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Oct 15

WrapUp: Google Desktop Discontinued, Amazon Working on Redesign, and More

Posted in: amazon, Gmail, Google, itunes, tablet, Today's Chili, WrapUp

This article was written on September 05, 2011 by CyberNet.

Welcome to the WrapUp by CyberNet. This is a collection of news stories, downloads, and tips that we have collected over the last few days, but never got around to writing about. Don’t forget to send in your own tips, or just leave a comment on this page if you think you’ve got something we should include.

–News–

Amazon android TechCrunch Gets Their Hands On an Amazon Tablet
MG Siegler over at TechCrunch got some one-on-one time with the $250 Amazon tablet, which will be powered by Android. Unfortunately he wasn’t allowed to snap any photos so you’ll have to use a little bit of your imagination.

Google Desktop Discontinued
As of September 14th Google Desktop will no longer be available for download. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise since both Mac and Windows have similar functionality built into the OS now.

Blogger Blogger Gets a Redesign, too
Google didn’t want to leave Blogger out of the mass redesign they’ve been pushing out to their other products, and so you can opt in to the new Blogger design to see what all the fuss is about.

Offline gmail Gmail, Calendar, and Docs Available Offline
Google has brought back offline capabilities to Gmail, Calendar, and Docs through the use of HTML5.

Amazon Redesign in the Works
The other day when I visited Amazon I noticed that it looked a little different, and after a quick search I was able to confirm that they are testing out a new interface.

Firefox tablet Firefox Coming to Android 3.0 Tablets
If you own an Android 3.0 tablet you might be happy to hear that Firefox may be destined for your device. These mockups give some indication as to what you can expect.

Google call Free Calls Home for All U.S. Service Members Through Gmail
Google is letting anyone with a military email address (.mil) make free calls to the United States from within Gmail for the rest of 2011.

iTunes Match Available for Developers
Developers can try out Apple’s iTunes Match service for free during the Beta period.

Google docs grayscale New Google Docs Interface Being Tested
Google is playing around with a new Google Docs interface where all of the icons are grayscale.

Windows 8 explorer Windows Explorer as Seen in Windows 8
The new Windows Explorer UI for Windows 8 was revealed by Microsoft last week, and as expected it will use the Ribbon interface that has been making its way around many of Microsoft’s apps.

Pirate Bay Founders Launch File Hosting Site
Bayfiles is a new site run by the people who founded Pirate Bay, but this time around they plan on complying with DMCA takedown notices for copyrighted material.

Google Calendar Grays Out Old Events
Google Calendar will, by default, dim past events to help bring focus to those happening today and in the future.

–Tips, Tutorials, and Reviews–

Boot duration Use the Event Viewer to Find Your PC’s Boot Time
With a little digging around in the event viewer you can actually see how long Windows says it takes for your computer to boot up.

Wolframalpha barcode Using WolframAlpha to Generate QR Codes and Barcodes
If you really want to geek out you can use the “qr code” or “barcode” syntax in WolframAlpha to label just about anything.

Samsung Series 7 Slate Hands-On
Samsung is trying their hand at a Windows 7 slate/tablet PC. The specs are impressive, but the pricing is on the high end seeing that it starts at $1100 for the 64GB model.

Google music ubuntu Control Google Music from the Ubuntu System Tray
This awesome little Ubuntu tweak will let you control the playback of your Google Music from the volume menu in Ubuntu.

Sony Tablet S Review
This review of the Sony Tablet S powered by Android shows off the unique hardware design, but highlights that the software still leaves a lot to be desired.