Filed under: E-mail, web 2.0, Humor

With the tagline 'work outside the inbox', and customary all-lower-case branding, Cc:Betty has just been relaunched and rebranded as Threadbox. Citing 'branding issues' and the need to 'reel in the cute', Threadbox is still the same software -- it just has a different name.

If you haven't heard of Cc:Betty, it's a very neat email organizer. As you probably guessed from the (old) name, you add Betty in the CC field when you write an email -- she, in a display of classic sexist misogyny, then keeps all your email threads shipshape and tidy. Where Cc:Betty really comes into its (her) own is group discussions: mailing lists, event organization, projects -- things like that.

The irony is, while you have to request an invite for Threadbox access, you can sign up to Cc:Betty right now. I presume accounts at Cc:Betty will be merged with Threadbox in due course.

There's an awful commercial for Threadbox after the break, but the demo video on the Cc:Betty website is better.

[via VentureBeat]

Cc:Betty email threading tool axes cutesy name, becomes Threadbox originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cc:Betty - Betty - Mail List - Website - Download Squad

Filed under: Internet, Features, Mozilla, Browsers

(Can you tell that I'm trying to spice things up around here?)

We've actually been discussing how to 'sass-up' Firefox Friday Five. Interviews with Mozilla developers? Add-on creators? Perhaps we could even get a perspective from competitors -- how does Microsoft intend to combat Firefox? With Chrome and Firefox both being open source and effectively having a shared code base, can either one of them ever be dominant?

Anyway, another quiet week from Mozilla itself, but there's been plenty of news about Firefox -- so let's get going!

1. Firefox for Mobile is coming to Android, thank God

I think we all knew Firefox would come to Android eventually, we were just getting a little nervous -- what with the Nokia/Maemo version being released, and no news of any other version except a stillborn Windows Mobile alpha.

It's still early days for the Android version (it's just a full port of the desktop version at the moment), but one has to assume, with Android taking off and the Google Tablet possibly on its way, that Firefox for Android is now a priority for Mozilla.
2. Firefox 3.5's crown did not last for long -- IE8 overtakes it to become the most popular browser in the world

Only a month ago we were reporting on FF 3.5 being the most-used browser on the Internet! Well, now Microsoft has the pleasure of pinching the crown from Mozilla and perching it atop IE8's head.

The blog post from Microsoft doesn't mention the fact that Firefox 3.6 came out in January, though. But having said that, Firefox relied on the continued deprecation of IE6 and 7 to reach its position at the top! I wonder how long it'll take FF 3.6 to get back to a 20% market share though...

3. Mozilla confirms infected add-ons made it through security to the official Firefox add-ons site

The two add-ons in question -- Sothink Web Video Downloader and Master Filer -- have been found to contain viruses, both of the password-stealing Trojan horse variety. The infection occurrs as soon as the user opens Firefox -- and uninstalling the add-on does not uninstall the virus! Usual virus protection software should detect the infection, though. Mozilla admitted that their malware-scanning software did not pick up the infected add-ons, but they've made changes to ensure they're detected in the future.

This is just proof that no browser is inherently more secure than any other -- it's simply a matter of which browser is attacked by miscreants! It's a classic argument: 'Linux is more secure because only 2% of all computers use it -- and thus only 2% of virus writers'. The same goes for Firefox, and if Opera ever accumulates more than 10 users, it would be the same story.

4. Mozilla Labs want to discover how often we use the menus in Firefox, and how fast we are

I can't remember the last time I used the menu in Firefox -- other than to 'bookmark all tabs' (and you can do that by right-clicking a tab now!) It's even become quite popular to hide the menu with add-ons like Hide Menubar -- perhaps that's why the Firefox menu in 4.0 has been reduced to a single orange button (incidentally, if you haven't tried the Firefox 4.0 theme add-on, you really should.)

Anyway, this study from Mozilla Labs wants to identify how often we use the menu, which buttons we use most, and how long it takes to click those buttons.

I can't actually find a way to take part in the test -- anyone one know how?

5. Because Firefox is for people with a sense of humor: Operetta Advance makes Firefox look like Opera 10.5...

I did say news was a bit thin this week... and so I give you Operetta! It makes Firefox look like Opera 10.5, and it only works on Windows. My windows theme is a dark grey Windows 7 Aero-glass thing, and it goes together very nicely with Operetta!

Ultimately though, there are prettier themes for Firefox (and you can see in the screenshot above, it actually interacts with the Fx4 theme quite well!) Perhaps it's targeted at Opera users to ease the transition to a non-dinosaur browser?

* * *
That's all for this week -- again, if you have any ideas on what you'd like to see in the weekly Firefox column, let us know in the comments.

February Fifth Firefox Friday Five! originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft - Opera - Firefox 3.6 - Mozilla Firefox - Google Chrome

Filed under: Utilities, BlackBerry, Android

Dropbox, a file-storage service that's getting a lot of well-deserved hype for its desktop product and its iPhone app, is expanding to at least two new mobile platforms this year. Android and Blackberry users can look forward to syncing files from their phones to their Dropbox accounts in the near future. With 4 million users already onboard, expanding to new mobile devices could position Dropbox as the leader in the growing cloud-storage-and-syncing space.

An email sent to current Dropbox users announced the two new clients, but didn't give a specific release date for the new "mobile magic." We haven't been able to dig up any more specific info about when you might be able to hold Dropbox in your hot little hands, but Kevin C. Tofel at JKonTheRun speculates that an announcement might be forthcoming at the Mobile World Conference later this month. I'm going to guess that's too soon, considering that Dropbox isn't done hiring Android developers yet, but we'll have to wait and see.

Dropbox bringing file-syncing magic to Android and Blackberry originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone - Android - BlackBerry - Dropbox - Download Squad

Filed under: Internet, E-mail, Social Software

If you hate the Facebook inbox as much as I do, this will come as welcome news; according to TechCrunch, Facebook will soon be launching a full webmail client.

Dubbed Project Titan it will be a full blown mail client similar to Gmail with full POP and IMAP support. According to Michael Arrington your address will be your current Vanity URL @facebook.com.

With 350 million active Facebook users automatically getting a new email address all other webmail services are about to get a monsterous new competitor.

Facebook working on a Gmail competitor originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Facebook - Download Squad - Email client - Gmail - Webmail

Filed under: E-mail, Mozilla

Mozilla finally released version 3 of their Thunderbird desktop email client last December, and they now have their attention focused on a minor bump to 3.1. Last night the first alpha build was made available, and it sports the usual handful of changes and improvements.

Among the tweaks are enhancements to stability and memory usage, better IMAP access, fixes for smart folders, filters, and attachment handling. The Thunderbird interface is also being re-tooled -- so far the changes are fairly subtle.

Thunderbird 3.1 is also dropping support for Windows ME and older as well as Mac OsX prior to 10.4 Tiger. But hey, if you're still running an OS that old you're probably not too concerned with running up-to-date apps either...

Ready to take it for a spin? Testers can download alpha builds for Windows, Mac, and Linux from the Thunderbird early release page.

Mozilla outs Thunderbird 3.1 alpha originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thunderbird - Linux - Mozilla Foundation - Email client - Download Squad

Filed under: Internet, Browsers

Up until today I've been using a dark Firefox theme. It looked quite pretty, but eventually I got tired of not being able to read the black text on some of the dialogs (yes, I've tried tweaking userchrome.css -- multiple times).

So I've set out in search of a lighter theme which would still be nice and minimalistic. Operetta Advance seems to fit the bill perfectly. It's called "Advance" because the same developer also put out a version called just "Operetta," but I couldn't find what makes them different. Naturally, I went for Advance. That's marketing for you.

It's quite elegant, and manages to make even my cluttered Firefox seem a bit more unified. My only gripe with it so far is that the gripper right under the tab bar does nothing. Firefox doesn't have those cool expanding thumbnail-tabs Opera has, so I think it just shouldn't be there.

Operetta Advance is currently experimental, but I warmly recommend it.

Feel free to post your favorite themes below, especially if they're light and minimalistic.

Operetta Advance theme makes Firefox look like Opera 10 originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Firefox - Opera - Download Squad - Mozilla Firefox - browser

Filed under: Fun, Games, Retrocomputing

One Button Bob is a retro Time Waster originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Download Squad - Hovercraft - TimeWaster - Mouse - Kids and Teens

Filed under: Social Software, web 2.0

Facebook has made some minor alterations the layout of its home page, aimed at simplifying your social networking experience. As with the last 5 design changes Facebook has made, this one has riled up users and inspired "bring back the old Facebook" groups. What's to get excited about, though? The changes seem mostly positive to me.

"News Feed" and "Live Feed" have been changed to the more descriptive "Top News" and "Most Recent," notifications have been clustered in a compact space in the top left corner (next to the Facebook logo), and the horizontal navigation at the top of the screen is now in a sidebar on the left of the screen.

Facebook has posted an easy-to-grasp tour of the new layout, in case you're having trouble finding certain features that have been relocated. The only one I find needlessly confusing is the logout button, which is now hiding under the "account" menu in the top right corner. What's the matter, Facebook? Don't want your users to log out?

Facebook simplifies home page layout, inevitable complaining begins originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Facebook - Social network service - Homepage - Social Networking - Online Communities

Filed under: Business, Developer, Apple, iPhone

Sometimes, Apple's decisions about content in the App Store can be petty and anti-competitive -- like asking developers to remove any mention of Android. But sometimes, they make a call that seems to put users first. This time, it's a request that developers use your location to provide useful information, rather than just serving you location-based ads. Here's the text of the warning to developers, posted in Apple's developer forum:

If you build your application with features based on a user's location, make sure these features provide beneficial information. If your app uses location-based information primarily to enable mobile advertisers to deliver targeted ads based on a user's location, your app will be returned to you by the App Store Review Team for modification before it can be posted to the App Store.'

Developers might balk at the removal of a possible cheap and easy revenue stream, but I think Apple is doing the right thing, here. Apps like Foursquare and Gowalla, which allow business to advertise specials, should be unaffected, because they also your location for checking in, finding your friends, and other important game elements. The kind of app being targeted here has no reason to know where you are except to show you ads, and I can get behind Apple trying to block that use of the feature.

Marshall Kirkpatrick at ReadWriteWeb actually seems pretty angry about the situation. His point is that if an app is going to show you ads, whether it has location-based features or not, it should be allowed to show you local ads. Marshall seems to balk more at the idea that Apple wants to decide what constitutes "beneficial information." I agree that Apple may have worded that part of the warning artlessly, but I think what they mean is "non-advertising information."

What do you think, Download Squad readers? I'd especially love to get an iPhone developer's perspective on the situation.

Apple issues warning about location-based ads in iPhone apps originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AppStore - IPhone - Apple - Gowalla - Foursquare

Filed under: Business, web 2.0

Apparently a small-time business in NYC called "Oh Nuts" claims Google paid them a visit and asked to take photos inside the store every six feet (that's every two meters for the rest of us), a-la Street View. They took photos of the aisles and of actual products.

Google say they're just experimenting and are not making any statements (how surprising), but still, it's an interesting prospect. If implemented on a broad scale, will it mean shopkeepers would have to keep their shelves super-neat until the Street View team comes along?

What if they decide to stop carrying a product? And if they've changed things around and decide they want the photos taken again?

I think the only way this can work is as a paid advertising service, with Google hiring out their photographers -- but then it would probably only be available in major cities. Still, I kind of like the idea because it sounds like something which could give the small guys a better chance and some exposure in their perpetual fight against big-time retailers.

[Via: Search Engine Land]

Google Street View to let you walk into shops soon? originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google - Google Street View - Download Squad - StreetView - Search Engine Land