FirefoxRocks

Sites I visit on a regular basis: Facebook, Download.com (CNET), Google, as well as Google-based applications such as GMail, Google Docs and Google Calendar, YouTube, Weatheroffice Canada, CKDR, X-Kings, Kongregate, and sites like my uOttawa Virtual Campus for obvious reasons. Not really that regular but I'll throw in Twitter as well. I do drop by Xisto occasionally, to check out if there's anything interesting, but the majority of my time is spent on Facebook.

The main concern I have with this is safety. Space travel isn't like going on a rollercoaster or some ride at a local amusement park; there's a lot of additional factors to be taken in account. Also, after watching this episode of CSI Miami (http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/) I don't think I want to attempt something like space travel haha.If I had $400k then there's much better things to spend it on, but to each their own I guess.

For putting VHS tapes (I'm assuming that's what you're talking about when you refer to "Video Tape"), I would recommend using converter hardware that you can usually purchase at an electronics store such as Future Shop for around $60-$120. They come with software designed for this purpose. Alternatively, if your computer has a TV Tuner card, you can try to hook up a VCR to that and record from the input using webcam software while playing the VHS tape. To edit these, I'd recommend Windows Movie Maker or Windows Live Movie Maker, unless you wish to use other software (freeware or commercial).

Well it's been a few years now, but currently I would say that using jQuery or another JavaScript framework (MooTools or something like that) would be the best way to do this.

Here are some actual statistics that come from Facebook themselves: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/_=_ According to Alexa, it is the 2nd most visited site of the Internet. Google is currently #1.

I would like to say here that although programs can be interpreted (e.g. PHP) or compiled (e.g. Java, C), markup languages such as HTML, XML cannot be considered programming languages, as they do not enable one to write an algorithm in order to perform calculations or do anything. Rather, HTML describes the structure of web pages (and XML similarly with documents). Personally I prefer JavaScript and PHP, as they are more prominent in web-based applications, however in high school we used Java in grade 11 and C in grade 12. In University the introduction to programming course teaches Java, however I've heard that other programming courses use C. Both of them I am comfortable with. Of course I've heard of things like BASIC, C++, C#, etc., but I've never really investigated or used them.

I prefer Foxit Reader over Adobe Reader any day. I know Google Chrome has its own PDF reader built in to the browser which works fairly well for most applications of PDF files (though it didn't work to fill out forms for applying for scholarships). Also there is the Foxit Enterprise Reader, it is also free for businesses, although I really don't see why Foxit Reader can't be used in a corporate environment (except for the licencing of course).I really do not like Adobe's background updater process, nor do I like the updater itself. And it seems to make Internet Explorer launch very slow in the event that I use Internet Explorer. CNET Download.com also recommends Foxit over Adobe.

Out of those tools listed above I only use the Web Development Toolbar, Firebug and for images I use the GIMP. I used to use FireFTP but recently I found FileZilla and the built in FTP software in Notepad++ to be quite sufficient (also I use Chrome primarily now so Firefox isn't really launched that often). I used to use IE Tab but I'm not even sure if it's compatible with recent versions of Firefox (7+) and also with the IE developer tools I find them to be more useful for checking compatibility with IE7/8/9.Chrome also has nice developer tools built into the browser, similar with Internet Explorer 8 and 9. They are quite similar to Firebug in Firefox however Firebug is also compatible with Google Page Speed and YSlow (Yahoo!) as I recall correctly (with FirePHP if any of you use it). There is a Page Speed Extension for Chrome (of course, because it's Google).All in all, everyone works differently, so use whatever tools you feel comfortable to maximum efficiency. The most important thing is user friendly, cross-compatibility with browsers, and visually appealing sites.

I don't email on my BlackBerry (my data package only includes unlimited Facebook, Twitter and BBM) but the BBM outage really did make me wonder why my messages weren't being received. Some of my friends could send and can't receive messages in the later part of the outage, while I could receive but not send. This CNET writer feels rather betrayed and heartbroken by RIM after this BlackBerry outage: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ I'm really glad that I have most of my BBM contacts' phone numbers so I can text them in the event of an outage, which I did shortly after I figured out that the BlackBerry network was out, and it wasn't a provider or university-area specific thing. Also only a smaller portion of my friends use BlackBerrys or other smartphones, most of them still use regular cell phones. I preferred the keyboard on my LG slider phone over this BlackBerry Bold keyboard. From a business perspective for people who depend on their BlackBerrys for email then yes I would say that this was a significant issue. Also interesting is this: Joy of BlackBerry Outage: Fewer Arab car smashes

I haven't used Safari on Windows for years, but I remember it being very slow, not in page rendering necessarily but the GUI was slow, like tabs on IE7. It didn't have extensions back then either (I'm not sure if Safari on Windows has extensions now or not) so it wasn't of any interest to me. Then again, I don't think Chrome was out back then, if it was then it was probably in its Beta stage only.As for the speed dial page, I find Opera's best, Chrome I don't have the speed dial page but rather Applications. I use Chrome as my primary browser and it's definitely the fastest. Opera I launch once in a while to connect to the rare IRC chat room, but otherwise I don't like browsing on it.

I don't see why you wouldn't like BlackBerry OS 6, but usually there is a limited number of versions you can downgrade to. Open up BlackBerry Desktop Software and click the check device updates or however you got OS 6 to install and there should be like 2-3 versions you can downgrade to. I almost accidentally wiped my berry when I was trying to upgrade/downgrade though last week, so always be sure to back up!

Normally I wouldn't understand why someone would put files in zip folders (or other types of archival) unless they were sending them through the Internet. If you need native compatibility across Windows and Linux/UNIX, then go with the zip format. Otherwise I'd highly recommend the .tar.gz or just .gz format, it is still readable in Windows with 7-Zip however is much more commonly using in the Linux/UNIX world. Here is a list of archival, compression and archival/compression formats and information about them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_archive_formats

It depends on the plugin but usually they are just scripts written with jQuery that does what the documentation says. Once you download it, you unzip the contents to wherever you want to put it (whether it be in your website's directory or in a separate js directory or whatever), and you insert the correct js files using <script> tags in your HTML pages, and the CSS files as well if present.

It shouldn't be that much of a hassle... I'd recommend backing up your files from the "D:" partition to an external hard drive or something, use a Linux Live CD for this (I personally recommend Ubuntu but openSuSE or any other Linux Live CD will work fine).Perhaps I'll also recommend that you partition and format your hard disk using Gparted (again that's included with Ubuntu, not sure about other linux distributions. Note that since you're installing Windows, your partitions need to be formatted as NTFS. Now when you insert the Windows installation media and boot from that, your partitions will be ready to go and you can transfer your data back once Windows is installed.

I believe it's a cookie and I don't think it's persistent. I find it quite annoying too, as I don't need anything on the sidebar. Maybe the entire site should adopt an entire different navigation system?

I've never figured out how to use that feature and I don't think it's very helpful anyways, I don't know if there was a similar feature in IE7 but I can't find the tab preview page in IE9 either. Anyways my primary browser is Chrome but I still occasionally use Firefox.I might have many tabs open but finding things has never been a problem...

I haven't really read into that but I'm assuming there must be some kind of authentication needed to connect printers to your Google account, otherwise imagine the possibility of fax attacks, except with printers!But the possibility of printing from anywhere is cool, University of Ottawa already has this where you can print to any of the 14 self-serve printers from your laptop if you are authenticated on the campus wireless network. Then you just go to the printer, scan your student card and pay for the print jobs that you want to process. Somehow I tried this yesterday and no print jobs showed up though...

The best option that you mentioned with DVDs isn't exactly economical, since that would require approximately 18 DVDs which would need to be shipped here. I am still waiting for the files to be transferred through the network and uTorrent says that it will take weeks, combine this with the time that my parents shut down the computer and I could be waiting for months My permanent home is >1800 km away from university so it is exactly convenient to travel home... unfortunately

No I'm at university right now, but I can remote in to my home computer via LogMeIn. Right now I still have the torrent going at max upload speed of 48 kB/s, which will take weeks to download the files.

I am currently away at university and I'd like to transfer large files from my home computer. By large I mean 3-5 GB each, and the total size is approx 79 GB.I have remote access to the computer using LogMeIn, someone suggested using a torrent to do this which sounds reasonable but I'm not sure if my ISP has upload limits per month or not. Most of the files are plaintext (about 67 GB or so), with a few videos as well. No I am not about to copy and paste 67 GB of text over LogMeIn, I don't even know if the sync clipboard will copy the text from 1 file properly due to the amount of text.For the video files I tried using the "Allow Internet access to my home media" option in Windows Media Player on Windows 7 but I think due to the size of the videos it hangs when it tries to access the file to play it.Another issue is speed, here at the university it's blazing fast (and believe it or not the wireless network in all the buildings on campus is faster than the wired network in the residential complexes), but at home the upload speed is only average (Shaw high-speed Internet). So that could also be a problemI know I can ask them to move the files onto two USB drives and mail them to me but I really don't want to do that cause, well the drives and mail costs money lol. Any suggestion on how to do this?(If there are no viable options then I guess I'll have to wait till Christmas when I go home, so I can transfer the files at home via a wired network.)

I have used Soluto for months now and it's pretty good. I find the "Lighten your web browser" section rather strict though, it tells you to disable many things that it thinks are unnecessary. As for the chop boot time (startup program manager) I really like that, I have chopped my boot time by about 100 seconds even though I don't reboot that often.Never tried "Heal crashes" though, I notice it the halo with wings come up when Chrome and IE crashes, but I think Microsoft Error Reporting is enough, along with "anonymous crash reporting" now enabled in most programs.The startup thing at the lower left corner at the screen can get annoying though, when Windows is booting up...

One of the first things that I did when I turned 18 was register for Google+, which brings me to my point: Google+ is restricted to those over 18. Now I'm sure you can say that people can lie about their age and stuff, but if you already have an existing Google account with your real birthday, you click on Me+ or whatever the link says, and it brings you to a notice saying that the site is age restricted. Looking at the 2011 Facebook demographics (citation 1), we can see that 20%-30% of Facebook users are between ages 13 and 19, inclusive. 20%-30% of "more than 750 million active users" (citation 2) is about 188 million people, more than double the active population on G+ I believe. By restricting the age to 18+, they are already losing a significant portion of the target audience. Furthermore, paraphrasing from above and elsewhere, people shift from social networks socially. Currently, I have like three friends on G+ who aren't really active on the site. On Facebook I have approximately 400 "friends", not sure how many are active. And since most of my friends on Facebook are either the same age or younger than me, G+ really isn't an option for them, and there has to be something really amazing to attract users in addition to better privacy controls. As much as some people dislike Facebook, it's the right option for me right now. Sources: 1) Verde, Amodiovalerio, http://www.slideshare.net/amover/facebook-demographics-2011, slide 18 2) Facebook, http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/_=_

For me, it is sufficient to write them on sticky notes (the Windows gadget), but now I'm trying to use the Tasks panel in Google Calendar/GMail, since I am using Google Calendar more intensively now that I'm in university. Still gotta kick the habit of writing tasks down on backs of receipts or whatever little scraps of paper I can get handy

ZoneAlarm is pretty good and basic... I personally use Comodo Internet Security on both my laptop and home computers, but it is a bit large although I don't think it slows down anything. Comodo Internet Security includes antivirus as well, but you can choose not to install that component if you wish to stick with Avast. Download.com recommends either Comodo Internet Security (more specifically Comodo Firewall), or Online Armor Free, which I have personally never tried before. http://download.cnet.com/2701-2023_4-1030-4.html

Well I have determined that it is not the laptop's problem cause at the University of Ottawa (about 1800 km from my house hahah) the speed is extremely fast, granted that universities have super fast networks anyways. I guess I shall try changing the channels on the home router when I go home for Christmas break, if the problem still exists there.