Posted 11/05/09 at 07:05:29 PM by Jason Barry

Google announced on the official Gmail blog a handy new upgrade to the Offline Gmail labs app. Before the update, you could enable Offline Gmail and it would use specialized heuristics to download messages for offline use.

With the new update, once you enable Offline Gmail, you can find some customizable options under the “Offline” tab in Settings. You can now select specifically which labels to download and how deep into your mailbox you would like the downloading to begin. Once the settings are saved, the app will immediately start downloading any emails weren't already synced to your computer.  Of course, less downloads means faster Offline Gmail so you should be careful with the settings.

It's a substantial upgrade to a very handy lab application for commuters or travelers.

Read More

Posted 09/17/09 at 08:01:51 PM by Ryan Whitwam

Microsoft has managed to get a few apps ready for the Zune HD at launch. The only downside to this is that the apps show both static and video ads while starting up. Additionally, the start ups are agonizingly slow, resulting in lots of time spent staring at the Kia Soul. The chess game takes about 30 seconds to load. In all fairness though, the platform is brand new and there could still be kinks to work out.

There are currently only nine apps available for download: calculator, weather, Texas hold 'em, Sudoku, Space Battle 3, Shell Game... Of the Future, Hexic, Goo Splat, and Chess. While the ads may be annoying, all the apps are free.

Currently the utility apps, like weather and calculator, haven’t been showing ads. By all reports, the apps look nice, and you can’t argue with the price. Still, would you be willing to put up with these sorts of ads on the Zune HD?

Read More

Posted 07/01/08 at 06:27:31 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Microsoft might have failed to work its M&A mojo on Yahoo but it has nonetheless made seven acquisitions since first launching its bid for Yahoo on February 1, 2008 – truly a shopping spree. It most recently acquired a Portuguese cloud company, MobiComp, on June 26th. MobiComp will bolster Microsoft’s mobile computing portfolio as it boasts of expertise in mobile data protection and sharing services. Its various technologies help users post content on popular social networking websites from their cellphone and back up their mobile data. Microsoft has kept the details of the transaction to itself. This is Microsoft’s second mobile computing-related acquisition this year, it had bought mobile software firm Danger in Feb.

Read More