Web Page Design For You

Filed under: Blogging, web 2.0, Browsers

While it might not be news to some of our readers, more casual computer users might want to take note.

Pay web2.0collage a visit, and you'll learn just how easy it can be for a website (any website) to poke around and see what sites you've been visiting. The app limits itself to displaying polite websites, but it's safe to say it could just as easily display all the NSFW sites you've been visiting as well.

This isn't exactly a new trick. How web 2.0 aware are you? does the same kind of sniffing, comparing the sites you visit against a list of popular websites to see how savvy a surfer you are.

Both sites should serve as a reminder to everyone that unless you take steps to protect your privacy, there are sites on the Internet that will gladly help themselves to your data.

How can you prevent this from happening? I echo the suggestions from several Slashdot commenters and recommend using Firefox and the NoScript addon.

[via Slashdot]

Think your browser history is private? Think again. originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware, Windows x64

Free GFI Backup Home offers powerful-yet-simple backup and sync originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Windows, Linux, Mozilla, Browsers

In the few days since Firefox 3.5 was officially unleashed on the public, it's been downloaded well over 7 million times according to Mozilla's real-time download tracker. That's nowhere near the estimated 8 million downloads achieved in the first 24 hours after Firefox 3.0 launched, but it's still pretty good.

It's also probably worth pointing out that anyone who was running Firefox 3.5 RC3 on launch day probably isn't included in these numbers since RC3 is basically the same as the final release, which means if you had that version installed you didn't download any updates.

Now that there's a new version of Firefox, there's also a new version of Firefox Portable, which lets you run the browser from a USB flash drive. If you were running an older version of Firefox Portable you should be able to upgrade automatically from within the browser. But if you want to give Firefox 3.5 a try without installing it to your computer, the portable version is an excellent alternative.

And while Mozilla thinks Firefox 3.5 is stable enough to take remove the "beta" and "release candidate" labels, some Linux distributions might be slower to add the browser to their repositories. But that doesn't mean you can't install the browser manually. Kabatology has posted instructions for installing Firefox 3.5 in Ubuntu by typing a single line of code into a terminal window.

[via Lifehacker]

Firefox 3.5 exceeds 7 million downloads, portable, Ubuntu versions available originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aviary, maker of excellent web-based creative tools with bird-themed names, has done it again. The latest addition to their impressive collection is an easy-to-use web app for taking screenshots of any webpage. Just put the URL of the page into your address bar after http://aviary.com/ and you're good to go.

Once you've got a page open in Aviary, you can crop and edit it online. The standard brush, text and shape tools you're familiar with from other image editing programs are available, so you might be able to get away with doing everything you want on the web instead of resorting to Photoshop.Two caveats: you'll need to sign up for an Aviary account to save your work, and editing results may vary if you use the CPU-intensive "advanced editing" features.

[via Lifehacker]

Take easy web screenshots with Aviary originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: OS Updates, Windows, Microsoft

Got three computers at home? There is reason to believe that Microsoft will let you license Windows 7 on all of them for a very competitive price.

In recent leaked RTM branch builds of WIndows 7 Home Premium, there's been an interesting language chance in the license agreement under "Installation Use and Rights":

b. Family Pack. If you are a "Qualified Family Pack User", you may install one copy of the software marked as "Family Pack" on three computers in your household for use by people who reside there. Those computers are the "licensed computers" and are subject to these license terms. If you do not know whether you are a Qualified Family Pack User, visit go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?Linkid=141399 or contact the Microsoft affiliate serving your country.

No, the link doesn't work yet, but this seems to indicate that Microsoft is going to offer a multi-license pack of Windows 7 Home Premium. Other builds (Ultimate, Pro, etc.) don't contain the Family Pack wording.

It makes sense for several reasons. First, Microsoft offered a similar deal for Vista upgrades when it was released - a two pack for $49.99. Second, they use this strategy to push Office 2007 with the Home and Student edition. Third, Apple does it with Leopard and at one hell of a price: $199 for up to five Macs under the same roof.
CNet's Ed Bott predicts Microsoft will undercut Apple slightly and we'll see the Family Pack priced at $189.99, though it will likely cover three machines as the Office license does.

[via Kristan Kenney]

Family Pack license for Windows 7 could cover 3 machines on the cheap originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: News

Amazon isn't the only company ending its affiliate programs in a handful of US states in an effort to avoid being forced to collect sales tax in those states. The Wall Street Journal reports that Overstock.com has shut down its affiliate programs for California, Hawaii, North Carolina, and Rhode Island.

Each of those states has either adopted or is about to adopt a law that would require online retailers with in-state affiliate partners to collect sales tax on items sold. The idea is that a web publisher who posts links Amazon, Overstock, or other web stores and gets a commission for items sold through those links is essentially giving the online store a physical presence in the state, which means state tax laws come into play.

On the one hand, states are struggling thanks to the recession, and it makes sense that some states would turn to this tax as a revenue source. On the other hand, if companies like Amazon and Overstock decide that the laws are too burdensome and just pull out of those states altogether, then nobody wins.

It's worth pointing out that you're really supposed to pay sales tax for most things purchased on the internet. But in most cases, the burden is on the shoppers, not the retailers. If enacted, these state laws would require the stores to collect the taxes which consumers pretty much never pay voluntarily.

[via The Business Insider]

Overstock kills affiliate programs in 4 states, just like Amazon originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: E-mail, Productivity, Beta

Postbox is a powerful email client based on Mozilla's Thunderbird, and, like Thunderbird, it now supports extensions. The selection of add-ons is limited right now, but it includes some useful ones: ReminderFox handles reminders and to-do items. Minimize to Tray is just what it sounds like, allowing Windows users to put Postbox in the system tray. Nostalgy adds keyboard shortcuts, and MozBackup backs up your messages and settings. This is a good start, but it'll interesting to see what other useful extensions pop up now that the door is open.

The latest build of Postbox also adds a long list of other useful features. If you're switching from Mail.app, you can now easily migrate your settings to Postbox. Postbox will now also pull photos for your contacts from OS X's address book or from Twitter. Several performance upgrades and fixes of annoying issues from earlier versions are also in place now, so it looks like a good time to consider giving Postbox a try.

Mozilla-based email client Postbox finally gets add-ons originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Blogging, Apple, Social Software, iPhone

Yes, we've been over the App Store approval thing a hundred times already, but never quite like this.

Apple's got a pretty strong policy when it comes to nudity, right? Right?

So Beauty Meter - an application that allows, hypothetically, a fifteen year old girl to share a nude pic to be rated would be totally out of the question right?

You'd at least expect there to be a nudity warning if you installed an app like this. I mean, it could be a non-nude hot-or-not app, there's certainly a precedent for that. In the case of Beauty Meter, however, you'll just get a warning that it might contain mature content and it's not for use by anyone under the age of 17.

Heck, in some countries 17 isn't even old enough to look at naughty things.

Now, clearly neither Apple nor the devs behind Beauty Meter can totally control who uploads what (the app even says as much when you launch it), but it makes me wonder: if an app like this can be approved, why not Drivetrain?

It's remote control for Transmission. It doesn't actually do any torrent downloading. There's no way anything it does is remotely illegal. It's pretty similar to a single-app MochaVNC, which has been in the store for ages, and I can certainly use to control Transmission from my iPod. But I digress.

Three things for certain: Beauty Meter will soon suffer the same fate as Hottest Girls, the approval process needs an overhaul, and the screenshot at Krapps is going to live in Internet infamy for a long time.

[via Krapps - thanks, @thmonline!]

CP on your iPhone via an Apple-approved app? You betcha! originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: E-mail, Google

Google is rolling out a handful of changes to the way it handles labels in Gmail. First, labels are moving into the top left-side navigation area, right by your shortcuts for inbox, sent, starred, and other items. You can also choose to hide some labels while showing others.

Probably one of the biggest changes is that users will now be able to drag and drop messages into labels. In other words, you can sort your messages much the same way that you would add them to folders in almost any other webmail system.

Google is also removing the "right-side labels" feature from Gmail labs. The company says the new labels behavior makes it unnecessary. But try telling that to users who have gotten used to their labels hanging out in a sidebar on the right side of their screens.

The new features aren't showing up in my inbox yet, but Google has a way of rolling these kinds of changes out gradually to some groups of users before others. Have you noticed any changes to your Gmail interface? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Gmail tweaks labels, kind of turns them into folders originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Security

If there's one type of software news that always brightens my day, it's news that a purveyor of crapware has lost a legal game of Rochambault. This time, it was Kaspersky snatching victory away from perennial nuisance Zango.

Zango has a history of rising from the grave like some horrible software zombie. Their other incarnations include HotBar and 180solutions, both of which are familiar to those of you who wrestle with malware on a regular basis. Want to read about what Zango does? You'll have to visit Wikipedia or some other site, because the Zango website itself is a "closed user community."

In the lawsuit, Zango claimed Kaspersky should be ordered to reclassify Zango's programs as nonthreatening and asked that the court "prevent Kaspersky Lab's security software from blocking Zango's potentially undesirable programs."

Thankfully, the appellate court upheld an earlier ruling that granted Kaspersky "Good Samaratin immunity," and that they were free to classify Zango as adware and treat it as such.

This isn't the first time Zango has lost in court. Will it be the last? Doubtful. Zango probably still has a little money left to blow on spurious lawsuits, and there are plenty of other anti-malware developers they can bitch about.

Court sides with Kaspersky, tells Zango to suck it up originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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