iconics

Facebook has just made it easier to announce same-sex marriages on the social network by providing icons analogous to the ones heterosexual couples have long used.

The social network has long offered newlyweds a special bride-and-groom "cake topper" icon to include in their timeline to accentuate their announcement, but not all weddings are accurately represented by a bride and groom icon. With that in mind, Facebook this weekend rolled out new groom-groom and bride-bride icons to represent same-sex unions.

One of the first appearances of the new icons was with the wedding announcement of Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes … Read more

Despite their name, icons tend to be unappreciated, at least in Windows. But it's ridiculously easy to replace most icons with new (and better) ones, or add icons for specific uses (like the program your cell phone uses to talk to your PC). We're big fans of icon sets for Windows -- even more so when the icons are free. We recently came across a set of 343 high-quality Metro Style icons for Windows from VisualPharm, a developer dedicated to beautifying the Windows user interface. It's a simple download; just a compressed set of icons and an … Read more

Most Web sites changes frequently, and it's sometimes useful to know what these changes consist of. SiteDelta is an extension for Firefox that can identify changes made to a Web page since your last visit and even tell you what the previous version of the page said.

Like most Firefox extensions, SiteDelta requires a browser restart to finish installation. Once installed, the extension appeared as a delta symbol (a triangle) in Firefox's status bar. Click the icon and the extension will scan the page; come back later, click it again, and SiteDelta will highlight all changes that have … Read more

Looking for a way to access your favorite Windows applications and files quickly? Well, Qsel from Horst Schaeffer's Software Pages just might be the app for you. The simple tool, which is both free and portable, is capable of creating an unlimited number of categories with individualized launcher window settings.

Qsel, which can also be used for documents and other file types, needs no installation. Just extract it and it's ready to go. The tool has a very simple interface that is easy to understand. All you need to do is drag and drop apps or files to … Read more

If you like to use fun or attractive images as your desktop wallpaper but hate the way they look when they're cluttered with desktop icons, try AutoHideDesktopIcons. This simple utility easily displays your desktop icons when needed and keeps them hidden the rest of the time.

AutoHideDesktopIcons minimizes to the system tray when not in use, and clicking its icon brings up a simple interface with a series of check boxes and radio buttons. Users can specify whether they want the program to start with Windows, always start minimized, always be on top, or to hide the taskbar; this … Read more

Google has added a new setting to your Gmail account, which allows you to revert back to text buttons, instead of the icon-style buttons found in Gmail after the redesign.

To revert from icon buttons back to the familiar text buttons, log in to your Gmail account and navigate to Mail settings (gear icon in top-right corner > Mail settings).

Under the General tab, there will be a new option titled Button labels. Change the setting to Text, then save your changes at the bottom of the page.

Easy-enough change, right? Gmail users should have the setting available for them … Read more

Gmail, as long as I can remember, has always displayed a paperclip icon next to the date/time of an e-mail indicating a file is attached to that particular e-mail. While the basic indicator of an attachment is great, it would be nice to have a heads up of what kind of file is attached, especially if you are expecting a specific type of document from someone. With a Chrome extension called Attachment Icons for Gmail, getting alerted to type of file attached is possible.

Visit the Chrome Web Store to install the extension; it's free and … Read more

Sometimes we encounter desktop enhancements that change things that we never realized anyone could want or need to change. This is the case with Drive Icon Changer, which will change the icon associated with your various drives when you view them in My Computer.

We get the feeling that anyone who really wanted to do this could figure it out without the help of software, and it seems to us that the real purpose of Drive Icon Changer is to direct traffic to the creator's blog and Twitter account. But if you really do need a quick way to … Read more

Google announced today that people's searches can be saved via Google.com across several devices using a new "recent" icon. This new software aims to help people who search for a restaurant, shop, or other information on their computer to see that same search on their smartphone or any other Web-ready device.

"We provide this new convenience feature for users who have Web History enabled and are logged into Google when doing their search," Google software engineer Junichi Uekawa wrote in a blog post today. "Next time you are heading to a place you … Read more