Archive for March, 2008

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Browser Split – Firefox extension for blogging

Saturday, March 15th, 2008

The Browser Split extension for Firefox allows you to have several pages open in the same Firefox window. This way you can have your post window open along side the other web pages so that you don’t have to have multiple windows open or keep switching back and forth between tabs while you blog and search for links and text and whatnot. See the attached screenshot for an example situation.

screenshot

Here are several other Firefox extensions I recommend to make browsing and blogging easier:

  • Adblock Plus – block ads!
  • Copy All Urls – copy the urls of your current tabs to the clipboard (to save, email, etc.)
  • Copy Plain Text – copy only plain text without any formatting
  • Download Statusbar – eliminates the download popup window
  • Forecasfox – live weather in your status bar
  • It’s All Text! – edit text areas with an external editor (notepad, gvim, etc.)
  • Link Alert – shows and icon beside the cursor when hovering over a link to indicate what type of content the link points to
  • OpenBook – customize the Add Bookmark dialog so that you can enter a Keyword; you can type a keyword in the address bar and Firefox will load the associated bookmark (skip the bookmark menu for frequent pages, e.g. “g” for google.com, “m” for mail.gmail.com, etc.); use Ctrl+L to select the address bar (& Ctrl+K for search)
  • KeywordBar – display all your bookmark keywords
  • PDF Download – gives you options for handling annoying pdf documents (save, new tab, convert to html, etc.)
  • Split Browser – split the content area into multiple panes (see above)
  • Tiny Menu – reclaim valuable screen real estate by making the standard menu bar into a tiny menu (see example in the screenshot above)
  • TinUrl Creator – convert long urls to tinyurls (see tinyurl.com)
  • URL Fixer – correct typos in urls that you enter in the addres bar (e.g. “imdb.cmo” becomes “imdb.com”)

And a couple others I have installed:

  • Answers – search Answers.com; includes the Wikipedia entry!; searches from areas where the standard context menu “Search with Google” doesn’t work (viz: form fields)
  • ErrorZilla Mod – replace the standard error page with a fancy error page
  • FireFTP – FTP client within the browser
  • Tabbrowser Preferences – more options for the tabs

Happy browsing and blogging!

Posted in The Web | No Comments »

Ice overhang in New Hampshire

Monday, March 10th, 2008

My aunt took this picture of a huge block of snow and ice in North Conway, NH. The snow/ice had slide off the roof and was on its way down to the ground, but got stuck on the ledge. Unfortunately, there have been many roof collapses in that area this winter due to the large snowfalls this winter. According to USAToday, Concord, NH, recorded 100.1 inches of snow this season. Before that, the record had been 78 inches, set during the winter of 1886-87, according to the weather service.

overhang

Posted in Destruction, Snow | No Comments »

SmartMeters are on the way!

Monday, March 10th, 2008

logoIf you live in Alabama (or Georgia), you are about to get a SmartMeter power meter. Alabama Power and Georgia Power customers can read all the details here and here.

Current Smart Meter customer benefits include:

  • Alabama Power will be able to read your meter and generate your bill without having a representative visit your property.
  • Gives Alabama Power the ability to re-read meters in a timely manner should customers have questions.
  • Enhances Alabama Power’s ability to respond promptly to meter service requests as the customer base continues to grow.
  • Since in-person meter readings will not be required, Alabama Power will reduce the number of vehicles on the road, reducing pollution and traffic while saving fuel.

Future Smart Meter benefits include:

  • As Smart Meters are installed and enabled, the time needed to handle service orders, such as starting or stopping power, will be reduced.
  • Smart Meters have the capability of reporting when power is out at a location and notifying the company when power has been successfully restored. This is particularly helpful if the customer isn’t at home when the power goes off.
  • Smart Meters can provide online access to energy usage information. In the future, you’ll be able to better understand and monitor your own energy use.
  • Once the program is installed, Alabama Power will be able to offer innovative rate options that meet your lifestyle — You’ll be able to better manage your energy usage and control your energy bill.
  • Additional features will come as technology advances.

They should be installed statewide by 2011 and in the Birmingham metro area by 2009.

smartmeter

SmartMeter, a.k.a. AMR, technology seems to be the most significant technological advancement in the power distribution industry in recent years – power companies all over the world have already installed the meters, are installing them now, or are planning to in the future. Here is a map showing installations and ongoing AMR projects worldwide.

Posted in Power Grid, Technology | No Comments »

Xcel to regulate wind power with massive batteries

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

Minneapolis-based utility Xcel Energy will begin testing a wind power storage system of massive batteries located in Luverne, MN, which is in the far southwest corner of the state. The test will be run in partnership with the University of Minnesota, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Great Plains Institute.

Xcel plans to install 20 50-kilowatt batteries, about the size of two semi trailers, this spring and connect them to an 11-megawatt wind farm owned by Minwind Energy. The batteries are expected to go online in October.

When the wind is blowing, the batteries will charge, and when the wind diminishes, the batteries — which can discharge one megawatt of power — will supplement the flow of electricity to Xcel.

batteries

While two other U.S. utilities use the batteries to supplement peak power needs, Xcel said it would be the first to use them for a wind project.

The University of Minnesota group is also conducting related research on storing energy in flywheels.

I say, why not use wind to power pumps to store water at pumped hydro plants, like the Rock Mountain facility near Rome, Georgia, to store wind energy?

Bird enthusiasts should be sure to check out Xcel’s Bird Cam site.

More details from TwinCities.com & Reuters.

Posted in Environment, It's Science, Minnesota, Power Grid, Wind Power | No Comments »

I Found the Nap Room

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

Unfortunately, it’s on the 24th floor of the Empire State Building!  Read all about the sleep pods in this Salon article.

sleep-pod

Isn’t there a better place for the guy in the photo to read his files than leaning against an occupied sleep pod?  Show some respect for the napper!

P&G’s take on them:

“MetroNaps professionally trained our employees and showed us both the theoretical and practical benefits of PowerNapping. We have been very satisfied with the services which was also demonstrated through the positive survey results.”

Dr Steffen Hitzeroth

Medical Director, Procter & Gamble Germany

Posted in It's Science, Sleep Bank | No Comments »

Programming Language Popularity Index

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

Programmers, you might want to check out this index of programming language popularity. It’s updated monthly. Here’s the March index.

tiobe-march

Posted in Programming, The Web | No Comments »

Is Blu-ray’s Victory an Empty One?

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

IEEE Blogger Steven Cherry predicts that movies on disk, be it DVD, HD-DVD or Blu-ray, will become a thing of the past as they are replace by movie download services from Apple and Netflix.

And so when you look past the Blu-ray victory, the latest ­developments in digital movies are all about downloads, not disks.

At MacWorld, which directly ­followed CES, Steve Jobs announced a new download service for ­renting ­movies. As with music, Apple has struck deals with the major movie ­studios. You can begin a show on your ­computer or television and finish watching it on your iPod or iPhone. The service started in February with 1000 ­movies, ­costing US $2.99 to $3.99 each.

…

So do we really need to trudge out to Blockbuster, Best Buy, or Wal-Mart for a disk? Or wait for the now-­familiar red envelope from Netflix? A lot of ­companies, including Apple and Netflix itself, are ­betting no. Sony and the other movie studios, even though they get a cut from movie downloads, hope the ­competition is wrong. I don’t think they are.

One thing I’ve noticed that is missing from the online/download movies is the extra features that are usually on the DVDs. Plus downloaded movies lack the easy of portability that disks provide.

AppleNetflix

Posted in Electronics, Standards, Technology, The Web, TV | No Comments »

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