CyberNet Classics - CyberNotes

CyberNotes: How to Test your Website in nearly all Browsers

Ryan — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:16:55 -0600

This article was written on December 21, 2006 by CyberNet.

Tutorial Thursday

The biggest hassle with Web development is that different browsers have a tendency to display sites a little differently. Our site is typically verified in the latest two versions of Firefox, Flock, Opera, and Internet Explorer. I have machines that run two versions of each of those browsers, but if you didn’t, notice Safari isn’t on that list. First I’m going to walk you through where I find old versions of all the different browsers (standalone and installable versions) and then I’ll cover a couple websites that do the dirty work for you.

–Firefox–

Firefox is the Web browser that is beginning to capture a large percentage of the market share from Internet Explorer. Developers typically rejoice at this because there are normally far less problems designing websites that work with Firefox than with Internet Explorer. The best part is that it is a piece of cake to get your hands on any version of Firefox, even all the way back to Firefox (Phoenix) 0.1!

Homepage for current version
Install: Firefox 0.1 to the current release
Standalone/Portable: Firefox 2, Firefox 1.5, Firefox 1.0

–Flock–

Flock is a branch off of Firefox and is currently based on Firefox 1.5. Technically speaking if your site works in Firefox 1.5 then it shouldn’t have any problems in Flock, but it is always better to be safe by testing it in Flock as well.

Homepage for current version
Install: Flock 0.4.9 to the current release
Standalone/Portable: Flock 0.7

–Internet Explorer–

The most popular browser used on the Internet is indisputably Internet Explorer, but other alternatives are starting to creep up and take over its’ market share. To make things a little more difficult, Microsoft does not allow more than one instance of IE to be installed at the same time. Therefore you will find the standalone versions below to be extremely useful. Note: Internet Explorer is much more standards compliant than previous versions and coding a website to work with it is much easier, but it isn’t quite as nice as other browsers yet.

Homepage for current version
Standalone: Internet Explorer 3 to Internet Explorer 6
Standalone: Internet Explorer 7

–Opera–

Opera is often referred to as the most standards compliant browser that is available and when they started to offer their desktop browser at no cost, it attracted a lot of new users. At that time, standalone and portable versions started to emerge which makes it even easier for Web developers to test their sites against Opera.

–Safari–

Safari is Apple’s claim-to-fame browser that is based off of Konquerer for Linux. To the surprise of many people this is probably the most standards compliant browser, but Windows users are left out in the dark when it comes to testing a site using it. The Swift browser is supposed to render sites similarly to Safari except you can use it in Windows, but my experience with Swift is that it does not render things the same way as Safari.

Homepage for current version
Standalone/Portable: Safari (costs $0.99)

–Websites–

Alright, so we went through where you can find the most popular browsers so that you can install them, but what if you want to keep your computer clutter free and just want to do a quick check? The most popular website that will do many of the browsers you want is called BrowserShots. They recently trimmed down their selection of browsers eliminating Safari and Internet Explorer editions, but they still offer multiple versions of Dillo, Epiphany, Firebird, Firefox, Flock, Galeon, Konqueror, Mozilla, Navigator, Opera, Phoenix, and SeaMonkey. One thing that always eliminated the usefulness of the site, however, was that the screenshots can take up to 4 hours to be generated based upon how many people are waiting for their own websites to get processed.

Okay… drum roll please! Total Validator is my favorite website because it snaps screenshots of your site within minutes, and if you don’t feel like waiting around you can have it email you the results. Besides for checking screenshots it can also validate your HTML, look for broken links, and a bunch of other stuff, too. Oh yeah, and I almost forgot to mention that the browsers they do have available are also available on multiple operating systems, for example, Firefox 2 can be tested on Windows, Linux, and OS/X! Where else are you going to find a service that is able to do all of these:

Windows XP
- Internet Explorer 7
- Internet Explorer 6
- Internet Explorer 5.5
- Internet Explorer 5
- Internet Explorer 4
- Netscape 6.2
Windows 2000
- Lynx 2.8
- Firefox 2.0
- Firefox 1.5
- Firefox 1.0
- Mozilla 1.7
- Netscape 4.8
- Netscape 3.0
- Opera 9
- Opera 8
- Opera 7
Linux
- Lynx 2.8
- Firefox 2.0
- Firefox 1.5
- Firefox 1.0
- Mozilla 1.7
- Konqueror 3
- Epiphany/Gnome 2
Apple Mac (OS/X)
- Safari 2.0
- Firefox 2.0
- Mozilla 1.7
- Opera 9

I would recommend that you install at least one version of each primary browser mentioned above, and then you can use an online solution to test the rest. From the images you should be able to see if the HTML code is being displayed properly, and whether there were any serious errors by a malfunctioning script that you might be using. If you have a better solution for testing a website in another browser feel free to let us know in the comments below!

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Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary

Ashley — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:01:54 -0600

This article was written on November 18, 2007 by CyberNet.

Sunday’s Summary

What was going on this week at CyberNet News and Learn Firefox? Here’s your chance to catch-up if you missed something!

Monday:Directory of Paint.NET Tutorials
Tuesday:Customize Windows with Pitaschio
Wednesday:Top Tab Extensions for Firefox
Thursday:Custom Deal Finder
Friday:New Computer Viruses – Beware!
Saturday: The World’s Biggest Show & Tell

Quote URL Text – Copies selected text to the clipboard, along with Page Title, Location, and Copy Date.

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CyberNotes: Getting Aero to Work with Vista on Virtual PC or VMware

Ryan — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:55:39 -0600

This article was written on April 19, 2007 by CyberNet.

Tutorial Thursday

I love testing out new software, but I like to use virtual machines to see what the software is like before I go installing it on my actual system. A virtual machine is a virtual computer environment which allows you to run one operating system form within your current operating system. This gives a lot of benefits with the biggest one being that you can run multiple operating systems (both Linux and Windows) on your computer without ever having to restart it. The next big benefit that I mentioned is that you can test out software and other things before installing it on your main system.

Microsoft offers a Virtual PC program that runs only on Windows and supports the installation of many different versions of Windows. This is the best choice for most people because it is easy-to-use and is actually free.

Probably the most popular solution for using virtual machines is VMware Workstation. This supports a very long list of operating systems but costs $189…which is well out of the range for most consumers. However, VMware currently has a Beta program going on to test the next milestone release of their software, and you can obtain a valid serial number at no cost to you without any restrictions! Despite having the “Beta” label, I would say that the software is extremely stable from my experiences, and works very well with Vista as both the host (your main operating system) and guest (the operating system installed on the virtual machine).

One thing that is frustrating about the virtual machines is that the graphical capabilities are normally pretty limited because they have to be shared with your host operating system. This can definitely have an effect on anyone trying to run Vista in a virtual machine because you won’t receive any of the Aero glass effects, even if your computer completely supports it. There is, however, a workaround to get Aero to work.

Note: This does require your virtual machine to have access to your network, and the host machine has to be running Aero for this to work.

Install Vista on a virtual machine and run it. Make sure to enable remote connections on the virtual machine in the Remote Settings located in the Control Panel under System Properties.

Your virtual machine should be running Vista without the Aero glass. You now need to find out the IP address of the virtual machine. To do this open up the Start Menu, type “cmd” without the quotes, and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to run the program as an administrator.
At the prompt type ipconfig and press Enter. You are looking for the IP address in the output which should look something like this:
On your host computer start the Remote Desktop client and expand the Options. On the Experience tab, make sure all of the boxes are checked, and on the Display tab make sure the color is set to 32–bit. Then go back to the General tab and enter in the IP address that you found in the previous step.
Enter in the username/password if prompted and now you will have successfully connected to your virtual machine using remote desktop. The only difference is that the host machine is processing the graphics instead of the virtual machine so you can enable Aero on Vista!

I wish there was some other way to enable Aero in a virtual PC, but this is the only way that I have seen. You’re probably wondering why it would even matter whether Aero was running if I just wanted to quickly test out software? There is a lot of new software being developed that takes advantage of Aero’s capabilities, and if I want to test what it really has to offer, I need to have Aero running.

Eventually a better solution may emerge, but until then I think this is the only workaround that’s available.

Source: MSDN Blog

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CyberNotes: The Best Ultraportable Laptops

Ashley — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:44:29 -0600

This article was written on December 09, 2006 by CyberNet.

When you’re traveling, your bags can be heavy enough before even adding in your laptop. The sizes of laptops have gone from relatively heavy in weight, right on down to the ultraportable laptops we see today that weigh a fraction of what earlier computers weigh. These computers also make traveling a bit easier by making your load a little lighter. Here are some of the best Ultraportable Laptops we’ve come across:

Asus S6F

Price: $ 1.999.00

Alright, while this one may not be exactly affordable, it does have some great features, one of them being its’ looks. How many laptops have you seen come with a leather lid? This one has a textured, chocolate-brown lid. The Asus S6F comes with a core duo processor, and has a good battery life of around 4 hours and 51 minutes.. It fits into the “ultraportable” category by measuring 10.7 inches (wide), 7.5 inches (deep), and 1.5 inches (thick). To top it off, it only weighs 3.4 pounds. There are certainly ultraportables that weigh less than that, but 3.4 pounds is a comfortable laptop to carry around. The screen is 11.1 inches (wide screen), and has a resolution of 1366×768.

Of course because it is ultra portable, it does have a compact keyboard that might throw you the first time that you go to type. It’s also missing some of the ports that you might be accustomed to using. On CNET, it received a rating of 7.9 out of 10 which is very good.

Sony VAIO VGN-TXN15P/W

Price: $2199.99

Again, not the most affordable option, but it’s portable! If portable is what you’re looking for, checkout the Sony VAIO VGN-TXN 15 p/W. One thing that’s really cool about this computer is that it has built-in cellular and Bluetooth! One major difference between the VAIO and the Asus S6F is that it’s a Core Solo processor (versus the Core Duo). Battery life is amazing and estimated at 10 hours! It’s also quit a bit lighter than the ASUS S6F and weighs in at 2.8 pounds. The sizes of bot the Sony and the Asus are relatively similar with the VAIO measuring 10.7 x 7.6 x 0.8 to 1.2 inches thick.

Again, it’s portable which means it has a compact keyboard. It even has room for some media player launch keys like play and pause. The screen measures 11.1 inches and has a resolution of 1,366 x 768. Some of the extras– it has two USB ports, FireWire, VGA, headphone jack, and microphone jack. CNET rates it an excellent score of 8.0 out of 10. I think there’s no doubt that the 10 hours of battery life is able to wheel in a lot of buyers who are looking for an Ultraportable.

Lenovo ThinkPad X60s

Price: $2172.00

Last on the list is another not so affordable option, but one that has a great rating. CNET gives the Lenovo ThinkPad an excellent score of 8.4 out of 10. It is the lightest in weight of the computers we’ve talked about, weighing it at a mere 2.7 pounds. Being both light and thin is what gives this computer a lot of attention. It has a CoreDuo processor, and measures around 10.5 x 8.3 x 0.8 inches and has a 12.1 inch display. It does have a compact keyboard, but keys are comfortable to use. Another main difference between the Lenovo and the Sony VAIO is that is has lots of ports you might use. Other features you might be intrigued with are the fingerprint reader, and a nice long battery life.

While the options that we have mentioned aren’t extremely affordable, they do have a lot of great features. If you’re looking for something that’s more affordable, checkout the Averatec 1000 Series of 10.6″ windscreen portable notebooks. Prices range from just over $1000.00 to around $1300.00. It weighs only 3.6 pounds and is a good alternative is you’re wanting an ultraportable computer!

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CyberNotes: Changing Icons for Windows Vista

Ashley — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:40:25 -0600

This article was written on April 16, 2007 by CyberNet.

Microsoft Monday

Icons are all around us and play a big part in the user interface of an operating system because they help make your experience more convenient. Because of Icons, you’re easily able to identify the recycling bin, folders, and other elements.

The icons that come with Vista are definitely better than previous versions of Windows. The person in charge of creating Vista icons (Robert Stein III) has a Flickr account set up with some of his work. There you’ll find some of the icons used in Vista, and some that didn’t make the cut.

Not everybody likes the manila folder icons that come standard with Windows Vista. Fortunately, there are several different ways that you can go about changing these icons, or you can also create icons of your own.

Changing your desktop/folder icons:

The quickest way to change your desktop icons is by using the option that Vista has built in. It can be done in a few simple steps.

Right click on your desktop and select “personalize”
In the left side of the window, you’ll see “change desktop icons” – click.
From there you can change the icons for the desktop icons by selecting the one you want to change and then clicking “change icon.”

You can either select from the icons they have available, or you can browse to select an icon you may have downloaded from the Internet.

Changing any folders icon is also a simple process. All you have to do is right click on it and select “properties”. Then click on “customize” and at the bottom of that window you’ll see the option to “Change Icon.”

Above are some of the icons that you’re able to select from.

Icon Sources on the Web

While Vista offers several different options, some of them are still pretty plain and boring. Another great source for icons is a website called Vistaicons.com. They have different “packs” of icons that are available for free downloads. Most of the packs contain 15 different icons, and also contain five different sizes of icons from 16×16 to 48×48.

Below are some of the examples of the different icon packs that you can get.

Create your own!

While there are plenty of “free” options for changing your icons, there are also options that will cost you money, but you’ll be able to create and edit your own icons and cursors versus downloading pre-made icons.

One such application is Microangelo Toolset 6 – “The Grand Daddy of Icon Software.” You can make icons for Windows 2000, Windows XP, and of course Windows Vista.

Cost: $49.94

Another option is called Axialis IconWorkshop 6.0 which allows you to do the same thing- create, edit, and convert icons of your own. One of the major differences is that it will work with Mac OS X as well.

Cost: Corporate – $69.95
Personal – $39.95

Freeware alternatives?
I know how much everybody loves freeware, what’s not to like about it? Has anybody come across some great freeware alternatives that will allow you to create your own icons? If so, please share in the comments below.

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CyberNotes: “Owed to a Spelling Checker”

Ashley — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 17:19:00 -0600

This article was written on June 01, 2007 by CyberNet.

Last week I wrote about “What was Life Like Before the Computer” where a poem pointed out that before the computer, an application was used for employment, you pasted things with glue, and a virus was the flu. Times have surely changed because those words, along with many others have totally different meanings today.

It got me thinking about spell-checker and how much I, like many others, rely on it on a regular basis to keep written material free from spelling errors. What did I do without it? It’s evolved a lot since it was first introduced, and now we have more than just a way to check for spelling mistakes, we can also check for grammar mistakes. More recently with Microsoft Office 2007, there’s also the contextual spell checker that ensures that the theirs and there’s along with the to and too’s, and all of the other homophones are used appropriately. (Image source)

As a Firefox user, I was ecstatic when spell-check was included with Firefox 2.0 because that meant that when I left comments on blogs and social network sites, I’d know if there were any errors. Without a spell-checker, I’d spend a decent amount of time everyday correcting my spelling errors. In other words, it saves me A LOT of time.

With that said, I thought this poem was very fitting. I received it as a forwarded email a long time ago as I’m sure many of you have, but I managed to track down the original author. It was written by Jerrold H. Zar who I thought would have been an English professor, or a linguistics specialist. I was wrong, he’s a Biologist. Just reading through it once is enough to make anybody appreciate the spell-checkers that are readily available today in browsers, applications, and elsewhere.

CANDIDATE FOR A PULLET SURPRISE by Jerrold H. Zar
(Otherwise known as “Owed to a Spelling Checker”)

I have a spelling checker.
It came with my PC.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot sea.

Eye ran this poem threw it.
Your sure real glad two no.
Its very polished in its weigh,
My checker tolled me sew.

A checker is a blessing.
It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
It helps me right awl stiles two reed,
And aides me when aye rime.

Each frays comes posed up on my screen
Eye trussed too bee a joule.
The checker pours o’er every word
To cheque sum spelling rule.

Bee fore a veiling checkers
Hour spelling mite decline,
And if we’re laks oar have a laps,
We wood bee maid too wine.

Butt now bee cause my spelling
Is checked with such grate flare,
There are know faults with in my cite,
Of nun eye am a wear.

Now spelling does not phase me,
It does knot bring a tier.
My pay purrs awl due glad den
With wrapped words fare as hear.

To rite with care is quite a feet
Of witch won should be proud,
And wee mussed dew the best wee can,
Sew flaws are knot aloud.

Sow ewe can sea why aye dew prays
Such soft wear four pea seas,
And why eye brake in two averse
Buy righting want too please.

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CyberNotes: How To Create A Great Email Signature

Ryan — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 17:16:20 -0600

This article was written on December 07, 2006 by CyberNet.

Tutorial Thursday

Emails are no doubt the primary means of communication for many people. It lets people interact with each other at their own pace which particularly comes in handy when the correspondent is located halfway around the world in the opposite timezone. However, with all of the emails that I see, one thing that I don’t see often is a nice signature.

–Online Generators–

For starters, there are a lot of signature generators out there for people who use Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, and AOL. I particularly like this site which generated the three different logos to choose from that you see to the right. By using a signature like that it will really make people remember you and your email address. It is also particularly useful for anyone posting in forums or commenting on websites because the spam bot would not be able to recognize the email address.

–Feedburner’s Headline Animator–

I highly recommend that you use Feedburner’s Headline Animator if you have a website and use them to manage your RSS feed. I have been using it for several months and receive comments and questions all the time regarding it. Feedburner has two different default themes available if you decide not to create your own. I prefer the “Email” theme because it has a solid white background and looks more formal than the other one.

After you decide on all of the options that you want, Feedburner will generate an image that you can use wherever you please. I recently created a custom design that I use in forums and in emails. Here is a live version of what my headline animator is like:

Note: If you decide to customize your Feedburner Headline Animator then as you can see in my version I removed the “title” so that it doesn’t show up. They don’t have a checkbox for which items you want to appear and which ones you don’t so if you don’t want it to show up just set the width to “0″.

–Plaxo–

Hey, great signatures aren’t just for people with websites. I think some of these web-based email services, like Gmail, should include helpful tools for people to create signatures. In fact, Gmail doesn’t even let you create a Rich Text signature and makes you suffer with plain text. I’ll get into some instructions later on which will explain inserting signatures into different programs.

Plaxo is a whole contact management site and their toolbar for Outlook/Outlook Express will let you create custom signatures that look nice. Here is an example of one that they created:

As you can see it looks pretty nice and a long time ago I used Plaxo. It was a useful service but I got lazy and never managed to keep it up-to-date so I stopped using it. If you’re looking to create a nice signature as fast as possible then you might find Plaxo to be a good solution.

–Word Processor–

Lastly, you can make your own that looks nice just by using a word processor. It just takes some knowledge of tables and then look through some emails that you have received from people who have signatures that you like. Here are the two most common layouts that I see on a daily basis in some form or another (download the DOC file here):

Those are hardly anything special and took me just a few minutes to create each one. For the first one, I did a search in Google Images and restricted it to displaying only “Small Images” which prevented me from having to resize it. Doing your own custom image in a signature may not be the best thing because many people have images disabled by default when receiving new mail. That means most people will only see a blank spot there until they approve you to show images. Not only that but if you using a Web-based email system you’ll have to find someone to host the image…so I recommend sticking to a purely text signature like the second option. The second option also has a nice place for quotes underneath and we all know how many people love to include their favorite quotes!

–Using The Signatures–

To setup a signature it is best if you use an email client like Thunderbird, Outlook Express, or Outlook. Of those three programs Outlook is the only one that doesn’t require you to have an HTML file if you want to use a Rich Text signature. To get the file that you need from the word processor just save the file as an HTML file format (images are not recommended for those people doing this). This option can be found when your doing a Save As:

Now we know that Microsoft Word doesn’t generate the prettiest HTML code in the world but the viewable result for the second signature looks good. After you have the HTML file ready you can add it by following these directions:

Add a signature in Thunderbird
Add a signature in Outlook Express
OR
Add a signature in Outlook (no HTML file needed)

Web-based email services are a little different and Gmail is especially a pain. Here are some tutorials on HTML signatures in some of the more popular services:

Add a signature in Hotmail
Add a signature in Yahoo
Add a signature in Gmail (kinda works, but you should just use Gmail with Thunderbird or Outlook Express and follow the instructions listed above for the respective application).
UPDATE: Firefox users can use this to insert HTML signatures in Gmail

–Summary–

That’s about all of the knowledge that I have about creating signatures. If you know of any great sites to create a professional looking signature I would sure love to hear about it. I looked all over and I couldn’t find anything that would create a signature that was as nice as the Plaxo one.

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CyberNotes: Gmail & Google Calendar In Opera Without Masking

Ryan — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:04:19 -0600

This article was written on November 29, 2006 by CyberNet.

Web Browser Wednesday

A few weeks ago I made a post about Google services that don’t work properly in Opera. I was happy, yet surprised, to see that Opera Watch had linked to the article in a post that they made which sparked me to do some searching around to see what Google problems I might be able to make Opera-compatible. I am far from being a JavaScript programmer so my main goal was simply to get around the browser compatibility checks.

One of the main things that most Opera users always try when a site doesn’t work properly is to mask the site. By doing that it will force the Opera to identify itself as another browser, like Internet Explorer or Mozilla. It isn’t always the most effective thing but it works fine a majority of the time.

Over the summer I wrote a quick article that showed how you could use masking to get Google Talk to display in Gmail. It wasn’t anything extravagant but it got the job done. There is actually a way that you can prevent Gmail from trying to identify which browser you are using. All you have to do is visit http://mail.google.com/gmail?nocheckbrowser and Opera users will get all of the features that you would have in Firefox and Internet Explorer. There might be some incompatibilities but from what I can tell the Google Talk almost works perfectly in Gmail when using Opera. Just change your bookmark to use that URL and you’ll be all set.

Okay, that wasn’t anything too special because it is just a URL. Unfortunately Google didn’t put that in every service that they offer so to get around the prompt in Google Calendar it took a little more work. What’s the end result? Google Calendar will load completely without ever displaying the annoying prompt that Opera users have suffered with for a long time:

It is time to stop that popup using a bit of our own JavaScript that I whipped up. It took me a few hours to write this up…okay okay, it really only took a few seconds after I looked at the Google Calendar source code but a little exaggeration never hurt anyone.

Here are the steps you need to take to eliminate the prompt in Google Calendar:

Find a folder that you can place a JavaScript file in and try to make it a place that won’t get deleted, otherwise you’ll have to do this again. Also, you should try to make sure that there aren’t any unintentional JavaScript files located in that folder otherwise Opera may get confused. By that I mean that there shouldn’t be any other files in that directory with the extension .js and have nothing to do with your Opera installation.
Right-click on this JavaScript file and save it to that directory from Step 1.
Go to Tools > Preferences > Advanced > Content > JavaScript options and into the User JavaScript files box enter in or browse for the directory from Step 1.
That’s it, pull up the Google Calendar homepage and the prompt will be suppressed.

There is really only one line of code in the file that does anything. Basically it stops all JavaScript confirmation windows from appearing on the Google Calendar site only, which is essentially the same as pressing the Cancel button. What about deleting an event from the calendar then? That isn’t a JavaScript confirmation prompt so it will be displayed just like it is in other browsers.

So far I have been able to confirm that everything works in Google Calendar except for the Settings screen. For some reason I can’t adjust any of the settings in Opera but as long as you get everything configured in another browser you can switch to Opera and it should all work okay. This is somehow a result of using my script but I don’t see how blocking confirmation dialogs affects this. Everything appears to render okay on the main screen though:

These surely aren’t a solution to the compatibility problems but they are a workaround that should please most people. The best part about both of these tweaks is that they don’t involve any sort of masking so websites are not going to throw any IE or Mozilla specific code at Opera that it can’t handle. Of course using Google Calendar in Opera via masking wasn’t really an option because it would render terribly. I do hope to see more of Google’s services becoming Opera-compatible in the future so that these fixes won’t even be necessary.

P.S. If someone knows how to block the specific dialog box using the JavaScript please let me know and I will update the code on this site. Thanks!

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CyberNotes: If Operating Systems Were…

Ashley — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:45:22 -0600

This article was written on March 23, 2007 by CyberNet.

Funny Friday

What would happen if different airlines had different operating systems running them? Maybe something like this…

Dos – Everybody pushes it till it glides, then jumps on and lets it coast till it skids, then jumps off, pushes, jumps back on, etc.

Mac – All the flight attendants, captains and baggage handlers look the same, act the same and talk the same. Every time you ask a question, you are told you don’t need to know, don’t want to know and everything will be done for you without your knowing, so just shut up.

Windows – Colorful airport terminal, friendly flight attendants, easy access to a plane, and an uneventful takeoff. Then, all in a sudden, boom! You blow up without any warning whatsoever.

Unix – Everyone brings one piece of the plane. Then they go on the runway and piece it together, all the while arguing about what kind of plane they’re building.

Source: All Computer Humor

Similar question, but a different scenario: What if operating systems were beer? Hmm…
PS: Check out the “liquid cooled” computer to the right

Dos – Requires you to use your own can opener, and requires you to read the directions carefully before opening the can. Originally only came in an 8-oz. can, but now comes in a 16-oz. can. However, the can is divided into 8 compartments of 2 oz. each, which have to be accessed separately. Soon to be discontinued, although a lot of people are going to keep drinking it after it’s no longer available.

Mac – At first, came only a 16-oz. can, but now comes in a 32-oz. can. Considered by many to be a “light” beer. All the cans look identical. When you take one from the fridge, it opens itself. The ingredients list is not on the can. If you call to ask about the ingredients, you are told that “you don’t need to know.” A notice on the side reminds you to drag your empties to the trashcan.

Windows 98 – Millions sampled Windows95 beer and noticed that it was often flat, right out of the can. The manufacturer of Windows95 beer decided to re-release it as Windows98 beer and guarantee it’s freshness. Most consumers are skeptical of the manufacturer’s claims, and will continue to drink flat Windows95 beer because they have acquired the taste for it.

Windows 2000 – The manufacturer of the Windows line of beers says this will be “the” beer, if they can just finish playing with the ingredients. This beer will have many ingredients of Windows 95/98 and NT beers. Many drinkers in the future will be forced to drink this when they get thirsty since they won’t be able to find Windows 95 or 98 or NT beer on the shelves. According to manufacturer it’s combines the greatest taste ever with almost no calories. Only one problem, the cans explode without warning and take out half the refrigerator with them.

Linux – LINUX beer tastes just like Unix beer. Like Unix beer, Linux beer is intended for expert beer drinkers only. It originally had no pop tops or cans because you had to brew it yourself. First you would get a recipe and some yeast from a Unix guru. Then go plow a field, plant your barley and hops. After harvest you would take your Kernels and put them into a barrel full of water, then you just add your yeast close the lid, and let your beer compile. After all this you have what experts claim to be one of the Worlds Best Beers. Linux beers do not normally explode but many brewers have been known to. Linux beer is now available from some Micro Brewery in handy pop top versions for easy drinking by beginner Unix or Linux beer drinkers. Keep your can openers handy.

Source: TOBP Humor

Another similar question – which operating system would you want running your brain?

Windows – You think about one of any number of things at anyone time but only for a short amount of time because then your mind goes blank as you encounter a “general protection fault” and as a last resort you have to re-boot your brain.

Dos – You only think of one thing at one time, and can’t remember anything else you were meant to be thinking about. You think only in words and never any pictures.

Unix – Wow – you can think of lots of things all at once until your brain runs out of sockets. You can only talk though with people who have brains made by the same vendor. Unfortunately you also never make any sense and have to read manuals to learn how to think. Predominantly a random thinker.

Linux – You can think of any number of things and not run out of sockets. Unfortunately, there is no support for your particular limbs, ears, mouth or …. thingy…. available yet so you are reluctant to change over at this stage.

Source: Laugh.com

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CyberNotes: Firefox Profile Backup Solutions

Ryan — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:35:32 -0600

This article was written on January 02, 2008 by CyberNet.

Web Browser Wednesday

There’s no doubt that your browser stores a lot of important information that could leave you in quite a bind should it disappear all of a sudden. The Firefox users out there probably have a bunch of extensions installed and configured, settings tweaked just the way they like them, obscure passwords stored that no human could possibly memorize, and enough bookmarks saved to make even a hardcore geek nauseous.

I don’t find much joy in the fact that a hard drive can crash at anytime for any number of reasons. We’ve had it happen twice this year, but fortunately for us we had backups of all our most important information. You shouldn’t even think twice about backing up your browser’s profile, and that’s why today we’re going to show you two easy and free Firefox profile backup solutions!

–MozBackup (Homepage)–

This is a small program that you can download, and on the website you’re given the choice between an installable version or a no-install ZIP version. I opted for the ZIP version because I can always keep it on my USB drive, which conveniently happens to be the place where I store my Firefox profile backup.

MozBackup is not restricted just to Firefox profiles either. It can also backup profiles for Thunderbird, Seamonkey, Mozilla Suite, and Netscape. Don’t worry, you’ll be prompted early on in MozBackup to select specifically what application and profile you want to backup.

You’ll then be able to pick exactly what you want to backup, such as bookmarks, history, extensions, passwords, cookies, and more. I’ve documented the entire process in screenshots:

(Click to Enlarge)

Once you’ve got the backup done it will create a single file that can be used to restore everything that you backed up. To perform a restoration just go back through the wizard, and on the second screen just choose the Restore a profile option instead of Backup a profile.

Tip: Close Firefox before using MozBackup, otherwise it will prompt you to do so in the middle of the wizard.

–FEBE (Homepage)–

I find this to be a rather interesting profile backup option for Firefox. FEBE (short for Firefox Environment Backup Extension) is an extension that can be used to backup important parts of your profile. Things like themes, extensions, bookmarks, preferences, cookies, passwords and more can all be saved to a single file, and restored at a moments notice.

What really makes this a fantastic choice for backing up your Firefox profile is that it has scheduling capabilities. You can choose to have your profile automatically backed up daily, weekly, monthly, or you can just set it to remind you every few days.

The first thing you’ll want to do after installing FEBE is go and setup the directory where your backups will be stored. Then from the Tools -> FEBE menu you can initiate your first backup of whatever profile items you chose in the options.

(Click to Enlarge)

As you can see this is an extremely intuitive option for backing up your Firefox profile, but MozBackup is also nice since it works with several different Mozilla applications. The choice of which backup solution is obviously up to you, but take them seriously because they could save you a lot of trouble in the future.

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CyberNotes: A Visual Tour of Windows 1.01 – Vista

Ashley — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:13:12 -0600

This article was written on February 18, 2008 by CyberNet.

Microsoft Monday

Over the course of the years as Microsoft has launched new versions of Windows, there have been three things (among many, really) that have consistently changed: the start-up screen, the calculator, and the program manager/Start menu. Thanks to a site I recently came across called Guidebook Gallery, I was able to get screenshots of all three from most versions of Windows starting at 1.01. Today’s CyberNotes will be a visual tour – just click on the first image to get started and then use your arrow key to scroll through all of the photos. All I can say is that I’m glad Microsoft decided to add a start menu and change the calculator along the way because I’d hate to be looking at the one they started with in Windows 1.01, in Vista!

Windows 1.01

Windows 2.03

Windows 3.0

Windows 3.1

Windows NT 3.51 Workstation

Windows 95

Windows NT 4.0

Windows NT Server

Windows 98

Windows 2000

Windows 2000 Server

Windows ME

Windows XP

Windows Server 2003

Windows Vista

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CyberNotes: 10 Great Firefox Extensions For Tabbed Browsing

Ryan — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:34:49 -0600

This article was written on August 16, 2006 by CyberNet.

Web Browser Wednesday

Last week we covered 10 Firefox extensions that would keep your information private and make your browsing experience as safe as possible. Going beyond the security we need to also think about what cool (and sometimes productive) extensions we can install that will make Firefox even better. Let’s target tab browsing this time…

–Tab Mix Plus (Download Page/Homepage)–
If you use Firefox, I’m sure you have heard of Tab Mix Plus. When I setup computers for people this is always one extension that I install for them just so that they can harness the real power of Firefox. I mean really, those buttons that you see all over the place that say “Download Firefox with Google Toolbar” should really read “Download Firefox with Google Toolbar and Tab Mix Plus.” Nah, scratch that, it should just be included with Firefox.

I think that this extension actually has more options within itself than the actual Firefox preferences has. You’ll find everything to tweak the session restore functionality all the way to customizing the context menu of the tabs.

If you decided to venture off and test out Firefox 2 Beta 1 then you should use the developer version of Tab Mix Plus to ensure proper compatibility. You can also check out my Firefox 2 Beta 1 tweaking guide for a how-to on customizing the built-in features.

Getting overwhelmed and don’t know what all of the options do? Go ahead and open this PDF which explains every option in the extension.

–Firefox Showcase (Download Page/Homepage)–
This extension pretty much had its concept taken from the upcoming Internet Explorer 7…except this takes it even further. The interface looks so simple that you would think it lacks in features but that is very deceiving.

For starters you can Ctrl or Shift click on any of the thumbnails to select multiple “tabs.” Then you can perform tasks such as Close Selected, Close Other Tabs, Duplicate in New Window, and Merge In New Window.

It also has its own Find feature that is activated the same way that it is normally used: Ctrl+F. The difference is that the Firefox Showcase Find feature will search all of your thumbnails for the text including the URL and title of the sites.

–IE Tab (Download Page/Homepage)–
IE Tab brings the Website compatibility of Internet Explorer into Firefox. At the press of a button you can switch from a page being rendered by Firefox to it being rendered by Internet Explorer.

You can also permanently set a site to open using IE Tab which makes it extremely easy to do your Windows Updates. The newest version that is available now supports the use of your Internet Explorer passwords which has been a requested feature for a long time.

–Tab Sidebar (Download Page/Homepage)–
Okay, the first time I saw Tab Sidebar I just had to try it. If you have looked at the screenshot closely, you can already see how cool this is. This is a replacement to your tab bar and it will actually hide the tab bar when you make the sidebar visible.

Yes, those are fully functional navigation buttons on the bottom of each thumbnail. If you choose to you can even drag the “tabs” around to reorder them.

You don’t have to worry about those thumbnails not refreshing either. They will automatically update themselves each time you visit a new page. Heck, they will even update when you refresh the page!

–Page Title Eraser (Download Page/Homepage)–
This extension is for when you’re at work with people looking over your should you don’t want to have them see what tabs you have open. Page Title Eraser cures that problem by giving you the option to hide the title and icon on any tab. If you have multiple sites open there is an option available that will let you hide all the titles on all of your open tabs.

–Tab Preview (Download Page)–
The concept of having a preview of a tab has become one of Opera 9’s nicest features. This extension for Firefox will give you a little more control over the appearance versus Opera.

You get to choose the size of the preview box that is displayed. Maybe you want it to be 50% as wide as the browser’s window is or, if you are like me, you just want it to be as wide as your tabs are. The choice is yours.

–Colorful Tabs (Download Page/Homepage)–
Colorful Tabs is nice because it makes finding certain tabs a little easier. When I have a bunch of tabs open it will sometimes start to look like one large tab with a horrid number of icons. I can find the site I am looking for 10 times quicker if I use this extension in conjunction with the Tab Preview one that I just mentioned.

–Ctrl Tab Preview (Download Page/Homepage)–
Are you an Alt-Tab addict? This is the Alt-Tab option except for Firefox. Yep, you can shuffle through all your open tabs and see small previews by simply using the Ctrl-Tab keyboard combination.

Without this extension Ctrl-Tab will go through all of your tabs showing you the most recently open ones first. I have written an article on these type of extensions before if you want to see other alternatives.

–PageStyle2Tab (Download Page/Homepage)–
This extension and Colorful Tabs have some similarities. The goal of Colorful Tabs is to make each tab stand out so that you can easily recognize different sites. Well, PageStyle2Tab actually makes it easier in my opinion. The color of the tab will match the style of the current page you are viewing. I am sure there are several sites that you visit that have a unique theme to them. Using this extension means you would be able to identify those sites even quicker.

If you really want to take it to the extreme, you can have the site’s style go beyond just the tab and on to your toolbars. That is a bit much for me but you may really like the themes of the sites you visit.

–Viamatic Tabnail (Download Page/Homepage)–
Everyone loves to use thumbnails in extensions they create. The downside to Viamatic Tabnail is the fact that you must use up a large portion of your screen space. Actually, the size of the thumbnail is up to you which means the amount of space the extension uses is at your disposal.

It is also pretty cool because the thumbnail will show the Website in real-time as the page loads. Wouldn’t that be something if they could just make those tiny links clickable. It might not be practical but it would still be cool.

–Overview–
So those are the extensions that I either currently use or I have used in the past. They all serve one purpose or another but some of them actually help me to be more productive, such as the Firefox Showcase extension. Let us know what other extension make your tab browsing experience better!

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CyberNotes: Import QIF Files into Quicken 2008

Ryan — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:59:59 -0600

This article was written on November 01, 2007 by CyberNet.

Tutorial Thursday

I was recently approached by a friend who had just installed Quicken 2008 onto his computer, and previously he had kept his transactions in a complex Microsoft Excel spreadsheet much like myself. He thought that the import process would be a piece of cake, but that didn’t turn out to be the case since Intuit, the parent company behind Quicken, decided to start phasing out Quicken Interchange Format (QIF) file support a few years ago.

The decision came about because QIF was seen to have many inefficiencies that the new format, Open Financial Exchange (OFX), is able to conquer. Intuit wanted to make it extremely difficult to import QIF files into Quicken 2008 (as well as 2005, 2006, and 2007) so that banks and credit card companies would start using the new format. This has angered many people because some banks only provide their data in the QIF format.

But wait, why do I even care about QIF if I’m trying to import data from Excel, which doesn’t have the ability to save a QIF. Actually there is a nifty little add-on for Excel called XL2QIF that will convert your spreadsheet to a QIF file using the data that you specify. In just a few seconds I had the Excel data converted into the needed format.

TIP: All QIF files can be edited and examined in any text editor, such as Notepad or WordPad. This is important because we’ll be doing some manual editing in a minute, but don’t be intimidated because it is pretty straightforward.

Here are the steps you need to take to import QIF files into Quicken 2008:

Open Quicken and create an account for the data that you want to import. You don’t have to create another account if you already have one made.
Now go to File -> Export -> QIF File, and select the account that you want to deal with from the Quicken Account to Export from. This should be the account that you created/used in Step 1. It’s crucial that you check the Account List box.
Now open the QIF file from Step 2 in a text editor, such as Notepad. Copy all of the text up to the line that specifies the date for the first transaction (highlighted in yellow below). The data we want should look something like this:
!Option:AutoSwitch
!Account
NCyberNet Credit Card
TCCard
L0.00
^
!Clear:AutoSwitch
!Account
NCyberNet Credit Card
TCCard
^
!Type:CCard

Now open the QIF file that you want to import. Paste the text that you just copied, and replace all of the data up to the date on the first transaction. The entire process should look something like this:

(Click to Enlarge)

Wondering why you just did that? The data that you just copied is used by Quicken to identify which account the transactions belong to. The original file was missing that critical information, and without it Quicken will have no idea where to put the transactions. In older versions of Quicken it would let you select which account to apply the transactions to, but that doesn’t work anymore. Needless to say it’s an important part of the process if you want to import a QIF file into Quicken.
In Quicken go to File -> Import -> QIF File. Browse for the file location on your computer, select All Accounts as the account to import into, and make sure the Account List box is checked. Then hit the Next button!
(Click to Enlarge)
Now all that you have to do is accept the transactions that you just imported from the QIF:
(Click to Enlarge)

It may seem like a long process, but once you understand how it works you can probably import a QIF file into Quicken in under 30 seconds. Just save the account information that you copied in Step 3 if you regularly download QIF files from your bank. By saving that information you will never have to go through the export process in Step 2.

Believe it or not it took me upwards of two hours to figure out that this trick would work. I tried dozens of different techniques mentioned around the web, and then I finally figured that if Quicken can still export the data as a QIF that it should also be able to import it. Turns out that I was right.

Whether you’re trying to import Microsoft Money data or import an Excel spreadsheet this trick should be just what you’re looking for!

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CyberNotes: Fast, Easy, & Fun Photo Editing

Ryan — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:48:37 -0600

This article was written on June 10, 2008 by CyberNet.

Time Saving Tuesday

Windows only
When it comes to photo editors there is definitely no shortage of them available. It’s almost a guarantee that a Windows user can find a freeware application that will do all the things they want, and more. Some prime examples are Paint.NET, PhotoFilter, and the feature-rich Photoscape. Today we’ve got another one that we would like to add to our favorites: Photo! Editor.

What makes this application so special? Aside from being freeware it offers a lot of features that are often too complex for casual users, and presents them in a way that most people will understand. You can do all of the common tasks such as rotate images and remove red eye, but there are also several features you won’t find in most standard image editing applications.

Once you get the program fired up you should see something like this:

(Click to Enlarge)

–Click…Done!–

Photo! Editor doesn’t want to confuse you with settings that you won’t understand, and for that reason it has several auto-correct features that take only a single click. This includes removing the red eye, enhancing the colors, and removing noise (despeckling). You’ll find all of these options located on the main toolbar.

For those of you that want a little more control over the settings you can click the arrow located next to each of those buttons. Then you will be able to configure the details for each of those settings, and tweak them until you’re little heart is content. Each time you try to manually configure a setting it will provide “instant help” along the right side of the screen. That way you won’t have any troubles trying to figure out how a feature works.

I do want to say that the feature for removing the noise actually works well. Below is a portion of a photo that I took several years ago with a 1MP camera, and because of the lighting there was some significant noise. Take a close look at the left portion (unedited), and then look at the right half (with denoise applied). The program significantly improved the photo by smoothing everything out.

(Click to Enlarge)

–Make Up (Remove Blemishes)–

How many times have you wanted to touchup a photo before, but thought it was too much work? This photo editor has what’s commonly referred to as a healing brush, and it can remove blemishes from just about anything with very little effort on your behalf. To demonstrate this feature I snagged a photo of a car that had some rust on it, and gave myself 30 seconds to try and improve it using the healing brush in the program. Here are the before and after shots:

It’s obviously not perfect, but you also have to consider how large the areas were that I was trying to fix. In most cases the healing brush will be used to repair tiny blemishes on faces, and so this example is a little bit overkill. Oh, and there is even a special healing brush it includes that can be used to whiten teeth in a photo.

–Straighten Images–

Imagine that you just snapped an awesome photo of the sunset, but realized when you got home that you didn’t have the camera level with the horizon. What program would you use to rotate the image so that the horizon is beautifully level? Can’t think of one? Well, you can use Photo! Editor now.

In this app all it takes to straighten a photo is drawing a line that goes along the horizon. It will then take that information and straighten the image accordingly.

(Click to Enlarge)

–Caricature (Have Some Fun!!)–

I found this image of an adorable dog, and I just couldn’t hold myself back from using it with the Caricature feature. How this works is you open a photo with the Caricature setting, and then start warping it. Here’s what my initial screen looked like:

(Click to Enlarge)

I played with the photo for less than a minute, and all I used was a simple click and drag technique. After I was done I think it’s safe to say that the dog looked a little more interesting than it did before:

(Click to Enlarge)

I think this is actually my favorite feature of the entire application, and the best part is that it’s so easy to use. Go ahead, open up some photos of your friends and go to town! You know you want to.

P.S. You are 100% liable for any relationships destroyed with friends and family due to embarrassing photos created using this feature.

–Overview–

If you do decide to give this app a try I’m sure you will see why it’s so great. It’s very straightforward, and has all kinds of features I haven’t found in traditional photo editing applications before. Let us know what you think, and be sure to post links in the comments to some of the caricatures you make.

Get Photo! Editor
Thanks to Radu for the tip!

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CyberNotes: Wii Locators and our Wii Review

Ryan — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:44:14 -0600

This article was written on August 14, 2007 by CyberNet.

Time Saving Tuesday

It’s been about a week and a half since we became the proud owners of a Nintendo Wii. There was a lot that factored into the decision of us purchasing a Wii, and before you go thinking that we are Nintendo fanboys I’ll let you know that we own the original Playstation and the original Xbox. This is actually the first Nintendo product that I’ve owned since the original Gameboy, so I would hardly say that we are diehard Nintendo fans.

The big deciding factors in choosing the Wii was the low initial cost, exciting multi-player games geared for everyone in the family, and the games run about $10 cheaper than the Xbox 360 and PS3. Of course the graphics on the Wii are no match for the Xbox or PS3, but we were looking more for overall enjoyment rather than how real things look.

There are a lot of reviews out there regarding the Wii, and I don’t want this article to be like all of the others. So I’ll start off by telling you how we were able to get a Wii, and then I’ll point out some cool things that the system can do.

–Wii Locators and Trackers–

The journey to finding a Wii was a hectic one. It started by calling some stores in our surrounding area, all of which gave a prompt response of “we’re sold out” indicating that they receive these calls quite frequently. One store in particular even said that they hadn’t seen the Wii’s in over two-months, which gave me little hope that we were going to find one.

I started to check some stores online, but most of the ones I came across were all sold out. I then turned to some tracking services which monitor several different online stores to see if they have any of the Wii’s in stock. I found two of them that I really liked, and they even have RSS feeds available so that you can be notified quickly of places with the Wii in stock:

Each of those sites have logs available at the bottom of the pages, and looking at them reveals that most of the stores frequently post the console as both a standalone or as a bundle. The only thing is that they typically sell extremely fast so you have to be on top of your game (no pun intended).

So how did we end up getting one? Well, we had found and subscribed to the trackers listed above but that’s not how we got ours. A little later we decided to call some stores that were farther from us, but in a much larger city. A Best Buy store (which is an electronics reseller) happened to have 5 in stock that they had just received. We rushed down there and got one of the last two that they had. So if you want one really bad, it might pay to call around first.

–The Console–

The console itself is among the smallest that I’ve ever seen, although the PSOne was pretty darn small. For comparison sake I would say the Wii is about the size of three DVD movie cases stacked on top of eachother. Its small size made it extremely easy for us to stick into a tight spot that we otherwise wouldn’t use.

Here are some things you might like to know about the Wii console:

It has a built-in wireless card with no protruding antenna. This makes it easy to connect the Wii to your router, and it was no trouble entering in a WEP key.
The Wii cannot play DVD’s, but there is supposed to be a version available later this year that can do this.
When there is a firmware update for the console, the DVD slot will notify you with a blue glowing effect. It sounds weird, I know, and when I saw this happen last week I didn’t know what was going on. You can kind of see this happening in the photo to the right.
You can view and send photos to your friends by using an SD memory card (view instructional video)

–The Remote and Nunchuk–

The Remote is obviously the shining point of the Nintendo Wii. It’s what lets people interact with the video games almost in the same way as a virtual reality system. The fact that you can turn the remote on the side to make it feel like a classic Nintendo controller is pure genious.

This is one of the coolest things about the remotes. You can actually use them to turn the system on, or to turn it off. If you turn off your remote it will not only turn the system off, but it will also turn off everyone else’s remotes!
While playing a game you can use the Home button (located in the middle of the Remote) to reset the system. No more getting out of your seat to do that!
There is actually a speaker located immediately below the Home button. Some of the games use this speaker to really make you feel like you’re in the game. For example, while playing tennis it will make a “swoosh” sound as your racquet glides through the air.
The four small square lights on the bottom of the Remote indicate which player you are, with player one being the leftmost light and player 4 being the rightmost light.
The nunchuk is a nice addition for some games, but from our experiences so far, you could easily get by without it. One Nunchuk comes with the system, but if you’re a little short on cash don’t worry about getting another one.

–Games–

The Wii came with a game called Wii Sports, which is not only a good demonstration of how to use the remote, but is also an adventure to play. We wanted to have two Remotes for our system since Ashley and myself were both planning on playing it, so we purchased the Wii Play & Wii Remote bundle (pictured to the right) that was offered for $10 more than what a standalone remote costs. Below I’ve outlined the list of minigames that are included with Wii Sports and Wii Play along with what we think about each one.

Wii Sports (Nunchuk only used in Bowling):

Tennis – I think that this is the best game in Wii Sports. It is extremely easy to play since you don’t need to worry about moving yourself around the court…all you focus on is swinging the racquet. Be careful though, once you get going your arm will get sore.
Baseball – This isn’t bad, but you have no control over fielding the ball. We don’t play this one very much.
Golf – I like this because it is a little more subdued than the others. You have a lot of control over your swing, but it makes me a little better than I am in real life.
Bowling – This is a lot more realistic than I originally anticipated it to be. You can spin the ball, angle your throw, and change the speed all with the Remote. Since players take turns it is a great one to play with a group of people when you don’t have a Remote for each person.
Boxing – You’ll need the Nunchuk for this one, and believe me when I say it is quite a workout. You have to try and dodge punches while throwing some at your opponent. Make sure you focus because there is no time for laughing in this one.

Wii Play (Nunchuks aren’t required for any of the games, but they can be used in the Tanks game):

Table Tennis – I find this one a bit difficult to play because the distance the ball travels is so short.
Laser Hockey – Definitely one of the best games on Wii Play. I find it similar to playing air hockey, but it’s got a slight twist to it that really makes it unique.
Fishing – Nothing like areal fishing, but something younger kids might enjoy.
Find Mii – Basically “Where’s Waldo” on the Wii. You’ll try to find two characters with the same face, among other things. It sounds easy, but sometimes it can be pretty tough.
Pose Mii – You rotate characters so that they match the pose in a falling bubble. Yep, it’s as stupid as it sounds.
Shooting Range – This is like the classic Duck Hunt game on the original Nintendo. Except now you have targets, cans, and flying saucers to shoot in addition to the birds.
Billiards – Nothing like a quick game of 9-ball. Definitely the most realistic of the 9 games on Wii Play, but it does take some getting used to having such a small stick to hold in your hands.
Charge! – You ride a rushing cow as it races down the tracks knocking over scarecrows. It’s not that exciting, but it’s definitely not the worst one.
Tanks! – You move around different levels trying to kill the enemy before the enemy kills you. It can be a bit frustrating because if you die you have to start over from the first level, and so it’s hard to complete all of the missions. Supposedly there are 20 missions for you to complete, but once you complete them and receive the gold medal there will be 80 more. I haven’t gotten very far in this yet, but it is actually fun.

Some people have said that Wii Play is a horrible game, but I don’t have anything to complain about since it only costs an extra $10 with the Remote bundle that I purchased. I would say that it is worth it for the Laser Hockey, Shooting Range, Billiards, and Tanks! games but the others you probably won’t play much.

We also picked up Mario Party 8, and have played that a limited number of times. I definitely haven’t tried it enough to give a full review since this is the first time I’ve ever played any version of Mario Party. Many of the minigames it includes are very unique and well thought out, and so far it has been an exciting game.

–Overview–

So if you’re looking to get a Wii I would say that it is a great time, especially if you get a small group of people together to play it. Just make sure you use the strap that’s attached to the Remote, because injuries and accidents do happen.

Let us know of any great Wii games you come across…especially the multiplayer ones!

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CyberNotes: Share a Firefox Profile Between Ubuntu and Windows

Ryan — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:31:12 -0600

This article was written on October 24, 2007 by CyberNet.

Web Browser Wednesday

One of the new things in Ubuntu 7.10 is the ability to read and write to NTFS formatted drives, which is great for Windows XP and Vista users. What that means is that you can create a Firefox profile in Windows and set it up so that Ubuntu uses the exact same profile.

Why would that be nice to have? Any bookmarks, extensions, and options you configure in Windows will be used in Ubuntu as well. You won’t have to spend extra time trying to setup a Firefox profile just for Ubuntu, which for me makes this trick a must!

Here’s what you have to do:

Call up the terminal in Ubuntu, and type firefox -profilemanager at the prompt:
You should be presented with the Firefox Profile Manager which we’ll use to create a new profile. After you press the Create Profile button you’ll need to click Next on the following screen.
Here you’ll want to type in the name of the new profile, and once you’ve done that click the Choose Folder button:
This is where you need to hunt down the location of your Firefox profile on your Windows partition, which in my case was labeled by default in Ubuntu as “sda2″. The profiles are located at Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ on Windows XP/2000 or users\[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ on Windows Vista. After you select your Firefox profile folder click the Open button.
(Click to Enlarge)
Now you can finish up the profile creation process. When you’re taken back to the Profile Manager, select the new profile that you just made, and start Firefox. If you check the Don’t ask at startup option, Firefox will always use that profile as the default one.

See, I told you it was simple! The same type of thing can be done with Mozilla Thunderbird, but I thought Firefox was a good place to start. Enjoy having all of the same extensions, bookmarks, and settings in your Windows and Ubuntu versions of Firefox!

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CyberNotes: Easily Create Panoramic Shots

Ryan — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:12:30 -0600

This article was written on October 07, 2008 by CyberNet.

Time Saving Tuesday

Windows only
I’ve always felt like there hasn’t been a perfect tool out there for the average person who wants to shoot panoramic shots, and doesn’t want to spend ages assembling them on their machine. One of the last tools that we covered on the site was Hugin, but you could spend hours tweaking settings trying to get things just right. It just wasn’t something the most people would want to fiddle with.

Over in our forum Tony pointed out an amazing tool that Microsoft provides for free called the Image Composite Editor (ICE). Sure Microsoft has already incorporated panoramic creation capabilities in Windows Live Photo Gallery, but having this standalone app gives you a few more features.

I guess the real question is how well does it work, and how much effort will you have to put into stitching your photos together. I tried the program on several different panoramic shots that I’ve taken over the years, and it turned out some of the best results. Ironically enough it’s also one of the easiest programs I’ve ever used for this type of task.

When you first get Microsoft ICE up and running you should see something like this:

(Click to Enlarge)

All you have to do is drag and drop the photos you want stitched together into the gray area. The program will then go to work trying to figure out the best way to assemble them, and once it’s done you’ll see a preview of the result:

(Click to Enlarge)

That’s really all there is to it. There are different types of stitches that can be done including rotating motion or planar motion, and the image can be cropped to your liking by adjusting the box that appears around the panoramic shot. The best part, however, might be the variety of formats you can save the panoramic in:

JPEG
TIFF
Photoshop
HD View Tileset
Deep Zoom Tileset
BMP
PNG
HD Photo Image

Now you don’t have much of an excuse as to why you still have some photos laying around that you haven’t stitched together!

Get Image Composite Editor for Windows

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Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary

Ashley — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:59:27 -0600

This article was written on July 01, 2007 by CyberNet.

Sunday’s Summary

Here is your week in review with Sunday’s Summary! If you missed something, check it out. What was going on this week at CyberNet News with CyberNotes?

Microsoft Monday:Dreamscapes that make your Vista Desktop Shine
Time Saving Tuesday:MP3Tunes Provides Unlimited Storage for your Music
Web Browser Wednesday:6 Firefox-based Web Browsers
Tutorial Thursday:Style Your Sidebar with Windows Sidebar Styler
Free For All Friday:Happy iPhone Launch Day
Weekend Website:Smilebox Eliminates Need for Hallmark Greetings!

InfoLister – Creates a list of your installed extensions, themes, and plugins. You can then create a copy of this list as a backup.
Extended Copy Menu – Adds “Copy As Plain Text” and “Copy as Html” to your context menu.
Fission – Combine your Progress and Address bars…Safari style!
Screengrab! – Take screenshots of entire webpages, the visible portion of a page, or your own selection.

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Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary

Ashley — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:15:46 -0600

This article was written on August 05, 2007 by CyberNet.

Sunday’s Summary

Here is your week in review with Sunday’s Summary! If you missed something, check it out. What was going on this week at CyberNet News with CyberNotes?

Microsoft Monday: How to Make a Web 2.0 Logo in Paint.NET (tutorial)
Time Saving Tuesday: Pie Menus Increase your Productivity
Web Browser Wednesday: Pie Menu Extension for Firefox (Review)
Tutorial Thursday: How to Copy a DVD Movie
Free For All Friday: Words of Wisdom from Homer Simpson
Weekend Website:Create a Floorplan with Floorplanner.com

Options Menu – Access extension options from a toolbar button.
Open Link Host – Open the host URL of any link.
Tabinta – Use the TAB key function in multi-line text forms.

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CyberNotes: Using one Console for all your Command Prompt Needs

Ryan — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 13:02:36 -0600

This article was written on January 18, 2007 by CyberNet.

Tutorial Thursday

The Windows Command Prompt (found by going to Run and typing in CMD) is actually a tool that I use quite often. It doesn’t do nearly as much as what the Terminal can do in Linux, but there are some things that are always helpful, like the tracert function to trace a domain/IP address and follow it across the world as your request scours its way through the tubes that we now know as the Internet. The tracert function is used something like this:

tracert cybernetnews.com

tracert 123.456.123.456

That is just one of the functions that I use…but I’ll save these for another post on another day. What I want to focus on in this post is making the most out of the Windows Command Prompt.

First off, everything has tabs these days and the Terminal in Linux does as well. A nifty little program called Console for Windows will let you customize the Command Prompt so much more, and best of all is that it includes tabs! It doesn’t cost you a thing and it is even open source.

The program couldn’t be much easier to use. You just have to download it (my mirror)and run it…no installation required. You can customize everything from the background image all the way to the font (as seen above). Instead of sitting here listing all of the options, why don’t I just show you them with a bunch of screenshots (click on the thumbnails to enlarge):

One other tool that I use all of the time is Putty so that I can connect to our Web server via SSH and manage it. On the Putty page you’ll also find a download link for an application called Plink. That is a command-line version of Putty that we can actually integrate right into the Console program. Here are the few steps that are needed to do that:

You can either download Console and Plink separately, or you can download this ZIP package that I put together that has both applications included.
I’ll assume that you just downloaded the package I put together. Extract the files and go to the Edit -> Settings -> Tabs section and Add a new Tab.
As long as the Plink executable is located in the same folder as the Console application you can just enter in the following into the Shell field:

plink.exe cybernetnews.com

and replace the “cybernetnews.com” with your own domain name or IP address. It should look like this (click to enlarge the image):
In the Title field, name it what you want such as Plink. Then close out of the settings and restart the Console. After it is restarted you can get a new Plink tab by going to File -> New -> Plink (or whatever you named it).

That’s all there is to it. Now you’ll be able to have both a command prompt and SSH utility in one convenient tabbed interface. Oh yeah, and let’s not forget to mention that it is pretty nice being able to set your own background and font choices so that it is a little more personalized!

Console Homepage
My DivShare Mirror of Console
My DivShare Mirror of Console with Plink

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