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Friday, January 30, 2009

Internet Explorer - BackUp All Your Passwords and Settings Easily


Most of the users use Mozilla Firefox to surf Internet but not all. In past I wrote a lot about Mozilla Firefox add-ons, themes, tips and tricks but today's post if for Internet Explorer users.Here is a simple application known as Internet Explorer Backup. It allows you to backup favorites, history, proxy settings, fonts, dialup accounts, autocomplete passwords and cookies.BackRex Internet Explorer Backup can help you to move all your Internet Explorer settings from one computer to another, even if it has a different version of Windows and/or Internet Explorer installed (for example from Internet Explorer 5.0 to Internet Explorer 6.0 or vice versa).With Scheduled Backup feature you can backup all your data on a regular basis - daily, weekly or monthly.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Gmail offline: A guided tour



 
 

Sent to you by Pradip via Google Reader:

 
 

via Webware.com by Stephen Shankland on 1/28/09

Wondering how Gmail offline works? Here, we walk you through it.

In short, people familiar with Gmail already are mostly familiar with its offline incarnation, which Google said it's releasing gradually to its users in coming days. The biggest difference is of course that you can't see new messages, and e-mails that you send are merely queued up until they can be delivered when a network connection is re-established.

Gmail uses Google's Gears technology, which among other things lets browsers store data on a computer in what's called a local cache. I'm using Firefox 3.1 beta 2, with which Gears isn't compatible, so to access Gmail offline I used Google Chrome instead, which has Gears built in. Since Gears is a relative rarity, though, most folks will have to install it first, which Google walks you through.

There are some limitations to offline Gmail: Only about 10,000 messages will be downloaded--the newest and most recently used. You can't use the contacts tab to manage your connections, though e-mail address autocomplete works so you won't need to worry about remembering e-mail addresses. You can't include attachments on new messages. It's only available in Gmail for English speakers.

But overall, it's certainly worth it if you're ever on a plane, taxi, train, vacation retreat, or coffee shop with an overstressed connection.

How do you use it? First things first. In the Gmail settings section, go to the "Labs" tab, click the "enable" button next to Offline Gmail. Then go all the way to the bottom of the page and click "Save Changes." This is an experimental feature, and Google warns they've occasionally seen issues keeping the local cache in sync.

There's more to be done to set it up, though. Go back to your in-box, then click the "Offline 0.1" link in the upper right corner. That'll walk you through the next stage of setup, including the setup of Gears if you don't have it running yet.

Next comes the explanation of what you're doing and the warning not to install offline Gears on a public machine.

Then comes the permission phase. You're granting Gmail access to Gears, which means the software is granted access to your hard drive.

Do you feel you don't have enough icons in your life? Is your desktop just not cluttered enough? If so, now's the time to let Gmail sprinkle some more icons around. I actually don't mind this for valued applications: on Windows I assign a keyboard shortcut to the icon so I can launch it with a Ctrl-Alt-G combination. When you launch Gmail off the icon using Chrome, it fires up the application with no tab and navigation bar, so you get maximum screen real estate for the application; clicking links opens them in a new browser window.

Next comes the synchronization process. Depending on your in-box size and network connection, this could take awhile. And unfortunately, if you enable offline mode on a separate browser--Internet Explorer, for example--Gmail has to download the whole shebang again.

Happily, Gmail still can be used while you're creating the cache, because Gears is multithreaded--in other words, it can walk and chew gum at the same time.

The synchronization process is interruptible. Gmail tells you how far back into your archive it's delved and how many messages have been downloaded so far. The database is optimized for about 10,000 messages, and searching them is swift, even if it returns incomplete results compared to Gmail's performance while connected to your full archive.

Once the messages are done, Gmail tackles the attachments. You can view attachments when offline, but you can't include attachments in new e-mail you create while offline, at least for now.

The control panel in Gmail settings shows how far back Gmail's offline archive goes. It also tells you which tags it includes, which is handy--if you want all messages from your folks in the archive, label them "family" (I have my account set up to apply that label when the messages arrive from various e-mail addresses). Any label you've clicked on will be archived offline. (In this image, my labels have been blurred. No peeking!)

If you're offline, Gmail detects it automatically. Clicking the gray circle-with-a-bar icon that indicates no network will produce this pop-up that lets you manually try to reconnect. The status bar--whether online or offline--also lets you enter the intermediate "flaky connection mode," which is designed for times when your network access is intermittent. With it, Gmail will try to retrieve new messages and deliver the ones you've instructed be sent, but won't get too ruffled if the network isn't up.

After this, you're set up for offline Gmail. All the rest of the interface is the same as online: messages can be read, starred, labeled, and archived; search and conversation view work with the messages in your archive; and new messages can be written. I'd like contacts management, but overall, the experience is good and a big improvement for the application.


 
 

Things you can do from here:

 
 

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Antivirus - Threatfire


The flagship product, ThreatFire™, features innovative real-time protection technology that provides powerful standalone protection or the perfect complement to traditional signature-based antivirus programs. ThreatFire's patent-pending ActiveDefense™ technology offers unsurpassed protection against both known and unknown viruses, worms, trojans, rootkits, buffer overflows, spyware, adware and other malware. ThreatFire is available as a free product, with an optional "Pro" edition with extra protection.
"ThreatFire 3's ability to block installation of malware strictly by identifying bad behavior is phenomenal. It did a better (and faster) job than Norton AntiBot and even beat out Spy Sweeper, our current Editors' Choice for signature-based anti-spyware. This free tool is an excellent addition to your security arsenal."
For More Details, Visit http://www.threatfire.com/

NewOnWeb: Gaddi.com

Gaadi.com is an attempt to build a high quality Auto Website in India which is relevant to it's users. Gaadi.com offers its users New Car Research, a Used Car buying and selling platform, Exclusive Car content, A community of Car enthusiasts to interact with, and a lot more - If you would like to share a thought with us which you feel would add to the relevance of the site for you, do email us on the email address below.
For More Details, Visit http://www.gaadi.com/

Dell Inspiron Mini 12 Notebook Launched in India .in



Dell Inspiron Mini 12 Notebook Launched in India

Dell Inspiron Mini 12 notebook which was previously launched in Japan and America has now reached India. At 1.24kg and only 0.92 inches thick, it is said to be an ideal companion for consumers who need to access the web, blog, video chat and send ...
Dell Inspiron Mini 12 Indiatimes
Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Netbook Computer




Gmail grows up with offline e-mail access

Gmail grows up with offline e-mail access



Significantly increasing the utility and competitiveness of its Web-based e-mail service, Google is enabling an experimental ability to read, write, and search Gmail messages even while not connected to the network.

Google believes almost religiously in cloud computing, the idea that computer applications and data live on the Internet rather than on PCs. But there are times when the network is inaccessible, and generally Web-based applications like today's Gmail effectively seize up under those circumstances.

Offline sidesteps that problem, the classic example being a busy executive traveling on a plane. And offline Gmail access begins a new chapter for Google's ambition to appeal to business customers for services such as Google Apps, of which Gmail is a component.

"This is a feature we've heard loud and clear the enterprise wants," said Todd Jackson, Gmail's product manager.

In coming days, Google will let Gmail users test the Web-based e-mail service even when there's no network.

In coming days, Google will let Gmail users test the Web-based e-mail service even when there's no network.

(Credit: Google)

Trying to sign up business customers generally means wooing them away from the dominant e-mail products, Microsoft's Exchange server software and Outlook PC software. Google and Microsoft began in separate spheres, but are ever-closer competitive rivals, each with a strong cash-generating business that can be used to subsidize forays into other markets.

There's more, too. Google Apps customers will get another major offline option "soon," too: Google Calendar access, though not initially the ability to create new entries. If the organization's administrator enables the "New Features" option, each person within that organization will get access to the calendar, Google said.

New features help make Gmail more compelling for business customers, but for many, a bigger problem is the fact that Gmail still sports its beta tag, said Gartner analyst David Smith.

"That's one of the biggest stumbling blocks for businesses," Smith said. "You're hard-pressed to find any businesses who decide to go into production with anything that a vendor calls beta, no matter how good it is." Google promises customers will get 99.9 percent availability through a service level agreement for Google Apps, which includes Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs.

Cloud vs. PC
And Microsoft, while not turning on a dime, isn't counting on a future that consists exclusively of PC-based Office. It already has a product, Office Live Workspace that lets users share and view--but not edit--Office documents online, and the next version of Office will run in a browser.

Philosophically, though, Microsoft remains firmly tethered to the PC, while Google wants to move as fast as possible to Web-based applications.

"We think the browser is the ideal platform for deploying all kinds of applications. That's where Google is placing its bet," Jackson said. "But people are traditionally limited by the speed and connectivity of the Internet. We want to fill in those gaps."

Google already developed open-source technology called Gears that helps further this cloud computing agenda by storing Web data on PC, and Gmail, used by millions, could help coax more people to install Gears. That, in turn, could help solve the chicken-and-egg problem that currently means it's not worthwhile for most Web application programmers to build in Gears support.

Greater Gears support could help other cloud-computing companies, including Zoho, which already has offline access for its Web-based e-mail application.

It's not as if offline Gmail were completely impossible. People can set up software such as Outlook or Thunderbird to read and write e-mails, for example. But offline Gmail means people won't have to learn a new interface.

Offline Gmail has been in testing for months, though Jackson wouldn't share specifics about exactly how long.

What can offline Gmail do?
"We wanted the user experience to be almost identical to the experience you get when you're online," Jackson said.

Offline Gmail stores a copy of a user's inbox on a personal computer. Most people will have to install it, a process Google walks you through, but it's built into Google's Chrome browser.

Once Gears is installed and offline access is enabled, the software automatically detects when a person's network connection is working. If the network is good, Gmail works as usual. If it's bad, it goes into offline mode, sending unsent messages and retrieving new ones when the connection is restored.

And if the network is dodgy, a person can use the intermediate "flaky connection mode," which for example queues a message to be sent immediately by storing it to the hard drive then actually sends it as soon as it can. Google positions this as useful for coffee shops and poaching a neighbor's weak-signal wireless network, but I think of this as "tech conference mode."

When enabled, offline Gmail begins by downloading, in the background, a copy of a user's archive to the user's personal computer. But the software stores about 10,000 e-mails, so heavy users won't get a complete archive.

Gmail automatically updates the local cache of messages with new and recently read items and with messages associated with a particular label on which a person has clicked, Jackson said.

Imperfect
Not everything works, though.

One big missing piece is the ability to add attachments to new messages, though attachments are visible with existing messages.

Another is the contacts tab, so forget about managing e-mail lists or adding new addresses while offline. The autocomplete option works, though, so there's no need to start remembering e-mail addresses.

English-speaking Gmail users will be able to enable offline access as Google gradually adds the ability over the next "couple" of days, said Gmail engineer Andy Palay in a blog post. "Offline Gmail is still an early experimental feature, so don't be surprised if you run into some kinks that haven't been completely ironed out yet," Palay said.

What kinds of problems occur?

"We've seen issues with the local cache getting out of sync. You have to refresh the browser, and that gets you going again," Jackson said. "In some rare circumstance, it has to be fully flushed, so we ask to disable and re-enable the feature."

But these should be unusual problems, he said: "It's been in testing for awhile on all 20,000 Googlers, so it's gotten some good testing."

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

How to Reset your BlackBerry Without Removing the Battery


Any Video Converter 2.67

Any Video Converter is an All-in-One video converting tool with easy-to-use graphical interface, fast converting speed and excellent video quality. It allows you to effortlessly convert video files between every format! It can convert almost all video formats including DivX, XviD, MOV, rm, rmvb, MPEG, VOB, DVD, WMV, AVI to MPEG-4 movie format for iPod/PSP or other portable video device, MP4 player or smart phone. It also supports any user defined video file formats as the output. Any Video Converter makes it easy for anyone to enjoy the any format video with your iPod, PSP, mobile phone or MP4 player.
For More Details, Visit http://www.any-video-converter.com/
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CintaNotes - A free, lightweight and user-friendly personal notes manager

A free, lightweight and user-friendly personal notes manager
CintaNotes will be your essential assistant in the daily task of collecting numerous pieces of information, like your own thoughts and ideas, article excerpts, blog postings, famous people quotes, research data, curious facts, Wikipedia entries, you name it.
For More Details, Visit http://www.cintanotes.com/


Web Video Downloader - For Mobiles/Pocket PC


W.V.D. Web Video Downloader is the first software for Pocket PC that can stream* or download online videos from web sites like YouTube. W.V.D. supports most popular online web sites and many adults sites like Tube8.
Features: - Compatible with most popular websites.- Search by keywords or categories.- Support search results by detail or thumbnail.- Support thumbnail animation to preview videos.- Allows to stream* or download videos from websites.- Support many video formats.

Compatible with
Windows Moblie 5.0 /6.0/6.1
For More Details, Visit http://wvd.jm-dev.com/

Microsoft’s IE8 Release Candidate Is Live; Nearly Identical To Final Release - Download it Now

 



Microsoft has just pushed live its Release Candidate for Internet Explorer 8, the latest update to the world's most widely used web browser. You can download it here. Unfortunately the release is only for Windows Vista, XP, and Server - if you're trying out Windows 7 you'll have to wait for the next OS update to try out the RC.

The new version, which comes after two public beta releases, is now considered "platform complete" - the product is "effectively complete and done" writes IE General Manager Dean Hachamovitch. Unless there are major critical issues that arise, the final version of the browser should be identical. Other changes between Beta 2 and the Release Candidate include improved reliability, performance, and compatibility, as well as 'clickjacking' protection.

In his blog post detailing the release, Hachamovitch writes that IE8 is focused on "how people really use the web", explaining that while many of the people who are interested in Release Candidates and technology blogs may be interested in details and performance issues, most people are concerned with usability and an intuitive experience.

We sat down with Hachamovitch earlier this month and he showed us a number of the new features that are being incorporated into IE8 to reflect this emphasis on usability (note that these have been known about for some time, but may not be common knowledge for those who don't follow IE's beta schedule). Among my favorite is the ability to see a list of your recently closed tabs whenever you open a browser window, which makes it easy to reopen pages that you may have accidentally closed without having to resort to your web history. Also new are Accelerators, which let you act on snippits of text using shortcuts found under the right-click menu (for example, you could right click on an address and look it up on Live Maps).

And of course, the browser's new "porn mode" (dubbed InPrivate), which lets users browse the web without having to worry about leaving any history or cookies behind. Apple's Safari offers a similar feature, though I like the execution of InPrivate better - it has strong visual indicators to let you know when you're in the private mode, while Safari just has a check mark under a menu listing.
DOWNLOAD - XP - 32bit - IE8.0 RC1
DOWNLOAD - VISTA - 32bit - IE8.0 RC1

Worth the wait for IE 8 Release Candidate 1?

 



If you've played around with the previous beta versions of Internet Explorer 8, there's not much new in today's IE 8 Release Candidate 1. The feature improvements from IE 7 haven't changed: Web slices, InPrivate browsing, and Microsoft's new add-on system known as Accelerators remain the big-ticket items. Security enhancements include the SmartScreen Filter, which warns you in advance if other users have reported an URL as suspicious.

Users can force-add sites to the Compatibility script in IE 8 RC1.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

What has been improved in the RC is stability. Users who experienced persistent and irritating browser crashes should expect to see a much more stable browsing environment. The Compatibility feature has been automated to a large degree, which means that the browser will detect and re-render Web sites designed for IE 7 that wouldn't otherwise load properly in IE 8.

The problem is that high-traffic Web sites that don't cause problems in other browsers still don't play well with IE 8, necessitating this "compatibility" fix. Maybe Internet Explorer can get around to being Web standards compliant in IE 9.

Users can finally force-add a Web site to be re-rendered by the Compatibility script. Under Tools, click on Compatibility View settings to add or remove a site. You can also disable the script by unchecking the box for using updated lists from Microsoft that appears at the bottom of the settings window.

Accelerators are links that cut out the steps needed to blog, tweet, or use Facebook.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

I also found that IE 8 felt slower to load, and it's definitely slower to run: IE 8 RC1 clocked a SunSpider JavaScript test at 9,874 ms, compared with Firefox 3.1 beta 2's 3,212 ms. Granted, the release candidate is faster than IE 8 beta 2's 12,395 ms. All of these were tested on a Windows Vista Pentium 4 with 2 GB of RAM.

Despite the time that Microsoft has spent developing IE 8, they've proven to be reluctant to react to market-wide browser changes. Users who notice similarities between how Firefox, Chrome, and Opera look, feel, and operate, will be struck by how dissimilar IE 8 is. The lack of a smart URI bar stood out for me in particular. Although you can search in IE 8 from the location bar, it won't take you directly to a page in IE 8. Search for "CNET Download" in Firefox, and you'll be taken directly to download.com. Search for it in IE 8, and you're given a list of results from your preferred search engine.

The address bar will pull matches from your history and favorites list as you type, but that's still an extra step that I've moved away from.

Opening a new tab was an exercise in boredom served with a layer of frustration, too, as the CTRL+T hot key froze IE 8 and took more than 30 seconds. The e-mail button, which brings your e-mail client to the front or opens it if it's closed, respects your default client choice. However, switching to the privacy browsing feature InPrivate opens a new window based at the top of your screen--regardless of where you've had IE living.

One aspect of InPrivate has changed. You can now turn on InPrivate Blocking on the Menubar under Safety, even when InPrivate hasn't been activated. This allows you to surf with a stricter level of third-party site security. It's not entirely clear what it can or can't block, though. It doesn't seem to block ads, but it can block news tickers.

If you've been using Internet Explorer 8 betas up until now, you'll probably enjoy finally getting a release candidate. Overall, there's nothing stunningly different here, so don't expect a massive shift in browser usage patterns from IE 8.

Microsoft has yet to announce a timeline for the stable release of IE 8, nor is a version currently available for the Windows 7 beta. A full list of changes is available in the IE 8 Release Candidate 1 changelog.

Google Calendar Sync for BlackBerry


Synchronization is probably the most requested feature for Google Calendar and Google has finally done something about it. It's not quite what you would've expected, but it's still a promising start. Google Sync is an application that lets you synchronize your Blackberry's calendar with Google Calendar."Using your BlackBerry smartphone's native calendar, you can now access your Google calendar even when you don't have network coverage and be alerted for upcoming appointments with sound or vibration. Your Google Calendar stays synchronized whether you access it from your computer or your phone. You can add or edit entries right on your BlackBerry smartphone or on your Google Calendar on the web."The application should be available at http://m.google.com/sync if you visit the page from your Blackberry's browser. According to Google Mobile Blog, it supports Google Apps accounts.This week, Google launched a mobile package of applications for Blackberry and an unified interface for iPhone. Google really tries to build solid mobile offerings, but only Google Maps is available for the most important mobile platforms. Hopefully, Google Sync will be released for other platforms and it will synchronize your contacts as well.
For More Details, Visit http://tinyurl.com/googleblackberrysync

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Eraser is an advanced Hard Disk security tool

Eraser is an advanced security tool (for Windows), which allows you to completely remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns. Works with Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, Vista, Windows 2003 Server and DOS.
Eraser is Free software and its source code is released under GNU General Public License. More Details...
DOWNLOAD

Set Goals Progress

" Success is not a matter of chance,
but a matter of choice. Choose to be
successful, make things happen, the
way you would like them. Take the
first step, set your goals."
Goal chest is a single page summary of your active goals. All the goals that you create and any action plans you create to achieve your goals are listed here. Once you start acting on your goals you start logging your progress and the work you are doing on the action plans.
Getgoaling.com is a platform that enables users to set goals and action plans necessary to achieve those goals. It enables sharing of experience among users having similar goals. Users can share goals with only few members of their choice who can support and motivate them, or with the community at large. They can maintain regular record of their progress on the goals with help of daily or weekly journals. Members having similar goals can come together by searching for goals tagged with relevant keywords.

For More Details, Visit http://www.getgoaling.com/

Stick your notes on web - Amaze You!

Taskless is a free web application. Write little sticky notes and place them on your personal taskless site.
Taskless is still beta and currently in development - so things can change. Taskless works best in a modern browser, like FireFox, Safari or WebKit
Your can sign in with your Google Account or you can register a taskless account.
After you logged in, click on screen to create a new note. You can edit the note, move it around, close it and delete it.

For more details, visit http://taskless.appspot.com/

Welcome to WebsitesLog.com

Website Analysis Tool, Website Information

This site analyzes websites, categorized them, parse the websites's information and look for the web how they rank.

For more details, visit http://www.websiteslog.com/

1 Link - Multiple links into 1

Simply put in a list of links in the box below and click 1link to get one link!
1link.in lets you put multiple links into one short link which you can share with your friends. Learn more about 1link.in and check examples!

For More Details, Visit http://1link.in/

oo5.WhatImInto.com - Micro Reviews On The Web


What it does
Out of Five is a new service that enables anybody to review things he likes such as movies and concerts in a micro-blogging fashion – IE, adhering to a specific limit of characters and keeping things as concise and right-to-the-point as he can.

For More Details, Visit http://oo5.whatiminto.com/

Seven worthy Google Notebook replacements



With Thursday's news that Google is discontinuing development on its Notebook service, it may leave a few people looking for a viable replacement. The good news is that there are a handful of really solid products that do the same thing, and in some cases--do it better. Here's a list of seven of our favorites, in no particular order.

1. Evernote

Evernote has a few big things going for it, the main one being its cross-platform architecture which lets you access and add to your Evernotes from multiple devices. It also has optical character recognition, which means any photos you send in will be scanned for text, which gets indexed for searching.

Serious desktop users will most likely want to download the local client, which enables you to create and edit notes even when you don't have an Internet connection. There's also a browser plug-in that lets you clip entire Web pages, or simply bits of them, to save for later.

If you want to get at Evernote on your phone there are clients for both the iPhone and Windows Mobile handsets. Both let you access your notes collection and create new ones right from your device. This includes things like voice messages and snapshots from your phone's built-in camera and microphone.

The service is free to use up to a certain amount of data per month, which you can easily go over if you intend to use it for archiving high-resolution photo scans or for storing large files. However, if you're just using it for quick notes, and a few photos and Web clippings you'll be well under the limit.

Shortly after the news that Google Notebook was ceasing development, Evernote announced it would soon be providing an escape hatch for users to export their stuff over to Evernote free of charge.

2. Zoho Notebook

Zoho's Notebook is probably one of the best services for ex-Google Notebookers to flock to if only for its collaborative features. Several people can work on the same notebook at once, and it combines a handful of Zoho's other Web productivity services into one place. For instance, you can drop in a presentation from Zoho Show, add a video from YouTube, Viddler, Vimeo, or any other site that uses embed code, as well as upload files from your desktop to share or squirrel away on Zoho's servers.

Additionally there's live chat with other Zoho users and collaborators, voice recording, and the capability to link to other notebooks within any notebook.

Its learning curve may be a bit steep for Google Notebook users unfamiliar with other Zoho products, but one thing that might help is the optional browser extension (for IE and Firefox) that lets users clip bits of Web pages to send to specific notebooks.

3. Clipmarks

If you were never really big into Google Notebook's writing feature, you'll probably dig Clipmarks. Once installed in your browser you can start clipping bits and pieces of any page you're on. These get stored in a central archive that you're able to search and browse through from any computer.

Like Google Notebook, Clipmarks lets you team up with other people to create a repository for various clippings. You can group together with these folks and send certain clippings to the shared space right when you're clipping them.

Where Clipmarks trumps Google Notebook is with its sharing, by letting you publish your clipping for the entire Clipmarks community to see and comment on.

4. Ubernote

Ubernote is right up there in both matching and surpassing the utility of Google Notebook. Like Google Notebook you can use it to grab bits and pieces of pages you're on, or simply as a storage space for collaborative writing and bookmarking. It also employs tags to let you sort and search through your content.

Ubernote works in all major browsers, has both an installable toolbar and a bookmarklet that lets you do the clipping. You can access it from the Web or on your mobile phone, and everything you create can be shared with others both in public and private groups.

One thing that makes Ubernote particularly attractive is that it lets you download your notes as an HTML file. This can be squirreled away on your hard drive or as an attachment in an e-mail due to its small size.

5. Springnote

Springnote takes a wiki-like approach to group notebooks. Like Google's effort you can keep a notebook personal or work on it with others. It's also entirely Web-based and employs tags and a quick search engine that lets you browse and sort through your work.

Springnote offers a much richer text editor than Google Notebook does. Like Zoho Notebook it also lets you insert all sorts of random media objects from anywhere on the Web or from your desktop. This includes document files that can be converted into Springnote notebooks. Like Ubernote, notebooks can be exported into HTML files for archiving or sharing.

In addition to its Web editor, there's also a free iPhone application that lets you view and edit your Springnote pages. You can use it to send photos you've taken to any one of your notebooks.

Springnote's one limitation is the 2GB cap per account, which you might run up on quickly if you're using it to store media files.

6. Delicious

If you were using Google Notebook specifically to save and share bookmarks you'll likely be pleased with Yahoo's Delicious service. It's got a huge user base, and a really excellent browser plug-in that lets you access your Web bookmarks just like they were on your local machine.

Like Google Notebook, the power of Delicious revolves around its tagging system. In Delicious' case you get the added benefit of the community, so if you're saving a site that other people have visited and tagged you can see what tags they used, and pick them for yourself.

Two things that Delicious is not able to do that you might have used Google Notebook for is saving bits and pieces of sites you're on, and creating and editing text. For that you're better off with one of the tools above.

7. Magnolia

Magnolia, like Delicious, is focused on communal bookmarking. Magnolia's big claim to fame is that it uses both tags and a five-star system that lets users rate various bookmarks. It also has groups by interest, where users can pool together related groupmarks for others to reference.

If you liked that Google Notebook saved pages you clipped in a "timeless" state, you'll dig that Magnolia does the same thing, except with entire pages at the time you bookmark them. It doesn't work on every site, but is a great way to link to something that may not be up forever.

Again, like with Delicious, you're missing out on the option to make a task list or jot anything down--it's purely for bookmarks.

Got any we missed? Leave them in the comments.


CCleaner sweeps up after Google Chrome



CCleaner supporting Chrome

The latest CCleaner update now clears Internet data from Chrome.

At first they tried Google's Chrome browser out of curiosity. Now, the growing ranks of those who have switched to Chrome (or vacillate, like CNET's own Stephen Shankland) will be looking for browser support services and add-ons to complete the transition.

The latest version of the free, solid Internet privacy application CCleaner is one app to oblige. In late December, it added Chrome to its list of supported browsers, along with Internet Explorer, Mozilla/Firefox, Safari, and Opera.

CCleaner actually reaches deeper in Chrome than in Opera and Safari, dumping the download history and saved form information in addition to cookies, Internet history, and Internet cache. Of course, Internet history has become more virtue than vice as a searching time-saver, and any of the cleaning options may be easily skipped from the scan.

We're glad to see the well-regarded CCleaner taking Chrome on board at this relatively early stage, and we hope other developers soon follow suit.


Making sense of Live Mesh - 5GB free space with Sync

On Tuesday, Microsoft officially spilled the beans on its Live Mesh service for synchronizing data and connecting multiple devices. If your eyes are glossing over from all the mentions of seamlessness, synchronization, and software plus services, here's our best attempt at making sense of things.

What is Live Mesh?
At its most basic level it combines downloadable software and a cloud-based service to synchronize and share data and applications among different devices.

How does it work?
In large part, it uses the notion of feeds to go beyond a Web site and also to describe both data and devices.

What can it do today?
Basically two main things: It allows folders of files to be synchronized among a number of Windows PCs and to the cloud. It also enables a simple, free way to do a remote desktop with another PC in your mesh.
What's promised but not there right now?
There are a bunch of things being talked about that are not part of the current beta. Chief among that is support for other devices. Although Microsoft is billing the Mesh as a way to connect various devices, right now it only works with Windows PCs. Support for Macs and Windows Mobile devices is due soon.

Live Mesh is also billed as a way of allowing offline applications to synchronize data among multiple users and for online applications to work offline and synchronize data back up to the cloud. However, Microsoft is not providing any Mesh-ed applications as part of this release, nor is it ready with the development tools needed for outsiders to write Mesh-connected applications.

When can I get it?
Microsoft is running a closed beta for about 10,000 people right now, including attendees at the Mix '08 trade show as well as this week's Web 2.0 Expo. A broader beta is planned for around the time of this fall's Professional Developers Conference.

What is the cost?
For now, the service is free, offering 5GB of online storage, with unlimited peer-to-peer data.

So, what is the business model?
Microsoft said it is still sorting that out. Among the models under consideration are subscription-based models, advertising-based approaches, and even micropayments.

Will it work in any browser?
Sort of. Viewing one's Live Mesh can be done from Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari, but the remote desktop feature requires IE and an ActiveX plug-in.

Is this for businesses or just consumers?
The current release is really aimed at consumers, but Microsoft insists the architecture of the service is designed to meet business needs for security and other issues. Down the road, Microsoft plans to offer a way for businesses to have the "cloud" part of the data stored on the company's own servers, probably for a fee.

What services compete with Live Mesh?
For now, Live Mesh competes with a whole host of services that offer either online file storage and sharing, remote PC access, or both. That group includes folks like Box.net, LogMeIn, GoToMyPC, SugarSync, and Microsoft's own FolderShare--to name a few.

Longer term, Microsoft wants Live Mesh to be a platform that developers use to connect both online and offline programs. For that, Microsoft is competing for developers' already fragmented attention with other would-be Web platforms from Facebook, Google, Amazon, Salesforce.com, and others.

mChek gets a million user base – Interview with Sanjay Swamy


mChek, the mobile payment startup now boasts of a million user base.

Here is a quick QnA with Sanjay Swamy, CEO of mChek.

What are mChek's future plans? You are quite tied with Airtel - what kind of other players are you talking to?
Near-term focus is to roll out the services across leading banks (including Govt banks - Corporation Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank for starters) for Debit Cards as well (currently the service is only on credit cards). Expansion across multiple merchant types is also on the cards.


Qn: What kind of challenges are you facing there? Do banks look at mobile payment as a differentiator or a lip service?
The general enthusiasm in the industry is very promising - like all technology innovations there are early adopters and those who wait for something to be proven. Mobile Payments is no exception - across banks, telcos, merchants and consumers, banks specifically see two opportunities:
1. Increased transactions through the electronic means for existing users

2. Lower and more affordable channel for customers who traditionally were un(der) banked

Qn: Coming back to Airtel-mChek relationship - how does the model works. Is there a rev share agreement between mchek and airtel on per transaction basis?
Our business model is pretty transparent - the telecom operator (Airtel) is a key business partner that is responsible for promotion, distribution and communication and we operate on a revenue sharing basis. mChek brings the banks and merchants on-board .Where the transactions are telco (prepaid and postpaid) the telco coincidentally is also a merchant having said that we also support customers of telcos where we don't have a direct relationship wtih the telco. So today, anyone with a mobile phone and a credit card can use mChek (however our preference is to work closely with the telco).

AlertPedia helps you stay ‘Alert’


Need to set an alert when a job matching your requirement is available? Or an alert on traffic situation?

AlertPedia lets you create alerts for different type of events/occurences - ranging from health, product recalls, craiglist, travel, real estate etc.

You specify what you like to be alerted about (e.g., bike on sale on Bangalore Craigslist, food recalls, PHP jobs in Bangalore,) - alertpedia monitors several reliable online sources, and emails you when the relevant event happens.

Alertpedia also has an interesting proposition for publishers - they can set up an Alertpedia widget on their site that will enable visitors to setup alerts for specific keywords in the site (visitors will be emailed, if the keyword appears in any of the post).

The startup, primarily focused on US market is launching it's services for the Indian market as well (though the current interface doesn't seem to have Indian providers).

Product Comparison Startup TestFreaks launches India Site


TestFreaks, a US based startup has launched it’s India site - TestFreaks.co.in.

TestFreaks basically aggregates product information/reviews from different sources - user reviews, professional reviews, prices, blog posts, forum threads, news, rumors, manufacturers descriptions/specifications, videos etc.; and for the India site, is sourcing reviews from Tech2, TechTree, PC World etc.

TestFreaks raised $3mn in October 2008 and is aiming presence in 24 countries

EcoMove – Eco Friendly Traveling, i.e. Hire a Cycle

If you travel a lot (using public transport system), and spend whole lot of time on waiting period (say, for bus/train), you might as well want to take cycling as a viable option to cover short distances.

Mumbai based EcoMove is launching rental station network that allows you to hire and return a bicycle.

The project will be first implemented in Mumbai (perfect test bed) and will have 40 locations to start off.

Here is how the system will work:

The EMS system is based on the availability of rental bicycles at key locations. These bicycles will be secured to their bike stands. An EMS registered user can take the bicycle for his use from any of the rental station and can leave the bicycle in the same or any other rental station.

The target market is ofcourse, the office goers/college students/health freaks/short distance travelers; and of course people who want cheaper and faster way to travel.

What's your opinion on Ecomove? Will you use a service like this?

What is a computer virus?

Computer viruses are small software programs that are designed to spread from one computer to another and to interfere with computer operation.
A virus might corrupt or delete data on your computer, use your e-mail program to spread itself to other computers, or even erase everything on your hard disk.
Viruses are most easily spread by attachments in e-mail messages or instant messaging messages. That is why it is essential that you never open e-mail attachments unless you know who it's from and you are expecting it.
Viruses can be disguised as attachments of funny images, greeting cards, or audio and video files.
Viruses also spread through downloads on the Internet. They can be hidden in illicit software or other files or programs you might download.
To help avoid viruses, it's essential that you keep your computer current with the latest updates and antivirus tools, stay informed about recent threats, and that you follow a few basic rules when you surf the Internet, download files, and open attachments.
Once a virus is on your computer, its type or the method it used to get there is not as important as removing it and preventing further infection.

Techies: Todays Headlines