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Google Voice Is Cool, But Do You Need It? [Phones]

2009-07-02T00:00:00Z

You've read about the features, you saw the invites going out, but you might be wondering what, exactly, Google Voice could do for you. Here's our guide for the curious and uninvited on whether your phones need some Google juice.

We're not going to explain every feature, quirk, and option in the Google Voice service, which is slowly giving out invites to those who request them. We've already taken a first look at Google Voice, and Google Voice's own Getting Started guide does a nice job explaining the service's ins and outs. We're looking to answer the question we seem to hear most often from commenters, friends, tech pundits, and just about everyone: What would I get out of it?

The wild card: number portability

If the rumors prove true, Google will, at some point this year, allow you to "port," or at least integrate, your existing cell phone number with its service, requiring none of the millions of phone numbers the search giant is supposedly securing. That would eliminate three of the service's biggest barriers to entry:

Having to call Google Voice, and then dial a number, to place a call "with" your Google number, so it shows up on caller ID as such
Having to store and reply to a separate SMS number for each of your contacts so that, again, your Google number shows up
The time and hassle of getting your contacts to call you at your new Google Voice number, despite the fact that your old numbers still "work"

If number portability/integration became a fact, we'd likely have to adjust this list of might likes/might nots, but for the time being, we're hoping to answer a few questions based on tests of the service in its invite-only phase.

You might like Google Voice if you:

Regularly use two or more phones: If you've heard about one feature of Google Voice, or its GrandCentral predecessor, this is it—and for good reason. Google excels at giving you one phone number for others to have, then letting you fine-tune which phones that number rings to an OCD level. If you want your wife to ring through to your work line between 9am and 5pm, but not your chatty, unemployed friend, you can do that. If you want your home landline to ring along with your cell during the hours your carrier charges for minutes, you can do that, too.
Loathe standard voicemail: "Please enter your passcode, followed by the pound sign!" "You have ... two ... new messages. To hear your"—You know what we're talking about. Using cell minutes and precious time just to hear your friend say "Try you again later" is almost as annoying as trying to wipe the voicemail icon off your phone screen. Google Voice makes it easy to play voicemail audio and read semi-correct transcriptions from a single web page, and it's a good bet it'll be integrated into Gmail for even easier access. When you're away from your browser, Google Voice sends voicemail notifications through email or text message, making it easy to know that you really don't need to step outside and call your sister back just to confirm you prefer Diet Dr. Pepper to Diet Coke.
Enjoy text messaging, but not phone keyboards (and fees): For anyone whose friends chide them about short or nonexistent text message replies, this is a game-changing feature. When sent to your Google Voice number, text messages are organized on the Google Voice site like chat conversations, with back-and-forth dialogue and options to reply or mark as read and archive. Writing a new message is also easy—hit "M" or click the SMS button, start typing a name or phone number, then choose the contact and type away. You'll still be charged for texts you receive on your phone, but it can be a real money saver when you're near your plan's limit for the month. Those with iPhones, Android handsets, or other smartphones can also make use of Google Voice messaging on the go with apps like the previously mentioned GV (Android) and GV Mobile (iPhone).
Want better filters on who reaches you, and when: Google Voice has four levels of annoyance resistance available to weary phone hostages. You can activate "Call Presentation" to have every unknown caller say their name to Google's servers, which then call you and ask if you want to take the call. If the annoyance is someone you know, you move them into a particular group (like "Annoyances") and make that group always go to voicemail. If they sometimes call about something important, Google Voice's ListenIn features lets you send them to voicemail, but hear what they're saying and pick up, if necessary. If you absolutely can't get a telemarketer or semi-stalker to take the hint, the video at left explains how you can simply have them hear something that sounds like an old-school disconnect notice.
Are down with Skype-like VOIP calling: Want to make calls over a computer-connected headset and not pay a dime for them? Google Voice allows you to add a phone number from the Gizmo Project and control when it rings through. Make a call through Google Voice's web interface, set it to ring your Gizmo number when it's connected, and the other party just sees your standard Google Voice number—you're effectively making an outbound call for free that Skype and the like would charge you for.
Make a lot of international calls: We haven't done a price comparison, but Google Voice's rates to international landlines and mobile numbers are said to be competitive, and you can call from your own phones without having to hunt down the right calling card.
Record calls regularly (and legally): Just hit the number 4 during a call and Google's robotic queen announces "Call recording on." Right now, it only works with incoming calls, but the finished recording is ready for playing, downloading, or embedding in your Google Voice inbox in a matter of minutes. It's how I recorded my Jonathan Coulton phone interview for later transcribing and audio clip pulling.
Have or want an Android phone: iPhones, BlackBerries, Symbian-based models, and Windows Mobile devices will likely get Google-built apps for integrating Google Voice into their dialing, voicemail, and SMS interfaces. But Android phones already have an impressive third-party app for doing so, Evan Charlton's GV, and would be a pretty good bet on being the first, or at least among the first, platforms to get the Google Voice team's attention. Fully integrated Google Voice means free, conversation-threaded SMS, fewer hassles with your one-and-a-half phone numbers, voicemails that don't require talk time, and much more.

You won't like Google Voice if you:

Rarely use your cellphone and/or text messages: Unless you're that rare breed of VOIP headset lover who doesn't ever talk on a cellphone, there's not a lot to recommend Google Voice to landline-focused folks. Your office's phone system offers (hopefully) most of Voice's features, and residential internet phone providers can fill in the other gaps. It could be a help to those who absolutely won't type out a text on a phone—but, then again, so can email.
Think Google knows too much about you: There's something to be said for breaking Google's personal data monopoly, and the tinfoil hat crowd have a whole new set of worries with Google Voice—your voicemails, calling history, and text messages are, after all, right on Google's servers, for who knows how long. It's not all that different from Gmail—Google breaking one user's trust could collapse the whole system—but it is something to think about.
Dislike Google's Contacts handling: Google Voice uses the same contacts database, so if its auto-inclusion of names you've emailed a few times drives you batty, well, you'll get the same results from Voice's Click2Call auto-completion. Only the names you've stored phone numbers for show up on Voice's dial feature, but we'd like to see a way to set a "primary" number that's the default when you're typing out a name.
Get annoyed at voice delays: Early Google Voice users (myself included) are noticing an audio delay on certain calls. Sometimes it's ever so slight, like a wonky cell phone connection. Sometimes you and the other party are toppling over the ends of each other's sentences. Google is certainly aware of it, but since it's a service that inserts a server as the middleman between parties, there might be an inevitable bit of latency on Google Voice calls, as there is with most international calls. If you've ever switched carriers because of voice quality or connection problems, you might find a new antagonist in Google Voice.
Really don't want to write another "New number" email: As noted above, Google's rumored to be working on offering number portability/integration for Voice. In the meantime, Voice users have to ask their friends, acquaintances, and business contacts to save a new number, figure out how to deal with the stragglers, and, in all honesty, hope the service isn't abandoned by Google anytime soon. If you live and die by your availability and can't stand the idea of being late to return even one call, switching numbers just won't fly. Everyone else has to make the call.

What's the reason you've really dug Google Voice so far, or really want to get in? What features does it still lack, and where does it fall down on convenience? We want to hear your take on this still young service in the comments.

Firefox 3.5 downloaded 5 million times in first 24 hours

2009-07-02T13:03:12Z

Mozilla officially released Firefox 3.5 on Tuesday. The new version of the popular open source web browser has attracted considerable attention and is already seeing rapid adoption. It was downloaded over 5 million times during the first 24 hours. This falls short of the record-setting 8 million downloads that Firefox 3 had during its first day, but it still reflects the intense enthusiasm of the browser's fans.

Firefox's popularity has rapidly climbed over the past few years, bringing it up to between 20-30 percent of the global browser market, according to various Web analytics firms. Based on data collected from 850,000 web sites, tracking firm whos.amung.us says that Firefox 3.5 by itself now accounts for roughly 2.5 percent of the browser market, more than the total marketshare of rival Opera.

Click here to read the rest of this article

Automatic Video Capture Software WebVideoCap

2009-07-04T11:37:47Z

There is definitely no shortage when it comes to finding software programs and add-ons that allow a user to download videos that are shown on websites. The popularity of video portals like Youtube was probably the main reason why many software developers have created video capture software programs. Some of the most convenient ones are available as add-ons for the Firefox web browser.

Download Helper for example will automatically identify videos that are played on websites offering the user a download link of that video. Most of the solutions that have been created require at least some manual interaction with the program.

Not so with WebVideoCap. The portable video capture software has been created by Nirsoft, one of our all-time favorite software developers. The software will automatically save videos that are played on websites to a folder on the local computer system. All the user needs to do to start the capturing is to click on the Start Capture button in the application’s interface.

A few parameters and options are available; It is for example possible to select the network adapter, save folder, scan method (between raw sockets and WinPCap) or file types that should be saved automatically. WebVideoCap supports the following web video stream formats:

Flash video files (with .flv extension)
Microsoft Windows media files (with .wmv extension)
RTSP streams. (RTSP protocol is used by many news and live TV/radio Web sites)
MMS streams. (MMS protocol is used by many news and live TV/radio Web sites)

All videos that match the supported video stream formats are saved automatically once the capturing process has been started. This can be very helpful for users who regularly download videos from video portals. One slight problem was encountered during tests. If the videos contain an age verification (like the 18+ video games over at Gametrailers) then they cannot be saved as the capturing process is interrupted by this). Videos that do not contain this interference are saved without problems.

Tags: download-videos, nirsoft, portable software, video capture, video capture software, windows software, youtube, youtube videos

Since March, Internet Explorer Lost 11.4 Percent Share To Firefox, Safari, And Chrome

2009-07-05T17:10:14Z

The new browser wars on on. More than a decade after Microsoft killed off Netscape with Internet Explorer, competition in the browser market has never been stronger. Just last week, Mozilla released Firefox 3.5, which has now been downloaded nearly 14 million times. Earlier in June, Apple released Safari 4. In March, Microsoft introduced Internet Explorer 8, and Google came out with a speedier beta of its Chrome browser.

Some early data is coming in showing relative market share and how fast people are upgrading. If you look at the chart above from Statcounter, it indicates that since March Internet Explorer has lost 11.4 percent market share to other browsers. That is the combined market share of IE8, IE7, and IE6. Certainly IE8 (the light blue line) has been growing strong since its release last March, capturing 16.7 percent of the market as of July 4. Those strong gains make up for most of the drop in IE7’s market share from 49.1 percent in March to 30.1 percent yesterday, indicating that Microsoft is doing a good job of getting existing IE7 users to upgrade at a steady pace. And in mid-June, IE8 finally surpassed IE6, which still stubbornly holds a 7.6 percent share. Add those three up, (IE6+IE7+IE8), however, and IE all together holds only a 54.4 percent market share versus the 65.8 percent combined share in March, 2009.

In just over three months, Internet Explorer has seen its overall market share erode by 11.4 percent. Where did that go? It went to Firefox, Safari, and Chrome. Nearly 5 percent of that, or about half, went to Firefox 3.0, which currently has 27.6 percent market share. That doesn’t count last week’s upgrade. See the dotted line just below the light blue IE8 line? That is a combined set of “other” browsers and appears to include Firefox 3.5, Safari 4, and Chrome 2.0.

If you look at a 30-day version of that same chart, it shows Safari 4 with 4 percent market share and Chrome with 3 percent market share. It doesn’t yet break out Firefox 3.5, but if you assume that makes up the bulk of the remaining dotted line which jumped to nearly pass IE6 in the past week, you can figure out more or less which browsers are taking share from Microsoft. (I’ve used data from the most recent daily chart in this post, but embedded the monthly chart below which has data as of June 30).

As I said, this is early data from one source. Net Applications, another commonly cited source for browser market share, is currently reviewing its June numbers, but I have a feeling they will show similar trends. (This Wikipedia page shows other browser market share sources, most of them haven’t been updated since March). It is difficult to make any firm conclusions at this point, since market share is shifting so rapidly as every major (and minor) browser tries to convince users to upgrade.

But we are in the midst of a major upgrade cycle simultaneously across IE, FireFox, and Safari (with the Chrome wild card thrown in). When all is said and done, we might see a major shake-up in market share and almost definitely will see leadership pass from IE7 to another browser. The question is will that be IE8 or Firefox? Whichever one wins, the good news is that IE6 is finally dying.

Source: StatCounter Global Stats - Browser Version Market Share

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

Flickr2Twitter: Twitpic killer?

2009-07-05T18:00:00Z

Filed under: Photo, Social Software, web 2.0

Flickr has launched its own service - Flickr2Twitter - for sending images to Twitter, and at first glance, it looks like it could compete head-on with existing Twitter photo services like Twitpic and Yfrog. Flickr's system is a bit different than the others, though, and doesn't yet have application support from a major Twitter client. Taking that into consideration, I think there's a good case that these apps will be able to coexist, with Flickr2Twitter dominating amongst existing Flickr users, and Twitpic or Yfrog favored by more casual photographers.

Everyone knows Flickr is a big player in the online photo game, but not everyone has a Flickr account or wants to sign up for one. While existing Flickr users will probably adopt Flickr2Twitter, folks who don't want to sign up can use Twitpic with their existing Twitter logins. Flickr2Twitter also handles uploads via email, so you need to send your photos to your account's email address to post them (the text of the tweet goes in the subject line). For mobile users, this works, but it's not as easy as Twitpic-ing or Yfrogging from your Twitter client, and some of the most popular clients support those services. From the desktop, Flickr2Twitter has the advantage: you can Twitter a Flickr photo very quickly by clicking the "blog this" button that you've probably already noticed on your photo pages.

Flickr2Twitter: Twitpic killer? originally appeared on Download Squad on Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A Look At Google's Email Spam Prevention

2009-07-05T20:28:00Z

CNet has a story about the security measures Google employs to protect their email systems and fight the never-ending war on spam. Their Postini team, acquired two years ago, has a variety of monitoring tools and automated response systems to find and block undesirable messages. Quoting: "The system scores each message on numerous combinations of criteria, assigning a weight to each and then comparing the score to those in a database of several hundred thousand message types that have been flagged as good or bad from Postini honey pots and customer spam reports. ... To block fresh spam attacks not covered by existing heuristic technologies and viruses not covered by existing signature databases Postini relies on proprietary Zero-Hour technology to identify new outbreaks that show up in the traffic patterns and quarantine them for later rescanning. Customers can also create and build out their own white lists of message senders they trust and blacklist others they don't trust. It takes an average of 150 milliseconds for a message to be scanned by the antivirus engines that Postini licenses from McAfee and Authentium.

Biden: ‘We Misread How Bad the Economy Was’

2009-07-05T13:23:31Z

The vice president says the Obama administration “misread how bad the economy was” but stands by its stimulus package and believes the plan will create more jobs as the pace of its spending gains momentum.

via FOXNews.com.

Posted in NObama Tagged: Economic Issues, Incompetence, Joe Biden

Google Images Safe Search Switch Changed

2009-07-05T19:24:34Z

Google image search made toggling the SafeSearch option a tiny bit easier, by including the settings switch menu right on the results page (instead of linking to the settings page, where one has to toggle a radio button option and hit a save button).* SafeSearch is Google’s adult content filter that can be turned off in most countries, though interestingly enough not in (at least) Google China.

*I believe this is rather new, but don’t know when exactly it was added.

[By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: Google Images Safe Search Switch Changed | Comments]

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Read Aloud!

2009-07-04T16:54:05Z

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their

exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:

Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:

John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:

Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:

Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:

William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:

Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:

Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:

Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:

Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:

George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:

William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:

Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:

Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Iranian Revolution Day 22: Crushing the Movement - 29 More to be Hanged Tomorrow

2009-07-04T18:51:32Z

Names of women dead/arrested (English via Google Translator)

6:11 pm: Judiciary has ordered Iranian ISPs and Web based service providers to give them info (including IPs) of users.

Evil assclown of the day: Incoming IAEA chief: No evidence Iran seeking nuclear weapons. Those perverse lilliputians over at the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden, must be polishing up their next award for this tool (it will stand next to El Baradei's, Yaser Arafat's, Dhimmi Carter's and Al Whore's).

5:26 pm: 20 PEOPLE WERE EXECUTED IN TEHRAN TODAY JULY 4
4 July 2009

Iran Human Rights, July 4: According to the state run Iranian news agency Fars, 20 people were hanged in the Rajaee shahr prison of Karaj (west of Tehran) early this morning July 4.

On July 3., Iran Human Rights warned that 29 prisoners were scheduled to be executed in Tehran today July 4.
Iran Human Rights is investigating whether among those (...)

2:55 pm: Execution Update: 20-Tehran; 14-Shiraz; 6-Qom; 6-Evin Prison. 14-scheduled in Qom. More tomorrow.................

I have one vote, I give it to no one. I have one life, I give it to free Iran. (Twitter)

While the Obama administration continues to vigorously pursue the criminalization of Bush and Bush officials for defending the American people against Islamic jihad, Obama abets the mullahs in Iran. Iran will execute another 20 people tomorrow. Obama? Silent.

Another 29 people will be hanged for peacefully marching for one man one vote, and Obama will block sanctions against these bloodthirsty murderers at the coming G8 summit.

At the same time, John Yoo, an ex-Justice Department attorney who wrote memos justifying harsh interrogations of terrorism detainees, lost his bid to dismiss a lawsuit blaming him for alleged violations of a detainee’s rights: Yoo, Bush Administration Lawyer, Must Face a "Torture Lawsuit". Jose Padilla, a Muslim terrorist who planned a nuclear attack in America, claims that Yoo’s memos led to a system under which he was subject to coercive interrogations and cruel and unusual punishment while being denied his right to an attorney, access to courts, freedom of religion and due process. Yoo, his colleagues, and those brave men at GITMO (who get feces and urine thrown at them daily) saved thousands (perhaps millions) of American lives. Obama says, respect Islamic jihad!

Yoo argued that, as a government official, he was immune to such lawsuits. He didn’t personally participate in Padilla’s treatment and decisions about the government’s conduct during war should be decided by the president and Congress, he said.

Obama's silence speaks volumes. The man never shuts up. Who else is sick and tired of his daily seizing of the airwaves for his dose of dear leader propaganda?

The Wall Street Journal opined, "Here's a political thought experiment: Imagine that terrorists stage an attack on U.S. soil in the next four years. In the recriminations afterward, Administration officials are sued by families of the victims for having advised in legal memos that Guantanamo be closed and that interrogations of al Qaeda detainees be limited.

Should those officials be personally liable for the advice they gave President Obama?

We'd say no, but that's exactly the kind of lawsuit that the political left, including State Department nominee Harold Koh, has encouraged against Bush Administration officials. This month a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that a civil suit filed by convicted terrorist Jose Padilla can proceed against former Justice Department lawyer John Yoo for violating the terrorist's rights. Mr. Yoo is one of those who wrote memos laying out the legal parameters for aggressive interrogation of al Qaeda captives. If Mr. Yoo can be sued, why couldn't Obama officials also be held liable for their advice if there's an attack on their watch?"

29 people to be executed tomorrow in Karaj, Iran!

According to news received by the International Committee against Executions, 29 people are to be executed tomorrow, Saturday, in Ghezal Hesar prison in Karaj. It has been reported that the 29 have been separated from other prisoners. There is no information on their charges.

The executions are being carried out in order to intimidate people and is directed at the protesting people of Iran.

We are calling for people in Iran and everywhere to condemn the executions and exert pressure to stop them.

All Iranian revolution liveblogging archives here.

Twittering from the Tractor

2009-07-03T18:59:00Z

Embedded video from CNN VideoSteve Tucker is a wheat farmer in Nebraska changing the way we interact with the folks who grow our food. Twittering from the tractor: smartphones sprout on the farm is an interesting article at CNN.com about how farmer's like Steve are using Twitter and other tools to bridge the urban-rural divide and get us thinking more about where our food comes from.

The idea of extending the Twitter network into interesting locations around the world via mobile devices is at the core of our thinking and Steve sums it up well when he says, "I can be in the most remote place and just with the power of having a BlackBerry ... I can communicate with anybody at anytime about anything." You can follow @Tykerman1 on Twitter.

p.s. Twitter co-founder and CEO @ev grew up on a farm in Nebraska.

Gmail With Drag & Drop

2009-07-02T11:57:10Z

Drag and drop has come to Gmail: you can now drag a message by its left-hand grid, and move it into a label/ folder to the left side. Also, you can now re-arrange labels via drag & drop.
[Thanks Cookie Lee and Niranjan!]

[By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: Gmail With Drag & Drop | Comments]

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Labels: drag and drop, hiding, and more

2009-07-01T16:07:00Z

Posted by Damian Gajda, Software Engineer

A few months ago Gmail got some new buttons and keyboard shortcuts to make labeling easier, especially for those of you accustomed to that familiar folder feel. Now we're making some more changes to Gmail's labeling toolkit.

1) New location for labels
You'll notice your labels in a new location on the left of your inbox (or on the right, for those of you using the Arabic, Hebrew, or Urdu versions of Gmail). Instead of having their own section, your labels are now above your chat list, grouped together with Inbox, Drafts, Chats and other system labels.

2) Label hiding and showing
You now have control over which of your labels show. We've done our best to get you started by automatically showing the labels you use most and hiding the rest. Label hiding is my favorite new feature, since it saves me from having to look through labels I rarely use. If I ever need to reach any of my old labels, I just click the "more" link.

You can show, hide, or delete a label by clicking the down-arrow to the left of that label.

If you want to make a lot of changes at once, go to the Labels tab under Settings where you can edit labels in bulk.

For those of you who created label names like _stuff or ++todo++ to force your most-used labels to the top of the list (come on, you know who you are, I did it too...), you don't have to come up with clever tricks like that anymore ;)

3) Drag and drop
You can now drag messages into labels, just like you can with folders. This does the exact same thing as "Move to" -- it labels and archives in one step.

You can drag labels onto messages too. It's the same thing as using the "Label" button. To label or move many messages at once, first select the messages and then drag and drop the label.

It's also possible to drag labels into the "more" menu to hide them and vice versa. If you only want to move a couple labels around, I've found it quicker than going to Settings.

All of these changes also mean the end of Right-side Labels, an experimental Gmail Labs feature. This is the first Labs feature we're retiring. (The idea behind Labs was always that things could break or disappear at any time or they might work so well that they become regular features. More on that soon...) Now that labels aren't in their own little box and take up much less space, moving them around the screen didn't seem as important. We realize quite a few of you used and liked Right-side Labels, so if you feel strapped for left nav screen real estate without it, try turning on Right-side Chat in Labs instead.

We hope these new changes make labeling even easier and help you stay organized. We'll be rolling out these labeling features for everyone throughout the day, so if you don't see them right away please check later today.

Answers to the Top 10 Twitter Objections

2009-07-01T12:00:07Z

Last week I did an interview with The Tennessean, our local paper here in Nashville, about my use of Twitter. Naomi Snyder, the reporter, asked me to respond to a few of the common objections people have to using Twitter.

After the interview, I realized that there actually are a finite number of objections. I have heard most of them. If you use Twitter, you probably have, too.

Regardless, the first thing I did was “crowd source” my followers on Twitter. I had a list of five objections before I did this. I honestly thought I had captured all of them, but I wanted to make sure. I Twittered this:

Surprisingly, I got seven more objections for a total of twelve.

I then created a poll in SurveyMonkey.com, blogged about it, and then asked my Twitter followers and blog readers to vote for the top three reasons their friends tell them they aren’t Twittering. More than 700 people took the poll.

Unfortunately, I somehow failed to include what I think is the number one thing that most of us hear from our friends. I have listed this one first, because I think it is probably the most prevalent. I have followed this with the other nine.

“That sounds silly.” This is precisely what I said to my friend, Randy Elrod, when he introduced the service to me. He wisely said, “You won’t really understand Twitter until you try it?” I still think that’s right. Therefore, I challenge people to read my post, “12 Reasons to Start Twittering” and then try Twittering for two weeks. If they don’t like it after two weeks, fine. At least they will know first-hand why it didn’t work for them.
“I don’t understand how to do it.”I get this a lot. People may not want to admit it, but they don’t understand how to do it. No problem, that is precisely why I wrote “The Beginner’s Guide to Twitter.” It assumes that they know nothing and walks them through the basics. One of the best things you can do for your friends when they are just starting out is to send them the link to this post.
“It think it would take too much time.” I get this objection frequently, too. In fact, at one point, I heard this objection so many times that I wrote another blog post, documenting how much time I spent on Twitter a day. It’s entitled, “How Much Time Does Twittering Really Take?” As it turns out for me, less than 30 minutes a day—if that.
“It is too narcissistic or self-centered.” Twitter is one of those things that merely amplifies what you already are. If you are narcissistic, then Twitter will give you a way to become even more narcissistic. But you won’t attract many followers. The key to that is being genuinely other-centered and generous. In fact, that is precisely the thing that gets other people’s attention and is rewarded on Twitter. To be successful with Twitter, it can’t be about you. It must be about your followers.
“I prefer Facebook or some other social media service.” Honestly, I am not a big fan of Facebook, but there is no point in arguing it. Different strokes for different folks. However, why chose? You can have your cake and eat it, too. In this post, “How to Update Your Facebook Status with Twitter,” I show you how to kill two birds with one stone. (I think I mixed three different metaphors in one paragraph!)
“It is a poor substitute for real relationships.” That’s what I thought at the beginning. I already have a rich social life. Why do I need more superficial relationships? However, with the exception of one of my daughters, my entire family started Twittering at the same time. This allowed us to stay connected in ways we could never dream of before. Plus, I have met some amazing people on Twitter who eventually became real friends and business associates. I met with one of them yesterday morning.
“I don’t have anything interesting to say.” Don’t sell yourself short. Your life is more interesting than you think. Why do you think reality television is so popular? People crave transparency and authenticity. They long to connect with real people living real lives. It gives them perspective and helps them see that their lives are more normal than they thought.
“I am concerned about my privacy.” I wrote the book on this—literally. In 2001, my book Invasion of Privacy: How to Protect Yourself in the Digital Age. was published by Regnery. Since that time, I have done a one-eighty. For all practical purposes, privacy is dead: get over it. Via Google, people can find out more about you in ten minutes than was possible in a lifetime ten years ago. You might as well intelligently feed the Google search engines with what you want people to know about you. You need to be smart about it, but you are in control.
“I don’t see how it could help my business.” I know so many people now who have almost completely given up traditional marketing. They are doing most of their promotion on Twitter and seeing huge success. Why? Because they have a loyal following of people who trust them—a tribe, to use Seth Godin’s term. At Thomas Nelson, we are seeing some significant success with social media. Twitter is at the heart of our strategy,
“I don’t know how to get started.” This is the easy part. Twitter is profoundly simple. You can sign up for an account and get started in 60 seconds. All you have to do is answer a simple question, “What are you doing?” in 140 charters or less. An even better question is this, “What has your attention right now? You can post an update or two and start following your family or friends. The rest will take care of itself. Trust me on this.

Question: If you are using Twitter, what are your answers to some of these questions? If you are not using Twitter, what other objections do you have?

Middle-Click to Open Firefox Links in a New Foreground Tab [Firefox Tip]

2009-06-30T18:00:00Z

Everybody already knows that middle-clicking or Control-clicking in Firefox opens a link in a new background tab, but reader Raghav points out that you can also open a link in a new foreground tab instead.

It's a tiny, simple tip, but one of those things that you might not have realized: just hold down the Shift key while middle-clicking to open the link in a new tab and switch to it at the same time. He writes:

It is common knowledge that middle-clicking on a link opens it in a new background tab, but pressing shift while middle-clicking opens it in a new foreground tab. This especially comes in handy when you've got dozens of tabs open and don't want to shuffle through all your tabs to find the one you just opened.

For more, learn about a lesser-known feature to slow down the mouse scrolling speed, how to speed up Firefox by limiting history size, or how to quickly jump to text fields in Firefox. Thanks, Raghav!

Got your own tips for dealing with Firefox tab overload? Share them in the comments.

Firefox 3.5 Soars Past A Million Downloads. Approaching 100 Downloads A Second.

2009-06-30T19:16:05Z

Mozilla today released Firefox 3.5 into the wild. Not surprisingly, it’s flying off the virtual shelves. And unlike when Mozilla released Firefox 3.0 last year, its servers are staying up and reliable, so the rate of downloads is pretty incredible. This site, run by Mozilla, shows the download stats for the new browser. Overall downloads are now approaching 1.3 million worldwide, with over 350,000 of those in the U.S. But even more amazing is the number of downloads occurring each second, it’s ranging from 59 to 95 right now. Again, that’s every second.

Outside of the U.S., the browser is moving quickly in Germany, France and the UK. The claim is that it’s much faster than the previous iterations of Firefox, and based on just a quick run-through of my favorite sites, I’d say that is in fact the case. Though, to be fair, it’s hard to know if that has something to do with the fact that just about all my browser plugins are not yet working with this version.

Not surprisingly, the emphasis on speed in this version of Firefox is on its JavaScript performance. Both Google’s Chrome and Apple’s Safari have been making headlines recently claiming to be the fastest browsers in this regard. As you can see in the SunSpider test chart below, it appears that Firefox has made huge strides since the slow days of Firefox 2, and has now more than doubled performance over even Firefox 3. As Apple recently touted in a press release: “Safari quickly loads HTML web pages more than three times faster than IE 8 and three times faster than Firefox 3.”

So how does 1.3 million downloads in a few hours stack up against its rivals? Well, the most recent browser to offer a major upgrade was Safari, which claimed 11 million downloads in 3 days. But those numbers are tricky because Apple includes Safari updates in its regular OS X software updates, so pretty much all OS X users were at least asked to upgrade after its launch. Still, Apple claimed that of the 11 million, some 6 million were users on Windows machines. And Firefox also pings users to do auto-updates when a new version is available.

Despite its launch hiccups, Firefox 3 set the Guinness World Record for software downloads last summer. In just 24 hours, over 8 million people downloaded the browser around the world. We’ll see how this version stacks up.

You can watch the live-updating chart and map for Firefox 3.5 downloads here.

CrunchBase Information

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Welcome Firefox 3.5! Join the Party! | Firefox Facts

2009-06-30T12:28:43Z

The day a new Firefox version comes out is always a fun day for me, because right now I feel like a little kid on Christmas, waiting to get to open his

Mozilla Confirms Tuesday Release for Firefox 3.5 [Firefox 3.5]

2009-06-29T18:30:00Z

Firefox 3.5: Earlier today we mentioned that Firefox 3.5 could be pushed out as an official release as soon as Tuesday, June 30. Now PC Magazine is reporting that Mozilla has officially confirmed the Tuesday release. Among other additions, Firefox 3.5 will include a Private Browsing Mode to hide browser activity, a JavaScript engine known as TraceMonkey, new location services, and HTML5 support. Mozilla's Mike Beltzner told the magazine that he expects over one billion downloads ~~of the updated browser~~ total for all Firefox browsers after 3.5 is released. (Update: Beltzner comments on what he calls a PC Mag misquote).

Boom Boom: Guy Snaps Supersonic Picture

2009-06-29T22:15:28Z

Ronald Dejarnett is the U.S. Navy sonar technician that snapped this pic of an F-22 going boom boom over the Gulf of Alaska. Quick shootin', Ronald -- I probably would have peed a little and yelled DECEPTICON! But that could be my special forces training talking. A Picture Is Worth About $138 Million [gizmodo]

30 Exceptional Web Designs

2009-06-29T15:19:50Z

I’ve compiled a list of 30 exceptional web page designs for your inspiration. Most of these are relatively new; so they’ll hopefully give you some ideas for your next project! Enjoy!

1. Alexarts

Alex uses a very simple but modern interface for his site. Click on any of the sections, and a popup displays.

2. Pampaneo

Pampaneo uses excellent graphics and illustrations to tell a story.

3. Juan Diego Velasco

Juan uses a one page layout and vivid colors for his site.

4. Metalab

Metalab Design has a very clean and usable interface, as well as some nice JavaScript effects.

5. Serj

Serj features great graphics and a simple and effective layout. Sometimes, simplicity is key.

6. Peter Pearson

Peter also uses a neat one page layout and some cool image effects.

7. Cactuar.in.the.Phailbucket

Cole uses excellent vector illustrations and a great choice of colors in his design.

8. Fred Maya

Fred focuses on simplicity, colors, and usability for this nice design.

9. Galvin Castleton

This album site uses a one page horizontal layout and excellent photography.

10. Chris Jennings

Readability is key.

11. Guerra Creative

Excellent graphics and easy to read content.

12. 84 Colors

Cristiana’s thinks outside the box with this different layout.

13. Feed Stitch

Feed Stitch’s site is a fun, creative, and super creative!

14. We Bleed Design

We Bleed Design uses images creatively to animate the transition through sections.

15. Motty

Mooty’s site uses a great illustration in the header, and the content’s presentation is excellent.

16. Cerity

Jonathan’s portfolio offers a neat interface for viewing his work.

17. Creative People

CreativePeople’s page has excellent graphics and an interesting layout.

18. Brooklyn Fare

Brooklyn Fare’s site is a wonderful example of how a company’s site should be presented.

19. Tierra Virtual

This agency’s site uses an animated header, and has a modern feel.

20. Merixusa

Cute illustrations — a creative showcase of their work.

21. Food, Inc

Simple and clean site with nice graphics.

22. Inicio

Beautiful choice of colors here.

23. CCSI

CCSI uses clean graphics and a nice scrolling text effect to draw the reader in.

24. Loodo

This website fits a lot of content into a small space — seemingly with ease! It also makes use of a cute and creative navigation section.

25. Guifx

Bells and whistles don’t always get your point across. Sometimes, simplicity and ease of use is key.

26. Vyniknite

All websites mustn’t look identical. Even something as simple as a unique header can make a huge difference.

27. two24studios

Great textures, typography, and navigation in this dark website.

28. Illusiv

Very creative desktop-like interface.

29. Duirwaigh

What a background! Though not appropriate for every site, this one definitely makes an impact.

30. BKWLD

Wonderfully effective, with plenty of white space. What more could you ask for?

Final Words

I hope you found some inspiration here. I know I did! Be sure to leave a comment to share any additional sites with the rest of us. Good luck on your next project!