BlackZigoth

WordPressRevo Adsense Script

blackzigoth@hotmail.com — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 23:45:00 +0000

Hi there! I’m a wprevo blogger by wphackday. WordPress Revolution is clean, modern, premium WordPress Adsense Engine, which also doubles as a community blog, personal blog, or whatever you shall use it for. Premium features, dozens of custom functions, several custom widgets, solid, intuitive look and feel, along with dozens of theme options, shortcodes and so much more make this theme a must-have in your collection! If you have been looking for the spark to ignite your plain old blog into a popular wordpress revolution, you have found it. Download Here!

Free Wp Themes From Dynamicwp.net

blackzigoth@hotmail.com — Tue, 10 May 2011 12:39:00 +0000

https://rapidshare.com/files/461722671/Jogfest_version_1.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722654/3d_Rhombus_Social_Icons.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722655/30-balloon-icons.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722672/Jogfest_version_2.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722657/CleanGreen.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722656/ASimpleMagazine.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722674/ManuEdian.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722660/dynamicwp-contact-form.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722686/Wood-Icon.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722663/Dynamicwp-Image-Cube.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722664/Dynamicwp-Image-Flipper.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722665/DynamicWPPopUp.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722683/TemPuteh.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722667/DynamicWP-Running-RSS.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722668/Dynamicwp-Sticker-Icon.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722669/FunDay.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722670/HalfCircle.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722659/download-searchform.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722658/ColorZone.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722682/Somero.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722661/Dynamicwp-Featured-Post.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722681/Saga.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722677/NaturalPaper.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722666/dynamicwp-popup-menu.1.1.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722676/mod_scrolltotop.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722662/dynamicwp-fisheye-menu.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722675/mod_advancenewsflash.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722673/lempong.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722678/persada.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722680/pongsari.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722684/themorningafter.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722685/twentyeleven.zip
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722687/wp-free-themes-2011.txt
https://rapidshare.com/files/461722688/yarpp-template-thumbnails.zip

WP-THEMES-2011

blackzigoth@hotmail.com — Mon, 09 May 2011 17:31:00 +0000

https://rapidshare.com/files/447164450/literane-free.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447165199/Nice1-Purple.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447152500/Dablu.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447124399/NewGames.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447160599/9698.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447151400/FreeCSSLunch.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447150399/2546.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447152399/BlueCosmos.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447164799/Metropolis.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447150699/2nd-lindens.bak.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447160400/2105.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447099099/Antis-Red-Stripe.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447160999/Aspire2.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447161200/Black_Lucas.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447150799/4u-hemingway-red-10.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447163099/Fantastic_Blue.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447152498/CountryPress.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447160598/9688.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447163898/HelloAutumn.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447150798/5thirtyone-v20.bak.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447163498/G-Curvy.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447161798/BunnyandTeddy.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447158598/Animes.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447099100/Antis-Color-Fusion.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447151198/Celebrere.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447164900/MNML.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447160297/1718.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447158697/MovieZine.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447099097/Blue-Again.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447148297/Nemesis-1.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447158597/AnimeOnline.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447150300/2493.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447165097/NaturalBeauty.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447150696/2c3d-10.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447142196/3col-rdmban-rr.1.5.3.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447162196/ColourfulBird.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447148296/Marina-1.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447141100/Defne.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447162501/DarkAlgae.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447151296/Design9.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447162096/ClearTime.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447159995/1458.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447141095/Dravis.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447099095/Blue-And-Gray.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447150795/4u-hemingway-red-10.bak.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447164895/M-Morgon.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447152501/Crowdy.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447124395/MusicGlobe.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447165095/MyWall.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447152395/BestGames.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447150794/5thirtyone-v20.tem.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447138901/Harmony.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447138894/HealthyLifestyle.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447124394/NewsMatch.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447160394/2111.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447150294/2485.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447152394/BlueCorp.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447162594/Decker.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447150501/2576.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447124393/NewBordeaux.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447151593/Midddot.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447141093/Diskord.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447163493/Garden.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447148293/Jocasta-1.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447160093/1478.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447139093/Lorem.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447163993/Hottie10.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447141293/GameBoard.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447141193/Factor.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447150593/2606.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447160301/1700.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/445451393/BlueCorp.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/445451492/Integral.zip

https://rapidshare.com/files/447124392/MusicGate.zip

WordPress Full Adsense

blackzigoth@hotmail.com — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 03:34:00 +0000

WordPress allows bloggers to easily integrate Google Adsense inside wordpress. Google Adsense has become the most popular online contextual advertising program and proper custom integration with WordPress can help to increase Adsense earnings.

Here a WordPress script modification full adsense on admin dashboard...

Black Generation Terrorists Themes

blackzigoth@hotmail.com — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 01:13:00 +0000

As promised in the last post (the one listing some beautiful Black Generation Terrorists themes), I release today the Black Ecologist Generation Terrorists, a free WordPress theme designed to protect the environment.
The idea behind this theme is that it should reduce the power consumption to a minimum possible level. To this effect, I made no use of javascript or images, and the use of php calls is as low as the functional exigences permitted.

THE THEME’S FEATURES

very light weight (17kb of template files);
high speed (the average loading time provided by various speed testing applications is about 1 second).
SEO friendly title tag;
valid XHTML 1.0 strict;
valid css 2.1;
widget ready;
Gravatar support;
fixed width;
flexibility (the theme is built on a grid which allows you easily style single posts without using a line of php);
“inbuilt” support for two IAB advertising formats (the 728×90 leaderboard and the 250×250 sqare);
dark background, for lesser power consumption.

INSTALLATION

Download the zip file, extract the theme’s folder, upload it on server using a FTP client and (in the wp-content/themes directory) then activate the theme in the Appearence > Themes tab of your blog’s administration area.

LICENCE

The theme is released under the GNU/GPL .v2 licence, which means you are free to use it, modify it or distribute it with the condition to preserve the current licence and the attribution (the link in the footer).

DEMO AND DOWNLOAD

You can see the theme in action here.

Black Ecologist Generation Terrorists Themes .zip

Grow Up Hero Templates

blackzigoth@hotmail.com — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 05:27:00 +0000

Grow Up Hero Templates is a 2 coulomb professional free WordPress theme. Packed with a better framework and an admin options panel, this special WordPress theme has a customizable front page which will showcase the “About Us”, “Our Services” and “Contact Us” features. Download more free WordPress Themes.

Carbonified WordPress theme comes with 5 different color variations to match any blog?s niches. It is packed with a better framework and a robust admin options panel to accommodate the General Settings, Page Tracker, Social Networking, Related Posts, Page Navigation and Custom Ads Settings.

Live Demo | Download | WordPress Theme

Theme details:

Compatible with WordPress version 3.0
Featured Content
5 Header Background Color (Black, Blue, Brown, Green, Red)
Dropdown Categories Menu
Spread the articles via Social bookmarks (Delicious, Digg, Newsvine, RSS, Stumbleupon, Technorati, Twitter)
Related Posts
Better Comment System
Separation of Comments and Trackbacks
SEO optimized
Automatic Thumbnail Resizer (without using a custom field)
Popular Posts
Featured Photos
Featured Video
Google Analytics code integration
Built-in Page Navigation
Advertisement Blocks Ready
Gravatar Enabled

eShop - Templatic Wordpress Theme

blackzigoth@hotmail.com — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 05:04:00 +0000

Best e-commerce theme so far with balanced features! Create your own online store easily in wordpress.

It transforms your Wordpress install into a fully functional Ecommerce store complete with backend administration. Use wordpress to easily manage your store that sells Tangible or intangible/digital goods.

Download

eProduct - Templatic Wordpress Theme

blackzigoth@hotmail.com — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Quick, Professional Online presence for Digital Goods - in minutes!

If you are building an application, digital product or have some product to release, this is a must have theme to have. a business CMS theme designated for companies that want to put their products on front and increase their sales effectively.

Download

Theme Forest Templates

blackzigoth@hotmail.com — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 11:27:00 +0000

Blue Business Template

Download

Business Professional Package

Download

Creative Portfolio

Download

Electricity

Download

General Business Website

Download

Show Room

Download

Sky's The Limit

Download

Official Gmail Blog: Detecting suspicious account activity

blackzigoth@hotmail.com — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 23:28:00 +0000

Official Gmail Blog: Detecting suspicious account activity

A few weeks ago, I got an email presumably from a friend stuck in London asking for some money to help him out. It turned out that the email was sent by a scammer who had hijacked my friend's account. By reading his email, the scammer had figured out my friend's whereabouts and was emailing all of his contacts. Here at Google, we work hard to protect Gmail accounts against this kind of abuse. Today we're introducing a new feature to notify you when we detect suspicious login activity on your account..........

Ads in Google Suggest

blackzigoth@hotmail.com — Thu, 21 May 2009 08:45:00 +0000

Google Suggest has been recently updated to include top search results and search buttons, but the most surprising additions are sponsored links. Here's how Google explains why you'll sometimes see ads below the suggestions:

"Similar to the navigational suggestions, sometimes we detect that the most relevant completion for what you're typing is an ad. When an ad is shown, we mark it with the text "Sponsored Link" and a colored background, as on the results page."

The updated Google Suggest will have an interesting side-effect: you'll see the search results pages less often. Google saves you a few clicks by suggesting search results directly from the homepage, much like Google Chrome's omnibox, but monetizing the suggestions seems out of place. The ads draw attention from the list of suggestions, they're unnecessarily large and they clutter the interface.

Hopefully, Google won't show sponsored links in the list of suggestions very often and Google will focus on adding useful suggestions like: unit conversions, results from Google Calculator, facts etc.

Side notes:
* I don't see the ads in Google Suggest, so maybe the feature hasn't been publicly launched yet.
* Is this the first time when Google shows third-party ads on the homepage?

Google Suggest Improves

blackzigoth@hotmail.com — Tue, 19 May 2009 21:49:00 +0000

Google has been testing many enhancements for Google Suggest and the latest update includes some of the best ideas used in the experiments:

* showing recent searches from your search history if you're logged in and Web History is enabled
* being able to remove suggestions from your search history

In this example, "mailinator" is a suggestion from my search history.

* adding the top search result to the list of suggestion for navigational searches
* displaying the "Google Search" and "I'm feeling lucky" buttons below the list of suggestions

"MSN" is a navigational query, since users want to navigate to MSN's homepage. Google saves you one click by sending you directly to MSN.com.

It's not necessary to enter the full query to get navigational suggestions. Typing "quickt" is enough to display the top result: QuickTime's homepage.

* showing suggestions not just on the homepage, but also on search results pages
* removing the number of results for each suggested query

Suggestions aren't useful just on the homepage.

If you don't see the new interface yet, here's how to enable it: go to Google's homepage, copy this JavaScript code in the address bar:

and press Enter. Refresh Google's homepage and you should see the new interface.

Gmail Added Message Translation

blackzigoth@hotmail.com — Tue, 19 May 2009 20:34:00 +0000

As previously anticipated, Gmail Labs added a feature that translates messages written in a foreign language. After enabling "Message translation" in Gmail Labs, you'll be able to translate any messages written in other languages by clicking on "Translate message to: English".

"When Gmail detects one of your messages is in a language other than your default language, you'll see a header at the top of the message. Click the link that says Translate message to.... Your message will be translated inline (no need to open a new tab or window). Or if you want to translate the message and print it too, you can click the down arrow next to the Reply button and select Translate and print. You can also translate an entire conversation. Just click the globe icon on the right side of the conversation and you're good to go," informs the help center.

To find messages written in other languages use the lang: operator and search for lang:fr, lang:es, lang:chinese or something similar. Now you're finally able to understand the strange messages from your spam folder.

{ Thanks, Niranjan and Meghan. }

Google Sites Design Refresh

blackzigoth@hotmail.com — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:17:00 +0000

Google Sites, the service that lets you create collaborative sites, has been updated to look more consistent with Google Docs. The rich-text editor borrowed the old-fashioned menu and the toolbar from Google Docs.

Google Sites has been added to the navigational menu, next to Gmail, Google Docs and Google Reader, so you no longer have to click on "More" to switch from Google Docs to Google Sites. Other changes are more subtle: hierarchical navigation, the sections are more customizable and there's a new "Pages" view that lists all the pages, information about their creator and the number of revisions.

"We switched the site settings area to use vertical navigation, to make room for some upcoming features like AdSense integration. We've also started to add some collaborator tools to the site management area. Less visibly, we made some major changes to our rendering infrastructure to improve performance and in preparation for new upcoming themes. This is meant to remain compatible with the layout customizations site owners have made, but it might have minor impacts on how your site looks."

Speaking of consistency, Picasa Web Albums' settings page has a new design similar to the one from Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Reader.

In the 2008 Founders' Letter, Sergey Brin wrote: "There are a number of things we could improve about these web services. For example, since they have arisen from different groups and acquisitions, there is less uniformity across them than there should be. For example, they can have different sharing models and chat capabilities. We are working to shift all of our applications to a common infrastructure. I believe we will achieve this soon, creating greater uniformity and capability across all of them."

{ Thanks, Stefano. }

OffiSync - Integrate Google Docs with Microsoft Office

blackzigoth@hotmail.com — Tue, 19 May 2009 08:50:00 +0000

OffiSync is a plug-in for Microsoft Office 2003/2007 that integrates the office suite with Google Docs. You can open documents, spreadsheets and presentations already saved in Google Docs, edit them in Microsoft Office and save the files in Google Docs. The add-on creates a new revision of the document when you save it, but there's no option to automatically save the document periodically.

You can view the files from multiple Google accounts and Google Apps accounts, so the add-on is a good option to virtually merge your accounts. Since the plug-in doesn't offer all the features available in Google Docs, you'll still need to open the online interface to publish a document, to use gadgets in Google Spreadsheets or to collaborate with other users. While you can manage the collaborators in Microsoft Office, you can't collaborate in real-time and your changes will overwrite the changes made by your collaborators.

Despite its name, OffiSync doesn't actually sync Google Docs with your computer and it doesn't even show the most current version of a document, assuming that other people edited it after you opened the document in Microsoft Office.

It could be an option for those who aren't comfortable with using an online office application, but they want to backup the documents online. It's probably not a good idea to use it this way since Google Docs doesn't have all the features that are available in Microsoft Office and the documents won't look the same. In its current incarnation, the plug-in isn't very useful for those who use the collaboration features from Google Docs.

Here are some potential uses:

* create a document in Microsoft Word and quickly import it in Google Docs, without using the online interface
* open a document created in Google Docs to improve the layout before printing it
* use some functions from Microsoft Excel that aren't available in Google Spreadsheets

How to Use Google Docs Folders as Labels

blackzigoth@hotmail.com — Mon, 18 May 2009 21:17:00 +0000

Google Docs has a flexible system of organizing documents. While initially Google Docs used a labeling system similar to the one from Gmail, the current version combines the benefits of labels with the simplicity of folders. The interface names them folders, but they're actually hierarchical labels.

You can add a document to multiple folders without creating copies. Just go to "all items" and drag the document to more than one folder. Since the sidebar doesn't show subfolders, you can't drag the document to a subfolder.

What if you want to remove one of the labels? There's no interface option for this, but you can use this workaround: click on the label you want to remove in the sidebar and drag the document to one of the other labels. To remove all the labels, drag the document to "Items not in folders".

Google's hybrid between folders and labels still needs some improvement: subfolders are not displayed in the sidebar, you can't add multiple labels in a single step and it's not obvious that folders are actually labels.

What's in Store for Google Search?

blackzigoth@hotmail.com — Sat, 16 May 2009 14:29:00 +0000

Google experiments with a lot of interesting new features, but not all of them are publicly available. A post from Google's blog inadvertently revealed some experiments, by showing a list of iterations for the "search options" feature released this week.

The initial concepts for the "search options" panel included a lot of interesting enhancements:

* grouping search results by topic
* grouping search results by people
* showing page previews for search results
* showing only pages that you've seen or pages you haven't seen before

Google has previously tested an interface that grouped search results in predefined categories like reference or reviews, but it's not clear if "group by topic" works in a similar way or it's a different approach. To search pages you've seen before, there's Google Web History, but it's very slow and the ranking algorithm needs a lot of improvement.

Wolfram Alpha, the Answer Engine

blackzigoth@hotmail.com — Sat, 16 May 2009 09:19:00 +0000

Wolfram|Alpha launched yesterday and it's an useful complement to a general-purpose search engine like Google. Wolfram|Alpha doesn't search the web, it uses data from authoritative databases and an engine powered by Mathematica to obtain the results.

"Wolfram|Alpha aims to bring expert-level knowledge and capabilities to the broadest possible range of people—spanning all professions and education levels. Our goal is to accept completely free-form input, and to serve as a knowledge engine that generates powerful results and presents them with maximum clarity," explains the "about" page.

Even if the homepage's simplicity reminds you of Google, it's a good idea to check the examples page before entering a query. Alpha can't handle any kind of query, so it's important to know its strengths: advanced Math calculations (graphs, equations, prime numbers computations, matrix operations), conversions, facts about weather, population, food, minerals, people, places.

You can enter simple things like numbers, dates, words, HTML color codes, chemical formulas and you'll get a lot of interesting information. The service shows intuitive visualizations and comparisons to better understand the information.

Wolfram|Alpha could be a great way to expand Google Calculator and other Google OneBoxes.

How to Customize or Disable Google Update

blackzigoth@hotmail.com — Fri, 15 May 2009 21:42:00 +0000

For regular users, having a silent application that constantly updates the browser is a good thing. There's no annoying interface that interrupts you to ask your permission before updating the application and you no longer have to manually check for updates. Unfortunately, Google Chrome's automatic updater is not a great feature if you have limited bandwidth or in an enterprise environment, since you can't customize it.

Now you can use the Group Policy Editor from Windows or add some Registry keys to customize Google Update. Google Update for Enterprise explains how you can import an administrative template in the Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) and change the auto-update check period or even disable the auto-updater.

You can configure separate policies for different Google applications, allow only manual updates and even prevent the applications from installing on your computer.

If your operating doesn't include a policy editor (Windows XP Home, Windows Vista Home), edit the Registry directly. Just create the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Update

and add two DWORD values:

AutoUpdateCheckPeriodMinutes - auto-update check interval (for example: 1440 to check for updates once a day)
DisableAutoUpdateChecksCheckboxValue - 1, if you want to disable the auto-updater; 0, if you want to enable it.

"We work hard to keep our users safe and secure when using our applications, and we believe that making sure users have the latest software available using automatic updates is a key component of that. However, we realize that there are situations where automatic updates may not be desirable so we wanted to provide the ability to control updates when necessary," says David Dorwin, from the Google Update Team.

Google News Redesign

blackzigoth@hotmail.com — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:04:00 +0000

One year after testing a new interface for Google News, ~~the Mountain View-based Internet giant~~ Google launched the redesign. It's more cheerful and visually-rich than the previous design, section pages include more videos and photos, while most of the clutter has been removed.

Google News homepage

Sci-Tech section of Google News

The project that allowed people involved in a news story to post comments has been abandoned, but you can still read the last comments. It didn't scale, it was difficult to automate and the number of comments was too small to matter.

The last Google News comments

Migrate to Gmail from Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL Mail

blackzigoth@hotmail.com — Wed, 13 May 2009 23:07:00 +0000

So you've finally decided to change your webmail service and migrate to Gmail, but you don't want to lose your old messages and the address book. Gmail offers a mail fetcher feature that works with all mail services that support POP, including Hotmail, but you can't use it for regular Yahoo Mail accounts.

As previously anticipated, Google released a tool that lets you import contacts and mail from popular services like Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, AOL Mail and from ISPs like Verizon, Comcast, Earthlink. If you don't see a tab titled "Accounts and import" in Gmail's settings, you need to wait until the new features are enabled in your account.

"It's much easier to make the transition now that you can bring along all your old email and contacts. You can even have your messages forwarded from your old account for 30 days, giving you time to take Gmail for a test drive while you make up your mind," suggests Google's blog.

The service is powered by TrueSwitch, which offers similar migration wizards for Hotmail and Yahoo Mail. Depending on the number of messages that are imported, the migration may take up to 2 days.

Sample Google Chrome Extensions

blackzigoth@hotmail.com — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:38:00 +0000

Last time when I wrote about Google Chrome extensions, they were nothing more than repackaged user scripts. Since March, the extension system has been improved by adding new APIs and options to create custom UIs.

If you use a recent version of Chromium or a Google Chrome dev build, you can already install two useful extensions. But first you should find a Chrome shortcut on your desktop, right-click, select "Properties" and append a flag to the target field: --enable-extensions. Restart the browser to use the new option.

The sample extensions are actually enhanced bookmarklets that show the number of unread messages in your Gmail inbox and an option to subscribe to feeds in Google Reader.

For those that want to write similar extensions, there's a tutorial that will walk you through creating a very simple extension.

In other news, Linux and Mac users can try some early builds of Chromium. "The software, available for download from the Chromium Web site, is incomplete and definitely buggy, as one would expect for a developer version that reflects all the latest changes programmers are making with the project," says Stephen Shankland from CNet, who tested the Mac version.

New Fields in Google Contacts

blackzigoth@hotmail.com — Wed, 13 May 2009 08:17:00 +0000

Google Contacts, which is now available at google.com/contacts, has some new fields: website, birthday, date (anniversary), related person (spouse, domestic partners, assistant) and even custom fields. Just click on the "add" button to see some of the other fields that can be used.

For some reason, I can see the changes in the standalone version of Google Contacts, but not yet in Gmail. The most obvious missing feature is the option to create events for birthdays in Google Calendar, but it will probably be added soon.

After years without significant updates, Google's contact manager has been constantly updated in the past year (better contact search, the option to merge duplicate entries, an API, sync options), but there's a lot of room for improvement. What's on your wishlist?

{ Thanks, Kevin. }

Google Calendar Adds Tasks

blackzigoth@hotmail.com — Wed, 13 May 2009 06:52:00 +0000

Google first implemented a basic task management service as a Gmail Labs feature, then it developed an iPhone version and an iGoogle gadget. Now you can manage your tasks from Google Calendar. There are two ways to view your tasks in Google Calendar: in the right sidebar, where you can also manage your tasks, and as a built-in calendar.

Here are some of the details of the integration with Google Calendar:

* Tasks that have due dates will automatically appear on your calendar in the All Day event section.
* To create a task with a due date in Calendar, click on an empty space in Month view or in the All Day section and select the Task option.

* To attach a due date to an existing task, click the right arrow next to the task in question in the Task list. Then, click on the calendar icon to select a date.
* To modify a task's date, simply drag the task to a new date (as you would with a calendar event).
* To mark a task as complete from within Calendar, click on the checkbox next to the task.

Unfortunately, you can't use "quick add" to create tasks, the tasks calendar can't be synchronized with other applications and you still can't receive email or SMS notifications for tasks.

{ Thanks, Daniel. }

Richer Snippets, Results Filtering, Impressive Visualizations

blackzigoth@hotmail.com — Tue, 12 May 2009 18:42:00 +0000

Google's Searchology event was a great opportunity to show that Google's search engine not only indexes and ranks web pages, it also categorizes the content available on the web, it extracts information that can be visualized in new and interesting ways.

The first feature launched today is "search options", a new sidebar that can be expanded right on the search results page and that offers a lot of interesting features. You can restrict the results to videos, forums, reviews or recent pages. While you could already use services like Google Groups, Google Video or Google News to obtain similar results, this feature lets you easily switch between the various types of pages and combine different restrictions.

One of the most impressive option is the restriction to reviews, which shows special snippets obtained using sentiment analysis. You'll be able to find directly from the snippets if the author liked a certain product or service, the main advantages and disadvantages and other opinionated excerpts.

The "search options" sidebar also includes the "wonder wheel", a great visualization feature that lets you improve your query by trying different suggestions successively. For example, I could start by searching for "DVD" and then selecting related searches like "HD DVD", "HD DVD vs Blu-ray", "Blu-ray", while previewing the results and still being able to go to the previous search results.

After enhancing the snippets for discussion boards, scientific papers using metadata extracted automatically, Google looked into using structured data already included in some web pages to surface useful information in the search results. Much like Yahoo Searchmonkey, Google uses RDFa markup and microformats to extract information from sites that show reviews and information about people. You'll only see the enhanced snippets for large sites like CNet, Yelp and LinkedIn, but Google promises to expand the list.

The last search-related announcement was a new service that will be released in Google Labs this month: Google Squared, a dashboard of facts generated automatically. You can search for general things like "small dogs", "vegetables", "US presidents" and Google generates a list of objects that fit into your category, a set of attributes and their values. It looks like a comparison page from Wikipedia, but it's generated automatically.