Monday, September 27, 2010

Google Music in Gmail Chat?

Curious little bug in my Gmail.  When using the labs feature that shows an Android icon for friends who are on chat on Android phones...their name disappears.

The curious part:  hover your mouse over the name, and an "Invited" and a beamed note appears on the right...smells like a social music service is coming.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

IE9 Beta - Battle of the "chrome"

Before Google's Chrome browser was released, "chrome" meant something different.  In browsers, it meant the borders and widgets around the web page itself.

I've heard a lot of chest thumping by Microsoft regarding how much IE9 gets out of the way.  So, I did a comparison of the chrome myself in the picture below.  Check out the red line I drew.

From left-to-right, the browsers are:


Guess what?  They're right.  Not only is more of the page visible, but also the title of the page and other controls have disappeared.  I am a dedicated Chrome user at the moment, but I may have to rethink my loyalty.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Import and Manage Your Photos

Here’s what to consider when choosing the right system for your personal photos.
This isn’t everything, but a good sample.
Three techniques:
Traditional
Sync
Cord-Cutter
Overall It stinks, but this is how most people do it today. Complicated and not adaptable, but if you can set it up then you can get the best of both worlds. Where most people will end up in the long run, but requires faith in Internet-based services.
Store Computer
Memory Card
External Hard Drive
Picasa + Picasaweb (pricing)
Live Mesh + Skydrive (25gb)
Windows Home Server
Dropbox
Facebook
Flickr
MobileMe
Picasaweb
Backup Mozy
Carbonite
Apple Time Capsule
Network attached storage
Amazon S3 connectors
Backupify
Local archive
Share Email attachments
Burn and mail a CD
Upload then share: Facebook, Flickr, Kodak Gallery
Picasaweb
Windows Live Spaces
Links, anywhere
Edit Adobe Photoshop
Apple iPhoto
Windows Live Photo Gallery
Picasa
Picnik
Photoshop Express
Aviary
Import Camera import software
Windows import tool
Same as Traditional Eye-fi card
Print Home printer
Costco
Wal-Mart
Walgreens
…local photo guy
Best of both worlds Picasa: Walgreens, Shutterfly, American Greetings
Flickr: Snapfish
…or download and upload to Costco, etc.