M.A.R.S. – A Ridiculous Shooter, Indie Game Showcase

M.A.R.S. iconAt MakeTechEasier, we  have reviewed quite a handful of cross-platform indie games. The latest to catch our attention is M.A.R.S. – a ridiculous shooter (their words, not mine). Like some of the other favorites we have highlighted, M.A.R.S. is a 2D retro-style arcade game with some modern features like online multiplayer matches.

The weird thing about M.A.R.S. is that it is very different from the typical top-down or side-scrolling space shooter in that your ship is very much at the mercy of the gravitational fields surrounding the ridiculously close planets. It is very easy for your ship to go spinning out of control, making navigation a significantly large part of the challenge. To make matters worse, bumping into a planet causes damage, but that is just all part of the fun of M.A.R.S.
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How to Easily Resize Window In Gnome [Quick Tips]

resize-win-iconHow do you usually resize a window? Move your mouse pointer to the corner of the window and click to resize it, simple, right? Well, if you are using Gnome (Linux), resizing an application window can be a hit or miss affair. In some applications (such as Nautilus), the corners width are huge and you can easily click and drag to resize them. However, in other applications, the sidebar and corner width is only a pixel wide and moving your mouse cursor to that exact point (where the cursor become the resize arrowhead) can be a tedious task.

Here are some ways you can use to make resizing the window an easier, and enjoyable task.
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Deja Dup Makes Backup A Simple Task [Linux]

deja-dup-logoThere are plenty of backup options in Linux. We have covered a few here, namely, back in time, AptOnCD, and Rsync. Deja Dup Backup is yet another backup tool, except that it turns the whole complicated backup process into kid stuff.
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Fedora 15 vs Ubuntu Natty Narwhal – The Battle for Your Next Desktop

fed15natty-smallWith the changes coming to the desktops of some major Linux distributions, it looks like we’re beginning to see some welcome differentiation between how each distro presents itself to users. Fedora and Ubuntu are of course well known as some of the most popular and user-friendly Linux systems, and while they have many similarities, their next major releases are both taking a new approach to the desktop. Ubuntu has decided to drop their Netbook spin and run their homegrown Unity desktop across the board. Fedora however has jumped on board with Gnome 3, confident that it will have all the form and function their users want. While we’ve already discussed both desktops before, Fedora and Ubuntu are both offering more than a makeover, and it’s time to dig deeper.
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Gnome Shell is Almost Ready to Rock Your Desktop

fed15shell-smallWhen Gnome Shell was first becoming available over a year ago, we took a look at it to see what the foundation was like, and to see what direction the Gnome desktop was likely to go. At the time, we liked it, though it was clearly a “rough draft” of what it could eventually become. Since then, time has gone by, and while Ubuntu may have decided to go with Unity instead, others have taken Gnome Shell up to the next level. Fedora, among others, will be putting it front and center in future releases. Today we’re going to take a look at one of the most recent builds available to see what this slick desktop environment has got to offer.
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CloudSN Notifies You When New Mail Arrives [Linux]

cloudsn-logoHow often do you check your email? Half a day? Every hour? Every minute? What about your Facebook, Twitter and all other social networks that you are involved in? Won’t it be better if you can get a desktop notification whenever a new mail, or new update arrive, instead of having to visit the site everytime? CloudSN is a notification service for the Linux desktop that notifies you when new mail or update arrive. It supports Gmail, POP 3 and IMAP mailbox and Google Reader, Twitter and identi.ca. You can also get it to monitor a custom RSS feed.
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How to Theme Up Lubuntu

lubuntu-logoLubuntu is best known as a lightweight and speedy Linux distro, but when it comes to beauty and elegant, it is still lacking. Its default theme is rather plain and boring and its library of themes is limited too. Luckily, there are tons of beautiful themes out there that you can use and you can easily theme it up to make it the best looking distro out there. Here’s how:
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How to Assign/Remap Keyboard Shortcuts For Better Productivity [Linux]

remap-key-mainBy default, Ubuntu comes with a set of keyboard shortcut that you can use straightaway. However, some of these keyboard shortcuts might not be desirable, troublesome, or obstructive and disrupting your productivity. For example, if you have a keyboard with a media button, that button is automatically mapped to Rhythmbox. If your favorite media player is Banshee, or Exaile, you might want to change the keyboard shortcut to your favorite application.

There are several ways to manage your keyboard shortcut in Linux. You can do it via Xmodmap (and Xkeycaps), Gnome Keyboard Shortcut or Compiz. In this article, we will focus mainly on Gnome Keyboard Shortcut and Compiz.
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How to Encode WebM Videos for YouTube in Linux

Google WebM logoWebM is the new open video file format that Google created for HTML5 video. It is a combination of the VP8 video codec and Ogg Vorbis audio codec, wrapped in a Matroska container. It is free and open source, giving anyone the ability to encode videos without restrictions, and play them in supported browsers (Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Opera).

Google’s recent announcement that it is dropping support for H.264 video in Chrome means that the primary HTML5 video format on YouTube will eventually be WebM. Now is an excellent opportunity for you to learn how to encode videos in the new format. Furthermore, H.264 is patented and not open, so Linux users should make an effort to avoid it, when possible.
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Easily Search And Manage PPAs With Y PPA Manager

yppa-notifyInstalling applications in Ubuntu, in most cases, is as easy as going to the Ubuntu Software Center, search for the application and press the install button. However, there are times when the applications you are looking for is not available in the Ubuntu repository, or that the software version in the repository is outdated. This is when a deb file or a Personal Package Archive (PPA) comes in handy.

The advantages of using a PPA is that you can add new application package to your existing repository and install it the way you normally do (by terminal or Ubuntu Software Center). Additionally, when there is new update in the application, you will be automatically upgraded.
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