Fuel deo: Ignite the fire (and experimenting with HTML 5 audio, video)

Why are most men's deo ads in India the same. There are numerous other ways to be sexy. Come on agencies you can do better. Anyway another for the collection.


Download video [00:00:33 FLV 720 KB]
Download hi-res video [00:00:40 AVI 2.37 MB]

But then this is not the real purpose of this post. Yesterday, Mozilla released Firefox 3.5 and one of the far-reaching features is the native support for HTML 5 audio and video with Ogg Theora, Ogg Vorbis, and WAV formats. In the not-so distant future, this is going to change how multimedia content is served on the Web. Proprietary formats like Flash and Silverlight would not rule the roost.

A simple sample of HTML 5 embedded video and audio of the Fuel deo TVC:

Video:

Download video [00:00:33 OGG 732 KB

Audio:

Download audio [00:00:33 OGG 144 KB]

But the obsolete Web browser Internet Explorer 6 is the biggest impediment to the growth of the new Internet. One of the major pains while launching any new website is the compatibility with IE6. More than a third (38 percent) of the readers of this blog are still on IE6 and that's a huge slice.

And one of the major roadblocks to existing Firefox users upgrading to the Firefox 3.5 is the incompatibility of so many add-ons with the latest version. Maybe Mozilla should put a check in place that add-on developers upgrade their stuff. But then, the free nature of the Firefox browser would go against such curbs.

Learn more about Firefox and HTML 5 video and audio.

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Months After Chrome Launch Google Guys Still Use Firefox

Google has pumped up advertising for its new baby - Google Chrome via its Adwords channel. It is also promoting the product through YouTube and also LinkedIn (amongst others).

So this implies that Google (obviously) wants the world to use its Chrome browser. But it seems that the guys there in Mountain View are themselves yet to get used to their very own web browser and are still relying on Firefox for travelling across the World Wide Web.

I stumbled across this browsing through Google's Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide [PDF link] (Dated November 13, 2008) ^[Via] and found that one of the screenshots (on page 3) that the good guys used to make things easier for us has a tiny but very identifiable Firefox logo. That can mean only one thing - Google still uses Firefox! And that is a good thing. Even Bill Gates might be.



To give them the benifit of doubt, they might be working on a Mac (I never worked on that much) and Google is yet to release a Mac-compatible version of Chrome. Therefore Firefox.

Related posts:

· Whoa! Google Chrome has Crashed
· Google Chrome Identified as Safari
· The Google Chrome Comic Book

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Six Countries Don't Have Firefox 3

Firefox 3 created a world record with over eight million downloads in a day and there have been over 619 million downloads of the much loved web browser! But beyond the bottom of the download heap are six countries/territories that (according to the stats displayed by Mozilla on Firefox 3's Download Day page) that haven't recorded a single instance of a Firefox 3 download (as of July 2, 2008).

The six Firefox 3 black holes are: French Guiana, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Timor-Leste, Western Sahara, and of course, North Korea.

Besides the six there are 17 countries/territories with double digit downloads and 41 more countries with less than a thousand downloads.

I've compiled this table (ordered according to the number of downloads) for further illustration.

Firefox 3 Downloads (as of July 2, 2008)
In order of number of downloads

Rank	Downloads	Country/Territory
1	7,734,930	United States
2	2,466,910	Germany
3	1,342,608	Japan
4	1,198,993	United Kingdom
5	979,362	France
6	824,561	Spain
7	799,448	Poland
8	790,624	Canada
9	763,062	Italy
10	721,524	China
11	598,116	Brazil
12	535,796	Iran
13	495,484	Turkey
14	489,596	India
15	453,278	Australia
16	442,930	Netherlands
17	424,374	Lithuania
18	353,314	Russia
19	329,930	Romania
20	328,664	Mexico
21	279,059	Switzerland
22	252,535	Taiwan
23	247,588	Sweden
24	241,059	Argentina
25	225,824	Hungary
26	221,145	Austria
27	207,103	Chile
28	205,956	Vietnam
29	195,053	Philippines
30	193,209	Belgium
31	184,153	Czech Republic
32	173,805	Finland
33	170,122	Norway
34	168,981	Hong Kong
35	165,764	Bulgaria
36	163,433	Malaysia
37	161,836	Thailand
38	148,090	Greece
39	148,006	South Korea
40	143,283	Indonesia
41	140,331	Denmark
42	139,003	Israel
43	131,479	Portugal
44	129,957	Singapore
45	129,458	Colombia
46	98,740	Ukraine
47	98,445	Venezuela
48	98,186	Ireland
49	79,008	Slovakia
50	78,441	New Zealand
51	72,589	Peru
52	70,343	Slovenia
53	69,286	South Africa
54	62,216	Egypt
55	58,511	Croatia
56	49,922	Saudi Arabia
57	49,658	Serbia
58	44,371	United Arab Emirates
59	43,974	Estonia
60	43,195	Latvia
61	36,114	Morocco
62	35,893	Pakistan
63	32,256	Costa Rica
64	28,822	Puerto Rico
65	26,630	Dominican Republic
66	24,867	Algeria
67	20,247	Ecuador
68	19,339	Bangladesh
69	18,884	Nigeria
70	17,764	Luxembourg
71	17,093	Guatemala
72	15,946	Tunisia
73	15,222	Iceland
74	14,953	Kuwait
75	14,893	Belarus
76	14,500	Sri Lanka
77	13,905	Bosnia and Herzegovina
78	12,442	Qatar
79	12,225	Panama
80	11,188	Republic of Macedonia
81	10,804	Kazakhstan
82	10,446	Moldova
83	10,335	Jamaica
84	10,085	Bolivia
85	9,958	Trinidad and Tobago
86	9,902	Cyprus
87	9,310	El Salvador
88	9,285	Paraguay
89	9,227	Jordan
90	9,046	Uruguay
91	8,646	Kenya
92	7,672	Ghana
93	7,002	Malta
94	6,472	Mongolia
95	6,034	Nicaragua
96	5,921	Bahrain
97	5,853	Nepal
98	5,704	Lebanon
99	5,425	Cuba
100	5,256	Mauritius
101	5,091	Honduras
102	4,870	Senegal
103	4,452	Georgia
104	4,349	Barbados
105	4,174	Côte d'Ivoire
106	4,089	Palestinian Territories
107	4,073	Myanmar
108	3,915	Maldives
109	3,792	Oman
110	3,766	Brunei Darussalam
111	3,745	Syrian Arab Republic
112	3,527	Azerbaijan
113	3,037	Sudan
114	2,869	Albania
115	2,779	Cameroon
116	2,730	Libya
117	2,557	Bahamas
118	2,254	Armenia
119	2,227	Uzbekistan
120	2,051	Cambodia
121	1,881	New Caledonia
122	1,754	Iraq
123	1,598	Uganda
124	1,591	Tanzania
125	1,580	Faeroe Islands
126	1,480	Aruba
127	1,468	Yemen
128	1,433	Antigua and Barbuda
129	1,339	Angola
130	1,318	Bermuda
131	1,317	Madagascar
132	1,309	Fiji
133	1,303	Mozambique
134	1,296	Namibia
135	1,289	Andorra
136	1,264	Montenegro
137	1,237	Ethiopia
138	1,134	Belize
139	1,093	Saint Lucia
140	1,085	Liechtenstein
141	1,045	Zimbabwe
142	958	Botswana
143	935	Guyana
144	921	Zambia
145	844	Lao People's Democratic Republic
146	832	Afghanistan
147	785	Grenada
148	757	Reunion
149	732	Kyrgyzstan
150	714	Rwanda
151	696	Haiti
152	679	Suriname
153	677	Benin
154	647	Aland Islands
155	604	Burkina Faso
156	528	Malawi
157	514	Saint Kitts and Nevis
158	513	Gabon
159	513	Mali
160	511	Dominica
161	482	Greenland
162	389	Guinea
163	370	Togo
164	307	The Democratic Republic of the Congo
165	288	Mauritania
166	265	Gambia, The
167	255	Papua New Guinea
168	248	Tajikistan
169	224	Bhutan
170	220	Djibouti
171	201	Virgin Islands, British
172	196	Cape Verde
173	187	Guadeloupe
174	180	Turks and Caicos Islands
175	170	Anguilla
176	155	Swaziland
177	145	Vanuatu
178	138	Niger
179	136	Burundi
180	125	Lesotho
181	111	Tonga
182	106	Equatorial Guinea
183	79	Sierra Leone
184	66	Martinique
185	60	Somalia
186	59	Solomon Islands
187	56	Republic of Congo
188	53	Liberia
189	53	Samoa
190	50	Eritrea
191	41	Turkmenistan
192	34	Chad
193	24	Palau
194	23	Falkland Islands
195	19	Guinea-bissau
196	18	Central African Republic
197	15	Montserrat
198	13	Sao Tome and Principe
199	12	Comoros
200	0	French Guiana
201	0	North Korea
202	0	South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
203	0	Svalbard and Jan Mayen
204	0	Timor-leste
205	0	Western Sahara

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Firefox 3: It's a New Guinness World Record

As expected Firefox 3 created a new Guinness World Record or the most software downloaded in 24 hours.

Thanks to the support of the always amazing Mozilla community, we now hold a Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours. From 18:16 UTC on June 17, 2008 to 18:16 UTC on June 18, 2008, 8,002,530 people downloaded Firefox 3 and are now enjoying a safer, smarter and better Web.

Ever since Firefox was launched in 2004 we've relied on our community to help us spread the word, and thanks to projects including crop circles, newspaper ads, giant stickers, videos, blogs and more we now have over 180 million users in more than 230 countries.

So what's next? We'll just have to wait and see what YOU come up with!

Here's my certificate of contribution (Get yours from here):

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Help Firefox 3 Create a World Record

Join Firefox in its mission to set a Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours!

Sounds like a good deal, right? All you have to do is get Firefox 3 during Download Day to help set the record for most software downloads in 24 hours - it’s that easy. We're not asking you to swallow a sword or to balance 30 spoons on your face, although that would be kind of awesome.

The official date for the launch of Firefox 3 is June 17, 2008

To take part in this effort, just download Firefox 3 as soon as it is available, preferably from Download Day Headquarters. You'll get a customised certificate by downloading from Headquarters.

Firefox fans in India have to download Firefox 3 from the Download Day Headquarters by 11:46 PM [23:46] on June 18, 2008 to be able to contribute to the record-making download count.

Update: There were more than eight million Firefox 3 downloads in 24 hours.

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Download 'Protected' Images

Often friends ask me on how to deter people from copying or downloading stuff that they put up on the internet. My suggestion is simple - it is not worth the effort. Because anything that is displayed on the screen and emitted by the speakers can always be copied by the end users, with only a little extra effort.

While returning from home a few days ago, I ran into a school friend - now a risk manager and a budding photographer - who has put up a website via which he intends to sell his photos. "And no one can steal the photos from my site," he boasted. I tried to explain him that it is indeed very easy to circumvent the JavaScript had he had put in there. He didn't seem too convinced. I didn't have a laptop with me to give him a demo, and therefore this post.

The easiest way, when right click is disabled on a page, is to left click on the image and keep the mouse button pressed while draging and dropping it on to the desktop or to any folder shortcut on the taskbar [Source]

Another simple trick is to temporarily disable javascript on the browser, as most of this disabling is done via JavaScript, and then you can copy the images the usual way - right click > Save Image As.

To do so in Firefox, click on Tools (on the File menu) » Options » select the Content tab » deselect the Enable JavaScript checkbox » click OK.



To disable JavaScript in Internet Explorer (IE) go to Tools » Internet Options > click on the Security tab » click on the Custom Level button in the Security level for this zone section » scroll down and look for Scripting and click on the Disable radio button under Active scripting » click OK.



Just remember to revert back to your original javascript settings once you are through with your coping else you might not be able to experience the javascript powered features on some websites.

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Download Files from eSnips - the Easy Way

We all look for music (and other stuff) online, but it often happens that what you are looking for isn't available there. Some of the places where you are most likely to find what you are looking for (beyond the P2P networks) are CoolToad and eSnips. CoolToad (when I last checked) allows registered users to download the stuff, but eSnips has of late kept on changing their code (and the players), making it difficult for users to download from there.

Even my trusted software Orbit didn't work here (it has a nice Grab++ utility), nor did other download managers. The guys at eSnips have seem to have nullified the tricks that I found via a quick Google search. Therefore I resorted to the tried and tested cache trick (as the initiated would already know - this works in many other cases too).

This works since eSnips doesn't do Real Time Streaming (else we would have to use other tricks).

[Update: There's an even easier alternate way to do it. Go to the bottom of this post for details]

Since I recommend and use Firefox, the following instructions are Firefox specific (on Windows XP).

1. Search for the file you want to download on eSnips





2. Delete your browser's cache (press Ctrl+Shft+Del or go to Tools > Options > Advanced > Network > And click on the Clear Now button under the Cache section) - I'll explain the need later



3. Let the file play/load in totality (this involves a bit of waiting)



4. On the browser's address bar type about:cache



5. Under the Disk cache device copy the path of the Cache directory.
It would be something like this: C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\6q1bkcu8.default\Cache



6. Paste the copied path on Firefox's address bar



7. Look for the file with the heaviest size (this is the one in most cases and it is why I asked to delete the cache in the first place, to avoid any confusion with a large number of files)



8. Right click on the link corresponding on the file and select Save Link As from the right click contextual menu and save it where you want to.



9. While saving give the file an .mp3 (or whatever is relevant) extension, you can also rename the file and you are done.



I suggest this trick since nothing else seemed to download files from eSnips for me. If you know of easier better tricks please share them in the comments.

Update: I later realised that the Firefox addon DownloadHelper performs the task with lesser sweat.

This post just might be redundant for registered eSnips users. eSnips seems to have added a direct download link to the media files to save users all the effort. A welcome initiative indeed. Time for YouTube to also implement this. But you need to be registered to benefit from that, in case you don't want an eSnips account, this post will still be of some help.

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Regenerate Disappeared Firefox Extensions / Add-ons

This morning as I logged onto my work PC, I found that all the extensions/add-ons that I had installed had disappeared. Even the add-ons manager was not responding, though it showed the installed extensions but the controls didn't work and the window just remained stuck there.

I first suspected the IT support guys to be behind this, they often come up with wierd ideas to restrict a hassle-free browsing environment. But then I doubted their abilities.

A little googling and the problem was solved. The reason was a recent update. And the fix is not that difficult.

First look for your Firefox profiles folder. As this folder could be hidden. To show hidden folders, open Windows Explorer and choose Organize -> Folder and Search Options -> Folder Options -> View (tab) -> Show hidden files and folders.

Delete three files from your profiles folder.

extensions.ini
extensions.cache
extensions.rdf

Make sure Firefox is not running when deleting these files. Firefox will regenerate these files on restart.

[All the gyan is from here]

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Essential Free Software for Your PC

A friend asked me for a list of software which he could install on his PC for a worthwhile digital experience. There are so many of them out there and some cost a bomb, but thankfully free is not always a malicious word in cyberia - mind the 'not always' part.

Though it is obvious that I'm no Amit Agarwal, yet I attempted to put together a list of freely downloadable software which I personally use (plus a few more which I would recommend). Here's an incomprehensive list:

1. AVG Anti-Virus: A must unless you wish to pay for the paid anti-virus software, which in some cases may provide you with better protection. There are other free anti-virus software available, but I personally rely on AVG.

2. Ad-Aware SE Personal: A reliable anti-spyware tool.

3. Firefox: A reliable, fast and secure web browser with a lot of features and tonnes of add-ons and themes. A must download. Highly recommended.

4. Google Talk: Suddenly I find other instant messaging systems losing their popularity. Though it is not necessary to install GTalk to be able to chat via Google, some people prefer it that way (as it has a few additional features).

5. OpenOffice: An open source alternative to Microsoft Office.

6. NoteTab Light: A free replacement for Notepad and a handy HTML editor with a tabbed interface.

7. PDFCreator: Lets you create PDFs.

8. Foxit Reader: A lightweight and fast PDF reader. Though Adobe Reader is also free, I prefer Foxit.

9. WordWeb: A wonderful and handy dictionary cum thesaurus to have on your PC. A personal favourite. Highly recommended.

10. 7-Zip: A free compression and decompression software. Alternative to WinZip and WinRAR. But 7-Zip can only unpack RAR files and cannot create them.

11. Winamp: Though basic but bloated versions Real Player, QuickTime and iTunes can be had for free, I like to listen to my music and watch some movies on Winamp. It's better.

12. Democracy Media Player: It plays almost every kind of video formats and also subscribes to video channels through RSS feeds (and lets you download them too).

13. Picasa: That wonderful software from Google which lets you organise, share and also edit your photos.

14. IrfanView: A light and fast image viewer with some extra features which Windows Picture and Fax Viewer can't boast of.

15. GIMP: Will perform the tasks that you usually would like to use Adobe Photoshop for.

16. Audacity: An audacious software that takes on the likes of Sound Forge.

17. Avid Free DV: A free basic video editing tool.

18. SUPER: It justifies its name (an acronym for Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer). Basically the best conversion software around and that too for free. Try beating that.

19. Download Accelerator Plus: This is very handy especially with the internet bandwidth that we have access to in this country. The downloads are much, much faster. There are a few other features that might just interest you.

20. FileZilla: A fast FTPclient.

21. LimeWire: A fast and popular P2P file sharing program. The basic version is free and usually satisfies the basic needs.

22. DVD Shrink: Shrink those huge DVD files to suit your size.

23. CDBurnerXP Pro: Burn CDs and DVDs. More features coming in the next version.

24. ScreenHunter: How often we have to take a screen shot and the friendly Prt Scr button on the keyboard doesn't always suffice. ScreenHunter is hassle free and also non-frilly.

25. Ubuntu: In case you are fed up with Windows OS itself there's Ubuntu, Linux for humans, for you.

Note: All of the 'free' software listed above may not be free in the truest sense of the term. Some of the above mentioned items may not be the best free software to download and install on your PC, there might just be better stuff around about which I'm unaware of.

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Rediscovering the Fox

Firefox 2 is here and so was Internet Explorer 7. Need I say who is going to emerge the winner in this battle of the browsers?

Microsoft implicitly accepts that the previous versions of IE were neither easy nor secure. And IE 7 plays copycat by including the popular features in the existing Firefox like tabbed browsing and inbuilt search. Well, IE 7's feed reading abilities look to be better. But this post isn't about Firefox vs IE. Though the stranglehold of the latter remains and it is fast loosening. This post is to further loosen the hold. No, I'm not anti-IE, just pro-Fox (unless Gates, Ballmer and Ozzie think the Bush way - "You're either with us or against us"). I still use Windows, but might one fine night move over to Ubuntu.

But it is hard to steer away from the comparisons. Only highlighting Firefox's benefits wouldn't do any good unless they are put side-by-side with IE. I wouldn't go into the details but only a few basic pointers.

* Firefox 2 weighs only 5.6MB (for the Windows version and 9.2MB for the Linux one), while IE 7 weighs an obese 14.8MB.
* Firefox is also available in Gujarati, Punjabi and 40 other languages (Belarusian is yet to come); IE is available in only five languages.
* Firefox's minimum requirements are Windows 98 and 64 MB of RAM. IE needs Windows XP and a minimum of 87 MB of RAM.

Now onwards I'll speak strictly Firefox. Visually speaking there is not much of an overhaul in Firefox 2. The refresh and the home button icons have changed. So has the go button on the address bar. The search bar has an additional search button (for those who hate to hit enter) and a few more changes here and there.

The major improvement seems to be in enhanced tabbed browsing. Previously there was only one close tab button at the far right, which often confusingly closed unintended tabs. Now each tab has its own and exclusive close tab button. To the far right (where the close tab button existed) there's now a tab strip that lets the user scroll through open tabs.

What impressed me the most (and also disturbed a little) is the session restore feature.

The Session Restore feature restores windows, tabs, text typed in forms, and in-progress downloads from the last user session. It will be activated automatically when installing an application update or extension, and users will be asked if they want to resume their previous session after a system crash.

It lets you pick up where you left before things went wrong. A great feature for people like me who have unstable OS and PCs at their workplaces (or homes). It will also resume interrupted in-progress downloads. But the worry comes in multi-user machines. If there is an improper closure of active windows/tabs and someone else and not you accesses the system next (unless you're using different password protected user logins as in 2000 or XP), he/she can access whatever you were doing last, including your email which you hadn't signed off).

Otherwise Firefox 2 comes security packed with phishing and spyware protection. And yes, the old favourite, for all you surreptitious web-browsers, clear private data (Ctrl+Shift+Del) tool is fully functional. You don't have to rub the shit on the doormat; Firefox will do that for you.

Another good news is for us poor spellers. Firefox 2 has built-in spell checking. A red underline to tell you where you mixed up the 'i' and the 'e' and a right click to show you the possible correct options. In case you don't know what you are looking for, the search bar would provide you with suggestions.

You can also easily customise your browser with add-ons which can change the look, feel and functionality to satisfy your tastes. You can incorporate extensions, themes, search engines and plugins. Moreover, new windows would open by default in new tabs, instead of adding to the clutter of additional windows (this was a suggestion that I originally had in mind).

If that is not enough you have web feeds (aka RSS), live bookmarks, and live titles for sites using microsummaries (another word to my tech lexicon).

If this isn't enough for you. Stick to whatever you're using and watch this space for something new. Others can go here to download and install the software I'm talking about.

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Someone Yahooed my Google

Somebody tinkered with my office PC (a junky piece of obsolete machinery, which can't run on anything beyond Windows 98 and has transformed me into a patient being) and installed a piece of software I for reasons unknown detest - Yahoo Messenger. Especially in an office environment, it is a pain. In my previous workplace, I was tired of asking my colleagues to stop chatting on their Yahoo Messengers and to get back to the job that gets them their weekend booze. The IT department suggested censorship, I vetoed - censorship seems so dictatorial. Much later when official purposes demanded regular instant messenger use, I suggested Google Talk (yes, it still has some problems, but is by far the most unobtrusive), but the gyaanis went the Yahoo way.

But the problem this time wasn't about gossiping colleagues or official policies, but the crap that installs itself along with the Yahoo Messenger into your system. I instinctively deleted all those beginning with the word Yahoo that I could find in the Add/Remove Programs list. But something remained. The default Firefox location bar search engine changed to Yahoo instead of the old favourite Google 'I'm lucky.' How irritating. Previously I just had to type in a name and the website would open pronto, now I was directed to a Yahoo search results page. Yahoo might be working on its search engine, but Google is by far the best. There wasn't anything in the menu bar that would solve my problem. Fortunately, I wasn't the only one pestered by these popularisation gimmicks. Help was on hand using what else but Google.

This is what I did:

1. Type about:config in Firefox location bar and press enter
2. Type keyword in filter textbox and you will see only the preference keyword.URL.
3. Double-click on keyword.URL and change the value to: http://www.google.com/search?btnI=I%27m+Feeling+Lucky&q=

And finally things were back to normal. Thanks to Angsuman Chakraborty for the gyaan.

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