Google Reader with a grid layout.

Google Reader isn't known for its beauty. The user interface is very similar to Gmail, except with fewer bells and whistles. The spacious gaps between columns and menu items can sometimes be more distracting than helpful.

As an alternative to viewing Google Reader in list or expanded mode, there's a Chrome extension that can transform it into a grid of stories. Installing and configuring the extension is quick and easy, so let's get started:

Step 1: Install a copy of Grid Preview for Google Reader for your Chrome Web browser.

(Credit: Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET)

Step 2: Head to Google Reader in your Web browser. You'll see a new drop-down box next to the Folder settings button that allows you to choose how many columns you want in the grid. Pick a number that works best for your eyes. (This is also where you can choose "Close grid" to stop displaying items in a grid.)

(Credit: Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET)

Step 3: Make sure your Google Reader is set to display the Expanded view instead of List view. You should see the articles populate ... [Read more]

Did you ever want to leave a message for a Skype buddy who just wasn't there? Skype's new video-messaging feature, now in a beta of sorts, is the interactive way to do it.

Available today for users in the U.S., U.K., and other select countries (Skype isn't listing them all,) video messaging sends a recording to friends who may be offline or on another call.

Android, iOS, and Mac users don't have to do anything to play around with the prerelease feature, except to make sure they've got the most recent software update (the capability has been hiding in plain sight for weeks). If you use Skype on any of these three platforms, you'll be able to send a video message, and to receive it within your message inbox.

Skype users on Windows can still receive video messages, though they'll appear as a link, not as a video clip.

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The Photoshop 1.0 splash screen

The Computer History Museum has made the source code for Photoshop 1.0.1 into an exhibit that lets the public, or at least programmers, appreciate the inner workings of the historic software.

The museum published the software yesterday, following up on its earlier release of the source code underlying Apple's original MacPaint.

Source code is what humans write -- in Photoshop 1.0's case the brothers Thomas and John Knoll. The initial Photoshop is written in written 128,000 lines of code, a combination of the high-level Pascal programming language and low-level assembly-language instructions. When converted to machine code, the program was small enough to fit on a floppy disk.

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Opera Software is acquiring Skyfire Labs and its technology for squeezing video onto congested mobile-phone networks in a deal worth up to $155 million, the Norwegian browser maker said tonight.

Opera, the fifth-ranked browser maker in terms of global usage, gets paid for adapting its browser for mobile network operators and for driving searches to sites like Yandex and Google. It's been gradually expanding its business into domains such as advertising, though, and the Skyfire deal adds a new dimension to its business selling technology to operators.

"Both companies have evolved far beyond their browser roots," said Opera Chief Executive Lars Boilesen in a statement. "Skyfire adds capabilities to our portfolio around video, app optimization, smartphones and tablets, and strength in North America. With video expected to consume over two-thirds of global mobile bandwidth by 2015, and as time spent on Android and iOS apps explodes, we are excited to extend Opera's solutions for operators.

Skyfire's technology can cut video bandwidth and adapt quickly to sudden drops in network capacity. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company sells its technology in the Rocket Optimizer and Skyfire Horizon products.

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