Ubuntu’s ambient notification system, styled after the Mac Growl interface and first arriving in April’s 9.04 release, can be very helpful. They can also be very annoying when they block application closing. This config editing work-around moves them elsewhere
Bushfire season is in full swing early, and online resources are key to keeping track of where things are happening. The Australian Bushfire Map integrates fire warnings for four states (NSW, Victoria, Queensland and SA) with Google Maps to provide up-to-date news of current fires. It also works OK on some mobile devices (my BlackBerry being one of the exceptions). Thanks Kate! Australian Bushfire Map
Windows only: Open source notification system Growl for Windows has finally hit the 2.0 milestone, and with it comes a ton of new features that let you further customise the way you receive your pop-in corner notices.
Windows only: System tray utility Gmail Notifier tells you when you have new email messages, allows you to check multiple accounts, and lets you read, delete, or mark the messages as read right from the notification utility.
There’s plenty of good free iPhone apps, but for some functions, you’re going to end up shelling out some cash. How can you be sure you’re not paying too much for an application that occasionally goes on special?
Windows 7 only: Gmail Notifier Plus displays your unread email count right in the Windows 7 taskbar, including popup message previews and Jump Lists integration.
Windows only: The latest update for Growl for Windows adds a slew of new features—including support for Thunderbird, Snarl, system monitoring, and even a Gmail notifier.
Linux: Ubuntu 9.04′s Growl-like, transparent notifications are slick and convenient for corner-of-your-view updates. Gmail Notifier takes full advantage of the latest Ubuntu improvements to provide lightweight Gmail checking on a schedule.
Windows 7′s Action centre does a great job of compressing all of Windows’ update/alert/whatever notifications into one icon, but it takes some tweaking to make it show what you want, or disable it entirely.
