Mrs. Mecomber’s Scrapbook

I’m very impressed! After hearing about Hulu for several weeks, I decided to give it a try. It/s a website that offers free streaming television programs. It actually worked! I have “medium speed” broadband, and the show worked pretty well. i didn’t browse around a great deal, bui their selection looks quite large.

The shows are free; however you watch a brief advertisement in the beginning, and there is a small banner ad in the Hulu browser. Every once in a while, a corporate logo (I saw the McDonald’s Dollar Menu ad) pops up in the eight-hand side of the screen. The ads are not obtrusive and are easily ignored.

I was extremely impressed because they have a good collection of PBS and NOVA documentaries (I am not a TV show watcher, but I love documentaries). Even when I enlarged the video player to full screen, the video ran smoothly and the picture was still relatively clear. (It’s not like YouTube, where the picture is blocky and cube-looking when you go full screen). Hulu is an excellent tool for home educators. I give it my thumbs up.

It is hard to fathom, but 1 in 150 children are diagnosed with autism in the United States. This is a phenomenal number, in my opinion. It tells me that something in our environment, be it vaccines or water quality, are afflicting our kids. It is terrible.

Parents with autistic kids can use all the help others can give. Here’s a wonderful new help– the ZacBrowser! It’s designed especially for children with autism. It looks great! It’s getting the attention of major media networks, too. The download is free. Looks like it can be a great browser for very young kids, too.

Firefox is rapidly becoming the browser of choice for Internet users. It is the only browser I use, unless I’m having technical problems and need to use Internet Explorer. I love the tabbed feature of Firefox more than anything. There’s a lot about Firefox that can be confusing, though (ever look into about:config?). I have found the Mozilla forums to be an essential help. Most of the forums is about the Firefox browser. You won’t find tips about cheap term life insurance, but you will reap reams of additional information by reading some of the small talk that goes on between the geeks. It is truly a learning experience! The forum link is here.

I am a member of Entrecards (although not for this blog– just my five others, lol!). I thoroughly enjoy the traffic it has brought me as well as the wonderful new blogs and bloggers I have discovered. I’ve made some true friends through the community. I have to admit that I’ve also seen some real doozies out there, too– some use EC to peddle their acne treatments blogs (how can you have a blog devoted to one thing, eludes me!) but most Entrecarders are there for the social networking aspect. I love it! Entirely new blogs, widgets, and tools are being spawned as a result of EC. I was very excited to read about a new toolbar called Sitehoppin, created by an Entrecarder and especially geared toward EC hoppers. It’s in the beta, but I have the honor of being able to beta test it with my Firefox browser. The concept and the style is outstanding. I’ve been waiting for another toolbar to enter the scene to rival StumbleUpon, and it looks like Josh Whitford’s invention may do it. You can read about it and see a tutorial video here.

It still has a few bugs yet (that’s why the call it “beta”!). The toolbar timed out on me a few times. I also notice that there is no category for the Entrecard Home & Garden section. My New York Renovator is in that category, so until it’s fixed, my most popular blog won’t be showing.

But users can submit blogs! There’s just too much to describe here– check out Josh’s site and watch the tutorial. I’m expecting great things from this toolbar!

I’m a BIG fan of the Firefox browser. It’s been having a few problems lately (usually happens after an update) and I think that my plugins may be going screwy on me. For some reason, Firefox won’t connect to the Internet when I use wireless. It’s driving me crazy! So I’ve been tinkering with the plugins. I hadn’t looked at their bank of plugins for a long time, and was surprised to see their “new look.” I was also surprised to be hundreds upon hundreds of plugins for everything to launching radio players to tips for acne treatment! Sheesh! It’s a bit much.

I did find a golden egg in the nest, though. I love this addon! It’s called Fancy Numbered Tabs and it simply does what it says– it gives your tabs little numbers so you can keep track of them. I always have a lot of tabs open and sometimes I get confused. It’s a nice addon.

Don’t ask me how to pronounce it (is it “grow” or “grew”?) but ask me if I love it and I’ll say YES. It works with Firefox (and Internet Explorer, for those of you still using it!). It is extremely customizable, which is why I love it so. You can choose the search engines you’d like and choose which of their buttons you’d like, all within one easy toolbar! You can read more about the Groowe toolbar here.

If you haven’t heard of the Netcraft Toolbar, you should have! It’s been around for a few years now. I think it’s the best-kept secret of the Internet! But, ladies and gentlemen, I now present to you the greatest technological invention since the invention of Papermate pens, it’s the Netcraft Toolbar! Now available for Firefox (and not just Internet Explorer)!

You can read more about all the nifty things this toolbar does at the website, but it basically lets you see the hosting service of the website you are viewing, and from which country the hosting service is from. This is important, because… well, here’s the main scoop from the website:

The Toolbar community is effectively a giant neighbourhood watch scheme, empowering the most alert and most expert members to defend everyone within the community against phishing attacks. Once the first recipients of a phishing mail have reported the target URL, it is blocked for community members as they subsequently access the URL. Widely disseminated attacks (people construct phishing attacks send literally millions of emails in the expectation that some will reach customers of the bank) simply mean that the phishing attack will be reported and blocked sooner.

It helps to have input from users, to make the toolbar more efficient. It’s a very handy toolbar. Use it for good browser health!

I was recently informed that this blog was not showing up as it should for users still using the Internet Explorer browser. I have tested this blog on IE before, and it worked fine… the blog looks GREAT in Firefox, so I’ve been ignorant of the recent problems.

I haven’t changed anything with the html for this blog, so I have NO IDEA why today it looks so terrible in IE. I use Firefox and never touch IE if I have to, so I had no idea of the problems until late tonight.

I think this is a good time for me to go on another anti-IE rant. If you folks are still using the defunct and banal Internet Explorer, this is a good example of why you should switch to Firefox!

You can download the great Firefox browser here.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any time to fix my blog tonight… sorry about that.

It’s a big blow to Hewlett-Packard/Compaq: A hacker named “porkythepig” published an online report of a bug and consequent hacks that can affect nearly every HP/Compaq laptop.

According to porkythepig’s post, the Software Update bugs let an attacker corrupt Windows’ kernel files, making the laptop unbootable, or with a little more effort, allow hacks that would result in a PC hijack or malware infection. In either case, a drive-by attack could be conducted by feeding users an e-mail message with a link to a malicious Web site.

“Every HP notebook machine containing the HP Software Updates application is vulnerable,” claimed porkythepig. “It is possible that the vulnerable machine model list disclosed by the vendor as a confirmation to the previous issue concerning HP laptops, [the] HP Info Center case, will be similar in this case.”

Here’s the painful part:

The researcher said he had tested the exploit code on Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003 and Vista, and that the vulnerabilities pose a risk to any user with either Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) or IE7 on the PC. Nor will HP be able to use the down-and-dirty fix it deployed last week, said porkythepig. After he revealed several bugs in HP’s Info Center a week ago, HP issued an update that simply disabled the vulnerable software.

“Simple disabling of the vulnerable control by the vendor’s patch, like in the other HP software vulnerability case, HP Info, [could still] result in the machine['s] software update system [being] compromised, and would leave the user vulnerable to future security issues,” porkythepig said in the milw0rm.com write-up.

HP did not reply to e-mailed requests for confirmation and comment.

I keyed in on that it’s Internet Explorer that is the hub of the risk. Yeah, that Internet Explorer crapware– the browser that protects the right to show ads!

The worst thing HP can do is say nothing. Say something, even if it’s an “oops” or “we’ll look into this right away.”

I was blog surfing this afternoon and when I tried to view one blog, up came this message:

You’ve reached this page because the site you were trying to visit now blocks the FireFox browser.

The Mozilla Foundation and its Commercial arm, the Mozilla Corporation, has allowed and endorsed Ad Block Plus, a plug-in that blocks advertisement on web sites and also prevents site owners from blocking people using it. Software that blocks all advertisement is an infringement of the rights of web site owners and developers. Numerous web sites exist in order to provide quality content in exchange for displaying ads. Accessing the content while blocking the ads, therefore would be no less than stealing. Millions of hard working people are being robbed of their time and effort by this type of software. Many site owners therefore install scripts that prevent people using ad blocking software from accessing their site. That is their right as the site owner to insist that the use of their resources accompanies the presence of the ads.

While blanket ad blocking in general is still theft, the real problem is Ad Block Plus’s unwillingness to allow individual site owners the freedom to block people using their plug-in. Blocking FireFox is the only alternative. Demographics have shown that not only are FireFox users a somewhat small percentage of the internet, they actually are even smaller in terms of online spending, therefore blocking FireFox seems to have only minimal financial drawbacks, whereas ending resource theft has tremendous financial rewards for honest, hard-working website owners and developers..

Since the makers of Ad Block Plus as well as the filter subscriptions that accompany it refuse to allow website owners control over their own intellectual property, and since FireFox actively endorses Ad Block Plus, the sites linking to this page are now blocking FireFox until the resource theft is stopped.

Netscape users can simply set their browser to IE mode to continue to enjoy the site that sent you here. FireFox users can use Internet Explorer, Opera or Netscape (in IE mode) to access it. FireFox users also have the option of using the IE Tab plug-in which uses the IE rendering engine to display pages, but also disables the Ad Block Plus plug-in.

If you are offended by the Mozilla Corporation’s endorsement of dishonesty please contact the Mozilla Foundation and ask them to stop empowering internet theft.

Whoa. So Firefox is blocked because it blocks ads.

Since when is ignoring ads considered “theft”? That’s screwy. There is no basic “right” of ad-viewing. If a website wants to force people to view ads, charge them to access the page.

It is the epitome of injustice in this world for a good browser to be reprimanded for blocking advertising, but another browser is not reprimanded for being a crappy browser.

As for me, and countless others, I had no real desire to view the website and all its ads, anyway. I’ll pick up my marbles and go visit another site. Without being forced to use Internet Explorer, thank you very much.

P.S. The whole reason I block ads is because they are extremely offensive. Some ads I don’t care about, but being forced to view naked women prancing around in a flash-ad is outrageous. Why doesn’t anybody complain about that? What about my rights? As they say when it comes to watching TV– if you don’t like what’s on, turn it off. I love Firefox because it turns the sewage off.

I’m very impressed with The World browser. It’s an Internet Explorer shell. I’ve been using it for a while– half a year now– and really like it! It’s got a wonderfully simple interface, a great bookmark import feature, and it’s the fastest browser I have ever used. My only complaint would be that it doesn’t have all my little extras that I’ve become accustomed to with Firefox (the Groowe toolbar, other toolbars, the AdBlock, etc), although The World does have addons and some cool skins you can download.

The World knocks the socks off Firefox when it comes to speed. It must be twice or three times faster than FF.

Give it a whirl if you are an adventurous type. This is how a browser should be! Now if they’ll only add some sweet extensions.

If you do try it, let me know. Leave a little review in the comments.

It’s time has come. Finally! A worthy PDF reader has replaced Adobe Acrobat! I can’t rave enough about Foxit PDF Reader. It’s light, it’s easy, it doesn’t track my every online move, and–most importantly– it doesn’t make my computer crash when I start it up (unlike other PDF readers, ahem). For the novice, it is a little complex with its updating features. When I updated it today, it asked me all these questions that I didn’t know how to answer! I just went with it, and it did fine. The update (the newer version, Foxit 2.2 for Windows) speeds up the program even more, and I love the “minimize to tray” option when I right-click the titlebar.

From the Foxit website:

• Incredibly small: The download size of Foxit Reader is only 2.1 M which is a fraction of Acrobat Reader 20 M size.
• Breezing-fast: When you run Foxit Reader, it launches instantly without any delay. You are not forced to view an annoying splash window displaying company logo, author names, etc.
• Annotation tool: Have you ever wished to annotate (or comment on) a PDF document when you are reading it? Foxit Reader allows you to draw graphics, highlight text, type text and make notes on a PDF document and then print out or save the annotated document.
• Text converter: You may convert the whole PDF document into a simple text file.
• High security and privacy: Foxit Reader highly respects the security and privacy of users and will never connect to the Internet without users’ permission. While other PDF readers often silently connect to the Internet in the background. Foxit PDF Reader does not contain any spyware.

I found myself nodding over every one of those points, especially the first two and the last one.

I have hated Adobe Acrobat for a very long time. On all my computers, it crashes them. When I do manage to get the program going, Adobe is slow and stutters. It drove me beserk and for a few years I wondered why there was no PDF reader alternative. Now that there is, and a better reader at that, I wonder why I’m not hearing enough or seeing much marketing about Foxit. Adobe is the “standard,” kind of like Windows to Apple; so maybe Adobe controls so much of the marketplace and Foxit is squelched out? People should be hooting about this new PDF reader!

Politics aside, Foxit is free, is faster, it’s better. One note, the PDF Reader is free. The PDF Creator is not, it just gives you a free trial. But creating PDFs is easy enough with OpenOffice, a terrific word processing program I’ll tell you about soon.

In the meantime, if you open PDFs, get Foxit. You’ll be stunned at the difference.

Not every voip company is reliable. This is why when thinking of getting an internet phone software, it is much better to trust names like vonage. You can also download skype phone easily. In other case, an internet phone provider who has been referred through friends can be trusted.

I’ve been slow to join the social network. I only recently joined MyBlogLog yet I still have no MySpace or Facebook profile. I’ve loved blogging and I do love to interact with people, but I prefer forums and emails to the fluffier MySpace place.

There’s a browser out there specially designed for cyber-socialites. It’s the Flock Browser. I downloaded long ago when it was first released. I really liked it then, but it was a little too slow. Flock is a Firefox shell– it runs with a Mozilla Firefox machine but has Flock fenders and fins. I’d heard that a new release of Flock was out, so I wanted to try it.

I’m very impressed with its social networking capabilities. I can log into my accounts at Blogger, Wordpress, Flickr, Photobucket, and etc with a few easy clicks. Talk about convenient! With Firefox, I have to individually go to each account and manually log in– not fun. I like Flock because I can log in to everything so easily.

I’m not terribly impressed with its appearance and interface. It’s a little clunky and bloated. It has too many buttons, big ones and little ones, all competing for my attention when I want to give my attention to the site I am on. It’s like staring at that gorgeous curly maple dashboard in your BMW so that you aren’t paying attention to the road.

Flock was also very slow for me. There was a distinct lag with everything I did, and I grew impatient with it very quickly. I closed the entire thing out and went right back to Firefox, as a matter of fact.

I think Flock still has some work to do. They’ve made great strides in flexibility, but it is too cumbersome and far too cutsie. Maybe there are different (read: more mature) skins for it. I was too disgusted to check after experiencing the annoying the lag time. Maybe when I am more patient I will try again. For the meantime, it’s back to individual logons with Firefox. Unless someone out there knows of an Addon for Firefox that will do the job…

I tried SlimBrowser after reading another blogger’s success with it. The download went quick and easy, and the importation of bookmarks was much easier than what I’ve experienced with Opera and Internet Explorer. Still, the browser is an Internet Explorer skin. The tabs (a good feature) were a little clunky. I was too impatient to try to learn all its idiosyncracies. It felt a little foreign (a lot like how I felt when I first switched to FF from IE, actually). I knew that if I used it every day I’d get used to it soon enough, but I am not displeased with FF to dump it just yet.

If Firefox wasn’t so good, I just might have stuck with SlimBrowser. I intend to keep it handy for times when Firefox gets too big for its britches (FF does crash and does make my laptop processor work hard when I run videos). It’s a better browser then Internet Explorer, overall.

If you use IE and are sick of it, and don’t want to switch to FF, SlimBrowser is a good alternative.

There are some good browsers out there. I think I have tried most of them (and uninstalled a good 90%) of them. But no longer are we at the unilateral whim of Internet Explorer’s latest version. Here are the browsers I use.

Firefox. This is a Mozilla product. My favorite browser! They also have some outstanding add-ons that I love. Here’s a quick list of the best add-ons:

• Ad-Block: The best ad-blocker around. The only stipulation is that you must first view an ad and tell the blocker to block it (right-click and choose “ad block.”) There is also Ad-Block Plus pre-loaded filters with the most common ads automatically blocked; these filters need frequent updates. I use both add-ons, and therefore I see very few ads. The Element Hiding Helper is also handy for blocking pictures or text that you would rather not see.
• Groowe Search Toolbar: In my opinion, the best toolbar ever invented. Groowe has all sorts of various search engines in one convenient toolbar, and the toolbar is completely customizable. Groowe also searches TigerDirect, Dictionary.com, YouTube, Amazon, etc.
• Add Bookmark Here: This is an easier way to bookmark your favorite sites. I like it because I don’t have to go sifting through my bookmarked folders every time I want to bookmark something new. A real time-saver.
• Download Statusbar: This is a status-bar program. Your downloads are viewable in a small spot in your statusbar, rather than loaded into a separate window. It is fully customizable (colors, and all) and extremely convenient.
• There are close to a million more add-ons for Firefox– too many, really! Installing too many add-ons makes Firefox slower, so stick with the basics or things that you really need.

Opera. I use Opera when in a pinch or when I want something different. It has a techno feel to it. It is a bit bulky, has too many options to do one thing (in my opinion), but its fast. I love their “speed dial” which makes surfing to favorite websites a complete breeze.

The World. It is a strange name for a browser, but I do use it from time to time. It is an Internet Explorer “shell”; that is, The World is a coat covering an Internet Explorer body. I will use anything to avoid using IE, especially IE7. This works pretty well.

Browsers that got Thumbs Down: Internet Explorer (buggy, slow, bulky, and doesn’t block ads), Safari (too buggy), Netscape (awkward), and SlimBrowser (just another lame IE shell).