Convert sound files using command line

MacOs X comes with a neat tool to convert sound files, afconvert. It has a bit of a crappy error reporting.
I used the following command to convert from aiff to wave: afconvert -f WAVE -d UI8 Mail_Sent.aiff
Some nice details here

Time machine for linux

flyback :
Apple's Time Machine is a great feature in their OS, and Linux has almost all of the required technology already built in to recreate it. This is a simple GUI to make it easy to use.

Via onethingwell

Screen, tmux and reparenting

reptyr is a utility for taking an existing running program and
attaching it to a new terminal. Started a long-running process over
ssh, but have to leave and don't want to interrupt it? Just start a
screen, use reptyr to grab it, and then kill the ssh session and head
on home.

tmux is a terminal multiplexer: it enables a number of terminals (or windows), each running a separate program, to be created, accessed, and controlled from a single screen. tmux may be detached from a screen and continue running in the background, then later reattached. (Maybe a nice replacement of screen)