web

Throw ideas against a virtual wall with Padlet

Web app Padlet calls itself a "multimedia friendly, free-form, real-time wiki." Which is to say, it's a blank canvas where you can throw ideas around with a virtual group. Each participant can post his or her thoughts, along with any files, photos, videos, and links that pertain to the discussion.

I hosted a Padlet conversation between me, myself, and I using a MacBook, a Windows laptop, and an iPad. Padlet worked flawlessly on each device. Let's take a look at how it works.

To start a Padlet session, head to its Web site and click the … Read more

Add to Wunderlist extension provides easy, cross-platform Web clipping

I have yet to take the Evernote plunge, and I don't use Pinterest unless I'm looking over my wife's shoulder. Yet, I admit I have a need for some variety of Web-clipping app. My current strategy, if you can call it that, is leaving browser tabs open for days on end, or adding to my ever-increasing and wholly unorganized list of bookmarks.

Thankfully, I found Add to Wunderlist, a browser extension that works for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. It adds a button to the right of the your browser's URL bar for clipping a Web page … Read more

Ad group: New Firefox cookie plan will boost spam

The Interactive Advertising Bureau ratcheted up its pressure on Mozilla's Firefox to reconsider its decision to block third-party advertising cookies by default.

The trade group, whose senior vice president tweeted last month that the policy was a "nuclear first strike against the ad industry," put out a statement from its president and CEO, Randall Rothenberg, detailing its concerns. He painted a bleak picture of the future of the Internet, saying that a vast array of Web sites would be shut down by the proposed change.

"If Mozilla follows through on its plan to block all third-party … Read more

Microsoft backs away from Flash ban in IE10

An about-face in Internet Explorer 10 shows Microsoft is not merely backing off from its hostility toward Flash Player, but actually warming up to the Adobe Systems browser plug-in for competitive reasons.

In September 2011, Microsoft declared that browser plug-ins are a relic from the Internet's early days, calling them bad for battery life, security, reliability, and privacy, and said that it would ban them when IE10 was running with Windows 8's Metro user interface, now called the "immersive UI."

But Microsoft gave Flash a reprieve in May 2012 by building a special version of Adobe'… Read more

Google refreshes mobile Web app to resemble iOS version

Google's Gmail mobile Web app is getting a refresh, the company said.

Google noted on its Google+ page today that Gmail for mobile Web and Gmail Offline now include many new features it added to its iPhone and iPad apps in December. Those changes include improved calendar integration that allows users to see RSVPs inline, and improved search that includes autosuggestions.

Another change is a complete visual refresh, including changes to color, spacing, layout, and avatars (which is a person's Google profile picture or a first initial if he or she doesn't have a profile picture).

The … Read more

Check memory usage for Firefox add-ons

Using many Firefox add-ons at once can cause the application to dramatically slow down. This is because for each add-on, you're using a piece of your computer's memory. The most obvious solution is to uninstall some of them, but perhaps that's not a good option for you.

As an alternative, try checking out how much memory each add-on is using. Firefox provides information on memory allocation (about:memory), but it isn't in the most user-friendly format. The next best option is to install yet another add-on. However, this particular add-on will report its own memory usage … Read more

Morgue puts unclaimed body photos online

The dead bodies come into your morgue every day.

Sometimes, no one comes in to identify them. Who are these people? Does no one miss them? Are they all people who lived a lonely life? Isn't there someone out there who at least knows who they are?

The Medical Examiner of Cook County in Chicago, Dr. Steve Cina, wants to give these bodies a chance of at least being known, one last time.

So he has taken the difficult decision to put images of them online.

As he told Fox 32 in Chicago: "We're hoping that that … Read more

Tablets surpass smartphones in driving global Web traffic

The numbers are out -- people increasingly prefer to browse the Internet on tablets rather than smartphones.

Adobe released its latest Digital Index today and discovered that for the first time ever worldwide tablet traffic has surpassed smartphone traffic. Tablets now drive 8 percent of all Internet traffic, while smartphones generate 7 percent.

"We've been keeping a close eye on how quickly tablets have taken off," manager and primary analyst working on Adobe Digital Index Tyler White wrote in a blog post today. "Smartphones remain much more common, but the tablet form factor makes it ideal … Read more

Chrome for Android gets server-accelerated browsing

Taking a page from Opera and Amazon playbooks, then writing on it some more, Google is using its own servers to speed up page loading on its mobile version of Chrome.

The feature, called proxy browsing, is enabled in the Chrome 26 beta for Android, though it must be manually activated through the chrome://flags interface by selecting "Enable Data Compression Proxy." With proxy browsing, a server with a fast Internet connection and more processing horsepower than a mobile device loads the Web page on behalf of that mobile device.

The chief advantage of the approach is that … Read more

Google now redirects Picasa Web Albums to Google+ Photos

Google is once again trying hard to convince users of Picasa Web Albums to jump over to Google+ Photos.

The URL http://picasaweb.google.com no longer brings you to Picasa Web Albums but instead redirects you to Google+ Photos. As described by the Google Operating System Blog, which is unaffiliated with Google, you have to enter the URL https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/myphotos?noredirect=1 to sneak back into Picasa Web Albums.

You only need to enter that URL once, though. After you use it the first time, Google sets a cookie that turns off the redirection. So … Read more