I've put this off for too long, but with Firefox 2.0 coming soon, now is a good time to do a little writeup about how I use Firefox. The Firfox webpage has nice list of the features that make Firefox a much better browser than IE6, and probably also IE7, but here are a couple I find particularly useful -

• Internet Searches:
  One fo the main things people do on the interenet is search for information. Firefox offers a few ways to do that more efficiently.
  1. Quick Searches - Firefox comes with a dedicated search box, but the Quick Searchs feature is simpler - type in keyword (I prefer keyletter, much quicker!) hit enter and off you go! (Install a tab customization extension - such as Tabbrowser Preferences, and configure it so that your search opens a new tab, instead of overwriting yout current tab.)
     There are a few quick searches built in, but you can make your own to suit your needs. In addition, you can assign keywords to any bookmark, and type that in to open the site (e.g. type 'bbc' instead of news.bbc.co.uk to open the site, by assiging the keyword 'bbc' to the link)
     Another result of this is efficiency of screenspace - you can have a much more functional toolbar, giving you more space for your webpages.
  2. Search Extensions - There are probably hundreds of these, but the two I like are -
     Context Search, which makes your search-box engines available in the context menu, and
     Unwrap Text, which isn't really a search extension, but is very useful to quickly search street addresses in Google Maps, and launch URLs in text form
• Extensions:
  One of the main attractions of Firefox is the ability of users to increase its functionality through the huge library of extensions. Here are a few that I've found the most useful -
  1. Forecastfox - itself highly customizable, gives you information about weather conditions right in your status bar.
  2. All-in-One Gestures - I use it only to go back and forward, but it offers a lot of other useful gestures. (Another way to go back and forward - use Alt+ left-arrow/right-arrow)
  3. Fasterfox - Reduces page load time.
  4. Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer - A great extension to keep your bookmarks synchronized between Firefox on different computers. Doesn't require your own server, unline some other extensions, and you can access your bookmarks online too. On the other hand, if youo'd rather keep your bookmarks on your own private server, use this extension BTW, while on the subject of bookmarks, do you know that you can group your bookmarks in folders subjectwise, and keep all the folders on the bookmarks toolbar folder? (like you saw here) That makes browsing so much easier!
  5. Gmail Notifier - Check your GMail account without opening a tab for it...
  6. Download Statusbar - see information on downloads instead of in a seperate window.
  7. IE Tab - If a web-page is coded for Internet Explorer, and doesn't show up well in Firefox, use (click on the small Firefox symbol in the statusbar) this extension to open a new tab in the Firefox window. The new tab uses Internet Explorer to render the page, so that it shows up as intended. There's also IE View Lite which can be used from the context menu to open a link in a seperate IE window.
  and we already talked about
  8. Tabbrowser Preferences
  9. Context Search
  and
  10. Unwrap Text

Also see the tips and tricks page and other useful information at the Firefox site. If you have any other Firefox tips (or webpages with such tips) that I would find useful, let me know!

Now that I've pointed out the reasons (more here) to use Firefox, I'm going to put a little code on this page, which will point to this post and urge future visitors to switch, in case they aren't already using Firefox.

update:
1)

for developers : Firefox is probably the most developer friendly browser around because of numerous useful extensions.
- Ajit

2) right mouse button + scroll wheel = history menu
I just discovered by accident (while trying to see if there was a way of changing text display size using the scroll wheel) that if you keep the right mouse button pressed and then scroll the wheel, a menu pops up showing the history (back and forward) of the tab you're on, enabling you to go back of forward multiple pages. To go to a page in the history, keep scrolling the wheel till you highlight the page you want to go to, and release the right button. Even though the mouse gesture is useful to go back/fwd a page or two, it gets quite tedious to use it for skiping more pages. So I used to keep the back and fwd arrows on the window.Now I've removed them. Let's see if I can use this newly discovered feature effectively.
Caveats:
a) this might be an effect of some extension I've installed. I haven't tested it on a bare Firefox install.
b) the maximum height of the popup is limited to the current height of the Firefox window, so if you've been browsing in the same tab for a while, things might get tricky, as your recent history might be hidden from view.)
3) VideoDownloader - another useful extension. Say you watch some vidoe website like YouTube, or GoogleVideo, and would really like to keep it. Right now these sites don't usually offer a way to save the file to your computer. VidoeDownloader lets you do exactly that, and with just a single click.

- Chinmay

Categories - ~GeekStuff~
Edited on: Friday, August 18, 2006 1:50 PM
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This is pretty funny. Read the 13 reasons to switch from IE to Firefox.

Also check out the Explorer Destroyer website. I might put their code on this page.

- Chinmay

Categories - ~Fun~ ~GeekStuff~

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In case you didn't know, Nature publishes short SciFi under the heading Futures in in every issue (look at the bottom of the ToC). This week's Future - MAXO signals is particularly funny.

See here for more Futures (free, I think). And there's one by Clarke published in '99

- Chinmay

Categories - ~Fun~ ~GeekStuff~

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Old idea [1968, by Stanford Ovshinsky] finally near workable -
Nature news reports -
... a material called antimony telluride, which starts off in an 'amorphous' state, with all its atoms jumbled up. But a small pulse of electricity provides enough heat to make the atoms line up into rows, creating an ordered, crystalline arrangement. A second, higher-voltage pulse melts the crystalline structure, resetting the material back to its jumbled state.
A computer could tell the difference between the two because the crystalline phase has a much lower electrical resistance
The approach has huge potential, says Matthias Wuttig, a materials scientist at the RWTH Aachen University in Germany. "Imagine you could start your laptop and have it ready for you to work in less than a second," he says, "or that you were able to record and watch full-length movies on your mobile phone."

- Chinmay

Categories - ~GeekStuff~ ~Science~

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More and more computing intensive research projects are utilizing the 'Volunteer your CPU cycles' approach of SETI@Home [which I've never ran, I don't think it's a significant quest as of now...]
Last year I used to run grid.org's cancer research program, but this year I've switched to ClimatePrediction's whole earth climate simulations [they recently published [pdf] in Nature!]. There's also Foldin@Home which explores the protein folding problems - partly to understand protein mis-folding diseases like bovine spongiform encephalopathy [mad cow disease to us mortals], cystic fibrosis, and Alzheimer's, among many others.

Now there is a newcomer [yet to be launched] - Einstein@Home! It plans to "search for spinning neutron stars (also called pulsars) using data from the LIGO and GEO gravitational wave detectors" whatever that means! ;) - here's an introductory article on news@nature.com.

Take your pick! [tell me if you know some more, I'll add them to my list - look in the left hand column...]

Interestingly, Google has started helping out [having considerable experience in running DC] by offering a DC Client bundled with their Toolbar. Right now you can run Folding@Home via the toolbar, but they're saying that there will be more.

- Chinmay

Categories - ~Environment~ ~GeekStuff~ ~Science~

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If you - like me - have been searching for a foreign language dictionary, Stardict is it. It's cross-platform, is written in Gtk, and can use a large number of dictionary files - even simultaneously. Even better, it sits in the tray and when you copy a word, the meaning pops up. Pretty powerful! Now I can start reading Deutsche Welle again, and actually understand what's going on!

Another good language tool - the online german course by DW.

- Chinmay

Categories - ~GeekStuff~

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Haven't blogged in a while... I was busy with several things - end of the semester grading, setting up a new yahoogroup, reading, and of course, research....

I'll try and work on the nanotech hype/potential piece I promised Anya a long time ago...

Meanwhile, chek out The Dead Parrot Society. They are saying a lot of things I want to say, but am too lazy to...

- Chinmay

Categories - ~GeekStuff~ ~Money~ ~Science~

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Who the heck is this guy? [Search the page for chinmay]

... Well at least he seems to be smart...

BTW, sokgraphs [NYTimes] are cool [pdf]!

- Chinmay

Categories - ~Fun~ ~GeekStuff~ ~Me~

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Microsoft's new idea for becoming userfriendly seems to be this! WTH??? [I got it when GMail was acting up and FF said "Connection timed out when trying to contact..."]

In other news - "A US study found parents who were married or living together before conception were slightly more likely to have a boy than those who were not."
and
"Pregnant women carrying boys tend to eat more than those carrying girls, research has found."

Both of which can be explained by the long known fact that female embryos are more robust than male ones, and thus more likely to survive full term even in unfavourable conditions.

- Chinmay

Categories - ~GeekStuff~ ~Science~

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I can't believe I've not mentioned this before! Red vs. Blue - The Blood Gulch Chronicles has finished its season 2, so it's about time you watch it. Of course, even the low resolution [which is pretty acceptable, by most standards] avi's total a respectable 796 MB [Trailer, Episodes 00-38, and Episode 28.5, plus 9 miscelaneous clips], so it's not a easy to get. You could buy the DVDs, but where's the fun in that?

The best way is probably to go to the archives pages and download the episodes.

Also, PhD Comics moves on... Slackenerny is now in 'The Thesis Zone', which will without doubt be rather funny...

- Chinmay

Categories - ~Fun~ ~GeekStuff~

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Installed a bunch of new programs on the new desktop in school.

The main is the Mozilla Suite, which is a fantastic collection (Browser, Mail Client, IRC Chat Client, HTML editor) of applications. If you take some time to explore the many small but thoughtful features included, you'll be more than rewarded, although even with the default config, it runs great! I had tried to use Mozilla once before but give up - hadn't been able to configure some things to my liking. Now that I spent some time on it, I've been able to configure it just fine.

The reason I looked at Mozilla once again is that I was looking for a good calendar program. The Mozilla Calendar, which is based on the open iCal standard, is quite satisfactory too.

Another great OSS I got is The GIMP 2.0. Again, I had looked at GIMP before, but Windows installation was only available for GIMP 1.2 (this would be around March/April '04 I think). Haven't had time to use it much, but from what I've seen, it should be as good as PS6/7.

For people who want to type on the computer in Indian languages, there's Baraha 6.0 [Thanks to Rohit Marathe for pointing out the prog.] Originally designed to type Kannada language, it now enables you to type in all four Dravidian languages and also Devanagari. I found it very easy to type marathi right into MSWord. Runs great, AFAICT.

Other than that, I've installed Azureus - a BitTorrent Client, TClockEX [Hint: "|" is the line break operator].

Also worth mentioning are some applications that I had before - iTunes [I still keep using Winamp 2.91 though... iTunes 4, Windows Media Player 10, Real Player 10, all take up too much memory], some PowerToys for XP, Spybot S&D, Thingamablog [Now 1.0b2], WinMX [Now 3.53], an finally, WordWeb [3.02 - Pronunciation key]. For fun, there's some stuff [most of it still beta] on SourceForge Gaming Foundry.

Why then, have I not installed OpenOffice? Because I got a Vanderbilt licensed MSOffice 2K. How about Linux? As you might know, I had made my laptop XP/Mandrake 10 dualbooting. Now even my desktop has both XP and MandrakeLinux 10.

All in all, feel deeply grateful to the OSS/FS and GNU community, as well as other people who write software and give it away for free. [Which is not to say that I always have animosity for those who do it for money, only when it's so full of bugs! ;)]

BTW, now my desktop looks like this!

- Chinmay

Categories - ~GeekStuff~
Edited on: Tuesday, September 14, 2004 1:09 PM
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So here I am! Back after a long three month break!

Feels great to be back in the labs nad getting my hands all covered with nanoparticles [ok not really... we use protection ;)], but my apartment is still a mess with people moving in and out, guests and what not... But I guess the dust will settle down soon enough [and I will have to do a lot of vacuuming after that :) ].

Anyway, in a new lab now with a new comp, 17" LCD screen and Nvidia 9600 card with 256MB dedicated memory being the highlights.

Also a blazing hot Thingamablog v.1 to blog with! [BTW, it seems I have done some "cool stuff" with my blog!]

What more could a geek ask for!

So once again, come here once in a while, to see what I find as I explore my stochastic consciousness.

- Chinmay

Categories - ~GeekStuff~ ~Me~ ~ThisBlog~
Edited on: Sunday, September 05, 2004 12:38 PM
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May 26 - Downloaded MandrakeLinux 10.0 Official ISOs May 27, 10:49 pm - Finished backing up all data. Now restoring hard disk to original configution from HP CDs.

Minimum configuration of Windows and Programs, Install MdkLinux [usingbuilt in disk partitioning utility in DrakX] - Linux works fine, windows fails to boot!

May 28 - Installed XP from XP bootable install disk after formatting the disk again. XP goes to boot screen and reboots! Tried again, failed again! tried again, failed again!

May 29 - System restored using HP disks, partitioned disk using PM8, installed Linux! Everything works!!!

- Chinmay

Categories - ~GeekStuff~
Edited on: Tuesday, June 01, 2004 1:53 PM
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The ISOs are out. Being downloaded right now.
Depending on when I get time to make my system a dualboot XPHome/Mandrake10.0, and write down a description - all between doing some wrap up experiments and packing my stuff to leave from Nashville in the next 6 days - you can expect the description of the installation process to be added to the blog.

- Chinmay

Categories - ~GeekStuff~

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What does your phone number spell? Mine says 'I solve' Interesting eh?
Also see urbandictionary.com for definitions of fantastic words like bleh, meh and 'fo shizzle ma nizzle'!!!
I guess it's apparent that I've submitted my thesis draft to the prof for review, and am currently in R&R mode...

Also, it seems the Vandy BME grad program is ranked 20th this year [and other Engg. grad progs are in the 40-50 range...] Let's see how OSU ranks... [and if they can give me aid...]

- Chinmay

Categories - ~Fun~ ~GeekStuff~ ~Me~

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449 strips (and counting) of HILARIOUS truth about GradSchool.

- Chinmay

Categories - ~Fun~ ~GeekStuff~

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A bunch of OSS programs on a CD.... for Windows!... good thing to download and take to India...

Also good for taking to India - the free Microsoft Security Update CD

- Chinmay

Categories - ~GeekStuff~

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After quite a time from being announced, the Simputer is finally here, now being called 'Amida Simputer' ["Amida is another name for Buddha, one of India's most original and profound thinkers. Amida literally means Infinite Light and Infinite Life. The name represents PicoPeta's vision in a deep sense; originality combined with universality and humanism...."].

Designed and marketed by PicoPeta [check this for brief info], and manufactured by BEL [frankly that's the first time I've heard BEL manufacturing anything, but that's not surprising, since they manufacture for the military, and probably ISRO... but I digress...], and IISc probably has had a hand in the development. [The coinventors of Simputer and founders of the Simputer Trust are/were IISc professors.]

First the Specs:

• 206 MHz Processor [amidasimputer.com doesn't seem to say which, but the older simputer.org says it's '[Intel's] 32-bit StrongARM SA-1100 RISC CPU running at 200MHz']
• GNU/Linux OS
• 32 MB built in memory, 64 MB RAM
• 2 USB [think chikki! LOL], 1 serial, 1 IR [!!!] ports
• 3.8", 240 X 360 pixels touchscreen - grayscale [16 shades] or color [64k], depending on how deep your pockets are...
• Battery life 6-8 hours
• A large number of bundled apps [including panchanga, presumably to figure out when is the auspicious time to hid the send button on your email... only in India....]
• Internet connectivity using either a landline or a CDMA mobile
• Standard accessories include, among others, smart cards, a chikki with unstated and variable [by model] storage capacity, and a faux leather or denim [!] pouch. There will no doubt be an aftermarket pouch industry soon. [Also, the Indian OSDN, and LUGs will probably come up with s/w to put on the Simputers, esp the barebones one (see below)]

For more tech write up, check this page [Encore Software, ncoretech.com], apparently from another manufacturer of the Simputer. They don't seem to have their model released yet... Encore are going to target only bulk markets, including in African countries! As an aside, you can manufacture Simputer too, if you pay the Simputer Trust a licensing fee of $25k. Read the Simputer GPL

Now the pricing:

• The cheapest model [Rs. 9950] is IMO, featureless - wrt hardware and software - but quite useful for when the government wants to equip all the panchayats with computers and email connectivity, and possibly organizations that want to have customized apps built on it.
• The next one [Rs. 12450] has everything else except for the 64 k color screen. The first two also have, for some reason, a chocolate brown shell, although it renders quite differently on my screen...
• And the ultimate Amida, [RS 19950!] with everything, but they couldn't afford a real [or faux] leather pouch, so it has a denim one instead...!

The website is informative, but leaves stuff unsaid [more detailed specs? detailed list of standard accessories by model? list of optional accessories?].

I will leave the musings on whether or not this will spark a technological revolution in India, whether or not it will work, what will be the reliability etc etc for a later date, or preferably, for other bloggers and /. [Yes, I do have SOME work sometimes... ;-)], but I do have some comments -

Considering the price [which is quite competitive globally]and usability, will it be used by teens trying to show off, and yuppies who want an expensive electronic organizer? Quite possibly. But grandfathers reading stories to grandkids, and housewives planning party expense? Not so fast Buster!

On the other hand, they do firmly state that it will not be used to make coffee. [Now, now, that kind of blustering is just going to invite all geeks to hack it FORCE it to make coffee! ;-)]

For more info, read the FAQs on amidasimputer.com [for mudbloods], and on simputer.org [for blueblooded geeks] ;-)

- Chinmay

Categories - ~GeekStuff~ ~India~
Edited on: Monday, March 29, 2004 5:26 PM
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Write an algorithm for the Tower of Hanoi problem. [interesting - minimum moves required is 2ⁿ -1]

In Passing: The Wrong Stuff: Arguments against manned mission to moon and mars. [The last paragraph is esp. interesting.] Also, the Slashdot discussion
Update: In a new twist to the Manned/Unmanned debate, NASA now wants ideas for robots that can upgrade Hubble. Nature has a news article...

- Chinmay

Categories - ~Fun~ ~GeekStuff~
Edited on: Thursday, March 25, 2004 4:12 PM
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The name says it all! Apart from ways to burn, explode and do other cool things with stuff, the page also has a lot of thechnical information on how microwaves work.

All Hail the Microwave!

- Chinmay

Categories - ~Fun~ ~GeekStuff~

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