Ok, so when I started this blog I said something along the lines of "I will talk about FOOOOOOD!" despite this all I have been talking about is tech news and browsers (gosh, that sounds boring.) But, NOT TODAY!!! No, today you get a fantastic hot cocoa recipe from the fantastic (and World of War Craft themed) Nourish blog. Everything about this hot cocoa is perfect; from the subtle white chocolate flavor, to the slightly spicy cayenne pepper.  I put some chocolate shavings in mine, which gave a nice little ending to the mug. oh, and you must try the Tirisfal Glade Pumpkin Cookies, AMAZING...AMAZING, allow me to say it again...AMAZING!

Firefox Review

 

Firefox started the race, now let us see if they can keep up.  The first open source browser, the first with add-ons, and the one time fastest browser has reached a new level. with Firefox 4 the Mozilla project tries to compete with the new rising star, Google Chrome.

Design

B-e-a-utiful is the best way to describe the new Firefox look and feel. By using a minimalist design Mozilla leaves Y2k and gets into 2010.  The new software mimics Chrome in the user interface, meaning it looks good…really good.  The only problem I had with the design is the us of space in the address bar, by consolidating buttons and tabs Firefox would look a lot sleeker.

features

It’s a features bonanza! If you thought Chrome had a lot of features, then wait until you try out Firefox. Firefox practically invented the browser we know today; tabs, extensions, a useful address bar…yeah, they invented that. So let us see how they are doing with inventing new features today.

The latest addition to Firefox is the tab organizer; instead of sorting your tabs into windows, this tool allows you to sort them into “groups”.  Firefox also created an early iteration of the “smart address bar” that I detailed in the Google chrome review, except it is called the “awesome bar” (I still don’t see why it is so awesome).  As with Google chrome, Firefox is customizable in a nearly infinite amount of ways through the best and most developed add-on system for any browser.

usability

One of the biggest complaints I had with Chrome was the poor tab management; Firefox has solved this problem through several methods. First and foremost is the aforementioned tab organizer. Second is possibly the most simple thing that could be done; when you have too many tabs to view, an arrow button appears.  this simple fix is one that Chrome has yet to install, even in the just released Chrome 8 (yes, it was Chrome 6 just last month). something I noticed (and appreciate beyond belief) is the tight integration with Windows 7; when you hover over the icon on the task bar it previews all your open tabs, and when you right click, you get a “jump list”, THE WAY YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO!. The new Firefox has the same interface problem I found in Chrome, the new unified options pane is very confusing, but unlike Chrome, Firefox allows you to revert to the standard “file, edit, view, tools” setup seen in previous iterations. In fact, Firefox lets you put everything back the way it was in Firefox 3. I give Firefox an 8 for usability!

conclusion

So what have we learned today? we learned that Mozilla Firefox has come a long way as far as design.  they have even maintained ease of use, by letting users revert to what they were used to using before. overall I think that this new Firefox is the best yet, and a great option for anyone looking to get out of explorer.

Editors note

this is a review of beta software; by the time the final version comes out, this review could be completely irrelevant

The War for Windows

In 2009 Microsoft Windows made a huge leap forward with Windows 7. it provided a better experience for all users. with a completely revamped taskbar, better boot times, and all around better performance, it was an instant hit. I for one felt extraordinarily excited when I started installing on my family’s main computer.
while Windows 7 took the operating system in a new and powerful direction, there are still weak spots. People still associate Windows with failure, and with the cheap option. I write this blog post to out-line what I believe Windows needs to accomplish with the next version, Windows 8.
starting with the small leaps forward.

The media problem:
Windows media player, even after the upgrade in 7, is an old and slow platform. I don’t see why Microsoft hangs on to this antiquated piece of software. Also there is the redundancy of Windows Media Center. It serves no real purpose, other than on media center PCs, and I don’t think it fits in with Microsoft’s plan for the simplification of their operating system.
The media solution:
Replace windows media player with the Zune software. The polish of the Zune software is incredible. Not only would it bring a new take on the media player, but it would also make a viable replacement for Media Center, as it is already more remote control friendly than media center. As an added bonus, it integrates the Zune Pass service. This is the most obvious move Microsoft could make in improving the user experience of Windows.

The speed problem:
Windows 7 is blistering fast and efficient…when you first install it. as you install new software, your computer gets slower, and slower, and slower.
The speed solution:
prevent software from running in the background. most software companies take the easy rout for speeding up their software, and build in the “feature” of running in the background before you even need it. by disabling this option, Microsoft would be able to make their software more efficient. it would have the added bonus of making windows more secure, as long as there was a user enabled option for security software.

Now for the big leaps.

Make it more like a cell phone.

Although an app store has been announced for windows 8, Microsoft needs to take the concept further.

Starting with…make it social

Integrating social networks, like twitter and facebook, would make Windows seem cooler to the masses.

Next…notify me

notifications have been a hallmark of cellphones for more than five years. notification on windows could tell you when you get an email, integrate with your phone to tell you when you get a text, and integrate with social networks to tell you when new comments are posted.

Then…get rid of the taskbar

"WHAT???" you ask. it is simple, cell phones have done without a task bar for…well…ever. The “start” button on your key board could bring up and app menu with a task manager.

Add a CRAZY clean browser. just tabs and an address bar.

I’m probable crazy, but that is what I want.

*this post has new and improved capitalization!

Google Chrome Review

Google Chrome, when it was released, was the most advanced browser yet. The minimalistic design drew attention to the website, but hid many features behind menus. It also innovated on many fronts; from the unified search and address bar, to the tiles that showed your most visited websites for easy access. This is the browser that reignited the browser wars, and showed other companies how to innovate the internet.

Features

As far as features go, the Google Chrome browser is very well endowed, the difficulty is finding all those features behind the minimalistic user interface. One trouble spot is the extensions menu; in order to access the menu you must click on the wrench icon, then click on the tools button, and then click on extensions. Unfortunately that is the price you pay for a clean interface.

Chrome has innumerable features that can be easily taken for granted. Auto-complete is a feature that records the websites you visit and automatically inserts the address; for instance typing F+enter takes you to facebook.com, and if you were to visit frys.com more often than Facebook, the combination of F+enter would take to the Frys website. Another feature that I can’t live without is the most visited grid; just like auto-complete it records the pages you visit, and displays them in order of most visited, and if you want to keep a certain web site on your grid forever or if you want to remove it, simply hover over the box and those two options appear. To add to the fray of features you also have the option to “pin” tabs; if you right click on a tab you will see the option to “pin this tab”; basically what happens is the tab is minimized down to the website icon, and the web sites you have pinned will open every time you open Chrome.

Now on to what features I think it needs. One feature that is sorely lacking from Google Chrome is a good way to organize a large number of tabs; if you open 57 tabs with a 23 inch screen you lose any way to tell what web site is in each tab. Of course the likely hood of you having 57 tabs is slim, but most computer screens aren’t as big as the one I use, so a way to control and organize your tabs would be a welcome addition. another feature that is missing is only noticeable if you are running Windows 7, that is the ability to see all your open tabs when you hover over the icon on the taskbar; I don’t see why after 2 years on the market and 6 versions they can’t include this simple feature. Then there is the poor full-screen functionality, when you enable full screen on the browser by pressing “F11” you are greeted with an overly minimalistic screen, as in you can’t do anything except look at the tab you had open; you can’t go to a different tab, you can’t type in a web address, you can’t do anything you could do when in normal mode.

While I was not able to cover all the features that are in this browser, I mentioned my favorites and my least favorites. There are also limitless ways to customize the features of the browser, simply by getting free extensions.

Look and feel

As far as looks go Google Chrome is pretty far up on the totem pole. The unified search and address bar works like a dream, when you start typing in “ican” a series of things appear: first you get an auto fill of icanhascheezburger.com, then it finds you some search suggestions, looks at your favorites, and checks you history; and after It does all that it shows the information in an intuitive order that makes it easy to get to what you need. Another incredible thing that Chrome features is a “smart tab organizer”, the organizer keeps your tabs in a logical order, for instance: while reading an article online you see a link, you then open the link in a new tab, Chrome automatically opens the tab in the background, after you read the content in the link and close the tab, Chrome takes you back to the original tab; it may sound like a strange thing to say, but you won’t even notice it, and that is a very good thing. If you are used to using other browsers you may initially be put off by the lack of a status bar at the bottom of the screen, but don’t worry, you won’t miss it, when you are loading a page a little bar showing what you where the content is coming from pops up at the bottom, and if you need to see behind it, simply mouse over it and it will move to the other side of the screen.

As far as negatives go I really don’t have anything to say, sure there are things they could do better, but there are always things that can be improved.

As with the features, the look and feel of chrome can be changed in a nearly endless amount of ways. Through the options menu you can find the themes gallery, included are many artist designs and some Google made themes.

Summery

Google chrome is a great browser that gets better the more you use it, of course that can also be a bad thing. Whenever anyone else uses chrome on my desktop I get autocompletes that I never put in the browser, so if someone else will be using Chrome on your desktop, I don’t recommend it, but if you will be the sole user of this browser you can’t go wrong, as always what browser you use is personal preference.

Credit to icanhascheezburger.com, engadget.com, and Carla zampatti

The More Browsers Change The More They Get The Same

Over the next few weeks I will be uploading several reviews of various browsers. They are meant to be reviews as much as guidebooks for those who still use internet explorer 6 and aren’t sure what to use instead of IE6. And to start I want to give you some reasons to upgrade your browser.

1) Security threats

If you are still using internet explorer 6 your computer is opened up to a multitude of security threats. The options are endless: viruses, Trojans, spyware, botnets, among other evil things that can be found online. And don’t think that just because you are careful, you won’t get viruses. Last week the website for Aptera Motors (a company who is building an ultra aerodynamic electric car) was hacked, and when you visited the site you would get a pop up that said it needed to scan your computer for Trojans. But instead of scanning your computer, it would shut you out of your computer, probably steal your information, and make it very difficult for people like me to help you fix it. The moral of this story is no matter what you do internet explorer 6 is an open door for computer infection.

2) usability

If you are still using internet explorer 6, you have a sort of rope holding you back. You can be freed from that rope with modern browsers, the latest browsers give you access to tools such as, tabs (they allow you to visit more than one site at a time without opening a new window), faster internet, and better protection, among many other features.

3) There are better looking browsers

This isn’t just personal preference, new browsers are designed to bring your attention to the website, and minimize the browser. Of course IE6 is also just an ugly browser.

Now on to the meat of these posts, The browser wars. For this review I will be focusing on many beta browsers, this means that the browser is not in its final state. My review may change when the final version comes out. I will include a full review with things I like, and things I dislike. At the end of each review I will have a summary of things I loved and things that made me angry. And at the end of all the posts I will declare a winner, and I will tell you what my favorite is. Please bear with me, as these are the first “reviews” I have ever written.

OMG!!! pretty phone

*whistles while walking down gizmodo street* *stops and stares* *yells PRETTY!!!!!* at the top of his lungs. that pretty much sums up my emotions on the Samsung prototype windows phone seven. it is worthy to sit in the presence of the Zune HD

credit to Gizmodo

WTH APPLE?

mwahahahaha, I have good reason to apple hate! ping, the new service announced recently at the apple music event, is the main reason for my outrage. before I get to into it though I feel the need to backtrack.

All the way back in November 2006, a large company spent millions of dollars to make their own music player. the company was called Microsoft, and the product was called the Zune 30.

laughter broke out among apple fans. they said things like "aren't you a little late Microsoft?" and they said more things like "Microsoft is such a copy cat company". well, the tables have turned. guess who was the first company to integrate a social network into their music players, and their computer software. MICROSOFT!!!!!! of course the mass media, the same media who is against any company who is successfully competing with an "underdog company", says that "apple is innovating, they are pioneering a social network for music!" I wonder how Myspace feels about all this innovation, the first goal of Myspace was to provide an easy way for artists to reach fans. It seems like all apple is doing is copying other companies and calling it an "innovation."

well, there you have it, my opinion of Ping. for the record, I never said it would fail, I just said it was a blatant ripoff of Microsoft, and Myspace. in all likelihood, it won't fail, it is apple we are talking about.

This can be filled under the "what the heck were you thinking" category. I am one of those people who likes gold and blue as a color combination, but this, this thing...It conjures up images of a blue berry, a Rolls Royce that makes you think of a blue berry is never a good thing. and what's with the side gills, if they had just removed the RR emblem. Mansory, I have one word for you...FAIL!!! To take a beautiful car like the Ghost and defile it so, it makes me sick; Mansory...you make me sick.

This is a blog. but I ask myself, "why do I need a blog?" Oh the trials of man, oh the woes I face, as I deduce reasons I need a blog.

I some times feel as though I have tekalitis, a horrible disease caused by to many tecknological innovations. Fortunately I need not be placed in a body cast each time I feel this way. the cause of this disease is to much pressure on the communicatory center in the brain. Pressure can be caused by the will to communicate with people, being constantly on Facebook or twitter. Or it can be caused by the will to communicate with people in as many ways as possible, or the feeling of need to use twitter and Facebook, and text, and email, and buzz, and any other social networking sites. so I ask again, "why do I need a blog?" well, the best reason I can think of is the need for freedom from the need to communicate. with a blog there is no conversation, It's just you and the keyboard. no longer do I need to worry if people will unfriend me, or stop following me, no longer need I worry about people hiding me from their news feeds. I think that is a good reason, don't you?

now the purpose.

I asked my self "what would I put on a blog?" well, I decided it would be something I am interested in, with some insanity mixed in here and there. therefore, I will mostly talk about technology. This includes the really cool things, and the really stupid things. and I will definitely air my own opinions about things. I may talk about politics, and why I don't like apple. I may talk about how "Ipad" is a stupid name, or how my Zune doesn't always work the right way. and last of all I may say things like ain't and wern't. so my message to you is to lighten up...don't worry. it'll all be fine. Okydoky? good.