Gmail’s IMAP support roll-out this week had nerds all atwitter about the possibility of synchronised email access across devices, computers, and clients. IMAP is far superior to regular old POP for fetching your messages and maintaining your folder list whether you’re on your iPhone, office or home computer. If IMAP’s got you curious but you’re not sure what desktop application to use with Gmail, consider the extensible, fast, cross-platform and free Mozilla Thunderbird, our beloved Firefox’s little sibling. Here’s how to get the full Gmail experience in Thunderbird with IMAP.
Mozilla has begun developing an open source Adobe AIR and Microsoft Silverlight competitor based on WebRunner designed to more closely integrate the web with your desktop—and they’re calling it Prism.
SearchMash, Google’s sandbox web site for new search ideas, now has a Flash-driven version with some helpful features but a few drawbacks as well. Clicking through results (or navigating with a keyboard) brings up instant thumbnail previews of web sites, videos, and images, and rolling to the left edge brings out a recent search toolbar. As with the Ajax-based SearchMash site, the lack of ads is a nice side benefit, but the combination of Flash and framed results can make link-grabbing difficult, and many users might be annoyed at having to click twice to reach their result. Still, SearchMash might make a decent tool for finding a web site you remember seeing or for quick-look image browsing. This version of SearchMash requires Flash 9 for viewing.
SearchMash (Flash) [via Google Operating System]All platforms: Add tasks, set appointments and keep on top of your schedule with Mozilla Sunbird and Lightning, the free calendar managers that function as a stand-alone client or extension to the Thunderbird e-mail program. Version 0.7 of Sunbird/Lightning touts a redesign of the user interface and task-adding dialog, along with user-requested functions like adding tasks in different timezones, more customizable recurring events and an improved “Today” glance panel. Sunbird and Lightning store information in a SQLite format, but can also work with iCal data or Google Calendar through an extension. Both are free downloads and work on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
Sunbird/Lightning [via MozillaZine]After losing his iPod Touch when it slipped out of his pocket in a cab, skater Sean Bonner decided to make his iPod easier to hold onto. I started thinking about about things I’ve owned in the past that I didn’t lose, and which ones of those were definitely not slippery. The answer was immediately obvious. A skateboard.
He purchased a length of black grip tape and covered the back of his new iPod with it. So far, it hasn’t moved.
No Slippage! [sbdc via 43F]Only 5 days left in the month to get Lifehacker to its fund-raising goal for education! Donate some tax-deductible dollars in the name of the blog, won’t you? Here’s the back story on our begging.
Mac OS X only: To-do lists are a great way to keep your mind and projects organized, but messing with your program or web-based list’s features defeats the purpose. Enter TaskPaper, a seriously simple task manager from the developers of the distraction-free word processor Writeroom. TaskPaper, now in a finished 1.0 version, keeps it simple with text-based lists that can be modified by TextEdit or any other editor. The interface keeps the focus on projects, tasks and checking them off, but tabbed windows and context browsing allow for bigger-picture views. TaskPaper is available as a free trial for Mac OS X 10.4 or later, but a licence will set you back $18.95. If you’re looking to get serious with to-do lists, check out Gina’s guide to the art of the doable to-do list, or get even more streamlined with paper lists.
TaskPaper [via 43 Folders]
