Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on February 14, 2008 by CyberNet.

Something you may not realize is that Firefox has a setting that will prefetch websites and images to improve the user’s browsing experience, and it’s actually enabled by default. It will utilize your browser’s idle time to prefetch images and websites as determined by the webmasters.

Mozilla has an entire page setup to describe how the link prefetching mechanism works, and here is the summary that they provide:

Link prefetching is a browser mechanism, which utilizes browser idle time to download or prefetch documents that the user might visit in the near future. A web page provides a set of prefetching hints to the browser, and after the browser is finished loading the page, it begins silently prefetching specified documents and stores them in its cache. When the user visits one of the prefetched documents, it can be served up quickly out of the browser’s cache.

Webmasters can enable the prefetching by placing code like this in their website:

<link rel="prefetch" href="/images/big.jpeg">

The HREF is what points to the website or image that needs to be prefetched, and in this example a fullsize version of a thumbnail is cached so that it loads faster. This can obviously be a useful feature, but it can also result in unwanted cookies and cached items showing up on your computer. Even Google uses this to cache the first result that is displayed.

If you don’t want Firefox to do this then you’ll have to manually go and disable it:

1. In the Firefox Address Bar type about:config and press Enter.
2. Find the option that is named network.prefetch-next and double-click on it.
3. Change the value to false.

I’m not quite sure how I feel about Mozilla prefetching content without the users ever knowing. To me that is something they should ask users whether they want to enabled it when initially setting up the browser, especially since it can store cookies for websites that you yourself never actually visit.

What do you think about the prefetching?

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on August 28, 2008 by CyberNet.

Tutorial Thursday

Windows only
File sharing is becoming more and more important these days, and that’s one reason why I’m always looking for easy ways to upload images and files. A recent program I came across called Rightload looks to remove the hassle of uploading files to common sites, or even to your own FTP.

With it you can right-click on a file or folder, and then have it upload the selected files to a service or FTP server of your choice. Before you can do any of that you’ll need to set up the program to work with those services.

The screenshot above shows what Rightload looks like after starting it up for the first time. Below you’ll find instructions needed to set up an FTP account or a few select web services (Imageshack, TinyPic, Rapidshare, etc…), and then also a brief tutorial on how the program works.

–Set up Your Accounts–

To set up one of your own FTP servers you’ll want to go to Tools -> Manage Servers, and press the New Server button. Now all you have left to do is enter in the details for your FTP account, including the default directory you want the files uploaded into.

You can select the Synchronize Directories option at the bottom of the screen to have it fetch all of the folders already created on the FTP server. That will make it possible to do one-click uploads to certain directories on your server, and in the next section you’ll see why that would be useful.

One of the other really nice things about Rightload is that it supports popular hosting sites like Imageshack, TinyPic, and Rapidshare. To sweeten the feature even more there’s absolutely nothing you need to configure. Instead you just have to import an XML file into the program.

The full list of XML files for the supported services can be found here. I’ve taken what will likely be the four most popular ones, and listed them below. What you’ll need to do is right-click on the one(s) you want, and save them somewhere on your computer.

• Imageshack
• Rapidshare.com
• Rapidshare.de
• TinyPic

After you have the XML files on your computer you’ll want to import them into Rightload. In the app go to Tools -> Import servers, and then browse for the XML file you want to import. You should receive a message saying that the import process was successful:

–Using Rightload–

Now that you have all of the accounts set up you can start using Rightload. Just right-click on a file or folder, move your mouse over the Upload with Rightload menu, and select the service/location where you want the files uploaded. If you’ve created/synchronized any directories in your FTP account they will also show up in the menu:

It’s important to note that uploading an entire folder will only work with FTP locations. That’s because it replicates the folder structure on the server, and it obviously can’t create folders on sites like TinyPic.

After an upload has been completed you’ll be presented with a list of URL’s that can be formatted in either HTML or BBCode (for forums). Here’s what it looked like when I uploaded two images to the TinyPic service, and applied a BBCode formatting to them:

Notice how I can copy all of the links in a single click? That makes it a lot easier to post images or files in bulk to a site or forum.

–Overview–

This type of program can end up being a huge time saver since it is capable of uploading and providing links to files you have sitting on your desktop. There’s nothing hard to configure, you can just right-click on files or folders to initiate an upload, and it’s free. It’s an all-around winner in my book.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on June 16, 2007 by CyberNet.

Weekend Website

Video sites have been popping up all over the place, even ones with a focused niche. YouTube, MetaCafe, and the like are great for your random sampling of just about anything, but what if you’re looking for something on a more specific topic? One such site with a focused niche is called ExpertVillage and their focus is specifically on “how-to” videos. These how-to videos range from instructions on changing the oil in your car, to learning how to belly-dance, and everything in between.

At ExpertVillage, their goal is to provide how-to videos and articles containing advice from experts in their fields. For each video or article, they provide the credentials of the person being filmed so that you can get an idea of how credible the information is. For example, a video on how to read sheet music for piano is given by someone who has a degree in Music and Theater, and teaches piano lessons. I’d feel pretty confident getting advice on piano from someone with those credentials.

Finding the Videos

Finding the how-to videos is simple.  They’re broken down into 12 different categories which include: Automotive, Beauty and Fashion, Crafts, Food and Drink, Health and Fitness, Hobbies, Home and Garden, Music, Parenting, Pets, Sports, and Other.  While they do have a wide range of categories, you’ll notice that they do not have a how-to technology category, so this isn’t the place to get your tech advice. The videos tend to be short so that you don’t lose interest, and they get to the point pretty quickly.

Registered Users

Anybody can go to ExpertVillage to view the how-to videos, however you can also become a registered user.  The only difference with registered users is that they are able to rate and comment on an article or video. You can also bookmark your favorites so that when you click on “My Videos,” you’ll be able to quickly find all of your previous favorites.

Embed the Player

Just like other video sites, you can embedded the player on your own site. When you click on a video you’ll get the code to link to the video, as well as the code to embed the video. Below you’ll find a video that I have embedded titled “The Floating Card Trick Explained: Learn Free Magic”

Wrapping it up

With over 17,000 videos and over 1700 experts (and counting), ExpertVillage is a great resource for getting advice on a wide array of topics.  You can also get involved as either an expert or as a film-maker.  Film-makers have their own equipment, shoot content, and then send it in to the company. If that sounds interesting to you, they’ve got additional info on their site.

Now go on, go learn how to do something new like: Standing Up on the Surf Board, When to Travel: How to Plan a Vacation, Choosing a Tent Site (Camping), How to Check your Engine Coolant Level, or any of the many others!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on July 03, 2009 by CyberNet.

Windows only
I’m always looking for awesome backup solutions that you won’t have to pull your wallet out for, and there’s no arguing that there are plenty of free apps out there. One that really caught my attention recently was PureSync. it does all of the common things you’d expect from a backup program such as two-way syncing or a one-way backup. The interface is extremely simple, which is something I did find refreshing… often times these programs get cluttered because of all the features they try to include. This has a good balance.

The real power of the program I would have to say lies in options it offers for automatic synchronization:

• When folders are found – this is what really made me take a serious look at this program. I can have PureSync look for a specific folder/drive, and when it gets connected a backup will automatically be kicked off. You know how valuable this can be if you’ve ever had a USB drive die on you, or maybe you’ve lost a memory card. Heck, maybe you just want the same files on your computer and portable drive so that changes you make in one location will automatically get carried over once the device is plugged in.
• When a file has been modified – When you’re working on a really important project there is always that fear in the back of your mind that something unexpected might happen to your machine. Maybe your computer is going to explode right before you hit the print button? With this option you can have it make a copy of a file as changes are made to it, and move it over to another location… hopefully to an external drive a few feet away from your computer, and sitting next to a fire extinguisher.
• On a schedule – this is obviously a no-brainer, and any usable backup program will have this option.

If it weren’t for those options I’m not sure if this app would have struck me as being something special. Overall I’d say it’s pretty good, but then again I haven’t put it through any huge file transfers.

PureSync Homepage (Windows only; free)
[via MakeUseOf]

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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