Ubuntu One is service that lets subscribers back up data from a computer running the Ubuntu Linux operating system to the web and synchronize files and settings between multiple computers.

A while back, Canonical released Ubuntu One Music, a companion Android app which allowed users of the cloud sync platform to effortlessly access music purchased through its own store or uploaded from a connected system. While that was certainly a good first step, Ubuntu One is capable of syncing more than just tunes… so what about accessing all those other files on the go?

Enter the shiny, new Ubuntu One Files app for Android. In addition to providing on-the-go access to your files in the cloud, you can also upload new files directly from your smartphone and manage and share existing files and folders.

Hungry for more? Ubuntu One Files has at least one other trick up its sleeve. The app can also silently sync all the photos you take with your Android’s camera to the photos folder in your U1 cloud storage — which, of course, automatically syncs them back down to all your connected desktops. It’s a nice way to make sure you never accidentally delete an important snapshot from your phone without backing it up first.

Of course it also means that embarrassing antiquing episodes and duct-taping-to-the-wall incidents could be instantly pushed to multiple locations when you’d rather they just be forgotten about entirely. It’s a user-switchable option, of course, and you can always turn it off and manually sync the photos you want to keep at your leisure.

Grab the app from the Android Market — and remember, you’ll need a Ubuntu One account in order for it to be at all useful.

Canonical released Ubuntu 11.04 this week, giving the operating system a dramatically new user interface as well as some new features and performance tweaks. The company also recently launched an updated version of the Ubuntu One music app for Android.

Ubuntu One allows Ubuntu Linux users to store music online and access it from a computer or mobile device. The service is free to use for 30 days, but you’ll have to sign up for a subscription after that.

Ubuntu One Music 1.2 adds support for album art, DRM-free iTunes music, and OGG Vorbis files. There’s also support for playlists and improved load speeds for large music libraries.

Canonical has also updated the desktop user interface for Ubuntu One with a new look, more options in the control panel, and faster performance.

Ubuntu One Music is available as a free download from the Android Market.

via Android Guys
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Sure, the HTC HD2 smartphone ships with Windows Mobile 6.5. But that doesn’t mean you’re stuck with that operating system. We’ve seen hackers take to this phone like ducks take to water, thanks to its 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, high resolution 800 x 480 pixel display, and other attractive features which made the HD2 one of the best phones around… about a year ago.

Porting Android to run on the HD2 was kind of a no-brainer, since Android already runs on plenty of phones with similar hardware. But if you’re really adventurous you might want to check out Ubuntu Linux on your HD2. Xda-developers forum member dcordes has just put the finishing touches on version 0.3 of Ubuntu for the HD2, which includes a modified version of Ubuntu 10.10 and the new Unity interface designed for low resolution displays.

The update brings an improved kernel with better support for battery charging, and some users are reporting that apps run faster in this build than on previous versions. But Ubuntu for the HD2 is still a work in progress, and if your top priority is using the HD2 as a phone, you might want to hold off on installing Ubuntu.

via xda-developers

Canonical’s Ubuntu One service is a cloud-based storage service that lets Ubuntu Linux synchronize and backup files from their desktop. The company has also released mobile apps that let you access your files and stream media on Android and iOS devices. Now Canonical has gone one step further and added support for AirPlay to its iOS app.

What that means is you can upload music to the cloud from your Ubuntu Linux computer, and then use an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad to either listen to that music — or to stream it directly to an Apple TV or other supported device on your home network.

All you have to do to open the AirPlay menu on the Ubuntu One Music app is hit the little square icon to the right of the volume bar and select Apple TV (or another device) from the list. You can continue to use your iOS device to play, pause, and skip tracks.

The Ubuntu One Music app is available as a free download from the App Store, but you’ll need to pay for an Ubuntu One subscription if you plan to store more than 2GB of data in the cloud.

via Electronista

Canonical has launched a new app that allows iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad users to stream music from the cloud to their mobile devices. The new iOS version of the Ubuntu One Music app comes a few weeks after the launch of a similar app for Google Android.

The Ubuntu One service is a cloud-based synchronization service which lets you backup and synchronize your data between a computer running Ubuntu Linux and a cloud-based storage solution. That way you can access your files on the go or restore from a backup.

Unfortunately, while Ubuntu One offers users 2GB of free storage and only charges if you need more disk space, the Ubuntu One Music app requires a subscription fee of $3.99 per month or $39.99 per year. There is a 30 day free trial though.

I suppose Ubuntu One Music is cheaper than signing up for a $10/month music-on-demand service, but only if you already have a huge collection of MP3 files you want to upload and stream to your mobile device.

The user interface is a bit sparse at the moment, but Canonical plans to add support for album art in a future release. Support for OGG and AAC files and caching for offline listening are also on the way.

Ubuntu One Music is available as a free download from the App Store.

via Download Squad

We’ve already seen that it’s possible to install Windows 3.1 on an Android phone by using aDOSBox. But if you’re looking for a slightly more modern alternative to Google’s Android operating system, Nexus One Hacks has a tutorial for installing Ubuntu Linux on a Google Nexus One Android smartphone.

Installing Ubuntu doesn’t require wiping Android off of your device. Instead, Ubuntu runs as a sub-system and you use a VNC client to access the operating system. This way you can still use your phone to make calls… and to run Ubuntu apps.

You’ll need a rooted Android phone to get Ubuntu up and running — and a bit of patience and Linux know-how (or at leas the ability to follow a very long and somewhat complicated set of instructions).

The 13 minute video below shows the entire install process, which really doesn’t take very long at all once you’ve downloaded all the necessary files.

via Android Community

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