Firefox Portable: Circumvent IE6 in corporations
Aug 25th
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 is the extremely antiquated web browser that up till today still manages to ascertain a significant chunk of browser usage share. Even though this browser is incompatible with a plethora of modern-day web applications and is holding the Internet back as a whole, a lot of big corporations still use it as their primary web browser.
IE6 is truly entrenched in corporate life and will most likely remain to uphold this position for quite some time to come. At least for now, many companies still use Windows XP with IE6 on most of their workstations, because they are convinced it is a proven technology. Additionally, it has been around for so long that every experienced IT-professional is comfortable with the management tools that come along with it.
Additionally, many in-house, custom-made software and web applications for corporations was built explicitly for IE6 and haven’t been brought up to date to be more web standards compliant and all-round more contemporary.
Thus, IE6’s usage continues to make up a significant chunk of the overall share. In most cases, the employees who still use IE6 in such companies are forced to do so because computers in such environments are extremely locked down. It is often the case that nothing additional can be installed to these systems. IT guys usually have their reasons [as stated above] to keep maintaining ancient software like IE6, but in this case it’s time for everyone to move on. Perhaps they will make the jump to Windows 7 when it reaches the SP1 milestone somewhere next year. Let’s hope so.
Install Firefox 3.5 without ‘installing’ it
Yes, you read that right and it’s actually very simple to accomplish. To achieve this, I grabbed the portable version of Firefox at portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable. Portable Apps is a suite of software retrofitted to run directly from a USB thumbdrive. They don’t require installation at all: simply run the executable to extracts its contents to a folder of your choosing.
Naturally, portable apps don’t necessarily have to run from a USB key. They can just as well be run from an arbitrary directory on your Windows desktop. And I decided to go for that route, since many corporations are now also disabling the use of outside thumbdrives because they carry in computer viruses and worms.
While Portable Apps can be downloaded as a suite consisting of numerous applications, you can also pick and choose. And thank the heavens, Firefox is in the suite and is being kept current on par with Mozilla’s release schedule.
Note: Be sure to unpack the portable app to a location on the computer’s hard drive, avoid placing it on corporate network location because it will slow Firefox down. Moreover, extracting it locally has the benefit of IT-personnel not being able to peek inside its contents. You can easily permanently delete Portable Firefox’ folder without leaving traces on the corporate network – this way – too.
A quick how to
- Grab the latest portable release of Firefox at http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable.
- Run the .paf-file you just downloaded and specify the path for decompression.
- Navigate into the folder you just specified and run the Firefox executable.
In a corporate environment it may interesting to delve into Firefox’ preference panes to make sure Firefox doesn’t keep track of your browsing history. You can easily set it to ‘Never’, so it will operate in ‘Private Browsing Mode’ permanently, evidently wiping your tracks as you go and as you quit your browsing session. Don’t forget to check this option if you want to prevent your boss from finding out you have been wasting precious office-time on Facebook or YouTube.
Note: Many corporations intercept your traffic on its way out. If this is the case in your company, private browsing will not obscure your traffic data.
Getting Firefox to work behind a corporate firewall
Corporations usually have airtight IT-infrastructure in place, enforced by exceptionally stringent firewall policies. Internet Explorer 6 will usually be pre-configured to play nicely with the aforementioned setup, but Firefox most likely won’t be. It is oftentimes easy to do, however, so don’t despair (just yet).
Frequently, corporate workstations are behind a proxy-server, which is set up in one of the settings screens in IE6. A proxy-server is a server within the company’s IT infrastructure that intercepts every workstation’s internet traffic on the way out (and in) and consequentially relays all traffic. Companies primarily do this so they can monitor and control their employees’ traffic, possibly even blocking certain sites or services, or prioritizing traffic in favor of internal sites and servers.
All you need to do, in most cases, is enter this proxy server’s address into Firefox’ connection settings and you’re off. In a nutshell:
- Fire up good old IE6
- Go to ‘Tools’ > ‘Internet Options’ > Tab: ‘Connections’
- In the section ‘Local Area Network (LAN) Settings’ click the button ‘LAN Settings’
- In the section ‘Proxy Server’, make note of or copy to the clipboard the information listed there.
The address-field is usually filled out with something similar to ‘proxy.companyname.com’ and the port number is usually 80. - Next, open Firefox
- Go to ‘Tools’ > ‘Options’ > Icon: ‘Advanced’ > Tab: ‘Network’
- In the section ‘Connections’ click the button ‘Settings’
- Select the radio button ‘Manual configuration’
- Fill out the fields ‘HTTP Proxy’ and ‘Port’
- Most of the time you need to check the box ‘Use this proxy for all protocols’ to use the same proxy for all web protocols outside of regular protocols like SSL-enabled (secure) sites.
To find out whether you should tick the box in step 10 you can click the ‘Advanced’-button in the IE6’s ‘LAN Settings’ window. This isn’t usually necessary, but in case you need those settings, they’re right there.
Note: You can make an extra attempt eavesdrop-proof your connections to the outside world by using SSL. Make sure you use secure connections (SSL) whenever you can. Sites that contain your sensitive/personal information usually offer this ability. Make sure you make use of it by prefixing your URLs with https:// instead of the usual http://. Some sites will automatically switch you over to https if you don’t explicitly ask them to. Others only go secure for the log-on process, after which everything else is transmitted in the clear. Beware.
For example:
- Go to https://mail.google.com instead of http://mail.google.com to make sure you’re always using a secure SSL-enabled (Secure Sockets Layer) connection.
These few steps should do the trick. The full Internet will once more be at your disposal 
.
Mozilla whines about browser ballot screen, iPhone outsold Windows Mobile, Snow Leopard’s here & more
Aug 25th
Tech news roundup for August 24, 2009.
- Update | Mozilla asks EU to reject Microsoft’s Windows 7 browser plan #
- Update | Microsoft warns of chaos if Word sales are halted #
- iPhone Outsold All Windows Mobile Phones in Q2: Analyst #
- Snow Leopard now available from Apple Store, ships Aug. 28 #
- Blurb | Looks like Zune HD supports apps too #
Mozilla asks EU to reject Microsoft’s Windows 7 browser plan
After much ado over Microsoft’s “browser ballot screen” Mozilla is now requesting the EU to reject the OS vendor’s browser plan. Mozilla is obviously dissatisfied with the fact that Internet Explorer would get a more prominent spot on the screen, because – obviously – IE still has the biggest browser usage-share. Mozilla claims this is “unfair” and continues to whine. Source at ComputerWorld.
Microsoft warns of chaos if Word sales are halted
Because of the utter boringness of this story, I’m sure you won’t mind me just quoting ComputerWorld: “Microsoft Corp.warned last week that an injunction preventing it from selling Word in the U.S. after Oct. 10 would cause “massive disruptions” to sales of its Office software, as well as to key partners like Best Buy Co., Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co.” Source at ComputerWorld.
iPhone Outsold All Windows Mobile Phones in Q2: Analyst
I always take analyst reports with a grain of salt, but the inevitable has happened in the smartphone world. The Apple iPhone has outsold Windows Mobile based phones for the first time in Q2 2009, with a lead of approx. 4.7%. Industry leaders Nokia and Blackberry retain suit with respectively first (~44%) and second (~21%) places. Palm isn’t currently on the list, despite its efforts with the Palm Pre. Blog post at TechnologyExpert.
Snow Leopard now available from Apple Store, ships Aug. 28
After the Apple Store’s brief down-time on Monday morning the site pulled up again with Mac OS X Snow Leopard’s page updated and release confirmation. Shipping date of the OS is officially scheduled for August 28, 2009. If you pre-order now you’ll get it on the 28th – guaranteed. Also, no shipping fees will be charged for the time being. Source at ArsTechnica.
Looks like Zune HD supports apps too
Microsoft’s much anticipated competitor to Apple’s iPod Touch will sport an application platform/store after all. This was the last essential selling point needed for Microsoft to make a fair chance against Apple Inc. As things stand now, the Zune HD will also be more affordable than than the current-gen iPod Touch. Blog post at Paul Thurrott’s Supersite Blog.
Disclaimer: The news summaries above contain opinions of editorial nature. Opinions expressed in this post do not reflect those of source materials and are entirely my own.
Weekend: Apple replies to FCC, GPU Computing in Windows 7, Linux Chromium 64-bit
Aug 24th
Tech news roundup for the weekend of August 22, 2009 through August 23, 2009.
- Apple Opens Up on App Store Approvals #
- Remember Cuil? Now It’s a Real-Time Search Engine #
- GPU Computing and Windows 7 #
- Chromium popularity rising on Ubuntu, gains 64-bit support #
- More tech news on my FriendFeed
Apple Opens Up on App Store Approvals
In response to Apple rejecting Google Voice, the F.C.C. filed an inquiry to investigate Apple’s motives with the possible inclusion of AT&T colluding to ban all non-traditional voice traffic. Apple has responded to the F.C.C. stating AT&T has absolutely no part in the rejection of Google Voice. Its reason for the rejection is that it replicates too much of the iPhone’s phone, texting and voice-mail functionality. They’ve also stated they’re “still investigating” Google Voice and haven’t actually rejected it yet. Source at The New York Times.
Remember Cuil? Now It’s a Real-Time Search Engine
Cuil.com – the search engine engineered by two ex-Google employees launched last year – has added real-time search to their portfolio. While in the beginning the site knew a humongous surge of visitors, its unique visitor rate has been declining drastically ever since. The real-time search capabilities are a welcome addition, though not stellar and certainly not better than existing solutions. Source at Mashable.
GPU Computing and Windows 7
The Windows Blog discusses a new technology that will debut with the release of Windows 7. It’s called GPU Computing and will allow software to utilize the processing power inherent to modern GPU’s outside of graphics processing. By doing this, the main processor(s) can be relieved and address more processing power to other computational tasks. GPU Computing will require DirectX 11, which will be part of Windows 7. nVidia’s GPU’s already support GPU Computing fully. Source at The Windows Blog.
Chromium popularity rising on Ubuntu, gains 64-bit support
Chromium – the open source version that drives the Google Chrome browser – is gaining popularity like wildfire amongst the Linux community. It has recently gained full 64-bit support and is increasingly being seen as a viable competitor to Mozilla Firefox by Linux enthusiasts. Source at ArsTechnica.
URL Shorteners Should be Banished
Aug 21st
In response to social networking sites like Twitter, URL shortening services have been springing up on the web like unsavory fungus on a cheese sandwich, without the prospect of slowing down any time soon. Services like Bit.ly were inspired by the need for compact links when sharing websites in character-limited status updates on Twitter and its Laconica-like counterparts.
While short URLs are extremely useful in these specific contexts, they also pose a serious security threat and are a bad omen of exploits to come. As Twitter-like social networks become more mainstream, regular folk will become (and presumably already are) conditioned to click on any link they come across, with the risk of landing on malicious websites that take advantage of web-based exploits like XSS (Cross-site Scripting).
In my opinion, links should be treated more like e-mail attachments. They are only to be opened when from a trusted domain. While everyone knows random link-clicking is bad web-behavior, it is being encouraged by the uprising of short-form social networks.
Unarguably, something has to change, as the bad guys have already taken the opportunity to start exploiting this phenomenon. Of course, who am I to suggest that services like Bit.ly and compatriots should be yanked from the interwebs if 140-character status updates gain traction on the net.
So, we can’t banish them. But there are things we can do to make URL shortening safer.
Site Specific Shortening URLs
Bit.ly in particular has proven its immense usefulness because of its way-advanced statistical capabilities. So it is in our own interest to keep such services alive. But..
A safer way to go about URL shortening would be to create a federated system. A possible architecture for this could be accomplished by means of a small web application (possibly coming from a third party like TinyURL or Bit.ly) installed onto the sites to which the short URLs will be linking, which in turn would do the redirecting.
For example:
http://arstechnica.com/Do5s would link to an article on Ars Technica.
http://aceontech.com/f5g would link to a post on this blog.
http://aceontech.com/f5g would link to a post on this blog.
If the shortening app on the given site would only allow short URLs within its own domain, individual networks of short URLs would be created and doing so would allow the user to exactly know where he’s being led to, thus eliminating the risk of contracting WTDs entirely (Web Transmittable Disease 
).
Increasingly, I’ve been seeing site which have started doing something similar, but I don’t think they’re actively limiting their URLs to their own domains only. Also, I’m of the opinion that there is a need for a standard in this space. Such a standard could consolidate the matter entirely, making it safer and more uniform in the process.
The technical side of this shouldn’t be too hard, either. It’s just a matter of realizing the danger of having hyperlinks to arbitrary sites and getting some shortening providers assembled to work together to create a standard process for issuing short URLs.
Current third-party URL shorteners could integrate with the federated system to provide a higher user-friendliness. One could still use a service like Bit.ly, but it would go out and check with the domain’s URL-shortener first and return that to the requesting user, first. If not supported or available it could go ahead and generate it anyway.
Click confirmation
Another thought would be to enforce confirmation upon the clicking of a shortened URL. The hyperlink would be intercepted by a page showing information about the domain buried below. It could surface the name, the full URL and other important identifying information. Maybe a database of certified domains could even be established.
Additionally, blacklists like those behind Phishing filters could be employed to heed visitors of suspicious sites. Naturally, these databases would need some kind of governing. Perhaps a web authority like VeriSign could take this responsibility on and possibly wire it to its current SSL-verification process/database…
It’s hard to imagine for me that we’ll all just keep on clicking on links left and right without considering the significant hazard it implies. The web browser is becoming the primary vector for exploits against Internet users. No longer does the the stress lie on the avoidance of e-mail attachments. The threat actually lies within the chrome around each web page you visit.
Security-conscious users [like me] would undoubtedly like to be more cautious with short URLs, but for the lacking of a secure alternative there is nothing else to do but go with the flow for now.
Help. Someone?
Mozilla cries over browser ballot, full copy of TPB online, Windows 7 120-day grace & more
Aug 21st
News roundup for August 20, 2009.
- Mozilla makes much ado about nothing over browser ballot #
- Xmarks extension alpha for Chrome arrives #
- Archos soft launches own Android app store #
- Irish ISP to block The Pirate Bay #
- IT IS HERE: A Fully Functional Copy of The Pirate Bay #
- Microsoft offers cloud database previews #
- Like Vista, Windows 7 will grant 120 grace period #
- Check out my FriendFeed – uh, feed - for more tech news.
Mozilla makes much ado about nothing over browser ballot
I only recently blasted Opera for pushing its childish whims into the lap of the EU and now Mozilla – Firefox’ creator of which I didn’t expect this – also chimes in and is urging for even more strictness and regulation of Microsoft’s browser ballot screen. If you haven’t read my prior rant, I’ll reiterate: it’s preposterous that Microsoft is even buckling under the EU’s weight, let alone it even have to bolt the specifications of the ballot screen down even more (!). Mozilla spokesperson Anderson brings up issues like “Microsoft is causing inadvertent changing of the default browser in Windows and that’s not right” (which isn’t true, BTW) and other nonsense. Don’t be such a crybaby, Mozilla. Source at ArsTechnica.
Xmarks extension alpha for Chrome arrives
In response to Google’s own bookmark syncing feature for Google Chrome, Xmarks – the maker of password and bookmark syncing add-ons for Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari – put out its alpha version of their add-on for Google Chrome. Source at CNET.
Archos launches own Android app store
Archos has launched its own Android application store, in response to Apple and RIM. The apps in this store, however, won’t only work with Android-enabled Archos devices, but will be available to any compatible device. Source at TechRadar.
Irish ISP to block The Pirate Bay
Eircom, an Irish ISP, agreed to cut off customers that illegally downloaded music or movies – after an out-of-court settlement with the entertainment industry. Now, Eircom will also be preventing its customers from viewing The Pirate Bay. Source at IrishTimes.
IT IS HERE: A Fully Functional Copy of The Pirate Bay
Speaking of TPB: after a torrent was put out containing the whole Pirate Bay repository, people were wondering what to do with it. Today, btarena.net has brought a nearly exact replica of the whole Pirate Bay site online, including downloads, tracking and searching. The site is also capable of hosting new torrents, although its creator insists that this must remain to be a mere backup, for now. Source at Mashable.
Microsoft offers cloud database previews
SQL Server 2008 R2 and – more importantly – SQL Azure came out for developers to preview and use with their web applications. SQL Azure is Microsoft’s hosted relational database which developers can rent for a monthly fee. Prices vary between $9.99 US for 1GB to $99.99 US for 10 GB. With SQL Azure, Microsoft provides pay-as-you-go storage and promises graceful scaling – if necessary. Source at ReadWriteWeb.
Like Vista, Windows 7 will grant 120 grace period
Windows 7’s predecessor, Vista, allowed a user to prolong his 30-day trial to 120 days by using the ‘rearm’ run command at the end each trial period. This was possible up to three times, after which you were supposed to purchase a license key to continue using Windows. As it turns out, Windows 7 – now in final form – will also support this behavior. Moreover, it has been confirmed by Microsoft as not violating the license agreement.
So basically, one can do the 120-day thing, re-install Windows and go at it again – endlessly, without ever needing to pay for Windows 7…
Legalizing TPB, Slim PS3, Mobile Office Web Apps, and more
Aug 20th
Tech News roundup for August 19, 2009.
- How The Pirate Bay will be legalized #
- Sony unveils slim PS3, price-drops #
- Blogger “strike” in Italy #
- Office Web Applications will support mobile browsers #
- Opinion: Why AT&T killed Google Voice #
- More on my FriendFeed at friendfeed.com/aceontech
How The Pirate Bay will be legalized
GGF – the company which is to acquire The Pirate Bay – has laid out its plan on how it thinks it will be able to legalize the notorious torrent sharing site. It proposes, as it had stated before, to start charging for the use of the site. Use of TBP would include downloading as well as uploading (sharing) of files. It’s not yet set in stone how steep the subscription fee will be, but GGF has stated it would grant copyright holders two options if they object to the free sharing of a certain file. The way they hope to ‘legalize’ TBP is to offer either a financial contribution with each download or pull down certain torrents at request. If copyright holders collectively go for the latter, I imagine TBP won’t continue to exist much longer. Also GGF hopes to establish partnerships with the entertainment industry and possibly start offering ‘official’ paid torrents. Source at TorrentFreak.
Sony unveils slim PS3, price-drops
True to Sony’s track-record and business cycle, it will be putting out a slimmer version of the PS3 somewhere in September. It will allegedly take up 33% less space and suck 34% less power. Sony’s also offering the console at lower prices, near to $300 US for the lower-end model and $400 US for the higher end model. Source at NewsWeek.
Blogger “strike” in Italy
Because of the impending Italian laws that could cause independent bloggers and content creators to have to pay fees if they refuse to pull down content, bloggers decided to have a strike to counter it. The Italian blogosphere went quiet for one day, but one might wonder, is this the way to achieve something? One would rather think it would be more efficient to make more of a raucous instead of plainly shutting up… Source at TechDirt.
Office Web Applications will support mobile browsers
Microsoft’s release of Office 2010 will bring along version 1 of Office Web Applications, the full Office suite for the web, for free. Features will be limited, of course. For only so many features are useful for the web. The surprise here will be that not only all major browsers will be supported, but that mobile browser will also get full support. Microsoft is essentially giving Office away for free to millions of users, including Linux and Mac users alike. Source at ArsTechnica.
Also, read Paul Thurrott’s preview of Office Web Applications 2010.
Opinion: Why AT&T killed Google Voice
Andy Kessler from WSJ writes: “Telecom operators are yesterday’s business. It’s time for a national data policy that encourages innovation” and opines why AT&T pulled Google Voice for the iPhone. The article also broadens its spectrum (pun) and calls for unifying voice traffic and cable distribution to become mere data traffic – making matters more neutral and ultimately cheaper. Source at WSJ.
Opinion: Google Chrome OS. Will it take over?
Aug 19th
Google to venture into creating its own operating system, it was only a matter of time. The day Google released this blurb of news, the whole Internet / Tech community went berserk over the possibility of ‘Goodie Two Shoes’ Google innovating in the operating system space, which is currently dominated by Microsoft. As far as Google’s own announcement goes: it was very low-calorie on substantial technical facts. All of the excitement – of course – was inspired by them voicing that their OS would essentially be extremely browser-centric. Like the name suggests, it will be based on Google’s recent entry into the browser market, being Google Chrome.
Browser = OS ?
Many vocal techies have been shouting this out for quite a while now. After all, the browser has become an operating system in its own right, no? Similar to desktop operating systems, like Microsoft Windows and Mac OS, the browser serves as a platform for other software to live on. In this case, that software just happens to be web-based. These web apps often employ server-side scripting technologies [like Ruby on Rails, ASP.NET, PHP, etc.] as well as client-side ones, with the main protagonist being JavaScript.
But can scripting languages genuinely be classified as real software? This is a tough question. Maybe si, maybe no.Cite from Duma Key, written by Stephen King. Fact is that web apps are more and more turning into fully fledged desktop-esque applications. They are taking over the tasks that traditional desktop software used to do so well.
Web-based e-mail is the most popular example of traditional software being ‘webified’. While webmail has been around since the nineties, the true cloud-based e-mail technology was inspired and primarily architected by Google. Gmail – especially in the light of recent developments – has become increasingly more of a program you download every time you point your browser to mail.google.com, rather than just a static listing of your inbox.
Other milestone initiatives have also risen to the occasion to shed some light on the cloud-centered future that may be ahead of us. To me, the most iconic example of this future just has to be Aviary, the online Photoshop replacement. It loads fast, does most of Photoshop’s basic graphical editing, it’s free and it integrates social networking into the digital art creation process. This is what a cloud-oriented world could look like if multiplied. Exciting indeed.
Back to Chrome OS
I started this post by introducing Chrome OS and the exasperation that surrounds it. But what do we really know about this [currently fictional] operating system? It turns out we’ve picked up painfully little in the intervening weeks between announcement and the present.
A quick rundown of its [alleged] feature-set:
- It will be Linux-based: Chrome OS will build off open source code – not a real shocker. Google will not architect the OS’ underpinnings from scratch.
- It will boast Google’s own, proprietary window management front-end, instead of adopting existing window management systems under Linux, such as KDE, Gnome, etc.
- It will incorporate instant-on booting technology, meaning it should start up within a few seconds, much like some existing ‘instant-on’ Linux distributions work today.
- It will be based on the Google Chrome browser. From what has been disclosed, it looks like native software might not even be supported. Web applications will surely be preferred, with Google’s own products naturally being pushed to the forefront.
- Its release is due in 2010 (!). Any excitement generated now is actually uncalled for. The tech community should reserve judgment until someone actually gets some hands-on experience with it.
It’s safe to speculate that Chrome OS will not embrace [taking advantage of] advanced hardware capabilities like 3D hardware acceleration, and nor will it encourage the development [native] third-party software. Google’s take on their operating system is clean and simple: it must be lean on features and fully dedicated to the web.
A big step for Google?
All things considered, I think we all agree it’s a big thing for Google to take on software giant Microsoft – and niche computer maker Apple – at their own game. Google is no longer a small and insignificant competitor: it has spread its business to a multitude of markets. It seems as if it has made a sport out of nipping away at other companies’ core businesses.
But will Google actually know success with this [hopefully] innovative OS? Or, more likely, will it merely serve as a role-model for Microsoft and Apple to build off, an example for ushering their own OSes into the cloudy future?
Once more, no-one should close their eyes to the fact that Chrome OS will be extremely sparse-featured. Google has a history of taking their spartan concepts just a tick too far. A testament to this would have to be the Chrome browser. If it’s to be any indication of what’s in store for us, one doesn’t need a lot of imagination to envision what Chrome OS will look like. It’s not because it’s branded Google, that it’ll necessarily become a good product…
However, there is no doubt in my mind that Google will leave a big impression on the OS industry, which in turn will cause matters to change significantly. I don’t believe, though, that Google will be the one reaping successes from it left and right. In the long run, Microsoft, which is already slowly adopting the cloud-religion, will eventually migrate Windows to a more cloud-based paradigm. It will undoubtedly take them an extended period of time, but in the end I’m sure they’ll nail it.
Although I still strongly believe in Microsoft’s adeptness, it has become a disproportionately big corporation which is inherently slower at maneuvering into new markets / business models than rivals like Google. So inevitably the question to be raised here is whether Microsoft will get there in time…
A world of change is ahead
Either way, no matter who seizes the crown jewels, a world of change is impending. The future is cloud-computing – we all realize it – and everyone is making a jump at it. There is one problem though: nobody really knows exactly what they’re jumping at. Will everything move to the cloud in the end? Or will things remain to be more hybrid, like where we’re at today?
I’m leaving it open.
It’ll be an interesting case to see where we’ll stand in 5 to 10 years.
Windows 7 cheap in UK, Chrome Bookmark Sync, HDMI 1.4 and more
Aug 19th
This is the first entry of what I’m hoping will become a new section here at Ace on Tech. Tech news is a hard thing to grasp, because it’s so crowded and comes at you from all directions. I have decided to write aggregate posts on a regular basis. I obviously cannot deliver to-the-minute technology news because of obvious reasons. Firstly, because I simply don’t have the time and interest and secondly because there are many sites out there way more adept than I could possibly live up to. Sites like cnet.com, arstechnica.com and techradar.com are good places to start.
These posts serve as catch-ups for those who don’t monitor the wire 24/7. Also, be aware that the entries I will highlight here are biased toward my own interest and don’t represent the general tech news of a particular day.
Note that these posts will be published regularly, but not every day. I won’t be doing these on week-ends either, though I may consider doing a weekend round-up. Let’s see where this goes.
Here’s a high level rundown, click the hashes to jump to its excerpt and source:
- Windows 7 to sell in UK for half the US price #
- Google adds Bookmark Sync to Chome #
- XP users enthusiastic about Windows 7 #
- 10 things you need to know about HDMI 1.4 #
- Sony delays big-screen OLED TV #
Windows 7 to sell in UK half of US price
Traditionally, it seems the UK has always been stricken by Microsoft enforcing steep pricing, especially when compared to the United States. For the first time, Windows will be sold at a lower price than in the States. Half the price to be exact. The version we’re talking about is Windows 7 Home Premium FULL, not upgrade. It will be sold for as little as 65 GBP, which is less than Americans need to pay for the UPGRADE version. It’s half the price of the US full edition. Even more interestingly, Amazon UK has stated it will be sustaining these prices “indefinitely”.
Source at CNET UK.
August 18, 2009: The day Google added Bookmark Sync to Chrome
I literally saw dozens of news sites and blogs report on this. Okay, Chrome will support native bookmark sync , but what’s the big deal? Firefox, Internet Explorer and Apple Safari have had it for ages [through XMarks]. Nonetheless, folks seem to think this is a big story, so that’s why it’s here. Let me recap: “Google is getting bookmark sync!”. Chrome is a still a feature-impaired browser – with or without bookmark sync.
XP users enthusiastic about Windows 7
PC World and Technologizer conducted a survey on the amount of enthusiasm about Windows 7 with 5000 Windows XP users. Results show that 70% of those surveyed rate their enthusiasm for the upcoming release of Windows 7 as “high”. This stands in stark contrast to their ratings to Vista, which they graded overwhelmingly as “somewhat negative” to “very negative”. Source at Technologizer.com.
10 things you need to know about HDMI 1.4
With the new HDMI-cable standard comes new features. And the impact of the features HDMI 1.4 will offer is pretty profound. Consequentially, 1.4 will be incompatible with prior TV models and boxes. A full upgrade will thus be required to take advantage of HDMI 1.4.
It offers:
- Integrated 100 Mbps Ethernet channel
- Dual Stream 1080p 3D support
- Support for Ultra HD resolutions up to 4K x 2K (effectively 4096 x 2160 pixels)
- Other, less interesting stuff can be found at the source.
HDMI 1.4 will be available in the marketplace by 2010. Perhaps you may want to hold off on that nearing HDTV purchase. Source at TechRadar.com.
Sony delays big-screen OLED TV
Sony will not be manufacturing bigger OLED TVs in the foreseeable future. Sony currently maintains the only OLED TV on the market. It’s the XEL-1 at only 11 inches big and a price point of $2000 US. Rather pricey for a such a small screen, but word has it that the picture quality is above anything else you’ve seen before. Sony is probably focusing on its core – albeit less innovative – business, until the recession is over. Source at BoingBoing.com.
Ushering Total Ad-Silence with Firefox
Aug 17th
Display-ads are the money makers of the world wide web. While I encourage everyone to support his or her favorite website by allowing ads and perhaps even clicking on them if interesting enough, online advertisements are often over-used with the clear intent of baiting visitors. If you’re also the type to easily get annoyed with online ads constantly prodding at you wherever you go, there is a non-laborious way to make them a thing of the past.
You may have guessed it: Firefox can infer ad-silence if loaded up with the right extensions. In this post I would like to discuss two of my most beloved ad fighters: AdBlock Plus and FlashBlock. And interestingly, they will work in tandem to eliminate ~90% of ads encountered on the web so you can surf clutter-free.
AdBlock Plus
AdBlock Plus on addons.mozilla.org
AdBlock Plus has to be my favorite extension. It’s probably one of the most popular add-ons for Firefox, too. Nonetheless, it still pays off to discuss some of its most important features that help combat unwanted Internet ads.
Upon installation and after the compulsory Firefox reboot you’re presented with a dialog urging you to make a selection from of the list of available blocking-filters. I generally pick the first one off the top of the list, because I don’t believe it makes a substantial difference which one you pick.
AdBlock Plus blocks ads based on a set of filters which are pulled from the list you’ve just chosen. Because it’s list-based, it has to be maintained by someone, so be aware of the fact that it isn’t always up-to-date. As a result, ads sometimes crop up on websites anyway from time to time. Although the aforementioned event is an oddity, you’re able to add additional filters by simply right-clicking the trespassing ad and selecting ‘AdBlock Plus: Block Image’. From then on the disturbance won’t be able to pierce through AdBlock’s armor any longer.
FlashBlock
FlashBlock at addons.mozilla.org
Most unsurprisingly, there are ways for advertisers to get around add-ons like AdBlock Plus (of which they’re undoubtedly very aware ). One of the most popular ways of doing this is to make use of Flash animations instead of conventional HTML and/or images.
To counteract Flash, FlashBlock was born. When run in conjunction with AdBlock it stomps on advertisers specifically circumventing browser-based blocking mechanisms like AdBlock by employing Flash. Additionally, Adobe Flash has become a serious security-threat and with Adobe’s track-record in this field there’s little hope for change in the near future.
FlashBlock’s original use wasn’t necessarily to block Flash-based ads, in fact, it was designed to block all Flash-content in a convenient way. Coincidentally, it can also be applied to the disposing of ads.
When activated, Flash content will be replaced by a placeholder graphic featuring a familiar play-button. Pressing this button will evidently load up the animation of your choosing. This does away with flashy animations (no pun intended 
) and disturbing music starting at will upon visiting a website. I’m sure you’ll receive the silence well, as did I.
Blacklisting vs. whitelisting
There’s a fundamental operational difference between the extensions I just talked about: AdBlock relies on blacklisting, while FlashBlock opts for explicit whitelisting. In the case of FlashBlock, all Flash is expelled, except for the exemptions you enter into the whitelist by using the pull-down menu, incorporated in the toolbar button installed into Firefox along with the add-on.
Adversely, AdBlock Plus can be configured to whitelist a site you’d like to see ads on. You can easily do so by selecting ‘Disable on www.somesite.com’ – once more by using the drop-down in the toolbar.
Closing Note
FlashBlock and AdBlock Plus are great tools for getting rid of most of the unwanted advertising that plague the Internet and its users. That said, I’d like to add a little disclaimer to this article:
It’s not because I wrote this article that I condemn all forms of online advertising.
Quite to the contrary, I feel it is our duty as good netizens to support the sites/blogs we really like by disabling these tools selectively. You’ll be doing the site/person in question a favor, in most cases, since this is how people monetize their sites. This, in turn, keeps them running.
So if you particularly like an online venue, please allow ads, by all means. And while you’re at it, you may want to consider whitelisting mine .
* Promo image courtesy of Steve Rhodes on Flickr. Creative Commons License applies: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic
Please, let me rant about Microsoft's ballot screen and the EU
Aug 3rd
First off, let me say one thing before I initiate my disgust-laden rant: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarggggggggggggh. It may not be as relieving as actually screaming it out loud, but what the bleep’s going on with the EU?! Before I continue my mile-high rant, it may be interesting to sketch the background of this story, especially for those who haven’t been following the happenings leading up to this outright farce…
Microsoft vs. EU: A short history
The EU has developed a disliking to the Redmond-based software giant and has sued Microsoft over numerous of its anti-competitive strategies, mainly related to the bundling of Internet Explorer and Windows. Microsoft is also currently being held liable for several other anti-trust cases. The EU’s antipathy for Microsoft spiked after Microsoft reached a complete monopoly in the browser market. Because bundling is illegal in Europe, Microsoft was forced to pay a big fine to the EU some time ago and sell ‘N’ (nitwit?) editions of Windows. These N-versions are regular versions of Windows bereft of Windows Media Player — and never sold a single copy.
The whole issue flared up once more in recent events when Opera – a EU-based browser company sporting a pathetically low market-share – called on Microsoft for “being unfair” and stifling competition in the web browser market by its own browser with Windows.
Microsoft’s reaction to this was to remove Internet Explorer entirely from its upcoming operating system ‘Windows 7’. Initially, this would only be applied to EU-territory and consequentially, the Windows 7 E edition was born. This was a harsh measure, decidedly put in place to taunt the EU into dismissing the whole thing.
Shortly thereafter, the E-edition was yanked because — no kidding — it would cause unnecessary complications to Microsoft’s partners and would incur too much confusion to Microsoft’s European customers (said the EU).
Thus, in response, Opera “proposed” to introduce the “browser ballot screen” to Windows 7.
Ballot screen?
Ballot as in voting, yes. Microsoft has confirmed it would pursue this proposal to satisfy the EU’s demands:
Unless Opera acts up again, this will likely be the final design of the ballot screen. Microsoft specified that as many as eight browsers are to be displayed, sorted by market share. Yes Opera, you’re fifth down the list. Bummer.
In addition, Microsoft will retroactively be pushing this screen to Windows XP and Vista via Windows Update. A far reaching measure. Way too far if you ask me.
This is bad for the end user
While Opera argues that this is beneficial for the end user because it ensues the freedom of choice, I simply say it’s bull.
Opera, to its credit, got to market first with technology that is now mainstream in almost all browsers (tabs, etc.), but has failed miserably to grab an honorable spot in the browser market. Opera has been around far longer than most of the other browser makers, but still, after so many years pretty much no one would be caught dead using the darn thing. Firefox – for obvious enough reasons – made humongous strides in nipping away at IE’s market share. In a complimentary fashion both Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome rose above Opera without ghastly efforts.
This ‘bullshit screen’ will only confuse [normal] people since many won’t even know what a browser really is (it’s the Internet, Ma!). They just want to surf the web and go about their daily business. How does the average Joe even distinguish whether one browser is better than the other, anyway?
I just don’t think Microsoft should have caved to the likes of an insignificant player like Opera. After all, an operating system should come with a browser in order to get your hands on another one, right (in the light of the E-editions)? Besides, those who are techie enough are up to speed on browsers and will get Firefox if they are so inclined. Others shouldn’t be bothered and get the best browser the market has to offer novice users (read: Internet Explorer or Firefox, NOT Opera).
Anyhow, it’s not like Microsoft holds 90% of the market anymore. A product or service is only monopolistic if it’s the only viable thing to choose from. The mere fact that there are eight browser to display in the ballot screen shows anyone with an ounce of brains that there’s enough diversity to choose from in the browser space.
Bottom line:
Up yours, Opera
Perhaps there’s something wrong with Opera itself. Perhaps? No, I’ll tell you what’s wrong with Opera: their product isn’t in the least compelling and nor is it very impressive. It’s competent – sure – but that’s where their story ends. Maybe they should try [positive] marketing..?
So Opera – in my opinion the most childish company of late – tries to gain market share by forcing Microsoft into a stranglehold by leveraging the EU’s preconceived aversion toward Microsoft. And they’re winning. Microsoft should have fought back on this one.
It’s easy to predict what will happen once Mr. End User sees this. He’ll pick one of the first two icons. And no one will go for Opera’s little icon, no matter how loud a raucous Opera causes. And it’ll be what Opera’s got coming to them. I’m already looking forward to it.
As much as I want to continue on, I’d better stop here. I got my point across .
P.S.: Opera’s logo looks like a big zero, it really does.