Category: Technology

Need Help with Firefox Safe Mode

When I click the start button on my Windows XP machine the Firefox icon (from which I can start Firefox) always seems to open Firefox in safe mode. Wonder why. Any idea how to fix this?

I use a shortcut on y desktop to start Firefox in Normal mode. This works just fine. I’d like to be able to start it in normal mode from the Windows XP start button. Any help or pointers will be much appreciated.

VoIP: Taking the Plunge!

Internet phone services have been around for a while now. But taking the plunge to make the change from conventional phone service to Internet based phone was not an easy one. The biggest concern was the reliability of the Internet connect. What happens if the Internet connect goes down? The mobile phone is certainly an option if this happens.

There are several excellent features offered by Internet phone services, but the most valuable one is easily the ability to keep your number unchanged even if you change your address (in my case, this was the clincher). Voice mail messages delivered via email is feature that we have found to be very useful as well among other features.

On the downside there are 911 call issues. In other words, the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) doesn’t automatically know your details when you make a 911 call unlike a conventional phone line. Depending on your physical address this might not be an issue for some Internet phone service providers because of the Enhanced 911 (E911) services.

Vonage is a well known provider of Internet phone service. They had a recent IPO. Packet8 is another option. However, I chose Lingo since they offer unlimited calling to Western Europe in addition to US and Canada. With Skype offering free calls in the US, these services are soon going to get a run for their money.

Ballmer Interview

Check out Steve Ballmer’s interview in the Mercury News (reg required). I liked his response to this question in particular…

Q A bunch of companies are offering Web-based applications that could replace Windows. How do you decide which applications to rewrite for the Web?

A The question is, which ones can the user benefit from if they’re rewritten? We did the first real Web application. It’s called Outlook Web Access, which was the first Ajax application. Why? Because there are systems that don’t have Outlook on them. That one made sense. Word, it’s not as clear. You give up something when you move to Ajax, vs. a rich client-user interface. So we’ll run through, and see where it makes sense.

There are so many Web 2.0 companies out there doing so many cool things without even a semblance of a reliable business model. The above response is a clear indication that MS is actively look at these cool new ways of doing things. I suspect MS will strike when the time is right, and destroy a bunch of these startups in one sweep unless of course a new Google is born out of one of them!

Browster is cool, sometimes

Check out this plug that saves you more than a few clicks. I find this most helpful when I search. You get a bunch of results on the search page and you can just point to each of the search results and a window pops up automatically when you just point to any of the links. The window goes away when you move the cursor away from the link. Its kind of a virtual window but you can still click for links inside this window to see other pages.

It is a nice feature, but can be annoying at times when it opens when you don’t actually want it to. (This works for any links on any page and not only for search results pages). Once you get used to it, its hard to live without it.

Yahoo Mail (beta) is Really Cool!

The Yahoo Mail (beta) is huge improvement over the current Yahoo mail. The design is pleasing. Its easy to use. Has some cool features like drop and drag, tabbed email view etc. If you are a user of Outlook Express the transition will be completely painless.

Interestingly enough it didn’t work in the new IE 7.0 beta 🙂

Btw, you have to request access for Yahoo Mail beta and wait for a few months before you get access to it (at least that was my experience).

Bollywood embraces hi-tech

If you have been watching Bollywood films over the years you might have observed the rapid advances in the overall quality of film making. While the conventional song and dance is very much in vogue, the various aspects of film making like photography, lighting, special effects etc have improved by leaps and bounds (e.g., Black, Yuva (most Mani Ratnam films). I guess this trend is going to continue. Check out this report about some technology adoption by Bollywood studios.

Gmail ok?

I have had intermittent problems with Gmail today. When sending a message I get the “sending…” sign at the top right followed by “oops….try again later”. In general, it also appears to be very slow today. I don’t think its anything at my end because all other sites work just fine.