launching-only status anytime they like. That is also useful on slower machines. With each release of KDE, however, Krunner will be even faster, with more awesome features to add the list.

*Note: These features are presented as they currently appear in KDE 4.3, scheduled to be released at the end of July 2009.

The development of GNOME Do is inspired by Quicksilver and GNOME Launch Box. As such, you will find many features to be familiar. Once you installed it, you can easily summon the search box via “Super+Space” shortcut key. Simply type the name of the application or file that you want to locate and GNOME Do will find the match and display it on the left pane. On the right pane is the action that you can take with that file you have located.

For example, type in “Rhy” and the “RhythmBox Music Player” will show up on the left pane. On the right pane shows the “Run” action. Simply press Enter to load the RhythmBox Music Player. To make things even easier, you can give a command to play song from RhythmBox, just type “play [name of the song]” and press Enter.

Other than searching for files only in your system, GNOME Do also allows you to find online contents and execute more tasks via the use of plugins. The plugins database can be found here. Personally, I find that the Firefox, Twitter, Google Calendar and GNOME Terminal plugins have been particularly useful.

Oh yes…did I mention that GNOME Do runs on KDE as well?

[GNOME Do]