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Oct 15

WrapUp: Unofficial Google Music Extension for Chrome, Windows Phone Mango Review, and More

Posted in: iPhone, jailbreak, Opera, Today's Chili, windows phone 7 series, WrapUp

This article was written on June 27, 2011 by CyberNet.

Welcome to the WrapUp by CyberNet. This is a collection of news stories, downloads, 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–

Google Health and PowerMeter Discontinued
If you used Google Health or Google PowerMeter you may be disappointed to hear that both of these free services will be shutdown soon.

Tmobile iphone T-Mobile USA Already Has Over a Million iPhones on Their Network
No one ever really knew how many iPhones people were using on T-Mobile USA because it was never officially allowed on the network. Now that Apple has unlocked the GSM iPhone T-Mobile USA is saying that there are over a million iPhone users on their network, most of which I presume are using older jailbroken iPhones that are software-unlocked.

Best buy music cloud Best Buy Cloud Music Service Off to a Rough Start
Best Buy is offering their own online music service, and as PCMag points out there are a lot of flaws in what they’ve rolled out thus far.

Computers FBI Seizes Web Servers
An investigation of the Lulz Security group by the FBI resulted in several web servers being seized, one of which was used by the Instapaper online service.

Mozilla Rolls Out Firefox 5 Already
Mozilla is holding true to their new deadline of a new browser release every 3-months, and Firefox 5 is the first proof of that. They are adapting this more rapid schedule to compete with Chrome, who got on a similar schedule shortly after the first release.

Flickr popular camera iPhone 4 Most Popular Camera on Flickr
The iPhone 4 has edged passed the Nikon D90 as the most popular camera on Flickr.

Apple time capsule Apple Updates Time Capsule and Airport Extreme
There were a lot of rumors about what could be coming in the new Time capsules and Airport Extreme routers, but most of those rumors appear to be false. Apple’s update to these devices are minor with the Time Capsule getting merely a storage bump.

What Happens in 60 Seconds on the Web
Have you ever been curious about what can happen in a minute on the Internet? This infographic highlights some stats from services like YouTube, Pandora, Craigslist, Facebook, Flickr, and more.

Skydrive redesign SkyDrive Goes HTML5
Microsoft has revamped their SkyDrive file storage service so that the web-based interface is powered by HTML5, and is overall much faster to navigate.

Dropbox Dropbox Suffers from Critical Security Bug for 4-Hours
Last week there was a 4-hour window where someone could login to any Dropbox account using any password. To make matters worse Dropbox didn’t officially post information on the issue until after the press got wind of it.

Verizon sign Verizon Rumored to be Moving to Tiered Data Plans on July 7th
According to a rumor Verizon will drop their unlimited data plan option on July 7th in favor of the following tiered structure: 2GB for $30/month, 5GB for $50/month, and 10GB for $80/month. Users wanting to tether would also have to pay $20 and would get an additional 2GB of data transfer.

Sagetv Google Scoops Up SageTV
If you were starting to think that Google doesn’t care about Google TV you’d be wrong. They acquired SageTV last week which is a media center hub that can also record television shows from your cable or antenna, and can stream those shows to other extenders throughout your house. If this kind of functionality makes its way into Google TV it could become a compelling product.

–Tips, Tutorials, and Reviews–

Imok Quickly Contact Friends/Family in an Emergency
I’m OK is a free service that has you send a text message to their service, and then they will relay on your message to all of your predefined contacts via email.

Torrent comments uTorrent 3.0 Gets a Comment System for Torrents
I’m sure most of us have downloaded a torrent at one time or another just to find out it isn’t what we expected it to be. The new uTorrent 3.0 commenting system will show you comments other users have left about the torrent you are downloading helping prevent those misguided downloads.

Chrome extension music Unofficial Google Music Extension for Chrome
If you’ve been grooving to your tunes with the new Google Music Beta then you may enjoy using the Better Music Beta extension. It gives you full control of your music playback without needing to jump back to the site.

Try Out the New Opera Theme
Opera is refreshing the theme that their desktop browser uses, and my first impression is that it feels even more like Google Chrome.

Minimize to tray Quickly Minimize Apps to the System Tray
This Windows app adds a right-click menu to the minimize button that can be used to send a window to the System Tray.

Upload dropbox files email Send Email Requests to Have Files Uploaded to Your Dropbox
The FileStork service makes it possible to send an email to someone asking them to upload a file to your Dropbox account without actually giving them access to all of the files.

Install Chrome Frame in IE Without Admin Rights
The new version of Chrome Frame for Internet Explorer will let anyone install it without needing admin privileges on the machine. This is especially helpful for people who want to install it on locked-down corporate machines.

Windows Phone Mango Review
Paul Thurrott has an excellent review of the upcoming Windows Phone Mango software update that is due out in Fall 2011. He gives his hands-on impression on the new features that Microsoft announced just a few weeks ago.

iOS 4 Jailbreakers Can Get the iOS 5 Lockscreen Camera Button
If you’ve jailbroken your iOS 4 device you can add an iOS 5-style camera button on your lock screen to make firing up the camera app a little faster.

Dropbox screen sharer Automatically Upload Screenshots to Dropbox
This free Windows utility can be used to snap a screenshot of your desktop, upload it to Dropbox, and copy a URL to your clipboard that can then be shared with someone else.

–Downloads–

Any Video Converter 3.25 [Homepage] [Mirror]
Evernote 4.4.1.4892 [Homepage] [Mirror]
KMPlayer 3.0.0.1441 [Homepage] [Mirror]
MetroTwit 0.8.1 ^Beta [Homepage] [Mirror]
openSUSE 12.1 ^{Milestone 2} [Homepage] [Mirror]
Opera 11.50.1067 ^Beta [Homepage] [Mirror]
Pidgin 2.9.0 [Homepage] [Mirror]
SeaMonkey 2.2 ^{Beta 1} [Homepage] [Mirror]
Thunderbird 3.1.11 [Homepage] [Mirror]
Thunderbird 5.0 ^{Beta 2} [Homepage] [Mirror]
uTorrent 3.0.25406 [Homepage] [Mirror]

Pandora Extension for Chrome is the Perfect Compact Player

WrapUp: Windows Phone Mango Features Revealed, Google Tasks Gets a Chrome Extension, and More

Best Wikipedia Chrome Extension

Best Wolfram Alpha Chrome Extension

Oct 12

CyberNotes: Vista Skins for Firefox and Opera

Posted in: Apple, CyberNotes, Freeware, Microsoft, Opera, Screenshots, Software, Today's Chili, Windows

This article was written on February 07, 2007 by CyberNet.

Web Browser Wednesday

Now that Windows Vista has been released it is time for software developers to start making their applications look a little cleaner with the Aero Glass interface. Right now most applications look alright, but many of them don’t take advantages of Vista’s new graphical capabilities…specifically browsers. Well, maybe not all browsers because Internet Explorer 7 sure looks sweet with its excess transparency (even the search bar has a little transparency):

IE7

Unfortunately the other browsers aren’t quite to the point where they can take advantage of those features because the operating system is still so new, but I’m sure it will come in due time. Seeing that I’m a Firefox/Opera user myself I began searching Google for some alternative skins for both of the browsers and managed to scrounge up some that will definitely look better for Vista users.

If you’ve seen Opera in Vista it really doesn’t look that bad so I don’t mind sticking with the default theme, but Firefox’s toolbars have a purplish glow that I just can’t cope with:

Firefox Plain

When comparing the appearance of that Firefox to Internet Explorer 7 in Vista, I would undoubtedly say that IE 7 wins. When I was searching Google for "Firefox Vista" I came across this skin made by a DeviantArt user. It still doesn’t offer the slick transparency that IE 7 has but I definitely like the look:

Firefox Vista

Using that skin makes Firefox blend in a lot more with the rest of the operating system. I’m hoping that at some point a skin will be made to utilize the "pixel shading" in Vista, which is what ads a blurry transparent effect so that text is still easy to read.

Now onto Opera! I think Opera’s default skin feels just right in Windows Vista without needing any change, but there is also a skin that makes the browser look a little more like what IE 7 offers. Of course, you’ll only be able to switch skins if you can pull yourself away from the PlayBoy skin, which is one of Opera’s most popular (safe for work screenshot, and borderline safe for work screenshot). Here’s what the LikeIE Opera skin looks like:

OperaVista

So those are the skins that I managed to find on my journey to making my browsers fit in a little better with Windows Vista. I’ve been contemplating how long it will be before developers actually jump on the Vista bandwagon and really go all out to make the applications look nice on the operating system, but I’m guessing it won’t be for more than a year. A lot of people are still using XP and I think that developers will hold off on spending more money on visual appearance until Vista starts to pick up more of the market share.

Custom iGoogle Skins

Firefox Extension Allows Users To Skin GMail Without Greasemonkey

CyberNotes: Your Week In Review With Sunday’s Summary

Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary

Oct 10

CyberNotes: Acid3 Browser Results

Posted in: CyberNotes, Internet Explorer, Opera, Software, Today's Chili, Web Sites, Windows

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

Web Browser Wednesday

The other day, the Web Standards Project released the Acid3 test that will push browsers to a new level. I’m sure many of you are already familiar with the Acid2 test which has become famous because of the often discombobulated block-like smiley face most browsers produce.

Browsers such as Safari, Konqueror, and Opera already pass the Acid2 test, and when Firefox 3 is released later this year it will as well. Microsoft has also put some work into Internet Explorer 8 so that it will pass the Acid2 test when it is eventually made available. All of the main browsers will be passing the Acid2 test about 3 years after it was initially released.

Now it is time to move on to bigger and better things… Acid3! The test is not nearly as cool as the smiley face in my opinion, but it does extensively test different aspects of the browser’s rendering engine. It runs a hundred different tests on the browser, and the result should look just like this:

acid3 test correct

This new test targets DOM scripting which is frequently used by Web 2.0 services for advanced interaction. Here’s what the Web Standards Project said about it in their press release:

The Acid3 Test is designed to test specifications for Web 2.0, and exposes potential flaws in implementations of the public ECMAScript 262 and W3C Document Object Model 2 standards. Collectively known as DOM Scripting, it is these technologies that enable advanced page interactivity and power many advanced web applications such as web-based email and online office applications.

We thought it would be fun to test out the browsers that are currently available to see how they stack up to each other on the Acid3 test.

–The Browser Test–

Here are some things to note about our tests:

All of these browsers were tested on Windows Vista.
The browsers started with a clean profile and no extensions or add-ons were installed.
The results below are sorted from the best to the worst.
Click on any of the screenshots for a full-size version.

Safari 3.1 (Nightly r30626): 86/100

Firefox 3 (Nightly 03/04/2008): 67/100

Opera 9.5 (Beta 9815): 65/100

Firefox 2.0.0.12: 50/100

Opera 9.26: 46/100

Safari 3.04 (Beta 523.15): 39/100

Internet Explorer 7: 12/100

–Overview–

So it looks like the nightly builds of Safari really take the crown for this test. It was the closest browser to perfectly complete the test by quite a large margin, with Firefox 3 and Opera 9.5 coming in second and third place. It’s obvious from the results posted above that the current stable builds of all the browsers are definitely not close to passing the Acid3 test.

If you’re on a Mac or Linux machine I would love to hear what you’re results are in some of the other browsers that are available.

Related Posts:

Internal Opera Build Passes Acid3 Test

Browsers Start to Take Notice of Acid3 Test

Apple’s WebKit Scores 100/100 on Acid3, too

Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary

Mozilla’s Take on Acid3 Test

Oct 09

CyberNotes: Cookie Editors in Firefox & Opera

Posted in: CyberNotes, Firefox Extensions, Opera, Screenshots, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on November 28, 2007 by CyberNet.

Web Browser Wednesday

Cookies in web browsers are an easy way for sites to store authentication/login information, settings, and so much more. One of the things that some sites do for security or privacy purposes is force the cookies to expire after a period of time. Sometimes they expire after a day, a week, a year, or when you close your browser. If there was a way to edit the cookies you would be able to adjust the expiration date so that you didn’t run into that problem.

Oh, but wait, there is a way to edit your browser’s cookies! It’s actually rather easy to do in both Firefox and Opera, so today we’ll take a look at how to edit cookies.

–Opera–

One of the great things about Opera is that they give you a lot of control over the content and properties of a cookie. If you want to alter a cookie it is as simple as heading over to the Preferences and clicking a few buttons.

To change a cookie in Opera go to Tools -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Cookies -> Manage Cookies. Then find the cookie that you want to change, and click the Edit button. You’ll then be presented with a dialog where you can customize the expiration date or any other information contained within the cookie:

Click to Enlarge

As you can see it is rather easy to do in Opera thanks to the built-in advanced editor that the browser comes equipped with.

–Firefox–

Firefox is only able to view your browser’s cookies out-of-the-box, but as expected there are a few extensions available to do the dirty work. My personal favorite is Add N Edit Cookies, which has a simple yet powerful interface for managing and creating cookies.

Once you get the extension installed here’s what you’ll have to do to edit the cookies:

Go to Tools -> Cookie Editor, and then perform a search for the cookie you’re looking for. After you find the cookie you want select it and click the Edit button.
Now you’ll be presented with all of the cookie’s properties that you can edit. To change the expiration date of the cookie fill in the New expiration date bubble located at the bottom of the properties window:
(Click to enlarge)
Save your changes, and then close out of the cookie editor.

–Recap–

To sum things up, it is pretty easy to manipulate the cookies in your browser, provided that you have the right tools handy. Some of the websites I visit have the logins expire after a very short period of time or when I close the browser, and it can get rather annoying. By adjusting the dates on some of my cookies I can avoid having to login to many sites over and over again.

Tip: You just need to be careful because often times these short-lived cookies are for your own protection and privacy.

Edit Your Google Chrome Cookies

CyberNotes: Your Week In Review With Sunday’s Summary

Built-In Opera Features That Firefox Needs Extensions For

Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary

Oct 08

Where is the Browser Market Headed?

Posted in: Firefox 3, Internet Explorer, Opera, Software, Today's Chili

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

firefox chrome ie.png There has been more talk about web browsers in the last few weeks than any time I can remember in the past. Google Chrome came out of the Beta phase, Opera unveiled the first Alpha release of version 10, Internet Explorer 8 is suspected to have a 3rd Beta coming in the next month, and Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 was just unveiled. This is becoming a hugely competitive market, and it’s made me wonder whether Mozilla will be able to hold their ground.

Taking a look at Firefox 3.1 I’ve noticed that some great features have been added to the browser, but will it be enough to retain and attract new users? A lot of my friends have already jumped ship to Google Chrome because it has just the right features without overdoing it. Once Chrome supports extensions like Firefox does, which is supposed to be soon, I’m sure Mozilla will be in for a rude awakening as they lose more of their users.

Is Mozilla at risk more than others? I believe so. Firefox users show that they’ve been willing to switch browsers once in order to find something that better fits their needs. For that reason I feel that initially Google Chrome’s marketshare will be eating away at Firefox’s, but it could be another story if Google follows through on their plan to have their browser ship on some new computers like they already do for some of their other software. Doing that would surely lay down the gauntlet for the competition… especially for those browsers who have been relying heavily on word-of-mouth.

Is Firefox 3.1 going to be enough to keep you a faithful Mozilla user? Remember the Ctrl+Tab switcher that Mozilla had in earlier releases? After receiving some negative feedback Mozilla decided to yank that feature out of the browser, and I think that might be the right call. I thought it was kinda nice to have, but I heard more complaints than praises about it. That’s a good sign that they are definitely listening to their users, but what about the other features they are including:

Private browsing mode
Enhanced session recovery – after the browser crashes you can select which tabs you want to restore
Some support for operating system sounds
Selective results in the address bar using symbols [read more]
Tab detaching
Improved performance
Better support for the Acid 3 test

I feel that Mozilla is trying to keep up with some of the other browsers as well now. For example, the private browsing mode was originally said to be pushed back again, but once Google Chrome came out Mozilla seemed to think it was a higher priority. They also added a tab detaching feature similar to that of Chrome, and it’s one thing I truly wish I could disable. I find myself detaching tabs by accident all of the time, and it’s a pain since they will then open in a new window when that happens.

Personally I’ve been a huge fan of Firefox since before version 1.0, but I’m happy to see all of the competition they are getting. Firefox has been pushing Internet Explorer to rethink their browser for years now, and Microsoft now pays more attention to how they can make their browser better for their users. I think Google Chrome, Safari, and Opera are doing the same thing as Firefox by making it more important than ever to come out with useful and innovative features.

So where do you think the browser market is headed? Are we looking at one browser that will take the crown, or will we never see one dominate like Internet Explorer once did?

OS & Browser Market Share History

Safari Browser Stats for March are…

Mac Market Share on the Rise

Firefox, Safari, & Opera Hit Record-High Market Share

Sep 27