Hide/Add desktop icons

The default Ubuntu installation might add a few icons on your desktop. If you're a proponent of the "clean desktop" look (like me!) or if you want to add some extra stuff to your desktop, then you need to do some tiny tweaks to change the look. Here's how:

You need to access gconf-editor. There are two ways of doing this.

1. Type gconf-editor in the Terminal and hit Enter



OR

2. Press Alt + F2 from the keyboard and type gconf-editor and hit Enter



Now a new window will be visible which should look something like this:



You now need to navigate to :

apps > nautilus > desktop

Well its pretty simple now, select/unselect the items of your choice:

Wallpapers

I have been using quite a few sites for my daily dose of new wallpapers. If you have been following my blog and trust my judgement, take it from me, the following sites offer the very best wallpapers there are on the web. Of course, all of these sites offer their wallpaper downloads for free.

1. Socwall: Easily the best site for wallpapers and hi def photography enthusiasts. This site has some of the most breathtaking photos I have ever seen and wallpapers are constantly added to its database throughout the day. You can check out the website any way you want, but I would suggest going through the Most Viewed and Highest Rated sections.

2. HD Wallpapers.net: HD Wallpapers has some great stuff, with their database classified into categories making it easy for you to select and download the wallpaper/s of your choice. The downside is that every wallpaper you download comes in .zip format, so basically you need to unzip/decompress the file before using it. That can be a bit irritating sometimes, but judging by the quality of photos on offer, I think its pretty much worth the pain.

3. Hongkiat.com: If you are in the lookout for Ubuntu wallpapers/wallpapers with the Ubuntu logo, this is your destination to some of the most beautiful Ubuntu wallpapers.

These three sites should supply you with enough wallpapers to last a lifetime. Honest!

Oh yeah, it didnt cost me a cent!

Still have doubts about how Ubuntu looks?

Desktube...YouTube on your desktop

How many times have you wished there was a youtube app for the desktop? Well, from the looks of it, this has been the demand of users for a very long time. Only now has it been realised in the form of Desktube. Mind you, its not open source. However the development team behind this Adobe AIR app is quite active and even take the pains to send you personalised emails if you report a bug.

Its quite revolutionary in the sense that there's absolutely no other software which can do what it does, i.e help you watch youtube videos on a desktop app. Now I hope other companies spot the potential here and jump on this highly lucrative boat.

Anyway, the thing is this is quite a useful app, has loads of customisation options, lets you comment, add videos to your playlist etc. And the best part is that it even has twitter and facebook integration, so basically, in the long run and with some development, it could turn out to be a twitter and facebook client as well as a youtube viewer. Sounds good?

Well what are you waiting for? Give it a try.

Here's the link: Desktube