Review: Subtle Changes Make a Big Difference in Firefox 2.0

Most of the new features in Mozilla's Firefox 2.0 aren't readily apparent, even to a seasoned Firefox aficionado. Once a user digs a little deeper, however, the new tools and capabilities become more obvious. Phishing protection automatically investigates suspect e-mail, an enhanced search tool suggests additional terms and Session Restore can save the user after a crash.

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LinuxInsider | 05/28/07


Browser usage numbers for 2006 are beginning to appear on the Web, and for the first time in many moons the market share of Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Latest News about Microsoft dominant offering, Internet Explorer, has dipped below 80 percent.

While Internet Explorer's star was sinking, its chief competitor's, Mozilla Firefox, was ascending. Its market share climbed from 9.50 percent in January 2006 to 14 percent in December -- just about the time version 2.0 of the browser was released.

When I upgraded from the old version of Firefox, I barely noticed the difference between the two releases. However, after using the new version for several weeks, the usefulness of its new features executed with such elegant subtlety became apparent to me.

Protection Against Phishing

The value of one of the new features -- phishing protection -- was particularly noticeable during the holiday season, when phishers were out in full force.

Phishing attacks involve the mass distribution of "spoofed" e-mail Email Marketing Software - Free Demo messages, complete with return addresses, links and branding. The fraudulent e-mails appear to come from banks, insurance agencies, retailers or credit card companies. They are designed to fool you into divulging personal data such as credit card numbers, bank account numbers and passwords, social security Barracuda Spam Firewall Free Eval Unit - Click Here numbers and other personal information.

Firefox's phishing protection feature is turned on by default. When you access a site, it automatically checks the URL against a database of known phishing sucker traps.

Automatic Suggestions

Another nice addition to the program is its enhanced search capabilities. As you type a term in the program's built-in search box, the browser automatically suggests related search terms for you.

For example, when I typed in the search term "Dr. Who," a drop down window appeared with suggestions for other search terms, including: Dr. Who BBC, Dr. Who series, Dr. Who episode guide, Dr. Who theme, Dr. Who DVD, Dr. Who scarf, Dr. Who Ice Warriors, Dr. Who trailer, and Dr. Who Leela.

Although Firefox didn't invent tabbed browsing, it remains one of the program's outstanding features. In this latest version of the application, Firefox's tabs have been tweaked in a couple of useful ways.

By default, the browser will automatically opened new links as new tabs, not as new windows. Why this wasn't the default in the first place has always puzzled me. After all, why use a tabbed browser if you're not interested in opening links in tabs?

In addition, closing tabs has been made more convenient by the inclusion of a close-tab button on each tab.

Additional Options

A "session restore" feature has been added to the application. It's automatically activated when you update the browser or add an extension to it. If the program is open when your system crashes, the next time you launch Firefox the restore feature will reconstruct your browser session as it was before your computer failed.

This new version of Firefox also offers several ways to handle RSS (real simple syndication) feeds -- a way for users to pull information from Web sites and blogs on the Internet.

When you display a Web page for subscribing to an RSS feed, Firefox will offer you the option of subscribing to the feed through a standalone reader, a Web service or a "Live Bookmark."

Powerful Improvements

Live Bookmarks let you see feed headlines simply by clicking on a bookmark. Headlines are automatically updated within the bookmark by the browser.

A Web service allows you to see your RSS feeds from any Internet connection. Mozilla Latest News about Mozilla Foundation provides three Web services in Firefox: My Yahoo, Bloglines and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Latest News about Google Reader.

To go along with Live Bookmarks, Firefox also supports Live Titles. Just as a Live Bookmark will automatically update an RSS feed, Live Titles automatically update the labels of bookmarks. Live Titles allow webmasters to dynamically change information contained in bookmarks about their site.

If you've been using version 1.5 of Firefox, this latest incarnation of the program won't blow you away, but you will be impressed by its understated yet powerful improvements.

If you've not been a Firefox user, this latest edition of the application will give you even more reasons to use it.

The Web-Connected Home

"The first phase was basic PC networking in the home. The next phase, the one we are just now entering, is more entertainment-oriented. The subsequent phase will be home automation," said Charles Golvin, principal analyst at Forrester Research. With home automation, dumb machines -- from laundry appliances to lawn sprinklers -- get in on the act.

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E-Commerce Times | 05/28/07


The digital lifestyle has taken root in U.S. living rooms, primarily with the TV set and the home PC -- and, like the couch potato, it's beginning to spread.

From set-top boxes and time/place shifters such as TiVo (Nasdaq: TIVO) Latest News about TiVo and Slingbox to iPod's home stereo and TV component, the shift seems to be centered on fun and games.

Still, the play to own the home market is serious business, and would-be players are crawling out of the woodwork.

Vying for Market Share

"Microsoft, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Latest News about Apple, Sony (NYSE: SNE) Latest News about Sony, TiVo, Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Latest News about Motorola, Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) Latest News about Cisco Systems, PC OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), and others are all vying for a share of the new home market. Each has their own competitive strength derived from leveraging their platform," said Michael Wolf, research director, digital home, ABI Research.

For example, Wolf told the E-Commerce Times, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Latest News about Microsoft has strength in software and gaming platforms; Apple is leveraging its portable devices and iTunes service; and Motorola and Cisco are coming at the market from a set-top box and mobility Get the facts on wireless solutions suited to your industry. perspective.

However, service providers are also shouldering past the crowd to grab market share.

"Service providers -- particularly in broadband access and television delivery -- view the deployment of Web-connected home applications as service differentiators and a means to promote customer loyalty," Kurt Scherf, principal analyst and VP at Parks Associates Latest News about Parks Associates, told the E-Commerce Times.

Carriers will seek to monetize their customer premise equipment (CPE) deployment by tying them into additional services, Scherf said, notably voice and multimedia.

"We expect them to deploy residential gateways (RGs) as part and parcel of their next-generation voice services and multi-room video applications," he added.

A Confusing Landscape

As the telcos -- and, likely, cable operators and satellite providers in quick succession -- become more aggressive in offering music and video services to supplement their broadband, television and voice offerings, they will seek residential gateways and set-top box platforms that support multi-room distribution of this content, predicted Scherf.

"Therefore, we can expect to see a shift from a market largely dominated by retail sales Free White Paper - What Retailers Should Know about M-Commerce to one in which broadband and television operators and carriers themselves become greater participants in home networking Latest News about home networking deployment, monitoring and troubleshooting," he commented.

With such a scramble to define and snare the Web-connected home market, the landscape can appear a bit confusing.

"The current state of the Web-connected home is disjointed," said ABI's Wolf, "but it's coming together. The network is figured out from a physical connection technology perspective, but now it's about the more complicated issues of content protections, media management and business models."

In order to make sense of this unwieldy evolution, Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA), a nonprofit industry association that promotes advanced technologies for the automation of homes and buildings, has defined the primary elements of the movement.

There are two paths to the connected home, according to CABA. The first is comprised of solutions that make life easier, more comfortable and cost-effective. The second is made up of solutions that entertain or support 24/7 communication. When the two meet and merge, the house is considered a fully Web-connected home. Obviously, most homes aren't there yet.

Multiple Phases

"To date, home connections are about basic networking from PC to printers, scanners, laptops, keyboards, that type of thing," Charles Golvin, principal analyst at Forrester Research, told the E-Commerce Times. "That's what has driven connectivity within the home, [but] people want to connect more things."

While CABA described two paths, Golvin identified three phases.

"The first phase was basic PC networking in the home. The next phase, the one we are just now entering, is more entertainment-oriented. The subsequent phase will be home automation," he predicted.

With home automation, dumb machines -- from laundry appliances to lawn sprinklers -- get in on the act. Just about any mechanical tool in or around the house will soon be able to drop you an e-mailed status report or call you for help.

Despite all this exciting innovation and rapidly rising buzz, there is, by general consensus, only one impediment to progress -- but it's a dilly.

"Even if you are tech-savvy, it is still very difficult to connect everything and make it seamless. It's just plain tough to make it all work," Golvin remarked.

On the Horizon

So, what's likely to make it through the Web-connected but proverbial wash? Which of these emerging ideas are likely to room with you, and which are likely to get booted out the door?

"Wireless in every conceivable flavor is moving in. High definition over the Internet will stay. Analog is moving out, both for entertainment delivery and communications," said ABI's Wolf.

There are also several disruptive technologies on the horizon, he noted, that will evict some players before they get their bags fully unpacked:

* Wireless HD -- Be it WiFi Latest News about WiFi, UWB (ultra wideband), or even wired technologies such as Pulselink's 1394 over UWB over coax -- is going to be important, as HD will be the premium and most in-demand content over the next 10 years.

* Media servers -- Centralized storage Manage remotely with one interface -- the HP ProLiant DL360 G5 server. and management of content that is delivered over consumer's networks is likely to be the predominant usage model in 10 years. The key is which device will be the platform -- PC, set-top box or gaming console. Most likely, it will be a mix of all three.

* IPv6 -- Having a network address for every device will be important and very much a reality in five to 10 years, and IPv6 will make this possible.

In any case, the Web-connected home is still in its infancy. It is yet to be seen whether it turns into Big Brother, babysitter or helpful handyman -- or some combination thereof -- when it grows up.

One thing is certain, home will never be the same again.

Social Networking: Sharing or Sharecropping?

"If you can get all your content produced for free, you can have an extremely small company that can suck huge amounts of economic value out of the marketplace," Nicholas G. Carr, author of Does IT Matter explained. "This is very unsettling. It's something we haven't seen before, and I don't think we know how it's going to play out."

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E-Commerce Times | 05/28/07

BR
Social networking Web sites such as MySpace Latest News about MySpace and Facebook provide a means for people to share their lives with others, but are these sites turning their subscribers' free content into economic gain -- a new form of sharecropping?

It certainly seems that way, according to Nicholas G. Carr, author of Does IT Matter.

In his blog, Rough Type, Carr noted:

"MySpace, Facebook and many other businesses have realized that they can give away the tools of production but maintain ownership over the resulting products. One of the fundamental economic characteristics of Web 2.0 is the distribution of production into the hands of the many and the concentration of the economic rewards into the hands of the few.

"It's a sharecropping system, but the sharecroppers are generally happy because their interest lies in self-expression or socializing, not in making money, and, besides, the economic value of each of their individual contributions is trivial. It's only by aggregating those contributions on a massive scale -- on a Web scale -- that the business becomes lucrative.

"To put it a different way, the sharecroppers operate happily in an attention economy while their overseers operate happily in a cash economy. In this view, the attention economy does not operate separately from the cash economy; it's simply a means of creating cheap inputs for the cash economy."
Building Businesses

Carr explained that the business dynamic created by sharing sites is an unusual -- maybe even unique -- one.

"They're building businesses on the freely donated labor of millions and millions of people," he told the E-Commerce Times.

"The people contributing the free labor are happy because they're getting this platform to talk about themselves," he continued, "but what becomes interesting is that once you're able to get millions and millions of these little bits of content that people contribute for free, suddenly it can become a very lucrative business.

"Contributors don't feel exploited because their economic contribution isn't all that meaningful economically," he added, "but when you look at the entire population of contributors, it seems like a form of economic exploitation."
Making Choices

There are those who would argue, though, that a population of users cannot be exploited as long as they have choices.

"People are making a choice to use the service, so it's not exploitation," Mike Masnick, CEO of Techdirt told the E-Commerce Times. "If they feel exploited, they can move elsewhere or they can choose not to bother with it at all."

One of the advantages of the Web is the ease at which alternatives can be mustered, he added. "If there's a real feeling of resentment among users, then all that is is an opportunity for someone else to come along, set up a business that doesn't create that same kind of resentment and watch the people move over."

"That's the key here," he added. "If they were feeling exploited, they'd be moving to other sites now that weren't exploiting them," Masnick explained.
A Threat to Traditional Producers

Nevertheless, Carr contends that "Web-cropping" may have some disturbing consequences.

"It's a threat to the traditional producers of creative goods -- journalists, photographers, encyclopedia entry writers or whatever," according to Carr. "Suddenly they're competing with free labor, which is very hard to compete against."

Moreover, in the longer term, he continued, the model concentrates a huge amount of wealth in a small number of people.

"If you can get all your content produced for free, you can have an extremely small company that can suck huge amounts of economic value out of the marketplace," he explained. "We saw that in YouTube Latest News about YouTube, which had about 60 employees and was valued at $1.65 billion; we see it in Craigslist, which has sucked a huge amount of economic value away from newspapers with its free classified ads and is run by less than 20 employees.

"This is very unsettling," he added. "It's something we haven't seen before, and I don't think we know how it's going to play out."

Mac vs. Windows for Kids - A Question of User Friendliness

The iMac's one-piece construction is particularly attractive to parents. "Kids can do a lot of damage to a laptop," said Dan de Grandpre, founder of dealnews.com. "What's really great about the iMac desktop is its lack of ports in the front. There is nothing accessible for kids to fill with peanut butter."

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MacNewsWorld | 05/28/07


Computers are as much a part of a child's lifestyle as school and sports contests with friends. Parents may wonder what computer is best suited for their younger children.

Although Windows Windows hosting solutions with 24x7x365 support – Visit HostMySite.com remains the dominant operating system for consumers, the Mac has been steadily gaining market share. In addition, the popularity of Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) Latest News about Apple iPod draws both young and old to the Apple product line.

When parents choose a Mac for their children over a Windows-based computer, the deciding factors often include increased security and user friendliness.

The Mac Lineup

Based on design and feature sets, three Mac models stand out for kids, according to Teresa Brewer, public relations manager for Apple's Mac hardware division.

* Mac Mini (starting at US$599) -- comes with the Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) Manage remotely with one interface -- the HP ProLiant DL360 G5 server. Latest News about Intel Core Duo processor. Its tiny size, which approximates the shape of an external hard drive, gives kids maximum portability in the car and the house.

* iMac (starting at $999) -- includes a built-in iSight video camera for video conferencing; also comes with the Intel Core 2 Duo processor.

* The MacBook (starting at $1,099) -- comes with a 13 inch, glossy wide-screen display, a built-in iSight video camera, iLife and Front Row video and music software packages, the sudden motion sensor, scrolling track pad and MagSafe power adapter.

All three come bundled with video, music and productivity Get the facts on wireless solutions suited to your industry. applications that will appeal to children.

MacBook vs. iMac

The leader in desktop sales Free White Paper - What Retailers Should Know about M-Commerce for kids is the iMac, while the top pick in laptops is the MacBook, said Dan de Grandpre, founder of Dealnews.com.

Despite Apple's hopes for a brisk response to its Mac Mini, most parents seem to be shying away from the 6.5 inch by 2 inch computer, noted de Grandpre. Instead, consumers are buying the Mac Mini as a second computer for themselves.

"The Mac Mini looks too much like a gadget for kids," de Grandpre told MacNewsWorld.

The iMac is particularly attractive to parents, he said, because of its one-piece construction and cleaning ease. Parents like the desktop computer rather than a laptop for their children because of durability concerns, he added.

"Kids can do a lot of damage to a laptop," he explained. "What's really great about the iMac desktop is its lack of ports in the front. There is nothing accessible for kids to fill with peanut butter."

Classroom Acumen

Mark Gibson is an award-winning computer teacher and technology coordinator at Indian Creek Elementary School in Indianapolis. He works with students in grades one through five and trains teachers on how to better integrate computer technology. This double exposure has given him insight into how youngsters take to the Mac compared to PCs running Windows.

He splits his pupils' time between Mac- and Windows-based computers each week and prefers teaching on the Mac. When he teaches in the Mac computer room -- which contains 30 iMacs -- the students react well to the Mac-based programs that are designed for youngsters.

The Mac's easier operating instructions encourage the kids to work more productively and quickly, he said.

Gibson bases learning activities around both Mac-only programs and the Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Latest News about Microsoft Office suite, which is cross-platform. He starts their computing lessons on Windows computers; however, when given the choice, students prefer to work on the iMac.

"Kids have more freedom to set up their computing environment and set program choices on that platform," said Gibson. "The iMac is best overall."

Can Google and Linux Topple Microsoft?

Compatibility issues always exist with any new release of an operating system, said Steve Gillmer, Microsoft's business manager of collaborative technologies. He added that Microsoft works with software developers to reduce incompatibilities and with customers to manage the movement to new operating systems.

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Newsbytes News Network | 05/27/07


The story had a certain flair. In early March, the chief information officer of the Federal Aviation Administration Latest News about Federal Aviation Administration, David Bowen, was reportedly considering forsaking Microsoft Windows and Office in favor of the Linux Linux hosting solutions with 24x7x365 support – Visit HostMySite.com operating system and the Web-based Google Apps Premium office suite.

Could this be true? Might an office suite upstart topple the giant of giants? Does a Web-based suite of applications Get the facts on wireless solutions suited to your industry. have enough punch to do the job?

Perhaps. Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Latest News about Google Apps Premium does offer a strong set of collaborative word-processing and spreadsheet tools, in addition to e-mail Email Marketing Software - Free Demo and calendar capabilities. "We built the [applications] from the ground up to focus on collaboration," said Mike Bradshaw, who leads Google's federal enterprise division. "They're providing a new type of functionality to the space that people have been looking for."

Appropriate Functionality

However, Bradshaw concedes that Google Apps doesn't offer the full set of tools delivered with Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Latest News about Microsoft Office, although he stresses that not everyone needs all the tools.

"Google Apps does provide a solution that will benefit the bulk of the end users," Bradshaw said. "Just like in any community, you're going to have power users who are going to need a little deeper functionality. But if you really look at Google Docs, Google Spreadsheet, our mail capability, calendar capability -- yes, we provide functionality there that is very appropriate and actually provides more capability in some ways for government customers. I think the real benefit is that the products have been built to focus on collaboration."

Outside the Box

For some agencies and departments, however, solutions such as Google Apps have a fatal flaw: Using a Web-based thin client means an organization's data resides on a third-party server Manage remotely with one interface -- the HP ProLiant DL360 G5 server.. Many agencies and departments don't like that idea for security Barracuda Spam Firewall Free Eval Unit - Click Here reasons.

Without addressing the specific issue of remote storage of data directly, Bradshaw argued that those views could be changing. "More and more, people are looking to outsource some of the applications or solutions that are taking their focus off their mission," said Bradshaw. "I do see that interest in the federal government."

Steve Gillmer, Microsoft's business manager of collaborative technologies, disagreed. "The feedback that we're getting from our [federal] customers is that they do want some control" over the location of their data, Gillmer said.

Money Isn't Everything

The two major reasons Bowen cited for considering a move from Office to Google Apps were cost and compatibility. He cited conflicts between FAA's Lotus Notes system and Microsoft Vista. Gillmer said neither issue is a solid reason to move away from Windows and Office.

"Certainly our customers are looking at ways to drop their costs," Gillmer said. "But there are a lot of ways to address that, and software in the big picture is a small portion of the different costs." He said training and support incur larger costs in most organizations than the cost of the software does. He added that Microsoft is not talking, at least publicly, about moving to a Software as a Service model that allows users to select specific tools on an individual basis.

Concerning compatibility, Gillmer said compatibility issues always exist with any new release of an operating system. He added that Microsoft works with software developers to reduce incompatibilities and with customers to manage the movement to new operating systems.

Bowen met with Microsoft officials in late March to discuss his impending software choice. "The feedback I've gotten is that it was an informative and very good meeting," Gillmer said. "At the end of the day, I think they're still up in the air in terms of what they're going to do."

An FAA spokesperson said the agency has not reached any conclusions about its choice of software.