Magic Jack error 9 no internet connection

I was struggling to be the tech-support for my mother back home and getting her to talk to me over magic jack. It kept saying, Error 9: no internet connection.

And yet at the same time she could hear me properly on Skype but I was not able to hear her at all. Video was working both ways.

I asked her to unplug the magic jack ("Safely remove hardware" and all), and viola, the skype audio started working! :)

I haven't ascertained yet, but I am pretty sure the solution to the magic jack also lies somewhere there - some other device must be using the network itself.

Minitube: native client for Youtube

Even though the support for Adobe Flash is getting better on *nix systems, it is far from what it should be. Youtube especially seems to have problems interfering with audio settings, not running fullscreen properly on multiscreen displays to name a few.

Solution: use Minitube, a Flash-less native Youtube client for Linux & other Unix-like systems.
http://flavio.tordini.org/minitube

Ubuntu eclipse no java perspective

For those of you installing eclipse for the first time on Ubuntu (using the System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package manager), the Window -> Open Perspective -> Java might not appear (even under Other).

Here is what you need to do:
1. Close eclipse if you are already running it.
2. Open the Synaptic Package Manager (as above) and select the eclipse-jdt package as well.
3. Install (basically, Apply)

That'll do it! :) Start up eclipse again!