Earth Hour invites one billion people in more than 2800 cities representing 83 countries to turn off their lights for one hour – tonight, Saturday, March 28 from 8:30pm to 9:30pm in their local time zone.

On this day, cities around the world, including Paris, Sydney, London, Cairo, New York, Los Angeles and Cape Town, will join together to demonstrate their commitment to energy conservation and sustainability.

Here’s how you can participate:

• All you have to do to Vote Earth is turn your lights out for one hour tonight, Saturday, March 28 from 8:30pm to 9:30pm local time, in your city. Your light switch is your vote!
• Set your computer’s power management and save up to $60 on your electricity bill and nearly half a ton of C02 over the next twelve months. Climate Savers Computing Initiative provides instructions on how you can save electricity all year long through efficient computing.
• Join Earth Connect and share your opinions about climate change through blogs, e-mails, and Twitter. The goal is to gather one billion words to present at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.
• If you are affiliated with a college, help your university reduce its environmental impact by adopting green computing practices. Pledge to Power Down for the Planet and create a video to teach others about the importance of energy efficient computing in the fight against climate change.

Earth Hour is about more than dimming lights for sixty minutes; it’s about making a commitment to reduce energy consumption throughout the year.

As Google’s business grows, we want to make sure we minimize our impact on the Earth’s climate through responsible environmental practices every hour, every day.

Source: Google Earth Hour 2009

Google’s latest enhancement to its user-customizable iGoogle site is the ability to conduct Gmail chats from within iGoogle. The new feature means you can do more on the iGoogle site without having multiple windows open.

I am fond of Gmail’s chat feature. I feed my AIM account through it, and can pretty much tackle all of my instant messaging needs from within Gmail itself rather than opening another application for chatting. I am not a regular user of iGoogle, but I can see the utility in its newest feature.

Chat can be added as another widget to the iGoogle home page via the settings menu. Google says that it works identically to the regular Gmail chat feature. All settings for Gmail chat will apply to the iGoogle version.

Google also says that Gmail users will be able to chat with anyone they wish — Gmail user or not — by inviting them to be a chat buddy. Once they accept, they’ll appear in the user’s buddy list. They will have to sign up for an iGoogle account, however. The chat feature also can be hidden from view if you’re the type who’s easily distracted, and users can sign out of chat without signing out of iGoogle if they prefer not to be bothered.

Apparently Google had been testing this feature out internally and with a small set of users. Today, chatting from within iGoogle is being offered to a much larger group of users.

Of course, it’s a trial version of the service. Google’s Rhett Robinson writes:

“It’s worth noting that this feature may have some kinks, so we ask for your patience as we work through them. Here at Google, it’s common practice for us to involve our users as early possible so we can make sure we get it right. We’ll also be rolling this feature out slowly, so if you don’t see it on your iGoogle page and you simply can’t wait to check it out, feel free to opt in by going to www.google.com/ig/v2invite.”

Right now, iGoogle chat will only work in English for users in the United States, but Google says it will support other languages and countries in the near future.

If you’re a Verizon Wireless or Sprint customer and have longed for the chance to get your hands on the BlackBerry Pearl Flip, there’s some good news. The FCC has recently given the green light to a CDMA variant of the Pearl Flip.

The BlackBerry Pearl Flip has been available from T-Mobile for several months. RIM took the basic design of the original Pearl and turned it into a clamshell phone, which is a form factor that many Americans happen to like. For the last few months, if you’ve hankered for some hot Pearl Flip action, you’ve had to choose T-Mobile.

Thanks to the FCC, it looks like that is about to change.

The government has approved a new version of the Flip for use in the U.S. This CDMA variant will work with Verizon Wireless’ and Sprint’s networks, and adds EVDO 3G to the mix, something the GSM version of the Flip lacks.

The only other feature confirmed by the FCC at this time is that the Pearl Flip will also have Bluetooth on board. We can probably expect most other features of the Pearl Flip to appear on the CDMA version. It has a 2 megapixel camera with video capture, microSD card slot and 3.5mm headset jack.

RIM has not officially acknowledged this phone, nor has Sprint or Verizon. Even so, it’s likely to be coming to a Verizon or Sprint store near you in the not-too-distant future.

Developers who paid $400.00 USD for the fully unlocked Android Dev 1 are being prevented from buying and downloading premium applications from the Android Market.

I can understand Google’s point of view on the matter. The Android Dev 1 — as it’s called in Android circles — is fully unlocked in the sense that its users can access the root file structure of everything on the device. This means any software and any application on the phone is totally exposed and vulnerable to being stolen.

By blocking the unlocked Android Dev 1 phones from accessing the premium applications, Google is protecting those companies that are offering products for sale from possible theft.

It should also be easy to understand the developers’ point a view. Here they are, the premium users of the Android platform, and they are blocked from some of the best applications available to the device.

Android Authority’s Michael Oryl writes:

“If I had gone out and paid $400 for this unlocked device, I know that I’d be pissed off about this limitation.”

No kidding Michael.

I have to wonder if Google attempted to find a happy medium before instituting this policy. Surely there could be a way to get the developers access to these applications with some sort of guarantee for the publishers of those apps that they won’t be ripped off.

Until a compromise of some sort is worked out, Android Dev 1 owners will get the short end of the stick.

A Silicon Valley icon, Steve Wozniak, a.k.a. “The Woz,” helped shape the computer industry with his design of Apple’s first line of computer products.

Will Woz revolutionize ‘Dancing with the Stars’ as a cast member of Season 8? Only time will tell, however I’m hoping he does well.

Photo source: Yahoo! – Dancing with the Stars Season 8

The onslaught of new features in Gmail shows no signs of abating. Today, Google added a few more more capabilities to its email product. The first lets you archive and label emails in a single step, and there are now new keyboard shortcuts, as well.

Gmail has long used a labeling system for managing emails rather than folders, which are used in email programs such as Microsoft Exchange. The labels let users organize their emails, which have a little more flexibility than folders in that emails can have multiple different labels at the same time.

Google admits:

“it’s not always obvious how to use labels, especially for people who are new to Gmail and used to using folders, and it hasn’t helped that some common tasks have been more complicated than they should be.”

Today, that changes. Google has revamped the buttons and menus along the top of the Gmail inbox. The new buttons allow you to hit the “Move to” button, which will label and archive an email in a single step, rather than the two steps it used to take. There is a separate button for labels, which are now supported with auto-complete. Start typing the first few letters of a label, and list of suggested labels will appear from which you can select the one you want.

Lastly, Google is adding new keyboard shortcuts to support these new functions. Use “v” for “Move to” and “l” (lowercase L) for “Labels.” You have to have the keyboard shortcuts turned on in order for them to work.

So there you have it, more features for Gmail that should make labeling and archiving just a little bit easier.