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Filed under: Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Web services, Mozilla, Social Software, Unix

Mozilla opens up Firefox 3 brainstorming to the public, as well as alpha builds

Mozilla opens up Firefox 3 brainstorming to the public, as well as alpha buildsFirefox 2 isn't even officially out the door yet, but if y'all aren't partying too hard, why not toss in your two cents on how Firefox 3 is going to turn out? Mozilla has decided to offer up a a public brainstorming wiki to solicit ideas and feature requests for the next major release of Firefox. The page is already impressively organized, offering fine-grained categories for things like software update, tabs, profiles, printing and even mobile and enterprise support. There's already quite a bit on the menu, and Mozilla will obviously have to draw at least a few lines to keep Firefox 3 on track, but swing on by if you think you can lend a hand to shape the future of one of the best darn browsers on the Internets.

In addition, they've also unleashed alpha builds of Firefox 3 (aka - Minefield), though from a quick run-through on Mac OS X, I can't see anything mind-blowingly new just yet. Of course, YMMV.

[via Ars Technica]

Filed under: Internet, Features, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Windows Mobile, Symbian, Palm, Productivity, Web services, Google, Freeware, Social Software, Unix

Google issues major overhaul to Google Reader

Google issues major update to Reader

Google has announced what is quite possibly the largest update to Google Reader since its inception, bringing an entirely new UI, more keyboard shortcuts, new bookmarklets and a whole lotta results from user feedback to the table. Overall, as a Google Reader fan for some time, I am pleasantly surprised by this wholly positive and usable update, but it isn't without a few confusing quirks.

The first and most noticeable update is the radical change to Google Reader's UI, bringing it more in line with the tried and tested UI of many other online readers, but still with much of the Google engineers' unique genius baked in everywhere. Above you can see Reader has adopted the typical folder/grouping system on the left, while headlines can be listed on the right.

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Filed under: Business, Developer, Text, Utilities, Windows, Productivity, Microsoft, Freeware, Open Source

kalab.com's Cron: scheduler for the rest of us

Kalab.com CronCron is a great utility for scheduling windows jobs. It runs as a service, accepts parameters and will execute any dos command you can throw at it. I am currently using it to upload a disaster recovery document to a web server at work. It works like a charm. Cron, a Crontab document (no more than a text file really) and a few ftp commands later (at least for my project), and wha-lah! You have the best little scheduler you could ever want. There are a few versions of it you can download. One is PyCron, written in Python, which has some more features than the Cron version. While I think there could have been a more distinctive name for the program, I found it particularly useful and powerful. Instructions for use are right on the main page. they seem a bit hefty at first, but a few minutes and you'll be off and running.

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Blogging, Windows Mobile, Symbian, Palm, Social Software

Blogging about someone's app? Tag it with 'freedbacking'

The term certainly doesn't roll off the tongue as well as 'feedback', but in this case, that's an advantage. 'Freedbacking', a melding of 'free' and 'feedback', is a new tag proposed by Lockergnome's Chris Pirillo that bloggers can use to let developers know their apps are being talked about. The idea is that by using a 100% made-up term that search engines have never heard of, users who have something (ideally constructive) to say can get their message to developers much more easily. While most companies and developers already have feedback systems established such as forums and email, a public discourse through blogging and the use of a specialized tag brings the discussion to a whole new level.

At least that's the idea. The new tag, while already being put to use, is still in its infancy, so time will tell as to how widely accepted it becomes and how much value the system offers. I, for one, am excited at the possibility of opening the door between developers and their users just a little bit wider.

[via Wired]

Featured Time Waster

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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