Technophilia

Introducing schema.org: Search engines come together for a richer web

2011-06-06T05:56:00.001-07:00

Schema.org, a new initiative from Google, Bing and Yahoo! to create and support a common vocabulary for structured data markup on web pages. With schema.org, site owners and developers can learn about structured data and improve how their sites appear in major search engines.

Microsoft to launch Office 365 on June 28

2011-06-06T03:33:00.001-07:00

Microsoft is holding its official launch of its cloud-hosted application suite, known as Office 365, on June 28.

What is Microsoft Office 365?

Office 365 is Microsoft’s latest online services and hosted software in the cloud – delivering services to fit your organization’s unique needs. As a customer within the Microsoft Online Services environment, your software will always be the most current updates to MS Office Professional Plus, Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online, and Lync Online (OCS 2010). These commodity-based services enable small businesses to deliver the latest productivity solutions to end-users for aSaaS “per-user” pricing model.

France bans Facebook and Twitter from radio and TV

2011-06-06T01:56:00.000-07:00

In France, radio and television news anchors are no longer allowed to say the words “Facebook” and “Twitter” on air. The ban forbids the promotion of commercial enterprises on news programs by the French Govt.

This means French news organizations are not allowed to urge their audience to “follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/xx” or “check out my Facebook page at facebook.com/xx” Instead, they will have to say “find us on social networking websites” or tell viewers to “check out our webpage ‘at this URL’ to find links to our pages on social networks.

Source: ZDNet

Gmail homepage makeover

2010-11-21T07:08:00.001-08:00

If you visited the Gmail log-in page recently, you may have noticed that things looked a wee bit different. Gmail Team decided to give the page a bit of a facelift and updated a few of Gmail’s other pages. Also they cut out over 250 words in the process.

Here’s a before & after of the log-in page:

Gmail Team also updated the Gmail logo, brightening the colors and making it more in line with the latest Google logo:

Gmail gets a new logo, slimmer homepage

2010-11-21T06:59:00.001-08:00

Twitter: Instant Notifications

2010-11-21T06:46:00.001-08:00

Whenever an account that you follow mentions you, you’ll immediately receive a notification. You’ll know who is talking to or about you on Twitter, and you’ll be able to continue the conversation in real-time. Notifications for @mentions will initially be available on SMS.

To turn on SMS notifications, go to twitter.com/devices and check the boxes under “Text message notifications”. You can change your notifications settings at any time. For example, text “set mentions all’ to turn on notifications for @mentions from everyone, rather than just those whom you follow, and ‘set mentions off’ to turn off @mentions notifications.

Yahoo outs Messenger 11 beta with loads of new features

2010-11-21T06:25:00.001-08:00

Yahoo! Messenger remains one of the most popular desktop IM clients around, and its users are now able to get a taste of what's coming in version 11.

One of the biggest additions is Facebook chat support -- which works nicely.
Twitter support has been added.
Messenger 11 also offers write-once-post-everywhere updates to Facebook, Twitter, and Yahoo! Pulse.
More social gaming options have been added, and will soon include Zynga's Mafia Wars and Fishville.
Yahoo! Messenger 11 also allows multiple sign-ins, so you won't get disconnected from your desktop if you sign in on your mobile device.
Yahoo! Messenger for Android will be updated soon with better video chat support.

Download Yahoo! Messenger 11 beta for Windows

Yahoo! rolling out Google Instant-like previews

2010-11-21T05:36:00.001-08:00

Yahoo's new Rich Search Assist will provide some new functionality to its users. It's a bit like Google Suggest meets Google Instant Previews.

Yahoo's contextual customizations still appear in the previews. Rich Search assist is currently only available to a small number of testers, but it should be rolling out to all Yahoo! users in the very near future.

Voogle brings Google Voice to webOS

2010-11-21T05:23:00.001-08:00

Voogle supports all the important Google Voice features. You can make voice calls, send text messages, playing recorded calls, and check voice mail. If you so desire, you can even use Voogle to replace your carrier's built-in voicemail with your own from Google Voice. Future plans include the addition of MMS support and real-time notifications.

Voogle: [via PreCentral]

Oracle Announces Release Date for Java 7

2010-11-21T04:58:00.001-08:00

Oracle announced that the Java Development Kit (JDK) 7 will be generally available on July 28, 2011. The company submitted the specs for Java 7 and 8 to the Java Community Process Executive Committee for approval.

According to Java Chief architect Mark Reinhold's blog, the "results should be available in two weeks." However, as we reported recently, the Apache Software Foundation is threatening to vote against the approval of Java 7.

Facebook Comprises Nearly 25% of Page Views in the US

2010-11-21T04:41:00.001-08:00

Facebook's domination of the Internet continues, as evidenced by numbers released today by Experian Hitwise today that find Facebook accounting for nearly 1 in 4 page views in the United States.

In March the intelligence company found that visits to Facebook had surpassed those to Google. And since then, Facebook's growth has continued.

Happy 25th birthday, Windows!

2010-11-21T04:22:00.001-08:00

25 years ago today, Microsoft released the very first version of the operating system which now powers around 90% of the personal computers in the world.

How to Migrate from TextMate to VIM

2010-11-21T04:13:00.001-08:00

Developer Daniel Fischer wrote a VIM tutorial for TextMate users. Fischer, a long time TextMate user, decided it was time to make the jump to a more advanced editor. Fischer wanted to take advantage VIM features like split-windows, and the many plugins available.

What the tutorial covers:

Installing MacVim
Creating Your Own Icon
Themes
Plugins
Split Windows
Shortcuts
Gotchas

Apps on your phone putting your privacy at risk?

2010-08-01T23:17:00.001-07:00

Do you know what information is being sent through the air from your phone? According to research done by Lookout Inc, a quarter of free iPhone apps, and half of free Android apps contain code that deliberately collects sensitive information from users.

Microsoft Cut IE8 Privacy Features to Sell Ads

2010-08-01T23:05:00.001-07:00

Microsoft developers planned "industry-leading" privacy features in Internet Explorer 8 that would have automatically blocked third-party tracking tools, but one feature was scaled back and another was dropped because they went against the interests of advertisers.

A senior executive in Microsoft's web advertising division became angry when he heard about the privacy features and complained that the plan would disrupt ad sales by Microsoft and other companies. Microsoft said it weighed considerations like ad revenue for free sites before deciding to scale back the plan.

Microsoft ultimately included one feature, called InPrivate Filtering, but users must enable it every time they open the browser instead of having it activated by default. InPrivate Filtering pinpoints likely tracking tools by blocking any third-party content that turns up on more than 10 visited websites.

Microsoft also dropped another proposed feature, known as InPrivate Subscriptions, that would have automatically blocked Web addresses that appeared on "black lists" compiled by privacy groups.

Internet Explorer is used by more than 60 percent of all worldwide users, according to Net Applications, a web analytics company that tracks browser market share. Firefox is in second place with almost 23 percent and Chrome is third with about 7 percent.

Source: ReadWriteWeb

Discovering Who To Follow

2010-08-01T04:16:00.000-07:00

With more than a hundred million users on Twitter, there are sure to be at least dozens of accounts out there that will reflect your interests. The trouble is finding all of them. twitter is rolling out a simple, but powerful new feature to help address that -- "Suggestions for You".

The algorithms in this feature, built by our user relevance team, suggest people you don’t currently follow that you may find interesting.

The suggestions are based on several factors, including people you follow and the people they follow. You'll see these suggestions on Twitter.com and the Find People section. If you like a suggestion, click "follow"; if you don't, click "hide".

In addition, you will begin to see recommendations for similar users when you view another account’s profile.

Google search blocked in China? The pain continues

2010-08-01T04:04:00.001-07:00

Following a closer look at the circumstances, Google has said the problem was not related to A fault or defect in a computer program on its part but instead must be the result of some changes to China’s censoring system, called the Great Firewall.

Source: ZDNet Community

Google disables internal PDF plug-in in Chrome dev channel update

2010-08-01T03:52:00.001-07:00

Google dropped the need for a command line switch to activate the internal PDF plug-in, enabling it by default for users of the dev channel build. However, another update was pushed and the plug-in has once again been switched off.

You can still enable the plug-in if you wish -- just visit chrome://plugins and click enable underneath the Chrome PDF Viewer.

Source: Download Squad

Remove the ad banner from your Hotmail inbox

2010-08-01T03:43:00.001-07:00

As the new Hotmail continues to roll out -- it's now in use by more than 100 million people and headed to all remaining users soon. With loads of new features, improved performance, and no more text promotions in your message footers, Hotmail is now a strong alternative to Gmail.

One thing you might not like is the big vertical billboard on the right-hand side of your inbox. Just like Gmail's block of text ads, it's easy to hide. All you need is the Windows Live Ad Remover Userscript.

Chrome users can simply click the install button at the top of the page. Firefox users will need to install the Greasemonkey add-on first and Safari users need Greasekit. Opera users who aren't sure how to install Userscripts can check this post for help. Internet Explorer users can try either Trixie or IE7Pro.

Source: Download Squad

Apple releases Safari 5.0 update; includes Extensions Gallery

2010-07-29T01:34:00.001-07:00

Apple has just published the latest upgrade to Safari,version 5.0.1, which includes a whole new feature called “Extensions Gallery,” as well as a number of other interesting fixes.

The Extensions Gallery is essentially a center for add-on features and toolbars for a variety of different web programs and services

All of them are built using HTML5, CSS or Javascript technologies. You can get a full look at the Extensions function before downloading on Apple’s site.
Source: ZDNet Community

Windows 7 SP1 beta available for download

2010-07-27T06:08:00.001-07:00

This isn't the final SP1 code & there's not much going on in SP1 to get excited about, so if you're happy with the way your Windows 7 system is running you may as well hold off until the service pack is available via Windows Update.

Download the beta

Source: Download Squad

New Google Chrome Extension Will Translate Your Tweets and Facebook Updates

2010-07-27T05:56:00.001-07:00

Social Translate is a new open source extension for Google's Chrome browser that translates updates on social networking sites into your native language using Google Translate.

You can choose between "reliable," which appears to attempt fewer translations, or "aggressive," which is less accurate but attempts to guess at more words.

It detects languages correctly on Twitter and translates acceptably. On Facebook, the extension is measurably less useful. It only translates status updates as they appear in your News Feed - not in comments on updates, in profiles or on users' walls.

Source: ReadWriteWeb

Google Now Updating Stable Chrome Builds Every Six Weeks

2010-07-25T18:52:00.001-07:00

Google has decided that they're going to update Chrome twice as often. Apparently the longer release schedule put too much pressure on developers to get new features ready on time, because if they didn't, they'd have to wait three months before the next update.

Now, they're going to release a new stable version every six weeks, meaning we get to see those features sooner.

Source: Google Blog

YouTube Begins Experimenting With HTML5 Embeddable Player

2010-07-25T18:45:00.001-07:00

The battle between Adobe Flash and HTML5 will extend into YouTube video players embedded around the web, now that Google has announced a developer preview of video iFrames that use HTML5 when viewed in a browser that supports it.

Google began experimenting with HTML5 players on the YouTube site itself in January, but offering HTML5 for the embedded players all over the web is a big step.

Source: Youtube Blog

Facebook adds Comments to Like Button

2010-07-25T18:38:00.001-07:00

Facebook adds a writable comment space inside the pop-up that appears when visitors Like something out around the web.

Messages sent with personal comments tend to get more click. These messages will now also include a longer description of what's being liked.

Now, when a user adds a comment to the iFrame version of the Like button, a larger, more prominent story will be shared with the user’s friends.

Source: Facebook Blog

Every single Microsoft employee will get a windows phone 7

2010-07-25T18:26:00.001-07:00

Microsoft learns from Google and gives employees Windows Phone 7 devices. Back in December 2008, Google handed out G1’s as a holiday bonus. Now Microsoft is handing them out, not as a bonus but probably as a way to get everyone excited about the company’s latest version of its mobile OS.

What’s the best way to generate some positive hype? To seed the device with all of its employees.

Source: ZDNet Community

Facebook: 500 million people, 500 Million Stories

2010-07-25T17:32:00.001-07:00

Facebook hit 500 million users this week.

Lock and Load: It's Life in a Day

2010-07-25T17:05:00.001-07:00

What are you doing today? Something routine like cooking breakfast or taking the dog for a walk? Or is it something extraordinary like your child's first soccer game or your wedding day?

Whatever it is, big or small, we hope you’ll capture it on video and take part in "Life in a Day," a user-generated documentary that will tell the story of a single day on Earth, as seen through your eyes. You have until 11:59 p.m. local time to film something, so get going. For more information, visit the Life in a Day channel.

Get out those cameras and let's make film history!

By: YouTube Blog

Apple releases Xcode 4 preview

2010-07-25T16:43:00.001-07:00

Apple recently revealed the preview of its Xcode 4 programming environment to the public.

Xcode is the complete toolset for building Mac, iPhone, and iPad applications - and with Xcode 4, the tools have been redesigned to be faster, easier to use, and more helpful than ever before. The Xcode IDE understands your project’s every detail, identifies mistakes in both syntax and logic, and will even fix your code for you. Quite simply, Xcode 4 will help you write better code.

Xcode 4 has a brand new user interface, built upon proven technologies that Apple itself uses to build Mac OS X and iOS.

Here are some additional new features:

Source: Apple dev center

Microsoft Windows Phone 7: Top 10 features

2010-07-23T03:45:00.001-07:00

Here are my top 10 features and functions found in the current Technical Preview of Windows Phone 7:

Zune HD functionality
Powerful Outlook email, calendar, and contacts client
Tellme voice search
Cool camera software
Functional QWERTY keyboard
Easy setup for Google, Windows Live, Yahoo! Mail, and others
Bing search page and functionality
Good Office integration and support
Informative lock screen and auto-hidden top status bar
Smooth transitional user interface

Source: ZDNet Community

YouTube Play jury selected and ready to view your work

2010-07-23T03:26:00.001-07:00

Since the YouTube Play project was announced last month, more than 6,000 videos have been submitted from 69 countries, and the YouTube Play channel has received over 2 million views. Today “23/7/2010”, they are unveiling the jury for YouTube Play.

YouTube Play jurors

Musician and performance artist: Laurie Anderson

Musical group: Animal Collective

Visual artists: Douglas Gordon, Ryan McGinley, Marilyn Minter and Takashi Murakami

Artists and filmmakers Shirin Neshat, Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Darren Aronofsky

Graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister, with Guggenheim Chief Curator and Deputy Director Nancy Spector serving as jury chairperson.

Over the course of the next few months, these jurors will watch countless hours of videos submitted by the international YouTube community and select the most creative and inspiring work to showcase at the Guggenheim museums in October.

For more information about the jurors and to learn more about how to participate, check out youtube.com/play.

Translating Wikipedia

2010-07-20T23:42:00.001-07:00

Translation is key to mission of making information useful to everyone. For example, Wikipedia is a phenomenal source of knowledge, especially for speakers of common languages such as English, German and French where there are hundreds of thousands—or millions—of articles available. For many smaller languages, however, Wikipedia doesn’t yet have anywhere near the same amount of content available.

To help Wikipedia become more helpful to speakers of smaller languages, They’re working with volunteers, translators and Wikipedians across India, the Middle East and Africa to translate more than 16 million words for Wikipedia into Arabic, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Swahili, Tamil and Telugu. They began these efforts in 2008, starting with translating Wikipedia articles into Hindi, a language spoken by tens of millions of Internet users. At that time the Hindi Wikipedia had only 3.4 million words across 21,000 articles—while in contrast, the English Wikipedia had 1.3 billion words across 2.5 million articles.

They selected articles using a couple of different sets of criteria.

They used Google search data to determine the most popular English Wikipedia articles read in India.

Using Google Trends, Wikipedia found the articles that were consistently read over time—and not just temporarily popular.

Finally using Translator Toolkit they translate articles that either did not exist or were placeholder articles or “stubs” in Hindi Wikipedia.

Number of non-stub Wikipedia articles by Internet users, normalized (English = 1)

Wikipedia also found that there are many Internet users who have used their tools to translate more than 100 million words of Wikipedia content into various languages worldwide. If you do speak another language we hope you’ll join Wikipedia in bringing the content to other languages and cultures with Translator Toolkit.

Connecting a Google Account to your older YouTube account

2010-07-20T18:13:00.001-07:00

Following YouTube’s acquisition by Google in 2006, new YouTube signups were given the choice between two different account systems to power their YouTube experience: the original YouTube account system (built in 2005) or the Google Account system.

In May 2009, google started requiring all new YouTube usernames to be powered by Google Accounts. Now, we’re gradually asking all remaining pre-May 2009 users still using the older YouTube account system to connect a Google Account to their YouTube username. For now, it’s an optional step, but eventually it’ll be required in order to continue using your YouTube username.
Before we go any further, we should clarify three important facts:

YouTube usernames themselves aren’t going anywhere.
A Google Account is not necessarily a Gmail account: You can create a Google Account with any email address through many different Google products.
Connecting your existing YouTube username to an existing Google Account doesn’t start sharing your YouTube activity to your Buzz followers.

So what’s the point of asking people to connect a Google Account to their older YouTube account? Here are the main reasons:

Improved account security: The Google Account system will reduce spam across the site; users will get a slew of security and safety features that Google has spent the past decade developing.
A single account system: This may not mean much to anyone outside of the YouTube engineering team, but behind the scenes it’s extremely complicated to support two different account systems. Having all users on the same account system not only simplifies matters, but more important, it makes it much easier to use Google technologies to keep the site running smoothly, as well as introduce new functionality.

If you have an older YouTube account and you’d like to link to a new or existing Google Account today, just visit this page and choose to link to an existing Google Account or a brand new one. You can also visit our "Linked YouTube/Google Accounts" topic in the Help Center for more information on common questions and problems.

Google drawings: A zoom tool and more…

2010-07-20T18:03:00.001-07:00

Create a drawing in google drawings to check out new features and shortcuts that will help you refine.

Zoom improvements
Google added several new and simple ways to zoom in and out within a drawing: a zoom tool on the toolbar; the ability to draw a rectangle around an area to zoom; zoom levels to the View menu; and keyboard shortcuts to zoom in (Ctrl Shift → or Cmd Shift → on a Mac) and zoom out (Ctrl Shift ← or Cmd Shift ← on a Mac).

Pie and arc drawing improvements
Once you’ve selected the pie or arc shape, drag from the center point, then release to set the radius, move your mouse along the circumference to set the angle, then click when you’re done. Hint - you can hold shift during step 2 to constrain your arc to 15 degree increments.
You can also select Edit > Change Shape to toggle between a pie shape and arc shape.

Duplicate while rotating and resizing
Google Team have extended the Control/Command modifier to duplicate objects while you resize and rotate objects too, which makes it easy to make both concentric and radial diagrams.
Hint: duplicating while resizing works better if you resize from large to small, since each new object gets placed on top.

New line decoration controls
Now you can change the style of the cap used at the end of your lines from the default butt cap to use square caps or round caps.

You can also change the appearance of line joins within your polylines and shapes from the default round join to use miter joins or bevel joins. These options are available via Format > Line decorations.

Let us know what you think in Comments.

Facebook, Youtube blocked in Afghanistan

2010-07-18T18:13:00.001-07:00

Following Pakistan, Afghanistan also blocked the world’s most popular social networking and video sharing websites, facebook and youtube. Both are now completely blocked. The pages say ‘This Site is Restricted.

These websites gained popularity in Afghanistan recently. The sites are facing criticism over a page that asked fans to draw Prophet Mohammad’s caricatures. A court in Pakistan ordered the government to block facebook. Youtube and Wikipedia are also blocked.

Google Places Offers Free Trial of "Tags" Ad Program

2010-07-18T15:25:00.001-07:00

In an effort to encourage more business owners to take advantage of its Tags advertising program, Google Places is offering a 30-day trial to users who sign up by July 23.

The Tags program was one of a handful of features rolled out in April when Google

fixed its Local Business Center and re-branded it as Google Places.

Tags offer local businesses an opportunity to enhance their Google Maps listings with a note about special offers, coupons or just a link back to their website.

Why Your Company Should Have a Facebook Page, Not a Profile

2010-07-18T03:22:00.001-07:00

A company's effectiveness on Facebook can be hampered if the account isn't set up properly.

Facebook's terms of service:

"Profiles represent individuals and must be held under an individual name, while Pages allow an organization, business, celebrity, or band to maintain a professional presence on Facebook."

Pages Offer Analytics and Like Widgets

Two really crucial advantages of administering a Page are user analytics and easily-embeddable Like buttons and widgets.

In Facebook Insights, you can view all kinds of useful data about user activity on your page, including how many likes and comments you received each day and much more.

This data can be really useful for understanding the characteristics of your customer base, and knowing which wall posts get the best reaction. This data is not available to individual profiles.

Another thing profiles don't offer is the means to embed a Like button and other Open Graph plugins into your own site. This is a major setback for businesses hoping to grow their audience on Facebook.

Pages Can Have Unlimited Fans.

On Facebook, individual profiles are limited to 5,000 friends, whereas Pages can have unlimited fans (or likes). Once your profile friend list reaches 5,000, Facebook will encourage you to set up a Page, but doesn't offer a tool to convert your profile to a Page.

Flickr Fixes Facebook Integration With Batch Uploads

2010-07-17T22:59:00.001-07:00

Last month, social photo-sharing site Flickr finally added some long-awaited Facebook integration to its service, allowing users to simultaneously post photos on both Flickr and Facebook with one upload.

But there was a small problem with the way that the new feature was set up: it basically spammed your Facebook Wall with post after post about your new photos.

But, that problem has been fixed, reports Flickr.

For those users who uploaded more than one photo at a time, using the new Facebook integration feature made each and every new Flickr photo uploaded its own individual post on your Facebook Wall and friends' News Feed. After processing a big set of photos, your Facebook page would end up covered in nothing but Flickr posts. That issue has been fixed so that it now identities these multi-picture posts as batches.

Google!! Deeper understanding with Metaweb

2010-07-17T05:04:00.001-07:00

Over time google improved search by deepening their understanding of queries and web pages. The web isn’t merely words—it’s information about things in the real world, and understanding the relationships between real-world entities will help in delivering relevant information more quickly.

Google have acquired Metaweb, a company that maintains an open database of things in the world. This will help in improving search and make the web richer and more meaningful for everyone. With efforts like rich snippets and the search answers feature, google beginning to understand the the web to make search better.

Type [Barack Obama birthday] in the search box and see the answer right at the top of the page. Or search for [events in San Jose] and see a list of specific events and dates. Google is offering this kind of experience because they understand facts about real people and real events out in the world.

In addition to Google's ideas for search, google team also excited about the possibilities for Freebase, Metaweb’s free and open database of over 12 million things, including movies, books, TV shows, celebrities, locations, companies and more.

Google and Metaweb plan to maintain Freebase as a free and open database for the world. Better yet, They plan to contribute to and further develop Freebase and would be delighted if other web companies use and contribute to the data. It will be a tremendous resource to make the web richer for everyone. And to the extent the web becomes a better place, this is good for webmasters and good for users.

By: Google Team

Google Acquires Freebase Operators Metaweb

2010-07-17T03:41:00.001-07:00

Google announced a major acquisition in the Semantic Web space.

The Semantic Web is all about structuring data so that humans and computers can more easily interpret the Web and discover relevant data for a wide variety of purposes.

Freebase is a massive open-structured database of information about almost anything, including books, movies and music.

Yahoo! Answers: Streamlining Search

2010-07-17T03:18:00.001-07:00

The Yahoo! Answers team made improvements that streamline search to find the information you want on the world’s most popular question-and-answer site.

First up,there are new sorting options near the top of the search page. You can now sort search results by:

Relevance
Newest
Most Answers

If you have a tendency to search for a particular topic more than others, you can now perform an “Advanced Search” and save your filter settings for future searches. You can add up to ten saved searches to the “My Saved Searches” list and edit or delete them as you wish.

By: Yahoo! Search Team

Yahoo! Personals is closing on July 21, 2010

2010-07-14T01:35:00.001-07:00

According to the Yahoo, Yahoo Personals will close permanently on July 21.

Yahoo:

You can continue your online dating search with no service interruption by having us move your Yahoo! Personals information to our new partner, Match.com!!

Your Options Until Yahoo! Personals Closes on July 21 2010

Move to Match.com on Yahoo!
Take no action and continue to use Yahoo! Personals until it closes on July 21 2010.
Cancel your Yahoo! Personals subscription anytime from now until we close on July 21 2010.

Now Google Highlights Local Businesses in Top Search Results

2010-07-13T06:42:00.001-07:00

Google's Place have begun appearing at the top of Google search results.

Google first launched Place Pages as a part of its “Local Business Center” before combining the center with several other services and launching Google Places.

The service offers businesses a way to control their presence on the search engine and take advantage of a number of features, from analytics to business information and online coupons.

A Guide to Getting Started with Google drawings

2010-07-13T06:22:00.001-07:00

Google created a Getting Started Guide for drawings. This guide covers the basics about Google drawings and gives you all the information you need to start creating, editing, formatting, and sharing your drawings. It also includes some tips and tricks about features you may not know too much about.

HTML5 features now in Safari too

2010-07-13T05:58:00.001-07:00

So far you've only be able to drag in attachments and images into email messages in Chrome and Firefox. Now, this feature work in the newest version of Safari (Safari 5) too.

Twitter launches Earlybird account

2010-07-13T04:48:00.001-07:00

Twitter has launched the new @earlybird account, dedicated to announcing special deals and discounts to followers.This will revolve around tech, travel, entertainment and fashion. Anyone who wanted to advertise a discount would need to pay.

This actually seems like a good way to advertise things, so long as you can express your idea into 140 characters (including a link). The @earlybird account probably won’t be enough to finance Twitter alone for years to come, but it’s a decent start.

Google's master Android plan: We're all mobile app developers now

2010-07-12T07:31:00.001-07:00

Now Google is offering a do-it-yourself mobile app tool. The tool, which is available now in Google Labs, is called App Inventor.

To use App Inventor, you do not need to be a developer. App Inventor requires NO programming knowledge. This is because instead of writing code, you visually design the way the app looks and use blocks to specify the app’s behavior.

Rich text signatures now in Gmail

2010-07-08T18:45:00.001-07:00

Google is launching the ability to write your own rich text signatures right in Gmail.
The next time you log in and visit the Settings page, you'll see a rich text editor in the signature section. Here, you can customize your signature by adding pretty formatting, links, and images.

Gmail also now supports a unique signature for each email address associated with your account. So, if you send mail using a custom "From:" address, you can use a different signature for that address. From the Settings page, you can edit the signature for each account by changing the email address that appears in the dropdown menu.

Android Continues Gaining Ground, Ready to Surpass Windows Mobile

2010-07-08T15:28:00.001-07:00

Android continues to grab a section of the smartphone market and is just about ready to jump into the number three spot, behind RIM and Apple. In addition to Android, mobile Web usage itself is also on the rise, with numbers increasing across the board.

For the three-month period leading up to last December, Google's Android platform accounted for just 5.2% of smartphone devices. By last Februrary, it had nearly doubled to 9% and now it has grown again to 13%, gaining around 4% of the smartphone market every three months.

Google Docs viewer on Mobile Browsers

2010-07-08T14:04:00.001-07:00

Google released a mobile version of the Google Docs viewer for Android, iPhone and iPad to help you view PDFs, .ppt, .doc and .docx files you’ve uploaded to your documents list, without needing to download the file.

With our mobile viewer you can switch quickly between pages and pan/zoom within a page. On your iPhone and iPad, you can pinch to zoom in or out. You can try it out by going to docs.google.com on your Android-powered device, iPad or iPhone and select any document in these formats that you've previously uploaded.

YouTube Offers Personalized TV-Like Experience

2010-07-08T11:39:00.001-07:00

YouTube has announced the launch of LeanBack, a TV-like viewing experience.

Go to LeanBack and a full-screen feed, personalized for each viewer, begins playing. Using your enter and direction keys you can navigate the feed. No need for the mouse or for entering URLs.

"This feed is based on your YouTube settings and preferences, including content from your subscriptions and videos your friends are sharing on Facebook (assuming you've connected your YouTube account to your Facebook account)."

The Pros & Cons of YouTube's New Mobile Site, For iPhone Owners

2010-07-08T10:52:00.001-07:00

YouTube just announced a new version of its mobile site. The new home page of the mobile web app takes on the familiar look of the Facebook iPhone app - the grid of various options. YouTube emphasizes that there are many things you can do on the regular web site that you can now do on the mobile version, like playlist creation.

Here are the pros and cons of the new mobile web page.

Pros

It looks very nice and apparently there more videos you can view.

Updates are easier for YouTube to push, since it's a web app - not a downloaded app.

You can now post and read comments on the mobile web interface.

Cons

The web app doesn't include your personal viewing history. It's nice to be able to go back and find a video you watched simply by looking at your personal viewing history. That is an option on the iPhone app, it is not on the mobile web app.

Sharing doesn't include options to send to Twitter, Facebook, Google Buzz or anywhere - just email. That's the case with both of these interfaces, and it's frustrating.

Blogger Labels: YouTube,Mobile

Microsoft takes aim again at Web developers with new WebMatrix tool suite

2010-07-06T21:59:00.001-07:00

Back in 2003, Microsoft had a plan to attract Web site developers to the Microsoft platform called WebMatrix. On July 7, 2010, Microsoft brought back that discontinued effort.

Microsoft is making available for download a first beta of the new WebMatrix. The plan — if feedback is positive — is to release the final version before the end of this calendar year.

Like the original WebMatrix, it’s a light-weight Web development tool, with accompanying samples and documentation, in its own right. The new WebMatrix also integrates with Microsoft’s open-source Web Gallery, plus a reference tool for finding potential hosting partners for sites.

WebMatrix is a 15 MB download (50 MB for those who don’t already have .Net 4 installed). It can be installed side-by-side with Visual Studio 2010 and/or Visual Web Developer 2010 Express.

The goal of WebMatrix is: “to make it really easy to get started with web development.”

Blogger Labels: Microsoft,WebMatrix,tool,suite,version,development,documentation,Visual Studio,developers,download

Microsoft releases Silverlight for Symbian

2010-07-06T21:37:00.001-07:00

Microsoft made available the completed version of its Silverlight technology for Symbian.

The new release is for the S60 5th edition phones, including the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia N97 and Nokia N97 Mini. According to a blog post from the Silverlight for Symbian team, there are more than 20 million users of those model Nokia phones worldwide.

The newest Silverlight port will allow users to view Silverlight applications in their mobile browser, as well as to make use of related tools to build Silverlight applications that target the Nokia phones.

Blogger Labels: Silverlight,Microsoft,Symbian,Nokia Phones

5 billion mobile phones by the end of 2010

2010-07-05T21:28:00.001-07:00

A research group has just released an astonishing figure: at the end of the first quarter, 2010, there were 4.8 billion mobile phone connections across the world.

To put this into perspective: there are only 7 billion souls on this planet. That means 71% of the entire world has a mobile phone -- a computer, a potential lifeline -- in their pocket. Those missing 2 billion are mostly from the developing and third world, namely Africa and the Asia-Pacific regions.

But those are also the areas of fastest growth -- just last year, India and Indonesia have connected 150 million new phones. If adoption continues at such a rate, which it surely must, we will soon have a world where everyone, except newborn children, has a mobile phone in their pocket.

Blogger Labels: world,planet,computer,growth,adoption,regions

Yahoo! introduces Mail, Messenger and Search on Google's Android platform

2010-07-05T21:00:00.001-07:00

Yahoo! has come into Google's house, introducing apps for its competing services on the Android platform. Android is obviously geared up to work with Gmail and Google Apps from the start, but now you can use the Yahoo!!.

I don't know many Android users who would be interested in switching to Yahoo!, especially when Google's service is so convenient on Android phones, but at least you have the option now.

Blogger Labels: Yahoo,Android,services,Apps,users

Microsoft leaks plans for a Windows 8 app store

2010-06-28T22:02:00.001-07:00

According to leaked documents making the rounds of the Internet, Microsoft's Windows 8 will come with an app store, allowing users to download Microsoft-endorsed apps and sync settings across all their Windows 8 devices.

The service will be hosted entirely in the cloud, with a focus on helping developers reach an audience with a simple sales and licensing process. Consumers will be able to search on the web or locally on a Windows 8 machine to access applications from the store.

Blogger Labels: windows store,windows 8,Microsoft

Facebook Snags the Guy Who Built Google's Chrome OS

2010-06-28T20:41:00.001-07:00

The battle between Facebook and Google just got even hotter with the news that the social network has hired Matthew Papakipos, the man who started and lead both the Google Chrome OS. Papakipos said in a Tweet, so he's leaving to join the project team at Facebook.

@papakipos: Now that Chrome OS & WebGL are in good shape, it's time for something new. I'm going to work @ Facebook! Love the product and team. Woot!

Along with the hire of Papakipos, Facebook also announced that it has hired Jocelyn Goldfein, a former VP and GM of virtualization giant VMware's desktop business unit.

Gmail Gets One-Click Microsoft Word Previews

2010-06-27T11:35:00.001-07:00

Google announced a handy new feature for Gmail: one-click previews for Microsoft Word documents. This new features works for .doc and .docx format. The new preview feature for Word documents replaces the "view as HTML" option in Gmail.

The new Word previews definitely look far better than the HTML preview. It handles page breaks, footnotes and other more advanced features without any issues. If you want to edit the document in Google Docs, once additional click from the previewer will open the document for editing. You can also save the document to your Google Docs account.You can also download the document and edit it in your desktop word processor.

Blogger Labels: Gmail,Microsoft,Word,Google,documents,preview,Docs

Google Now Distributes Chrome with Built-In Flash Player

2010-06-27T11:24:00.001-07:00

Google released a new stable version of Chrome. This new release for Windows, Mac and Linux is the first stable version of Chrome to be distributed with a built-in version of Adobe's widely used Flash Player.

Google's update mechanism ensures that the browser stays up to date, without any intervention from the user. In addition to this, Google can also test the specific version of Flash it distributes with the browser and ensure that it is stable.

Don't Like Flash in Chrome!! Just Disable It.

If you don't want to use Flash in Chrome, you can just type "about:plugins" in the address bar in Chrome and disable the plugin.

Blogger Labels: Google,Chrome,Flash,Adobe,Disable,browser

Google Moves Encrypted Search to New Domain

2010-06-27T11:15:00.001-07:00

Google announced that it was moving domains for its encrypted search from https://www.google.com to https://encrypted.google.com.

In May Google launched an encrypted version of its Web search, allowing users to enable a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection to encrypt their information as they searched.

Encrypted Web Search has capability to perform searches with better protection against snooping from third parties. So, Search is more secure with encrypted google web search.

Blogger Labels: SSL,Encrypted,Google,Domain,Secure,protection,Sockets

Porn sites will finally get .XXX domain

2010-06-26T08:00:00.001-07:00

ICANN, the organization that controls top-level domain names, is reportedly ready to approve the controversial .XXX domain, intended for use by porn sites.

Blogger Labels: Domain,ICANN

Google's HTML5 plans for Gmail include 1 second-to-Inbox startup

2010-06-26T07:49:00.001-07:00

Google wants to deliver a more desktop-like user experience in Gmail, and they're planning to lean on HTML5 to do it. Recently Google added drag-and-drop support. Google is now working on reversing the process -- allowing us to drag files out of Gmail messages and drop them onto our local folders.

With the upcoming extension app support in Google Chrome, it will divide between Gmail as a Web app and desktop email with permission to access additional local resources, and will eventually lead to Gmail startup times of "less than a second."

Blogger Labels: extension,app,HTML5,Google,Gmail,Chrome

eBay Buys RedLaser

2010-06-23T18:34:00.001-07:00

Online auction and marketplace eBay announced today that it has acquired the popular iPhone barcode scanning application RedLaser, application and the image recognition technology.

eBay says it plans to quickly integrate the barcode scanning technology into its current family of apps across its various brands, which include services like StubHub and Shopping.com. With over 200 million listings on eBay and over 7,000 merchants on Shopping.com, eBay's purchase will certainly benefit RedLaser's community of users and developers.

Blogger Labels: Shopping,RedLaser,Online,auction,StubHub,eBay

Firefox: 'Crash Protection' released

2010-06-23T14:30:00.001-07:00

Firefox 3.6.4 brings crash protection for Adobe Flash, Apple QuickTime and Microsoft Silverlight plug-ins -- under Windows and Linux (Mac will have to wait, it seems). If a plug-in crashes, you will be able to simply reload the tab. The browser (and the rest of your tabs!) should remain unscathed.

You will find that 3.6.4 starts up a little quicker, and it might even shut down a little faster! Otherwise, it's simply more stable and secure.

Blogger Labels: Firefox,Crash,Protection

Google Voice opened up for sign up!! limited to U.S. for now

2010-06-23T14:23:00.001-07:00

Google Voice, Google's very useful call-forwarding, voice mail has finally opened to everyone, Well, everyone in the United States.

Google Voice:

Web-based platform for managing your communications, Voicemail that works like email, Free calls and text messages, low-priced international calls and more…

Blogger Labels: Google,Voice,Voicemail,messages

Adobe launches Flash 10.1 for Mobile

2010-06-22T06:56:00.001-07:00

Adobe launched Flash Player 10.1 for mobile phone makers. With the move, Adobe is trying to position Flash as a platform that works across the desktop as well as mobile devices.

Flash is expected to start out on Motorola’s Droid, multiple HTC devices as well as the Dell Streak. Later, Adobe plans to roll out Flash on the BlackBerry, webOS, Windows Phone 7 Series, LiMo, MeeGo and Symbian platforms “in coming months.”

So what’s the plan?

Initially, Flash 10.1 will be available on Android 2.2.

It will be available as a download in Android market, but as system software.

Adobe is hoping Flash 10.1 will be on 9 to 10 percent of smartphones this year.

By 2011, Flash 10.1 should be on a third of smartphones.

By 2012, Adobe plans to have Flash 10.1 on more than half of all smartphones.

Flash Lite will continue on other mass market phones.

Blogger Labels: Adobe,Flash,Mobile,platform,Android,system,smartphones

Microsoft Introduces Windows Messenger Live for iPhone

2010-06-21T23:39:00.001-07:00

Microsoft has introduced its Windows Live Messenger to Apple. The Messenger app is designed for iPhone and iPod Touch.

The app allows users to instant message their friends list, view and comment on friends' photos and status updates from Windows Live, Facebook, and MySpace,see what their Messenger friends are sharing via Flickr, YouTube, and other social sites.

Features include:

Space to update status, follow friends and change profile picture

Email in-box button

Buddy list

Chat screen

New chat notification

Photo and gallery screen

Blogger Labels: Instant message,Microsoft,Live Messenger,Apple

iOS 4 hits the iPhone

2010-06-21T14:12:00.001-07:00

Apple is launching a series of software improvements collectively known as iOS 4 to owners of older generation iPhones and iPod Touch devices.

iOS 4, the updated form of the iPhone operating system, brings over 100 new features, some big - like folders for apps and unified inboxes - some small - like home screen wallpapers and threaded email - and some - like multi-tasking - which your old iPhone may not be able to run at all.

Blogger Labels: iPod,iphone,iOS 4,Apple

Wordpress 3.0 arrives, with multi-blog support and new default theme

2010-06-19T03:00:00.001-07:00

If you're running several Wordpress blogs, your life just got a lot easier. Wordpress 3.0, codenamed "Thelonious" has finally arrived, and it supports multiple Wordpress blogs. You can manage them all from a central dashboard, too, with no logging out and back in. There's also a new default theme called 2010, which is highly customizable.

Wordpress 3.0 features extremely convenient bulk updates of plug-ins and themes, so you don't have to do them one at a time. On the widget front, the coolest new feature is custom menus, so you can do your site navigation your way. There's also help on every page now, to help you get a handle on all the new features.

Blogger Labels: Wordpress 3.0,Wordpress,Thelonious,blogs

Pick&Zip lets you Backup any Facebook album as a ZIP or PDF

2010-06-18T23:49:00.001-07:00

Pick&Zip lets you backup Facebook photos. It's the most lightweight and simple tool.

All you do is sign in, browse albums or people, and download the photos. You can either download the photos as a ZIP or as a pre-compiled PDF.

Blogger Labels: Pick,Facebook,backup,photos,albums,download

Tynt Blocker extension now in Safari

2010-06-18T23:21:00.001-07:00

Safari users who dislike Tynt can now block itwith an extension of their own. This will only work in Safari 5, so make sure you've updated to the latest version.

Tynt Blocker: Which is a service that some sites use to add a URL or other text to anything you copy from them.

Blogger Labels: Tynt,Blocker,extension,Safari

Google Earth released for “iPhone and iPad” version 3.0; Desktop version 5.2

2010-06-18T22:57:00.001-07:00

Google Earth 3.0 has been released. Those of you that have used previous versions won't notice many differences. 3.0 does, however, bring complete iPad support -- including high-resolution imagery to make the most of your larger screen.

Download and enjoy!

In other news, Google Earth 5.2 for desktop machines was released. Amongst other changes, it now includes an integrated WebKit-based browser.

Blogger Labels: Google,Earth,Download,WebKit,iPad

Facebook and Flickr team up for photo sharing

2010-06-18T22:27:00.001-07:00

Your public Flickr photos can now be automatically dropped into your Facebook account. You can turn the new integration on at Flickr's extend page, and it will automatically start sharing the photos.

Blogger Labels: Facebook,Flickr,integration

Google Chrome Gets Extension Sync

2010-06-18T08:31:00.001-07:00

The developer's version of the Google Chrome Web browser was updated to include the ability to sync your extensions.

How to Enable Sync

To enable extension sync in Chrome, you'll first need to install the current developer's build. Once installed, you'll then need to edit the Chrome shortcut's properties.

In Windows, you right-click on the shortcut, choose "Properties," and in the "Target" box, add -enable-sync-extenstions at the end of the command, to the right of the quotes.

Blogger Labels: Google,Chrome,Extension,Sync,quotes,extensions,developer

Google Scholar has launched a blog

2010-06-16T20:32:00.001-07:00

Google Scholar, the search service for academic literature, has launched a blog.

The fact of Google Scholar having proven popular enough to merit a blog is surely an indication of the importance of Web and Internet technology to the academic world at large.

Google Scholar allows interested users to make a search on, say "oil spills," and receive research articles and patents or legal opinions and journals. The nature of the results are very different than a standard Google Web or news search.

Blogger Labels: Google,Scholar,literature,journals,blog

Hotmail finally removes annoying taglines from the footers of your messages

2010-06-14T04:37:00.001-07:00

Microsoft is getting rid of annoying taglines, moving Hotmail one step closer to being seen as a serious email service.

Microsoft : Hotmail respects your inbox. We’ve seen a lot of feedback regarding the text that gets added to the bottom of email messages sent from Hotmail and some other email providers. In the image above, you can see an example of this text, “Hotmail goes with you. Get it on your BlackBerry or iPhone.” We call this text a tagline, and we’d like to address this pretty simply – we’re getting rid of it.

Blogger Labels: Hotmail,messages,Microsoft,feedback,bottom,taglines

Adobe releases AIR 2

2010-06-14T04:16:00.001-07:00

Adobe just released the finished version of Adobe AIR 2, its cross-platform framework for apps. That means developers on Windows, Mac and Linux can deploy their AIR 2 apps today. For users, this means new versions of the AIR apps are probably coming very soon...

AIR apps can now access files on external mass storage devices, and they support dragging-and-dropping files, multi-touch gestures, microphones and more. On top of that, there are the all-important fixes for memory use (apps will use up to 30% less memory now!) that should lead to much better performance.

Blogger Labels: AIR 2,Adobe,version,apps

Google added World Cup themes category to Chrome Extensions Gallery

2010-06-14T04:06:00.001-07:00

Google has added new World Cup themes to the Chrome Extensions Gallery. Now you can proudly display your favorite Teams color as a theme on your Chrome browser!

Blogger Labels: Google,Chrome,Gallery,theme,Extensions

Flash Player 10.1 goes final: hardware acceleration, private browsing support, more…

2010-06-14T03:58:00.001-07:00

Adobe has finally pushed Flash Player 10.1 out the door.Flash Player 10.1 includes accelerometer and multi-touch support, better streaming performance, content protection, and peer-to-peer broadcasting abilities. The new version also plays nice with your browser's private browsing mode.

Blogger Labels: Flash,Player,Adobe

The Evolution of Privacy on Facebook

2010-06-09T13:38:00.001-07:00

Changes in default profile settings over time

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by: Matt McKeon

Blogger Labels: Evolution,Privacy,Facebook

Firefox 4 Gets WebM

2010-06-09T07:23:00.001-07:00

WebM, the open video standard introduced at Google's recent I/O developer conference, is now coming to Firefox 4.

According Mozilla, the key sticking point was making sure that the new WebM codec licensing was GPL-compatible, an open source licensing type which allows users to copy, modify and redistribute software free of charge as long as modifications made are shared with the community.

“The WebM video format is based on the VP8 video codec. It is an alternative to the H.264 codec, which is currently used by Apple to display video on the iPad and iPhone and is supported within Adobe's Flash player. One of the first sites to implement WebM, was, Google's own video property, YouTube. In addition to Google Chrome and now, Firefox, Microsoft too has also announced support for WebM in its upcoming Web browser.”

Google's Search Indexing, Now Fully Caffeinated

2010-06-08T22:24:00.001-07:00

"Caffeine provides 50 percent fresher results for web searches than our last index, and it's the largest collection of web content we've offered. Whether it's a news story, a blog or a forum post, you can now find links to relevant content much sooner after it is published than was possible ever before."

To refresh the old system Google re-analyzed the entirety of its cache. This created a lag in the results. With Caffeine, they say, they now analyze the web continuously in small portions, updating the search index as they go.

Blogger Labels: Indexing,Google,Search,Caffeine

Gmail Makes Voice & Video Chat Easier

2010-06-08T21:43:00.001-07:00

Google announced that it has made video, voice and group chat easier to access from within Gmail.One change is the presence of an icon for the voice and video chat plugin. If the person you're chatting with from within Gmail doesn't have that plugin, you can one-click the icon to issue them an invitation.

Extant features such as "Go off the record," "Block", and "Send SMS" are available above the chat window.

Blogger Labels: Gmail,Voice,Video,Chat,Google

Bing Comes to the iPhone, But Google Remains the Default

2010-06-08T07:10:00.001-07:00

Steve Jobs announced that Microsoft's Bing will now be one of the search options in Safari on the iPhone.

Microsoft already developed a Bing iPhone application that allows iPhone users to use the search engine's features on the iPhone without having to create a browser bookmark. Now, Bing will take its place next to Google - which will remain the default - and Yahoo Search.

While it remains to be seen how many users will actually switch their default search engine, this could potentially be a major win for Bing. Bing's market share on the desktop continues to increase slowly.

Blogger Labels: Google,Default,Steve,Microsoft,Safari,Yahoo,Search,users

Google.com Gets A Photo - Yours

2010-06-08T04:24:00.001-07:00

The Google home page is the web's most classic example of the power of clean simplicity, but the company announced that it's time for a change. Users will now be allowed to upload their own photo to illustrate the background of Google.com.

Blogger Labels: Google,Photo,background

Google enabled Google Maps preview in both Gmail and Google Buzz.

2010-06-08T02:25:00.001-07:00

Google announced that it has enabled a Google Maps preview in both Gmail and Google Buzz.

Now, instead of pasting a Google Map into an email you send, any Google Maps URL you enclose will automatically come with a map embedded.

To enable the function in your Gmail, click the Google Labs setting tab and select "Google Maps previews in mail." Once that is functional, any Google Maps URL will be mapped.

When it comes to Google Buzz, pasting a Google Maps link into the post box will cause the system to automatically produce an image preview of that location.

Blogger Labels: Google,preview,Gmail,Buzz,Labs,location

George W. Bush Has Joined Facebook

2010-06-08T02:07:00.001-07:00

The 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush, now has a Facebook profile

Update: As one reader pointed out in comments, this is a Fan page, not a personal profile. So the requirement that a user "likes" the page before commenting is just a convenient part of how Facebook works. As a Fan page, the account does not have a field for making friends. In other words, George Bush may be on Facebook, but he does not have any friends.

Blogger Labels: George,Bush,Facebook,President

Microsoft: Win 7 and Server 2008 R2 SP1 beta coming in July

2010-06-08T01:56:00.001-07:00

Microsoft is providing updates on Service Pack 1 of Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2 (beta code is coming in July), Windows Server App Fabric, and Exchange Server 2010 SP1.

Microsoft officials shared some initial info on SP1. On the client there will be no new features, just bug fixes and security updates rolled up into a single deliverable.

Blogger Labels: Microsoft,Server,Pack,code,features,beta

Google Reader finally allows folder renaming

2010-06-06T23:35:00.001-07:00

Now you can rename folders and tags on the settings page:

And you can also edit these names right from the contextual menu in your subscription list.

Also, They’ve disabled offline access through Gears, and phased out support for older browsers.

Blogger Labels: Google,Reader,Gears

Google Wave had its first birthday yesterday

2010-05-29T07:37:00.001-07:00

The folks at Google posted a Happy Birthday to Wave yesterday.

Just over a week ago, Google finally opened up Wave -- taking it out of secret society mode and gifting it to the general public.

Google Apps gets more compelling with Docs updates

2010-05-27T23:50:00.001-07:00

The most recent updates were announced which simplifies the migration from Outlook to Google Apps.

With Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Outlook®, you can:

- Import mail, calendars, and personal contacts, either all at once or in separate stages
- Import only mail sent before or after a specific date
- Skip importing Junk E-mail and Deleted items
- Exclude specific mail folders from being imported
- Monitor the progress of your migration
- Easily pause and resume the migration
- Run subsequent migrations that import only new data (not data that’s already been imported)

Tour Facebook's new privacy settings

2010-05-27T15:10:00.001-07:00

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Yahoo! Gets Its Game on with Zynga

2010-05-26T12:11:00.001-07:00

Zynga, the social gaming outfit behind Farmville and Mafia wars, has inked a distribution pact with Yahoo. Yahoo will put Zynga games on the home page, Yahoo Games, Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Messenger.

For Zynga, the Yahoo deal is a bit of a diversification play since the company is dependent on Facebook for a lot of its usage. In any case, it’s a win-win for Yahoo and Zynga.

Zynga games are expected to roll out on the Yahoo! network in the coming months and will include:

Ability for people to play Zynga games and access their personal Zynga game updates across Yahoo!’s properties including the Homepage, Yahoo! Games, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Messenger and others.
Sharing of updates across multiple social experiences simultaneously while playing their favorite Zynga games on Yahoo!
Product integration of Zynga games with the Yahoo! Application Platform (YAP), Yahoo!’s OpenSocial container through which third-party developers can develop applications on Yahoo!

Mark Pincus, founder and CEO of Zynga:

“With over 35 million unique users playing our games every single day, social games are fast becoming a leading source of entertainment worldwide surpassing most television shows. Our partnership with Yahoo! gives millions of new users the ability to connect with friends and families through games.”

Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on now ready for download

2010-05-26T11:27:00.001-07:00

"A global browser based plug-in to allow users to opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics." It's now here, and ready for users of Chrome, Firefox 3.5 and 3.6, and Internet Explorer 7 and 8.

The add-on communicates with the Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js) to indicate that information about the website visit should not be sent to Google Analytics.

Microsoft Office 2010 Web apps revealed (screenshots)

2010-05-25T23:00:00.001-07:00

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Everybody’s talking about the CLOUD

2010-05-25T22:37:00.001-07:00

Cloud computing:

Cloud computing is an increasingly broad topic that covers everything from Google Apps to data center services to virtualization to software, infrastructure- and platform-as-a service. Technology executives are increasingly interested in cloud computing as a way to save money. Nevertheless, cloud adoption remains in the single digits among security concerns. Rest assured that cloud computing is a game changer. Key players include: IBM, HP, Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Salesforce.com, NetSuite, VMware as well as dozens of others.

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong: Next phase of Internet is about content

2010-05-25T22:05:00.001-07:00

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong:

“The next phase of the Internet is about content. I believe AOL has a very large set of assets in that space. It’s virtually impossible to build a global brand on the Internet, or it takes a very long time…it’s being able to go to a company that people were ready to win. There’s a lot of fight in them. I spent first year unlocking their [desire] to compete.”

Now Remote Control Your uTorrent Downloads from Any Browser…

2010-05-25T06:01:00.001-07:00

uTorrent released a no-configuration tool that allows you to remotely access and control uTorrent from any web browser.

After downloading the beta, all you need to do is head into uTorrent's remote access preferences by hitting the Remote access preferences button in the toolbar (to the very right of the other buttons). Once you're in the remote access preferences, check the "Enable Remote Access" checkbox and enter any username and password you desire. Hit apply and confirm that you want to create a new account. From that point forward, you can access your downloads from any computer by going to http://falcon.utorrent.com and entering your login information (provided your home computer is powered up and uTorrent is running).

Microsoft launched Technical Computing Initiative 2.0

2010-05-24T09:06:00.001-07:00

Microsoft created a new Technical Computing Group. The new group falls under Bob Muglia, who is President of Microsoft’s Server and Tools business, but will work closely with various groups in Microsoft Research, company officials said. The three areas of focus of the group and the broader initiative will be…

Cloud || Parallel-Programming || New Technical Computing Tools

There is a new technical computing community Web site, www.modelingtheworld.com, launching as part of the effort.