Gmail adds IMAP (for some)

Google has quietly rolled out IMAP access for a seemingly random group of GMail users. IMAP makes a lot of sense as a roaming email protocol, compared to POP3's focus on single-device offline reading.

It's a brave move for Google in some ways - if enough users start reading their mail in 'real' desktop client apps like Thunderbird, Pegasus and (cough) Outlook or via Blackberry (etc.) then they are bound to see a drop off in ad revenue as users stop seeing those context sensitive blipverts at the top of their browser. Could they be about to start injecting ad copy into our emails?

Prism - Mozilla's 'browserless' web platform

Prism is a spinoff from Mozilla Labs' WebRunner XUL applications environment that allows web apps such as GMail, Flickr or FaceBook to run as desktop apps in their own seperate client windows.

I probably have GMail open enough to warrant breaking it off the browser tab bar into it's own space, although I'm not sure what it would add to the experience other than making me use the Alt-Tab keys a bit more often. Prism would definitely be useful if you were trying to offer web apps on the corporate desktop, though - particularly if you wanted to jump on the web app bandwagon without actually letting your employees use the web.

links

MobyMemory Bundle deals
Memory cards+USB reader bundles
Biostek XS360 DVD player
Multi region DVD player with DivX & USB stick support
Stephen Fry's blog
"I've never met a Smartphone I haven't bought"

Ubuntu 'Gutsy Gibbon' review

I've been running Ubuntu Linux 7.04 ('Feisty Fawn') since its release six months ago and have been fairly happy with it, but it's not something I could recommend to everyone. For every polished feature and easy configuration grace note there would be some other clunking bit of config file editing of kernel tweaking that would stop me in my tracks and send me to Google in search of a fix.

Now I'm rarely happier than when I'm elbow deep in documentation and hand-assembling whole operating systems from earwax and pocket fluff, but this is not an experience I can recommend to everyone. Happily, then, I can report that Ubuntu 7.10 (aka 'Gutsy Gibbon') is a big improvement and is at last something that I think I could give to my mum without her writing me out of her will.

The Gnome desktop environment looks a little primitive at first - a bit Windows 2000 rather than shiny new Vista, but this is deceptive. If you have a decent graphics card it will give you a load of slick new features from the Compiz project like 'wobbly windows' (more fun than it sounds) and animated open/close effects. Install the optional settings manager and you can activate an amazing-looking 3D-desktop option that plasters your windows around the face of a rotatable cube. This may sound a bit frivolous, but if you spend all day in front of a monitor little tricks like this make the desktop seem more solid - more like something you can touch and use rather than just a blank page to hold Excel spreadsheets and browser windows. You don't need it, but there are enough usability enhancements ) mixed in with the eye candy that you will miss it when it's gone.

Talking of which, Ubuntu now ships with the latest OpenOffice (for all your mostly-compatible-with-Office XP needs) the Firefox web browser and approximately 2 gazillion extra applications that can be downloaded and installed using the Synaptic Package Manager (a bit like Add/Remove Programs under Windows - only not so obviously crack-addled.)

Hardware support has come a long way and support for typical laptop configurations is much improved with drivers for many more WiFi cards than previous releases.

Joey - Mozilla mobile content aggregator

You know how it is with the mobile web. You break out your smartphone with the intention of having a bit of a browse on the way to work, but everything takes so much *longer* when you are fiddling with a keypad and by the time you have negotiated the search engine to find what you are looking for the train has already pulled into the station and the cleaners are ushering you out on to the platform.

Joey is one of those ideas that sound so obvious in retrospect - a sort of del.icio.us meets pbwiki aimed at streamlining mobile browsing.

If you spot something interesting while browsing the web at your desktop you can use a Firefox extension to grab the content (be it a whole page, snippet of text or some multimedia) and it will be saved, with a suitable title, on your Joey feed. Point your phone's browser at the Joey site, log in and you will be able to access cached versions of the data.

Its a bit rough around the edges at the moment, but I'm going to give it a try and see how it works in practice. If it makes extended browsing on a Nokia N73 enjoyable then we may have a winner.

There is a YouTube demo film here.

Arrrgh MY *%&$! HAND!!! (It must be my anniversary)

The Remember Ring .

"24 hours before your special day, the Hot Spot™ on the interior surface of your Remember Ring™ will warm to 120º F for approximately 10 seconds, and continue to warm up every hour, on the hour, all day long"

links

Public Domain Movie Torrents for PDAs
PDA-formatted movies from the Internet Archive
VLC Portable
USB-stick ready standalone version of the Best Media Player In The World™
The Tale of the Mechanical Virus
A physical fault in a VGA cable behaves like a computer virus and 'infects' other ports it is plugged in to, making them cause the same fault in other cables.