The Google Personalized Homepage has made a small tweak to the way it handles RSS feeds. All feeds now have a plus sign that when clicked shows the snippet of the text of the feed. Also, all feeds now have time stamps.

Tags: Google

If you’ve created a Google Custom Search Engine, you can now check if it appears in Google’s (traffic) popularity chart. Here’s the current top 10:

1. Soundclick.com Search


2. e-Words Search


3. MozillaZine KB Search


4. Macworld


5. Google Earth Community


6. New Advent


7. Antoloji Arama Motoru


8. AreaConnect


9. Duowan WOW Search Engine


10. New York State DMV

Here’s the world’s highest website. The creators claim it’s 18,939 kilometers high, and they’re using the following CSS:

div#whws { font-size: 100cm; height: 18939em; line-height: 1.0; }

[via Google Blogoscoped]

Tech tutorial site Gil’s Method details how to download and save web video from YouTube, MySpace and Google Video using the Firefox Video Downloader extension and Media Coder. Why the big rigamarole?

The reason you have to go through this process to download the videos is due to the fact that content providers (YouTube, Google Video, and others) use special formats that do not allow playback in traditional media players (i.e. Windows Media Player, Itunes, and others); as such this method allows you to save the downloaded video files to a universal .avi file that you can play back on any media player.

We’ve covered this ground a couple of different ways before but this is a good step by step to pass on to your brother. — Gina Trapani

The free, open source Ophcrack Live CD is a Windows account password cracking tool designed to help you recover lost Windows passwords.

After you download the 462mb .iso and burn it to a CD, just restart your computer and boot up the Live CD. Once the CD boots, Ophcrack automatically loads and is on its way to cracking your password. So how well does it work?

Honestly… Ophcrack is creepy. It cracked my (somewhat mediocre) 13-character alphanumeric password in about 5 minutes. Like most powerful tools, Ophcrack can be used for the forces of both good and evil, but for anyone who’s been locked out of their Windows user account because you can’t remember your password, Ophcrack can be very good. It may also encourage you to beef up the security of your user account password – that’s what it did for me. Thanks K-milo! — Adam Pash

Web site SmartSetr lets you create smart sets for your Flickr account based on predefined criteria, like tags, text, date taken, or date uploaded.

In a nutshell, SmartSetr works a lot like iTunes Smart playlists – but for your Flickr account. This is an incredible tool for any prolific tagger and lover of advanced filtering, providing a quick and easy way to create image sets when you already know which tags, for example, you’d like to include. As of this writing, you have to manually refresh the smart sets through SmartSetr if you want it to update a set with the latest images, but the app’s author claims automatic updates are on the way – meaning dynamic, smart Flickr sets aren’t far away. Flickr lovers rejoice! SmartSetr is free, requires read-write access to your Flickr account. — Adam Pash

• Ford-Microsoft software unveiled [BBC]
  “Ford and Microsoft launch a system that enables voice-activated telephone calls and music for car drivers.”


• Yahoo optimizes Messenger for Vista [CNET]
  “Loaded with new features, Yahoo Messenger for Vista is set to be released in second quarter of the year.”


• Gates sees a home server in your future [CNET]
  “Microsoft’s chairman tells why the average person wants a server and explains why they won’t have to be a geek to make it work.”


• Verizon offers live TV on cell phones [CNET]
  “Verizon and Verizon Wireless announce plans for new TV services including a live mobile TV service and an upgrade to the Fios TV service.”


• Wireless power gets recharged [CNET]
  “At CES 2007, more companies will aim to persuade consumers to recharge gadgets without wires.”


• JVC Develops High-Def Hard-Disk Camcorder [PC World]
  “New JVC camcorder choices to include optional DVD burner.”


• Nokia unveils new, thinner multimedia phones [Reuters]
  “The world’s largest cellphone maker, Nokia, unveiled slim new multimedia handsets at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show in an answer to stiff competition from rivals such as Motorola.”


• Cingular Gets a 3G Treo [PC World]
  “Palm’s New Windows Mobile-based Treo 750 supports Cingular’s 3G UMTS network.”


• Apple expected to launch new product [AP]
  “Technophiles are eagerly waiting to learn whether the king of digital music can colonize an entirely new category of consumer electronics.”