FireFox 3 Beta: Oh The Memory Usage

I love FireFox!!!

It is by far the best browser available, at least in my humble opinion. With the extensions that are available for you to install, you can tweak it to do everything that you need.

Of course the guys at Mozilla didn't want to stop there, as they've released FireFox 3 beta, and they've added some pretty cool features and tweaks. But as you know with a beta comes the bugs, and some memory usage has come front and center. Will they have this worked out by release date? I sure hope so. But if you want to check it out, and don't mind a little performance issues, go give it a test run and let us know how it went.

Firefox 3 Beta 1 web browser [Firefox via Crunchgear]

Something New: Questions and Answer Free For All

Hi folks,

It is my intention to try a new thing: Ask folks here at Cowbell and those who read us on the web questions; and have answers come in as comments. Please don't worry about having the exact "right" answer; the purpose of this is to build up a camaraderie within our readers and us here at Cowbell.

I will start. What is every-one's favorite browser (regardless of platform) and the extensions you think are the best? Also explain why please.

In search of audio standards

I work in an office environment that is quieter than the last library I was in. I was really peeved when audio started coming from my computer from a mouseover function. I didn't click on anything. I was just trying to get to the scrollbar. But, by mousing over an image that was placed between my cursor and the scrollbar, the audio/video experience started unfolding beyond my immediate control. RUDE! That ranks right up there with auto-starting video when I didn't ask for it. I'm not sure what web site this was because it was faster to just close the session, but if I find it again, I'll be sure to pass it along.

Yes, my volume was partly up because (paradoxically) I need to do some training via computer media, so I leave the volume at a really low level. There are no jacks for connecting headphones to the computer. Yeah, so it's an antique.

While I'm at it, if typing in all upper case MEANS THAT YOU ARE SHOUTING on the Internet, then why is it okay when webmasters leave the volume controls on their audio widgets set to Maximum by default and it is not considered rude?

Do webmasters assume we are all hard of hearing? Or that we're all wearing headphones? Or are they still basement-dwellers and it doesn't matter to them where the volume is set? Or have they all copied and pasted the same code?

There are plenty of transmission standards via IEEE (IEEE.org). It doesn't seem to ensure anything about volume. They're obsessed with packets, codecs, and the like. Nor can I find any etiquette about how to leave the volume defaults on widgets.

I've been sampling youtube.com and other sites just to compare the audio settings lately - in either Internet Exploder or Firefox. There is no rhyme or reason. Many sites leave the audio all the way up, and I think that's just stupid.

It just seems to me that if there are five bars on the audio thingy, that the third bar ought to be x level of output through the operating system, which should drive your speakers at 50% (assuming your control panel settings are in the middle). Is that too tough? And couldn't the software companies be coerced, cajoled, or paid off to comply? Hmmm? I like such things to be predictable. Maybe it is too much to ask?

So. For the blast I let out at the office inadvertently, I apologized. It was some annoying ad - a preview of a movie clip where I couldn't set the audio before it started, and it of course was set to the max.

Thanks, Mr Anonymous webmaster. But I'm not deaf. Now turn it down! And get off my lawn while you're at it.

Safari For Windows Tops 1 Million Downloads In 48 Hours

Despite its problems, more than 1 million people downloaded the Safari Web browser for Windows in the first 48 hours of its availability. Apple claims that the browser is the fastest in the whole wide world, but I’ve read a few reports online that suggest otherwise.

And it seems to run slower than Firefox on my system; that’s all I care about.

So congrats to Apple on this milestone. There’s still some ground to make up in its competition with Firefox and Internet Explorer and some Windows users appear to be militantly anti-Apple (I'm glad I'm not in that company!!!), but it's a good start nonetheless.

Read the press release here. [Apple]