Firefox 4.0 | Screenshots / Pictures of the future from mozilla

Brandon Davenport Jul 28, 2009 Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Us Applications, Design, News

The Firefox Screenshots: Tabs on Top or Bottom?

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These images, all of Firefox in the Windows OS, reveal that the company is struggling to choose between two primary designs: tabs-on-bottom and tabs-on-top. Tabs on bottom is the current norm in Firefox, while the tabs-on-top looks almost exactly like the Google Chrome browser. Here is the tabs-on-bottom version (click for full-sized versions):

And here’s the tabs-on-top design:

In addition, Mozilla summarizes the pros and cons of the two designs very succinctly:

Positives:
- Save Vertical Space
- Efficiency/Remove Visual Complexity – Right now the tabs have to be connected to something. So we are adding an extra visual element for them to connect to.
- Shorter Mouse Distance to Page Controls

Negatives:
- Breaks Consistency/Familiarity – Moving things confuses existing users.
- Title is MIA – With the space removed from the titlebar you only get the truncated version in the tab.
- Longer Mouse Distance to Tabs – Takes longer to mouse to a tab.
- Lost Space – Sandwiched in between the application icon and the window widgets you lose some space.

While we won’t go into detail on the debate, we will say this: if Mozilla can offer the ability to choose between the two designs, it should. Some users need to get to the menu items faster, while others prefer having the tabs in closer proximity.

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New Firefox 4.0 Feature: Combo Stop/Refresh/Go Button

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Firefox 4.0 incorporates all of the design changes featured in Firefox 3.7 and includes a few new features. The big one isa Combo Stop/Refresh/Go Button.

Instead of separate buttons for each of these functions, they’re all integrated into one button on the right hand side of the address bar.It also changes colors based on your actions. So if you’re typing, it will be a green “Go” button, but if the page is currently loading, a red “Stop” button will take its place. Not a bad way to save space, if we do say so ourselves. Here’s a screenshot of the new feature in action:

Remember, this is all proposed, and feedback from the Firefox community shapes the browser into its final form. And you bet it’s going to get more great features, as it’s going to be some time until we can browse the web with this thing.

the Best twitter application for your windows vista / 7 pc | Blu

Brandon Davenport Jul 27, 2009 Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Us Applications, Design

We all know how much you love twitter. The constant thought of keeping in touch with all 400 of your friends on facebook and communicating with them in some odd way, sort of, is really starting to get old. We all like twitter because you can reach all of those 400 people (or more) with 140 characters or less.

But simplicity can leave you wanting more, maybe even make you want to go back to facebook. Not everyone can stay satisfied with 140 characters all the time. Thats why there is the need for something more, something blu.

Say hello to blu

There have been a lot of attempts at a great Twitter desktop client, but most have have resulted in glorified readers or overly complex applications—not a great experience.

Meet blu. Now you can experience Twitter in a whole new way.

If you have Windows Vista or Win7, just install all your updates and hit 'download now'.

Unlimited tweets

Withbluyou can view unlimited tweets. Just keep scrolling and more tweets will be loaded and displayed automatically.

New tweets and inline replies

Click the update icon from the bottom menu and a new text entry field will appear.

Tweets can only be a fixed number of characters per message. blu displays how many characters you have left using large numbers behind your tweet so you know when you're about to run out of space.

And replying to a tweet couldn't be easier: just click the reply icon and the tweet you're replying to will flip, revealing a entry field. Direct messages and re-tweets work the same way.

See the full conversation

Here's another great feature in blu. You get a tweet, but it's a reply to something you said earlier and you can't quite remember what it was you said.

Usually, there isn't a good way to see the first part of your conversation, but with blu, simply click on the arrow before the username and voila! Your tweet will flip in-place revealing the first part of your conversation.

Tiny url integration

That's right. We've added tiny url support. Simply type or paste a link into the update bubble and blu will convert it for you. No extra buttons, no extra box.

Want to expand your link? Just click the 'plus' icon and blu will roll-back to the full url.

Choose your favorites

We know you follow a lot of people, but perhaps you follow some individuals a little more enthusiastically than others. blu hears you!

Once you've defined your favorite tweeters with 'Faves', you'll be notified whenever your favorite people tweet.

the Best Netbooks for running Mac OS X | Chart

Brandon Davenport Jul 26, 2009 Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Us Apple, Hacks

Also

Mac OS X 10.5.7: Better for Hackintoshed Netbooks?

Although Apple doesn't have any clear Netbook plans on the horizon, that hasn't exactly stopped anyone from getting their own Apple Netbook the hacky way. Hackintoshes, i.e. PCs with Mac software loaded on them, hadn't truly started stealing the spotlight until the Netbook phenomenon. For as little as $300 and a copy ofLeopard,you too could have the sort of ultraportablethat Jobs and Co.would only sneer at.

The downside, besides no official hardware support from Apple, has been battery life, an area where OS X hasn't exactly been Netbook-friendly.

That is, until now.

Early reports from MSI forumsclaim boosts from 3 hours 45 minutes to 5 hours 5 minutes on a six-cell MSI Wind after upgrading to 10.5.7, which just became available Wednesday. The update doesn't claim battery life improvements as a feature,according to Apple's official documentation. If battery life improvements were true, one imagines they would be advertised.

On the other hand, maybe these improvements only show up on Atom processors. Others around the Web areplanning to do their own testingto see if any Apple magic has been bestowed on their little Mac Mobile mutants.

We haven't tried it here yet, but have any of you found Hackintosh advantages? That is, if you have a Hackintosh. Let us know below.