Hasta La Gadget!

Oct 20

WrapUp: Windows Mobile 6.5 Hands-On, Offline Gmail for iPhone/Android, and More

This article was written on February 23, 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–

Each Google Query Requires 1,000 Machines
In order for Google to serve up search results in a matter of milliseconds they have to enlist the help of about 1,000 machines per query. So the next time you perform a search you can think about all of those servers working hard just for you.

Windows 7 RC1 Coming April 10th
Neowin managed to snag some information from what they say is a trusted source inside Microsoft. Apparently the Windows 7 RC1 build that was expected by the end of this month is being targeted for April 10th. So those of you not wanting to jump on the Beta bandwagon might be getting an even more polished release in about 6-weeks.

Gmail: Choose Your Own Theme Colors
Google announced last week that you can not only customize which theme you want to use, but you can also roll your own. As of right now you can customize the colors used for different parts of the interface, and hopefully in the future you’ll also be able to use custom graphics. It would also be cool if they let you share a link with other Gmail users so that they could get your color combination without going through the hassle of manually reconfiguring it all.

Mint.com Tracks Assets
The online finance management site Mint continues to add new features. This time around they are letting users track their assets and net worth. Personally I’d still like to see them let users manually import older data that can’t be retrieved from online banking, but I have a feeling that won’t be happening anytime soon.

Windows 7 Media Center Features
The Windows blog has put together a video demonstration and a list of features that Media Center users can get excited about in Windows 7. The native H.264 video support is one I can’t wait for.

Google Demos Offline Gmail for iPhone & Android
By taking advantage of some new features in HTML5 Google has managed to come up with a way for users to take their Gmail offline on mobile devices. It apparently works for the iPhone, Android, Palm Pre, and other devices that utilize the WebKit rendering engine since it already has support for the HTML5 standards. Unfortunately this cool Gmail functionality has yet to be released.

–Tips, Tutorials, and Reviews–

Make XP Look Like Windows 7
Just like with Vista it’s inevitable that some XP users will merely want to get the good looks of Windows 7 without actually having to upgrade. After a simple installation you’ll have a Windows 7-like Taskbar, theme, boot screen, and more.

Stitch Panoramic Photos Together with CleVR
This is one of the easier applications that I’ve seen allowing you to stitch together those beautiful panoramic photos that you’ve taken. It requires Adobe Air, and is therefore pretty easy to get setup.

Why More Megapixels Isn’t Always Better
There are a lot of people I talk to who assume that the number of megapixels in a camera corresponds to the quality of the photo. This guide by Gizmodo explains why that’s not always the case.

Rapidstack: Realtime Rapidshare Searching
Finding a good Rapidshare search engine can be hard, but Rapidstack is definitely one of the better ones I’ve seen. It provides realtime search results, and also verifies that the links still actually work. So in the long run it can save you a significant amount of time.

Change Your Windows 7 Media Center Background
Believe it or not, but in Windows 7 you can actually change the Media Center background. It’s definitely pretty cool, but the bad part is that it’s not the easiest thing to do. It requires some editing of the registry and modifying some permissions, but nothing a true geek can’t handle.

Windows Mobile 6.5 Hands-On
Microsoft is picking up on what users want in a touch interface. Windows Mobile 6.5 pulls some of the aesthetics from the iPhone, but at the same time also has a unique interface styling. It will be interesting to see how cellphone manufacturers decide to make use of this new operating system.