Productivity Sauce

Look up Words with Purple Dictionary

Jan 28, 2011 GMT

Although Gnome comes with a dictionary application, it's not the most polished tool out there. Its major shortcoming is the lack of text formatting, which makes dictionary articles more difficult to read. Enter the Purple dictionary application. Developed as a part of the Elementary project, this lightweight and slick dictionary tool is perfect for quickly looking up words from the convenience of your desktop. While Purple is decidedly a bare-bones application, it presents articles as nicely formatted text. In addition to that, the left sidebar provides quick access to previous articles and the Bookmark feature lets you bookmark articles...

LibreOffice 3.3 is Ready for Public Consumption

Jan 25, 2011 GMT

Good news for those who have been waiting for a stable release of the LibreOffice fork of OpenOffice.org. The wait is over: The Document Foundation has announced the availability of LibreOffice 3.3. Although at first sight LibreOffice 3.3 looks pretty much like the previous versions, the new release sports a handful of new features and under-the-hood improvements. The most notable additions include new Microsoft Works and Lotus Word Pro document import filters, support for SVG graphics, an improved Navigator tool in Writer, and a slew of tweaks in the Calc spreadsheet application. A list of all tweaks and improvements is available for your...

Extension Watch: Send Web Content to Kindle from Google Chrome

Jan 21, 2011 GMT

The Send To Kindle extension for Google Chrome and Chromium offers a straightforward way to transfer Web content to the Kindle reader without leaving the convenience of the Google Chrome browser (it works with Chromium, too). Once installed, the extension allows you to send the currently viewed Web page as nicely formatted text to your @kindle.com address, which automatically pushes the content to your Kindle reader. The extension also lets you send pages to your @free.kindle.com address, so you don't have to pay wireless delivery charges. In this case, the converted .azw file will be sent to the email address associated with your Amazon account, and you have to manually transfer the file...

Manage MySQL with Consummate Ease Using SQL Buddy

Jan 19, 2011 GMT

phpMyAdmin is probably the most popular Web-based tool for managing MySQL databases, but it is definitely not the only fish in the sea. In fact, if phpMyAdmin's interface is not your cup of tea and the tool itself is overkill for your needs, then you'd be better off using something like SQL Buddy. This lightweight tool sports a slick user-friendly interface that puts all essential management features at your fingertips. Better yet, SQL Buddy is ridiculously easy to install. Grab the latest version of the application, unzip the downloaded archive, move it to your server, and SQL Buddy is ready to go. As any database management tool worth...

Tibesti: Screencasts the Easy Way

Jan 14, 2011 GMT

Thanks to Tibesti, creating screencasts doesn't have to be a chore. This tiny utility lets you record desktop activity with a minimum of effort. Installing Tibesti on Ubuntu is a simple three-command affair: sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ackondro/tibesti sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install tibestiTibesti is designed to be as straightforward in use as possible. The main window provides access to the most important settings, including output format, quality, and recording mode. In addition to OGG, Tibesti supports the WebM, AVI, and H.264 formats, and the utility can capture both video and audio. The Options window lets you configure...

Back up MySQL Databases with a Simple Bash Script

Jan 12, 2011 GMT

If you host your own blog or any Web-based application running on the Apache/MySQL/PHP stack, you should have a backup system in place for keeping data stored in MySQL databases safe. There are several solutions that can help you with that, but nothing beats a simple Bash script I stumbled upon in a blog post comment. Here is the script in all its beauty: #!/bin/bash NOW=`date +"%Y-%m"`; BACKUPDIR="location/of/your/backup/dir/$NOW"; ### Server Setup ### #* MySQL login user name *# MUSER="user"; #* MySQL login PASSWORD name *# MPASS="pass"; #* MySQL login HOST name *# MHOST="your-mysql-ip"; MPORT="your-mysql-port"; # DO...

Turn Google Chrome into a Text Editor with Write Space

Jan 07, 2011 GMT

The Write Space app for Google Chrome and Chromium can come in rather handy when you need to quickly scribble down a note without leaving the browser. Once installed, Write Space adds a no-frills text editor to the browser. Despite its simplicity, Write Space has a handful of nifty features. For example, the persistent auto-save function saves the text file on every key press, so you don't have to worry about losing your changes. Write Space also offers live document statistics, such as number of words, line, and characters. You don't need an Internet connection in order to use Write Space, and the app saves text files locally. Write Space...