Why Don’t People Update Software?
This question applies to personal software more so than IT-supported software.
I understand the complexities involved with taking updates to software that IT is on the hook to support. What I don’t get is why people aren’t more vigilant with their own software, specifically browsers and O/S.
Over the years, updates have become more in-your-face, with good [...]
I Like Shiny Things
I really do love new stuff, especially when it comes to software and has a “developer release” or “alpha” or “beta” tag on it.
I can’t help it. I’ve tried to stay away from buggy releases, but I always come back, if only to feel like I’m playing with the latest, greatest version.
Are you like that?
Anyway, [...]
Browsers Wars on Like Donkey Kong
I saw this post about how to provoke an argument with a geek from Wired on Digg, just as I was formulating this post about the escalating browser wars.
Good timing, since debating which browser is best will undoubtedly start an argument.
Anyway, the release of a developer version of Chrome for the Mac has definitely got [...]
A Bit More on Our IE6 Stance
Rich’s April Fools’ post from last week has generated some discussion around how we (and developers in general) handle support for Internet Explorer 6.
Most of the discussion was between G and me, and then Friend of the ‘Lab John “I used to be the Ontario Emperor” Bredehoft weighed in with his two cents. In [...]
On Browsers
IE6 is like that cold that just won’t go away; you feel well enough to go to work, but it keeps sapping your energy.
To many users, IE6 is the Internet. It came with your computer, and it’s the way you get online. Resisting the urge to put online in quotes. Like many web apps, we’ve [...]
Hear Me Now, Read it Later
I saw this post on RWW about Read It Later several weeks ago. I guess Read It Later has been around for a while; it’s a nifty little Firefox add-on that allows you to mark links to read later. Simple enough. Plus it syncs between multiple browser instances, allowing you to have a consolidated reading [...]
Geolocation: Cool or Creepy?
Location aware services and apps are white hot right now.
Cases in point, two new iPhone apps: Google Earth and Brightkite.
I can’t seem to find any use for Google Earth beyond the obvious eye-candy, cool factor. This has always been my complaint with Google Earth. It’s nice to look at, but not very useful.
The iPhone app [...]
Firefox Still Pwns the Field
Generally, I prefer choice in software. Intertubes browser is no different.
However, in this particular category, I am an unabashed Firefox fanboy. I’ve been using it since 0.8, and it hasn’t let me down yet.
I’ve tried the field, both for personal and professional purposes: Chrome, Opera, Flock, Safari, IE (all versions, 3-8), Netscape/Mosaic, even good old [...]
Thoughts on Chrome
So, I decided to read the Chrome comic book, which was sent out to a select few influencers prior to the launch last week.
I wanted to see what all the fuss is about, and a couple things intrigued me. First, since Chrome is Windows only, it must be pretty good to stay relevant in an [...]
Geeking out with Ubiquity
Big news today was the very-early (0.1!) release of Mozilla Labs’ Ubiquity.
What is it? That’s a really good question. It took me several passes to fix on the awesomesauce that is Ubiquity. I scanned the Techmeme coverage, thinking it was some translation tool, then speed read Scoble’s post on it. Sounded more interesting, but still [...]
OS X, Ubuntu and Other Fun Stuff
Comments have been awfully quiet lately. I’m guilty of talking too much about work-related stuff and not enough about iPhones and Twitter.
My bad. Let’s remedy that.
Rich asked me recently how my move to Ubuntu was going. It’s been almost a month, and he says he has a vested interest in keeping me happy with it. [...]
Back to the Desktop
Taking the web out of the browser has been a common theme lately. As web apps become more a part of everyday productivity, accessing them outside the typical browser is more attractive.
The iPhone has a great example of this in its Maps app. The beauty of taking apps out of the browser is you can [...]
Save the Developers from the Users
TechCrunch posted a plea to Save the Developers last week imploring users to upgrade their Internet Explorer 6 browsers to Internet Explorer 7.
According to W3 Schools, more than 30% of people browsing the Interwebs use IE6, even though it is more than 6 years old. The gist of the plea is that IE6 is old [...]
Search Tools Updated for 11g
Eddie Awad has a post today that some of you will find useful. His Oracle Bookmarklets and search plugins now support the brand new 11g R1 documentation. The Oracle Documentation search plugin I posted also includes 11g R1 now, too.
For those uninitiated, bookmarklets allow you to do some pretty sweet productivity tweaks using Javascript in [...]
More Oracle for Your Browser Search Bar
I promised more Oracle search plugins, and I’m happy to deliver 3 new ones today, Oracle Blogs, Oracle Documentation and Oracle Sites. You can install them here, along with the MetaLink plugin. If you’ve recently started reading, here’s the MetaLink plugin post.
Search Plugins for AppsLab
Now that we’ve been around for a few months and have some posts in the archive, I decided it was time to roll out a search plugin for our blog. If you frequent this space, you’ll know about search engine plugins. If you don’t, here’s a quick primer.
So, I’m happy to announce that the AppsLab [...]
New Tools for Lucky Oracle Users
Yesterday, OTN released the Oracle DBA Toolbar (screenshot) for Firefox and IE. A great little tool for any Oracle DBA. Kudos to Justin and his OTN crew for delivering innovative, useful tools for our customers.
Readers of this space may be sick of hearing about OpenSearch plugins, but like it or not, people find them useful. [...]
Tune Your Browser with Custom Search and Plugins
Lost over the weekend was a del.icio.us link from Rich to PeopleSoft Search. ChiliJoe has put together a sweet combination of a Google Custom Search Engine and OpenSearch plugins to make it easier to find PeopleSoft technical content. Eddie Awad has a custom search engine for his OraNA news aggregregator as well.
A Google Custom [...]
Firefox 2 Certified for E-Business Suite 11i and 12
A timely announcement from our friends at the Oracle E-Business Suite Technology blog today says that Firefox 2 is certified for use with E-Business Suite versions 11.5.9, 11.5.10 and 12. Internet Explorer 7 was already certified for these flavors.
For those EBS readers who have installed my MetaLink search plugin, you can use it to [...]
MetaLink (and More) in Your Browser Search Bar
Do you use the search box in your browser? If you’re not familiar with it, here’s what it looks like in Firefox 2:
And in Internet Explorer 7:
If you don’t use these boxes, you should. They save loads of time. Surprisingly, both use a standard called OpenSearch that allows for quick and [...]
