Why I ditched Firefox and chose Chrome!

I used to love Firefox. I loved the browser’s innovative features. I was even a member of the Spread Firefox community and promoted usage of Firefox among my friends and family. But over the last one year the browser has changed from good to bad. It has changed from one of the most loved browsers to being one of the most hated ones, next only to the universally hated IE.

Whenever I used Firefox, it didn’t take more than 15-20 minutes for the CPU usage to peak, eventually hanging the browser, making me reload the page again. Believe me, with painfully slow internet connections its an awful experience. Gradually the browser began to consume more and more memory and became slower and slower. About a year ago I didn’t have much of a choice other than venting out my feelings, because Chrome was at its infant stages and I surely didn’t want to return to IE.

After a few months, Chrome came along as a light, super-fast and powerful browser with all its extensions and features. The choice was simple. Here are some reasons why I chose Chrome-

Startup time – Chrome is much much faster wrt to the startup time. While it takes about 7-8 seconds on Firefox, its just a fraction of the time on Chrome. Its blazing fast.

Each Tab is a different Process – Some sites contain a lot of JavaScript, CSS and AJAX. In Firefox, when such sites open, it freezes all the other tabs. For a user like me who has lots of tabs open simulatneously it could be really troublesome. Chrome resolves this making making each tab run as a separate process.  This ensures that one tab doesn’t hang the others. Chrome even has its own Task Manager which you can access by Shift+Esc. Also see some stats by typing about:memory on the Omnibox.

Clean and Simple with the Omnibox – The Address bar at the top often called as the Omnibox doubles up as a search box. This conserves much real estate and makes the browser look cooler and convenient.

No Status Bar – Until Chrome, I had been used to the status bar. But just by it not being present in Chrome I realized that it was just an useless addition which I never really needed. This too conserves much real estate.

Application shortcuts – Google Chrome enables me to create shortcuts for most of my frequently used web applications. This too helped me in conserving precious loading time.

I have been using Firefox for so long that I won’t hate it. My loyalties might have changed but I still have feelings and the desire to use Firefox. I would love to see some overhauls and expect the browser to bounce back. I’d be willing to shift to Firefox if they are able to attract me with powerful features.

PS : I’ve just started using Firefox 4 beta 3. I’m yet to reach my conclusion of the latest version. Hoping that it turns out to be good.

Gravatars for you

Gravatars are Avatars which you can use on your blogs, on other blogs where you comment and anywhere on the internet. Having an image associated with your mail ID enables you to easily use it in other blogs and websites without having to upload one on each of them.

Why am I telling you this?

This is because it gives you a complete blogging experience. Whenever you comment on other blogs you are given a plain image or a random image as an avatar. Instead, wouldn’t you like to have your image or an image of your choice follow wherever you post and comment? When I see comments on my blog posts I see a rather boring gravatar logo adjacent to the user’s name. I often wish that it’d be more interesting to have all my friends own an avatar for themselves and hence this post is an attempt in making them do so.

Just check out a small screen shot. Notice how having a gravatar gives that extra something to your comments.

The Change

Its hard to imagine that barely ten years ago we didn’t have any Wikipedia, Facebook, YouTube,  iPhone or even a phone for that matter. Much of the decade has been shaped by the internet and the next decade too will see the same sort of enormous change.

It was in 2001 when we got our first phone. A landline phone connection for which we had to wait for weeks. Within the next few years we have had a much greater number of mobile phones. Computers and other gadgets have become essential. Times are changing. And we got keep up with the speed at which everything is happening.

What people generally consider is that change will occur at the same pace it happened. Technology changes exponentially. There is a great pace at which everything grows now and what happened in the first decade of the millenium might happen in just a few years.

The rate of adopting new ideas is doubling each day. Both biology and technology are similar. They are both evolutionary processes.  They create a capability and use that capability to bring on the next stage. With better interaction and communication this growth is bound to accelerate.

It was barely a few years ago when I first sent an e-mail. Now mail, instant messages etc are a part of life. A few days ago I made a list of the trends which I’d like to see in the year 2010. These are impending changes. Even if they don’t occur in 2010, they eventually will…

Tech Trends I’d like to see in 2010

There are quite a few things which I’d like to see happening in the year 2010, when it comes to gadgets, computers and the Internet. A few of these can also seem as if I’m expecting too much. But at the pace everything is happening, I’d say nothing is impossible.

• E-Commerce – Internet can thrive if its users are able to make money out of it. Facilities similar to Google’s Adsense and Adwords will become more prominent.
• mCommerce – Mobile Payment avenues like Airtel’s mChek Reliance’s mPay are already present and I guess in 2010 these will become more effective and useful.
• Online Retail – This is one feature which is yet to create a buzz in India. But I guess 2010 has a lot in store for online retail. Currently sites like flipkart.com are available in India for purchase of books.
• Videos and Internet TV – There’ll be a huge rise in videos created and circulated throughout the internet. Movies, TV Programmes and Soundtracks made specially for Internet audiences will be in vogue.
• Social Network and APIs – 2009 saw a huge rise in social network users and applications centered around these networks. Apps made for mobile devices will see a steep rise with smartphones combined with their App Stores.
• Real-Time Communication and Collaboration -Google Wave and Twitter are already reducing the time barrier which used to exist. With more apps and features available in the future, real-time communication and collaboration would become more easier and relevant.
• Smartbooks – A device falling between smartphones and netbooks. To be sold through mobile operators, these will be of huge use to all users. Emergence of Smartbooks might even kill the entire netbooks category.
• Mobile Operator Wars – Once Mobile Number Portability is available in India it’ll create huge price wars between mobile operators thereby benefiting users.
• Storage – Wider usage of Flash Drives and other solid state drives would be seen. Availability of these storage devices at an affordable level would probably mean the death of existing rotating drives like CDs and DVDs.

Update : One more feature I’ve always wanted. I hope this becomes feasible in 2010.

• Status Updates to the Caller on mobile phones – Whenever someone calls me, they either hear the boring ring or some song as a caller tune. Instead I’d like some feature through which I can tell my status to my callers.

Firefox

Firefox is one of the most popular web browsers, commonly used by computer users in the world. I guess it needs no introduction. Firefox is the best ever browser that I’ve used till now. I’ve been using firefox ever since I actively started using the internet.

Why Firefox is so great..?

Best thing about Firefox is that it is open source. So there are thousands of people modifying the source code to create their own features, add-ons, plug-ins and themes. Firefox has indeed become a common phenomenon. This is because internet browsing has become more personalized. This is possible firefox allows you to install plug-ins and add-ons. Moreover it has been present in the market for a long period now and thanks to that there are a lot of features specifically designed for firefox which aren’t available in other browsers like Chrome.

Firefox is considered to be one of the safest browsers and are recommended by many IT experts. A sophisticated phishing security has been included in Firefox 3. If you don’t want any malware to enter into your PC, then using Firefox is a great choice.

It is the best option available among the web browsers available today. Click here to Download.

Early Hours in I-Lab

As you can probably figure it out from the title of the post – I’m currently(6am to 7am) sitting in an almost deserted I lab (that is how we call our Internet Lab in NITT) except for a few enthusiastic first years getting up early in the morning. I’m not one of those students who get up early and come here. I belong to the other elite category. “We people don’t sleep in the night.”
(Tonight {or maybe early today morning} we were playing DotA in Lab 1. Time went on. Game after game.)

Why is the I lab so deserted in the morning?

It is around 7am now. Students here( or maybe anywhere) generally don’t get up before 8am or 9am. And people getting up is most unlikely if it happens to be a Sunday.

** For those who don’t know – Our Internet lab is open from morning 6am to 00hrs. Earlier it used to be 24hrs but they reduced the time because they felt that we were wasting time on the net. (.. !!! ((It does happen.. We ‘Gamers of NITT’ used to come here at 1am or 2am to play here coz the computers here are a bit more faster than the ones in the other labs..:-))

Who comes here so early in the morning?

• People as jobless as me.
• People who download huge files. Usually these people start the download when they leave the lab. They just switch off the monitor and then they return in the morning to take the downloaded files. It is actually a very good idea especially if you need to download some important things overnight.
• A few first year students who have to go to the hostel early in the night due to the curfew imposed on them. They come early to compensate for the time lost. Jobless guys.. …
• Guys who want good internet speed. The speed is exceptionally high when the lab is almost empty. Photos, videos and most webpages open in a second. That is not so when the lab is fully occupied.

Anyway it was needless for me to observe the I Lab in the early hours of a day and write a pretty unnecessary post like this.!! Anyway it is a good time pass. In I Lab people won’t feel bored with such a reasonably good speed and a wonderful freedom.

What I do Online.? – 2

This post is the continuation of What I do Online…?? (Part 1)

• When I started to read and write blogs.

After getting really bored of Orkut, I almost stopped using the net until I reached college. Here again I started adding more friends to my ever increasing ‘Orkut Friend List’. Then I started reading ‘blogs‘. I started of reading blogs with the blog of my college senior Allagappan. Then I got the GREAT idea of starting my own blog. I started to post on 30th May 2007 and then random scribblings continued. As any amateur blogger would try – I wanted people to read my blog. I would join various blogging Communities in Orkut and give my blog link over there and wait for people to comment. I rarely get comments even now. ( So people reading this do leave a comment about the posts)

• Present

At present I spend 95% of my time online in reading blogs of various persons. As said in one of my previous posts – I randomly go to various people’s blogs and read their posts. It consumes most of the time you spend online. Nowadays I do nothing other than this and occasionally checking Orkut for any rarely coming scraps.(Yes!! Orkut is nowadays very boring since people have started spamming others’ scrapbooks with SEND TO ALL forwards which used to come only in messages). Many of my fellow NITTians have started blogging and a few more experienced bloggers have started the site called NITTians.com and are regularly contributing to it.

• Future

Hmmm…. I have started preparing for the future of my blog. I’m going to make my blog posts appear on my blog more frequently. Yes..! I’ll try my best to post more regularly. I have a really long list of things to be done online. I will try to publicize my blog wherever I can. I do have some crazy ideas to do that (really crazy ideas – which I found while reading another fellow’s blog).

What I do Online..? – 1

This question was put up before me by Balki when that guy and me used to have our usual conversations. I thought about it and thought of posting on that. I would like to tell that by dividing the time into various categories.

• When I started coming ONLINE

I was introduced to this wonderful( this depends on one’s perspective) world of Internet when I was in 7th Std in Kendriya Vidyalaya Ashok Nagar. The people who did this were Sify I way guys. They told us how to use the net and what stuff we can do with it. They gave us a Half -an-Hour Internet for “FREE” (now you know why I came online).

I used to visit various websites like Yahoo! Google Sify.com rediffmail.com and various other sites. All I used to do was create Mail IDs wherever i could and then forget either the password or the user id itself.

• When I got net in my house

This probably occurred when I was in 9th or 10th. This was when I started considering Internet as a good time pass. I started using Yahoo! Messenger and started disturbing other people’s lives(as they say even a single moment can alter your life). By other people i mean various kinds of people.
- A few known persons
- Many Strangers with true identities
- Many Strangers with false identities.

• When I joined Orkut.

This occurred when I was in 11th. I was invited to Orkut by my classmate Valliappan. At that time I didn’t know much about the site. So rarely visited it. By the end of the year when I was jobless I again logged on to Orkut just to check what has happened in the interval. I had received numerous scraps and friend requests mostly from friends and a few from strangers and quite a few from spammers. I started replying to scraps and then scraps came flying back the next instant. Thats when I started chatting in Orkut.

Then I started joining Communities. These are crappy places you need not visit at all – They are just used to show that you are interested in that. For example if I join C/C++ programmers it doesn’t really mean that I’m posting there. It just means that I know that. Of course there are people who join communities for nothing at all and also there exist people in this world who create meaningless communities. There are other communities where you can join to show that you are a fan of someone/something. Like I’m a member of AR Rahman, Chennai rulezz, Sivaji, Rajnikanth etc,etc..

Whenever I became jobless I used to post in threads as meaningless as this. People are always there to reply to the posts(24*7). Orkut was the greatest time pass. You have loads of friends who stay online and scrap you all the time. I’m grateful to Orkut that i found many of my old Delhi School friends with whom I never had any contact for many years. I also found many new people through this site.