Welcome to the WrapUp by CyberNet. This is a collection of news stories, downloads, and tips that we have collected over the last few days, but never got around to writing about. Don’t forget to send in your own tips, or just leave a comment on this page if you think you’ve got something we should include.

–News–

itunes app store.jpgApple Improves iTunes App Store Interface
Last week Apple unexpectedly made some changes to the iTunes App Store that left developers scrambling. The new interface places more emphasis on screenshots, and less on the description. In fact if you want to see all of the description you’ll first have to hit the “more” link on the page. The best addition, however, might be that you can actually add apps to a wish list so that you can easily find those apps you wanted to keep an eye on.


demonoid.jpgDemonoid is Back!
My favorite BitTorrent site, Demonoid.com, is now back online after being unavailable for several months. In September they went down due to hardware failure, and as a result lost some data. The fact that they are back online will be just the present file sharers were hoping for this holiday season.


google phone.jpgGoogle Testing a “Mobile Lab” Device
There has been a lot of speculation as to whether Google was really working on their own Android-powered phone, and it appears to be true. Some of the first glimpses are floating around thanks to Googlers who are apparently getting the devices in their stockings for Christmas. From what everyone has said on the hardware side of things the device is an HTC Passion… now we just have to wait for an official release from the Google gods.


live writer 2010.jpgWindows Live Wave 4 Screenshots
Neowin got their hands on some screenshots of the next major milestone for the Windows Live suite of applications. They only have them available for Live Messenger and Live Writer at the moment, but I’m very happy to see that Windows Live Writer 2010 will include the Office Ribbon interface. That by itself is a rather major upgrade to my favorite blogging software.


–News in Brief–

google search.jpgGoogle Suggest Enhanced
Google has decided to include instant calculator and weather results in the drop-down suggestions that you see, but only when they’re relevant.


itunes holiday sampler.jpgiTunes Offers Free Holiday Songs
Apple is offering 20 free holiday songs on iTunes.


mozilla bing.jpgMozilla Employee Recommends Bing
Asa Dotzler was caught recommending Bing on his blog last week due to privacy concerns with Google.


best laptops.jpgBest Windows Laptops from $400 to $1500
Gizmodo puts together their list of best Windows laptops in varying price ranges.


droid.jpgDroid Trumps iPhone for Time Gadget of the Year
The Motorola Droid smartphone beat out the iPhone as Time’s Gadget of the Year.


speed tracer.jpgGoogle Speed Tracer for Web Developers
Google has released a set of tools for web developers to optimize the performance of sites.


eye-fi.jpgPurchase 200GB Google Storage for $50, Get Free Eye-Fi
Just in time for the holidays Google has decided to offer a deal… buy 200GB of storage for $50 and get a free 4GB Eye-Fi SD memory card ($95 value).


–Tips, Tutorials, and Reviews–

netvibes feed reader-1.jpgUsing Netvibes as Your Feed Reader
I’ve really been getting into using Google Reader because of the number of third-party apps that have started supporting the service, and it’s been awhile since I had checked out Netvibes. After reading this review I jumped over to test out some of the latest RSS capabilities, and was pleasantly surprised at how full-fledged Netvibes is becoming in that department. Give it a whirl if you haven’t done so in a little while.


quick scroll.jpgGoogle Chrome Quick Scroll Finds Search Terms on Page
There aren’t too many stand-out Google Chrome extensions yet, but this is one of the few I’d put in that category. It recognizes when you click a link from a Google Search, and helps highlight those terms on the page you land on.


–Tips in Brief–

winamp.jpgHow to Make a Portable Version of Winamp
Take your Winamp library with you on your USB drive by using these instructions.


spotlight.jpgAdd a Spotlight to Your Desktop
This may not be the most useful thing in the world, but it has it’s place. Maybe you are doing a presentation and want something to standout on the screen… this will do the trick.


xbmc.jpgLifehacker’s Most Popular How-To Articles
Lifehacker rounds up their best how-to posts from the last year, such as building an Xbox Media Center PC.


gleebox.jpgCommand-Line Surfing in Firefox or Chrome
Keyboard junkies will find peace in using Gleebox in their browser, which brings a command-line interface for common tasks.


drive backup.jpgFree and Easy Backup Utility
Backup your entire PC using the free Macrium program.  


download status.jpgDownload Info in Your Firefox Statusbar
Keep an eye on your Firefox downloads from the Statusbar.


save picasa.jpgSave Picasa Albums to Your Computer
This app will actually let you download images from any Picasa user’s account.


google docs.jpgBulk Download Your Google Docs
Grab all of your Google Docs in one swoop… up to 2GB at a single time.


monitor disk speed.jpgMonitor Disk Speed
Check how your hard drives are performing (in terms of read/write speed) with this quick and easy tool.


device remover.jpgWindows Device Manager Replacement
Get some additional tools to help with the management of drivers and devices.


–Downloads–

Get Twitter “Bubbles” on Your Desktop

Twitter is taking the world by storm, and because of that we're seeing a flood of third-party apps becoming available. One that recently caught my eye was the Adobe Air-powered TweetBubbles, which isn't designed to be your typical Twitter client. In fact, you can't even post to Twitter with it. How's it useful then?

December 10th, 2009
Get Twitter “Bubbles” on Your Desktop

WrapUp: Microsoft Pulls Windows 7 Family Pack, Set Bing Backgrounds as Your Wallpaper, and More

Welcome to the WrapUp by CyberNet. This is a collection of news stories, downloads, and tips that we have collected over the last few days, but never got around to writing about.

December 8th, 2009
WrapUp: Microsoft Pulls Windows 7 Family Pack, Set Bing Backgrounds as Your Wallpaper, and More

PicPick – Free Portable Screenshot App

Coming across a good free screenshot application is a rarity these days. I used to be a big fan of FastStone Capture, but once they went from free to paid it felt like my money would be better spent on SnagIt (in the event I decided to purchase an app).

December 4th, 2009
PicPick – Free Portable Screenshot App

Grooveshark Brings Restriction-Free Music Streaming to People Worldwide

If you're not from the US, this sounds familiar: a cool new music or video service launches but when you want to test it out, you find out it's not available in your country. The music recommendation site Pandora is one of many victims of a world that doesn't have unified copyright regulations.

December 3rd, 2009
Grooveshark Brings Restriction-Free Music Streaming to People Worldwide

How to Remember Secure Passwords Without Writing Them Down

As we've learnt from following the news, simple passwords like 123456 aren't the safest. On the other hand, if you pick a safe password with both letters and numbers, you'll end up forgetting it. You can't have your cake and eat it.

December 1st, 2009
How to Remember Secure Passwords Without Writing Them Down

WrapUp: End of the CrunchPad, Useful Keyboard Shortcuts, and More

Welcome to the WrapUp by CyberNet. This is a collection of news stories, downloads, and tips that we have collected over the last few days, but never got around to writing about.

November 30th, 2009
WrapUp: End of the CrunchPad, Useful Keyboard Shortcuts, and More

How to Do Automatic Color Correction On Your Pictures For Free

Windows only If you've ever toyed around with any digital camera for five minutes, you know that the pictures it takes often look different than what you saw in real-life. Common complaints include photos being too bright/dark or having an odd-looking color balance.

November 25th, 2009
How to Do Automatic Color Correction On Your Pictures For Free

WrapUp: Adobe Flash 10.1 Beta, Listen to Entire Albums with Lala, and More

Welcome to the WrapUp by CyberNet. This is a collection of news stories, downloads, and tips that we have collected over the last few days, but never got around to writing about.

November 23rd, 2009
WrapUp: Adobe Flash 10.1 Beta, Listen to Entire Albums with Lala, and More

Growl Becoming a Must-have App on Windows?

Having bought my first Mac about a year and a half ago one app that I quickly started to love was Growl. It brought a universal notification system to the operating system that any application could make use of, and the cross-program uniformity made the OS experience that much better.

November 19th, 2009
Growl Becoming a Must-have App on Windows?