We all love Firefox. It’s highly customizable, tweak-able, stable, and has tons & tons of great add-ons. With Firefox 3.5, performance is faster and more stable than ever.
Check out these neat features that may have not known about:
1. To duplicate tabs press Ctrl (Cmd on Mac) while dragging a tab to create a duplicate of the dragged tab including its history.
2. To move tabs to another window just drag a tab and drop it on another window to move it. If the dragged tab is the last one in its window, it will be closed.
3. To resize the search bar you can drag the handler between them (invisible on Windows and Linux) to resize it.
4. To add keyword search select Manage Search Engines… in the search engines menu to open the Search Engines Manager, select a search engine, press Edit Keyword… and enter a few characters to define one. Now you can enter the keyword followed by your search terms in the location bar to search with that plugin.
5. For discontinuous selections make a selection with the mouse, press Ctrl (Cmd on Mac) and make additional selections to copy or print just what you want.
6. For integrated add-ons there is no need to visit Mozilla Add-ons because Firefox 3 brings it to you directly from the Add-ons Manager new Get Add-ons page: search, find and install with a single click.
8. To check your crashes enter about:crashes in the location bar to get a list of crashes submitted by Breakpad (Mozilla’s crash reporter). Click on a crash report to get details provided by Socorro, Mozilla’s crash reports server.
When it comes to the Google search box, you already know the tricks: finding exact phrases matches using quotes like "so say we all" or searching a single site using site:lifehacker.com gmail. But there are many more oblique, clever, and lesser-known search recipes and operators that work from that unassuming little input box. Dozens of Google search guides detail the tips you already know, but today we’re skipping the obvious and highlighting our favorite obscure Google web search tricks.
10. Get the local time anywhere
What time is it in Bangkok right now? Ask Google. Enter simply what time is it to get the local time in big cities around the world, or add the locale at the end of your query, like what time is it hong kong to get the local time there.
9. Track flight status
Enter the airline and flight number into the Google search box and get back the arrival and departure times right inside Google’s search results.
8. Convert currency, metrics, bytes, and more
Google’s powerful built-in converter calculator can help you out whether you’re cooking dinner, traveling abroad, or building a PC. Find out how many teaspoons are in a quarter cup (quarter cup in teaspoons) or how many seconds there are in a year (seconds in a year) or how many euros there are to five dollars (5 USD in Euro). For the geekier set, bits in kilobytes (155473 bytes in kilobytes) and numbers in hex or binary (19 in binary) are also pretty useful.
7. Compare items with “better than” and find similar items with “reminds me of”
Reader Adam taps the wisdom of the crowds by searching for like items using key phrases. He writes in:
Simply search for, in quotes: “better than _keyword_”Some example results:
Results 1 – 100 of about 550 English pages for ” better than WinAmp”.
Results 1 – 57 of 57 English pages for ” better than mIRC”.
Results 1 – 100 of about 17,500 English pages for ” better than Digg”. (Wow. Poor Digg.)
The results will almost always lead you to discovering alternatives to whatever it is you’re searching for. Using the same concept, you can use this trick to discover new music or movies. For example, ” reminds me of _someband_” or “sounds like _someband_” will pull up artists people have thought sounded similar to the one you typed in. This is also a great way to find good, no-name musicians you’d probably never know of otherwise.
Examples:
Results 1 – 88 of 88 English pages for ” reminds me of Metallica”.
Results 1 – 36 of 36 English pages for ” similar to Garden State”.
Results 1 – 66 of 66 English pages for ” sounds like The Shins”.
Just get creative and you’ll, without a doubt, find cool new stuff you probably never knew existed.
6. Use Google as a free proxy
What, your company blocks that hip new web site just because it drops the F bomb occasionally? Use Google’s cache to take a peek even when the originating site’s being blocked, with cache:example.com.
5. Remove affiliate links from product searches
When you’re sick of seeing duplicate product search results from the likes of eBay, Bizrate, Pricerunner, and Shopping.com, clear ‘em out by stacking up the -site:ebay.com -site:bizrate.com -site:shopping.com operator. Alternately, check out Give Me Back My Google (original post), a service that does all that known reseller cleaning up for you when you search for products. Compare this GMBMG search for a Cruzer 1GB flash drive to the regular Google results
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4. Find related terms and documents
Ok, this one’s direct from any straight-up advanced search operator cheat sheet, but it’s still one of the lesser-used tricks in the book. Adding a tilde (~) to a search term will return related terms. For example, Googling ~nutrition returns results with the words nutrition, food, and health in them.
2. ID people, objects, and foreign language words and phrases with Google Image Search
Google Image search results show you instead of tell you about a word. Don’t know what jicama looks like? Not sure if the person named “Priti” who you’re emailing with is a woman or a man? Spanish rusty and you forgot what “corazon” is? Pop your term into Google Image Search (or type image jicama into the regular search box) to see what your term’s about.
1. Make Google recognize faces
If you’re doing an image search for Paris Hilton and don’t want any of the French city, a special URL parameter in Google’s Image search will do the trick. Add &imgtype=face to the end of your image search to just get images of faces, without any inanimate objects. Try it out with a search for rose (which returns many photos of flowers) versus rose with the face parameter.
What I love about Nokia (aside from the great build quality) is the amount of commands available for performing neat tricks.
Type in these commands from the main home screen-
*#06# for checking the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity).
*#7780# reset to factory settings.
*#67705646# This will clear the LCD display(operator logo)
*#0000# To view software version.
*#2820# Bluetooth device address.
*#746025625# Sim clock allowed status.
#pw+1234567890+1# Shows if sim card has restrictions.
*#92702689# – takes you to a secret menu where you may find some of the information below:
1. Displays Serial Number.
2. Displays the Month and Year of Manufacture
3. Displays (if there) the date where the phone was purchased (MMYY)
4. Displays the date of the last repair – if found (0000)
5. Shows life timer of phone (time passes since last start)
*#3370# – Enhanced Full Rate Codec (EFR) activation. Increases signal strength, better signal reception. It also help if u want to use GPRS and the service is not responding or too slow. Phone battery will drain faster though.
*#3370* – (EFR) deactivation. Phone will automatically restart. Increase battery life by 30% because phone receives less signal from network.
*#4720# – Half Rate Codec activation.
*#4720* – Half Rate Codec deactivation. The phone will automatically restart
If you forgot the wallet code for the Nokia S60, use this code reset: *#7370925538#
Note, your data in the wallet will be erased. Phone will ask you the lock code. Default lock code is: 12345
Press *#3925538# to delete the contents and code of wallet.
Unlock service provider: Insert sim, turn phone on and press vol up(arrow keys) for 3 seconds, should say pin code. Press C,then press * message should flash, press * again and 04*pin*pin*pin# \
The Dev-Team has announced on their blog that we’d have to wait a little longer for a public jailbreak on the 3G S. They claim to have it ready- but feel that they should wait a little longer until more people adopt to the 3G S.
“making our jailbreak public at this point in time would benefit relatively few people” -Dev-Team
The Dev-Team aslo feels that Apple will the release iPhone 3.0.1 firmware update anytime now, to patch the ultrasn0w unlocker. They want to wait an see what’s in store for them in that update before making the jailbreak public.
“Apple is surely coming out with a 3.0.1 firmware release shortly. They need to fix ultrasn0w. They need to fix some UI issues. 3.0 is buggy and 3.0.1 is coming. We’re going to wait and see what 3.0.1 brings before figuring out the release date for our version of the jailbreak” -Dev-Team
We all search for information using search engines. A lot of us have come across a forum we need to access for that information, but the forum may require us to register and sign in first. This is annoying- signing up to a forum, just for a 1 time visit. I decided to make this post, which will guide you around doing this mess.
Let me explain the science behind the following technique: most sites and forums will block unregistered users, but they NEVER block Google Bot. We are basically going to switch our User Agent to Google Bot, which will allow us to freely browse almost any site or forum without registering.
First grab the Firefox add-on called “User Agent” here and install. Next, go to Tools > User Agent Switcher > Options and then Options again.
Select User Agent from the left sidebar and click Add. In the description field type:
This hack is EXTREMELY easy! By visiting a site on your iPhone’s Safari, you can enable tethering on your iPhone. Tethering allows you to utilize your iPhone’s data connection to use on your laptop or desktop- just like a broadband card.
Here’s how:
Go to http://help.benm.at/help.php from Safari
Scroll down to Tethering & Internet Settings
Choose your country and provider(works for AT&T and T-Mobile)
It will then allow you to install the appropriate configuration
Then go to Settings and enable the tethering function
If this disables visual voicemail on your phone, just go and reset your network settings, and it should be fixed. If that doesn’t work, try updating your phone with an older version of the AT&T carrier settings.
**I take no responsibility if ATT or any other carrier charges you at the end of month**
People have been able to use this feature without getting charged.
It’s pretty scary when you think your computer may be connecting to web servers without your knowledge. A compromised computer can be used to send Spam emails, report your personal information and keystrokes, infect other computers on your network, and more.
These threats can go completely undetected to an unsuspecting user- luckily there is a command you can use to check every ping your computer has made in a given time.
Here’s how to check what your network connection has been up to:
Go to the Start Menu >Type cmd in your Windows Run box (Search box for Vista).
Type “netstat -b 5 > activity.txt” (without quotes) and press enter.
After about 2 minutes, press Ctrl+C.
Type “activity.txt” on the command line to open the log file in notepad (or your default text editor)
This .txt file will have a record of everything that has made an Internet connection in the last couple of minutes; you can then check your task manager to find out where it is and take care of it.
A lot of people ask me why Macs don’t get viruses. Some people I come across also think that it’s not possible for a Mac to catch a virus (oh brother).
That couldn’t be farther from the truth- it is possible for any OS to get a virus, including OS X- but there are a lot of reasons why OS X hasn’t had a big threat for a while now- while Windows machines have become toolbar infested, pop-up happy, identity stealing lag-boxes over night.
Here’s what you should know:
1. OS X is built on UNIX. UNIX is on a multi user system and its security architecture was built into it from the beginning. WINDOWS came from single user architecture with security and multi user capability implemented later.
2. UNIX had networking built into it since its start, for Windows this was included later.
3. Windows developed Internet Explorer deep into the OS, and allowed code execution within the browser. In OS X the browser is a completely separate program, it’s not a major part of the OS. This is a HUGE screw-up Microsoft made, as they opened up so many doors into the OS.
4. In earlier Windows, everything ran as the system user, so the capability to compromise an entire system was easier (see reason 1)- UNIX requires you to sign in as Root to make changes (which Mac uses).
5. OS X has no registry. Another HUGE flaw Microsoft made.
6. OS X asks for your password before allowing you to run new software or install something. Not fool proof, but it helps.
I want to pull my hair out when I hear people saying “Macs don’t have viruses because their market share is so low, so programmers don’t want to waste time developing the threats”. Are you serious?!? Don’t you think that a virus writer would love to be one of the first to write a virus on OS X!? It would’ve been done.
Viruses are possible on any computer system, it CAN be done. But, Mac’s architecture works in its favor.
What time is it in Bangkok right now? Ask Google. Enter simply 
Enter the airline and flight number into the Google search box and get back the arrival and departure times right inside Google’s search results.
Google’s powerful built-in converter calculator can help you out whether you’re cooking dinner, traveling abroad, or building a PC. Find out how many teaspoons are in a quarter cup (
Reader Adam taps the wisdom of the crowds by searching for like items using key phrases. He writes in:
What, your company blocks that 
Using a combination of advanced search operators that specify music files available in an Apache directory listing, you can turn Google into your personal Napster. Go ahead, try this search for Nirvana tracks: 
Google Image search results show you instead of tell you about a word. Don’t know what jicama looks like? Not sure if the person named “Priti” who you’re emailing with is a woman or a man? Spanish rusty and you forgot what “corazon” is? Pop your term into 
We all search for information using search engines. A lot of us have come across a forum we need to access for that information, but the forum may require us to register and sign in first. This is annoying- signing up to a forum, just for a 1 time visit. I decided to make this post, which will guide you around doing this mess.
A lot of people ask me why Macs don’t get viruses. Some people I come across also think that it’s not possible for a Mac to catch a virus (oh brother).
What is RSS?