Thushan Fernando Uncut

Well finally Google has released Chrome 4.0 and with it extensions support amongst the many other features which finally brings some much needed juice to the browser. I’ve been running Firefox and Chrome simultaneously (Chrome for gmail & google apps, firefox for daily browsing) but I have a feeling I may change to using Chrome full time now.

Some cool extensions to try (most are from Firefox)

• Xmarks Bookmarks Sync – I’ve been using FoxXmarks to sync my bookmarks for a while now, so its only natural I install this for Chrome. You can also stick with the standard Bookmark sync via Google which you’ll need a Google account for.
• Google Mail Checker / Google Alerter – there’s also the One Number extension that brings more than just checking gmail.
• AdBlock – probably the number one reason most people wanted extensions in Chrome!
• Forecastfox Weather – My weather extension I use in Firefox.
• FlashBlock – Can’t stand videos playing automatically when you load a gazillion tabs and wonder WHO THE EFF is talking?
• Goo.gl URL Shortner – none others required.
• Firebug Lite – Not as feature packed as Firebug, but then why would they call it Lite?
• IETab – Sometimes you gotta.

Chromed. There’s lots more if you’re into Facebook, Twitter and all the other fancy things these days, even one for uTorrent! Download the latest build and give things a go!

PS. You don’t need to restart Chrome to install extensions either!

What a way to start the weekend, jQuery 1.4 has been released! There’s so much ubber goodness in this release I nearly fell of my chair! I have yet to muse about but most definately worth a look, the performance boosts are insane!

Excellent review of the Google Nexus One on ArsTechnica – as always. Don’t forget that the Nexus One SDK got released too recently.

Impressive! Definately awaiting the launch here to get one to replace the Windows Mobile phones. Whats even more impressive is the fact that it ships with a 1Ghz Snapdragon (ARM Cortex A8) processor with 512Mb of memory! Smooth cat!

Finally, a worthy competitor.

…you know it.

Google just released information and a presentation (below) about ChromeOS.

Wow, you can take a peek at the source as well. I’m not sure if its just a very tweaked minimalistic Linux Kernel with a Chrome Window Manager or what, but like they did with Chrome, this is definitely a Think Different product. Take a look at a visual tour of the ChromeOS.

I don’t think this will replace your traditional desktop completely (I still like to have my stuff with me rather than hosted somewhere!) but what happens to devices, peripherals etc, development environments (Imagine running Visual Studio over the intertubes on ADSL!) etc.

But one things for sure, it takes the idea of Operating Systems and how you view your operating system to a different level. All those tabs you see in Chrome now, are virtual desktop like instances in ChromeOS. More info can be got from the PCWorld article on ChromeOS.

Since ditching Outlook after Outlook 2003 (Outlook 2007, 2003 was fine in comparison) came around I’ve been using Mozilla Thunderbird as my ever faithful email client. Its fast, lightweight and not as bloated as Outlook is – couple it with Lightning and you’ll be laughing!

Thunderbird 3 brings some cool features for users with the biggest being tabbed message windows (and calendars etc). If you downloaded the new 3.x betas make sure you get Beta 4, the long standing issue with the Messagebox Summary file being corrupt has been finally addressed. Its been a pet hate for a long time now, sometimes searching a folder can corrupt an MSF (means having to go and remove the MSF so it rebuilds the index!), no more! Thunderbird will now fixup any problematic MSF files in the background, yay!

The search in Thunderbird 3 is a massive improvement over the other clients I’ve used, give it a go!

After you download Thunderbird, make sure you get the latest nightly for Lightning Calendar Addon and Google Provider and use them.

Google Image Search Options

I haven’t searched for images in quite sometime but just realised that Google has updated its image search options!

Lets say your looking for some photos on Windows 7, but you don’t want all the screenshots of the operating system, instead you want just people. Select Faces option and voilla, people images.

What about some photos of Australia? Maybe photos that show just how harsh our climate is in the dessert? Historical or artsy Black & White ones? You get the idea

Awesome and useful! If you’ve ever wondered what I look like, all you have to do is search (heheh).

I’ve been soooo busy at work (impossible deadlines as always) that I’ve been a bit silent, but alas who could not be excited to hear about Google’s venture into the netbook market just to shake things up?

It’s been an exciting nine months since we launched the Google Chrome browser. Already, over 30 million people use it regularly. We designed Google Chrome for people who live on the web — searching for information, checking email, catching up on the news, shopping or just staying in touch with friends. However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web. So today, we’re announcing a new project that’s a natural extension of Google Chrome — the Google Chrome Operating System. It’s our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be.

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we’re already talking to partners about the project, and we’ll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.

Thats right, whilst many claimed the Google Chrome browser was infact an OS, now the company has come around with an actual OS with the Chrome moniker just to confuse the hell out of journo’s who just didn’t get the difference between a browser and an operating system.

Mind you, I do use Chrome quite a bit, especially not that I’ve switched full-time to GMail, its a great browser – just missing a few addons that Firefox has to really make it shine – like Adblock Plus, XMarks and web developer like extensions.

CNet has an interesting tidbit too. Whats important here is that it will be available for x86 and ARM processors and aims for a different breed of devices to their Android platform. Its based on a Linux Kernel with a new desktop environment (so another Gnome or KDE like desktop environment). As the Google Blog puts it:

Google Chrome OS is a new project, separate from Android. Android was designed from the beginning to work across a variety of devices from phones to set-top boxes to netbooks. Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems. While there are areas where Google Chrome OS and Android overlap, we believe choice will drive innovation for the benefit of everyone, including Google.

The idea was mocked by many several years ago, but I guess they had the last laugh now.

Confused about the direction Google is heading? You Are Not Alone, looks like Google’s Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ telling Microsoft that We’ve Had Enough, that They Don’t Care About Us and to just Beat It. They are Here To Change The World which will no doubt turn into one heck of a Thriller coming up.

I figure most of you would be Speechless by now, some may even be Scared Of The Moon but fear not, they’re working Day and Night to make sure you get One More Chance to get On The Line as soon as your hardware will allow it! Google, you Rock My World. Does anyone even Remember The Time without Google now a days?

RIP Michael Jackson.

Jai-ho my web 2.0 pals, its friday!

A few weeks ago saw the launch of Wolfram Research Alpha, a natural search engine which could do some funky things. Now Microsoft have stepped up from their previous attempts – Ms Dewey (Janina Gavankar, who’s quite a hottie! reminds me of Tiffany) and now we have the final release of Bing (aka codenamed Kumo) which is going to be a behemoth search engine.

Learn all about the new bling at DiscoverBing or learn the void that Bing will attempt to address, or see the video here.

Wonder why they decided on Bing?

Ding ding ding == bing bing bing?

“Just Bing It.”

“Dewd, just Bing the bastard”?

“Bing is Not Google”?

Cashing in on the Lara Bingle’s ‘where the bloody hell are you?’ campaign, which btw was one of our clients at Vividas last year.

In either case, its an interesting take on the ‘aging’ way we search for what we want and seems to go onto the concepts that came with the Wolfram Alpha. When it actually comes out – still shows as coming soon for me, we’ll have to see.