Use a Googlemail.com Address to Manage Gmail Spam

The Digital Inspiration blog points out a Gmail trick that can be very useful for blocking spam. Everyone who has an "name@gmail.com" address can also receive mail sent to "name@googlemail.com." What's the big deal? Well, knowing this gives you a stronger hand when you fight against spam, bacn, and all that other not-so-important but distracting email. Try giving out one or the other addresses to important, close contacts, while using the other for all the other stuff.

Wow! All Gmail Users Are Given Two Separate Email Addresses [Digital Inspiration]

Coffee...

Yes we geeks love coffee...my friend Arnab - a coffee-connoisseur in the making, has an excellent write-up. I can't wait for the book he has been threatening to write for a while now.

Check Your Email Account for Impostors

If you've ever had suspicions that someone may be reading your email but you've never seen proof, weblog MakeUseOf details how to set up an "electronic tripwire" in your email account to keep you aware of email break-ins. The trick uses a web utility called OneStatFree to track file requests, and depends on the email snoop reading this email. Since OneStatFree will let you know if anyone tries downloading the file (and will log the time, IP address, and approximate location of the snoop), you'll know the snoop was there even if the he tries covering his tracks by marking the message as unread.

Are you Sure your Email isn't being Hacked? [MakeUseOf]

Understand HijackThis Results with HijackReader

We discussed a the usefulness of HijackThis in the previous article, but only if you can understand exactly what it's telling you is running. Free utility HijackReader does the leg work of checking with trusted web databases and providing Google search links to help you understand what's running on your system and whether you can safely get rid of it. It works by taking a HijackThis log file (by browsing or cut-and-paste) and analyzing its contents, then producing an HTML file with descriptions and relevant links to more information. Even if you don't quite grasp every process it reports on, seeing the "OK" next to something you're suspicious of can be a big relief. HijackReader is a free download for Windows systems only.

HijackReader [via gHacks]

Manage browser add-ons with HijackThis

One good indicator that your PC is host to malicious software is web browser wonkiness. (Yes, that's the technical term.).  But fear not. HijackThis is a freeware tool that "lists all installed browser add-ons, buttons, startup items and allows you to inspect, and optionally remove selected items." The app can help not only disable malware, but to optimize your browser startup. The problem with HijackThis is that it doesn't identify malicious browser add-ons; it leaves the decisions about what to disable up to you. Recommended for advanced users.

HijackThis [via Lifehacker]

(Really) smashing wallpapers.

Our design sweetheart, Smashing Magazine is back with (really) stunning desktop wallpapers.

These stunning desktop wallpapers related to typography, art, technology, photography and abstract themes. Among other things we review calendar wallpapers, minimalistic wallpapers, wallpapers-illustrations and themes for Apple, Microsoft, Twitter and Google-fans. Each of the links leads to huge wallpapers archives where you can find even more excellent wallpapers.

Typography Wallpapers

I Love Typography Wallpapers
18 wallpapers dedicated to typography-lovers. Including iPhone Typography Wallpapers.

Veer Wallpapers
A growing collection of (not only) typography-related wallpapers in a variety of resolutions — from 320×480 (iPhone) to 1920×1200. Free registration is required to download the wallpapers.

I Love Typo Wallpaper
1024×768.

Art Wallpapers

Wallcoo Wallpapers
Hundreds of beautiful high-quality wallpapers from China. Stunning!

Ton3 Calendar Wallpapers
Every month Patricia Villanueva releases a new desktop background for the coming calendar month. It’s in Spanish, but beauty speaks all languages.

Design Wallpapers
By ndesign. 9 themes, a variety of resolutions.

JuneWind
30 colorful wallpapers available in numerous resolutions.

Happy Diwali! Wallpaper
Scroll to the end of the page. 800×600, 1024×768, 2000×1500.

Design is… Wallpaper Flickr Pool
A collection of wallpapers dedicated to design: designers explain what design is.

Freelanceswitch Wallpapers
4 wallpapers, 1920×1200, 1600×1200, 1280×1024, 1152×864, 1024×768

Rabbit Wallpaper
1280×960.

David Lanham’s Art Wallpapers
Over 20 art wallpapers in different sizes (widescreen — 1600×1200 and fullscreen — 1680×1050). Unique, and unusual.

Customize.org
A growing collection of wallpapers in the Deviantart’s style. User-generated content on over 900 pages. That’s going to take some time to browse through.

The Elemental Wallpaper
The Elemental: water extinguishes fire, fire entraps air, air encompasses Earth, Earth is the mother of all. 1024×768.

Oh Lolliop! It’s a desktop wallpaper
A wallpaper coming in 6 resolutions: from 1024×768 up to 1900×1200 px.

Bloody Hippy Wallpaper
Bloody Hippy, available in enourmo-scope 1920×1200 resolution.

Lothaleng Robot Wallpaper
1024×768.

Top 10 Gaming Wallpapers
All at 1920×1200 HD resolution, and a stunning image quality. There’s a link the the Flickr page of each wallpaper as well.

Apple, Windows, Google & Co.

Leopard Wallpapers
Wallpapers for designers, developers and bloggers who use Leopard. Wallpapers currently come in the following dimensions: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1600×1200. If none of the above suits you, get your own personalized Leopard wallpaper.

Simpsons OS X Wallpaper
Homer seems to be pretty hungry. Simpsons Mac Os X Wallpaper, Aqua.

Apple Love Wallpaper
Well, that’s pretty stylish. For Apple-lovers. 1024×640, 1920×1200.

Conquer The Universe Wallpaper
A galaxy background with Apple logo to honor the birth of Leopard. 1920×1200. Non-Apple-version is also available (also good for dual display).

Twitter Wallpaper
1280×800.

Google Wallpaper
1024×768. Light-version.

Technology Dekstopnexus
The Elemental: water extinguishes fire, fire entraps air, air encompasses Earth, Earth is the mother of all. 1024×768.

Leopard Server Aurora Wallpaper
1024 x 640, 2560 x 1600

Firefox Desktop Wallpaper
46 Firefox Desktop Wallpapers in different sizes and colors.

iPhone Wallpapers
7 320×480 iPhone wallpapers.

30 Nice Mac OS X Wallpapers
After searching high and low, here’s some good 30 Apple-related wallpapers (Apple logo, MacOS, iPod) that’s definitely worth a look.

Vista Wallpapers Pack
These wallpapers come in 3 different style — Vista curves, Silky embossed and Corporate clean. 2 high resolution formats – 1600×1400 px and 1920×1200 px.

Photographic Wallpapers

Fantastic Free Wallpaper Images
An impressive selection of free crystal clear wallpapers. 8 different resolutions, up to 2560×1600.

Above the clouds
You’ll need to change the size of the image to place it on your desktop. More beautiful photos in the Flickr: Awesome Pictures Pool, Golden Stars Flickr Pool

Flickr: Wallpapers and Backgrounds Pool
Over 9,000 photos available as wallpapers for your desktop. Every month the “Wallpaper of the Month” is selected.

Flickr: Wallpapers Pool
24,000 various desktop wallpapers. Minimum resolution: 1024×768.

Lightning at the night
You’ll need to change the size of the image to place it on your desktop. More beautiful photos in the Flickr: Awesome Pictures Pool

Beautiful Photographic Wallpapers
A set of 25 excellent photographic wallpapers which can be downloaded as a .zip-archive. Bonus: Second Pack.

Abstract Wallpapers

Flow Wallpaper
“Flow” comes in two variants: a single display one with a resolution of 2560×1600px and a dual screen one with a resolution of 2×1920×1200px. A bunch of iPhone/iPod touch compatible variants is added to the package.

Strukt Wallpaper
1024×640, 2560×1600.

Colorcharge
Three wallpapers. Format: 2000×1440 px.

Outta Space
Four wallpapers in the resolution 2560×1600 px

Disruption
4 wallpapers designed by Till Nowak. 1600×1200, 1280×1024 and 1024×768.

Google AJAX Feed API - Slide Show

The Google AJAX Feed API's Slide Show got an update with the addition of a full control panel option. To see this new control panel in action, just hover your mouse over the sample below. To get all the information on the new feature, visit the Slide Show Programming Guide.

Generate Charts On-the-Fly with Google's API

Google's newly released chart API generates charts and graphs on the fly called by a URL with the right parameters set. The Google Blogoscoped weblog runs down what data to hand the API to get back a pie chart, line chart, bar graph and more. Don't hot-link the image on your high traffic web site, though, you only get 50,000 hits on it. Here's the live demo if you want to play with it and modify for your own purposes.

Google Releases Chart Image Generator [Google Blogoscoped]
Google Chart API

Get Translations in to GTalk

Google has integrated translation tools into its Google Talk and GChat interfaces through the use of chat bots. To have a line translated from English to French, for instance, invite en2fr@bot.talk.google.com to chat, then simply chat the line you want to see translated. The bots use Google Translate as their back end, which, as one Blogoscoped commenter notes, has quite a few languages in rough beta, so this tool should mainly be used for casual or on-point word or line translations. For more translation tools and tips, try Wendy's guide to translation sites.

Merry Christmas, God Jul and 圣诞快乐 [via Google Blogoscoped]

Create a Custom Search Engine on the fly

Setting up a  custom google search engine for selected sites by hand is tedious, but now you can make one in a instant based on all the links on a page. Enter the URL of a page with lots of related links you'd like to search (like google.com) and a search term into the Custom Search Engine On-the-fly page. You'll get results from both the linking page, and the pages it links.

Create a Custom Search Engine on the fly [Google Custom Search via Google Operating System]

Create Your Own iGoogle Theme with igThemer

Google's personalized start page iGoogle has opened the theme directory, but not everybody can dig through XML and JavaScript APIs and come up with a working, themed page. The igThemer web application makes it easy to change every detail of your iGoogle page and save the theme for your own use or listing on the directory. The big drawback is that you can't create a page that changes with the time of day, but it leaves you with a lot fewer nits to pick if you wanted to explore the API to find out how to do that, and it's an overall handy way to customize your start page experience.

igThemer [via Google Operating System]

Get the Most Out of Gmail with These Power Tips

Matt Cutts, an engineer at Google, asked his blog readers for tips on how to improve Gmail—and he then compiled his responses on how to maximize your Gmail experience.  If you want to only read unread email in your inbox, you can perform a search for label:unread label:inbox. If you're looking to compile an email but want to compose your message in a new window, hit the "C" button (whereas lowercase "c" allows you to compile the email without opening a new window).  Have your own Gmail tips? Let's hear them in the comments.

11 Power Tips for Gmail [Matt Cutts]

Get GNU Tools on Windows with UnixUtils

So you keep typing ls at the Windows command line instead of dir? Miss grep, wget, and tar on your PC? The open source UnixUtils project offers ports of "the most important" GNU command line utilities, including those listed as well as over 100 others. Usually we recommend using the Unix emulator Cygwin to get *nix command line goodness in Windows, but UnixUtils doesn't depend on the whole Cygwin layer to run—they're tried and true Windows executables. UnixUtils is a free download for Windows only. Thanks, Vijay!

UnixUtils [SourceForge]

Use Yahoo Mail as Document Storage

Two features Yahoo Mail has that Gmail does not (officially, anyway)—unlimited storage and "AddressGuard" disposable addresses—make it the ideal solution for keeping an online repository of important documents. Blogger Bert Webb does just that. He scans paperwork like birth certificates, warranties, copies of insurance cards and tax documents emails them to a disposable Yahoo Mail address set up to automatically filters them into a "Docs" folder in his email account. Of course, using Gmail's "plus sign" trick and its virtually unlimited storage, you could do the same there, too.

Turn your Yahoo Mail Into a Document Storage Lockbox! [via : Lifehacker - Open Loops]

VideoSpin: Free video editor

Windows Movie Maker is probably the most widely used free video editor for Windows. And there's a good reason for that. It comes free with Windows XP and Vista. But Windows Movie Maker might not always be the best tool for the job. VideoSpin is a free video editing application that has all the features of Windows Movie Maker and a few more for good measure.
Overall, the two applications have a similar look and feel. Both are designed for use by people who don't have a degree in video editing. You simply locate your video and audio files, arrange them on a timeline, and start snipping or rearranging. You can add a variety of transitions or sound effects to your movie. And unlike Windows Movie Maker, VideoSpin sports a pretty decent title editor. There's also an option to upload your finished videos directly to YouTube or Yahoo! Video.
The program is almost too user friendly in some places. For example, VideoSpin assumes your files are in your My Videos folder, which is fair. But while you can easily change directories, there's no simple way to navigate to a separate hard drive or partition. Fortunately, you can drag and drop audio and video files into VideoSpin from Windows Explorer, no matter what drive their on.

[via Digital Inspiration]

How to add recent comments to your Blogspot blog

If your blog client of choice is Google's Blogger, odds are you've banged your head against a wall at least a few times wondering why Blogger can't be a bit more like WordPress or TypePad. While Blogger is incredibly easy to use, it's a bit more difficult to customize. But with a bit of work, you can tweak your Blogger site to near-perfection.
For example, while Google doesn't offer a "recent comments" widget, Blogger buster has created a simple widget generator that lets you build and add a recent comments section to your sidebar. You can customize how comments appear by choosing how many comments to display, whether to show the date or post titles, and how many characters to include in the preview.
[via MakeUseOf]

Killer-app : Digsby !

Every once in a while, a killer-app emerges. Many of them die a premature death and some remain to be bought by Google Inc. Newly released chat application Digsby consolidates instant messaging, email, text messaging, and social networking into one very slick chat application. As far as IM, Digsby covers all the major players, from AIM to Google Talk; it handles Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, or virtually any POP or IMAP account for email; and it supports updates of all the latest happenings on your Facebook or MySpace profile. As far as full-on consolidation of hot social web tools right now, the only thing really missing is Twitter integration. Currently Digsby is Windows only in private beta. It's not open source like Pidgin or Adium (which it looks very much like), but the all-inclusive integration is probably enough to lure a lot of IM users to its warm embrace. Flip through the gallery (hit the jump for more) to get a closer look at everything Digsby's got to offer.
Digsby {Via Lifehacker }