I have been a Mozilla Firefox fan for many years, but during that time I have tried a couple of others, such as Opera and Google Chrome. Previous versions of Chrome just didn’t cut it for me, as it didn’t have the Extensions like Firefox does. I like to use certain Extensions/AddOns to make my Web Browsing experience more enjoyable, but now that Google Chrome has Extensions it’s time to try it one more time.

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Installation was nice and easy and my Bookmarks and Site History copied over easily. It was like I hadn’t changed browsers, at all.

To make Chrome similar to how I used Firefox, these are the Extensions I am using :-

• Mouse Gestures – I discovered this when I started using Opera a long time ago, and once you get used to it, you’d wonder what you did without it. It works by holding down the Right Mouse button and drawing a pre-determined line that is assigned to do a task. I have mine set to : Draw an L to close a Tab, Draw a vertical line up to open a new Tab, While sitting over a link Draw a vertical line down to open a link in a new background Tab, and Draw a line left or right to go forwards or backwards in your Tab history.

  The biggest benefit is for a laptop user, I guess, but it’s just awesome to not have to move your mouse pointer to an X at the top of the screen to close etc. when the little fella is at the bottom of the screen. Just hold the right mouse button, draw the Mouse Gesture, done. Extension name : Smooth Gestures

• AdBlock – This wonderful extension keeps those pesky Porno site ads etc. in check, by giving you the option to hide them. Interestingly, but predictably, the Chrome version of this extension doesn’t work too well on the Google owned YouTube, as it hides some of the videos along with the ads. On Firefox, it works perfectly. I used to wonder what people were on about when they discussed YouTube ads, and the reason is because Firefox and AdBlock were doing such a great job of blocking them. I now have AdBlock disabled on Chrome for YouTube and the Ads aren’t overly intrusive. Extension name : AdBlock
• Search Box – One of the things I dearly love about Firefox is the Search Box/Bar that is at the top right of the window. I would have different Search Engines in there, such as Google, eBay, Wikipedia, YouTube and a couple of others. Google Chrome doesn’t come with this as standard, although you can search directly from the main Address Bar. With a very handy Extension called All Search, a magnifying glass icon is added to your toolbar that, when clicked, opens a small window to give you access to the Search Engines that you have chosen. Brilliant! Extension name : All Search
• StumbleUpon – The ultimate in time wasters. Add the Extension, sign up for an account, choose the categories you would like to see web pages about, and Stumble away! Each click of the StumbleUpon button will give you a new random webpage to look at. Check it out at http://www.stumbleupon.com/, and don’t blame me for the time you waste Stumbling! Extension name : StumbleUpon

With these Extensions added, although I am trialling a couple of others to see what they do, I am enjoying my experience with Chrome and have now made it my default browser. Yes, it is that good. Try it and see how you like it. http://www.google.com/chrome

Ultimate Laptop Buying Guide – Reviews by PC Magazine.

I’m a bit behind on my Laptop knowledge and found this article to be very informing.

My usual advice is to ask the person asking what laptop they should buy, “What do you want to do with it?”. If the reply is, Internet, word processing, accounts and basic games, then I’ll tell them to set a budget of AU$1000 and they’ll definitely get the speed and features they want. I don’t game on my PCs generally, and for all of the above my laptop is perfect. My Acer Aspire 5720z laptop cost AU$700.

If people want to play hardcore games I ask them if they really need a laptop, as a desktop will end up being a cheaper, more configurable option as bigger, better games come along. Laptops suitable for gaming are going to generally be over AU$2000, but that’s nothing compared to what a laptop used to cost.

Password Protection – Work Fails & Job LOLs – Monday Through Friday.

I must admit, I am totally guilty of this one! I’m all for security, but constant changing of passwords is one I pretty much disagree with. Who is it going to keep out, other than the poor bloke who has forgotten his latest password for the four different systems he uses, eg. ME?

If correct procedures are followed, any former employees would have had their user logins disabled at the time of their leaving the company, so that would just leave current employees to worry about. For current users, it would obviously be easier to remember the one (set) of passwords than having to update to a new password whenever the programs feel it is necessary, wouldn’t it?

For myself, I find it difficult to keep track of all of the different passwords for different systems and sites I use, so I inevitably end up recording them on paper somewhere, saving them in the web browser I use (Firefox allows you to password protect your saved passwords which is handy. Just have to remember the password to the password file then. ), and worst of all, on a sticky note stuck to my monitor. *shakes head in shame*

Very much one of those ‘do as I say, and not as I do’ situations.

After saying I didn’t want to change and a mostly fun time with Ubuntu 9.04, I’ve installed Windows 7 on my laptop to see what all the fuss is about. And I must say that after Vista, Win 7 is a big improvement… It feels lighter and faster! And after Ubuntu it’s so nice to be able to play YouTube videos without flickers etc, and although I haven’t tried yet, I am expecting to enjoy being able to control my laptop with LogMeIn again.

I have had no driver issues and everything is working as expected. I have grown a liking for some of the Open Source programs that were included with Ubuntu and have installed them onto my Windows 7 laptop. The Gimp (image editor) and Open Office (MSOffice alternative) are the most notable, along with Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird and I am sure I will find others. VirtualBox to run a Virtual copy of Linux perhaps…

So, to summarise, for the basic stuff I have been using it for Win 7 is very cool and I’d recommend for people to upgrade if they get the chance. It seems to be ‘friendlier’ to my system, not stealing all the resources just because it can…

Implanted tooth helps blind US woman recover sight.

It’s amazing what Scientists come up with! Who in their right mind would come up with, “Hmmm… You know, I reckon I could put a manufactured lens in the tooth that I will rip out of a patient’s mouth and then jam it in their eyeball so they can see again… I’ll make millions!”?

Awesome story, though! Another reason not to bash the biggest geek in your class… He might just be the one deciding whether he will let you have your sight back or not…

Four months of Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope and I am still running it without any ‘real’ want to change to a Windows environment.

The main issue that frustrates me currently is the Flash Player. For some reason, sites that use a Video Player like the one on YouTube flicker, yet others will play the videos smoothly. If I keep moving the pointer over the video while it plays, the flickering is reduced. The same issue is encountered with certain Flash Games.

Another wish, which is a possibility due to the number of people requesting it, is for LogMeIn to be able to control a computer running Linux. I have wondered if a Virtual Machine running Windows XP on my Ubuntu flavoured laptop could be controlled from the internet. Not a high priority for me, but it would be nice.

Teen passenger in speeding car sues driver who was hit – SalemNews.com, Salem, MA.

So an idiot doing 80mph in a 30mph zone crosses the centre line and smashes head-on into a van, and according to the passenger in the speeding car the van driver, who was in her lane and driving at the speed limit, was the one at fault!

Since its America I’m expecting the poor lady to be dragged across the coals and wind up with a huge lawyer bill. Would be great if she turned around and sued the lawyer for undue stress etc. At the end of the day though, only the lawyers win…

I saw the following pic and had to laugh… We’re trying to sell our home currently so I’m comparing the look and feel of our place to others. All of the Real Estate programs tell you to de-clutter and present your place in the best way possible. De-cluttering would include removing the umpteen family photos you have littering your lounge.

Potential buyers don’t care what little Johnny looked like at the school formal with the chick he tried to bone down at the park… Besides that, what would make you think that covering your coffee table in photos would add to the decor of your room? Buy a bloody photo album. This place just screams “Nanna”. I’m disappointed with the agent obviously not pushing the point that this looks crap, but it does help make our place look a bit better

Here’s my tips, stolen from others, in how to present your home… not that it’s worked for us, yet. Grrr

1. De-Clutter – Remove the knickknacks (eg. the porcelain elephants and your school photos) you have accumulated over the years. You are selling your house, and need to make it look as spacious as possible. There is a difference between de-cluttered and bare though, so keep a few tasteful ornamental items out to make the place look homely. De-Clutter the yard too, by getting rid of the kids’ toys, the dead tree and mowing the lawn for starters.
2. Clean – Don’t do a normal weekly clean. We’re out to impress, so make sure everything is gleaming. Our favourite word at home currently is “Gumption”. A magic abrasive paste for cleaning off the nasty stuff from your sinks, cook top, you name it.
3. Fix it – Those little jobs that you have been putting off, get them done. The drawer that doesn’t shut in the kitchen, the light that doesn’t work; they all add up to something that either makes a buyer walk away or ensure the offer they put in is lower than it might’ve been.
4. Paint schemes – Keep it neutral. Add your colour with furnishings and paintings. That feature wall you have put in each room might look great to you, but Sam down the street probably thinks it looks awful. “Its only paint”, I hear you say. That is true, but that requires the buyer to ‘imagine’ what it looks like without the ghastly colouring, rather than ‘see’.
5. Ask for constructive criticism – Ask impartial people what they think about the presentation of your home and what they’d change if it was theirs. An outside perspective from an honest viewer can make a World of difference in the saleability of your home. As in the pic above, all they needed was some constructive criticism, eg. “The photos are nice, but how about we pack them away just for the home opens? We need to make the buyers look at this spacious room, not your lovely family.”

Hope you got something from my tips, Nanna. Now get rid of the bloody photos… after we sell our house.

Update : See, I’m not full of it… We have received an offer on our house after two home opens. A combination of realistic price, good presentation and a decent agent lead to a successful transaction.

Smoko should call it quits, Quit says – Yahoo!7 News

I really don’t understand some of the things that people go on about, such as whether a tea break is called a ‘smoko’. For me, ‘smoko’ means tea break, and, as a non-smoker, it doesn’t make me all of a sudden have the urge to grab a pack of cigarettes. Now calling the break ‘quito’ makes me think of the end of the day… quitting time. Where I work no-one calls a cigarette break, ‘smoko’, its more like, “Mate, are you going out for a smoke.”

Imagine if this got passed as a law that no-one is to use ‘smoko’ to describe a tea break, or a hefty fine will ensue. I wouldn’t be surprised in these worsening times for litigation and general pettiness that something as preposterous as this would be put through.

It’s nearly been a week since I put Ubuntu on this laptop, and I must say, it has been pretty much a joy. I still wouldn’t call it an operating system for the masses, but once it’s set up and all you wanted to do was your web browsing, email, documents etc., ie. what most of us do, it is very good.

My issues have been with the networking and handling of certain files. The networking is pretty much sorted with the fix mentioned in the last post, not as friendly as in Windows, but it works as expected as long as I know the IP Address of the computer I want to connect to. The handling of files issue, and most are already supported on startup, is when you click on ‘Open With’, you don’t get the familiar list of programs you can use, you have to guess where to find the programs.

It might sound like I am bitching, but I am genuinely impressed with this version of Ubuntu, and ultimately I am having less dramas than I have done with Vista. Everything that I require on my laptop has just worked, except those couple of slight issues mentioned. Actually, the only other thing I haven’t set up is my networked Canon printer. That could be interesting…

Well, my curiousity got to me so I decided to set up my Canon Pixma MP450 printer that is shared from my XP based PC. It turns out that to set up the printer is the same as the Windows Shares, as in I had to enter in the IP Address followed by the printer’s Share name. So mine was smb://192.168.0.10/CanonMP450… There was no driver for this particular printer, but the MP170 driver seems to work well.