Better Gmail gets even better

By Seth Rosenblatt

If you're tired of waiting for Google to make some much-needed improvements to Gmail, Better Gmail has been adding useful functionality to the e-mail client since earlier this year. An update earlier this month finally gave Gmail what users have been clamoring for: integration with Google Reader.

Written by Lifehacker editor Gina Trapani, the extension is basically a collection of her favorite Greasemonkey scripts. It does more than just slap your feeds onto the bottom of your in-box, though. It adds a Collapse/Expand Gmail link to the top-left nav, just under the Compose link. This hides your e-mail and pulls the Reader up to the top, and swtiches to Expand when the in-box is hidden. It also adds a control panel to central left nav for managing your feeds, a neat work-around so that you can collapse the Reader's built-in navigation. The Reader pane is collapsible, too, so you can hide the perpetual distraction of feeds from the perpetual distraction of e-mail.

New Meebo Firefox extension puts notifications in your Web chats

By Josh Lowensohn

Meebo released its Firefox extension earlier this morning. It lets you chat with people on six different popular chat clients, or sign in to all at once with your Meebo ID using a sidebar in your browser. The 64k extension is aimed at solving the problem of providing active notifications for friends and conversation activity--one of the most widely requested features from Meebo users, and the hardest to implement without something that has deeper access to your browser. If you've ever used Meebo before and have been annoyed that you can't tell a whole lot about what's going on when it's not your main tab or when minimized, this extension solves that with colored taskbar pop-ups. And as an added bonus for the lazy, there's an option to automatically sign into the service every time you start your browser.

Once installed, the buddy list can be hidden and summoned with a shortcut button that sits next to your home button. You'll also get a brief overview of what a buddy has written right in your sidebar, and a numbering of missed messages both in the bottom corner of your browser, and by their username.
Any conversations take place in a special browser window that's tied to the side bar. The one caveat of using the service is that this tab needs to be open at all times, and that conversations take place there until you pop them out. Closing it out will simply sign you out. According to Meebo's "marketing dude" Daniel Bernstein, there are no plans to get rid of that open tab. Considering Meebo's monetization strategy relies on the advertising and content partnerships that you'll find in the Meebo home screen, the company isn't trying to replace the need to see that screen with the extension.

As an added bonus for Meebo users who feel like sharing content they find around the Web, the extension lets you drag over links, or entire chunks of text from other windows. It's similar to Meebo rooms, although lacking the neat video drag that will open up the Flash video right in the IM. Also, speaking of rooms, you're not going to be able to access them from the sidebar--that functionality remains a part of Meebo.com.

Internet Explorer users looking for a little Meebo love in their browser will be getting their own extension "really soon." In the meantime, Firefox users can pick it up here.

Visual search comes to Nokia phones

By Leslie Katz

If you start seeing people pointing their Nokia camera phones at books, product packaging and other print materials, it's not that they have some weird cell phone-related tic. More than likely, they're using the Thrrum Visual Browser for Cameraphone Search.

The browser lets users point the camera in their phones at objects of interest and get relevant information, product prices and more, right on their handset. Mountain View, Calif.-based 23half, which makes the software, just announced that the app will be available for select Nokia Nseries phones, including the N73, N73ME, N95 and N95-3. It's also supported on a number of Sony Ericsson models.

The Thrrum Visual Browser software can be downloaded from Thrrum.com. The software costs $5.99 and includes the accompanying Cameraphone Search service.

The Thrrum Visual Browser isn't the first application to wed visual recognition technologies and information search in the context of mobile phones. Fujitsu has created software that links product images taken with a camera phone to Web sites, videos or other advertisements. That technology is currently deployed in Japan as part of a partnership between Fujitsu and the country's largest mobile operator, NTT DoCoMo.

Gemini: A virtual mobile world wakes to life

By Jessica Dolcourt

Second Life may have nudged its Grid onto the mobile screen, but it's Gemini's eXplo platform for enabling mini virtual worlds that earned a spot on Deloitte's Wireless Fast 50 list at the CTIA Wireless conference (coverage).

In S'town, a game built on the eXplo platform, users can chat on screen, buy products, stare at advertising billboards, and meet up with online friends, even whooshing to a meeting point on the other end of the expansive world. That's in Japan, where impressive phones on the Softbank network are already attracting a demographic of "young, active, and 'fun'" 18 to 24 year-old women who don't mind expressing themselves in one of 11 rudimentary avatars.

North America's S'town is apparently a much different world. This audience will be able to integrate with services like YouTube and Facebook. In a demo, Stephen Sims, Gemini's Director of Product Management for eXplo, walked a bouncy, pig-tailed avatar into a Facebook gallery whose virtual walls were decked with album images. In another view, pressing the phone's soft key button reeled through images vertically as if on a giant turbine, from the far "wall."

North American carriers will begin marketing games like S'town using Gemini's platform "sometime in 2008," Sims assured me. Europeans will likely get them much sooner; carrier talks are underway.

Samsung BlackJack II makes official debut

Well, well, guess who decided to show its pretty little face at Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's keynote address this morning--mmm hmm, the Samsung BlackJack II. Today, Samsung and AT&T officially introduced the successor to the BlackJack, but it won't be available till "later this year"--you guys are such a tease! A majority of the changes are on the hardware side. You now get a slightly larger 2.4-inch QVGA display (previously 2.25 inches), the scroll wheel on the right side has also been removed in favor of a front jog wheel, and the bottom row of the QWERTY keyboard now includes more shortcut buttons to the smartphone's various apps. In addition, the BlackJack II is slightly (and we mean slight; this is still very much a sleek phone) thicker, but for good reason. The extra room was needed to store a higher-capacity 1,700mAh lithium ion battery. We know battery life was an issue with the original BlackJack, so we really hope the issue has been resolved in this iteration. Unfortunately, at this time, Samsung couldn't give us any specific numbers on rated talk time or standby time.

Feature-wise, the BlackJack II is pretty stacked. Starting with the new, there's built-in GPS and it's the first smartphone to support AT&T's Video Share service, which lets you make video calls. The camera's been upgraded to a 2-megapixel lens and you get a built-in RSS Reader client. Samsung also said they made improvements to the speakerphone for louder and clearer performance and increased standard memory. Other oldies but goodies include HSDPA, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP profile for stereo Bluetooth headsets, Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition, AT&T Music and CV support, and quad-band world roaming.

As we mentioned earlier, a specific availability date was not given but pricing is set for a very reasonable $149.99 with a two-year contract and after rebates. It will also be available in two colors: black and burgundy. I got a sneak preview yesterday, and I've got to say I'm pretty excited about the device. The form factor is still sexy and slim, and the burgundy model is gorgeous--appropriate for both men and women. The front jog wheel felt a bit loose to me, and for those of you accustomed to the side-mounted control, it's going to feel a bit weird at first. I only got about 10 minutes of hands-on time with the BlackJack II, so it's hard to say if the performance is any better, but I'm about to run over to the show floor to get some video, so check back soon for your own first look.

Reuters, Nokia collaborate on project for reporters on the go

By Caroline McCarthy

Reuters and the Nokia Research Center have announced that they are working on a joint project to enable journalists to file and publish stories and multimedia news content from handheld devices instead of computers. Called Reuters Mobile Journalism, the initiative relies upon connecting peripherals to Nokia's high-end N95 device--a Bluetooth-enabled keyboard, a small tripod for video interviews, and a microphone that can plug into the mobile handset--as well as software to make it easier to put together text, images and streaming media.

"By running on handheld devices, rather than on bulkier laptop computers, the mobile journalism application enables us to create complete stories and file them for distribution, without leaving the scene," Nic Fulton, chief scientist of Reuters Media, said in a statement from the two companies. "This saves us time and benefits our audience by ensuring that they receive high quality news that is absolutely up-to-date."

It would also, of course, require that the reporter in question be equipped with an N95 handset.

Over the summer, Reuters ran trials of mobile journalism in situations as varied as the U.S. presidential primary campaign events, the Edinburgh TV festival and New York Fashion Week, where stories were filed from the field. Currently, the plan is to make the finished product available to professional journalists, but a number of university students will be used for a trial run to see how the "toolkit" fits into the ever-growing citizen journalism niche.

NoiseFree VoIP hushes the rabble on Skype, Yahoo, Google calls

By Jessica Dolcourt

NoiseFree VoIP has just launched a fresh all-software solution to those often noisy VoIP calls. Skype, Yahoo Messenger with Voice, and Google Talk are great ways to save money on long distance, but if you're calling anywhere near civilization, you're bound to get interference. A noisy line can undo the advantage of free Internet calls.

Until December 31, 2007, NoiseFree VoIP is offering a free beta of its noise-canceling software to registered users. I gave it a go at CTIA (coverage), and was impressed with the demo. There was noticeable improvement in call quality when I toggled the software on and off, though the background buzz in the busy room didn't and couldn't have faded completely.

NoiseFree VoIP launches as a window that detects when you use VoIP. It doesn't add on to or interfere with your voice program of choice, operating invisibly. The app window can be set to start with Windows or with a browser launch. It minimizes to the system tray and can be called on for a few very minor tweaks.