The image above is a shot from Google CL2 Calender web application.

About CL2

CL2 makes it easy — even effortless — to keep track of all the events in your life and compare them to what your friends and family have going on in theirs. We’ve designed a calendar that works for you — helping you add events from email, friends, and other public calendars — so you don’t have to spend all your time maintaining your schedule. CL2 even helps you discover new events you might be interested in. We think it’s a great tool for managing your daily schedule, keeping track of what everyone in your family is doing, organizing events for a club or team, or creating public events that you can promote to the world.

Of course, this one is going to be tightly integrated with Gmail and Google Talk. The screenshots look smooth and familiar to anyone who has used any of Google applications. Do note that these shots were leaked, and may not necessarily reflect the final product, which he hear is nowhere near launch. Check the link below for more.

Read More | TechCrunch

Gallery: Google Calendar Screenshots

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Earlier this morning at CeBIT, the Microsoft Office team revealed the new user interface of Office 2007. Now, while the screenshots of the various Office programs do look pretty sweet, they just look so Apple-esque to us. I mean, look at the background of the Microsoft Word image above. One of the new additions is the ‘Office button,’ which is to provide access to all of the document and system-level functionality within whichever Office program you are using. According to Microsoft, this is where you head to start and finish a document. Hey - it’s like a start menu, but for documents. And it gets its own corner radius, which throws things off from our view. Still, it is nice to see Office 2007 coming along.

Read More | Jensen Harris

Gallery: Office 2007 Gets Facelift

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Today we feature the next audio version of our Bleeding Edge video show, featuring:

• MacBook Pro Finally Shipping
• Nintendo DS Web Browser and TV Tuner
• MovieBeam Streaming HDTV Rentals
• Motorola ROKR E2 Interview
• Much more…

Here’s how to get the show:
|Subscribe| - iTunes
|Subscribe| - RSS
|Download| - Enhanced AAC [Mirror]
|Download| - MP3 [Mirror]

Voices: Andru Edwards, Sparky
Length: 35:25, 17.1 MB

IMPORTANT: We are surveying the listeners of our podcast to see what it is that people like, and more importantly, what they don’t like. It is anonymous, and just takes a couple of minutes. If you have the time, we would appreciate it!

Don’t forget to vote for us on Podcast Alley! Also, be sure to check out the Gear Live Odeo Channel, and subscribe there are well.

Gallery: Gear Live Podcast 018: Nintendo DS Browser, Windows Vista, ROKR E2

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Windows detractors are generally more than happy to point fingers at Microsoft’s failings in making their operating systems secure.  It’s hard to blame them, as it does seem that barely a day goes by without some new exploit popping up.  However, one has to look at the percentages of installed systems.  With Microsoft products commanding the vast majority of the market share, they make prime targets for anyone with too much free time or a grudge to bear.  In contrast, Mac OS X and Linux seem to blend quietly into the background noise, with nary a peep to be heard with regards to security problems.  Okay, that’s oversimplifying things a tad, but the basic idea remains the same - Microsoft products appear to have more security holes than their competitive counterparts due in part to market share and their public presence. 

As a case in point, an obliging Mac user set a Mac mini up and told would-be hackers to give it their best shot.  Within six hours, the mini had been compromised and root-level access obtained.  Total time to actually hack the mini?  Less than 30 minutes.  Granted, there aren’t a lot of details as to patch level, security measures taken, etc., but the hacker claimed the use of an unpublished hack that would have worked regardless of counter-measures implemented.

With regards to recent viruses and exploits related to Mac OS X, a senior director of Symantec’s Security Response Division is quoted as saying, “The lesson here is that if we look at Mac OS X and compare it to, say, Windows XP, we find that, in terms of the number of vulnerabilities, they are actually quite comparable.” 

Keep in mind that we’re not out to bash the Mac by any means, and many Gear Live members love the Mac.  Would an equivalently configured Windows or Linux system have fared any better?  Not likely.  Therefore it’s important to be mindful, that regardless of your operating system of choice, security holes do exist and it’s better to be as prepared as possible than sorry due to blissful ignorance. 

EDIT: Turns out, this is a lot less important that it first seemed. Check out the comments section, and you will find that the “hack” was made to be extremely simple - this is not something that took place in a real-world scenario.

Read More | Top Tech News

Gallery: Mac OS X: Hacked Root In Less Than 30 Minutes

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It seems people are wondering what is up with TiVo booking the Museum of Television and Radio for a big announcement tomorrow. Luckily, we have some peeps on the inside who have given us the good stuff. It doesn’t look like the Series 3 will be given a date, or that the Netflix downloads will be starting anytime soon. Instead, TiVo is going to announce their new KidZone service that aims to give parents guidance and control over what their kids watch on TV. Now, this isn’t your standard, run-of-the-mill parental control feature. KidZone actually creates virtual TiVo menus and virtual channels, specifically targeted to the children. TiVo partnered with leading parenting and family groups including Common Sense Media and The Parents TV Council to select kid-friendly content for the new service.

Parents have the ability to select from an entire menu of weekly recommendations and automatically record all of those shows.  When TiVo is in KidZone mode, it locks out all other programming access by children.  Parents get password-protected ability to decide what’s best for their children to watch and kids get their own space on TiVo to enjoy their favorite shows. The service will be launched in June 2006.

Gallery: TiVo’s To Announce “KidZone” Parental Control Service

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Anyone running a Mac out there, be sure to run Software Update. You will receive updates to iTunes, iPhoto, and Front Row, along with a security update. What’s stands out about these updates is the fact that the new Bonjour technology that Steve Jobs talked about yesterday is here. Now your Front Row Macs will be able to communicate to each other without the hassle. The iPhoto and iTunes updates also look to be a direct correlation to making sure they work right in Front Row sharing mode. As for the security update, here are the details:

Security Update 2006-001 is recommended for all users and improves the security of the following components:

apache_mod_php
automount
Bom
Directory Services
iChat
IPSec
LaunchServices
LibSystem
loginwindow
Mail
rsync
Safari
Syndication

Gallery: New Front Row Update Available (Among Others)

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On this show we give you sneak peeks at the Motorola ROKR E2 and Windows Vista. We also show off a liquid-cooled Xbox 360, recap 3GSM, and more:

THE WIRE
MacBook Pro Finally Shipping
Nintendo DS Web Browser and TV Tuner
MovieBeam Streaming HDTV Rentals

UNWIRED

• Sparky gives us a rundown of the most interesting pieces of news that came out of 3GSM.
• We talk with Motorola, who gives us the complete rundown of their new ROKR E2 music phone.

HIGH SCORE
We talk with CoolIT Systems CEO Geoff Lyon about their liquid-cooled Xbox 360. We also learn about how they are applying their technology into the PC.

GIZMATIC

• We give our impressions of CoolIT Systems USB Beverage Chiller.
• We show you a couple of iPod and iPod nano cases from Pacific Designs. The cases retail for $29.95 each.

WINDOWS VISTA
We were able to spend a few minutes chatting it up with a Microsoft employee going over some of the more interesting changes we can expect when Windows Vista ships. We recorded a video of the demonstration that we were given while going hands on with Vista.

Here’s how to get the show:
|iTunes| - Subscribe to our iTunes video feed
|RSS| - Subscribe to our video RSS feed

|Download| - iPod-formatted H.264 (Mirror)
|Download| - XviD
|Download| - MPEG-4 (Mirror)
|Download| - PSP

IMPORTANT: We are surveying the listeners of our podcast to see what it is that people like, and more importantly, what they don’t like. It is anonymous, and just takes a couple of minutes. If you have the time, we would appreciate it! As always, feel free to let us know what you think in the comments.

Here's how to get the show:
|Download| - iPod-formatted H.264
|Download| - MPEG-4

Gallery: The Bleeding Edge 003: Nintendo DS Browser, Windows Vista, ROKR E2

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Steve Jobs has just announced that transition of the Mac mini from the G4 processor over to Intel. The base model sports an Intel Core Solo chip, while the more powerful unit boasts a Core Duo chip. The Mac mini maintains the same form factor that the previous version had. This one looks to be the machine you will want to hook up to your television, as the mini finally comes installed with Front Row. The redesigned Mac mini features DVI video out, gigabit Ethernet, a total of four USB 2.0 ports, analog and SPDIF audio outputs (Dolby Digital 5.1), and a new IR sensor for use with it’s remote control. You can now stream music, iTunes television shows, photos, and more all on the fly. A Bonjour update allows all devices on the network to find each other seamlessly. The update will be made available to all Macs that run Front Row.

With a DVI out, Apple has entered the living room. With the new Bonjour software, they have made it a simple transition. No need to transfer all of your content to the mini, it can play media from any machine you have hooked up to your network. The 1.5 GHz Core Solo version has a 60GB hard drive, and combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive and will retail at $599 USD. The more powerful 1.67 GHz Core Duo Mac mini has an 80GB hard drive along with a DVD-burning SuperDrive, and will sell at $799 USD. Both are available today.

Read More | Mac mini Product Page

Gallery: Steve Jobs Announces Upgraded Intel Mac mini With Front Row

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Recently we broke the news about VMware releasing a free version of their kick-butt virtualization products for all to use and abuse.  Now they have added over 40 new virtual appliances for your downloading pleasure. 

New virtual appliances include IBM DB2 Universal Database Express Edition, PortWise Identity and Access Management Platform, Zeus Extensible Traffic Manager, Zimbra Collaboration Platform, and rPath’s open source appliances containing Apache, LAMP, Browsing and SugarCRM. Run these virtual appliances using any VMware virtualization product, including the free (as in beer) VMware Player and VMware Server.

Read More | VMware

Gallery: VMware New Virtual Appliances Ready To Download

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Remember that G5-optimized Firefox build we told you about a couple of months ago? We have received emails here and there since Stevie-J announced the Intel powered Macs, asking if there might be an updated version specifically optimized for the Intel Macs. We are happy to say that the wait is over. The guys over at BeatnikPad have released the Intel version of DeerPark (what they call their Firefox builds), and it is damn fast. Head on over to their site to grab the download.

Read More | MacIntel Firefox

Gallery: Optimized Version Of Firefox For Intel Macs

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