New Google Talk Labs Editions Sports Group Chat and Notifications

http://www.google.com/talk/labsedition/ - Google Talk Labs Edition is the new version of the Google Talk desktop client. However, while some of the new features may prove useful in the future, it's not a full fledged upgrade.

This version of the desktop client now supports emoticons and group chat. You can even get notifications from Gmail, Google Calendar, and Orkut. However, several features from the original Google Talk app went away, which include voice chat and file transfers. So, If you still need these I suggest you stay with the the original version for now, until Google descides to blend the best of the two.

Learn to do Just About Anything with WonderHowTo and VideoJug

http://www.wonderhowto.com/ - Ever wondered how you can change the brakes on your Nissan Sentra? Or integrate database content with Flash, PHP, and MySQL? Or make a vegan pizza even? Now you can with this site ... right from the comfort of your computer.

Wonder How To pretty much as every how-to video you can hope for. Anytime you need to get something done or figure something out, try your luck at this site. The videos are organized into categories, and there's a search option if you're looking for something specific. You can even submit your own how-to videos to be included within their database. All videos that get submitted go through quality control. This means that the videos on this site stay instructional, on topic, and generally free of crappy, non-useful videos. Members of the site can also give a "grade" to the videos on the site (ranging from A+ to F) and post comments. This rating scheme really helps users distinguish quality videos to those that would otherwise just waste your time.

So, next time you're hosting a fancy dinner, just search for "fold napkins" for a step-by-step visual guide on how to impress your dinner guests with your decorative folded napkins. Or, just have fun and take a look that their "Hot," "Fresh," or "Gems" videos to take a look at popular or newly uploaded videos.

http://www.videojug.com/ - If you like this you can also check out VideoJug, a slightly older but similar and equally impressive site. In addition to how-to videos, VideoJug features an "Ask the Expert" section, which asks people who specialize in something common questions and concerns that you and I might have for them.

Skype 3.8 Beta For Windows: Get Rid of That Static

http://www.skype.com - Skype released version 3.8 Beta for Windows today. The interface all still looks the same and the application has not really changed much. However, this beta version does focus on call and audio quality improvements. There will be fewer dropped calls, less delay, and less interference from background noise.

Additionally, in this new version, Skype uses their own UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) framework instead of Microsoft's. UPnP allows for automatic configuration with routers and firewalls so that the application can run as smoothly as possible. I'm pretty excited about this release. I regularly use Skype to call and video chat with my friends and family and since we're all often in different countries, it allows us to stay easily connected.

Webapps of the Future. Internet Claims Possibility of Time Travel

This is why I'm skeptical of anything posted on the internet on April Fool's Day. You can't believe anything posted on the 1st of April because all the fake news gets mixed in with the real news. Oh well, here are three fun April Fool's jokes I found this day in 2008.

Google gDay with MATE

"Google Australia has introduced a new feature, enabling you to search content on the internet before it is created."

Gmail Custom Time

"Just click "Set custom time" from the Compose view. Any email you send to the past appears in the proper chronological order in your recipient's inbox. You can opt for it to show up read or unread by selecting the appropriate option."

Aviary Dodo: Web-based Time Machine

"We've been working feverishly around the clock on this new tool which will allow you to age and de-age people, places and things from any browser with Flash 9 enabled."

Remember: Be careful what you post to Digg or on your blog with the intention of it being real news today. You don't want to look like an idiot. Last year, a family member actually fell for Google's 2007 April Fool's announcement. I got an email with the subject "hey dave! check out this cool new service from google!" Believe me, the person that sent it (who will remain complety anonymous besides the fact that he/she was a family member) was totally serious.

Socialthing! Something Useful I Don't Use

http://www.socialthing.com - So I had wanted to do a pretty thorough review of the Socialthing! private beta for a while (and by while I mean by forever ago), but I haven't really gotten around to it until now. Well, that's because I barely use it and today I saw that it was a pending post, which prompted me to fire up the url and finally take a good look at it.

Socialthing allows to manage several social networking sites, such as Facebook, Pownce, and Flickr, all from one place. With Socialthing, you can view your friends' updates and posts, and then quickly respond or reply to them. For example, you can post directly to Pownce or change your status on Facebook directly on Socialthing. Also, you can view the complete conversation and replies on a Pownce post. However, this functionality isn't featured on all the supported networks. For Facebook, you will have to open the actual Facebook url to comment on someones photo, but Socialthing does link you to it when you click on their photo update. Another problem I have with Socialthing is the limited number of supported networks. Where's Myspace and other popular netwoking sites? Hopefully these quirks will be solved for when it's released to the public.

Socialthing is a great aggregator to see updates and quickly post/reply on a site. However, since I have all those social networking sites as bookmarks, I usually just open them all in different tabs in Firefox anyway. So for me, Socialthing serves purely as a time-saver when I just want to look at people's updates. However, when posting, replying, or if I just want to read or look through someone's post/update, I prefer doing so on the actual site.

Adobe Air Comes to Linux

http://www.adobe.com/products/air/ - Hooray for Adobe. They finally released to the public the alpha version of Adobe Air on Linux. Although the features are not yet complete in the Linux version, it is suitable enough to develop and run most Air applications.

What's great about Adobe Air is that it's a runtime designed to let you create and run rich internet applications that operate across operating systems. For example, once you develop an application, Adobe Air will let you deploy it in Windows, OS X ... and now Linux. You can download the Linux alpha here.