Hasta La Gadget!

This week the folks behind Blizzard Entertainment’s release of the next-generation Multiplayer Online Battle Arena game Heroes of the Storm have begun inviting players to the Alpha. This means that … Continue reading

This article was written on July 20, 2007 by CyberNet.

Yesterday Opera Watch “tagged” me so that I would write about 5 things that could make Opera better. This is kind of like a game, and since I can normally come up with a list of improvements for nearly any application, I thought it would be kind of fun. The key is that I have to tag 5 people at the end of this article so that the cycle continues.

The problem that I had was coming up with just five. Now don’t get me wrong, Opera is a great browser and I use it on a daily basis, but that doesn’t mean I can’t point out the areas they could improve on or excel in. Since the Opera team is so willing to listen to user suggestions I thought that I would give my top 5 recommendations, as well as all of the other things that I think they can do to make their browser stand out even more.

Here are my top 5:

1. Inline spell checking – Firefox has it, IE has it (with IE7Pro installed), and it is the first complaint that I always hear when people try Opera…”where’s the spell checking?” Opera has to get this feature soon because it is something power-users have become addicted to because of Firefox. Come on…this is the hottest thing since sliced bread!
2. Online bookmark syncing – Let’s face it, the web is a social place these days. Bookmark management is frequently done online with services like Google Bookmarks, Del.icio.us, and many others but, Opera doesn’t offer support for any of those. They need to develop some sort of bookmarks API so that users can create bookmark add-ons that work with the various services.
3. Better looking default theme – You know, I have yet to see a truly amazing browser theme that knocks my socks off. I think Opera can do it, and if I had to say which theme I think is the best out of all the browsers I think I would give that to Internet Explorer 7…especially running under Vista with the sweet transparency. Opera needs to rework their current theme, and maybe even throw in some Vista pizzazz by adding some of the cool transparent effects. You only have one chance to make a first impression!
4. New notifier – I actually think there should be a toolbar item available that is dedicated purely to notifications. That way users can choose where they want it to appear (since Opera does a great job of letting you customize the positioning and appearance of toolbars and toolbar items). Instead of having sliders, you could have notification balloons. It would be like having a System Tray for your browser…how cool would that be?
5. Toolbar/sidebar for widgets – Opera does support widgets but to use them right now isn’t really convenient. What they need to do is create some sort of sidebar or toolbar where people can dock their widgets. A good example of where this would be useful is with the weather. The docked widget could show the current weather, and then it will expand to the fullsize version if you hover over it or click on it…kinda like how the Vista sidebar works for some of the gadgets.

And then here’s my “not so important” wishlist:

1. An updater – I just don’t like having to re-download the entire browser for a simple update.
2. Better support for Greasemonkey scripts – People complain about Opera not supporting extensions, but I really don’t think that they need to. You can do a lot with Greasemonkey scripts, and Opera does a great job of supporting most of them. The ones that are really loaded up with features though seem to flop in Opera and don’t do a thing, so I think they could add some better Greasemonkey support or come up with an online converter to possibly fix (or point out) where the issues are.
3. Opera syncer – Synchronize my bookmarks, passwords, widgets, tabs, form data, and almost my entire Opera profile with a service that Opera sets up. That way I can keep all of my Opera profiles in sync.
4. Bookmark tagging – Folders are nice for bookmarks, but tagging support would also be pretty cool. Of course, I would still want the ability to structure my bookmarks into folders.
5. More site-specific settings – There are a lot of URL-specific and site-specific settings that you can adjust by pressing F12, but why can I not change the default font or zoom amount from that configuration screen?
6. Hide the Menu Bar – Internet Explorer 7 ditched the Menu Bar, and did it in a nice way. I think Opera can do the same (or offer it as an option) so that I don’t have to get an “Opera Button” to do it for me.
7. Duplicate bookmarks – If I’ve already bookmarked a site Opera should notify me. I’ve got hundreds of bookmarks and I’m sure that there are quite a few duplicates in the mix.
8. Select multiple tabs – It would be awesome if I could Ctrl+click or Shift+click on tabs to select multiple ones at the same time. Then I could rearrange the selected tabs all at once or even close them.
9. Right-click menu customizer – The only way to customize the right-click menu in Opera is to alter an INI file. There should be an easier interface for doing this. People probably wouldn’t use this often, but I’m sure they would use it.
10. Google gadget support – There are a lot of cool Google gadgets that I would like to use as widgets, such as the one for Google Talk.
11. Refresh bookmark favicons – The ability to refresh all of the favicons for my bookmarks with just a single click. It seems like a lot of my bookmarks don’t even have icons yet.
12. RSS reader support – Opera has the built-in RSS reader, but I don’t use it. They need to make it easy to subscribe to feeds using an external reader much like how Firefox does it.
13. Better developer tools – This is very much a lacking area for Opera…but I’ve heard that help is already on the way in an upcoming version.

It may seem like I’m picking on a lot of different areas that Opera is lacking, but there is one thing that you’ll notice isn’t on the list…performance! Opera brings down the house when it comes to performance even though it is already very feature-packed. I think that there are a few areas that they can improve on, and some unique features that they can throw in to lure some new users over from other browsers. After all, if users are willing to switch to the Firefox browser what’s to say they wouldn’t also be willing to switch to another browser like Opera?

–Who I’m Tagging–

So according to the rules I’m supposed to tag 5 people who will write about the top 5 things that they would like to see in Opera. Then they repeat the cycle, and it essentially becomes like one of those chain letters you receive in an email.

So who am I tagging? Well, one thing that Daniel really stressed in his article was that they want to hear some feedback from people who don’t use Opera as their default browser. I’m not exactly sure what browser everyone is using, but I do know some Firefox fans that I thought I would throw in. So without further ado here are the 5 people I am tagging:

1. Kyle from Kyle’s Cove – He’s an enthusiast when it comes to technology, and I’m sure he can come up with some good suggestions.
2. Firefox Extension Guru – He’s really on top of Mozilla-related browsers, so he would know some things Firefox users would like to see.
3. Percy Cabello from Mozilla Links – If Mozilla has done it, he has written about it. Maybe he wouldn’t mind throwing in his Opera feedback!
4. Brad Linder from Download Squad – He writes about all kinds of technology news and software, so this should be a natural thing for him.
5. Pieter De Decker from the Offtopic Blog – He’s written several Linux-related pieces here on CyberNet, and I’m sure Opera would love to hear what a dedicated Linux user thinks would make the browser better.

Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com

If you like coming up with songs, but don’t know the first thing about composing or playing an instrument, most of your ideas are likely going to be lost because you don’t have a way to record anything. If you can get your hands on some sort of keyboard, that’s a good first step as it has everything laid out for you. However, getting through the process of recording sometimes takes away from your original idea as you forget and muddle things as you go. Not knowing which key is which makes this even harder as you wouldn’t even know what to write down!

The Imitone is hoping to change that, by letting you record with whatever is easiest for you to use. This program is ‘plug and play’, and can turn humming, playing an instrument, or tapping on a table into notes. It’s about as close to mind-to-MIDI as we’re going to get. This will work with all sorts of different music programs, including GarageBand. You don’t even need a fancy microphone, as it can pull from your laptop (if it has a built-in mic).

The interface looks almost like a video game, which will help in making it easy to navigate. This will give you volume control, scale selection, pitch bend/glide, and it can detect vibrato. There is a more professional version as well, called Imitone Prime, which will give you voice timbre control, multi-channel control, adjustable tuning, noise cancellation, and more. Regular Imitone will cost you around $25, and the Prime version will cost around $60.

Available for crowdfunding on Kickstarter
[ The Imitone – a mind-to-MIDI program that can make anyone into a musician copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

This article was written on March 25, 2008 by CyberNet.

Apple’s Mac OS X operating system turned a lucky 7 years old yesterday, March 24. It was exactly 7 years ago that Apple released the first in the series of their flagship Mac OS X operating system, and since then it has become a rather strong competitor to Microsoft Windows in the consumer world.

While Mac OS X has been around for 7 years it was just on January 10th, 2006 that Apple released the update to Tiger which provided support for the Intel-based computers that they started to roll out. Then it was just a few months later that the first Beta of Boot Camp rolled out, which for the first time allowed Macs to natively run Windows. Ever since that time I would say that Apple’s computers have received a lot more attention, and have found their way into a lot more homes.

Seeing that Apple has had 6 different versions of Mac OS X since the original release it comes out to an average of almost one new release every year. Well, kind of. Below I have the release schedule for the Mac OS X line of operating systems. In parenthesis after each release date is the duration of time that passed since the previous Mac OS X release:

• March 21, 2001 – Mac OS X 10.0 Cheetah
• September 25, 2001 (6 months later) – Mac OS X 10.1 Puma
• August 23, 2002 (10 months later) – Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar
• October 24, 2003 (14 months later) – Mac OS X 10.3 Panther
• April 29, 2005 (18 months later) – Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger
• October 26, 2007 (29 months later) – Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard

As you can tell there is a growing trend of postponed OS X releases, and staying on this track would put the next release about 3 years from now. Maybe Apple will get things back in order for more a little more frequent releases, but I think this goes to show that Microsoft isn’t the only one having troubles at getting their operating system out on a timely schedule.

What I would like to applaud Apple for is offering their operating system at a flat $129 over the years. Not only has the price remained the same across the different versions of Mac OS X, but they’ve also strayed from having multiple editions every time there is a new release. Microsoft has progressively gotten worse with the number of editions of Windows for each subsequent release, and it causes a lot of confusion with the consumer.

So here’s to wishing the Mac OS X many more successful years! They are pushing Microsoft to get creative with Windows, and I can’t wait to see what Apple is going to pull out of their hat next.

[via TUAW]

Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com

This week we’re taking a look at the HTC One – and not just the HTC One M8, but the M7 as well, comparing the two hero releases to see … Continue reading