AU Blogspot

               Thanks to Brian Fit for permission to use this Photo.

When I started college at UCF a few years ago, I received a free copy of Microsoft OneNote 2003. I was running Windows XP on my laptop at that time. OneNote was very useful for taking notes during class. I could organize each lecture onto its own note page, and organize all of my note pages into categories for each class. It took care of a lot of the little annoying problems that you encounter when using a plain text editor or a word processor to take notes. Those programs are really not geared towards taking notes.

A couple of semesters later, I upgraded my laptop from Windows XP to Linux. I’m currently running Ubuntu Linux 7.04 on my laptop. Obviously, I cannot run OneNote on my laptop anymore. I have a separate box at home running windows, but OneNote is really only useful on a laptop, right? I tried taking notes with OpenOffice, AbiWord and various other applications, but they’re not note taking programs.

I recently discovered a program in the KDE suite called BasKet Note Pads. BasKet is the first application on Linux that I’ve discovered that is intended for serious notetaking. (more…)

Microsoft announced yesterday on the Internet Explorer blog that the next version of Internet Explorer (IE8) will correctly render the Acid2 test page. See the excellent Channel 9 video for more.

The Acid2 test is a test of a browser’s ability to properly render CSS and HTML. From the Acid2 Wikipedia page:

The Acid2 test should render correctly on any browser that follows the W3C HTML and CSS 2.0 specifications. Any browser which does not correctly and completely support all of the features which Acid2 uses will not render the page correctly.

Apple’s Safari passed the Acid2 test in October 2005!

Special thanks to .dan for permission to use this photo.

Firefox 3 is expected to pass the Acid2 test as well when it is released (beta 2 already does). Internet Explorer 8 is due to ship in the first half of 2008, as is Firefox 3 so it looks as if 2008 will be the year of the standards compliant browser!

Ironically the official Acid2 web page is broken today (!) but it is mirrored on one of the developers sites so you can test your current browser there.

Tom Rafterty
Creator of Tom Rafterty IT
Ashworth University Contributing Blogger

*Tom Rafterty is a social media expert, technology consultant, and prolific blogger on all things related to technology.  In 2006, Tom won the Tech Blogger prize at the Irish Blog Awards.  When we contacted Tom regarding the opportunity to share his insights with the Ashworth University student community, he graciously stated that it would be an honor to do so.  We would like to return the favor and express our deep appreciation for his openness.  We here at Ashworth University are truly honored to work with such a distinguished technologist.  Visit Tom’s blog, Tom Rafterty IT, for additional insights into his life and work.  Thanks Tom! 

 
              Thanks to Manny Diller for permission to use this Photo.

Google’s chief evangelist, Vint Cerf, recently wrote a fascinating article for The Guardian in which he discusses the future of the Internet, technology, innovation, new trends, etc. with some of the world’s brightest tech minds.  If you’re interested in hearing what people like the myspace and YouTube creators see ahead, and you should be, check out this article and let me know what you think.  Click on the image above to read article.

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University

I downloaded and installed the beta version of Firefox 3.0 a few days ago and have been using it since on my OS X Leopard laptop. I also installed the Proto theme for Mac Firefox which significantly enhances the look of Firefox 3 on the Mac.

My initial impressions of Firefox 3.0b1 are very positive. It is fast, stable, looks really sweet and many of the memory issues which have dogged Firefox appear to have been fixed.To expand on the memory comment, in Firefox the memory used to leak so the longer it remained open, the more memory it consumed. I have had Firefox running on this Mac now for several days with up to six windows open some of which have up to twenty five tabs running. Currently this is using 1.38gb of virtual memory.  At the same time, Safari which has one window open with two tabs running is consuming 1.41gb of virtual memory! (more…)

      Thanks to Brett O’Connor for permission to use this Photo.

Here’s what you can do to ensure that your computer stays free from viruses and on top of it, if at all your computer gets infected then also, you’ll be able to save your data.

1. Keep the data on other partitions : Always make sure that you keep all the files on hard disk partition other than the windows one. This way, if the virus hits that drive then the data on the other drive will be still safe. Although the viruses have become smart but still it’s still better. Here’s the guide to keep the My Documents in other drive, in case you use My Documents a lot.

2. Install 1st level of Anti-virus : I’m a big supporter of installing two anti-virus software. Although, many people just don’t except it but believe me do the way I’m suggesting you and feel more safe and secure. Download AVG Free anti-virus and install it as normal with all the features enabled. (more…)

Many Web sites feature a “click-to-call” button – when you click the button and enter your phone number, someone from the company or organization will call you. But what if you wanted to make the call yourself? After my last upgrade to the Skype client software and subsequent opening of the Firefox browser, a button appeared in the upper right corner – a new Firefox extension was installed to allow me to activate this feature. (more…)

The good people at Spread Firefox announced last week that there has been more then 400 million downloads of Firefox since November 9th, 2004. The numbers of how quickly Firefox has spread since its launch are impessive:

• It took 99 days to reach 25 million downloads of Firefox.
• It took 6 months to reach 50 million downloads. 
• It took 1 year to reach 100 million downloads.
• Downloads of Firefox have been doubling every year since its launch.

Like a lot of people I am a huge fan and supporter of not only Firefox but also the open source movement. The contribution Firefox has made to the technology community goes far deeper then just providing a better and safer internet browser, it has brought a new way of thinking to the main stream. Let’s hope that we continue to see innovation and cutting edge technologies coming from the power of the masses and not just from money hungry corporations.

Kieran Hawe
Creator of the outstanding Webtribution blog.
Ashworth University Contributing Blogger

*Kieran Hawe is the Director of SEO for MTV Networks in New York.  We are very grateful to share the ideas of Kieran with the AU student community.  Kieran’s open-source advocacy is truly inspiring and his approach to making his ideas available to our students reflects his dedication to the principles of that movement.  Visit Kieran’s terrific Webtribution blog to learn more about his life and work.  Thanks Kieran! 

 
     Thanks to Diego Ramos Paucar for permission to use this Photo.