Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on October 05, 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–

Gmail Messages Get Enhanced Content
Google has started to “enhance” emails that you receive from senders who’s mailing list you’re already subscribed to… assuming they’ve already “partnered” with Google to provide the special content. One such example is Netflix. When you receive an email from Netflix their icon will show up on the subject line, and the body of the email will contain interactive pieces. If you want to disable this you can do so by clicking the down arrow in the upper-right corner of the email, and choosing the “Do not customize mail from [sender]” option.

Mozilla Launches PluginCheck Demo
The Mozilla development blog has posted saying that they are currently testing a page that will be displayed for users who are upgrading their browser. This specially crafted page will let users see whether all of their browser plugins are up-to-date, and what’s kinda cool is that as of right now it appears as though it works in other browsers as well. Give it a whirl yourself to see if you’re up-to-date on your plugins.

“What is Google Wave” 2-Minute Explanation Video
You can watch this quick two-minute video while you sit there sulking because you didn’t get into Google Wave. I’ve actually been sending this video to people who ask what Google Wave is all about, and I’d say it does a pretty good job of explaining its primary functionality without overdoing it.

Apple Buys Map Company
Apparently back in July Apple purchased a company called Placebase, and their team has now joined Apple. Placebase has their own maps and an extensive API that could give Apple just what they need to integrate a homegrown mapping solution into their products. Apple currently relies on Google for maps on the iPhone, iLife and other products. Not only that but Google recently started showing “sponsored” locations when users search for POI’s on the iPhone, which could be something Apple doesn’t look too fondly at.

–News in Brief–

Drew Carey’s Bid for @Drew Twitter Name
@drew, the popular Twitter screen name behind the “Blame Drew’s Cancer” phenomena, has now received a bid of $25,000 by none other than Drew Carey himself. Carey also said he’ll up the bid to $100,000 if @DrewFromTV receives 100,000 follows by the end of the auction (in about a month).

Measuring Happiness Through Facebook
One site is trying to measure the happiness level of people in the U.S. by gathering Facebook data. As it turns out people like holidays, and hate Mondays. Who knew?  

Famous Locations Shows Where Movies and TV Shows were Filmed
Find out where your favorite shows and movies were filmed with this handy little site.

This Photo Destroyed a Camera Lens
The death of a camera lens may not always be a bad thing… in this case the result is a stunning photo.

Google Adds Search Refinements
When performing Google searches you can now refine your search results by the time period they were posted, the type of result, and more.

BumpTop Gets Multi-Touch
BumpTop has received a multi-touch makeover for Windows 7 users.

Twitter Launching Lists
Twitter is working on a “lists” feature that will let people group the individuals that they are following.

Google Docs Gets New Features in Time for School
Google has added student-focused features like text translations and equation editors to their online office suite.

Dell Releases Laptop that Wirelessly Charges
Never trip over a power cord again with Dell’s wirelessly charging laptop.

NewEgg Files for $175M IPO
The electronic heaven retail giant Newegg has filed to go public, and is expecting to raise $175 million.

Apple Surpasses 2 Billion App Store Downloads
Apple announced that its App Store has had over 2 billion downloads, and is currently the home to over 85,000 apps.

Opera Mini Tops 30 Million Users
Opera Mini continues growing steadily as it served up almost 14 billion pages in August 2009, and also had 32 million people use the mobile browser within that one-month span.

–Tips, Tutorials, and Reviews–

Microsoft Security Essentials Scores 98.44% on Detection Test
Last week Microsoft officially released their free antivirus software called Microsoft Security Essentials. I’ve been using the Beta version on a lot of my PC’s, and I have to say that I’m rather impressed with the app. It has a nice sleek interface, and early reports I’ve read indicate that it’s able to detect viruses on par with the other antivirus offerings… which is kinda important.

Reset or Customize Your Windows Services
I’ve always been the type of person that sits there tweaking Windows services until I know I’ve got everything disabled that I’ll never use. For example, on some of my Windows 7 or Vista PC’s I’ll turn off the Windows indexing service if I know I don’t need my files or anything else indexed for fast searching. Sometimes, however, I disable that one service that I didn’t think I needed, but all of a sudden makes my computer go haywire. This website can be used to reset your Windows services back to their defaults, which, in a time of frustration, is priceless. Yep, that’s right… it’s not even an app.

–Tips in Brief–

Pin Individual Folders to the Windows 7 Taskbar
It would have been nice if Microsoft made it easier to pin multiple folders to the Taskbar, but this hack might be able to get you by until they provide a real solution.

Enhance Your Photos with PhotoFiltre
Bring your photos to life using the free PhotoFilter image editing software.

Copy Path Saves File Location to Clipboard
With this lightweight add-on you’ll be able to store a file’s path on your clipboard so that it can easily be shared and carried across multiple applications/windows.

Custom Chromium Build Adds Roboform Support
The popular Roboform password manager is now available on Google Chrome… but only if you’re using a custom-built version of the browser provided by the Roboform team themselves.

Keep Track of New Email with Gmail Notifier
This app has an edge on Google’s official notifier because you can use it to check multiple Gmail accounts, and you’ll also get basic support for managing your mail.

Firefox 3.6 Gets Lightweight Theme Support
The next version of Firefox will include support for what’s called personas, which are lightweight themes that resemble what’s currently available on the Google Chrome browser.

Google Reader Greasemonkey Script
If you’re using Google Reader this Greasemonkey Script will let you customize several aspects of your feed-reading experience.

Search Websites from your Windows 7 Desktop
Thanks to search connectors you’re able to search your favorite websites right from your desktop in Windows 7.

–Downloads–

• CCleaner 2.24.1010 [Mirror]
• CDBurnerXP 4.2.6.1706 [Mirror]
• Defraggler 1.14.159 [Mirror]
• Digsby Build 67 ^Beta [Mirror]
• Evernote 3.5.0.437 ^Beta [Mirror]
• FileZilla 3.2.8 [Mirror]
• Foxit Reader 3.1.1.0928 [Mirror]
• Google Chrome 4.0.220.1 ^Beta [Mirror]
• Google Toolbar for IE 6.3.911.1819 [Mirror]
• Growl 2.0 ^{Beta 20} [Mirror]
• JAlbum 8.5 [Mirror]
• KMPlayer 2.9.4.1436 [Mirror]
• Maxthon 2.5.9.2101 ^{Beta 2} [Mirror]
• Miranda 0.8.8 [Mirror]
• Paint.NET 3.5 ^{Beta 2} [Mirror]
• Picasa 3.5.79.69 [Mirror]
• PSPad 4.5.5.2370 ^Beta [Mirror]
• Recuva 1.31.437 [Mirror]
• Sandboxie 3.40 [Mirror]

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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The new iMac comes with Thunderbolt ports

The 3.2GHz Core i3 iMac on which I am typing this post is now an old, lumbering dinosaur thanks to an update by Apple. The new iMacs use nothing but Core i5 and i7 processors, pack new graphics chips, HD cameras and not one but two (on the 27-inch model) Thunderbolt ports.

The line now maxes out with a 3.1GHz quad-core Core i5 in the 27-inch iMac (the “slowest” model has a 2.5GHz quad-core Core i5). Graphics processors run from the AMD Radeon HD 6750M (512MB) up to the AMD Radeon HD 6970M (1GB), and you get one or two Thunderbolt ports depending on the size of your machine. These ports also act as a way to hook up an external display with a Mini DisplayPort cable (up to 30 inches at 2560 x 1600 pixels).

You also get the HD FaceTime camera already seen in the new MacBook Pro. I don’t really care for this as it benefits other people when they get to see my stubbly, haggard face in hi-def. I’d rather that they bought new HD computers instead.

Otherwise, things remain the same: 4GB RAM, 1TB hard drives on all but the baby of the bunch, SD slot, FireWire 800, 4 x USB and so on.

Prices run from $1,200 up to $2,000, with the 27-inch 2.7GHz quad-core i5 — the replacement for my machine — at a sweet $1,700.

I shall hopefully show more resolve than I did when upgrading from my perfectly good iPad 1 this weekend. For those weaker souls, the new iMacs are available now.

iMac product page [Apple]

See Also:

• New Aluminum iMac: Details

Electronic House just announced its pick for 2011 Home of the Year, and from the look of things, this iOS-enabled abode has the stuff to put your robotic butler out of work. The mammoth craftsman’s interiors, designed by OCD poster boy Jeff Lewis, were automated by HD Media Systems using the Savant app. Everything from lighting to shower temperature are controlled using wall-mounted iPads or a series of unencumbered iOS devices. A pre-programmed “party button” immediately adjusts lighting and temperature, and bumps music to the 15 different Sonance in-ceiling speaker zones while displaying a slideshow on monitors dispersed throughout the house. Among the extravagant extras at work here are a switch in the master closet for flipping on the iron in the laundry room, a chandelier that flickers when it’s time to switch out the toilet paper, and a virtual butler that warns of impending visitors. Looks to us like Rosie the Robot’s days are numbered. Check out the source link for more automated overkill from this year’s runners up.

Electronic House crowns iOS-equipped dwelling 2011 Home of the Year originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 May 2011 07:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Electronic House  | Email this | Comments

This article was written on June 15, 2007 by CyberNet.

It’s been just four days since the public could get their hands on Safari for Windows.  Ryan reviewed Safari earlier this week and noted the features that it has to offer, as well as some of its shortcomings including security concerns.

Yesterday Apple announced that during the first 48 hours since it was available, more than 1 million copies of Safari were downloaded. That is pretty impressive considering some of the bad rap that it’s gotten. Perhaps it’s because this was an unexpected move from Apple which generated a lot of buzz, and so everybody wanted to check it out to see what it’s all about?

Apple sounded pretty happy with the number of downloads, but I’m not sure whether that number is a good or bad thing. There have been many problems with it already, and now one million people have already formed their opinion of the browser and may not be willing to go back and try it again after Apple corrects the problems and releases it out of beta.

I’m sure there are also many curious developers who wanted to get their hands on it, which is beneficial to Apple anyways. The more developers that start working with it, the more applications we’ll see made available for the iPhone which Apple is betting on to be the breadwinner.

Apple has already released an updated version, Beta 3.0.1. that includes security improvements. If you haven’t yet downloaded it, or you’d like to get the updated version, you can download that here. (Thanks for the tip Cory!)

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Consumer Reports used digital calipers to measure the thickness of black and white iPhones, and found them identical. Photo courtesy Consumer Reports.

Contrary to last week’s reports, the white iPhone is not actually thicker than the black iPhone.

So said Apple VP Phil Schiller in a private Twitter message sent to a reader of 9to5 Mac.

“It is not thicker, don’t believe all the junk that you read,” said the purported Schiller tweet.

Consumer Reports backs up Schiller’s assertion, having placed both models in a set of accurate digital calipers. Both models are 0.37 inches thick, according to CR’s lab tests. In addition, CR tried both phones’ fit with a variety of different cases, and found no problems fitting the white iPhone into any of the coverings.

Schiller’s statement and CR’s measurements seem to fly in the face of photographic evidence showing a thicker white iPhone, but photographs can be misleading. In any event, the purported thickness difference is only 0.2mm, or about one-fifth the thickness of a dime. And if both phones fit into the same cases, there’s not much cause for worry in any event.

We’ll update you with any further developments in Thicknessgate as soon as we wake up from this nap we suddenly feel the urge to take.