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Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Why I've Switched From Chrome to Firefox 4 [Web Browsers]
Source: http://lifehacker.com/#!5786991/why-ive-switched-from-chrome-to-firefox-4
I've never been much of a Firefox user myself. I switched between browsers a lot until Chrome came out, after which I used it almost exclusively. It was fast, extensible, available on all platforms, and the more it gained in popularity, the better it became. Sure, it had its quirks, but it was the best I could get at the time. Firefox's slowness really turned me off, so I never really gave it a chance.
With everyone talking about how great Firefox 4 is, though, I decided to try it out. Most of the team at Lifehacker has switched to Chrome for their main browsing needs, but Chrome was starting to irk me in small ways and if Firefox could hold up on its promise of higher speed, it could actually sway me away from Chrome. A few days after switching, I fell in love and haven't looked back. If you haven't looked at Firefox in awhile (or never really used it in the past), here's why you might want to give it another shot.
It's Pretty Darn Fast
This was the big one. Firefox's sluggishness was the main thing keeping me away before, but now that Firefox has added some serious speed increases to its browser, it's not nearly as painful as it used to be. In fact, it's not painful at all. It might not be quite as fast as Chrome sometimes, but it's pretty comparable, putting the two on a more level playing field and making Firefox's other advantages much more worth switching for.
A Minimal, Fully Customizable Interface
Firefox 4's new interface adds some nice improvements, like tabs on top, the Firefox menu, and the removal of the status bar. They've also gotten rid of or moved some of the more clutter-inducing navigation buttons, like the reload button, which is a welcome change.
The changes weren't perfectly executed, of course—the Firefox menu isn't in a great spot, and tabs on top doesn't actually save you any vertical pixels. However, Firefox's UI is so customizable that it doesn't really matter. We've already shown you how to move the Firefox menu to a more appropriate location, and use the extra space more efficiently for a Chrome-like tabs-on-top setup.
userChrome.css file that lets you really dig down and tweak every pixel of the interface—literally. We feature tweaks for the userChrome file all the time, here on Lifehacker—like this recent URL preview hack, as well as a trick to make the Firefox button a little less annoyingly neon. And, with all the Firefox users out there, you can pretty much Google anything you want to change about Firefox's interface and find a CSS tweak.
Don't forget about the Stylish add-on, either, which lets you tweak not just Firefox's interface, but the interface of nearly any web site you want, which can be extremely handy.
About:Config
about:config page is still one of the best features Firefox has to offer. Just like the userChrome.css file, it lets you tweak a ton of different preferences that aren't available in the normal preferences menu. Want to preview open tabs when you cycle through them using Ctrl+Tab? There's an about:config tweak for that. Annoyed that Firefox automatically enters "Work Offline" mode when you disconnect? There's a tweak for that too. There are also tweaks for making spellcheck stand out more, making it ask to save your tabs when you quit, and save memory by waiting to load tabs until you click on them. Sure, Chrome has that neat about:flags page, and it is a bit easier to use—but it doesn't give you anywhere near the power Firefox's about:config page does. In the end, both userChrome.css and about:config are all about customization. Firefox gives you a level of customization that is just unparalleled in other browsers.
You Can Actually Sync Custom Search Engines
They've become such an integral part of my browsing that it's infuriating that I can't sync them between Chrome installations—as soon as I pick up one of my other computers or boot into one of my other partitions, I have to create them all over again. Since Firefox actually integrates these into your bookmarks, they sync right along with your bookmarks, whether you're using Firefox Sync or something like Xmarks. It's a feature that Chrome is severely lacking, and that Firefox has had all along.
Mobile Sync
Security Certificates
None of this is to say that Firefox is perfect, of course. It doesn't have quite the "smoothness" that Chrome does, and if you leave it open for more than a day, it'll steal more of your memory than a bottle of José Cuervo, but overall Firefox's stability and customizability have won me over. If you've given Firefox 4 a try and have any thoughts on the matter—whether you agree or disagree—be sure to share them in the comments below.
Keyglove ditches QWERTY for one-handed computer control (video)
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/29/keyglove-ditches-qwerty-for-one-handed-computer-control-video/
Continue reading Keyglove ditches QWERTY for one-handed computer control (video)
Keyglove ditches QWERTY for one-handed computer control (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 21:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Fujifilm resumes production on X100 cameras, new-age vintage is rolling again
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/29/fujifilm-resumes-production-on-x100-cameras-new-age-vintage-is/
Fujifilm resumes production on X100 cameras, new-age vintage is rolling again originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 14:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Novatel's USB551L 4G LTE modem hits Verizon March 31st
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/29/novatels-usb551l-4g-lte-modem-hits-verizon-march-31st/
Samsung's new LTE mobile hotspot may have managed to sneak out a bit early, but it looks like those opting for Novatel's USB551L LTE modem instead will still have to wait a few days. Verizon has just confirmed today that the modem will be available on March 31st for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate (on a two-year contract). As expected, the modem packs both Windows and Mac support out of the box, and promises download speeds up to 12 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 5 Mbps. Still no word on Novatel's 4510L MiFi, though we presume it will be following shortly. Full press release is after the break.
Continue reading Novatel's USB551L 4G LTE modem hits Verizon March 31st
Novatel's USB551L 4G LTE modem hits Verizon March 31st originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 14:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | CommentsGemalto bringing NFC payments to phones of any intelligence with MasterCard PayPass SIM
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/29/gemalto-bringing-nfc-payments-to-phones-of-any-intelligence-with/
Gemalto bringing NFC payments to phones of any intelligence with MasterCard PayPass SIM originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Panasonic, Xpand team up on M-3DI standard for active shutter glasses at home and in theaters
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/29/panasonic-xpand-team-up-on-m-3di-standard-for-active-shutter-gl/
Panasonic, Xpand team up on M-3DI standard for active shutter glasses at home and in theaters originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | CommentsFirefox 4 for Android launched, ready to Sync and speed up your browsing
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/29/firefox-4-for-android-launched-ready-to-sync-and-speed-up-your/
Continue reading Firefox 4 for Android launched, ready to Sync and speed up your browsing
Firefox 4 for Android launched, ready to Sync and speed up your browsing originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 11:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Walk-On Role in the Upcoming Film "Grand Street" - proceeds go to charity too - http://bit.ly/gVd2q9
The World's Largest Picture Taken Indoors Is 40 Gigapixels of Classic Beauty [Video]
It's believed to be the world's largest picture taken indoors and the detail is incredible. Like the other "world largest photos" you can zoom in and out, pan around and find things you never saw on first glance. Jeffrey Martin, the photographer, literally took days to take all the pictures and considerably longer to process them all.
So amazing. [360 Cities via Wired via TechCrunch]
How It Works: The Make-All 3-D Printer
Source: http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-03/how-it-works-make-all-machine
The Objet Connex churns out complex objects by spraying eight million plastic droplets a second
Since the first 3-D printer was invented by Charles Hull in 1984, machines have seen vast improvements in speed and accuracy. Today's best 3-D printers operate much like a standard inkjet, spraying millions of droplets of polymer to build an object layer by layer. But there's a hitch: Most 3-D printers use only use a single material at once, thus each product they produce can be just one color or consistency.
The Objet Connex can print two materials at a time, and even mix composites. In doing so, it can craft items with varied flex, shade and feel. The Connex has helped hospitals fabricate see-through medical models and even allowed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology student to construct a working flute complete with moving hinges and rubber gaskets.
Click the image above to see an animation showing how the Objet Connex can print complex objects one microscopic layer at a time. If you are unable to view Flash files, click here for a static version. Illustrations by Aaron Newman; Flash Design by Josh Rashkin
A Smarter Crash-Test Dummy
An Affordable Telephoto Lens
3-D TV Without Glasses
World's Fastest Roller Coaster
An Implantable Bionic Eye
The Make-All 3-D Printer
Better Curve Control
The Light-Driven Computer
This month's How It Works section is brought to you by Digi-Key. All posts are purely editorial content, which we are pleased to present with the help of a sponsor; the sponsor has no input in the content itself.
Video: Turning A Massive Touchscreen Display Into a Multitouch Microscope
Mashing web-based virtual microscopy and a massive multi-touch display surface, Finnish researchers have created a new interface for laboratory science that allows researchers to pan and zoom around a microscope sample via a tabletop or wall-mounted touchscreen, zooming in so close that sub-cellular details can be seen.
Given the fact that the minimum size for the screen is 46 inches--and it can be much larger, like the size of a conference table or even an entire wall--the device is capable of making the very small very large. The multitouch surface can recognize the touches of several different people at the same time, adding a whole new dimension to collaborative science and lab instruction.
This isn't just an overblown iPad app--files can be up to 200 gigabytes, so there's some real computing power backing the multitouch microscope. But from a technology standpoint, it's not so very complex. Samples are digitized using a microscopy scanner and put onto a server from which the touchscreen device continuously receives them over the Web.
From there, an entire group can stand around a massive visualization of a sample, swiping, zooming, and otherwise manipulating it intuitively and without any kind of serious training. We'll always be a bit nostalgic for the old days when we stained our own slides in chem lab, but it's hard to argue that a wall-sized, multitouch microscope isn't extremely cool.
Fujitsu LifeBook AH572 starts shipping, Sandy Bridge and 3D for under a grand
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/28/fujitsu-lifebook-ah572-starts-shipping-sandy-bridge-and-3d-for/
We saw the Fujitsu LifeBook AH572 way back in January at CES, and at the time, we were intrigued by the prospect of Sandy Bridge speed and 3D capability -- it boasts a passive 3D display and dual cameras for recording in the third dimension -- for an eminently reasonable $999. Well, were you able to resist the wave of laptops from the rest of computing's usual suspects, you can now get your hands on Fujitsu's 3D lappy packing Intel's latest silicon, a 500GB HDD, and Blu-ray combo drive to boot. Sound good? Hit the source link to grab some of the laptop love for yourself.Fujitsu LifeBook AH572 starts shipping, Sandy Bridge and 3D for under a grand originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 22:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sigma confirms pricing and availabilty for DP2x compact camera: $800, late-April
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/29/sigma-confirms-pricing-and-availabilty-for-dp2x-compact-camera/
Sigma provided most of the details for its new DP2x compact camera when it announced it back in February, but it left out two key ones: pricing and availability. It's now finally (mostly) come clean on both those counts, however, and announced that the high-end compact will run $800 and be available in "late April." As for the camera itself, you'll get a 14-megapixel FOVEON X3 sensor that's said to be twelve times larger than those found in similarly-sized cameras, along with a fixed 24.2mm F2.8 lens, full manual controls with RAW image support, and an new AF algorithm that promises "high-speed" autofocus. Full press release is after the break.
Continue reading Sigma confirms pricing and availabilty for DP2x compact camera: $800, late-April
Sigma confirms pricing and availabilty for DP2x compact camera: $800, late-April originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 05:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | CommentsAcer slaps $1,200 price tag on dual-screen Iconia-6120 touchbook, lets US and Canada pre-order
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/29/acer-slaps-1-200-price-tag-on-dual-screen-iconia-6120-touchbook/
Acer slaps $1,200 price tag on dual-screen Iconia-6120 touchbook, lets US and Canada pre-order originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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