Fx, Sm, YQ, Op, and Saturn

The first non-beta release of the Yahoo! Toolbar for Firefox was released this week. I'm not real sure who would need the features this thing has, but it's nice to see more third-party add-ons for Firefox anyway, especially from established names like Yahoo. Speaking of which, I forgot to mention the Y!Q Beta search plug-in for Fx I came across months ago. It's actually reasonably useful, though I still use the Wikipedia search plug-in a lot more.

The SeaMonkey Council (which has the best name for anything ever) is looking for better artwork for its namesake browser suite. Apparently the current logo sucks. I haven't tried a SeaMonkey nightly yet, because I know I'd have to uninstall Mozilla 1.7.10 first, and I don't wanna. Incidentally, installing a Deer Park alpha will screw with your current Fx install.

Opera 8.02 is out. I haven't lifted my self-imposed moratorium on installing new versions of Opera because of two features that are conspicuously absent from the changelog: "Overhauled ungodly UI" and "Removed $40 price tag." I actually felt kind of bad about cheap shots I've taken at Opera in the past, until I read this blog. It's not a bad blog either, probably much better than mine, but I wish they could promote Opera in a better way than pointing out every little problem the Mozilla Foundation, a nonprofit, has ever had.

Finally, if you've always wanted to know what the planet Saturn sounds like, and who hasn't really, here's your chance. Turns out Saturn sounds like the original score from a bad Vincent Price movie, run through a few dozen effects boxes and remixed by Portishead. Weird would be the adjective I'd go with.

Mo(dem)zilla

Finally got myself a nice shiny new name-brand modem to replace that old USRobotics POS I've been dealing with since I got this PC. Took three minutes to install and a couple more to update the default Windows drivers. Little things make me happy. Unlike the christening I have to go to tomorrow for my cousin's baby. The way I see it, if you didn't actually witness the birth, you shouldn't have to drive to another state to watch the kid get named and dropped into a dunk tank or whatever the hell Catholics do to their babies.

I'm writing this update in Mozilla 1.7.10, which was released yesterday. It's a security update to keep the suite in line with the 1.0.6 releases of Firefox and Thunderbird. Like last time, I only downloaded the browser component of the Mozilla Suite. It may be my imagination, but it seems faster and somehow more solid than the last few releases I tried. I'll replace it once the first relatively stable SeaMonkey it out. I like having as many browsers as possible, because there's always something I find works best in one browser or another (except for Opera, which I've sworn off forever because it's so bad at absolutely everything).

There's been a realignment of the Firefox official release numbering scheme. Firefox 1.1 has been pushed back a bit and renamed Firefox 1.5 to better reflect the magnitude of the update. The next major milestone after than will still be Fx 2.0.

More Mozilla Stuff and Potter 6

Firefox and Thunderbird 1.0.6 are out. These are quick-fix releases that correct some API changes in the 1.0.5 code that ended up breaking some extensions.

For the Mac people, Camino Browser 0.9 alpha 2 has been released. I've thought about buying a new Mac, maybe a Mini or iMac, just to be able to use Camino, but then I remember: I don't have a thousand dollars to blow. Oh well.

Asa pointed out a project at mozdev called Searchsidebar. It's a Firefox extension that creates a more advanced Mozilla Suite-style search in, obviously, the sidebar. I haven't tried it yet myself. Probably should have before writing about it. What if it's totally useless and breaks Firefox? Too late now.

Somebody at ZDNet UK really, really likes Firefox. Go read some Mozilla-flavored feature articles: Firefox: The alternative history, Mozilla: From obscurity to opportunity, Firefox: Doing it for love, and Behind the scenes at Mozilla HQ. Oh, and make sure Adblock is active. The whole site is just crawling with banners and flash ads.

I got hold of the new Harry Potter book just after it was released, and finished it within a day and a half (some minor spoilers are coming up here). I have to say that it depressed the hell out of me. The first third of the book is much funnier and lighter than book 5, Order of the Phoenix, but the plot is much less complex than any of the previous books, including the first one. We all knew someone was going to die in this one, and we already lost a major character in Phoenix, but this time it was just much more brutal. I can't imagine how little kids are going to deal with this. The last chapter in particular is one of the most beautiful pieces of fiction I've ever read, period. But, like I said, it's really rough on the long-time Potter fans, particularly the last few paragraphs. It almost makes me dread the next (and presumably last) book, but of course I'll have to read it.

T-Bird Times Two

Two new Thunderbird builds were released today. Thunderbird 1.0.5 is the latest official build. If you're wondering why T-Bird jumped directly from version 1.0.1 to 1.0.5, mozillaZine has the answer. There are no new GUI updates, but lots and lots of security fixes.

Also, release candidates for the second Thunderbird 1.1 alpha are now available to testers. If you want to test it, feel free. But I wouldn't recommend it unless you really know what you're doing. I didn't test the first alpha, so obviously I'm passing on an RC for the second.

I've been playing around with MenuX, a Firefox extension that gives you a bunch of new toolbar buttons with functions ranging from totally pointless (duplicate window controls, a second downloads button) to extremely useful (view source in tab, extension/theme manager buttons). I particularly like toggling off extraneous toolbars, including the menubar. This brings my total extension count to nine, ten if you count Delicious Delicacies.

The Probe dumped oil all over the driveway this afternoon. A mechanic friend of a neighbor discovered that the fuel pressure sensor was slowly disintegrating and letting out oil under high pressure, which explains why the pressure gauge on the dash never showed a problem even though it's likely been leaking for days. So I went and got a new sensor and new synth oil and a filter and it's good as new. Until the next part wears out. The Probe is now seven-and-a-half years old, about the time when modern cars just start to wear out.

Oh, and I've picked a new blog template again, obviously. I think this is the seventh or eighth one I've gone through in eleven months. I just get bored quickly.

MozMania

Lots to cover tonight. I'll start with the release of Firefox 1.0.5. Here are the release notes and the updated MoFo security advisories page. Fx 1.0.5 fixes fully a dozen vulnerabilities and improves stability. Once again, if you don't want to fuck up your extensions, you should uninstall Fx 1.0.4 via Add/Remove Programs, then run the installer immediately (Windows XP/98). Always works for me.

Less important, but still noteworthy, is the release of the second Deer Park Alpha. The official release notes show some interesting GUI changes over Firefox 1.0+, like dragable tabs and much faster cached Back/Forward functionality (both Opera features from a while back). Popup blocking is better now, as well. And of course Deer Park sports that much improved prefwindow. If you want to test it, take a long look at the known issues first, because this is pre-beta, after all, and it still isn't very stable. I managed to create some impressive crashes in no time at all.

One last bit of Mozilla news: Yahoo has added Thunderbird support to its Desktop Search beta (via mozillaZine). Does anyone out there use this? Or Google Desktop Search? I'm wondering if I'd have any use for an indexed search client. WinXP's native indexing service (disabled by default, naturally), is pretty awful, at least in terms of the UI. It doesn't seem to work particularly well, either.

Anyway. I replaced all my desktop icons with ObjectDock the other day. Not for any particular reason, I just think it looks nice. I don't have a ton of 2D memory, though, so windows get draggy when moved over the dock's operational area. But whatever. I haven't looked into any spiffy custom docklets or icons yet, other than a nifty gamepad icon I'm using as a shortcut to Dega, a Master System emulator I'm currently enamoured with. I'm finally getting to try all the crappy games I really wanted when I was eleven years old. Rastan and Psycho Fox and Zillion! Hooray!

Post Slacker

So obviously I've gotten a little lackadaisical with the updates lately. The only reason I can think of is that I've been a little preoccupied with how horribly out of shape I seem to have gotten. I've been putting in a good 30 to 60 minutes a day shooting around the basketball goal I screwed into the front of the garage last month, and after a week or so I pulled just about every muscle I have. I kept at it and finally seem to have beaten my body back into fighting form. And by "fighting form" I mean I've stopped walking with a severe limp and I can actually lift my right arm without wincing now.

TechSpot posted a Firefox Tweak Guide last week. There's little to nothing here that can't be found in the official Firefox Online Help guide, but I suppose it's the thought that counts.

The SeaMonkey project is finally official. So for the four or five people out there who were devastated when the Mozilla Application Suite was retired, put down those razor blades, you have a new reason to live. I've always rather liked the Mozilla Suite, as it valiantly attempted to carry on the spirit of Netscape Communicator, but Firefox and Thunderbird have made it essentially obsolete. Still, once an "official" build or two of SeaMonkey have been released, I'll take a look at it. It has to be better than the last couple Opera releases.