We successfully made it into the second half of the year 2011. We have seen lots of change in that half, from Google’s Panda search engine update to new and improved features, tools and services. June was no different with the introduction of Google+, Google’s Facebook contender that in many regards looks like a copy with clever feature additions. Google earlier that month rolled out an update for Google Image Search, which now has reverse image searching capabilities (see 10 uses for Google Search by Images).
Apple got their iCloud up and running, and Microsoft published the first official Windows 8 video.
Mozilla got their rapid release development cycle in full swing and released Firefox 5, Thunderbird 5 and Seamonkey 2.1. Oh, and uTorrent 3 and Opera 11.50 were released as well in June.
When I look at Ghacks I see that all authors posted a total of 210 articles in June, that’s more than six articles per day. It will drop a bit in July though, but we write as many as necessary especially if a great new product comes out.
Browser
We reviewed the usual assortment of tips and extensions. We try our best to include all browsers as best as we can, and I think we did a good job in the last month. Probably the biggest stories were the releases of Firefox 5, Opera 10.5 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 10 Preview 2. Especially Mozilla received some flak this month both for their rapid release cycle as well as for removing the http protocol from the browser.
Firefox Preferences Cleaner, Remove Add-On Preferences On Uninstallation
Microsoft Pushes Out Second Internet Explorer 10 Preview
Mozilla: Firefox 5 Release Means EOL For Firefox 4
Opera Speed Dial Extensions Overview
Super iGoogle, Optimize iGoogle’s Layout To Save Space
The Best Firefox Privacy Add-Ons
Reviews
Mike was the only author to review some hardware here on Ghacks. We’d love to review more but it is up to the companies to provide us with samples (hint).
Acer Iconia Tab W500 Windows 7 Tablet Review
Samsung Series 9 Ultraportable Review… Part 1
Samsung Series 9 Ultraportable Review… Part 2
Online
Lots of movement in the online world. Google+ launched as well as Office 365. Will be interesting to see if Facebook’s upcoming announcement will be able to drop Google’s momentum.
Disable Automatic Photo Tagging Suggestions On Facebook
How To Change Your Primary Facebook Email Address
Make a Hidden Windows Dropbox Folder
Microsoft Updates SkyDrive, Faster, Better, With HTML5 Support
Should You Get A Virtual Credit Card For Online Purchases?
Tutorials
We have posted more tutorials than usually on Ghacks.
Backup And Restore Windows Activation
Change Google’s Black Navbar Back To White
Cleaning the Inside of a Computer
Downloading Software From Third Party Sites Makes Sense, Sometimes
Google Takeout, Export Google Data
How To Fix Slow Folders In Windows Explorer
How To Merge Avi Movies With VirtualDub
Windows
Except for the Windows 8 video, there was not a lot in terms of news. We made up for it with dozens of software reviews.
3 Options To Analyze Past Computer Usage
AppCleaner, Temporary File Cleaner From The Makers Of UpdateStar
Auto Hide Icons On The Windows Desktop
Beware: Avira Partners With Ask And UniBlue
Liquesce, Windows Drive Pooling Software
MakeMKV, Rip DVD, Blu-Ray Discs To Your Computer
Microsoft Office 2010 Service Pack 1 Released
Verdict
June was a busy month. Did we miss something? Let us know in the comments.
Enjoyed the article?: Then sign-up for our free newsletter or RSS feed to kick off your day with the latest technology news and tips, or share the article with your friends and contacts on Facebook or Twitter.Related Articles:
Microsoft Patch Day June 2011 OverviewGhacks July 2011 Best Of
Ghacks September 2011 Best Of
Ghacks May 2011 Best Of
Autopatcher June 2007 for XP finally released
Another month of interesting,useful content from the most well-run and informative InfoTech site on the web IMHO.
Still wish you’d consider a weekly gHacks podcast…..
BTW – I excluded this site from Opera adblocker and click on ads here and there – it’s the least we can do for such a service.
Sub, that’s really nice of you. I’m currently talking with Mike about doing a podcast. The main thing that’s keeping me from doing it is my terrible English, haha.
Great roundup.
Somehow, I have this site in RSS and still miss articles. So for me this monthly “best of” idea is great.
I’m happy that you like it.