How to put Matlab icon/shortcut on Ubuntu Unity launcher bar

The Ubuntu Linux is one of the most popular distributions to run Matlab on *nix systems. However, the Unity launcher used by Ubuntu does not support Matlab by default and putting a shortcut to Matlab is a confusing and non-trivial task. This tutorial demonstrates an easy and straight-forward way to integrate Matlab with Unity in Ubuntu.

The powerful scientific computing tool, Matlab (Matrix Laboratory) from Mathworks is certainly a widely used tool in the scientific world. While Mathworks does provide good Windows, Linux, *nix, Mac OS X support for Matlab out-of-the-box, one overlooked aspect is the integration of Matlab to the Unity launcher used in Ubuntu. 

Cell phone radiation levels safe for humans

Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Programme study shows that radiation from cell (mobile) phones are safe and not harmful to the human health.

Our world is surrounded by sources which emit radiation. During the last decades, the number of radiation sources in our vicinity has exploded with the availability of wifi networks and cell phones. The question of whether or not radio waves used by these sources are harmful for humans has been up for debate for a very long time. The critics, for example, claim that cell phone radiation causes brain tumors and affect the general well being of humans in various negative ways. The critics have primarily based their conclusions on some studies performed on small animals (rats/mice) which indeed have shown adverse effects when the animals were exposed to large amounts of radiation from radio waves. However, physics clearly shows that the energy in radio waves carry insufficient energy to ionize atoms or to affect the biological functions. Thus, to most people in the scientific community, the radiation from cell phones and wifi networks is considered to be safe. Often it is also pointed out that the small animals were exposed to enormous amount of radiation, which are off-the-chart to induce any effect on the health. 

Ubuntu: Broken BackupPC web interface fix

Ubuntu recently updated the Apache version to 2.4. However, this new version is unusable with BackupPC out of the box and breaks the web interface. Fortunately, the fix is easy as described in this tutorial.

During an upgrade process of a distribution, naturally, a large number of packages (software) will simultaneously be upgraded as well. One main task for distribution managers is to ensure that compatibility is ensured to the greatest extent. However, as the number of combinations of package dependencies is extreme, it is unavoidable that practical problems which may render some software useless from time to time. Fortunately, in most such cases, a fix is relatively easy to find.

The top 5 best text editors for Linux

Good and excellent text editors have a long tradition in the Linux/*nix world. These text editors, which initially may appear simple and trivial, are paramount for programmers around the world and are still very actively developed. This article lists 5 of the best text editors available today.

There certainly is no lack of text editors under various forms of licenses. Most people may think of Microsoft Word in the Office suite or Apple's Pages as text editors, they are actually better referred to as word processors than text editors. Instead, text editors are usually composed of a simplistic layout, with little to no typesetting features. However, they greatly excel over the word processors when it comes to software development for programmers and in addition usually support a large number of programming languages and script languages. This article summarizes 5 of the most useful text editors for a Linux/*nix environment.

Apple patent turns Touch ID into a trackpad

The Touch ID fingerprint sensor technology launched with the iPhone 5S has been receiving plenty of attention. Not too surprising, patents have started to emerge now related to the Touch ID technology. One such patent intend to use the Touch ID fingerprint sensor to create a form of trackpad through tracking the movements of a finger.

Source: Apple PCT/US2013/04188
Touch ID patent WIPO [www.wipo.int]

The Touch ID fingerprint technology launched with the iPhone 5S promised to change the way biometric information was used on smartphones. So far, the technology seems to have divided the users into two camps: those that love the Touch ID technology and those that are sceptical, mostly due to security and privacy concerns with Touch ID. However, Apple appears to be convinced that Touch ID contains revolutionary technologies that are worth to protect. 

Recently, an international patent application (PCT) under the reference PCT/US2013/04188 by Apple has been made public as it enters its final states of review. This patent application deals with means to use the Touch ID fingerprint sensor to act as a joystick as clearly indicated in the first claim of the patent application stating:

"1. A method, comprising:
at an electronic device with a fingerprint sensor and a display:
displaying, on the display, a first user interface;
while displaying the first user interface on the display, detecting movement of a fingerprint on the fingerprint sensor; and
in response to detecting movement of the fingerprint on the fingerprint sensor:
in accordance with a determination that the movement of the fingerprint is in a first direction, navigating through the first user interface; and
in accordance with a determination that the movement of the fingerprint is in a second direction different from the first direction, displaying a second user interface different from the first user interface on the display."