The Download Blog

As expected, Mozilla Labs released a Firefox plug-in Tuesday called Geode that lets Web sites figure out a person's approximate geographic location and use it in online services--as long as you grant the software permission to access the information.

Geode, a preview of technology to arrive in Firefox 3.1, taps into technology called Loki from Skyhook that deduces a computer's location from the signals of nearby wireless networks, according to a Mozilla Labs blog post on Geode.

To show the technology off, Mozilla shared an application called Food Finder that shows the user's approximate location and nearby dining establishments. Others that work with the technology are Pownce, a microblogging site that can record users' locations as they post notes or photos, and Yahoo's Fire Eagle, which lets users govern which applications get access to their location information.

There's one thing I find interesting about the general thrust of this technology. The Internet has broken down geographic barriers, letting people stay in touch with high school buddies, tap into a global market for used books, and find comrades with shared interests such as speaking Latin or photographing mating insects.

But a lot of new work on the Net is trying to unlock the location information. After all, people often need to keep from getting lost or to find their friends at the concert. And of course, plenty of advertisers would like to target ads at people who are likely to walk past a storefront.

Although Geode today uses Skyhook's service, Firefox 3.1 will be configurable to select other options as well, such as a GPS device, Mozilla said.

The Food Finder demonstration application showed my location, almost, with a blue dot, and nearby pastry shops listed at Yelp.

(Credit: CNET News)

Mozilla envisions more than just more intelligent online maps. Its other examples: local news based on where a person actually is located, a Web site log-in process that only works if a person is at a specific location, and an RSS feed reader that changes what subscriptions it shows users depending on whether they're at work or home.

Web designers who want to take advantage of the feature can use the W3C's Geolocation Specification, currently in draft form.

Geode asks permission before letting a Web site use your geographic information.

(Credit: CNET News)

Everything is a small software application that bypasses Windows search with a lightning quick interface and real-time results. It hits all of the files and folders in your local hard drive, or you can specify any subsection of it. The software doesn't do much more than search, but its efficiency, effectiveness, stability, and low system resource usage make it a keeper utility.

The software is split into two main controls: the search box and the results page. When you first run Everything, it will create an index of all the files and folders on your machine. Unless you have millions of files, the index will be created before you know it. Searching is done in real time, as you type--i.e. the search term "rad" returns 379 objects, "radio" returns 160, and "radiohead" returns 71, all instantly.

The results screen can display seven different fields: Name, Path, Size, Last Write Time, Creation Time, Last Access Time, and Attributes. Sorting by any field takes a little longer than searching, but only slows down noticeably when you sort more than 1,000 results.

Everything also lets users connect to HTTP, FTP, or ETP (Everything Transfer Protocol) servers to allow remote searches, but its functionality is mostly singular--searching your local PC very quickly with minimal resources, and it accomplishes that well. If you've never struggled with Windows search before, you might pass Everything by. If your computer is a disorganized mess with files all over the place, Everything might be a wonderful gift.

Several major changes have been implemented in the latest upgrade to the open-source freeware called The GNU Image Manipulation Program. Known as The GIMP, these changes include some midlevel user interface adjustments and improvements to several tools. Version 2.6.0 is also the first release that attempts to integrate GEGL, a graph-based image processing framework that allows for non-destructive image editing.

The GIMP 2.6 implements 32-bit color support via GEGL.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

The GEGL integration is mostly a back-end change with a tentative implementation. In other words, the bugs are not necessarily all worked out. As such, it is not turned on as a default. You can use it in two places. Its color operations can be activated in the Colors menu by clicking Use GEGL. This will enact color changes in 32-bit floating point linear light RGBA, as opposed to the standard 8-bit.

The second option for exploring GEGL in GIMP 2.6 is the GEGL Operation tool. The technical explanation is that this applies GEGL operations to an image, with on-canvas previews of your edits. When you select the tool, it will give you a list of about two dozen global edits you can make to an image, including Gaussian blur, adding noise, and sharpening, all supported by the nondestructive GEGL code.

Although it worked fine when I tried adding noise, it crashed when I tried using the c2g grayscale tool.

Two tools have been improved. The Free Select tool now supports polygonal segments, as well as mixing those segments with freehand selections, and editing a selection area. The GIMP's changelog states that the free select tools is one of the most versatile in their toolbox, and I'm inclined to agree. Users can now map different brush parameters, such as size or opacity to pressure or velocity, using Brush Dynamics. This should result in better responsiveness to tablet input.

Interface changes include integrating the Toolbox menu bar with the Image Window menu bar, cutting down on clutter. You now can pan beyond an image border, too. There's also an option for quickly reopening recently closed docks--not a major change, but a useful one nonetheless.

The GIMP 2.6 has not yet been ported to the Mac. Full release notes can be read here.

My colleague Peter Butler recently wrote about Everything, a small, ancient-looking app that searches your files and folders with real-time results. He asked what other tiny but mighty apps you use day-to-day, and two of you responded with Tidy Mail and StripMail, both petite programs that are used to erase funky formatting and characters from e-mail messages, mostly forwarded.

Tidy Mail is old-school, but still has its uses as a simple, effective tool for banishing e-mail clutter.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Surely these stand-alone desktop applications are far too passé to remain useful? Yes and no. StripMail and Tidy Mail are old-school, but the freeware cleanup apps may still come in handy if you're the type who can't stand to forward a muddled message and find yourself reformatting by hand.

Not that the apps aren't aching for modernizing features, but we'll get to that a little later. In the meantime, let's start with Tidy Mail.

To use Tidy Mail, copy the offending text and paste it into the application using hot keys or by pressing the 'Paste' button. Then click 'Tidy' to remove all '>' characters, extra line spacing, and superfluous tabs and spaces. There's another button to copy the text back to the Clipboard for future pasting. Tidy Mail leaves all hyperlinks be and unfortunately does not wipe out extra characters such as '#' and '!'.

StripMail works quickly to clear out additional unwanted characters.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

StripMail, on the other hand, is slightly more advanced. In addition to the 'Paste' and 'Copy' buttons, it can remove '>' marks and close line gaps individually, or can reformat all at once when you click 'Do it all.' StripMail clears up other characters in addition to the typical offenders, and can be used to add the indentation carets back in (though we can't imagine wanting to use this.) While still basic, StripMail's all-in-one button and the ability to clear additional characters gives it the lead between the two programs.

Tidy Mail and StripMail would both benefit from a companion (or replacement) browser plug-in that would let you clean up Web mail without having to open a separate app and copy/paste Web mail text back and forth. They could also use an Undo button. Still, the programs are free, quick, and fairly painless to have around when you're motivated to clean up some character-riddled text.

Open-source freeware alternative to Microsoft Office, OpenOffice.org, has released the third release candidate of its next major-point upgrade for Windows and Mac. The full version of OpenOffice.org 3 is due next week, so it's extremely doubtful there will be any major changes from this point on.

While Sun Microsystems is making sure that all its T's are crossed and I's are dotted, OpenOffice 3 Release Candidate 3 offers quite a few new features, including much-needed support for Office 2007 file types, Microsoft Access database support, a multipage view in MS Word-analog Writer, nearly unlimited character support in sheet names, Google Doc-style collaborative editing of a single spreadsheet simultaneously, and a refreshed interface.

The full changelog can be read here.

Compromised computers that send spam as part of their regular botnet activity increased dramatically in September, according to a Symantec study (PDF) released Monday.

The Symantec report follows a study from MessageLabs also illustrating the increased use of automated spam relays.

After seeing a 37 percent drop in botnet-related spam for August, Symantec reported a 101 percent increase in September. The growth appears to be focused in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, with South Korea experiencing the largest increase at 4,236 percent. It was followed by Kazakhstan (761 percent), Romania (607 percent), Saudi Arabia (555 percent), and Vietnam (540 percent).

Compromised PCs sending spam had been part of the background noise until recently, when their usage surged in September.

(Credit: Symantec)

In looking for a reason behind the one-month increase, Symantec speculated it had something to do with the increase in e-mail with sensationalistic news headlines that included links to downloadable malware. These include malicious spam campaigns emulating e-mail from CNN and MSNBC.

Turkey topped the list of countries hosting spam-sending compromised PCs, responsible for 12 percent of such traffic, according to Symantec. It was followed by Brazil (9 percent), Russia (8 percent), the U.S. (6 percent), India (6 percent), China (6 percent), Germany (5 percent), Argentina (4 percent), Poland (4 percent), and Thailand (3 percent).

Excuse Me Services (creators of Dial Directions) has finally made available its Say Where iPhone application which lets users search several popular Web services using just their voice. The tool was originally shown off at DemoFall back in early September, and it's taken this long to go through Apple's certification process.

Its big feature is that you can search Google Maps, Yellowpages.com, Yelp, and Traffic.com without having to use the iPhone's often times challenging on-screen keyboard. You simply talk into the microphone and it converts your speech into a search query. There's location awareness, so once the phone pinpoints where you are it will narrow what it's searching for. You can also have it start and end in different locations, which can be set by simply speaking into the microphone.

The one big problem I found with the application was the quality of the voice recognition. It managed to pick up city names just fine, but out of five attempts at specific addresses it only succeeded once, and it was on some very basic words like "center" and "main." I had far better luck simply saying intersections, which it pulled in with ease. It seems when you mix in numbers and street names it gets a little overwhelmed. It's also worth mentioning that I was doing this in a quiet part of an office building, which means it's going to have a harder time if you're out on a busy street.

Another issue is that this app requires too many button presses to make it worthwhile over a simple type-in search. It's been designed as a way to alleviate the need to pay attention to what you're doing, but you still need to go through two or three menus before you get to your result, which usually requires firing up another application--be it Safari or Google Maps. Ideally, you could set it to automatically jump to the recording with just one click after it's been launched, then open up those pages with an in-app maps tool or Webkit browser.

I filmed a quick demo of me using it below. You can also check out the official video here.

Photoshop Elements 7 prominently promotes Adobe's Photoshop.com online service.

Adobe Systems has begun shipping its enthusiast-oriented Photoshop Elements 7 image-editing software and Premiere Elements 7 video-editing software--and is offering a promotion to try to lure users to its online Photoshop.com site as well.

The Elements software costs $99.99 each or $149.99 as a bundle. New with this version, Adobe also is offering a $179.99 price that includes a one-year Photoshop.com Plus membership. Ordinarily, a Photoshop.com Plus subscription costs $49.99 a year, so you're basically getting a $20 price break, at least until the time comes to renew for another year.

Photoshop.com offers tutorials, online albums for backing up and sharing your shots, and access to the Photoshop Express online editing tool. The free basic version comes with 2GB of storage, and the Plus level comes with 20GB of storage.

Pricing isn't the only promotion. CNET reviewer Lori Grunin found it annoying how prominently Elements touts the online option in the software itself.

Over the weekend, Google rolled out a brand-new look for its Spreadsheets tool by adding a simplified toolbar to the top of the page, much like the one Google Docs received back in late March. The change is twofold: one to better organize all the various bits and pieces that had turned the tool into something resembling an airplane cockpit, as well as ready it for additional features.

All this isn't just cosmetic ,though; Google says overall speed has been improved, too. One of the things that's kept me away from using it all these years is that Excel absolutely kills it on larger spreadsheets. In a quick test on some older, large spreadsheets I really did notice a big difference, although it still has to stream in all your cells, whereas Excel is ready to go as soon as you open it.

Google Spreadsheets users now have a similar menu to the one in Google Docs, which compacts many of the options into menus for the sake of organization.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Something small, but really important is the inclusion of a full screen mode. Hitting Ctrl+Shift+F lets you cycle through two additional views, one that gets rid of the menu bar, and another that gets rid of both the menu bar and toolbar. If you're working on a laptop with a small vertical resolution this gives you an additional seven rows(!).

Google has also more deeply integrated its Calendaring tool and handling of URLs within its forms tool. You can now plan a meeting with people you're collaborating on a spreadsheet with right from the share menu. This simply opens up a Google Calendar event with the participants, subject, and link to the spreadsheet automatically filled in for you. Likewise, any URL you drop in forms or the form confirmation messages will get converted into links automatically. Previously users would have to copy and paste it into their address bar.

All these changes may be small, but like the change to Docs back in March, it's a fascinating shift. Considering Google's Chrome browser lets you run tools like Docs and Spreadsheets as standalone Web applications, the closer it gets to feeling like software people are used to, the more willing they'll be to try it out. The big question is how far Google is willing to go with this new interface to make it better.

The iPhone app Fring--which acts as a VoIP client for Skype and other Internet phone networks, as well as a voice and chat interface into IM networks like AIM and Yahoo--is now available for free to everyone.

Previously, it only ran on "jailbroken" iPhones, severely limiting its audience.

Fring places calls on cellular or VoIP networks.

(Credit: Fring)

On the iPhone, Fring can read both your IM and Skype buddy lists, as well as the contacts in your phone's address book. And when you select a contact, you get the option of calling him or her by SIP call, Skype, or standard cellular. VoIP calls obviously don't count against your cellular minutes, but you do need to have a Wi-Fi connection to make the calls.

The biggest challenge for Fring users is that when the app is not actively running in the foreground on your phone, it can't notify you of incoming calls or chats or indicate your presence to buddies. Apple has yet to provide background notification capability to iPhone developers, although we keep hearing it will be in an upcoming release.

Although all iPhone communication apps remain hobbled until background processing is available, Fring does appear to be the most capable voice and text chat app there is for the device, and it's well worth installing.

Fring is also available for several other mobile platforms.

See also: Palringo.