I just wiped my computer slate clean last week after more than 4 years since I installed the first operating system. My computer has two operating systems: Windows XP and Ubuntu Linux.
Since Windows does not ship with Firefox browser, a direct competitor of its own Microsoft Explorer browser, I had to download Firefox from www.firefox.com to reinstall my all-time favorite browser.
I noticed that first add-on featured on their website was the Download Status Bad add-on. While I did not have any problem with the regular download feature of Firefox, I figured that it would be worth trying the add-on. This add-on lets me view the download progress at the foot of my browser instead of the progress being opened in a small separate window.
Being a geography fanatic ( I have blogged about Google Earth and NASA's Java application in the past), I immediately took notice of the Map+ 1.1.0 Add-on. This add-on allows me to view maps but unlike Google Earth, I can view maps within my browser. The installation is very easy, less 1 minute and everything is done but the configuration can be a little challenging. But the installation and configuration can be
viewed on video on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLIVKbYcH4Q.
Still on being my geography freak, I downloaded Forecastfox 0.9.5.2 add-on which lets me, as the name suggest, view weather forecast from around the world through AccuWeather.com. I like this add-on because it is not obtrusive and I can easy customize to my desired place for forecast.
I also downloaded Adblock Plus 0.7.5.1 which I think is the coolest and easiest to use ad blocking code I have ever seen. Since I often travel to countries that have slow internet connection, these ads make the connection even slower as it takes time to download these ad graphics. With Adblock Plus, I can easily right click on an ad and choose "Adblock" from the context menu and the ad will never show and be downloaded again. It will just be replaced by a star. I can also subscribe for automatic filtering with Adblock Plus.
And then of course, there is my favorite del.icio.us Bookmarks. If anyone can see my bookmarks online, he can see there lots and lots of them. Installing del.icio.us Bookmarks creates two icons on my tools bar on top. One will take me to the del.icio.us website while the other lets me bookmark my pages automatically. This has been one of my most frequently used add-on (I had this before I reformatted my hard drive) because I go online a lot and maintain lots of websites and also keep on researching and studying online.
Most of these add-ons come in very small sizes not exceeding 1 MB. They install in one click and in about 1 minute. Although an installation requires a restart of the Firefox browser, there is actually no need to worry about closing any opened pages because Firefox has a really neat feature that restores previous sessions.
Showing posts with label YouTube. Show all posts
Showing posts with label YouTube. Show all posts
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Web Applications as Office Assistants for Traveling People
While traveling to a remote country in Asia, I would frequently visit internet cafes because there are not enough wireless services in my cheap hotel and in coffee shops for my ever dependable laptop.
One thing I noticed is that many internet cafes have switched to using Open Office in a span of over a few months. I asked the café assistant and learned that raid by Microsoft has been frequent and many internet cafes have closed because they were caught using unlicensed Office Suites.
I do not have problem with Open Office even though I have been a Microsoft Office for many years until now. But I recently read at a website that there are web based alternative to office applications.
And then I wondered how I could have missed Google Docs (http://docs.google.com). Google Docs has stripped features of the Microsoft Word but I think what this application offers is already enough for me. I tried to insert tables in the documents I could not find tables. Anyway, I usually don’t really use that much table in my documents.
I uploaded some of the documents I created offline through Microsoft Word, and voila! It was instantly added to my list. I could even share the documents I uploaded of created via Google Docs.
Google Docs also has a spreadsheet application that can replace Microsoft’s Excel. A lot of Excel’s most frequently used features are offered in this online application.
More and more web applications are emerging on the internet and this may be seen either as a threat or as challenge to innovate by big companies like Microsoft.
In the realm of organizers and email applications where Microsoft’s Outlook once reigned supreme, email providers Yahoo and Google have I think overtaken the niche set by Microsoft. I have always been a user of Google calendar and I am very contented with it. I have even embedded Google calendar in some of the websites I maintain.
Some alternatives to Microsoft Powerpoint are Empressar, Google Presentations, Spresent and Zoho show. Even in the movie, people are slowly moving to the web with applications like JumpCut, YouTube Remixer, MotionBox and Eyespot. For now, these online movie makers are still far from being at par with their stand alone counterparts considering the fact dealing movies involves very heavy big file sizes. But maybe soon when internet speeds will have greatly improved, so will online movie makers too. I can’t wait for that to happen especially that I like traveling around with video camera on hand.
And now, check this out: Online desktop. DesktopOnDemand offers 1 gigabyte of storage so that one can upload his files and other applications and access them anywhere like using his own settings on his desktop at home. Nivio offers similar services with 5 gigabytes of storage. And these are free services but can be expanded with minimal fee.
All these are very big proofs that the browser is the king of applications in today’s computing!
One thing I noticed is that many internet cafes have switched to using Open Office in a span of over a few months. I asked the café assistant and learned that raid by Microsoft has been frequent and many internet cafes have closed because they were caught using unlicensed Office Suites.
I do not have problem with Open Office even though I have been a Microsoft Office for many years until now. But I recently read at a website that there are web based alternative to office applications.
And then I wondered how I could have missed Google Docs (http://docs.google.com). Google Docs has stripped features of the Microsoft Word but I think what this application offers is already enough for me. I tried to insert tables in the documents I could not find tables. Anyway, I usually don’t really use that much table in my documents.
I uploaded some of the documents I created offline through Microsoft Word, and voila! It was instantly added to my list. I could even share the documents I uploaded of created via Google Docs.
Google Docs also has a spreadsheet application that can replace Microsoft’s Excel. A lot of Excel’s most frequently used features are offered in this online application.
More and more web applications are emerging on the internet and this may be seen either as a threat or as challenge to innovate by big companies like Microsoft.
In the realm of organizers and email applications where Microsoft’s Outlook once reigned supreme, email providers Yahoo and Google have I think overtaken the niche set by Microsoft. I have always been a user of Google calendar and I am very contented with it. I have even embedded Google calendar in some of the websites I maintain.
Some alternatives to Microsoft Powerpoint are Empressar, Google Presentations, Spresent and Zoho show. Even in the movie, people are slowly moving to the web with applications like JumpCut, YouTube Remixer, MotionBox and Eyespot. For now, these online movie makers are still far from being at par with their stand alone counterparts considering the fact dealing movies involves very heavy big file sizes. But maybe soon when internet speeds will have greatly improved, so will online movie makers too. I can’t wait for that to happen especially that I like traveling around with video camera on hand.
And now, check this out: Online desktop. DesktopOnDemand offers 1 gigabyte of storage so that one can upload his files and other applications and access them anywhere like using his own settings on his desktop at home. Nivio offers similar services with 5 gigabytes of storage. And these are free services but can be expanded with minimal fee.
All these are very big proofs that the browser is the king of applications in today’s computing!
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