News, tips and features on the Unity desktop environment, the default shell in Ubuntu.
Would you like to browse the web inside the Unity Dash? Or navigate Google Maps? Both are now possible in Joseph Mills', a prolific Unity hacker, hacked version of Unity 2D.
Unity 6.8.0 landed in Ubuntu 12.10 this morning - but what's changed? Largely a bug fix release, 6.8.0 addresses numerous performance and visual glitches experienced by beta testers over the last few months.
Ubuntu 12.10 Beta 2 is due out next thursday, which means that today marks the last date at which interface and feature changes can be added. I.e. It's exciting new features and changes time! The following updates have already landed in the 'Quantal Proposed' repo and - should nothing bar their way - trickle on down to Ubuntu 12.10 shortly.
With Ubuntu already boasting dedicated default lenses for Files, Apps, Music and Videos it was inevitable that users photos would also be catered for. Ubuntu 12.10 does just that: Photos can be searched, filtered and viewed through their own lens (unsurprisingly called the 'Photo Lens').
A "coverflow" view has been added to Unity 's development branch for Ubuntu 12.10. The feature allows one to browse items by dragging them horizontally with the mouse, rather than the usual 'drop down, vertical' approach currently used in Unity.
Exciting new features are getting ready to land in the development builds of Unity in Ubuntu 12.10. Amongst them is a new preview feature called, unimaginatively, 'Previews'.
Unity 2D, the light-weight counterpart to Ubuntu's Unity interface, has been retired from Ubuntu 12.10. In an update released yesterday Unity 2D was removed and users set to auto-login to the session transitioned over to regular Unity. The 2D version of Unity has been used as a fallback for users whose computers lack sufficient graphical grunt to run the '3D' version.
Over in the development scape of the Quantal Quetzal Ubuntu's Unity desktop has just reached version 6.2.
Minor tweaks to Ubuntu's default Ambiance and Radiance themes have begun to appear in Qunatal's development branches. Although the changes are not as "origami" like as Mark Shuttleworth hinted during his UDS keynote, they do refresh the theme by polishing off its rough edges.
A new update the Piratebay-Scope for Unity circumvents 'The Piratebay' ban affecting UK users.
A third-party developer has taken the code for Ubuntu TV and added some changes of his own. The results are pretty stunning.
Mark Shuttleworth has spoken about the design and thought process behind the creation of Unity, and how it's impacted on Ubuntu multi-device strategy. Speaking at OSCON prior to the unveiling of Ubuntu's new integrated web apps feature, Shuttleworth ackowledged that there had been 'controversy' over Canonical's decision to pursue a "multi-device" strategy, with the switch to Unity in particular proving 'deeply unpopular' at first.