Only the cavemen know nothing about a tab browsing experience! We all know how useful a tab is for a browser, but sometimes tab browsing can be abused to a level of unusable! For an example, when a person opens up about 30 tabs or more, each tab for each website, the meaning of way too many tabs becomes real. Trying to get from tab number 1 to tab number 30 is not hard, but do you know which tab you want in those 30 tabs? Accidentally closing a tab is not an amusing thing too, and you can blame that on too many tabs or your fast finger. Simply put, tab browsing is amazing, but it’s a mature technology! I could be wrong and you can correct me if you want of what I’m about to say next; Firefox was the very first browser that featured tab browsing, and it has been years ago? It’s time for tab browsing experience to evolve! This is where Tab Candy comes in!
Tab Candy is still in a developmental phrase, they call it an alpha phrase. After more testing, an alpha phrase can become a beta phrase. After a beta phrase comes a release phrase where a software can be really stable!
Anyway, why Tab Candy is so cool? Tab Candy has a grand vision for tab browsing. Tab Candy is trying to allow browser users to group tabs in spatial way that you can say very eye candy. Eye candy is not enough for Tab Candy, because it’s also useful as in allowing browser users to open more than 100 tabs without getting the too many tabs syndrome. Each tab group has the capability of allowing browser users to add even more tabs. How about searching for a specific tab in a group, or in all groups? Tab Candy has a search box where you can search for a specific tab, a group, and so on. Social and sharing elements are available with Tab Candy — it allows you to send a tab group to your mobile devices, and sharing a tab or tab groups with friends.
So much more can be done with Tab Candy! Why not watch the video after the break for a visual understanding of how Tab Candy actually works. Let me know what you think about Tab Candy in the comment section. Source.
An Introduction to Firefox’s Tab Candy from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.
Although the world has plenty of browsers for all, yet another company has just released a brand new browser known as Epic Browser! The maker of this browser is Hidden Reflex, and anyone can download it here free of charge. Since Firefox is an open source browser, Hidden Reflex only has to improve Firefox by adding more features such as a built-in anti-virus program to scan downloads from the web. The anti-virus engine is from ESET, and CNET had highly rated ESET in 2009.
Epic Browser has so many skins to beautify the browser, but Americans who are unfamiliar with Indian culture probably won’t appreciate the skins that Epic Browser has to offer, because many skins are related to India. Skins are available in categories such as People, Art, Politics, Culture, Region, Sports, Film, Music, Religious, and Nature.
Even though Epic Browser is built to woo Indian users, Epic Browser by default has English as its language. English speakers will not have a problem of understanding the features that Epic Browser has to offer as everything is displaying in English. Epic Browser is supporting around 12 Indian languages.
Another main feature that is very different from Firefox is that Epic Browser has a slim sidebar on the very left of it. The sidebar features widgets such as India Content, Type in Any Indian Language, Skins, Anti-virus, Write (Create/Edit Documents), Snippets (Create/Edit Web Snippets), View Videos In Sidebar, My Computer Sidebar, Create a To Do List, Timer, Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Maps, Travel, Jobs, Games, Backup Files, Website Collections, Bookmarks, History, Downloads, Add-ons, and Add Free Apps To Epic; all widgets fit nicely on the sidebar.
By testing out Epic Browser, I also discover that Add-ons for Firefox are working just fine on Epic Browser. This makes sense since Epic Browser is built on Firefox. So I have had my two favorite Add-ons active on Epic Browser just like I have them alive on my Firefox, and these are NoScript and Wot.
Private browsing mode can be done on Epic Browser in the same manner that one goes about private browsing on Firefox. You can go to Tools >> Options >> Privacy >> (under History section choose…) Never Remember History. Basically, Epic Browser has many similar features and functions to Firefox, but Firefox has no anti-virus and sidebar and unique widgets on the sidebar. I don’t think any browser besides Epic Browser has an anti-virus program.
How pretty Epic Browser compares to Firefox and other browsers? It’s depending on the eyes of a beholder! For your information, before the installing of Epic Browser, I had it scanned with Norton Internet Security, and to be extra careful, I also had it scanned with ClamWin, both anti-virus programs found Epic Browser has no virus and malware. You should give Epic Browser a try, and then report back to me by commenting below this post! Have fun with this browser, will you? Source.
Want to try out 64 bit browsers? At this time, almost everyone is using 32 bit browsers, and the funny thing is that many people are using their 32 bit browsers on a 64 bit operating system that runs on a 64 bit machine. Two out of three isn’t bad for some, but for me, it’s like what on earth? 64 bit browsers are definitely faster than 32 bit browsers. Unfortunately, many 64 bit browsers are still under developments. Firefox is one of my favorite browsers, and the 64 bit version of it is known as Minefield. Getting Minefield at here.
64 bit provides faster applications as software written in 64 bit can read wider data unit at once. More in depth on 64 bit can be read at here. Performance wise, I think 64 bit browsers such as Minefield is outperforming Firefox 3+. Unfortunately, software developers are so slow to adopt this technology although it has been around for years. For an example, Adobe has not yet released a 64 bit Flash player that can run on 64 bit browsers. Using minefield, you will not be able to run Flash! Adobe people say they are working on 64 bit Flash player.
Why I praise Minefield even though Flash is not available? The whole idea is to experience the speed of a browser. Since Firefox 3.6, Mozilla folks have made their browsers HTML5 compatible. Minefield is HTML5 compatible.
So, there is no Flash with Minefield, but I can still play YouTube’s videos. How? Go to here, click on Join the HTML5 Beta at the bottom of the page (redo this whenever your browser is not remembering the setting after the shutdown of the browser), go to YouTube.com, type in the search box of YouTube for whatever terms to get the related videos to list, at the top of your browser and in the address bar, hit the End key on your keyboard to go to the very end of the YouTube’s search result address, and then type in &webm=1. By doing just that, you are demanding YouTube to list the videos that are playable in WebM format.
WebM format is working under HTML5 technology, and it boasts that the videos using WebM format can be played with very high quality picture, and great video playback performance even with an older computer. YouTube videos that are running under WebM format and HTML5 have the HTML5 badge. If a YouTube video fails to show HTML5 badge right on the control where playback’s timeline is playing nearby, then you know the video is not WebM and HTML5 compatible. To fix this, just go back to here, and rejoin the YouTube HTML5 beta experience. Repeat the process above that I had described such as adding &webm=1 to the end of YouTube video search address to pull up WebM and HTML5 compatible videos.
Here is a YouTube address that contains videos that plays under WebM and HTML5, but you have to go to here first, click Join the HTML5 Beta, and then refresh this page to play the video under WebM and HTML5 formats. If you are using a browser that is not supporting WebM and HTML5 formats, then you won’t be able to experience WebM and HTML5 formats at all, and YouTube may redirect you to a video that is using Flash in result of incompatible browser.
Firefox 3.6 has a new thing known as Personas. What this does is allowing you to change the look of the primary area of your Firefox browser which is the top part of your browser. It seems that there are around 30,000+ Personas that your Firefox browser could wear. It’s cool and it does make Firefox no longer a boring browser — prettier too! Don’t confuse this Personas thing with Firefox’s themes. Firefox themes do more than just changing the background images and colors for various parts of the top part of the browser; Firefox themes could change the look of the browser completely such as making Firefox looks exactly like Chrome browser but running the Firefox engine. Firefox’s Personas does remind me of Chrome’s themes, because Chrome themes tend to change the top part of the browser to look prettier and more colorful. I’m not sure Personas will work with Firefox 3.5 or not, but you could try it and then let me know through comments if this will work or not. You can get Firefox’s Personas at getpersonas.com. Check out the video which talks about Firefox’s Personas after the jump!
Unfortunately, I was hoping that this Personas thing that Firefox 3.6 got going could do something like Windows 7′s wallpapers. What I mean is that I wish the Personas could allow you to set a playlist of Personas which will change every 5 minutes or 10 minutes and so on; this way your Firefox browser displays a new Personas between the time intervals.
Another bad day for Microsoft. The fingers are pointing at China for recent attacks on Google’s network and other major networks, but the attacks were possible because all version of IE(s) were vulnerable to attacks. Microsoft is hard at work in patching up the browsers. Since the patch is not yet readily available for IE(s), German government warns the country’s citizens not to use IE(s) in fear of other hackers may try the same trick. Ain’t we glad we have alternative browsers? Here are few of them that you could try if you wish!
- Firefox
- Opera
- Safari
- Gnome
I know that there are more browsers than the ones that I listed above, but I’m not so sure about those browsers’ security measures. At the very least, Firefox and Opera and Safari and Gnome are browsers that are known for better security than Microsoft’s IE(s). To be fair, it’s a given that Microsoft IE(s) are less secured due to the fact that large portion of people in the world are using IE(s); this allows hackers to target IE(s) more than any other browser. Source.
Mozilla has just released Firefox 3.5.6. In this newest version, Mozilla had fixed several securities related to privilege escalation, location bar spoofing vulnerabilities, and others. Several stability issues are now fixed. Check out the complete list of change for Firefox 3.5.6; just want to warn ya, it’ll hurt your eyes. Anyway, you now can download Firefox version 3.5.6 at Mozilla’s website. Lastly, for your information, if you haven’t yet knew about Mozilla’s Firefox, it can be used on Mac, Windows, and Linux.
OK, so I heard about Google’s Chrome browser that is now capable of incorporating cool extensions, but to my dismay I found out that you have to download Chrome’s beta version which is still in a developing stage in order for extensions to work. If you have been using Firefox and Safari and IE 8, then extensions probably aren’t new to you, but the current official Chrome browser doesn’t allow users to add extensions.
Extensions are like extra mini features (software) that third party developers released, and by adding extensions to a browser, a browser can do many more cool things besides the standard features that a particular browser has. Google promises that adding extensions on Chrome will be easy as changing themes for Chrome. There is a new extension that Google is really pushing to let people know about is known as Quick Scroll. It’s best to let Google explains to you what Quick Scroll is since I have not yet tried Quick Scroll myself.
Back to the point of Chrome and extensions, it’s the right move for Google to wholeheartedly working on pushing out the capability of Chrome which is to accept extensions; in my opinion it’s really hard to convince a Firefox’s users or other browsers’ users to switch to Chrome without the extensions that they have been accustomed to in their original browsers. For me personally, I like the appearance of Chrome best, but I like Firefox more as it has the extensions that I need, and in the end I’m still using Firefox.
One last thing I want to rant about the extensions is that security can also be an issue. Extension developers are coming from many walks of life, and you don’t know them personally, and by using the extensions, you are trusting the developers of the extensions; the issue here is that a black-hat hacker can create a malicious extension and release it into the extension directory, people who download a malicious extension is going to have a lot of headaches in relating to why my computer suddenly stops acting normal! This is why we all must be wary about the extensions that we don’t know about enough — this goes for all browsers.
Chrome was launched a year ago, but now Google has claimed that Chrome has 30 million users. Still, Chrome needs to multiply its 30 million users by 10 or more to be able to catch up with the number of people that are using Firefox. Yet, Firefox needs to multiply its huge number of users by three or more to be on a par with IE.
Some people say Chrome is the fastest browser out there, and I think it’s true. I do like Firefox better, because there are more plugins readily available for Firefox than Chrome. For an example, I cannot trust a browser that doesn’t have a Noscript plugin. This is why I won’t be using Chrome unless Noscript plugin is available on Chrome. I can make an exception if Chrome has a plugin that is equally as good as Noscript. For your information, Noscript is a plugin that block malicious Javascript, Java, and Flash, and only allow these to run from trusted websites of your choice.
IE 8 is claimed to be the best IE version, but it’s slower than most browsers. IE 8 could crash on you if you have installed a buggy plugin. Firefox has the same problem with buggy plugin, but it seems Firefox browser tends to crash less — maybe because Firefox does have many more stable plugins than IE 8.
Chrome definitely is a good alternative browser for Firefox. Perhaps, give enough time, Chrome may surpass Firefox, but that remains to be seen. I have not seen Chrome crashing on me yet, but that is not enough for me to say Chrome will not crash. I have to say Chrome is a very stable browser when comparing against many well known browsers. Let see how many more browsers’ users will switch to Chrome as Chrome turns two. How many more years you think that Chrome needs for it to be able to catch up to Firefox and IE?
There are open source software that you can totally replace the expensive software in stores. As a brand new computer purchaser, you may listen to the wrong advice and throw away even more money to buy the expensive software. Don’t do that! I’ll list some open source software here that may help you be more productive with your brand new computer, and you don’t even have to thank me for saving you a load of money.
Open Office has many features and similar functionalities as Microsoft Office. What can you do with Open Office? You can create spreadsheets, create word documents, create a simple database using Open Office’s Base, and create presentation materials such as slideshow and more.
Gimp is as powerful as Adobe Photoshop. You can create all type of logos, manipulate images, and much more.
Linux is a very powerful operating system that can replace Microsoft’s Windows. There are way too many Linux versions to be listed here, but I name a few that you can test it out. Fedora Core, Ubuntu, openSUSE, Debian, PCLinuxOS, Mandriva, Dreamlinux, and PC-BSD. To get more Linux flavors or find out the official websites for different Linux distributions, you can go to Distrowatch.com.
Firefox is a browser that can replace Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser. Firefox has hundred of plugins and themes that you can use for eye candy purpose and security.
Thunderbird can be as a replacement for Microsoft Outlook. Read more about Thunderbird…
VLC media player plays huge number of media format such as MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, DivX, MPEG-1, mp3, ogg, aac, and so on.
Clamwin is an open source anti-virus software that is very effective in revealing new and older computer viruses.
This list may grow as I’ll be testing and adding more open source software that work on Windows. If you know any, please feel free to suggest through comments.
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