If you downloaded Google Chrome a while ago, you should know there’s now a new version available. Apparently this version was released somewhere around Dec 8, 2009 – going by the date of the Google Chrome Blog post Google Chrome for the holidays: Mac, Linux and extensions in beta. As the post title indicates, Chrome now comes in flavors for the Mac, Linux, and Windows. Also exciting for me is the introduction of Extensions for the Linux and Windows versions. Sorry, but Mac extensions are still in development.

I’ve installed Chrome on my Ubuntu machines and I am loving it!

Not all of my favorite Firefox extensions are available in Crome yet, but I’ve been able to duplicate a few. So far I have installed Evernote, Shareaholic, and XMarks.

I have been using Chrome for a while, and was surprised to learn that my installed version did not update automatically. Be sure to upgrade your version too! Also check out the custom themes for Google Chrome after you upgrade.

Several blogger colleagues have raved to me about how they love blogging with Windows Live Writer. Every time I’ve tried (until now) I gave up because my personal blog’s themes use dark backgrounds. When trying to use Live Writer it was impossible to write or edit. Here’s a screen shot of this blog’s default dark background.

I found the answer in a Windows Live Writer Forum thread titled Theme Not Showing Up Properly. Flora MSFT answered with the following advice:

“One of your screenshots is our plain editing surface, which we fall back on if template detection fails. You can choose to edit in this mode by going to View menu and unchecking "Edit using Theme".”

The change to not edit using my theme changed my post background to the default off white (blue-ish) color and has made blogging from Live Writer much mo’ better!

If you are like me you have multiple web and pop3 email accounts, multiple instant messaging identities, and belong to several social networking sites. In all of these accounts you get frequent messages or updates that you have a hard time keeping up with across several independent clients. I recently realized that Digsby is the consolidated single client answer for my problem.

From Digsby.com:

“digsby is a multiprotocol IM client that lets you chat with all your friends on AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Google Talk, and Jabber with one simple to manage buddy list.”

“digsby is an email notification tool that alerts you of new email and lets you perform actions such as ‘Delete’ or ‘Report Spam’ with just one click”

“digsby is a social networking tool that alerts you of events like new messages and gives you a live Newsfeed of what your friends are up to.”

For example, I am using Digsby to monitor my Gmail, Yahoo, and vmetc.com POP3 email accounts, my Gmail and Yahoo instant messaging accounts, and follow updates on Twitter and Linked In. The screen shot in this post is my desktop client. Using the Digsby options you can configure the program to remain running after you close the desktop client and then provide Outlook style pop up notifications when you receive new communicatons.

Since the majority of my accounts are web page -based, setting up new accounts was (more…)

Stolen Mac helps nab burglary suspects is an article on news.com that explains how a stolen Mac’s remote desktop feature helped capture images of the thief while he was using the stolen computer, and how those images helped identify the suspect and lead police to his eventual capture.

While police in White Plains, N.Y., were coming up empty with their
investigation, Duplaga learned that her computer was being used on the
Internet and turned on the Back to My Mac feature installed on her Mac
from another Mac, according to the report.

The feature allowed Duplaga to see immediately how the computer
was being used at the time, as well as operate it remotely. Recalling
that she had a camera installed on the computer, the fast-thinking
Duplaga snapped images of one of the burglary suspects before he
realized what was happening, according to the Times. Duplaga showed the
image to friends who recognized the suspect as someone who attended a
party at the apartment.

The photo lead police to arrest two suspects on Wednesday and recover nearly all the stolen property

“It doesn’t get much better than their bringing us a picture of the guy
actually using the stolen property,” Daniel Jackson, the deputy
commissioner of public safety in White Plains, told the newspaper. “It
certainly made our job easier.”

Lifehacker.com post Free Fax: Drop.io Adds Free, Simple Faxing points out a totally free internet fax service:

“Drop.io now sends and receives faxes for free. To send a fax, just upload a document to Drop.io, enter the fax number, and click Fax. To receive a fax, Drop.io generates a cover sheet you email to the sender; as long as they use your cover page on the fax, it will end up in your Drop.io account as a PDF. Like most of Drop.io, faxing services are free and require no registration to use.”

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