Thursday, November 25, 2010

Rock(melt)ing !!!

Its been a couple of weeks now, since the first beta version of the Open-Source based so called Social Browser – Rockmelt and yes, there has been a tremendous response from the users. 18.3 K tweets and 49K likes in facebook.com is a no mean task.

     So, what makes this browser so special ? We can, in a way, call the Rockmelt as a “MORE SOCIABLE CHROME”. This is because the browser has adapted its Interface, Java Engines from the Open Source Chromium browser, and the reason why this is called more sociable is that, it has integrated all your Facebook controls to its side bars. Now, this means a lot. The man behind this project, Rockmelt, that has been in development for over two years now, is none other than Marc Andreessen, founder of Netscape communications.

 

 

     You get to edit your FB statuses, check feeds, chat, post messages all within the browser interface. Also, the interface looks so cool and fast. Another social plugin that comes packaged with the browser is its twitter plugin. You can subscribe to tweets or twitter feeds well inside the browser. You can subscribe to RSS Feeds from any other supported feed source as well. There is also this “Share” button adjacent to the address bar. You can share links and posts from any website to your FB Wall.

Promo video of Rockmelt

 

     May be, its more like a war now. Browser war has begun and each browser claim themselves to be the best. And social-networking seems to be the mantra right now. By providing easy social messaging capabilities, you tend to aggregate more users towards using your browser and this seems like a cool way to promote your product. This fact has indeed inspired another Free web browser – Flock.

     Flock, which was till now, using the Firefox based interface had shifted to using the Chrome, just like Rockmelt. It also provides the same facilities like Facebook and Twitter clients built-inside the browser. But, lacks that lustre and interface that Rockmelt boasts of. One thing, that can be noted though, is its facility to provide extensions and toolbars just like any other normal browser. If Rockmelt is able to provide this facility then it will just be great.

     Firefox, has applied the same-strategy for its browser, by introducing the Mozilla Messaging Plugin. It can be installed in Firefox browsers ( v3.6 ). It allows you to share links in Twitter and Facebook. Chrome also has its own version of extension for Facebook

     Though, such plugins and extensions exist for other browsers, we must accept that Rockmelt has definitely brought a new trend. It’s an evolution that will speak through generations.

Rockmelting !!!!

 

PS :

Request for your rockmelt browser : http://www.rockmelt.com/

   - this browser, is currently available only on request and you need a facebook account to do this.

Flock Web Browser : http://flock.com/

Mozilla’s F1 Plugin : http://f1.mozillamessaging.com/

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Defying Gravity ! ;)

"Everything that goes up must come down. But there comes a time when not everything that's down can come up."

George Burns couldn't probably imagine that his quote would eventually also be applied Google's main page.

Play with the elements and try searching whenever you get tired of it.

 

 

Try it Here :

http://mrdoob.com/projects/chromeexperiments/google_gravity/

Friday, October 29, 2010

Why Windows Suck !

     It’s a universally held opinion by most PC users on the planet that 'Windows Sucks'. Most couldn't back this assertion up with concrete evidence though and most anti-Windows comments are actually blatantly wrong or refer to problems long fixed.


     Windows, from a usability point of view, has also come a long way. When you get over the rabid Microsoft hating fervor gripping most people you’ll come to realize that its actually a very well thought out GUI and if looked at from a objective usability based point of view, you can see the time and effort that has gone in to trying to make it as easy to use as possible. Its certainly miles ahead of the Open Source competition.


     But Windows does suck, and the reason is the software. For the uninitiated Windows software installs via an executable file (setup.exe usually) that places the main program files in the directory program files and then places a shortcut, or a folder of shortcuts in documents and settings->all users->start menu. The installing software has complete access to all areas of the hard drive – there are absolutely no limitations on what it can access and where it can put things. The software also generally saves settings in the Windows Registry (a centralized point of failure) via Windows APIs.


     Of course sometimes programs do what they want. If some software wants to install itself in the root of c: (an incredibly bad place to put it) - its allowed. The fact of the matter though is that programs can install themselves anywhere they want, add as many icons as they want to any place they want - and even delete anything that they want.

 

tuXper-alt

 

 

     The problem with this is that programs think they are much more important than they actually are. Quicktime, which isn't even the worst, and which 99% of people only have to use very occasionally watch a QuickTime file, installs a system tray stub (for settings and fast launch) a Quick-launch icon and an icon in your start menu. Not only that it also runs an updater in the background that'll alert you when new versions of the software come out. Its bundled with iTunes also (you don’t get a choice in the matter you've got to download both) which also gives it a quick-launch icon. I now have 3 icons taking up room on my start bar, some more on the desktop, a constantly running process (quick-launch and auto-update) and a mp3 player when all I needed was the ability to play QuickTime files.


     If just one program does this it is not so bad but even things which don’t even need an icon do it. Acrobat for example puts shortcuts everywhere, features a quick-launch and auto-updater (which I will go into in a minute) yet the only time Acrobat files are actually used is either integrated into the browser (so no launch button is required) or if you open a PDF (double clicking on it opens it in acrobat). Yet icons are everywhere.

 

     The auto-update mentioned in the previous paragraph is a classic example of the bloatware PC's face. Yahoo! Toolbar for Internet Explorer now automatically adds itself to the 'Critical Updates for Download' box beside the 'Security Update for Acrobat'. You can't remove it either, you have to remove the Acrobat update (which removes Yahoo) then re-add the Acrobat Update. The fact I have to go out of my way to separate junkware from valid security downloads is disgusting.


     Yahoo Messenger also now has a nice feature whereby the 'Load this program automatically on startup' button is grayed out unless you log in with a valid Yahoo account. So if someone installs Yahoo Messenger on your computer you can't actually stop it starting whenever you log in to Windows unless you sign up with yahoo, sign in, and then disable it. This wasn't a feature in earlier versions either. Skype goes one step further and simply doesn't give you the option of not starting automatically - If it *does* give you the option I couldn't find it!


     Unfortunately every single bit of irrelevant software nowadays has its own autoupdater, quicklaunch, system tray and start menu icons if it actually needs it or not. Now add RealPlayer (which is one of the worst for it), AIM, MSN, Skype, the usual collection of toolbars foisted on you, the half dozen more pointless icons added by your scanner, printer, OEM and mouse and you've got a slow booting computer with irrelevant icons repeated all over the place (and no room to view running programs) all popping up alerts, news, updates and generally getting in your way. You have to manually delete several dozen or so icons and then try to figure out where the 'stop annoying me all the time' button is buried on each one. It is generally buried fairly well too.
To add the icing on the cake the uninstall process is also handled by the software - Windows has pretty much nothing to do with it. If the installer wants to leave icons everywhere, it does. If it wants to remove key system files or leave software running in the background and not tell you about it, it can. It can even just not work entirely leaving you no decent way of getting rid of it. Installing things in Windows is generally a permanent move.
Most people don't even realise that it’s not meant to be like this - they just think that it’s the way it is and just learn to live with it. I have no idea why software installers are given 100% free reign over your PC, but they are. It’s as big a problem as spyware and it’s the main, large IT companies that are responsible. Sun has even recently declared a public partnership with Google - probably to try and install Google Toolbar whenever you install OpenOffice or Java as MSN’s toolbar (foisted on you by MSN Messenger) and Yahoo's toolbar (Critical Update by Acrobat Reader) may not empower your browser quite enough on their own. It is misbehaving software (and installers) that are responsible for 99% of the unstable, unbootable and otherwise slow to the point of unusable Windows computers.


     Windows without any untrustworthy 3rd party software is as stable as it realistically needs to be 'Windows crashes a lot' is no longer a valid insult - in fact it’s a lie. The last time I saw a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) was when I took a modem out without shutting down the PC first (you cannot really blame Windows for that). You will generally only see a BSOD in the event of hardware failure (not Windows fault), because of a bad device driver, (not Windows fault) or because a 3rd party piece of software has screwed the OS (partially Windows fault).


If the software install was not such a treacherous process, if programs didn't have complete reign over your PC and you could actually uninstall software without worrying about your PC actually starting next time you turn it on Windows might have a chance of being a decent OS. Until then it sucks.

 

source : http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=136717

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Google Chrome Canary

Google Chrome's team added a new releases channel for early adopters and developers:Canary builds. Unlike the beta channel and the dev channel, Canary builds can be installed without overwriting a regular Chrome build. That means you can install both a Canary build and a regular build that could be on the stable, beta or dev channel.


The Canary build is only available for Windows, it's "installed to a different path, gets updated separately, and runs side by side with an existing stable/beta/dev installation". Google says that the Canary build will usually be the same as the dev build. "Sometimes if necessary, we may push additional updates on Canary build so its version is higher than dev."

 

 

 


"The canary usually updates more frequently than the Dev channel (higher risk
of bustage), and we're working on making it update as often as we have
successful nightly builds. When something doesn't work on the canary, I can
just fall back to my Beta Google Chrome," says Mark Larson, from the Chrome team.
Now that Google Chrome synchronizes bookmarks, settings and it will also synchronize extensions, passwords, browser history, it doesn't even matter that the two builds use separate profiles. Unfortunately, you can't make Chrome Canary your default browser. Google's explanation that it's "a secondary installation of Google Chrome" doesn't make any sense.
Lee Mathews from DownloadSquad thinks that having four flavors of Chrome is "Vista-esque". Google probably noticed that there are many people who install random Chromium builds and decided to offer a channel that updates even faster than once a week, while allowing users to install a stable version of Chrome, just in case the "bleeding edge" builds have major bugs or they're unstable.

 

Download Google Chrome Canary

 

http://tools.google.com/dlpage/chromesxs

 

source : http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2010/07/google-chrome-canary-build.html

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Finally Its Here : Telephonica India

     And its out. Its here. Telephonica India !

 

 

 

     This program finds the network circle and Operator of any mobile number in India. You enter the first four digits of the mobile number you want to find, it displays the Circle and Operator of the mobile.

 

 

Download Here : Telephonica India

    

This program runs in Win 95 , Windows NT x86 based operating systems. Runs in full screen mode only in Win XP and below. Vista and 7 systems does not support full screen mode.

     Utmost care has been taken to ensure that there are no technical errors in the data. If you find any, please do not hesitate of inform us. Your suggestions and comments are very valuable.

     Feel free to contact us ! Post your comments.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Telephonica India To Roll Out Soon !

To make things simple – this is our motto. From the start, we’ve been trying to give you all the technological update and know-how. This is an other attempt of ours.

 

This software, based on C++  DOS coding, helps you find the network and circle of any given valid mobile number across India. Simple as it looks like, the software is sleek and elegant. When you enter the mobile number, it searches the database and prints the result. This software comes in an installer format, with shortcuts and menus.

    Since, this a dos mode program, it doesn’t run full screen in Windows Vista and Windows Seven. Nevertheless, its worth downloading and installing.