Latest Posts from Download Squad

Gloobus-Preview is a truly awesome extension for the GNOME Desktop environment for Linux. It gives you a full screen preview of most file types. Based on Apple's Quicklook you can, for example, display the currently played mp3 including a cover window and lyrics on your desktop while playing music with your favorite player like Amarok or Songbird.

In other words, you can access a huge number of file types without first launching the applications associated with that file first. It's useful for browsing your pictures (from, say, last night pub) or to create a simple slide show on your desktop.

Gloobus can currently preview over 40 file formats including image, document, audio, video, and programming language files.
Ubuntu and all Debian based distributions can get Gloobus installed by downloading the .deb file, Archlinux users can download their package here. For any other Linux distribution you can compile Gloobus from the source code.

Security specialists from Russia have exploited a security hole in the Windows version of Firefox 3.6. The recently discovered exploit could let an attacker take control of your PC. The exploit doesn't appear to affect Firefox for Mac or Linux.

The hole is likely to be still open since no updates have been released since the exploit became public. Secunia ranks the problem as highly critical and the Mozilla Foundation has yet to release an official statement - and patch.

It's not clear how widely circulated the exploit is. Extraexploit notes that there was a noticeable increase in the number of Firefox 3.6 crashes on February 12th and 13th. But it's impossible to say whether this was related to the exploit.

Make sure to check for Firefox updates more often since the built-in update checker is very dull. Users with older versions of the Mozilla browser may update to Firefox 3.0.18 and Firefox 3.5.8.

[via The H Security]

Yay privacy! Students in Philadelphia received laptops from school to get a better learning environment, which is actually a good thing. But the build-in webcams can be covertly activated by the schools' administrators, who have used this facility to spy on students - and more shocking: their families. Yes, at home.

The issue came to light as a kid was disciplined for "improper behavior in his home" and the Vice Principal used a photo taken by the webcam as evidence... What? If true, these allegations are about as creepy as they come. The suit is a class action, brought on behalf of all students issued with these machines.
Personally, I often have my Laptop in the room while getting dressed or have a private discussion with friends and family.

Okay, I (hope) to have the complete control over my own hardware - but hardware from your employer or rental devices cannot be controlled that easily.

Learn more about privacy browsing through our archives and let your Anti Virus check your hard disk frequently.

The guys over at boingboing pointed it all out: "But when schools take that personal information, indiscriminately invading privacy (and, of course, punishing students who use proxies and other privacy tools to avoid official surveillance), they send a much more powerful message: your privacy is worthless and you shouldn't try to protect it."

[Via boingboing]

WinSCP is freeware SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) and SCP (Secure CoPy) client for Windows using SSH (Secure Shell) and has hit version 4.2.6. Its main purpose is the safe of copying files between local and remote computers. Beyond this basic function, it manages some other actions with files, like basic operations with files, such as copying and moving. One of two selectable program interfaces allows users to even manage local files. Most operations can be done recursively for files in folders.

Furthermore WinSCP can act as a remote editor: when you click on a file, for example a text document in the remote file manager, it transfers the file to the local machine and opens it in the integrated editor. Whenever the document is saved, the remote version is updated automatically.

Development of WinSCP started around May 2000 and was originally hosted by the University of Economics in Prague. Since July 16, 2003 it is licensed under GPL. It is popular among the iPhone Jailbreak community as a way of transferring data to and from the device and even comes with a portable edition, useful if you want to have it on your USB device or dropbox.

WinSCP 4.2.6 is available for download here, the complete changelog can be found there.

There are dozens of URL shortener available on the web like tr.im, bit.ly, and goo.gl, to name just a few. They all take long URLs and squeeze them into fewer characters to make a link that is easier to share, tweet, or email to friends.

It's about using the smallest space possible: On Twitter or instant message status even a 60 character long URL can be too long. For example the URL http://downloadsquad.switched.com/ contains 29 characters and can be shortened to http://tr.im/ORcH - 17 characters. But it doesn't always have to be about efficiency.

Why not have some fun with your links?

ShadyURL is a little bit different: "Don't just shorten your URL, make it suspicious and frightening," they say. Hey, why use a run-of-the-mill bit.ly link with some random letters when you can zap someone over to http://5z8.info/inject_now_l2k9y_snufffilms? That'll make your coworkers think twice before they click -- or possibly not, depending on what they're into.

Okay, maybe it's not the best service for transforming URLs prior to sending them to your boss but definitely an eye catcher on Facebook and other social websites. Go check it out and hit the "try again" button after submitting your link to get a freshly-vandalized link.

[Via Neatorama]

Brand new stuff for Snow Leopard: If you choose to make Choose Wisley your default web browser, clicking links in other programs -- for example your email client -- will cause a pop-up a window to appear which gives you the opportunity to select a specific browser to open the link with. This tiny application is very useful for those who are into web development to test their work or who need more than one default browser.

All you need to do is simply drag and drop your browsers into the application window. A maximum of 5 different browsers can be stored, and browsers you no longer need can be removed by dragging them out of the window. Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard is required. Older versions are not officially supported and may cause system crashes.

Choose Wisely is Freeware inspired by the $12 shareware Choosy and developed by Christoph Zirkelbach.

[Screenshot provided by aptgetupdate]

How to convince a Mac OS X or Windows user to try GNU/Linux? Installing the desired distribution in a Virtual Machine? Read them all those FAQs about partitioning your hard drive for a dual-boot system? No, no - there's an easier way: live CDs or DVDs! Almost every distribution (like Ubuntu, Knoppix or Fedora) are capable of booting into a fully functional desktop right from a burned disc. Simply download the .iso image file, burn it to a CD or DVD with your favorite disc burning application, and reboot your machine!

But one big disadvantage, especially on older hardware, is the slow startup time. Jamie Bennett, blogger and one of Canonical's Ubuntu Mobile developers, has explained the difficulties of speeding up the process. Tweaking and speeding the boot time is only possible if you find out why it was slow:

There are two broad steps in the process of booting a live CD. The first is preparing the environment for the session and the second -- you guessed it -- is actually booting into the session. Initial hunches were that the first step (setup) was the major cause of slowness.

Read more »

An enterprising Mac gamer, Colin D. Munro, created a USB driver which adds support to Mac OS X for the official Microsoft Xbox 360 wired controller. Along with all the buttons, both analog sticks, the analog triggers, and the D-pad, it also implements Force Feedback support using the rumble motors as well.

Third party controllers should also be supported, but these must be added manually to the driver's list of supported devices. Currently, the official controller and the DOA4 stick controller work out-of-the-box. Note that wireless controllers won't function -- they communicate with the XBox 360 using a proprietary RF protocol, so the Bluetooth module built into your Mac won't talk to them.

The driver is still a bit buggy and some features like the ability to alter HID descriptor (both to remap buttons and change device type) and support for all 360 controllers (without adding each one to the plist file manually) are missing. However, if you don't use a Windows dual-boot system to play games Colin's driver is definitely worth a look.

The driver may be found here -- make sure to check which revision is suitable for you!

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Lucid Lynx is expected to land on April 29th - and could land with a big bang. As we have reported in November Canonical, sponsor and developer of Ubuntu, is working hard on an iTunes-like music store. Rumors are saying that the music store will be a part of the Ubuntu single sign on service - providing a single, central login service for all Ubuntu-related sites and applications, thus making it more convenient for Ubuntu users and community members to access information, communicate, and contribute.

Lucid Lynx comes with a newly designed Software Center where you will be able to purchase music from the same application that allows you to browse, search and install applications. Most likely this will be a partnership with Amazon's digital music download service (seeing as how Amazon already has a version of its MP3 download tool for Linux). The music service will work in conjunction with either Rhythmbox or Banshee.

A music store build into an operating system without the need of adding extra software plus the already available and coming features to Ubuntu one (back up, store, sync and share your data with other Ubuntu One users) - how simple and easy is that? And soon enough commercial software will join the mix inside of the Ubuntu Software Center. This will rock!

[Via & screenshot OMG! Ubuntu!]

Do you yearn for a button that expands your application windows to full screen like those lucky Microsoft Windows folk? Full-screen can be extremely useful, especially if you're using a laptop or any other shrimpy screen.

Megazoomer is a free, SIMBL-based bundle that fakes full-screen mode within any Cocoa app, including Safari and Textmate.

There is one downside to Megazoomer: you've got to have SIMBL installed (head over to the official website to download it). Once installed jump to the Finder and navigate to ~/Library/Application Support, a reboot is not required. Create a folder called SIMBL, and another one called Plugins inside it. To finish the installation copy megazoomer.bundle into the newly created Plugins folder.

Running this tool is very, very simple: press Command-Return, and the front-most window grows to fill your entire screen, covering the Dock and menu bar. Press the same keys, and it shrinks again.