Firefox

Two weeks ago, I used this space to write about the importance of usability in website design. The article was supposed to act as a lead-in to a short series of articles on the basics of search engine optimization and as a gentle suggestion for webmasters concerned with converting visitors into buyers.

I've been trying out Onfolio 2.0 for the past week or so and so far I really like it. I've been collecting files and webpages for afew years now on various things I'm interested in. So I've been copying files and links into Onfolio to have as a knowledge base/electronic brain. I especially like the fact that I'm not dependent on other program's file structure like how Firefox keeps the bookmarks in one folder and files in My documents with pictures, music and videos in the appropriate folders. For instance, I have a folder in My Documents labeled InuYasha, one of my favorite anime shows(how does one pluralize anime as in meaning one of many shows?). In it I have some archived fanfics I like and want to be able to read offline. In My Pictures I have two folders related to InuYasha images, one is Fanart which covers the small images from official and fanartists I like and another one is Wallpapers. In My Videos I have around 15-16 amv's (anime music videos-clips from a show or game set to music) In Firefox I have links to fanfics, fansites, the official site, links to AMV's I want to download, etc. In Onfolio I have have copies of the files and links all in one folder. I'm not dependent on desktop search to help me find all my things, although I'm going to keep using Copernic Desktop search as sometimes I'm not exactly sure where I saw something.

Only in Thailand... The Software Industry Promotions Agency (SIPA) has announced open source software suites for both servers and clients in the Thai market. Suriyan (roughly "the sun") is a Linux server package which allegedly does not require Linux skills. Chantra (roughly "the moon") is a client suite containing Open Office, Firefox, Thunderbird, and more.

Here is the Bittorrent link and direct MP3 download for the EGC clambake for August 28, 2005.

The New York Times reports ADV Films, the largest distributor of anime in the United States, is going BitTorrent.

I've casually used Google's Adwords over the last few years, mostly to have some familiarity with how the system works. Being that my main business is Website Hosting, unless you're the el-cheapo hosting provider, this type of advertising has proven to be pretty much useless. Now that I'm also promoting my music CD, I've taken a renewed interest in the program.

Gmail now includes the feature to choose which email address you send from. I have been waiting for this feature for a while and its great if you want to use gmail for work etc. As pointed out by RIP’s devco.net there hasn’t been much press about it, but its a big bonus for many users.

Regarding to latest Ajax applications I believe in a few years average user will not need operating system any more. Even today we read mail over the web (Gmail, Outlook Web Access), we can write in a quite good editor (FreeTextBox, ...), there are available Excel like applications, calculators, image editing, document and image sharing applications... It is possible that in few years we would carry around only a key from where latest browser application will start up on any Internet connected computer.

I was recently going through a nice list of Gmail Tips maintained by Jim Barr, it has a lot of useful tips out of which tip 25 tells you how you can create a label named "Unread" which automatically displays all the mails which are not yet read by you (not just in inbox or just in one label, but in your full email account). But when I tried creating such a label gmail didn't allow me, so I tried creating a label named "Unread2" and then tried renaming it to "Unread" that's when I got a message saying "System specific label names are not allowed. Please try another label".

To use Google Talk you need a Gmail account. If you don’t have one yet, leave a comment (and a valid email address to contact you) and I’ll send you an invite. I have about 50 Gmail invites left.

I don’t hate IE, I just really love Firefox. When I used IE I had to download a bunch of little programs that made it operate like Firefox does right out of the box (popup blockers, tabbed browsing, Google toolbar, etc..).

This website has some interesting documentaries that you can download via bittorrent for free.

Mincus has created an AdSense notifier, displaying your earnings in your Firefox status bar. Useful, if you’re obsessive about earnings (or just OCD).

Anyone who knows me knows that this whole software engineering thing is just filler while I pursue my real goal in life: being the Jared of Togo’s. I’ve been known to eat their sandwiches at every meal—Dinner, After Dinner Snack, and Midnight Feeding for engineers—and it is widely known that my future wife will need to accept our firstborn, Togo von Firefox de la Schmutz. Ross.

What do I mean? Well, realistically anything created today to bring RSS to the masses ought to be doing so with half a thought towards podcasting (can’t wait to see what Microsoft try to change that one to!). Sure, its ‘just’ RSS with enclosures but with the discussions currently going on with regard to the potential bandwidth problems podcasters face, who knows what direction that will take? BitTorrent is the current favourite solution (other than a fat pipe and a fat wallet) but who knows? And either way, how is that then a “web” feed? OK, yes I know its still HTTP but we’re trying to make this less techy aren’t we?

I’ve tried a few times to play with firefox (or it’s parent, mozilla) in order to write a plugins. There’s no shortage of ideas that I could implement… But every time I get stymied at the first step: getting the development environment set up.

Hmm, interesting read at Wired regarding Mac OS X being run on Intel PC’s already. People are already bypassing the TPM (Trusted Platform Module) chip that is supposed to prevent Mac’s being run on non-Apple computers.

I was having trouble finding a good free FTP client. SmartFTP advertises itself as free, but you get a nag screen after 30 days of use. I tire of having to track down/apply cracks for software all the time, and I try to find truly free software whenever I can. Due to its misleading name, I originally thought Filezilla was the Mozilla foundation’s attempt at an FTP client. Believing in Mozilla software so much, I didn’t even test the software first, I just deleted SmartFTP and started Filezilla. Filezilla is in fact NOT a member of the Mozilla family, but I haven’t been disappointed anyway. Though I’m using FireFTP more and more for smaller FTP transactions, major uploads (lots of files that may need to be uploaded in several sessions for example) are still done through Filezilla. Great FTP client, especially for the price.

Jonathan Schwartz, one of the highest on the food chain at Sun Microsystems, has a great post entitled Free Software Has No Pirates. Perhaps the most interesting line from the whole essay is:

Looks like the Gentoo team has released their new, experimental LiveCD that includes the much anticipated graphical installer. Documentation is forthcoming for the new release, which has been codenamed “El Nino”. It’s also available via bittorrent for anyone who’s feeling froggy.

Yesterday I decided to try the new Internet Explorer 7 Beta 1, as I am always game to test new software. After installation I have noticed that IE has now got tab browsing support, which was one of the main factors for me using firefox. Looks like I will most likely be running both Firefox and IE7 in the interim and hopefully with time I should see which one I will stick with.

I was convinced some time ago about quitting my Internet Explorer in favour of Mozilla’s Firefox as my default browser. I have been very pleased with the services and possibilities in Firefox since I started using it. Up until today! I was cruising around on the Internet, not doing anything unusually from what I normally do, and not visiting pages I don’t usually do either. A little later on I needed another browser open, as one sometimes do, so I did what I usually do - clicked on the firefox icon in the bar - and swuuush…all my settings, pass words, my Sage, and preferences were gone! Please tell me what that is all about! That is just not okey at all!

Anonymous Cowherd writes, “Paul Thurrott, a journalist that usually writes about all things windows related (and sometimes about Apple affairs too), made a call in a recent article to boycott Internet Explorer, due to Microsoft’s approach (continued in IE7) of not supporting web standards”:

Thanks to a web design guru, my blog now works in Firefox. God bless all web design gurus!

I’ve got a long shot suspicion. Perhaps Google plans to by Mozilla, and its Firefox browser. Justification as follows:

What's significant is the additional billion users will not be geeks but just ordinary user. Yep, geeks like us will be outnumbered! And to them, Internet is just a tool, like a phone and the uses of Internet is far more important then the technology driving it. We already seeing more attention have been given to the applications (bittorrent, skype, blogs) and less into the core networking technology (ipv6, ipsec) in the last couple of years.

I just hacked my V220 to allow me to install java apps from my pc. Its great. Thanks to bittorrent, I now have Super Mario Bros and Splinter Cell installed on my phone. I’ve been learning a lot of hex edits as well. Sara if you read this, what was that game you showed me at McGee’s? I want it.

Targetting the bittorrent users who download the popular anime Naruto, succesful downloaders would have found something rather different. A short movie "Gayniggers from Outer Space" was in the file instead and this show is the inspiration for GNAA's name: "Gay Niggers Association of America".

I have virus protection on my XP boxes. I have no need for anti-spyware or popup blockers because I use Firefox and take a little care about what software I install and sites I visit (though this episode looks a little embarrasing on that front). I have a hardware firewall, and use the XP one as well, when I’m running windows, so I don’t need whatever tat they are peddling. My copies of XP are patched up to date, and I don’t have a wide-open wireless network. Somehow, i can’t see PCGuard improving on this.

One of the best news aggregators available today is Onfolio v2.0. What separates Onfolio from most aggregators is that it is built into your web browser. Usually, the personal edition is $29.95, but O'Reilly (the company that makes many of the best computer books) is celebrating the opening of it's new site, Annoyances Central, by giving away registered copies of Onfolio here until August 8th. Go get it while it's free!

The company behind BitTorrent — software that’s been widely used to distribute illegal copies of movies and games — is trying to turn it into a Hollywood player, including business deals with the entertainment industry. Recently its top executives flew to Burbank, Calif., for high-level talks with the Motion Picture Association of America.

Firefoxが1.06にアップしたというんで仕事の現実逃避もかねてアップしてみました。

So if you haven’t noticed our BitTorrent Tracker is down. Scarywater doesn’t show any signs of being stable yet, so we have decided to use Point-Blank as a backup tracker. Suzuka 4 has been reposted on Point-Blank. Suzuka 4’s repost is JUST on Point-Blank. The old torrent is still on scary but they are not the same torrent.

There is nothing wrong or immoral about making money. The economic development of the planet including the poorest members of society depends on everyone being able to generate an income. This is nicely articulated by Jeffrey Sachs in his book “The End of Poverty”. If there’s nothing inherently wrong with making money and we all, even the staff of the Mozilla Foundation, need to do it in order to put food on the table then why is Mitchell so coy about where the money comes from? Maybe the problem is that once you start digging beneath the surface a little bit it turns out that the free software movement is just as dependant on “filthy lucre” as the rest of us. It may in fact be more dependant than commercial software companies because it has no other independant source of income. The reality is that the Mozilla Foundation is nicely capitalized and funded in various ways by some very large, very profitable commercial companies and a few rich donors. I could not seem to find a list of these benefactors on the Mozilla Foundation site; again I'm puzzled by the apprent lack of transparency. Why does the core principle of openness appear not to extend to how the Foundation is financed?