If it has happened, save yourself some trouble in the future by installing the Lazarus add-on for your browser. (Lazarus for Mozilla Firefox | Lazarus for Google Chrome – sorry IE users)

Lazarus works on ordinary web forms, WYSIWYG editors, and even AJAXified comment boxes, and will save you from pretty much any given server, browser, or connection problems that might otherwise cause you to lose your work, or that really pithy blog comment you struggled on for over an hour.

Lazarus now comes with 2048-bit RSA and 256-bit AES hybrid encryption, so your form history is more private and secure than ever! Lazarus also includes search functionality so you can recover text even if you can no longer find the original form you entered it into.

Firefox users can also check out Textarea Cache for similar functionality.

The list of feedly’s features, like many of today’s niche applications, is short but sweet. In essence, the Feedly add-on for Mozilla Firefox "weaves Twitter and Google Reader into a magazine-like experience."

For example, the Google Reader interface is clean and to-the-point but it’s certainly not exciting to look at. feedly, however, can take your existing GReader content, which looks a little like this:

…and turn it into something like this:

Now, I love Google Reader and the simplicity it brings to the table (something that’s necessary when dealing with hundreds of RSS feeds) but if I’m just checking in with my feeds for a few minutes or so – just to see what’s breaking, I’d much rather look at what feedly has to offer me. The spacious, image-assisted layout has definitely been saving me some time.

In addition to the display options in store for your feeds, the feedly Firefox add-on also brings you the “feedly Mini.” For a detailed rundown of what the Mini has to offer, check out the following post on the official Feedly blog: “Launching Feedly Mini: Twitter and FriendFeed on the Go.”

Basically, though, the Mini acts as a miniaturized, ever-so-faintly-visible toolbar at the bottom of pages you visit. This toolbar quickly tells you how many people have shared the page you’re viewing within feedly/Google Reader as well as how many times it’s been discussed in Twitter & FriendFeed. Not only can you see who’s sharing the content of the page you’re on, but you can immediately do so yourself from the same toolbar: share in Reader/FriendFeed, Twitter it up, email, etc.

(Source)

Overall, feedly’s benefit comes with how well it integrates into existing services. For instance, there are plenty (read: PLENTY) of aggregation services out there but most of them don’t have the option to tie in with other services similar to its own… and for good reason in most cases. With feedly, I have a choice of how I can read my RSS feeds. If I choose to read an article or multiple articles in feedly, those articles are automatically marked as read in Google Reader so that I’m not doubling up on work when I head back to GReader for some in-depth feed scanning.

feedly is a product of DevHD (not much there, yet) and is 100% free. I’m not entirely certain how they plan on surviving (that same question can be asked of so many of today’s “free” applications) unless they plan on selling the product off eventually.

Anyway, if you’re already a big Google Reader user, give feedly a try.

So, what exactly is Microsoft taking credit for? The element that enables Windows Mobile-based devices to be a part of Google Sync: ActiveSync. In the official press release, entitled "Google Takes Patent License to Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync," Microsoft explains, in an almost embarassing thunder-stealing moment, that it’s only because of them that owners of WinMo-based phones will be able to use this new technology release from the Goog.

The full text of the release is pretty short so I’ll go ahead and post it below:

"Earlier today Google announced Google Sync, which is made possible by a patent license they obtained from Microsoft covering Google’s implementation of the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol on Google servers.

Of note, Microsoft recently announced an expansion of its Exchange ActiveSync Licensing Program, and licensees currently include partners and competitors Apple, Nokia, Palm, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson, among others.

Horacio Gutierrez, Deputy General Counsel and VP, Intellectual Property & Licensing, Microsoft:

‘Google’s licensing of these Microsoft patents relating to the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol is a clear acknowledgment of the innovation taking place at Microsoft.  This agreement is also a great example of Microsoft’ s openness to generally license our patents under fair and reasonable terms so long as licensees respect Microsoft intellectual property. This open approach has been part of Microsoft’s IP licensing policy since 2003 and has resulted in over 500 licensing agreements of the last five years.’"

Yes, thank you Microsoft. I am forever in your debt, oh wise one.

All-in-all, I suppose I can see the need for a statement like this (when it comes to a board of directors as stuffy as Microsoft’s) but you very rarely see an official press release from current industry leaders like… well, Google.

The private browsing modes in both Chrome and IE8, referred to as “Incognito” and “InPrivate,” respectively, work the same way in that information such as cache, browser history, cookies for each private browsing window are stored in a separate, temporary location.

Basically, this means that the cookies generated by Gmail.com in one Internet Explorer “InPrivate” window remain completely separate from that of a different “InPrivate” window.

Of course, you’ll have to re-establish your logins for those accounts after closing Chrome/IE8 as the aforementioned temporary information is deleted once a private browsing window is closed. Also, the article to which I’ve linked above states that you can only be logged in to two different accounts at one time: one in a regular window and one in the private window. This is only true with Chrome as Google’s browser only allows one “Incognito” window open at a time. With IE8, on the other hand, you can have multiple “InPrivate” windows open at the same time which means that you can open and manage as many accounts on the same site (Gmail, Twitter, Digg to name a few) as you’d like.

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Technorati : IE8, Web, browser, chrome, google, microsoft

Not only has it not been updated since 2006, the extension isn’t even compatible with the 3rd release of the Mozilla Firefox browser.  (As is typically the case with Google, mum’s the word on any plans and nearly 100 status requests have gone unanswered in the official forum for Google Firefox extensions.)

Mozilla answered the cries of many, however, when it released "Weave" late last year.  The official extension (from the company who brought you the Firefox browser itself) allowed for synchronization of your bookmarks, history and saved form data.  With the next release, they added support for cookies.

Now, with today’s release, they add support for passwords as well…thus leaving Google Browser Sync entirely useless.

The extension even allows for developers to extend Weave for their own applications but you can read more about that, and Weave’s many other features, on the Mozilla Labs blog. Or, you can just download it now: https://services.mozilla.com/.

Note: once you begin the initial synchronization, be prepared for the browser to choke just a little bit while the sync occurs.  Once you’re finished with that initial synchronization, however, it’ll be as smooth as silk to keep your browser information up-to-date on all your computers.

Now, if they only would allow for synchronization of Firefox extensions…

• keyboard-shortcut (Ctrl+B) activated search-as-you-type functionality
  (this brings up the sidebar which brilliantly disappears as soon as you find what you’re looking for)
• the ability to add both tags and notes to your bookmarks
• synchronization with your del.icio.us account (meaning that neither a specific browser or the extension itself are necessary to find your bookmarks – just hit http://del.icio.us while you’re on the road and login.)

This is one of the few tools that I use every single day and, unfortunately, it’s core functionality became broken when Mozilla released the beta versions of Firefox v3.  It’s taken quite a while but Yahoo! has finally released an updated version of the extension yesterday afternoon:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/delicious-firefox-extension/message/2204.

I found it took a bit of maneuvering to get to the installation file so I’ve gone ahead and posted it on our site for you to download.  Just save the file, open your Firefox Add-Ons window and drag-and-drop the .xpi in there.  The installation process will proceed and you’ll be prompted to download the update.

By the way, kudos to Yahoo! for listening to their users and pushing out an update to this extension.  The final version of Firefox 3.0 hasn’t even been released so they technically didn’t "have" to release a version yet but they realized there was a huge demand for it.  Are you paying attention, Google?  I only ask because it’s been almost two years since Google Browser Sync was released and very little has been done to keep it updated.  In addition, you’ll notice that almost every post in the Google Firefox Extensions newsgroup remains unanswered.

The people have been clamoring for an official synchronization tool from Google for some time now and it’s finally being delivered.

As you can see from the screenshot over on the right, you have three different options for synchronization: 1) 2-way, sync both your Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook events with each other" 2) 1-way, "sync only your Google Calendar events with Microsoft Outlook calendar" 3) 1-way, "sync only your Microsoft Outlook events with Google Calendar."

It’s a great tool to have, there’s no question about that, but it’s not quite enough for some people.  Personally, I still plan on using Plaxo’s free synchronization service which includes a toolbar for use inside Microsoft Outlook.  In addition, the Plaxo service enables you to synchronize not only your calendar but your tasks and contacts as well – and do so with MULTIPLE other products and services including Google, Windows Live, Windows Mail, Outlook Express, AOL/AIM, and Mac OS X.  You’re also not limited to using one account per service with Plaxo (i.e., Plaxo can synchronize your Outlook calendar to your personal AND business Google, etc. accounts.)