Browsers and extensions

As much as I love using Gmail, the Greasemonkey script-based Better Gmail plug-in made my favorite e-mail client, well, better. Integration with Google Reader, colored labels, built-in TinyURLing, and other features really made Gmail that much more useful. Since Google's recreated and upgraded most of Gmail's back-end, those scripts and most other Gmail plug-ins have broken.

To confuse matters, Google is slow in rolling out the new features, so not everybody is using the new interface. If you do have the new Gmail, you can access the old interface Better Gmail 2 v0.1 recreates some of the features in its predecessor, and promises to eventually feature most if not all of the old expanded functionality. For now, though, it's slim pickings.

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Today Opera announced the full release of Opera Mini 4, after three beta releases. I tested the second beta version of this powerful mobile browser on a BlackBerry Pearl back in August (read review) and was eager to reproduce my experience today on the same phone, particularly to see for myself that the landscape view that never worked for BlackBerry still isn't ready. It's not.

The first thing I should point out is that in the complex dance between manufacturer, carrier, and third-party software, some toes get smashed. Before you download Opera Mini 4 over the air, via SMS, or by PC-to-phone push, it's best to input your phone details and read up on any instructions to make Opera Mini 4 compatible with your particular phone. Here's an example: North American users of BREW phones (e.g., anything on Verizon) are out of luck with Opera, and T-Mobile and AT&T users may have extra steps before they can get Opera Mini 4 going.… Read more

Google Maps has worked hard to place just about every capability you'd want when you stare at a map into its Web app. That includes the ability for third-party developers to ornament Google's maps with their own KML, or keyhole markup language, mapplets.

AccuWeather.com announced today its Forecast Snapshot for Google Maps. The add-on slips into the MyMaps tab of a user account and offers multiple ways to fetch the weather forecast while fixating on a particular locale.

Click the map, or enter the ZIP code or city into the AccuWeather.com search bar to grab meteorological data in Celsius or Fahrenheit. AccuWeather.com displays a three-day forecast in the sidebar and on the map face, but the widgetlike qualities stop there. Clicking for compressed or extended forecasts, animated radar, or anything else opens new tabs on AccuWeather.com.… Read more

As great as it is to have tools like Firefox and Thunderbird, backing them up can be a tedious process. MozBackup is a tiny program that makes saving and restoring all your bookmarks, extensions, and other personal settings a streamlined and stress-free experience.

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On Thursday, WalMart begins selling the Everex Green gPC TC2502, a $198, low-power, Linux-based PC designed primarily for running Web 2.0 applications.

When users first fire up their gPC, they'll get a Mac-like desktop with a series of program icons "docked" across the bottom. The icons are bookmarks to popular and useful Web 2.0 services from Google and other vendors. There are icons for Google Docs, Gmail, Google Maps, and YouTube, for example, as well as Meebo, Facebook, and Wikipedia. Sprinkled into the lineup are some non-Web-based apps, like Skype and Gimp, but the novice … Read more

The Mozilla Calendar Project has upgraded Lightning, the calendar plug-in for Thunderbird to 0.7, and is aiming for a 1.0 sometime in 2008.

As we've noted before, Lightning makes Thunderbird soar above Outlook for home use, and places them on nearly equal ground in the office. The latest update includes an overhauled interface with easier-to-use buttons for jumping from your mail to your calendar, LDAP directory support for event invites, and Sun Java Calendar Server support.

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Well-built software that can inspire projects and streamline productivity is powerful indeed, but ill-conceived programs, too, can haunt your dreams. In this week's, CNET Top 5 video (also see below), editor Tom Merritt shares five terrifically bad apps you'd most likely encounter in a dark alley of your computer's recycle bin. This Chuck Norris Facts Widget is particularly chilling.

Plenty more ghoulish and gleeful downloads are standing by to ease you into the Halloween spirit. Three skeletons in pointed hats boogie down by moonlight (and UV lamplight) in Halloween Dance 3D Screensaver, a personal favorite. Your browser … Read more

What is Flock and why should you use it?

Flock is essentially Firefox with a handful of highly focused extensions built in to let you connect with social services like Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and others. We think Flock 1.0, which is now in public beta, offers a fantastic browsing experience that brings you the best of Firefox with a few tweaks that prove to be exceptionally helpful. For Web newbies out there, Flock's offering provides an easy way to manage and monitor profiles, media uploads, and communications with all your social networks while continuing to browse other sites like you would in any old browser.

Here are four steps to get you up and running with Flock's biggest features:

1. Setting up permissions and accounts

Once installed, Flock will want to make itself your primary browser. We'd recommend holding off on making it the default until you decide whether or not you like it more than whatever you're currently using. Just remember the default browser is the one that URLs open up from when clicked on from other applications on your computer.

Flock is based on the same underlying code as Firefox, and basic features work the same, so if you're a Firefox user you'll feel right at home.

To experience what Flock offers beyond Firefox, the first thing you'll want to do is connect it to your social networking accounts. To do this, you'll have to introduce yourself to the sidebar menu, which is where you'll find nine icons that serve as ground control for most of Flock's special features. Click on the one shaped like a key, which takes you to the accounts and services control panel. Here you'll find links split up into four sections for people, media sharing, blogging, and social bookmarking. Clicking each of the links will take you to the site or service, and if you've got login credentials, entering them will automatically save your account settings.

Continue reading to learn about ways to track friends, exploring and saving social media, and easy ways to share and blog Web content you come across using some of Flock's built-in tools.… Read more

Culminating in a party at San Francisco's Rickshaw Stop last night, the biggest Web browser publisher from Norway--also, the only Web browser publisher from Norway--kicked off a number of beta versions. Opera 9.5 beta 1 and Opera Mini 4 beta 3 were made public yesterday, introducing a heap of new features.

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