offline posts

Filed under: Fun, Games, Utilities, Microsoft, Freeware

Use PopFly Game Downloader to nab your faves before it shuts down

by Lee Mathews Jul 24th 2009

Microsoft may be pulling the pin on Popfly, but that doesn't mean you have to kiss your favorite games goodbye.

What's that you say? You didn't even know there were games on Popfly? Well, there are - and some are actually pretty fun.

Over at Coding4Fun, they've released a handy tool that allows you to save the games you enjoy forever and ever. Or at least until you grow weary and decide it's time to delete them from your hard drive to make room for something else.

Make sure you've got the .Net 2.0 framework and Silverlight installed, you're going to need them!

[via Channel 10]

Tags: casual-game, downloaders, downloading, games, offline, popfly

Filed under: Internet, Office, Productivity, Web services, Google, Beta, web 2.0

Google Calendar adds Gears support, now available offline

by Lee Mathews Mar 4th 2009

In late January, Google began offering Gears support for your GMail account and now Google Calendar has received offline superpowers as well. Right now the feature is really only handy for getting a look at what's on your schedule: it's read-only, so you can't edit or add events for synchronization later. Since GMail already provides a more complete set of offline features, hopefully we'll see increased functionality in Calendar in the near future.

If you're not using a desktop calendar application with CalDav to do this already, it's a nice reassurance to know that your Calendar data is accessible right in your browser even if you're temporarily without an internet connection.

If you haven't installed the Gears plugin for your browser yet, you'll need to do that, of course. Get it from Google, then flip the switch on your Calendar. Alex at Google OS noted an error message regarding events beyond June 4, 2009, though my calendar imported without issues. Of course, the feature - and Google Calendar itself, for that matter - is still in beta, so bugfixes and enhancements are no doubt already in the works.

[ via Google OS ]

Tags: google-calendar, google-gears, offline

Filed under: E-mail, Google, Beta

Google Gears comes to Gmail

by Victor Agreda, Jr. Jan 27th 2009

Yea, verily, Google brought Gears to Gmail today, meaning you can (finally) go through downloaded emails without a handy internet connection. There are caveats: spellcheck won't work, can't add attachments, pretty much anything that would require a connection won't be there. Reading, responding, starring and labeling do work, however, which is very cool. But hey, don't take my word for it. See the pretty movie Google made to explain it all below.

UPDATE: As pointed out in the comments, this is US and UK only (for now). Also, I should point out that you'll find the feature in Gmail labs -- it isn't yet part of the standard feature set. Google states users should see this by the end of the week.

Via TechCrunch

Tags: email, gmail, google gears, GoogleGears, offline

Filed under: E-mail, Google, BlackBerry, Mobile

Offline support comes to mobile Gmail

by Christina Warren Oct 23rd 2008

Not content with Android, the Google Mobile team has pulled another trick out of their sleeve: Gmail for mobile 2.0. Really, this is Gmail for mobile 2.0.6, but why quibble with details.

BlackBerry users got the bulk of the updates last month, with the Google Mobile App for BlackBerry, but now Gmail 2.0 has been pushed out to all J2ME phones.

Here are the highlights:

Offline support: This is big. You can read recent e-mail and compose messages, even if you don't have a signal. Messages you compose offline will be put in the outbox and sent as soon as you have a signal.

Multiple account support: The BlackBerry has had this feature since last month, and it is easily one of my favorite features. If you have multiple Gmail or Google Apps accounts (I have a Gmail account I rarely use for personal correspndance and three or four different Google Apps accounts), you know that having to log-in to a different account to access your mail is a huge, huge pain. You can set-up multple accounts and switch between them at ease.

Mobile drafts: You can compose multiple mobile drafts and then choose what you want to edit or send later. BlackBerry users have also had access to this feature for several weeks.

Shortcuts: Phones with a QWERTY keyboard can now use shortcut keys like, "z" fo undo, "k" to go to a new conversation, and "j" to go to an older conversatio -- just like in the desktop browser version of Gmail.

If you use Gmail and you have a BlackBerry or J2ME mobile phone, you definitely want to download the latest version of Gmail for mobile. You can get it at http://m.google.com/mail.

[via Mashable]

Tags: blackberry, gmail, gmail mobile, GmailMobile, j2me, mobile gmail, MobileGmail, offline

Filed under: Internet, Office, Google

Google Docs going offline - in a good way

by Brad Linder Mar 31st 2008

Google is beginning to roll out offline functionality for Google Docs. What this means is that you can create documents online, share them with collaboraters, and make edits while you're nowhere near an internet connection. So, for example if you're on an airplane, you can work on a report, and as soon as you get back to your home or office, you just visit the Google Docs page again and all of your changes will sync up and your collaborators will see the latest version of the document.

If two people make changes offliine and then try to synchronize the same document with the server, Google should bring up a message letting you know about the conflict and asking which changes to keep.

You'll need to have Google Gears installed in order to use Google Docs offline. Google is doing a phased roll out, meaning that not all users will be able to access their documents offline right away. You should look for a little green arrow in the top navigation of Google Docs to see if you have access.

At first, users will only be able to access spreadsheets in read-only mode, but you'll have full edit capabilities for text documents. Presentation support will come in a few weeks.

Update: Google has posted an official announcement, including a video that will give you a better idea of what Google Docs offline looks like. (Here's a hint, it looks a lot like Google Docs online). Check out the video after the jump.

[via WebWare and Fast Company]

Tags: google-docs, google-gears, offline

Filed under: Productivity, Web services, Google, web 2.0

Google to launch offline calendar feature?

by Brad Linder Mar 14th 2008

It looks like Google is preparing to add offline functionality to Google Calendar. A few days ago the folks at the Digital Streets blog noticed that Google seemed to have added some code to the Google Calendar page that would bring up a prompt to install Google Gears for access to 3 months worth of calendar data while you're offline. But once you install Google Gears, nothing happens.

The plot thickened on Thursday when Googlified noticed a new option in the settings section of Google Calendar. Go ahead and check, odds are you'll see an "Offline" tab in your own calendar settings. When you click the tab, you're told to download Google Gears. Unfortunately, once you install Google Gears, nothing seems to happen. Visiting Google Calendar with Gears installed just brings up the plain old Google Calendar with no option to save your data for offline viewing. But we get the feeling that Google wouldn't be adding features to the Google Calendar settings menu if the company didn't plan to activate those features soon.

Tags: google-calendar, google-gears, offline

Filed under: Internet, Windows Mobile, Office, Google, Microsoft, Mobile Minute

Google Gears goes mobile, takes web apps with it

by Brad Linder Mar 4th 2008

Google has released a version of Google Gears that runs on Windows Mobile 5.0/6 devices. What does that mean? It means that you can access web applications like Zoho Writer or Buxfer on your mobile, even when you're offline. You'll need to go online at some point to synchronize your data, but once that's done you can open and view your documents while you're on the subway or on the ocean floor (the two places we're pretty sure there's on internet access available).

This is pretty big news for Windows Mobile uses who are tired of dealing with Office Mobile. Zoho's online office suite offers most of the features you'd want from a word processor. And it's free. Right now you can't edit Zoho Writer documents in offline mode, but Zoho plans to add that functionality soon.

In somewhat related news, Microsoft and Nokia have signed a deal to use Silverlight in some of its phone and internet tablets. Right now, Silverlight is primarily a platform for displaying rich media content on the web (like Adobe Flash), Microsoft eventually plans to add offline functionality to Silverlight (like Adobe AIR or Google Gears). That means we could see offline support for online applications coming to Nokia devices one day as well.

Tags: google-gears, nokia, offline, silverlight

Filed under: Internet, Office

Zoho Writer goes offline (in a good way)

by Brad Linder Nov 26th 2007

Back in August Zoho added offline reading to Zoho Writer. While it's pretty cool that you can save online documents for reading when you're away from an internet connection, there was no way to edit those documents at the time.

Now Zoho is filling in the blanks by launching a full read/write capable version of Zoho Writer. That means when you mark a document for download you'll be able to read it, edit it, and synchronize it with your online documents when you go back online.

Of course, you could also just use a free word processor like OpenOffice Writer or AbiWord if you really just wanted to be able to edit documents offline. What makes online office suites cool is the ability to collaborate with other users. And Zoho Writer has that covered. Several different people can download the same document for editing and then synchronize their changes with the online version. Because Zoho lets you see the editing history of a document, it should be easy to see who made which changes.

[via VentureBeat]

Tags: google-gears, offline, zoho, zoho-writer

Filed under: Internet, Social Software

Facebook banned in United Arab Emirates?

by Grant Robertson Oct 1st 2007

Users of Facebook in the United Arab Emirates have been left wondering if their access to the site will continue after major telco Etisalat appeared to have blocked the site today. Many Web sites are actively blocked in the Persian Gulf country which is home to a large expatriate community from India, the US, Europe and other countries in the Middle East.

The Muslim nation blocks many sites on the basis that they are against the moral or religious values of the UAE, however the selection of sites in the past has often been arbitrary and includes a ban on VOIP, which appears to be more focused on maintaining profits at the two main telcos than concerns over moral values. Earlier this year the
social networking site Orkut fell afoul of UAE's blocking policies which also prevent access to dating sites.

The move may not be permanent as Facebook users are currently just experiencing a 'Page Not Found' error instead of the 'UAE Screen of Death' (as pictured) so the authorities may just be testing the waters. UAE Facebook users have been concerned about this possibility for some time and have set up an online petition.

Tags: censorship, Facebook, middle east, MiddleEast, offline, UAE

Filed under: Internet, Office, Productivity, Google, web 2.0

Zoho Writer adds offline features

by Brad Linder Aug 21st 2007

Online office suites seem to be all the rage these days. ThinkFree, Zoho, and Google all have word processing and spreadsheet applications that you can access from any computer with an internet connected web browser. But what do you do when you're taking your laptop on a plane or train where there's no Wi-Fi signal?

Zoho has just announced the ability to access Zoho Writer documents offline.

The funny thing is that Zoho has enabled offline reading using Google Gears. Google, on the other hand still doesn't haven an offline mode for its Docs & Spreadsheets office suite.

For now, you can read Zoho documents offline, but you can't write them. Zoho plans to add full read/write/synchronization capabilities within the next few weeks.

[via Read/WriteWeb]

Tags: google gears, GoogleGears, offline, zoho, Zoho Writer, ZohoWriter

Filed under: Fun, Internet, Web services, Google, P2P

Multi-user chat gets released on Google Talk Gadget

by Chris Gilmer Jun 22nd 2007

Google has been tooling around with the Talk Gadget lately, and has added in the ability to have multi user chats through a Group Chat feature.

The process of chatting is simple. Select a user that you want to chat with, then click on the Group Chat button, this will allow you to connect to another user. Keep in mind, this option is only available in the Google Talk Gadget. So if the user is currently using the standalone player for Mac or Windows, or is offline, a message will get sent to them and open up in a Talk Gadget when clicked.

Google seems to be forgetting about the standalone player with the last few updates. Could they be focusing on the integrated online Google Talk Gadget for a reason? I realize offline applications are shifting towards online, but IM is something we sure could use as a standalone. Google has recently added in the support for Flickr slideshows, and emoticons in the Gadget.

Tags: gadget, google, group chat, GroupChat, im, instant message, InstantMessage, mac, offline, online, talk, windows

Filed under: Design, Developer, Internet, Utilities, Web services

Google Gears takes online applications, offline

by Chris Gilmer May 30th 2007

Online applications are great, but what happens when you can't get a connection to the internet? Whether it is because you are on an airplane, or in the middle of nowhere camping, and have to get certain emails, calendar items, or files, you are quite possibly out of luck. Its sure a bummer, and one of the reasons why so many people are hesitant about using online applications for their most important information.

Now Imagine being able to take your online applications, offline, and store that data locally in a completely searchable database? Google is making this possible with Gears. Google Gears is an open source browser extension that enables web applications to provide complete offline functionality. Google hopes that developers will use this new toolset to create offline web applications using JavaScript APIs to store and serve the applications resources locally, as well as store data in searchable databases. All of the syncing runs in the background without burning out the browsers memory usage, or slowing anything down.

The Google Gears Beta is currently available for installation on Windows XP,Vista, as well as on Mac and Linux machines. The plug-in works with Firefox 1.5+ and IE 6+. Google's first stop with Gears is Reader, with JavaScript APIs getting released shortly for data storage for use in applications like Docs and Spreadsheets.

The official Google Gears announcement will be made tomorrow to over 5,000 developers at Google's Developer Day gathering.

Tags: api, applications, data, database, docs, feeds, firefox, gears, google, ie, internet explorer, InternetExplorer, javascript, mac, offline, online, pc, read, reader, search, spreadsheets, storage

Filed under: Business, Internet, Text, Web services, Social Software

Wikipedia to go Offline

by Chris Gilmer Apr 19th 2007

After years of successful topics and entries that everyone has had the ability to contribe to, the online free encyclopedia is finally going offline.

Ok, so it's not going offline in the traditional sense of shutting down, Wikipedia has created a DVD version of Wikipedia, with close to 2,000 hand picked articles from a group of academics and Wikipedia staff.

The CD is selling for $13.99, which seems like a rather high price for something that can be accessed for free online. But hey, if you don't have internet access this is the next best option. The Wikipedia Foundation DVD is first available in English format, with a French format as well as other launguages in development.

Tags: cd, encyclopedia, english, offline, wikipedia

Filed under: Internet, Productivity, Web services, Apple, Google

Sync Google Calendar with Apple iCal via Spanning Sync

by Chris Gilmer Mar 14th 2007

spanning sync syncs google calendar with apple ical

Spanning Sync will make your Google Calendars and Apple iCal play nicely together with devices.

iCal and Google Calendars are great applications for different sets of reasons, one is online with sharing capabilities, one is desktop driven with great notifications and offline capabilities. Get ready to get excited Mac users, Spanning Sync syncs all of these features together and lets Mac users choose which calendar application you want to work in with total two way calendar synchronization.

If you find yourself working on different Macs, or require a calendar that is shared throughout the day, Spanning Sync ties in support for multiple Macs and sharing capabilities. Simply share a Google Calendar, and Spanning Sync will sync them all together. Changes made in iCal, will appear on the Google Calendar, and changes that are made to Google Calendar will be made on the iCal calendars. Apple's iSync then works to sync up calendars onto capable devices like mobile phones and iPods as well.

There is a 15 day trial period for Spanning Sync, with a one year subscription costing $25, or you can drop $65 to purchase the app outright.

Tags: apple, calendar, device, google, ical, offline, online, synchronization

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