Twenty years ago this year the first smartphone, the Simon was invented its been a long and rocky road since then..

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I declare 2012 the Year of the Linux Desktop! At least on my computer.

Happy Birthday Susan aka srlinuxx!!! I can't believe you are 39 yet again! Hope you have a great day and a prosperous New Year.

Boxee was an early full screen playback system which suited Ubuntu well, and the community in the most part followed it creating their own set top boxes and starting the cut the cord revolution.

Well Boxee knows how to say thank you for that early desktop commitment...

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Everyone knows about video games and the issues facing them in Linux. Not as many people are aware though that tabletop role Playing Games are experiencing a bit of a surge in popularity and that Linux and other open source software are able to assist in that growth.

With Google Chrome becoming the number 2 Web browser in 2011 it's a sure thing that Google are doing something right. Building on the same success as Firefox and learning from Mozilla Chrome's Plugin and Extensions library is growing daily. Having a Google login linked in with your browser ensures that your plugins will load on any browser you are logged into.

This is a list of extensions i'm using regularly, i do use others, however these are the one's i go back to.

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f there is something about prediction posts its a pretty sure thing when you read them back a year later, it's pretty evident that most of us don't have the powers of Nostradamus.

What's going to be hot in 2012?

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2011 was a very interesting year for Linux, the Jewel in the crown Ubuntu got some very bad press mostly over Unity. KDE started to get its act together and took great strides to provide a usable GUI and the Gnome Team took minimalisation to a whole new level for GUI's with Gnome 3.

So what does 2012 have to offer for the Linux Community?

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As the Web grows and provides us with more and more services it's often too easy to lose a few services here and there. While Facebook and Google are huge names and indeed are also willing to kill off services which don't work (especially Google this year) there are other URL's which provide niche services.

This list is of 10 such services which enhance the usage of the internet and you may not have heard of them.

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While Amazon do whatever they need to do with UK Publishing companies before they release the Kindle fire over here in Blighty, there is of course the normal Kindle touch, however having had a play with it I wasn't that impresses with the Interface or the lack of cheap books. I decided to have a scout round for alternative eInk/eBook readers.

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I'm not going to write here that the 2012 Mayan Prophecy is actually going to happen. However I won't be dictated to by scientists. The cosmos is a huge place. and the examples here show we are closer to our demise than a bad child playing Marbles..

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It's that time of the year when everyone seems to be recapping on what was good, bad and ugly on various topics. So it only seems fair that I present you with my selection of top 10 in Tech for 2011..

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As a recently revived Game Master/DM going back to my RPG roots in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 1st Edition after about a 20 year absence, I find that computer technology has impacted Role Playing Games far beyond being able to play online.

Big oops!!! Leo Laporte delivers technology advice to millions managed to broadcast an explicit Google chat with his lover, exposing the affair he's apparently been carrying on with his CEO.

http://gawker.com/5870610/how-the-voice-of-tech-leaked-his-own-sex-chat

Looks like someone has been very very naughty! LOL

I wanted to formally thank again those who donated to tuxmachines' Christmas stocking this year at Texstar's suggestion.

In the US, for the first time in a very long time the government are going to be in situ this wednesday to vote, do what ever it is they are doing to try and get the Stop Online Piracy Act passed or at least to the next stage.

Realistically does it matter if the pass, fail, whatever, long term the future of copyright and censorship has nothing to do with this act, its' down to the consumer and the internet.. It's you and I not the US Government who hold the future..

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Pear OS is a new Linux desktop distribution based on Ubuntu Desktop with the graphical installer. Its development started in early August 2011 by David Tavares (from France), and on August 15 2011, Pear OS 1.0, the first version marked “stable,” was released. The latest edition, release on December 14 2011, is Pear OS Linux Panther 3.

I have very fond memories of the first time i found Firefox or Phoenix as it was known almost 10 years ago in 2002. It was a breath of fresh air compared to the then seemingly bloated and slow Internet Explorer browser. Netscape was still around at these times and as Phoenix became Firebird, and Firebird became Firefox early features such as Tabbed Browsing, Plugins and Extentions set Firefox far ahead of the competition.

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Love it or hate it, the Adult Entertainment Industry has helpled shaped the tech world for over 40 years, from the early VHS / Betamax wars to todays 3D TV it has lead the way in innovation for media as a mass form and the rest of the movie industry could learn from it.

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With Christmas just 10 days away how about putting a little extra something in tuxmachines stocking this year? I know times are tough but if you have an extra 5 or 10 or even 20 bucks it would be a really nice way to say thanks to Susan for bringing us our daily fix of news and information.

http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/15555

Merry Christmas to all!