Offline support for Gmail, GCal
Gmail and Google Calendar are expected to join Google Reader and Google Docs with offline support in about 6 weeks, according to Google Operating System blog.  Offline support is achieved with Google Gears.

Google Docs adds fullscreen mode
Now there is a fullscreen editing mode for Google Docs without the need for a Greasemonkey script.  Check out the “View” menu.

Lifehacker says that combined with Firefox 3’s serious fullscreen capabilities and GDocs’ fixed-width page view, “you can turn the online office suite into a no-distraction writing environment.” Zoho Writer also has a similar “Maximize editor” function.

Google Docs templates
There are an amazing number (>300) of templates for all kinds of document needs that can be found at the new Google Docs directory.  Try the “preview” link to see what your document, presentation or spreadsheet would look like.

“Each template has boilerplate content and preset design styles that are meant to be reused. (…) You can then edit the document, replacing boilerplate text and images with your own,” explains Google.

The option to use a template is available in Google Docs when you click on New > From template and the list of templates that you’ve recently used will appear.

Hott Notes: Sticky Notes for Desktop and USB
Hott Notes is a free, Windows-only, sticky notes tool you can easily add to your arsenal on both desktop and usb drive.

It allows sticky notes, check lists, alarms, and supports hot-keys to quickly create a new note or bring all notes to the front.

After you download Hott Notes, you can select colors and transparency settings.  You can even attach an alarm to your notes to get a reminder.  [via Technology Bites]

Gmail Superstars
Flag your email messages with a variety of icons.  In your gmail account, choose “settings” from the upper right corner, then enable Superstars.  Save your settings then complete your icon list.  Mouse over the icons to see their names and move them to and from “in use” as you wish.

Experimenting with how this works for you is the best way to learn.  For instance, you can open a message and click on the star; type “s” to go through your selected icons to find the one you want to use.  [via Google Operating System blog]

Google Calendar redesign
This redesign by Globex Designs (get it here) of Google Calendar looks great and it’s easy to make the change.  Found on Lifehacker.

Firefox 3 reaches Guiness World Record download day
Mozilla announced the record-setting 8,002,530 downloads for Firefox 3’s first day.

“As the arbiter and recorder of the world’s amazing facts, Guinness World Records is pleased to add Mozilla’s achievement to our archives,” said Gareth Deaves, Records Manager for Guinness World Records. “Mobilizing over 8 million internet users within 24 hours is an extremely impressive accomplishment and we would like to congratulate the Mozilla community for their hard work and dedication.”

Mapstraction for Map Mashups
If you’re a developer who loves to build map mashups, then you have to check out the library provided by Mapstraction, advises Read/WriteWeb.

Mapstraction provides a common API for various existing mapping APIs which allows developers to build a mashup that supports nine of the major mapping providers including Google Maps, Microsoft’s Virtual Earth, Yahoo Maps, and more.  See the demos at the RWW site.

Fires continue to flare in California as dry lightning threatens parched country.  More storms are expected.

To keep up with danger zones, visit the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection site where much information is available and where a statewide interactive Google fire map and another statewide California Wildfires fire map can be accessed.

The latter explains how contained the various fires are, how many acres are involved, and gives information about the properties threatened.

From the Google map you can select named fires in the right-hand column and a pop-up appears on the map with detailed information, including the date and time of the last update.  Another advantage of this map is that it shows highways, and therefore is particularly useful if you are traveling in the northern part of the state where most of the fire danger exists.

If you must travel by air, it’s good to know about airfare pricing rules and about services such as Farecast that help you know when to buy.

Some of the basic rules are fairly well-known, such as Europe is expensive in summer, and traveling mid-week is usually cheaper than on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

But did you know that a fare found on Saturday night may be cheaper on Tuesday?  And unless you are traveling during a holiday season (when you need to buy as far ahead as possible), the cheapest time to buy your ticket is likely to be 2 to 8 weeks in advance.

As airlines continue to cut capacity, it will be interesting to see whether any of these rules change, or whether it will just be that all tickets are more costly.

Check out these tips by Farecast founder Oren Etzioni in this Wired Mazazine article.

California fires map
Google Lat Long Blog has a map of the many fires currently plaguing California.  More thunderstorms (with potential lightning strikes) are in the forecast.  Find the danger zones here.

Web2book for offline viewing of web pages, RSS feeds
Free Windows-only Web2book helps you read web pages, Wikipedia articles and RSS feeds offline.  You can download and convert RSS feeds, Web sites, Project Gutenberg books, Wikipedia entries, Crossword Compiler crossword, Microsoft Reader .Lit files, and other sources into other formats such as  HTML, RTF, LRF or PDF files.  [via Digital Inspiration]

30+ updated Firefox 3 extensions
Mashable lists the most useful updated Firefox 3 extensions for you.  Covers social bookmarking and many more.

If you haven’t downloaded Firefox 3 yet, this may be the time to do it.  Mashable has found the newest compatible themes so that you can customize your browser to suit yourself.

Themes are created by an open source community, so not very many have been updated yet to comply with Firefox 3 which was launched on June 17.  These links include:

• Aeon
• Virtus Designs (Aero Fox)
• Classic Compact
• and more.

More real-time quotes on Google Finance
You can now get both NYSE (as of today) and NASDAQ (as of June 2) free real-time market data via Google Finance.  Search Google or Google Finance, add your stock symbols, and keep the page up to have quotes stream live.

If you add Google Finance to iGoogle, add the Google Finance portfolio gadget and monitor your stocks as they are traded throughout the day.

PDF Search Engine: find, download e-books
You can now search quickly for PDF books using PDF Search Engine.  Some results may show PDFs that are not free.

You can add the PDF search engine to your search engine dropdown menu.

Web 2.0 features are “put to a socially significant use” at OpenCongress, says Read/WriteWeb.

OpenCongress recently inroduced 13 new features, and is designed to make it easy to track activities in the US congress.  If you are at all interested in politics and what’s happening in government, you will appreciate this project of the Participatory Politics Foundation and the Sunlight Foundation.

Use OpenCongress to read news, commentary, and blog buzz, link to bills you are interested in, follow hot topics, share information through Digg, StumbleUpon, etc., and find out what your local members of Congress are doing.  It’s quick and easy to establish an RSS feed.

You can create a personal account with OpenID, and enjoy navigating with “a perfect amount of AJAX.”  Outside news and data is pulled into the site, rated by users and actively discussed.

There are many widgets to choose among, helping you to track trends, bills, and issues in particular areas.  Read/WriteWeb also offers suggestions to OpenCongress on additional useful features they might develop.

Millions of us downloaded Firefox 3 yesterday — although not without encountering some delays – and are now exploring its new features.  

Mozilla lists Firefox 3 main features
You may want to start by perusing Firefox’s own list of top new features.  The Smart Location bar is the most obvious when you start to use Firefox.  You’ll want to know what information you can get right away from it.

Webmonkey picks top Firefox extensions
One of Firefox’s most unique and powerful assets is its ability to install third-party add-ons.

Webmonkey makes its picks, based on coolness, popularity and readiness for Firefox 3.

Watch Firefox features at work
Here’s a helpful, if brief, video showing a few of the new features in Firefox 3 and how they work.  Of additional interest to me was that its the first video I’ve seen produced with Jing Project.

Top 10 Firefox 3 features and user guide
Lifehacker has certainly not ignored the introduction of Firefox 3.  Here’s a list of special features.

And when you have all the basics down, it’s time for the power user’s guide to Firefox.