Is Your Website Slow to Load ? Catch the Culprit with Pingdom

from Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal

"4 seconds" - remember that magical number ? If a web page doesn't load within 4 seconds, lot of visitors are likely to leave the website.

Tricks to Make Your Webpages Load Faster

Now several elements of a web page (like CSS, Iframes, Flash, Javascript, graphics) can increase the page loading time but how do you pinpoint the exact culprit that slowing the site ? A normal HTML web page may have ad scripts being served from Google Adsense servers, Flash video player from YouTube, images from Blogger Photos and so on.

PingDom Full Page Test is a useful tool that mimics a web browser and generates a nice interactive graph detailing the load time of different objects (like CSS Files, Javascript, etc) which are included in the web page.

You can view the list of objects either in load order or as a hierarchy. The hierarchy view allows you to see which objects are linked to in for example a CSS file. Objects that fail to load are highlighted in red.

PingDom's tool is based on SiteTimer [read review] but with a sleek and more user-friendly interface. If you have Firebug extension on Firefox, goto the "Net" tab and it will also show similar data.

tools.pingdom.com | example | How fast your site loads ?]

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Researchers devise thermally-activated flexible display

from Engadget by Darren Murph

The race to create bigger smaller and better flexible displays now has yet another participant, but Weijia Wen and colleagues at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology are putting a toasty twist on their iteration. The team has reportedly developed a "flexible, thermally-activated electronic display made from a mixture of metal nanoparticles and plastic," which costs far less than most similar alternatives to create and measures just 150-microns in thickness. Moreover, these units are able to change hues based on the surrounding temperatures, and while only fixed patterns are available for viewing at the moment, the crew hopes to implement an array of "thermal pixels" in the future for more dynamic opportunities. A display that warns you of an overheating machine / battery / toy -- who woulda thunk it? [Thanks, Alan]

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Zonbu's subscription-based PC reviewed

from Engadget by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Desktops

PC World has gotten its hands on the semi-infamous Zonbu desktop -- a Linux based, environmentally friendly, ultra-small, ultra-cheap PC which is being launched this month -- and they've issued the first field report. The system, which we mentioned back in May, is based around a Via chipset and has no internal storage save for 512MB of RAM and a 4GB flash drive used for the OS. The $99 computer is meant to be used in conjunction with a $12.95-a-month service, much like a mobile phone (with a two year commitment and all), and provides 25GB of storage space on Amazon's S3 servers. The reviewer seems impressed with the speed and stability of the computer, OS, and included apps, but underwhelmed with the online storage process (slow, small), and lack of an included optical drive. The critique also covers a "community" version of the Zonbu ($250), which axes the subscription and adds root access to the computer -- which PC World seems to feel is a more sellable option for the new company -- although overall they recommend the system to anyone with basic computing requirements. Of course, you could just get an Apple TV for around that price and hack it, but that might not be up your alley, so check the read link for the whole, exciting breakdown. [Thanks, Corine]

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WildCharger pricing details emerge

from Engadget by Conrad Quilty-Harper

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio

WildCharge has updated its website with more information about its pad-based wireless WildCharger solution. The company has revealed that adapters for the Motorola RAZR (which replaces the back cover) and the iPod nano (via a dock adapter) will set you back $34.99. The dock itself will be $59.99, meaning that it could cost you as much as $130 to wirelessly charge -- assuming you own both an iPod and a RAZR -- your phone and MP3 player. Still interested? If so, you should be able to pick up all three sometime this month. [Thanks, David; via Slippery Brick]

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Silicon Power's 8GB UDMA 300x Compact Flash card

from Engadget by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Storage

Sure, there still aren't any DSLRs available to handle it, but at least now you have choice in your unsupported UDMA CF media. Meet the UDMA 300x Compact Flash card from Silicon Power. Available in 2, 4, or 8GB capacities, these cards feature an Ultra Direct Memory Access 45MBps transfer rate making them the ideal choice for rapid firing, professional DSLRs -- you know, when they actually start supporting UDMA sometime later this year. On sale in Japan in the next few days for prices which should top-out at around $200 for 8GB. [Via Impress]

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