Chrome Extensions On the Way, Adblock Imminent [Google Chrome]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/pSiZJ47pLYQ/chrome-extensions-on-the-way-adblock-imminent

Google has published official documentation detailing their plans to bring extensions to their beta web browser Chrome. When we asked you a few months back whether Chrome with extensions would convince you to switch, 28% said yes, while a whopping 22% of you said that as long as an Adblock extension never reached Chrome, you wouldn't use it. A previous announcement should have already satisfied the first group, but if you were in the Adblock crowd, you'll be happy to know that one of the highlighted uses for Google Chrome extensions is content filtering, including "Adblock, Flashblock, Privacy control, and Parental control." Sounds like Google's moving in the right direction if they want to snag more early adopters. Now we just need to see more progress for the Mac and Linux crowd.

Extensions (Chromium Developer Documentation) [via CNET]

Songbird 1.0 Release Official, Fixes Bugs, Plays iTunes Purchases [Featured Download]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/Mosm8HqQgsU/songbird-10-release-official-fixes-bugs-plays-itunes-purchases

Windows/Mac/Linux: The long-awaited cross-platform media player Songbird officially reaches its 1.0 release today. The open-source application—built on the same platform as Firefox—promises to bring exciting new innovations to a software jukebox market that has become arguably quite stale. Like Firefox, Songbird is extensible, meaning that users can customize the look, feel, and features of Songbird to their heart's content. We took you on a screenshot tour of Songbird last month, and from a feature standpoint, not much has changed. From a functionality standpoint, Songbird has gotten much, much better.

The first release candidate had a lot to be excited about, but unfortunately it was rife with errors in my tests. The official 1.0 release fixes most if not all of the bugs I came across in my initial review, which is very promising. The footprint is still a little unwieldy, weighing in at just over 100MB of RAM on the Windows PC I tested it on.

The default installation also suggests installing a new add-on (new in the sense that it wasn't suggested in the release candidate I tested) called QuickTime Playback that supports playing back music you've purchased from the iTunes Music Store—a killer feature that, in conjunction with the iPod sync add-on, would allow even the hardcore iTunes user to switch.

If you want a closer look at what you can do with Songbird and what sets it apart from your stock media player, check out our previous screenshot tour and Songbir! d's demo screencasts. Whether you're a regular Songbird user or you're trying it out for the first time today, share your Songbird experience in the comments.

Songbird

gOS Cloud Brings a Web-Based Operating System to Your Browser [Cloud Computing]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/mQTfDiGk8XU/gos-cloud-brings-a-web+based-operating-system-to-your-browser

Last year we showed you a new, lightweight Linux-based operating system called gOS (aka Good OS) with an emphasis on integrating web-based applications with your desktop. gOS first gained notoriety as the operating system on Walmart's $199 PC, and now the good folks at gOS have put together a new, super-lightweight operating system for netbooks called gOS Cloud that runs entirely inside a web browser (which looks like it's probably a tweaked version of Google Chrome). Details are scant, and there doesn't seem to be an available download yet, but gOS Cloud looks like it could be the perfect OS for your netbook or aging computer. Until then, the original version of gOS is already available for download and works great.

gOS Cloud [via CNET]

Best New and Improved Software of 2008 [Best Of 2008]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/TRlejqKX0-0/best-new-and-improved-software-of-2008

Mobile phone operating systems and a reheated web browser war: that's how we'll recall the year 2008 when it comes to software. From brand new to revamped browsers and mobile platforms and apps, 2008's been good to technophiles who like their data in the cloud and accessible wherever they are. Let's take a look back at this year in software, and some of the best new and improved applications, web services, and mobile platforms that were born in 2008. Looking back at the last 12 months, these are the apps that get a gold foil-wrapped chocolate coin from us this year. Photo by Gaetan Lee.

Firefox 3

Not only did you swoon over the release of Firefox 3 because of the "AwesomeBar" and the rest of the "Had no idea I needed this but now I love it!" features it offers, but because the launch itself was a grass-roots community-driven effort towards making software history. Indeed, on June 17th of this year, the makers of Firefox set a new Guinness World Record for most software downloads in a given day, at more than eight million downloads of the new browser iteration in 24 hours. If you haven't dug into the advanced functionality Firefox has to offer, check out our power user's guide to Firefox 3.

Google Chrome

While Mozillians and Firefox users celebrated across the globe over! the sum mer, no one knew that search powerhouse Google was in the software development lab cooking up their own lean, mean browsing machine that would forsake all of the fox's bells and whistles (and extensibility) to run Javascript-based applications lightening-fast. On September 2nd, Google released the first beta of Chrome, their new web browser which they hope you'll make your window to the web and all its apps. Our own in-house browser speed tests show that Chrome is indeed speedy, and we're seeing a significant uptake on Chrome usage by Lifehacker readers. (Last month's browser breakdown for Lifehacker readers was 62% Firefox, 22% IE, 8% Safari, and 6% Chrome. Not bad for a browser that's been out only a few months.) For more Chrome goodness, see our power user's guide to Google Chrome.

iPhone 2.0 and the App Store

Yeah, yeah, the iPhone launched in 2007, but this year the iPhone 2.0 software and the new iPhone 3G model with a faster data plan and GPS came out to hype almost as big as the original iPhone launch. The combination of an operating system that finally ran third-party apps officially plus pinpointy GPS goodness set the bar for what users can expect to get from the next generation of smartphone with a fast internet connection, full-on browser, and spot-on location-awareness. Plus, dozens of the apps available for the phone are free. At first, we were in love. Later, we had! our dou bts. The iPhone 2.0 launch did start to show some of the cracks in the Apple armor—several of the earliest versions of the software were crash and freeze-prone, requiring many users to uninstall apps and reset their phone software to fix maddening keyboard delays and application crashes. Meanwhile, Apple's approval-only App Store left a few applications out in the cold. Still, the iPhone 2.0 software created a compelling mobile platform and app marketing campaign that made Aunt Bertha really want to try that Neil Diamond song out on Shazam.

iPhone 2.0 Jailbreak Utilities and Apps

What with the App Store limitations and Apple's insistence on ruling over what you can and cannot do on your phone, it's not surprising the enthusiastic "jailbreak" community soldiered on this year, continuing to offer installers and non-Apple-approved applications for your iPhone even in the face of the mainstream iTunes App Store. We take our hats off to these intrepid hackers, who offer such lovely functionality as the ability to SSH into, theme, and download video clips to your phone; if you haven't jailbroken your iPhone or iPod touch, here are a few of our picks of best iPhone 2.0 jailbreak apps you can't find in the iTunes Store.

Google Android

Google's answer to Apple's proprietary iPhone hardware and software came in the form of their very own touch mobile phone operating system, Android, which launched this past October. Unlike the iPhone, this new mobile platform is open source and will run on various handsets going forward. Right now Android's first release is only available on the HTC G1 handset; you can see o! ur hands-on first look at Google Android running on the G1 here. As an iPhone user frustrated by limited apps, crashiness, and lack of copy and paste, Android is like a breath of fresh air. Even though the mobile OS is still very new, its open-source nature has led to hundreds of new apps. See our pick of best Android apps to boost your mobile productivity.

Digsby

One of the few software apps on this list that's not open source or made by a ginormous company, new instant messenger client Digsby took chatters by storm with its ability to consolidate your IM, email, and social networking in one place. Even though the Digsby beta only went public in February, by April it was already one of our readers' top five favorite instant messaging tools.

XBMC and Forks

We were really late to the Xbox Media Center (XBMC) party when we showed up last year and installed it on our old classic Xbox, but since then we've been hooked on this rich, open-source media center. Luckily, just because those old black boxes are becoming obselete doesn't mean the XBMC software project has died off. Just the opposite: XBMC has forked into several neat branches that run on various hardware platforms so you can enjoy the same media center goodness without hacking an old Xb! ox. Chec k out a few launches from various factions of XBMC developers this past year that have warmed our hearts:

• XBMC 'Atlantis' Beta 1 Released for All Platforms
• Plex 7 for Mac Adds iTunes and iPhoto Support and More
• Boxee Is XBMC with Newer Look and Social Flair

Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex and Hardy Heron

Another year, another TWO Ubuntu releases, and they just keep getting better. You have to love the free, open source operating system that manages multiple releases within the span of a year—something Apple and Microsoft, companies you pay hundreds of dollars to for the privilege of using their software, can't pull off. If you've tried Linux on your desktop before and killed the partition in frustration only to slink back to Windows, it's time to give it another go. This year we thought version 8.04 Hardy Heron made Linux worth another look; the follow-up, version 8.10 Intrepid Ibex is even better.

Gmail Labs, Gadgets, and Themes

Our favorite web application on the internet, Gmail, continues to burn down barns and rip up the competition with continual iteration and feature adds. This year, Gmail added a "Labs" section to your account, a safe way for power ! users to enable "experimental" power features to their email while keeping everyone else's safe from harm. Truthfully, when I attended the Google press event announcing Gmail Labs back in June, I had my doubts about whether or not the featureset would ever expand beyond the initial 13, and if it would go beyond eye-candy games like Snakey to, you know, actually useful stuff. Turns out it did. Six months later, ten more Gmail Labs features are available in your account, including a super-useful Gadgets feature that lets third parties embed their apps into your inbox. (Like Bit.ly or Basecamp.) Later, Gmail launched themes as well as a Google Desktop gadget. In the midst of all this, the Gmail security team took the time to respond to a breach that several users had experienced and blogged about online. Clearly there's someone home at Gmail; this is a rapidly-evolving product that any webapp developer should use as an example on how to iterate quickly.

Honorable Mentions

Making best-of-year lists is always difficult because you risk leaving off really deserving items. At least two that go in our honorable mentions bin are the Firefox keyboard interface prototype Ubiquity, and photo-sharing site Flickr's launch of short video c! lips in April.

Now, you tell us which one of these apps impressed you the most in the year two thousand and eight.

Which new or improved app impressed you the most in 2008?
( polls)

If you can't get enough of best-of lists, hop into the time machine and see our top 10 new and improved apps of 2007, and our best apps of 2006 and of 2005.

Anything you would have included on this list that we left out? Tell us about it in the comments.

Photology Helps You Search Your Photos Using Intuitive Filters [Windows Featured Download]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/1A6UrjsA4Ws/photology-helps-you-search-your-photos-using-intuitive-filters

Windows only: Photology steps away from tag based searching and allows you to search through your pictures with a variety of filters. There are filter functions for colors, dates, times of day, photo orientation, exposure, text of captions/file names/folders, and even filters for things like plants, sky, faces, beaches, flowers, snow, sunset and water. The simpler filters like the color picker are a bit more accurate than the more advanced ones like clouds. In the screenshot above I had searched for the color blue and snow. Photology kicked out a ton of blue skied and snowy wallpapers I had saved earlier in the holiday season but it also returned a picture of Wonder Woman standing on a cloud. In the defense of Photology clouds and snowbanks are quite similar. Filters can be stacked, so if you need to find a picture from October, predominantly yellow, and taken in the morning you can use all three filters. In addition to helping you search through your photos, Photology has tools for photo adjustments like color correction, red eye removal, cropping, etc. You can also upload your pictures from the application to a site hosted by Enoetic, the parent company of Photology. Pictures will be stored there for 7 days to share with friends. For a more permanent upload, you can also use Photology to upload to Flickr. Photology is freeware, Windows only, requires .Net 3.0+ framework. Thanks GisellaPot!

Photology

Toucan Syncs and Backs Up Your Files [Featured Windows Download]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/SmGFk29p-QY/toucan-syncs-and-backs-up-your-files

Windows only: Portable application Toucan backs up and syncs your data between two locations (like your hard drive and your USB drive). Weighing in at just over 4.10MB installed, Toucan offers several advanced backup and syncing settings, like incremental backup with compression (supporting 7-Zip format), portable drive variables, scripts and advanced rulesets. Similar to SyncBackSE but smaller and portable, Toucan is a nice option for making sure you've got everything on your thumb drive. Toucan is a free download for Windows only.

Toucan [PortableApps.com]

Imaginary Foundation's new dresses

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/472667815/imaginary-foundation-3.html

Our friends at the surrealist clothier Imaginary Foundation have launched a new line of women's dresses and tops. The fabric comes from their men's t-shirts patterned using a dye sublimation process that allows for gorgeous graphics without the thick feeling of most screenprints. The dresses and tops are lined with sustainable cotton. They're $60 each.
Imaginary Foundation dresses and tops

The Critical Last Mile for SEO: Your Copywriters, Designers and Developers

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheInternetMarketingDriver/~3/471240622/critical-last-mile-for-seo-your.html

As I'm mapping out a half day SEO training course for creative and technical employees, I started to think about the importance of the last mile in SEO. In the telecommunications industry, the last mile (or final mile) refers to the final connection to end users (usually referring to data connectivity to businesses and consumers). It's often an area where issues can arise. In SEO, there's also a last mile, although it's slightly different. The last mile in SEO includes your copywriters, designers and developers. Let me give you a quick example. Let's say you were hired to help a company with a large SEO project. Your job was to enhance the company's SEO efforts by removing technical barriers, optimizing important categories of content, and increasing quality inbound links. You start by performing an extensive technical audit and you identify key barriers to indexation. Then you map out a full remediation plan. Your client is excited, you've built up some well-deserved credibility, and everyone involved believes that better rankings and targeted traffic are on their way. But hold on a second... Your changes still need to be implemented successfully. Enter the critical last mile for SEO, or your designers and developers that need to implement those changes. Needless to say, your technical and creative teams are extremely important to your SEO efforts. Why The Last Mile In SEO Is So Important It is critical that your creative and technical teams successfully implement your SEO changes. If they don't, then your changes run the risk of having no impact at all (or worse, having a negative impact). That's right, imagine you're brought in to fix a problem and you end up making things worse! It's definitely possible. Keep in mind that p! roblems typically arise in the last mile of SEO when dealing with larger sites when there are more people involved. For example, a 500,000 page website with 75 people working on it. However, whether you hand off technical SEO changes to a single developer or a team of developers, you're relying on them to implement something they might not be very familiar with. And you need to understand that without your designers and developers, it's going to be extremely hard to get your SEO changes implemented swiftly and accurately. Like I said earlier, they encompass the critical last mile… That said, your designers and developers also need to understand that your SEO changes are important to the success of the website. It's a symbiotic relationship and each party needs to understand the value that the other brings to the table.

read on for more details of how copywriting, design, and code impact SEO...

Gmail on your Google Desktop

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OfficialGmailBlog/~3/6LILiofOMfM/gmail-on-your-desktop.html

Posted by James Yum, Developer Programs Engineer, Google Desktop On the Google Desktop gadgets team, we've seen countless requests for a Gmail gadget over the years. That gadget is finally here, so if you've got Google Desktop for Windows, give it a try. You'll see that it covers the basics such as reading, searching, and sending messages. You can star messages, use the same keyboard shortcuts, and we didn't forget about contact auto-complete. It doesn't take up much space in your sidebar or desktop, and you can also resize it to show as few or as many messages as you'd like. When I'm at work, I keep two instances of the gadget open: one logged into my personal Gmail account and the other set to my Google Apps account for work related stuff. Instead of getting lost in a sea of tabs or browser windows, I can bring up the gadgets in an instant (hint: pressing the shift key twice brings up all your hidden Desktop gadgets). The Gmail gadget currently works with the latest release of Google Desktop for Windows. Try i! t out and please let us know what you think. Update: Changed title to clarify this is for Google Desktop.

read more about gmail on desktop...

Syncing your Google Calendar

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OfficialGmailBlog/~3/VoZ_1mluHHo/syncing-your-google-calendar.html

Posted by Wen-Ai Yu, Support Strategist We on the Google Calendar team work hard to play well with others, so you can synchronize your calendars with a number of mobile devices and desktop applications. This way, you can choose whichever calendars you want to use and keep all of them up to date. Most of these options have been around for a while, and we're happy to announce that Google Calendar now supports the CalDAV protocol -- an evolving, open standard for calendar synchronization. Apple iCal and Mozilla Sunbird You can now sync your calendar with applications that support CalDAV, such as Apple's iCal and Mozilla's Sunbird. Learn more about how to get started in our help center. Microsoft Outlook Google Calendar Sync for Outlook lets you sync events between Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook Calendar. You determine the direction of information flow, as well as the sync frequency. It's compatible with Microsoft Outlook versions 2003 and 2007, and operating systems Windows XP and Windows Vista. BlackBerry mobile devices If you carry a BlackBerry smartphone, Google Sync for BlackBerry synchronizes your device's native calendar with Google. You can access your Google Calendar even when you don't have network coverage and get alerts for upcoming appointments with sound or vibration. It automatically runs in the background, so you can attend to other tasks and still be reminded of your appointments. Android devices

read more about syncing google calendar...

Spice up your inbox with colors and themes

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OfficialGmailBlog/~3/_qa9949kqOc/spice-up-your-inbox-with-colors-and.html

Posted by Annie Chen, Gmail engineer Gmail fans have been building unofficial extensions to spice up their inboxes for a while, but up til now themes haven't been an integral part of Gmail. We wanted to go beyond simple color customization, so out of the 30 odd themes we're launching today, there's a shiny theme with chrome styling, another one that turns your inbox into a retro notepad, nature themes that change scenery over time, weather driven themes that can rain on your mailbox, and fun characters to keep you in good company. There's even an old school ascii theme (Terminal) which was the result of a bet between two engineers -- it's not exactly practical, but it's great for testing out your geek cred. We've also done a minor facelift to Gmail's default look to make it crisper and cleaner -- you might notice a few colors and pixels shifted around here and there. read more about colors and themes ...