If you like Google Reader, but would prefer to keep it from taking up an oh-so-important tab in your browser, you'll definitely like GReader Popup. This experimental Firefox extension pulls up a version of Google Reader that sits atop any page you have open. You can plow through feeds using all the usual keyboard shortcuts you would in Google Reader. Then, when done, you simply click the icon in the bottom right hand corner of your browser and it goes away.
No fuss, no tab switching, and most importantly--more real estate in your browser for extra tabs.
It's a wonderfully simple tool, and built off the same idea behind GCal Popup, which does the same thing but for Google Calendar. With both installed you can hop to specific Google apps from any page, using the bottom part of your browser like an application launcher, or by learning the two-button keyboard shortcut that pulls it up.
My one qualm is that it does a hit or miss job at resizing Google Reader to fit your browser. I had parts of the interface cut off, even when running it on a 1600x1050 screen. If you're trying it out on a small laptop or Netbook this can be a deal-killer.
GReader Popup puts Google Reader on top of any page you're on.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Confronting a pop-up is one of those times when your gut reaction might lead you down the path of frustration and tears. If the "X" is spring-loaded with malware, anywhere you click on the pop-up could trigger that virus.
This is the path less traveled--the majority of pop-ups truly are the ads they appear to be--but when a pop-up does deliver malware, undoing the damage could be a tense, jittery journey. We get enough panicky Spyware Horror Story submissions to know that so-called button flips and booby-trapped Close buttons continue to deliver malicious payloads.
So what is the best practice for closing a pop-up? CNET Executive Editor Tom Merritt demonstrates in this Quick Tip video.
The British singer-songwriter rocketed to stardom in the late '90s with a husky-voiced folk-pop that sounded both sensitive-guy sweet and intriguingly hardbitten. That mix has spawned many lesser imitators--think James Blunt--but this greatest hits set reminds that the inventor still does it best.
I can't remember the last time I saw a TV ad for a piece of software. Not watching much TV doesn't really play into this. TV ads are just too expensive for the average software publisher to purchase. The market in Japan is different, though. It'll support just about anything with folks in weird costumes doing even weirder things.
So it's my pleasure--no, really, I feel good about this--to introduce you to Symantec's Norton 360 ads. Called CM's in the local parlance, they feature a yellow Power Ranger-style superhero called Norton Fighter getting attacked by a gang of mostly black-clad ninja-type characters who're supposed to resemble viruses and other malware.
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The most recent update to the Mozilla Thunderbird (download for Windows or Mac OS X ) mail client shoves the former fledgling out of Mozilla's nest. The goal, if unstated, is clear: get as many people as possible to try the app, and hope that the appeal of a lighter client with similar power to Outlook and Outlook Express will pull some users away from Microsoft's ubiquitous software.
For home use, Thunderbird 2 should be a no-brainer. Many of the newer features incorporate Web mail services, which can now work offline as well as on. Threaded post reading and customizable tagging are big pluses, and so is the integrated RSS reader. Taking a page from Web browsers, Thunderbird 2.0 added "forward" and "back" buttons that let you cycle through messages in order of viewing, regardless of their folders. Strong HTML support, junk-mail filtering, encryption options, numerous add-ons, and support for POP3, IMAP, and Gmail (with support for other Web mail services in the offing) make this favorite freeware a must try.
The big question for Thunderbird, however, is "Can it be used for work?" The app lacks an integrated calendar, and importing settings from Microsoft Exchange and Outlook can be tricky.
First, you need to configure Thunderbird for either an IMAP or POP3 account. If you don't know which one to use, contact your company's tech support. For IMAP, open up your Outlook, go to Tools/Email Accounts/Change or View Existing Accounts and then hit Change when you see the Microsoft Exchange server. Copy the address of the Exchange server and paste it into your Thunderbird IMAP account settings under "Server name." Type in your user name and you're good to go.
For POP3 accounts, you'll need to know the name of your POP mail server (often pop.yourserver.com). If you don't have it ready when you set up the POP account, you can enter it later through Thunderbird's Tools/Account Settings/Server Settings option. To check your Gmail with Thunderbird, you've got it easy. Simply choose the Gmail option from the Add Account option under Tools/Account Settings, enter your account name and password, and you're good to go. Other Web mail accounts will need to be set up as a standard POP3 account.
Another essential component of e-mail clients is the calendar. Ostensibly, Thunderbird is lacking in this department, but there is a workaround. There's an excellent plug-in called Lightning that gets better with every build.
The Lightning extension integrates the Sunbird calendar application with Thunderbird.
(Credit: CNET Networks)After I installed Lightning, I found an excellent forum post explaining how to import your calendar, and I'll summarize it here:
Go to your Outlook calendar and make sure it's set to the American date format, mm/dd/yy. Then go to File/Import and Export and choose Export to a File. Choose "Comma Separated Values (DOS)" and save the file, then import it into Lightning under Calendar/Import in Thunderbird.
Now meeting invitations sent to you from Outlook users will include a button in the message to add the event to your calendar.
The latest Lightning build, as of this writing, supports adding events to the calendar that have been mailed to you, but not e-mailing out invitations yourself. The Mozilla Calendar Project blog hints that feature will be included in a future release. However, if you're a bit more adventurous, Lightning has a nightly build that is less stable than the official version but includes more features that are missing from the official release. Also, many Sunbird extensions work with Lightning.
I'm still having some difficulty connecting to the shared address book on the corporate Exchange server, and I'm waiting for some IT help with configuring LDAP settings. Here's an excellent LDAP address book resource I found for those who want to fight their own configuration battle.
The LDAP settings panel can be reached through Tools/Address Book/File/New/LDAP Directory. For now, I would recommend exporting the ones you need from Outlook and importing them into Lightning through the Tools/Import/Address Books feature.
Next week, I'll take a look at some of the best add-ons for Thunderbird, including themes. If you've made the switch to Thunderbird for your work e-mail, tell me about it in the comments.
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