[Download Squad] 6 New Entries: Synchronize Outlook, Gmail, and cellphone contacts with Soocial

Synchronize Outlook, Gmail, and cellphone contacts with Soocial

Filed under: Internet, Utilities, Google, BlackBerry, Mobile, Web

Soocial is a free web service that provides a central location for all of your contacts' phone numbers, email addresses, and other information. If that's all Soocial provided, it wouldn't be that interesting. But Soocial goes a few steps further and allows you to synchronize your contacts across multiple platforms, including your cellphone, Mac, PC, and Gmail.

Yesterday the company released a utility for Outlook synchronization that supports Windows XP and Vista and Microsoft Outlook 2003 and 2007. While the Outlook sync plugin is in alpha and Soocial recommends backing up your contacts before running, I didn't experience any problems. In a matter of miinutes, all of my contacts were backed up online and accessible through the Soocial web site.

Gmail sync, on the other hand is a bit slower. I've been waiting about an hour for the Gmail synchronization to kick in. If and when it does, Soocial wil fill in the next piece of a synchronization puzzle that I've been struggling with for ages. Using Soocial, you'll be able to keep your Outlook and Google contacts in sync, and using Calgoo or Google Calendar Sync, you'll be able to synchronize your Outlook calendar with Google Calendar. And that means you'll be able to update your information on any computer with a web browser, knowing that the changes will be synched to your primary computer and any mobile devices like cellphones and PDAs that you keep synched with Outlook.

Now would someone please release a tool that synchronizes Outlook tasks with Remember the Milk?

Soocial also plans to release a BlackBerry client soon, and already supports hundreds of cellphones.

[via Decoder and TechCrunch]

Synchronize Outlook, Gmail, and cellphone contacts with Soocial originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intense Debate emerges from private beta, offers new WordPress plugin

Filed under: Blogging

Less than two months after being acquired by WordPress's parent company Automattic, blog commenting system Intense Debate is again available to the public. The service had been in private beta for the last two months, not because the company was busy adding a ton of new features, but because it was busy scaling Intense Debate's infrastructure to handle the additional traffic that is likely to come when WordPress starts to include Intense Debate features by default.

For now, Intense Debate is rolling out a new plugin for WordPress that adds the following features to your web site:

• Threaded comments
• The ability to vote on comments and show comment reputations
• Simultaneously post a comment to a blog and Twitter
• Replly to comments and moderate comments by email
• Commentor profiles can include links to social networking pages
• Ability to add sidebar widgets with information on things like your top commentors

Intense Debate also works with Blogger, TypePad, and Tumblr.

Intense Debate emerges from private beta, offers new WordPress plugin originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Help Mozilla track add-on compatibility with Firefox 3.1 beta

Filed under: Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Mozilla, Open Source, Beta, Browsers

One of the things that makes Firefox one of the best web browsers around is its support for thousands of add-ons that extend the functionality of the browser. But since most of these plugins are developed by third parties, and not Mozilla, every time the developers behind the web browser prepare a major new release, they run the risk of breaking compatibility with many of those add-ons.

So before releasing Firefox 3.1, one of the things Mozilla wants to do is make sure that as many add-ons as possible that work with Firefox 3.0 will function properly with the new browser. And they want your help.

Here's how it works. You download a beta version of Firefox 3.1 and see if your favorite add-ons work. If you run into a problem, you can leave a comment at the Mozilla Add-Ons blog.

As of today, about 28% of the most popular plugins are compatible with Firefox 3.1. And that's about 8% more than a few weeks ago, so things are moving in the right direction.

Help Mozilla track add-on compatibility with Firefox 3.1 beta originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lego Digital Designer: virtual brick-building fun - TimeWaster

Filed under: Fun, Kids, Windows, Macintosh, Freeware, Time-Wasters

I've always enjoyed assembling models and contraptions out of Lego, and my four-year-old son is becoming quite a fan, too. Unfortunately, dad's stash doesn't always have all the fancy bricks required to meet his design requirements.

Thankfully, the good folks at Lego offer the Digital Designer, a 22mb free download that offers a rich, 3D program for crafting creations on your Windows PC.

We've been using it for quite a while, and the latest version sports a more polished interface, wider selection of pieces and backdrops, and reduced CPU and memory loads. It runs beautifully on my Frankenlaptop, a Core2 T5200 with integrated Intel video.

The interface is easy to understand, and several "starter kits" are included. They're a good way to see Digital Designer's impressive capabilities at work.

Continue reading Lego Digital Designer: virtual brick-building fun - TimeWaster

Lego Digital Designer: virtual brick-building fun - TimeWaster originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft updates Windows Live apps, adds social features

Filed under: Internet, Web services, Microsoft, web 2.0, Web

Microsoft is rolling out a number of changes to its Live.com portal and Windows Live suite of applications. In a nutshell, the company is trying to add social networking-style features to the web portal. Users will be able to create profile pages where they can connect to other friends, share images and other media, and post short status updates. In other words, it looks a lot like Facebook. But Microsoft will be leveraging its existing services like Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger. Your IM contacts will automatically be added to your Windows Live contact list.

The new Windows Live also supports integration with third party services like Flickr, LinkedIn, Pandora, and Twitter. And Microsoft is increasing the amount of free storage space for Windows Live SkyDrive users from 5GB to 25GB.

Microsoft is doing a phased rollout of the new services, so you may not notice any changes to your account right away. But all existing Windows Live users should see the new features within the next few weeks.

The company is also releasing new versions of its downloadable and web-based applications including Windows live Messenger, Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Photos, and Windows Live People, a one stop shop for contact management.

Microsoft updates Windows Live apps, adds social features originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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FeedDemon 2.8 beta shows numerous improvements

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Freeware, Beta

Yesterday BradSoft announced the second beta of FeedDemon 2.8, the popular desktop newsreader for Windows.

Bugfix work continues, and the user interface has been streamlined - which developer Nick Bradbury refers to as "toolbutton slaughter." The new sharing and tagging icons caused some overcrowding, but users who still want the old icons displayed can customize the settings under options -> reading.

Several tag-related features have been added. FeedDemon's subscription home page now includes a tag cloud, making it easy to access similar posts you've tagged. Tags can also be dragged and dropped onto posts, and tagged items can be exluded when purging old news items.

The addition of automated error reporting to the previous version allowed Bradbury to correct nearly 30 issues. So far, the changes have made FeedDemon faster, easier to use, and more stable than ever.

For a full list of bugfixes and changes, check the Bradsoft release notes.

[ via gHacks ]

FeedDemon 2.8 beta shows numerous improvements originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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