Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period.
Google is teaming up with Nielson, who will be helping analyze the new Google TV Ads™ advertising platform.
Google announced that they were getting into TV ads earlier this year. By working with Nielson Media Research, Google will be able to provide advertisers with the extensive information they need to improve ads that can maximize advertising spends.
Google TV Ads is built through the AdWords platform. The new data Google will be getting from Nielson's aggregated set top boxes will be blended into the AdWords system.
Google TV Ads can only currently be bought on the Dish satellite network.
It appears that Google is working on integrating IMAP into Gmail. Download Squad reader eD! Thomas sent in a tip letting us know he came across the new IMAP setting while snooping around Gmail. However, it is only appearing in select few Gmail and Google Apps for domains accounts at the moment.
When we checked Gmail Help database this evening, Gmail had said that they support POP, but not IMAP. Then a few minutes later, that doc was gone, and a stack of IMAP related help docs were up. The new pages explain how to integrate the new mail feature. It's as easy as setting up POP, but with huge benefits.
Why is IMAP integration a good thing for Gmail? POP was a stepping stone, but IMAP pushes Gmails benefits over the top. With IMAP, users can now access their email via a desktop application like Outlook or Thunderbird, read emails, make changes, delete, and have the changes made across platforms. So if you now log into your Gmail account, the message which you read in Thunderbird, will now be marked accordingly. No more wasting time trying to sift through emails that had already been answered.
Take a peek under your Settings in Gmail, and click into your 'Forwarding and POP IMAP' tab to see if you are one of the lucky ones who got IMAP first.
UPDATE: Some users are reporting that if they log out and back into Gmail accounts, IMAP settings are showing up! There is hope!
UPDATE 2: Dont worry if you IMAP isn't appearing in your account, Google will be rolling it out to everyone over the next few days.
OutTwit OutTwit makes it possible to read Twitters through Outlook. Your Twitter status can be updated straight from Outlook and you can set certain intervals at which your Twitter account is checked for new messages.
It's Friday, and Download Squad wants to make sure that you have completed all your tasks for the week. And what better way to track and ensure they are completed than with an online app. We have covered a bunch of note taking and GTD apps in the past, but Vitalist is another one you might enjoy using.
Vitalist offers a fresh outlook on the space. The interface is quick to grasp, well layed out and offers tasks that can be grouped and filtered by color coordinated projects, making it quick to scan and update as required. Vitalist has also built out special mobile access websites including a dedicated iPhone website for completing tasks while on the go. Support for both Google and Netvibes start page widgets is available as well as reminders that can be sent to emails and via sms. There are a few different Vitalist account options starting at free, and rising up to $10/month. Free accounts of course come with a few limitations. Actions and Tasks are unlimited, but projects and contacts are limited to 10 and there are no task sharing features available.
With so many GTD tools in the marketplace, it's hard to decide which one to choose that will help you along the way. Sometimes your best bet is to actually get a good old fashion moleskin notebook and a pen. Getting things done truly has nothing to do with the application, and more to do with the execution and sticking to whatever you choose to help you along the way.
Put those thinking hats on and grab those browser based ideas you have been storing in your head, the Firefox add-on contest is open.
Firefox's annual Firefox Extension Contest, Extend Firefox, will give developers the chance to win the Ultimate Firefox Developer Kit which will include a trip to anywhere in the world, a Macbook Pro, bags and tshirts. Judges are looking for the next great web innovation that can really affect the live of many people and their online experience through a Firefox Add-on.
The contest runs up until December 31st 2007, after which a panel of judges will base their decisions on user experience, creativity, innovativeness and use of open standards to award 3 grand prizes, and 21 runner up prices. Winners will be announced on January 15th 2008. So fuel up, and get going! And don't forget to drop Download Squad some info on your Firefox Add-on creation! Check out the rules and criteria on the official website.
We love Moo at Download Squad, and are excited to report they have added postcards to their ever expanding product line.
The online minicards system that allow users to drop their favorite Flickr, Livejournal, Vox, Fotolog, Habbo, Facebook and bebo images onto them now have Postcards. The 148mm x 105 mm glossy printed cards come in packs of 20, with each one using different photos or designs on the front, and a custom message on the back. Pricing is set at $19.99 US, with free shipping until October 28th.
So fire up your cameras, drawing and photo applications to get an early start on making holiday cards this year, and impress your family and friends. Moo also offers their famous mini cards, stickerbooks and notecards.
Automattic, the owner of the popular blogging platform WordPress, has announced they have purchased Gravator, a popular avator system used mainly in blog commenting.
Matt Mullenweg, Automattic's founder, announced the details of the deal on the Gravatar blog (now built on WordPress of course), saying that the decision to acquire the company stemmed from scalability issues they were dealing with. Gravatar allows users to keep the same 80x80 pixel image beside their name when they travel from blog to blog, so long as it supports the platform which the new version of WordPress does. Automattic saw this as the perfect fit since they have plenty of experience scaling, and saw a great opportunity with Gravatar believing it closely resembled what had been previously accomplished with Akismet, another one of their products, open API and its ability to be used with any platform.
Since buying the company, Automattic has also made all premium Gravatar plans free, and has noted that avatars are being served three times as fast. Refunds are available for those that had purchased the plans within the past 60 days. Look out for a new Gravatar API to be developed as well, plus get ready to see plenty of pretty pictures in blog comments soon!
Meebo, the web-based instant messaging application that runs across all major IM networks has released a Firefox add-on giving users a browser sidebar for easy chatting.
The Meebo Firefox add-on makes it much easier to chat with friends while browsing online. No more switching from application to application or from the Meebo homepage to the page browsing. The sidebar gives users a visual notification, the side pane pops open, when contacts send you an instant message. No more pasting links and uploading and sending images either, the add-on allows for dragging and dropping links and images right onto contacts you wish to send them to.
It would be nice to have all actions take place in the sidebar, but one drawback with the new add-on is that when IMs are sent and received you are instantly booted to a Meebo Firefox tab that must keep open at all times in order to remain signed in. Meebo's line of web based IM tools include Meebo; a web based IM for all networks and MeeboMe; a way to chat with people directly from a website.
Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen says within 10 years, the company will be offering all of its applications online. His remarks come at a time when we see more and more companies offering online applications as an alternative to desktop products.
Google Docs, Zoho, Picnik, SnapLayout, Zude, just a few of the many successful online applications that can be accessed anywhere without the large cost of boxed versions. There might be some features missing, but this new breed of application has much to offer the user with free, portable, cross platform, accessible with no upgrades needed as a few of the benefits.
Major software development companies like Adobe are starting to take note and recognize their shrinking market share. The likes of Picnik and PikiFX are emerging and growing the free online image editing space and have forced Adobe to quickly rethink their software strategy pushing them to develop a version of their popular Photoshop for online usage. Adobe still has no release date for Photoshop Express but realizes that the future of software lies with online versions and is working to deliver all of their applications via the web. Chizen says he believes that these new online applications will only appeal to a younger generation of users that would never think of paying $400 for a packaged software product. Dear Adobe, we think this will appeal to all users, young or old, just as long as they, along with the rest of the world will have access to broadband in 10 years. After all, what good is an online application if it can't be accessed properly?
Earlier this year we let you know that Jeffrey Zeldman and his crew at A List Apart were compiling statistics in an online survey for the web design profession. This survey includes insights from many people in this area of expertise including designers, developers, project managers, writers and editors. The survey results have now been released to the public in a freshly designed PDF report.
33,000 web professionals chimed in to answer the 37 questions asked. The raw data was then churned out into this 82 page document , nicely designed of course, answering many questions like Who Are You?, Education, Salary, Jobs & Titles to how many designers have blogs and websites and what skills they have.
Google has quietly announced some new features for Analytics, its web tracking tool. They seem small, but these additional tracking features will provide much greater insight into what is going on your website since you can't always peer over visitors' shoulders to watch.
The updates include:
Site Search Tracking - Users will now be able to tell exactly what keywords visitors searched for on your site, and where these searches end up.
Event Tracking - Currently in a limited beta test, these website reports will show how users interact with various multimedia aspects on your site, including flash and Ajax without messing with pageview metrics.
Outbound link Tracking - Also in a limited beta test rolling out in the next few weeks, reports will show what links website visitors click on that direct them to an outside site.
If you have a website, and don't already have the free Google Analytics code installed, you are missing out on understanding how your visitors move around, how they interact with your content and how they got there in the first place. Google Analytics not only provides insight on how people navigate, but it also aids in targeting site content towards what people enjoy. It's easy to set up, free and Analytics reports are super simple to understand.
Not everyone can afford (or justify) a personal assistant. That's why Values on n, the folks behind Stikkit, have invented Sandy, your very own personal email assistant.
I Want Sandy helps you stay organized and productive by working with emails to yourself and turning them into to-do's, address book updates and calendar appointments. It all works by sending an email and CCing Sandy on it. Sandy understands basic terms like 'reminder', 'lookup' and 'update' and will then sort the content appropriately.
If you aren't up to your neck already in to-do applications, I Want Sandy could be a beneficial application to try out. The concept is straightforward, and it could definitely save time on scheduling and calendar updates. It is currently in beta form, and is accepting signups to join the queue for a free account. In the meantime, if you want to get a feel for how simple and straightforward yet powerful its creator's web applications are, sign up for a free account on Stikkit, their little yellow productivity tool.
Get ready for iPhone and iPod Touch applications to roll out of the pipes early next year, an SDK is coming!
We heard a rumor yesterday, but our friends over at TUAW have let us in on some exciting news from the Apple front. Apple has said that the much anticipated iPhone SDK will be released to developers by February 2008. This Software Developer Kit will allow developers to create applications for the iPhone, as well as the iPod Touch. Of course, hackers have been developing iPhone apps pretty much since the day the device was released, but now we're talking about applications that won't be deleted every time Apple issues firmware updates.
So start that special savings account now, things are going to get really interesting with Apple devices. Its not like it wasn't heavily expected by Apple developers and loyal fans, but it sure has been long overdue and will unfortunately take some time for the release of the kit. This is mainly to ensure a proper advanced open platform is built that will not only protect iPhone's from viruses but from associated privacy attacks made on users.
This vital and dynamic third party community that is about to be created will be able to grab the SDK after MacWorld San Francisco in February 2008, something Apple and their stockholders are genuinely excited about.
Google is teaming up with Nielson, who will be helping analyze the new Google TV Ads™ advertising platform. 
