There's really a lot of way to go about it but to make things a bit easier on folks, the native BlackBerry 10 application Snap was created. Snap is essentially a front end for the Google Play Store so you know APK files downloaded from there are safe and secure as they can be. The apps have passed Google Play's approval process and through the use of Snap, it's no different really than downloading from the Google Play Store directly.
The only problem with Snap is that it is a bit of an advanced method in the fact that the app itself, being a native BlackBerry 10 app, needs to be sideloaded. The great thing about it though is that once it's set up there's no real need to set up anything else because as long as Snap is maintained by the developer, there is very little work you as a end-user of the app need to do in order to keep on installing APK files onto your BlackBerry 10.2.1 device.
If you're looking to sideload Snap in order to gain the ability to download Android APK files directly onto your BlackBerry smartphone, we've put together a guide for you that not only shows you how to sideload the Snap app itself but also how to install APK files directly onto your BlackBerry 10 smartphone using the app.

Sideloading Snap

• Download and install Google Chrome.
• Once Google Chrome is installed, open it up and install this extension for Google Chrome on your computer.
• Download the latest Snap .BAR file to your computer, place it somewhere you'll remember.
• Enable development mode on your BlackBerry - Go to Settings>Security and Privacy>Development Mode. Turn the switch to the ON position. Note the IP address it lists as well, it's most commonly set to 169.254.0.1 but if different, make note of it. Also, it may ask you to create a password. If so, make one and do not forget it.
• Grab your micro-USB cable and plug it into your device, then plug your device into your computer.
• Open Google Chrome and visit https://169.254.0.1/. If your IP found in development was different, replace 169.254.0.1 with the IP found there.
• If you get an SSL error page or it says this sites security certificate is not trusted, that's fine. It's not causing any harm. Just accept and proceed. If you get a different sort of error though, like this page cannot be found or this webpage is not available, try reconnecting your device or try a different USB port.
• Also, you may need to go to the Google Chrome extension settings and enter the correct IP address there. Generally, it auto detects it but if not you'll need to add it manually. Additionally, if you're still unable to connect, make sure your anti-virus is disabled or the app is allowed to run. This often times causes a lot of connection issues especially for Windows users.
• Once you have the page loaded up, enter in your device password that you created to approve access. You will then see a list of what's already installed on your device.
• From there, you can go to the top right hand corner where it says 'Install Apps' and click on that. That will open a file explorer window for your computer, in which case you want to browse to wherever it is that you downloaded the Snap BAR file and select it.
• Once selected, the Snap file will begin installing and you can view the progress in Chrome. When done, you will see 'result::success' indicating that all went well and the file sideloaded properly.
• You can now disconnect your device from your computer and we'll look at setting up Snap.

Note that this process is applicable for any app that you wish to sideload, not just Snap. If there is other BAR files you wish to install, it can be done the exact same way.

That's all too hard?

If this all a bit too complicated for you, you can make life easier and download Sachesi for your respective computer. Once downloaded, plug in your device, run the Sachesi app and go to the "Install" tab. From there, drag the Snap bar into Sachesi and it will load it. I will note though, DO NOT go messing with anything else in the Sachesi app if you're not aware of what it does.

Setting Up Snap

With Snap now properly sideloaded, the rest is really easy. Once you open up the app, it will ask you for your Google login because again, it's basically acting as a front end for the Google Play Store. That of course, implies you must have a Google account of some type, so if you don't have one of those you'll need to sign up for something Google but I'm sure most of you already have that.
In any case, I'm not going to tell you what to do here. If you're not comfortable with handing over such info, you can swipe from the top in the app to view the privacy policy put forth by the developer of Snap. If it meets your standards, you can proceed, if not quit the app and never look back.
I'm going to assume you want to proceed for the rest of this and rather than writing out the steps for downloading and installing apps using Snap, you can go ahead and click play on the video for a bit of a walkthrough on how it's all done and what to expect when installing apps.

Since the arrival of Steam on Linux we often hear from gamers on the hunt for easier ways to get more control over their Xbox controllers in Ubuntu. 
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS includes the robust xpad kernel driver available by default. For the most part this works well enough out of the box, though users of newer wireless controllers have reported issues with incorrect button mapping and random flashing LED issues.
For more control over gamepad performance, configuration, sensitivity, button mapping and so on, an alternative gamepad driver called ‘xboxdrv‘ is often recommended.
Xboxdrv is considered a superior solution thanks to its wide breadth of device support and the vast amount of configuration options if offers, such as:

• Simulate keyboard and mouse events
• Remapping buttons
• Adjust/configure axes
• Trigger macros
• Set the LED status on gamepad

Integrated Ubuntu Xbox Driver

We’ve written about setting xboxdrv up in the past and suffice to say: it’s not the easiest tool to get up and running out of the box. From annoying issues with driver conflicts to outright confusing issues like offering no Unity Control Panel entry for adjusting settings.
Enter reader Rael GC and his repackage of the driver that solves many of these issues (and plenty more!). His modified xboxdrv package — which he’s dubbed ‘Ubuntu xboxdrv‘ — is available for Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, 13.10 and 14.04 LTS through a dedicated PPA, making installing (and uninstalling) really simple.
To get started with it just open a new Terminal window and enter the following commands:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:rael-gc/ubuntu-xboxdrv

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install ubuntu-xboxdrv

After installation completes you may want to reboot your computer to ensure that the new driver takes precedence over the default one. Then, you should be good to go. You can adjust specific settings via the Joystick pane in the Software Centre. 

For further details or to report issues refer to the GitHub page for the project.

Ubuntu’s default folder icons are nice enough but their uniform orange appearance lacks personality.

To add a splash of vibrance we can use a small tool called ‘Folder Color’. It’s designed to work with Nautilus and can only be used with the default Ubuntu icon theme.
The name pretty much spells out its function: it lets you to change the colour of folders. With it you can make your essay documents folder red, your holiday photo directory yellow, and so on, with a simple right-click.

There’s really not an awful lot more to say about it. It’s not a separate icon theme and does not, yet, allow you to change the colour of the standard Home folder icons (Music, Photos, Documents, etc.).
Other than that it works as intended, has a fairly decent number of colour options available, and offers a handy link should you wish to ‘Restore to default’.

Installing Folder Color

While not a game-changing app Folder Color is nevertheless a useful tool to have if you ever fancy retooling your home folder to look like a rainbow.
The utility can be installed from a dedicated PPA using the command line and supports Ubuntu 13.10 and 14.04 LTS.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:costales/folder-color

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install folder-color

After installation has completed you will need to log out and back (or restart Nautilus) before the right-click options are listed.

Google recently announced the first set of Android apps available to run natively on Chrome OS, a feat made possible using a new ‘Android Runtime’ extension.
Now, a developer has figured out a way to bring Android Apps to Chrome on the desktop.
Vlad Filippov‘s chromeos-apk script and ARChon Android Runtime extension work hand-in-hand to bring Android apps to Chrome on the Windows, Mac and Linux desktop.
Performance of apps through the runtime is not fantastic. Any ambitions of running Dead Trigger 2 or other graphically intensive games should be put to one side.
Similarly, being both an unofficial repackaging of the official runtime and running outside of Chrome OS, system integration (e.g., webcam, speakers, etc.) may be patchy or non-existent.
The guide that follows is provided as-is, and without any guarantees of success. It should be considered highly experimental, buggy, unstable – possibly even flat out evil. Try it out of curiosity rather than heightened expectation and you should be fine.

How to Run Android Apps on Linux

To run Android apps on Linux through Chrome you will need, obviously, to install Chrome. Version 37 or higher is required. Honestly, if you’re going to be playing with a potentially unstable hack then you might as well download and install the unstable version of Google Chrome for Linux, too.
Already got a version of Chrome installed? You can install the Dev Channel version via the command line by running:

sudo apt-get install google-chrome-unstable

Next you need to download the custom-made — ergo officially not endorsed by Google or Chromium — Android Runtime created by Vlad Filippov. This differs from the official version in a number of ways, the chief being it can be used on desktop versions of the browser.
Once the runtime has fully downloaded you will need to extract the contents from the .zip files and move the resulting directory to ~/Home. 
Now to install ARChon. Open Google Chrome and click the hamburger menu. Navigate through to the Tools > Extensions page and, near the top, check ‘Enable developer mode’.
Finally, click on the ‘load unpacked extension’ button and select the folder you previously placed into ~/Home. 

The Runtime alone doesn’t do much by itself so you will need to create a compatible package from an Android app.
There are several ways to do this: either manually, on your desktop, or using a free Android app. We’re covering the manual method below, but OMG! Chrome! has a great walkthrough of using a desktop app called ‘Twerk’, and the Archon Packager tool for mobile.

The Manual Way (Not Recommended)

To convert APKs manually — something you really don’t need to do any more if you use one of the apps mentioned above — you will need to install the ‘chromeos-apk’ command line JavaScript utility. This is available to install through the Node Packaged Modules (npm) manager.
To do this first run:

sudo apt-get install npm nodejs nodejs-legacy

Ubuntu 64 user? You’ll want to grab the following library, too:

sudo apt-get install lib32stdc++6

Now run the command to install the script itself:

npm install -g chromeos-apk

Depending on your configuration you may need to need to run this latter command as sudo. If you’d prefer not to install npm modules with sudo, you can do so with some jiggery-pokery.

Now you’re in the home straight. Head over to Google to find an APK of an app you want to try out, bearing in mind not all Android apps will work, and those that do may be unstable or lack features.
Place your wanted Android APK in ~/Home, then return to Terminal to convert it using the following command, replacing the APK name with the one you want:

chromeos-apk replaceme.apk --archon

The command will take a few seconds to do its thing. Maybe have a blink. Actually, don’t blink. 

You now have an ARChon-rocking Chrome APK extension-y folder-y thing waiting in your Home folder. All that’s left to do is install it to see if it works!
Head back into the chrome://extensions page, tap the ‘load unpacked extension’ button once again but this time select the folder the script above created.
The app should proceed to install without issue, but will it run without issue? Open the Chrome App Launcher or Apps Page and launch it to find out.

Going Further

Since the ARChon runtime supports an unlimited number of Chromified APKs you can repeat the process as many times as you like. The Chrome APK subreddit is keeping track of success/failures, so if you’re feeling helpful be sure to post your findings there.
And, shameless plug: you can subscribe to and/or follow OMG! Chrome! on Twitter, Google+ or Facebook to stay up-to-date with all the latest Chrome, Chromecast and Chrome OS happenings.

With the badge of officialdom now hovering over its lapel interest is growing in Ubuntu MATE Remix and the benefits it offers.
But with no stable release yet available for the curious to trial, trying it out for size has been a little difficult. Until now, that is.
The Ubuntu MATE Remix team recently made it deliciously easy for anyone running Ubuntu 14.04 LTS to install the latest MATE 1.8.1 desktop.
All of the requisite packages have been side ported from Debian, popped into a PPA, and sprinkled with custom artwork, some fine-tuning and paired with a few extra apps.
Want to try it? Here’s how.

Caveats and caution

First up: if you use Ubuntu 14.04 LTS in any sort of situation requiring a rock solid and stable experience — say, controlling the air conditioning of a cat sanctuary or running a sisal toy company — then close this tab and stick with what you’ve got.
Secondly, installing the MATE 1.8.1 desktop on Ubuntu will pull in a bit more than just the basics. It features a few extra third-party applications, including Pidgin and HexChat, plus forked versions of Nautilus, image viewer, text editor, etc. If you plan on using it alongside Unity, KDE or Cinnamon then prepare for this “muddying” of your Dash/app menu.
The MATE desktop also uses its own network applet (so if you see two in the system tray, this is why), plymouth and desktop themes; doesn’t use the standard ‘indicator applets’ for messaging, volume, etc.; and, naturally, there’s no global menu applet support, either.

Installing MATE in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

To install MATE 1.8.1 in Ubuntu open a new Terminal window and bash (get it?) in the following commands:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ubuntu-mate-dev/ppa

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ubuntu-mate-dev/trusty-mate

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends ubuntu-mate-core ubuntu-mate-desktop

After installation has completed log out.
From the Unity Greeter click on the ‘Ubuntu’ logo to the side of your username. Select the ‘MATE Session’ from the list that appears. Then, after reentering your password to login, sit back and prepare to get antiquated (as opposed to acquainted) with your old-school desktop.

Since its introduction back in 2010, the Ubuntu Sound Menu has proven to be one of the most popular and unique features of the Unity desktop.
Allowing music players to integrate with the volume applet – i.e., where one would expect to find sound-related tomfoolery – through a standard interface is inspired. One wonders why other operating systems haven’t followed suit!

Overstuffed

Handy though it may be there is a “problem” with the applet as it currently exists: pretty much anything that so much as looks at an MP3 can, should it want, lodge itself inside. While useful, an omnipresent listing for apps you have installed but don’t use that often is annoying and unsightly.
I’m going to wager that the screenshot above looks familiar to a great many of you reading this! Never fear, dconf-editor is here.

Remove Players from Ubuntu Sound Menu

Part One: Basics

The quickest and easiest way to remove entries from the Sound Menu is to uninstall the apps afflicting it. But that’s extreme; as I said, you may want the app, just not the integration.
To remove players without ditching the apps we need to use a scary looking tool called dconf-editor.
You may have it installed already, but if you don’t you’ll find it in the Ubuntu Software Center waiting.
Once installed, head to the Unity Dash to open it. Don’t panic when it opens; you’ve not been shunted back to the 2002, it’s supposed to look like that.
Using the left-hand sidebar you need to navigate to com > canonical > indicator > sound. The following pane will appear.


Double click on the closed brackets next to interested-media-players and delete the players you wish to remove from the Sound Menu, but leave in the square brackets and don’t delete any commas or apostrophes from items you wish to keep.
For example, I removed ‘rhythmbox.desktop’, ‘pithos.desktop’, ‘clementine.desktop’, to leave a line that reads:

['tomahawk.desktop']

Now, when I open the Sound menu I only see Tomahawk:

Part Two: Blacklisting

Wait! Don’t close dconf-editor yet. While the steps above makes things look nice and tidy some players will instantly re-add themselves to the sound menu when opened. To avoid having to repeat the process add them to the blacklisted-media-player section.
Remember to enclose each player in apostrophes with a comma separating multiple entries. They must also be inside the square brackets — so double check before exiting.
The net result:

If you follow us over on Twitter you may have caught a glimpse of a screenshot we shared recently, along with the invitation to name the desktop environment pictured. 
Did you guess correctly? The answer is Budgie — a simple desktop designed for, but not exclusive to, an openSUSE-based Linux distribution called Evolve OS.

We first wrote about Budgie back in March and were suitably bowled over by both the clean, minimal aesthetic and nimble framework, but also by the decision to reuse common components and the standard stack of GNOME 3.10 technologies readily available in most modern distributions.
I’m a huge admirer of the development choices taken by the project lead, Ikey Doherty. There’s no denying that forking has its merits, but by deciding to favour upstream projects whole project is able to move faster, both development-wise (less technical debt) and in being available for users (easier to run on other distributions).
Politics of choice aside, the desktop is clean and minimal with a nod to the Ash desktop of Google’s Chrome OS. If you don’t mind a few rough edges, its well worth a play with. But how do you install Budgie on Ubuntu?

Official PPA is Now Official

Open source being what it is means if you have a bit of terminal know-how you can grab the source and get it up and running with a bit of wily compiling.
But if you’re too lazy for that and happen to be running Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (or a distro based on it) you can get it the easy way.
Just add the official PPA, refresh your Software Sources and then install. A few minutes later and you’ll have both a new uncle in the family by the name of Bob and a new desktop shell to play with.

Add the Budgie PPA

With a terminal window open copy and paste the following commands carefully, entering your password when/if prompted:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:evolve-os/ppa

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install budgie-desktop

Log into the Budgie Session

After installation you’ll be able to select ‘Budgie’ from the session selector of the Unity Greeter. (Don’t forget to change this back to a stable DE at a later date.)

Notes

Budgie is not stable, finished nor is it officially supported on Ubuntu. It is in active development and features remain missing, including, but not limited to: no network management support, no volume control applet (keyboard keys will work fine), no notification system and no way to ‘pin’ apps to the task bar.
It also doesn’t play too nicely with Ubuntu’s overlay scrollbars, some GTK themes, and session management (e.g., logout, restart, etc.) on distributions using Upstart (like Ubuntu, though that’s changing) does not work.
As a workaround you can disable overlay scrollbars, set a different default theme and quit a session from the terminal using the following command:

gnome-session-quit

With all of those caveats in mind, I’d suggest those whose sanity hinges on a stable, dependable system avoid using it for now.
But for the rest of you crazy folks? Well, let us know what you think of it in the comments below. I’m off to let Bob in.