Google App Scripts commence in the spreadsheets of Google Docs. It enables the user to make sheets to read and change formulas, formats and cell contents, and allow to create create custom functions to automate repetitive tasks.

“Users write scripts in JavaScript using libraries designed to provide a powerful interface with Google products,” says Google. “If you already are a JavaScript developer, a key difference is that scripts run on Google Servers instead of user browsers. As a result, direct operations on the client-side DOM are not supported, although some restricted functionality is provided. Your code executes server-side, and operates on the Google products you’ve coded for.”

Firebug 1.5,  not new to anyone here. It’s one of the most popular developer tool to debug , track network activity and tweak JavaScript, CSS, HTML and DOM of any website. I have personally used Firebug to find errors in my web projects and it works wonders. You can read a complete step-by-step review of this spectacular tool (Firebug Demystified – Link).

The newly updated Firebug has improved add-on stability and other new advancements have been introduced. Most of all, it has been made compatible with the new Firefox 3.6 browser. Among the updates in Firebug 1.5 are a much-improved Inspector tool, which allows you to select any element on the page and see the HTML and any applied CSS rules; and several major new features for the Net panel, which can debug XMLHttpRequests. [More features - Firebug Wiki ].

Download Firebug 1.5 – Link

Some of the advanced features are: Branding of the player, embedding markers in your timeline, communicate and respond to bandwidth utilization, integration of external data using data framework and provide quality Live and On-demand experiences.

Features to be included in the future:

1. A more modular codebase so it is easier for developers to choose what functionality they want compiled into their application without taking on unwanted file size.
2. An extensive plug-in API so partners can develop plugins for SMF that provide analytics, advertising, publishing, and delivery features.
3. Support for more delivery methods
4. Accessibility support similar to what is made available in the Accessible Media Project – http://amp.codeplex.com
5. Advanced captioning support including compliance with the W3C Timed Text spec
6. A more robust UI framework including support for global styling
7. Support for MEF, a new Silverlight 4 feature
8. Support for VAST & MAST for advertising
9. A JavaScript API

Download Framework – Link

Since Flash is a resource hog Mac OS X to the point that many people would not exist, this will be a tempting change for users of this platform. This is currently compatible in a few browsers (Google Chrome and Safari V4.0 and Internet Explorer with Chrome Frame installed presently!). It looks like they are still in Beta, ads and annotations are currently disabled. Video Ads will only work in Flash enabled browsers and full-screen mode is currently not made available for public use. Give it a try, Just join the experiment and help Google improve the technology.

Watch the video – Google Developers on HTML5.

Opera has also targeted latest of the standards which includes JSON encoding/decoding. For developers, revamping the JavaScript feature is a feature worth mentioning, as it has been a sore point in Opera for long. It has got the fastest JavaScript speed than any of the browsers out there.
Opera 10.5 also uses an updated rendering engine, Presto 2.5, which introduces a number of features including HTML5 features like persistent storage and support for CSS3 transitions and transforms. New graphics library supported by Opera 10.5 is Vega, which is currently software based and it displays everything that you see on-screen.
Besides visual changes and use of APIs, for Windows 7, Aero Peek and Jump List support is added so that you could easily access your speed dials, tabs etc. from the taskbar. For Mac, it brings in multi-touch gestures, a unified toolbar, native buttons and scrollbars, and other small features.
You can open a new private window or private tab that forgets everything that has happened on them once closed. Dialog boxes are now non-modal and they are displayed as a page overlay. This would allow you to switch windows or tabs while displaying the dialog. Address field and search field have been upgraded in functionality and also in looks. They remember searches, show results in a better layout and also support removing items from history.
On the darker side, it uses high memory and for Mac build no printing is supported.
Overall Opera 10.5 makes Opera a browse, which developers would want to test with and develop for.

Every time you open Picasa, it would automatically locate all your pictures and sorts them into visual albums that are organized by date with folder names. To arrange your albums you can drag and drop which is a simple task to perform and you can make labels to create new groups. Picasa makes sure that your pictures are always organized.

Advanced editing is made simple by Picasa by putting one-click fixes and also powerful effects at your fingertips. With Picasa, you can share your pictures or email, print photos home, even make gift CDs, or you can instantly share your albums and images, and even post pictures on your blog.

Picasa 3.6 is having improved name tags, using which you can organize your photos based on the people in them. With Picasa 3.6, you can upload photos to your friends’ collaborative albums more easily and import photos right from your camera and in one step you can upload them to Picasa Web Albums.

It makes the whole process of adding name tags at once to dozens of photos easy by just clicking “Add a name” below any photo and typing the name of the person. You can directly upload to a friend’s album from the Picasa software. The improved the import process in Picasa 3.6 enables you to star your favorites, upload to any Picasa Web Albums, and also at the same time you can share with Google contact groups.

Using the newly integrated Google Maps, you can quickly add geotags. You can still use the Google Earth in order to tag or view photos if that is what you prefer.

Features of Thunderbird 3 include a powerful new search which looks really pleasing, tab support and a filtering tool that allows you to pinpoint any email, and a completely streamlined email setup tool, which will get your Gmail or any other accounts up and running with the Thunderbird without any delay.
Another being the tabbed email feature allows users to view emails and also folders in tabs within the client, in the same way as you do in Firefox. You don’t have to go for re-saving tabs, as they are remembered in the client. The new archive feature in Thunderbird 3 moves email right from your inbox into a separate archive folder.

Yet another feature, which is a new set up wizard, has also been included. In one spot you can manage multiple email accounts since it has got the ability to combine individual mailboxes.

Considering all the email clients that have been released so far, Thunderbird 3 tops the list. It is the fastest of them all, besides being flexible and secure. The improved search feature is extremely fast, and it filters the messages and quickly narrows down the search by listing the people who have participated in the messaging. The only drawback is it takes a big amount of your time while it indexes your messages for the first time.
By simplifying its configuration and making commonly-used features much more accessible, Thunderbird 3 is off to a good start. Even if you are not planning to use Thunderbird as your main email client, it is an excellent tool for just backing up your email.

image credit : Cnet

With native search powers, easier navigation and media queues, this computer-connected TV is becoming lot more user-friendly. Global shortcuts and a new menu have been added to the new improved Boxee Beta for quicker navigation. In order to improve visibility, modifications are being done on the OSD and the Now Playing menu.

Boxee Beta brings forth many new applications using which you can chat while watching your program; it retrieves information on shows and channels; and also a number of adult applications exist. Also, if you want to know what your friends are up to, you can give the Twitter/Facebook ID and Boxee will consistently scan the posts and will display it in its new improved home page. This new Boxee beta also club local and streaming files and it organizes TV series by episode.

On the bottom of the application, it has been divided as three columns of items. Friend recommendations are on the left, in the middle there are featured media from Boxee and also its partners and the items you’ve queued up are on the left. However, unless you know which application has a show that you want, Boxee can’t provide you with the information since it is not having a global search.

On the technical side, since Boxee Beta supports full graphics acceleration, even cheap PCs could play 1080p video through Boxee. This could make Windows users a lot happier. Apparently, approved early access users can give Boxee Beta a try. And then, it is meant for those who are already using the alpha, and it will be available for the general public only on January.

JooJoo is the latest in line, which was formerly called as the CrunchPad. You can call it a web slate or tablet, as it is handy and you could hold it like a book. JooJoo is intended to serve only one purpose, which is web browsing. It is slim and has got a spectacular screen display. Besides a power button, there are no buttons at all.

Just for the purpose of launching the web browser, an OS is installed that is Linux-based. Another advantage is, being able to run HTML extensions as well as Flash scripts using JooJoo’s browser. Though you can’t run any non-web apps, it is justified, as it is a made-for-web device.

Specifications are commendable too. Touch screen is 12.1-inch and it looks awesome. Got a pixel resolution of 1366X768 and it has got an in-built camera, mic and also speakers. USB and Bluetooth keyboards are also supported. There is one USB port and one card slot and has got a cache memory of 4GB.

However, price is outstretching the features as you need to pay a big sum of $499 for a device which doesn’t offer much compared to a Netbook. And even if we plan to read an e-book, it is not possible using JooJoo, as it doesn’t have a user accessible file system since it is focusing solely on one purpose that is browsing the web. And it is not grist to the mill when it is away from a Wi-Fi connection.

JooJoo is an unprecedented device and if you don’t count it a big loss to spent money on the latest gadgets that serve you in some way, then you can go ahead and enjoy browsing using JooJoo.

The new apps directory page is getting many applications into a smaller space compared to that of the old one. It is giving each app its own page in which users can add descriptive tags and also leave feedback in the form of comments. That is, in fact, these new pages are acting just like the Flickr photo pages, besides providing a way to certain favorite apps for the registered users. It goes towards promoting upcoming apps higher up in the showcase. They also come up as a shortcut to view other different apps made by the same developer. It also adds user interaction and they could comment and mark the favorites.

One area in which this new app has not marked its entry yet is in allowing users to see what apps their contacts and friends use. For instance, though Flickr’s activity feed that gives users of Flickr a view of what their friends are up to, it does not show when a user has marked one of these tools as their favorite. Users can only see what apps they have marked favorite from within the App Garden but not alongside their photo favorites. It is not possible to create collections of apps you would like to share with others; in a way you do with the recently-released gallery feature.

Though there are some limitations as these, as of now it is a much better system than that of the previous API services page. Developers have got more of a chance in trying to convince users for giving their app a spin before they leave the site, and now other Flickr users are able to recommend it, either through the new system of marking favorites, or in the comments.

Via Webware