Pixelpipe uploader firefox addon

Despite the number of add-ons available in the Firefox ecosystem, it can still sometimes feel like there are only a few truly good ones out there. That's why when we find one that's actually worth using, we get excited. The latest add-on getting installed into our small but critical collection of extensions is Pixelpipe's new drag-and-drop uploader. This utility lets you upload media directly from your computer or the web to any of the 75 plus services you've configured at Pixelpipe.com.

If you're not familiar with Pixelpipe, you should go get acquainted now. You can think of the service as sort of a Ping.fm for your media. Using their software, you're able to publish either text, photos, videos, and audio to any of the services supported, making it one of the easiest and quickest ways to distribute your content across the web. After it arrived last year, we quickly identified it as a winner when it worked exactly as advertised. Since that time, the company has grown and expanded, adding more features, more services, and even a handful of mobile applications. (We especially love that iPhone one!)

The latest addition to their collection of utilities is a new, experimental Firefox extension called the Pixelpipe Media Uploader 1.0. With this add-on, you can upload media all across the social web either through drag-and-drop or by selecting from a chooser.

After installing the extension and restarting Firefox, you'll see that there's a new orange "P" button in your toolbar. Click that once and the Pixelpipe sidebar will display on the left side of the screen. The first time you go to use this tool, you'll need to sign in with your Pixelpipe account and authorize it to work in Firefox. Once that's done, you can then drag-and-drop any media into the sidebar to upload it to Pixelpipe which then, of course, shoots it out to any of the services you've configured. Alternately, you can right-click on any image on the web and choose the "Upload image with Pixelpipe Uploader" option from the menu that appears.

One of the nice things about the uploader is that you can add the title, any appropriate tags, and set the privacy levels before you click "Upload." That way, you don't have to actually go visit the sites afterwards to configure these sorts of settings. 

This new utility is just another reminder of how desktop software tools are slowly being replaced by browser-based services. Who needs the Flickr uploader anymore when you can drag photos to your browser and send them directly to Flickr, Facebook, and a slew of other sites with only a click or two?

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/pixelpipes_new_uploader_is_a_must-have_for_firefox.php

Power point and TIF in Gmail

A few months ago, we added fast online viewing of PDFs in your browser. As of today, that same viewer now supports TIFF and Microsoft PowerPoint document formats too: you can now view TIFF and PPT files online, directly in your browser, without having to save the files to your computer and without needing to buy, install, or wait for any special software to start up.

We've had a "View as slideshow" option for PowerPoint files for a while; now we've integrated this conversion technology into the same viewer that we use for PDFs and TIFFs.

his viewer provides a richer set of features than the old "View as slideshow" version: you can zoom in and out, select text to copy and paste, and "print" the presentation to a PDF document. And, unlike the old version, we no longer require you to have a Flash plugin installed on your browser.

Courtesy:

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/powerpoint-and-tiff-file-viewing.html

Twitter experiments with new status notification

It appears Twitter is experimenting with some additional tweaks that may make status updates easier and faster for its users and could help decrease the back end load on its servers.

A semi transparent notification bar (see screenshot below), slides down from the top of the screen when you update your status via the Web. While in itself, the feature may not appear earth shattering, the fact that updating now feels extremely fluid and is almost instantaneous makes us wonder whether Twitter will begin caching tweets for delivery to its servers.

Source:

http://www.readwriteweb.com/

Youtube testing secret new channels Beta

Word has it there's a secret link available on YouTube's site right now that will give you access to their new top-secret Channels beta testing program. Some YouTube users received notification of the beta via an email message from YouTube, but others discovered it on their own.

So what's this all about? It seems that, in the coming weeks, YouTube plans to launch a brand-new user interface for their Channels section and if you click the secret link, you can be a part of the group that helps test it and provide feedback.

The secret link's URL is (hilariously): http://www.youtube.com/super_seekrit. Once you click that, you'll be taken to a web page that welcomes you to the secret Channels beta program. The page also warns you that this is experimental so things may be broken while other things may be incomplete. If you don't like the beta design, you can switch back to the old layout by clicking the "opt-out" button.

Read more

Source:

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/youtube_testing_secret_new_channels_beta.php#more

Gotalk mobile from Gmail

Short message service (SMS) is an integral part of our lives today. In fact, there are many people who prefer SMSing to making phone calls, notwithstanding the steep decline in call rates in recent times. That said, sending SMSes can be an expensive proposition, especially if you are sending them to a person in another city or worse, country. Or if you are on roaming! 

Which is why mobile Instant Messaging (IM) is so handy. Thanks to some rather innovative applications, you can actually exchange text messages with your friends online without using SMS on your cellphone. All you need is a GPRS connection that enables you to access the internet on your mobile and the right software, and you can actually cut down on your SMS bill. 

Mobile instant messaging has been around for a few years now. However, most mobile IM applications came with price tags—you either had to pay to download them to your phone or shell out an annual subscription fee. What’s more, they were often only available for high-end (read “colossally expensive”) phones. 

However, that has been changing over the past few years, thanks to the dramatic increase in the world’s cellphone-toting population. 

Yahoo! has even made it possible for users to access its IM messaging service on its WAP site without having to download any software on to their cellphones. And Yahoo! Messenger is one of the services that form part of the Yahoo!Go passage that is being bundled with select Nokia phones these days. 

There are plenty of free software options for non-Yahoo! users too. MSN chat users can download eMSN Mobile for their cellphones—it works like a treat, has plenty of features (including customising photographs) and can run on most phones. 

Similarly, those addicted to Google Talk can try Morange, which also gives users access to Gmail, contacts and RSS feeds, but is at its best when handling the chat function. What’s more, Morange comes in two versions—one for advanced phones and one for ‘normal’ ones! 

But if you are seeking an SMS-like IM experience, then try out Go Talk Mobile, a mobile instant messenger for Google Talk. Unlike other mobile IM applications that one has to start up and then exit whenever you have to do something else on your phone (say, look at the address book, or play a game), you can keep GoogleTalk running in the background all the time, without having to exit. The phone will vibrate and emit a little tune whenever you receive a message, which will pop up on the screen. 

A word of warning, though—do not expect to see features like voice chat and webcam chats on mobile IMs. On a cellphone, the IM is largely restricted to sending and receiving messages, although some do allow users to swap pictures and the odd music file. 

For more details follow the link

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/291568.cms

Arial and Times new roman fonts in Google Docs

Arial and Times New Roman fonts are now available in the text editor in Google Docs for users who have these fonts locally installed on their computers.

Editions included:
Standard, Premier, Education, Team and Partner Editions

Languages included:
All languages supported by Google Docs

How to access what's new:
Arial and Times New Roman will appear in the font drop-down from the menu bar if these fonts are detected as being locally installed on your computer.

http://googleappsupdates.blogspot.com/2009/04/arial-and-times-new-roman-fonts-in.html

Mobile offline access for Iphone and Android

The new version of Gmail for mobile includes:

– New offline functionality that allows you to start Gmail for mobile, compose new messages and read recently read messages when offline.

– The new "floaty bar" menu can be used to perform batch actions such as archiving multiple messages quickly.

Editions included:

Standard, Premier, Education and Partner Editions

Languages included:

US English

How to access what's new:

Visit http://www.google.com/m/a/example.com on your iPhone or Android-powered device. Be sure to replace 'example.com' with your organization's domain name. Continue by clicking the link for either Gmail or Calendar. If you have an Android device, click 'Update now' to enable Gears for offline access.

For more information:

 http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/new-mobile-gmail-experience-for-iphone.html