Firefox has been a part of my browsing-life since it was still in pre-1.0 beta stages and went by the name of Phoenix. The reason clung so to this new browser (at the time) was due to the fact that I had become frustrated with the much lamented Internet Explorer Microsoft that was developed to sweep Netscape off the table. Back then, Firefox only held a modest percentage of the browsing market-share, its’ main selling point being its open-source nature and security.

Browsers, much like everything else in the computer software business, started to evolve into something much more sophisticated and complex than first envisioned. It seems to me that while Firefox 3.0 was vast improvement over its predecessor, it has lost a lot of its attractiveness, a direct consequence of its increasingly intricate nature.

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Mostly Google in the news again with the release of its first slew of [security] updates to it’s newborn baby Chrome. Also, Intel came out with the best performing hard drive on the planet (for now), and it’s an 80 gig SSD. Lastly, eBook lovers can finally eat their hearts out with Plastic Logics’ pretty — almost malleable — e-Ink touchscreen.

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This trick enables you to regain the ability to use Google’s “I’m feeling lucky”-functionality on the fly from Firefox 3’s address bar, as was natively possible in Firefox 2. To accommodate this, we’ll use OpenDNS’ network shortcuts. Once configured, you’ll be able to type stuff like “goto drupal” and be taken to drupal.org right away.

Note: As advertised, you need to be using OpenDNS for this hack to work. If you don’t know what OpenDNS is, you may want to read up on it, since it’s a great thing to have.

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Google has a history of loving pranks and especially April Fools’ Day.
Yep, today’s that day.

For a full listing of all of Google’s jokes, visit the Google Operating System Blog.

iGoogle from right to left

Today, I saw my iGoogle homepage shift everything to the right.

Gmail Custom Time

Gmail Custom Time is a feature in Gmail which lets you set how recipients of your mails will see the datestamp. Dates in the past will also be reflected in the recipients’ inbox. And older message will appear lower in the list than newer ones, making your friends believe they’ve just forgotten about your message, instead of you being late.

The catch is that you can’t set dates back before April 1st, 2004, Gmail’s launch-date.

Tagline: “Be on time. Every time”.

Every time, this time, means you can use the option up to 10 times before it disappears.

gDay

Google Australia gDay, a feature that lets you search the web of tomorrow today. It uses a special technique to forecast what websites will like look like and which content they’ll deliver.

Virgle: The First Permanent Human Colony on Mars

Vigle is a contraction of Virgin Airlines and Google and is a company that will make the first human settlement on Mars, announced by Google’s Main Blog. Here’s the video announcement:

Apart from it not being very believable, it also shows signs of bad acting. But who cares.

New Google Docs Option

The file menu on Google Docs now has a new entry, called ‘Create a new airplane’. It renders an image of an airplane. Well, sort of. It still needs to be folder and that task is up to you.

Happy April Fools’ Day everyone!

So, Google didn’t win the wireless auction. Instead, it has formed a technology coalition with Microsoft, Dell, Intel, HP and Philips Electronics to make sure the white space spectrum will be freed to allow ‘open’ wireless broadband services. Earlier, Bill Gates also urged the FCC for more or less the same reasons.

Broadcasters often fear that the utilization of this white space could cause interference with television broadcasts and wireless microphones.

Google handed the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) a proposal on Monday that promises an enhanced system to prevent wireless devices from causing serious interference.

The FCC is assessing the possibility of allowing two categories of uses for the spectrum:

• For low-power portable devices
• For fixed commercial services

Google has just released its ‘Google Sky’, which allows you to ‘pan the heavens’ as you would a map of the Earth. It’s built on the same Google Maps technology and can be found at sky.google.com. Prior to the web version of Sky, Google created Google Mars, Google Moon and finally integrated Google Sky into the desktop app Google Earth. The web version provides the following feature-set:

• Search the ‘tens of thousands’ of indexed named objects
• Infrared, microwave, ultraviolet or x-ray views
• Best images gallery from Hubble and other telescopes
• Planetary positions and constellations
• ‘Earth & Sky’ podcast gallery
• No download needed

It’s a pretty cool site, though still needs some work, in my opinion. And, of course, you can’t just zoom in ‘infinitely’ like you can on Maps or Earth. Nonetheless, if you’re interested in this kind of stuff, you’ll find it pretty interesting.

From ArsTechnica:

“Google’s going to bid. Google representative: Our goal is to make sure that American consumers have more choices in an open and competitive wireless world. FCC rules require us to reveal our plans by December 3, and we fully intend to do so. In the meantime, we are making all the necessary preparations to become an applicant to bid in the auction.”

For those who haven’t followed the news on this topic, the 700Mhz spectrum is a wireless spectrum that was formerly used for analog TV broadcasting in the United States. Since the requirement of TV having to go digital, this spectrum will come free. It’s a highly efficient broadband wireless network and spans nation-wide.

This spectrum will be auctioned off to one of the participating bidders on January 28th, 2008. Companies entering are Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Frontline Wireless and Google. One of the proposed provisions was the requirement to keep the acquired network open for anyone to access. This would mean that the winning bidder could lease bandwidth at wholesale to any interested company for whatever device.

Currently, the wireless telecommunication companies have a suffocating clamp on the conventional wireless networks and are in a powerful position. This stranglehold could be loosened if Google wins the auction and is serious about the open access thing — which in general, would be a good thing. Because of competition, consumers will get more choice.

It’s obvious that Google is up to something with the wireless space. Recently, it has also announced it mobile (OS) platform called Android. It would turn out to be some kind of open-source (Linux?) operating system that could potentially run on any mobile device. Many of the better device makers have already consented to manufacturing compliant devices. Combine Android, the Open Handsets-principle and the pending 700Mhz-auction: whatever results from it, we’ll be seeing some pioneering stuff happening with Google in the mobile space in the near future.

If all of this takes place and and turns out to be sucessful, might cause it to cross over-seas. There has been talk of an auction of a similar spectrum in the UK, in which Google might also want a stake.