Windows/Mac/Linux: If you would like to easily access, edit, and save files across multiple computers, free application FeelHome allows you to share files across operating systems and over the web.

Once you install FeelHome on your computer and specify which folders you want to share, you can access those files from the web or from another computer in your virtual FeelHome network.

Files aren’t stored on the FeelHome servers, and FeelHome isn’t an online storage solution like Dropbox. Your files still reside on their respective computers. Instead, FeelHome allows you to access them between machines and through the web-based interface. FeelHome’s servers act as secure mediators in the transaction—much like the LogMeIn Hamachiservers help mediate your VPN connections.

Firefox/Chrome: Small netbook screens make you really appreciate every last pixel on your device. The Mini Wide userscript for Gmail adds a “netbook mode” shortcut to Gmail that removes navigation and ads for a streamlined, netbook-friendly, message-focused view of your inbox.

Once installed, just tap ‘w’ to toggle between the default Gmail view and netbook mode. That’s all there is to it. Assuming you’ve mastered Gmail’s keyboard shortcuts, the lack of navigation isn’t all that big of a deal—plus you can easily bring back the default view with a quick press of the ‘w’ key. The tweak is a little rough around the edges at times (I couldn’t use ‘g’ + ‘l’ label navigation unless I toggled out of mini mode, for example), but it’s a nice start, and could be really useful for netbook users.

You’ll need the Grease monkey extension to install it in Firefox; Chrome supports installing userscripts as extensions, so just head to the homepage and click Install.

Windows: Kiwi is a free utility that monitors any application and springs into action when that application meets any user-defined criteria within a set of basic rules—like restarting an application or email you when it’s memory use exceeds a pre-defined level.

The app comes in free and Pro flavors, but the free version can perform any of the following actions when an application you tell it to monitor matches a rule:

• close an application when it’s memory load exceeds a certain level
• close an application when it’s CPU time spend exceeds a certain time
• close an application when it runs for a period of time
• turn off the computer when a certain application ends
• run an application when the selected application starts
• run an application when the selected application ends
• alert when an application starts
• alert when an application ends
• alert when an application’s memory load exceeds a certain level
• alert when an application’s CPU time spend exceeds a certain time

Gmail uses a common timing algorithm to fetch messages from POP accounts, one you can somewhat game, but sometimes you want to get at a message you knowhas arrived. A new Labs feature adds a manual refresh button for POP grabbing.

Head to your Labs settings and enable the “Refresh POP accounts” lab, then hit “Save changes” at the bottom or top of the page. From then on, you’ll see a “Refresh” link to the right of your inbox buttons. Hit it and Gmail will poll any email accounts you’ve set it up to fetch from. Want to get started importing your other mail accounts into Gmail?

If you’re a huge fan of abstract wallpaper but you don’t have the software or the know-how to make one you’ll definitely want to try Flame, a web-based drawing tool that makes creating abstract doodles easy and fun.

Using Flame you can create a variety of shapes and patterns and the user interface is simple. You have a palette which is black by default, white is the only other option. You have an adjustable brush, customizable in size, softness, and other variables, and you can select your colors and the level of opacity and saturation.

One of the best ways to create really soft and flowing lines is to move the mouse quickly. The faster you move the mouse the “wider” the brush stretches and the softer and more diffuse the lines are. If you move the mouse slowly you get a laser-focused beam of intense color, move it quickly and you get a wide swath of gossamer-like color.

You can save your pictures to your computer, the default size is 1680px × 1050px with no ability to select other sizes—a feature we’d love to see implemented for creating crazy triple-screen wallpaper and other sizes. If you make a particularly awesome wallpaper, share it in the comments below. Have a neat tool for making your own wallpaper? We want to hear about that too.

Flame via download

GPS-enabled smartphones make it easy to get directions, weather, and many more location based services since they automatically know where you are.  With Geosense, you can bring this functionality to any Windows 7 computer even if it doesn’t have a GPS chip.

Windows 7 introduced the new Sensors and Location platform that would let Windows automatically respond to environmental changes sensed by light, orientation sensors, or GPS chips.  This makes your computer more aware of its surroundings and enable it to change itself accordingly.  The location platform is especially interesting, as it brings the potential of automatic location based search and maps to your PC.  Unfortunately, most laptops today are not equipped with GPS chips.  Thanks to Geosense, however, you can still use the location platform.

Geosense uses IP lookup, Wi-Fi and Cell tower triangulation, and more to find your location as accurately as possible.  Geosense lists itself as a sensor in the Windows Sensors and Locations, so once you’ve installed it, all location-aware applications and services will be able to pick up your location from it.  Please note that Geosense only works on Windows 7 Home Premium and higher, as Windows 7 Starter doesn’t include the Sensors and Locations platform.

Getting Started

Geosense is a free download for Windows 7, with both 32 and 64 bit editions.  Choose the correct one for your computer, and install.

While installing, it will ask to install a device driver.  Simply press Install.  You may also see a UAC prompt, which you should accept as well.

When it is finished installing, you are ready to use Geosense.  First, lets make sure Geosense is enabled.  Enter “Location” in your Start Menu search, and select “Location and Other Sensors”.

Here you should see Geosense listed as a sensor.  If it is not enabled, click the check box beside it and click Apply.

You can see more information about Geosense if you click its name.  This page lets you change the description, choose which users can use this sensor, and uninstall it if you choose.

Using Geosense

There are few applications today that make use of the Location platform in Windows 7, but hopefully we will see more in the near future.  The weather desktop gadget, however, is location aware, so you can easily test out your Geosense location with it.  Once Geosense is installed, you will notice a grey logo beside your city’s name on the gadget that shows that a sensor is available.

Click on the gear to open the options pane.  Here you can now select “Find location automatically” and it will display the weather for the location detected by Geosense.

Now your gadget should show a blue icon beside the city name, showing that the location is coming from your location sensor.

Unfortunately, sometimes Geosense cannot detect your location. If so, you will either see an entirely incorrect city (Seattle, WA is the default city, and usually is “detected” if Geosense fails to detect your location), or will show a red icon showing that it cannot detect your correct location.

Location-Aware Google Maps

Another location aware application is a Google Maps app available from the Geosense site (link below).  This will automatically open a Google map at your current location, so you can easily search for directions and nearby businesses.  This could be very useful at a hotspot in a new city, for instance.  Once again, though, if it cannot detect your location, it may simply show a default location or a generic Google maps.

Gmail has officially integrated several of our favorite Labs-only features into Gmail proper, including previously mentioned features like search autocomplete, Go to Label (one of the biggies in my Gmail master redux), forgotten attachment detector, YouTube previews, and more.

Search autocomplete automatically suggests search criteria based on common searches; Go to Label adds excellent keyboard shortcuts for navigating your account (type ‘g’ + ‘label name’); forgotten attachment detector alerts you before you send an attachment-less message that appears to promise one; YouTube preview, like it sounds, lets you watch linked videos inside Gmail without opening a new window; custom label colors lets you set any color to any label; and the vacation dates feature lets you set the dates you’ll be away so your auto-responders don’t go out before or after your vacation begins or ends.

On the flip side, Gmail also retired five less popular features: Muzzle, Fixed Width Font, Email Addict, Location in Signature, and Random Signature.

Got another Labs feature you’d like to see graduate Labs and join the default Gmail feature set? Got one you’d like to see retired? Let’s hear it in the comments.

If you’re wondering if it’s worth buying something on eBay because it might be readily available and cheap on Amazon or vice versa, Q-Compare can help you comparison shop between the two services.

At Q-Compare you select the country you’re in and the category you want to search in—you don’t have to specify the category but it really helps narrow the eBay searches—and Q-Compare displays potential matches, seen in the screen shot above.

Once you select from the initial selection Q-Compare shows the item on Amazon.com and a selection of thumbnails of the item for sale on eBay. One big perk that comes with using Q-Compare as oppose to the Google Shopping is that the results provided by Q-Compare for eBay are for current auctions only, you won’t find any stale auctions in the mix to throw off your price comparison.

Have a favorite tool for comparison shopping? Let’s hear about it in the comments.

Ever seen a picture online that you’re kicking yourself for not saving, especially now that it’s been removed? There’s a good chance it may still be saved on your computer; all you need to do is familiarize yourself with your browser’s cache.

Front page photo by Jeffrey Beall

Covering resurrecting images from your browser cache and highlighting how to recover images in Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari, but the browser landscape has changed a little. Luckily, recovering images from Firefox hasn’t really changed, and popular alternatives like Chrome and Opera all have similar recovery methods. In Firefox, it works the same

1. Type about:cache in the address bar.
2. Under “Disk Cache Device,” copy the folder path to where Firefox stores your cache entries.
3. Navigate to that folder in Windows Explorer or Finder. The files there will have strange names and no extension, so it can take some time, but you just have to open each one to see if it’s the photo in question.

:

Chrome: We love Gina’s Better Gmail Firefox extension, a bundle of user scripts that improves the Gmail experience. Now that Google’s beefed up support for Chrome extensions, reader Dimitar Gruev has taken a shot at bringing an unofficial Better Gmail to Chrome. This new Chrome extension is an unofficial Better Gmail for Chrome that was inspired by Gina’s Firefox extension and our earlier Better Gmail for Chrome bag o’scripts.

Once installed, access Better Gmail’s options by clicking the wrench -> Extensions -> Better Gmail Options. Tick the boxes of the features you want activated and you’re good to go. You can choose to hide little used fields like “Invite Friends,” remove ads, show the number of unread emails in the favicon, and more.

Gruev says future versions of Better Gmail will hide spam count, move to next message on delete or archive, and include support for POP3 email. A big round of applause goes to Gruev for putting this together. What kinds of features do you hope for in future versions of Better Gmail? Share your ideas in the comments.