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When it comes to the next-gen phone wars, two handsets immediately come to mind: Apple’s iPhone and the G1 from HTC and T-Mobile, the first commercially available phone to run Google’s Android OS.

The G1 retails to new customers for $399, while the …

pimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2008/10/gcal_gmail.jpg” height=”150″ width=”179″ /Gmail has added support for sidebar gadgets to its experimental Labs section, allowing users to add an agenda view of Google Calendar, a short list of recent Google Docs files, and any web-based gadgets using a href=”http://incubator.apache.org/shindig/#tab-home”Apache’s Shindig standard/a to the left-hand sidebar. As the developers themselves note, adding outside gadgets isn’t exactly user-friendly, but then again, adding too many gadgets could lead to some page-loading slowdown. You can enable the GCal, Docs, and external gadget support in the beaker-icon Labs menu of Gmail. While you’re in there, here’s a few ways to make Gmail gadgets more convenient./p pullistrongMove Labels and Chat to the right-hand side:/strong Enable the “Right-side labels” and “Right-side chat” features in the Labs section to move those sometimes lengthy boxes over and make room for your new gadgets./lilistrongManually re-order your left sidebar:/strong Turn on “Navbar drag and drop” in Labs, and you can drag any of your widgets up and down in your left-hand sidebar. Combined with the right-side options above, you can place your gadgets pretty much anywhere you’d like. You’ll likely want to turn off this feature when you’re done, though, both for JavaScript speed and to prevent accidental re-ordering./lilistrongTurn off secure (https) access, if needed:/strong The developers say that some external widgets might not work so hot if you’re accessing Gmail through a secure connection, the kind that puts httpstrongs/strong: in your address bar. That might be a deal-breaker for some, but Google’s own widgets seemed to work fine in our own test./lilistrongFind and share your Shindig gadgets:/strong Enable “Add any gadget by URL” in Labs, and your Settings section gets a new “Gadgets” header with a simple URL entry box. Google has only shared one that definitely worksmdash;a version of their YouTube scroller, available by pasting in codehttp://www.google.com/ig/modules/youtube_videos.xml/codemdash;but says you can add more by “pasting in the URL of (a gadget’s) XML spec file.” Any of our readers savvy with extensible markup language are welcome to post their own gadget findings in the comments./li/ul/p div class=”related”a href=”http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/new-in-labs-calendar-and-docs-gadgets.html”New in Labs: Calendar and Docs gadgets/a [Official Gmail Blog]/div br style=”clear: both;”/
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pimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2008/10/gcal_gmail.jpg” height=”150″ width=”179″ /Gmail has added support for sidebar gadgets to its experimental Labs section, allowing users to add an agenda view of Google Calendar, a short list of recent Google Docs files, and any web-based gadgets using a href=”http://incubator.apache.org/shindig/#tab-home”Apache’s Shindig standard/a to the left-hand sidebar. As the developers themselves note, adding outside gadgets isn’t exactly user-friendly, but then again, adding too many gadgets could lead to some page-loading slowdown. You can enable the GCal, Docs, and external gadget support in the beaker-icon Labs menu of Gmail. While you’re in there, here’s a few ways to make Gmail gadgets more convenient./p pullistrongMove Labels and Chat to the right-hand side:/strong Enable the “Right-side labels” and “Right-side chat” features in the Labs section to move those sometimes lengthy boxes over and make room for your new gadgets./lilistrongManually re-order your left sidebar:/strong Turn on “Navbar drag and drop” in Labs, and you can drag any of your widgets up and down in your left-hand sidebar. Combined with the right-side options above, you can place your gadgets pretty much anywhere you’d like. You’ll likely want to turn off this feature when you’re done, though, both for JavaScript speed and to prevent accidental re-ordering./lilistrongTurn off secure (https) access, if needed:/strong The developers say that some external widgets might not work so hot if you’re accessing Gmail through a secure connection, the kind that puts httpstrongs/strong: in your address bar. That might be a deal-breaker for some, but Google’s own widgets seemed to work fine in our own test./lilistrongFind and share your Shindig gadgets:/strong Enable “Add any gadget by URL” in Labs, and your Settings section gets a new “Gadgets” header with a simple URL entry box. Google has only shared one that definitely worksmdash;a version of their YouTube scroller, available by pasting in codehttp://www.google.com/ig/modules/youtube_videos.xml/codemdash;but says you can add more by “pasting in the URL of (a gadget’s) XML spec file.” Any of our readers savvy with extensible markup language are welcome to post their own gadget findings in the comments./li/ul/p div class=”related”a href=”http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/new-in-labs-calendar-and-docs-gadgets.html”New in Labs: Calendar and Docs gadgets/a [Official Gmail Blog]/div br style=”clear: both;”/
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pimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2008/10/zviewer.png” align=”left” hspace=”4″ vspace=”2″ width=”494″ height=”255″ style=”display:block;float:none;” /Windows only: Free application Zviewer is a one-stop shop for all your web video needs, integrating everything from Hulu and YouTube to Netflix Watch Instantly in a full-screen interface. The app lets you browse listings from different on-demand video sites and launch any video instantly. Apart from aggregating all this on-demand video, the cool thing about Zviewer is that it supports most Windows remote controls, so if you already have a Media Center PC, you can control the app from across the room. Unfortunately Zviewer is a little less of a full-service solution than we’d like, since playing a video simply launches a customized version of Firefox instead of handling the video itself. The company that develops Zviewer also sells an a href=”http://www.zeevee.com/store”outrageously priced set-top box/a that does works similarly to the standalone app while adding more computer-to-TV functionality, but if your computer is already hooked up to your TV, Zviewer does the trick. Zviewer is a free download, Windows only./p div class=”related”a href=”http://www.zeevee.com/products/zviewer”Zviewer/a [via a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/10/27/zviewer-offers-an-almost-useful-full-screen-browser-for-web-vide/"Download Squad/a]/div br style=”clear: both;”/
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pimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/10/lglotus.jpg” width=”494″ height=”281″ style=”display:block;float:none;” /strongThe Gadget/strong: a href=”A2809Dhttp://gizmodo.com/5048280/lg-lotus-hands+onA2809D”LG Lotus/a, an odd little monster of clamshell with a full QWERTY keyboard and a UI by Sprint in collaboration with Frog Design. script type=”text/javascript” charset=”utf-8″ galleryPost(’lotuslightning’, 3, ”); /script/p pstrongPrice/strong: $150/p pstrongVerdict/strong: The form factor is utterly bizarremdash;a flip phone as wide as Oprah’s ass with a full QWERTY keyboard that takes its design cues from a chick’s makeup compact thing (whatever the hell they’re called). It doesn’t bother to make it up by being RAZR-thin, either. Inside is another dumbphone that desperately wants to be smart, but it copies off the bright kids’ paper enough to do a reasonable impression./p pThe UI is remarkably navigable, with real transition animations and a nice, contrast-y design, though it would benefit with a bit more horsepower to keep it 100 percent zippy and silky smooth. When you open it up, you’ve got a customizable row of icons you thumb left or right through, and after pausing for a second (this is where the bonus horsies would be nice) a pop-up fills the rest of the screen with what it doesmdash;for instance, the Google icon gives you Maps, Gmail and YouTube. It has an app manager too, also like a real smartphone. If only Sprint’s thoroughly integrated stores were as well designed./p pEmail is really robust, and better than either Verizon or ATT’s standard email offering—the built-in client gives you access to all the majors (Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail) and IMAP and POP accounts, plus it makes it easy to switch between them. It’s the client that’s been shipping on Sprint’s feature phones for a bit, but since the Lotus has a QWERTY keyboard, it’s actually usable now./p pThe browser is where it really reveals that it belongs in a remedial class—while it’s another incremental improvement on generally crappy dumbphone browser, it crashed the whole phone more than once on big pages, though it’s totally fine if you stick to mobile optimized sites, especially with EV-DO. The other big flaw in this phone is the media player—it’s too tightly wrapped up with Sprint’s music store and takes too many clicks to get to, though the YouTube app ain’t half bad. Bonus points for the power adapter, which lets you plug it in with any micro USB cable, though they’re sorta negated by the 2.5mm headphone jack./p pIn short, if you can live with the form factor, the Lotus is a fairly capable little (big) phone for someone who’s not quite ready to graduate to a big boy smartphone, though $150 for a wannabe is a bit steep when you can get one for that much (or less). $99 would make this a higher recommend. Baby steps, baby steps. [a href="http://www.sprint.com"Sprint/a]/p br style=”clear: both;”/
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pimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/10/headphonies.jpg” align=”left” hspace=”4″ vspace=”2″ width=”494″ height=”440″ style=”display:block;float:none;” /Portable speakers for the iPod are a dime a dozen, but these limited edition “Headphonies” are a little more eye-catching than other generic models. The set includes 5 figures created by several artists (including a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Kozik”Frank Kozik/a), and 2 blank versions that you can decorate yourself. Naturally, you don’t expect to get a booming sound with speakers this small, but those who have heard it claim that the sound is “surprisingly good.” Each viny toy speaker will sold in 500 to 1000 limited quantities starting on November 30th. Fortunately, Headphonies are fairly inexpensive collector’s items at only $30 apiece. [a href="http://www.headphonies.com/"Headphonies/a via a href="http://www.spankystokes.com/2008/10/headphonies-are-here.html"SpankyStokes/a via a href="http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2008/10/headphonies_a_must_for_ipod_owners.html"Ubergizmo/a]/p br style=”clear: both;”/
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pimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/valleywag/2008/10/elance.jpg” align=”left” hspace=”4″ vspace=”2″ width=”476″ height=”148″ style=”display:block;float:none;” /Dear Mike: Love your site. But Ted Dziuba and I would like to see one little enhancement to your a href=”http://www.techcrunch.com/layoffs/”TechCrunch Layoff Tracker/a. It doesn’t list false positives. That is, if someone spamblasts everyone in the tech media on a Saturday night with an email that says “Elance laid off 20% of its staff on Friday,” I want to be able to search the Layoff Tracker for Elance and find out if your ace reporting team has embroken the story/em or not. I don’t want a match on “freelancer.” I want “Elance: TechCrunch has not yet broken the news on Elance layoffs.” It’s what, ten lines of PHP? I can pop down to Atherton and type it in. No wait: Have Ted do it. He needs something to do in between his a href=”http://teddziuba.com/2008/10/a-double-dose-of-my-pimping.html”new weekly columns/a for The Register. Watching Pressflip run out of money gets old./p br style=”clear: both;”/
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Designer Vijay (of two-faced Mac-like Windows desktop fame) jailbroke his iPhone and loaded it up with apps. The five-screen setup (with custom wallpaper) was so impressive, we had to show it off here. Vijay says he jailbroke the iPhone 2.1 software using QuickPwn, and runs down his favorite apps:

iTunes Remote, Nemus Sync, Cycorder, Facebook, VoiceNotes, Fring, Youtube, Wifi Toggle, SMS, Snapture, Phone and iGolf. (Careful with this guy, I threw my iPhone a couple of times playing this one: top score = 611 yards :} )

Here are some of our favorite jailbreak apps; what about you? Tell us about ‘em in the comments.

You’re one of those internet-addicted, Obama-loving youngins that’s actually going to vote on Election day. That’s great, since the youth vote has historically been a bucket of fail. But PBS and YouTube want you to take your civic duty even more srsly and bring your camcorder to document the experience—as well as any problems you see, like long lines (horror!), glitchy voting machines (likely) or “overly aggressive” voter ID practices—and upload it to their Video Your Vote channel. The best clips will air on PBS, like legitimately produced journalism. Oh, the fine print:

Clips should be between 30 seconds and three minutes. More importantly, some states have fairly strict laws about filming in or around polling places, so if you get too Michael Moore-y, you might get to document your first cavity search (though that would be more appropriate for RedTube). The Citizen Media Law Project has more details about how to stay out of jail while being a web 2.0 do-gooding oversharer. Or you could just be safe and stick to Twitter to tell everyone who you voted for. [AZ Star, AP, Image: Flickr/Refractionless]