Saturday, December 13, 2008
Work
Gmail Makes Viewing PDF Files In-Browser Easier
8:37AM Gina Trapani | Next time you receive a PDF file attachment in Gmail, hit the View link next to it. Instead of the hardly-ever-looked-good HTML view, you’ll get Google Docs’ full-on PDF viewer right in your browser, with thumbnails for navigating the PDF’s multiple page the way your desktop PDF viewer works. Here’s what it looks like: More »
Communicate
Turn A YouTube Clip Into A Holiday Greeting Card
8:29AM Gina Trapani | YouTube revives its video-clip-to-holiday-e-card service today. Pick any video—or record your own—and add a background and message and email it to 25 of your close friends at this YouTube page (sign-in required). More »
Communicate
Nice Translator Improves Google Translate
7:59AM Gina Trapani | Language translation site Nice Translator uses Google Translate’s results but wraps them in a more dynamic front end that offers multiple translations as-you-type. Type your phrase into Nice Translator, which auto-detects what language you’re inputting, and watch as it lists multiple translations, in real-time, as you type. Google Translate’s page isn’t as nice-looking or dynamic as Nice Translator, since it requires you to choose both the original and translation language and manually refresh the page. For more language fun, check out the best online language tools for word nerds. Nice Translator [via Webware] More »
Communicate
The Emoticarolers Customise Your Singing E-Card
7:15AM Gina Trapani | Instead of that boring e-card, check out the Emoticarolers (emoticon carolers, get it?). The faces from Yahoo Messenger (one of my favourite emoticon sets out there, hands down) sing classic holiday songs with lyrics you can customise yourself. You choose your tune—from Jingle Bells to Auld Lang Syne to Deck the Halls—choose your emoticon, and write your own lyrics. Yahoo! Messenger Emoticarolers [via Make] More »
Work
Chrome Replaces Firefox In Google Pack’s Default Browser Choice
5:05AM Gina Trapani | Just in time for new holiday computers and after its graduation from beta status, Google now lists Chrome as the default choice in its Google Pack software bundle. Google Pack used to list Firefox as the default browser choice, but Chrome hasn’t completely replaced the ‘fox. Firefox (with the Google Toolbar) is still listed, second to last, just before Skype in Google Pack. Google Pack didn’t knock our socks off when it first launched back in January of ‘06. It got a little better after they pulled the not-exactly-free trialwar, but it still includes WTF-choice RealPlayer in it. Google Pack [via Google Operating System] More »
Fix
Computer Power Management Myths Debunked
3:59AM Gina Trapani | If you think booting up and shutting down your computer negates the benefits of turning it off to begin with, or that your screensaver is saving you energy, get thee to Ted Samson’s rundown of five PC power myths and why they’re wrong. Save yourself and your company some cash and compute more sustainably by getting your computer’s power management in order. More »
Communicate
Forty Inspirational Speeches From The Movies In Two Minutes
2:47AM Gina Trapani | You must hit the play button on this: Video guy Matthew Belinkie has cut together 40 inspirational speeches from classic movies into a two-minute montage. More »
Work
Apple Doesn’t Care About Safari Extensibility
2:08AM Gina Trapani | Yesterday’s closing keynote panel at Add-on-Con, a get-together for browser extension developers, included Microsoftie Joshua Allen, Mozillian Mike Shaver, and Googler Brian Rakowski representing IE, Firefox, and Chrome—but no one from Apple. The moderator, JSON creator Douglas Crockford, pointed out that neither Opera or Safari were represented, but that since Opera’s headquarters are located in Norway, they at least had an excuse. “Apple’s offices are right down the road, about ten minutes away,” Crockford said. “So they’re not here because they just don’t want to talk to you.” Zing! More »
Work
Windows 7 Beats Vista In Benchmark Test
1:45AM Kevin Purdy | ZDNet’s Hardware 2.0 blogger stacks an early beta build of Windows 7 against 32-bit Vista (and an SP1 upgrade) on the same hardware. In three out of four tests, even a non-optimised Windows 7 trumps Vista. As Adrian Kingsley-Hughes points out, it’s just one system’s benchmarks on test that, for the most part, throw a range of apps at a system and see how they fare. But given that Windows 7 will likely be optimised a bit for final release, it’s promising to see it beat Vista’s speeds in all but one rendering-related test—and even that one was close. [via] More »
Work
