Hasta La Gadget!

It’s said that dogs are a mans best friends, well it certainly seems to be the case in Japan! Dogs here enjoy particularly unique, rather over indulgent care, with their lifestyle at times exceeding our own. Being dressed in designer clothes, weekly pampering in beauty salons and spas, personal nutritionist and physical activity trainers, and even holistic care consultants. It is interesting to witness such humanistic attitude towards pets in Japan where they often take the emotional place of families and the pet Chihuahua or Toy Poodle is pushed around in a baby stroller like their very own child. On the back of this a number of shops and locations aimed at enhancing the relationship owners have with their dogs have sprung up around Tokyo in the last few years.

Green Dog
Green Dog is a center for holistic life, situated in the upscale Tokyo Mid Town district, among high class restaurants, designer shops and museums. The objective of the center is to create a “joyful life with your partner (the dog)”. In order to achieve that Green Dog offers a wide variety of holistic treatments, including a free health consultation that follows careful selection of quality health products, i.e. carefully planned nutritional food and supplements, exercise advices, and suggestions for stress relief, although just how much stress a pampered dog can have is debatable!

Their “prestige trimming and grooming spa” focuses on the entire “physical and spiritual condition” (of the dog of course), saying “it is not about beauty only”. They have a wide variety of holistic cares at the spa; aroma massage, ayurveda pack, micro bubble, rock salt bath and mud pack costing anywhere between $150 – $400.
The center, with its two branches, also offers a medical clinic, custody hotel and a discipline study room that includes various training. They advertise being able to “deepen the trust between the owner and the partner, while advising on how to achieve balanced life style between the two individuals”. Green Dog also runs a blog which among other things has a corner called “today’s dinner”; suggestions of baking recipes or just a ten minutes toast.

Dog Petit Resort
Imagine the Ritz Carlton for dogs and you wouldn’t be far off here! On offer here owners can let their dogs experience swimming therapy, hotel, dog run yard, and very exclusive trimming courses including aromatherapy and relaxing massage and even designer cut and color. The center offers, as well as a swimming pool, a hydro-therapy area for rehabilitation or just for fun. For rehabilitation program there is even an option for a water treadmill therapy.

Not just reserved for the Japanese public dogs here can even experience the dog onsen (Japanese traditional natural spring baths) which follows shampoo and massage. The onsen is known for its health benefits, apparently also for dogs, and is healthy for expanding the blood vessels, which in turn benefits the blood circulation. Moreover, the site promotes that the warm water tranquilizes and naturally reduces pain or stress.

Pariero Mall Harajuku

Pariero Mall Harajuku is located at the very center of the fashionable shopping street, and is definitely standing up to the standards of the area. Seasonal wear collections, brand name goods, stylish accessories, owner items- such as carry bags and key chains, designed doggy bags and even Halloween costumes can be found these days.

We also shouldn’t leave out the feline friends either who enjoy just as much a pampering, Cat Prin is a design brand for cats’ fashionable items and more. You can check the site but don’t miss the video.
While child rearing in Tokyo becomes a less attractive option, having a pet becomes more and more popular. Beyond the fact that Japanese ladies can accessorize the pets and accessorize themselves with the pets, this phenomena also has a psychologically emotional benefit especially amongst the declining birthrate in Japan.

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This article was written on July 31, 2008 by CyberNet.

CyberSearch Special

It’s been exactly one month since I uploaded the first version of CyberSearch to Mozilla’s site, and since then we’ve had 4,000 downloads of the extension. What’s really kept us going are all of you who have expressed how valuable the extension has become, and we’re now averaging 4.60/5.00 stars from the 34 reviews we’ve received thus far. As a way to show our appreciation to those leaving reviews we’ve placed quotes from some of them on the CyberSearch homepage.

My hope is that one day CyberSearch will make it out of the Mozilla Sandbox so that more people can enjoy it, but I know the editors are still rather swamped. Sometimes my impatience gets the best of me though.

To celebrate our one month anniversary I’ve decided to release a rather major upgrade that hopefully includes the features many of you have been looking for. We’ve also cleaned up the code, fixed some bugs, and much more. And so we are proud to unleash CyberSearch 1.0…

–Import/Manage Built-in Keywords–

This is by far one of our most requested features. As many of you know Firefox 3 includes a simple interface for managing all of your search keywords in one central location. This is normally done by clicking on the drop-down menu in the search box, and then selecting the Manage Search Engines option.

What people have been wanting us to do is provide a way to tie our keyword system together with the one that is built-in to Firefox. Unfortunately this is rather difficult since the two keyword systems are completely different in the way they work, but we’ve come up with the best solution we could.

In the CyberSearch settings there is now a new section on the Keywords tab dedicated towards importing and managing the keywords you’ve customized in the browser. If you choose to import keywords it will scan through the search engine keywords (not those in your bookmarks), and it will automatically add any of them that you haven’t already assigned a keyword for. When it’s all done it will notify you of how many keywords couldn’t be imported because they were duplicates.

By ignoring duplicates this means that you can reimport the keywords from the browser as more are added, and you don’t have to worry about it doubling up on some of the existing keywords.

How does it determine the URL to search? We tried to put some intelligence behind this, but it’s not going to be perfect every time. What we’ll do is truncate off the end of the URL so that there isn’t all of the garbage. For example, a Wikipedia search URL normally looks like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=%s

After it gets imported it will look like this:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

In that example it works out as it should, and will pull in search results from Wikipedia as the user would expect. However, you should probably go back through the imported entries to make sure the various sites are searching the URL you want.

One thing that I want to make clear is that this doesn’t import any of your keywords from your bookmarks. The Add to Search Bar extension makes it a bit easier to add any search box to the search bar, and so I recommend installing that if you decide to transition your bookmark keywords over to the search bar keywords.

–Image Search Previews–

We’ve also enhanced image searches per your request! When creating a keyword for performing a Google Image search I recommend leaving the icon URL field blank. When you do this it will use a thumbnail of each resulting image as the icon:

We’ve also decided to place the dimensions of each image at the end of the title in brackets so that you know whether the image you’re opening is small or large.

Existing CyberSearch users: You will need to go back and clear out the icon URL for any Google Image search entries in the settings before seeing the previews.

–Auto Retrieval of Site Icons–

Now when performing a Google Web, Blog, or News search it’s possible to have it show each site’s icon next to their results. What it does is look for the “favicon.ico” file at the root of each domain, and then displays it accordingly:

The catch? Not all sites put the favicon.ico file at the root of their domain, which means no icon will appear next to those results. More often than not it is able to find the icon at the root of the domain though.

To enable this feature just leave the icon URL field blank when creating a keyword for a Google Web, Blog, or News search.

Existing CyberSearch users: You will need to go back and clear out the icon URL in the settings (for the supported search types listed above) before seeing the automatic icons.

–Pull Up the Results Page–

The very last entry for every type of Google search will now is now designated to taking you to the corresponding Google page. In the event that no results from Google can be returned it will be the only option shown to you:

The reason we show this even when Google returns no results is that going to the actual Google page might be able to provide you with “did you mean…” results.

–Quick Add the Current Site-–

The odds are probably pretty good that if you’re opening up the CyberSearch options that your intentions are to add a keyword for the site you’re currently on. If that’s the case we’re making it a lot easier! First off when you open up the CyberSearch options it will automatically grab the address of the site you’re currently viewing, and will insert that into the “new keyword” form.

Still not fast enough for you? There’s now an “Add to CyberSearch” option located right under your nose in the context menu (a.k.a. right-click menu):

Clicking that will pull up the CyberSearch options with the current site’s URL automatically filled in. Talk about speedy!

–Better Identification–

Have you noticed anything else new in several of the screenshots above? We’ve made it easier to identify results produced by the extension by placing the CyberSearch logo in the upper-right corner of each entry:

UPDATE: Before reading on you should know that we’ve added the background customization option back to the CyberSearch extension. We also improved how it works!

As a tradeoff we’ve removed the feature in the options that lets you customize the background color of the results. The new icon does the job of making the CyberSearch results distinguishable from the rest, and at the same time it will look nice on all of the themes out-of-the-box. Not only that but I just wasn’t happy with the way I implemented the option.

Don’t worry, if you’re heart is set on customizing the background color of the results you can use Stylish. Here are the instructions needed to change the background color in Stylish:

1. Install Stylish
2. In Firefox go to Tools -> Stylish -> Write Style -> Blank Style
3. Give it a description, such as CyberSearch
4. Copy and paste the following code into the box, replacing EEEEEE with the hex color you want:
   richlistitem[type ~= 'cybersearch'] > hbox {
background-color:#EEEEEE;
   }

After that all you have to do is save the style, and you should see the results immediately without having to restart the browser. If you need help coming up with the 6-character hex value for a specific color you may find this site to be of assistance.

–And More–

Still want more? This release also includes a handful of bug fixes (all reproducible bugs up until now have been fixed), performance improvements, and cleaner code. What more could you ask for? Oh, okay. You twisted my arm. I’ll throw in one more minor feature.

When working with the keyword menu next to the keywords we also show what type of search corresponds to that particular keyword:

For those of you who already have CyberSearch installed you should be prompted shortly (if you haven’t been already) to install the updated version. New and existing users alike can install the new version from the Mozilla Add-ons site, or you can watch a video demonstration I previously made when the extension launched.

Enjoy!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Your Week in Review with Sunday’s SummaryCyberSearch 1.0.2: Pull Up Google Results Page FasterCyberSearch 1.0.1: Background Colors are BackCyberSearch Publicly Available on Mozilla Add-onsCyberSearch Tops 25,000 Downloads

This article was written on August 06, 2008 by CyberNet.

Welcome to the WrapUp by CyberNet. This is a collection of news stories and tips that we have collected over the last few days, but never got around to writing about. Don’t forget to send in your own tips, or just leave a comment on this page if you think you’ve got something we should include.

–News–

U.S. Cracks Biggest Identity Theft Case
The United States has cracked one of the biggest ID theft cases, which was led by 11 people. Three of the individuals were from the U.S., and they got the information by driving around hacking into wireless equipment. Retailers such as Barnes and Noble, Office Max, TJ Maxx, and more were the prime targets that led to 40 million credit and debit card numbers being stolen.

Hulu Gets Some HD Shows
Hulu is making a move to HD content as they bring on shows like 24, 30 Rock, Heroes, and The Office in beautiful HD quality. They are even offering these shows ad-free as part of a special promotion.

Psystar Lawyers Going After Apple, too
Not many people were surprised when Apple started going after the Psystar company for building and selling PC’s running Leopard. What’s interesting though is that Psystar’s lawyers might be going after Apple as well with an antitrust suit. Who will emerge victorious?

800,000 iPhone 3G’s Produced Every Week
Reports are strolling in that 800,000 iPhone 3G’s are being pumped out of the factory every week. And yet some people are stilling having a hard time getting one!

Better Gmail 2 Updated
A new version of the Better Gmail 2 Firefox extension has been released that includes a new skin, updated macros, and more. If you’re a Gmail & Firefox user this is a must-have.

–Tips, Tutorials, and Reviews–

Installing Ubuntu from a USB Drive
There’s no need to use a CD to install Ubuntu when you have a Flash drive. These instructions will guide you through how to install Ubuntu from a USB drive, which is especially handy when the computer you’re working with doesn’t have a CD/DVD drive.

Debunking Windows Performance Tweaking Myths
This is a list of nine different Windows performance myths that you may have heard about. Things like being able to activate SuperFetch in XP, or disabling System Restore to improve performance are put to rest.

Get Hotmail Access in Apple Mail
The HTTPMail Plugin will give Apple Mail users access to their Hotmail/MSN account. It’s completely free to download, and is Mac-only.

Whitelist your Bookmarks in Adblock
Some Adblock Plus users like to support their favorite sites by whitelisting the domain. Thanks to a handy little script you can whitelist all of the sites that you’ve bookmarked.

Stash Your Money in Your Sandals
One of the problems you might run into when you’re off at the beach is where to put your money and keys. Thanks to innovative sandals like these you can slip your valuables in the heals when you don’t have any pockets available.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on October 20, 2008 by CyberNet.

(Click to Enlarge)

Windows only
Everyday when I’m at work I’m dealing with dozens of different servers that I have to connect to using the Windows Remote Desktop. If you have just one computer that you need to manage the standard Remote Desktop Connection application serves the purpose, but it can become tedious when dealing with numerous machines.

To solve this problem I began looking around for a app that has a nice tabbed interface for handling multiple connections. What I wasn’t expecting was to find something as good as the free Terminals program. This can not only manage Remote Desktop Connections, but also VNC, VMRC, RAS, Telnet, SSH, ICA Citrix, HTTP, and Amazon S3. Plus you can accomplish basic tasks like pinging, trace routes, whois lookups, and more all from within this single program.

I’ve quickly become impressed with everything Terminals can do. Anytime you make a connection to a machine it will be added to the Favorites menu for easy access in the future. You can then go through and rename the entries for easier recognition (especially handy if you’re connecting via IP addresses), or even apply tags.

And we can’t forget about security. Naturally you won’t want a program like this to save all of your passwords because a lot could be lost should it ever fall into the wrong hands. At the same time it can be tough to remember all of those different passwords for the various machines. Terminals, much like any browser, will let you establish a master password that is used to protect all of your saved passwords. That means you’ll have just one password to remember from now on!

This probably isn’t a program that will be handy for everyone, but it can definitely save some time and frustration for those of you who work with dozens of different connections day in and day out. It’s completely free, and doesn’t require any installation for you to start using it. Just download the ZIP file, extract the contents, and run the executable.

Get Terminals for Windows

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on February 22, 2008 by CyberNet.

Back in September, the Firefox download counter rolled over the 400 million mark giving Mozilla yet another reason to celebrate over their open-source web browser. At the time, Ryan looked at their current trend in growth and estimated that around April 15th, 2008 Firefox would hit their 1/2 billion milestone. Well, it’s only February 22, 2008 and they’ve just hit their 500 million mark. Congratulations Firefox!

On the Mozilla Blog, they made the announcement and helped show the significance of it by explaining that in terms of dollars, $500 million would be enough for you and 15 of your friends to fly to the International Space Station. In weight they say that it would be like 8,500 Boeing 747 airplanes.  For Mozilla, part of celebrating this milestone includes giving back.  They’re inviting people to help celebrate by playing a “game” over at www.freerice.com.  We’ve written about it before, when you go to the site, a word will be displayed and you’ll be given four difference choices of what the word means.  For each word you get right, they’ll donate 10 grains of rice to a hungry person through an international aid agency.  On their blog, they said that they are trying to break another milestone by donating 500 million grains of rice in on day.

Looking ahead, given the current trends, it looks like the next big milestone will be around Wednesday, July 30th 2008 when they’ll hit the 600 million download mark. Once again, congratulations to Mozilla and the Firefox team!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

Related Posts:

Firefox Download Counter Rolls Over 400 Million600 Million Add-ons Downloaded from MozillaFirefox Hits 200 Million DownloadsThe Week of Million MilestonesFirefox Hits 300 million Downloads! When will it hit 1 Trillion?