The folks at dropbox released the much anticipated Linux client yesterday. Currently it’s designed as a nautilus extension. Support for Konqueror should be available soon.

The nautilus extension is opensource but the dropboxd daemon which keeps the files in sync is closed source.

Packages for Ubuntu and Fedora are available for download. For other distros you’ll need to compile from source. Go to the download page. 

I managed to get dropbox working on my openSUSE 11 running KDE. It’s quite simple actually. You need to install the nautilus and nautilus-devel pakages before compiling the source,

1. install nautilus

root#> zypper in nautilus

2. install nautilus-devel

root#> zypper in nautilus-devel

3. compile the dropbox source. Make sure to be in the source folder first.

root#> ./configure

root#> make

root#> make install

4. start nautilus or the dropboxd daemon to initiate the dropbox client. 

root#> nautilus

or

root#> cd /home/[user]/.dropbox-dist/

root#> ./dropboxd

Google released it’s own web browser “Google Chrome” yesterday. 

Why the need for a new browser? Google felt that the browser has not evolved too much since the old days and to support today’s web applications browsers will need to be re-engineered.

Google decided to wipe the slate clean and start over with Google Chrome though it’s open source project “Chromium”.

To start, It’s open source under a permissive BSD license. Developers will get the best from the project and vice versa.

Unlike other browsers, Chrome is multi-processed. Each tab runs in it’s own memory space. While one tab is processing other tabs no longer need to wait. If java scripts get too heavy you only need to kill the tab in question. Also, there is a task manager built in to show you the processes running in each tab, allowing you to kill them if needed.

The user interface has also been slimmed down tremendously. No more clutter and no unnecessary information is is visible. The smart address bar does it all.

Currently Google Chrome is only available for Windows. A Linux version is on its way.

Take it for a spin

Source: Chromium || LifeHacker ||

Google has Linux software repositories setup for you to easily stay up to date with their Linux softwares. Their repositories support  APT, YUM, YaST, urpmi and RPM.

However, only Google Desktop and Google Picasa are published on the repositories. Google earth has to be downloaded and installed manually.

I’ll show you how to add the repository in openSUSE but for other distros refer here.

1. As root add the repository.

For 32 bit
pandora:~ # zypper sa -t YUM http://dl.google.com/linux/rpm/stable/i386 google

For 64 bit
pandora:~ # zypper sa -t YUM http://dl.google.com/linux/rpm/stable/x86_64 google64

2. Test the repository
pandora:~ # zypper se picasa

pandora:~ # zypper in picasa

Done!!

Users on the latest Firefox 2, version 2.0.0.17 should start receiving software updates later today prompting them to upgrade to Firefox 3.

The update is automated so no user intervention is needed expect for clicking yes on the license agreement disclaimer page.

Most extensions are already Firefox 3 capable so chances of you running an outdated extension is quite slim. The compatibility checker will notify you of such cases and offer the option to have them updated.

If you can’t wait then simply go to “Help” –> “Check for updates” to start the process manually.

Source: Mozilla

Audi came up with a smart promotional gimmick for it’s latest Audi. The company decided to use the iPhone with it’s huge userbase as their advertising platform to game as much reach as possible.

Audi released “Audi A4 Challenge“, A racing game for the iPhone. The game basically involves you driving around in an Audi and trying to constantly break your personal record. But what’s interesting are the controls. Acceleration is touch screen based and steering is done through the iPhone’s motion sensor. Pretty cool ha?

The game’s is free and is availale from the App Store.