Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on April 18, 2007 by CyberNet.

Microsoft just released updated Virtual PC images for Windows XP that users can legally download. Virtual PC images are a single file that contain a “clone” of an operating system. The Virtual PC software is a free download provided by Microsoft and is used to run multiple operating systems inside of Windows. This is normally useful for developers who need to try a program that they’re developing on multiple operating systems to ensure proper compatibility, but it can also benefit other people.

So why would this be useful for you? The Virtual PC images that Microsoft just released come in two different flavors: one has Internet Explorer 6 (443MB) and the other has Internet Explorer 7 (491MB). This lets you test your websites out to see how they look on other browsers without actually needing to have multiple versions of IE installed on your computer.

There is actually another benefit to this that most people don’t realize. Using these images is also great for keeping your PC free from unnecessary clutter! If you’re thinking that you want to test out an application to see how much you like it, now all you have to do is install the program on the Virtual PC. That way if you don’t like it, you can easily remove it from your computer without wondering what registry settings or folders it left behind.

The only downside to using these is that the images expire August 17th, 2007, but that is still 4–months of free access to a Windows XP testing station. Also, these images are pre-activated, but Microsoft has deactivated the product keys so that they don’t pass the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) check. This is pretty logical because some users might try to retrieve the product key from the Virtual PC image and use it to install their own version of XP. If Microsoft allowed these keys to pass the WGA checks, then that product key would quickly become a goldmine for piracy.

Virtual PC Homepage (32–bit download or the 64–bit download)
Download the Internet Explorer 6 Virtual PC Image (443MB)
Download the Internet Explorer 7 Virtual PC Image (491MB)

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on June 27, 2007 by CyberNet.

Web Browser Wednesday

Mozilla has definitely made a name for themselves with Firefox, and have done such a great job of developing the browser that other people want to create their own browsers based on Firefox. To create their own browsers…they use Gecko, Firefox’s rendering engine as the core of the browsers that they create.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with what a rendering engine is I’ll try to explain that real quick. It is basically the aspect of the browser that takes the HTML code from a website and turns it into something that is organized the way that the developer intended it to look. It’s safe to say that it is the core of the browser, and since Firefox has gained a lot of popularity, other browsers can safely use Gecko knowing that most websites will look and function as they were intended. Similarly, the name of the Internet Explorer rendering engine is called Trident, (which even Google Talk uses to render the content of chat windows) and Opera’s is called Presto.

Today we’re taking a look at 6 other browsers, some you’ve probably heard of while others you haven’t, that use the Gecko rendering engine:

–Wyzo (Homepage)–

Wyzo is the Web browser offered by the same people who create the FireTorrent extension that we recently reviewed. You would think that it would come with the extension already integrated into the browser, but instead you have to download the extension separately. It also has a custom start page which can be found here.

Both the FireTorrent extension and the start page can be used in Firefox, so the only thing that sets it apart is the skin. It is probably one of the best Firefox skins that I have seen, and is the only thing that isn’t offered to current Firefox users.

Click to Enlarge

–uBrowser (Homepage)–

uBrowser is unique in the sense that it isn’t meant to be a dedicated browser that you use everyday. Instead, it was made as a way to implement the Gecko rendering engine into the popular 3D virtual world called Second Life.

Once you startup uBrowser, your first impression will probably be poor because of the simplistic interface, but the real goldmine is playing around with the settings in the right-sidebar. That’s where you’ll be able to transform the websites you visit into something that can be manipulated. The images speak for themselves:

Click to Enlarge

There is no installation necessary to try out uBrowser, just download the Windows ZIP file (the first file on the page), extract the contents, and run the uBrowser executable file.

–XeroBank (Homepage)–

You may not recognize this browser right away by its name, but that’s probably because they had to change their name. Previously XeroBank was called TorPark, and despite the name change, it still offers all of the same features that we previously pointed out.

This browser is completely portable and doesn’t require any installation, but it is essentially just a version of Firefox that comes with a bunch of extensions pre-installed. Nevertheless, it is a great tool for those of you who are concerned with privacy.

Click to Enlarge

–Flock (Homepage)–

I’m not going to say much about Flock because I recently wrote a heavy review on the next upcoming version that is due out in a few weeks. To sum it up in one sentence: Flock is a browser that is well integrated with social networks like Del.icio.us, Flickr, and MySpace.

Click to Enlarge

–Maxthon (Homepage)–

I always knew Maxthon as being the browser that works off of Internet Explorer. Little did I know that there is actually an option in the File Menu that you can enable for all new tabs to use the Gecko rendering engine. I tried it out and it worked like a charm.

The disappointing news is that the new Maxthon 2 that should be available soon (currently on Release Candidate 3) doesn’t have this feature because they don’t have anyone on the team that is handy with the Gecko rendering engine. I’m sure a lot of people would love to see this implemented later on, but it’s definitely not going to be ready at launch.

Click to Enlarge

–K-Meleon (Homepage)–

Now this is one cool browser! It is among the slimmest that I have mentioned here, and after running it for just a few minutes it reminded me of the early Firefox days. I had a hard time getting the memory usage to break the 40MB mark, and that was with almost 10 tabs open!

Besides that, it has the standard tabbed browsing (although they don’t call them tabs, instead they’re layers), mouse gestures, and a popup blocker. Oh, and you can use the Internet Explorer or Opera bookmarking systems in place of, or in addition to the Mozilla bookmarking system that it incorporates.

If you’re missing the old days of Firefox, I highly suggest that you try this browser out!

Click to Enlarge

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on December 15, 2005 by CyberNet.

Do you have any friends that you talk to on a messenger service that seem to always have the answer you are looking for? Well, a “buddy” has been made that will be at your side when needed. All you have to do is add the buddy encarta@conversagent.com to your list and when you ask a question, it will respond in a natural language. It uses Microsoft Encarta for the database to lookup answers so it wouldn’t know anything about what movie is playing tonight, but I am sure those types of “buddies” are out there if you look.

News Source: The Unofficial Microsoft Weblog

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich now official, includes revamped design, enhancements galore
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Galaxy Nexus, Ice Cream Sandwich roundup: specs, details and insight, oh my! originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 08:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This article was written on June 19, 2007 by CyberNet.

A new Firefox extension, called Glubble, is available that adds a parental control system to the Firefox browser. It’s nothing overly extravagant since it only enforces a whitelist of URL’s for the children, but it can give peace of mind to parents out there.

There is a default list of sites that ships with Glubble which are classified as kid-safe, and when setting up the accounts it asks whether the child is a boy or a girl. It uses that information to create a more customized homepage for the child based upon their gender. For example, a girl would have a link to Barbie on their site while a boy would not.

Children can request that certain sites be approved, and a parent can immediately approve the request if they are available to do so. If the parent is not available Firefox will prompt the parent to approve the site the next time they login.

Words don’t really do this justice, so I thought I would walk through a common scenario that might occur at a household. This demonstrates all of the various features that Glubble ships with (click any image to enlarge it):

1. After installing Glubble the parent will be prompted to create an account:
   
2. The parent then creates users, and they’ll be shown on a user management page. I named the users so that you can tell who is who, for example, the parent’s username stands for "I’m a Parent":
   
3. Firefox is locked until a child or parent logs in (this is what you’ll see when starting Firefox from now on):
   
4. A child logs on and is able to search Google, Yahoo, and visit some recommended sites using a customized Firefox skin. Note: When searching it only pulls up results for the approved sites.
   
5. A child can also navigate their sites using the drop-down menu from the top which shows thumbnail previews of the sites:
   
6. If a child tries to visit an unapproved site they will need to get the permission of a parent first:
   
7. If the parent wasn’t around to approve the site, they will be shown the request the next time they login to Firefox:
   
8. If the parent comes across a kid-friendly site while browsing around, they can instantly enable it for any of their kids:
   
9. Or they can manage the sites that are approved for a child:
   
10. And then when the child gets back online they will be notified that their site request had been approved:
    

As you can see this can be an extremely useful tool for parents who are trying to protect their kids from explicit content on the Internet. There is, however, a problem that arises for those people who have technological kids. It’s actually possible to remove (or temporarily move) the folder which contains the extension in the Firefox profile folder. That means the extension would immediately be deactivated and the user is given full access to the Internet, which can also be done by running Firefox in safe mode.

This doesn’t quite match up to the built-in parental controls that Vista has, which lets parents limit the amount of time that a child can use the computer, monitor their activity, and control which games they can play. In the reports the parents can even see the most recent websites that were visited, which applications a child ran, and what files they downloaded…none of which Glubble can do.

Of course Glubble doesn’t cost a thing, and knowledgeable parents not using Vista will hopefully see this as a way to protect their kids. When the final version of Glubble is released in October we’ll hopefully see some reporting features included, but they have definitely got the ball rolling in the right direction.

Download the Glubble Firefox Extension

Source: Spread Firefox

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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