Which is the best browser? That all depends on the purpose. Here’s a short summary comparison of the three browsers:
Internet Explorer 7.0/8.0: It launches slow, loads pages slow and has many irksome features in the general bloated fashion of Microsoft. I have little use for IE for home use. However, on an enterprise level, IE makes a compelling argument for it’s use with integrated authentication and compatibility with its Office and SharePoint products.
FireFox 3.0: Still a mainstay on my desktop, FireFox has an amazing array of browser add-ons that make it a browser of choice for developers. FireFox is hands-down the most flexible and feature packed browser with a large developer community. For an all-purpose browser FireFox takes the cake. One important caveaut, add-ons can slow the launch of the browser down to that of IE which is paltry.
Chrome: The fastest browser by far. It launches quick, loads pages rapidly and simply a slick browser. It’s streamline design, not surprising coming from Google, allows for more screen space. I hope that Google doesn’t get the itch to over engineer the browser as it evolves but leaves the simplicity of it alone. For Mac fans, Chrome is on its way; Just hang on.
Maybe Tim Berners-Lee the man credited with the invention of the World Wide Web (not our buddy Al Gore) was actually not thinking big enough. Will the web shortly be renamed Galaxy-Wide Web? It seems that Google has their sites set on taking the web into our galaxy. From the Google Lunar X Prize site, "The Google Lunar X PRIZE is a $30 million competition for the first privately funded team to send a robot to the moon, travel 500 meters and transmit video, images and data back to the Earth." Gee, missing-out on that Google IPO seems like a mistake that just keeps growing. What’s next for Google? Their own country? Oh wait, they already possess the world. Intergalatic web anyone?
A quick search on desktop utilities will reveal a plethora of bells and whistles. Sometimes it’s challenging to discern between the helpful suggestions and self-promotion. After trying many utilities, there are a few that have worked their way into my daily work life, utilities I depend on to help me through my day.
Keepass – I don’t know what I did all those years without a solid way of storing passwords. What a conundrum it poses. On one hand, best practice says to use unique passwords that are long and cryptic. On the other hand there needs to be a system for storing them. Perhaps I’m showing my age but I find it more and more difficult to do so. Keepass is a small utility that stores passwords in an encrypted file on your desktop. I also heard of some IT folks storing the file on a server and opening it locally for a shared resource.
Google Calendar Sync – After years of ambiguous and conflicting appointments between work and personal life, I’ve started syncing my work calendar in Outlook to Gmail. For Getting Things Done enthusiasts, this one is a no brainer. It’s nice to open-up my calendar mindspace and not worry as much about calendaring conflicts.
Beyond Compare – This little utility, free for the 30-Day trial then $30 to by, allows you to synch files between two folders. Originally I used it to synch web folders but have found it very useful for backing-up documents to a network drive.
YouSendIt.com – Moving large files around the globe can be a real hassle. Our intranet system is in development and sometimes there’s no more efficient way to get stuff to folks than uploading it to a second party. The service is free though as a department we’ve subscribed to their first tier of service. They also offer secured service if you have highly sensitive information.
Google Adwords Editor – The Adwords Editor just makes life a little easier for maintaining one or more accounts. Management of the campaigns can be handled from the desktop and then sync’d when done. Works nicely when multiple folks are working on the same account as well.
FireFTP – This FireFox plug-in gets constant use. It keeps life streamlined for me to pop open an ftp client within the browser. It’s quick to launch and works pretty darn good. I’ve used it for upwards of a year now and have very little complaints.
Gmail Manager – Another FireFox plug-in, but probably the most used utility I posess. It enables me to keep a constant eye on email w/out going to the account. If there were such a bird for Outlook my work life efficiency would be near shangri-la.
MeasureIt – A little FireFox plug-in that measures anything on the screen. I should mention Colorzilla as well though for some reason just don’t use it as much. MeasureIt is uber handy for getting dimensions when modifying graphics for a web page.
Ad-aware – We use Norton Anti-virus at work and to put it mildly, it’s under par as an all-encompassing anti-virus utility. I prefer AVG Anti-virus which is free though I have a paid subscription for my home computing environment. Regardless of the version of anti-virus software I use, Adaware does a decent job of catching malware and spyware that they others let slip by.
Microsoft PowerToys Image Resizer – This little utility performs a nice function to resize images with a right-click. While I absolutely love working in Photoshop, it’s a real hoss in terms of launching the program and a pain when a simple resize is all that is needed. Image Resizer is an ideal utility especially for blogging.
There are many other utilities that are credible and that I use fairly regularly, but these mentioned above range between hourly to weekly, stuff I depend on. What ones could you not live without?
If you haven’t looked at your calendar today, it’s April Fools Day. Last year Google posted some really funny April Fools jokes; one being Gmail Paper where you can have your archive snail mailed and the other being Google TiSP which was free in-home wireless broadband that was routed through your toilet.
I am usually fairly enamored with what Google does but today’s jokes just don’t compare with last years. Gmail Custom Time is an overused joke messing with time stamps. Of the two gDay with MATE, search tomorrow’s web, today! is probably the most humorous but neither is as believable as Gmail Paper. Come on Google, you can do it. Give us some real zingers again next year. I’m counting on you.
If you float around in the micro-blogging world of Pownce, Twitter or Jaiku, you will most likely have heard today of the recent acquisition of Jaiku by Google. This news has my engines gunned, so much so that I wrote a short post on it at TechFires.com as well.
Now, before you think of me as one who just loves to jump on the bandwagon, you should know I don’t care that it was Google who did the purchase or that Jaiku was the one acquired. I have nothing against either entity, I’m just glad to hear of a major email provider snatching-up a micro-blogging solution such as Jaiku.
Google may change the name, tweak the features and do who knows what with the service. All of that is of little concern for me. What I’m most delighted about is the move towards mainstream micro-blogging. This one announcement sets off a new chain of events that will evolve our communication mores up yet another notch. Email, the all-in-compassing, run-your-life blob has got to be wrangled-in and limited to its most sublime functions. As I wrote in my recent post "13 Good Alternatives to Email", there are many great options to communication besides our over-used communication through email. Today is a landmark day.
So who gets dibs on Twitter? maybe Yahoo? What about Pownce? perhaps Microsoft? What do you think about this announcement? How significant is it for you?
This just may be my next phone. I’ve never really been a huge fan of the iPhone myself. This has all the makings for a salivating web guru. Just out today Crunchgear has the scoop on the soon-to-be-released Google Phone. Hearsay is that it will pack the punch of Googles features including GPS, Gmail, Calendar, and I’m sure a few more surprises. Let the hype begin!
Volumes are written about Search Engine Optimization and how to improve your PageRank. In truth, SEO is a means to an end, getting people to read your site. I thought it worth giving some simple steps to improve PageRanking.
Anyone new to optimization can begin to feel that there is a great chasm of understanding to be gained before beginning web publishing. Posting information to a page that ranks well on search engines and written for ease of use by readers is actually deceptively simple. Going hand-in-hand with my post Search Engine Optimization Do’s and Don’ts, this post will give you a few simple steps to advance your web publishing efforts.
Simple Steps for Writing an Optimized Post
Develop an idea for a post. While research in the subject is valuable, formulate your own well developed content. This cannot be stated too often. Original content will result in higher PageRank.
In Google, search blog titles to ensure there are no exact duplicate results.
Develop a title that succinctly states the point of your post.
Write a short paragraph summarizing the focus of the post. Proof your post for spelling, grammar and awkward sentence structure.
Use bulleted lists and state the essential ideas with key terms to be found in Google in the post like "Search Engine Optimization" or "User optimized websites".
Use subtitles, illustrations and photos to guide the user.
Write serial or related posts that give users a body of information on a given topic.
Link both to meaningful related information on other sites and back into your own post.
Writing to an audience with some basic guidelines will promote the development of content that users will appreciate and share with others. While it may seem like SEO boils down to learning the tricks of the trade, writing worthwhile and valuable content will create a lasting impression. When quality content is developed, people link to your site which will do more for PageRanking than any trick in the book. I remember one of the Yahoo reps at a Search Engine conference saying, "Do the right thing and you will rank well."
There are many other steps one can take to promote a site, but starting with solid posts is the cornerstone. These are good practices I take with posts. Any tips or ideas you’ve picked-up that I haven’t mentioned in either post on optimization? What’s working for you?
Kind of a quirky thought, but in Googling the word thoughtsparks 639 of the 640 results directly relate back to my site or postings in one form or fashion. The first page and a half of Google returns on my name Phil Stolle are mine as well. Then they are interspered with the other Phil Stolle from Germany and diverge from there for the remains of the 143,000 returns.
Bloggers are coining new terms all the time to have unique addresses and putting their own spin on their topics. I enjoy developing "ThoughtSparks" as a blog and hopefully encouraging people to think. I find it fascinating to look at market share for a term.
My good friend Kelly Wright who blogs kellementology.com has coined kellementology and owns that word. Kelly instructs us in "The science of grasping life by the short hairs" which if you read her blog, you’ll begin to see the method to her madness. I’m starting to believe there really is such a thing as Kellementology. Wikipedia entry anyone?
What words have you coined? What words have other bloggers coined and own in Google?
I have to admit that Google had me there for a minute w/ the paper mail, strange as it was, but the TiSP was too far fetched once I saw the photos. It shows the user running a line down their bathroom Toilet. This is hillarious.
Beyond Compare
YouSendIt.com
– We use Norton Anti-virus at work and to put it mildly, it’s under par as an all-encompassing anti-virus utility. I prefer AVG Anti-virus which is free though I have a paid subscription for my home computing environment. Regardless of the version of anti-virus software I use, Adaware does a decent job of catching malware and spyware that they others let slip by.
