CyberNet

Twitter from Your Outlook Inbox

Ryan — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:52:40 +0000

Windows only
Are you addicted to Twitter, but afraid to use it while you’re at work? We’ve got the cure for your addiction! Well, not really a cure… I guess it would be more like throwing fuel on the fire. What if I said there’s a way for you to post on Twitter directly from your Outlook Inbox? Not only that but you’ll also be able to read posts from the people you’re following? Sounds great, right?

The app that will let you do all of this for free is called TwInbox. It integrates directly into your Outlook client so that you can both read and post to Twitter… all while looking like you’re sifting through hundreds of emails. The toolbar serves as a quick access point for all of your Twitter needs.

Want to know what all this is capable of? Here’s a list of features:

Update your Twitter status directly from Outlook.
Receive your friend updates in Outlook.
Archive, manage, group and search your tweets the same way you manage your email.
Search, track keywords. TwInbox will automatically download ALL tweets matching the keywords you specify, even if you are not following the tweet sender. This feature is perfect for keeping up to date with the Twitter buzz on your name, brand, interests, etc.
Group tweets by sender, topic, etc using the Search feature.
Upload and post picture files and Outlook email attachments.
See new tweets at a glance.
Assign custom folder and categories to new messages.
Use Outlook’s “Reply” and “ReplyAll” commands to send twitter direct messages and @replies.
Automatically sort new tweets into per-sender folders.
Shorten URLs with tinyurl.
See graphs of your Twitter usage statistics.
Tweets sent to you (@replies and direct) are marked with high importance, so you can see them at a glance.

Honestly, this is the most creative interface I’ve ever seen for managing a Twitter account. When I first saw this I didn’t expect it to do much more than provide a popup box for posting to Twitter. The thing is a full-featured Twitter client right in your Inbox! I could see this being a huge hit in the corporate world… especially for people who are forced to tweet for the company they work for. Pretty much everyone is familiar with Outlook, and this undoubtedly minimizes the learning curve. Not that Twitter is difficult to use, but this makes it feel no different than sending a short email.

I give mad props to the developer(s) for not only creating this, but for also making it free. And, in case you’re wondering, it works with both Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007.

TwInbox Homepage (Windows only; free)

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Browser Comparison: Memory Usage, Speed, Acid 3 Test

Ryan — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 10:19:27 +0000

Ever since we did a browser comparison test last year there have been a lot of emails and comments asking if we were going to update the article to reflect new releases. I thought about adding in the new browsers as they came out, but decided against it for one reason or another. Instead I thought it would be better to just do a fresh article, and include even more stats than last time.

The main reason that I thought this was worthy of its own article was because a lot has changed in the last year. Since March 2008 we’ve seen major milestone releases from each of big browser makers, and to top it off Google Chrome has come onto the scene. These browsers have also shifted focus from adding nifty new features to diving deep into the code trying to squeeze out every last ounce of performance.

We’ve got a lot in store for you today ranging from JavaScript speed tests to memory usage comparisons, and we’ll even throw in some Acid 3 coverage. Lets go ahead and dive right in.

Notes about testing:

All of these tests were performed on the same Windows XP SP3 machine that is wired into a network to eliminate the effects of wireless disturbances.
All browsers started with a clean profile and no add-ons/extensions were installed.
All browser data, including caches, were cleared before each test was run.
Only one browser was open at a time, and no other applications (other than standard XP services) were running.
Internet Explorer 8 was used in the native rendering mode (”standards compliant mode”).
No plug-ins (Flash, Java, etc…) were installed on the machine to ensure that slow performance wasn’t due to the loading of a plug-in.

–JavaScript Tests–

The main speed test that everyone seems to use for JavaScript is SunSpider. Last year we compared the browsers with the SunSpider test prior to writing our first comparison, and so we wanted to try something different. That’s when we turned to the MooTools SlickSpeed Test. It tests various operations against a lot of common JavaScript libraries including MooTools and JQuery.

So which one did we go with this year? Well, we did both. We ran each test, SunSpider and SlickSpeed, a total of three times each. Then we averaged the results together to get the pretty little graphs you see below. For both of them the goal was for the browser to complete the tests as fast as possible, and so a lower number is better.

(more…)

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Timing of Google Chrome Operating System Announcement Questioned

Ashley — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:49:43 +0000

If asked which operating systems were most popular, most of you would list the usual: Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux/Unix. Come the second half of 2010, to that list we will be able to add the Google Chrome Operating System which will be both open source and lightweight. Initially targeted for Netbooks (smart move, Google, those things are everywhere), Google’s newly announced operating system is being described as a natural extension of the Google Chrome browser which millions now use just a short nine months after its launch.

According to Google, “Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips and we are working with multiple OEMs to bring a number of netbooks to market next year. The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel.” The open source community will get their hands on the code sometime this year.

Microsoft and Google are seen as competitors in certain areas, and now certainly with an Operating System in the works, they will be competitors on another level. This is why the timing of the announcement is, shall we say, interesting? Between bits and pieces of what Robert Scoble has said (more what he didn’t say, apparently Microsoft has a big announcement coming but he’s embargoed) and what Long Zheng over at I Started Something said (his “sources” say Microsoft’s Monday announcement will be about an Office Web application), we’re thinking Google carefully timed when to make the announcement.

Around the web we found both those who are excited about the thought of a Google browser, and those who are a little skeptical as well. We’ll start with the skeptics: One of the biggest concerns seems to be privacy. Any time you mention Google these days, people cry “but what about my privacy, Google will have access to too much information about me.” The skeptics of the Google Chrome OS fear their privacy will be compromised. Certainly privacy is important, but it shouldn’t get confused with security when it comes to an operating system.

Now for the excitement: Those who are fans of web apps and the individuals who create them are excited about the opportunity a Google Chrome OS gives web apps to thrive. Another positive coming from this is that throwing another competitor into the OS mix helps push innovation. Sometimes it takes competition for companies to up their game.

Alright, so here are our last thoughts. A Google Chrome OS does sound like a smart move for Google, BUT, consumers won’t have their hands on it until 2010? Hopefully they will be able to keep the excitement up over the next year or so. We’re just wondering what Microsoft thinks of all this? Maybe this brings some relief? Michael Arrington summed it up best when he said “Every Chrome computer bought won’t have Windows and won’t have Office. That must send chills down the spine of the guys up in Redmond. But hey, at least they can now point to Google when the antitrust guys come knocking. Someone other than them are bundling the operating system and browser in one neat package.”

So now Microsoft, what’s this about an Office Web application? We’ll be enthusiastically waiting this Monday announcement…

Copyright © 2009 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox
Timing of Google Chrome Operating System Announcement Questioned

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Push Gmail on the iPhone

Ryan — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 09:43:48 +0000

I’ve been waiting a long time for someone to come up with a way to get push notifications on my iPhone for my Gmail accounts, but up until today there wasn’t really anything available. Thanks to an iPhone app called Prowl I’m now receiving nearly instantaneous push notifications on my phone.

The one downside for a lot of people is that this app will require you to have some sort of computer running (either Windows or Mac) during the time you want to receive the notifications. For me I didn’t even have to think twice about that, because I have a Windows machine running 24/7 that does a combination of downloads, backups, and television recording. For others that might be a deal breaker.

So how does it work? I’m about to tell you how I set it up to send me push email notifications for all of my Gmail accounts. There’s basically three things you need: Prowl for your iPhone (of course), Growl (for Windows or Mac), and Thunderbird. We’re going to also show you how to setup Thunderbird to utilize Gmail’s IMAP IDLE (sometimes referred to as Push IMAP) functionality so that Thunderbird doesn’t go out to fetch new emails. Instead Gmail sends them to Thunderbird almost instantaneously.

–Step 1: Get Prowl–

The Prowl iPhone app is a critical part of this puzzle. It basically serves as a middleman between your home computer and your iPhone. The software on your computer will send notifications to the Prowl servers, which will then relay on a push notification to your phone.

The iPhone app does cost $2.99, but I didn’t mind paying the one-time fee considering that they need money to keep their servers up and running. Then after you buy the app (or you can do it before you buy the app) head on over to their site to create a quick account.

(more…)

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Microsoft Wisens Up to Windows 7 Cracks?

Ryan — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:52:12 +0000

Over the weekend I decided to download Windows 7 Build 7264, which is the latest build to have been leaked. This was considered to be an RTM escrow build, which meant that this would have been the version that gets shipped given that Microsoft didn’t find any show-stopper bugs. If Wikipedia is anything to go by there have since been 4 other RTM escrow builds since 7264 (now at 7268), but none of those have leaked.

Before you rush to download the latest leaked builds it’s important to know that they no longer accept your free Beta/RC product keys. This actually started occurring about a month ago when build 7229 was leaked, and users who decided to install the build were left with a 30-day unactivated copy of Windows 7. Should you manage to get it activated by other means, like a crack, it still doesn’t bypass the March 1st, 2010 expiration date.

Once I managed to get Windows 7 Build 7264 installed I wanted to see if the one activation crack I saw floating around actually worked, because if it did Microsoft would have a hard time trying to block it in the next week or two before RTM. If that were the case we could probably be running fully activated copies of the final Windows 7 release by the end of the month. Of course I’m going off the fact that it took merely a few days for the RTM copy of Vista to leak after it was complete.

So how well does the crack work? What’s nice about this crack is that it’s a one-click solution that doesn’t even require a restart. It took about a minute to work its magic, and after that my System properties were showing that I was running a fully activated and genuine copy of Windows 7 Ultimate:

(more…)

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WrapUp: Netflix $1 Million Prize Winner, Best Online Image Editors, and More

Ryan — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:10:39 +0000

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–

Windows 7 RTM on July 13th?
According to one tech site Windows 7 is expected to RTM on July 13th. That means a leaked copy of Windows 7 (final version) could be in the hands of pirates by the end of the month! I mean, um… who am I kidding, that’s exactly what I meant.

Symantec: Free Antivirus Apps Can’t Keep You Safe
Symantec is starting to warn customers that free antivirus apps won’t be enough to keep users safe. They say that they can’t keep up with what full-price suites, such as Norton, are capable of producing. Please, let’s not all rush to Symantec’s site at one time to buy Norton.

GDGT Launches for Extreme Gadget Freaks
A new gadget site has hit the web, but this one has done a lot to distinguish itself from the competition. This one focuses primarily on social geeks who want to build profiles complete with a list of gadgets they own. This is a great way to find the 13 other Zune owners out there. Kidding, I’m kidding… well, only somewhat kidding.

Google Enhances Labels in Gmail
If you’re a Gmail user I’m sure you’ve already noticed the enhanced label support… it’s hard to miss the big popup the first time opening your mailbox after Google enabled the feature. Kudos to them though. I really like being able to drag-and-drop labels, but even more importantly I love being able to hid the labels I hardly use. Now if they’d let me nest labels I’d be perfectly happy.

Windows 7 Family Pack Coming?
Microsoft hasn’t announced any special pricing for future Windows 7 owners, but while digging through the license agreement Ed Bott noticed a section geared towards those who purchase a “Family Pack.” It apparently lets you install the OS on up to three machines in your household, but there’s still no word on how much it will cost.

Winner of the $1 Million Netflix Prize
Three years ago Netflix started a competition saying that they would give $1 million to the first team that could improve their movie recommendation service by more than 10 percent. I’m not sure exactly how the 10 percent improvement was measured, but one team just barely crossed the threshold coming in at 10.05% better than their current system.

Windows 7 Gets “Apple Style” Guided Tours
Microsoft has decided that they need to show off Windows 7’s new features in a few short video tours. If you watch any of the videos you’ll notice that they have an Apple-esque feel to them, and overall I’d say they are pretty good. The only puzzling part about the videos are the characters that look as though they were pulled from the Sims?

–Tips, Tutorials, and Reviews–

Best Online Image Editors
Lifehacker has a nice roundup of five different online image editors. Many of them try their best to replicate the layout and functionality found in Photoshop, and a few come really close. If you’re looking for a way to edit photos online you should check out their article.

Disable Tab Tearing in Firefox
When I was testing early pre-release builds of Firefox 3.5 the tab tearing functionality was terrible. Tab tearing, yes, that’s where you drag a tab off the tab bar to have it open in a new window. This feature has been drastically improved since the early days where it seemed like just moving your mouse close to a tab caused it to tear off into a new window. It’s not that bad anymore, but I still hate it. Thankfully there’s an extension that will let you completely disable this functionality.

Mac-Style Stacks in Windows 7
People are taking a liking to the new Taskbar in Windows 7, and it almost appears to have reignited the development of cool apps. This is a good example of that. Basically it lets you have some Stack-like functionality in your awesome bar.

Make Windows Live Messenger Minimize to Tray
In Windows 7 you’ll quickly find out that Windows Live Messenger no longer minimizes to the System Tray. Instead it falls down to the Taskbar. Don’t worry, there’s a simple trick if you still want it to go to the System Tray.

Opera Unite Walkthrough
If you still haven’t started playing around with Opera Unite there’s no way for you to know just how easy it is. This quick tutorial is a good demonstration of that, and it shows off some of the functionality Opera Unite brings to your machine.

Postbox Now Has Extensions
Postbox is a desktop email client that is based off of Mozilla Thunderbird, and I have to say that it has a lot of features that are way better than Thunderbird. The one downside was that it always lacked support for extensions, but not any longer. The list of compatible add-ons is rather short at the moment, but I’m sure it will be growing. I’m so happy to see someone take Thunderbird to the next level, because it doesn’t seem like Mozilla is.

–Downloads–

Copyright © 2009 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox
WrapUp: Netflix $1 Million Prize Winner, Best Online Image Editors, and More

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PureSync: Great for USB Drive or Memory Card Backups

Ryan — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:40:36 +0000

Windows only
I’m always looking for awesome backup solutions that you won’t have to pull your wallet out for, and there’s no arguing that there are plenty of free apps out there. One that really caught my attention recently was PureSync. it does all of the common things you’d expect from a backup program such as two-way syncing or a one-way backup. The interface is extremely simple, which is something I did find refreshing… often times these programs get cluttered because of all the features they try to include. This has a good balance.

The real power of the program I would have to say lies in options it offers for automatic synchronization:

When folders are found – this is what really made me take a serious look at this program. I can have PureSync look for a specific folder/drive, and when it gets connected a backup will automatically be kicked off. You know how valuable this can be if you’ve ever had a USB drive die on you, or maybe you’ve lost a memory card. Heck, maybe you just want the same files on your computer and portable drive so that changes you make in one location will automatically get carried over once the device is plugged in.
When a file has been modified – When you’re working on a really important project there is always that fear in the back of your mind that something unexpected might happen to your machine. Maybe your computer is going to explode right before you hit the print button? With this option you can have it make a copy of a file as changes are made to it, and move it over to another location… hopefully to an external drive a few feet away from your computer, and sitting next to a fire extinguisher.
On a schedule – this is obviously a no-brainer, and any usable backup program will have this option.

If it weren’t for those options I’m not sure if this app would have struck me as being something special. Overall I’d say it’s pretty good, but then again I haven’t put it through any huge file transfers.

PureSync Homepage (Windows only; free)
[via MakeUseOf]

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Using Twitter to Control Your Computer

Ryan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:03:36 +0000

Windows only
Looking back at how Twitter has evolved I can’t help but be amazed by not only it’s popularity, but also the various services it is used for. I’ve seen ways to track packages using Twitter, add events to your calendar, manage your todo list, check balances on your accounts, and all sorts of other things. It’s crazy.

Now we can take it one step further. With the free app called TweetMyPC you’ll be able to remotely control several different aspects of your computer without any complicated setup process. There’s nothing you have to configure on your router because this simply goes out to Twitter to check for new messages that you’ve posted. Piece of cake.

So what can you do with this? Here are some of my favorites:

You can shutdown, lock, hibernate, or put the machine in standby.
Get a screenshot of your computer screen, and have it posted to Twitpic so that it can easily be viewed.
View and kill running processes.
Download files so that they are there when you get home. Perfect for large files like, well, the Windows 7 Release Candidate download that weighs in at several gigabytes.
Get a list of files inside of a directory on the computer.
Have it email you a document on your computer by providing the path. This only works with Gmail at the moment.
Custom commands will let you create any command you want, and associate it with any executable on your machine. Unfortunately it doesn’t appear to work with batch files or command line arguments, which would be super sweet.

I think this could become an app that is widely used by a lot of the Twitter geeks out there. Once it is able to execute batch files and accept command line arguments this will become a must-have app for me. Because that means I can put my computer to work from the comfort of my phone.

TweetMyPC Homepage [via gHacks]

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Pirate Bay Sold for $7.8 Million

Ryan — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:56:07 +0000

Huge news broke this morning when information got leaked to the press regarding an acquisition of The Pirate Bay. It’s said that they got $7.8 million for the site which will be turned over to the buyers, Global Gaming Factory X, in August. That might seem undervalued for a site that is nearly in the top 100 sites on the Internet according to Alexa (currently at 112), but given their legal troubles it isn’t surprising that they weren’t able to milk it for all it’s worth.

It didn’t take long for The Pirate Bay to respond to the news, and they confirmed that they are indeed being acquired by Global Gaming Factory X. They are trying to reassure users that things won’t change very much, and that this is all part of them “evolving.” According to TorrentFreak the new owners are looking for ways to ensure that copyright owners get paid, and that the site is legal. They are also reporting that the Pirate Bay’s BitTorrent tracker will be replaced with some new technology that is supposedly better, but is also backwards compatible with the BitTorrent network.

This is disappointing news for the BitTorrent community, but I guess it will help us appreciate those other BitTorrent sites (like MiniNova) that have managed to stay up. Plus this may spur even more interesting in private, invite-only, BitTorrent sites like Demonoid or What.CD. So where are you going to head for your torrent needs now that the Pirate Bay’s ship has set sail?

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Make Windows Shortcuts Open Mac-Style Stacks

Ryan — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:29:33 +0000

Windows only
Remember when we wrote about the nifty Stacks docklet? Well, I received an email from a reader pointing out that you can get the same functionality without one of the Windows dock apps. All you need is a free program called StandaloneStack that adds the same functionality to any Windows shortcut you decide to create.

For the most part all you have to do is create a shortcut to the executable, and run it (FreewareGenius has screenshots of the setup process). When you do that you’ll be prompted to choose what directory you want the stack pointed to, how you want the items sorted, and whether you want the stack displayed in a grid (pictured above) or fan view.

I have to say that this can make those shortcuts in your QuickLaunch bar a lot more useful. Plus it will even work for shortcuts that are placed on your desktop. Basically you can have your whole computer littered with these things if that’s what you want. Go nuts, you have my permission.

StandaloneStack Homepage (Windows only; free)
Thank MisT for the tip!

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