What connects Apple’s Safari and Firefox?

Ever since I first came to know about a browser called Safari ( Apple’s browser that is available for Windows also) , I have been using it. No, I’m not one of those guys obsessed with Apple since I was a little boy. Infact I’ve been using Safari only for the last 6 months. Its (read as Apple’s) font-rendering technology amazes me. Even as I type this blog and as the words come out, I just love the style of these fonts. They are so easy on the eye especially for a guy like me who reads tons of raw text on the computer screen everyday. But lately I have been facing one major problem with Safari. The webpages don’t load( Isn’t that what it’s supposed to help me out with? ) The commonly displayed error message has been “Safari was not able to find the server.” It was utterly frustrating. To my shock, when I downloaded Opera 9.5 and installed it, it was displaying those webpages easily. No error messages. No frustration. 

But then since I liked Safari’s font rendering technology so much, I just couldn’t give up on it. I downloaded Firefox 3 on “Download Day.” And to my surprise I found something strange about Safari and Firefox. When I have both Safari and Firefox open side by side, I don’t get the problems I usually get with Safari and the missing server. Also if I login into Gmail using Firefox, I’m able to use the same through my Safari. I wonder what kind of mysterious bond is shared by the two. I guess there might be some sharing of cache memory or cookies ( or whatever technical jargon I’m currently ignorant of ) But fact is they both are working great. But I’m using Safari ofcourse. Apart from its font rendering, some of its other merits are

• Simple user interface. Once you use it, it’s really the easiest there is.
• The menus and address bars occupy very little space, leaving the major portion of your screen free to display actual webpage content.
• The bookmarks window is really good and simple. Not only does it automatically get the previous bookmarks from your already installed browser, it makes organizing your bookmarks a breeze. 
• The auto complete feature for webpage addresses includes bookmarks as well. This is a feature that I haven’t seen in many browsers. When you type your URL in the address bar, it automatically lists similar entries found in the bookmarks(as opposed to entries in the History which most browsers normally display)

Apart from that it has all the usual features of a webpage. I’ll give you a few screen shots to give you a glimpse of what I’m actually talking about.

Safari Sample Webpage (Click to view full picture)

Firefox Sample Webpage (Click to view full picture)

 

Opera Sample Webpage (Click to view full picture)

So if anyone happens to know why this actually happens, do drop in and post a comment telling us all about it.

Download Link for Safari ( for Windows)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Update on 10th July 2008

I found this really cool blog about Safari and its really good features. Do check it out. It’s comprehensive with a lot of screenshots. http://destraynor.com/serendipity/index.php?/archives/151-9-things-Firefox-should-steal-from-Safari.html

 

 

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Link to this blog post: http://shadowspeak.wordpress.com/2008/07/09/what-connects-apples-safari-and-firefox/

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Where are the Google blogs in Google?

Hi fellas,

Now that you have reached this page and this line, you would probably know you are in a WordPress blog. Had everything gone normally in my blogging life, this would have been a Blogger blog. Yeah that would be www.shadowspeak.blogspot.com. But i switched over to WordPress for a simple problem. My blogs in Blogger were just not getting listed in Google search. Even if i search the exact words i had blogged about, I still didn’t get the results in Google search. That was highly disappointing. The reason you,me or anyone would blog is for others to read our blogs, find it useful and start a discussion. But whats the purpose if your blog is not connected with people who are searching for something like your blog?

WordPress is just awesome in that respect. The moment i post something it gets listed in Google and so many other search engines in less than 24 hours. Great! Just what a blogger needs! I had one of my friends complaining to me about the same problem yesterday. he had posted a couple of dicey topics hoping to start off some hot discussion, but with no responses its understandable he’s a bit pissed off. After all if you are using Blogger, you are using Google’s blog and still you don’t get listed in Google search. Not funny MountainView!

And today I just found out why! Its because Google thinks that blogs are special. So special infact that they require a entirely different Search engine! Check out Google Blog Search A stroke of genius you say? I say No. Come on i don’t expect a majority people to search separately for blogs and websites. The difference has clearly been blurred in recent times with all the supposed news websites, changing into something like a blog. So suit up Google. Because for an ordinary user not really bothered about ads and other stuff and focussing mainly on the content of what he writes, Blogspot has become a major letdown. In that way WordPress really has a knack of not only getting listed in Google but also high up too.

P.S. Hope someone from the Blogger team reads this!

Links!
1. Blogspot.com
2. WordPress.org
3. Google search
4. Google Blog Search

As always
Ramji

My New Phone MotoYuva W230 review

Hi fellas,Been a month since i blogged. This really seems to be the opening lines of so many blogs I have been reading recently. Funny how many people like myself are finding their own pile of work big enough so when you go upto them about blogging all they say is “No thanks!” I would said the same thing if you would have asked me that yesterday. Anyway back to business. I bought a new phone last month. You must have known it if you had been watching you cricket ! Sure its the model in the title. Motorola W230.I actually went to a forum and posted that I bought it and no sooner was I getting emails requesting more details and some “I bought it too” mails which were very sweet responses really. So why make people wait for my reply mails while I can put this up in y blog and let it remain for eternity. So here goes my review.

REVIEW

The phone has been an absolute delight. I had originally been planning and decided on buying Samsung’s C160 or C170 for Rs.2000. Both had FM radio along with GPRS - two of my most needed features. That was until this bolt from the blue from Motorola. This model actually came out two days before me buying it and it has a terrific feature of micro SD slot something unheard of in this price range. Along with a mp3 player it was a cool music phone with some good looks to boot(The blue keypad light combined with the black phone at night looks awesome!) So i decided on it at first sight. Price was 3k but you can get it for 2.9k. According to me the best value for money mobile in the market today.I’l separately list its various features here.

Messaging

Most people are scared of Motorola when it comes to messaging but it’s not that difficult actually. If you are switching from Nokia you will probbaly have a problem for the first month. But most young people should catch up. Some old ones might find it very difficult to change but I dont expect them to use the messaging much anyway. But if u are a nokia lover and are reluctant to change about speed of text messaging better stick to Nokia. But as they say Change is good!

User Interface

Its decent and not at all bad. Nokia is probably better by about 5% but that’s not such a big difference because Nokia has no phones in this price range with this much features. So if you are buying for less don’t go for Nokia. Go for motorola or samsung.

Music Experience

Coming to the biggest feature of this phone music experience is great. Ofcourse if you are too much used to ipod or the Sony Walkman series this isn’t music phone for you. But if you like listening to some good music with some good clarity and quality then its for you. Headphones are pretty loud. I use them in crowded buses and still find them good to hear. Usually shops give you a 256mb memory card for 3k and its upgradable to 2gb. So use it! Speakers are good. You can set mp3 alarms which is what i wake upto daily nowadays. And you have mp3 ring tones as well

FM

FM radio is clear and sound is a bit louder than mp3 player. Its certainly better than the FM in Nokia 6030. You can also record FM and use it as alarms.

Specs and Links

1. Specs from Motorola Website

2. Check out the phone in Univercell

SO thats basically the gist of it. If u need more info just send in your comments and i’l reply. Also do comment if you got a different view!

Signing off

Ramji

Update on 31/3/2008:

Bought a crystal case for the phone for Rs.20. Phone looks cooler inside the case. Also lends the sturdiness of Nokia phones. Motorola phones aren’t usually sturdy and strong as far as the panel and outer design goes.

The Broadband Blame Game

Its January. Half a month past. And the rest of the month is gonna be an absolute drudgery. Im worried. Im really worried to be honest. Im using this BSNL broadband plan500 which lets me use 2.5GB per month. It is quite a lot i agree but suddenly i wake up on the 15th and find just 400MB remaining in my account. Granted, I do use a lot of Bandwidth for voice chat and use the rest of it for browsing. But still this much of usage just midway through the month is simply unacceptable. Still you can’t just blame the company. Its got a decent record and its website shows exactly the times i have used it. Well im really shocked to be faced with this. But then shock is no reason to be irrational. Oh no…

I know a lot of people using broadband out there in India face the same problems. It essentially arises because its a new concept that has come in and taken us all by storm by its sheer power and addictive nature. When people here go out and get a broadband connection here they don’t know what a 1GB per month usage equates to in actual use. Its one of the old tricks by the companies. Tell the people about something they don’t know. They end up thinking its something sophisticated not realizing its nothing but a marketing gimmick to fool them. Well i am one of them who knows what it means but still my usage keeps shooting up every month. Yet I don’t think i use more and more. The best option for me is to live with the present and plan for the future.

From next month i guess i gotta keep some stringent measures to check if there is any flaw in BSNL’s billing system. Another option may be because there is a problem with my own PC. So im make my long intended switch to the Opera browser. It actually shows you the amount of data being downloaded in the taskbar which is exactly what I need. But so far as this month goes i’m just hoping i got college every single day. Because simply sitting at home not able to use the Net is something that’s sure to test my nerves.

Billa… Billa… Billa…

Before i start it off i gotta say im neither an Ajith fan nor a Vijay fan! Infact the only actor who comes close to making me a fan is Will Smith so i guess you can get a fair idea of who’s writing this blog. I could say in one word that the movie is crap but it isn’t. It was let’s say “an ok one.” It was certainly better than the recent films Ajith has dished out(Jana, Attagasam, Paramasivam and the lot) But the one thing which struck me once i saw the film was that just like Vijay in ATM he has missed out a great opportunity. An opportunity to make a real mark. Unfortunately the new Billa is no more or less than the original. Infact its exactly the same dish served in a different plate.

Ajith looks good in the movie. He really looks damn stylish and makes good use of his looks too. Some of his scenes as Billa were awesome just for the visual impact and style it had on the viewers. But it’s maybe the fault of the director that these are not properly integrated into a flowing storyline. The introduction of the “innocent Ajith” (Velu) is predictable as it is taken from the old Billa. But it’s a fact that Rajni’s acting was exemplary in differentiating the two roles he played in that film. But the second Ajith’s intro and the song lacks such vibrance and character. When i watched i felt it was Billa who was dancing. His movements were as usual slow and not in tune with the folk music. And he could have changed his voice a little to suit the role better.

The film takes a predictable course after that as the old Billa including some scenes where the director Vishnu Vardhan misses many opportunities to make his creative dent on the film. Nayantara is absolutely eye blowing and u can probably watch the entire film just for her! Awesome acting + glamour. She’s really on her way to the top. ( A vivid description of those scenes may be indecent for the blog but are certainly allowed in comments!) Namitha just floats around the film doing nothing much except highlight Nayan.

With almost all the characters taking on the exact roles(and even names) of those who acted in Rajni’s Billa there’s not much suspense in the film and it turns to be predictable ending. If there’s one thing that the film has done it is to showcase the earlier Billa in an improved version for the new generation. But certainly it could have been done with a bit of creativity and twist thrown into the script.

HIGH and LOWS

*** the best scene of the film is probably when Namitha dies. Ajith(Velu) after accidentally shooting her is nearly caught out by Bill’a gang-mates but brilliantly retrieves the situation by striking an awesome Billa pose. Classic.

*** After Nayantara vouches to bring Billa back from police custody all by herself she does absolutely nothing in the ensuing shoot-out in the road except making a sexy walk up a car. Tomb Raider style! Appealing but not effective

*** The scene where Billa meets DSP Prabhu in a bathroom. Ajith really shows signs of acting the Velu character to perfection but he could have done it in a few more scenes as well