What?
With this little tool you can extract almost any archive in Linux so you do not need to remember which tool and what command lines are necessary.

Why?
I got fed up with the sheer impossible number of compression formats out there. I am an avid linux command line user, but remembering 20 different commands with strange switches to get to the juicy content of a compressed files is too much for me.

Therefore I have just happily spent a few hours of my life to write the application e that identifies which extraction tool to call with what parameter in order to save me precious seconds of rereading forgotten manpages.

Usage
This marvelous extraction tool works like this:

Extract a zip file:

e file.zip

Extract a rar file:

e file.rar

Extract several archives, one after another:

e a.tar.gz b.tar.bz2 c.cab d.deb e.rpm

Extract every file from the current directory:

e *

If possible, e identifies the file format by the content and not by the extension, so for most filetypes e can extract it no matter how you name it. It supports rar, zip, tar.gz, tar.bz2, cab, ace, 7zip, dep, rpm, lha, lzop, rzip, and some more; it is very easy to extend it to support other compression utilities.

I was also inspired by the ugliness of the tool unp which tries to do exactly what e does. I did not like the implementation (written in Perl), and thought I can have the same features in a much simpler and more extensible way. The result is that e is just about 80 lines of code, where most of it is either comment or rules that define when to call what. If you know Ruby, have a look at the code.
Installation

For the impatient, installation on Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install ruby
wget http://martin.ankerl.com/files/e
chmod a+x e
sudo mv e /usr/local/bin

Step by step:

1. e is written in Ruby, so you need to install this.
2. Download e from here
3. copy e into your /usr/local/bin directory
4. make it executable with chmod +x /usr/local/bin/e.

If you find an archive that e cannot extract and you know a working rule for it, please tell me and I will integrate it.

Download
* Get e here.

I had to post this, i think it’s too cute!

Click here to clean your screen

Spotify is a music service that gives users access to a huge library of music, through a lightweight application that looks like a mashup of the best parts of iTunes and Last.fm. Music is streamed, partly supported by P2P technology, but it plays instantly, like we’ve never seen before.

One of the software engineers at Spotify is Ludvig Strigeus, the creator of uTorrent. It is therefore no surprise that the application uses very few resources, just 12k memory when we tested it. The rumor goes that some of the money made when uTorrent sold to BitTorrent Inc., has actually been invested in Spotify, an application that competes with piracy.

When we asked Andres Sehr of Spotify to describe the service, he told us “Spotify is a new way of enjoying music. We believe Spotify provides a viable alternative to music piracy. We think the way forward is to create a service better than piracy, thereby converting users into a legal, sustainable alternative which also enriches the total music experience.”

The quality of the music on Spotify is comparable to 160kbps MP3s, which is more than decent for a streaming application. To fill its library, Spotify has cut deals with EMI, Warner Music, Sony BMG and three other major labels, which all responded positively to the new concept. Interestingly, Spotify also uses P2P technology to stream the more frequently accessed tracks.

“Spotify uses a hybrid p2p system where music is delivered both by our servers and using P2P,” Andres Sehr said. “This allows us to deliver the long tail of music which may not be very popular, as well as quickly serve up the latest hits that the majority of users listen to. P2P allows us to both increase the speed that we deliver music and also lower the cost of streaming it.”

Aside from being a music streaming application, Spotify also allows users to create and share playlists with each other, the top 100 tracks of 2008 according to Pitchfork editors for example. On top of that, the Spotify interface helps you to discover new artists with its “similar artists” and “artist radio” feature.

The overall response from Spotify users seems to be very positive, but can it compete with piracy? Time will have to tell, but Spotify invites are actively being traded within the BitTorrent community, and it has even been well received on some of the most elite music trackers.

One user at the music tracker What.cd wrote: “Honestly it’s going to be huge. I’ve been browsing and playing from its seemingly endless music catalogue all afternoon, it loads as if it’s playing from local files, so fast, so easy. If it’s this great in such early beta stages then I can’t imagine where its going. I feel like buying another laptop to have permanently rigged.”

Spotify is not perfect though. One of the mentioned downsides is that it is not compatible with iPods and other portable MP3 players. The Spotify team hasn’t ruled out the option of an iPod compatible version in the future, but for now they will focus on optimizing the Windows and Mac application.

Overall we can conclude that Spotify definitely has potential, but time will tell if it’s able to compete successfully with piracy. Spotify is currently in Beta stage, invites to the free (ad-supported) version can only be used in the UK, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Spain and France, but restrictions usually don’t stop pirates.

Please remember though that it’s only available in the UK, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Spain and France

Join: https://www.spotify.com/en/get-started

Video: What is Spotify?

Terminator
is a simple program that allows you to load multiple terminals and
arrange them in grid. It is useful when you need to access to various
terminals at the same time.

Some of the feature in Terminator includes:

• Arrange terminals in grid
• multiple tabs
• drag and drop reordering of terminal
• keyboard shortcuts
• config file to override gnome-terminal setting

To install terminator, you can either click here or in your terminal, type

sudo apt-get install terminator

Go to Applications -> Accessories -> Terminator

Read More

Asus most definitely came to CES today packing heat and without a
doubt, one of its most impressive announcements was the Eee Keyboard.
We want it and we want it now. The Eee Keyboard stuffs a PC with
respectable netbook-like specs into, you guessed it, a keyboard. Flat
Mac-like keys and a 5-inch touchscreen display sit atop a very thin
keyboard frame with a host of connections on the back – connections you
potentially don’t even need, we might add. Asus’ new take on the
all-in-one features Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n along with wireless HDMI and
Bluetooth 2.0 meaning that short of a power cord, users can connect
wirelessly to any and all required peripherals including a high
definition display or HDTV. We’ll take things in a different direction
- imagine carrying this puppy around with a a pocket projector and
having access to a full PC with a sizable projected display anywhere
and everywhere you go. Specs on this innovative little piece of kit are
as follows:

• Self-contained PC / keyboard combo with integrated 5-inch touchscreen display
• OS: Windows XP Home Edition
• 1.6GHz Intel Atom microprocessor
• 1GB of DDR2 DRAM
• 16GB or 32GB SSD
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n
• Bluetooth 2.0
• Ultra Wideband HDMI
• USB 2.0 x2, VGA, HDMI, headphone and mic ports
• Weight: 2 lbs

Pricing and projected availability are still a bit of a mystery,
though Asus CEO Johnny Shih claims it will be available in the next
three to six months, so we’ll be waiting with bated breath. Hit the
jump for two more shots.