When I was writing recently about web browsers, I said look for innovation from Opera. They make a very cool and polished web browser that has never gained as much usage on desktop computers as it deserves. It is used widely on mobile devices.

Opera proved again this week they have been thinking outside the box.

They had been promising they’d announce news that would “re-invent the web”.  To support rhetoric like that, I was hoping the news would be more than just their Version 10 browser was out of beta.  Instead the announcement was Opera Unite, functionality that will allow Opera users to actually provide services from their web browser to other users on the web without the need to go through the “middleman” of a web server.

The sample services currently provided  tend to not be very original, a virtual refrigerator door to which you can allow others users to pin notes, a chat application so that you can host your own chat sessions, media sharing, file sharing and photo sharing.  Cool but not earthshaking (they admit it, they are just demo services.

The most interesting and possibly provocative of the initial services is a web server.   Imagine being able to easily post pages and files that could be seen by your dispersed family, your small workgroup, PTA, club, team or any small group that you’d like to be able to to disseminate information.  Pages can be public or password protected.

I also mentioned provocative since Opera will be forced to prove that they’re not creating a security risk by increasing the chance of hacking and contamination on individual users’ computers.

Still, the possibilities are endless if developers create sharing services for business and home that can be run directly on a web browser.  Expect to see this concept again in other browsers, they all “borrow. You can now not only own the printing press but the web server, too.

Download the Opera version with Opera Unite (alpha release).

Their pitch:

Hulu, if you’re not using it, is a website that allows you to watch some of your favorite television shows and movies on you Windows or Mac computer for free.  That’s simple enough.  There are a “limited” number of commercials, certainly less than commercial television. Hulu’s content is all professionally produced with none of the YouTube-type amateur stuff.

Sometimes when I either need a break at my desk, or it’s late and I want a little non-challenging entertainment before bed and don’t want to have all the noise associated with turning on the TV and the risk of waking the family, for this I use Hulu.

The big recent news for Hulu is that they have created a set of experimental projects and are offering them for use to the public À la Gmail labs.  The coolest of the new offerings is a desktop Hulu video player that let’s you watch Hulu content without a browser.  The picture is sharp and clear and will look on your computer monitor or laptop.

If you’d like to give Hulu Desktop a try, visit Hulu Labs and download it.  Or just stop by in an idle moment and watch a show in your browser.  I just watched Jay Leno’s last Tonight show episode.

If you’re interested in the background of the company, it’s owned by NBC Universal, News Corporation, and Disney.

You can even use Hulu to watch a little something while your working, like I did here.

Oh, yeah, this site is supposed to be about productivity.  Never mind.

Gmail recently introduced a shiny new feature, while not new to the wide world of email, adds a useful  capablity for us Gmail fans.   You can now insert an image into your email messsage, not as an attachment, which had been previously available, but directly into the body of the message.  Great for spicing up your email and particularly good for sending images to folks like, my mom, who fully understands email, but attachments — not so much.

Images can be uploaded from your computer or taken from the web.

To use, go to the Labs feature in Gmail and enable Inserting Images which will add an image button to your Compose toolbar.

Read more — Gmail blog.