January 2005 Entries
Redesigned cookie prefs in Mozilla Suite
Ian Neal writes in bug 278221:
I'm looking at splitting the site management part of cookies from the view/management of cookies themselves and redesign the cookie pref screen along similar lines to the cookie prefs screen on firefox. At the moment the cookie prefs screen runs off the bottom of the preferences page and various options that probably be disabled at certain times are not.
It's not checked in yet.
Screenshots:
Old cookie pref dialog
New cookie pref dialog
Firefox 1.1 to be Delayed and A New Religion
Firefox lead engineer turned Google developer Ben Goodger announced on his Web log late this week that version 1.1 of Firefox will be delayed. The next major release of the browser had originally been scheduled for a March debut. However, Goodger said the release date had to be pushed back because of "the realities of the work remaining to be done," including a lot of bug fixes and testing to ensure a stable application.
Read article and blog entry
Firefox - A New Religion?
Is Firefox a bad web browser? No. Is it the next coming of the Almighty? According to some it would seem that way. It is one thing recommending a program, it is entirely another to preach about something as if you were part of a religious cult.
Read entry
Da Vinci Mysteriet - den sande historie
Jeg er en af de mange danskere som har læst Da Vinci Mysteriet af Dan Brown og det er rart at der nu endelig er en der sætter ord bag hvad jeg hele tiden har vidst:
Den er også dårligt skrevet, løgnagtig, fyldt med fejl, og den promoverer endnu en absurd sammensværgelsesteori.
IFRAME without src attribute on HTTPS in Internet Explorer
This took me quite some time to debug. Once again it made me realize why I hate hate hate Internet Explorer.
If you have a webpage on a HTTPS server with the following iframe code where you leave the src out:
<iframe id="if"></iframe>
and you view the page in Internet Explorer you'll get the following very descriptive warning.
Clicking on the More Info button doesn't give you which items it's referring to, but just a help file.
Mozilla Firefox correctly doesn't produce this error.
Leaving the src attribute out of the iframe is common, when you want to fill the src attribute programmatically.
The solution you ask? Create a blank.html page and then write:
<iframe id="if" src="blank.html"></iframe>
The blank.html only contains <html></html>
There goes number 2
Another key Mozilla Developer, Darin Fisher, announced today that he has joined Google inc. Ben Goodger, on Monday, announced that he had joined Google Inc but pledged to continue work on the Mozilla Project and on key releases like Firefox 1.1, 1.5 and 2.0. Darin, who currently owns Cookie/Permissions, NetLib (The Mozilla Networking Library) and NSPR (Netscape Portable Runtime) modules has also announced he will continue work on these Mozilla Projects. In a brief post on his weblog, Darin said the following "I thought I'd post that I have joined Google as well. Like Ben, I will still be very much involved with the Mozilla project and community :-)". Darin has previously worked for IBM and Netscape/AOL. Clearly Google is developing technologies that will build into or off current Mozilla projects. Neither Google nor Darin have announced what Darin's work role at Google will be.
Read more
Bugzilla attack on bugzilla.mozdev.org
A couple of hours ago bugzilla mails started to pour in from bugzilla.mozdev.org. They all contained the same comment and the same action.
sexymeluckyyou73@yahoo.com changed status on all open bugs into Resolved Fixed. All bugs were submitted with the following comment:
these bugs are not from me they where on there when i bought the computer.
This is one of the first larger bugzilla attacks I've seen. I'm not sure what can be done to prevent this. Anyone can sign up for a bugzilla account and anyone can change all aspects of bugs. This is the beauty of bugzilla but also it's Achilles heel.
Google teaming up with Skype to launch a free telephone service
TimeOnline is reporting that Google could be rolling out a free broadband phone service that uses your microphone and home computer. The technology that will enable Google to move in on the market has been around for some time. Software by the London-based company, Skype, has been downloaded nearly 54 million times around the world but no large telecommunication firms have properly exploited it. Although Google is reluctant to talk about its plans, the logical use of such a network would be to help to support a new telephone service. The company would buy capacity cheaply, by taking up slack capacity left behind when the internet bubble collapsed in 2001.
Read more and more
Speedfreaks - Here you go!
If you like to try out some faster (and potentially less stable) builds of Mozilla this is one of the places to turn to.
I build and develop optimized versions of the Mozilla Suite, Mozilla Firefox browser, and the Mozilla Thunderbird email client. My builds are designed for maximum stability and speed. For example, with the Firefox browser, I have found a noticable increase in browsing speed when compared to the official Firefox builds. I am currently releasing three versions, or "M" builds - M1, M2, and M3, of the Mozilla Suite, Firefox browser, and Thunderbird email client. Each M version is designed to exploit features of particular processors and/or instruction sets and is thus limited in its compatibility.
Read more and download
Also be sure to check out the Third Party/Unofficial Builds forum at MozillaZine.
Mozilla terms explained
Sometimes people gets confused about the different Mozilla terms. Asa explains some of them in a news posting:
Gecko - The rendering engine upon which all of the Mozilla applications rely.
Mozilla Platform - Gecko, plus the XPToolkit upon which XUL-applications can be built.
Mozilla, the applications suite, also known as Seamonkey - The legacy Mozilla (the organization) applications which is built from the Mozilla Platform including Gecko.
Firefox and Thunderbird - The premier Mozilla (the organization) applications built from the Mozilla Platform (including Gecko).
Mozilla 2.0 - The next generation of Mozilla technologies and APIs (platform) which will include the Gecko rendering engine and the cross-platform toolkit.
Phishing Detection Support to Thunderbird checked in
The following was just checked into the trunk of Mozilla Thunderbird:
Get a phishing detector going for Thunderbird. I'm sure it can be improved quite a bit but this starts to catch some of the more obvious scams.
More info in the bug report:
When the user clicks on a URL that we think is a phishing URL, he now gets prompted before we open it. Handles two cases so far. Hopefully we can add more as we figure out how. The host name of the actual URL is an IP address. The link text is a URL whose host name does not match the host name of the actual URL.. I added support for a silentMode so later on we can hopefully walk an existing message DOM and call into this routine on each link element in the DOM. This would allow us to insert an email scam warning bar in the message window down the road.
Novell puts weight behind Windows e-mail client
Novell has thrown its weight behind a fledgling effort to develop a Windows version of the Evolution groupware client, a move that the Waltham, Massachusetts, software company hopes will give Windows desktop users an open-source alternative to Microsoft (Profile, Products, Articles) Outlook. Evolution, like Outlook, is a suite including e-mail, calendaring, and address book software. A version for Linux desktops is already available, and work is now under way on porting it to Windows. Evolution, Firefox, and OpenOffice are already included in Novell's Linux Desktop 9, which the company began shipping in November.
Read article
Translate Linky
Linky is my Mozilla extension that will increase your power to handle links. It will let you open or download all or selected links, image links and even web addresses found in the text in separate or different tabs or windows. You will just need to right click any link or web address, select the Linky menu item and choose the desired action. You can even specify what option you want to see available in the Linky menu through its preferences.
If you wish to translate Linky into your language, please use the following steps:
Start by translating the following files:
- linky.dtd
- linky.properties
Also change the first line of all this files from:
<!-- Translation done by Henrik Gemal http://gemal.dk/ -->
into:
<!-- Translation done by Your Name and Your Contact information -->
Then change "en-US" in this file into your language code:
- contents.rdf
Now test the translation. You can do this very easily by downloading the latest linky.xpi file and replacing the files in the locale/en-US/ directory with your own files. I don't have the resources to test it, so it's all up to you. If you're using UltraEdit as your editor remember to turn off the setting "Write UTF-8 BOM header". Otherwise Mozilla will fail loading the file.
Finally zip the files and send it to me. The email address is spam at gemal dot dk.
Movable Type nofollow plugin
The annoncement of the Movable Type nofollow plugin is a result of the problem with comment spam and Page Rank.
The search team at Google approached us with the idea of flagging hyperlinks with a rel="nofollow" link attribute in order to alert their search spider that a particular link shouldn't be factored into their Page Rank calculations. The Yahoo and MSN search teams have also indicated they'd support this new spec, and we'll be implementing and deploying this specification as quickly as possible across all of our platforms around the world.
Read the Six Apart blog entry
The outpouring of support and debate over a little HTML is the direct result of the mountain of comment spam that most blogs are buried under each day. Comment spammers post fake comments on blogs, guestbooks, and other places online with links to their spam sites in hopes that Google will index those pages and increase their Page Rank. The main idea is that, when Google, MSN, and Yahoo! begin removing links with the attribute applied from their Page Rank calculations, spammers will no longer have any motivation to continue deluging websites with comments about cialis, viagra, and lonely housewives. Some people online aren't so sure that this is the best solution.
Read more
and even more
Netscape Updates Browser Prototype
Netscape has released a minor update to its reincarnated Web browser, which debuted in prototype form at the end of November. The new release -- available to registered testers -- brings the Netscape code base up to Firefox 1.0 in order to resolve potential security issues, in addition to fixing a few bugs.
Read article
Useragent for the prototype is:
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20050101 Firefox/0.6.4 Build number: 20050101
Screenshots
Like with the old browser prototype, I've taken some screenshots for you:
http://gemal.dk/misc/nsb201.png - Main browser window
http://gemal.dk/misc/nsb202.png - About window
http://gemal.dk/misc/nsb203.png - Options General
http://gemal.dk/misc/nsb204.png - Options - Privacy
http://gemal.dk/misc/nsb205.png - Options - Tab Browsing
http://gemal.dk/misc/nsb206.png - Options - Site Controls
http://gemal.dk/misc/nsb207.png - Options - Downloads
http://gemal.dk/misc/nsb208.png - Options - Form Fill and Passcards
http://gemal.dk/misc/nsb209.png - Options - Advanced
http://gemal.dk/misc/nsb210.png - Customize Toolbar
The State of Windows Security
Soon, I took the plunge, reinstalled Windows XP, and created a limited user for my day-to-day activities. This was indeed a drastic switch from the administrative privileges I was use to. Even changing the date and time required logging in as administrator. However, using the "Run As" feature, I am able to install most software simply by right-clicking the setup program, choosing "Run As," and typing my password to launch the installation as administrator.
Checkins of the week
Some important checkins happened this week.
Rework toolkit command-line handling
This is the bug for http://wiki.mozilla.org/index.php/XUL:Command_Line_Handling
Merge myspell back from the openoffice original
Once upon a time the openoffice spellchecker was ported to mozilla. All cool. But since then, development has been split. There are bugs in the mozilla spellchecker that are not in the openoffice one. Features are missing and added back way later with lots of pain. I think it would make sense to remerge if possible. If the openoffice spellchecker is sufficient stand alone, it could be done with minimum pain. If we don't change much (in the ideal case, nothing) merging later would be easy.
Support for specifying a date on which a bug is expected to be resolved
We really need this at work. We use Bugzilla as an internal bug reporting system and it lacks some time/date/planning stuff.
Provide a way to prioritize connections
Many part of the browser could benefit of this feature. Tabbed browsing: browsing on the current tab would not slow down. Opening a bookmark group would display one page while the other page would continue to download in the background. Download manager could have the ability to speedup one of its downloaded files.
MSN Gets Ready to Expand RSS Support
Syndication feeds are gaining more mainstream support from portals and search engines as Microsoft Corp. ramps up a set of new RSS features. The company's MSN unit is planning to release a beta of a Really Simple Syndication aggregation feature for users of its My MSN personalized home-page service, an MSN spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday. The beta was rumored to be ready for release by late Wednesday, according to Weblog postings from MSN officials. But MSN officially declined to provide specifics other than to say it would come out "soon." Meanwhile, MSN Search has started an experimental feature for subscribing to search queries using RSS, MSN confirmed. MSN quietly began testing the service when it released a beta of its search engine in November, but earlier this week a series of bloggers discovered the capability.
Read the article
RSS and Tabbed Browsing in Safari, Firefox, and Camino
Tabbed browsing is a good way to reduce the amount of clutter that your browser makes on your desktop when you view several web pages at the same time. Instead of opening multiple windows, tabbed browsing displays all the pages within a single window. It's especially useful when reading news feeds such as weblogs. In this article, I will first discuss the built-in support of RSS in Firefox and how it makes use of tabbed browsing, and then discuss the tabbed browsing feature in Safari and Camino.
Read article
OpenOffice.org 2.0 in March
According to a new document at development.openoffice.org OpenOffice.org 2.0 might be available in March 2005.
The plan looks like this:
December 2004: OOo 1.9.65 Feature Complete Snapshot (originally planned as 2.0 Beta)
January 2005: OOo2.0 Beta
January 2005 ?? : OOo2.0 changes will be done on separated branch, the trunk (HEAD) will then be used for the next OOo major (3.0 ?) release.
February 2005 ?? : OOo 2.0 rc
March 2005 ?? : OOo 2.0
I've just downloaded and installed OpenOffice.org Snapshot Build 1.9.m69 from the FTP server.
Remember also to read the OpenOffice.org 2.0 Office Suite Guide to New Features document
Planet Movable Type
Planet MT aggregates posts from the most important Movable Type weblogs and presents them in a variety of formats from headlines to full posts and RSS. The script is set to rebuild the files every half hour so posts may not show up instantly. There is a timestamp on the front page that shows last rebuild. I've had this idea swimming around my head ever since Planet Mozilla launched but never implemented it because until a few weeks ago I was under the impression that my host did not provide Python.
Securing Thunderbird email with OpenPGP
Email is commonly used in business today, yet only a small percentage of users take the time to guarantee their email is sent in a secure and confidential manner. If you're not part of that elite group, read on to learn how to setup OpenPGP with the Mozilla Thunderbird mail component. OpenPGP is a patent-free encryption scheme based on the same security architecture as the commercial version of PGP, which has been available since the early 90's. Thunderbird uses OpenPGP through the GnuPG implementation -- developed by the Free Software Foundation -- for interpreting and sending digitally signed and encrypted messages. The first step in setting up Thunderbird with OpenPGP is to have GnuPG installed on your system. The majority of Linux distros include this package in their official release. Query for it on your system be entering the following command: which gpg. If it's not found, or if you are using a different operating system like Windows or MAC, then you will need to download and install it. The cornerstone to GnuPG's security -- and hence OpenPGP -- are key pairs. Made up of a private and a public key, they are used throughout the security loop by both sender and receiver, as we will observe in the rest of this article.
Bill Gates calls free culture advocates communists
In an interview on news.com, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates described free culture advocates as a "modern-day sort of communists".
Q: In recent years, there's been a lot of people clamoring to reform and restrict intellectual-property rights. It started out with just a few people, but now there are a bunch of advocates saying, "We've got to look at patents, we've got to look at copyrights." What's driving this, and do you think intellectual-property laws need to be reformed?
A: No, I'd say that of the world's economies, there's more that believe in intellectual property today than ever. There are fewer communists in the world today than there were. There are some new modern-day sort of communists who want to get rid of the incentive for musicians and moviemakers and software makers under various guises. They don't think that those incentives should exist.
Watch out, Internet Explorer and Google: A pack of powerful browsers and search engines are gunning for you
There's something new on the Web every second, but most people have been using the same old browser and search sites for as long as they can remember. We put the latest versions of five browsers, along with three shells for Microsoft's long-in-the-tooth Internet Explorer, through their paces, and we took a fresh look at your search options, whether you want to find the latest news, the best info, or the lowest prices.
You aren't using the best browser. At least, if you're like about 90 percent of Web users, you aren't. Firefox, the new kid on the block, is safer and livelier, and it offers a better Web experience than any other browser out there--and not just because Microsoft has made a mess of market-leader Internet Explorer. We tested IE and four of its strongest competitors--the initial Firefox release, Mozilla 1.7.3, Netscape 7.2, and Opera 7.54--for features, ease of use, and Web site compatibility, to see which makes the best alternative to Internet Explorer. And for an alternative to the alternatives, we looked at three programs that extend IE, adding features and enhancing security. All of these tools are priced just right at zero dollars each (for personal use, and in Opera's case if you don't mind ads). Our Best Bet is the Mozilla Foundation's upstart, open-source Firefox for its fast, simple, and secure approach to the Web.
Six Apart Guide to Comment Spam
From the blog posting:
This document describes how malicious or unwanted comments ('comment spam') affect weblogs, the techniques spammers use to abuse weblogs, and the tactics that can be used to prevent and defend against these attacks. Also included is a review of the strengths and weaknesses of each tactic, instructions for implementing them on your weblog and ones which we recommend for the best protection.
The document in PDF
Six Apart Recommendations for Movable Type Users:
- Upgrade to the latest version of Movable Type
- Use TypeKey and comment moderation
- Brad Choate's MT-DSBL
- Jay Allen's MT-Blacklist
- Phil Ringnalda's Real Comment Throttle
Open source plans for the Netscape servers
From Christopher Blizzard blog:
There's an interesting report on internetnews about Sun getting ready to open source a large chunk of code, which may include forked copies of all the assets that Red Hat recently purchased from AOL. I haven't seen anyone from Red Hat talk about these in any kind of public forum yet, other than the usual set of starch-filled press releases, so I thought I might use this forum to talk about some of the specifics of what Red Hat is doing. It should be very interesting for a lot of people out there in the larger software community. Red Hat has a history of being a pretty open company, and I think that I've been too silent on this issue for quite a while.
Ny browser vinder frem
2% or 1 out of 50 of the danish internet users are using Mozilla Firefox.
Web-browseren Firefox vinder frem på bekostning af Microsofts Internet Explorer, understreger nye tal fra Foreningen af Danske Internetmedier. På Computerworld Online har snart to ud af fem brugere droppet Microsofts Internet Explorer. Nye tal fra Foreningen af Danske Internetmedier (FDIM) understreger fremgangen for open source web-browseren Firefox, der langsomt vinder ind på den altdominerende Internet Explorer fra Microsoft. Det er kun anden gang, at FDMI opgør andelen af browsere. Tallene er interessante, fordi de inkluderer de danskere, der i december har besøgt 20 af de største websites i Danmark, og således viser udviklingen i den brede befolkning. Ifølge tallene var der installeret Firefox på 2,41 procent af danskernes internet-pc'er, og det var en fordobling i forhold til den første måling i oktober. Tallene viser også, at 1,99 procent - eller en ud af 50 - danske netbrugere allerede er gået i gang med at bruge version 1.0 af Mozilla Firefox, der først blev lanceret i begyndelsen af november.
Danske tal viser stor Firefox-fremgang
Ny browser vinder frem
Mozilla Firefox-brug fordoblet på to måneder
Gallup/FDIM BrowserBarometer
Provide Firefox MSI package checkin
The first step in providing a Mozilla Firefox MSI package has been checked in. Read more in bug 231062. Checked in files can be seen here.
Firefox and Thunderbird 1.1 flags
Asa writes (on behalf of the Firefox and Thunderbird teams):
I've just created the "blocking-aviary1.1" flag in Bugzilla. This flag is for nominating bugs as blockers for either of the Firefox 1.1 or Thunderbird 1.1 release. The 1.1 releases will be primarily geared toward picking up all of the great Gecko-core changes that have happened since April of last year, which weren't included in the 1.0 releases. These releases are not intended as major feature releases so please use the blocking nominations for bugs, especially regressions, rather than lots of new features.
Launchy 3.7.0 released - JSLib dropped
I've just released version 3.7.0 of Launchy. Launchy is a Mozilla, Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, Netscape and Nvu extension that will enable you to open current page, links, mailto, images and view source with external applications. Download
The biggest news in this release is the replacement of JSLib with my own IO lib based on this module. This should take care of some problems some users were having with Launchy.
I had to replace JSLib, since JSLib has a problem with the global namespace. Basically this problem occurs when multiple extensions are including JSLib. So if extension A is including a version of JSLib and then extension B also is including a JSLib version, it's only the first loaded extension that works. Some people using Launchy found themself having this problem if Launchy was loaded after the StumbleUpon extension. Loading order is the way the extensions are listed in the extension manager.
To eliminate this problem the extensions have to rely on JSLib being installed on it's own and not included inside the extension. But since people don't have control over how an extension is installed this is not very useful. How does one control the installation process at ie. update.mozilla.org, since there's no dependencies.
So what I really miss in the install.rdf script is a depend tag. So I can say that JSLib version blabla has to be installed for this extension to work. What could also be nice was some kind of namespace for each extension. If I in my extension have a global variable called test then other extensions also have this variable.
For more information please turn to bug 8032 and bug 8070.
Translated Launchy
The other big news in version 3.7.0 is the addition of translations. Launchy version 3.7.0 has been translated into 9 languages. Danish (da-DK), German (de-DE), Spanish (es-ES), Italian (it-IT), Dutch (nl-NL), Portuguese (pt-BR), Russian (ru-RU), Chinese Simplified (zh-CN), Traditional Chinese (zh-TW). Thanks to all the translators that read my posting.
Download and install
Get the latest and greatest version of Launchy right here. Full changelog
It just gets worse and worse for IE users
Beware of CoolWebSearch, a program that can change Microsoft Internet Explorer's security settings and wreak havoc on computers.
Anti-spyware company Webroot Software said Tuesday that CoolWebSearch self-installs malicious HTML applications and exploits security flaws in IE. "This has vexed all of us," said Nick Lewis, managing director of Boulder, Colo.-based Webroot. "For consumers, CoolWebSearch is probably one of the most vicious programs in terms of how nasty it is. It completely hijacks the browser so you can't do anything."
Read the article
Perhaps it has to get real bad before it gets good:
- Microsoft Prepares to Dash Malware with "A1"
- Microsoft Readies 'A1' Security Subscription Service
- Microsoft Anti-Spyware Beta Due 6th January
Testing of a release
In an interesting post Asa writes about how the testing of a release is done. This is a very good way to get some insight in how the testing of the 1.8 Alpha 6 release is done.
This morning, Tracy, Marcia, Sarah, and I all shifted our focus to testing for the 1.8 Alpha 6 release that's upcoming. We've been mostly focused on the Firefox and Thunderbird releases for the last few months (with Tracy doing some Seamonkey smoketesting too.) Many folks, including QA, have been away on vacations, breaks, etc. so it wasn't a shock that today's trunk builds weren't in the greatest apparent shape when we dove in. We met on IRC because we're all in different location and broke up the smoketesting according to platform with Sarah on Linux, Marcia on Mac, and Tracy and me on Windows (that's how we've been doing it for a while now with the Aviary builds.) Sarah was focused on the GTK2+XFT Linux builds because I'm planning to move to those, rather than the old GTK1 builds, as the official release for 1.8a6. We don't yet have the installer ported to GTK2 (anyone out there interested in doing this?) but the advantages of the GTK2+XFT build seem to us (me, bryner, dbaron) to far outweigh the lack of an installer and maybe we can even do a couple of different RPMs for 1.8 final.
Read the post
Danske Netbank virker nu endelig med Firefox
Dennis Plougman Buus skriver i en mail til mig:
Danske Bank har for nyligt fået et alternativt login-system til Danske Netbank som ikke bruger ActiveX. Istedet får man en lille lommeregner-agtig dims kaldet ActivCard. Den genererer en 8-cifret login kode hver gang man vil logge på netbanken.
http://www.danskebank.dk/PrivatHembankenInstruktionNyKodbox
På seneste version af deres side med systemforudsætninger for brug af hjemmesiden og Netbank står der nu at siderne er valideret med validator.w3.org
http://www.danskebank.dk/foruds
...og Firefox er listet på browseroversigten og kan nu bruges til Netbanken ved hjælp af ActivCard.
http://www.danskebank.dk/browser2
(dog yder de kun support for IE og Safari)
http://www.danskebank.dk/browser
Note: Firefox Addon'en "Stop Autoplay" skal deaktiveres før man kan logge på Danske Bank Netbank.
Extensions I use - part 3
It's time for a updated list of my previous postings here and here. These are the extensions I use, not just the ones I have installed.
Firefox Extensions- Web Developer - Adds a menu and a toolbar with various web developer tools.
- LastTab - Allows tab navigation in a most recently used manner.
- Linkification - Converts text links into genuine, clickable links.
- LiveBookmarkThis - Gives an Add Live Bookmark option when right-clicking links
- Gcache - Displays a google cached version of the webpage.
- Location Navigator - Tools used to navigate up/down through the numeric portion of a location.
- Popup Allow - Temporarily disables the popup blocker when the Caps Lock key is pressed.
- CuteMenus - Adds icons to menus and popups.
- InfoLister - Lists installed extensions and themes
- Linky - Open/download/validate links and pictures in tabs or windows.
- TDC CMS - Extension for TDC CMS
- SwitchProxy Tool - A tool that allows you to manage and switch between multiple proxy configurations quickly and easily.
- OpenBook - Allows for customization of the Add Bookmark dialog
- Link Toolbar - A site-navigation toolbar
- SearchStatus - Display the Google PageRank and Alexa ranking with search-related tools.
- Favicon Picker - This extension adds UI for replacing bookmark icons.
- QuickTabPrefToggle - Adds a toggle button for single window mode.
- Adblock - Filters ads from web-pages
- Launchy - Open links and mailto's with external applications like Internet Explorer, Netscape, Opera, Outlook etc
- BugMeNot - Bypass compulsory web registration with the context menu via www.bugmenot.com.
- undoclosetab - Adds Undo Close Tab.
- Flat Bookmark Editing - Edit bookmarks in the bookmark manager, without opening the properties window.
- Slashy - Fixes Windows backslash file separators in links and images
- Buttons! - Adds buttons!
- View Headers Toggle Button - This extension adds a toolbar button that allows the easy toggling of viewing all headers. Now also plays nicely with Enigmail.
- Folderpane Tools - Allows for customization of the folder pane such as rearranging accounts and choosing a startup folder.
- Sender Policy Framework Extension - Checks emails against SPF records. Protects you from phishing.
- Mail Redirect - Allow to redirect (a.k.a. "bounce") mail messages to other recipients
- Launchy - Open links and mailto's with external applications like Internet Explorer, Netscape, Opera, Outlook etc
- TB Attachment Tools Extension - You can now do all kinds of things with attachments.
- MessageID-Finder - MessageID-Finder is a addon for the mozilla mail/news-client which helps you to find the message to a certain messageid.
- AboutConfig - about:config
- InfoLister - Lists installed extensions and themes
Free Fall: Internet Explorer Has Now Lost 30% Of The Browser Market
By December 2005 or before, as I have previously anticipated, Internet Explorer will not be anymore the browser of choice for the majority of Internet users. Today, according to my own traffic statistics based on a sample of over 600,000 visitors from over 180 countries, Internet Explorer controls slightly more than 70% of the browser market, where, just twelve months ago it had over 91% of it. The rapid loss of IE users is now a clear and definite trend that appears to be unstoppable: Internet Explorer is showing many bad wrinkles and a slippery short term memory. For a fast-growing number of experienced Internet users IE is already NOT anymore a browser option to consider.
Read article
Apple Office, AMD and Wikipedia
Apple will launch its new iWork '05 productivity suite at Macworld Expo, Think Secret has learned. The software, code-named Sugar (as alluded to in our previous Expo report), will include Keynote 2 as well as a new application, Pages. It's unclear whether Pages will simply encompass a word processing application or whether Apple will wrap spreadsheet functionality into it as well. Apple's new word processing software had been rumored to be called Document, but sources say it appears that name has been abandoned, possibly due to the confusion a user might encounter when being told "this document is a Document document."
Read more
60000 AMD chips recovered in police heist
Over 60,000 stolen AMD CPUs were recovered by Taiwanese police last Friday after a raid on an electronics company in the southern part of the country. The pilfered CPUs were actually AMD rejects, headed for the dumpster, and were likely taken from one of AMD's plants in Asia. The recovered processors included both Athlon XP and Athlon 64 chips.
Read article
Wikipedia Criticised by Its Co-founder
"Wikipedia is under criticism by its co-founder Larry Sanger who has left the project. He warns of a possible future fork due to Wikipedia's Anti-Elitism and he presents his view on Wikipedia's (lack of) reliability. New wikis on various subjects have already emerged, with some of them being complete forks of Wikipedia. Critical articles on Wikipedia are also being published by other sources."
The challenge to Internet Explorer
The Internet browser Firefox is going to whomp Microsoft Internet Explorer. I don't think that's a prediction; Firefox is ripping gobbets of market share from Internet Explorer. It is already in the hands of millions who are anti-Microsoft and will move into millions more who are unhappy with the security problems of Internet Explorer (among other things). And you know what? I don't think this triumph is the most important thing about Firefox. Yes, Firefox will become the most successful open-source consumer product ever, and force Microsoft to get off its duff. More important, I think and I hope it signals a turning point in what we expect from software. Reviews of Firefox abound, so I won't plunge into details. Most reviews are favorable but hedge--there's a reason for that, which I'll get back to. My point of view is simple: You owe it to yourself (and your business) to try it. Firefox is fast (Web pages pop), secure (it was built for security, and should stay that way for a while), runs on many platforms (Windows 98 and up, Linux, and Mac OS X), and uncluttered (the user interface is a model of simplicity). Since Internet Explorer--which until recently had over 95 percent of the market--is not fast, not very secure, not multiplatform, nor uncluttered, Firefox deserves to succeed.
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