Google Chrome now available for Mac and Linux

Great news for Mac & Linux users. Google Chrome can now be downloaded to be used on Mac & Linux systems.

This is basically a Developer version and Google recommends NOT TO DOWNLOAD, unless, you are a developer, as the browser can crash.

Google Chrome for Windows has been in use for a while now.
If you are looking to install Chrome on a USB stick, check out Portable Google Chrome.

Download Link for Mac
System Requirements: Requires Intel CPU and Mac OS X 10.5.6 or later

Download Links for 32-bit and 64-bit Linux
System Requirements: Requires 32 or 64 bit Ubuntu 8.04 or later, or 32 bit Debian 5

Screenshot of Google Chrome for Mac OSX

Screenshot of Google Chrome for Linux

A Beta version of Google Chrome for Mac & Linux users is coming shortly ..

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Chat with Yahoo, MSN Buddies Using Gtalk

Instant messaging is the most popular means of communications over the internet today. A few years ago, there were only a handful of messaging services to choose from, but now there are so many that it has become increasingly difficult to keep track of and chat with all your buddies who use different messaging services.

Google has its own messenger known as Google Talk, but it also allows users to chat right inside the internet browser. The chats get saved and became searchable in the mail, which is one reason why many people moved to Google Talk. A couple of years ago, Google Talk opened up their chat protocol to Jabber networks, which has paved the way for Google Talk users to chat with their buddies on AIM, MSN, Yahoo or even ICQ. Read on to find out how it can be done.

You require Psi, which is a free Jabber client, and Google Talk to achieve this. Psi can be downloaded from http://psi-im.org, and Google Talk, which can be downloaded from http://talk.google.com. Install these two IM clients and proceed with configuration.

Read full story @ TechTree.com

Shock 3D for Windows

If you thought Microsoft’s Windows 7 desktop was cool, wait till you see Shock 3D, an OpenGL application that is under 3MB. The application turns all your icons/desktop into 3D, such that you can move them around like objects. 3D desktop action is not limited to only Linux or Windows 7 users anymore, see Shock 3D and you’ll know what I talking about.

A drawback of this app is that you cannot use your desktop normally as Shock 3D sits as a layer on top of your desktop. It is not a fully baked application to replace your desktop, but hey… give the developer a break !

Download Shock 3D

Related Content: Make your Windows look like Mac OSX

Personas For Firefox – Dress Up Your Browser

Ever wondered being able to change the colour and style of your Firefox browser at the click of a button, well thanks to the wonderful team at Mozilla Labs as its now possible. Personas are the new fantastic feature for Mozilla Firefox, change your browser to suit your current mood, feelings or personal taste without downloading individual skins. Personas are the new “light-weight” skins for internet users, offering simple designs that are simple to change when desired. All the changes to your browser are applied instantly with no restart required!

Getting Started With Personas
Personas are the newest feature straight from the Mozilla Labs. Personas are lightweight, easy-to-install and easy-to-change “skins” for your Firefox web browser. This latest feature has been introduced for several reasons:

* Themes today are hard to find, create and install.
* Who likes using the same theme everyday? Personas allow you to change your theme instantly.
* Personas can easily reflect your mood, feelings or hobbies.

Make Your Own Personas For Firefox
Firefox has always been an open source brower, meaning anybody can contribute to making firefox a better overall browser. Personas are no different and all the themes are designed by you the users. Anybody can make a personal Persona it is literally that simple.

Make a Persona featuring you, your favorite color, favorite past-time or even your pet! The options are endless. Personas can even be set to private if you don’t wish to share your personal styles.

Download Personas Add-on
View Personas Gallery
More: Fashion for Firefox

Get Your Twitter Feed into SQL Server with Tweet-SQL

If you’re reading this post, you’re probably a Developer or SQL Server DBA, and you’re probably into Twitter, so you’re probably going to be interested in Rhys Campbell’s Tweet-SQL.

Tweet-SQL is a set of SQL Server stored procedures that let you work with the Open Source Twitter API just by writing T-SQL code. You can do things like:
* Get the list of people you’re following into a database
* Retrieve their messages into a table
* Analyze who’s following who, and figure out who you should be following
* Compile metrics about what’s going on out there

Tweet-SQL Features
* Simple deployment.
* Simple GUI for configuration.
* Stored Procedures for configuration changes with TSQL.
* Over 30 procedures to interact with the Twitter API.
* Flexible ways to deal with resultsets.
* No unfair licensing restricting you to a single Twitter account.
* Free updates for 1 year.

To get started, you’ll need a 30-day eval copy of Tweet-SQL. It’s free to evaluate, and costs £25 at this point of time.

The Twitter API is pretty darned powerful, and it enables you to do things like:
* Find out who your followers are following, which might be people you also find interesting
* Find influential people in your Twitter network
* Get recap reports of what links have been sent out recently, or what hot topics are out there
* Get peoples’ updates without actually following them directly
* Build a web-based equivalent to TweetDeck, with multiple user functionality

For sample scripts, check out SQLCLRNews, Rhys Campbell’s blog where he posts how-to examples for Tweet-SQL.