16 Feb 2005
I recently installed a few more firefox plugins on my ubuntu laptop (running Firefox 1.0)
Current list:
Add Bookmark Here
Gmail Notifier
Google Pagerank Status
Bookmarks Synchronizer
Gcache
ColorZilla
ForecastFox
FoxyTunes
Foxylicious
I have the first 5 running for a long time and the add bookmark here and bookmarks synchronizer are two plugins I couldn’t live without.
ColorZilla looks to be pretty cool and allows the usually to easily use a color picker to chose colors from a web page. ForecastFox just embeds weather fo
recasts in the status bar of firefox. I usually have something similar running in my system tray but the firefox one looks to have additional functionalit
y. I haven’t really played with FoxyTunes, hopefully it plays nice with xmms. Foxylicious allows me to integrate my del.icio.us bookmarks into Firefox.
I’ve been using the service for awhile (mind you I’ve been slack with my tagging) and its definately nice to include this stuff in Firefox. This later ext
ension may actually replace my bookmarks synchronizer as I use del.icio.us for most of my bookmarking nowadays.
11 Feb 2005
Just last week I was faced with the decision of choosing a laptop that I would be travelling with but also be using for development.
I needed something powerful that I could develop on and have no problems running jboss, the database, and eclipse. Eventually decided on a Toshiba A70 tha
t came stock with 1gig of ram and 3.333ghz p4 HT. It’s definately a beast, but a nice one at that. Power consumption is intense but for the most part I’m
hoping to have it running on AC. A tad on the heavy side but I think I’ll be able to manage without too many difficulties.
It’s definately a fast machine, a few notches faster than my regular desktop.
I decided to try out Ubuntu on it and it has been working fairly flawlessly. A kernel update gave me the sound s
upport I required, and wireless worked pretty much out of the box. Haven’t quite figured out the touchpad (it works off and on) but I usually use an exter
nal USB mouse anyways.
I’d recommend the laptop and would also suggest to any of you who want to try out linux give Ubuntu a try. I usually just install the stock Debian distrib
ution and run unstable, but Ubuntu is a nice install with a good gnome setup out of the box.
08 Feb 2005
A couple weeks back I decided that I needed to bite the bullet and pick up a portable MP3 player.
I was initially thinking about cheaping out and going with an iPod shuffle, but the availability is limited in Canada it seems and I’m not sure if I would
be too happy in the long term with a purchase like that.
I also considered an iRiver 20gig player because of a few good recommendations from friends and I had listened/carried it around and figured I could live w
ith its weight.
Requirements were basically something that didn’t weigh quite as much as a brick, had a screen (although I would have let this one slide in the case of the
shuffle), decent battery life, good storage and nice looks.
I ended up going with the Creative Zen Micro and have been quite happy with it. I’m travelling to Boston next week to visit a client and it should hopeful
ly make the trip more bearable if I have some tunes/podcasts to listen to. No real issues getting the thing up and running, I did apply a firmware upgrad
e that supposedly allows me to plug the player into any computer and use it without the Creative software. I haven’t tried that yet but I assume it should
work.
Another niceity about the purchase is that I managed to get the supposedly limited edition which comes with an additional 12hr battery. All in all, I’m q
uite happy with the purchase.
Now to dig up all the podcasts I’ve fallen behind on and get them on the micro before I leave!