While there are tons of parental control software out there, the fundamental question you should ask is whether you should allow your kids to access the Internet at a young age. Some parents want their kids to start early so they can start to learn how the Web works and hopefully become another Mark Zuckerberg, while others prefer to delay the process as much as possible to prevent their kids from accessing inappropriate materials from the Web.

We know that there are areas of the Internet that can be potentially dangerous to young people, yet the aforementioned parental control software is supposed to help guard against those dangers, keeping kids way from “adult” sites. On the flip side, the Internet can also be educational. Gone are the days of hauling out the encyclopedia set or hitting the library to complete work for a school research paper.

There is definitely no right or wrong answer, and it is never an easy decision to make whether to allow your kids to access the Internet or not.

Now is your turn to tell us: at which age do you think is appropriate to expose the kids to the Internet?

Do you have an opinion? Be sure to tell us what it is in the comments! We’d also love to hear why you made the choice you did, and what makes your choice the best for your children.

Image credit: Child using a laptop computer by BigStockPhoto

The post At What Age Should Kids Be Exposed to the Internet? [Poll] appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

1. CPU-G

CPU-G looks almost exactly like CPU-Z, except that it works only in Linux. You can use it to view CPU info in Linux, as well as Motherboard, Graphic, Memory and general system information.

In Ubuntu (Quantal and below), you can add the PPA and install from its repository:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cpug-devs/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cpu-g

CPU-G allows you to view the information about your CPU, Motherboard, Graphic card, Memory and System. Most of the information are pretty straightforward (either you understand it or you don’t). You can view the CPU Vendor, Name, Core clock, cache amount, motherboard chipset and etc. For the Memory section, you can see the amount of free RAM that you can still use for other applications.

In the System tab, you can view information about the CPU architecture, your current operating system and kernel version.

2. I-Nex

If you find the information lacking in CPU-G, another application that you can use is I-Nex. It provides more information than CPU-G and display them in an easy-to-read manner.

To install in Ubuntu, add the PPA and install from its repository:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:i-nex-development-team/stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install i-nex

In addition to the usual CPU information, it also displays the temperature of the current CPU. There is also an “Info” button where you can click to read about your CPU online.

In the GPU tab, other than the usual graphic card detail, you can view your current resolution and the available resolutions supported by the graphic card.

Other information that can be found in I-Nex include Sound, Drives, Web, USB Input.

I-Nex also allows you to generate a report of your current hardware configuration. Click the Printer icon at the bottom of the window and it will prompt you to select the stuff you want to include in the report.

Conclusion

To view CPU info in Linux, both CPU-G and I-Nex are capable of doing the job. However, if you prefer to have more information at your fingertips, I-Nex does a better job at showing more and relevant information in a well-organized manner.

The post Two Useful Apps to View CPU Info in Linux (CPU-Z Alternative For Linux) appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

Login to your remote system, or open the terminal in your own computer.

Open the /etc/ssh/ssh_config file.

sudo nano /etc/ssh/ssh_config

and add the following line to the end of the file:

ServerAliveInterval 60

What this option does is to send a null packet to the server at every 60 seconds (of inactivity) to keep the SSH connection alive. You can experiment with the value, setting it to either higher or lower, depending on your system configuration. A value of 60 is a good starting point to start the experimentation.

Per user configuration

If you don’t have root access to the system or you just want to configure it for your personal account, you can edit the ~/.ssh/config file instead.

sudo nano ~/.ssh/config

If the file does not exist, this will create a new file.

Add the following line:

Host *
  ServerAliveInterval 60

Press “Ctrl + o” to save and “Ctrl + x” to exit.

Lastly, restart the SSH server.

sudo service ssh restart

That’s it.

The post How to Keep SSH Connections Alive In Linux appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

The app linuxmessenger is a Linux clone of the Facebook Messenger for Windows. It allows you to login to your Facebook account and chat with your friends with a Facebook look-alike interface.

Installation

The installation of limuxmessenger is pretty straightforward, even though it doesn’t come with a PPA.

First download the zip file from its github page. Extract it to your Home folder. You should see a folder like “linuxmessenger-master”.

Next, open a terminal and type the following:

sudo apt-get install python-setuptools python3-setuptools python-qt4-phonon python-qt4-phonon python3-pyqt4.phonon

This will install the dependencies required by the application.

To test if the application is working, “cd” to the folder that you extracted and run the “fbmessenger” file.

cd linuxmessenger-master
./fbmessenger

If everything goes well, the main window will open and you can start to login and chat with your friends.

From here on, you can choose to run the installation and install it as a system app, or just execute the fbmessenger file everything you want to start the desktop client.

To install to the system, just run the command from the linuxmessenger folder:

sudo ./setup.py install

There is also a build file for debian and rpm based system, so you can install it on most distro.

This FBMessenger app comes with support for notifications, popup alert, friends request and chat sound and you can choose to turn them off if you want. The functionalities are pretty basic, but are good enough for a true facebook chat experience.

Personally, I am using Empathy to connect all my different accounts at a single place, but if you are mainly a Facebook messenger user, then this FBmessenger app will be a useful tool for you. The thing that it is lacking now is an app indicator or a system tray applet. With that implemented, this will be perfect.

The post Accessing Facebook Messenger From Linux Desktop appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

After the last successful Name Your Own Price For The Indie Gamer Bundle, StackSocial is coming out with another name your own price bundle, this time targeting adventure games.

The games in this bundle are:

The Great Jitters: Pudding Panic

4 Elements

Royal Envoy

The Tiny Bang Story

Storm in a Teacup

Gardenscapes

The total worth of the game bundle is $67 and now you can get it at any price you want. Here’s the deal:

1. Go to this link and check out the games.

2. Select the price you want to pay. There is the standard price of $30, or you can choose to beat the highest price or pay the average price.

3. Select the charity organization that you want to donate to.

4. Make your payment and start to enjoy your games.

That’s it. Grab your games now!

Note: All the games are DRM-free and compatible with Mac and Windows.

Name Your Own Price Adventure Gamer Bundle

Disclosure: This article contains an affiliate link. While we only ever write about products we think deserve to be on the pages of our site, Make Tech Easier may earn a small commission if you click through and buy the product in question.

The post Games Deal: Pay What You Want For Adventure Gamer Bundle appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

With a little improvisation and some MacGyver-style know-how, you can easily amplify your smartphone’s speakers using common items from around the house. As you can see in the infographic below, there are two methods, depending on where the speakers are located on your phone.

Smartphones with Bottom-Facing Speakers

To make a simple amplifier for a smartphone with bottom-facing speakers, you’ll need these items: tape, a Pringles container, a utility knife, a highlighter, a roll of toilet paper, a binder clip, a can of spray paint (optional), and of course, your mobile phone.

Steps 1 & 2: Begin by using the highlighter to mark an area at one end of the Pringles can – this area should be the approximate width of your phone so it will fit snugly. Then use the utility knife to make a rectangular cut according to the dimensions of your mobile device.

Step 3: Next, take the binder clip and position it near the center of the tube. Place the metallic clips onto the container so that binder’s opening area (used for binding papers) is facing away from the container. Tape the metallic clips to the tube so it stays upright when your phone is placed into it.

Step 4: Now, you can optionally spray paint the tube your color of choice. Be careful to do this in a ventilated area, and take care not to breathe any fumes. Wait for the paint to dry before moving to the next step.

Steps 5 & 6: Pull two or three 14-inch strips of tissue from your toilet paper roll. These don’t need to be precise, but you can measure them if you feel it’s necessary. Ball them up and put them into the opposite end of the tube.

Step 7: Insert your smartphone, hit play, and get ready to party.

Smartphones with a Rear-Facing Speaker

In order to construct an amplifier for phones with back-facing speakers, you’ll need to gather up some items: your phone, three bobby pins, a utility knife, and a plastic disposable SOLO cup.

Step 1 & 2: Start by bending two of the bobby pins out into a 90-degree right angle. Then bend them back in so that they will fit snugly around the bottom of your phone. Make sure one end is a little longer than the other.

Step 3: Cut a rectangle that’s roughly the dimensions of your phone’s speaker into the cup. Be sure to leave a little more room at the top according to where the speaker is positioned on your phone.

Step 4: Cut four little holes into the cup. The holes should be slightly less than the width of your phone.

Step 5: Put the two bobby pins from steps 1 & 2 into the holes according to steps A and B in the diagram below. Use the third bobby pin by running it through the top holes, bending it to securely hold the other two booby pins.

Step 6: Place your phone into the clips and hit play. Depending on the weight of your phone, you may need to weigh the cup down in order for it remain upright (Note: do not use a liquid). Once you’ve completed these steps, you’ll be all set to enjoy some great music with your friends.

DJ Miller is a graduate student out of Tampa, FL. He is an avid gadget geek with a passion for creativity and ingenuity. He first learned how to make this homemade speaker with his T-Mobile Smartphone and then realized it could work for everyone. You can follow him on twitter @MillerHeWrote.

The post How to Amplify Your Smartphone Speakers with Household Items (Infographics) appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

Ubuntu Kylin is the official Chinese Ubuntu distro and it comes with features targeted at the Chinese market. China would probably be its biggest market, but any Chinese in the World will be able to use it, and love it too.

The History of Kylin

The Kylin OS was formerly developed by academics at the National University of Defense Technology in China. It was based on FreeBSD and was intended for use by the Chinese military and other government organizations. In 2013, the Chinese Government reached an agreement with Canonical for them to release a Chinese version of the popular Ubuntu distro and it will be used as a national OS.

For those who are not aware, the name “Kylin” was named after the mythical beast “Qi Lin”, a hybrid of a dragon head and tiger body which represents good omens, protection, prosperity, success, and longevity.

Testing out UbuntuKylin

UbuntuKylin is available for download at their homepage. The main differences between UbuntuKylin and the usual Ubuntu is that the default languages and user interface are in Chinese. The good thing is, if you are familiar with Ubuntu, you can get by the installatin without any issue, as all the steps are exactly the same.

Once installed, you can also switch the system language to English and use it like you normally do.

The theme used in UbuntuKylin is also different, and I think it is much more beautiful than the standard Ubuntu. (I always like Chinese distro, because they are always more beautiful and elegant. Deepin is one good example).

Here is the login screen:

The desktop:

File window:

For those who are interested in this theme, you can install the ubuntukylin-theme in Ubuntu 13.04.

sudo apt-get install ubuntukylin-theme

What’s new in UbuntuKylin

There are few things that are specially made for the Chinese market:

1. Chinese input

I have previously installed Chinese language input for Ubuntu and it is always a hit or miss. In UbuntuKylin, it is using “Fcitx” as the default Chinese input and I am glad that it worked much better than I expected. You can simply switch the the language input with “Ctrl + Space” and it includes Wubi, Wubi Pinyin, pen, Cangjie, breeze, Bingchan holographic, spelling as well as location coding table.

2. a Chinese lunar calendar

A must have for many Chinese.

3. a Chinese weather indicator

This is useful only if you are located in China as it doesn’t allow you to add location outside of China.

4. a Chinese music search scope

The good thing about this lens is that it provides a good and quick way to search for Chinese music from the Dash. The bad thing is that it doesn’t work outside of China.

Conclusion

For Chinese user, UbuntuKylin is really a useful distro with a strong and stable Ubuntu base and Chinese localization. I am always frustrated with the Chinese input in Ubuntu and the inability to search for Chinese music/video from the dash. Even the music store in Ubuntu doesn’t come with any Chinese music. With UbuntyKylin, these features are in place and they are pretty well done. Even if you are not proficient with the Chinese interface, you can change the system language to English, or whatever language you are comfortable with.

I am already planning to install this on my dad’s laptop (fyi, my dad is a 70 years old traditional Chinese man who just started learning computer recently, and he is currently using Lubuntu. No points for guessing who installed it for him).

UbuntuKylin

The post A Review of UbuntuKylin: The Official Ubuntu Distro For The Chinese appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

The installation is very easy. Open a terminal and run the following command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:leolik/leolik
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y upgrade

Instead of installing an additional GUI application just to customize the settings, you can open a text editor and paste the following settings. Save it as “.notify-osd” in your Home folder.

slot-allocation = dynamic
bubble-expire-timeout = 10sec
bubble-vertical-gap = 5px
bubble-horizontal-gap = 5px
bubble-corner-radius = 37,5%
bubble-icon-size = 30px
bubble-gauge-size = 6px
bubble-width = 240px
bubble-background-color = 131313
bubble-background-opacity = 90%
text-margin-size = 10px
text-title-size = 100%
text-title-weight = bold
text-title-color = ffffff
text-title-opacity = 100%
text-body-size = 90%
text-body-weight = normal
text-body-color = eaeaea
text-body-opacity = 100%
text-shadow-opacity = 100%
bubble-prevent-fade = 0
bubble-close-on-click = 1
bubble-as-desktop-bg = 0

The configuration options are self-explanatory. You can change the bubble width, gap, color and opacity and even set it to close on click.

One thing that is not covered in the settings is the position of the notification bubble. For that, you can issue the following command in the terminal:

gsettings set com.canonical.notify-osd gravity [number]

where [number] is any of the following:

1 - top-right corner
2 - middle-right
3 - bottom-right corner
4 - bottom-left corner
5 - middle-left
6 - top-left corner

Once you have done the configuration, restart the notifyosd:

pkill notify-osd

and to test it:

notify-send "custom message"

Here is a video of the customized NotifyOSD in action.

Enjoy!

The post Customize the Notification Bubble in Ubuntu 13.04 (Using Patched NotifyOSD) appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

Turning off the various Window Effects in Ubuntu 13.04

Ubuntu 13.04 comes with a few Windows Effects like window maximizing when you pull it to the screen corners, window spread (to get an overview of all open windows) and HotCorners. One good way to disable them is using the Unity Tweak Tool.

1. Install Unity Tweak Tool by clicking this link, or with the command:

sudo apt-get install unity-tweak-tool

2. Once installed, open the Unity Tweak Tool and navigate to “Window snapping” under the Window Manager section.

3. Turn the “window snapping” option to off. This will prevent the window from maximizing when you drag it to the screen edge or corner.

Similarly, you can turn the “Window spread” and “HotCorners” options to off.

Note: While testing this out, I found that the system will become unstable occasionally when you turn off/on the effects. It is best to restart the computer after you have made changes to Unity Tweak Tool.

Turning off Window Animation in Ubuntu 13.04

If you want to disable the zoom effect when you minimize/maximize the window (and all other animations), you will have to install CompizConfig Settings Manager.

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

Once installed, open CCSM and go to the “Effects -> Animations” section. Uncheck the box beside “Animations”. This will disable the zoom effect when you minimize/maximize the window.

You can also play around with CCSM to customize the window effects and animations, but be warned that a lot of the settings are interlinked together and turning an option on/off might affect other settings as well. Be very careful and play with it only if you have enough experience to deal with the after-effect.

Once again, restart your computer after you have made changes to CCSM.

Let us know if the abovementioned tricks work for you.

Image credit: Ubuntu Concrete Circle

The post How to Disable Window Effects in Ubuntu 13.04 appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

The tool that we are using to create PDF with fillable form is LibreOffice, specifically Libre Writer – the document editing tool of the LibreOffice suite.

Assuming that LibreOffice is already installed in your PC (it is pre-installed in most Linux distro, and for other OS, you can download it here).

1. Open Libre Writer and create your document.

2. On the toolbar, go to “View -> Toolbar -> Form Control” and click it. This will add the Form Control toolbar to your Libre Writer interface.

You should see something like this:

This toolbar allows you to drag and drop the various form fields to the document.

3. Now, drag the “Text box” to the document. You can size it to be an one-line input field or a multi-lines text box.

4. Next, right click at the text box and select “Control” (or you can simply double click on the text box). This will bring up the Control window. This is where you can edit the meta-data of the text box, such as its name, label field, max length etc. You can also add events such as changing text on mouseover, focus, keypressed etc.

Once you have got the hang of it, you can proceed to add various form fields to your document. This is a simple form we have created.

5. After you have finished with the document, go to “File -> Export as PDF”. Make sure the “Create PDF Form” checkbox is selected. The most commonly used format for data submission is FDF, but you can select PDF, HTML or XML format as well.

Click “Export” and you are done creating the PDF form.

Now open the PDF file in your PDF viewer and you should see all the form fields in the document. To test it, you can fill up the form and save it. Close and reopen it again. You should see your form data intact.

Isn’t it simple?

Image credit: Filling in personal details on an application form
by BigStockPhoto

The post How to Create A PDF With Fillable Forms in LibreOffice appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

• You must be a Linux user and are familiar with Ubuntu
• You must be able to put in plenty of time, work, and dedication. If you’re too busy already, don’t apply.
• You must be proficient in the English language and is able to explain difficult concept in simple words and sentences.
• You must be able to meet publication deadline.
• You must be able to follow instructions and come up with articles that follow our editorial guidelines.
• You must be independent and are able to come up with your own article topics.
• You must be able to write tips, how-to articles, guides, instructional articles, etc. We are not looking for software reviewer.
• You must be based in the US, or Europe

Your committment

This is a paid contract writer position and we expect you to submit article(s) everyday.

How To Apply

Write to us at “writers [at] maketecheasier.com“, with the subject “Writer Application”. Include in the mail:

1. Your name and location.
2. your level of proficiency and experience in the Ubuntu OS.
3. your years of experience as a writer
4. the blog(s) that you have written for.
5. 3 article titles that you are going to write about if you were selected.
6. A short paragraph why you would be a good fit for Make Tech Easier.
7. Writing sample. Feel free to include links to articles that you have previously written

Email us now!

Note: We are not looking for guest blogger. All guest post request will be ignored.

Image credit: Hiring sign blackboard by BigStockPhoto

The post Make Tech Easier Is Hiring A Linux Writer appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

TLP does a lot of power optimization to your system. The good thing is that it helps you to manage your system’s power usage without you having to understand every technical detail about your computer, and it runs in the background so you don’t have to worry about it at all.

A thing to note is that TLP does not replace the existing power management of your Linux installation. Instead, it has its own set of settings and it changes on every change of the power source.

The things that it manages include:

• Kernel laptop mode and dirty buffer timeouts
• Processor frequency scaling including “turbo boost” / “turbo core”
• Power aware process scheduler for multi-core/hyper-threading
• Hard disk advanced power magement level and spin down timeout (per disk)
• SATA aggressive link power management (ALPM)
• PCI Express active state power management (PCIe ASPM) – Linux 2.6.35 and above
• Runtime power management for PCI(e) bus devices – Linux 2.6.35 and above
• Radeon KMS power management – Linux 2.6.35 and above, not fglrx
• Wifi power saving mode – depending on kernel/driver
• Power off optical drive in drive bay (on battery)

To get started (in Ubuntu), run the following commands in the terminal to install TLP:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:linrunner/tlp
sudo apt-get update 
sudo apt-get install tlp

For all other distros, check out the installation guide here.

Once installed, you can restart your computer for it to run automatically, or issue the command:

sudo tlp start

to get it started.

To view the configuration, use the command:

sudo tlp stat -c

This will show TLP’s default configuration:

The default configuration should work in most cases, but if you want to customize the settings for your machine, you can make amendment to the configuration file located at “/etc/default/tlp”.

sudo nano /etc/default/tlp

At any point of time, you can use the command:

sudo tlp stat

to view the customization that TLP has done to your system. You can also use various flags, like -b, -r to zoom in to the specific section. For example, sudo tlp stat -b will show only the battery information, while sudo tlp stat -r will show the radio devices switch state

The bad thing about any power optimization app (and it is not the fault of TLP) is that there is no way to tell if your battery life has really improved. The only way to test it is to use your own judgement and see if your battery has lasted longer, with the same usage, after the optimization.

To prevent TLP from running automatically, you will have to uninstall it or disable it (set the TLP_ENABLE value to 0) in the configuration file.

If you have used TLP, let us know if it has helped you improved your battery life.

Image credit: Power On by BigStockPhoto

The post Improve Power Usage in Linux With TLP appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

For those who are not aware, Hulu is a website that offers free ad-supported on-demand streaming video of TV shows, movies, webisodes and other new media and trailers. Hulu Plus is the premium service provided by Hulu that lets you watch hit current and back season TV shows and acclaimed movies anytime. It costs $7.99/month with limited advertising.

If you sign up for Hulu Plus on the Hulu website, it will come with 1 week free trial before you are charged. With this current deal, you will be given a month of free access before you are charged (and you can terminate anytime).

Here are some information about this deal:

1. Once you activate the deal, you must redeem on Hulu.com by May 27, 2013.
2. This deal is available only for NEW Hulu Plus subscribers.
3. This deal cannot be combined with any other offers or promotions.
4. Your credit card information will be required to initiate your membership (You will not be charged until after your free month of membership has expired.)

This deal starts today (25th Apr 2013) and will last for the next 15 days.

Grab it now!

The post Hot Deal: Get 1 Free Month Of Hulu Plus Access appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

Lynis is an auditing tool which tests and gathers (security) information from Unix-based systems. The good thing is that it is easy to use, and you can get a security report on your Linux Security in as fast as five minutes. If you are a security and system auditor, network specialist or system maintainer, this is a tool you will want to have in your arsenal.

In Ubuntu, you can easily install Lynis via the Ubuntu Software Center or from the following link. If you are managing a remote system, you can install with the command line:

sudo apt-get install lynis

For other distros, you can check out the Lynis homepage where there are links to non-official RPMs and Debian packages for various distros.

Usage

The usage of Lynis is very simple. In the terminal, you just have to type the command:

sudo lynis -c

and it will check the system for security issues. The things it checks will include:

• System tools
• Boot loaders, startup services
• Kernel: run level, loaded modules, kernel configuration, core dumps
• Memory and processes: zombie processes, IO waiting processes
• Users, groups and authentication: group IDs, sudoers, PAM configuration, password aging, default mask
• File systems: mount points, /tmp files, root file system
• Storage: usb-storage, firewire ohci
• NFS Software: name services: DNS search domain, BIND
• Ports and packages: vulnerable/upgradable packages, security repository
• Software: firewalls: iptables, pf
• Software: webserver: Apache, nginx
• SSH support: SSH configuration
• SNMP support Databases: MySQL root password LDAP services
• Software: php: php options
• Scheduled tasks: crontab/cronjob, atd
• Time and synchronization: ntp daemon
• Cryptography: SSL certificate expiration
• Security frameworks: AppArmor, SELinux, grsecurity status
• Software: file integrity
• Software: malware scanners
• Home directories: shell history files
• and more

Once it has finished scanning, it will generate a report and save it to /var/log/lynis.log. Open it up in your terminal:

sudo nano /var/log/lynis.log

You can scroll down the list to read all the tests that Lynis has performed. Alternatively, you can just search (using the shortcut key Ctrl + w) for “Warning” to find the entries that need your attention.

Better still, you can use the following command to list all the “Warnings” in the report:

sudo grep Warning /var/log/lynis.log

or

sudo grep Suggestion /var/log/lynis.log

to get a list of “Suggestions” provided by Lynis.

That’s it.

Even if you are an experienced Linux administrator, there are bound to be certain security loopholes that you have missed in your Linux security. With Lynis, you will be able to audit your system and make sure the all security features are enforced.

Image credit: Up, Tight

The post How to Audit Your Linux Security With Lynis appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

Note: This instruction here is based on Ubuntu server. If you are using another distro, some of the commands might vary.

On the machine that you want to install the two factor authentication, open a terminal session (if you have already logged into the remote machine, you are already in a terminal session). Type the following:

wget https://google-authenticator.googlecode.com/files/libpam-google-authenticator-1.0-source.tar.bz2
tar -xvf libpam-google-authenticator-1.0-source.tar.bz2

This will grab the google authenticator module and extract it to your Home folder (assuming you are on the home folder). Note that you can also use git to clone the full google authenticator pacakge, but you need to have git installed in your system and it will fetch unwanted modules as well.

Next, we will install the dependencies and compile/install the module.

sudo apt-get install libpam0g-dev
cd libpam-google-authenticator-1.0
make
sudo make install

To complete the installation, run:

google-authenticator

You will be prompted with a series of question. In most situation, you can type “y” (yes) as the answer. Anytime you have got the settings wrong, you can type google-authenticator again to reset the settings.

• Do you want authentication tokens to be time-based (y/n)

After this question, you should see your secret key and emergency code. Record and save the detail. You will need the secret key to setup the Google Authenticator app later.

• Do you want me to update your “/home/username/.google_authenticator” file (y/n)
• Do you want to disallow multiple uses of the same authentication token? This restricts you to one login about every 30s, but it increases your chance to notice or even prevent man-in-the-middle attacks (y/n)
• By default, tokens are good for 30 seconds and in order to compensate for possible time-skew between the client and the server, we allow an extra token before and after the current time. If you experience problems with poor time synchronization, you can increase the window from its default size of 1:30min to about 4min. Do you want to do so (y/n)
• If the computer that you are logging into isn’t hardened against brute-force login attempts, you can enable rate-limiting for the authentication module. By default, this limits attackers to no more than 3 login attempts every 30s. Do you want to enable rate-limiting (y/n)

Configuring your SSH to use the Google Authenticator module

Open the pam.d/sshd file:

sudo nano /etc/pam.d/sshd

Add this line to the top of the file:

auth       required     pam_google_authenticator.so

Save (Ctrl + o) and exit (Ctrl + x) the file.

Next, open the sshd_config file

sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Scroll down the list till you find the line:

ChallengeResponseAuthentication no

Change it to “yes”, so it becomes:

ChallengeResponseAuthentication yes

Save and exit the file.

Lastly, restart the ssh server:

sudo service ssh restart

Setting up new account in your Google Authenticator app

1. Open the Google Authenticator app in your smartphone. Press Menu and select “setup an account”.

2. Press “Enter key provided”.

3. Give your account a name and enter the secret key generated earlier.

Done.

Now when you connect via SSH to your remote computer, you will see the request for the verification key.

Note: The two-factor authentication only works for password-based login. If you are already using a public/private key for your SSH session, it will bypass the two-factor authentication and log you in directly.

The post How to Enable Two-Factor Authentication for SSH Connection appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

The bad thing is that there is no option for you to disable the bluetooth module (during bootup) in the System Settings. If you are willing to venture into the command line, here’s the fix:

1. Open a terminal and type:

sudo nano /etc/rc.local

This will open the “rc.local” file. This file doesn’t do anything by default and you should see only a exit 0 code in the file.

2. Add this line before the exit 0 code:

rfkill block bluetooth

3. Press “ctrl + o” to save the file and “ctrl + x” to exit the file.

Restart the computer. Your bluetooth should be disabled after boot up.

That’s it.

The post How to Disable Bluetooth During Bootup in Ubuntu [Quick Tips] appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

In Linux (this solution is tested in Ubuntu) and Mac:

1. Open a new tab in your Firefox browser and type “about:config“.

2. In the Search bar, type:

mousewheel.min_line_scroll_amount

3. Double click on the entry and change the value from 5 to 60.

If 60 is too fast (or slow) for you, you can change to a value that is suitable for you. Generally, the higher the value, the faster the page will scroll.

4. Close ths “about:config” tab and load a website. You should notice that the page’s scrolling speed has greatly increased.

The above trick is not applicable in Windows, but you can use the mousewheel.acceleration tricks (which is applicable in Linux and Mac as well)

1. Open a new tab in your Firefox browser and type “about:config“.

2. In the Search bar, type:

mousewheel.acceleration

You should see two entries in the list.

3. Double click the “mousewheel.acceleration.start” entry and change the value to 1 or more (the value is the number of times the wheel is scrolled before the acceleration kicks in).

4. Double click the “mousewheel.acceleration.factor” entry and change the factor to the speed you desire. The default factor is 10, which means your scrolling speed will increase by 10 times when the acceleration starts. You can change it to higher or lower, depending on your needs.

Note: If this trick causes issue to your mouse wheel scrolling, you can disable it by setting the “mousewheel.acceleration.start” entry back to “-1″

That’s it. This should increase your mouse scrolling speed in Firefox.

Image credit: Scrolling on wheel on computer mouse by BigStockPhoto

The post How to Change the Scrolling Speed in Firefox [Quick Tips] appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

Themefuse is one of the leading premium WordPress theme provider. All of their themes are top-notch in design and quality and most of them are responsive, that means, you just need to have one theme that will work across various screen sizes and devices.

Here are some of their themes:

Conexus

PixelWhiz

My Journey

Sportedge

Giveaway

For this giveaway, we have 5 premium ThemeFuse theme (each cost $59) to give away. Follow the steps below to participate in this giveaway event.

1. Follow ThemeFuse in Facebook.

2. Follow the steps below to submit the participation form:

Thank you for your participation. The contest is now closed.

Closing date: 17th April 2013.

Winners:

1. Abdullah
2. Bob Pianka
3. Shree Madhan
4. vu minh tam
5. Widianto

Thanks to ThemeFuse for the kind sponsorship. If you would like to sponsor a giveaway, do contact us here.

ThemeFuse

The post Giveaway of The Week: 5 Premium ThemeFuse Themes (Update: Contest Closed) appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

TV-Maxe is similar to Sopcast in the way that it allows you to view TV programmes and listen to radio via different streams. TV-Maxe is not distro specific, so it should work (theoretically) in all Linux distribution.

In Ubuntu (12.10 and below), you can install with the following command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:venerix/pkg
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install tv-maxe

For other Linux distro, you can follow the installation instruction here or download the package and build it yourself.

Once installed, you can run it from the Application menu.

To get started, you just have to click on any channel in the “TV Channel” list and it should play the show in the inbuilt video player.

In the Preferences, you can configure it to use VLC or MPlayer, or any other external application as the video player and you can also adjust the recording settings.

The Subscriptions is where you can manage your TV channels list. The default installation comes with a Romanian and a International library, but you can find more and add your own to the list.

One interesting feature that comes along with the TV-Maxe installation is the Schedule Manager. Assuming your computer is on at all times, you can schedule TV-Maxe to start playing a specified channel at a specified time.

In addition, you can also get it to sleep after some time, and even shut down the computer after it sleeps. I don’t see myself using this feature that often, but it is good to see it around.

Conclusion

After playing and using TV-Maxe for some time, I have found it to be very stable and the connection has been very smooth. In the past, using Sopcast in Linux is always a hit or miss, but TV-Maxe seems to have got rid of the issue. One thing though, the subscription list is rather limited at the moment and sopcast link is not compatible with TV-Maxe, so you can’t watch Sopcast channel directly in TV-Maxe. Hopefully, this feature will be added in the future.

The post Use TV-maxe As Sopcast Alternative in Linux appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

In case you are not aware, OVF, also known as Open Virtualization Format, is one of the way to standardize virtual appliance so they can be imported and use in different virtualization software. A virtual appliance in OVF format usually consist of a series of files. The OVA format is merely a single file distribution of the OVF, stored in the TAR format. In this tutorial, we will show you how to import and export an OVA file into/from Virtualbox.

Importing OVA file to Virtualbox

Assuming you already have your OVA file ready, in Virtualbox, you just have to go to “File -> Import Appliance” in the menu bar.

Click the “Open Appliance” button to select your OVA file. Once you have selected the file, click “Next”.

The next window will show you the configuration of the current virtual appliance. You can scroll through the configuration list and double click on any item (or check/uncheck the box) to make changes to it. Lastly, click “Import”.

Virtualbox will proceed to import the virtual machine into your library. Depending on the size of your OVA file, the import process could take quite a while.

Once the process is completed, you should be able to see the new VM in your list.

Exporting VDI to OVA file

To export a VDI file (the default format for Virtualbox) to a OVA file so you can re-import in another virtual machine, you just have to go to “File -> Export Appliance” in the menu bar.

It will then prompt you to select the disk image that you want to export. In this case, I select the “Windows 7″ image. Note that you can select multiple image at the same time.

Next, select the path and filename where the OVA file will be exported. You will notice that Virtualbox will automatically append a .ova extension to the end of the appliance. You can, if you wish, change it to the .ovf extension. In this case, multiple files will be created instead of a single file.

The next screen is the Appliance Settings page where you can review and edit the appliance configuration. In most cases, I will just leave this as the default.

Lastly, click the “Export” button. Note that Virtualbox will first convert your image to vmdk format (the default in VMWare) first before packaging it in OVA format.

That’s it.

What other ways do you use to import and export OVA files in Virtualbox?

The post How to Import/Export OVA Files in VirtualBox appeared first on Make Tech Easier.