A big Vivaldi web browser update is rolling out with a set of appreciable improvements long-time users will like, and would-be users may be tempted to try. Vivaldi 7.2 amps up its address bar logic to proffer more relevant results, faster. Search suggestions and search accuracy have been tweaked so that “finding what you need feels seamless”, according to Vivaldi Technologies’ CEO Jon von Tetzchner. Sticking with the speed theme, Vivaldi 7.2 is said to load pages faster—up to 2x as fast for some—thanks to some nifty optimised connection handling work on the backend that reduces latency on domain lookup. […]
A few months back Firefox announced it was finally adding support for Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) after years of ignoring its own user’s requests to do so. If you’re running a recent Firefox Nightly build, you can now flicking the switch on an experimental hidden flag — browser.taskbarTabs.enabled — in the about:config page to enable the feature (which Mozilla is calling Taskbar Tabs). Right now, enabling that flag won’t do anything (on any platform). But the fact the flag has been added ought to mean the feature itself isn’t too far behind. In anticipation, here’s a look at what we might […]
With Ubuntu 25.04 feature freeze now in effect the final licks of polish and paint have begun landing — including an update to Ubuntu’s Yaru theme. The Yaru theme is composed of a modified GTK4/libadwaita stylesheet, GNOME Shell theme, icon pack, and set of system sounds. With visual change and new features in GNOME 48 to account for, the design team working on Yaru have dutifully update the theme to accommodate. Most of the changes are subtle, but Yaru’s oversized icon bug I reported on last month? Fixes to address that issue have—hurrah—made it in. Thus, in 25.04 you might […]
A ‘fresh new look’ is heading to Bodhi Linux, the Ubuntu-based Linux distribution built around the Moksha desktop, a fork of Enlightenment 17. Noting that the look of recent releases has leaned towards the dark side—no, not that one, Darth—the team has decide to give the next release a lighter visual revamp by making a new theme, called Zenithal, default. “Zenithal, developed by Štefan Uram and based on the Ice theme by Simotek, introduces a polished light aesthetic that brings a fresh energy to Moksha. It also marks a first for Bodhi: windows and dialogs with rounded edges,” they say. Bodhi Linux’s […]
The default wallpaper for Ubuntu 25.04 ‘Plucky Puffin’ has been unveiled. Each new Ubuntu release bears a bespoke desktop background and animal mascot, and the upcoming release of the Plucky Puffin proves no exception. Ubuntu 25.04’s default wallpaper makes heavy use of the nautical motifs proffered by its codename animal (a puffin). Avian art is, as per, placed atop a purple gradient background1 with trademark polygonal edge detailing: The “colour” version above is the stock default, but there are 4 variants in total: colour, light, dimmed, and dark (used in dark mode). Users can set any of those as their […]
If you’re an Ubuntu 24.04 LTS user regularly experiencing issues with connecting to audio devices, there’s an important update to the Bluetooth stack rolling out this week. A slew of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS users complained that certain paired Bluetooth audio devices (mainly earbuds/phones) fail to reconnect after a system restart or suspend. Plus, for many noble users reporting bugs, even attempting to manually connect to a previously-paired device following a reboot or suspend fails to connect or stay connected thus requiring the need to remove and re-pair the device to work. —Until the next reboot/suspend. The cause? Based on an […]
Open source audio editor Audacity has issue a new patch release with a sizeable set of bug fixes, including an appreciable one for Ubuntu users using the official Audacity AppImage. Audacity 3.7.2, the second point update in the currently Audacity 3.7 series which debuted in October of last year, fixes FFmpeg loading in its official AppImage when run on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (and Linux distributions based off of it). Which is welcome. Elsewhere, Audacity’s noise reduction filter regains a “Residue” option thanks to a community contribution, and no longer screws up pasting content copied from a clip by offsetting its […]
A big update to the perennially popular GNOME Shell extension Dash to Panel is rolling out, including new settings to go from Dash to Panel to dock mode! Admittedly, that doesn’t sound like a new feature given that Dash to Panel is based on code from Dash to Dock. Yet, until now, those wanting the unified panel of Dash to Panel with the aesthetic of a dock… Had to make do with an inelegant fudge, or switch extension. No more; when whim and want demands a dynamic dock setup, Dash to Panel’s preferences area can help, making it easier to […]
Kagi, the company behind a paid, private search engine1 of the same name, has announced it’s bringing its Webkit-based Orion web browser to Linux. In a post on BlueSky, Kagi said: “We’re thrilled to announce that development of the Orion Browser for Linux has officially started!”. Orion is currently only available on macOS and iOS but was built to be better than Apple’s own Safari, and best Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and other browsers in many areas. Orion is a zero-telemetry browser; has built-in ad and tracking blocking; and reportedly offers lower memory usage, faster page speeds, and greater battery […]
An update to the Mutter display manager is primed to start rolling out to users of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (and 24.10) with a couple of much-needed touchscreen fixes in tow. Now, I don’t know how many of you use Ubuntu desktop on a touch-enabled device—not many, I’d wager. I do; I have a touchscreen laptop that runs Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. I often prod, poke, and push the screen a bit whilst using Ubuntu 24.04 LTS to do simple things like select menu items, close windows, scroll, etc – nothing I can’t do using the touchpad, it’s just easier to lift […]
Desktop email client Thunderbird announced a move to monthly releases by default earlier this year, allowing new users to benefit from new features, sooner – as the new Thunderbird 136.0 release makes evident! Thunderbird 136.0 sees messages auto-adapt to dark mode (and adds a quick toggle to control this in the header) — no more searing-white e-mail shocks in dark rooms! Also added is a new Appearance setting to control message threading and sorting order globally. This is great if you always want, say, new messages at the bottom in all your configured folders. Some notable fixes include ensuring that addresses […]
Is Huawei planning to ship Linux on its upcoming MateBook laptops instead of HarmonyOS NEXT? A fresh leak out of China this week suggests so. Huawei is no stranger to selling laptops with Linux. Various models in its MateBook 13, 14, 15, and MateBook X Pro lines have been sold in both Windows and Linux configurations, with the latter typically exclusive to China and reloaded with Debian-based Deepin. The—somewhat contentious—company has previously said all PCs released in 2025 would run the newer home-grown, closed-source HarmonyOS NEXT (viewed as an effort to wean reliance off of western-led tech companies, solidify control, […]
Earlier this year Ubuntu announced plans to replace document viewer app Evince with Papers, a modern GTK4/libadwaita fork1 of the former, in Ubuntu 25.04—today, the swap was made official. Papers is a fork of Evince that is actively maintained and makes use of newer technologies (GTK4, THIS), that are already present in Ubuntu. Upstream, GNOME 48 (out in March) opts to keep Evince as a core app but GNOME 49 is expected to switch to Papers. Ubuntu feels no reason to wait. Dabbled with daily builds of the Plucky Puffin prior to now? You might have noticed Papers isn’t present […]
The new Mozilla Firefox 136 release delivers a number of notable new features—features Mozilla may be hoping help it re-earn some goodwill from users following last week’s privacy palaver. Last month’s Firefox 135 release rolled out a refreshed tab page to more users, added in-page translations from Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, enforced certificate transparency, and ditched the ‘Do Not Track’ setting. This month sees a long-anticipated features make their stable release debut: vertical tabs! Right-click an empty space in the tab bar, select Turn on Vertical Tabs from the context menu and—bam!—they appear instantly as a a vertical strip of icons on the left-hand […]
The Cinnamon desktop app menu is being redesigned with a cleaner layout, modern look , and usability improvements ahead of the next Linux Mint release.
Skype, one of the best-known video chat/calling apps, is shutting down forever on May 5, Microsoft has announced today. Nothing gold can stay, and neither can VoIP services shorn their cultural zeitgeist it seems. Replacing Skype will be a free version of Microsoft Teams. Active Skype users can log in to the Microsoft Teams app and instantly see their Skype message history, group chats, and contacts without needing to create a(nother) account. Teams will no support ‘telephony’, i.e., Skype’s one remaining USP, after the transition period, meaning you won’t be able to make domestic or international calls to real numbers […]
February proved a bumper month for Linux software updates, seeing big release of productivity suites LibreOffice and ONLYOFFICE and, plus a crop of smaller app updates which didn’t merit a full-length article on this blog. Rather than skip over those updates entirely, I thought I’d resurrect my Linux Release Roundup thread1 to curate a monthly (perhaps twice-monthly, if there’s a lot) run-through of smaller software updates I think would still be of most interest to regular readers. For those of us on fixed-release Linux distribution like Ubuntu, such updates may fix a finicky flaw, improve integration, or add a niche […]
Hot off the back of its recent leadership rejig, Mozilla has announced users of Firefox will soon be subject to a ‘Terms of Use’ policy — a first for the iconic open source web browser. “Although we’ve historically relied on our open source license for Firefox and public commitments to you, we are building in a much different technology landscape today. We want to make these commitments abundantly clear and accessible,” say Mozilla. This official Terms of Use will, Mozilla argues, offer users ‘more transparency’ over their ‘rights and permissions’ as they use Firefox to browse the information superhighway1 — […]
The application picker (aka app grid) in GNOME Shell is pretty perfect as it comes, showing launchers for installed apps plus the ability to rearrange them using drag and drop and create custom folders to group apps together. Some folks prefer a little more order. I’ve spotlighted a few Ubuntu app grid tweaks over the years, from one that puts app shortcuts in alphabetical order to ones which restores ‘missing’ shortcuts for apps pinned to the Ubuntu Dock. And now a new app grid helper has appeared – one sure to appeal to those with a preference for keeping things […]
