Firefox’s free VPN rollout finally reached me – is it any good though?
Firefox recently added a free built-in VPN to its desktop browser, but access to the feature is rolling out gradually. I got the prompt on my Ubuntu machine last night, so here’s a rundown of what it actually does, what it doesn’t, and how to set it – assuming you have it. If you’re waiting for it to roll out to you, there’s no special update or download to look out for as this is a progressive rollout feature – Mozilla enables it remotely, in stages. There was no fanfare when it arrived for me, the toolbar button just appeared. […]
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Ubuntu 26.04 LTS makes it easier to enable Ubuntu Pro, Canonical’s opt-in (but free for home users) subscription that extends security update to more packages in the wider Ubuntu repos, straight after installation. An Enable Ubuntu Pro step has been added to the distro’s Welcome tool (package namegnome-initial-setup, with Ubuntu-specific modifications). This tool pops up to new users the first time they login after installing the OS. The first step on the Welcome tool in Ubuntu 26.04 LTS offers to help you enrol your system in Ubuntu Pro: The flow is presented simply: you either select ‘Enable Ubuntu Pro’, or […]
A couple of new icons have been added to Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, to ensure the Resolute Raccoon’s new default apps sport a Yaru-ified look in keeping with the rest of the distro. Ubuntu’s new default system monitor tool Resources gains a new icon. In the Ubuntu 26.04 beta, the app was still sporting its upstream icon. That didn’t look out of place per se, but shape did not conform to the Yaru icon template (circle, squircle or upright rectangle). That’s now fixed. Still identifiably a system monitor, but uses the round template with less busy scale markings and simpler gauge […]
What’s better than using a social network? Not using one, I suppose. Or using one in the nerdiest way you can. Case in point, Skyscraper. Created by developer Cameron Banga, Skyscraper is an open-source terminal client for Bluesky, written in Rust and available on GitHub. It does the core essentials – timeline browsing, posting, replies, reposts, likes and profile viewing. Though aimed at macOS (where it’s available to install via brew), Skyscraper compiled easily on Ubuntu with minimal setup – I show you how to do it, if you’re interested. But before we get that far, let’s answer the big […]
March 2026 meted out a sizeable set of Linux software releases, including updates to FOSS stalwarts GIMP, digiKam, Krita and Blender. The preceding month also gave us several major new releases, covered on this site in dedicated articles, like Firefox 149 with free built-in VPN, the ‘biggest ever release’ of OpenShot video editor, GIMP 3.2, Ghostty 1.3, and the Opera GX for Linux launch. A busy month, but those weren’t the only app updates of note. Below, I run through other releases made in March. While these didn’t get dedicated articles at the time, they offer new features, fixes or […]