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Xobni Releases Enterprise Solution for Outlook Users

Paul Lilly — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:45:03 -0600

We first covered Xobni's plugin for Microsoft Outlook in our '20 Essential Tricks Every Outlook Users Needs to Know,' and apparently we weren't the only ones impressed with it. Xobni has notched over 3 million downloads in its belt and has drawn the attention of IT managers interested in deploying the plugin to their employees. They're about to get their wish.

"We're announcing Xobni Enterprise, our second revenue-generating product in three months," Hozer stated in a blog entry. "Xobni Enterprise consists of a web-based admin portal that allows IT administrators to easily control, customize, and deploy Xobni across their organization."

According to Xobni CEO Jeff Bonforte, Xobni, or 'Inbox' spelled backwards, is already being used by employees in 80 percent of Fortune 500 companies. Xobni Enterprise will make it easier for those and other businesses to deploy and manage the plugin through a Web-based portal. Customers will also be able to add their own custom extensions.

Xobni Enterprise is available now "with pricing options to fit the needs of any business."

Image Credit: Xobni

20 Essential Tricks Every Outlook User Needs to Know

Paul Lilly — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:00:00 -0500

Are you stuck using Outlook at work? We feel your pain. Compared to the alternatives, like Mozilla's light-weight and customizable Thunderbird client, Outlook is slow, bloaty, and downright unwieldy. Add to the fact that it isn't free and Outlook doesn't appear to have much going for it.

But whether you use Outlook because you have to or have grown accustomed to its interface and are reluctant to switch (or maybe you just want to justify the cost of Microsoft Office), we have some tricks to help you manage your email and contacts like a pro. After all, if you're going to use Outlook, no matter what the reason, you might as well get the most out of it, and we're here to help you do just that.

Live on the Edge: Access Blocked Attachments

When it comes to security, we don't condone throwing caution to the wind, and so we're content to let Outlook block file types it deems potentially harmful. But maybe you have a legitimate reason for wanting to receive .txt and .exe file attachments, or maybe you'd rather rely on your own good sense rather than let Outlook make that judgment call for you. No matter what the reason, you can configure Outlook to let through any file types you specify, just be warned that by doing so, you're also making it a little easier for malware writers to gain access to your machine. if you're okay with that, then keep reading.

You'll need to dip inside your system's registry, so if you're running Vista or Windows 7, bring up the Start menu and type Regedit. XP users can get there by going to Start>Run and typing in Regedit.

Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Security if you're using Outlook 2007. Outlook 2003 and 2002 users will navigate to the same general location, but instead of 12.0, change the folder to 11.0 and 10.0, respectively.

In the right-hand pane, right-click and select New>String value and name it Level1Remove. Finally, double-click the new string and in the Value data field, enter the file extensions you wish to allow, separating the entries by a semicolon.

For the change(s) to take effect, you'll need to close and re-launch Outlook. Once you do, you'll be able to receive whatever types of file attachments you indicated above. Just be warned that you're now more susceptible to malware, so be absolutely certain the file you're downloading is legit. It also doesn't hurt to scan any downloads with your antivirus program.

Integrate Your Twitter Account

One of the great things about Twitter from a usability standpoint is its ability to be updated from a multitude of sources, and Outlook is no exception. The integration comes courtesy of TwInbox (formerly known as OutTwit), which allows you keep your followers in the loop, 140 characters at a time.

To use it, download the free plug-in here and install it. The next time you fire up Outlook, you'll see the TwInbox toolbar added to your client. Click on the TwInbox pulldown menu and select options, then enter in your Twitter account credentials.

Before hitting the OK button, be sure to configure the other tabs as well. Under the Receiving tab, for example, you can setup TwInbox to place incoming Twitter messages in whatever folder you want, as well as assign color categories to new messages. If you're a heavy Twitter user, you may want to have TwInbox fetch new messages every minute -- the shortest interval available -- or once every hour if you're a casual user. You can also have TwInbox automatically shorten URLs with TinyURL, though we'd prefer if the service used bit.ly instead.

When you're ready to post a new update, just punch the New button and type in your message (you can add pics this way too). In the upper-right corner, you'll see how many characters you have remaining. Pretty slick, eh?

Archive Old Mail on Your Own Terms

Every once in awhile, Outlook will offer to auto-archive your old email items, but if you take the time to do this yourself, you can keep those old files infinitely more organized than Outlook is able to do on its own.

But why even archive email in the first place? If you don't, Outlook's Personal Folders (PST) file will continue to expand, kind of like Jabba the Hutt left unattended at an all-you-can-eat buffet. As the PST file grows in size, Outlook may start to feel sluggish. The rate at which this happens depends on your emailing habits, but whether your a light or heavy email user, at some point, Outlook will lose its initial pep.

Your best course of action is to setup an annual or bi-annual archive. Or if you're a regular chatty Cathy, a monthly archive may better suit you. No matter what the interval, the basic steps will be the same. To get started, click on File and select Data File Management. Next, click on the Add button and choose the desired format (stick with the default if using Outlook 2007). Click OK and give your archive a name, like '2008' or 'Jan-June _2008.' For that warm fuzzy feeling, go ahead and password protect your new archive when prompted.

You should now see two entries in the Data File Management window. Go ahead and close the window because we're now ready to start archiving items to our newly created PST file. One way to do this is by dragging and dropping individual mail items to the newly created entry under Mail Folders. Depending on much email you need to move, this can take a long time.

A better way to move old files is by navigating to File>Archive. Check the 'Archive this folder and all subfolders' radio button if it isn't already. Next, highlight the folder you want to archive (or your entire Inbox), specify the appropriate date in the 'Archive items older than' pulldown menu, and click the browse button to select your newly created archive file and punch OK.

Houston, we have a problem! You followed the above steps, but your original PST file (which you can find by navigating to C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook) is just as large now as it was before you archived all your email. What the flip?

This isn't cause for concern, it just means Outlook's automatic background compaction hasn't kicked in yet. Part of what this does is reclaim the empty space in your PST file and give it back to your hard drive. But if you don't feel like waiting, or if you have waited and there's still no change, you can tell Outlook to get to work. Just go back in the Data File Management window, double-click the PST file, and select Compact Now. Once again, be patient, because depending on the initial file size, this could take awhile.

Securely Sign Your Emails with a Digital ID

It's not at all difficult for hackers to impersonate you by spoofing your email address and sending out emails that appear to come from you. Luckily, there's something you can do about it to give your recipients some peace of mind that, hey, this email is the real deal. To do that, you need a Digital ID.

You can think of a Digital ID as sort of an electronic driver's license. The digital certificate, which is verified by a trusted third party, tells the recipient that you are who you claim to be. Anyone can get one, and to get yours, navigate to Tools>Trust Center. Highlight Email Security in the left-hand column and then click the 'Get a Digital ID' button.

This brings up the Digital ID page on Microsoft's Office Marketplace website, which can be a little overwhelming. You can research the available options on your own, or follow our lead and head straight over to InstantSSL by Comodo. It's free, while most of the alternatives are not.

After filling out the online form, you'll receive a verification email (ours showed up almost instantly) alerting you that your digital signature is ready for collection. Click the included hyperlink to download and install the certificate.

Now we need to import the certificate into Outlook, but the steps will be slightly different depending on which browser you used to retrieve it. Firefox users will navigate to Tools>Options>Advanced and bring up the Encryption tab. Click on the View Certificates button, highlight your certificate, and click the Backup button to save it to your hard drive. If you're an IE user, click on Tools>Internet Options and bring up the Content tab. Click on the Certificates button, then press Export and follow the prompts.

To import your certificate into Outlook, fire up your email client and navigate back to Tools>Trust Center>Email Security. Click the Import/Export button, then punch the Browse button to locate the certificate on your hard drive. Fill in the appropriate fields and you'll all finished!

If you want Outlook to use your digital ID every time you send out an email, navigate once again to Tools>Trust Center>Email Security and click the 'Add digital signature to outgoing messages' check box. This can slow things down, so you may opt to only digitally sign emails when the need arises, such as firing off an important email to your boss or co-conspirator for world domination. To manually add a digital ID on an as-needed basis, click on Options in the email you're composing. Expand the More Options section on the right-hand side, mash the Security Settings button, then check the 'Add digital signature to this message.' When you fire off the email, the recipient can check the digital ID and verify that it really came from you!

Configure Sent Messages to Automatically 'Reply to All'

Maybe you're coaching junior's basketball team and you're trying to organize a fundraiser with all the parents. Or perhaps you're attempting to carry on a group conversation with your co-workers on an important project. These are just a couple of scenarios in which it's helpful if the recipients remember to hit 'Reply to All' when responding to emails, but there's always one knucklehead who doesn't follow protocol. It's not that he's trying to be difficult, he just hit the wrong button.

You can prevent this from happening by forcing all replies to reach every recipient. Here's what you need to do. Compose a new email message, but before sending it on its way, click the Options button. In the toolbar, you'll see a button that says 'Direct Replies To' (Outlook 2007). Click on it.

Check the 'Have replies sent to' check box and then mash the Select Names button. Select the names from your Address book, or enter them in manually in the Reply To field at the bottom.

As a point of good etiquette, you should let the recipients know that you've configured email replies be sent to the entire group, even though this should be obvious when they click the Reply button. This will prevent Bob from revealing potentially embarrassing tidbits about his date with Sally to the entire group when he thinks he's only communicating with you!

Create a Custom View

You'll spend hours tweaking your system's settings in the BIOS, even if you spend most of your time surfing the web. And the same holds true when it comes to finding the best overclocking settings for your GPU, even if the end result only nets you a few extra frames per second in your favorite shooter. So why not spend a little time customizing Outlook? After all, assuming you keep the client running all day, you'll log a considerable amount of time staring at its unwieldy interface during any given work week.

To begin molding Outlook's UI to better suit your style, click on View>Current View>Define Views. In the pop-up that appears, press New to create a new view and give it a name. This is also where you'll choose your template (Table, Timeline, Card, Business Card, Day/Week/Month, Icon) depending on what you're trying to customize. You can use any template you want, but if you're customizing your mail window, you'll probably want to stick with the Table template unless you're shooting for a funky layout.

The next order of business is to arrange the layout by different categories. These are pretty self-explanatory. In the Fields section, for example, you'll see a list of available fields you can add to your view (as well as remove them) with the click of a button. You can also arrange in what order these fields are shown.

One particularly interesting section is the Filter field. This can come in especially handy if, say, you're on vacation and want to avoid the temptation to check work emails and be reminded of everything that awaits you after you return from the Bahamas. You can setup filters so that only email sent to your personal address shows up in the inbox, while email to your work addy stays hidden.

Another field you may want to pay attention to is Automatic Formatting. It's in here where you can customize the appearance of certain messages where you're listed as a recipient, but in the CC or BCC fields. If you tend to be copied on a lot of emal that's usually of low interest to you, use this field to divert your attention to emails that are more likely in need of your attention.

You won't find the option by default, so press the Add button, which brings up an untitled check box. Give it a name, such as 'To Me' or 'Not Copied.' To make these emails stand out from the rest, click the Font button and change the color.

Next, click the Condition button, which brings up another pop-up window. Check the 'Where I am' check box and choose 'the only person on the To line' in the accompanying pull-down menu.

Backup, Transfer, and Manage Your AutoComplete List

Over time, Outlook becomes pretty adept at predicting who it is you're trying to email and can usually accurately guess the recipient based on a single keystroke. This saves a ton of time, particularly if one of your frequent contacts has a long and convoluted email addy and you'd rather not poke around your address book. But there's a problem. As power users, we frequently find ourselves upgrading hardware and reinstalling Windows, which means the entire learning process starts anew. Or does it?

Whether dealing with a fresh Windows install or transferring your Outlook DNA to another machine, you can bring your auto-complete info along for the ride, but you won't find it in your PST file. Instead, this info lays hidden in a separate NK2 file.

To find it, you first need to close Outlook. Once you do that, navigate to C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Outlook. If you're having trouble locating the directory, check to see that you've allowed Windows to show hidden files and folders (Control Panel>Appearance and Personalization and click on 'Show hidden files and folders' under Folder Options). Alternately, bring up the Start menu and type %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Outlook (Start>Run if you're using XP).

Once you've located the NK2 file, simply copy it over to a USB key and then transfer it to the same directory on the destination PC or when you reinstall Windows!

Of course, Outlook doesn't always correctly guess who you're trying to email, and that can be frustrating when you're in a hurry. Not only that, but should one of your contacts switch email addresses or drop off the face of the earth, you'll want to delete their AutoComplete info. Unfortunately, the only way to do that is to begin typing their name and when it appears, press the down arrow to highlight the entry and the DEL key to nuke it. This can be time consuming if you have a lot of contacts to update, and Outlook doesn't allow you to edit the NK2 file. Luckily, there's someone who does

Nir Sofer's lightweight N2KView executable, which you can download here, displays the email records stored in Outlooks AutoComplete file. Just fire up the app, then proceed to delete any AutoComplete entries that are outdated. You can also use this handy utility to add items from your Address Book, and as an alternative way to backup and restore Outlook's AutoComplete file. You'll find all these options in the File menu.

Intercept Sent Emails!

Image Credit: masternewmedia.org

After composing that long winded email to your boss letting him know exactly where he can stick that Jelly-of-the-Month Club membership you received instead of a Christmas bonus, you probably felt better, right up until you accidentally hit the Send button out of habit. Or maybe you sent sensitive information to the wrong contact and realized it a second too late. There are several scenarios in which you might wish Outlook had an Unsend button -- such as noticing a typo after the fact -- but that's just not how the Internet works.

That doesn't mean you're completely out of luck, however. You've probably heard the saying, 'An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,' and in this case, we're going to show you how to prevent scenarios like the above using Outlook's Defer rule.

Outlook's Defer rule places a temporary hold on all outgoing messages, so while you still can't unsend email that's already been thrust into the Internet, this will give you a short window to backtrack when you're not having one of your better days. To get started, click on Tools>Rules and Alerts.

Next, click on New Rule... to bring up the Rules Wizard window and highlight 'check messages after sending,' and then click on Next. This will bring up the Conditions window, which is where you'll indicate when you want this rule to take effect. Ignore all the check boxes and just click on Next if you want to defer all sent messages, otherwise go ahead and specify under what conditions you want your sent mail to have a temporary hold.

You should now be at the 'Select action' window, which is pretty self explanatory. Mark the very last check box that reads 'defer delivery by a number of minutes.' At the bottom under Step 2, click the hyperlink to bring up the Deferred Delivery window, and then change the number of deferred minutes to however long you want (we recommend anywhere from 3-5 minutes).

Click Next to setup any exceptions, such as when emails are marked as "importance" or several other options. Hit Next one more time, give your rule a name, and press the Finish button. Now the next time you goof up when sending an email, you can nuke the message from your Outbox and pretend the whole thing never happened!

Bug the Crap Out of Co-Workers With Polls

We'll assume you have a legitimate reason for wanting to send your fellow workers a poll, and just so we're clear, spamming the office with asinine questions is not a good reason. But let's say you've been put in charge of narrowing down a group gift for Harold's upcoming retirement, or are trying to decide which watering hole you and your co-workers are going to meet up at after work. So long as all the recipients are using Outlook, you can do this.

At this point, you might be thinking 'Wouldn't it make more sense to just ask everyone to respond rather than bother with a poll?' It would be if you're dealing with a small group of people, but the more people you're trying to ping, the harder it becomes to keep track of everyone's response. In this case, a poll can save you a ton of time.

To include a poll in your email, compose your message, click the Options tab, and mark the 'Use voting buttons' check box. In the pulldown menu directly to the right of the check box, you can change the answers from Approve/Reject, Yes/No, or Yes/No/Maybe. If none of these float your boat, type in your own responses separated by a semicolon.

Fire off your email and wait for the responses to start rolling in. Those who were included in the mailing list will be instructed to "Vote by clicking Vote in the Respond group above."

When they do, they'll have the option of sending in their response now or editing before sending. Once you start receiving replies, you can check the status either by opening up your original sent message and clicking on the Tracking button, or click on the blue bar in any of the emails you received and select 'View voting responses.'

Level Up Your LinkedIn Connections

We're typically not huge on toolbars, but if you're active on LinkedIn -- or just getting started and want to expand your network -- the LinkedIn toobar can come in pretty handy. During setup, this plug-in will spend a few moments combing through your entire collection of email. It does this in order to make suggestions on who to invite to your network based on how frequently you exchange emails with a particular contact.

But making suggestions isn't all it's good for. You can also receive updates when contacts change their LinkedIn profiles, update your Outlook contacts to match their LinkedIn profile, and use the included Dashboard as a front-end to more easily manage your network. Groovy!

Never Forget an Attachment Again!

If you end up using this plug-in only once, it will have been worth the download. What's it do? Not much - it just slaps you across the face (gently) when it thinks you may have forgotten to include an attachment so you can avoid having to resend a follow-up email.

There's no voodoo magic going on here, the plug-in simply sifts through your email looking for words that are most often used when an attachment is supposed to be included. If no attachment exists, a pop-up dialog asks if you meant to add one after you've already mashed the Send button. If you did, just hit 'Yes' and get an instant do-over. And if it ends up being a false positive, click 'No' and move one with your day.

On the downside, the developer doesn't say which words are flagged, nor can you can add words of your own. Nevertheless, it works well out of the box and could potentially save you from a boneheaded moment.

Stay Connected to Facebook

Like TwInbox, FBLook integrates social networking into Outlook, only this one works with Facebook, not Twitter. This one's especially handy for those times when you want to quickly update your Facebook status without loading up your profile and getting distracted with what everyone else is up to. You may have meant to hop in and out, but before you know it, you're surfing profiles, deciding who to invite, and getting sucked into another round of Mafia Wars.

Or you can install FBLook. Just jot down your status in the toolbar, hit return, and get back to work. Or kill a little bit of extra time sifting through new friend requests, messages, birthday reminders, and other notifications.

Supercharge Your Contacts List with Xobni

Xobni is one of those plug-ins where, once you use it, you'll wonder how you ever got along without it. Once installed, you'll be able to search through your contacts faster than was otherwise possible, but that's only the beginning. Xobni maintains a complete profile of everyone you know, including contact info, profile pictures, recent conversations (threaded!), files exchanged, and so much more.

There's also a strong social networking element to Xobni. Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn all come integrated so you can see which sites your contacts participate in. Does Bob use Twitter? Click his name and find out, then check out his latest tweets, all from within Outlook!

We also appreciate the seamless integration into Outlook's interface. There's a lot going on, and Xobni organizes it all in a convenient sidebar that wedges right into the email client. Should you decide you don't want to look at it, just click the arrow to tuck the sidebar away. How considerate!

Send Attachments the Polite Way

Nobody likes receiving mega-sized attachments in their inbox. The messages take a long time to be delivered, and if you included important information in the body of the email, you put the recipient in the unenviable position of having to save the bloated email -- attachment and all -- even after they'd downloaded the file.

There's a better way, and you've probably already heard of youSendIt. But did you know it also comes as an Outlook plug-in? It does, and your contacts will thank you for using it. You can configure YouSendIt to intercept all file attachments and route them through their servers, or just files exceeding a pre-set size limit. You can even use the service with a proxy.

By routing your attachments through YouSend it, the recipient receives a link to download everything you sent, so suddenly that would-be 10MB email message is now a much more manageable 25KB. And your co-workers will stop dreading the thought of you sending another email.

5 More Quick and Easy Tips

There are several things you can do to improve Outlook, and many of them are just a few mouse clicks away. Here's a collection of some of our favorite, easy to apply tips.

Save Multiple Attachments

Don't bother saving multiple attachments one file at a time, and instead round them all up in one fell swoop. Outlook doesn't make this functionality obvious, but it's still pretty easy - just click on Other Actions in the Actions menu and choose Save Attachments.

Supercharge Outlook by Disabling Unused Add-ins

You shouldn't have too much trouble running Outlook on modern hardware, but if you're still stuck several generations behind, you may find yourself spending too much time waiting on Outlook to do its thing. While we can't turn the email client into a lean, mean, sending and receiving machine, we can give Outlook a little boost by disabling add-ins that we'll never use.

To do this, click on Tools>Trust Center>Add-ins. At the bottom of the window you'll see a Go button next to COM Add-ins. Press it and then uncheck any add-ins you're not using. If you're not sure what one of them does, hit up Google or Bing. If Outlook just recently started slowing to a crawl, you can disable add-ins one at a time to see if performance improves, and if it does, you've found the culprit!

Minimize Outlook to the System Tray

If you keep Outlook running all day -- and if it's you're main email client, then you probably do -- it's just taking up space in the Taskbar. To fix this in older versions of Outlook, you'd need to poke around the registry and add a DWORD value, but that's not the case anymore. In Outlook 2007, simply right-click the Outlook icon in the System Tray and check 'Hide when Minimized.' How easy was that!?

Create a Custom Distribution List

Setting up a mailing list in Outlook is a piece of cake once you know where to look. To set one up, select File>New>Distribution List, or hold CTRL+Shift+L. Give your list a name, and then start adding contacts by clicking on Select Members or Add New.

Filter Mail from Specific Senders to Their Own Folder

Work and play rarely mix, but the problem with Outlook is that it meshes everything into one, whether you want it to or not. You may have separate email accounts setup, but all incoming email still gets clumped into the same inbox. If you don't want your significant other's emails mingling with your work mail, you can setup a special folder for that special someone.

To do this, right-click an email from whoever it is you want to have their own folder and select 'Create Rule.' Check the check box next to the sender's name as well as the 'Move the item to folder' check box, and then click on Select Folder. Pick or create a folder, and if you want, you can even assign a WAV file, just to be sure to check 'Play a selected sound' if you do.

Microsoft Opening Up Outlook's PST Format for Developers

Paul Lilly — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:55:26 -0500

According to Microsoft, the Redmond company has taken several steps over the past year toward increased openness and document interoperability, so it shouldn't come as much surprise that they're now focusing on Outlook. More specifically, the software outfit wants to improve platform-independent access to email, calendar, contacts, and other data contained in the Personal Folders (PST) file every Outlook user is familiar with. Towards that end, Microsoft said it plans to release documentation for the .pst format.

"This will allow developers to read, create, and interoperate with the data in .pst files in server and client scenarios using the programming language and platform of their choice," Microsoft wrote on its Interoperability@Microsoft blog.

Microsoft went on to say that the technical documentation will reveal how data is stored, along with instructions on how to access the data from other software apps. In addition, it will also detail the structure of the .pst file and show developers how they can navigate the folder hierarchy.

It's unknown when the document, which is still in its early stages, will be released. When it's ready, Microsoft said it will be released under its Open Specification Promise, "which will allow anyone to implement the .pst file format on any platform and in any tool, without concerns about patents."

Image Credit: scarletcleaning.com

Bite the Hand

The Maximum PC Staff — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:40:56 -0500

Outlook is driving me crazy. Instead of the pointer, my cursor is the little grabby-hand thing. I can’t get it to select text or do anything other than scroll the page. Help me before I kill again.

—Bill

Bill, that grabby-hand thing is the Panning Hand, and it’s functionally identical to the hand you’re familiar with from PDF readers like Adobe Reader. If you’re stuck with the hand, you should have a hand icon just above the right scroll bar in your message pane; click that to get back to the pointer. Or hit ESC to get it back.

You probably either have a tablet PC or Tablet PC software installed on your computer (it comes standard with some versions of Windows, for some reason). If you don’t have a tablet, consider uninstalling the Tablet PC Windows component entirely (Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Add/Remove Windows Components).

SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION Are flames shooting out of the back of your rig? First, grab a fire extinguisher and douse the flames. Once the pyrotechnic display has fizzled, email the doctor at doctor@maximumpc.com for advice on how to solve your technological woes.

Google Announces Outlook-Gmail App Sync For The Enterprise

Andy Salisbury — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:00:16 -0500

Earlier this week Google announced their Google App Sync for Microsoft Outlook, which they hope will give them the edge in the business email world.

“Many business users prefer Gmail's interface and features to products they've used in the past. But sometimes there are people who just love Outlook. For them, we've developed Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook,” writes Eric Orth, a Software Engineer on the Google Apps team. “It enables Outlook users to connect to Google Apps for business email, contacts and calendar. And they can always use Gmail's web interface to access their information when they're not on their work computer.”

Best of all, Google makes this that much easier by providing a tool that takes care of all the heavy lifting. Microsoft Outlook servers, you’re officially on notice.

Image Credit: Google

Nvidia Drastically Reduces 4Q Outlook

Paul Lilly — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 12:18:18 -0600

Nvidia this week revised its fourth-quarter outlook saying its revenue is expected to plunge at least 40 percent sequentially, and possibly as high as 50 percent. The graphics chip maker blames the revised estimate on a one-two punch of weakening end-user demand and inventory reductions by channel partners. Nvidia didn't have much more to say on the matter, other than that no conference call will be held regarding the update and we'll have to wait until February 10, 2009 when Nvidia reports its financial results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009.

While everyone seems to be struggling in a weakened economy, and Nvidia in particular is coming off a year plagued with negative PR over GPU failures, the company appeared to be righting its ship by landing some big contracts. Earlier reports showed several global top-tier notebook vendors jumping on board Nvidia's 9400M graphics, including Apple, who ditched Intel in favor of Nvidia to supply the graphics chipset for the refreshed MacBook line. But this latest revenue warning trumps other big players in the tech market, such as AMD, Intel, and LSI who recently offered revised guidance ranging from 15 to 25 percent lower sequentially.

Meanwhile, we're still waiting for Nvidia to make good on its promise to "open a can of whoop ass."

Image Credit: Nvidia

Windows Live Hotmail Wave 3: New Features Revealed

Justin Kerr — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 21:56:57 -0500

Windows Live Hotmail’s 260 million users worldwide can look forward to a multitude of new features that were recently unveiled by Microsoft. Hotmail wave 3 promises a speed boost of over 70% during sign in, and will enable dynamic storage that will grow at a rate of 250 MB per month. Microsoft is also reportedly working to address the user interface problems which have plagued the service since the roll out of wave 2. Hotmail users currently have the option of picking between the well loved “classic” or the “full” user interface which reportedly suffers from a low adoption rate. This low adoption rate has kept the classic version alive, and made it difficult for Microsoft to roll out new features. Hotmail wave 3 looks to merge the layout of the “classic” with the functionality of the “full”, an approach they are hoping will finally please everyone. This is something that is desperately needed to help attract and retain users currently considering competing services such as Gmail or Yahoo. Improved integration of Live contacts, calendar, and instant messaging help to round out the initial batch of leaked features. The press release doesn’t make any mention of the long rumored POP support or any Skydrive integration, but hopefully these features are still in the works. No public beta has been announced yet, but the “coming soon” headline suggests it probably isn’t that far off.

Are you a former or current Hotmail user? Will these new features keep you with the service or send you running back? Let us know what you think.

How To: Sync Your Online and Offline Calendars

David Murphy — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:28:02 -0500

For years, we’ve had the ability to synchronize email across offline and online platforms. That’s a no-brainer. But only recently have we stumbled across a rock-solid method for synchronizing that other big part of the typical email program: the calendar.

Yes, we know how easy it is to pull down an iCal or XML feed into a desktop calendar application. That’s little more than a copy-and-paste job. We’ll still show you how to do it, but we’re far more interested in the holy grail: a two-way synchronization between your Outlook or Sunbird client and your Gmail Calendar. Depending on which program you’re using, this can be as easy as pie or as fun as a kick to the groin. Our advice? Disentangle yourself from Outlook and move over to Sunbird.

What You Need:

Google Calendar
Free, www.google.com/calendar
Microsoft Outlook 2007
$110, www.microsoft.com
AND
SyncMyCal Pro
$25, www.syncmycal.com
OR
Mozilla Sunbird
Free, www.mozilla.com
AND
GCALDaemon
Free, gcaldaemon.sourceforge.net

1. Set up Google Calendar

With Google Calendar, you can import someone else’s shared calendar, a public calendar, or a calendar file on your computer itself.

Before you start your adventures in synchronization town, you need to have all the necessary programs and utilities up and running. If you don’t have a Google account, open one now (www.google.com). Doing so gains you access to Google’s stable of awesome apps—Gmail, Google Docs, Google Talk—but most importantly, it opens the door to Google’s mighty online calendar application.

The app itself is pretty straightforward. You’ll start off with a primary calendar that you can add all manner of appointments to. If you want to create secondary calendars for alternate purposes (say you want separate calendars for your work life and personal life), just click the Add button on the left of the screen. Select “Create a new calendar” and enter the corresponding information—including whether you want to share the calendar with your friends, the world, or nobody.

Now is the time to separate your calendars by function. Perhaps you want only work-related appointments to appear on your work laptop, whereas you want your soccer schedule and Maximum PC Podcast reminders to appear on your PC at home. We’ll show you how to do this with a synchronization program. Trust us, it’s a lot harder to divvy up your calendar entries after you’ve thrown a ton of items into a single container. After you’ve created your calendars, fire up your calendar application of choice (Outlook or Sunbird).

Next: The Simple Import!

2a. The Simple Import: Outlook

If you have no need to transfer calendar items from Microsoft Outlook to Google Calendar and instead just want to update your home computer with your online centralized list of appointments, then you have no need for synchronization software of any sort. Load Outlook and your Google Calendar page. On the latter, click the downward-pointing arrow to the right of your calendar’s name. Select Calendar Settings to bring up a list of options and configurations. Scroll to the very bottom of the page to the section labeled Private Address. Right-click the green iCal button and copy the link to your clipboard.

The bottommost green iCal link is the one you care about. The link above it is applicable only if you’ve opened your online Calendar for everyone to see.

Switch back to Outlook and click the Tools menu. Select Account Settings and select the Internet Calendars tab. Click the New button—a dialog box will pop up asking for the location of the Internet calendar you plan to add to Outlook. Paste the iCal link into this field and hit Add; don’t worry about changing the URL to webcal:// style. Fill in the pertinent details for your calendar on the subsequent screen and press OK. Now when you run any send/receive process in Outlook, the accompanying calendar will update with your current Google Calendar information!

2b. The Simple Import: Sunbird

If you thought Outlook’s calendar-syncing process was easy, get ready for a treat. Copy the same private iCal link to your clipboard before you fire up Sunbird, Mozilla’s open-source calendar-only application. Once the program’s running, click the File menu and select New Calendar. You’ll be adding a calendar to the network, so select that option and hit Next. Paste your iCal link into the location box on the subsequent screen and press Next again. Name your calendar, assign it a color, and you’re done—one-way synchronization accomplished in less time than it takes to drink a can of soda.

Remember how to get this screen: It’s the same place you’ll go to if you’re setting up a two-way synchronization.

Next: Setting Up a Two-Way Sync!

3. Set up a Two-Way Sync

To synchronize multiple calendars and Google accounts, just add them into GCALDaemon and use the handy drop-down menu to switch between them.

If you’re going the two-way-synchronization route, install the synchronization program GCALDaemon. Next, go to the program folder in your Start menu and click the Install shortcut in GCALDaemon’s Services folder. After that, click the Start shortcut in the same folder and then copy this shortcut to your Windows startup folder. Roll your sleeves up to your elbows, head back to the program’s folder in the Start menu, and click the Config Editor.

The subsequent screen of options can be a little confusing—not helped by GCALDaemon’s lack of an instruction manual. It’s an awesome program nevertheless. We’ll show you the basics of getting two-way synchronization up and running, but know that the program has many more interesting features buried beneath its complex shell, e.g., one-way syncing of Gmail contacts, file-based calendar synchronization, and the ability to run programs using e-mailed commands.

Click the HTTP Synchronizer tab on the main page of GCALDaemon’s Config Editor. Make sure there’s a green check mark instead of a red “X” next to “Enable HTTP-based calendar synchronizer.” Click the Google Account button at the bottom of the screen, click New Account, and add your details. Make sure you include your full email address, such as maximumpcpodcast@gmail.com. Type in your password twice, hit Verify for good measure, then click OK.

Now, select your Google Account from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the screen. A list of your calendars will pop up; select the calendar you want to import and press the Copy to Clipboard button.

4a. Two-Way Sync: Sunbird

Synchronizing a calendar between Sunbird and Google Calendar is a less painful process than what Outlook users experience (as you’ll learn below). Fire up Sunbird and create a new calendar by right-clicking the Calendar Name box and selecting New Calendar. You’ll choose a calendar that’s “On the Network,” as you’ll be pulling the information that’s being relayed to your computer via GCALDaemon’s synchronizer.

You can synchronize multiple calendars in Mozilla Sunbird. They’ll all appear in the left-hand menu, nicely color-coded.

Click Next, then copy and paste the .ics calendar link from GCALDaemon’s HTTP Synchronizer screen—the one you just navigated to in the previous step—into the Location field. Press Next again, assign a name and color to your calendar, and you’re done. Your calendar should now auto-populate with all of the entries from your Google Calendar. Add, edit, or delete an entry from Sunbird and it’ll be immediately reflected in your online calendar. The same is true in the opposite direction, although we’ve found that there’s often a slight delay when synchronizing from Google Calendar to Sunbird. If you’re impatient, you can jam Control+R in Sunbird, which automatically refreshes your calendar with the latest information it can find.

4b. Two-Way Sync: Outlook

In a perfect world, you’d use the steps listed above to synchronize a calendar with Outlook. But Microsoft’s software doesn’t like the fact that you’re pointing to a local calendar link, so you’ll have to get a little creative. And by that we mean you’re going to have to dabble with a program you’ll have to pay for.

SyncMyCal Lite allows you to synchronize up to seven days’ worth of events: from three prior to the current day to three days after. But we think it’s worth spending $25 for the unlimited synchronization that comes with SyncMyCal Pro.

Installing the program adds a toolbar to your Outlook application. Click the Settings button and select Sync Operations. Click the Add button and SyncMyCal’s configuration options will pop up. Next, select one of the synchronization options in the Operation menu. Choosing the Outlook preference will overwrite existing events on the Google Calendar with any Outlook-based updates, and new Google events will transfer down to your Outlook calendar. The Google preference overwrites existing Outlook events with Google-updated information and picks up any new events created on the Outlook side.

Fiddle around with SyncMyCal’s category synchronization options if you want to link specific events with your online calendar.

Make your choice and select the Outlook calendar you want to synchronize. Enter your Google Calendar details in the provided fields and press the Get My Calendars button below that. Select the Google Calendar you want to synchronize from and/or to and hit Save.

If you use the free version of the app, you’ll have to press the Synchronize button on the toolbar every time you want to update your calendars—the auto-sync option only comes with SyncMyCal Pro.