Gmail Studio brings Gmail Studio to your desktop with minimal interference to your workspace. Gmail Studio sits in your status bar at the top of your screen, and can notify you when you have new mail from multiple Gmail and Google Apps Gmail accounts. You can monitor each account with different time intervals and different Gmail tags. Gmail Studio also supports Growl notifications to notify you when you have new mail.

Features

Features currently in Gmail Studio

• Low CPU resources
• Unlimited Gmail accounts
• Support for Google Apps Gmail accounts
• Multiple Gmail accounts
• Separate check intervals for each account
• Easy to navigate account menu with links to your Gmail account
• Message list inside account menu
• Ability to put individual accounts to sleep
• Easy access to check all accounts
• Growl notifications
• Automatic update support

DownloadScreen ShotsChange Log

Aaron Scott, the developer of Drivetrain, told via an e-mail interview from Australia that Apple’s decision was “ridiculous,” according to a report over at Wired’s Threat Level blog. “I do think that some people might choose to download pirated works. But they can not outlaw a program because of a few who choose to do the wrong thing. The BitTorrent protocol and client apps are not illegal,” Aaron shared.

Really? This is no different than the built in and free application that comes with the iPhone that allows you to control your iTunes. I mean iTunes can be used to play copyrighted material, even stolen copyrighted material. This is absurd!

Some of my favorites:

After a little over a week of playing around, I am switching over to Picasa and Picasa Web. I am going to miss the “community” aspect of Flickr, but here are some of the things I really enjoy about Picasa and Picasa Web:

• Faster Servers: We all know Google is fast, very fast… faster image uploads, faster image loads, etc.
• Better User Interface: Flickr has gotten so polluted with too many links, too many distractions. Google always has taken a minimalist approach to design and layout, and it works.
• Picasa Desktop: Picasa on the desktop rocks! Plain and simple.

The Mac Mini is setup, cranking out a great resolution and looks great on my 56″ television. I think I will be getting a HD antenna so I can watch some local sport events on my television, but other than that I am loving the new system.

I ended up getting a Apple Wireless Keyboard, just because I did not like how my PC keyboards mapped to the mac OS. Well that, and it is a slick little bluetooth keyboard.

I am still fiddling with Boxee and getting it to work correctly, but mostly I am using Hulu, Netflix, and some downloads. I setup a Google Doc spreadsheet to keep track of the shows I have yet to see.

Nothing beats having a full fledged computer hooked up to the television. It is great to be able to pop open a browser and check some email, or chat with someone, etc.

I successfully got Time Machine backing up to my Windows Home Server. I think I am going to keep my Windows Home Server around, because I will have at least one Windows machine in the house and the Windows Home Server actually does a good job being diverse.

I am extremely happy with the decision, the best part will be saving $150 a month.

I ordered a Mac Mini to hook up to my television and receiver in the family room. I know there have been rumors that the Mac Mini will be getting updates, but I can not put off my purchasing decisions based on rumors alone. Beside if they do come out with something new and awesome, the Mac Mini I ordered will become a desktop. I already have a spare wireless mouse and keyboard, so I am good to go there.

I also picked up a DVI to HDMI converter and a converter to allow the Mac Mini to do digital audio out. The order should come in on Thursday.

I also signed up for a beta account of Boxee and started playing with the software, it rocks.

I am going to continue to use my Windows Home Server as my file server for media, backups, subversion repository, etc. I will never be completely Mac or PC, so I need a server that can backup both and have the disk space.

I put my Series 3 Tivo up for sale today as well, will be listing it on eBay soon enough as well.

More to come as progress continues.

I am thinking about getting a Mac Mini and hooking it up to my home theatre so I can acquire my shows through services like Hulu, Boxee, or other means. I do not like the limited capabilities of the Apple TV, so I figure a Mac Mini will be great because I can use it for computer functions like checking EMail, and surfing the web. 

The only time I am picky about the quality of picture and sound is when I am watching a DVD or Blu Ray, because everything streamed is not going to be excellent quality no matter how it is delivered. 

I guess I am just tired of the over pricing, tiered channels, lack of good content, and never really being home to enjoy the service. Media is on demand, and the cable companies just refuse to acknowledge that.

I will let you know how the project progresses as it goes in motion.

So when are we going to get over this? When are we going to start looking at the success of companies like Netflix, iTunes, Hulu, and realize that at the end of the day most people are honest. Why doesn’t the MPAA contribute the layoffs to the fact that the economy sucks wind right now, and no one is spending money because they are not making money. And those that are making money are saving that money or spending it on necessities, and MPAA I hate to break it to you but you are not a necessity you are a luxury. Even further, I know you have done a wonderful job at convincing our government that you, like the car industry, deserve to stay in business with an outdated business model because you refuse to change with the times… HOWEVER that is not the case. Times are changing, people are getting their entertainment through other avenues, or SHOCKER other venues besides the bloated over priced way you go about making your movies which you continue to do so you can continue to pad the books, stagger releases, do fuzzy accounting, and make sure the rich get richer.

So I am sorry to hear that people are losing their jobs in your organization, but take a look around it is happening everywhere, with every company; and no one is blaming the pirates but you. Wake up!

Either way, I like the new look and feel. GMail keeps getting better, the little things matter.

Syntax Highlighting and Code Completion is hands down better in XTools. With Visual Studio I have to use Visual Assist X in order to bring syntax highlighting and code completion to life. XTools as a whole is much more responsive, and I never have a delay with code completion.

The Interface Builder for XTools also beats that of Visual Studio. When adding controls, buttons, windows, panels, the Interface Builder provides and extensive library and features that beat that of Visual Studio. It is much easier to align controls and measure and position items on a window. XTools provides the measuring features similar to NetBeans, where as Visual Studio you have to use the rulers to align controls which never align correctly.

The documentation for Cocoa and XTools as a whole is much more in depth. I have learned aspects of the API and gotten a jump start much quicker than when I was starting in with Visual Studio. The documentation is complete, always there (meaning no dociment not found problems like with MSDN), and is always updated.

I really have enjoyed getting to know XTools, it is enjoyable to put together little applications and learn the SDK.

Lately I have been toying with converting over to the Mac, which again has me wondering what do I do with all of those desktops? I am not going to completely convert over to the Mac, ever, but I would be very content with two laptops that I could dock into my monitors at my desk. This is a lot simpler setup then the two desktops and two laptops I used to have to run for my job.

Lately I have been wondering if the desktop is dead. Do you use a desktop at home, or do you just use a laptop? Granted that desktops are generally more powerful than desktops, but I am not sure I need that power at home anymore.

So let me know, what kind of setup are you running at home?

As a little bit of background at home I am running a Windows Home Server, Windows Vista Ultimate machine, a Windows Vista Ultimate laptop, and a Windows XP machine. This is what I get for developing Windows based software for most of my career.

All this morning I have been configuring, customizing, and setting up my new MacBook. So far I am really enjoying it. I really enjoy the battery life, which compared to my laptop at home is decades longer. I like the portability of the MacBook as well, which again my laptop at home is a tank. Not to neglect the software side of things, I am relatively sure that it has taken me less time to setup and configure this Mac than it has to configure my PCs in the past. Granted, the machine came preloaded with some software and updates and I am not setting up the same software, but overall I have found the process smoother and had no errors or problems along the way.

The only thing I am worried about getting tied to the Mac is having to replace my hardware at home. My monitors and keyboards would be the only thing that I could continue to use, my other machines would probably be shelved or donated. But this is all in the future, we are only on day one.

On Google’s Blog, Google says that they ended the deal because of antitrust concerns. Oddly enough this is what everyone was concerned about at the beginning. So the question is did Google purposely strike this deal with Yahoo knowing that later it would back out just so Microsoft did not acquire Yahoo? Part of me thinks not because the plan backfired as Yahoo is now even cheaper and more desperate. But the other side of me looks at the history of Google and the fact that they have never been the one to fight antitrust “concerns”

To me it looks like Yahoo is on it’s way to being the next AOL, always around but no real purpose and revenue. Microsoft could swoop back in and pick them up for a deal, but Microsoft continues to show that they are not interested. Either way a sad day in tech.

First I do not like the Google Updater that it makes you install. There are ways to manually remove it, but somehow it always seems to be running in the background. I do not need constant updates to Google, let me use my browser in peace.

Google Chrome also does not appear to use your host file. Google is checking with it’s own DNS server instead of going off of your hosts file. Why is this a big deal? For developers. We have a sandbox server that we use to build websites before they are rolled out. We direct our domains to these servers with our hosts files. Chrome never allows us to get to our sandbox servers via our host file.

I appreciate Google’s efforts to innovate, and change things up. But I would appreciate some sort of option for both of these above. I can live with both of them, but options in general are very nice. It seems that Google does not want to give the user very many options. I hope future revisions get better.

Paris on Le Mime from David Parsons on Vimeo.

7 Days ago I moved all of my sites and domains over to Media Temple. Media Temple is arguably the industry leader in grid hosting, not to be confused with cloud services.

So far I am very, very happy with their service. It is good to sit back and worry about the other aspects of business, and know that your hosting needs are taken care of. I do not need to worry about memory usage, bandwidth caps, CPU spikes, or anything.

I have moved hosting providers a lot in the past. I can say that my move to Media Temple was the easiest and smoothest yet. I used to prefer “professionally made” control panels like Plesk. Then I would just use remote access to control the server. Media Temple has the best of both worlds. You have root access, and their control panel is definitely top of the line. They have done a good job of putting any feature you need within the click of a button. Even complicated tasks like switching PHP versions for a specific domain is as easy as clicking a button.

With Media Temple to proof is in the pudding. Their control panel is never slow, and you have to figure that they are hosting it on their grid services themselves. I have dealt with hosting companies custom control panels in the past, usually they are slow and crappy.

The only trouble I had during setup was setting up Google Apps for my domains. The values you input into the DNS administrator are a little different than what you would insert into other control panels. Fortunately this article provides you with a very straight forward way to set it up. I lost email for about a half a day before I realized the values were different.

I have not activated my Ruby grid container yet, mostly because of a lack of time. I am very excited about the grid containers they offer. It is an added bonus to be able to code in Ruby on Rails.

All in all I am very happy with Media Temple, and you cannot beat the price. I plan to stay month to month for another three months, and then I can save even more by paying for a quarter or a year. Definitely check them out.

If you do not have an invite to BrightKite, please leave a comment below and I will get one out to you. First 10 to comment get invites, after that I am out.

Download the iPhone application today, I am sure it will become one of the most popular iPhone applications very soon.

You can use the coupon code BCSFALL to receive your 25% off either NetGrid Studio or GMail Desktop Studio. Alternatively you can use the purchase links below and the coupon code will automatically be applied. But hurry, offer ends November 16th, 2008. We hope you have a great fall, and make sure to stay up to date with all of the latest news at BlueCrestStudios by signing up for our newsletter.

NetGrid Studio

NetGrid Studio gives you an inside look into your network connection. Internet Service Providers are playing all sorts of games these days with “unlimited” and “always on” network connections, when really that is not the case. Many ISP’s have also been found to be packet shaping and throttling network connections for certain protocols like Bittorrent.

NetGrid Studio is also great for computer users, parents, or small businesses that wish to know how much through-traffic there is on a certain network or computer.

NetGrid Studio follows both common and IEC units of measurement. Total information is gathered with a background service, which makes it so you do not have to be logged in to a user in order for NetGrid Studio to monitor your network connection.

GMail Desktop Studio

GMail Desktop Studio brings all the features of GMail to your desktop. With a system tray notification system, a built in browser, and the ability to handle mailto links: GMail Desktop keeps your GMail accounts within a mouse click. GMail Desktop Studio allows you to monitor multiple GMail or Google Apps for your Domain accounts. The system tray notification system allows you to see how many new messages you have without any interaction from you. From the new mail notification window you can click on any of your messages to instantly view.

GMail Desktop Studio is great for those who want quick access to their GMail accounts, and instant notification of new mail.

As of this morning I do not see emoticons in either of my Google Apps accounts, but hopefully soon they will roll these out to the Google Apps customers.