how-to

    One thing that I have really missed in playing with songbird is Global Hotkeys for changing the song, etc. This functionality is available for Windows, but Linux (and Mac) users still have to wait if we want official support. There is a workaround, though, thanks to GeekShadow's addon Command Line Support. This allows for all kinds of clever hackery, including global Hotkeys.

Here's a quick javascript+XPCOM recipe on how to get a list of the user's playlists in a songbird extension.

At first blush, it would seem that those wanting the latest stable python, 2.6, would have to compile it themselves (or so python.org would indicate). Fortunately for us, that process, which is at best annoying, and at worst long and complicated, is spared us by our friends over at Launchpad, and their "Personal Package Archives".

FFmpeg is a wonderful tool which every aspiring linux guru should get familiar with. The thing it does, just about better than anything else, is handle media files. You can mux them, demux them, encode/decode, resize, compress .....you name it.

I just finished my first instructable, on how to make a decorative origami ball.

These are nice for decorations, or gifts (I've made a few pair of earrings from foil-made ones).

I made this video a while ago, but only just uploaded it. Enjoy.