Google Gears - Offline Functionality for Web Apps

Web applications bring your data online and make it available anywhere there's an Internet connection. But happens when you're on a plane or when you can't find a WiFi hotspot?

Google launched an open source browser extension for IE and Firefox called Google Gears that enables web applications to be available offline.

"Gears is an incremental improvement to the web as it is today. It adds just enough to AJAX to make current web applications work offline. Gears today covers what we think is the minimal set of primitives required for offline apps. It is still a bit rough and in need of polish, but we are releasing it early because we think the best way to make Gears really useful is to evolve it into an open standard. We are releasing Gears as an open source project and we are working with Adobe, Mozilla and Opera and other industry partners to make sure that Gears is the right solution for everyone," explains Google.

Once you install the extension, every Gears-enabled web application will ask your permission before storing data offline.


Depending on the functionality implemented in the application, Google Gears caches resource files so they're available offline, stores data in a SQLite database that has powerful search features and synchronizes data in the background.

Google Gears will enable you to read the most recent messages from Gmail while offline or to edit your documents in Google Docs even without a network connection.

Google Reader is the first Google application powered by Gears. To enter the offline mode, just click on the small arrow and all the recent feed items are downloaded to your computer. You can disconnect from the Internet or click on "work offline" in your browser and you will still be able to read your favorite feeds in Google Reader. Like in any feed reader installed on your computer. Well, almost, because Google Reader doesn't download images or other multimedia files embedded in the posts.




You can even close Google Reader's tab and try to load the site again: it will instantly show the cached data. Try to add tags to a post or star it; once you go back online, Google Reader will synchronize the data.


P.S.: Another nice update in Google Reader is that you can see the exact number of unread posts for each feed. Google Reader learned to count beyond 100.

Found on http://googlesystem.blogspot.com

Linux Embraces Mac-Like Dock

Linux only: Free open-source app Awn is an application dock for Linux.

Awn allows you to setup custom launchers exactly the same way it's done on the Mac OS X Dock. Additionally, Awn supports the drag and drop method of adding launchers, and it even tracks your open windows. The homepage describes the features of Awn very concisely:

Clicking an icon switches to that window, clicking again will minimize the window. Right-clicking will bring up a menu exactly like that of what you see on the window-list, allowing you to maximize, minimize, close, and resize the window. Dragging something on top of an icon will activate that window. Visually (and quite attractively) responds to 'needs attention' & 'urgent' events. Can show windows from the entire viewport, or just the visible viewport.

Ubuntu users should closely follow the installation instructions on the Awn homepage. Users of other Linux distros can find specific instructions on the homepage, also. Awn is a free download for Linux and requires Affinity.

Adding Awn to the Ubuntu Feisty Repositories [Awn.Wetpaint] Found on LifeHacker

Ebay + StumbleUpon = WTF?

Yesterday eBay purchased StumbleUpon for $75 million. Although it is not immediately clear HOW this will fit into eBay’s portfolio, it seems as if the auction giant will take a hands off approach to the social bookmarking service.

All StumbleUpon’s founders and management team will remain in their respective positions for the foreseeable future, and will focus on building out the website to expand the community.

Google Gears: Take Your Online Apps Offline

The only problem with Google’s web applications, is that you need to be ONLINE to use them. Google Gears hopes to fix that. Gears is a browser extension using Java, that enables web applications to provide offline functionality. So, now you can load up your favorite enabled Google applications (Think Writely, or Feed Catcher) when you DON’T have an internet connection.

The Google Gears Beta is currently available for Windows XP, Vista, Mac and Linux.

More Information
Google Gears (BETA) is an open source browser extension that enables web applications to provide offline functionality using following JavaScript APIs:

	Store and serve application resources locally
	Store data locally in a fully-searchable relational database
	Run asynchronous Javascript to improve application responsiveness

Get the BETA version here!

What to Expect from Dell's Ubuntu Machines (Hint: It's Fantastic for Linux Users Who Don't Buy Dell)

Now that Dell's on the verge of shipping Ubuntu-installed computers, potential Linux converters could have some questions as to what they're getting when they buy the package. Dell's got some answers.

First off, Dell's going to be shipping the default install of Ubuntu. However, when it comes to drivers, they're going to be supporting a subset of other OS installations, and using some closed source drivers when it's necessary—as in, when there's no equivalent open source version. For you, this means better compatibility.

However, the fact that Dell is entering this Linux game means they're going to push people hard to make drivers compatible and/or open source. Fantastic for Linux users.

As for peripherals, Dell is going to set up a wiki page so you can see which ones are supported and what problems they have. This includes printers, which they recommend you buy from Dell (shocker).

For other hardware, Dell is working on adding support in conjunction with other manufacturers, which means it's actually great news for Linux fans since a big manufacturer like Dell will lean hard on peripheral makers to provide Linux compatibility.

The bad news is they're not going to support any "proprietary audio or video codecs" like MPEG 1/2/3/4, WMA, WMV, DVD, Quicktime and others. If you want those, you're going to have to install them yourself. – Jason Chen

Ubuntu 7.04 Offering--Technical Details [Direct2Dell]

Found on Gizmodo

52 Ways to Speed Up OS X

After Apple recently announced a delay to OS X 10.5 Leopard I had to delay my iMac upgrade until the Autumn. This led me to thinking about how to speed up Tiger to get the most out of my ageing G5.

This is what I came up with:

General System

1. Repair Disk Permissions
Navigate to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility. Select your Macintosh HD and select Verify Disk Permissions. If needed you can then Repair Disk Permissions.

2. Clear out login items
Its good to check that unwanted programs are not starting up when you login to your Mac. This can be done from System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items.

3. Clear out unwanted applications
Go through your applications folder and see if you can save yourself some disk space by removing any applications you no longer use.

4. Clear out unused system preferences
Check in your system preferences if there are any unused system preferences tabs that can be removed. If you do find something you don’t use you can either disable it within its menu or remove it from ‘~/Library/PreferencePanes’. You may have to reboot or do a force empty trash (see #38).

5. Clear Desktop
Its been reported numerous times that having a clear desktop can increase the speed of your Mac. So either put your junk in folders or delete it!

6. Empty Trash (if it wont empty see #38)
I’m always amazed when I’m looking on someone’s Mac and they haven’t ever emptied the trash! Check what’s in there then save yourself some space and empty it.

7. Turn off Universal Access (if not used)
Navigate to System Preferences > Universal Access and turn off anything you’re not using.

8. Turn off Bluetooth (if not used)
Navigate to System Preferences > Bluetooth.

9. Turn off speech recognition (if not used)
Navigate to System Preferences > Speech Recognition.

10. Turn off internet sharing (if not used)
Navigate to System Preferences > Sharing > Internet

11. Check there is plenty of disk space on the boot drive.
Your Mac uses some of your hard drive space as virtual memory when there is not enough actual memory available. Its good to always keep 10% of your hard drive free for such activity.

12. Remove Unwanted Language Packs
OS X contains hundreds of languages that you most likely wont use. Monolingual is a free program that can root out these languages and remove them saving you some extra disk space.

*Edit: Warning people have experienced problems with Monolingual so becareful what you remove. Only a reinstall will put the languages back so decide weather you really need the extra space by removing them.

13. Remove any desktop changing programs
Until recently I had a nice program that would put a different babe on my desktop each month. It looked great but once I started looking in activity monitor it was taking up lots of memory and processor time.

14. Check dock for unwanted apps.
Your dock should only contain your most used applications so take a look through to see if there is anything you can remove or uninstall.

15. Choose suitable applications for files
Be sensible when choosing what applications open by default - think do you really need Photoshop to open just to view an image when preview will work fine? Right click on a file then select Get Info.

16. Check Software Build
If you have an Intel Mac then check the build of the software is universal - it might be that the application is still running through Rosetta and that a universal update is available.

Eye Candy

17. Remove dock animation
Navigate to System Preferences > Dock then un-tick Animate Opening Applications.

18. Avoid animated desktops
Navigate to System Preferences > Desktop & Screen Saver then un-tick Change picture.

Dashboard

19. Remove unused widgets.
Each widget takes some memory and processor power even when you’re not using the dashboard so only enable the ones you use. Alternatively you can disable the dashboard - see #23.

20. Check to see how much processing power and memory each widget uses.
Some widgets are more intensive than others, if there is one that is particularly demanding see if there is one with similar functionality on the Apple website. To do this run Activity Monitor - Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor.

As you can see the widgets I have running are all using an acceptable amount of Real Memory.

Tinkertool

Tinkertool is a utility that gives you access to additional settings within OS X.

21. Remove animation effects.
The animation effects are the eye candy that make OS X look nice but they are not really needed, you can turn them off from the Finder pane within Tinkertool.

22. Disable Dock shadow.
From the Dock pane un-tick Enable Dock shadow.

23. Disable Dashboard.
If you don’t use the Dashboard you can deactivate it from the General pane.

24. Skip checksum verifications when opening DMG files.
This will speed up the loading of disk images when opening. This can be found in the Applications pane.

25. Remove or deactivate unwanted login items from the Login Items pane.
You might already have done this in #2.

26. Reduce delay time for display of loading pages in Safari.
This should speed up your web browsing experience, found within the Safari Pane.

OnyX

OynX is similar to Tinkertool however has many more options and preferences.You may have already done some of these in previous tips.

Parameters

27. Un-tick Graphic Effects (Finder tab).
You may already have done this with Tinkertool #21.

28. Un-tick Animate ‘Opening applications’ and ‘When alert in background’ (Dock tab).

29. Disable Dashboard (Dashboard and Expose tab).
You may already have done this with Tinkertool #23.

30. Set Safari speed of web page display to fast (Safari Tab).
You may already have done this in #26.

Maintenance

31. Repair Disk Permissions.
You may already have done this in #1.

32. Run Maintenance Scripts.

33. Reset Spotlight Index (it may take over a day to rebuild the index afterwards).

34. Run complete system optimization.

Cleaning

35. Clear Internet Settings.

36. Clear User and Font Caches.

37. Clear unused logs.

38. Force Empty Trash

Automation

39. Check settings - The default settings should be fine here. Click Execute.

Penguins at home

I found the below article on Akihabara News.com

A Matsushita Electric brand called "National" came up with a new system to control the electrical and power consumption at home. You'll tell me that this is nothing new and you have your very own with a 1 inch 2 colors screen but this is Japan, it HAD to be different !!

As a result you'll be helped by penguins, they'll tell you if it's ok or if you're a naughty power consumer using famous "mangas attitudes" that are really part of the Japanese culture and tradition.



The Lifinity ECO can also be used as an alarm. Just make sure your kids don't think it's a new GameBoy because it costs 350.000Yen (2.000€ or 2.700$). Available in October.

Google’s Gmail integrates Office Powerpoint viewer

Yet another reason to make the move to Gmail as your primary email service, Google quietly released the option to view attached Powerpoint slides using a Google Flash tool. Since making the move to Gmail and deciding to drop Microsoft Office, Google & Gmail have definitely helped make life without Office much easier - contacts / clients still prefer to send Office documents (there’s just no way around it).

Now that attached Powerpoint slides can be viewed from [select] Gmail accounts, when will we see Google Docs updated to support the file format?

found on uneasy silence - well said.

Facebook offers free classifieds

Social networking service Facebook adds a new Marketplace area where members can post free classified ads. Marketplace works a lot like Craigslist, except you get to see how you know the guy who's selling his old projector. The Times reports:

On Facebook, buyers will be able to see how they are connected to the seller -- the series of links between the friends they share. "There are no anonymous listings, and we give you a very clear path to see how you can trust the other person you are conducting business with," (Facebook founder) Mr. Zuckerberg said.

You can list job and housing opportunities, stuff wanted and items for sale in Facebook Marketplace. —Gina Trapani on Life Hacker

Macbooks Just Got Even Better...

I'm happy to be bringing good news in this post, for it is M.O Photo's 200th Post.
Okay, stop applauding and cheering, let's get down to business.

Apple has done something I've been hoping they would for a while now; Apple updated its MacBook consumer notebooks with faster Intel Core 2 Duo processors, 1GB of memory and larger hard drives in every model. Apple Insider's description of the Macbook and what it now has to offer is simply perfect and so I'm sharing it with you here.

The new line of MacBooks remain just one-inch thin and feature built-in 802.11n wireless networking for up to five times the performance and twice the range of 802.11g. Every MacBook also includes a built-in iSight video camera for on-the-go video conferencing, Apple's MagSafe Power Adapter that safely disconnects when under strain, and iLife '06, Apple's award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications.

"The MacBook is a huge hit with customers, and is one of the reasons that Mac sales are growing three times faster than PC sales," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "The new MacBook is faster, has even more memory and storage, and is an ideal notebook for customers' growing library of digital music, photos and movies."

Featuring a 13-inch glossy widescreen display, the one-inch thin MacBook comes in three models: white 2.0 GHz and 2.16 GHz MacBook models, and a black 2.16 GHz MacBook model. The MacBook includes a built-in iSight video camera for video chatting on-the-go with friends or family using iChat AV, recording a video podcast or iMovie using iLife '06, or taking fun snapshots with Photo Booth. Designed for the mobile lifestyle, the MacBook includes Apple's MagSafe Power Adapter that magnetically connects the power cord to the MacBook and safely disconnects when under strain, and the latest generation of 802.11n wireless networking for up to five times the performance and twice the range of 802.11g.

The MacBook comes with iLife '06, the next generation of Apple's award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications featuring iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, GarageBand and iWeb. The MacBook also comes with the latest release of the world's most advanced operating system, Mac OS X version 10.4.9 Tiger, including Safari, Mail, iCal, iChat AV, Front Row and Photo Booth.

But wait, there's more good news...for Europeans, that is. Europeans will enjoy a nice price cut and the new Macbooks may also have better LCD's. Apple insider says...

Italians who received news of the spring 2007 MacBook update directly from Apple may have also been tipped off as to a change in the 13.3-inch displays used for the systems.

In its announcement, Apple Italy listed a 250cd/m2 brightness figure for the top 2.16GHz black model. The company has previously refrained from mentioning the display's specifications in the past, suggesting that the brightness was a selling point for at least the top system.

Europe as a whole also saw the price of the systems drop despite the change, with each system dipping 70 Euros to 1,049, 1,249, and 1,449 Euros respectively.

Pricing & Availability

The new MacBook is available immediately through the Apple Store, Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.

The 2.0 GHz, 13-inch white MacBook, for a suggested retail price of $1,099 (US), includes:

13.3-inch glossy widescreen 1280 x 800 display;

2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;

667 MHz front-side bus;

1GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 2GB;

80GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;

a slot-load Combo (DVD-ROM/CD-RW) optical drive;

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950;

Mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately);

built-in iSight video camera;

Gigabit Ethernet port;

built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;

two USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire 400 port;

one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;

Scrolling TrackPad;

the infrared Apple Remote; and

60 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.16 GHz, 13-inch white MacBook, for a suggested retail price of $1,299 (US), includes:

13.3-inch glossy widescreen 1280 x 800 display;

2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;

667 MHz front-side bus;

1GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 2GB;

120GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;

a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD +/- RW/CD-RW) optical drive;

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950;

Mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately);

built-in iSight video camera;

Gigabit Ethernet port;

built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;

two USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire 400 port;

one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;

Scrolling TrackPad;

the infrared Apple Remote; and

60 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.16 GHz, 13-inch black MacBook, for a suggested retail price of $1,499 (US), includes:

13.3-inch glossy widescreen 1280 x 800 display;

2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;

667 MHz front-side bus;

1GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 2GB;

160GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;

a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD +/- RW/CD-RW) optical drive;

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950;

Mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately);

built-in iSight video camera;

Gigabit Ethernet port;

built-in AirPort Extreme wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;

two USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire 400 port;

one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;

Scrolling TrackPad;

the infrared Apple Remote; and

60 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

Additional build-to-order options for the MacBook include the ability to upgrade to 120GB or 160GB (5400 rpm) or a 200GB (4200 rpm) hard drive, up to 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, Apple USB Modem, Apple Mini-DVI to DVI adapter, Apple Mini-DVI to VGA adapter, Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter and the AppleCare Protection Plan. Additional build-to-order options also include pre-installed copies of iWork '06, Logic Express 7, Final Cut Express HD 3.5 and Aperture 1.5.

[Apple Insider]

Leapin' Linux, Let's Make the Jump, Sheep!

F%&$ Windows, and f%&$ the Mac, too. Maximum PC shows you how to make the jump to Linux from start to finish, and shows you how to stay there once you've abandoned all those other PC and Mac sheep to go your own open-source way.

Let's all get the hell out of these mainstream operating systems and get into the real stuff. How about we dig into that latest Ubuntu Feisty Fawn, easy as pie to use, and let's slather on a heaping helping of the 3D Beryl desktop compositing engine on top to keep things all prettied up?

But, but ...

There's even a way to run Windows on Linux using Parallels, so the excuses are getting thinner and thinner for staying with your white-bread religion. Sure, there's plenty of help on the Interwebs for Linux and Ubuntu installation, but none as to-the-point as this.

And hey, there's Firefox on Linux, too, so the Giz will still look just about the same. Get thee hence, all we like sheep who have gone astray. Every one to his own way. Live your own life! Get down to it. – Charlie White on Gizmodo

You Can Switch to Linux! [Maximum PC]

10 Intermediate Ways To Speed Up Windows

Given how successful my Simple Guide to Tweaking Windows XP has been I’ve decided to post some more complex tweaks. The effectiveness of each of these tweaks will vary from machine to machine. I’ve tried to focus on tweaks that I’m confident can be made on any XP machine regardless of the individual setup. Please do not make any of these changes if you are not sure what you are doing, and remember to make backups first and good luck!

1. Disable Unnecessary Services
Because Windows XP has to be all things to all people it has many services running that take up system resources that you will never need. Below is a list of services that can be disabled on most machines:

• Alerter
• Clipbook
• Computer Browser
• Distributed Link Tracking Client
• Fast User Switching
• Help and Support - (If you use Windows Help and Support leave this enabled)
• Human Interface Access Devices
• Indexing Service
• IPSEC Services
• Messenger
• Netmeeting Remote Desktop Sharing (disabled for extra security)
• Portable Media Serial Number
• Remote Desktop Help Session Manager (disabled for extra security)
• Remote Procedure Call Locator
• Remote Registry (disabled for extra security)
• Remote Registry Service
• Secondary Logon
• Routing & Remote Access (disabled for extra security)
• Server
• SSDP Discovery Service - (Unplug n’ Pray will disable this)
• Telnet
• TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
• Upload Manager
• Universal Plug and Play Device Host
• Windows Time
• Wireless Zero Configuration (Do not disable if you use a wireless network)
• Workstation

To disable these services:

1. Go to Start and then Run and type “services.msc”
2. Doubleclick on the service you want to change
3. Change the startup type to ‘Disable”

2. Turn Off System Restore

System Restore can be a useful if your computer is having problems, however storing all the restore points can literally take up Gigabytes of space on your hard drive. To turn off System Restore:

1. Open Control Panel
2. Click on Performance and Maintenance
3. Click on System
4. Click on the System Restore tab
5. Tick ‘Turn off System Restore on All Drives’
6. Click ‘Ok’

3. Defragment Your Pagefile

Keeping your pagefile defragmented can provide a major performance boost. One of the best ways of doing this is to creat a separate partition on your hard drive just for your page file, so that it doesn’t get impacted by normal disk usage. Another way of keeping your pagefile defragmented is to run PageDefrag. This cool little app can be used to defrag your pagefile, and can also be set to defrag the pagefile everytime your PC starts. To install:

1. Download and Run PageDefrag
2. Tick “Defrag at next Reboot”,
3. Click “Ok”
4. Reboot

4. Speedup Folder Access - Disable Last Access Update

If you have a lot of folders and subdirectories on your computer, when you access a directory XP wastes a lot of time updating the time stamp showing the last access time for that directory and for ALL sub directories. To stop XP doing this you need to edit the registry. If you are uncomfortable doing this then please do not attempt.

1. Go to Start and then Run and type “regedit”
2. Click through the file system until you get to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem”
3. Right-click in a blank area of the window on the right and select ‘DWORD Value’
4. Create a new DWORD Value called ‘NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate’
5. Then Right click on the new value and select ‘Modify’
6. Change the Value Data to ‘1′
7. Click ‘OK’

5.Disable System Sounds

Surprisingly, the beeps that your computer makes for various system sounds can slow it down, particularly at startup and shut-down. To fix this turn off the system sounds:

1. Open Control Panel
2. Click Sounds and Audio Devices
3. Check Place volume icon in taskbar
4. Click Sounds Tab
5. Choose “No Sounds” for the Sound Scheme
6. Click “No”
7. Click “Apply”
8. Click “OK”

6. Improve Boot Times

A great new feature in Microsoft Windows XP is the ability to do a boot defragment. This places all boot files next to each other on the disk to allow for faster booting. By default this option in enables but on some builds it is not so below is how to turn it on.

1. Go to Start Menu and Click Run
2. Type in “Regedit” then click ok
3. Find “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOpt imizeFunction”
4. Select “Enable” from the list on the right
5. Right on it and select “Modify”
6. Change the value to “Y to enable”
7. Reboot

7. Improve Swapfile Performance

If you have more than 256MB of RAM this tweak will considerably improve your performance. It basically makes sure that your PC uses every last drop of memory (faster than swap file) before it starts using the swap file.

1. Go to Start then Run
2. Type “msconfig.exe” then ok
3. Click on the System.ini tab
4. Expand the 386enh tab by clicking on the plus sign
5. Click on new then in the blank box type”ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1″
6. Click OK
7. Restart PC

8. Make Your Menus Load Faster

This is one of my favourite tweaks as it makes a huge difference to how fast your machine will ‘feel’. What this tweak does is remove the slight delay between clicking on a menu and XP displaying the menu.

1. Go to Start then Run
2. Type ‘Regedit’ then click ‘Ok’
3. Find “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop”
4. Select “MenuShowDelay”
5. Right click and select “Modify’
6. Reduce the number to around “100″

This is the delay time before a menu is opened. You can set it to “0″ but it can make windows really hard to use as menus will open if you just look at them - well move your mouse over them anyway. I tend to go for anywhere between 50-150 depending on my mood

9. Make Programs Load Faster

This little tweak tends to work for most programs. If your program doesn’t load properly just undo the change. For any program:

1. Right-click on the icon/shortcut you use to launch the program
2. Select properties
3. In the ‘target’ box, add ‘ /prefetch:1′ at the end of the line.
4. Click “Ok”

Voila - your programs will now load faster.

10. Improve XP Shutdown Speed

This tweak reduces the time XP waits before automatically closing any running programs when you give it the command to shutdown.

1. Go to Start then select Run
2. Type ‘Regedit’ and click ok
3. Find ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop’Select ‘WaitToKillAppTimeout’
4. Right click and select ‘Modify’
5. Change the value to ‘1000′
6. Click ‘OK’
7. Now select ‘HungAppTimeout’
8. Right click and select ‘Modify’
9. Change the value to ‘1000′
10. Click ‘OK’
11. Now find ‘HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop’
12. Select ‘WaitToKillAppTimeout’
13. Right click and select ‘Modify’
14. Change the value to ‘1000′
15. Click ‘OK’
16. Now find ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control’
17. Select ‘WaitToKillServiceTimeout’
18. Right click and select ‘Modify’
19. Change the value to ‘1000′
20. Click ‘OK’

That’s it. I hope you find these tips useful - you should now see a noticeable speed improvement if you make all of these changes correctly. Hopefully you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

I found all of this on the following site and I suggest you pay it a visit to read the comments. I think it’s a great, GREAT compilation of tricks and although I’m not gutsy enough to try all of them I did do most and had no problems just great results. I love my computer again. Yay! Here’s the URL.

http://www.connectedinternet.co.uk/2005/12/05/10-intermediate-ways-to-speed-up-windows/1/

Lazy Apples

What the hell is wrong with Apple this year? So far it's nothing but bad news. From exploding macbooks and iPods to delayed operating systems and now to this very lame ad that doesn't mention a single thing about Apple. All it does is bashes Microsoft for having taken longer than expected on Vista, but HELLO YOU MORONS AT APPLE; you guys just delayed Leopard for crap's sake! Uneasy Silence, where I found the video, says

Watch out Apple, you should not be talking about delayed operating systems when you just delayed 10.5. Also, I am TIRED of the “Get a Mac” ad series - How about “Get a new Ad agency”

Something is just not right. I'm really getting annoyed at Apple and I expect them to do something about it. Impress for God's sake! It used to, but now when I think Apple I just tighten my grip on my wallet and all the bad news about Apple products fills my had and I'm left with a feel of caution towards Apple. I'm not excited about the iPhone, I'm excited by competitive pricing, unique features, and quality products. I don't want to buy overpriced so-so products that might be pretty but are lacking in ability. Also, I'm sick of waiting for leopard. I want to know when to expect it and I want more information about it so I can know whether or not it's even worth the wait. Otherwise, I can just buy a much cheaper Windows computer with compatible specs, hacked OSX Tiger +hacked iLife and iWork and then I'll have a "hackintosh" that can compete with most genuine macs and I'd probably save myself 700 euros or more.

Get off your lazy apples Mr. Jobs and turn your company image around. And for God's sake don't let one more stupid add like this into the world. You're making a fool of yourself. This isn't advertisement this is a petty blame game. Apple is taking heat for delaying Leopard and instead of taking it and being professional about it they're pointing the finger. This is just plain stupid.

In case anyone cares, there are two more new ads that came out with this one and you can of course see them at apple.com. Enjoy..... I know I didn't.

Yahoo's Web Messenger

In March, Google introduced an online version of Google Talk that extends the limited features previously available in Gmail. Yahoo didn't want to give yet another competitive advantage to Google, so they integrated the IM into Yahoo Mail and now offer a standalone version of Yahoo Messenger for the web.


Like Google Talk gadget, it's built in Flash, each conversation opens in a new tab inside the same window, you can find a contact and see his status. Yahoo's web messenger saves all your conversations and makes the history searchable from the same interface. Google Talk saves your conversations from any client, but the history is only available in Gmail.

While Google Talk's gadget is compact and can live inside your personalized homepage, in a new window or in your browser's sidebar, the new Yahoo Messenger for the web adopts the Meebo style of occupying and entire page. If you don't trust third-party clients like Meebo and most of your friends use Yahoo Messenger or Windows Live Messenger, the new interface can be useful when the desktop client is not installed or is blocked.

found on http://googlesystem.blogspot.com

Dell Goes Ubuntu

It seems that the wildly popular linux variant will sign a deal to get distributed and supported on Dell PC’s.

Ubuntu senior support engineer Fabian Rodriguez wrote, “Many people have been involved in this and I can only say I am excited to be a tiny small part of it: Ubuntu will be officially supported on Dell computers. Any other details will come on www.ubuntu.com, check it for the official press release

Although nothing has been formally announced, this deal seems finalized. Finally, this will allow you to buy a PC and run the operating system of your choice (with a little hackery you can use the MacOS too) without paying the dreaded “Windows Tax”.

found on Uneasy Silence

This is BIG news for the Linux community!

Joost

Joost is a new way of watching TV on the internet. With Joost, you get all the things you love about TV, including a high-quality full-screen picture, hundreds of full-length shows and easy channel-flipping.

What's Joost?

Joost is a new way of watching TV on the internet. With Joost, you get all the things you love about TV, including a high-quality full-screen picture, hundreds of full-length shows and easy channel-flipping.

Inside the box

You get great internet features too, such as search, chat and instant messaging, built right into the program - so you find shows quickly and talk to your friends while you watch. And with no schedules to worry about, you can watch whatever you want, whenever you like - as often as you want. Joost is completely free, and works with most modern PCs and Intel Mac-based computers with a broadband connection. Get Joost today!

Free TV

Now showing at Joost: hundreds of full-screen shows from your favourite channels.

Exciting extras

Chat, instant messaging, search and more - baked right into the TV experience.

Complete control

With Joost, you're in charge. No more schedules - watch what you want, as often as you like.

Coming soon...

Write your own add-ons, watch yet more great content. Come back regularly for updates.

Screenshots:

For more screenshots click here to see it on the Joost website.

iGoogle Gadget Maker

As reported by Google Blogoscoped, Google Personalized Homepage will be rebranded as iGoogle and will let you build your own gadgets using wizards. The gadgets are very simple and are more like containers for things that matter to you: photos, videos, events.

"Once the gadget is created, you can invite other people to view & use the gadget, and make it publicly available for other people to view & use it." So whatever you choose to add to a gadget will be visible to the people you invited.

The wizards let you enter the settings for seven new gadget templates:

1. Photo album - add up to 7 photos that can be rotated.

2. GoogleGram - enter seven greeting messages.

3. Daily Me - type what you are doing.

4. Countdown - count the days until a special event.

5. Simple list - you can use it as a ToDo list, shopping list.

6. YouTube videos - up to 10 videos.

7. Freeform gadget - add an image and some text.

The gadgets are a way of staying in touch with your friends: if one of your Gmail contacts creates gadgets you'll be able to see them in a new section of iGoogle called "My Community".

found on http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/