Inside assisted GPS

A nice article from arsTechnica which explains the basics of assisted GPS. Take a look:

The Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) system can help you find yourself, or the nearest drycleaner, or a missing Christmas manger, or a hidden geocache. But our expectations of GPS are that it works accurately, instantly, and reliably on all our devices. That’s asking a bit much from what is fundamentally 1990s-era technology.

via Inside assisted GPS: helping GPS help you.

Setting up Ubuntu

I’ve just finished setting up my Ubuntu desktop just the way I like it — uncluttered and usable. Here is a list of programs I’m currently using:

1. Gnome-do:  A launcher like QuickSilver (mac) and Launchy (win)
2. Avant-Window-Manager: A dock and very usable taskbar (plus all the awn-* extra packages)
3. Stalonetray: A system tray replacement so that I can get rid of the gnome panels
4. GDesklet for the analog clock

Here’s the script to get stalonetray to sit at the top of the screen and look nice and transparent.

stalonetray -geometry 100×25+900+0  –sticky -t –skip-taskbar –window-type dock –grow-gravity W –icon-gravity SE –ignore-icon-resize TRUE –respect-icon-hints false –max-height 48 –icon-size 24 -i 24 –window-layer top

And here’s the final look: (larger version)

Pretty Ubuntu Desktop