Firefox 3 was released June 17th, and after getting the memo today I upgraded. There are a few major things I like about this update. For one, being a new Vista user, it has a Vista-native look– it looks like it would be a Vista program, and it even has a big logo now (unlike little ol’ iTunes). Of course, it’ll have the native look of any operating system you may be using.
On top of that, sites are more easy to bookmark now, and simply typing the title of a website you want to go to (that you already frequent) in the address bar will bring up a list of matches from you to choose from. Firefox even lists your most visited sites and most recent bookmarks.
The only possible gripes I could have about this version is the move from the Back and Forward buttons of old to the Internet Explorer 7-esque Back/Forward buttons. Sure, it has the same functionality as always, but I’ve never really been too fond of the way IE7 handles any back/forward navigation with only one drop-down. And, as I found out after some time using Firefox 3, they’ve removed the Go button. I’ve always been proud of the fact that I had a Go button in Firefox 2 when IE7 lacked it because of how easy it is to reload the page when I’d rather not simply refresh it.
But all in all, I’d have to say this is the best Firefox yet, and I’ve only scratched the surface of everything that’s new, and everything that it is, for anyone who’s never used it before. To see what it all really is you’ll have to see for yourself.
Software
reviews
And this is what happens when speech recognition goes wrong.
Though my name is Matt. I am talking to a computer. Wallum! You don’t he could select the suns believe that if you take that long believed that opens the booms and that have been not giving them and then you my top of a myth. Now this came against the team that had given yes. In made in game five of the uniqueness ends. Cheese is good. My E them. But trust and Jesus. I’m playing with myself and my name is actually more than life. Go be more man who either man in a view not have the presence that’s what it said.
Only the second sentence and “cheese is good” actually came out right. That was interesting.
Technology
Random
So I’m talking to my computer to type this whole thing out. This is just about the weirdest thing. Supposedly can control your computer entirely by using this but it’s pretty friggin weird. I mean it’s cool though, because I get to teach it to recognize words like friggin. Takes some getting used to, I suppose. But awesome, nevertheless.
Maybe I’ll use it next time to explain something besides how weird it is talking to no one. Woo Hoo!
Technology
Random
I’ve set up a service that allows you to check that latest content on FlashStuf through text messages. All you have to do is text FLASHSTUF to 41411 and you’ll get a list of the newest content.
I’ve yet to really dig deeper to see all the things I can do with it, but I’m planning on making it a little more in-depth and adding things like polls and other interactive features.
Internet
FlashStuf
While I was starting to set up my server, I had come across a few sites saying that MySQL wouldn’t work with Vista’s User Access Controls turned on. So I decided to skip all the trouble I went through with setting up Apache last time and just turned off the UAC. As they promised, or at least made no claims against, MySQL worked just fine. Well recently I turned UAC back on, and I started running into “permissions” problems when I was altering tables or where the data files had to be renamed.
It turns out that some permissions were removed from the folder that MySQL stores data in. Even having that folder right under the root of my drive (as opposed to the Program Files folder), these permissions were applied to this folder apparently only because of Vista’s UACs. I’ve fixed the problem now by giving USERS full permissions for the whole MySQL folder, while I keeping UAC on.
Technology
server, Vista
It’s plain, and WordPress default, but I think the scheme better fits the title of this site. I can also write more in this now, I’m finding. Lots of time on the hands.
Miscellaneous
blogging
Now that I have a computer again I’ve gotten back to working on my Matt Baer Design CMS package. So, at the same time my focus is moving away from FlashStuf, unfortunately. I can develop it locally now as well (making it a lot easier and to make changes and add features), but it’s becoming less of a priority as it’s been developed enough to run by itself. Besides adding new things, the only thing needed to keep FlashStuf going is new content and new users. So really, that leaves me with taking care of adding any new content submitted manually.
It’s also summer for me. I “officially” finished high school yesterday, and now I’m pretty much left to my own means until college in the fall. And being unemployed since the beginning of last week, well, I’d say I have all the time in the world to do all these things I do. So all in all, even though FlashStuf is moving towards the bottom of the to-do list, I’ll have plenty of time to finish this package up to the status that FlashStuf is, at which point I can move back to what the “viewers” want, and get working on FlashStuf again.
Projects
FlashStuf, Matt Baer Design
Although I went on about how great I think Vista is, it’s been one hell of a pain in the ass for setting up a development server. I took the WAMP (I guess?) approach and started on my Apache-MySQL-PHP set up yesterday, and still haven’t worked out all the kinks. Now I’m no server-genius, but this is the third server on the third computer I’ve tried to set up, and the only one that’s caused me a problem. My journey began like this.
Day 1: Apache and PHP - I started with the standard installations to get the very basics down. I installed Apache on my computer with the oh-so familiar installer. Everything worked great (I got the “It Works!” screen when I went to http://localhost/. Alright, time for the PHP. After finally finding the right download for PHP 4.4.8 (to mimic my online setup), I had PHP 4 with the dll for Apache 2.2 I had to download (done this before). So it was time to hook it all up.
I went to the Apache configuration, as normal. Added a line to include the php module, load index.php, and add the application/x-httpd-php (.php extension) file type. I saved it all up, and then went to my htdocs directory to test it. I created a simple index.php file on my brand-new local server with the line <?php phpinfo(); ?> and let it rip.
Read more…
Internet
server, Vista
So I just received my brand-new laptop yesterday. As a long-time Windows XP user, I’ve never really warmed up to the idea of an, although prettier, different “fancy” new operating system. There weren’t many improvements, in my opinion, that XP needed. Plus with claims of it being so much slower (especially with those claims), I was really hesitant about this new operating system.
Well the laptop I chose is the new Dell Inspiron 1420, and I loaded it with 4 GB of RAM and an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.00GHz processor (most allowable RAM and almost best processor I could get with it). Although I haven’t been able to edit any video or pictures or run 20 programs at once, the thing is fast. I didn’t even have to remove any appearance options or anything and I can run Apache, MySQL, iTunes, Firefox with 8 tabs open, and view my photos all without a hitch. It could just be me and what I’ve heard, but Vista is not nearly as slow as I was lead to believe it was. I’ve officially been converted.
Technology
Vista
The only possible gripes I could have about this version is the move from the Back and Forward buttons of old to the Internet Explorer 7-esque Back/Forward buttons. Sure, it has the same functionality as always, but I’ve never really been too fond of the way IE7 handles any back/forward navigation with only one drop-down. And, as I found out after some time using Firefox 3, they’ve removed the Go button. I’ve always been proud of the fact that I had a Go button in Firefox 2 when IE7 lacked it because of how easy it is to reload the page when I’d rather not simply refresh it.
