Linux-tips

Free teaching games are a nerdly parents friend. Luckily, Linux abounds with them. Today I bring you numpty physics. "Harness gravity with your crayon and set about creating blocks, ramps, levers, pulleys and whatever else you fancy to get the little red thing to the little yellow thing."

Debian and Ubuntu users can: apt-get install numptyphysics

Other system users see here

Why not log into your machine using your Android while sitting at your doctor's office? Giggle with nerdly joy as you perform system updates, install software, reboot your machine, or make it play random media files to scare your roommates.

First you'll need to have SSH server set up and running on your home machine. A primer on that can be found here.

Next up, grab the ConnectBot app.

Log in, and delight in the command line fun!

Xabber is a neat little XMPP client for Android with built in OTR support, allowing you to encrypt your messages. Simply install the app, configure your accounts, and enable OTR support under settings, security, OTR.

It's fairly easy to set up sending and receiving encrypted email on your Android using a few simple, free apps.

APG - Public key encryption for the Android. Encrypt/decrypt emails/files via OpenPGP.

K-9 Mail -  K-9 Mail is an open-source e-mail client with search, IMAP push email, multi-folder sync, flagging, filing, signatures, bcc-self, PGP, mail on SD & more.

OI File Manager -  allows you to browse your SD card, create directories, rename, copy, move, and delete files. It also acts as an extension to other applications to display "Open" and "Save" dialogs.

Import your keys using the APG app which automatically integrates with K-9 mail.

If you need more basic details on encryption see here.