I’ve had a head start on the browser-face-off. I’ve spent pretty much one whole day, and then some, customising Firefox but, with the exception of one feature that I use a lot on Maxthon, I’ve pretty much replicated Maxthon on Firefox!

First off, I should say that I really, really would like to love and use Firefox. Not because it’s supposedly more secure (I don’t hold much faith in that claim, nor is it a criteria in my choosing browsers), nor because most of my friends are using it but because it has some fun and useful extensions, or add-ons, that I wouldn’t mind having/using but that I don’t, so far, find so absolutely essential that I would abandon Maxthon. So… I really, really want to like and love Firefox but it has to provide me with those features of Maxthon’s that I have come to find so integral to my browsing experience.

Thus, I spent most of the last 24 hours thrawling through Firefox’s add-ons directory in the search for add-ons that would replicate the features that I use so much on Maxthon. After much downloading, installing, re-starting, uninstalling and re-starting again, I think I’ve done a pretty good job of mimicking Maxthon on Firefox.

• To replicate the drag and open link, or drag and search feature on Maxthon, I’m using the “Drag de Go” extension.
• I discovered that Firefox now has keyword searches, so that matches the alias searching function that I use so much in Maxthon.
• The “Tab Mix Plus” extension upgrades Firefox’s native tab-management to what’s available out-of-the-box in Maxthon.
• The “Quicknote” extension replicates Maxthon’s “Simple Collector”, although it is slightly more limited in features, but only just slightly.

There is one more feature on Maxthon that I’ve been trying to replicate to no avail and that is the ability to map the keyboard’s function-keys to URLs in order to open these URLs with the click of just one key. There is an extension called “Bookmark Keys” but that doesn’t seem to work at the moment, and even if it did, it would have meant clicking two-keys rather than just one.

This brings me to the following comment: all these add-ons are a great feature of Firefox. It gives users great flexibility in customising their browser almost exactly as they want (provided the add-ons exist). However, because all these add-ons are developed by different people, it is not surprising that at some point, these add-ons will start to clash either with one another or with Firefox itself and either not work (in the best case scenario) or cause problems in the browser. Maxthon, on the other hand, comes with heaps of features out-of-the-box. These features are guaranteed to work and have been pretty much well integrated into the browser. However, the scant availability of plug-ins for Maxthon means that the ability to customise the browser is much more limited.

That said, there are many virtues in having features built into the browser, not least of which is this issue of security that so many laud upon Firefox. After a very long time, and I mean years here, of trouble free browsing on Maxthon, I finally re-encountered the problem of browser hijack and pesty advertisements today on surprise, surprise Firefox. It was a page/site that I have many times visited on Maxthon without a hitch. I was disappointed to discover that Firefox doesn’t come with an ad-blocker out of the box. Maxthon does. I had to install “Adblock Plus” before I was safe and secure on Firefox… or so I think… hmph!

Next: some of the “fun” things that I do like about Firefox!

Read Matt’s initial experience with Maxthon here.

Posted on July 22nd, 2007 by jl
Filed under: Tech | 5 Comments »

I’m excited. I’m so very excited.

My best mate and I have challenged each other to an internet browser face-off. This is gong to be visionary, path-breaking stuff. And we’re going to blog about it. It’ll be like our own reality show!!

For a very long while now, I’d say more than a few years, I’ve been using Maxthon instead of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. I’ve learned to love and appreciate the many features that it has, but more importantly I’ve become so accustomed and comfortable with it that it’s proving an obstacle just trying another browser, let alone migrating entirely. Matt has indirectly tried endlessly to help me test Firefox to no avail. I keep finding shortcomings with Firefox and give up within an hour or two. After many trials, I’ve concluded that the one feature that Firefox does not yet have but which Maxthon does and which I have found to be integral to my internet browsing experience is this: the ability to highlight a URL (that is not hyperlinked, i.e. just plain text) on a page and then to use ONE mouse gesture to open that highlighted URL in a new tab. Similarly, with Maxthon, I can highlight a word or a series of words on a page and then to use ONE mouse gesture to search those words (using my default search engine, in this case Google) in a new tab. This is a feature I use constantly and rely upon quite heavily. It saves me a lot of typing, mouse clicks and time and it’s something that I’ve been very reluctant to give up. While some Firefox plugins that I’ve tried can perform similar functions, they’ve usually involved extra clicks of the mouse - this is just not good enough for me.

There is another feature on Maxthon that I’ve also come to rely upon quite a bit, though it’s not so much a deal-breaker: on Maxthon, you can customise the internet search function such that you can use an “alias” or code to use different search engines quite quickly with minimal typing. For instance, if I type “am TEST” in the URL bar, Maxthon will automatically return a page from Amazon US with the search results for “TEST”, “am” being the code I had set for Amazon US. If I type “mw TEST” in the URL bar, Maxthon will automatically return a page from Merriam Webster’s online dictionary with the search results for “TEST”, “mw” being the code I had set for Merriam Webster. This is pretty nifty and extremely useful especially if you do a lot of internet searches and you can customise it to search almost any search engine that exists out there.

Anyway, Matt and I decided, or rather stumbled on the idea of an internet browser face-off. Matt has been a long time user of Firefox and I’ve not previously been able to persuade him to try Maxthon. So from Monday, 23 July 2007, we will each swap browsers for a week and blog about our experience. I will use nothing but Firefox for a week and Matt Maxthon. We will both find our internet browsing experience confusing and frustrating and we will bitch about it constantly but hopefully at the end of the week, we might have a more informed decision of which browser we each individually definitely prefer. But we’re both definitely adamant that Internet Explorer sucks!

Posted on July 21st, 2007 by jl
Filed under: Tech | 3 Comments »

I’m blogging again… not that I have anything to say… but it’s precisely because I have had nothing to say for so long now that the silence on this blog is so deafening that I am blogging again even if it means totally spurious, nonsensical, terribly uninteresting and totally self-indulgent dribble…

I bought a new digital camera - the Canon Ixus 70 - that I had been anticipating. It’s been at least four, if not five, years since I got my last digital camera, a Nikon Coolpix 4500. While the Nikon is in many ways still a rather good camera (read a review here), its size (bulky) and slow reaction time has become somewhat of an issue especially when compared to what’s available in the market these days and how I intend to use a digital camera (casual, impromptu shots on the run). A few months back, I realised that I had taken very few pictures in the last three years - there are very few that document my stay in Australia - and I didn’t bring the Nikon along with me on my fieldtrip to Malaysia and Thailand last year due to size and weight issues. The Canon Ixus 70 was thus an “essential” update to my gadget collection, one that I think will get much use.

The Canon Ixus 70 is a great buy. It’s exactly what I wanted and expected. The design, in terms of aesthetics, size and functionality, is so fabulous that I’m quite sure, in time, it will prove to be one of those classic products of our consumerist society, much like the iPod and the now defunct Nokia 8210/8250. Bar the absence of one or two feature/s, I’m very much in love with it. I like the fact that it “boots up” very quickly and that the menus are super responsive. The menus, functions and buttons all seem pretty well thought out and “integrated”. The pictures taken are “classic Canon”. Admittedly, “camera shake” is a bit of an issue but that’s inherent in digital cameras in general, especially since I tend not to use flash (as a preference). There are heaps of features built into this camera that I personally think is quite unnecessary as they are functions that can be better performed on a computer with proper software, e.g. colour swapping/highlighting, however, these are additional features for the gullible consumer, and this is a mass consumer camera, and they do not detract from its main features and functions. The one or two feature/s that I wish was present is the ability to set either aperture and/or shutter speed, though admittedly these are features that I would use occasionally rather than frequently. So, all in all, I’m very happy. This is one camera to keep and cherish.

Speaking of fieldtrips, I’m in the process of prepping for a three-month tour of Seoul (8 weeks) and then Kuala Lumpur (4 weeks). I didn’t blog much when I was in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore last year except for a few private emails to selected friends where I whinged to no end about Bangkok. I hope to fare much better this time around especially since I intend to photo-blog and thus show-and-tell!

Meanwhile, here are some photos of my most recent trip to Sydney, taken with the new Canon of course (clicking the picture on the left will pop-up a slideshow). It was a somewhat extended stay as I met up with my cousin who was visiting from Hong Kong and a very good friend who was visiting from Adelaide - both visits were back to back. The weather wasn’t great: it wasnt the cold so much that I minded (it was apparently record breaking for Sydney) but the almost absence of heating in Sydney (Sydney-siders, in fact, I dare say, most Australians, have a warped perception that their country is constantly warm or hot) and the wet (I don’t like wet. Anywhere. Period.). However, I did get a couple of perfect Sydney days with sunshine and blue skies and most of all… I saw the “Free Hugs” guy on Pitt Street Mall!

Anyway… perhaps one of the reasons I don’t have much to blog about these days is that I have pretty much stopped psycho-analysing my own existence. I know I have a lot of personal neuroses and anxieties but even those have to stop somewhere! While I might still use my intellectual prowess to probe my academic endeavours (although that’s seriously open to debate), I’ve somehow managed to desist from applying those same skills to my own life for quite some time now… though interestingly that hasn’t stopped me from analysing other people’s lives and commenting - some might call this “bitching”, though quite frankly, everyone “bitches” to a greater or lesser extent and it can be quite a healthy activity. So honestly, why tar it with negative moral judgements?!? We should all celebrate the art and act of bitching!

On that note…

Posted on July 20th, 2007 by jl
Filed under: blah blah | 1 Comment »

The passage of time is generally only ever noted when punctuated by significant events and activities.

This week, a mate of mine from the Department, on the verge of completing his Ph.D., leaves Canberra for Birmingham, UK where he will take up a position as a lecturer. His departure highlights how time is running out on my own research and how I too will soon have to contemplate career choices and decisions.

This time last year, I was watching Big Brother and was very busy preparing for my research fieldtrip to Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. This time this year, I should be doing the same for my upcoming fieldtrip to Seoul and Kuala Lumpur… I should… but I am not. However, I am still watching Big Brother.

One of my best friends in Canberra has just completed her undergraduate degree and will be leaving Australia in a few weeks’ time. I have known her for two and a half years. I will be saying goodbye to her this week and bid farewell to late-night chats in each other’s flats, angsty conversations about men, and sharing tips on knitting.

I am meeting a very, very good friend in Sydney next week. We’ve known each other for 28 years now. I last saw him in April 2006 - it’s been over a year. We’ve so much to catch up on. I’m really looking forward to seeing him again.

Yesterday, I found myself having to stop and actually count how long my last relationship had lasted. The answer was no longer reflexive and automatic. It was eight years.

I’ve been dating someone. I haven’t blogged or talked about this much. This week marks 24 weeks, or close to 6 months, that we’ve been seeing each other. It’s going well.

I frequently wonder where all the time has gone… and how I could have achieved so little in so much time… but I know, if nothing else, I have lived.

Posted on July 5th, 2007 by jl
Filed under: Life!, Remnants of a Previous Life, love | 1 Comment »