I'm working on adding apturl support to Linux App Finder so programs in a deb repository can be installed just by clicking a link. Since not every system will have apturl installed, I'd like to be able to detect whether or not the browser can handle an apt: link and use the information to display appropriate instructions. Does anyone know how to do that?

I've blogged about K9Copy's DVD rip and copy abilities in the past, but I only just noticed that it has added one step rip to MPEG4 support. After taking it for a test drive I'm very pleased with the ease of use and plan to use it for most of my ripping needs in the future.

Up until now dvd::rip has been my ripper of choice, but I recently received a stack of DVD's for Father's Day and kept getting errors during the ripping process. I reinstalled some of the libraries, but the issues still persisted. During my search for a replacement I decided to fire up K9Copy, thinking that I could potentially rip to the hard drive with it and encode with dvd::rip. That's when I noticed an MPEG4 button.

I have to admit that, until recently, I've been negligent in my backup plan. Oh, I did the occasional database backup and have most of my files replicated on my local drive, but I didn't have a real plan. If disaster had struck I wouldn't have been prepared.

I often find myself working with data that's stored on multiple computers, and with KDE's network transparency this is an easy thing to do. But of course there are times when network access isn't available, and in this situation being able to easily sync data between two drives is a huge convenience. My solution is Smb4K.

Smb4K is first and foremost a share browser, but it has another unsung capability to syncronize between a share and a local folder.

As a KDE user, I tend to pick a Qt app when two mostly equivalent programs exist. I thought that would be the case with QTParted and GParted, but to my surprise I found GParted to be a superior program that actually allowed me to accomplish my goal when QTParted could not.

Back in March I started looking for a new feed reader. I had been using Opera's built in RSS capabilities, but it didn't offer the control I was looking for. As a KDE user my first stop was Akregator and I never felt the need to look anywhere else.

Where is the metadata standard for video? MP3's have ID3. Images have EXIF, IPTC, and more. If commercial video is ever to take off as an electronically distributed format it's necessary. Without it video players can't identify what's available. That may not seem important if you are sitting in front of a computer and reading a filename, but for other devices and 10' UI's it's a big problem.

I've always been a big fan of Konqueror so when I heard that Dolphin was going to be the new default file manager for KDE4 I was disappointed. But after researching the decision further and actually giving Dolphin a try, I'm a convert.

Despite the improvements made each year by GNU/Linux, KDE, and GNOME, recovering from failure is one of the recurring themes many new users struggle with. Why aren't we making it easier to prepare for, and recover from, failure? Here are some proposals to make recovery less painful.

The RSS feeds for the Linux App Finder News and Blog sections are currently partial only. I'm trying to determine if I should switch them to contain the full text of the posts instead. Please vote and/or leave your comments if you have a preference that you would like to see adopted.

You can find the poll here.