Red Herring has an interview with Rob Davis, the man behind the Firefox marketing campaign behind the New York Times ad. A reminder of the marketing story so far: The Mozilla Foundation wanted to raise money to support launch activities for Firefox 1.0 upon its release on 9 November, including a full-page advertisement in the […]
Category: Software
Nice package for photo shows
During the weekend, I was playing with Photo Story 3 which Microsoft released last week. You can create animated slideshows from your digital photos, optionally adding a commentary and/or music. It’s dead easy to use. I created a very simple show from a single photo (an Amsterdam canal scene) with music following the example walk-through […]
In two minds about Google Desktop
I’ve been using Google Desktop since it came out a few weeks ago. But I’m not convinced that it’s all it’s cracked up to be. There’s a great deal to like about it. It’s extremely simple and easy to use: if you use Google for web searches, then you’ll know how to use it on […]
Personalized search from Google
Following my earlier post today about Google Desktop, here’s info about Google Personalized Search. From the FAQ: Google Personalized web search delivers custom search results that are based on a profile you create describing your interests. […] Google Personalized web search is currently available in test mode on Google Labs, where you can create and […]
A9 search toolbar for Firefox adds to search choices
Monday’s release of the A9 search toolbar for Firefox by Amazon subsidiary A9.com highlights how you’re now really spoiled for choice when you want to search for information on the web and on your own PC. Just like the A9 toolbar for Internet Explorer, the new toolbar for Firefox (Windows, Mac and Linux versions) makes […]
A lot of history about Microsoft Windows
A news item today on Bink reported about the history of Microsoft Windows as an entry in Wikipedia. It makes good reading if this is a subject that interests you. Covers Windows from 1.0 right up to today. My first thought was that this is a new presentation of the information. But it’s not – […]
Konfabulator comes to Windows
More tools for customizing your Windows with the launch today of Konfabulator for Windows, a port of the rather neat Mac OS X app that lets you run widgets on your desktop. Konfabulator for Windows download page. 8Mb installation file. Free to try, $25 to buy. Good article in eWeek about Konfabulator’s history. eWeek | […]
Firefox arrives
It’s here – release 1.0 of Firefox is now available for download. Mozilla will be holding a launch extravaganza today from 22:00 GMT, running through until 03:00 GMT tomorrow morning: We will be hosting AIR MOZILLA live from the Mozilla Foundation HQ, a 5 hour web event, including a live webcast and text chat. The […]
Using Gmail with Outlook
Coming soon – the ability to access your Gmail account via desktop applications like Outlook. The Industry Standard reports that Google will roll out POP3 support gradually over the coming weeks to Gmail users, who will be able to use the feature to download email from Gmail servers to email applications on PCs and wireless […]
Cool Konfabulator
Using the new Konfabulator for Windows since it was released on Monday, I can already say – very cool, useful functionality and a worthy enhancement to the Windows desktop. For instance, I very much like being able to see at a glance what the weather’s like in Amsterdam (or just about any other city; data […]
Firefox is gaining, according to my blog
Lots of commentary around about how Internet Explorer continues to lose market share against Firefox. The numbers, though, have seemed to me to be rather minuscule. For instance, earlier this month, an Internetnews.com article said that IE usage has declined by 2.62% whereas usage of Netscape/Mozilla browsers (including Firefox) went up by 2.48%. Big deal, […]
Instant messaging crossovers
A survey by the META Group published in late October shows that 57 percent of respondents use instant messaging (IM) at work for personal reasons, while 56 percent of those surveyed use IM at home for business purposes, reports eWeek. According to the survey, US companies that have tried to restrict messaging have taken a […]
Use your normal phone with Skype
I find Skype a very useful communication tool, as I’ve posted about before (here and here, for example). Free calls to other Skype users, great connectivity and, for calling normal phones, very low cost. But I’ve often thought, wouldn’t it be great if I could connect a normal phone handset, wired or wireless, to the […]
Skype security fix
A new release of the Windows version of the Skype internet phone software fixes a bug that could allow a remote attacker to compromise a Skype user’s computer. Download the new version 1.0.0.100 from the Skype website. eWeek | Skype Update Fixes Security Issue
Great Firefox extensions and other neat things
Steve Rubel writes about some very cool extensions for the Firefox browser – Spellbound, Bloglines and Scrapbook. Get the details from Steve’s post. I want to mention one of them here, though – Spellbound. I’d not heard of this one. What a neat extension. As Steve noted, an excellent help for spell-checking things like comments […]
Gmail POP rolls out
In rollout now – the ability to access your Gmail account via desktop applications like Outlook. Google said it’s being rolled out selectively to all users over the next several weeks. More info in my earlier post.
Helping Firefox spread the word
If you’re a committed Firefox user and want to help spread the word more than just by including a graphic on your blog, here’s how you can. Things you can do include: Translate flyers Help translate the Mozilla Europe pages (see also Mozilla Europe’s wiki) Help translate applications from the Mozilla Foundation (this isn’t usually […]
Finding the search engine differentiator
I’m still in two minds about Google Desktop, as I mentioned earlier. But deciding on which search tool to use isn’t really the main issue now. It’s more to do with what the search tool can do and how easy it is to do it. I’ve been trying Blinkx for some while, especially the new […]
Amnesty for Windows XP pirates
Microsoft is offering an olive branch to users of pirated versions of Windows XP, eWeek reports. Yesterday, Microsoft unveiled the Windows XP Counterfeit Project in the UK, offering free replacements for what it describes as "high-quality counterfeit versions" of Windows XP. It is not yet clear, eWeek said, if the offer will be expanded to […]
Success for Half-Life 2 piracy control
When I installed Half-Life 2 last weekend, I was intrigued by how the whole experience in installing the game was so integrated with connecting to Steam’s servers online as part of the installation process to authenticate that I had a legitimate copy. This authentication seems to be ongoing and extends to playing the game. I’ve […]