Songbird -- My New Love

So, it happens that once in a while I stumble upon a new program and try it out.  Sometimes I fall in love with it.  Other times, I hear of a program and simply refuse to try it out for one reason or another.

And sometimes, I hear about a program, refuse to try it but finally do, and fall in love with it asking why I never tried it earlier.

Enter Songbird.  This is, in my mind, undoubtedly better than iTunes.  As a media player, it does everything I have ever wanted, and so much more than iTunes.  Some of the great features that swung me include:

1. Global Shortcuts.  Now, just like in Linux and OS X, you can hit some keys and have the music go to the next track, previous track, or pause, without actually going back to the application.
2. Launchy/Quicksilver functionality.  While it isn't perfect, I can choose my next tracks without going back to Songbird because it too has a global shortcut.
3. Add-ons!  Songbird is made by Mozilla, the same people who make Firefox.  So, of course, there are many addons which add important functionality to the Media Player.  One of my favorite is the automatic Lyric finder.  Anyone sing?
4. Built in web browser.  While I still use Firefox, the built in web browser is very useful for installing addons and finding music.  Since it is essentially Firefox, perhaps I may stop using the two different applications entirely.
5. Open Source.  'Nuff said.

There are a few things lacking in this program which I would like to see in the future.  I would like to see better "Launchy" integration, which could come in the form of an addon.  Having it be a little more streamlined and effective would be excellent.  Also, better iPod support.  While there is an addon for iPod's, it only works on the older models, the one's that allow "Disk Usage."  My iPod touch is not supported, which means I will need to keep iTunes around.... for now.

Firefox: The Ultimate Hacking Tool

Okay, Firefox is probably not the ultimate hacking tool, but in certain situations it does have a lot going for it. One such example is at my High School. It took them some odd two years to finally install Firefox on the school computers, and I often wondered why they were so hesitant. Now I may know.

At least at my school, the IT officials had IE pretty well locked down, even to the extent of reduced functionality. No tabs, no touching, no Options, no browsing local drives, almost nothing. However, they haven't done the same thing to Firefox yet, making it a much more powerful hacking tool.  You can change most of the options in Firefox, you can have tabs (thank God), and you can browse local drives.  What this means is I was able to browse around on the local C drive on the computers, which you usually don't have access to.  I was also able to poke around in a few other interesting places.  It was pretty simple, all I had to do was type in the Drive letter in the address bar I wanted to see like this:

C:\

And I was brought right there.  D drive and other drives were just as easy.  It was pretty awesome, try it out on your own computer!

Vista and iTunes and Firefox

You know, I've noticed something.

Vista Sucks.

Okay, moving on.  I've actually noticed something else, and I am wondering if it is my computer, or if it actually is a bigger problem.  But when I am running Firefox and iTunes on Vista, Firefox constantly freezes, crashes, and glitches.  Yes, all of the above.  And it is every time, constantly.  If I close iTunes, the problem goes away.  If I close Firefox, the problem goes away.  If I run a different browser (I only have 4 others), the problem kind of goes away.  So I really do this is an issue with iTunes and my internet.  There have been reports earlier of iTunes network problems, but I never thought it would affect Firefox so badly.  So tell us, do you have a similar problem?

Firefox's New Look

After Successfuly hacking my own computer, I booted up Firefox to a new view.  Granted, I did just update from 3.01 to 3.02, but I don't think a remixed UI was in the bill.  I mean, this is what I see:

Seriously?  I hope my hacking didn't mess up Firefox, that is NOT what I inteded to hack.  In the meanwhile, enjoy the rendering errors!

Edit:  Apparently it was caused by a malfuntion in the updating process.  Lesson learned, don't try opening Firefox twice when it wants to update.

Google Chrome: The Search Engine Behemoth Strikes Again!

For a long time now, Google has been taking over the internet, capitalizing on it's popularity, and usability. From a search engine, it has evolved to include a map quest-esque direction and map service. They also have begun intruding upon the blogosphere by buying out the blogging service now called Blogger (which, as it happens, is the blog service that we use).

And now they're at it again.

Google has announced that they will be releasing their new web browser. Their have been a few myths flying around the past year or so about Google's web browser project, but it is official now.

Google Chrome will have many very neat features with it. One of these features will be a normal one for new browsers. Updated speed for javascript and other speed adjustments using what they call the "V8". The improved speed, according to Google, will help improve browsers for things that haven't even been created yet. So our future web applications are safe with Google Chrome.

Also, Chrome will use what is called "sandboxes" for the tabs. Basically this will allow each tab to run on an individual basis, helping protect against malware and one tab's crash from crashing another tab. Chrome will have another new feature called 'incognito'. Incognito is a privacy mode that means that your computer will not log or add history from any web window that you are in. You will be "invisible" when running incognito :).

Chrome will have several other awesome new features, but really what it comes down to is this: what does Chrome mean for the rest of the browsers? Mozilla Firefox has been gaining a large amount of popularity recently. How will Chrome affect them? What about good 'ole Internet Explorer (which if you're using, by the way, switch to Firefox already!) I for one am looking forward to playing around with Chrome when it releases. How about you? Do you like your current browser enough to forget about Chrome? Or is Chrome just another way for Google to take over the internet, little by little?

Firefox 3 adds "mailto:" hack

I'm sure that I'm not the only one who's ever had this problem. You're cruising the internet, looking for something. Even you're not quite sure what you were looking for anymore. But you come across a website, and there's a bloody error on the page. Maybe the flash is broken, or the words-on-background are so abysmally horrible they make you want to tear your eyes out. So you do what any good web surfer should do. You click the little "email the webmaster" link hovering around the bottom of the page.

You all know what comes next, I'm sure. You spend about 10 minutes waiting for Microsoft Outlook to pop open so you can type your message, spend 1 minute typing the message, 4 minutes trying to figure out how to send the message, 30 minutes figuring out why outlook keeps encountering a problem, and then you finally give up and copy/paste the address to gmail. And, of course, the whole time you were wondering "Now wouldn't this have been easier if I could just use my Gmail account in the first place?" Good news! Firefox will now let you do just that!

In order to make Firefox use gmail as the default mailto service is quite simple, and takes virtually no time at all. First, open up your Firefox browser and in the address bar type:
about:config

A screen will open up warning you that continuing could void your warranty. Click "I'll be careful, I promise". You won't be voiding your warranty this time 'round.

Next, in the 'filter' bar, type:
gecko.handlerservice
This will show a smaller list of choices to pick from. Double click the option:
gecko.handlerService.allowRegisterFromDifferentHost
When you double click on this, the boolean value will become 'true'. This is exactly what you want it to do, as it will allow you to access a different email service from a mailto link. Lastly, copy the following javascript code into your browser's address bar and hit enter (I would copy and paste the code- you don't want to accidentally put the wrong javascript in):
javascript:window.navigator.registerProtocolHandler("mailto", "https://mail.google.com/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=%s","GMail")

Now just click "add application" on the bar that appears below your address bar, and voila! The next time you click a mailto link, you can choose gmail, and if you tick the "remember my choice" box, then in the future Firefox will always use gmail.

Good bye outlook mailto nuisances!