sparx

If you'd rather keep your inbox neat and clean, I'd recommend subscribing to the Mozillazine.org RSS feed. It gives all the news regarding Mozilla based products as soon as they're available. They're also kind enough to inform us about BETA and RC releases. Mozillazine RSS Feed Another great RSS feed to keep in mind is The Extensions Mirror. A great way of knowing when extensions have been updated and new extensions have been released. The official addons.mozilla.org RSS feed of Newest Extensions is here.

If I'm not mistaken, Deer Park is still in the ALPHA stage and I'm not one to try stuff out until it's at least in BETA. In any case, the hardier among us would definitely want to give it a shot. Let us know... Coming back to the topic, Firefox 1.0.5 is a major security update. So don't expect increased functionality and features. For the technically minded here's a list of vulnerabilities fixed in 1.0.5: Notice from jipman: We use quote tags for quotes

This is a great new feature from Google - in order to convert currency just type in the query as follows: * 3.5 USD in GBP * currency of Brazil in Malaysian money * 5 British pounds in South Korean money Quick and easy. I like it because one doesn't need to know the 3 character currency code; the natural language query is a great way to get work done faster. Other new features are also listed on this page.

There appears to be a fair bit of confusion which I'll attempt to sort out. First - Windows Explorer v/s Internet Explorer Win Explorer is a file manger. IE is a web browser. Second - GoogleBar v/s Google Toolbar GoogleBar is designed originally by Andy Edmonds but is now supported by an extremely able team. It was designed to be a clone of the Google Toolbar that was available at the time for Internet Explorer but unfortunately not for Mozilla Firefox(Firebird/Phoenix?). More importantly it's open source software ! Google Toolbar BETA has been released very recently (less than a week) by the folks at Google, so it's an OFFICIAL build and NOT a clone. It also incorporates the PageRank feature which GoogleBar doesn't (since it's a proprietary Google feature.) In any case, I keep repeating this every chance I get - Well done, Google ! for supporting Firefox...

Nasa has set 13 July as the launch date for Discovery, the first shuttle to go into space since the Columbia disaster in February 2003. The announcement follows a two-day review of the Discovery's readiness for lift-off. An original launch date in May was put back because of ongoing redesign work on the shuttle's fuel tank. Columbia disintegrated after re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts on board. Earlier this week, a panel monitoring Nasa said the agency had failed to meet three of 15 recommendations made by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (Caib) for the safe resumption of shuttle flights. But Nasa Administrator Michael Griffin said Discovery was fit for launch. "Based on a very thorough and very successful flight readiness review, we're currently 'go' for launch of Discovery on 13 July," he announced. Ice risk An earlier investigation found Columbia broke up as a result of damage sustained when a chunk of fuel-tank insulating foam smashed into its left wing during lift-off two weeks earlier. The Caib probe concluded astronauts would still be unable to fix such damage once in orbit. While Nasa's focus was on how to prevent the insulating foam breaking off, concerns also emerged earlier this year about the build-up of ice on the outside of the fuel tank. The agency's management however decided the risk of ice striking the shuttle's heat shield was low enough to resume flights. Discovery will carry a seven-strong crew on a mission to take supplies and parts to the International Space Station. ================= This is very good news especially for the ongoing work @ the ISS which has had to be serviced by Progress modules launched from Soyuz rockets. Speaking of which, another Progress module docked with the ISS earlier this month, fired its thrusters for five minutes, raising the orbit of the station by 2.3 kilometers to a mean altitude of 352.9 km. An entirely routine orbit-raising maneuver, a regular event to counteract atmospheric drag, was timed so that the station would provide the "best possible conditions" for a shuttle docking. Nice to see humankind's explorations are starting to pick up again. Stay tuned for news of the Deep Impact project...

After two Israeli researchers published a paper earlier this month explaining how security mechanisms in short-range wireless Bluetooth technology could be quickly undermined, members of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) are now urging users to take several precautions. Bluetooth security is essentially based on devices generating a secure connection through a pairing process. During this process, a user of one of the devices needs to enter a PIN code, which is used by internal algorithms to generate a secure key. This key is then used to authenticate the devices whenever they connect in the future. But the findings of the Israeli researchers suggest the technology may be even more susceptible to attack than previously known. The academic paper puts forward a theoretical process that could potentially "guess" the security setting on a pair of Bluetooth devices, according to the Bluetooth Web site. To do so, the attacking device needs to listen in to the initial one-time pairing process. Form this point, it can use an algorithm to guess the security key and masquerade as the other Bluetooth device. What is new in this paper, according to the Bluetooth SIG, is an approach that forces a new pairing sequence to be conducted between the two devices and an improved method of performing the guessing process, which brings down the time significantly from previous attacks. Security Tips Even though this is an academic analysis of Bluetooth security and not a reported, real-life intrusion, SIG members, which include IBM, Intel, Nokia, Microsoft, and Motorola, want to quickly eliminate any concerns users may have. On the official Bluetooth Web site, the group offers three basic elements of good practice to help safeguard from attack: * When pairing devices for the first time, do so in private at home or in the office and avoid public places; * Always use an eight character alphanumeric PIN (personal identification number) code as the minimum. The more characters within the code, the more difficult it is to crack; * If your devices become unpaired in a public place, wait until you are in a private, secure location before re-pairing them.

If you haven't heard about the Live8 concerts and the renewed campaign to end poverty and help African nations, you must be living under a rock. But seriously, the concerts themselves will be a blast to watch. The Hyde Park, London concert will be the flagship concert and involves the who's who of the music biz performing live - For once, viewers in India will also get to watch an event of this magnitude. Tune in to VH1 India , SAT 02 July 2005 @ 17:30 IST Go to the site to learn more, sign a petition and lend support. SAT 02 JULY 2005 (1300-2030 GMT) * Annie Lennox * Bob Geldof * Coldplay * Dido * Elton John * Joss Stone * Keane * Killers, The * Madonna * Mariah Carey * Ms. Dynamite * Paul McCartney * Pink Floyd * Razorlight * REM * Robbie Williams * Scissor Sisters * Snoop Dogg * Snow Patrol * Stereophonics * Sting * Travis * U2 * UB40 * Velvet Revolver

Although related to blogging, this isn't a service but free software which acts as an interface for editing and maintaining your blog. It's called W.Bloggar It's free and light-weight in terms of resources. This helps mostly when you don't have an always ON connections to the Net. Effectively something of an offline blog, type up your blog entries and then sync them with your blog online. Cool stuff! From the FAQ: The w.bloggar is an application that acts as an interface between the user and one or more blog(s); in other words, it is a Post and Template editor, with several features and resources that the browser based blog editors do not offer. Because w.bloggar runs over the Windows GUI, it allows the user to edit posts without being connected to the Internet. Posts can be saved locally; and anytime the user wants to publish a new text, one click on the w.bloggar icon in the system tray brings up the editor, and one more click will post it to the weblog. Another great advantage of w.bloggar is that it is compatible with most of the weblog systems available, allowing an advanced user to have only one interface to several accounts hosted on several different sites, using different publishing systems. To communicate with the weblog, w.bloggar requires that the blog system have implemented an API (Application Programming Interface.) Currently, w.bloggar is compatible with all tools that implements Blogger API, metaWeblog API, MovableType API and b2 API; all based on the XML-RPC definition.

I'd have to agree with the vast majority of users here... Mozilla Firefox offers the best safety v/s functionality. However, old shell users might recall an even safer browser albeit with rather limited functionality. Yes! I'm talking about that old symbol and leading cause of Carpal Tunnel Syndroms in the mid-90s - Lynx . Without a doubt... the safest way to browse the web.

Get it from here - MS AntiSpyware Release Notes

I just came across this info that Google Desktop Search has new plugins for download. GDS can now index RealMedia / AVI and GAIM files amongst others. Although I'm a CDS user, I'll try out GDS in the near future and see what the fuss is all about... The ability to integrate GDS into the Firefox Search Bar seems like a good thing too. It's very heartening to see a company like Google support Firefox. The Firefox start page is the most noticeable form of support yet.

I fail to see what's illegal about it. The authors of the podcasts want you to listen to their views and the only way to do so is by downloading the MP3 file.

I've just been introduced to the world of Podcasting and was wondering if there are any podcasts that users here might recommend... I have found that each average podcast lasts about 30 minutes and is usually encoded @ 128 kbps in MP3 format. So, expect sizes of around 25 - 30 MB. In any case, downloading it takes time on my measly and choking Net connection so I resort to lining up the download URLs and downloading them @ night when my PC isn't in use (except for SETI). I think Podcasting can, in layman's terms be described as "downloadable talk-radio". In all honesty I can also say with some degree of understanding - I now understand why only some people sound good on Radio ! Have a look @ The Best Damn Tech Show Period. Podcast

Hi ! I've been having some problems with my PC : It's powered by a P4 - 2.4C GHz processor with 512 MB DDR RAM on an Intel 865 GBF motherboard. Of late, I've been getting warnings regarding temperature going into the red zones. That prompted me to open up the cabinet and perform maintenance and cleaning etc. Intel's Active Monitor which was installed from the accompanying Driver CD notified me about this. This led me to a search for similar software and I'd like opinions from users here. The most widely talked about monitoring software that I could come across was Motherboard Monitor 5. Does it have the capability to save logs of when temperatures / vltages and other parameters of my system go out of the set limits? What features are appreciated by users here? And lastly, are there other similar and capable software out there?

In any case I much prefer the more sober Blue-Grey skin. One can change the skin from the drop down box at the bottom of the page. SparAzero needs more work before it can confidently present itself to the community.I agree with tobias - Please put the Hosting Credits stats box as close to the top of thepage as possible. It's immensely convenient and serves as a visual reminder when one's credits start getting low.

I've sent one over ...

No one's mentioned this little open source gem so I'd love to be the first to do so. I'm talking about Miranda IM. Essentially it can be called the semi-geek's IM First a little background info - you ought to be decently proficient in using your PC. Also prettiness and skins musn't be one of your priorities. This is one of the lightest yet feature-filled multi-IMs that are floating around. It's open-source with an active community and most importantly - it has plugins galore for protocols / conversation windows / Meta Contacts (one person who has many nicknames over different protocols) etc. One of the downsides though is that off-the-shelf, Miranda doesn't come as loaded as others. One needs to build it up according to their taste and requirements. There is however an alternative - AuSpLaYa's site has a ready to go Miranda package with some of the more popular and functional plugins pre-loaded.

While that might work out well in the beginning, the user's mailbox will eventually be filled up with emails which have been deleted by Outlook Express on the local hard disk but still remain on the server. To counter this - either the user would need to go the webmail interface ( nearly all providers offer one now-a-days ) OR he/she would have to enable one or both of the options as shown in the screenshot below to have OE delete the emails periodically. Of course that puts a crimp in the original plan to have email readable from different machines. UPDATE to previous post - It appears Thinbrowser.net is no longer reachable. In which case my recommendation shifts to Bluebottle.com as an email service provider with 250 MB mailbox / challenge-response antispam system and IMAP4 / SMTP availability

OK. Jonathan - I looked around and OE definitely will not work with a mapped network location. This means that you'll have to manually copy over your identity folder (where all the DBX files are kept) back and forth or use some directory sync utility to make sure both your laptop and desktop have identical mail stores each time you open them. An alternate but radical solution might be to use an IMAP email provider. That way your data stays on the server and changes you make to it using your laptop can later be synchronised on your desktop machine. ThinBrowser.net is a good provider that provides 1 GB mailbox with IMAP4 and SMTP capabilities plus virus and spam protection. THe only downside is that it has Google text ads in one corner. OF course, if you're using OE, those ads won't be visible. Bluebottle.com offers IMAP4 and SMTP access without any ads but with a smaller 250 MB mailbox.

Jonathan: I'll assume you meant Outlook Express throught your post and NOT it's big brother Outlook (part of the Office suite). In any case, OE must know the exact location of the folder where you're storing the files containing your emails / usenet messages. All this is stored in muktiple files with the extension .DBX. To know exactly which folder your emails are stored in do the following: - In OE, click TOOLS > OPTIONS. Next click on the MAINTENANCE tab. Click STORE FOLDER and make a note of the exact path displayed there. That's the folder where all your stuff relating to your identity on OE is stored. Do this for both machines - desktop and laptop Once you know this - just change the path to point to the same folder but take care to include the changed path letter (as you mentioned X:\.... whatever). Unfrotunately, I can't test this in any manner and I'm also unsure whether OE will accept mapped folders.

I agree with the recommendation for VideoLan. If I were you I'd also try Media Player Classic which apart from looking like the old style mplayer2 from MS, is deifinitely better and OpenSource !

An earlier post mentioned using DEL or F10 to access the BIOS - although this may not apply to you, PhoenixBIOS is usually accessed by pressing F2. Go to AllBootDisks.com and to BootDisk.com. There are a number of possible solutions and disk images listed there.

I have to say that https://m'>dbPowerAmp Music Converter is what works best for me. In addition to CD ripping, it can also convert to and from WAV / MP3 / WMA / Ogg Vorbis / FLAC / Monkeys Audio and a whole host of other formats. It's free although the Power Pack which includes tag editing support and other niceties costs. Right-click functionality is a very major plus point.

I think I saw something similar in one of the Indian PC magazines, most likely Digit. But, I concur with Tobias - Nakul : you have waaay too much time on your hands!

PM me your email address and I'll send you an invite. It's still in BETA mode, so the only way in is to have an existing user send you an invitation. Or you can choose to go here Isnoop.net