Google just launched a new Google Apps Marketplace where users can discover and deploy third-party cloud applications that integrate with their existing Google Apps accounts.

Give the video above a watch for a full overview of how Google Apps Marketplace apps work, or, summed up from the Google Apps Marketplace homepage:

The Google Apps Marketplace offers products and services designed for Google users, including installable apps that integrate directly with Google Apps. Installable apps are easy to use because they include single sign-on, Google’s universal navigation, and some even include features that integrate with your domain’s data.

We’ve detailed how to trick out Google Apps in the past, but the Apps Marketplace brings an entirely new set of potentially useful tools to your Google Apps account—everything from accounting and finance apps to project and customer management.

And while the current set of offerings might seem like overkill unless you’re a business running on Google Apps, the integration that these tools provide with Google tools like Mail, Calendar, Docs, and Contacts might be well worth it for the right app, and in time, Apps Marketplace sets the stage for all kinds of awesome third-party integration that could potentially take place with any outside application and the Google applications you use every day. (Time will tell on that front.)

We’ve been paging through the offerings since the site went up, but if you stumble onto a particularly snazzy looking Marketplace app, share a link in the comments.

Right now most of the apps look like they come with a recurring subscription fee, but we’ve found a few interesting looking options (some free), like:

• Aviary, the web-based creative suite.
• Shared contacts, which, as one might expect, lets you share contacts with your colleagues (something that’s always been a little difficult in Google Apps). [Has a free trial]
• Gbridge, a “free, instant VPN for everyone” that can sync folders, share files, and share screens remotely between computers—and it’s free.

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Dear Lifehacker,
I’ve read about how HTML5 will change the way I use the web, but it seems like the biggest example of HTML5 in action is on sites like YouTube—which don’t support my favorite browser, Firefox. What’s the deal?

I find myself, and I’m sure tons of others, caught in the Adobe Flash Player vs. HTML5 battle. Flash Player runs terribly on my iMac. Videos on different sites either tell me to install Flash components, show up as blank white areas, load perpetually (CNET TV) or tell me to adjust global storage, and so on. If they do play, I often get the stuttering/buffering that drives me crazy. I had the latest version of Flash Player, uninstalled that and installed the latest 10.1 Beta3, and it’s just as bad.

I considered signing up for YouTube’s HTML5 beta test, but that only works for Safari, Chrome, and IE, not Firefox. I’ve read about Mozilla’s stance on this issue, too.

I apologize for the long intro to my question, but do you know of any Firefox add-on or plug-in that installs the H.264 codec? We already have to install a plug-in for Flash Player, so perhaps it’s possible someone can do this for H.264.

Thanks for any help,
Fighting with Flash

Howdy Fighting,
That’s a good question, and unfortunately one to which there’s no great answer. It actually is technically possible to play HTML5 YouTube videos in Firefox, but it’s extremely convoluted (details below)—and Mac users like yourself won’t have any luck. First, for those who aren’t familiar with why Firefox is excluded from YouTube’s (and some other video sites’) HTML5 support, here’s why:

The Problem

In order to move to HTML5 from Flash, video sites like YouTube need to host their videos in formats friendly to Flash-free HTML5 embedding. Unfortunately there’s no default standard for the format HTML5 videos should use.

As a dedicated open-source, open-standards browser, Firefox chose to support the Ogg Theora video format for HTML5 video. Like Firefox, Ogg Theora is free and open; it’s not covered by any patents, so it requires no licensing and is completely free to use for everyone involved.

Other browser makers, like Chrome and Safari, support H.264 for HTML5 video. Unlike Ogg Theora, H.264 is patented, and would theoretically require browser makers to pay licensing fees to use it (though the company that owns licensing rights to H.264 have said that they’ll offer it royalty free until 2016). Additionally, the issue isn’t just about licensing.

Some tests have shown H.264 to perform better than Ogg Theora in side-by-side comparisons. Apple’s stance on the matter, via Wikipedia, is that “H.264 performs better and is already more widely supported.” For video sites like YouTube, the main concern is likely which format can deliver the highest quality video with the greatest compression rates. Unfortunately for Team Firefox (and supporters of free and open web standards), it’s looking like H.264 might deliver the best results.

It’s worth nothing that browsers can support multiple video formats for HTML5 support, but currently Chrome is the only browser that supports both H.264 and Ogg Theora (though through the Frankenstein efforts of Google Chrome Frame, Internet Explorer also gets support for both). The chart below (from Wikipedia) lays it all out:

As you can see, unless either Firefox changes its stance or sites like YouTube decide to support a free alternative like Ogg Theora, Firefox fanatics don’t have a clear way to watch HTML5 YouTube videos.

The “Solution”

If you’re extremely desperate to watch HTML5 YouTube videos but you absolutely do not want to switch to another browser, you’ve got one simple-yet-absurd solution that’ll only work on Windows:

Watch HTML5 YouTube Videos in Firefox (on Windows)

1. Install the IE Tab Firefox extension (or one of the other IE-in-Firefox extensions).
2. Install Google Chrome Frame for IE.
   
3. In the IE Tab preferences inside Firefox, set YouTube to always open inside an IE Tab (see image below).
   
4. Visit the YouTube HTML5 Video Player opt-in page (if you’ve set up IE Tab correctly above, it should open in an IE Tab inside Firefox) and click the Join the HTML5 Beta link at the bottom of the page.
   
5. Go watch an HTML5-supported YouTube video.

And… that’s it. Ridiculous, but I’ve tried it, and it seems to work. (Though, unsurprisingly, it seemed buggy, and worked much better in straight Chrome than it did in either IE with Chrome Frame or Firefox with IE and Chrome Frame.) Unfortunately it doesn’t help Mac users like Fighting with Flash much, but it’s the best we could do.

More than anything, the convoluted process involved in watching an HTML5 YouTube video in Firefox only serves to underscore the problem. It’s not something that’ll likely be solved overnight (though I guess if Mozilla decides to cave into H.264, change could come pretty quickly), but it’s a good reminder that important, web-changing technology almost always comes with a few speed bumps.

Love,
Lifehacker

Got a better method you’re using, or want to weigh in on this whole H.264 vs. Ogg Theora battle? Let’s hear it in the comments.

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Workplace distractions are nothing new, but if you can’t seem to find time to do some serious distraction-free work for any significant chunk of time, consider time blocking an appointment with yourself.

Over at business site Fast Company, our own Gina Trapani continues her Work Smart video series with a great piece on Time Blocking (embedded above). Recounting the days when she worked as a low-on-the-totem-poll programmer in a distraction-heavy office, Gina remembers:

It got so bad that when I was on deadline, I’d book hour-long meetings in a conference room where I was the only attendee. I’d put the meeting in my calendar a day or two ahead of time so that I showed up as “busy” in Outlook. When the time came, I’d steal off to the conference room with my laptop to work uninterrupted. When I confessed to another programmer that I was holding fake meetings with myself just to get work done, he asked if he could join me—under the condition that we would not distract one another. I got the most work done in the shortest amount of time during those blocks.

Ever try something similar, or have your own methods for carving out distraction-free blocks of work time? Let’s hear your tips in the comments.

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If bold colors, a big desk, and plenty of well it storage sounds like your kind of office, you’ll definitely want to check out today’s featured workspace.

Sometimes after making do with an office that just doesn’t fit, you have to dig in and commit to an overhaul. Lifehacker reader Vincent Vega was sick of an office with old carpet and eight years worth of mismatched furniture:

After quite a bit of searching online I settled on IKEA for most of the furniture.The desk legs are Vika Annefors with a 78″ Vika Amon tabletop.

The cabinets are from the EFFEKTIV system. The EFFEKTIV stuff is all modular and has tons of options. I looked at several different lighting options but settled on the Inredia bookcase lights because the are so darn adjustable.

Now I just need some art! Comments are appreciated!

You can check out additional photos of Vincent’s workspace in the gallery below:

If you have a workspace of your own to show off, throw the pictures on your Flickr account and add it to the Lifehacker Workspace Show and Tell Pool. Include some details about your setup and why it works for you, and you just might see it featured on the front page of Lifehacker.

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Readers offer their best tips for quickly showing and hiding file extensions, charging devices with your computer turned off, and using a cellphone as a long-term stopwatch.

Don’t like the gallery layout? Click here to view everything on one page.

About the Tips Box: Every day we receive boatloads of great reader tips in our inbox, but for various reasons—maybe they’re a bit too niche, maybe we couldn’t find a good way to present it, or maybe we just couldn’t fit it in—the tip didn’t make the front page. From the Tips Box is where we round up some of our favorites for your buffet-style consumption. Got a tip of your own to share? Add it in the comments, share it here, or email it to tips at lifehacker.com.

Show File Extensions With a Hotkey

PlatypusMan shares an AutoHotkey script that makes it easier to show and hide file extensions:

I’ve noticed that, in Windows, a lot of people set it to show file extensions for known file types so that it is easier to edit things, but I prefer it to be easier to look at. However, I don’t like going through the Tools menu and all that (which took me forever to find in Windows 7 — just hit the Alt key in explorer for the menu bar to show up), so I wrote a small script in #Autohotkey that I find to be very helpful.

This sets Windows+X to toggle whether or not known file types are shown:
#x::
RegRead, Extension_Status, HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced, HideFileExt
If Extension_Status = 0
RegWrite, REG_DWORD, HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced, HideFileExt, 1
Else
RegWrite, REG_DWORD, HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced, HideFileExt, 0
WinGetClass, eh_Class,A
send, {F5}
Return

As far as I can tell, it works seamlessly. I adapted it from a different script I found that does basically the same thing, but with the option for showing or hiding hidden files, but I don’t remember where I got it from (probably here).

Charge USB Devices Without Turning on Your Computer

TechnoGeek shows us how he keeps his devices charged at his workspace:

If your monitor has USB ports, you can charge your iPod/iPhone even when your computer is off. Just plug it into your monitor and leave the monitor on. Once you turn off your computer, your monitor should time-out. But don’t turn off the power. Your device will continue to charge.

Use Cellphone Timestamps as a Long-Term Stopwatch

Photo by Oracio Alvarado.

Micah Tanis shows us a reliable, easy method of time tracking:

Create a START and END contact on your phone to keep track of timed tasks.
Dial and end a call to START or END to create timestamps for time tracking.

Create Custom File Paths in the Quick Launch Bar for Easy Access

Jake712 shows us how he utilizes Quick Launch shortcuts:

This is something I’ve been doing since XP came out but I’ve never seen anyone else doing it and I don’t see it mentioned much:

I keep Windows Explorer shortcuts with customized file locations on my quick launch bar. If I want to get to my web server folders or my folder with my Nikon photos I just click the customized explorer icon that will take me right there. The image shows my right-most quick launch item which is my most accessed as well.

To make them go through the Start menu to Programs/Accessories, right click Windows Explorer and pick Copy. Now go to your desktop, right click on it, and choose Paste Shortcut and the icon will appear. To customize it, right click the icon and choose Properties. You can change the destination by editing the Target field, for instance my photos are in C:\DATA\Photos and Home Video\photos\Nikon D90. You can rename the shortcut in the same window but under the General tab, this is the name that shows up if you hover over the icon.

When you’re done just drag it to your quick launch bar and you’re all set. You can get pretty fancy with the Target location including options to expand folders, etc. For a list of the various options here is Microsoft’s reference: [support.microsoft.com]

This works up to Vista 64 but I haven’t tried it on Windows 7, in fact I don’t even know if 7 has a quick launch bar.

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