It looks like a really interesting feature, since I’m always logged into my GMail account at work, I can now also be logged into AIM.

“I was pretty excited when we launched chat integration in Gmail. Finally I could chat and email in one place–but I couldn’t chat with friends using other instant messaging services.

From the beginning, Google has been committed to open standards and interoperation for instant messaging. So when our friends at AOL agreed to let Gmail users talk to users on their network, we jumped at the chance.

Today we are happy to tell you about a new feature we’ve started to roll out which will enable you to sign into your AIM account and chat with your AIM buddies right inside Gmail. When you log in to AIM through Gmail chat, your AOL buddies will appear in your chat list with friends from your Google Talk network, and you will see the yellow “running man” logo to the right of your AIM friends’ screen names. To your AIM friends it will look like you are logged in to AIM as usual.

Having more friends to chat with is always more fun and we hope you enjoy this new feature, which we are rolling out today to English Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2 users.” -Via The Offical Gmail Blog

Thanks Google

For those who have internet capabilities on there phone, its not always easy to access certain web pages or even look at them through the default browser that came on your phone. As for many, Internet explorer is the pre-installed one. A nice little browser with almost same features as its full desktop version. Only problem is, if its not a mobile web page its difficult to view it. Often its even harder to do certain things. Like replying to messages on myspace, logging into other sites, or just reading the web. Well with Opera mini, it just got easier. With first features describing full web experience on a mobile device. Such things it offers is compressed web pages for easy loading and less data use. That also means less battery use for those who battery isn’t always the as long as we would like it to be. Other features include sync bookmark capabilities, virtual mouse, small screen rendering, and easy zoom capability for reading quickly.

To start off, your mobile device needs JAVA to run Opera Mini. Make sure you have that before you run to download it. There are Java emulators for phones that are not capable of running or being able to install Java. We will go over on how to install a java emulator later. Alright so once i installed Opera after having to do it through an emulator because my Motorola Q doesn’t have nor install java.

So I load Opera up and notice it does take a bit longer to load being at least 5-7 seconds. Once it is loaded it has pre bookmarked links such as New York Times webpage, myspace and a few others. I try out myspace and it takes a few seconds to load but cause of the compression but faster than it normally would on IE. Once it does load i can view the whole page without having to scroll a lot like i would on IE. A nice feature that IE doesn’t have is the compression and virtual mouse. Which is also the zoom feature. Even though each page is compressed, once you zoom it is expanded and easy to read. Mypsace was very nice looking and i was also able to reply to messages, With opera mini it optimizes web pages for easy viewing on your phone. For Blackberry users it even integrates for full native use and look. Opera mini also has shortcut buttons for easier access. Only thing is remembering them. For me as a Motorola Q user, i have to press a third button for characters for the shortcuts. So it just made it harder for me. You can also change the way it looks on your phone screen. You can either view opera landscape or portrait, which landscape mode made it harder for user ability even though it looked better, so keep that in mind. Scrolling on my Q is easy already, but Opera has even a power scroll feature by pressing either 2,4,6, and 8 for quicker scrolling. Which can be useful on longer text. Another feature of Mini allows you to disable the loading of images. Which can save loading times, data use and essentially saves battery life. Which is one of the main reasons I switched to Opera Mini in the first place.

Well, if you looking for a better web mobile experience with faster loading times, less data use and and overall more battery life out of your smartphone/pda, then check out http://www.operamini.com/demo/?url=brokenzero.com to simulate the Opera Mini experience, then go http://www.operamini.com/ either from your computer or directly on your mobile phone to download it.

More reviews coming soon! Check back soon for the latest from Brokenzero.com

If you like our blog, feel free to share with friends/co-workers and family and send us feedback either through comments or an email contact@brokenzero.com

10 years it has been since the first winamp was brought to life. I myself have only known 1. I was introduced to it by Oscar, the other admin of this site after Itunes gave me the last problems i could handle. I at first did not care for it, but it did the job it needed to do and its job was to play music. not hog on my cpu and suck it dry like Itunes did. Along with having probably the worst updates in the history of updating software, horrible lag problems and then later not playing my music to 100% quality. I was fed up with it. As time went on, winamp was a great alternative to itunes. i ddint let it manage my music but that didnt matter. I just needed it to play music. After learning about the new 5.5 upgrade i decided to download it and try it myself. With new features such as portable mp3/device player support, album art, smart search, artist/concert news, browser support, mp3 surround sound, and even winamp controller from your own browser i was intrigued. At first i thought it was just a rip of itunes with the new layout. But once i added music and started playing tracks i knew it was way better. Plus new skin layout was nice. With everything you need on the left side. From library to portable device and cd drive access , it was very user friendly. With tabs for easy acces of video, visualazations, and a webbrowser. Now with a dash board you can edit and pick things you want to have. From artist news, tech blogs, my most played to even winamp skins and plug-ins. Searching through my music had no lag and was about in real time while bringing up anything with the name i typed in. Winamp also had a podcast support feature to which you can add your favortie podcast to your library to then sync with your devices. Video playback still was smooth but controls had not changed. That was one thing i was hoping for in the new Winamp. Browser capabilities were very nice and fast. Mp3 blogs loaded nicely and quickly scanned for music showing all songs available songs on the site to be played or downloaded. No skipping or loading problems, like i had seen with Songbird.

Overall the new winamp lives up to its name while keeping the same user friendliness and simplicity to the player. I highly recommend it to people fed up with itunes and/or looking for alternative media player. Especially with alll the great new features with it now. Now all it needs is to deposit my checks and winamp would be even greater.

Go download and check it out yourself at http://www.winamp.com/

Looks like Disneyland in Anaheim is getting ready to close down its ride “Its A Small World” starting January. The ride has been re-engineered to be able to put up with the weight of some of the passengers riding the ride. The boats when constructed in 1963 were supposed to accommodate an average male weight of 175 pounds, and an average female weight of 145 pounds, which was actually the average weight for a male/female of the time. Looks like the ride now has to accommodate a weight of about 200+ pounds per person, which sometimes it cannot do, the boats sink and get stuck in the middle of the ride. For sometime now, the monitors have been trying to leave empty seats to compensate for the weight. When the ride finally reopens, the flume will be an inch or so deeper and the boats more buoyant, thus allowing for several hundred more pounds of capacity.

We have all been there, we call up (*insert your not so favorite company here*) and a machine comes up, it doesn’t seem to understand what your saying and you would rather kill your self than keep on the line with it. Well thanks to GetHuman.com, thats not a problem anymore. It has a database of all most every major corporation in America. They also post a rating that they give them so you know what your up against, A is good, F is bad. It is a good bookmark to keep handy just in case you ever have to dial up any company and want to reach a human.