For high-quality screen recording and streaming from the desktop nothing comes close to matching the power and versatility of cross-platform and open-source OBS Studio – this weekend a new version went live. What’s new in OBS Studio 31.0? A slate of new features and capabilities, plus a bunch of bug fixes, performance tune-ups. Among them, … [Read more...]

Last month’s Linux 6.12 kernel was a big update filled with new features, hardware support, and performance tune-ups. Now, it’s just gotten even sweeter: it’s an LTS! Those au fait with kernel development won’t be surprised by this news since, typically, the final stable Linux kernel release of the year becomes an LTS. But … [Read more...]

Development on COSMIC, a new open-source desktop environment created by developers a Linux-based hardware company System76, continues at pace, with a 4th alpha now available. System76 said new alpha releases of the COSMIC DE would roughly appear once a month (give or take), a cadence that enables them flesh out the features planned for its first … [Read more...]

Mozilla has finally announced its new branding, describing its first refresh in over a decade as not merely ‘a facelift’ but an effort to lay the foundation for the company’s next 25 years. If you read this blog regularly — thank you! — you know what the Mozilla’s new branding looks like because I first reported on it back … [Read more...]

Tab groups are a nifty productivity feature already available in web browsers like Google Chrome and Vivaldi — now they’re now coming to Mozilla Firefox. Except, that isn’t news, is it? Mozilla announced a series of major new features coming to Firefox in the next 12 months, including long-requested features such as native profile … [Read more...]

A new crowdfunding project aims to revive the (oft-derided) MacBook Pro Touch Bar, this time as a standalone device that work with Windows, macOS and, potentially, Linux too. It’s called Flexbar, and it’s currently seeking cash through Kickstarter. Now, I don’t like writing about crowdfunding projects generally. If I do, they need … [Read more...]

A new version of the Cinnamon desktop environment has been tagged for release – a sure-fire sign that the Linux Mint 22.1 beta is on the way! As the flagship desktop of Linux Mint, Cinnamon 6.4 will come preinstalled in Linux Mint 22.1 when it’s released at the end of December (though should beta testing reveal issues the date could slip into … [Read more...]

A major new update to the powerful open source video converter HandBrake is available. In the 6 months (give or take) since the HandBrake 1.8 release arrived with its GTK4 (but not libadwaita) GUI in tow, the team has furnished this free media conversation software for Windows, macOS, and Linux with a fresh batch of features. HandBrake 1.9 adds … [Read more...]

If you’re an avid user of the Discord Linux app and been annoyed that screen share audio doesn’t work, there’s good news: it now does! The latest version of Discord for Linux at long last includes the option to ‘share system audio’ when setting up a screen share to stream in chats or server channels. Though it works on … [Read more...]

Calibre 7.22 is out — and yes, I’m making extra special effort to not mangle the version number this release as I always seem to insert an extra period in the string whenever I cover the the app! Unwieldy looking though it can seem, the open-source Calibre ebook manager remains unsurpassed in terms of features, tools, and capabilities. Add in … [Read more...]

Firefox fans on Linux will enjoy smaller download sizes and faster decompressing when using the official binary builds from the Mozilla website. The browser maker today announced its switching to the tar.xz format — yes, that xz —to distribute its Linux builds, which uses the more efficient LZMA compression algorithm to deliver smaller downloads … [Read more...]

Indie distro fans rejoice: elementary OS 8.0 is now available to download. Built on the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS base and powered by the Linux 6.8 kernel, elementary OS 8 brings a swathe of improvement to both the Pantheon desktop environment, its core apps, and the overall user experience. The elementary team says it focused on several key areas for this … [Read more...]

Mozilla Firefox 133 was released today, furnished with some new features and UI refinements long-time users are sure to appreciate. In the 4 weeks sinceFirefox 132 brought us certificate compression, tweaked the way the ‘copy link without site tracking’ surfaces, and flicked the switch on hardware acceleration of SVG primitives in … [Read more...]

If you were put off trying the Warp terminal app on Ubuntu (or another Linux distro) due to the account and login requirement, there’s good news. The team behind the Rust-based, AI-infused terminal tool has relented on the requirement that users sign-up for and log in with a Warp account before they can run a command. As of this week, anyone … [Read more...]

Snap is Canonical’s universal package format for Linux. It lets developers build their software once for users on multiple Linux distributions to use. At least, that’s the theory. In reality, few Linux distributions outside of the Ubuntu ecosphere support Snap out of the box. Most carry the underlying Snap daemon package (snapd) in the … [Read more...]

Good things come to those who wait, and for 3D modelling professionals with a preference for open-source software, the wait for the FreeCAD 1.0 release has been a long one – over 22 years! At long last, this free, open-source alternative to expensive engineering software like Autodesk Fusion 360, AutoCAD, SOLIDWORKS etc., has emerged from … [Read more...]