Jan 14

Firefox 4 Beta 9 is Out

Posted in: Miscellaneous Tech, Today's Chili

Firefox4Beta.jpg

If you’ve been waiting on the edge of your seat for the new Firfox to come out, relax, today’s the day. The latest Firefox 4 Beta is now available for testing out. Get get it.

The Mozilla Blog says that new version has a fresh new look and features like App Tabs and Panorama for easier Web navigation. It also claims the Firefox 4 Beta everythign will be fast, from start-up time to page-load speed and the performance of Web applications and games. With Firefox Sync integrated into the browser, you can access your Awesome Bar history, bookmarks, open tabs and passwords across computers and smartphones. For developers, the new version also has full support for HTML5 features, including WebM and HD video, 3D graphic rendering with WebGL, hardware acceleration and the Mozilla Audio API to help create visual experiences for sound. 

There are a bunch more new features. So, go ahead. Be one of the first to have it. Download the beta, and test it out for yourself. Make sure you’re giving feedback (I know, it’s kind of annoying), or what’s the point?

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Jan 13

Helpful Tip: Recover Lost Bookmarks in Firefox 3

Posted in: Firefox 3, Freeware, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on August 12, 2008 by CyberNet.

firefox 3 bookmark backup-1.png

Last year we provided a thorough guide on how you can recover lost bookmarks in Firefox, but as an anonymous reader pointed out some of the tips provided no longer work in Firefox 3. This is because Mozilla revamped the bookmarking system so that it performs better, and is also capable of more advanced functionality such as tagging. The good news is that recovering lost bookmarks in Firefox 3 is even easier than it was before!

What you need to do now is go to Bookmarks -> Organize Bookmarks -> Import and Backup -> Restore, and then select the date of one of the backups (the date is in year-month-day format). You’ll then receive a prompt asking if you’re sure you want to replace all of your existing bookmarks with those from the backup, and once you hit the OK button you’ll be all set.

Any site you’ve bookmarked since the last backup will be lost since this does replace your current bookmarks. For that reason you may want to consider performing a manual backup before proceeding with restoring your old bookmarks. This can be done using the Backup option located right above the Restore option. You’ll then be asked where you want to save the file, and restoring them is as simple as going to Restore -> Choose File.

Feel free to adjust the number of automatic bookmark backups kept by Firefox 3, which is still the same from our previous guide.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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Jan 12

CyberSearch Tops 25,000 Downloads

Posted in: Firefox 3, Firefox Extensions, Freeware, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on January 07, 2009 by CyberNet.

cybersearch.pngIt’s definitely hard to believe, but after 6-months of being released the CyberSearch extension has been downloaded over 25,000 times from Mozilla’s add-ons site. The stats page for our add-on appears to be a bit screwed up since it’s only reporting that we have 3 active users, but the average number of you actively using CyberSearch is around 4,000… which is probably a bit more accurate.

One thing I’ve really tried to do with the extension is listen and respond to the feedback of the people who are using it. I try to respond to every email I receive regarding the extension, and I’ve also come to learn that there are quite a few of you who are using it in pre-release versions of Firefox. That’s one reason I have a strong focus on the compatibility with both stable and nightly releases.

So hopefully all of you using CyberSearch are still enjoying it! I’m rather amazed that it has a 5-star average out of the 66 reviews thus far, and hopefully it will continue on that streak. What I’d really love to see some day is CyberSearch get front and center on the Add-ons homepage, but I don’t expect that to happen anytime soon.

CyberSearch Homepage
CyberSearch on Mozilla Add-ons

Copyright © 2011 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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Jan 11

Mozilla Hopes to Retain more Firefox Users

Posted in: Freeware, Mozilla, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on August 08, 2007 by CyberNet.

Firefox Retention

Mozilla is currently taking new steps to improve upon their 50% user retention rate for Firefox. That number means that only half of the people who try Firefox actually continue to use it on a regular basis. So what’s Mozilla going to do to make that number even better? Here’s their plan:

  1. Force the Firefox icon to easier to find location
  2. Alter the default browser settings path for better user choice
  3. Major outbound brand marketing program driving brand recognition and differentiation
  4. Change Firefox icon label to closer resemble action of getting to web
    Firefox Icons
  5. Improve download page and first run pages
  6. Launch support.mozilla.com
  7. Make common plug-ins work out of the box
  8. Make add-ons and personas more accessible
  9. Stickier start page
    Firefox Frontpage
  10. Make the web feel more human
  11. Improve messaging through communication channels

Mozilla recently started a community effort to create more support documentation, and we’ve been contacted by Mozilla to see if Chris from our very own Learn Firefox could contribute some of his work to the project. We’re still trying to work out some of the terms regarding that, but Learn Firefox has everything beginners and advanced users need to know about getting started with the browser. And if you’re looking for a theme there is no better place than Learn Firefox to browse over 200 of them!

There’s no doubt that Mozilla is making some progress as they climb up to 20% of the browser market share, and hopefully by implementing some of these tactics it will increase their retention rate. In the first week of September Mozilla should also be hitting a big milestone: 400 million downloads of Firefox. They are currently close to 390 million downloads, and I’ve estimated the 400 million mark using the current download rate.

Source: Ars Technica

Copyright © 2011 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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Jan 09

CyberNotes: Sync Bookmarks Between Browsers

Posted in: CyberNotes, Features, Firefox Extensions, Freeware, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on January 16, 2008 by CyberNet.

CyberNotes
Web Browser Wednesday

One of the most valuable pieces of data your browser can hold are your bookmarks. For some people it’s not only important to access your bookmarks no matter where you’re at, but also from whatever browser you are using. That’s why today we are taking a look at some different ways you’ll be able to sync bookmarks between the different browsers.

Something I spent a lot of time doing was hunting around for a solution that would work in several different browsers, instead of just Firefox and Internet Explorer. Unfortunately there wasn’t a lot I could find because some browsers, like Opera, don’t make it easy for third-party bookmarking services to be integrated.

Luckily Opera 9.5 (currently in the Beta stage) will include bookmark synchronization with Opera’s own servers. What I would like to see is Opera open up their bookmarking service and create an API that other developers could use. That way their service could become the one-stop shop for remote & cross-browser bookmark synchronization. But until that happens here are some alternative solutions:

–FavoriteSync & PlainOldFavorites–

Firefox Favorites PlainOldFavorites is a Firefox extension that gives users direct access to the Internet Explorer Favorites. With it you can access, add, and organize your favorites from within Firefox. Once installed this will add a new menu option that will be adjacent to your existing Firefox Bookmarks menu, and the two bookmarking systems are always kept separate from each other.

You can make the system even more powerful if you combine it with the free FavoriteSync utility. This will synchronize your Internet Explorer Favorites with a remote server so that the bookmarks can be accessed from any computer.

–Del.icio.us–

Del.icio.us is one of the most popular online bookmarking services, and they offer a variety of tools that integrate with it. There is an add-on for Internet Explorer, a Firefox extension, and bookmarklets that should work in the other browsers.

I’ve tried out Del.icio.us before, but for some reason it never really struck me as all that great. It’s nice that your bookmarks are accessible from any browser via their website, but I just don’t feel like I have the control over my bookmarks that I would like to have. I guess you could say that I’m more of a folder guy rather than a tagger.

–Diigo–

Diigo is really more than just a bookmarking service. In addition to letting you save and organize bookmarks, you can also clip text and images from websites. Just like Del.icio.us they have an add-on for Internet Explorer, extension for Firefox, and bookmarklets designed for the other major browsers.

Don’t shrug off the bookmarklet as a weaker version of the add-ons. Diigo’s bookmarklet is surprisingly powerful, and you’ll find almost all of the features contained within the add-ons. If you’re using a browser other than Internet Explorer or Firefox Diigo would be a perfect fit for you.

–Zinkmo–

We’ve previously written about Zinkmo and explained about how it works, so we won’t go too much in depth here. It’s an all-in-one solution for people who want to synchronize their bookmarks between Firefox and Internet Explorer…remotely! They’ll store your bookmarks on a remote server, which makes this an ideal solution for people who use one browser at home, and a different one at work.

–Google Bookmarks–

Google Bookmarks is integrated into the Google Toolbar for both Internet Explorer and Firefox, but Firefox users also have the GMarks extension for even more control. Google’s bookmarking system is similar to Del.icio.us in that it uses a labeling/tagging system for organizing the bookmarks. The tools used to display the bookmarks will transform these tags into a folder-like system.

If you’re using a browser other than Internet Explorer or Firefox just drag this bookmarklet into your bookmarks:

Google Bookmark

That bookmarklet will let you bookmark the site currently being viewed in the browser. Unfortunately the only way to view and manage your existing bookmarks is to visit the official Google Bookmarks homepage.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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Jan 09

CyberNotes: Minimizing Firefox Memory Leaks

Posted in: CyberNotes, Freeware, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on November 15, 2006 by CyberNet.

CyberNotes
Web Browser Wednesday

Memory leaks seem to follow Firefox with every release but have you ever stopped to think that some of those leaks may be the cause of an extension(s) that you have installed? Many of you probably have thought about that but you haven’t taken the time to disable them one-by-one to find the culprits.

Firefox IE LogoI don’t blame you because it takes some time to do that. First you have to record your memory usage after about an hour of using the browser. Then you have to disable one of the extensions and spend about another hour of browsing to see what your memory usage climbs back upto.

I take the time to do it every now and then but I typically have less than 7 extensions installed and I have found most of them to be leak-free. However, with the release of Firefox 2 I decided to give two extensions another shot after not using them for months: Tab Mix Plus and IE Tab.

I had forgotten how great Tab Mix Plus was and quickly became addicted to it all over again. After a few hours of installing the extension I noticed Firefox starting to run slow so I pulled up my memory usage and it was at 120MB! That isn’t as bad as some of you might experience but that is 40MB over my normal amount. It was hard but I determined that I would rather eliminate this memory leak so I ditched Tab Mix Plus, once again. :(

Firefox using IE Tab Next up was IE Tab. I didn’t install this simultaneously with Tab Mix Plus because I never install more than one “trial” extension at a time. After I have it installed long enough I’ll move the extension from the “trial” category to the “I think it’s a keeper” category. IE Tab was a little better than Tab Mix Plus but after around an hour of typical usage the memory meter was reading a little over 100MB which means IE Tab contributed around 20MB to the memory leaks. Needless to say I don’t use the extension that much so I decided to drop this one as well.

These memory leaks get pretty frustrating but I feel bad for the Mozilla team because so many people criticize their browser for being loaded with the leaks, when in fact the leak is often caused by an extension that the user has installed. Months ago I put together a list of extensions that are known to have leaks and IE Tab was on that list, but ironically enough Tab Mix Plus was one of the solutions to another problematic extension. I’m not sure what caused Tab Mix Plus to start leaking memory but after removing it from Firefox my memory usage returned to the 80-90MB for typical use.

Then there is always this about:config tweak that doesn’t remove the memory leaks but will free Firefox from using your physical memory as soon as you minimize the browser. Opera has this feature enabled by default and I think it is a good idea to use it in Firefox as well.

What’s the best way to start fresh and minimize the amount of memory that Firefox uses? The solution that everyone is saying works 100% is restarting Firefox, although that is just a temporary solution as well. The problem is that no one ever wants to restart Firefox because they don’t want to lose their open tabs or windows. No problem! Firefox 2 has a built-in session restore feature that can be utilized to cure that situation. Just install the Restarter extension (yes, another extension :) ) and it will add an option in the File menu to restart Firefox. It will automatically remember all of the tabs that you have open and even all of the windows. This is definitely a must-have extension for everyone using Firefox 2 and especially those people who are plagued with memory leaks!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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Jan 08

Mozilla Wants To Hear Your Opinion On The New Theme

Posted in: Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on September 02, 2006 by CyberNet.

Firefox 2 Theme

It seems like everyone has a bone to pick with Mozilla’s new Firefox 2 theme but who do you tell? Asa Dotzler posted on his blog that he wants to hear your opinion. He said “I haven’t had the time to look for opinions outside of the regular watering holes, but so far it looks like the nos are outnumbering the yeas.“

I think the theme blends in well with Windows Vista because of the glossy icons, but if you use the classic Windows theme then it starts to look a little out of place. One person in the comments said that on a Mac it is not a “visual refresh”, instead it is a “visual disaster.” Another person went on to say that the Home icon looks like a refreshed Netscape 3 icon.

If you haven’t gotten around to trying out Firefox 2 Beta 2 then head on over to their download page, or you can use the portable version that I have put together.

So do you like the new theme or is this going to be something that you switch immediately after installation?

Copyright © 2011 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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Jan 08

Greasemonkey Script To Put Google Reader In GMail

Posted in: Google, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on October 13, 2006 by CyberNet.

Google Reader Greasemonkey Script The new Google Reader is pretty nice but Google still needs to integrate it into many of their other services. In the mean time you may want to check your news at the same time that you are checking your email. You can do so with this amazing Greasemonkey script that will show a link for your feeds in the sidebar of GMail. It will also show you how many unread feeds you currently have and when you click on the link it pulls up your unread articles! Pretty nice!

The person that created this script is the same person that made my favorite Greasemonkey script called GMail Conversation Preview. Using that script you can right click on any message in your Inbox and it will show you a popup window with the contents of the message. It saves me so much time and lets me quickly read my messages.

Honestly, GMail should have a feature similar to Google Reader where you can click on article’s title in the collapsed view and it will expand it without the need to take the user away from their Inbox. That would make reading emails a lot quicker but until then I will be using GMail Conversation Preview. It would also be cool if Cooliris was compatible with GMail but it doesn’t seem to work.

Thanks to everyone who sent in this tip!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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Jan 06

Using the Moto Atrix Notebook-Slash-Smartphone [Video]

Posted in: Android, Chrome, chrome os, Google, hands-on, motorola, netbook, Today's Chili, top

The Atrix is a pretty great phone by itself—two 1GHz cores and 1GB of RAM makes things speedy—but it’s even more useful when you dock it into their laptop for heavy duty computering. More »

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Jan 06

NoSquint For Firefox Makes Reading Text Easier

Posted in: Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on November 09, 2006 by CyberNet.

NoSquint If you have a hard time reading some websites then you should download the NoSquint Firefox extension. Once installed you can adjust the default text zoom level so that the text will appear larger or smaller by default. You can also have it change the size of the text based on the domain you are visiting.

This is one extension that comes in handy for certain sites. However, I don’t think I actually use it for the purpose it was designed for. When I visit sites, like Google, I have it shrink the text down to 95% because it is still readable and more fits on my screen at the same time then. I have a lot of custom domains setup to automatically adjust the size of the text each time I visit them.

Whether you use the extension to make text larger or smaller I’m sure you’ll find it useful on at least a few sites.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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