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Google adorns home page with Nexus One ad

There's a delightful song in Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life" called "Every Sperm is Sacred."

That's how people used to feel about every Google home page. Google.com paid homage to everything pure and noncommercial in the world.

No more Mr. Pure Guy. For no sooner had Google launched its shiveringly competent foray into mobile telephony than up popped a little ad on the altar that used to represent the tabernacle of all things Google.

Please look and ponder how the world has turned. Not only is Google advertising its new phone … Read more

Zip multiple pages into one

If you're annoyed by short articles spread over multiple Web pages, Firefox add-on PageZipper will "zip" them into one seamless experience. It will automatically load the next page in a series of links, right below the existing page. It's almost like you have a second tab open, right below the screen you're viewing.

It's not a perfect system, and relies heavily on publishers formatting their content a certain way. For instance, if you're looking at a Flash- or JavaScript-powered slideshow of photos, it won't work. However, to get standard links to open … Read more

Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White turn it up to '11'

"It Might Get Loud" is definitely one of the best rock documentaries I've seen in a while. Thankfully, it doesn't have a narrator spouting somber lines about the importance of it all. You don't have to suffer through inserted clips of celebrities and other musicians babbling about how great Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White are.

The filmmakers cover the three guitar greats individually doing their things, but the film is at its best when the musicians get together on a film sound stage to talk shop and jam.

There's a great little … Read more

It's deja vu all over again

The DjVu file format was created to provide a lightweight way to digitize information stored in traditional hard-copy formats. Scans and other digital images can be stored at a high resolution using DjVu without the prohibitively large files sizes that come along with formats like JPEG, GIF, and PNG. Because the DjVu format isn't particularly common, users sometimes need to convert DjVu files to a more accessible file type. And that's where STDU Converter Lite comes in.

This is one of the smallest and simplest applications we've ever seen, and it does one very specific thing; it … Read more

iWork & iWeb unexpectedly quit after upgrading to Mac OS X 10.6.2

Users may find that after upgrading to Mac OS X 10.6.2, Pages, Keynote, Numbers, and iWeb unexpectedly quit during use. Apple has released a knowledge base article that suggests the issue could be related to the font database. Apple recommends removing that database to clear the issue.… Read more

Orangutan takes photos, shares them on Facebook

She's like the Ashton Kutcher of the ape world: an orangutan in the Vienna Zoo now has a Facebook fan page to showcase the photos she takes with a digital camera. The orangutan, named Nonja, uses a Samsung ST 1000 point-and-shoot that automatically uploads the photos.

When this post was published, Nonja had over 9,000 "fans" subscribed to her page.

But there's a catch: coverage of the camera-toting ape in the U.K.'s Daily Mail explains that the camera has been modified to dispense a raisin whenever the shutter button is pushed. So Nonja … Read more

Ad-zapping toolbar

So, another Internet Explorer add-on toolbar...but wait! Quero Toolbar is different: It's actually worth using. For starters, it's not like those spyware "toolbars" that continue to plague unprotected PCs and careless users. Quero Toolbar is actually designed to block pop-ups, flash animations, and other ad-related annoyances that can spoil your browsing. It also integrates a search-as-you-type function, easily selectable search engines and international profiles, a highlighter, easy zoom and resize, security options, and much more.

Quero Toolbar installs seamlessly with all versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 and above. The Quero button on the navigation … Read more

Block all ads

One of the best known and simplest Firefox add-ons, AdBlock Plus effectively blocks online ads from a predefined list of ad providers. You can quickly personalize that list by clicking on the AdBlock Plus "stop sign" button it installs on either your navigation toolbar or your status bar. Adblock Plus runs unobtrusively in the background, and right-clicking an ad brings up message box, through which you can easily add to the list of blocked ads. Removing an ad from the blocked list also is as simple as clicking and choosing the appropriate option. Via the same list, you … Read more

Podcast: One-stop online shopping for public assistance

In this tough economic period, more people are relying on some type of public assistance. However, getting information about what programs are available can be daunting. And even if you can access the information online, it typically requires going to numerous sites and filling out multiple applications.

The Oakland, Calif.-based Center to Promote HealthCare Access is trying to make the process easier with its new OneEApp service. OneEApp, which stands for One Electronic Application, is designed to provide a one-stop service to help people discover and apply for multiple benefit programs.

The service, according to director Claudia Page, is … Read more