The new Gmail for mobile will  help you tackle your inbox faster. Gone are the days when you had to archive multiple messages by selecting each one, then scrolling all the way up (or down) to reach the archive button. Our fingers were getting sore with all the scrolling and we’re willing to bet yours were too. Now when you select a message, a floaty bar appears near the top of the screen with options to archive, delete, and more. In fact, the floaty bar stays with you as you scroll through your inbox, so you can easily archive, delete, or view more options no matter where you are.

The improved the look and feel of messages. Labels are easier to read and are more in-line with the familiar Gmail labels you see on your desktop. We also moved the search menu up into the top header, making it more accessible.

Go to gmail.com from your mobile browser to give it a try, and stay tuned for feature additions and improvements. For easy access to your Gmail, create a homescreen link.

*Please note: The new Gmail for mobile only supports iPhone/iPod Touch OS 2.2.1 or above. If you have an older firmware version, you’ll be directed to the previous Gmail for mobile. All Android-powered phones are supported. New Gmail for mobile is available for English only. The roll out will occur over the course of a day, so please check back later if you don’t see the updated user interface right away

Check out the video below to see new Gmail for mobile in action:

GMDesk 
GMDesk lets you run Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Maps as a stand-alone application, letting you do all your mail handling, calendar planning, document reading and map browsing in one spot.

Snoto Photo 
Snoto Photo is a desktop application for browsing your and others’ recent photos. You can also view photos as a slideshow.

Font Picker 
A useful app that lets you browse and preview your computer’s fonts.

Digg Reader 
A Digg headline reader that uses all digg.com RSS feeds and auto-updates headlines every two minutes.

twhirl 
twhirl is a social software client for Twitter, Seesmic, Friendfeed and identi.ca.

ReadAir 
ReadAir is nice OSX Themed Desktop Client for Mac or Windows, built with Adobe Air.

Random Pattern 
A simple app that creates patterns based on set parameters.

Snippage 
A few tuts on this page. You’ll learn about: SQLite in Adobe AIR, SQLite Contact Manager, SQLite wrapper classes, SQLite Editor and SQLite YouTube Database.

Spaz – Your Twitter Friend 
Spaz is one cool Twitter client.

Step 1 – Background

Since this text effect looks best on dark colored backgrounds, let’s create one. Using the color #0f1c25and black, create a radial gradient from the center of your document.

Step 2 – Setting the Type

Let’s set some type in the document to use the effect on. Bolder and stronger fonts will work better!

Step 3 – Setting Up the Layer Style

Go into your text layers Blending Options (Right Click Layer > Blending Options).

Apply the layer effects shown below, making any modifications as needed.

Drop Shadow

Outer Glow

#afd3e2

#93c1d4

The recent builds of Google Chrome include support for user scripts and it’s not very difficult to write a script that hides all the content from the new tab page.

If you use Google Chrome 2 Beta, the developer version or a recent Chromium build, you can easily enable the user scripts support by following the instructions from this page: find or create a shortcut for Chrome’s executable, right-click on the shortcut, select “Properties” and append to the value from the Target field –enable-user-scripts (include a space before the flag). Create a directory named User Scripts in one of these locations and save this user script in the directory. You may need to restart Google Chrome if it’s already running.

Another useful user script for Google Chrome is AdSweep, a basic version of AdBlock Plus without user interface and subscriptions. “AdSweep is a small addon that aims to hide advertising from the web pages you visit like Adblock. In technical terms, AdSweep is a user javascript that defines CSS rules based on the web site you are visiting to hide elements of the page that show advertisements.” If you are familiar with JavaScript, you can edit the script and add or remove some patterns.

How to install

• Download the compressed file Obamafy.zip and expand it.
• Copy the file Obamafy.qtz to /Library/Compositions.

Obama PhotoBooth [ via Download - Obamafy.zip ]

Free application Portable Ubuntu for Windows runs an entire Linux operating system as a Windows application. As if that weren’t cool enough, it’s portable, so you can carry it on your thumb drive.

Built from the same guts as the andLinux system that lets you seamlessly run Linux apps on your Windows desktop, Portable Ubuntu is a stand-alone package that runs a fairly standard (i.e. orange-colored, GNOME-based) version of the popularUbuntu Linux distribution. It just doesn’t bother creating its own desktop, and puts all its windows inside your Windows, er, windows.

Wanna give it a go? Grab the latest Portable Ubuntu package (about 438MB as of this writing), then double-click to unpack it to a folder. On Vista or Windows 7, you’ll have to open your command prompt as an administrator (hit Windows key, type in cmd, then right-click on the “Command Prompt” option that appears and select “Run as Administrator”); on XP, you’ll probably just have to launch a command prompt. Head to the folder where you extracted your Portable Ubuntu, and enter run_portable_ubuntu and hit Enter to launch the .bat script.

Your machine will whir and decompress for a while, and you’ll likely get a few prompts to “Unblock” coLinux and a few other apps’ abilities on your system. Unblock all of them, and you’ll eventually get a small, move-able menu bar on your desktop, as seen in the top screenshot. Drag this wherever it’s comfortable to keep it, and you’re on your way.

Portable Ubuntu is a free, portable download that runs from Windows systems only. Drop your Linux-inside-Windows ideas and other geeky stuff in the comments.

Portable Ubuntu [ via Sourceforge ]

For some of the previous editions, SXSWitself has offered torrents showcasing the artists scheduled to perform at the festival. Starting last year, however, SXSW stopped releasing a torrent of their own.

Since there’s over 6 GB of DRM-free music, using torrents makes it much easier than laboriously downloading every MP3 separately. In addition, using BitTorrent instead of the server based system saves SXSW money in bandwidth costs. The good news is that, for once, the RIAA isn’t watching over your shoulder when downloading music.

There are three torrents for the 23rd SXSW edition which contain a record breaking 1267 MP3s of both upcoming, as well as established artists who will appear at this year’s festival. Needless to say there should be something to suit everyone’s tastes, and all in all it’s a great way to expand your horizons and discover new and upcoming artists, all for free.
 

• SXSW_2009_Showcasing_Artists_Part1.torrent - #-L  519 files, 2.45GB
• SXSW_2009_Showcasing_Artists_Part2.torrent - M-Z  534 files, 2.61GB
• SXSW_2009_Showcasing_Artists_Part3.torrent - #-Z  214 files, 1.09GB (late additions)

SXSW [ via LifeHacker ]

Create a Colourful Abstract Wavy Ribbon

Create a Vector RSS Icon with Illustrator

Blueprint-Style Text in Adobe Illustrator

Create the Photoshop CS2 Splash Graphic

Illustrating a Summer Field Landscape

How to Turn Glasses into a Great Geek Icon

Swirl Mania in Illustrator and Photoshop

Create a Vector Film Slate Icon

Creating a Crazy Cool Logo

Recreate the Obama Logo in Illustrator

Creating a Friendly Green Type Treatment

Vivid Ways is a new blog focussing on the topic of personal development and colourful living, it aims to inspire and encourage readers through ideas and tips on how to live an amazing life.

These images from SpoonGraphics hope to shed some inspiration into your creativity. 

Logo Design [ via spoongraphics ]