Articles about Beta

There are a lot of great desktop environments for Linux, such as Cinnamon, KDE Plasma, and Xfce to name a few. With that said, only one can be the best, and that is GNOME. If you prefer a different environment, you are simply wrong or ignorant on the subject. You know what? That's fine. As they say, ignorance is bliss, so if you are happy not using GNOME, more power to you.

For those of us superior Linux users that prefer GNOME, it is time to get excited. You see, as of today, the GNOME 41 Beta is officially here! Keep in mind, the Beta tag is quite literal -- unless you are a Beta tester or Linux developer, you shouldn't be bothering with it just yet.

Continue reading →

When Microsoft first announced it was bringing Edge to Linux, I was less than enthusiastic about it. In fact, I declared that I would never install the web browser on my own Linux computer. To this day, I have yet to install Edge for Linux, although my stance is softening a bit. Mozilla Firefox is feeling stagnant, while I am troubled by the FLoC situation with Google Chrome. Could Microsoft Edge for Linux be in my future?

Well, Microsoft's web browser just got one step closer to a stable release, so I might have to give it a try. You see, as of today, Edge has achieved Beta status! This means its development has progressed quite swimmingly, and the Chromium-based web browser should be totally fine to use daily. And yes, you can install Edge Beta for Linux right now.

Continue reading →

Ubuntu 21.10 won't get a stable release until October of 2021. In fact, we know the exact date the Linux-based operating system should be made available -- October 14. In addition to that date, we also know what the distribution's codename is -- Impish Indri.

Unfortunately, we only just entered the month of May, meaning Ubuntu 21.10 won't be available to download -- in stable form, at least -- for about five more months. According to the release schedule, the beta of Impish Indri won't even be released until September at the earliest. Sigh. What is an Ubuntu enthusiast supposed to do?

Continue reading →

Emoji are well-loved, and every time new ones are released, they are received with much excitement. But how about the idea of creating your own emoji?

This is what Google made possible earlier this year when it released Emoji Kitchen. While this does not let you design your own emoji from scratch, it does give you the chance to combine existing emoji to create new, strange and funny creations. Now the tool has been updated to make it even better than ever.

Continue reading →

Normally when Microsoft adds new features to Windows 10, it does so using the twice-yearly Feature Updates -- such as Windows 10 May 2020 Update and Windows 10 October 2020 Update (20H2). But this is changing.

We have seen references to Windows Feature Experience Pack updates in preview builds of Windows 10, and now Microsoft is starting to test out the feature. Using the new method of delivering updates, the company is bringing some interesting new features and options to the operating system.

Continue reading →

It's been around a month since Microsoft last updated PowerToys for Windows 10, so it's nice to be able to report that a new version has finally been pushed out.

PowerToys v0.23.0 is a release that focuses on "stability, localization and quality of life improvements", and there are numerous fixes to the various the utilities that make up the suite. Unfortunately, there are no new tools in this version, but Microsoft has given an update about the upcoming Video Conference utility.

Continue reading →

Fedora 33 Beta was scheduled to be released during September, and on the eve of the final day of that month, the pre-release operating system is finally here! Yes, if you love Fedora and want to give an early version of 33 a try, today is your lucky day.

As you can imagine, Fedora 33 Beta comes with the excellent GNOME 3.38, which was only released a couple of weeks ago. The biggest change, however, is BTRFS being made the default filesystem -- ext4 is no longer the standard. Wow. Also significant? The new default editor is nano.

Continue reading →

It has been a few weeks since there was an update to Windows Terminal, but now Microsoft has released a new version of the preview build. With Windows Terminal Preview v1.4.2652.0, the company has not only addressed various bugs, but also introduced key new features.

A important new addition to the command line tool is support for Jump Lists. In taking advantage of this Windows 10 feature, it is now possible to launch Windows Terminal Preview with a specific profile from the start menu or task bar.

Continue reading →

Microsoft has released two new updates to the Windows Terminal app, starting off with version 1.2 for the main release.

But for those looking to try out the very latest features, the newly launched Windows Terminal Preview 1.3 is probably of more interest. A raft of new features and options have been added including a command palette and an advanced tab switcher for easier navigation.

Continue reading →

The latest update to Chrome has rolled out, and Google has done a lot to improve and evolve the browser. The company says that there are massive improvements to page load times as well as improvements to resource usage by open tabs thanks to Tab Throttling.

But this is not the only change to come to tabs. Google has also made tabs touch-friendly, added tab previews, and introduced a new option to collapse grouped tabs to save space. This last option is currently in beta, however, and you'll have to enable hidden setting to enable it.

Continue reading →

Ah, PowerToys… how much we love thee! After reviving the much-loved utilities for Windows 10, Microsoft has wasted no time in releasing update after update, adding more and more tools and refining this incredible software.

It's only a week since the release of PowerToys v0.19.0, but the development team already has a new version for you to try out.

Continue reading →

It's only a month since Microsoft released the first completed version of Windows Terminal and just a week since the company published its roadmap for Terminal 2.0. Starting the journey towards version 2, a preview version Windows Terminal 1.1 is now available.

While this is only a x.1 version increase, Microsoft has actually added quite a lot to the utility with this update. In keeping with Microsoft's release schedule, assuming no problems crop up, all of the features found in this preview release will migrate to the main release version next month. So what is there to look forward to? Highlights include the ability to rename tabs, and support for a new batch of command line arguments.

Continue reading →

Back in March, we told you about the upcoming Linux Mint 20. Code-named "Ulyana," it was a very controversial announcement as the developers decided to cancel the 32-bit version. After that bombshell, the devs further shocked the world by revealing their intention to remove Snapd starting with version 20 of the operating system. Don't forget, all of this follows the unpopular decision by the developers to pull both GIMP and VLC from Mint too.

And now, the BETA of Linux Mint 20 is officially here. The pre-release operating system comes with Linux kernel 5.4 and is based on Ubuntu 20.04. Linux Mint 20 even has official support until the year 2025! Best of all, you can choose among three desktop environments -- Cinnamon (4.6), MATE (1.24), and Xfce (4.14). What really has the developers hot and bothered, however, is a new program called "Warpinator."

Continue reading →

Google has released a new preview version of Android 11 for developers to play with, and also revealed details of a revised release schedule for the operating system.

Android 11 Developer Preview 4 has been released ahead of the first beta version, and it should come as no surprise to anyone that, given what's been going on in the world recently, this launch has been pushed back a bit. The good news is that everyone will be able to attend the launch event.

Continue reading →

My favorite streaming music service is Apple Music. As an iPhone user, this was a match made in heaven. As a regular desktop Linux user, however, this was very problematic. You see, for the longest time, you needed iTunes to listen to Apple Music on desktop. This wasn't a problem when using Windows 10 or macOS, but as soon as I signed into, say, Ubuntu, I was out of luck, as there is no iTunes for Linux.

Thankfully, late last year, Apple finally brought its streaming music service to the web. In other words, all you needed to listen to Apple Music was a compatible web browser. This meant that users of desktop Linux could finally listen to the streaming service by simply firing up a web browser, such as Firefox. Despite being a feature Spotify offered for many years, it was still a really big deal. The problem? Apple Music for the web was merely a beta. Today, this changes.

Continue reading →