Recently I have noticed that the more I come to rely on Mozilla Firebird as my default browser, the more aggravating Internet Explorer is when I have to use it for one reason or another.
Here are some of the features that have put Firebird at the top of my list:
Tabbed Browsing: Instead of opening an entire new window to view a website while keeping the original site you're viewing, Firebird offers a tabbed, MDI-like interface. This gives you the ability to view several pages in one window, and quickly switch back and forth. Another nice feature is the ability to middle-click (the mouse wheel button) to open a page directly in a new tab.
Pop-up Blocking: I am amazed that IE still does not offer built-in pop-up blocking (though I suspect it may have something to do with advertisers and their money). Firebird allows you to set a default rule for pop-up windows (either allow or deny), and then make exceptions on a site by site basis. An absolute dream come true for anyone who's ever spent more than 10 minutes at a time online.
Extensions: Given the open source nature of Firebird, there has developed a community of programmers who write snippets of code to perform different tasks. These can include adding new configuration options, adding enhanced file download management, adding items to context menus, and a host of other features. While IE does have some available plug-ins and 3rd party toolbars, they are unable to match the wide variety of features available to Firebird.
Mouse Gestures: This is an extension I recently installed that allows you to assign common browser tasks to a certain series of mouse movements while holding down one of the buttons. I made the right button my control -- so for example, holding down the right button and moving the mouse left will take me 1 page back in the browser history. Likewise, moving the mouse right will take me 1 page forward. Up and left or up and right take me between open tabs, while right and down minimizes the window. There are a bunch of actions you can program, and you can assign whichever sequence you find easiest.
There are many other reasons I enjoy Firebird -- I invite you to download it and give it a whirl: http://www.mozilla.org/firebird/.
I have been hearing reasonably good things about the recently-released iTunes media player for Windows. I have downloaded it and installed it, and have been using it for a few days now.
Perhaps one of the most controversial features for Windows users is the ability of iTunes to manage your music library for you. Indeed, this has been referred to as less of a "feature" and more of a "problem" -- what it ends up doing (if you select the "Let iTunes Manage Your Music For You" option) is re-arranging your file and directory structure on your disk. It does this without explicitly telling you it's what's going to happen, and there's no way to undo it if you decide you don't like it (other than moving and renaming each file by hand).
The idea behind this is to allow you to use iTunes to do much more flexible sorting and playlist generation. If you are like me and are used to WinAmp, you probably have your MP3 files sorted into directories by genre, with the filename capturing the artist and title. With iTunes, this is no longer the easiest way to go. iTunes uses the oft-overlooked ID3 tags -- built into each and every MP3 file. These ID3 tags are able to be understood by software, and include spots for artist, composer, title, album, track #, year, genre, and other information. If you are dilligent to keep track of ID3 tags, converting to iTunes will not bring your world tumbling down if you decide to let it manage your music.
I have added about 800 songs to my iTunes library, and while it did take a little time to get all the tags in order (not sure why "Blues" seems to be the default genre) I have found it to be worth the trouble. The library and playlists are managed intuitively in iTunes, and you have the option to create smart playlists, which automatically generate themselves based on criteria that you specify. For example, I have a playlist named World that builds itself based on "genre contains 'World'" OR "genre contains 'Celtic'". As you add to or update your library, these playlists reflect the current state of your music.
iTunes contains the other basic functionality of most media players (shuffle, equalizer, capture song information from the Internet), as well as the ability to burn playlists directly to CD. It also comes with a radio section, with several music streams pre-programmed and sorted by genre.
Overall, I am impressed with iTunes. I will be spending some time making sure that all my ID3 tags are in order (Public Service Announcement: The vast majority of my MP3 files are legal downloads from services such as MP3.com and other free download sites. I have found that sites like these are on top of the ID3 tags and, thus, I have not had to do much maintenance. Thank you.) before I commit my entire collection to it -- but so far I like what I see.
Last night, on a whim, I watched the second episode of ABC's new prime-time drama Line of Fire. Billed as supposedly being one of the most intense dramas on TV, I was interested to see how it looked.
Overall, it was okay. Not particularly outstanding, but not bad either. I'm guessing it's at least as good as CSI, Law & Order, NYPD Blue, and other "good guy, bad guy" 60-minute dramas.
Perhaps the most notable aspect of the show that I can remember is that the majority of the female actors/characters are quite attractive. Although I suppose that if this is the most striking feature, then the show may not have a very long shelf life.
There is also one unconventional hook -- one of the characters (the new special agent) joined the FBI after her husband was killed in the Pentagon on September 11. I suppose it is a sign that the shock of the attacks is wearing off and becoming a part of our mainstream culture.
If you are a fan of crime/police dramas, it's probably worth watching. I doubt I'll stay up to watch it on purpose, but if I happen to see it on I wouldn't likely avoid it either.
I have recently had the occasion to attempt to convert a HUGE string of hexadecimal into ASCII / Unicode (they are all alphanumeric characters). I tried using a few different hex editors, but they all truncated the string at around 100 characters or so.
I was beginning to become despondent, until I stumbled across this blog posting, indicating that WordPad can do the conversion.
I copied and pasted the gargantuan string of hex into WordPad, and found out that, sure enough, it performs the conversion correctly. About 20 minutes later, I had my readable list of filenames.
If anyone tries this on a long string, I would recommend using some sort of macro program, since it can only do one character at a time.
This quote from the blog entry sums it up best: "Isn't that awesome?! (OK, so I'm a dork.)"
I poked at the stylesheet for this blog a little.
Not sure if I like it or not, but there it is nonetheless.
Thank you.
Dear C|net:
Mp3.com was perfect the way it was. It saddens me to think that you're going to break it by turning it into something to bring you money instead of using it to provide a service to the Internet community.
Please put it back the way it was, if you have any sort of respect for the Internet as an information-sharing community and not a money-grubbing tool.
Thank you.