The latest incarnation of Firefox was released this week. After seeminingly endless beta releases, Firefox 4 is now available for download.
I'd been using the open source version of Google Chrome, called Chromium, for most of my day-to-day web surfing; with Firefox 3.6 as a backup, and was fairly happy with that arrangement. Now that there's something newer, Firefox 4 is my primary browser and Chromium relegated to second place.
This new browser doesn't seem Earth shattering, but it's a nice refresh on an aging release. The layout has changed, with tabs appearing above the address bar as pioneered by Google's browser. This to me is much more logical so I'm glad to have that option.
Two other toolbars are visible by default. The navigation toolbar contains the familiar back and forward buttons, the address bar, search bar and home button which is now over on the right of the screen. Slightly unusual perhaps, but it made me think how little that home button is used, by me at least. The bookmark toolbar contains, as expected, standard and live bookmarks. I switched this toolbar off. I find it unnecessary clutter. From my point of view, I find bookmarks of little use on a day-to-day basis and so having them continuously on-screen is pointless. That's probably because I'm so used to the speed-dial screen of Chromium/Chrome.
My favourite new feature is the "Pin As App Tab" option when right-clicking on a tab. This option shrinks the selected tab down to just it's icon and puts it to the left of other regular tabs. These underlying site is then continuously checked and if it updates, the icon changes colour. This is a great way to keep easy access to things like webmail, Google Reader and any other regularly used sites. I'm using it as a replacement for the speed-dial which I'm used to, and the bookmark toolbar.
Other than that though, and the increased support for modern web standards such as HTML5 and CSS3 (both very important in their own right, but 'under-the-hood' improvements that end users probably will appreciate, but not necessarily notice); there's not too much different. It's a web browser that feels suitably fast and has the Firefox legacy of addons and updates. For those reasons, Firefox 4 will remain my browser of choice - at least until Chromium/Chrome offers something better!
(Firefox 4.0 was tested on Linux Mint on both a netbook at 1024x600 resolution, and a desktop at 1920x1080).
A new web interface for the Android Market went live yesterday, making the process of finding, downloading and install applications to your Android phone much more straight-forward.
After logging in to the website using the same Google credentials used for the mobile, a user can easily browse applications by similar categories to those found on the mobile application. The usual breakdown of 'Featured', 'Free' and 'Paid' applications is there too.
Searches can be conducted using the search box, and restricted by price (free or paid) and compatibility; and sorted by relevance or popularity. I'd still like to see further search options however, nearer to those available in advanced Google searches.
Just like the mobile app, the website indicates whether displayed results are installed, purchased, free or available to buy. When clicking on the 'Install' link, the usual permissions warnings are shown along with a list of devices to install the application too (if more than one device is associated with the Google account). When testing, my phone started downloading the selected application within 10 seconds of confirming the installation.
This is a big step forward for the Android Market. The application (on my phone at least) can be temperamental so hopefully this will overcome that limitation. It's also much easier to browse the market on the bigger screen. The application still has it's place, but the website on my netbook will be my first choice from now on - at least until I upgrade my phone.
For completeness, the phone associated with my account is the original Android model - the HTC Dream / T-Mobile G1. It's ageing but still hanging on (just about) thanks to Cyanogen's version of Android 2.2.
The new website can be accessed at http://market.android.com
My friend Charlie, M0PZT has taken the time to write a piece of software which provides quick and easy access to the DX Cluster via the internet (telnet). ClusterClient, as it's known, recently received some good comments on the ICQPodcast and I decided to give it a try myself. The only issue being, I run Linux and the software is written for Windows.
Not to worry though. I spent some time last night figuring out if I could make it run and the short answer is yes I can. Thanks to this guide, now so can you!
It's actually very straight forward to get the software going in Linux, and it may well be much simpler than the guide tells you. I'm assuming that the computer being used does not have a copy of WINE installed, nor the appropriate DLL files. I should also mention that I have tested this in Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) and Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackelope).
- First we need to get a copy of the software. This is available from Charlie's site (see ClusterClient link, in Related Links below) - just scroll down the page until the Download link is visible. Download ZIP file and open it.
- Extract the contents of the ZIP file to a suitable place on your computer. I've put it in /home/ben/ClusterClient/ but it doesn't really matter as long as you have full permissions to the folder.
- Use the Applications > Accessories menu to access the terminal. Don't be scared of the terminal if you haven't used it before. It really is quite straight-forward.
- In the terminal window, change to the directory containing ClusterClient. In my case I'd type the following code. Replace the directory structure with wherever you saved your copy of ClusterClient (remember it is case sensitive):
cd /home/ben/ClusterClient
- Again in the terminal window, type (or copy) this command to install WINE (the Microsoft Windows compatability layer) and cabextract:
sudo apt-get install wine cabextract
You will probably be asked for your password. This is normal and is required to confirm that you wish to make changes to your system i.e., install an application. After entering your password, if you are prompted to confirm installation, press Y - Once WINE is installed, we need to get a couple more files required by ClusterClient. These aren't available through the repository.
- Still within the terminal window, type (or copy) the following command:
wget http://www.kegel.com/wine/winetricks
A few additional files will be placed in the currently selected folder; the ClusterClient folder if you followed Step 2 above. - The package downloaded will enable us to get those missing files, so type in the following command:
sh winetricks comctl32.ocx vb6run
When asked to confirm if you would like to the Visual Basic 6.0 Run Time files, click on Yes. - With any luck, that should now be it. Attempt to run ClusterClient from the terminal with this command:
wine ClusterClient.exe
After a few moments, the window should appear.
That's all there is to it. ClusterClient can now be run from the terminal at any time by opening the terminal window, changing to the ClusterClient directory and running the command above.
But that's not the easiest way to launch it. Follow these additional steps to add a launcher to the desktop:
- Right-click on a blank area of the desktop to display the context menu
- Choose 'Create Launcher...'
- A window will appear. Complete the following details (remember, the directory in Command will need to be whatever is applicable in your case):
Type: Application
Name: ClusterClient
Command: wine /home/ben/ClusterClient/ClusterClient.exe
Comment: ClusterClient by Charlie, M0PZT - Click OK
- An icon will now be on your desktop. Just double-click to launch ClusterClient