Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on November 22, 2006 by CyberNet.

Web Browser Wednesday

One thing that I have heard several complaints about with Firefox 2 is that the tabs are not themed to match what your operating system is using for a theme. Maybe you don’t like the darker color of the default tabs but don’t worry, it is so unbelievably easy to change that you’ll cry. Okay, maybe not as easy as a checkbox but close enough for those of us that have a little knowledge of computers.

First, I’ll show you what I’m talking about. These are what the standard tabs look like in Firefox 2, correct? Just nod your head and agree.

So, after you complete what I am about to tell you to do your tabs will take on your operating system’s properties. This is what the new tabs look like for me in Vista (the left-most tab is a background tab, the middle one is being hovered over with the mouse, and the right-most tab is the currently selected tab):

In Windows Vista when you hover over buttons and other objects it applies a light-blue glow which is exactly what happens in Firefox now. I’m not sure how this will look in all operating systems but I’m sure some people will like it better while others will probably hate it.

So if you want to give this a shot there isn’t much that you need. You will be creating a custom style sheet and you can do it manually but I recommend just using Stylish. If you use Stylish you also don’t have to worry about restarting Firefox to see the changes.

Once you have the extension installed open up this text file that I uploaded (I would have pasted it here in the post but it is 165 lines long). Copy all of the code and place it into the Stylish box:

Save your new style and the look of your tabs should now match what your operating system calls for. Pretty cool, huh? The beauty of using Stylish is that you can easily remove the new look if you decide that you don’t like it.

I am kinda torn right now because I like having the light-blue glow when I hover over a tab but at the same time I miss the rounded corners on the tabs that the default theme offers. Sometimes I am so indecisive.

I found this solution at UserStyles.org but at the time of this writing the site was down, but I was still able to get it from the Google Cache.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on May 05, 2008 by CyberNet.

Microsoft/Mac Monday

As we mentioned last week, our featured CyberNotes articles on Mondays will now focus on both Microsoft and Mac instead of just Microsoft. You could say we’re broadening our horizons a little… Today’s article will be the first in a series of several, focusing on comparing a feature in Vista with one in Mac OS X 10.5. It’s actually amazing how similar yet very different the two operating systems are. We’ll start by comparing the search in the Vista Start Menu with Spotlight, and then we’ll take a look at how searching in Windows Explorer compares to searching in the Finder (Mac).

Vista Start Menu Search vs. Spotlight

Vista’s built-in search feature is most easily accessible right from the Start Menu. One of the first things I noticed once I switched to a Mac is how often I actually used the shortcut to open the Start Menu and then performed a search. Leopard has a similar feature called Spotlight which is used when you want to find something fast and easy without opening the Finder to search. It’s Apple’s search technology which comes built-in to Leopard.

The searching feature in Vista is nice because all you have to do is press the Windows key and then start typing for whatever it is that you’re searching for and the results will start to appear. It seems as though accessing Spotlight is just a bit more difficult because you have to press two keys, the command key and the spacebar, and then you can start typing.

So how do the results of the two searches compare?
As you’ll see from the screenshot below, performing a search in the Vista Start Menu shows programs, favorites and history, and files pertaining to your search. Performing a search using Spotlight will yield results from more groups than you could ever imagine from music and PDF Documents to movies and contacts. All together I’d say Vista’s searching feature isn’t quite as extensive as Spotlight but both provide users with a quick way to find what they’re looking for which is important.

Click to enlarge

There are a few other features that Spotlight offers which Vista’s searching capabilities don’t offer right out of the box like performing calculations or defining words.

Click to enlarge

While searching in Vista and Leopard is great, I do have to say that the customization options for Spotlight are much better than the customization options available in Vista. Part of this is because there’s more to it. So First, how do you access the configuration options for each?
In Windows: right click on the Start Menu > click Properties > click “Customize” on the Start Menu tab. Then scroll to the bottom and look for the search options.

Click to enlarge

In Leopard: Click on System Preferences>Spotlight. The customization options for Spotlight include a list of categories that you can either check or leave unchecked. Only the categories that you select will appear in Spotlight search results. You can also re-order the results which is super nice so that the categories you want to appear first, will.

Click to enlarge

The only downside with the customization options in Spotlight is that you can’t pick which locations to index, but you can pick which locations you don’t want indexed. Make sense? This is done under the “Privacy” tab in the Spotlight Preferences. In Vista, you can pick which locations you want indexed and you can choose to ignore certain file types (for example, PDF documents) from being indexed.

Windows Explorer Searching vs. Finder Searching

Now we’re going to look at the searching feature built-in to Windows Explorer as well as the one you’ll find built-in to the Finder on a Mac. Because Windows Explorer and the Finder serve nearly the same purpose, we thought this would be a good comparison to make.

Overall, the searching feature in Windows Explorer is more simple (and a little easier to use) than the one you’d find in the Finder. The layout is more intuitive in Windows Explorer and it looks like what you’d expect from an advanced search (like what you’d see with a search engine). This makes it easy to use. There’s also an “Advanced Search” feature which you can access by pressing the Windows Key + 5. As shown below, the Advanced Searching feature allows you to modify your search which will hopefully more accurately yield the results you’re looking for.

Click to enlarge

The search feature in the Finder isn’t quite as intuitive but it does provide one heck of a filter system where you can set-up multiple filters when you’re performing a search. All you have to do is click the “plus” sign and you’ll continue to get more options for filtering. Both Leopard and Vista offer the option to save searches so that they can be easily used again in the future.

Click to enlarge

Here’s a quick example of how you can use the “plus sign” to add rules to your advantage: you could specify that you’re looking for an application, that it was last opened or modified on Thursday, and the name matches “Fire” and then your results would be filtered to meet those rules.

If you’re a power user, you’d probably enjoy the search in the Finder on a Mac and if you’re just an every-day user, you’d probably enjoy the Windows Explorer Search best.

Wrapping it up

At the end of the day, both Leopard and Vista users are lucky to be able toe use the searching capabilities that are available. It wasn’t that long ago when searching like this wasn’t an option in an operating system. If you’ve used both Vista or Leopard, let us know what you think of the search features that are offered…

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on June 14, 2007 by CyberNet.

Tutorial Thursday

One of the best features that I have found in Vista is the nicely designed Windows Explorer. It makes it easy to navigate through your folders, and allows you to put frequently used folders in the sidebar on the left side. Best of all is the great breadcrumb navigation that allows you to navigate backwards through folders with ease.

Getting those breadcrumbs in Windows XP is actually very easy, thanks to a free application that was just released last week called QT Address Bar (Download Mirror). If the name sounds familiar, that’s because we previously wrote about a program they make called QT TabBar which puts tabs in Windows Explorer.

So now back to the breadcrumbs. I’ve only seen one other application (found on Lifehacker) that did something like this, but it didn’t take on the same appearance of Vista’s Windows Explorer. QT Address Bar is about as close as it gets, and here’s the simple steps needed to set it up:

1. Download QT Address Bar (Download Mirror) and install it. The installation is a one-click process so it only takes a second. Oh, and the uninstallation is just as easy since all it really does is register a few things with the operating system, so you won’t find any folders in the Program Files.
   
2. Either logout of Windows XP and log back in, or restart the computer.
3. After you’re back in Windows, open Windows Explorer. Don’t panic, you’re not supposed to see QT Address Bar yet! Right-click on a toolbar and select the QT Breadcrumbs Address Bar option from the menu:
   
4. Now that the QT Address Bar is visible and working, you should consider removing the normal address bar by right-clicking on a toolbar and unchecking the Address Bar option.
   
5. Now have fun with it! QT Address Bar actually goes one step beyond what Vista does by allowing you to deeply navigate folders from within the breadcrumbs. You can even right-click on a folder from within the breadcrumbs:
   

There ya go, now everyone still using XP can benefit from one of my favorite things in Vista’s Windows Explorer. Let us know if you have any other tips on how you bring some of Vista’s features into Windows XP!

QT Address Bar (Download Mirror)

Thanks to the anonymous tipster for pointing out this program!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on January 09, 2007 by CyberNet.

Time Saving Tuesday

We have officially plowed our way into the New Year, and it’s time that we all should focus on working even more efficiently. To help us get that done Donation Coder has started the N.A.N.Y. (New Apps for the New Year) Challenge to present new applications to save you time. All of the available programs (totaling 24 right now) have simple concepts but for some of us they will conquer big tasks.

–Backup Revision Folder (Homepage)–

Have you ever accidentally saved over a document just to realize later on that you need something that you already got rid of? This program will help eliminate that problem from occurring, but I wouldn’t exactly say it is the easiest thing in the world to use. Not because it is complicated, but more because the prompts can get annoying if you are a frequent file saver like I am.

To use this program you simply place a file in the “monitored” folder. Then, every time that you save the file it will ask you for details on the changes that occurred since the last time that you saved it. After receiving that information it will add it to the log and make a backup copy of the file in a designated backup folder. Personally, I am always afraid of not saving too often so my fingers often rest in the “Ctrl+S” position when not typing. For that reason this quickly became annoying because I save often…and seeing a pop-up every time defeated my productivity. This should definitely have a “no pop-up” mode but the preferences seem to lack that.

Note: Installation is required to use this application.

–What’s Its Color (Homepage)–

This creation isn’t actually a program that you download, instead it’s a website that does the processing. It has you upload an image to their server and then it will analyze it pixel by pixel for the complimentary and primary dominant colors throughout the photo.

Obviously there are some background colors in photos from time to time so this offers the option to remove the background color from the processing. For security sake they will delete your image after 10 minutes, and it is renamed to prevent other people from directly accessing it.

Now you’ll know the answer the next time you ask “what’s that color?”

Note: No installation is required.

–WorkCoach (Homepage)–

Keep track of how your time is spent with WorkCoach! Are you constantly visiting websites, playing games, or do you actually do what you’re supposed to? There will be no more wondering once you get this free application installed!

In just seconds you can have WorkCoach setup to monitor what you spend your time doing on your PC. It is wonderfully configurable so that you can tell it to watch for certain applications and even get more specific my specifying a portion of what appears in the title of the window. That means you can have it watch your Web browser for “CyberNet” to appear in the title and that will allow you to keep track of how often you view our site.

This could also be useful for anyone who gets paid by how much time they spend working on a specific project, like creating a website. The developer also says that he would like to implement an option of having it notify you when a budget has been reached or a timer expires, which would really work well for anyone trying to manage multiple projects and divide time equally.

Note: Installation is required to use this application.

–PesterMe (Homepage)–

If you have a hard time remembering to do something, PesterMe is the answer. It lets you manually set a reminder duration and some text that it will pop-up with at the interval that you specify.

As you can see in the screenshots to the right there really isn’t much to the application. It is kept to the bare minimum but there is also a System Tray icon that you can use to have it stop pestering you or to configure what it is pestering you about. So when something needs to get done…there is no better way to remember than to receive the pop-ups that we all normally dread! Oh yeah…and it can play a sound as well.

Note: No installation is required.

–Virtual Resolution (Homepage)–

I have seen several programs do similar things to this, but this is by far the simplest. When developing applications or testing websites it is always nice to know exactly what things look like at certain resolutions. Virtual Resolution will draw a frame on the screen based upon certain dimensions that you choose. You can then use that as a guideline to adjust any of the given windows to the same size.

The only thing that would be nice to have seen this done is automatically resize specified windows. There are freeware programs that already do exactly that and WindowSize one of them. Just enter in your dimension using one of the preset values or your own value, and then choose the window you want it to resize. Anyone that writes applications or websites will find one of these two programs useful!

Note: No installation is required for both Virtual Resolution and WindowSize.

–TPClock (Homepage)–

I saved this one for last because it is more just for fun. TPClock is a binary clock for your System Tray, but I highly recommend that you become familiar with binary before this things drives you insane! In the screenshot to the right I have it setup to show the hours on the first line (at the top), minutes on the second line, and seconds on the bottom line. At that time the clock is showing “22:17:49″ which is equivalent to 10:17:49 PM. You can change the colors that are used but in this example the dark blue represents a binary “1″ and the lighter blue represents a binary “0.”

While the appearance of the clock isn’t bad it just doesn’t seem to layout the binary like I would want it to. Another free application, called Scott’s Binary Clock, breaks it up into digits so that it is much quicker to read. Doing it the way that clock does means that the largest number you have to add up in the conversion is 8…but that also means you’ll have more digits that you’ll have to convert. Also, with Scott’s program you can switch it into “12-hour” mode which is something I definitely need. So what’s the downside to that program? It doesn’t offer a System Tray version of the clock…instead it just sits quietly on your desktop which is something some of you might like more anyways.

Note: No installation is required for TPClock but you do have to install Scott’s Binary Clock if you decide to try it.

–Overview–

I’m sure you’ll find one or more of those programs to be useful. I think my favorite is TPClock just because it confuses so many people…including myself from time to time (literally). We also want to thank Donation Coder for naming CyberNet one of the “Favorite Website Discoveries” of 2006. We look forward to seeing more quality software that increases productivity!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on February 13, 2007 by CyberNet.

Time Saving Tuesday

Online video is the latest rage on the Internet, and it is almost mind boggling how much of a household name YouTube has become. Some people, such as lonelygirl15, have become YouTube SuperStars. In fact, lonleygirl15 even appeared on the Jay Leno show!

That is just one side of what the video sharing sites are used for. Besides for personal use, many sites (especially DailyMotion) are becoming a hub for copyrighted video content. Ashley recently covered a site called PeekVid which brings television shows and movies into a central location so that they can easily be viewed. Alluc is another site similar in nature to PeekVid, and between those two sites you can surely find something good to watch.

So what can you do if you don’t want to watch the videos while being connected to the Internet? Simple! You can download them and play them at your leisure. I’m going to give you a bunch of tips on how to get the videos onto your computer.

–Download a Video–

Downloading the videos that you want is probably just about the easiest part of the video process. There are so many tools out there to get the job done and they are so easy to find. Depending on what you’re looking to do these three tools will get the job done fast:

• VideoDownloader – This is a Firefox extension that works with all kinds of sites and content. Not only can you download videos from YouTube, Google, MetaCafe, iFilm, and DailyMotion but it will also let you save MP3′s and QuickTime videos that are embedded in sites. The list of sites that it supports is quite extensive so I’m not going to list them all here, but rest assured that this extension should get the job done.
• KeepVid – This is my personal favorite because it doesn’t require you to install any extension or application to download the videos. You can simply enter a URL into the site or you can use the bookmarklet that they have available for even faster conversions.
• GrabYouTubes – I wanted to include this service because it will surely come in handy when downloading videos from the PeekVid service that I mentioned above. All you have to do is provide the URL to the PeekVid movie or TV show that you want and it will quickly provide download links for all of the parts listed on that page. This is a lot easier than retrieving the download links one at a time. For more information on how to use the GrabYouTubes read Ashley’s post on PeekVid.

–Convert a Video–

If you didn’t notice most of the videos that you will download will be in the file format FLV. This isn’t something that most computers will recognize immediately and let you start playing, so you might want to convert it into a more recognizable format. Here are two ways that you can do the conversion:

• Online FLV Converter – This service is free and the great thing is that you don’t have to install a single application on your computer to have it converte videos. It can take a FLV file and transform it into an AVI, MOV, MP4, or 3GP so that you can watch the video on just about any device. This service is primarily geared towards YouTube since it does allow you to directly enter in a YouTube URL, but you can also enter in the URL to a FLV file (found using one of the utilities mentioned above). After giving it that information the service will download the video from the site and re-encode it into the format that you want. I tried it out and on smaller files (1MB or so) it works great, but I also tried a 10MB file that ended up error out. So if you’re trying to convert a large movie try the next solution.
  
• Super Video Converter – This video conversion utility is by far the most popular and happens to be one of the most CyberMarked articles on our site. This free application will let you convert a FLV file into a large array of other file formats, including AVI, MOV, iPod, Pocket PC, WMV, and PSP. It also allows you to customize various options so that the resulting video is exactly what you want.
  

–Play/Watch a Video–

You don’t have to convert a video just to watch it, though. If you have the right tool you can actually watch the FLV file right on your PC bypassing the whole conversion process. I looked around for at least an hour trying to find a nice player that was not only simple but offered what I thought was some very necessary features. I wanted to be able to play from a file that I downloaded and most importantly I wanted a fullscreen mode. Actually, the most important thing was that the application be freeware that wasn’t bloated with things that I didn’t want to use, but the fullscreen mode was still a critical deciding factor.

The result that I came up with was nFLVPlayer (download mirror). The application takes just seconds to install and it is simple enough for anyone to understand. The configuration options are minimal so power users may not get much joy from it, but you can still adjust the brightness, contrast, and a few other things. This program definitely gets my stamp of approval!

Download nFLVPlayer from our mirror

–Overview–

Now you’re going to be all set the next time that you want to take your videos with you on the go, which is great for those of us who don’t have access to the Internet 24/7. There are so many tools out there that can replace any of the ones that I listed above, but I covered the ones that I had experience with. With that being said we want to hear what you’re using to download, convert, and watch videos.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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