How to Add Chrome like New Tab and Home Page to Firefox

Posted by dee | Posted in Productivity, Tips, Tutorials, Web Browsers | Posted on 10-06-2009

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Firefox Logo I use both Google Chrome and Firefox for my main personal browsing. I love both browsers and think each of them does some things better than the other, so I tend to switch between the two depending on my requirements.

I love the development add-on’s that I can get for Firefox so most of my design type browsing is performed on there. However, there is one thing that I would love to have seen on Firefox that Chrome does really well. The New Tab functionality in Chrome results in a webpage dashboard that lays out my most common websites, recent book marks and recently closed web pages all in an easy to read manner. I miss that the most in Firefox.

Well, obviously someone else did too, and there is now an experimental add-on called JumpStart for Firefox that does exactly that!

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Microsoft IE 8.0 Browser Security best of all browsers?

Posted by dee | Posted in User Experience, Web Browsers | Posted on 25-03-2009

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security thumb Microsoft IE 8.0 Browser Security best of all browsers? Erm.. surely it can’t be true? Where has Firefox and Chrome gone? Could this be just another marketing hype released to coincide the release of Microsoft IE 8.0?

Just like the article announcing how IE8.0 beat Safari and Firefox in the Pwn2Own contest (forgetting to mention the wee lil fact that Google Chrome actually outlasted it.. – article from ITPro)…

NSS Labs recently released a paper that touts putting all the current browsers through over 154,000 individual tests over 12 days and coming up with some "interesting" results. In particular they were testing the browsers’ capability to intercept and stop Malware.

The tested applications included Safari, Chrome, IE8, IE7, Firefox and Opera. The article itself makes for an interesting read especially for the skeptics amongst us.

The actual article can be read (pdf format) by clicking here: Test Report

If you get a chance, please do have a quick squiz at the tests they performed and while they tried to be as unbiased as possible, most people will read it as very much a pro-microsoft article. Even withstanding the fact that IE7 was one of the lowest rated browsers in terms of malware security.

They did mention that Firefox added sites to their block list faster than IE, they went on to add that Firefox identified significantly fewer malware sites.. i just don’t like that word i guess… Also, i’m unsure if they used any add-ons in Firefox…

Still.. have a gander.. make your own mind up. As for me, I’ve got IE8, Chrome and Firefox installed on my machines and funnily enough, find an excuse to use them all at some point or other…

Let me leave you with an excerpt from one of their conclusions… surely the gap cannot be this much?
security2 thumb Microsoft IE 8.0 Browser Security best of all browsers? 
Again, the link to their PDF article is here: Test Report
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Internet Explorer 8 is now out..

Posted by dee | Posted in Microsoft, Test Drive Apps, Web Browsers | Posted on 19-03-2009

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Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 Microsoft just released a new version of it’s web browser today. Packed with features and add-on’s, its trying hard to retain its user base. A lot of people prefer Firefox as their browser, but the fact remains that with the advent of technology such as Ajax etc, a lot of developers out there are trying to provide a richer user experience and sometimes, providing this level of interactivity results in issues when rendering the pages in any browser other than IE.

It will be interesting to see if this new version is smaller, faster and more secure than the previous versions. I thought I’d upgrade my work machine just to see how easy it is to upgrade and see if there are any major differences in browsing experiences.

I’m assuming at this point that most people out there are now on IE7, so this will be an upgrade.

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New Version of Google Chrome out

Posted by dee | Posted in Test Drive Apps, Web Browsers | Posted on 19-03-2009

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ChromeFor those who may not know, Google Chrome is Google’s version of a web browser. Currently the market is dominated by clients such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari, etc.

Chrome is Googles’ attempt to create a light and fast browser first released around 6 months ago.

While its still a relatively new application and subject to little quirks, I’ve very quickly made it my primary browser in terms of general use :)


Note: The latest version of Chrome may not play nice with Windows 7 (read: slow), so please be aware of that if you are interested in installing the latest version and you are running Windows 7 beta.

 

We will write up a quick article on how to download, install and configure Google Chrome soon, but for now, here is the news item regarding its latest version:

From Reuters (Mar 18):

Google released a new version of its Chrome Web browser on Tuesday, as the search giant continues its efforts to get a foothold in a market dominated by Microsoft Corp.

The new Chrome represents the first major update of the software aimed at the general public since Google entered the browser business six months ago.

It offers Web surfers faster performance and a handful of new features, such as auto-filling of personal information on online forms and a new way for users to drag around tabs of different Web pages within the browser window.

Google was a distant No.4 in the browser market, with 1.2 percent share of the worldwide market in February, according to market research firm Net Applications.

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer dominates the market, with a 67.4 percent market share in February, while the Mozilla foundation’s Firefox browser had a roughly 22 percent share. Apple’s Safari browser had an 8 percent share.

Last month, Google officially joined the European Union’s antitrust case against Microsoft, describing the browser market as "largely uncompetitive." The EU has charged Microsoft with abusing its dominant market position by bundling its Internet Explorer Web browser with its Windows personal computer operating system.

According to a post on Google’s blog on Tuesday, the new Chrome beta loads certain types of Web pages 25 percent to 35 percent faster than the current version of the browser.

The new features were previously available to programmers using the "developer" version of Chrome, but Google has now packaged all the updates together into a more reliable beta test version that is available for download.

Google also has a more polished, so-called stable version of Chrome, based on the older beta version.

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