Hasta La Gadget!

May 22

WrapUp: Microsoft Morro Screenshots, 40 Open Source Apps, and More

This article was written on June 22, 2009 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–

Google Maps: “What’s Here”
Google Maps is pretty much the only mapping service I ever use, and for good reason… it keeps getting better and better. The latest addition is a feature you’ll get when right-clicking on a location. If you choose the “What’s Here” option you’ll be presented with a list of places (ex. businesses) that are located there. It kind of reminds me of reverse phone number lookups, except for addresses.

Over 700,000 Palm Pre Apps Downloaded So Far
Palm obviously doesn’t have nearly as many apps for their platform as Apple’s iPhone, but that’s because it’s only been out for a few weeks. What’s impressive is that the 30 apps currently available have been downloaded a whopping 700,000 times.

Microsoft Morro Screenshots
Neowin managed to snag some screenshots of Microsoft Morro, which is destined to become Microsoft’s free antivirus offering due to be released later this year. They are also saying that it will be released with the name Microsoft Security Essentials.

Opera Unite Unveiled
Opera is taking an interesting approach to content sharing with a new service they announced called Opera Unite. Its goal is to make sharing files, media, and just about a no-brainer. To share something with your friends all you have to do is provide them with a public URL, and they’ll be able to download the items straight from your machine.

Wikipedia Will Let You Add Videos to Articles Soon
In the next two or three months Wikipedia authors will be given the option of inserting videos anywhere within the articles. Initially there will be three copyright-free sources authors can pull from: Metavid, Internet Archive, and of course Wikimedia Commons.

–Tips, Tutorials, and Reviews–

Glass Notepad Fully Utilizes Aero
This is a simple notepad replacement that doesn’t really add too much functionality. It’s main purpose is to extend the Aero transparency to the entire window. I’m not sure how many people would be able to use this for a significant period of time, but it definitely has some coolness to it.

Firefox 3.5 RC2 Review
Mozilla posted the second release candidate of Firefox 3.5 last week as they inch closer to the final release. At this point they are pretty much just putting the final touches on the browser, but one thing to note is that it is sporting a cool new icon (also pictured to the left).

Backup Your Apps with Ease
You can treat this app as your standard backup program, but the plugin support is really where it shines. By using the plugins you can actually select specific applications you want to backup like Windows Mail, Opera, Google Chrome, and more.

40+ Open Source Apps
Lee over at Download Squad takes us through his personal favorites when it comes to open source applications. There are a lot of great apps in the mix that you should give a whirl.

Best Sites to Download Hi-Res Wallpapers
Looking for something that will make your desktop a conversation piece? This guide introduces you to a handful of sites that feature some amazing hi-resolution wallpapers.

Find Duplicate Files on Your Computer
Trying to reduce some of the clutter on your machine? A good place to start is to scan your computer for duplicate files.

25 Free Cross-Platform Games
Here are some free games for the next time you don’t have anything better to do (no, we’re not talking about at work). These are games you can download and play without having to drop a single dime. Gotta love that.

Songbird 1.2 Gets Some Nice Improvements
Songbird users will be happy to know that the latest release of the media player has some nice new features. This includes things like automatic file organization across multiple folders, forcing file naming conventions, exporting to iTunes, an equalizer, Last.FM improvements, and more.

Merge Two Folders by Renaming Them
Vista and Windows 7 users might not know this, but you can merge the contents of two directories simply by renaming one of them to match the other. The operating system will then prompt you to verify that you want to merge the contents of the two folders.