TechLifeWeb

I really like the new Beach theme in Gmail. The problem I have with it is that the scroll bar on the right becomes invisible in Google Chrome.  On the right is a snip from my screen.

Fortunately, we can fix this with an extension and some script.

First, go get the Stylish extension and install it.

Then go to this page where my script is: New Gmail – Visible Scroll Bar and click the Install with Stylish button. Once you do that and go to Gmail, the scroll bar will be a nice blue color. And it will stay blue no matter which theme you try.

If you don’t like my choice of blue, you can right-click on the Stylish icon at the top of your browser and then click Options. Then you click the Edit button under the name of the script.  You’ll then see a line that says rgba(0, 122, 255, 0.7) The first 3 variables are RGB code (search around the web for help with finding the code to a color you like). The 0.7 part has to do with transparency so you can experiment with that. Just click save and go back to Gmail (or, easier, open Gmail in another tab).

Hope that helps some people out.

What I’m reading and finding for July 2nd 2011 through July 4th 2011:

• Google Plus Nick – Get a short url to your Google profile.
• From Twitter – RT @loic Twitter drops following requirement for DMs on Verified Accounts http://ping.fm/E4dCe
• Sheryl Sandberg & Male-Dominated Silicon Valley : The New Yorker –
  newyorker.com
  - Ken Auletta
  

  In 2007, the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, knew that he needed help. His social-network site was growing fast, but, at the age of twenty-three, he felt ill-equipped to run it. That December, he went to a Christmas party at the home of Dan Rosensweig, a Silicon . . .
• From Twitter – RT @nrek Post How To Abandon Flickr for Picasa http://bit.ly/kNlSTV
• The Google Plus 50 –
  chrisbrogan.com
  - ceb
  

  If you’re curious about Google+, the new social network platform from Google, you’re not alone. I’ve logged several hours already on the platform, experimenting, testing, and observing. It sparks my attention from several angles: marketing, technology, community, media, mobile, advertising, and more. To that end, I wrote down 50 things to think about with regards to Google+, in no particular order:
  The purpose of this list is to get you thinking about a bunch of different possibilities. You’re …  show all text
• How to turn Google+ into an online photography portfolio –
• A preview of Gmail’s new look – Official Gmail Blog –
  gmailblog.blogspot.com
  - The Gmail Team
  

  Posted by Jason Cornwell, User Experience Designer We get a lot of great feedback about how Gmail helps you be more efficient, keep in touch with family and friends, and get work done. We’ve saved you from forgetting attachments and made sure that you got the right Bob. Over the years, adding countless features to Gmail has made it an increasingly powerful communication hub, but along the way the interface has also become more cluttered and complex. That’s one of the reasons we’re embarking on  show all text

What I’m reading and finding for April 27th 2011 through April 28th 2011:

• From Twitter – RT @sdtips Live on http://j.mp/zo6r4 @ 10a London time. 2a (PST), 5am (EDT), 10a (London), 11a (CEST), 2 30 (IST)…
• Greplin: 1.5 Billion Documents Indexed, Six Engineers -
  techcrunch.com - Michael Arrington
  

  Late last year we first mentioned Y Combinator startup Greplin – it’s a startup that indexes your social stuff in the cloud, making all your Facebook, Gmail. LinkedIn, Google Calendar, Evernote, Twitter, Dropbox and just about everything else searchable. The easiest way to describe it is “the other half of search.”
  They opened their doors to customers in February. The company won’t talk about total user numbers yet, which isn’t surprising. But we have dug one..  show all text

   
• YouTube Founders Acquire Delicious from Yahoo! | Yodel Anecdotal -
  ycorpblog.com - Yahoo
  

  Today YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen announced they have acquired the Delicious technology from Yahoo!. They plan to continue the service that users have come to know and love and make the site even easier and more fun to save, share and discover the web’s “tastiest” content.
  Providing a seamless transition for users is incredibly important. Yahoo! will continue to manage Delicious over the next couple months as users are able to sign up for new accounts. After th..  show all text

   
• Clay Hasenfuss – 3rd story of my apt – TwitVid -
  twitvid.com
• danah boyd | apophenia » Tumblr disappeared me… -
  zephoria.org - zephoria
  People wonder why I have control issues. I refuse to use third party email services because I’m terrified of being locked out of my account (as I was when Yahoo! thought I was a part of a terrorist organization because I was working with Afghani women in 2001). I maintain a blog on my own server because I’m terrified of it all just disappearing. So I shouldn’t be surprised when it actually happens but it doesn’t stop me from being shocked, outraged, and disappointed.
  I&r..  show all text

   
• Yahoo Sells Delicious To YouTube Founders -
  techcrunch.com - Michael Arrington
  

  Yahoo has finally found a buyer for long suffering Delicious. YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen have acquired the company, says Yahoo, via a “new Internet company, AVOS.” We’re still gathering details, but here’s the official stuff:
  Yahoo’s statement:
  Today YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen announced they have acquired the Delicious technology from Yahoo!. They plan to continue the service that users have come to know and love and make the site ..  show all text

   
• Apple – Press Info – Apple Q&A on Location Data -
  apple.com
   

Filtering the web so you don’t have to for February 13th 2010

• Obama Is Hiring a Twitterer – Digits – WSJ -
  blogs.wsj.com
  Calling all job-seekers: President Barack Obama is looking for an official Twitterer. The Democratic National Committee’s “social networks manager” job description says the position entails maintaining the President’s accounts on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.
  Mia Cambronero, who currently holds the job, “will be stepping down from my infamous role as ‘Barack Obama’s twitterer,’” she said in an email message posted to a listserv. “We’re looking for someone who is available to start immediatel..   show all text
  iizLiz: RT @brettObama Is Hiring a Twitterer – http://urls.im/aqwQvs (via @wsjdigits)
• HOW TO: Integrate Facebook, Twitter, and Buzz into Your Gmail -
  mashable.com
  
  With over 9 million posts and comments in two days, Google Buzz has stormed the web like a swarm of locusts. An array of strong features, integration with Gmail, and lots of press have turned Buzz into an overnight phenomenon.
  If you’re like a lot of us, you’ve suddenly found yourself using your Gmail even more than you already were. Spending so much time in Gmail and Buzz though inevitably takes away from your Facebook and Twitter, and who wants to sacrifice their tweeting and facebooking?..   show all text
  susanbeebe: HOW TO: Integrate Facebook, Twitter, and Buzz into Your Gmail: – http://j.mp/9wswsk

Filtering the web so you don’t have to for February 12th 2010

• From Twitter – Buzz extension for Google Chrome http://bit.ly/bL0JrZ
• Official Gmail Blog: Millions of Buzz users, and improvements based on your feedback -
  gmailblog.blogspot.com
  Posted by Todd Jackson, Product Manager, Gmail and Google Buzz It’s been just two days since we first launched Google Buzz. Since then, tens of millions of people have checked Buzz out, creating over 9 million posts and comments. Plus, we’re seeing over 200 posts per minute from mobile phones around the world. We’ve had plenty of feature requests, and some direct feedback. In particular there’s been concern from some people who thought their contacts were being made public without their know..   show all text
  susanbeebe: RT @chrismessina: Improvements coming soon to Google Buzz based on your feedback! http://bit.ly/9Y7yGI /tip @techmeme#GoogleBuzz #agile

As we start August, I note that I have just completed month 2 of my Bing Challenge. I still use Bing as my primary search engine. Do I still use Google? Sure, from time to time. But I am getting nice results with Bing.

This afternoon I did a search that is a good case for Bing. We needed to go to Sport Authority (sporting goods store) for something so I entered the words Sports Authority in my Firefox search bar.

Here is my result on Bing:

The same search on Google:

Both are smart enough to know I am searching for a store and not some guru who knows his sports trivia. But Bing gives me a map with all the closest stores to my location. The Carmel Mountain store is closest to me so I click the details link to get to this page:

I now have directions, a phone number and (if I scroll down a bit, not pictured) the latest ratings from users who have been to this store and are complaining or praising it.

So, I’ll continue to use Bing, not because it is from Microsoft or because it is not from Google but because it works for me. I still love my Gmail and my Open Office and Firefox. Figure out what works best for you.

Sidebar: I mentioned this in the comments of my other post but it is worth repeating here. If you are a firefox user (and you should be) be sure to pick up this Greasemonkey script that puts Twitter search along side Bing results.
http://blog.mikedavidsmith.com/2009/06/twitter-searchad-blocker-greasemonkey-script-for-bing/. This is worth doing even if you are not a Twitter user.

Sites that I found interesting for January 24th 2009 through January 28th 2009:

• Google Introduces A New Weapon In The Fight For Net Neutrality: Measurement Labs – Google announced today that it will give end users the tools to figure out whether internet service providers are interfering with their broadband connections by blocking or “throttling” certain applications.
• Google adds offline and ‘flaky’ modes to Gmail –
• How to Choose Chart Types – A flowchart for choosing chart types.

Sites that I found interesting for January 14th 2009 through January 15th 2009:

• Official Gmail Blog: New in Labs: Send & Archive – Turn on "Send & Archive" from the Labs tab under Settings, and you'll see a new button in the compose form labeled just that. The button does what it says: it sends your reply and then archives the thread with one click.
• iTunes Plus: Everything you need to know – Be warned: your account information is stored in every file
• Learnit lists – What is Learnit? A tool for learners which helps your brain store new words quickly.

Sites that I found interesting for January 11th 2009 through January 13th 2009:

• The Bumper List of Windows 7 Secrets – 30 tips to show off the new stuff in Windows 7. Must read if you are a beta tester.
• How make Windows 7 task bar to look like Vista – A 6 set how-to.
• GTDInbox – GTD, Task Management and a Better Inbox for Gmail – GTDInbox is an addon for Firefox that transforms Gmail into a powerhouse of productivity and manageability. GTDInbox gives you a better inbox.

Sites that I found interesting for November 11th 2008

• Google Uses Web Searches to Track Flu’s Spread – Turns out a lot of ailing Americans enter phrases like “flu symptoms” into Google and other search engines before they call their doctors. That simple act, multiplied across millions of keyboards in homes around the country, has given rise to a new early warning system for fast-spreading flu outbreaks, called Google Flu Trends.
• Are You Making These 10 CSS Mistakes? – CSS tips n tricks
• Google Brings Voice, Video Chat to Gmail – To start using the Gmail voice and video chat tool users must open a Gmail chat window, click on the "Options" menu and choose "Add voice/video chat." Users will be instructed to install a 2MB plug-in.
• AVG Free Forum :: Information And Alerts :: PC crash after AVG update 9 Nov 2008 – I've been a long time supporter of AVG but this last week I've had several good files misreported. This forum entry tells you how to recover your machine if one of your core files got quarantined (hasn't happened to me).